ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Elin Sager who was the manager of the Thorwoste family business between the years 1659–1669. It examines the alternatives that widows faced when their husbands died in a patriarchal society that set constraints on the female heads of a family business and its households. The chapter argues that Elin Sager did not represent the canon of humble, retreating, and pious widows as described by Enevaldus Svenovius in her funeral sermon. The case of Elin Sager clearly demonstrates that widow entrepreneurs could and did participate in the early modern business world. However, Enevaldus Svenonius did not mention that Elin Sager, during her ten years, three months and eight days of widowhood, had lead the family business and three iron works as the manager of one of the largest commercial enterprises of that time in Finland. Elin Sager possessed the skills and social and economic capital, and she brought all these to the family business through her marriage.
