Bluegrass Craftsman

Being the Reminiscences of Ebenezer Hiram Stedman Papermaker 1808–1885

Frances L. S. Dugan, Jacqueline P. Bull, Frances L. S. Dugan, Jacqueline P. Bull

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780813162690
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Ebenezer Hiram Stedman, whose lively reminiscences of antebellum Kentucky were written as a series of letters to his daughter, was one of the pioneer papermakers of the state. Stedman paints a vivid picture of the life of the numerous and thriving middle class who sought opportunity in the expanding economy of the new West. The vivid detail of Stedman's personal experiences is supplemented by a more formal account of early Kentucky papermaking.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: In which the editors relate something of Ebenezer Hiram Stedman, papermaking in Kentucky, and the nature of the manuscripts herein published
• 1: Being an account of my childhood in Massachusetts until the year 1815, including something about pirates, sea captains, and Napoleon
• 2: Wherein my father goes to Kentucky and we, with great difficulty, follow him
• 3: Here I describe my father, the factory, and our fine new home in Lexington in 1816; some remarks also about our friends and our pastimes
• 4: Kentucky's prosperity as a manufacturing state in 1815-1817; the failure of the Prentiss mill and its effect on my father's character
• 5: We and our papermaking friends move to Georgetown and take over historic Craig mill; more boyhood adventures, including school
• 6: How I earned a hat; some remarks about cruelty to beast and man, also about a jail break
• 7: Some words about squirrel migrations, but much more about my life as a lay boy and the manner in which paper was made by hand in 1822
• 8: In which I go with my father to paper mills in Ohio; a harrowing account of a battle of the war of 1812 and its effect
• 9: I move to Mr. Couglar's house and undergo persecution from a girl; I attend my first camp meeting
• 10: The story of our journey back to Georgetown and our visit with a celebrated hunter
• 11: Home again and thoughts about family affection
• 12: We make bank paper for the Commonwealth; Georgetown welcomes Andrew Jackson and James Monroe; we take over an old powder mill
• 13: Herein I describe the visit of the illustrious General Lafayette, and particularly the victory of Mary Steffee
• 14: More about life in the little powder mill and "Tow Harvest" and Sam's pranks
• 15: In which I become a potter–temporarily–and ring the bell for church services, and learn to know the Steffee family better
• 16: Which contains an account of my life in Lexington and how a ten-year-old girl deceived her father
• 17: Being more about Lexington and its people, including John Bradford; also a description of Shin Bone Hotel and its inhabitants and their pranks
• 18: News about the death of two great men and an account of their funeral honors in Georgetown, for which I buy my first new coat
• 19: More papermaking, and at last my first journeyman work; a boardinghouse called "Cold Comfort," and the beginning of love
• 20: Relating such matters as coffin handbills, railroads, a blind old mare, and a little more about love
• 21: At last I have my own business, though beginning on the bottom floor of poverty
• 22: Herein I begin my life as a bandbox peddler with the aid of a hipshot old mare and a striped ancient wagon
• 23: Being remarks about the character and actions of John Storms Stedman; also a description of a militia muster
• 24: More adventures in peddling, including an attempted robbery, two runaways, and a "Yankee trick"
• 25: I take some wrapping paper to Louisville and have my first taste of river life and rivermen
• 26: Containing some thoughts on independence and happiness, and a description of Frankfort as I first saw it
• 27: Sam and I team up in business, and each takes a wife; plans for a secret marriage and an explanation of the reason for it; I am fooled
• 28: We start keeping house; I work too hard
• 29: Our most important visitor, Mr. A. G. Hodges, who makes a momentous proposition–but cholera comes first
• 30: Long thoughts about our future, and we decide to buy the mill; we visit our future neighbors, who are skeptical
• 31: Wherein we lay our plans, hire hands, and gather supplies and provisions; the importance of whisky and squirrels
• 32: Farewell to Georgetown; our wives are unhappy, but we go ahead with the building
• 33: We sell our first paper and begin barter operations again; an account of workmen and the buildings we erected
• 34: Stedmantown begins to bloom and to prosper; John Storms becomes a boat owner
• 35: Wherein we take our first trip from home and the family learn about the Pleasant Ohio; more prosperity at Stedmantown
• 36: Relating the goings and comings and also marriages in the Stedmantown community
• 37: Silver trappings for harness and carriages; a tale of old Monsieur and a consideration of such matters as fishing and drinking
• 38: The great deer hunt; also, a new chapter in the War of 1812
• 39: Relating some incidents in a baptizing, and other memories about our old hands at the mill
• 40: Some thoughts on the name and character of Anson Turner Stedman and, once again, those early days at Stedman town
• 41: A word about the old doctors and their cures
• 42: Concerning the timber lands and how we used them; I end with a list of men I knew forty years ago
• Appendix: Being a short history of the craft of papermaking in early Kentucky
• Index