Why write about Marple in the 1850s?
By Sam Pickard
Today the Marple History Blog starts, “Marple in the 1850s,” a series of articles on life in Marple Township during the 1850s. While these posts will be shorter than normal for the Marple History Blog, for the next month or so, a new article in the series will be posted each week or two. If you want more information on what was going on in the United States and the wider world during the 1850s to put things in context, you can check out “What Happened in the 1850s?“.
Why the 1850s? First, Marple’s 19th century history is not particularly well documented in secondary sources, especially considering the focus that has been given to the 18th century in Lucy Simler’s book Marple Township: The First 100 Years or the excellent living history interpretation at the 1696 Thomas Massey House. Shining a light on this forgotten period of the township’s history can help us to better understand how it evolved into the place it is today.
Second, the 1850s are when we start getting decent township-wide records. The 1850 and 1860 censuses were the first two to give personal details about all inhabitants of a place, including their age, occupation, and place of birth. The agricultural and industrial schedules from the censuses likewise provide the ability to look at farming or industry in real detail. Additionally, we have better records from local Delaware County newspapers such as the Delaware County American & Media Advertiser or the Delaware County Republican as well as papers from Philadelphia.
Finally, the 1850s are a period that are simultaneously very different from and very familiar to the present day. As the ensuing articles (and the 1850s context) demonstrate, this was a time leading up to Civil War and a slower, more farm-focused society. Despite this, we see the beginnings of industrialization, railroads crisscrossing the land, and telegraphs allowing near-instant communication across oceans. It is this world which I hope we can explore in the coming weeks and gain some glimpses of what life might have been like in Marple Township of 160-some years ago. The first post is on the landscape of Marple Township in the 1850s, and can be found here: “Marple in the 1850s: The Landscape.”
Posts in the “Marple in the 1850s” series
Part Three: Farming