During the January meeting of the William Taylor Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), members learned that “globalism” — a currently debated topic as it relates to international trade — is not a new topic.

Amanda White Gibson, the speaker for the afternoon meeting at the Victoria Public Library, demonstrated the workings of global trading during the American colonial period in her presentation, “Globalization in Late 18th Century Southside Virginia: The Financial World of Sir Peyton Skipwith.”

Gibson holds an undergraduate degree in economics and history from James Madison University and a graduate degree in economics and entrepreneurship for educators from the University of Delaware. She spent a decade at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond where she worked in economic education and community development. She is completing a Ph.D. in history at The College of William and Mary. She and her husband and three children divide their time between Richmond and South Hill.

“Sir Peyton Skipwith, of Prestwould in Mecklenburg County, was one of the richest men in the world during the latter portion of the 18th century,” DAR officials said in a press release. “Through his representatives in London and Glasgow, he was able to sell his tobacco on the markets there and purchase goods to be returned to Virginia — items not only from Europe, but from many places around the world, including the Far East, Africa, South and Central America. This global trading was most often done with paper recordkeeping of credits and debits, in a manner similar to our use of credit cards today.”