{{short description|American Revolutionary War figure}} {{Infobox person | name = Molly Stark | image = Molly_Stark_Statue.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Statue of Molly Stark in Wilmington, Vermont | birth_name = Elizabeth Page | birth_date = {{Birth date|1737|02|16}} | birth_place = Haverhill, Massachusetts | death_date = {{Death date and age|1814|06|29|1737|02|16}} | death_place = | resting_place = Manchester, New Hampshire<ref name=VR1894/> | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = General John Stark (m. 1758)<ref name=RH1925/> | children = 11, including Caleb Stark | relatives = Harriet Lane Huntress }} {{Infobox historic site | name = Molly Stark House | image = Molly Stark House Historical Marker.jpg | caption = | type = | locmapin = | coordinates = {{Coord|43.14930|-71.63013|type:landmark|display=inline}} | location = 346 Stark Highway North, Dunbarton, New Hampshire | area = | built = c. 1759 | architect = | architecture = | governing_body = | owner = | designation1 = New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places | designation1_date = January 27, 2003<ref name=NHSRHP/> | designation1_number = | website = }} thumb|right|upright=.6|Locket with a lock of Molly Stark's hair (Manchester Historic Association)<ref>Manchester Historic Association, Millyard Museum, Manchester, New Hampshire. Inv. no. MHA 8887, dated ca. 1815. Gift of the Augustus Stark estate.</ref>
'''Molly Stark''', née '''Elizabeth Page''' (February 16, 1737 – June 29, 1814)<ref name=RH1925>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64195797/stark-called-wife-molly-her-name-was/ |title=Stark Called Wife "Molly"; Her Name Was "Elizabeth" |newspaper=Rutland Herald |location=Rutland, Vermont |page=4 |date=August 20, 1925 |accessdate=November 28, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> was the wife of General John Stark, made famous by his battle cry during the American Revolutionary War. Described as "mother of 11 children, homemaker, patriot, and defender of the household",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/wm43BC_Elizabeth_Page_Molly_Stark |title=Elizabeth Page "Molly" Stark |website=waymarking.com |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref> there are locations and landmarks named for her in at least four states.
==Biography== Elizabeth Page was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on February 16, 1737,{{efn|Haverhill vital records list "Elisabeth Page" with a birth date of "Feb. 16, 1737-8"; ''see Dual dating''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/10055/images/dvm_PrimSrc000086-00119-1 |url-access=subscription |via=Ancestry.com |title=Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849 Vol 1 Births |date=1910 |publisher=Topsfield Historical Society |location=Topsfield, Massachusetts |page=237}}</ref>}} to Caleb Page and Elizabeth Merrill.<ref name=rose/>{{rp|47}} Her father was "a successful merchant, militia captain, and surveyor."<ref name=rose/>{{rp|47}} Her mother died when she was five, and she was adopted by Ruth Wallingford, widow her uncle Nathaniel Merrill, with 10 children of her own.<ref name=rose/>{{rp|47–48}} She spent 10 years with the Wallingfords, then returned to live with her father in Starkstown (current Dunbarton, New Hampshire) in 1752 at the age of 15.<ref name=rose/>{{rp|48}} Her father owned slaves, which was not common in New Hampshire.<ref name=rose/>{{rp|48}} She married John Stark on August 20, 1758;<ref name=RH1925/><ref name=rose/>{{rp|49}} it was apparently John Stark who gave his wife the nickname of "Molly".<ref name=rose/>{{rp|49}} Together they had 11 children,<ref name=RH1925/><ref name=rose/>{{rp|51}} including their eldest son, Caleb Stark.<ref name=rose>{{Cite book |title=John Stark: Maverick General |last=Rose |first=Ben Z. |publisher=TreeLine Press |location=Lincoln, Massachusetts |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9789123-2-1}}</ref>{{rp|51}}
Molly Stark is remembered for her husband's battle call of "''There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!''" before engaging with the British and Hessian army in the Battle of Bennington.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nhmagazine.com/stark-raving-lunacy-3/ |title=Stark Raving Lunacy |website=New Hampshire |date=August 31, 2007 |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref>{{efn|Variants of General Stark's battle cry include "There boys are our enemies; to-night they must be ours or Mollie Stark's a widow"<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64193561/untitled/ |title=(untitled) |newspaper=Rutland Herald |location=Rutland, Vermont |page=2 |date=July 9, 1877 |accessdate=November 28, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> and "Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill, or Molly Stark sleeps a widow".<ref name=rose/>{{rp|114}} }} Stark is also known for her success as a nurse to her husband's troops during a smallpox epidemic and for opening their home as a hospital during the war.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nhhistory.org/object/253003/page-elizabeth |title=Page, Elizabeth: Notes |website=nhhistory.org |publisher=New Hampshire Historical Society |accessdate=November 28, 2020 |quote=From 1906 N.H. DAR (Molly Stark Chapter) text}}</ref>{{efn|Possibly apocryphal, as sourcing dates this event to the Battle of Carillon (1758 Battle of Ticonderoga) which took place a month before the Starks were married.}} In late November 1778, she petitioned the New Hampshire Court "praying for leave to inoculate herself and family for the Small Pox," but her request was denied by authorities who feared it could spread the disease.<ref name=rose/>{{rp|132}} She died on June 29, 1814, and was interred in Manchester, New Hampshire.<ref name=VR1894>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64194559/molly-stark/ |title=Molly Stark |newspaper=The Vermont Record |location=Fair Haven, Vermont |page=1 |date=October 26, 1894 |accessdate=November 28, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
