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Date: | Mon, 15 Mar 2004 14:10:33 -0500 |
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A classic example of reinterpretation of documents came up during
research I was conducting on the Albemarle Ironworks. According to what
little there was left of the company documents it went out of business
in 1772. It appeared to be a complete failure having never produced
iron. But I was directed to an entry in William Cabell’s Commonplace
Book as proof that I was wrong. The May 19, 1778 entry seemed, at first
glance, to prove this. Deciphering the meaning was not helped by
Cabell’s tortured hand and the poor preservation of the page. When I
finally managed to decipher the passage it read:
19. Cut & marked 10 Piggs & mouv'd out one Bore, & Mov'd 18 Sowe Piggs.
While the entry might be about marking pig iron, there was something
that just didn't seem right. Talking to a farmer's son cleared it right
up. Rather than being about pig iron, the passage concerned marking
swine prior to turning them out for the summer. But a number of other
people had read the same passage and seen pig iron, because their
research concerned an ironworks.
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