A review by magup
The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Built a Mansion, a Fortune, and a Dynasty by Jean Zimmerman

4.0

Really interesting history of Margaret Hardenbroeck, a merchant who owned her own fleet of ships and created a business dynasty in the early days of the Dutch colony on Manhattan. It's a shame that so few first-hand clues exist to her personality and temperament, but the government and legal documents that are available do provide enough to indicate that even for a woman of her time (Dutch women were more equal and protected by the laws of their country than British women more common in other colonies) she was driven and successful in a male-dominated field, despite wars, changes in government and status, and all the other challenges a mother of 11 faced in the 17th century.