Biography
Elizabeth Page, who came to be called Molly Stark, was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire. She married General John Stark in 1758, who became a hero in the Battle of Bennington in 1777. Together, they had eleven children.
Stark was both nurse and doctor to her husband's troops, nursing them through a smallpox endemic, and turning her house into a hospital. She believed in the new practice of innoculation to defend against smallpox, but was denied the ability to use it by local officials.
Though she did not make the journey to Vermont, her husband famously invoked her name before the the Battle of Bennington. To inspire his American forces he reportedly said, "There are your enemies, the Red Coats and the Tories. They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!"
The Daughters of the American Revolution named the Manchester, New Hampshire chapter in her honor.
Many businesses, schools, and streets are named after Molly Stark in both New Hampshire and Vermont. Molly Stark Mountain is part of the Green Mountain Range. There is a Vermont State Park named after her in Wilmington, Vermont on the west slope of Mount Olga. The Molly Stark Trail, now Vermont Route 9, which winds its way through Bennington, Woodford, Wilmington, Marlboro, and Brattleboro, was the route taken by General Stark as he led his victorious troops home to New Hampshire after the defeat of the British in the Battle of Bennington. A bronze statue of Molly Stark has been erected in downtown Wilmington.Occupation
Nurse