Economic history of Virginia in the seventeenth century, an inquiry into the material condition of the people, based upon original and contemporaneous records

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ECONOMIC HISTORY

VIRGINIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

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ECONOMIC HISTORY

OP

VIRGINIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY

AX INQUIRY INTO THE MATERIAL CONDITION OF

THE PEOPLE, BASED UPON ORIGINAL AND

CONTEMPORANEOUS RECORDS

PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE

Author uf "The Plantation Negro as a Freeman," and CoERESPONDiNti
Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society

VOLUME il.

Nctu gork
MACMILLAN AND CO.

AND LONDOX

189(;

Alt rights renerced

COPTEIGHT, 1896,

bt macmillan and CO.

Xotteooti 53rcss

J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Sn
Norwood Mas3. U.S.A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE X.

PAGE

System of Labor : the Servant — continued .... 1

CHAPTER XL
System of Labor : the Slave 57

CHAPTER XIL
Domestic Economy of the Planter 131

CHAPTER XIII.
Domestic Economy of the Planter — continued. . . .197

CHAPTER XIV.
Relative A^alue of Estates 242

CHAPTER XV.
Manufactured Supplies : Foreign 258

CHAPTER XVL

Manufactured Supplies: Foreign — continued .... 331
V

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVII.

PAGE

Manufactured Supplies : Domestic 392

CHAPTER XVIII.
Manufactured Supplies : Domestic — continued .... 440

CHAPTER XIX.
Monet 495

CHAPTER XX.
The Town 522

CHAPTER XXI.
Conclusion

Index 581

ECONOMIC HISTOEY OF VIEGINIA

CHAPTER X

SYSTEM OF LABOR: THE SERVANT — continued

The ordinary indenture was marked by great simplicity.
When it was drawn previous to the departure of the ser-
vant from England, it named as the consideration for the
right to his labor, payment of the cost of transportation,
a sufficient quantity of drink, food, and clothing during
the continuation of the term, together with lodgings and
whatever else was thought to be essential to liis liveli-
hood. ^ It was always in the power of those assuming the

1 For the indenture of an ordinaiy servant, see Neill's Virginia Caro-
lomm, p. 57 ; see also Becords of York County, vol. 1087-1691, p. 38, Va.
State Library. The following is an interesting example of the indenture of
a planter's apprentice : " This Indenture made the 6tl! day of June in the
year of our Lord Christ 1659, witnesseth, that Bartholomew Clarke ye Son
of John Clarke of the City of Canterbury, Sadler, of his own liking and
with ye consent of Francis Plumer of ye City of Canterbury, Brewer, hath
put himself apprentice unto Edward Rowzie of Virginia, planter, as an ap-
prentice with him to dwell from ye day of the date above mentioned unto
ye full term of four years from thence next ensuing fully to be complete
and ended, all which said term the said Bartholomew Clarke well and
faithfully the said Edward Rowzie as his master shall serve, his secrets
keep, his commands most just and lawful he shall observe, and fornica-
tion he shall not commit, nor contract matrimony with any woman dur-
ing the said tenn, he shall not do hurt unto his master, nor consent to ye
doing of any, but to his power shall hinder and prevent ye doing of any;

VOL. II. B 1

2 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

obligations of an instrument of this character by mutual
consent to insert unusual conditions as to what was to be
done by either party for the special advantage of the other
before or during its operation and at the expiration of the
time which it covered. Thus the servant, in entering into
covenants with a merchant or shipmaster engaged in the
A^irginian trade, could insist upon the privilege of hav-
ing the interval of a fortnight at least in which to make
inquiries concerning the characters of the different plant-

at cards, dice or any unlawful games he shall not play ; he shall not
waste the goods of his said master nor lend them to anybody without his
master's consent, he shall not absent himself from his said master's ser-
vice day or night, but as a true and faithful servant, shall demean him-
self, and the said Edward Rowzie in ye mystery, art, and occupation of
a planter which now . . . the best manner he can, the said Bartholomew
shall teach or cause to be taught, and also during said term shall find and
allow his apprentice competent meat, drink, apparel, washing, lodging
with all other things fitting for his degree and in the end thereof, fifty
acres of land to be laid out for him, and all other things which according
to the custom of the country is or ought to be done." Becords of Bap-
pahannoch County, vol. 1664-1673, p, 21, Va. State Library. The follow-
ing is an indenture drawn up for a female servant : ' ' This Indenture
made the Second of Jany in ye year 1686 between John Porter of ye one
party, and Samuel Polly of ye other party, both of ye County of Henrico
in James River in manner and form following, witnesseth, that ye said
John Porter doth covenant, grant and agree to and with ye s** Sam" Polly
to take his daughter Mary Polly for ye full end and term of ten years
from ye 1^' month September in ye year 1685, In consideration ye s^ John
Porter shall use or maintain ye s<i Mary noe other ways than he doth his
own in all things as dyett, cloathing and lodging, the s** Mary to obey the
s<i John Porter in all his lawful commands within ye s^^ term of years
above menconed as also att ye full end and term of years that ye s<i John
Porter doth bind himself his executors or administrators to pay unto
ye said Mary Polly, three barrells of corn and one suit of penistone
and one suit of good serge with one black hood, two shifts of dowlas and
shoes and hose convenient. And ye said Sam' Polly doth assure and
bind firmly his s<i daughter to ye said Porter for ye full end of ten
years by these presents whereunto both the s*! partyes have set their
hands." Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 424, Va. State
Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 6

