The question of where Joseph originally came from has yet to be answered. Based on the information inscribed on his tombstone, Joseph was born in either June or July 1733. His parentage is unknown, as is the place of his birth. There are several centers of Reads in the Middle Atlantic and New England region. The earliest settlement of Reads was in Massachusetts Bay Colony (Read 1989). Later groups settled in Pennsylvania and spread into Delaware and New Jersey (Fischer 1989). In 1683, a John Reid of Scotland (circa 1656-1723) settled near Freehold, New Jersey, with his wife Margaret (circa 1644-1728) and three daughters (Bucklew 1868:71)There was also a group of Reads in Baltimore, Maryland, as evidenced by Read Street in the city today.

In a recent history of the Delaware River, Bruce Stutz (1992) traces the movement of people into the Delaware Water Gap area. In the early eighteenth century, Dutch settlers entered from New York, traveling south down the Delaware River. Stutz points out that many German settlers entered Sussex County from the south, traveling up the Delaware River Valley. Stutz also notes an influx of New Englanders coming into the region from the north. They too traveled along the Delaware River Valley. In general these New Englanders were younger sons who had little hope of inheriting or purchasing enough land to farm.

The genealogist Chase (n.d.:49) assumed that Joseph Read came from Amwell Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Many of the Reads in Amwell Township were the descendants of another Joseph Read, who was an early eighteenth-century merchant from Trenton, New Jersey (Honeyman 1918:390; Nelson 1894:272, 291, 355). To date, I have been unable to connect Joseph Read of Knowlton Township to any of the Reads in Amwell Township.

Regardless of where Joseph Read came from, he married Sarah Sutton, who was a native of New Jersey. Sarah was the daughter of James and Hannah (Freeman) Sutton. She was born on 20 February 1742/43. Her family may have been living in Piscataway, New Jersey at the time of her birth (Dally 1873). In 1761, the Suttons were probably living in Hackettstown, Sussex (now Warren) County, New Jersey (Chase n.d.:50). Whether Joseph and Sarah were married in Hackettstown is unknown. It is also not known if they were married in a civil or religious ceremony. Sarah's father, James Sutton, was a Baptist (Chase n.d.:49), although he came from a long line of Quakers (Dally 1873). Two of Sarah's brothers, James Sutton (died 1815) and Joseph Suttton (died 1836) were buried in the church yard of the Hackettstown Presbyterian Church. In 1998 the building was the location of the Corner Stone Community Baptist Church. The cemetery is behind the church. The stones of James and Joseph Sutton were still standing in 1998.

In 1775, when the American Revolution began, Joseph Read was 42 years old, with a family of six children: Isaac, age 14; James, about age 11; Hannah, about age 10; John, age 5; Phebe, age 3, and Azuba; age 1. By the end of the war, three more children had been born: Joseph, in 1777; Sarah in 1778; and David in 1781. It is possible that Joseph served in the local militia, but I currently have no evidence of this. Toward the end of the war, the Continental Army made its winter encampment (1779-1780) at Morristown, New Jersey. On 7 June 1780, the British, who had quartered in New York City, began raiding villages in the area. They were checked by the American forces and fell back to Elizabethtown, New Jersey. The Americans held the village of Springfield, New Jersey. For two weeks the two armies sat facing each other. Then, late in June, General Washington received intelligence that the British General Clinton was planning a move from South Carolina north to the Hudson Valley. Washington feared Clinton would try to capture West Point, New York. He split his forces and sent troops to Pompton, New Jersey, which was within three or four marches of West Point (Scheer and Rankin 1957:373). The Continental Army began to scour the countryside for supplies. On 23 June 1780, Joseph Reed of Knowlton Township drew a bushel of corn for his two horse team which the Continental Army had just impressed (New Jersey Manuscript, W.M.G. Dept., Book i:42). At the time, neither of the two armies realized that the skirmish at Springfield would be the last conflict of any size in the northern theater. From the summer of 1780 until the surrender at Yorktown in 1781, almost all military action was concentrated in the south.

After the war, Joseph and Sarah Read continued to live in Knowlton Township. Two more children were born after the war: Samuel in 1783 and Aaron in 1786. Joseph and Sarah lived near the town of Hope in what was then Knowlton Township, Sussex County. Hope was settled in 1769 by Moravian settlers from Bethlem, Pennsylvania. The land they settled on was sold to them by Samuel and Anna Abigail Green, who were members of the Moravian Church. The settlement was known as "Greenland." The town was laid out in 1774; it was offically offically named "Hope" on 8 February 1775. The settlement included a grist mill (built in 1770), a store (opened in 1771), a tannery (established in 1773), a saw mill (opened in 1780), a church (built in 1781), a pottery (opened in 1783) and an oil mill (built in 1791) (Race 1891:199-200). The later probably produced linseed oil, which was made from flax seed. The Moravians were connected to the other settlers in Knowlton Township through trade and commerce. Joseph and Sarah probably traded in Hope and took their grain to be ground at the mill and their lumber to the saw mill.

