Middling Folk: Three Seas, Three Centuries, One Scots-Irish Family
4/5
()
About this ebook
Historians and biographers have traditionally favored stories of the powerful and the trends they set in motion. More recently, they've spotlighted the neglected lives of the disenfranchised and dispossessed. But, asks Linda H. Matthews, descendant of the pragmatic, adaptable, and lively Hammill family, who tells the stories of the people in the middle?
Spanning three centuries and three seas, from the bluffs of Scotland and Ireland to colonial Chesapeake Bay and Virginia, then across the expanding nation into the Pacific Northwest, Middling Folk makes the compelling case that the experiences of the middle classes--those who quietly, century after century, conducted the business and built the livelihoods that made their societies prosper--reveal a great deal about the founding of the United States and the ways in which customs and traditions are perpetuated through the generations.
Matthews combines meticulous research and deft storytelling to show how the Scots-Irish Hammills--millers, wagon makers, and blacksmiths--lived out their lives against a backdrop of the American Revolution, the Civil War, and westward expansion. Readers will come away with a newfound respect for the ordinary families who helped shape this country and managed to hold their own through turbulent times.
Related to Middling Folk
Related ebooks
Land of The Burnt Thigh: A Lively Story of Women Homesteaders On The South Dakota Frontier Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Slavery & the Underground Railroad in New Hampshire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Scotch-Irish: A Social History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scotch Irish Pioneers In Ulster And America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Historic Photos of Appalachia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilkenny Folk Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Polish Community of Gary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Graves Are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Caledonia County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsColonial New England Curiosities: Remarkable Occurrences, Miracles & Madness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Brethren: The Brothertown and Stockbridge Indians and the Problem of Race in Early America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomenfolks: Growing Up Down South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who Do the English Think They Are?: From the Anglo-Saxons to Brexit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlantic Canada's Irish Immigrants: A Fish and Timber Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of the Piedmont Triad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked New Haven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Skeptic's Guide to Writers' Houses Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Irish Americans: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden in Plain Sight: A History of the Newberry Mass Lynching of 1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Directions in Local History Since Hoskins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans' Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Irish Ghost Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Welsh Genealogy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sitting Up with the Dead: A Storied Journey through the American South Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/51916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braddock, Allegheny County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuthorized to Heal: Gender, Class, and the Transformation of Medicine in Appalachia, 1880-1930 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Historical Biographies For You
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twelve Years a Slave (Illustrated) (Two Pence books) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer: An Edgar Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil and Harper Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank (The Definitive Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank Remembered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shakespeare: The World as Stage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/518 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Middling Folk
11 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why was I so fascinated by a family history of someone else's family? It's a thoughtfully written history that goes beyond listings of vital statistics and facts to put the family into its geographical and social context across several generations. The author's Hammill family were affected by the same events and conditions that affected everyone else living the United States at the same time, such as the American Revolution and the Civil War. Reading about the impact of these events on the Hammill family gives me an idea of some of the choices available to my own ancestors who lived at the same time. Recommended for readers with an interest in family history or social history in the United States, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Linda Matthews very ably demonstrates how we can give life to our ancestors by incorporating social history, diaries, and other materials into the narrative to offer a fuller and richer understanding of their lives. She takes her Hammill ancestors and moves them from Scotland to Ireland and then to America. While the family eventually settled in Prince William County, Virginia, she offers glimpses of their lives before in Maryland and afterwards in Washington state as well. This is a very readable family history. The author does a great job making it clear what is documented and what is possible or probable based on various factors. She does take liberty in some clearly identified "aside" chapters to fictionalize accounts based on what she has discovered. I did feel that the narrative bogged down a bit in places, particularly in the information she learned from Southern Claims Commission records, but overall this is a very well-done book. Anyone interested in genealogy should read this to see how a readable family history can be accomplished.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprisingly interesting history of a middle-class family from its roots in Scotland to the present-day in the American Northwest. The author is a descendant whose father researched deeply into their genealogy. Ms. Matthews, who has been both a professor of Medieval Studies at Northwestern University and founder/publisher of Chicago Review Press, has a very engaging writing style and an appealing inquisitiveness that encourages the reader through the sometimes confusing string of Hughs, Williams, and Katharines. Offers fascinating insights on some world-historical events through the eyes of seldom-heard-from "middling folk" participants.