ers and then of disposing of himself to the one he should
select. 1

Both master and servant could protect themselves from
every form of encroachment upon each other. It was, for
instance, in the power of the master to require that the
servant should pay double the value of the labor of every
day he lost for avoidable causes, and if this happened to
be in the harvest time, the sum was to be increased by ten.
On the other hand, the servant might covenant that he
should not be compelled to plant and tend to more than
two hundred weight of tobacco during any one year, this
being a much smaller task than was usually imposed upon
individuals of his class. ^

Many controversies arose between masters and servants
who had been introduced without indentures, as to the
time when their terms ought to expire, and this led to the
passage of a large number of important acts. The rule
which prevailed at first was that every member of the
latter class who had been imported into Virginia without
written covenants, should be bound for a period of four
years if his age was in excess of twenty-one, five if he was
under twenty, and seven if under twelve.^ The provisions
of this statute were substantially modified in 1654 so far
as aliens were involved. When the latter had come in
without indentures, they were required, if more than six-
teen years old, to remain in the employment of the planter
to whom they were assigned, for a term of six years. If
the person in question was under sixteen, this term was
extended until he had attained his twenty-fourth year.*
It was found that this law worked to the disadvantage of

1 Leah and Rachel, p. 11, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 Bullock's Virginia, p. 63.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 257.

4 Ibid., p. 411.

4 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the Colony by retarding its growth in population, the
length of service expected of aliens discouraging their
emigration to Virginia in the character of laborers. It
was decided to place all servants of whatever nationality
upon the same footing, no disparaging distinction being
allowed in dealing with any class of them.^

In the season of 1661-62, an important change was made
in the general law that prevailed, by the adoption of the
regulation on the same point which had long been in
operation in England ; it was provided that all servants
who were imported without written agreements should
be bound for a term of five years if more than sixteen
years old, or if less than sixteen, until the completion of
the twenty-fourth year.^ Every master who had intro-
duced a laborer into the Colony or who had purchased
one from a merchant or shipowner, there being no indent-
ure in either case, was directed to bring him before the
nearest court with a view to having his age adjudged.
If the master failed to conform to this general order,
the servant, although he may not have attained his
twelfth year, was considered to be bound only for the
term which would have been required of him if he had
been adjudged in court to have passed his sixteenth year.
Four months was the limit in which it was permitted to
conform to the order of the justices. It was discovered
that the law as to length of service in the absence of
indentures, operated with great harshness in the case of
a youth who had been declared to be only a few months
under sixteen, since it compelled him to remain in the
employment of his master until his twenty-fourth year,
while a companion, whose age was only a few weeks in
advance of sixteen years» was in consideration of tliat

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 539.

2 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 113, 114.

SYSTEM OF LABOR - 5

fact called upon to serve only until lie was .twenty-two.
The law was amended in 1666 to the effect that all who
were imported without indentures should, if they were
nineteen years of age or above, continue with their
masters for a term of five years, and if under that age,
until the completion of their twenty-fourth year.^

It became extremely common for those who had been
sold in accord with the custom of the country, to wait
very quietly until the persons who had brought them in
and the ships in which they had come over, had left for
England, and then to advance the claim of having been
introduced under indentures which were lost, but which
if produced would show that they were bound to serve
for a shorter time than was now required of them. To
remove the confusion and annoyance arising from this
source, it was provided that any one who had presumably
been imported without formal covenants, from the fact
that he had been disposed of by the custom, should be
carried before the nearest justice of the peace, and if it
was alleged that he had originally bound himself by a
written agreement for a regular term, he was to be
allowed one month in which to produce the document,
or sufficient evidence of its former existence, and if in
that length of time the claim could not be sustained in
the manner required, he was to be debarred from urging
it a second time.^

Whether the servant was bound to a master by an
indenture which laid down in the clearest language the
full nature of their mutual relations or simply by the cus-
tom of the country, he had a legal as well as a moral right
to expect that provision would be made for his comfort-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 240 ; Beverley's History of Virginia,
p. 219.

- Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 297.

