THE DUNLAP FARMSTEAD: A MARKET-DEPENDENT FARM IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY OF OHIO

Since the late 1800s writers have romanticized the virtues of pioneer life and the old family farmstead giving rise to what is known as the "myth" of the subsistence farmer. The American public's conception of the frontier farmstead has been one of a rural, autonomous, and self-sufficient production unit geared towards local domestic production, and consumption to fulfill the needs and wants of the frontier farm family. This paper examines the concept of "self-sufficiency" applied to the Dunlap farmstead (33 Wo41) of northwest Ohio during the nineteenth century. Self-sufficiency in agricultural production and consumption is viewed as a matter of degree along a continuum ranging from subsistence farming to commercial farming within a national, market-economy framework. Quantitative and qualitative measures are devised for examining self-sufficiency along this continuum. These measures, along with historical documents and archaeological data, are used to evaluate the degree of self-sufficiency or market dependency of the Dunlap Farmstead within the market economy of the local area. The results show that the Dunlap farmstead is somewhat enigmatic for historical archaeology. The poverty of the family, their lack of physical well-being, the small size of the farm, and its relative isolation from lower Maumee river towns suggest it was an example of the classic, self-sufficient "pioneer family farm." The historical and archaeological data, however, indicate otherwise. True "self-sufficiency" was non-existent where a national market economy is involved. Although the Dunlaps were deficit producers of agricultural farm products, and the family was incapable of meeting its subsistence needs through domestic, farm production alone, they utilized and became dependent upon the national market economy through credit extension, loans, and a small pension for their survival and existence.