Chattel Mortgages and Community in Perth County, Ontario

Abstract

Little has been written on chattel mortgaging in North America. Most studies of rural and urban debt have focused on real estate mortgaging. Yet, as this paper argues, chattel mortgaging was a very important way for rural and urban residents to raise short-term capital. The paper explores the extent of such mortgaging for the whole of Ontario in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The paper then focuses more intensively on chattel mortgaging in Perth County, Ontario, over a similar period through an analysis of a sample of over 1000 such records. What was the extent of chattel mortgaging? Who borrowed on the basis of chattel security? Who loaned? What specific kinds of security were used for the loans? The activity patterns of women and farmers are highlighted. Resume Peu d'articles portent sur l'hypotheque mobiliere en Amerique du Nord. La plupart des etudes sur les dettes en milieu rural ou urbain concernent l'hypotheque immobiliere. Cependant, comme le montre le present article, l'hypotheque mobiliere etait un moyen tres important pour les personnes vivant A la campagne ou en ville d'obtenir du capital pour une courte periode. Dans l'article, on explore la portee de ce type de pret, pour l'ensemble de l'Ontario, vers la fin du XIXe et le debut du XXe siecle. Puis, on se concentre plus particulierement sur la region de Perth, en Ontario, durant A peu pres la meme periode, en analysant un echantillon comptant plus de 1 000 documents d'hypotheque mobiliere. Quelle etait l'etendue des hypotheques mobilieres? Qui pouvait effectuer un emprunt grâce A des garanties mobilieres? Qui pretait de l'argent? Quel genre de garanties exigeait-on? En outre, on met l'accent sur les activites des femmes et des fermiers.