6 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

able existei:^pe, in the form of victuals, apparel, and lodging.
During the administration of the Company, he subsisted
on hominy boiled with milk alone, or with milk, butter,
and cheese, or with fish and the flesh of bullocks.^ He
was supplied with a definite quantity of corn by the week,
amounting, as a rule, probably to fourteen cans, this being
the allowance for that length of time in the case of the
servants employed in working the lands of Martin's Hun-
dred. ^ A graphic account of his food and clothing in
1622 has been transmitted to us in a letter Avritten in that
year by a young man of this class. The author's spirits
at the time of its composition were greatly depressed,
but the details which he gives, instead of conveying the
impression that the laborers at this period were very
meanly situated, rather raises our conception of the advan-
tages which they enjoyed. It should be remembered that
the letter bore the date of the year in wliich the great
massacre of the settlers by the Indians occurred, when
the losses attending that event and the confusion follow-
ing it, very naturally produced a condition of extraordi-
nary hardship in the Colony, among masters as well as
among servants.^ In times marked by peace and abun-
dance, such as those immediately preceding the massacre
or following it at a long interval, the various articles given
the laborer either for subsistence or comfort must have
been greater in quantity and better in quality. Richard
Frethorne, the author of the letter referred to, declared
that his food consisted of peas and loblolly, that is, a mass
of gruel, chowder, or spoon meat, with one-fourth of a loaf

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 886.

2 Examinations, etc., Concerning Demands of Captain Martin, British
State Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 3G, IV ; McDonald Papers, vol. I,
p. 190, Va. State Library.

3 Letter of Thomas Best, Boyal Hist. MS 8. Commission, Eighth Re-
port, Appx. p. 41.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 7

of bread and a small piece of beef. This seems to have
been the allowance for a single meal. The loaf was most
probably Indian corn bread, flour not being easily procur-
able in that age. Bread made of Indian corn, it should
be remembered, is one of the most concentrated forms of
nourishment, and one-fourth of a loaf of the ordinary size
Vould be sufficient for an ordinary man. Frethorne makes
it plain that he belonged to a higher class than that of the
agricultural servant in England — indeed, he appears to
have been the son either of a tenant farmer or a small
landowner — by seriously lamenting that his master did
not give him a penny "to help him to spice, sugar, or
strong waters." He prays that his father will send him
some cheese. For clothing he stated that he had received
one suit, one cap and two bands, and one pair of stockings.
Some thief had stolen his cloak. i The profound dissatis-
faction felt by Frethorne was that of a sensitive mind
suffering from homesickness and exposed to unaccustomed
conditions. How many workingmen were there in Eng-
land who would not gladly have exchanged the starvation
against which they were constantly contending for the situ-
ation in which he was placed? I have already referred
to the cases mentioned by Copeland, in which some of the
most industrious laborers of London were only able to
secure brown bread and cheese for their families. ^ The

1 The letter will be found in Eighth Report of Boyal Hist. MSS. Com-
mission, Appx., p. 41. It is reprinted in Neill's Virginia Vetusta. Henry
Brigg, who was a servant in Virginia during the spring of 1623, writing
to his brother in England, said that at this time he was living on a wine-
quart of corn a day. Boyal Hist. MSS. Commission, Eighth Report,
Appx., p. 42.

2 The ordinary victuals of an English thatcher, who probably was
provided with better food than the common agricultural laborer, was, in
1641, butter, milk, cheese, and either eggs, pies, or bacon. Porridge was
sometimes substituted for milk. Cunniiigliam's Groivth of English In-
dustry and Commerce, p. l'J3.

8 ECONOlNnC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

food might have seemed poor and the clothing scant to
a youth brought up in an English home of a moderate
degree of refinement and with every reasonable comfort,
but to the English Hodge, who tilled the fields at the rate
of wages prescribed by the justices of the peace, the very
lowest which would enable him to earn a subsistence for
his family, and in only too many cases not affording hiA
this without the aid of the levy for the benefit of paupers,
the provision made for the servant in Virginia in the most
frightful year in the history of the Colony does not appear
to sliow that his position was as mean and intolerable as
it was represented to be. This was the age in which
Henry IV of France had won the lasting gratitude of
his countrymen, in expressing the hope that under his
administration of the affairs of his kingdom every French
peasant would be so prosperous that he could without
extravagance have a fowl in the pot on Sunday. ^

As early as 1661, at a time when the live stock of
the Colony were far less numerous then they became in
the closing decades of the seventeenth century, it was the
custom in York County to give the servants rations of
meat at least three times a week.^ It could not have been
many years before this allowance was extended to each
day in consequence of the enormous increase in the herds
of hogs and horned cattle.

The character of the clothing worn by the servants is
shown in an advertisement for the recovery of two run-
aways, placed on record in York County in 1691. The
garments of one consisted in part of a coat, made of
frieze^ a black hat and a pair of wooden heel shoes ; of the
other, of a frieze coat, a pair of leather breeches, a cap of

