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Rachel Lovell Wells (1735-1796) grew up in New Jersey with her sister Patience Lovell Wright. Wells started her artistic career when she was fairly young with her sister using bread and clay. She then went on to become a wax sculptor and entrepreneur. Wells made a fairly good living by selling her wax sculptures. During the time of the Revolutionary War (1774-1783), Wells had enough money to spare to lend some to help the war effort. She loaned to the state of New Jersey. Rachel Lovell Wells' effort to petition the Continental Congress for her money back that she loaned the state made her a very prominent woman in New Jersey. Along with being an important woman in New Jersey, Wells and her sister became well known during the Revolutionary War for being credited with spying.

Background
Rachel Lovell Wells was born in 1735 in Crosswicks, New Jersey. When Wells was young, she and her siblings grew up making artworks with bread and clay. After creating their pieces of art with bread and clay, they dyed them with natural dyes to give them color. In Rachel Wells’ artistic career she began working with wax and wax sculptures. Her sister, Patience Lovell Wright, helped her come up with the idea of using wax to create contemporary pieces. Patience created more modern creations, while Rachel sculpted biblical figures. They went on to use their artwork to form businesses and made money in their own homes.

Impact on War
Rachel Lovell Wells and her sister Patience Lovell Wright are known for spying during the Revolutionary War. Patience married Joseph Wright in 1748. lived in England during the time of the Revolutionary War and is credited with spying on the British. Spying on the British during the war was an extremely dangerous task and could come with very dangerous consequences. If Patience would have been exposed to the British, there was a high possibility that she could have ended up being captured and killed. Wright also gathered a group of pro-American activists in London raised money for the American prisoners of war. The activists in London also uncovered secret military evidence about the British. She then used her wax heads as a way to transport the information. In 1773, Wells received a wax head of Lord Chatham from Patience that contained hidden dispatches. Neither of the sisters ended up getting caught.

Women After the War
During the Revolutionary War, Rachel Lovell Wells did her part in helping out the war effort. She loaned a considerable amount of money to her home state of New Jersey. The Revolutionary War then ended in September of 1783. Two years later, Wells found herself in a situation that many other women also found themselves in during this time. Due to the very difficult circumstances she was in, she petitioned the state of New Jersey to repay her the money that she had loaned. The women’s responses to the hard situations they were in gained them a lot of recognition after the war.

See Also:

 * 1) Patience Lovell Wright
 * 2) Jospeh Wright