Trailblazers
October 2025

Sanctuary celebrates Mary Mullins Rider. Widowed at age 49 in 1818, she thrived as a savvy businesswoman and caretaker of family and community.   

Mary Mullins Rider (1769-1863)

Mary Mullins Rider (1769-1863) arrived in America in 1794 from Devonshire, England, with her husband, John. She became a well-known resident of the Puddle Dock neighborhood in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
 
John Rider was a successful trader, and he purchased their home in Portsmouth in 1809 for $1000. When John died in 1818, Mary inherited everything, including the house, a shop, and other properties and stocks which John had owned. She survived as a shopkeeper and was savvy with real estate. She was extremely active in Portsmouth's business and social circles.
 
In 1826, after the death of her husband, four of Mary’s nieces lived with or near her in Puddle Dock. In total, Mary paid for nine of her nieces and nephews to emigrate from England to America. Throughout these years, Mary was known as a savvy businesswoman and caregiver in her community. She held mortgages and acquired stocks and bonds.

Although early archaeological evidence suggested that Mary Rider struggled after her husband’s death, later excavations in the 1980s revealed that she maintained the funds to run her shop and invested in new purchases up to the final days of her life.
 
Mary lived to age 94. She outlived her husband, John, by 45 years and grew their wealth after her husband’s death. Today, her home, the Rider-Wood House, stands in the Strawbery Banke Museum (original 17th-century British spelling). 

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Some interesting facts...

• Mary served as godmother for 18 children of relatives between 1826 and 1843.
• In the mid-1800s in the U.S., the average life expectancy at birth was around 40 years, a figure heavily skewed by high infant and childhood mortality rates from infectious diseases and other factors like deaths in childbirth. For those who survived childhood, life expectancy was significantly higher, with many living into their 50s and beyond.​
• At age 94, Mary was the oldest woman in Portsmouth at the time of her death.
• Mary Rider's home is called the Rider-Wood House because she bequeathed the property, including the house and her shop, to her nephew, James Wood. The subsequent ownership by the Wood family led to the house being known by the combined surname "Rider-Wood," recognizing both its original owners and the family that continued to own it. 
• Mary was fondly known as "The Widow Mary Rider" in her community.
• Note: Travelers can explore Mary’s home and shop at the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The home is restored and decorated as it appeared in the 1830s, when Mary’s business prowess enabled her to grow the estate.

Executive Editor, Myrna Haskell, Stands in one of the Upstairs Bedrooms in the Rider-Wood Home

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