00:09 - That okay

00:12 - we had

00:13 - tons of amazing programming

00:16 - for the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary this year within Montgomery county

00:20 - and I am happy today to stand up here and introduce myself and introduce the speakers

00:26 - as we enter this symposium and the two fiftieth year.

00:30 - We have lots of great activities today you have a folder that you were given when you

00:36 - came in it has your entire schedule in there

00:40 - as well as the biographies for our speakers we did that on purpose because I'm

00:46 - actually the person who was supposed to keep us on time today

00:49 - and if I am successful then you have all the biographies in front of you and we don't

00:54 - need to have that little section because I'm sure we're very interested

00:58 - in the information our speakers are going to present.

01:02 - As a few housekeeping notes we have restrooms towards the back of us

01:07 - in the hallway.

01:09 - Please oh I'm told it on

01:11 - is it on

01:12 - can use that oh it is alon okay I'll stop yelling now

01:16 - okay much better

01:18 - as we as I was saying we have restrooms down the hallway.

01:22 - This building can be a little echoey so you know if you need to use the restroom

01:27 - during one of the speakers please as discreetly as you can

01:30 - make your way to the back of the building.

01:32 - I also asked that we turn off our cell phones if

01:35 - we can or put them on vibrate or what have you.

01:39 - We've all been somewhere and someone's phone

01:41 - starts going off in its course it's the the

01:44 - sweet person in the corner going

01:46 - hmm

01:47 - no one ever calls me

01:48 - about during the symposium someone will call you because that's how these things work

01:54 - ok we also want to let you know that there are no cards on your tables with

02:01 - pens.

02:02 - If you have a question while one of the speakers

02:05 - is speaking we ask that we hold them to the end

02:09 - we will then try to gather up note cards so towards the

02:11 - end if you can your wave your note card and if we have time

02:14 - we will have someone come up to the mic and read your question so everyone can hear

02:18 - and we can get a more direct answer

02:21 - we will do as many questions and answers as we can.

02:26 - I also want a quick give you up you thank you by the way I never said my name is

02:30 - Michelle Harris and I am the regional manager

02:32 - here for parks trails and historic sites

02:35 - are a division is vast we have a number of historic sites including the John James

02:43 - audubon center here which we have a managing partner

02:46 - national audubon society

02:48 - so I want to make sure and thank them today for all their patients and working with

02:51 - us here to use the space we have penny packer mills

02:55 - in shanksville Peter went from set in worst easter

02:58 - we have pots grow manner in pottstown and soon to be open

03:02 - sunrise mill

03:05 - and hopefully we I have soft openings by the

03:07 - end of the year which is very exciting for us.

03:11 - In your folders you will also find shameless promotion

03:14 - we have lots of our activities all the things going on take advantage of them we've

03:18 - got a lot to do and we are an exciting place and most of these activities most

03:24 - are free or nominal in cost.

03:27 - Lastly I wanted to let you know that we have

03:30 - snacks and lunch that will be served in the back.

03:35 - You're welcome to get up and get coffee during the day you know just again be

03:38 - discreet if you can because of the noise levels

03:41 - and we want to think wegmans redness Tom sturgis

03:44 - pretzels for helping support the symposium today

03:49 - and then

03:50 - we also had a last minute addition

03:53 - pcn and sylvania cable network has joined us today and will be

03:57 - filming filming most of our speakers and the symposium today

04:00 - also if you missed a point

04:03 - catch the show later

04:04 - and you can hear some of the speakers ago again.

04:08 - I think we've covered just about everything that I

04:11 - wanted to cover we are so glad you are here we are

04:14 - thankful that you're going to bear with us.

04:16 - Every good symposium has parking issues and technical problems so

04:20 - be expecting it

04:22 - and then we're all good.

04:24 - Thank you again for being here and our very first

04:27 - speaker is Justin clement from potts grove manor

04:31 - thank you.

04:32 - Three.

04:51 - Bird folks you may have noticed the subtitle

04:53 - of the symposium

04:55 - Montgomery county during the American revolution so this symposium is hosted by the

05:00 - perks rails from historic sites division of Montgomery

05:03 - county so we get to pick the historical framework

05:06 - of what is to follow.