There are at least two travelers accounts describing the town of Hope, which were written in 1777 and 1778. The first was written by William Ellery of Rhode Island, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and member of the Continental Congress between 1776 and 1785. Ellery traveled through Hope in June 1777 with fellow congressman William Whipple. Ellery wrote:

The second account was written in 1778 by General du Chastellux, a part of La Fayette's staff, who passed through the village during the Amerian Revolution. He toured the saw mill and described it as

By 1790, the Moravian Church in Hope had 147 members. One hundred of these people lived in the village, the other 47 lived in the surrounding township (Ibid.). During the time Joseph and Sarah lived in Knowlton Township, Hope was one of a handful of villages in Sussex County which served the needs of the surrounding farms. These villages included Hope, Log Goal (now Johnsonburg). Hackettstown and Stillwater. There was an iron furnace in Oxford. Newton was the county seat, with a courthouse, jail, shops, taverns and churches. Across the Delaware River, in Pennsylvania, was Easton, a main stop on the stage line and a bustling center of commerce. However, most travel in the late eighteenth century, indeed until about 1840, was on foot or by horse back. Social networks were structured by distance. Most individuals lived their lives within a five mile radius of their homes, a distance that could easily be covered on foot in a day. Daily face-to-face interactions tended to be within a mile or two of the house. Individuals who could afford horses did ride. Their spheres of social interaction were larger than those who merely walked. However, their radius of travel still tended to be only a few miles from home. Individuals who held government positions, circuit riders (ministers), merchants, and those with wealth and large business connections, had broader spheres of interaction that could extend across hundreds of miles (Larkin 1986:213-218). Joseph and Sarah were among the group that traveled on horseback. In 1774, Joseph was assessed for 9 head of cattle which probably included a few horses (Stryker-Rodda 1965:135, 1972:93). In 1780, he had at least two horses, as the Continental Army purchased them from him in the spring of that year (New Jersey State Archives, hereinafter NJSA, Manuscripts, W.M.G. Dept. Book i:42). In May 1792, when Joseph's estate was appraised, the Reads owned 5 horses and 3 colts. In addition there were men and women's saddles and saddle bags (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S). This means that Sarah also rode. Her social network was probably somewhat larger than women living on surrounding farms who did not ride.

Sarah's daily life revolved around the house and the children. She did the household cooking over an open fire. The fireplace in the Read home was outfitted with a trammel, or crane, on which pots and kettles were hung. There were also tongs and shovels for moving logs and cleaning the fireplace of ash (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S, File 538S). "Universal utensils of iron, brass, copper, or tin included chafing dishes, dripping pan, frying pan, kettles, saucepans, patty pans, skillets, skimmers, stewpan and toaster" (Garrett 1990:99). Joseph's estate inventory (taken in May 1792) includes "Teakettle[sic] pan pots & kettles" (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S, 538S). Some of the kettles may have been large iron pots used for cooking and heating water. One of the kettles may even have been a bake kettle or dutch oven. Dutch ovens were "[p]laced in the coals, and embers were heaped on the recessed lid." They were "[u]sed to bake bread biscuits, and shortcake" (Arbor 1993:59). Sarah's estate inventory (taken in August 1792) gives additional details about items in the kitchen. These include "Small hand Irons & bake irons" and "Pots Shovel Tongs, hand irons Trammel" (NJSA, Probate Records, File 538S). Some of the irons were probably for ironing clothes, but the others may include a gridiron for broiling meats and fish in the coals of the fire (Arbor 1993:59). "Whether iron or copper, all these pots and pans were heavy and cumbersome, and the requisite stooping, bending, lifting, and carrying were not only muscle-building but hazardous" (Garrett 1990:99). As Garret has stated:

Neither Joseph or Sarah's inventories mention reflecting ovens or tin kitchens. These were increasingly used in American households after about 1790. They stood on the hearth and were used to roast mutton legs, cuts of beef, chicken, turkey and other fowl. One side of the oven was open and faced the fire. The meat was placed on a spit inside the oven. A crank on the outside allowed the cook to rotate the roast for even browning. Some even came equipped with a "meat jack," a key-wound gear that turned the crank. Ovens, such as the Rumford oven, with boilers heated by fireboxes beneath them, did not appear in American kitchens until the early 1800s (Arbor 1993:59; Garret 1990:100).

