The Wilson family farm

Tradition versus modernity—and the spaces in between—is a major theme not only in the study, but also in the popular image of Canadian rural history. Our rural ancestors are often portrayed as self-sufficient, independent units. Closed off from market economies and providing everything they need on their own, they are models of an ideal, traditional and long-forgotten way of life. On the other hand, it is also possible that these people were market-oriented to the extent of solely producing staple crops for sale on lucrative foreign markets. I have had the opportunity to examine a rich historical source from the mid-nineteenth-century. The account book from the farm of James Wilson of North Dumfries, Ontario from 1866 to 1869 is one of many sources in the University of Guelph’s rural history archive that offers researchers a provocative glimpse of life in Canada in the past. The majority of this paper is devoted to the analysis of James Wilson’s account book itself and the world it reveals. It s in these spaces—in the worlds of which the Wilson farm is one example—that tradition and modernity become secondary to the mediating and motivating force of the needs of the individual, the family or the group. In the mid-nineteenth century the family was the main unit of economic, social and political agency for many people. James Wilson and his family were involved in local affairs at every level: economic, social, cultural, religious, political, etc. The world in which this family lived contained both traditional and modern elements. It was not the case that they blindly followed the traditions of the past, nor was it the case that they put all their faith in free-market economics or the values of modernity. The Wilson family lived between two extremes, with the needs and desires of the family being always paramount.