Backwoods Consumers and Homespun Capitalists : The Rise of a Market Culture in Eastern Canada

Craig, Béatrice

From University of Toronto Press: "In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a local economy made up of settlers, loggers, and business people from Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and New England was established on the banks of the Upper St. John River....In 'Backwoods Consumers and Homespun Capitalists,' Béatrice Craig examines and describes this economy from its origins in the native fur trade, the growth of exportable wheat, the selling of food to new settlers, and of ton timbre to Britain. Craig vividly portrays the role of wives who sold homespun fabric and clothing to farmers, loggers, and river drivers, helping to bolster the community. The construction of saw, grist, and carding mills, and the establishment of stores, boarding houses, and taverns are all viewed as steps in the development of what the author calls 'homespun capitalists.'"

2009

en

Book

18th century - 19th century; Madawaska, Maine; Madawaska, New Brunswick

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