Abstract
This cultural biography traces the multiple meanings of a large parcel of land in colonial Dunstable, Massachusetts, for members of the Tyng family between the late 17th and the end of the 18th centuries by examining the representation of the land in the documentary record of deeds and probate documents. The land and the deeds employed to transform new territory into a bounded and saleable item were artifacts used in the definition of the Tyngs’ ethnicity (Anglo-American), particularly in the context of 17th-century interactions with the Native Americans. The land was also tied to the expression of independent masculinity and the ability to provide a competence for sons. The role that the land played in the construction of their identities, however, could never be reduced to simply one of these factors since both land ownership and the idea of Englishness and masculinity were tied to concepts of status, family hierarchy, and profession. Finally, an analysis Sarah Tyng’s land transactions at the end of the 18th century demonstrates the ways in which women could also use land to make statements of power and about lineage.
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Beranek, C.M. Ethnicity, Masculinity, and Lineage: The Cultural Biography of a Colonial Massachusetts Parcel of Land. Hist Arch 46, 75–90 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03377317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03377317