Local Merchants and the Regional Economy of the Connecticut River

Sacred Heart University DigitalCommons@SHU Sociology Faculty Publications Sociology Department 1989 Local Merchants and the Regional Economy of the Connecticut River Valley Gerald F Reid Sacred Heart University, reidg@sacredheart.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/sociol_fac Part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Reid, Gerald F "Local Merchants and the Regional Economy of the Connecticut River Valley." Historical Journal of Massachusetts (1989) 17:1, pp 1-16 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sociology Department at DigitalCommons@SHU It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@SHU For more information, please contact ferribyp@sacredheart.edu Local M e r c h a n t s and t h e Regional Economy of t h e Connecticut River Valley Gerald F Reid This paper focuses on valley/hill town interactions and regional economic processes in the u p p e r Connecticut R i v e r Valley of Massachusetts during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Merchants, those individuals involved in the trading and m o v e m e n t of commodities, are an especially useful point of d e p a r t u r e for investigating such concerns because they operated in the economic space between communities, towns, and regions A t t e n t i o n to their activities is likely to tell us a good deal a b o u t economic interaction across space and" over long distances in early A m e r i c a a n d , specifically, about economic interactions between valley towns and hill towns in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries T h e account and day books of merchants are especially useful in this regard because t h e y record, often in m i n u t e detail, the owner's transactions with customers, business partners, employees, and other merchants, the timing of such transactions, and the goods, cash, a n d labor involved In this p a p e r , the account and day books of four Greenfield area merchants are examined The records of Caleb Alvord, Caleb Alvord Jr., Sylvester Allen, and R o b e r t Williams cover the period from 1795 to 1823 Valley A version of this paper was delivered at the colloquium on "Hills and Valleys: Upland and Lowland Towns in Western Massachusetts, 1750-1860," held at Historic Deerfield, March 22, 1986 Caleb Alvord and Caleb Alvord Jr., Account Book, 1795-1813; Sylvester Allen, Account Book, 1815-1825; Robert Williams, Day Books, 1817-1823 The Alvord Historical Journal of Massachusetts* Winter 1989 t o w n / h i l l town interactions a n d regional e c o n o m i c processes in the Greenfield area are viewed from the perspective of these merchants T h e e c o n o m y of the C o n n e c t i c u t R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the eighteenth and early n i n e t e e n t h centuries was in part an agricultural export economy T h e agricultural e x p o r t e c o n o m y developed d u r i n g the seventeenth c e n t u r y as a p r o d u c t of the suitability of the valley lowlands for grain p r o d u c t i o n a n d the a b u n d a n c e of forests in the uplands; valley grains a n d forest products were in d e m a n d in E u r o p e and elsewhere in the n o r t h e r n colonies and, thus, brought m u c h n e e d e d hard c u r r e n c y and European imports.3 T h e agricultural export economy b e c a m e firmly established d u r i n g the last q u a r t e r of the seventeenth c e n t u r y , with the d e v e l o p m e n t of plantation agriculture in the West Indies and the consequent n e w and growing d e m a n d s for agricultural staples and forest p r o d u c t i o n During the s e v e n t e e n t h a n d e i g h t e e n t h centuries farm production in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley was generalized, oriented in part to household needs and local d e m a n d s , but also to generating some m a r k e t a b l e surpluses that p r o v i d e d households with the ability to purchase the p r o d u c e and finished and unfinished goods w h i c h t h e y could n o t o r did not p r o d u c e themselves K e y participants in this e c o n o m y were the merchants in river towns and their agents or small-scale traders in c o u n t r y stores, who gathered together the small surpluses of individual farms, processed and p r e p a r e d them for s h i p m e n t , and moved them to the major "bulking" points at N o r t h a m p t o n or Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford or M i d d l e t o w n , C o n n e c t i c u t T h e r e the surpluses were assembled with the goods and p r o d u c e of other and Allen account books and the WilHamB day books are filed at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Memorial Library, Deerfield Howard S Russell, A Long Deep Furrow: Three Centuries of Farming in New England (Hanover, New Hampshire, 1982), pp 22-23, 37; William B Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, 1620-1789 (Boston, 1963), pp 833-834 Russell, A Long Deep Furrow, p 35 Margaret E Martin, "Merchants and Trade in the Connecticut River Valley, 1750-1820," Smith