Bluegrass craftsman being the reminescences of Ebenezer Hiram Stedman, papermaker, 1808-1885 / edited by Frances L. S. Dugan and Jacqueline P. Bull

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Introduction: In which the editors relate something of Ebenezer Hiram Stedman, papermaking in Kentucky, and the nature of the manuscripts herein published; 1: Being an account of my childhood in Massachusetts until the year 1815, including something about pirates, sea captains, and Napoleon; 2: Wherein my father goes to Kentucky and we, with great difficulty, follow him; 3: Here I describe my father, the factory, and our fine new home in Lexington in 1816; some remarks also about our friends and our pastimes.

4: Kentucky's prosperity as a manufacturing state in 1815-1817 the failure of the Prentiss mill and its effect on my father's character; 5: We and our papermaking friends move to Georgetown and take over historic Craig mill; more boyhood adventures, including school; 6: How I earned a hat; some remarks about cruelty to beast and man, also about a jail break; 7: Some words about squirrel migrations, but much more about my life as a lay boy and the manner in which paper was made by hand in 1822; 8: In which I go with my father to paper mills in Ohio.

A harrowing account of a battle of the war of 1812 and its effect9: I move to Mr. Couglar's house and undergo persecution from a girl; I attend my first camp meeting; 10: The story of our journey back to Georgetown and our visit with a celebrated hunter; 11: Home again and thoughts about family affection; 12: We make bank paper for the Commonwealth; Georgetown welcomes Andrew Jackson and James Monroe; we take over an old powder mill; 13: Herein I describe the visit of the illustrious General Lafayette, and particularly the victory of Mary Steffee.

14: More about life in the little powder mill and ""Tow Harvest"" and Sam's pranks15: In which I become a potter-temporarily-and ring the bell for church services, and learn to know the Steffee family better; 16: Which contains an account of my life in Lexington and how a ten-year-old girl deceived her father; 17: Being more about Lexington and its people, including John Bradford; also a description of Shin Bone Hotel and its inhabitants and their pranks; 18: News about the death of two great men and an account of their funeral honors in Georgetown, for which I buy my first new coat.

19: More papermaking, and at last my first journeyman work a boardinghouse called ""Cold Comfort, "" and the beginning of love; 20: Relating such matters as coffin handbills, railroads, a blind old mare, and a little more about love; 21: At last I have my own business, though beginning on the bottom floor of poverty; 22: Herein I begin my life as a bandbox peddler with the aid of a hipshot old mare and a striped ancient wagon; 23: Being remarks about the character and actions of John Storms Stedman; also a description of a militia muster.

24: More adventures in peddling, including an attempted robbery, two runaways, and a ""Yankee trick""

Ebenezer Hiram Stedman, whose lively reminiscences of antebellum Kentucky were written as a series of letters to his daughter, was one of the pioneer papermakers of the state. Stedman paints a vivid picture of the life of the numerous and thriving middle class who sought opportunity in the expanding economy of the new West. The vivid detail of Stedman's personal experiences is supplemented by a more formal account of early Kentucky papermaking.

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