The story of Asaph Perry

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ETHEL STORY LINE
Opening Marriage Business Woman Amanda Westbrook Church Mother

This "charming young lady," as the Cherokee Advance newspaper announced her, Amanda Westbrook, moved in with the Perry family in the early 1900s. Not yet married, nor at home with her parents, she moved to town with her cousin to help Ethel with her seamstress business and to strategically place herself in a "larger" market for a husband.

Many of her Atlanta contemporaries would come to be known as women adrift. They have moved to the industrial centers for work, but lack the legitimacy gained through proper supervision. They live in women's homes or on their own. Miss Westbrook, had the best of both worlds, being in a small industrial hub where her modesty is assured by the chaperoning eye of Ethel. Amanda, free from a possibly over-protective father's eye, could entertain suitors, work for her own money, and maybe most importantly, be free from any stigma associated with the women adrift who sought factory jobs in Atlanta.

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Writing the Story

The story of Amanda Westbrook gives us another opportunity to consider women in the late 19th century. We know very little of Amanda, other than that she was a cousin of Ethel's and she lived with her for a brief period of time. Instead of simply stating these obvious and seemingly benign facts, we inferred a bit more, suggesting that Amanda was representative of a coming of age story, rooted in the conventions of time and place.