Came across an interesting book on Ebay that's for sale this week, by the same author of the SURVEY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ARCHITECTURE book available at the CCHS and online. This one is about 30 years older and appears rare: Furniture and its Makers of Chester County PA Margaret Berwind Schiffer 1966. "476-page survey of furniture craftsmen working in Chester County, Pennsylvania from its founding in 1682 to 1850 when there was a recognized decline in the handicraft tradition. The settlers included predominently English Quakers for the first half century, after which numbers of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Welsh Baptists, Irish Quakers, and Germans became equally important and, later, had major influence in the county. The hand made furniture from the county has certain distinguishing features which are explained in the well-researched text, and illustrated in 175 photographs. Hundreds of cabinetmakers and other craftsmen are profiled in detail from their contemporary public records. The work is an important reference for furniture and social historians alike." I have no connection to this auction, I just thought it looked like an interesting topic and also a farily rare book currently listed at far less than the $85-163 various online bookstores have a few copies priced at. It'll be gone in about 4 days and it's more than I want to spend, but I'd love to see it in the hands of someone who might share some of the info on Chester families that it covers. It also raises an a question for me about the furniture industry in North Carolina and if there are roots in Chester County Quakers and Scots. I've lived in and around Guilford County NC for the last 9 years and I know that early roots here are centered around New Garden Meeting with Quaker families from New Garden Meeting in PA moving down here. The Mendenhall family remains a prominent family in local history and even current local politics. So I'm wondering about any connections between the Chester County PA furniture makers and the NC furniture industry. It was a likely migration path and also an area perhaps more inclined towards rural craftsmen in the last 150 years since Chester's furtinture decline. For years the furniture industry has met at trade shows here for the twice yearly International Furniture Market. The area has been called the furniture capitol of the USA and/or the world. The industry is in a decline as far a local producution as offshore imports have closed many local factories in recent years. It seems we see another decline in crasftmanship happening in much of the country today. I'm curious about the family names involved in Chester County furniture making history and the reasons for decline in the 1850's. I'm guessing that was largely influenced by industrialization.