05:08 - Now there's this expression all politics is local this certainly applied during the

05:12 - American revolution then just as much as it does today

05:16 - so limiting our historical scope somewhat to

05:19 - the geographical boundaries of Montgomery county

05:22 - such the symposium apart from what you might

05:25 - see elsewhere with

05:27 - various speakers series or confer answers

05:29 - that are happening in celebration of america's

05:32 - fiftieth.

05:34 - However let's address the.

05:37 - Elephant

05:38 - in the room regarding a

05:40 - Montgomery county

05:41 - and that is the fact that it did not exist in

05:44 - the American revolution as a political entity.

05:48 - So essentially Montgomery county Pennsylvania dates back to September September tenth

05:53 - seventeen eighty four for

05:54 - when the northern part or portion of Philadelphia county broke away to become

05:59 - a separate political entity or county

06:02 - so there's newly established county received

06:05 - its name from major general Richard Montgomery

06:08 - who died during the seventeenth somebody five

06:10 - siege of Quebec

06:12 - city.

06:13 - So while we limited scope to the jugar geographical

06:16 - boundaries of Montgomery county as it exists today

06:19 - we're really talking about this region that still remains part of Philadelphia county

06:24 - during the revolutionary war years.

06:26 - So this map

06:27 - that you see here is from the.

06:30 - Mapping Philadelphia

06:32 - mapping west Philadelphia website it's an ink credible resource

06:36 - but it really

06:36 - depicts.

06:38 - Properties

06:39 - private property that

06:42 - was owned in seventeen seventy seven that is the date that

06:46 - the

06:46 - founder of the site

06:47 - went for.

06:49 - Now

06:50 - what's interesting is that if you picked any one of these properties at random

06:54 - and if you didn't

06:55 - like priests the deep history all the way back

06:58 - it pretty much originates with William penn.

07:02 - Now here you see the boundary that separates Montgomery

07:05 - county as it exists and seventeen eighty four

07:08 - versus the rest of

07:10 - Philadelphia county.

07:12 - Now some of you might be familiar

07:14 - with with

07:15 - this map from sixteen eighty seven from Thomas home

07:19 - and this depicts

07:20 - the various first purchasers

07:23 - who

07:23 - received their land grants from William penn

07:27 - now of course if anyone is familiar with Pennsylvania history and the fact that

07:31 - William penn.

07:33 - Operated on a position of dip Thomas eat purchasing land from the lenape monopoly

07:38 - and other

07:39 - historic native American tribes

07:40 - many of whom are around today

07:42 - but really what we see is this process of native

07:45 - American territory being converted to private property

07:49 - however it is important to remember that during the eighteenth century

07:52 - seasonal hunting and fishing camps we

07:55 - were maintained

07:57 - throughout the decades

07:58 - so these hunting and fishing camps

08:01 - we often see.

08:03 - Descriptions of individuals hunting on the schuylkill river but

08:07 - as the over hunting of the population of deer

08:10 - takes place.

08:11 - As well as

08:12 - the violence of the seven years'

08:14 - war we see some of these native American groups being less welcome

08:17 - in those Google river valley

08:19 - and other areas of northern

08:22 - Philadelphia county.

08:24 - I mentioned this because we're going to be touching upon themes of diversity today

08:28 - so

08:29 - In my work at political manner we do see various

08:31 - names show up in the iron industry ledgers

08:35 - every now and then you'll see a name like Indian Tom or Indian John

08:38 - which does imply that some individuals are still

08:41 - within the area particularly in the seventeen twenties

08:43 - seventeen forties.

08:46 - Now

08:46 - the history that we'll be covering today is a little limited in scope

08:50 - because we're looking at largely at the settler society

08:53 - occupying this region

08:55 - now through the influence of William penn the

08:57 - quaker founder of the colony of Pennsylvania

09:00 - this colony relied more upon

09:02 - upon diplomacy rather than warfare for it's colonial expansion

09:08 - and also because of Pennsylvania's origins

09:10 - with

09:11 - the quakers the society of friends.