College Studies in History 24 (1839); Robert Paynter, Models of Spatial Inequality (New York, 1982) Local M e r c h a n t s and the Regional E c o n o m y m e r c h a n t s , loaded onto sloops and schooners, and shipped to major ports such as Boston and N e w Y o r k , a n d from there on to the southern colonies, the West Indies, a n d E u r o p e Some valley m e r c h a n t s operated on a larger scale and managed considerable trade with the southern colonies and the West Indies Hartford m e r c h a n t s , in particular, were c o n c e r n e d with the West Indies trade T h e y exported cattle, horses, foodstuff, l u m b e r , and home m a n u f a c t u r e s , and in return obtained sugar, molasses, r u m , salt, and other tropical p r o d u c e , which they sold to their clients in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley or to merchants in Boston and other major ports Few Connecticut R i v e r Valley m e r c h a n t s had direct access to E u r o p e a n trade goods; r a t h e r , by means of the profits and credits earned in the West Indies and coastal trade, they p u r c h a s e d stocks of E u r o p e a n goods from the larger mercantile firms in the major port cities Very often it was the case that the larger and more successful valley m e r c h a n t s sold their stock of i m p o r t e d goods on a wholesale basis to smaller merchants and traders, who then sold directly to consumers By the second half of the eighteenth c e n t u r y , this e x p o r t - i m p o r t trade was active enough and e x p a n d i n g sufficiently to s u p p o r t a growing n u m b e r of m e r c h a n t s T h e high point of the agricultural export economy in the C o n n e c t i c u t R i v e r Valley was reached d u r i n g the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, w h e n the West Indies trade b o o m e d and d e m a n d for the region's agricultural and forest products peaked Accompanying this economic expansion was a geographical expansion of the agricultural export economy As the edge of the export economy was p u s h e d further into western and n o r t h e r n New E n g l a n d , the Greenfield area emerged as an i m p o r t a n t point of exchange in the u p p e r Connecticut R i v e r Valley for the bulking of agricultural and forest products and the distribution of i m p o r t e d trade goods and p r o d u c e When canal Martin, "Merchants and Trade." Ibid., p 14 Ibid., pp 15-16 Ibid., p 12 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 systems were completed on the Connecticut R i v e r a r o u n d t h e falls at Hadley and Montague in the early nineteenth c e n t u r y , it became possible for river traffic to reach the Greenfield area with heavy trade goods That increased the importance of Greenfield's role as a bulking and distribution point for the u p p e r C o n n e c t i c u t River Valley During the second a n d third decades of the nineteenth century, the valley e c o n o m y shifted a w a y from agricultural exports and gradually reorganized around manufacturing, commerce, a n d agriculture geared to the d e m a n d s of domestic urban and industrial markets This transition was b r o u g h t about by a n u m b e r of factors, b u t principal among these w e r e the interruptions in foreign trade in the period preceding and d u r i n g the War of 1812 and the decline after 1815 in E u r o p e a n and West Indian d e m a n d for A m e r i c a n agricultural staples In effect, these developments served to deflect capital investment from foreign trade and into domestic commerce a n d m a n u f a c t u r i n g , 1 Initially, valley merchants and merchant capital played a key role in this transition, t h r o u g h investments in the region's t r a n s p o r t a t i o n , financial, and industrial infrastructure By the 1840s, h o w e v e r , external, especially Boston-based, capital interests were attracted to the region and provided the d r i v i n g force behind the regional economic development T h e mercantile operations of Caleb A l v o r d a n d Caleb Alvord Jr in many ways reflected the organization of m e r c h a n t activities in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Caleb Alvord was a resident of Bernardston, whose trading activities during the 1790s were based in Greenfield a n d at Cheapside L a n d i n g on the 10 Francis M Thompson, History of Greenfield, 1682-1800 (Greenfield, 1904), pp 506-507; Paul Jenkins, The Conservative Rebel (Greenfield, 1982), pp 50-51 11 Martin, "Merchants and Trade"; James A Henretta, "Families and Farms: Mentalite in Pre-Industrial America", William and Mary Quarterly 35 (1978): 193; Douglas C North, The Economic Growth of the United States (New York, 1966), pp 67-68, 71-73, 182-187 12 Martin, "Merchants and Trade"; Vera Shlakman, Economic History of j» Factory Town: A Study of Chicopee, Massachusetts (New York, 1969), pp 24-47; Gerald F Reid, "Dependence to Development: A World Systems Analysis of Elite Formation in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 1770s-1840s," Ph.D dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, 1987 Local Merchants