The Read family's diet depended on what was seasonally available on their farm. These foodstuffs were supplemented by salted meats and other preserved fruits and vegetables. In the absence of archaeological data, such as animal bones, fruit pits, and vegetable and fruit seeds, what was on the family's table will be extrapolated from Joseph and Sarah's probate inventories (NJSA Probate Records 537S and 538S). We know from the inventories that the family raised cows, sheep and pigs. Interestingly there are no chickens listed in either inventory. At Joseph's death in April 1792 there were 56 head of stock on the farm: 8 horses, 20 head of cattle (8 cows, 2 steers, 4 heifers and 6 calves), 6 swine (3 sows and 3 barrows) and an unspecified number of piglets, and 22 sheep (including 5 lambs). Four months later, when Sarah died, the stock had shrunk to 21 head: 4 horses, 8 head of cattle (a cow, a steer, a heifer and 5 calves), 3 swine and 6 sheep. The cows provided dairy products and were a sources of beef for the family.

Sarah Read probably used milk from the cows to make butter and cheese for her household. In May 1792, the appraisers of Joseph's estate listed a milk keeler and a pot in the cellar of the house (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S). A keeler was a "[s]hallow, staved wooden tub in which milk for making butter was placed. It was set in a cool place, such as the cellar or spring house until the cream rose to the top" (Arbor 1993:19). The pot may have functioned as a sour cream tub, which was a "[p]ail in which the cream was kept until it soured and enough had been gathered to begin the churning process" (ibid.). There was no churn specifically mentioned in the inventory, although there were 13 old barrels in the cellar along with the milk keeler and the pot. The most common type of churn was a "deep, narrow barrel with a plunger fitted through the lid. The cream was placed inside and after 30 minutes to 2 hours of steady, even churning (working the plunger up and down), globules of butter formed and rose to the top of the cream (ibid.). Also missing from the inventory are wooden scoops used to remove butter from the churn and wooden paddles used to cut and press the butter after it was scooped from the churn. These items may have been made by hand and were of such little value that they were over looked by the appraiser. The butter was probably stored in the cellar where it stayed cool.

As there was no refrigeration, fresh beef was eaten only after slaughtering. Slaughtering took place in the late fall or early winter, when temperatures were cool enough to assure that meat would not spoil for several days. This was true also of pork and mutton. Fresh cuts of beef would be eaten as roasts or steaks, it was also boiled and hashed. All parts of the slaughtered cow were used for the table. Offal, the tongue, heart, kidneys, livers, and udders, were also part of the diet. As were calves heads, oxtails, and the feet. Boiled tongue was considered a delicacy. Udders were often prepared in a pie, mixed with veal and seasoned with herbs and spices. Calves heads were prepared in several ways. They could be boiled and served whole, they were boned and stuffed, or they were made into a pie. Cow hoof was made into calf's-foot jelly (also known as cow heel). Cow feet were also placed in pies and puddings. Tripe (the entrails) was generally pickled (Hume:12-16).

Beef was also salted, as was fish and pork. Mutton and vension were difficult to salt successfully. Other meat preservation methods included smoking, drying and potting. Salted meats were prepared in two ways. They were dry-cured and packed in a barrel or cask of salt. Brine cured meat was immersed in a barrel or cask containing a solution of salt and water (Arbor 1993:68). There is no direct mention of meat casks or salt in either Joseph's or Sarah's inventories (NJSA Probate Records, 537S and 538S). The inventory of their son, Isaac Read, Sr. (died 1838), mentions both a meat cask and a bushel of salt (Warren County Surrogate Court Records, hereinafter WCSCR Inventoried, Liber 3, folio 109). However, given the number of barrels and casks in Joseph and Sarah's cellar (there were 13 barrels and 2 casks listed in Joseph's inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S), it is probable that they stored salted meats there. Meat which was to be salted, was placed in a smoke house and slowly smoked over several days. The prepared meat was then hung from rafters. Cuts were removed from the meat as needed. Dried meats were jerky. Potted meats were cooked then placed in a crock and covered with a layer of lard or fat.

Pork was also smoked and salted. Fresh pork was available at slaughtering time. It was probably spit-roasted, broiled or boiled. Pork was also served as sausage. In the eighteenth century, sausage was generally eaten as a dinner dish (Hume 1978:17-18). Mutton was also eaten by eighteenth-century families. In 1786, John Rutherford wrote Notes on the State of New Jersey. He estimated that the average yield of meat per sheep in New Jersey was 14 pounds a quarter (Rutherford 1869:87). Mutton spoils very quickly without refrigeration, but fresh mutton was available immediately after slaughter. It was eaten in the form of roasts or chops. Lamb kidneys were mixed with young pigeon or chicken meat and served in a pie. Sheep heart was frequently served with bacon (Hume 1978:20).

The Reads probably included pigeons in their diet. There are pigeon nets listed in Joseph's inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S). Pigeons were stewed, roasted, broiled and boiled. They were also placed in puddings and pie (Hume 1978:22). Fish were probably also on the table, gathered from the Delaware River and the numerous streams running through the county. Fish was eaten both fresh and salted. The family's diet may also have included game, such as venison. There are no firearms listed in either Joseph's or Sarah's inventories. It is conceivable that a gun, or guns, were from the house by their adult sons. Joseph died on 18 April 1792. Almost a month passed before the estate appraisers made an inventory of his possessions on 14 May 1792. A gun appears in the estate inventory of their son James, which was taken two and a half years later on 20 October 1794. It is possible that during the month between Joseph's death and the estate appraisal, Sarah gave her married children items from the house which, as they were not physically present in the house, were not included in the final estate inventory.

