Treen in Chester County, Pennsylvania 1683-1787: a contextual analysis

Date
1991
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University of Delaware
Abstract
This thesis analyzes 906 Chester County, Pennsylvania inventories from 1683 through 1787 to determine ownership patterns of wooden tablewares or treen. Specific forms identified were wooden trenchers, bowls, noggins, plates, platters, dishes, and spoons. Romantic notions that only early settlers and poorer people owned treen are wrong. In Chester County, Pennsylvania, wooden tablewares were owned throughout the time period studied by members of the lowest to the highest wealth groups. Significantly, ownership increased through the middle of the eighteenth century for all wealth groups. One reason for this pattern was that tablewares such as treen were not replaced but kept. This accumulation resulted in tableware constellations that fell into patterns. For most decedents, treen was an auxiliary to pewter, earthenware, and delft. This was not the case for three inventories from lower wealth groups that owned only wooden tablewares. These three possibly indicate that poor undocumented Chester County households owned only treen.
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