About
Historian, storyteller, ferry woman
Alice
In her youth Alice worked in local taverns and gave birth to at least one child. Through much of her adulthood she ran a ferry across the Delaware River that was part of a system of roads and ferries that linked Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Ferriage was an enterprise that furthered the exchange of people, news, mail, and commerce that increasingly bound the British colonies together. Starting in her seventies, she became known for her detailed knowledge of the Delaware River and of the commercial value of its fish. The economic successes of the colony and empire depended, in large measure, on the physical and intellectual labor of women and men like Alice. However, the economic rewards of this expertise were monopolized by her owners. In the newly independent nation, Alice’s exceptional longevity and her unique knowledge of early Pennsylvania brought local interest in her historical memories as the country sought a unifying identity.
You know the ones who think she is perennially mild-mannered. Susan is perennially well mannered, but that, of course, is quite different.
Karin Wulf, Professor, William & Mary
Bestselling author
Susan E. Klepp
Dr. Klepp began her teaching career as an adjunct instructor at Rider in 1975, accepting a full-time position there after the completion of her Ph.D. in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980. She was named a professor of History at Temple University in 2000. The editor of the Journal of the Early American Republic, Klepp’s research focuses on colonial and Revolutionary America and the Atlantic World from 1680 to 1820, particularly the histories of race, gender, and social rank recovered through autobiographical writings and demographic, social, cultural, and medical history.
