Religion, Family, and Community in Victorian Canada: The Colbys of Carrollcroft (Volume 39) (McGill-Queen’s Studies in the Hist of Re)

While we know a great deal about the role religion played in institutions in Victorian Canada, its place in home and family life has remained relatively unexplored. Drawing on a treasure trove of family papers and material culture, Marguerite Van Die depicts religion as lived experience in a portrait of a Protestant middle-class family in Quebec's Eastern Townships. The Colbys were members of Canada's emerging economic elite, active in the local community, public life, and politics. Their lives offer rich insights into the construction and practice of domestic religion and the moral and social legislation of early post-Confederation Canada. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Map of Stanstead County and the wider world of the Colbys Genealogical Table: The Stanstead Colbys in the Nineteenth Century Introduction 1 A World in Transition: God, Identity, and Family 2 Redefining Family Identity: The Convergence of Moral Philosophy, Romanticism, and Evangelical Religion 3 Faith, Hope, and Charity: Religion, Women, and the New Economic Order 4 Time, Faith, Energy: Religion and the Spirit of Capitalism 5 Nurture and Education: The Christian Home 6 Family, Community, and Religion 7 Protestants, Social Harmony, and Moral Order Conclusion Notes Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y "The lives of the Colby family offer insights into the construction and practice of domestic religion and the moral and social legislation of early post-Confederation Canada. Taking a multidisciplinary approach that locates the home rather than the church as the primary site of religious change, Van Die concludes that the origins and continuity of Protestant religion in Victorian Canada depended on a unique set of socioeconomic and cultural forces. Religion, Family, and Community in Victorian Canada is an intimate portrait of "lived religion" as experienced by a middle-class family over three generations."--Jacket. Van Die, a sympathetic and perceptive observer and a gifted and deft interpreter, describes the lives of the Colbys of Carrollcroft - members of Canada's emerging economic elite who were active in the local community, public life, and politics - drawing attention to the links connecting domestic religion and private life, business concerns, and social change in one family's life over three generations.