A few weeks ago I featured two advertisements that revealed some of the domestic squabbles in the Hebbard household, first a runaway wife notice from Robert Hebbard warning others against “trusting, trading or dealing with” his wife, Joanna, and the other, published a week later, a rejoinder from Aaron Cleaveland testifying to Joanna’s character and excoriating her husband.  Certainly these advertisements did not tell the Hebbards’ entire story.

J.L. Bell has investigated the lives and times of Robert and Joanna Hebbard in greater detail over the course of the past three days at Boston 1775.  I promised to keep my eyes open for further advertisements from or about the Hebbards, but I have not yet turned up any.  Bell, however, has used a variety of other sources to flesh out the lives and relationships of members of the Hebbard and Cleaveland families.  Follow these links to learn more about Joanna Hebbard and her travails in eighteenth-century America.

Part 1.  “Joanna Hebbard, hath for some time past Eloped from Me”

Part 2.  “To make a just return to his injurious Advertisement”

Part 3.  “Joanna Cleveland’s ‘Leap in the Dark’”