History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley

Jones, U. J. (Uriah James), 1818-1864Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9
Word count
621K words
Chapters
63

Tags

English Originals World History Indian ConflictLocal GazetteerPhysical GeographyFrontier ReclamationFamily MemoryDocumentary NarrativeSocial ObservationJuniata ValleyMigration HistoryEarly Republic

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley by U. J. JonesAuthor: Jones, U. J. (Uriah James), 1818-1864,Language: English, Class: F106: United States local history: Atlantic coast. Middle Atlantic States, Release Date: Nov 17, 2012

Editor's review

This book is Uriah James Jones's account of the early settlement history of the Juniata Valley in Pennsylvania, released by Project Gutenberg as a free e-book. Its interest lies in the raw form of local history writing: drawing on firsthand oral accounts, family memory, and early documents, the author records the process of immigrant settlement, land development, relations with Native peoples, and the formation of local society. Such texts tend to be granular and concrete, with names, places, and events interwoven; they read like a local chronicle, yet they preserve folk memory beyond the archival record. For scholars studying the early development of the American Mid-Atlantic region, it is material that can complement official records; for enthusiasts of local and family history, it may offer leads. Note that the narrative carries the ideas and stances of the author's era, and passages concerning Native peoples especially should be read critically, not taken as neutral fact.

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Reading tips

  1. Begin by consulting maps and timelines of the Juniata Valley to establish a basic framework before entering the main text.
  2. While reading, compile tables of persons and family relationships to track names recurring across chapters.
  3. Maintain critical distance from passages concerning Native peoples and compare them with archaeological or ethnohistorical sources.
  4. Use it as an index of historical sources, reading by theme or place name rather than cover to cover.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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FAQ

Is this book a general history or a local historical source? It is closer to a compilation of local historical sources. The author narrates the early settlement of the Juniata Valley based on oral accounts, family memory, and early documents; it is dense in detail but less systematic than a modern general history. Readers seeking an overall framework should first consult general histories and use this book as supplementary material.
Can the book's accounts of Native peoples be taken at face value? They should not. The author wrote in the 19th century, and the narrative carries the prevailing ideas and stances of that time; passages concerning Native peoples may contain bias or omission. Read them alongside archaeological findings, ethnohistorical research, and contemporary archives, treating the author's statements themselves as historical material requiring analysis.
What if reading the original English is difficult? This is a public-domain English text whose sentence patterns and spelling bear the marks of its era, and it contains many personal and place names, so it does pose a barrier at first. It is advisable to read introductory chapters for background first, then read by theme; for key figures, consult local history reference works or maps rather than insisting on reading every word.
Is this book helpful for family history research? It may be helpful, but with caution. The book records the names, families, and events of early settlers and can serve as a source of leads; however, oral accounts and memory may contain errors, and the book alone cannot settle a question. Cross-check its information against primary materials such as land records, church archives, and censuses before relying on it.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Jones, U. J. (Uriah James), 1818-1864 Author · American · 1818–1864

Uriah James Jones (1818–1864) was an American historian. Public information about his life is limited, and his writings center mainly on the local history of Pennsylvania. His representative work, History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley, recounts the early settlement and development of that valley. It belongs to a common nineteenth-century American genre of local history, focused on the activities of settlers and the course of local development. One of his works is held in this collection. Such local histories often preserve first-hand records of regional development, offering reference value for the study of central Pennsylvania's history and reflecting the interests and approaches of local history writing in his time.