America is a nation of immigrants and all immigrants brought culture with them. There is not one American culture. Many Ohioans are descended from German ancestors, their German heritage is still present in the cultural and social landscapes. German immigrants came to America in search of farmland and independence.In the period between 1830 and 1890 approximately 1,300 people left Ladbergen, a village of 2,700, with hopes of a better life in America. The main reason for emigration from Germany was changes in the political landscape that led to financial hardship for those who did not own farmland. During the 1800’s German immigrants settled in Ohio, Pennsylvania and along the northern East coast. Choice of location was influenced by proximity to other German immigrants and the possibility for successful agriculture. All immigrants in New Knoxville came from the same village, Ladbergen, which provides a unique example of “chain immigration”.The village was platted by an Irishman, James Lyle, in 1836 and the German immigrants purchased the platted lots. A copy of the map has been preserved.Close to 80% of immigrants had been tenant farmers in Ladbergen. The life of farmers and tenant farmers in Ladbergen has been documented by local historians as is life among early immigrants in New Knoxville. Immigrant families were farmers in Ladbergen and became farmers in New Knoxville. Soil in New Knoxville was fertile and gave good yields of corn,beans, wheat, rye and buckwheat. I visited the area at different seasons and walked in the farmland with the assistance of a local guide. In the US this requires permits from the landowner.This is a flat agricultural area with large open corn and soybean fields with patches of old pineand deciduous forest penetrated by narrow dirt roads.In New Knoxville immigrant families were free to design their farms and living space according to their own preference. Immigrants built and settled in cabins while barns were built to house farm animals. Larger homes inspired by British/American architecture were soon erected and a few of these buildings are on display at the German Heritage Center in New Knoxville. Barns around New Knoxville are usually large gambrel roof barns for storage.People in New Knoxville are proud of their German roots and have an extensive cultural exchange with Ladbergen. German language, for example, was used in newspapers and church services in New Knoxville and in other areas with many German immigrants until the 1950's,some early immigrants never learnt to speak English. An important observation was that the immigrants adjusted very quickly to an American way of life when they depended on it for better housing and food supply but were not eager to mingle with Americans but kept a closed knit community. / Amerika är en nation av invandrare och alla invandrare tog med sig kultur. Det finns inte en amerikansk kultur. Många Ohioans härstammar från tyska förfäder, deras tyska arv är fortfarande närvarande i de kulturella och sociala landskapen. Tyska immigranter kom till Amerika på jakt efter jordbruksmark och självständighet.Under perioden mellan 1830 och 1890 lämnade cirka 1300 människor Ladbergen, en by med 2700 invånare, med hopp om ett bättre liv i Amerika. Den främsta orsaken till emigrationen från Tyskland var förändringar i det politiska landskapet som ledde till ekonomiska svårigheter för dem som inte ägde jordbruksmark. Under 1800-talet bosatte sig tyska immigranter i Ohio,Pennsylvania och längs den norra östkusten. Immigranterna föredrog att bosätta sig i närheten av andra tyska invandrare och i områden med möjligheter till framgångsrikt jordbruk. Alla invandrare i New Knoxville kom från samma by, Ladbergen, vilket är ett unikt exempel på "kedje invandring".Byn mutades in av en irländare, James Lyle, 1836 och de tyska immigranterna köpte tomter. En kopia av den första kartan av New Knoxville finns bevarad.Närmare 80% av invandrarna hade varit arrendatorer i Ladbergen. Bönders och arrendatorers liv i Ladbergen har dokumenterats av lokala historiker, livet bland tidiga invandrare i New Knoxville har också studerats eftersom det är ett exempel på kedje invandring.Invandrarfamiljer var bönder i Ladbergen och blev bönder i New Knoxville. Det krävdes hjälp av en lokal guide för att utforska området utanför byn, det krävs tillstånd av landägaren att uppehålla sig på all typ av privatägd mark i USA. Gårdarna ligger i ett platt jordbruks område med stora öppna majs- och soja-fält som korsas av smala grus vägar. Det finns skogspartier med barr och lövskog på alla gårdar, och immigranterna sparade skog för virke. I New Knoxville var invandrarfamiljer fria att designa sina gårdar efter sina egna önskemål. Invandrare byggde och bosatte sig i stugor medan lador byggdes för att hysa husdjur.Större hem inspirerade av brittisk/amerikansk arkitektur uppfördes snart och några av dessa byggnader visas på German Heritage Centre i New Knoxville. Ladugårdar runt New Knoxville är vanligtvis stora byggnader med brutet tak för maximalt förvarings utrymme.Människor i New Knoxville är stolta över sina tyska rötter och har ett omfattande kulturellt utbyte med Ladbergen. Tyska språket, till exempel, användes i tidningar och gudstjänster i New Knoxville och i andra områden med många tyska invandrare fram till 1950-talet, några av de tidiga invandrarna lärde sig aldrig att tala engelska. En viktig observation var att invandrarna mycket snabbt anpassade sig till ett amerikanskt sätt att leva när de var beroende av det för bättre bostäder och matförsörjning men inte var ivriga att mingla med amerikaner utan levde i ett slutet samhälle.

