The primary objective of this study of four cores from the Lower Mississippian Price Formation was to determine the dominant controls on diagenesis and porosity as the Price sandstones are potential reservoirs for coalbed methane. Facies analyses of the cores, in combination with outcrop data from previous studies, lead to the conclusions that these rocks represent distal bar and prodelta, wave-reworked distributary mouth bar, and upper delta plain deposits. Petrographically, the sandstones typically are fine-grained lithic arenites that were derived from a low-grade metamorphic provenance with lesser sedimentary and minor plutonic influences. Diagenetically, most sandstones are dominated by siliceous cements and replacements, although some samples from the marine zones are dominated by carbonate cements. No original porosity is preserved and secondary porosity of any type is rare, but where present is usually the result of dissolution of carbonate phases. The age of the rocks and the maximum temperature of diagenesis (found to be >150°C throughout these sections) were strongly influential in diagenesis. The composition of the sediments was also very important in compaction, cementation, replacement, and dissolution. The variation in detrital mineralogy is limited, and this, in combination with temperature and age, results in diagenesis that is relatively homogeneous throughout these sections of the Price Formation. Finally, as porosity in the sandstones is extremely low, it seems highly unlikely that the Price Formation sandstones in this area could be economic producers of methane. / M.S.

This dissertation recasts how historians and scholars have come to understand bound labor in eighteenth-century Virginia. Servants—including indentured servants, customary servants, convicts, Virginia-born servants, and apprentices—remained a part of Virginia’s work force throughout the eighteenth century. Servants were a people between and navigated the worlds of freedom and unfreedom on a daily basis, working alongside slaves, negotiating with their masters, and attempting to make sense of their place in Virginia society as an alternative source of bound labor. Some historians, however, dismiss servants, claiming that by the end of the seventeenth century they had all but disappeared and that a general solidarity existed between all whites by the early eighteenth century. Other scholars acknowledge the presence of servants after the turn of the century, but rarely discuss their significance outside of economic analyses or migration studies. Throughout the eighteenth century Virginia masters failed to find common cause with this white labor force—despite its largely European origins and temporary bondage—and servants were constantly ensnared in the power relationships dictated by race, gender, and labor in colonial Virginia. The presence of servants throughout the eighteenth century suggests a need to reconsider colonial society not only across the lines of color but also along the lines of condition.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (Doctoral -- Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier III). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-277).

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-62). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Apr. 20, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1926. / Published also without thesis note. "Selected bibliography": p. [183]-191.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-120). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Rhode Island, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-212).

Master of Arts / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / This thesis examines the development of freedom of religion in Virginia focusing on the Anglican Church in the century preceding the Constitutional Convention (May 25 to September 17, 1787). There are three main arguments in this study. First, I maintain that commissary James Blair’s actions set the Anglican Church in Virginia on a unique trajectory that favored local control. He did this despite the hierarchical structure of the Church of England that encouraged uniformity. He gained strong influence in Virginia, used his power to weaken governors and clergy, along with their ties to imperial Britain. At the same time, he empowered vestries and local control. His actions set the Anglican Church on a path different from that of the Church in other colonies. Importantly for the path of the Anglican Church in Virginia, he established and was the first president of the College of William and Mary. Second, I assert that the College of William and Mary was responsible for further developing a unique Anglican Church in Virginia. The college provided an education for future leaders, allowing the colony to develop a clergy that had spent little or no time in England. In turn, the clergy became increasingly supportive of local power, and had a diminishing connection to England. Third, I maintain that the development of a unique Anglican Church in Virginia created a culture in which Anglicans there were more receptive of the First Great Awakening (1730s-1760s), and were supportive of the American Revolution, and religious freedom. In order to demonstrate these three points, I will argue that from Blair through the American Revolution, the Church of England in Virginia followed a unique path that was essential for securing religious freedom in Virginia, and the eventual United States.