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acknowledgments The amount of time that has passed between the moment that I ‹rst conceived of this project and its culmination ensures that I have a great many people to thank for helping me at various stages along the way. Most obviously, I am grateful to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan for permission to reprint Timothy Joy’s prison journal as well as for ‹nancial assistance, in the form of a Mark C. Stevens Research Fellowship in 1998, in support of the project. More important still, I am forever indebted to the staff of the library for their always amiable and ef‹cient help. I never tire of visiting the library and of seeing my many friends there. Additional funding sources have been critical to this project as well. In particular, a Faculty Research Grant from Hobart and William Smith Colleges for the academic year 1998–99 enabled me to hire a student assistant to help in verifying an extant transcription of the manuscript and in funding a return visit to the Bentley Library to ‹nish up my research there. Likewise, a Rackham Faculty Research Grant and Fellowship from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Research Grants obtained through the Provost’s Of‹ce, the Of‹ce of Sponsored Research, and the Of‹ce of the Dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, as well as a Research Fellowship granted by the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, supported me in my numerous trips east in search of the contextual evidence necessary to reconstruct Timothy Meader Joy’s life and to tell his story. Without this support, this project would not have been possible. I have also had the good fortune of working with a number of won- derful people at the various archives, libraries, and government of‹ces that I visited while trying to track down relevant information. The staff at the Baker Library at Harvard University found a way to make my hurried trip to their cramped temporary facility (the main building was under renovation) both enjoyable and productive. I was also the bene‹ciary of the exceptional level of service extended by the staff of the Probate and Deeds Of‹ces at the Strafford County, New Hampshire , county building; by the librarians at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord; and by the archivists at the American Antiquarian Society.The bulk of the research for this book, however, took place at the New Hampshire State Archives, in the Milne Special Collections at the Dimond Library on the campus of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, and in the Phillips Library (a truly underappreciated gem) at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts . I cannot say enough about the wonderful staffs of these ‹ne institutions or about how welcome they all made me feel. I would also be remiss if I did not mention the assistance of the volunteer staff at the Durham Historic Association who gladly made their collection available to me and who not as gladly, I am certain, shared a very hot afternoon in a museum temporarily bereft of air-conditioning, answering my many questions. Thank you all. A huge thank-you is also due to Melody Herr of the University of Michigan Press. Your belief in this project and in my scholarship has been unwavering, and I am most appreciative of your patience and un›agging support. Like far too many authors, I have taken advantage of your kind generosity and tolerance. I can only hope that the ‹nal product is what you hoped it might be. I remain forever in your debt for all that you have done for me. A great many others deserve recognition for their part in this work. Dr. Claudia Walters eagerly took on the job of creating the accompanying maps. Lisa Fasolo Frishman diligently worked to transcribe the text of the journal and, perhaps even more important, provided a new and rather uncertain professor with unceasing encouragement and support. I will never forget what she did for me, and I remain eternally grateful for her continued friendship. I also owe tremendous debts to Elizabeth Zellner and Jennifer Huff, both former students at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, for their assistance in untangling Joy’s complex religious thinking. Your insightful suggestions and comments were most helpful. Others, such as Jennifer Reid-Lamb, a truly gifted history teacher, read early drafts...

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