and the Regional E c o n o m y Connecticut R i v e r in Deerfield According to the accounts of his business dealings, Alvord's trade consisted of b u y i n g up agricultural produce from local farmers a n d selling t h e m i m p o r t e d and domestic goods It is not clear when Alvord began this trade, but it certainly began by 1795 By 1796, he had joined in business with two associates and operated under the name of "Caleb Alvord and Company." At that time, the company was advertising the sale of E u r o p e a n and West Indian goods and was taking in exchange a variety of agricultural products, including wheat, rye, flax seed, beans, and cattle In 1797, this p a r t n e r s h i p was dissolved, but Alvord remained in business on his own By the early 1800s, Alvord's advertisements no longer appeared in the local newspaper, which may indicate that he had left the m e r c h a n t trade or retired from active business life Caleb Alvord Jr appears to have begun his own mercantile ventures at about this same time, perhaps succeeding his father in business By 1805 he was working in p a r t n e r s h i p with Pliny Alvord of Montague at Cheapside Landing, where they were engaged in the i m p o r t - e x p o r t trade and also in r u n n i n g cargoes on the Connecticut R i v e r between Hartford and Cheapside L a n d i n g and north a short distance to Northfield In 1808, they dissolved their partnership, but resumed it again in 1810 In 1811, Caleb Alvord Jr was joined in business by Alfred Alvord, who prior to this time had c o n d u c t e d trade in E r v i n g ' s G r a n t U n d e r the name of "C and A Alvord," the p a r t n e r s h i p operated at Cheapside Landing, selling salt, r u m , sugar, molasses, coffee, rice, spices, and other goods, and accepting in trade and exporting forest products and agricultural products such as pork, flax seed, and cheese In addition, "C and A Alvord" continued to 13 The existence of Alvord's partnership at this time is indicated in his accounts of business dealings with Hartford, New York, and other merchants in 1796 These accounts are initially entered under the name of "Alvord, Smith and Wells." 14 Greenfield Gatette, June 23 to September 22, 1796 15 Ibid., June 15, 1797 16 Ibid., August 12, 1805 17 Ibid., May 30, 1808 and June 26, 1810 18 The Traveller, May 28, 1811 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 operate the freighting business between Cheapside and H a r t f o r d As with Caleb A l v o r d , it is difficult to d e t e r m i n e how long C a l e b Alvord Jr remained in the mercantile business, b u t j u d g i n g from his surviving accounts it was at least until 1813 T h e extant records of the Alvords' mercantile operations consist of Caleb Alvord's credit and d e b i t accounts b e t w e e n November of 1795 and April of 1796 and the details of his accounts with wholesale merchants for a two and a half year period beginning in J a n u a r y of 1796 T h e records also detail Caleb Alvord Jr.'s accounts with wholesalers in 1809 and 1810 and his transactions for the sale a n d purchase of local goods a n d labor from August of 1812 through M a r c h of 1813 Between N o v e m b e r of 1795 and April of 1796, C a l e b Alvord's trade in agricultural p r o d u c e and imported and domestic goods involved transactions with 108 different clients An examination of the distribution of A l v o r d ' s clients by their town of residence shows that all of his trade was restricted to the region west of the Connecticut River Some clients were located as far as forty miles away in Westminster, V e r m o n t , but for the most part they were concentrated in G r e e n f i e l d a n d the adjacent towns of Bernardston, Colrain, Gill, Leyden, and Shelburne Alvord's accounts of his dealings with wholesale merchants show that while he occasionally dealt with local merchants, he obtained by far the bulk of his supplies from merchants in Hartford and N e w York City Specifically, his dealing with Hartford and N e w Y o r k - b a s e d merchants accounted for f i f t y - t w o percent and f o r t y - f i v e percent, respectively, of the total value of the goods he purchased from non-local m e r c h a n t s between 1796 and late 1798 (3,371 pounds) Judging from the entries in his account book, A l v o r d ' s p a t t e r n of m o v e m e n t in purchasing goods from his suppliers was to travel to N e w York to conduct business in early w i n t e r ( D e c e m b e r a n d J a n u a r y ) a n d late spring (May), then to stop over and conduct business with his H a r t f o r d - b a s e d suppliers on his return t r i p up the C o n n e c t i c u t River In between the s e m i - a n n u a l trips to N e w York, he made numerous other visits to Hartford merchants a n d , on a few occasions, to merchants in Boston and Springfield, as well as in Suffield, Connecticut In general terms, the items Alvord purchased from N e w York m e r c h a n t s consisted of m a n u f a c t u r e d goods, including textiles of a considerable variety, tools, f u r n i t u r e and craft h a r d w a r e , d i n n e r w a r e , cookware, blankets, and