Irons in the Fire: The Business History of the Tayloe Family and Virginia's Gentry, 1700-1830

FAIN: FT-52222-04

Laura Croghan Kamoie
American University (Washington, DC 20016-8200)

My project investigates the agricultural, industrial, and commercial activities of three generations of the Tayloe family of Northern Virginia between 1700 and 1830 and places this family in the broader context of the Virginia gentry. In this study, I make four overarching conclusions: the business culture of the early South was diversified, entrepreneurial, flexible, and modern; slaves and slavery both enabled and necessitated this economic approach; planters' business activities created a regional domestic economy before the American Revolution; and, the southern planters' activities contributed to the rural roots of American capitalism. The Tayloes' experiences illuminate Virginia's changing society and economy over three generations, between 1700 and 1830.