“Puritan blood flowed, almost undiluted, through my veins”, wrote Caroline in her later years. She also wrote that she had lived two lives...one natural and childlike and the other unnatural and terrified. She was extremely concerned about securing her soul’s eternal salvation, and mentioned that no one could have worked harder for that end than she did.

At the age of six she had disobeyed her mother and she and her sister fell into the river. Caroline nearly drowned, caught pneumonia and was close to dying. When a relative came to visit her in her illness he called her unregenerate. Asking her where she would be if she had died in her disobedience she answered immediately,”Without, with dogs and whoremongers.” This was the religious education that she and the other Puritans received.

Caroline Stickney Creevey
after her marriage

When she was seven she posed as a minister and baptized her baby brother. Soon realizing that this was an act of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost she told her mother who said that God would forgive her if she confessed to him. Her sister died at the age of nine, and Caroline was inconsolable. Her mother told her to be perfectly resigned to God’s will and stop grieving.

Her years in high school were not much better. “It was an era in which whipping for small offenses, even failures in recitations, was the prevalent mode of punishment.” It much have been terrifying for a young girl to go to school and not know if she would be whipped for some breach of conduct known only to the teacher.

   
         Stickney Homestead                                     Caroline Stickney Creevey

The Stickneys employed Irish Catholic girls as servants, and on one occasion Caroline’s mother took her Irish maid to the Congregational church with her. The priest noticing the two, grabbed the girl and took her to the Catholic Church, leaving Mrs. Stickney alone on her path. The next day the priest notified the congregation that no member of his parish should live in service with Mrs. Stickney.

When Caroline reached her twenties, she fell in love with the high school’s principal, John Kennedy Creevey. They married and had two children. Several years later (1916) she published her life story, “A Daughter of the Puritans, an Autobiography.” She was seventy-three. She also wrote botanical books, but never looked for praise for her accomplishments . When one thinks of what she achieved even under the strict rules of the Puritans, it is sad that she never received the recognition she was due.

“I lived two lives, one natural and childlike, the other terrifying and unnatural. I was most serious about securing my soul’s eternal salvation. No nun, relinquishing all that is natural and free in this life, could have worked harder for that end,” Caroline wrote.

There was no work or play on the Sabbath, which the Puritans resisted calling Sunday...a heathenish, unpuritanical word. Sabbath consisted of a meager breakfast before church at 10:30. This was followed by Sunday School, home for a frugal meal of baked beans... then back to the church for a second service. That evening there would be a prayer meeting which was often led by missionaries who were billeted at the Creevey home.

Caroline Stickney Creevey died in 1920. Her childhood home “Eveningshade” is still located on Pine Street in Vernon, Connecticut, now called Stickney Hill Park. Her books can be found on Amazon or at other book vendors. One wonders if she ever had fun or a pleasant life after marriage.