clothing Local M e r c h a n t s and the Regional E c o n o m y Presumably the majority of these goods were of E u r o p e a n origin F r o m his H a r t f o r d - b a s e d suppliers, Alvord purchased tropical and other imported produce such as r u m , l u m p sugar, b r o w n sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, spices, tobacco, and snuff Caleb Alvord Jr., too, appears to have relied heavily on H a r t f o r d - b a s e d merchants for his trade, b u t not at all on New York City merchants His accounts of dealing with Connecticut R i v e r Valley merchants in 1809 and 1810 show that, except for a m i n i m a l n u m b e r of small purchases from suppliers in M i d d l e t o w n , R o c k y Hill, and Wethersfield, Connecticut, he dealt almost exclusively with H a r t f o r d - b a s e d merchants In fact, m o r e than ninety percent of the $4,137 he paid out to Connecticut m e r c h a n t s b e t w e e n May of 1809 and September of 1810 was used to buy goods from Hartford merchants T h e goods he purchased from his Hartford connections consisted mainly of tropical, primarily West Indian products These included St Croix and Antigua r u m , sugar, molasses, and salt Also included were goods such as N e w E n g l a n d r u m , codfish, nails, and iron, which were evidently of domestic origin or imported from locations other than the West Indies Alvord's strong ties to H a r t f o r d - b a s e d suppliers no d o u b t reflected the importance of his freighting business on the Connecticut River, b u t perhaps also reflected the impact of foreign trade restrictions d u r i n g this period on ports like N e w York City, which were the major e n t r y points for E u r o p e a n imports According to his accounts, some of the local commodities w h i c h Alvord and his business partners managed for export included forest products such as l u m b e r , tierces, barrels, and shingles It is evident from the accounts of his transactions with local clients, however, that Alvord did not simply b u y u p forest products, but also actively engaged workers to c u t , mill, and transport such products His accounts from 1812 and 1813, along with evidence provided by vital statistics and federal census records, show that these workers came from the upland and backcountry areas east of the Connecticut River, in particular the towns of N e w Salem, Shutesbury, and Wendell Moreover, these 19 The lumbering, milling, and transporting operations with which Alvord's workers were associated were moBt likely located in the upland areas east of the Connecticut River as well During the early nineteenth century, these areas were the location of numerous lumber and milling operations Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 men were not only his employees, b u t also his customers In effect, it appears that A l v o r d p u r c h a s e d the surplus labor of these men on a credit and debit basis, used the products of their labor as a means to obtain i m p o r t e d trade goods, a n d t h e n "sold" a portion of these goods back to them in lieu of their wages T a k e n together, the accounts of Caleb A l v o r d a n d Caleb Alvord Jr reveal several i m p o r t a n t features about their m e r c h a n t activities in the G r e e n f i e l d area First, t h r o u g h their mercantile operations, upland and lowland towns in the Greenfield area were tied together in a n e t w o r k of trade involving agricultural exports and imported E u r o p e a n and West Indian goods This n e t w o r k was centered in Greenfield and nearby Cheapside Landing Second, this local n e t w o r k of m e r c h a n t activity a n d c o m m o d i t y m o v e m e n t was tied to a regional economy organized ^around commercial centers in the lower Connecticut R i v e r Valley, H a r t f o r d in particular, and t h r o u g h these centers to still wider economic processes w h i c h encompassed major A m e r i c a n ports, the West Indies, and Europe Finally, the economic connections between u p l a n d a n d lowland towns in the Greenfield area, evident in the A l v o r d s ' accounts, and the connection of these to wider economic processes, involved not only the flow of commodities, b u t labor as well As the accounts of Caleb Alvord Jr suggest, the mobilization of labor in upland and back country areas may have been an important element in his local network of trade and in the articulation of this with regional and international economic processes T h e m e r c h a n t activities of Sylvester Allen show a pattern of economic organization a n d interaction similar in m a n y ways to that of the Alvords', but also reveal some important differences A native of Providence, R h o d e Island, in 1811 Sylvester Allen came to Greenfield from Brookfield, and set u p in business as a tailor By 1815, however, he was engaged in the mercantile trade, importing a variety of goods, such as broadcloth, flannel, calico, and other textiles, crockery, handkerchiefs, gloves, gilt vest buttons, tea trays, salt, sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, a n d spices In 1823, Allen expanded