The Dunlap farmstead

Archaeological and historical investigations of 33Wo41 revealed an antebellum rural farmstead (1831-1839) in Middleton Township, Wood County, Ohio. Excavations of a cabin structure and recovery of a rich, material culture provide a glimpse of frontier life in the Maumee Valley of Ohio during the 1830s. The farmstead is an archaeological expression of rural poverty and farm failure. The location of a small, family grave site nearby and historical documents indicate the farmstead was the residence of the Robert Dunlap (1752-1831), a former Revolutionary War soldier, and family. Historical investigations trace the history of Robert Dunlap and his family in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio. Probat records are used to document linkages between farmstead material culture and family behavior patterns in the reconstruction of family life on the frontier.