Joseph's and Sarah's inventories provide little information about the types of fruits and vegetables eaten by the family. There are apples listed in Sarah's inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S), which was taken in October after the harvest was in. Fresh apples and other fruit were only available in season. Throughout the rest of the year, dried apples were eaten. Apples were also made into cider and vinegar (Hume 1978:36). John Rutherford (1869:87) wrote in 1786, that "Cyder is made on almost every Farm, which beside a pleasant Beverage, gives a plentiful supply of Vinegar much used by all Ranks in Vegetable and Salt Diet." There is almost no information in either Joseph's or Sarah's inventories as to what kinds of vegetables the household consumed. Joseph's inventory lists only potatoes (NJSA Probate Records 537S). However, period diaries and archaeological data from other period sites suggest what types of vegetables they may have consumed (Hume 1978:36-37; Ulrich 1990:309-314). These included yellow squash, cucumbers, potatoes, sweet potates, pumpkins and other gourds, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, turnips, and beets. Watermellons, musk mellons and strawberries were part of the diet. However, tomatoes were probably not included in the diet. "The belief that tomatoes were primarily decorative, perhaps even harmful, persisted throughout the colonial period." "[I]t was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that tomatoes became a widely accepted ingredient in many dishes" (Ibid 1978:36-37). Lettuce, cress and spring onions were also grown. They were served as a salad covered with vinegar and oil. Carrots, caulkflower, parsnips, turnips and beets were also served in a salad covered with hard boiled eggs, pepper, oil and vinegar. In areas with access to imports lemons might also be included in the salad. However, these were very expensive (Ibid.: 38). Peas and beans were eaten fresh in season. They were also dried for use during the winter months.

Breads were also included in the diet. There were two major types of bread, corn and wheat. Wheat bread was generally eaten by the middling and upper classes. All classes ate coarse corn bread. Corn, wheat and rye appear in both Joseph's and Sarah's inventories (NJSA Probate Records 537S and 583S). They probably sold some of their crop, but a portion of it would have been retained for use by the family. Both inventories list a wind mill, which I suspect is not a wind powered mill, but a mill which was wound by hand (as in to wind the clock). This mill appears in association with meat cutting boxes and tubs, which were probably in the kitchen. An iron mill for grinding grains has been recovered from the Denbigh plantation site in Virginia (Hume 1978:63-65). This mill dates to the seventeenth century, but I suspect that mills like this continued to be manufactured well into the eighteenth century. It is possible that Sarah had a wind mill in her kitchen to grind the corn and wheat used to make flour for bread, pies, and other pasteries.

There were very few food items which the Reads needed to purchase, most of their needs were satified by what they grew on the farm. Olive oil was purchased for use in salads. This oil was imported from Mediterranean counties. During the pre-Revolutionary era, it was imported by Britain and then re-exported to the colonies. After the war, the United States established direct trade with the Mediterranean (Hume 1978:46-48). Linseed oil was produced locally in Hope from flax grown by area farmers (Race 1891:199-200). Sugar and salt were imported from the West Indies. Tea and coffee were also imported (Hume 1978:58-60).

Joseph Read's sphere of responsiblity revolved around the fields and the animals. The crops he produced and animals he raised provided the famil with food, materials for producing household items and probably some cash from the sale of produce, preserved meats and lumber. A 1786 description of the typical New Jersey farm states that each farm was laid out "...from fifty Acres to four hundred, and of each Farm the arable Land is commonly laid out into four Fields, and the Course of Crops is 1st year Summer Crops of Indian Corn, Oats, Flax, and Buckwheat, 2d year, fallowed, 3d year in Winter Grain, and 4th year in Grass..." (Rutherford 1869:81). The inventories of both Joseph and Sarah Read list the crops growing on the farm in 1792 (NJSA Probate Records 537S and 538S). These crops closely mirror Rutherford's description. There was corn, flax and buckwheat, as mentioned in Rutherford's first year of crop rotation. The Reads grew rye instead of oats. There was also grain (or wheat) and hay (Rutherford's third and fourth year of rotation). The typical farm in 1786 yielded six to eight bushels of winter grain per acre. In terms of hay, the average farmer was able to cut one to two and a half tons of hay per acre (Rutherford 1869:81). Rutherford (1869:81) further describes farms in 1786: "...besides the Arable each Farm has commonly an Orchard, a piece of natural meadow ground, and a proportion of one-fourth of timber Land for fencing stuff, Buildings, Farming Utensils, and Firewood." Sarah's inventory suggests that the family had an orchard, it lists apples valued at £3.17.11 (3 pounds, 17 shillings and 11 pence). The meadows provided pasture for the cows, horses and sheep kept by the family. Swine were frequently given the run of orchards, where they ate fallen fruit (Rutherford 1869:87).