1 Henry IV of France died in IGIO.

- liecords of York County, vol. 1G57-1662, p. 384, Va. State Li-
brary.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 9

fur, and a pair of plain shoes. The under linen was of
dowlas and lockram.^

The author of Leah and Machel, a pamphlet pub-
lished about the middle of the century, denied very
emphatically the .correctness of the report prevailing at
that time in England that the servants in Virginia were
compelled to sleep on boards by the fireplace instead of in
comfortable beds. The best indication of the treatment
which they received in the way of physical comforts, as
he averred, was the general satisfaction expressed by all
persons of this class who had been recently imported, a
satisfaction which had led them to use their influence
with friends and acquaintances in the mother country to
induce them to emigrate to the Colony. ^ The author of
Public Good ivitliout Private Interest went so far as to
charge the planters with forcing the laborers in their
employment to " lie by all the time of their servitude on
ash heaps or otherwise to kennel up and down like
dogs." If this occurred, it was only in rare cases, for the
General Assembly had always shown a remarkable solici-
tude to furnish every means as a protection for those who

1 Eecords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, p. 118, Va. State Library.
Among the items in a statement of Edward Moss of York County, show-
ing his expenditures on account of his servant, Richard Stephens, were
the following : for a pair of shoe strings, 3 lbs. of tobacco ; for a peniston
coat, 60 lbs. of tobacco ; for a dowlas shirt, 50 lbs. of tobacco. Vol. 1G57-
1662, p. 411, Va. State Library. The following from the records of the
General Court, Dec. 11, 1640, preserved in a minute in the Robinson
Transcripts, p. 8, is also of interest : " Whereas William Huddleston,
servant unto Mr. Canhow, hath complained to the board against his mas-
ter for want of all manner of apparel, the court hath, therefore, ordered
that the said Canhow shall before Christmas next provide and allow unto
the said Huddleston such sufficient apparel of linen and woollen as shall
be thought fit by Captain "William West or otherwise that the said Cap-
tain West shall have power to di-spose of the said servant until the said
Canhow do perforin this order."

- Leah and Rachel, p. 12, Force's Historical J^acts, vol. III.

10 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

were bound by indenture, being prompted to this line of
conduct not only by an impulse of common humanity, but
also by a desire to remove every obstacle and repress
every influence tending to discourage the growth of popu-
lation. They were also commanded by the English author-
ities to suppress all inhuman severity towards servants.^
The people of Virginia, the author of Leah and RacheU
the pamphlet already quoted, remarked, were Christians.
While there may have been a disposition on the part of
some to overlook the obligations which they had assumed
towards their laborers, the enlightened spirit of the laws
in this connection proved conclusively that the sentiment
of the planters at large was sternly condemnatory of any
abridgment of the usual comforts of this class. . It was
provided that every master should allow his servants suffi-
cient food, clothing, and shelter, and that in inflicting pun-
ishment he should be careful not to exceed the bounds of
moderation. If the servant had just grounds for thinking
that he was deprived of his necessary amount of food, or
that the house set apart for him did not furnish a suffi-
cient protection from the weather, or that the correction
he received for his negligence was harsher than the char-
acter of the offence called for, he possessed the right,
which had been expressly granted to him, to enter a com-
plaint with the commissioners of the court for the county
in which his master resided. If, upon a hearing, this
complaint seemed just, the latter was required to appear
at the following session and defend his conduct, and if he
failed to show good cause, was compelled to give ample
satisfaction for the charges against him.^ These provi-

1 Instructions to Culpeper, 1679, McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. 318, Va,
State Library.

2 Leah and Rachel, p. 16, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III. In
April, 1658, Nicholas Smith, a servant of Thomas Brookes, of York

SYSTEM OF LABOR 11

sions, which Vv^ere well calculated to afford the servant
absolute security in the enjoyment of every comfort that
he could reasonably claim, were in operation during the
remainder of the century, and if in any case he suffered,
it was to be attributed to his own supineness and not to
any deficiency in the law prescribing the remedy. How
great was the solicitude of the General Court to ensure
him the amplest protection in all of his rights, is shown
in the order passed in 1679-80, which forbade a woman
who had proved herself a cruel mistress to have ser-
vants in her employment.^

The fact that a youthful servant was disposed to run
away was often accepted not as an indication of an in-
corrigible nature but of hard usage. A case of this
kind occurred in Lower Norfolk Eibout the middle of the
century. A boy had frequently fled from his mistress,
Mrs. Deborah Farneshaugh, seeking refuge in his last
flight with a Mrs. Lambard. A complaint was filed in
the local court in his behalf, and the judges directed that
he should remain with Mrs. Lambard until Mrs. Farne-
shaugh should provide him with food, clothing, and other
necessaries, of which it was declared that she had deprived
him while in her service. A committee was appointed to
enforce the order, and upon the continuation of her ill
treatment, her right to hold the boy was summarily
withdrawn. 2

In the code adopted in 1705, which represented the

County, entered a complaint -with the justices of the peace that he was
badly used by his master. Smith was ordered to remain under the pro-
tection of the constable, whilst a summons was issued requiring Brookes
to appear before the court on the following day to justify his conduct.
Vol. 1657-1662, p. 56, Va. State Library.

1 General Court Orders, 1677-1682, Sept. 20, 1680, liubinson Tran-
scripts, p. 265.

2 Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1046-1651, f. p. 117.

