Judith Murray

MURRAY, Judith Sargent.  b. Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1 May 1751; d. Natchez, Mississippi, 9 June 1820.  She was an essayist, writer for women’s rights, poet, and playwright.  Possibly she was the first American-born woman to have a hymn published in a hymnal.  Judith’s parents were Winthrop Sargent (1727-1793) and Judith Sanders Sargent (1731-1793).  The Sargent family had been well established in Gloucester for several generations.  ‘In spite of his activity in introducing Universalism [cf., Unitarian-Universalist hymnody, USA*] into Gloucester, he [Captain Winthrop Sargent] became one of the most influential citizens of the town’ (Sargent, p. 29).  Judith’s brother, also named Winthrop...