While Joseph was responsible for the stock and fields, Sarah probably tended a garden which provided vegetables for the table and herbs used in medicines. One line of Sarah's inventory lists "Belles, Water Pot, Old Sythes" valued at 18 shillings, 6 pence (NJSA Probate Records 538S). Joseph's inventory lists "7 Bells" (NJSA Probate Records, 538S). The bells were not the type of bell that produces a ringing sound. What they were was "...large bell-shaped covers of glass which served as portable greenhouses for the rearing and forcing of delicate plants" (Hume 1974:62). Bells have been recovered from archaeological sites in Williamsburg Virginia, from the Govenor Calvert House in Annapolis, Maryland and Mount Clare Mansion in Baltimore, Maryland. The bells recovered from these sites ranged in size and color. Typically the diameter of the open end of the bell, which sat on the ground, was between eighteen and twenty-four inches. These items were all hand blown. Once the bell was blown, a handle of glass was placed on the pontil (the area where the blow rod was removed). The hand knob was on top of the bell in the garden and enabled the gardener to lift the bell from the plants. Bells were generally produced in dark olive green glass, the same glass used for wine bottles of the period. There were also some bells made of clear glass (Hume 1974:62-68). Sarah's garden was located in the current USDA Zone 5. Currently the last spring frost in this zone generally occurs during the month of April. In the upper elevations of the mountains, the last frost may occur as late as May 30^th. The first fall frost can be expected as early as September 30^th (Crockett 1972). Sarah probably needed the bells to protect young vegetables and fragile plants through the cool spring nights. The water can in Joseph's inventory is not described in detail, it could have been either ceramic or tin. Watering cans in the early eighteenth century were generally ceramic. By the 1760's and 1770's metal water cans began to be more popular than ceramic cans (ibid.:71). The inventories do not list any products from the garden. However, Sarah probably grew vegetables for the family's table (as discussed above) and herbs used to produce medicines.

The Reads raised bees. Joseph's inventory lists bees and Sarah's inventory lists a bee hive valued at 10 shillings (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S, File 538S). In his description of typical New Jersey Farms, Rutherford (1869:87) stated in 1786 that "Bees are also reared in great Abundance, a Tenant with Care sometimes pays his Rent with this Article, by Honey, Metheglin, (very excellent), and Wax." Sarah probably processed honey from the hive for use by the family. Bees wax from the hive was used to produce candles. The major source of lighting in American homes, until the middle of the nineteenth century, was candles. "Candle making was a time-consuming, back-breaking, ill-smelling process to be performed in the cold-weather months so that the candles might harden more quickly" (Garrett 1990:140). Candles made of a mixture of beeswax and tallow (made of mutton or beef) were produced by pouring the hot mixture into a mold (commonly made of pewter or tin) then setting the product aside to harden. Although the work demanded more time and skill than dipping, the end result was uniform candles. Sarah may have used a mixture of bees wax and mutton tallow, as the Reads raised sheep on their farm (NJSA, Probate Records, File 537S, File 538S). Whether Sarah had a pewter candle mold is not known. Molds were generally stored in the kitchen, in the dresser. An eighteenth-century dresser was not what we in the twenty-first century call a dresser. It was a storage area for dishes and other kitchen gear, it generally contained "cupboards or an open shelf for pots, beneath upper shelves with rails on which to rest the edges of pewter plates and dishes" (Garrett 1990:104). Neither Joseph or Sarah's inventories include pewter candle molds. Sarah's inventory does include a "large Dresper[sic] & the Pewter" and a "Small Dresper[sic] & furniture" (NJSA, Probate Records, File 538S). Candle molds could have been among the "pewter" listed in Sarah's inventory. Copious amounts of candles were needed for a household. Journal accounts of women living in the late eighteen and early nineteenth century make this clear. For instance: "Mary Guion made 260 candles on 26 January 1801; Maria Silliman Church made 160 on 10 January 1834; and Elizabeth Porter Phelps made nearly 600 in October 1790" (Garrett 1990:141).

The Read's also produced their own shoes, clothing and textiles. The stock that Joseph raised on the farm and the flax he grew in the fields provided the raw materials for these items. At Joseph's death in April 1792 there were 20 head of cattle on the farm: 14 cows, 2 steers, 4 heifers and 6 calves. In 1786, John Rutherford (1869:87) bemoaned the fact that farmers in New Jersey employed few oxen on their farms. These he felt "would improve in our Hands, and furnish us more Beef and Sole Leather." Although the Reads did not raise oxen, they probably used hides from their butchered cattle to provide at least some of their leather needs. In 1773, a tannery was established in Hope (Race 1891:199-200). Hides could be tanned there and the family could probably purchase additional leather from the tanner. Joseph's inventory lists "le[a]ther & Shewmaker's tools." These tools do not appear in Sarah's inventory but they do appear in the Inventory of their son, James Read, who died two years after his parents (1794). Cloth for clothing and linens used in the house was produced from flax grown on the farm and from wool sheared from sheep raised on the farm. In April 1792, there were 17 sheep and 5 lambs on the farm. According to Rutherford (1869:87) the average weight per fleece in 1786 was two and a half pounds. In the spring, Joseph sheared the sheep and in the fall, he harvested the flax.

