Carol Coley Taylor and her grandfather, Virgil Seay
This blog was created to assist genealogists, local historians, history buffs, and generally curious people to learn about the average American citizen from the 1700s through the 1930s. By the 1850 census, over 90% of Americans lived in rural areas. In the South, this figure remained high until the 1930s when economic disaster and unimaginable droughts brought farmers and others to their knees.
During Colonial America, farmers throughout the colonies were referred to as “middling,” a term loosely meaning middle or middle class. These were definitely not the Planter Class but what Thomas Jefferson called “yeomen.” Jefferson had high hopes for democracy among the Yeomen Class of citizens. There were no airs or pretenses among the farmers and middle class citizens, at least in Jefferson’s mind.
During the Civil War, Confederate draft laws exempted anyone who owned or supervised twenty or more slaves. This contentious plan added to class resentment and eventual desertions among many of the yeomen class in the war. Pockets of yeomen farmers throughout the South sided with the Union, the land of their fathers. These Unionists had few if any slaves and often called the war “A rich man’s fight; but a poor man’s war.”
In the early 1900s the new professional historians coined the term Plain Folk to refer to Jefferson’s yeomen. In this blog the terms yeomen, plain folk, and middling will be used interchangeably, although in somewhat chronological order. You will discover that the term yeomen is my favorite term; possibly because I think Thomas Jefferson was a very unique and human person. Besides, I am fascinated with his gardens and gardening skills; but that is another blog.