American Centuries

Pocumtuck Valley
Memorial Association

American Centuries > Essays

Essays

This collection of essays, written by PVMA staff, explore themes and topics relevant to the history of New England generally and Deerfield, Massachusetts in particular. They vary in length and reading level – some appropriate for students and others written for an adult or even scholarly reader.

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  • “Reading” Primary Sources: Guiding Questions
    Brief This essay provides guidance for investigating primary sources when performing research.

  • 1704–1790—Growth and Struggle
    Brief Settled in contested territory and at the crossroads of international conflict, Deerfield, Massachusetts, was a perilous place to live through the 1740s. By the 1790s, American independence and a new federal government transformed the town’s political and economic landscape. Deerfielders looked forward to the new century with great optimism.

  • A Glimpse at Deerfield in the Connecticut River Valley
    Brief The Civil War had a tremendous effect on the Deerfield, Massachusetts, community. Everything was changing- farming, transportation, communication, and population. How did Deerfield propose to cope with change and yet stay the same?

  • About Account Books
    Brief Mutual indebtedness was the rule in early America. Because there was little hard cash available, each transaction for goods and services was carefully recorded in account books with a monetary value assigned to it.

  • African American Historic Sites in Deerfield, Massachusetts
    In-depth Servitude took many forms in the 18th century. Indentured servants, whose contracts could be bought and sold, apprentices bound to labor for their masters for a set term, and the enslaved (often referred to as “servants for life”) were common sights in fields, shops and houses throughout the colonies. By the mid-18th century, 38% of households on Deerfield, Massachusetts’ mile-long main street included the enslaved.

  • African American: “Is this where Titus lived?”
    Brief Despite changes in the built environment, surviving evidence in the form of account books, wills, inventories and other sources informs and reminds us that dozens of enslaved people lived and worked on the Deerfield Street.

  • African American: A Web of Community
    Brief Servitude took many forms in the 18th century. Indentured servants, whose contracts could be bought and sold, apprentices bound to labor for their masters for a set term, and slaves were common sights in fields, shops and houses throughout the colonies.

  • African American: Control and Resistance
    Brief Slave owners, civic leaders, and ministers attempted to dictate most aspects of slaves’ lives.

  • African American: Slavery and the 18th-Century Family
    Brief What did it mean to be part of an 18th-century family? The family was a hierarchical unit headed by a patriarch (or his widow) who exercised authority over the entire family, including children, apprentices, servants, and slaves, and was accountable for their physical and spiritual well-being.

  • African American: Souls of the Enslaved
    Brief The civic and sacred life of the entire community, free and unfree, centered on the meeting house. Deerfield ministers baptized, admitted to membership, married, chastened, and reconciled numerous enslaved residents.

  • African-American Presence in Deerfield, Massachusetts
    In-depth In New England, enslaved and free African Americans left few historical materials for scholars to study. No diaries have been discovered; few inventories exist; correspondence is lacking; only scattered evidence in merchants’ account books, church and legal records documents their presence.

  • Agreeable to His Genius
    In-depth This is the story of a man named John Partridge Bull, an 18th-century blacksmith and gunsmith in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

  • American Revolution in the Connecticut River Valley
    In-depth What was life like in a village in the Connecticut River Valley on the eve of the American Revolution?

  • Captivity Literature
    Brief Native peoples began taking captives before the arrival of Euro-Americans and captive-taking among Native and European cultures persisted well into the 19th century across the continent. The fascination with captivity experiences has lasted to today, as has the literature about them.

  • Changes in Deerfield, Massachusetts Shown on Maps
    In-depth Maps and charts and drawings allow us to present vast amounts of information in a small amount of space. Two examples depict the village of Deerfield, Massachusetts – one as it was in 1794 and the other 36 years later, in 1830.

  • Children’s Amusements in the Early Nineteenth Century
    In-depth Toys from the early nineteenth century were usually homemade by the child or someone they knew, and some required skill to accomplish.

  • Creating a Genealogy – The Stebbins Family
    In-depth This essay presents the life story of one colonial family through the genealogy of John Stebbins.

  • Death and Community
    Brief Death rituals in the home and subsequent burial and mourning practices reveal much about community values and social classes.

  • Death and Dying in the 18th and 19th Centuries
    In-depth This essay provides detailed information about 18th and 19th century burying grounds (graveyards).

  • Dedham Grant (Pecumtuck)
    In-depth In response to the pleas of the people of Dedham, on May 27, 1663, the General Court of Massachusetts: “Judgeth it meet to grant Dedham 8000 acres Of land in any convenient place, or places not Exceeding two, where it can bee found free from former Grants.”