The Outward Boundaries of Enough: The Tredwell Family, Ambition, and Risk in the United States and Canada, 1770-1870
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Authors
Bruce, Iain H.
Date
2025-02-14
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Family , Family strategies , Borderlands , New York , Upper Canada , Ambition
Alternative Title
Abstract
A committed revolutionary, Thomas Tredwell was a member of the government of the rebelling state of New York during the American Revolution, and a member of the United States Congress during the early federal period. A few decades later his grandson, Charles Platt Treadwell, became a county sheriff in Upper Canada, loyally serving for four decades the Crown against which his grandfather had rebelled. The leading men and women of three generations of the Tredwell family between the American Revolution and Canadian Confederation were well-educated and ambitious. They took risks to pursue opportunities for recognition and for riches, and they supported each other and connected with each other through communications and actions built on bonds of affection and economics.
Using seven case studies developed from hundreds of letters, land documents, family papers, and other records, and organized around generations of a family rather than a political periodization, this thesis seeks to examine family and family bonds as revealed in words, actions, reactions, and family strategies both within and across generations. It explores the role of formal education as a springboard to enhancing the life chances of succeeding generations, most especially for the women in the family. The thesis considers the use of land and inheritance strategies as tools for binding family together, and appraises the complexities and consequences for individuals and the family of taking substantial economic risk on land in credit-dependent illiquid economies. Finally, it considers the meaning and the impact of international and inter-colonial borders and social boundaries on identity and the pursuit of opportunity.
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ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.