09:13 - Who are pacifists

09:15 - we see that the colony is lacking a militia act

09:19 - a militia act

09:20 - typically is where a colonial assembly will pass an act

09:24 - requiring mandatory

09:26 - Miller Terry service in the militia

09:28 - for any able bodied male between the ages of sixteen and fifty

09:33 - and typically

09:34 - you would be free rather than an indentured servant or enslaved African American

09:38 - you'd get together and drill maybe once a month

09:41 - and good weather

09:42 - about Pennsylvania notably lacked a militia act until seventeen seventy six

09:47 - now way back in seventeen forty seven Benjamin Franklin realized

09:51 - that there was an opportunity

09:54 - in Pennsylvania to raise

09:56 - these voluntary associations

09:59 - these they're called associate or battalions

10:01 - essentially regiments of volunteers

10:04 - who

10:04 - associate with themselves

10:07 - and so it's a strictly voluntary.

10:10 - Set of organizations so these regiments are raised and the opportunity here is for

10:15 - social promotion you have people who are

10:19 - looking for some advantage in society

10:22 - and ultimately

10:23 - if you

10:24 - wanted to get voted into the Pennsylvania assembly early

10:28 - certainly helps to be a commissioned officer in one of these associate or battalions.

10:32 - So really it's a way to gain social status and prestige in your communities

10:37 - even though ostensibly it was supposed to be about frontier defense

10:41 - now

10:41 - these

10:42 - regiments played a very important role in the seven years war

10:45 - u d c the associate or Attila Murray in Philadelphia continuing

10:49 - through seventeen seventy four

10:51 - but that's when we have a major shift

10:54 - in some teens some before the continental congress passed

10:57 - the

10:58 - the act for a continental association

11:00 - this is the non importation non exportation agreement

11:05 - between the colonies that essentially is trying to boycott hot British goods

11:08 - and limit the export of American goods to great britain trying to hurt britain

11:13 - with their pop

11:14 - with a pocketbook right

11:16 - so these boycotts were ineffective and seventeen sixty five with the stamp act

11:20 - so the idea here in seventeen seventy four

11:24 - particularly with a ramp up of war in seventy five and seventy six x

11:28 - is to use the arm of the militia to enforce the boycott

11:32 - so if it didn't work in seventeen sixty five

11:34 - because not enough people joined the boycotts.

11:37 - The stamp act protests well this time will really

11:40 - use the militia to make you join the boycotts

11:43 - and this happens in most colonies again Pennsylvania is a little muted

11:47 - but we do have this context of the Pennsylvania associate or is being raised again

11:52 - and seventeen seventy five

11:53 - now sensibly at this point there are being raised to defend the

11:57 - colony

11:58 - against great britain British forces in north america rather than.

12:03 - Frontier defense

12:04 - as it was previously.

12:06 - Now these associate hers

12:08 - they really do show that military service became all the rage and seventeen seventies

12:13 - five and seventeen seventy six

12:15 - Charles royster and historian calls this a spirit of raj militare

12:19 - where it

12:20 - was popular for people to participate in military service

12:24 - across all classes of society piety

12:27 - so you see wealthy people who are joining the associated as well

12:30 - as those who are

12:32 - the commoners

12:33 - that changes after the first few years of the war

12:36 - when

12:37 - you have the professionalization of the continental army and

12:40 - later becomes a poor man's fight

12:43 - but essentially here locally

12:45 - we have these associate or regiments that are being raised

12:49 - in seventeen seventy six

12:50 - you have several associated

12:52 - these regiments being raised throughout

12:55 - Philadelphia county outside the.

12:58 - City of Philadelphia and the northern liberties

13:01 - and these battalions

13:02 - they.