Once the wool was sheared and the flax harvested, Sarah's work began. The wool from the sheep was washed or scoured. Scouring removed dirt and animal grease. The by-product of the process was lanolin. However, scouring makes the wool brittle, oil was added back to the wool for the next step, carding. Carding was generally done by children. The wool was brushed between wooden brushes with metal teeth to remove foreign material, such as burrs. The smooth carded wool was made into "roving" or "rolag", a rope of wool that can be spun into yarn. Short wool fibers were spun into woolen yarn. The longer, finer fibers were combed until the fibers lay parallel and then spun into worsted yarn (Arbor 1993:88; Regensteiner 1970:31). On the same line as the leather and shoemakers tools, Joseph's inventory lists an "old wheel." Another line list "Old Qulers" which are quilling machines. (NJSA Probate Records 537S). The wool fibers were spun on a wheel. There were three types of wheels. A spindle-type wheel was used to spin wheel. The spinster held the "rover" or "rolag" in the left hand and turned the drive wheel with the right hand. "The fiber passed through a groove on the tip of the spindle which held it while the spinster drew out the yarn with a backwards step or two. When the draw was complete, the spinster freed the yarn from the tip of the spindle and turned the drivewheel to wind the newly-spun yarn onto the shaft of the spindle" (Arbor 1993:89). A pound of wool could be spun into a piece of yarn several miles long. The second type of wheel, the flyer, was developed in Europe during the Renaissance. "Fibers were twisted at the mouth of the orifice drilled in the end of the flyer, and the spun yarn was wound onto the bobbin by the flyer" (Ibid.: 89). This wheel let the spinster continuously spin and wind yarn onto the bobbin. Full bobbins cound be removed and stored. The final wheel, the flyer type, had a foot pedal that drove the wheel. Both of the spinster's hands were free to draw the yarn. This type of wheel could be used to spin both flax and wool (Ibid.). The quilling machine, or spool winder, "had a spindle that held either a quill or a spool. A crank on the flywheel powered the spindle, and yarn could be quickly wound off of skeins" (Ibid.: 90). Yarn may be dyed before or after it is spun. Natural wool may be white, gray, brown or black. Other colors, such as blues, reds and greens were created by dyes. The dyes were made from plants growing in the garden or found growing in the wild. When the wool was cleaned, carded, spun and dyed, it was ready for weaving (Regensteiner 1970: 31-32).

In order to weave cloth, the loom must first be warpped. There is no mention of a creel or warping mill in either Joseph's or Sarah's inventories. The warp determined the pattern of the piece, whether it was plain, check, plaid, stripped, etc. Once the loom was warpped, the piece could be woven. Joseph and Sarah's loom, tackle, reed and gear, as listed in Joseph's inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S), was valued at £4.2.6. Sarah and her daughters did the weaving. Sarah and her daughters (Hannah, Phebe, Azuba and Sarah) produced cloth used to make clothes for the family and for the production of bedding, towels, tableclothes, and other linens. Bedding, towels and tableclothes are listed in both Joseph's and Sarah's inventories (NJSA Probate Records 573S and 538S). As the girls grew older and began to receive suitors, they produced cloth for use by their family and for use in their own use when they were married and had homes of their own.

Ulrich (1990:75) has pointed out that the economy of the late eighteenth century was characterized by family production. Families worked together to produce items that were vital to their survival. However, with that said, there were in reality two economies in every eighteenth-century American household that were divided along gender lines. Women were responsible "for particular tasks, products, and forms of trade (Ibid.:77). These tasks included food preparation, laundry, care of the sick, delivery of babies, and the raising of children. They were responsible for producing soap, candles, cloth and clothing. It is in the realm of trade that we see how the women's economy functioned in the commuity and how their activities wove the community together. The Read farm has been described as laying where the current townships of Hope, Blairstown, Hardwick and Frelinghuysen meet (Snell 1881). Their near neighbors were Garbriel and Mary Ogden and Richard and Mary Shackleton. Their farm was probably in close proximity to the farms of John and Lydia Kirkpatrick and Thomas and Rebecca Newman. The men of these families, Joseph Read, Gabriel Ogden, Richard Shackleton, John Kirkpatrick and Thomas Newman served on township committees, voted in township elections, and conducted public buisness and transactions. The children of the five families intermarried. Richard and Mary Shackleton's children married Read and Ogden children. Gabriel and Mary Ogden's children married Read and Shackleton children. The Kirkpatrick children married Read and Newman children. And the Newman's children married Read and Kirkpatrick children. Surely, Sarah Read, Mary Shackleton, Mary Ogden, Lydia Kirkpatrick and Rebecca Newman had more than a passing aquantaince with one another. Did they participate in the invisible local women's economy that Ulrich (1990:72-101) has outlined? What did this economy consist of?

