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Reviews
DOMESTICATING THE WEST: THE RE-CREATION OF THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS
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by Brenda Jackson
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| University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2005. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 196 pages. $50.00 cloth. |
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| In Domesticating the West, Brenda Jackson presents a brief study of the late nineteenth- century American middle-class migrants to the West. The book focuses on the lives of Thomas and Elizabeth Tannatt, attempting to show how status conscious and economically insecure middle-class Americans sought to establish themselves amid the unsettled conditions of the post-Civil War period. Through the career changes and geographic mobility experienced by the Tannatts, the author argues, we can see how middle-class families — after failing to gain a foothold in the social and economic order of the East — ultimately made their way West to seek fresh opportunities for community building and social and political leadership. |
1
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As case studies, Thomas and Elizabeth's life stories seem to work well because they participated in most aspects of major events of their times. Thomas Tannatt grew up in New England, graduated from West Point, married into the prominent Tappen family of New England, and served briefly with the U.S. Army on the Dakota frontier. During the Civil War, he served with distinction as an officer in the Union army but suffered severe wounds and resigned his commission at war's end. In the unsettled aftermath of the Civil War, Tannatt searched for social and economic footing, first as a mining engineer on the Colorado frontier and then as an economic promoter in Reconstruction-era Tennessee. By the late 1870s, Tannatt had failed to find a secure or satisfying career and returned to his wife's old home in Massachusetts to look for work. Taking advantage of personal connections, he entered the employment of Henry Villard, the entrepreneur seeking to build a transcontinental railroad. Relocating to Walla Walla in eastern Washington Territory, Tannatt promoted immigration and oversaw other business matters for Villard's Northern Pacific Railroad. In that region, known as the Inland Empire, Tannatt quickly became a community builder and political leader. While raising a family and following her husband in his search for a viable career, Elizabeth Tannatt also established an independent life. She devoted her time to various social reforms and benevolent causes important to nineteenth-century middle-class women. |
2
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In demonstrating that the lives of the Tannatts provide insight into the roles played by the middle class in building western communities and providing social and political leadership, the author is careful to establish historical context for key events and issues and to draw upon existing studies of the nineteenth-century middle class. While the focus of this brief study is laser-sharp and the writing is clear and direct, the author's apparent unwillingness to explore related issues or expand on important background matters limits the work's value. For instance, more information on engineer training and the role of the Army Corps of Engineers in transportation improvements in the pre-Civil War era would help to provide perspective on Tannatt's engineering education and early career before he turned to other work. A fuller discussion of the relationship between the middle class and their inferiors and superiors would have been helpful as well. Such an investigation would better show how the middle class, as represented by the Tannatts, accomplished their community-building and leadership roles in the West. |
3
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An almost total reliance on the Tannatt family papers apparently dictated the author's approach. Unfortunately, she never describes in detail or evaluates in depth the contents of the letters, diaries, and other documents comprising the papers. The reader is left to infer that they are a rather barebones record, especially for Thomas Tannatt. Elizabeth's journals and correspondence, on the other hand, seem to be richer in detail and substance. Given the sources, the author is forced to rely far too much on inference and supposition in presenting the Tannatt's motivations or reactions to important events, personal decisions, or career moves. The Tannatts never really come to life as personalities in their own right. In addition, a few well-chosen maps and illustrations would have helped provide a sense of place and physical context useful in understanding the Tannatts' motivations and life choices as they moved about the country. |
4
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The most troubling aspect of this study is the author's inability to establish how representative Thomas Tannatt was of the nineteenth-century middle class in the American West. The author assumes rather than demonstrates the defining social, economic, and political characteristics of the middle class. There is, however, a body of data that would have allowed the construction of a middle-class profile for the eastern Washington frontier. By analyzing the characteristics of the individuals listed in turn-of-the-twentieth-century biographical county histories of eastern Washington, it would be possible to show how representative Tannatt was of this group. As historical sources, county biographical histories are usually criticized as not fully representative of the societies they chronicled, but in this case that issue is beside the point. The men profiled in these volumes are almost totally drawn from the ranks of community builders and leaders — the very persons under study in this book. By quantifying the demographic, social, economic, and political data contained in the capsule biographies, it is possible to establish a baseline of community builders' characteristics with which to measure the typicality or atypicality of Thomas Tannatt. |
5
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In spite of its shortcomings, this is a useful study of an important topic. It will provide a beginning for similar investigations that will help enrich our understanding of the role of late-nineteenth-century middle-class community builders and leaders on the western frontier. |
6
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| WILLIAM F. WILLINGHAM
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| Portland, Oregon |
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