Silvia Hardman is a Quaker mother of three who meets Jamie while he's with the Continental army. She later comes to Fraser's Ridge, assisted by Ian Fraser Murray and Rachel Murray.
Personal History[]
Prior to the outbreak of war, Silvia was living five miles of Philadelphia with her husband Gabriel and her two eldest daughters, Prudence and Patience. She and her husband were practicing Quakers who used plain speech and generally adhered Quaker principals of non-violence and peace.
The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting urged Quakers to side with the King, however Gabriel was among those who felt more smypathetic to the rebel side. In 1776, he went hunting and did not return. She believes he was shot for suspected loyalist sympathies, despite his own personal preference for the rebels. Meanwhile her daughters hope that he might have been kidnapped by the local Native Americans and might one day escape from them. After the departure of her husband, Silvia was left alone and vulnerable, especially after both the British and Continental armies began passing through the area. She took up prostitution to feed herself and her two eldest daughters, remaining in their ramshackle cabin. After a few months of this, she fell pregnant by one of her "patrons," and gave birth to a third daughter she named Chastity.
Events of the Novels[]
Written in My Own Heart's Blood[]
In June 1779, a group of Continental generals use her house for a strategic meeting. The other men leave, but Jamie suffers a back sp asm just as he moves to leave the house, and is incapacitated. A wary Silvia helps him into bed and offers him medical assistance.[1]
In the middle of the night, a group of druken men come to the cabin, looking for sex. Jamie scares them off. She confesses that such men come occasionally, and she usually takes them to the shed in exchange for money or food, as this is the only way she can feed her daughters.[2]
Thanks to Jamie's provisions and cash, Silvia and her daughters eat well for the first time in a while, and she is grateful to Jamie for his help. She continues to treat Jamie's back with various home remedies to help speed his recovery, despite the expensive, time-consuming, and at times painful (to both Jamie and Silvia) nature of the remedies.[3]
Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone[]
By 1779, Silvia's home has become even more dilapidated, and she is continuing to engage in prostitution to feed her daughters. One of them, local Philadelphia judge Charles Fredericks, has taken to visiting several times a week for the past two months. During one such visit, she sends the daughters to play outside while she takes Fredericks into the shed. However, a disturbance from her daughters sends Fredericks into a rage, which grows worse when he sees Ian Fraser Murray. Ian attempts to defend the Hardmans, but an angry Fredericks hits Silvia across the face and shouts at the daughters. A horrified Silvia and her daughters watch as Fredericks and Ian fight, and Ian kills Fredericks. Ian introduces himself as Jamie Fraser's nephew, and Silvia is reassured by his connection to Jamie Fraser. He instructs Silvia and her daughters to pack, as he's taking them from Philadelphia to safety.
She helps Ian place Fredericks's body back onto a horse, so that Ian can dispose of it discreetly. She and her daughters ride with Ian into Philadelphia, and Ian introduces her to his mother Jenny and his wife Rachel Murray and. Silvia is relieved to meet a fellow Quaker and welcomes a chance for food, hot water, and a night's sleep.
The next day, Silvia travels with Rachel to meet with Philadelphia meeting of Quakers, as she and Rachel hope that they will be able to provide support for the family. However, she is rejected and humilated by Quaker authorities, due to her prostitution. She returns dejected with Rachel and asks Ian to continue traveling with them, as she needs to start fresh in an area where rumors of her past will not follow her.
She accompanies Ian, Rachel, and Jenny to meet with Joseph Brant and the Mohawks in New York, and is shocked to see her own husband, Gabriel, with them. He tells her that he was taken by the Shawnee as a slave, and had his foot maimed while in captivity. However, he is now free and living with the Mohawk as a translator and man of letters. He has also married a Mohawk woman.
Silvia is dismayed that he did not return to her after being freed. He in turn is horrified that she now has another daughter, Chasity, and rebukes her for it. She rebukes him for leaving them destitute, not even allowing her to be officially divorced or widowed so she might marry again and find another husband to support them. He offers to take her as a second wife, but she refuses, telling him that she officially divorces him in the eyes of the Quaker faith. She is horrified when he says that he intends to keep Prudence and Patience. She refuses to allow this, and Ian backs her up. however, she does allow him to meet his daughters again, and says that he may come and visit or write to them once they're settled.
She continues traveling with Ian, Rachel, and Jenny as they meet Emily and Ian's son via Emily, Totis. She then accompanies the group back to Fraser's Ridge. The Frasers give her and her daughters shelter and offer to give them a cabin on the Ridge and welcomes them home. Later, after the family has settled into life on the Ridge, Silvia develops an attachment to Bobby Higgins. She is reluctant to accept his offer of marriage, feeling as though her past will bring shame upon him and the Ridge as a whole, but he states that he doesn't care. She marries Bobby in a Quaker wedding, attended by their enthusiastic children and the supportive residents of the Ridge.[4]
Personality[]
Physical Appearance[]
She is a thin woman.[5]
Relationships[]
Gabriel Hardman[]
Silvia married Gabriel Hardman some time in the 1760s, and had two children with him, Prudence and Patience. He left the family in 1776. They see each other again a few years later, where she learns Gabriel was kidnapped, but later freed and now lives freely with a Mohawk wife. She angrily divorces him.
Bobby Higgins[]
Silvia marries widower Bobby Higgins after her arrival at Fraser's Ridge.
Name[]
Trivia[]
References[]
- ↑ Written in My Own Heart's Blood, chapter 10.
- ↑ Written in My Own Heart's Blood, chapter 12.
- ↑ Written in My Own Heart's Blood, chapter 19.
- ↑ Bees, chapter 154.
- ↑ Written in My Own Heart's Blood, chapter 10.