12 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

sentiment of the Colony in the closing years of the pre-
vious century, a sentiment that so far as the servants
were concerned was even more enlightened than it had
been forty years before, we find all the details of the
original statute reenacted, with some additional provi-
sions Avhich made the regulations on this point still more
effective. No master, for instance, was to be permitted
to whip a white servant on the naked back without
special authority from the court, and in case this order
was disregarded, he was to be mulcted twenty shillings.
The justices of the peace were, as formerly, to receive
the complaints of all persons under articles of indenture
as to unwholesome food, inferior clothing, and uncomfort-
able lodging. If there was good reason to suspect that
a justice, the justices being generally large landowners,
and, therefore, naturally disposed to sympathize with the
master rather than with the servant, leaned in any case
towards the former without adequate cause, the servant
could enter a petition in the county court without the
usual delay of a formal process of action.

From this it will be seen that the laborers of Virginia,
whether bound by indenture or by the custom of the coun-
try, were shielded by laws that recognized the fallibility
and selfishness of the local magistrates and provided a
remedy as swift and as summary as if a landowner and
not a servant had been involved. Under the code of
1705,1 which, as already stated, reflected the state of pub-
lic feeling at the close of the seventeenth century as well
as at the beginning of the eighteenth, if the servant be-
came disabled in consequence of the meagreness of the
provisions made for his comfort, or as the result of the
punishment to Avhich he might have been subjected on
any occasion, he was to be taken away from his master,

1 See General Head "Servants," 1705, Hening's Statutes, vol. III.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 13

and ill case he could not be sold to a second one, turned
over to the church wardens of the parish, and until the
expiration of his term supported at the expense of his
original employer, the amount required for this purpose
to be levied, if necessary, upon the employer's distrainable
property. If still considered valuable when put up for
sale at public auction, and in consequence found a pur-
cliaser, the sheriff under authority of the court could
compel the original master to make good any deficiency
in the charges incurred by the county in maintaining
such a servant in the interval during which he continued
under its protection. If the disabilities of the servant
arose from no fault of the master, but were due to una-
voidable causes in the course of nature, he had a claim
upon Ids employer for support until the end of his term.
This claim the master could not ignore without being
exposed to a forfeit of ten pounds sterling annually to
the parish, which was required by law to furnish the
disabled servant with the necessaries of life in case the
master shirked the responsibility of his maintenance.

These enlightened provisions of the code of 1705 were
in accord with the general spirit, not only of the laws of
1645, 1657, and 1661, which permitted a servant to com-
plain to the nearest commissioner if he Avas denied by a
master the ordinary comforts to which he was entitled, but
also of a statute of an earlier date prescribing the medical
attention he should have a right to expect. The Assem-
bly, having reason to believe in 1661 that the exorbitant
charges of physicians had caused a large number of the
planters to defer calling them in until it was too late to
save the lives of their sick laborers, the fee demanded
being frequently greater in value than the amount of
capital invested in individual servants at the time of pur-
chase, adopted a rule to prevent the abuse. It was pro-

14 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

vided that in every case in which a practitioner asked for
his medical attention in behalf of persons of this class a
remuneration plainly far more than the condition of his
patient or the other circumstances of the case justified
him in doing, the planter who was the object of the
attempted imposition should be allowed the right to
summon him to court to explain his conduct. If he
failed to do so, it was assumed that he had been actuated
simply by a motive of extortion, and was condemned to
be punished severely.^

The Assembly did not content itself merely with ensur-
ing necessary physical comforts for the servants, or throw-
ing safeguards about their health by inflicting penalties
for negligence in masters or extortion in medical practi-
tioners. It looked also to the improvement of their moral
character. In case their servants had never been instructed
in the catechism, employers were compelled by the express
provisions of the statute law of the Colony to send them
to the nearest church, there, in the hour preceding the
opening of the exercises of the evening, to be grounded by
the minister of the parish in the Ten Commandments, the
Lord's Prayer, and the general articles of belief. ^

The principal labor in which the servant was engaged
was the cultivation of tobacco and the removal of the

1 Heniiig's Statutes, vol. I, p. 316.

2 76 id., pp. 181, 182. If a passage in Virginia's Cure can be relied
on as accurate, some of the masters were very lax in observing this pro-
vision of the law. " Some of the heathen complained that Sunday was
the worst day of the seven to them because the servants of the Christian
plantations nearest to them being then left at liberty, often spent that day
in visiting the Indian towns, to the disquiet of the heathen and to the
great scandall of the Christian religion." Virginia's Cure, p. 7, Force's
Historical Tracts, vol. III. It ought to be remembered in reading this
passage that the author of Virginians Cure was seeking to place in the
most unfavorable light, the religious condition of the people of the
Colony.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 15