his mercantile operation by purchasing part interest in a store in Gill, and in 1827 entered into partnership with an associate u n d e r the name of "Allen and 20 Franklin Herald, July 11 and December 5, 1815, and April 20, 1816 Local Merchants and the Regional Economy Root." By this time, Allen was one of the most wealthy and i m p o r t a n t men in Greenfield In addition to his two stores a n d a sizeable stock in trade, he owned one of the most valuable personal estates in the town, was a major holder of local bank stocks, a stockholder in a local bridge c o m p a n y , an incorporator of a fire insurance company and the town's first b a n k , a n d a church leader 2 Allen continued in the mercantile trade until 1846, w h e n he t u r n e d over his business to his sons As was the case with both Alvords, Allen's enterprises were closely tied to the Connecticut R i v e r traffic and trade During the 1820s and 1830s he owned and operated a wharf and warehouse at Cheapside L a n d i n g , a n d conducted the majority of his business there until he opened a store in the center of G r e e n f i e l d in 1827 In addition, between 1835 a n d 1840, he and his business partner operated a barge-pulling steamboat on the Connecticut R i v e r between Cheapside and H a r t f o r d The importance of Allen's connections to the Connecticut River trade became evident during the 1830s and 1840s, w h e n the first railroad schemes were being p r o m o t e d in the area and he s u p p o r t e d a n o r t h - s o u t h rail line between Greenfield and N o r t h a m p t o n and, t h r o u g h it, to points south along the Connecticut R i v e r T h e extant records of Allen's mercantile operations consist of his accounts of local credit and debit transactions in trade goods, agricultural products, and labor for the years from 1815 t h r o u g h 1823 These accounts record his trade with 322 different clients Like Caleb Alvord's clients twenty years earlier, most of Allen's clients w e r e concentrated in G r e e n f i e l d a n d the adjacent towns to the west and north Allen's trading network, 21 Ralph M, Stoughton, History of the Town of Gill, Massachusetts, 1793-1843 {Greenfield, 1978), p 154; Greenfield Gazette and Franklin Herald, December 18, 1827 The Gill store in which Allen acquired part interest was prior to this time managed by Alfred Alvord of Erving, the sometime business partner of Caleb Alvord Jr 22 This assessment of Allen's real and personal estate is based on the Greenfield tax valuation lists for 1820 and 1830 The tax valuation lists are filed in Town of Greenfield Archives, Town Office, Greenfield 23 Jenkins, Conservative Rebel, p 62 24 Ibid., p 96 10 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 however, was considerably more extensive, reaching farther into the upland areas to include t h e towns of Heath a n d R o w e , Massachusetts, as well as G u i l f o r d , Halifax, a n d Newfane, Vermont; to the south of Greenfield to include C o n w a y , Hadley, and N o r t h a m p t o n ; and to the east of the Connecticut R i v e r to include Montague, N e w Salem, and Northfield, Massachusetts, as well as Winchester, New Hampshire O n e of the i m p o r t a n t features of Allen's mercantile operation was the types of goods in which he traded The evidence from his account book indicates that, like the Alvords before h i m , he dealt in a wide range of i m p o r t e d goods, often in E u r o p e a n manufactures and West Indian produce In addition, h o w e v e r , he traded in a greater variety of c o n s u m e r goods, including such items as crackers, p r a y e r books, suspenders, silk handkerchiefs, needles, and pencils Also, again like the Alvords, Allen accepted a wide range of agricultural products in exchange for his t r a d e goods; h o w e v e r , in Allen's case these consisted not only of staple products such as beef, rye, and oats, but also more perishable goods such as apples, butter, cheese, a n d potatoes Such products as these were most likely destined for domestic markets rather than for export Thus, Allen's stock in trade appears to reflect the transformation of the regional a n d national e c o n o m y taking place d u r i n g the second a n d third decades of the nineteenth c e n t u r y Allen, like Caleb Alvord Jr., also hired workers to p r o d u c e a n d transport the goods he employed in his t r a d e , a n d he often used similar methods Here too, however, there were i m p o r t a n t differences For example, in contrast to A l v o r d , who employed men in l u m b e r i n g a n d milling operations, d u r i n g the period from 1815 to 1823 Sylvester Allen employed a n u m b e r of w o m e n in tailoring and weaving Moreover, in some cases this w o r k was not conducted simply t h r o u g h the p u t t i n g - o u t system, b u t by boarding o u t - o f - t o w n w o m e n in local homes and putting them to w o r k , presumably in his own shop For example, in 1815 he credited $42.75 to the account of Pliny Russell of G r e e n f i e l d , to board two of his workers, Phila Montague of Sunderland and M a r t h a Clark of