This dissertation uses the extraordinary conflict that roiled one rural town in central Massachusetts during the second quarter of the nineteenth century as a lens through which to observe communal relationships in transition. Using the Amish as a model, the dissertation identifies traditional communal social organization as agrarian, patriarchal, communal, homogeneous, localistic, and consensual -- as well as closed, conformist, and suspicious of difference and innovation. The dissertation argues that conflict arose in Boylston during the 1820s and '30s as these traditional relationships gradually gave way to more modern ways of belonging, associating, and envisioning one's place in the wider world. Boylston by 1850, though still a farming town, was significantly more pluralistic, partisan, and cosmopolitan. Belonging had become a function of one's chosen identity.
The process of transition -- a temporal borderland -- was uneven -- contested and negotiated -- engendering struggles between townsmen, among neighbors, within families, and in the hearts of individuals. Ultimately, it is a story of the ways in which one family, and the community in which it lived, experienced the "coming of modernity.".
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation uses the extraordinary conflict that roiled one rural town in central Massachusetts during the second quarter of the nineteenth century as a lens through which to observe communal relationships in transition. Using the Amish as a model, the dissertation identifies traditional communal social organization as agrarian, patriarchal, communal, homogeneous, localistic, and consensual -- as well as closed, conformist, and suspicious of difference and innovation. The dissertation argues that conflict arose in Boylston during the 1820s and '30s as these traditional relationships gradually gave way to more modern ways of belonging, associating, and envisioning one's place in the wider world. Boylston by 1850, though still a farming town, was significantly more pluralistic, partisan, and cosmopolitan. Belonging had become a function of one's chosen identity.</p><p>The process of transition -- a temporal borderland -- was uneven -- contested and negotiated -- engendering struggles between townsmen, among neighbors, within families, and in the hearts of individuals. Ultimately, it is a story of the ways in which one family, and the community in which it lived, experienced the "coming of modernity.".</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Fuhrer, Mary Babson"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["W Jeffrey Bolster"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:22:31Z","subjects":["History","United States","American Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/591","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["W Jeffrey Bolster"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Fuhrer, Mary Babson"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["History","United States","American Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/591"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation uses the extraordinary conflict that roiled one rural town in central Massachusetts during the second quarter of the nineteenth century as a lens through which to observe communal relationships in transition. Using the Amish as a model, the dissertation identifies traditional communal social organization as agrarian, patriarchal, communal, homogeneous, localistic, and consensual -- as well as closed, conformist, and suspicious of difference and innovation. The dissertation argues that conflict arose in Boylston during the 1820s and '30s as these traditional relationships gradually gave way to more modern ways of belonging, associating, and envisioning one's place in the wider world. Boylston by 1850, though still a farming town, was significantly more pluralistic, partisan, and cosmopolitan. Belonging had become a function of one's chosen identity.
The process of transition -- a temporal borderland -- was uneven -- contested and negotiated -- engendering struggles between townsmen, among neighbors, within families, and in the hearts of individuals. Ultimately, it is a story of the ways in which one family, and the community in which it lived, experienced the "coming of modernity.".
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"This wilderness world\": The evolution of a New England farm town, 1820--1840"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["W Jeffrey Bolster"],"dc:creator":["Fuhrer, Mary Babson"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation uses the extraordinary conflict that roiled one rural town in central Massachusetts during the second quarter of the nineteenth century as a lens through which to observe communal relationships in transition. Using the Amish as a model, the dissertation identifies traditional communal social organization as agrarian, patriarchal, communal, homogeneous, localistic, and consensual -- as well as closed, conformist, and suspicious of difference and innovation. The dissertation argues that conflict arose in Boylston during the 1820s and '30s as these traditional relationships gradually gave way to more modern ways of belonging, associating, and envisioning one's place in the wider world. Boylston by 1850, though still a farming town, was significantly more pluralistic, partisan, and cosmopolitan. Belonging had become a function of one's chosen identity.
The process of transition -- a temporal borderland -- was uneven -- contested and negotiated -- engendering struggles between townsmen, among neighbors, within families, and in the hearts of individuals. Ultimately, it is a story of the ways in which one family, and the community in which it lived, experienced the "coming of modernity.".
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/591"],"dc:subject":["History","United States","American Studies"],"dc:title":["\"This wilderness world\": The evolution of a New England farm town, 1820--1840"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:22:31Z"}