The law didn't recognize a woman's "right" to pass citizenship to one foreign born, until 1934. Her ability to pass her citizenship to a child born abroad depended on her being married to a man who had been a resident (alien) of the US for a certain number of years.
Bellei does a good job of describing the changes in naturalization laws from 1790 until the time Bellei was born. As you no doubt know, the naturalization statutes are more liberal now.
The essence of your point is absolutely true. Citizenship at the time of the founding was a function of place of birth and the father's citizenship. The wife/mother's citizenship was not a factor for birth in wedlock.
My remarks above are just on the subject of citizenship. NBC is a different inquiry, and the 14th amendment made no change relating to NBC, in my view at any rate.
Yes, and was common of that period, the wife assumed the husband’s citizenship.