forest for the opening up of new g-rouncls. As a rule,
white women were not employed in the fields. This was
tlie case even in the time of the Company ,i the duties of
women being confined to the performance of household
duties, to cooking, milking, churning, cleaning, washing,
and sewing. 2 It was only when the female servant was
an unmitigated slattern in person, offensive in her bearing
and dissolute in her conduct, that she was required to do
work in the field. Even the strongest of the women were
not considered very useful in this sphere, being looked upon
as a burden rather than a help. Labor of a purely agri-
cultural character in Virginia was thought to demand less
painful exertion than in England. It was neither so tax-
ing nor so long continued. This did not apply to the
task of clearing the forest lands, the most severe and
trying undertaking, perhaps, which has ever been imposed
upon a farm hand. Its performance, however, was re-
stricted to a brief portion of each year and fell more
heavily on the axemen, a comparatively small number,
than upon the others, who were employed in rolling the
trunks into piles and in burning the brushwood. The soil
of the new ground was thickly interspersed with roots, but
as it was broken up with the hoe, it did not offer any
serious obstacles to cultivation. In the long interval in
winter betw^een the sale of the crop of the preceding
season and the removal of the plants from the beds to
the fields, the servants had few important duties to

1 Boyal Hist. MSS. Commission, Eighth Report, Appx., p. 41. Thomas
Nicholls, writing to Sir John Wolstenholme, April 2, 1C23, said: "all
that the women did was nothing but to devour the food of the land with-
out doing any day's deed." p. 41.

'- Leah and Eachel, p. 12, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III. In IGOO,
Alice Rogers, a servant of Thomas Spilman, of York County, complained
in a petition entered in court that her master made her ' ' work in the
ground," Vol. 1664-1672, p. 385, Va. State Library.

16 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

occupy their attention. The principal tasks, which con-
sisted in tending the corn and tobacco, began in tlie
spring. The hours of labor were then extended from
sunrise to sunset, but there was an intermission of five
hours in the day when the sun in the openings was most
oppressive and dangerous.^ Doubtless, to untried and
unseasoned servants, it was extremely taxing to be com-
pelled to exert themselves at all, whether in the morning
or the afternoon, in the months of June, July, and August,
and to many of those who had been recently imported
into the Colony, the influence of the heat in these montlis
was fatal by bringing on fevers, which their constitutions,
accustomed to a different climate, found it impossible to
resist. Omitting from view all considerations of human-
ity, the prospect of losing valuable laborers whose terms
had been purchased a short time before at a high price,
and who could not easily be replaced, was suificient in
itself to lead to the adoption of rules that operated as
a protection to their general health. Among the most
important of these rules was, that no white laborer who
had just arrived in the Colony should be forced to engage
in any form of work in the fields in very hot weather. ^
The immigration agents in England, who were familiar
mth the climate of Virginia, frequently urged their
inexperienced patrons to secure at least a few seasoned
laborers before they began the cultivation of their newly
opened plantations.^ There are indications that many
of the servants had been prompted to leave England by
extravagant representations of the ease and comfort of
the life which they would be able to lead in the Colony,

1 Leah and Rachel, p. 12, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 J6/cZ.,p. 14.

3 Verney Papers, Camden Publications, See jS'eiirs Virginia Caro-
lorum, pp. 109-111.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 17

and the contrast, not necessarily very great, between the
conditions which they expected and the conditions which
they found, threw many into a state of dejection in which
they soon succumbed to the lurking miasma of the marshes
and the newly exposed soil of the clearings.^ And the
same was also the fate of many in that class which was
represented by Frethorne, already referred to, men who
had occupied a station of comparative independence in
England, and who were cast down by the different situa-
tions in which they found themselves in Virginia. The
work of men of this stamp being carried out with a faint-
ing or unwilling spirit, was certain to be grossly defective,
and was, therefore, well calculated to provoke harshness in
the attitude of their master towards them. Regarding them
as incurably worthless, there was little inducement on his
part to encourage them. He accepted them as incorrigible,
and weary of chafing against an evil which it was impos-
sible to remove, he finally sank into a state of carelessness
and indifference as to the matter of their improvement. ^

As the servants increased in number, it became more
necessary to emj)loy overseers to supervise them, and this
was especially the case in the instance of planters who had
obtained patents to large tracts so widely separated in the
point of locality that the owners were unable to give the
management of them their constant attention.^ When a
more careful superintendence was required than the land-

^ Life of Thomas Hellier, pp. 28, 29. The author of the Life also asserted
that there was no encouragement for any one to come over as a servant
unless he was " able of limb and healthy of constitution, it being more to
tlie interest of Virginia to have servants who can chop logs lustily than
chop logic. Let robustious rustics sail to Virginia to seek their fortunes."

2 Bullock's Virginia, p. 14.

3 There is a reference to an overseer as early as the year 1622. See
letter of John Baldwin to a friend in the Bermudas, printed in the appen-
dix of Neill's Virginia Vetusta, p. 203.

