A book on a rather esoteric subject that turned out to be quite interesting. Author Gabrielle Lanier is a history professor at James Mason University; I suspect The Delaware Valley in the Early Republic started out as a scholarly paper – perhaps several scholarly papers, because the major sections of the book don’t connect very well. The “Delaware Valley” area covered encompasses southeastern Pennsylvania, southwestern New Jersey, eastern Maryland, and all of Delaware. And the time period covered is from independence – with some flashbacks to the colonial period – to about 1820 or so.

Lanier’s initial chapters discuss ethnic differences in the area – “Dutch” (i.e., people of German ancestry) versus “English” (i.e., people ancestrally from the UK) as exemplified by the way they built their houses and managed their farms. Contemporaries complained that the Germans were very industrious about agricultural property but neglectful – by “English” standards – in household comforts. Lanier has the benefit of a property tax assessments for a part of the area, which allows her to note these comments were partially true; people of German ancestry consistently owned large and more valuable properties than nonGermans. In architecture, German houses typically had a large kitchen – occupying half the house – and heated with stoves connected to a central chimney, while English houses used fireplaces with chimneys on opposite ends of the house. I’ll have to look more carefully when I’m back in that area.

The focus then shifts to Delaware, and more discussion of property ownership and ethnicity. Delaware was a slave state, but the slave population was relatively small, less than 10%. Although Lanier doesn’t go into details Delaware seems to have had a “kinder, gentler” attitude toward slavery than the more southern states. Records show some slaves were held for specific periods, then freed – more like indentured servants – and the areas of Delaware Lanier covers had a large free black population – almost 40%. Some of the free blacks had fairly extensive property by contemporary standards – livestock and often a small business (cooper or joiners shop) in addition to the farm. On the negative side, free blacks were subject to kidnapping and sale further south; Lanier notes there was might be called a “reverse underground railroad” in operation.

Another theme, which had some resonance for me as a native of the western US, involved people’s use of water. In the west many of the early settles banded together to obtain water by digging irrigation ditches; there were similar efforts in this area but in the other direction; people formed associations to build embankments keeping water out of reclaimed land. I wonder if water law has the same degree of complexity in Lanier’s area.

Not a light reading book; very scholarly and detailed, but not jargon-ridden. Since a lot of Lanier’s focus is on domestic architecture, there are many floor plans and photographs of houses. A long appendix with detailed tables extracted from tax records – wealth distribution, land ownership, population makeup, etc. Extensive endnotes and references. Not a “page turner” but quite interesting. ( )