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Rice Planting in Dorchester
In studying antebellum rice culture, I stumbled across this little piece of information.
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"On the eve of the War of Austrian Succession in 1740 (known in the colonies as King George's War), George Town exported 4,785 barrels of the staple crop, while Charles Town merchants exported 80,000 barrels. Due to crop failures between 1741 and 1746, and the interference in shipping because of the war which caused prices to drop and insurance rates to increase, George Town planters did not match the 1740 exportation figure again until 1755."
"Rise of the Georgetown Rice Culture" by Christopher C. Boyle,
extracted from http://www.ego.com/us/sc/myr/history/rise.htm
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According to this article, rice was grown in creek bottoms before the 1750s. Do we know if our Dorchester ancestors planted rice? It's a reasonable assumption. This would mean that quite possibly rice crop failure and price drops could have been a factor in the move to Georgia.
-Connie
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