Mary (Dunbar) Sweet Cowley, a dancing school mistress and innkeeper, was born on 30 May 1712 in Newport, Rhode Island and died 6 January,1791. She first married mariner William Sweet but by 1756 she was widowed with children to support. On 8 January 1757, she was married to Joseph Cowley at Trinity Church in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1758 she was once again widowed. Some sources state she had up to seven children, though their names remain undocumented.
Mrs. Cowley became Newport’s best-known “dancing-mistress.” This was at a time when men (dancing masters) dominated the field. Women, especially single women were looked upon with suspicion. She tuned to newspaper advertisements to defend her insistence on decorum and manners. Her advertisement claims, “A Dancing-School aims to improve manners and behavior, not just provide entertainment or exercise.”
She announced rules for her Thursday night school in the Newport Mercury of 19 December 1763, insisting on “good Character,” “Decency,” and even a fine “for the Benefit of the Fiddlers” if anyone broke up the school before 9. She advertised regularly from the 1760s into the late 1780s. During the British occupation and after, she ran the Crown Coffee House and let rooms from her Church Street home, which also served as assembly rooms.
Once again, we find a compelling example of resilience, creativity and strength of American colonial women.