===Vermont=== Stark is honored in Vermont by the Molly Stark State Park in Wilmington,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vtstateparks.com/mollystark.html#aboutUsDropdown|title=Vermont State Parks/Molly Stark State Park|website=Vermont State Parks|accessdate=March 24, 2018}}</ref> and a statue of Stark holding a child and musket in downtown Wilmington near the Deerfield River.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=23291 |title=Elizabeth Page "Molly" Stark, 1737 – 1814 |website=HMDB.org |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref> Also named for her is the Molly Stark Trail, otherwise known as Route 9, which crosses southern Vermont and commemorates the route used by General Stark on his victory march home from the Battle of Bennington.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64178208/pageantry-and-speaking-open-new-molly/ |title=Pageantry and Speaking Open New Molly Stark Trail |newspaper=North Adams Transcript |location=North Adams, Massachusetts |page=6 |date=September 8, 1936 |accessdate=November 28, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> There is also a Molly Stark Elementary School in Bennington.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mollystark.svsu.org |title=Molly Stark Elementary School |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref> Molly Stark Mountain is one of the Green Mountain peaks on the Long Trail, just south of Camel's Hump and north of Route 17; the adjacent peak is Baby Stark.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nhmountainhiking.com/hike/molly/info.html |title=Hiking Molly Stark Mountain |website=nhmountainhiking.com |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref>
===New Hampshire=== The Molly Stark House still stands in Dunbarton at Page's Corner, denoted by a New Hampshire historical marker (number 111);<ref name=ByNumber>{{cite web |url=https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/markers/documents/markers_bynumber.pdf |title=List of Markers by Marker Number |website=nh.gov |publisher=New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources |date=November 2, 2018 |accessdate=July 5, 2019}}</ref> it was added to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2003.<ref name=NHSRHP>{{cite web |title=New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places |url=https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/programs/state_register_listinged_prop.htm#listingsdate |publisher=New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources |accessdate=November 25, 2020}}</ref> The Molly Stark cannon, or "Old Molly", bears her name, and is kept by the New Boston Artillery Company, denoted by a New Hampshire historical marker (number 146).<ref name=ByNumber/> The Molly Stark Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is located in Manchester.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nhsodar.org/chapters.html |title=Chapters |website=New Hampshire Daughters of the American Revolution |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref>
===Ohio=== Numerous revolutionary war veterans settled in Ohio, so the General and his wife were honored there. Molly Stark Park is located in Nimishillen Township, Stark County, in northeastern Ohio.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://starkparks.com/parks/molly-stark-park/ |title=Molly Stark Park |website=starkparks.com |date=2 October 2015 |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref> It is the grounds of the former Molly Stark Hospital, which served as a tuberculosis sanatorium between 1929 and 1956 and as a general hospital and geriatric facility until 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://abandonedonline.net/location/molly-stark-sanatorium/|title=Molly Stark Sanatorium|last=Cahal|first=Sherman|date=2018-06-12|website=Abandoned|language=en-US|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-11}}{{sps|certain=y|date=October 2025}}</ref> In 2008, the county park board offered to buy the hospital and its grounds for a dollar, and the county opened the first public park in the township in April 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://starkparks.com/wp-content/uploads/MSP-Short-History.pdf |title=Molly Stark Park Short History |website=starkparks.com |accessdate=November 28, 2020}}</ref> The hospital was demolished in 2025.<ref>{{cite news|first=Grace|last=Springer|title=Say your goodbyes. Stark Parks demolishing the nearly 100-year-old Molly Stark Hospital|url=https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/stark-county/2025/10/03/stark-county-parks-demolishing-historic-hospital/86455334007/|work=The Repository|date=October 3, 2025|access-date=October 6, 2025}}</ref>
===Minnesota=== Molly Stark Lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, is named for her.<ref>{{cite book|last=Upham|first=Warren|title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance|url=https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog|year=1920|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|page=[https://archive.org/details/minnesotageogra00uphagoog/page/n421 402]}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://abandonedonline.net/location/molly-stark-sanatorium/ Molly Stark Sanatorium] at abandonedonline.net *[https://vtstateparks.com/mollystark.html Molly Stark State Park] at Vermont State Parks *[https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=130082 Molly Stark House Historical Marker] at hmdb.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Molly}} Category:Women in the American Revolution Category:People from colonial New Hampshire Category:People of New Hampshire in the American Revolution Category:People from Haverhill, Massachusetts Category:1737 births Category:1814 deaths Category:People from Dunbarton, New Hampshire