VOL. II. — c

18 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

owner himself could personally give, the most faithful and
capable of his laborers was probably quite frequently
appointed overseer. If he had under engagement to him-
self a servant who was perfectly competent to perform
the duties of the position, there could have been little
inducement for him to select a man who was in full enjoy-
ment of his freedom. The legal tie which gave him con-
trol over the actions of the servant made the servant a
more desirable subordinate. ^ On the other hand, the fact
that the overseer was still bound by the terms of an in-
denture was calculated to diminish his influence with the
laborers over whom he was placed. In the county records
of Virginia previous to 1700, the references to overseers
become more frequent as the close of the century is
approached. These undoubtedly were freemen. At no
time in the history of the Colony were such men absent
from the class of overseers. Indeed, this class was prin-
cipally recruited from among those whose indentures had
expired. 2 The duties incident to the position required for
their performance a firm and energetic spirit as well as
intelligence and fairness. However amenable to authority
the great mass of English servants may have been, there
must have been a large number who needed the utmost
strictness and sternness for their governance. To control
such persons, the master was compelled to rely upon his
overseer, who, however well adapted to his office, often
found this an impossible task. In seeking to perform it,
he was not infrequently assaulted by fractious servants.^

1 One of the overseers of Major Robert Beverley, Sr., was a servant.
Jiecords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-1694, p. 4.

2 Jones' Present State of Virginia, p. 54. The overseer was sometimes
a negro. " General Court Orders, April 23, 1669, Hannah Warwick's
case extenuated because she was overseen by a negro overseer." Bohin-
son Transcripts, p. 256.

3 liecords of the General Court, pp. 44, 99 ; liecords of Middlesex
County, original vol. 1680-1694, p. 36.

SYSTEM OF LABOE 19

Of all offences of wliicli the servants were guilty, run-
ning away was the most common. The inclination to
this act was exhibited at an early date in the history of
the Colony and was attributable to a variety of causes,
such as harsh treatment in special instances, the desire to
escape from the trammels of an uncongenial situation, or
the promptings of an intractable nature. It is easily con-
ceivable that this disposition developed itself more fre-
quently in youths under nineteen years of age who were
bound for long periods, than in older persons whose terms
would end in a much shorter time, and who, therefore,
had not the same inducement to desert their masters.
The younger laborers were naturally more restless, more
unruly, and less likely to show patience and self-restraint
if the conditions of their lives were repugnant to their
tastes and ambitions. The inclination to run away was,
however, confined to no age. The man who, in consider-
ation of being transported across the ocean to Virginia,
without payment of the usual charges, had conferred upon
the merchant or shipowner the right to dispose of him in
the Colony, would much more probably feel this impulse
and act upon it than the man who had come out under
articles of indenture with the planter to whom he was con-
signed, and as to whose character and standing he must
have obtained more or less definite information. In such
cases, the engagement of the servant had not been formed
unadvisedly, but after consultation and thoughtful con-
sideration.

In the beginning, the frequency with which servants
abandoned their masters was in some measure due to the
scarcity of labor. Many unscrupulous planters were led
by this circumstance to hold out secret offers to persons
of that class who were in the employment of landowners
residing at a distance. These offers were accompanied

20 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

by the promise that protection would be afforded them in
case their wliereabouts were discovered, an improbable con-
tingency, as was asserted, on account of the remoteness
and the isolation of the separate estates. Even in the
cases in which the planters receiving absconding servants
had not instigated them to leave their masters, the readi-
ness with which they were often employed without any
questions being asked amounted to a positive inducement
to restless and discontented laborers to break their engage-
ments whenever they felt the desire.

So general became the complaint of the action of the
planters who gave employment to absconding servants,
whether informed or not as to the expiration of their terms,
that it was found necessary to adopt a regulation that no
one should enter into a contract under any circumstances
with a worker for wages or for a share of the crop, or
with a laborer who was subject to an ordinary indenture,
unless he could produce a certificate signed by the com-
mander of the place where he had formerly resided,
showing that he was at liberty to bind himself by new
covenants to any one who was willing to employ him. If,
notwithstanding his inability to furnish this certificate, he
should be engaged, then the person who was thus guilty
of violating the law was compelled to pay to the master
or mistress of the servant, if his term was still unex-
pired, twenty pounds of tobacco for every night he was
entertained. Even though the laborer concerned should
happen to have hired himself for a short time and for a defi-
nite sum, the same penalty was to be enforced. So deter-
mined were the members of the Assembly to probe to the
heart of the evil, that it was provided that even if the la-
borer who was thus employed should be a freeman who had
not before entered into any contract, the person covenant-
ing with him should still be under the necessity of requiring

SYSTEM OF LABOR 21

of him a certificate of absolute freedom. If without this
certificate the laborer should still receive employment, the
person who gave it was exposed to such punishment as
the Governor and Council should prescribe. ^ If the cer-
tificate offered was in reality a forgery, the servant or
freeman incurred a heavy penalty for his crime. In 1676,
when the insurrection had drawn away so many laborers
from their masters, the Assembly provided that every
planter who had in his employment a servant whose ante-
cedents were unknown, and who had not been residing
in the country nine months, should present a report to the
nearest justice of the peace showing his age, stature, the
place from which he came, and the length of time he had
been in the country. ^

There was one strong influence at work among the
planters which was likely to have made the operation of
these laws more effective than is the case in general
with prohibitory statutes in communities recently settled.
The very reasons moving those who entertained abscond-
ing servants or hirelings to enter into covenants with
them in spite of their failure to produce the certificate
demanded by the law, impelled the masters or first em-
ployers of the runaways to pursue and seize them and to
bring them back to the estates to which they belonged.
The scarcity of labor made it dear, and it was less expen-
sive to follow a servant or hireling who had absconded
than to replace him by the purchase of a substitute. The
most important interests of the landholders were involved
in the sanctity of the regulation, and there are innumer-
able indications in the county records that the penalty
imposed for disregarding it was strictly enforced.^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 253, 254.

