1. Penelope Hodgson Craven Barker, commonly known as Penelope Barker, was a Colonial American activist who, in the lead-up to the American Revolution, organized a boycott of British goods in 1774 orchestrated by a group of women known as the Edenton Tea Party.
Penelope Barker married two more times to wealthy men, continuing to run plantations after their deaths.
Penelope Barker gave birth to five children and was the stepmother to four children, all but two of whom had died by 1761.
Penelope Barker's only remaining child then was Betsy Barker, who lived to adulthood and married William Tunstall, a successful planter.
Penelope Barker was a brilliant conversationalist, and a society leader of her day.
Penelope Barker married her deceased sister's husband, John Hodgson, in 1745 at about the age of 17.
Penelope Barker had her sister and husband's three children to raise.
Penelope Barker ran the Hodgson plantations, with 25 enslaved people.
In 1752, Penelope Barker married wealthy bachelor James Craven, who was a planter and politician.
Penelope Barker brought income into the family by renting out some of their enslaved people and selling sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and packs of cards.
Penelope Barker purchased luxury items like rum, salt, sugar, molasses, and chocolate.
Penelope Barker was previously married and brought a daughter named Betsy into the marriage.
Betsy Penelope Barker married a successful planter William Tunstall from Pittsylvania County in the Colony of Virginia.
Penelope Barker was known as a patriot of the Revolution and ten months after the famous Boston Tea Party, she organized a Tea Party of her own.
Penelope Barker wrote a statement proposing a boycott of British goods, like cloth and tea.