Leyden, for twenty and eight weeks, respectively 25 John R Peet, "The Spatial Expansion of Commercial Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century: A Von Thunen Interpretation," Economic Geography 45 (1969): 283-301 Local Merchants and the Regional E c o n o m y 11 D u r i n g the following two years, Clark was employed by Allen for a total of sixty-five weeks at an average of about $1.72 per week Though conclusions must be very tentative at this point, the types of production for which Allen organized labor a n d the way in which he organized labor and production are significant Like the products and goods in which he traded, some of the types of production for w h i c h Allen hired labor suggest a reorientation of the m e r c h a n t trade from foreign to domestic markets In addition, in some cases Allen did not j u s t purchase the labor of workers, but may also have recruited a n d moved the workers closer to the site of production This p r o d u c t i o n strategy would seem to lie m i d - w a y between the earlier p u t t i n g - o u t system and the factory system of production that developed in this area and elsewhere in New England in succeeding decades Here again, Allen's account book records at ground level the changes taking place in the regional and national economies T h e shifts in the orientation of the m e r c h a n t trade suggested by Allen's employment of female workers is also evident in his employment of male workers Allen often hired local men to haul and cart his p r o d u c e and goods For the most part, this work appears to have centered around his Cheapside operations and was most likely related to his mercantile activities in the Connecticut River trade Nevertheless, on a n u m b e r of occasions, Allen's labor accounts show evidence of wages paid or credit given for transporting freight to and from Boston Some of the goods b r o u g h t from Boston were clearly of E u r o p e a n origin a n d indicate the continuing importance of foreign trade In addition, h o w e v e r , the orientation towards Boston is quite different from the Alvords' operations of a decade earlier, a n d is at least suggestive of a reorientation of local and regional trade networks Finally, it is i m p o r t a n t to note that several of Allen's clients included other m e r c h a n t s in the towns of Bernardston, Colrain, and Gill Some of these m e r c h a n t - c l i e n t s appear to have been smaller country merchants and storekeepers, who probably p u r c h a s e d some goods on a wholesale basis from Allen and then sold retail to their customers in the upland and backcountry areas This, of course, mirrors the m e r c h a n t trade h i e r a r c h y that was characteristic of the Connecticut R i v e r Valley in general A t the 26 For example, see the Franklin Herald, July 11, 1815 12 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 top of this h i e r a r c h y w e r e the large-scale m e r c h a n t s in t h e major centers of i m p o r t and e x p o r t such as Boston and N e w Y o r k , next were the regional m e r c h a n t s at e n t r e p o t s in the lower C o n n e c t i c u t River Valley such as H a r t f o r d and M i d d l e t o w n , C o n n e c t i c u t , then the merchants in lesser centers like G r e e n f i e l d in the u p p e r Connecticut R i v e r Valley, a n d , finally, t h e small traders in country stores in towns like Bernardston, Colrain, a n d Gill One e x a m p l e of the small-scale c o u n t r y m e r c h a n t at the base of this h i e r a r c h y is R o b e r t Williams, w h o traded in Charlemont d u r i n g the second and third decades of the nineteenth century T h o u g h Williams was a c o n t e m p o r a r y of Sylvester Allen, no evidence exists to link the two in trade Williams, h o w e v e r , did have trading ties with other G r e e n f i e l d m e r c h a n t s who operated on a scale and in commodities c o m p a r a b l e to that of Sylvester Allen T h e extant records of Williams' trade in Charlemont consist of several day books covering t h e p e r i o d from May of 1817 to J a n u a r y of 1823 T h e first year of accounts in the day books recorded business Williams transacted while in partnership with a n o t h e r m e r c h a n t - t r a d e r , and thereafter concern the trade he conducted on his own A m o n g other things, the day books p r o v i d e insights into the n a t u r e , volume, and timing of Williams' trade To begin with, Williams traded in an extensive line of commodities, including eggs, b u t t e r , and a long list of other agricultural products, vegetable seeds, wool cards, chemicals for dying cloth, nails, wire, h a n d saws, tea kettles, g i n g h a m , muslin, flannel, burial shrouds, hymnals, school books, lead pencils, combs, r u m , molasses, sugar, tea, h a r d w a r e , d r y goods, and imported goods In effect, his business was similar in m a n y respects to that of Sylvester Allen, only on a smaller scale In addition, his business was m o r e localized; his clients a p p e a r to have been mostly C h a r l e m o n t residents In moving goods and p r o d u