Bosss Boy

In 1826, Perry County, Pennsylvania had been organized for less than six years. For most, the land was an undeveloped frontier with few prospects beyond subsistence farming. Many residents owned a cabin and a cow. They cleared what they could, raised a hog, and tried to grow enough to keep their families alive. Towns were miniscule in size, and only a few boasted more than a half dozen buildings. The county had few roads. A workman labored dawn to dusk, six days a week, and was often paid in barter--meat, grain, or his keep. Matt Miller believed in the Commonwealth's proposed canals, and he saw the village of Baskinsville, where the canals would meet the junction of the Susquehanna and the Juniata Rivers, as the place to live. Miller came with city money, his chosen workmen, and his son--who liked to fight. Young Matt, the boss's son, was fifteen and the Irish worker's boys discovered that he would not step back. In fact, the Boss's Boy always got his hands up and began swinging. This is his story.