The town of St. Joseph, established in 1835, served as an important deep-water port for receiving and shipping dry goods up the Apalachicola River north along the vast network of navigable inland waterways in southeastern U.S. during the early nineteenth century. Unfortunately, this town was hit with a yellow fever epidemic and a series of hurricanes that, combined with the infancy of its cotton trade activities, eventually devastated its economy and population. The town disappeared by 1842, only much later to be replaced by modern Port St. Joe (est. 1909), located north of the original settlement. However, St. Joseph's influence upon Florida's economy was paramount. It hosted Florida's first constitutional convention, where the first five constitutions were drafted. Despite St. Joseph's historical gravity, little was known about its economic impact to Florida; much of its history is shrouded in folklore. Recently a large artifact collection from St. Joseph was made available for professional research. The collector invited me to document the materials and do the first archaeological investigation of this lost town. This research also utilizes the material culture to examine questions of early nineteenth-century capitalism and consumer behavior.

El Plan de San Diego is the name of an important document in Texas history, but the document and surrounding history is usually discussed with little or no reference to the town of San Diego, Texas, the people who lived there, or the cultural landscape. The Plan de San Diego is an unsuccessful rebellion that is one of the few documented irredentist revolts in U.S. History, it is also a written document calling for return of lands in a multi-ethnic call to arms advocating the recovery of territory by people of Mexican descent in 1915, named for the town San Diego, TX. After the discovery of this Plan, Mexican-Americans were persecuted, violently suppressed, and murdered: 300-5,000 people of Mexican descent died violently following the discovery and publication of the Plan de San Diego in what historians have called the “Bandit Wars”. San Diego, Texas residents and the entire U.S.-Mexican borderlands changed after the discovery of the Plan. My research investigates the political landscape and changes in material and cultural assemblages during and after the Plan, examining how descendant communities retained ties to place and remembered this event in the community of San Diego. Archival research, Historical archaeology and media representations of San Diego explore expose the everyday lives, settlement patterns, and subsistence strategies of the residents of San Diego before and after 1915, showing the material and social effects of the failed rebellion. The socio-political landscape that helped create Mexican-American culture in San Diego is a silenced, violent, and misunderstood chapter of Texas history that shapes the current borderlands and contributes important insights into the study of sites of rebellion and retaliation worldwide. / text

El Plan de San Diego is the name of an important document in Texas history, but the document and surrounding history is usually discussed with little or no reference to the town of San Diego, Texas, the people who lived there, or the cultural landscape. The Plan de San Diego is an unsuccessful rebellion that is one of the few documented irredentist revolts in U.S. History, it is also a written document calling for return of lands in a multi-ethnic call to arms advocating the recovery of territory by people of Mexican descent in 1915, named for the town San Diego, TX. After the discovery of this Plan, Mexican-Americans were persecuted, violently suppressed, and murdered: 300-5,000 people of Mexican descent died violently following the discovery and publication of the Plan de San Diego in what historians have called the “Bandit Wars”. San Diego, Texas residents and the entire U.S.-Mexican borderlands changed after the discovery of the Plan. My research investigates the political landscape and changes in material and cultural assemblages during and after the Plan, examining how descendant communities retained ties to place and remembered this event in the community of San Diego. Archival research, Historical archaeology and media representations of San Diego explore expose the everyday lives, settlement patterns, and subsistence strategies of the residents of San Diego before and after 1915, showing the material and social effects of the failed rebellion. The socio-political landscape that helped create Mexican-American culture in San Diego is a silenced, violent, and misunderstood chapter of Texas history that shapes the current borderlands and contributes important insights into the study of sites of rebellion and retaliation worldwide.

This thesis focuses on an early nineteenth-century homestead known as the Walker Place homestead at Spirit Hill Farm in northern Mississippi. The goal of this thesis is to conduct a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and shovel test survey to explore how changing landscapes simultaneously (re)create and destroy senses of place or Homescapes. Homescapes have received little attention in the field of archaeology and have not been applied to Euro-American Homescapes. I apply this theoretical construct in a novel way as a venture to further develop an avenue in archaeology to be collaborative and understand the past in a way that accurately reflects the realities of the past. I utilize historical records, oral histories, archaeological materials, and GPR to deepen our understanding of this site and to demonstrate the value of holistic archaeology and collaborating with the descendant community.