c e in and o u t of this localized network of trade, Williams relied on both direct a n d indirect connections to the major m a r k e t and supply centers in and outside the region For e x a m p l e , his d a y books s h o w t h a t he transacted at least some business with the m e r c h a n t firm of K e n d a l l and Russell in Greenfield At this time K e n d a l l and Russell was one of the largest m e r c h a n t firms in the F r a n k l i n C o u n t y area and was heavily involved in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley trade In fact, one of the partners, L y m a n K e n d a l l , was an agent of the J a n d E Local M e r c h a n t s a n d the Regional E c o n o m y 13 D w i g h t m e r c h a n t f i r m in Springfield T h u s , it is likely that t h r o u g h dealings with m e r c h a n t firms such as K e n d a l l and Russell, Williams was tied into the C o n n e c t i c u t R i v e r trade a n d , t h r o u g h it, to even wider trade networks In a d d i t i o n , Williams appears to have had some direct dealings with Boston-based merchants For example, his accounts indicate that on several occasions he took the loan of a wagon and team for trips to Boston, presumably to c o n d u c t business there On the basis of s u c h accounts, h o w e v e r , it appears that unlike the operations of a larger-scale m e r c h a n t like Sylvester Allen, such direct t r a d e connections w e r e n o t a major part of Williams' business • Some of the most interesting aspects of Williams' trade are revealed by an analysis of the volume and timing of his t r a d i n g activity Such a n analysis considers the n u m b e r of transactions in goods and labor in which Williams engaged ' b e t w e e n 1817 a n d 1822 In J u n e a n d July of 1817, for example, ; Williams recorded 677 and 688 such transactions, respectively, for a total of 1,365 transactions After J u l y , the n u m b e r of transactions d r o p p e d off, b u t for the r e m a i n d e r of that year still averaged more than five h u n d r e d per month; the n u m b e r of monthly transactions for subsequent years were lower t h a n this figure, but still comparable T h e r e exists little or no w o r k on this dimension of small m e r c h a n t trading activity, and so there is little basis for comparison H o w e v e r , these n u m b e r s suggest that Williams operated a fairly active trade on a d a y - b y - d a y , m o n t h b y - m o n t h basis over several years In addition, there was a seasonal pattern to Williams' ; trade In general terms, the n u m b e r of transactions in goods and \ labor in w h i c h he engaged reached its highest point d u r i n g the s u m m e r months, leveled out a n d / o r declined from September t h r o u g h D e c e m b e r , t h e n d r o p p e d - o f f dramatically until a b o u t ; M a y , w h e n the n u m b e r of transactions again began to increase A l t h o u g h a m o r e detailed analysis of these transactions is necessary, this seasonal pattern appears to reflect the influence of a n agricultural cycle: increasing d u r i n g the times of planting a n d harvesting in the late spring and s u m m e r m o n t h s w h e n the need a n d ability of Williams' f a r m e r clients to p u r c h a s e his goods would have been greatest, and decreasing as their need a n d ability to pay 27 Jenkins, Conservative Rebel, p 63, # 14 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 declined d u r i n g the late fall and w i n t e r months It is interesting to note that this pattern tends to break d o w n over time a n d that transactions were more evenly spread throughout the year in 1822 than in 1818 If the agricultural cycle was, in fact, one of t h e factors influencing the temporal pattern of Williams' t r a d e , t h e n this is precisely w h a t would we would expect, since this time period was one in which the agricultural e c o n o m y was beginning to give way to broader economic development A final interesting point is revealed b y paying attention to t h e types of commodities in which Williams traded T h e p e r i o d of Williams' trade coincides with t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of sheep raising for wool as a major agricultural p u r s u i t in upland towns like Charlemont Generally speaking, the wool p r o d u c e d was processed locally and consumed in local or regional markets As noted, among the commodities Williams moved into C h a r l e m o n t and the s u r r o u n d i n g area were wool cards and chemicals for d y i n g cloth In fact, these appear to have been i m p o r t a n t items in his trade In effect, the i m p o r t a n t local economic d e v e l o p m e n t of sheep raising and wool production appears to have been linked to the functions performed by local merchants like Williams, and to the long distance trade connections which were vital to their mercantile activities T h e account and d a y books of Caleb A l v o r d , C a l e b Alvord J r , Sylvester Allen, and R o b e r t Williams give ample evidence that d u r i n g the late eighteenth and early n i n e t e e n t h centuries a wide