12 Fannstead Archaeology and the Methodist Discipline / Scholl "IN DELAWARE THE MILLENNIUM HAS BEGUN ": 19TH- CENTURY FARMSTEAD ARCHAEOL,OGY AND THE METHODIST DISCIPLINE

By the beginning of the 19th century the Methodist movenzent had gained so many converts in the state of Delaware that Francis Asbury had likened it to tl.ze coming of the New Millennium. The growth of Methodism in the state was a powerful social force in mmi 19th-century Delaware. Guidelines and behav-ioral rules were published annually in a series enti.fled.the Discipline. The Methodist Discipline provides a contextual backdrop for understanding 19th-centu·ry farming families. This case study examines the Methodist farmer George W. Buchanan and his family who in the mid-part of the century established a farm-stead in southern New Castle County. The Buchanan farm prospered until a dispute over a fence resulted in the death of a neighbor at Buchanan's hands.!It the si.:r years Jollowmg the murder trial, the Buchanan family suffered a string of deaths that took every member of the 11ousehold over the age of 10. The once suc-cessful Buchanan farm was broken up, leaving Buchanan's surviving sons a small plot of land only a tenth the size of their father's farm. The paper attempts to conn.ect the archaeological and historical information with contextual bridges in order to piece together the circumstances oftlze failure of the Buchanan farm. The ston; behind the Buchanan farmstead has demonstrated that social Jadars, rather than agricultural practice, determined the origin and eventual end of this farm. This interpretO'tion carries with it implications for future research into the people who operated 19th-century farms. Au debut du XIXe siecle, /e mouvement metfwdiste avait fait tellement de convertis dans /e Delaware que Francis Asbuury l'nvait compare a l'arrivee du Nouveau Millenium. La croissance du methodisme dans l'Etat Jut une puissante force sociale dans le Delawn·re rural du X/Xe siecle. Des!ignes directrices et des regles de comportement etaient publiees chaque an nee dans une serie intitulee Ia Discipline. Ln Discipline methodiste constitue une toile de fond contextuelle pour la comprehension des families agri-co/es du XIXe siecle. La presente etude examine le cultivnteur rnetlwdiste George W. Buciulnan et sa fa mill