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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1994 "A handsomely improved place" : economic, social, and gender- role development in a backcountry town, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1750-1810 Judith A. Ridner College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Geography Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ridner, Judith A., ""A handsomely improved place" : economic, social, and gender-role development in a backcountry town, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1750-1810" (1994). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623849. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-d4m5-wb78 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. 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Further Further reproduction reproduction prohibited prohibited without without permission. permission. Order N um ber 943S58S “A handsomely improved place”: Economic, social, and gender-role development in a backcountry town, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1750-1810 Ridner, Judith Anne, Ph.D. The College of William and Mary, 1994 Copyright ©1995 by Ridner, Judith Anne. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of of the the copyright copyright owner. owner. Further Further reproduction reproduction prohibited prohibited without without permission. permission. "A HANDSOMELY IMPROVED PLACE": ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND GENDER-ROLE DEVELOPMENT IN A BACKCOUNTRY TOWN, CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA, 1750-1810 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Judith Anne Ridner 1994 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Judith Anne Ridner Approved, December 1993 ames P. Whittenburg lby Thomas F. Shephard William Speck Harrison Professor «l»_j Richard S. Dunn University of Pennsylvania ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ..................................... vi LIST OF MAPS .................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................... x ABSTRACT ........................................... xi INTRODUCTION ........................................ 2 CHAPTER I. THE SETTING ............................. 8 CHAPTER II. THE TOWN IS TO BE CALLED CARLISLE ____ 25 CHAPTER III. SHALL THE TOWN BE PEACEABLE AND FLOURISH?: WAR AND SOCIETY IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD .............. 77 CHAPTER IV. "ALMOST ALL TRADES ARE CARRIED ON HERE": OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR .............. 155 CHAPTER V. TRADE, TRANSPORT, AND ECONOMIC MENTALITE ...................... 232 CHAPTER VI. "TO LOVE THEIR WIVES AS THEMSELVES?": HUSBANDS AND WIVES IN THE BACKCOUNTRY .................... 304 CHAPTER VII. THE SELF-FASHIONING OF CARLISLE'S ELITE .......................... 367 CONCLUSION ........................................ 428 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... 433 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like most dissertation writers, I have had a love-hate relationship with this long-term project. While the process of researching, writing, and conceptualizing my dissertation has brought many valuable intellectual rewards, challenges, and moments of euphoria that have pushed me to mature as a scholar as well as an individual, this process has also been punctuated by periods of intense frustration, anxiety, and stress. Having finally reached the end of my career as a graduate student, I would like to thank those individuals who have been particularly instrumental in helping me to appreciate the good in my life and my work and overlook the bad. First and foremost among them is my husband, Tom Legg, who more than anyone else, gave me the encouragement and confidence I needed to exceed my own expectations and do the best work I could possibly do. Ready with comforting words as well as warnings to "get tough" when I needed it, he has always been by my side as a constant source of support and understanding. Several other individuals have known me since I arrived in Williamsburg as a naive, but enthusiastic, twenty-two year old, ready to embark on what then was to be a finite year of study at the M.A. level. Among them is my advisor, James P. Whittenburg, who lured me into early American history and was instrumental in my decision to remain at William and Mary for the Ph.D.. Aside from being a truly great human being, he has been a wonderful advisor— forthcoming with advice and counsel when I needed it, but willing to let me go off by myself to get the job done. Also among these people is a friend from my M.A. year— Amy Kowalski— who has been an on-going source of companionship and entertainment. Although we both came to realize that there was no dissertation or thesis "fairy" as we had hoped, we weathered the personal traumas of getting our works completed and made few shopping expeditions every now and again to preserve our sanity. Another group of colleagues at William and Mary has also been a ready source of advice, companionship, and commiseration over the many years we have all been together. They include: John Barrington, Suzanne Coffman, Chris Hendricks, Ann Smart-Martin, Julie Richter, Wade Shaffer, and Susan Wiard. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I would also like to thank Richard Dunn, Director of the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies, for not only giving me the opportunity to spend a year in Philadelphia as a Dissertation Fellow at the Center, but also for giving some his own time to serve as the outside reader for this work. My year in Philadelphia was professionally and personally rewarding, as I had the chance to get to know a truly wonderful group of people who I hope will be friends and colleagues for life. Special thanks must go to Rose Beiler, Donna Rilling, Anne Verplanck, and Jim Williams for sharing their wisdom, friendship, and gossip with me. They, along with my other colleagues at the Center— Wayne Bodle, Thane Bryant, Allen Guelzo, John Hart, Roderick McDonald, and John Majewski— deserve many thanks for not only the prodigious amount of historical information they offered, but also for the many entertaining lunches we all spent together. The final completion of this project would not have been possible without the input, comments, and thoughts of many other scholars and colleagues. I wish to extend special thanks to the other members of my dissertation committee, John Selby, Thomas Sheppard, and William Speck, for taking time from their own busy schedules to read and comment upon my work. Parts of this work were presented at the Philadelphia Center Seminar, the Shenandoah Valley Regional Studies Seminar, and the Institute for Early American History and Culture Colloquium. I would like to thank all those who attended these seminars for their valuable insights and comments. Since no project of this scope is completed without the assistance of many librarians and archivists,