network of c o m m o d i t y flows linked Greenfield to many of t h e towns of Franklin C o u n t y and southern V e r m o n t Moreover, t h r o u g h the activities of these merchants and their trade connections, this network of c o m m o d i t y flows was tied to the major centers of trade in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley and the northeast a n d , through them, linked to the Atlantic and E u r o p e a n economies For the most part, the commodities moving t h r o u g h this network and the long distance trade connections consisted of locally p r o d u c e d agricultural a n d forest products for e x p o r t , a n d imported domestic, E u r o p e a n , and West Indian goods for local consumption It is important to point out that labor mobilized b y the merchants was an important c o m p o n e n t in the m o v e m e n t of commodities in and out of the area and in the actual production of surpluses destined for local, regional, national, and international markets •mmrnemmrm'aMi Local M e r c h a n t s and the Regional E c o n o m y 15 Of course, the m e r c h a n t s whose activities are examined here represent only a small n u m b e r of all the m e r c h a n t s who c o n d u c t e d trade in the Greenfield area, a n d an even smaller n u m b e r of those operating in the entire Connecticut R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries But, in fact, that m a y be the most i m p o r t a n t point of all T h e r e is nothing especially u n i q u e about the Alvords, Sylvester Allen, or R o b e r t Williams, except, perhaps, that their account and day books have survived If we multiply the n e t w o r k of trade connections and c o m m o d i t y flows e v i d e n t in their activities by the m a n y large and small scale m e r c h a n t s we k n o w to have operated in the Greenfield area and in the Connecticut R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, w h a t emerges is a dense, complicated n e t w o r k of e c o n o m i c interaction between valley and hill towns, and an equally dense and complicated set of interconnections articulating this n e t w o r k with wider regional, national, and international economic processes Finally, this analysis of m e r c h a n t s ' account and day books has implications for our u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the nature and d e v e l o p m e n t of the early A m e r i c a n e c o n o m y and society The image of i n d e p e n d e n t farm households — each possessing all it required in terms of land, labor, and other resources, and each p r o d u c i n g all it consumed and c o n s u m i n g all it p r o d u c e d — persists, despite m u c h evidence to the c o n t r a r y T h e logical extension of this image is a society in w h i c h c o m m u n i t i e s and towns are isolated from one another and in which regional and larger-scale economic, social, a n d political processes d o not and c a n n o t exist This image of self-sufficiency and isolation is d e e p l y rooted w h e n one considers the hill town regions and back c o u n t r y areas of N e w E n g l a n d , such as those w h i c h s u r r o u n d e d the towns of the Connecticut R i v e r Valley d u r i n g the e i g h t e e n t h and early n i n e t e e n t h centuries We often imagine these areas to be far from the centers of c o m m e r c e and culture, out of touch with the flow 28 Percy Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century," Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences (1916), and "The Agricultural Revolution in New England," American Historical Review 26 (1921): 683-707; Michael Merrill, "Cash is Good to Eat: Self-Sufficiency and Exchange in the Rural Economy of the United States," Radical History Review, Winter, 1977, pp 47-71 16 Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Winter 1989 of events, and beyond the reach of large-scale economic, social, political, and ideological processes T h e evidence contained in the merchants* account a n d d a y books suggest t h a t this view is untenable T h e kinds of local and long distance trade networks in evidence in the Greenfield area d u r i n g the late e i g h t e e n t h and early nineteenth centuries are in direct contradiction to the image of an economy based on subsistence production and selfsufficiency, and rooted in isolation T o the contrary, the evidence indicates that this image should be cast aside in favor of one w h i c h admits to more complex local, regional, national, and international interactions  ... name of "Allen and 20 Franklin Herald, July 11 and December 5, 1815, and April 20, 1816 Local Merchants and the Regional Economy Root." By this time, Allen was one of the most wealthy and i... r c e and culture, out of touch with the flow 28 Percy Bidwell, "Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century," Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences... employees, and other merchants, the timing of such transactions, and the goods, cash, a n d labor involved In this p a p e r , the account and day books of four Greenfield area merchants are examined The