13:04 - Really are requiring individuals to arm themselves

13:07 - films with a fire lock a uniform and so on

13:09 - but you have

13:11 - a level of poverty in some of these districts

13:14 - where the people are you're recruiting cannot afford to clothe an outfit themselves

13:18 - so really you have this major financial burden placed upon the colonels

13:22 - and

13:23 - Thomas pots of pods grove manor who is living there and seventeen so thirty six

13:27 - actually helped pass an act

13:29 - with the Pennsylvania council of safety

13:32 - that required essentially non associated

13:35 - individuals who didn't join one of these voluntary regiments

13:38 - to bear the financial burden equally

13:41 - and what that means in practice

13:43 - is that they are confiscating firearms blankets cover lets

13:47 - in other words munitions from non associate or

13:51 - not associate hers were talking

13:53 - anyone who might be perhaps a loyalist

13:56 - but maybe a pacifist

13:57 - quakers moravians

13:59 - all these individuals are being targeted they're being fined

14:02 - and have

14:03 - their firearms blankets and other

14:05 - things that are being caught skating all these examples

14:09 - are confiscations that are taking place within the

14:12 - region of colonel Thomas potts is recruiting district

14:16 - and the northern part of Philadelphia county

14:18 - now the militia act is passed and seventeen

14:20 - seventy six which means by seventeen seventy seven

14:23 - you do have an official militia act on the books

14:26 - that is serving through route

14:27 - seventeen seventy seven campaign.

14:31 - Now really I

14:32 - mentioned earlier that all politics is local

14:35 - but really we can also say the corollary of that is that all politics are social

14:40 - so no matter what lens you are looking through with the

14:43 - American revolution

14:44 - however you're trying to interpret it whether

14:46 - economic political ideological or military history the American revolution

14:51 - all those things were being read on the ground

14:53 - through or filter through the social dimension

14:56 - in the various households that you see throughout the countryside and that's what

15:00 - we're going to focus on a little bit today

15:02 - so while

15:03 - there certainly is

15:05 - this large military campaign where the British take Philadelphia

15:09 - I do want to emphasize that these military civilian interactions

15:13 - are a major factor of what is happening

15:14 - throughout this time period through the entire

15:18 - duration

15:18 - of the war.

15:20 - So really when we look at things

15:22 - there is

15:23 - just as much of a war being fought on the home front

15:26 - as there is being fought on the front lines

15:30 - and hopefully you will get a little bit of context and

15:32 - understanding that through the various speakers today.

15:36 - Now looking at a few of these sites within Montgomery county potts grove manner.

15:41 - This is the home of Thomas potts

15:44 - and he again raised

15:46 - an associate or battalion and seventeen seventy six

15:49 - but

15:50 - we have an exhibit a up currently which will be running through November of some

15:54 - twenty twenty seven

15:56 - which is looking at how the various pots

15:58 - siblings responded to the revolutionary crisis

16:01 - whether industrialists quaker neutrals

16:04 - patriots or loyalists and so on.

16:06 - Mill grove

16:07 - this house being built in seventeen sixty two was the first

16:11 - American home I

16:12 - have artist and naturalist John James audubon

16:14 - but the mill was actually in operation during the revolution

16:17 - and it did sustained some damage by British forces

16:21 - that passed through this region in September of seventy seven

16:24 - sunrise mill which again

16:26 - hopefully

16:27 - we

16:27 - May open later this year.

16:29 - Montgomery county has been actively restore bring the site including the mill itself

16:34 - now this mill

16:35 - and the house

16:35 - built circa seventeen sixty seven will play got that right

16:39 - but the gristmill would have been grinding grain

16:41 - for

16:42 - the American troops that are garrisoned at valley forge during

16:46 - the valley forge encampment of seventeen seventy seventy something seventy eight.

16:51 - Well there was a sunrise mill there

16:53 - and Peter wentz farmstead this was the military

16:56 - headquarters of general George Washington for a short time

16:59 - you'll learn about that a little bit more during a

17:02 - presentation by Mark briar house built in seventeen fifty eight

17:05 - and a good example of a Pennsylvania German farmstead.

17:09 - All of this is to say Montgomery county has him amazing historic resources

17:13 - and we really hope that you gain a greater

17:15 - appreciation of everything that the county has to offer

17:19 - and

17:19 - also hopefully you'll learn a little bit more about the local history today

17:23 - thank you very much.

17:24 - Three.

17:37 - And.