A Family

of Carpenters

The Williamsons of Long Island, New York During the Industrial Revolution

by Edward Fix &

Marsha Rooney

In 1977, one young carpenter-historian, one eighteenth-century barn, and one handwritten account book converged. What started as a museum docent training program became a biographical search that extended more than forty years. In this volume, Edward Fix unveils, with Marsha Rooney, forty-nine individuals within a six-generation Williamson carpentry dynasty, who practiced their trade for over 200 years. Most stayed within Suffolk County, Long Island; some strayed but maintained close connections by letter. Some built strong roots in one community; some took in family members as apprentices; others struggled to make a living.

Their stories blossomed from public documents such as censuses, trade schedules, Revolutionary War pension affidavits, probate inventories, and vital records. Significant personal papers, particularly personal letters and business accounts, beat the odds of survival to reach archival preservation. Other colorful details appeared in secondary sources like newspapers and local histories.

The authors analyze the statistics of these carpentry businesses, blend this data with the carpenters’ intimate stories, and weave it all into the context of economic transition during the American Industrial Revolution. The result will appeal to historian, museum curator, and lay reader alike, offering a rich sense of individual personalities and challenges as well as family and community strengths.

 

Softcover, 279 pages

1st printing 2021, 2nd Printing 2022

ISBN: 978-0-578-95947-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021917729

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Meet the Authors

  • Edward Fix

    Spent a good part of his career as a restoration carpenter in New York, Massachusetts, and Washington state. As a fourth-generation family member, he also worked as finance and operation officer for the retail jewelry business started by his great-grandfather in Spokane, WA.

    After earning an undergraduate history degree from Lewis and Clark College with a concentration on early American history, he followed an interest in historical trades and historical preservation. As a costumed interpreter at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA, he constructed replica 1627 houses using an array of hand tools all too familiar to the Williamson carpenters.

    He then served a restoration carpentry and millwork apprenticeship with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Tarrytown, NY, working on some of the finest historic houses in the Northeast, as well as in South Carolina and Virginia.

    His carpentry businesses in the Boston area and in eastern Washington, along with the family business, provided insight and perspective for writing about the multi-generational Williamson family of carpenters. Today, he continues to do carpentry work on old and historic buildings and also researches and writes about early tradesmen. He is married to the co-author.

  • Marsha Rooney

    Provided research and editing for this Williamson project and wrote two chapters.

    She grew up in Vermont in an 1805 brick house built by her family. After majoring in history and French at Albion College, she worked as a costumed interpreter at Plimoth Plantation and designed a shipwright exhibit for the Boston Tea Party Museum. Both experiences led her to earn a master’s degree in museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program (NY).

    During eight years as Director of the Andover Historical Society (MA), she transformed a static period house into a center for changing exhibits and interpretive and research programs. She also supervised Andover’s town-wide National Register nomination and shepherded the museum through its first formal American Alliance of Museums accreditation.

    A move west brought her to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (Eastern Washington State Historical Society). During thirty years as history curator, she created gallery exhibits, expanded collections, supervised a major restoration of the museum’s 1898 historic house site, and participated in Spokane’s historic preservation movement. Upon her retirement in 2018, she received a distinguished service award from Spokane Preservation Advocates, and now continues to undertake special history projects.

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