Hudson Valley Bookshelf
An Extraordinary Chronicle of Ordinary People
by Frances Sandiford
Book review of Dutchess County's Plain Folks: Enduring uncertainty, inequality, and uneven prosperity, 1725-1875, by William P. McDermott. Kerleen Press, Clinton Corners. Paperback, 244 pages. $20. Available from local booksellers.
As a life-long Dutchess County resident, I was taught county history in grade school. The most coverage for the 1600s was given to landlord-settlers like the Clintons, Livingstons, Verplancks and Schuylers, but I knew that "plain folks" like my own ancestors had lived here too. It was just that the history books didn't talk about them. To my delight, town of Clinton resident William McDermott has written a non-traditional chronicle about the ordinary people who lived here between 1725 and 1875. While the landlords dominated the money interests of the county, these laborers, tenant farmers, millers and others fueled its cultural growth. Besides talking about these working people as a whole, McDermott has selected several for in depth biographies. These chapters are some of the most absorbing in the book.
Elizabeth Flagler Allen (1688-1755) a Palatine immigrant, appears to have had the charm and business acumen of an 18th-century Martha Stewart. Married and widowed three times and the mother of eight children, she was business savvy, and in legal maneuvers distinguished herself by winning legal battles with elite landlords over boundary disputes. She passed along her skills, numbering among her descendants Henry Flagler, cofounder of Standard Oil, and Mary Flagler Cary, donor of Cary Arboretum in the Town of Washington.
Amanda Halstead Deyo (1838-1917) was a thoroughly modern woman. A wife, mother, and Universalist minister and endowed with an excellent speaking voice, she was able to attract 2,500 people to her talks on world peace. She also scattered her talks with admonitions to women not to "act like a little, creeping, craving, clinging spirit," and in later years worked for women's suffrage, appearing at meetings alongside Susan B. Anthony.
George Atkins was a farm laborer who, despite hard work, could never get ahead. McDermott traces his life in Schultzville by following entries in the log book of the local store where George made his purchases. He and his family lived from hand to mouth, never able to afford a horse for transportation, let alone a farm of his own. For two precious years, George was the manager of a mill, but due to what might have been a disagreement with the owner he lost the job. Although people like George were vital to the county's economy, McDermott points out that their rewards were only "scraps" of the economic pie.
Lest we think that slavery flourished only in the South, read McDermott's chapter on its 160-year history in Dutchess County. Needing the free labor to take care of his vast land holdings, wealthy landlords like Henry Beekman imported hundreds of slaves to work for him. McDermott bemoans that little is known about the lives of individual slaves, only speculating that life on a one-slave farm, where the slave was cut off from companionship with his own kind and dared not be too friendly with his owners, must have been lonely indeed.
McDermott includes several chapters on the daily lives of the county's "plain folks": they made their own clothing, voted for elected officials, had their weddings and parties, and in general made the best of what was available to them. In general, I feel that McDermott succeeds in his goal of illuminating "these historically invisible contributors to the county's development" and provides an overall good read as well. If the book's tendency to "walk" out of nearby libraries is any indication, local readers seem to agree.
The Human Face of Famine
by Cait Johnson
Book review of The Keeners by Maura D. Shaw, Medallion Press. Hardcover, $35.95.
Many Irish-Americans suffer from a sort of collective amnesia about the past, or, to use a phrase from popular psychology, a kind of mass denial. "Irish-American families never talked about the famine that brought their ancestors here," recalls local author Maura D. Shaw, whose novel, The Keeners, is set in Ireland during the 1840s potato blight which resulted in a famine that killed millions of people and spawned a wave of immigration to the New World. "There was a kind of shame about it, and a deep desire to forget it and get on with the business of living." But as most therapists will tell you, trauma that has gone underground in the psyche--whether individual or collective--will fester there.
"I wrote The Keeners because I wanted to offer a way of healing. The actions of the British government in response to the famine fostered so much bitter hatred. Basically they decided that Irish land was more profitably used to graze beef cattle than to support its people. Those in power simply allowed the people to die. And of course, that hatred is still very much alive today. I saw The Keeners as a way to purge the enmity and begin to resolve the divisions. First you have to come to terms with the terrible loss and grief and anger. But the book celebrates the incredible will to live that is part of the Irish legacy."
The heroine of the novel is Margaret Meehan, a feisty 17-year-old girl whose family and village are caught in the devastation of the blight; the wild beauty of County Clare is the backdrop for her story of loss, rage, and revenge gone awry. Parts of the book are inescapably gritty (as Shaw says, "I went on several research trips to Ireland. My husband and I visited one golf course which had been built over a mass gravesite. We went looking for the old workhouses and the fever hospitals where so many thousands, weakened by starvation, came to die. It wasn't most people's idea of a fun vacation!") But the author infuses even the most difficult material with warmth and generosity of spirit. Ultimately, Margaret's story becomes one of hope as she and her lover, a revolutionary who now has a price on his head, flee their homeland for Troy, New York, a haven for many Irish immigrants. The author has clearly done her research and the result is both fascinating and highly readable, whether you are an Irish American or not: Shaw has succeeded in showing the human face of famine in a way the reader will not forget. The Keeners is available at all of our local bookstores.
Of course, famine is still very much with us and now, as then, it is often the result of botched priorities. As Shaw points out, "When governments decide that profit is more important than people, then human life becomes expendable. It's really about justice." On a different but related note, as a friend recently said, part of the world is starving, while the other part obsesses about losing weight. For those of us who are clearly "haves," there are concrete and helpful ways to benefit the "have-nots." To find out how you can help, go to www.bread.org.
Other Books Recently Published by Local Authors
Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America by Fergus Bordewich. Amistad Press, Hardcover, $27.95
Innocent, Your Honor: A Book of Lawyer Cartoons, by Danny Shanahan. Harry Abrams, Hardcover, $19.95
The Wedding Ceremony Planner: The Essential Guide to the Most Important Part of Your Wedding Day by Reverend Judith Johnson, Ph.D. Sourcebooks Casablanca. Paperback, $16.95.
