In this extension we detail our reasoning about a particular
inference in the Canton
Story line lexia titled Busy
Downtown. Specifically we will focus on our reasoning
about this sentence.
“The
population shift from rural to urban America allowed men
such as Asaph Perry to capitalize by supplying a growing
and concentrated labor market with everyday goods and services.”
Asaph
Perry's lived in Cherokee County Georgia during an era in
which modern America would begin to emerge, exemplifying
a variety of historical themes in American history, especially
that of economic/vocational change. Asaph actively experienced
these changes throughout his lifetime, from a childhood
where he lived on a farm to his adulthood as a middle-class
businessman. The transformation Asaph experienced paralleled
economic and social change in the larger communities of
North Georgia and the United States that began following
the Civil War (1865) and were marked by a dramatic growth
in industry. Asaph would participate in, as well as be
affected by, the shift in population from rural to urban
in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
As
we explained earlier in the documenting
layer of the "Why
Asaph?” lexia the context of the “Busy Downtown”
Canton lexia rests the twin assumptions, culled from our
substantive knowledge of the period, that 1) North Georgia
was primarily agrarian when Asaph was born in 1870 and that
2) parts of North Georgia underwent significant economic
and social change between 1870 and 1900. By looking at the
census records, we discovered that Asaph was born on a farm.
Over the next thirty years, we know that the introduction
of industry (primary textile-based) and railroads began
to transform the landscape of North Georgia.
A
collection of undated newspaper
clippings referencing the Perry’s allows us to go even
further in support our previous inferences and conclusions
regarding the economic and social transformation of Asaph
to that of a middle-class businessman and/or salesman, as
well as corroborating the population shifts, from rural
to urban, that were taking place in North Georgia and the
larger context of the United States. These clippings are
of no particular value unless referenced within the context
we have built using the census records, the loan coupon,
and the letters between Ethel and Asaph Perry. Upon examination
of the newspaper clippings, we can see that Asaph and Ethel
had made a Wednesday trip to Atlanta, probably to visit
Dr. J.R. Hopkins, who Asaph had been corresponding with
(1 & 2) about a business
venture. While there could be a number of reasons why the
Perry’s would have visited Atlanta, it seems unlikely that
Asaph would have left his family to go to Charleston, which
is referenced in another newspaper clipping in the collection,
without visiting the individual who was financing the business
venture, Dr. J.R. Hopkins. According to the clippings,
preparations for Asaph’s trip to Charleston were made by
putting Louis Perry in charge of Asaph’s responsibilities
at his barber shop until
Asaph returned. We know Asaph returned to Canton from Charleston
and spent some time in recuperation from an illness in Cohutta
Springs, Georgia (which according to other documents he
did many times during his life) before returning to work
in Canton. However, according to the clippings and paralleling
the information in the letters between himself and Ethel, as well
as Dr. J.R. Hopkins, Asaph “made repairs to his barber shop
and now has one of the most up-to-date shops in North Georgia.”
It was these improvements, inferring from the newspaper
clippings and previous assertions, which allowed Asaph to
sell “one-half interest in his barber, confectionary and
jewelry business to W.D. Miller.” The clipping continues
on, noting that “the firm name now is Perry & Miller.
Both are clever and enterprising” men, exemplars of this
period in American history.
