Digital Commons Network^™

The World Of Kavanagh And Cottril: A Portrait Of Irish Emigration, Entrepreneurship, And Ethnic Diversity In Mid-Maine, 1760-1820, Edward Thomas Mccarron

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines a remarkable and little known episode in the peopling of early New England: The founding of an Irish-Catholic community in Lincoln County, Maine, 1760-1820. It details the experience of over three hundred Irish families, tracing them to their Old World origins, following their progress across the Atlantic, and documenting their efforts to establish an ethnic and religious identity on the Maine frontier.

Their story parallels the lives of two immigrants, James Kavanagh and Matthew Cottril, who made a fortune in the Maine timber trade and encouraged kin and countrymen to settle in the new land. Their career …

Crime And Punishment In New Hampshire, 1812-1914 (Volumes I And Ii), Timothy Dodge

Doctoral Dissertations

Changing definitions of crime accompanied the economic transformation of seacoast New Hampshire from a predominently agricultural, and rural society in 1812 to one that was mainly industrial, commercial, and urban by 1914. This dissertation analyzes a sample of 820 felony incarcerations (19.5%) of the total 4154 incarcerations recorded at the New Hampshire State Prison for the period 1812-1914. Court bills and indictments of Rockingham and Strafford County, New Hampshire are used to analyze felony convictions. Quantitative analysis involving 17 variables reveals that property crime was the most common conviction. Felony conviction rates per 100,000 population nearly doubled between 1812 and …

The Rhetoric Of Authority In The "New-England Courant" (Volumes I And Ii), Preston Tuckerman Shea

Doctoral Dissertations

This study analyses the themes, rhetoric and imagery in the weekly newspaper The New-England Courant published in Boston from 1721 to 1726 by James and Benjamin Franklin and examines the way in which the circle of writers who produced it presented the topic of authority in civil and church politics.

James Franklin's printing business found its niche in the already crowded world of Boston printers and booksellers by becoming the first opposition press in the American colonies. As the first printer to publish the Real Whig doctrines of Henry Care, John Trenchard, and Thomas Gordon, Franklin supplied discontented members of …

To Rend And Teare The Bodies Of Men: Theology And The Body In Demonic Possession; France, England, And Puritan America, 1550-1700, Julianne Siudowski Cooper-Forst

Doctoral Dissertations

During the Reformation, Protestants attempted to recast their theology in opposition to the Roman Catholic system. They succeeded in most areas. There was, however, one area of theology where this was not true: demonology and spiritual possession. Incidents of demonic possession rose during the second quarter of the sixteenth century, reached a crescendo by the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and except for a flurry or two, died out near the beginning of the eighteenth century. This dissertation examines the published materials relating to the physical phenomena of demonic possession in France, England, and Puritan America from the sixteenth …