In 2015, when Erving resident Sara Campbell was working as a town engineer in Greenfield, she noticed two books in the town clerk’s office that peaked her interest. The books were labeled “Married Woman’s Business Certificates.”

“In Massachusetts, starting in 1855, the state started to define rights of married women. Single women had more rights than married women (prior to this),” said Campbell. “Once you were married, you became part of your husband. You had no rights. It was his business. A married woman’s money was his. You had no rights regarding the children.”

Upon doing further research, she discovered the Married Woman’s Property Act, which was enacted in Massachusetts in 1855. Several other states also enacted similar acts. One of the results of the act being passed were that women could register their own businesses.

“They must have known the law was there for a reason. Makes me wonder how they found out about the law,” Campbell said. “In the married ‘Women’s Business Certificates’ book there were a whole bunch of pre-printed forms where married women could register their business with the town clerk and make it a legal entity separate from their husband, although their husband’s names still had to be listed on the forms.”

Campbell has been able to identify similar forms at both the Gardner City Clerk’s office and Jones Public Library in Amherst on microfilm.

This interest in the certificates led Campbell and co-author Shari Strahan of Deerfield to write “Did Grandma Have a Filling Station? Greenfield Women and Their Historic Businesses,” available at Federal Street Books in Greenfield.

Campbell and Strahan first got to know each other when they worked together during the 2010 census.

The writing of the book began in 2020, when everyone was in COVID lockdown. Campbell and Strahan received several grants from the Greenfield Cultural Council to fund the book project.

“It was a big project, and I am glad to have the project at the point where it’s tied into a bow,” Campbell said.

The 12 women highlighted in the book had all filed Married Woman’s Business Certificates and had businesses dating from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. In the back of the book is a list of information from all of the certificates filed in Greenfield.

The title of the book came from a discovery Strahan made while she and Campbell were doing research for the book. The pair had taken photos of the Greenfield certificates in order to do further research from home to find more information about these business women.

Over the next weekend, they printed out the information they had photographed. Strahan said that as she was going through photographs she recognized the name of her grandparents Lilian (Koch) Strahan and her husband, Arthur.

“I texted Sara and said, ‘Did you know my grandmother was in here?’ and she replied, ‘No.’ ”

Strahan said despite being a family history nut since childhood, no one told her that her grandmother had worked outside of the home.

“I never knew she did anything other than being a housewife,” said Strahan. “I then posted on Facebook to older cousins, ‘Does anyone remember Nanny running a gas station?’ To which my older cousin replied, ‘Nanny?’ ”

Strahan began to do further research. The Cliff Valley View Filling Station and Convenience Store was documented in the 1924 certificates, at a time when she had three young children, and was listed in the 1925 Greenfield City Directory, Strahan said. The business was located on High Street, Strahan believes, in what is now in the vicinity of Tractor Supply in Greenfield. In 1926, the Strahans had moved to Florida. Strahan believes the business was a ruse.

“Grandfather was an entrepreneur, did house painting, sold fireworks and worked with punch cards. In 1924, he declared bankruptcy. So to protect assets, (the business) was put in her name,” Strahan said.

Another story highlighted in the book included that of Eva (Burke) Lamb, who married in 1901 and divorced in 1903. She was a nurse who came to Greenfield, married and took care of her husband.

“They were only together for a couple of years. He registered her for a grocery store, although there is no proof she ever opened one,” Strahan said.

Lamb’s husband left when she was pregnant with her second child and caring for their first child. She was a music teacher and singer at her church. When the divorce happened, her church rallied around her. Lamb had her second child in Canada. Both boys grew up to be successful.

“A lot of the information we found wasn’t about the business, it was more about who they were,” Campbell said.

Those highlighted in the book come from a variety of backgrounds, Campbell said. Some were immigrant families and others were old Greenfield families. The businesses they ran included farming, manufacturing and store ownership.

“We definitely saw a pattern. There were typical businesses — bird cages, hats, flowers, things fancy ladies would be doing,” Campbell said. “Several said they were farming. We are not sure if they were doing the farming. It was possible that it was land passed down to them and this was a way to be sure the land stayed in the family and passed down or that they had some control over it.”

Another reason they may have put something in the woman’s name was to protect the spouse.

“Even though she swears she is doing it on their own, it was to protect against bankruptcy,” Campbell said. “If the businesses failed, it was protecting the family from going broke.”

Campbell said what she has learned from writing the book is that “Everyone has a story ... Everyone should be telling their stories.”

The book is available at Federal Street books in Greenfield and can be purchased online at www.lulu.com/spotlight/scampbellpubs/.

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.