The women's economy was based on a trade network which included raw material, finished products, and the sharing of expertise, such as nursing or weaving. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (1990) has studied the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife living in Maine. Ballard kept her diary between 1785 and 1812, during the period that Sarah Read, Mary Shackleton, Mary Ogden, Lydia Kirkpatrick and Rebecca Newman lived in Warren County. Ulrich lists some of the exchanges that took place between Ballard and her Maine neighbors. These include exchanges of cloth, flax, pork, ashes (used to make soap), one woman spinning yarn for Ballard, pototoes, soap, plants, lard, salve, and a back plaster. The Ballards had an oven in their home, something many of their neighbors did not have. Martha's diary records several neighborhood women coming to bake in the oven from time to time (Ibid.:85). Women in the Ballard community joined together to spin and nurse. As Ulrich has pointed out "In both realms, training was communal and cumulative, work was cooperative, even though performed in private households, and the products remained in the local economy" (Ibid.:79). It is probable that the women surrounding the Read farm participated in the same type of economic activity as Martha Ballard and her neighbors and Maine. Sarah did not raise chickens, she may have traded cloth, garden produce, or cloth with another neighbor for eggs or for chicken meat. Sarah, the two Marys, Lydia and Rebecca were probably among the women called together to help one another deliver their babies. When members of their families were ill, they probably spent nights sitting in each others homes, nursing the sick and making sure that household chores were done. This was part of being a good neighbor, but it also created ties that bound the community together and that ensured that women participated in the economic life of community beyond the confines of their own home.

Joseph's position in the economic life of the community was more traditional. He participated in town elections, probably sat on juries, and bought and sold land, stock and crops. Joseph also appears to have practised a craft in addition to farming. There is an incredible amount of lumber listed in his inventory. There is also a large number of wood working tools and coopers tools in his inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S). The inventory not only mentions specific rooms in the house, but it also records items in a shop and in the shop chamber. A chamber was generally an unfinished second floor room. There would have been no need for a shop it Joseph did not practice a craft. Joseph's inventory (NJSA Probate Records 537S) places lumber in both the house and in the shop:

The final entry is not associated with a specific location. It may have been located in the shop or in an outbuilding. The total value of the lumber, boards, shingles, and steel nails was £17.00.06 (the total also includes a milk keeler and a pot which were listed with the cellar lumber). The inventory includes other wood working tools. A crosscut saw was located in the cellar. A sled may have been located in the cellar. In the shop were axes, a cross bar and an ox chain. Cross-cut saws were two-man saws used to fell trees. The cross bar, ox-chain and sled were used to drag felled lumber out of the woods. This activity took place in the winter, as the sleds could only be used in the snow (Arbor 1993:64-65). Also in the shop were a harson, a bettle and wedges, and old horses (possibly shaving horses). Bettles and wedges were used to split logs into halves and quarters, called bolts. The bolts were then split into shingles. Shaving horses were benches "on which the shingle maker sat while shaving shingles with his drawknife. A foot-operated clamp held the shingle firmly so the worker had both hands free" (Arbor 1993:85). The inventory also lists, on the same line, staves and heads (used in the construction of barrels) and cider spirits (hard cider or Apple Jack, an alcoholic beverage).

The presence of cooper's tools, heads and staves in the house in 1792 points to Joseph carrying on the trade of a cooper. Ccoper's made barrels, casks and other wooden containers out of staves and hoops (Ibid.:26-27). However, the large amount of lumber, the tools for lumbering, the shingle making tools, the shingles, steel nails, and cedar bolts (used in mortise and tendon construction) suggest that Joseph did more than make barrels. I suspect that he was a also a housewright, someone who built house. This would explain the £610.06.10 of debt owed Joseph by various members of the community. The largest debt owed to Joseph was £416.0.06 from Daniel Robbins. This debt consisted of a £342.0.0 prinicpal and interest of £73.0.6. Before 1750, there were no professionally trained architects in the colonies. After the mid-eighteenth century professional architects began to build mansions for the wealthy in urbans areas, as well as their country houses. In rural areas, master carpenters or skilled housewrights continues to build houses that were planned in conjunction with the owners and use of builder's manuels which were beginning to arrive in the country from Britain (Birdenbaugh 1950:11). Joseph Read was probably a member of this group of housewrights, who were not professionally trained, but who built many of the homes in the rural villages and farms of America. Joseph probably engaged in other wood working activies, producing bowls, dishes, tools, boxes, barrels, crates, and even coffins (Ibid.:75). Smaller amounts of debt listed in the inventory, such as 10 shillings owned by James Younghen to Joseph, may be indicative of smaller purchases or repairs to a wooden tool or other item. The fact that Joseph also farmed was not unusual for the time. Rutherford (1869:81) noted in 1786 that many of the smaller farmers of New Jersey practised some type of trade.

