Old Oxford is Wide Awake! Pioneer Settlers & Politicans in Oxford County 1793–1853 by Brian Dawe (review)

284 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW suchdivisionmay havemarked the relationbetweenrural areasand larger towns(over•ooopopulation)but did not occurin areaswithsmallerservice centres. Specialists willfindthisvolumetobemostinformative.Indeed,everyessay is a thoroughandcompetent treatmentof itssubject. The editorandthe CanadianPlains Research Centershould becongratulated fortheconsistent standardof thenarrative andof theproduction. GERALD FRIESEN University ofManitoba Burrs andBlackberries fromGoodwood. ELEANOR TODD.Goodwood, Ont.,Author, •98o.Pp.xxi, 35•,illus.$•4.95. Goodwood isavillage inUxbridgeTownship, OntarioCounty. Asacommunity it isunremarkable exceptthatit represents manyothersmallcommunities in Upper Canadathat had their originsin the period •8oo to •85o, reached maturity with the arrivalof the railway,and then, in outwardappearances, changedvery little or very slowlyover the next century.In an attractively manufactured andillustrated book- withsome fine,professional drawings by her daughters - EleanorToddhasbroughttogetheracompendium of anecdoteandinformation thatshould bea pleasure for anyone withanUxbridge Township connection. The Toddsareoneof theolderfamilies in thetownship andhavelongbeenactivein itsaffairs.Thisbookhastheadvantage of Todd familylore aswellasinformationfrom manyotherlocalpeople.The author hassearched localnewspapers anddirectories aswellastheTownshipmunicipalrecords andassessment rolls.Shehasbeenabletoidentifyagoodproportionof theearlysettlers, amixtureof Irish,English,andPennsylvania Dutch, andtowriteaboutearlytownship roads,business activity, recreation, temperanceandprohibition ,township ghosts, thieves andrustlers, potatoproduction, snowstorms, andmanyotherentertaining subjects. Foritsintendedaudience, thisisanadmirablebook.Butit isfair tosaythatit wasnotwrittenfor ageneralreaderor for aprofessional historian. The larger frameof referencethatgiveslocalhistorymorethanlocalinterestislacking. And, because thematerialisnot presented systematically or accompanied by documentation, it isof limited value to a researcher. HUGH JOHNST ONSimon Fraser University OldOxford isWide Awake. tPioneer Settlers & Politicans in Oxford County 1793-1853. BRIAN DAWE. Woodstock, Oxford Museum,•98o.Pp. •oo,illus.$•4.95 cloth, $9.95 paper. OldOxford isWide Awake. t hasthecharacteristics weexpect of solidlocalhistory, but muchmorebesides. We get profiles,featuringphotographs and brief descriptions, of individuals andbuildings, several excellent maps, andametic REVIEWS 285 uloushistorical account. The bookshouldappealtostudents of politics andto interested local readers. Daweargues thatthepolitical development of OxfordCountywasshaped by land settlement, thatlandpolicywaspolitical.He believes, but doesnotreally explain,that thischangedwith localelectiveinstitutions in •849 and railway development in the •85os.The bookstops, ratherabruptly,in •853,ostensibly because of thesechanges. In fact,thebookstops because electoral boundaries werechanged after •85x(88),andtheauthorclosely identifies withchanges in politicaladministration or framework.Earlier,for example,he hadclaimed thattheproclamation of BrockTownship in •839 'madefor thestartof a new day'(6•). Thiscanbeeffective, as,for example, inthe•83oswhenhetiedlocalaristocraticcontrolof the machineryof localgovernment to developments on the provincialscene. Nonetheless, the provincial scene intrudestoomuchandis assumed to haveexplanatorypower.A particularlyimpressive aspect of the bookisitsuseof political pollbooks, andthedevelopment of mapstoshowthe distribution of voters for the several candidates. His conclusions are too modest - candidates tendto drawstrongest supportclosest to their homes.This, he assumes, reflects local6liteleadership bymagistrates andmerchants. The Scottishness of Zorraisnotedatseveral points. There isstillmoreroom,though,to explorethehopesandfears,andthebackground of individuals andgroups. Eventhoughthe bookentices the browser,it isnot easyreading.For one thingDawemoves tooabruptlyfromonesubject toanother.Forexample,after aparagraph withreferences from •837to•843,anewparagraph begins 'It was at aboutthistime;whichturnsout tobe1844(7•). Still thisis an admirableand accuratelittle bookthat attemptswith some success toblendthelocalandtheprovincial. V. LWOOD jo•v.s TrentUniversity Eastern andWestern Perspectives: Papers fromthe Joint Atlantic Canada/Western CanadianStudies Conference. EditedbyDAVID JAYBERCUSON andPHILLIPA. BUCKNER. Toronto,University of TorontoPress, •98•. Pp.xii, •7. $•5.oocloth,$•o.oo paper. Thisbookincorporates tenof twenty-seven papersfromcombined sessions of the Atlantic Canada Studies Conference and the Western Canada Studies Conferenceheldin Fredericton andCalgaryin •978.The logistics of thesegatheringswerecomplicated but'regionalpride'forbade'asingle combined meeting in centralCanadaat Torontoor Ottawa.'Happily,this prohibitiondid not extendto a Universityof TorontoPress impri•nt. The editorsoffer in their Prefacea livelydefenceof the country's flourishing'regionalstudies.' 'Local and regionalthemes'are now studiedin Canadaas 'endsin themselves; a ...