Through Poverty's Vale: A Hardscrabble Boyhood in Upstate New York, 1832-1862

By Henry Conklin

Book Overview

Writing his full-length reminiscence in a lonely Adirondack cabin during the winter of 1891-92, Conklin recounts the first thirteen years of his life on a farm in Schoharie County, his young manhood in Herkimer County, and his service in the Civil War. The story is one of a hardscrabble life, of farming on marginal land, and of struggling each day for the necessary food and clothing. And yet Conklin asserts that these years were the happiest he knew. The Conklin family was close-knit, loving, and self-sufficient. They built their home, made their own clothing, and grew much of their food. Everyone contributed his or her share to the good of the family group. In this vivid portrayal of family life, we read about ordinary events that are unfamiliar to us today--weaving cloth, churning butter, making shingles, starting a fire with flint and steel, setting traps--and about the technology of the nineteenth century.

With insight, humanity, and a perspective gained through distance and time, Henry Conklin gives us a dramatic and moving narrative in which we become deeply involved. In telling his story, Conklin is not only reliving the past but also saving the events, experiences, and persons of his life from oblivion, and contributing to our historical knowledge of the rural backwaters of antebellum America.

Conklin's reminiscence was preserved by his son and then by his grandson Roy Conklin, who brought it to the attention of Wendell Tripp. Several engravings supplement the text, and the editor has provided footnotes to many references that may be unclear to present-day readers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815601174
• ISBN13: 9780815601173
• Release Date: August 1975
• Publisher: Syracuse Unbound
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Amazing Description of life in the 1800's

This is the best book that I have ever read that describes the 1800's. Henry Conklin talks about his boyhood, his marriage and his fight in the Civil War. I first picked this book up since Henry Conklin is my great great grandfather. It is a terrific book! If you are realted to him in anyway is is a good choice. "Through Poverty's Vale" adds color to ancestors, that you have only heard about. If your not realted then it shows you how they lived in the 1800's and how things worked. Henry wries about why he decided to fight in the Civil War. I would recommend this book to anyone. Even if you don't like hisotry this book is far from being boring.