The joint efforts of Joseph and Sarah Read, in the production of foodstuffs and cloth for household consumption, as well as Joseph's business, enabled them to amass capital. Joseph's estate at his death was valued at £1,029.17.2 (NJSA Probate Records 537S) a large sum for 1792. This allowed them to purchase "luxury" items such as a clock, a looking glass, books, glasses (instead of metal or wooden drinking containers), knives and forks, and ceramic tea cups (NJSA, Probate Records 537S and 538S).

When Joseph and Sarah died in 1792, they had 11 living children. Six of these children were minors. Four of the older children, Issac, Sr., James, Hannah and Phebe, were married by 1792. John may have been married to Elizabeth Ogden by this date. Sarah's death meant that the younger children would be sent to live with relatives. Sarah made no provisions in her will for guardians for the younger children. This may have been done orally on her death bed. Whatever the arrangements were, they were not recorded in the estate probate records. The minor children were Azubah, Joseph, Sarah, David, Samuel and Aaron Read. Azubah was almost 19 years old when her mother died. She appears to have married Joseph Newman shortly after Sarah died, as her first child, Rebecca Newman, was born in about 1793. The other five child would have required care for a much longer period of time. Joseph was 15 years old, Sarah was around 13 years of age, David was 11 years old, Samuel was 9 years old, and Aaron was 6 and 1/2 years old. It is very likely that they were divided between the older siblings and remained in their households until coming of age, or in the case of the girls, until marriage.

Joseph and Sarah were grandparents when they died. Their eldest grandchild, Richard Read (the son of Issac, Sr.) was born in November 1783. Richard was 3 months younger than his uncle, Samuel Read, and almost 2 and 1/2 years older than his uncle, Aaron Read (Joseph and Sarah's youngest child). Their grandson, Amos Ogden (son of Hannah Read) was born 9 months before their youngest son, Aaron. This pattern of births was not unusual in the late eighteen and early nineteenth centuries. At least eight grandchildren were born between 1785 and 1792: Benjamin, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth and John Read; Mary and Joseph Ogden; and Martha Kirkpatrick.

Joseph died intestate (i.e., without a will) on 18 April 1792. His estate was admitted for probate in Sussex County on 7 May 1792. The surname is spelled variously in the probate records as Read and Reed. His widow, Sarah Read, and his two eldest sons, Isaac and James Read, were appointed as administrators of the estate. John Armstrong, of Hardwick Township, Sussex County was appointed as a bondsman with the administrators (NJSA, Probate Records 537S). An inventory of the estate was made on 14 May 1792 by William Parke and John Armstrong. The estate was valued at £1,029.17.2 (SCSCR File 537S; Hutchinson 1942:293).

Four and a half months after the death of her huband, Sarah Sutton Read died on 31 August 1792. Unlike her husband, Sarah left a will. She gave her six minor children small legacies. The boys, Joseph, David, Samuel, and Aaron, were each to receive £36 when they reached the age of 21. Daughters Azubah and Sarah, were each to receive £32 when they reached the age of 21. The residue of the estate was to be divided between her 11 children, i.e. "Isaac, James, Hannah, John, Pheby, Azubah, Joseph, Sarah, David, Samuel, and Aaron." She named her "friends" Isaac Reed and James Reed as executors of the estate. The will was witnessed by two of her brothers, Jonathan Sutten and Nathan Sutton. The estate was admitted for probate in Sussex County on 1 October 1792. It was inventoried on 11 October 1792. William Parke and John Armstrong again acted as estate appraisers. The total value of Sarah's estate was £206.5.1 (Hutchinson 1942:293; NJSA, Probate Records, File 538S).

Joseph and Sarah Read are buried in Union Brick Cemetery on Heller Hill Road in what is now Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. The cemetery is near the intersection of Heller Hill and Union Brick Roads. They are buried next to each other. The cemetery was field checked on 23 June 1983, and again on 18 July 1998. Joseph's single stone is laying on the ground near Sarah's stone and is in bad repair. It is inscribed:

[Cherub Head motif hand carved in the stone]
In Memory of
Jofeph Read Who
Died April 18 1792
Aged 58 Years 9
Months [stone broken]

Sarah Sutton Read's single stone is still standing and is inscribed:

[Cherub Head motif hand carved in the stone]
In memory of
Sarah Read, who died
Aug^t the 31^st 1792, aged
49 years 6 months
11 days.

Remember me as you Past by
As you are now fo once was I
As I am now fo you muft be
Prepare for death and follow me.

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