2/&W., vol. II, pp. 405, 406.

3 Many instances of the expenses incurred in recovering a runaway

22 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The character of the punishment incurred by the servant
in absconding offered an additional inducement to his

are preserved in the records of the county courts. The following is an

example taken from the records of Lancaster County:

" One musket of the county's 150 lbs. tobacco

One rundlet of powder 48 " "

One small broad axe 15 " "

One new cooper's axe 48 " "

Five men and a boat 4 dayes 340 " "

One gallon of rum, etc., for them 140 *' "

CHARGE IN FETCHING.

Paid three men that brought Coll. Coulbourne

from York 125 "

Paid Mr. Coulbourne as per his account . . 1520 " "

Four men and a shallop 4 dayes 600 " "

One gallon of rum, etc., for them 3G0 " " "

Eecords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1682, p. 336. In 1694,
Patrick Goghagan ran away from his master in Elizabeth City County.
The cost of recovering him amounted to £5 19s. Becorcls of Elizabeth
County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 60, Va. State Library. Reference may also be
made to an instance in Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 569,
Va. State Library : " An acco't of my charges in p'suite of my runaway
servants, Jno. Sherry, a portagues, and Tho. Roberts, a molatta, v/hich
absented themselves from my service ye 18th of August last and returned
ye fifth instant : ^ ,

To John Marson for his sloope 3 00 00

" John Travillian for his voyage 1 10 00

«' John Bushell for ditto 1 00 00

" p'visins for ye voyage 2 00 00

" passage over Elke River 0 00 06

" a guide from Elke River to Newcastle .... 02 06

" my expenses at Newcastle . 04 09

" passage from thence to Philadelphia 04 06

" expenses by ye way 03 08

" expenses at Philadelphia 2 07 00

" " thence back to Newcastle 0 01 06

" boat hire from Philadelphia unto Newcastle . . 10 00

" expenses there 07 06

" guide from Newcastle to Elke River .... 02 00

" gallon of rum 05 00

they being absent 79 dayes apeece."

SYSTEM OF LABOR 23

master to discover the place to wliicli he had fled, and
to capture and lead him back. If the act of running
away under consideration was the first offence of that
nature on his part, he was punished to the extent of
being required to remain in the employment of his
master double the time for which he was bound by his
indenture, or by the custom of the country in the absence
of a written agreement between them ; and if his flight
had been marked by aggravated circumstances,' or was
taken at the season of the year when the crops needed
special attention, it lay in the power of the commissioners
of the county to enlarge still further the term for which
he had become liable by Avay of penalty for his violation of
his covenants. If the offence was committed a second time,
the servant was also branded in the cheek and shoulder. i

In some cases, the servant was not only required to
remain with his master double the time agreed upon at
first, but also to pay the amount which had been spent in
capturing him. The punishment occasionally extended to
the infliction of stripes. In 1640, Hugh Gwyn followed
two absconding white laborers and a negro slave into
Maryland, in which Colony they had taken refuge, seized
them and brought them back. By order of court, they
were whipped on their bare backs until they had received
thirty lashes. The two white men, a Dutchman and
a Scotchman, were forced to remain with their master
twelve months beyond the terms for Avhicli they were
bound in their indentures, and at the end of that inter-
val they were required to serve on the public works for
three years. The negro was delivered over to his master
to continue a slave during the rest of his life.^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 254, 440 ; vol. II, p. 117.

2 General Court Orders, June 4, July 9, 1(540, Bobinson Transcripts,
pp. 9, 10.

24 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

In tlie same year, several servants planned to make
their escape to the Dutch provinces in the Nortli, the
ringleader in the conspiracy being a Dutchman, and one
of the participants a negro. They were captured when
they had gotten only as far as Elizabeth River. The
punishment in this case was severer than in that previ-
ously mentioned. The Dutchman was sentenced to receive
thirty lashes, to have the letter " R " branded in his cheek,
and to carry a shackle upon one leg as he worked. When
his term of service expired, he was to be delivered to the
authorities, to remain in the public employment for seven
years. One of his accomplices, after receiving thirty
lashes, and being branded in the cheek, was upon the
close of the period covered by his indenture to become
the servant of the Colony, and to continue so for the
space of three years. A second accomplice Avas to be
bound over to the public for two years after the expira-
tion of his term. The negro Avas to be burnt in the
face with the letter " R " and to be Avhipped severely.^

In 1660-61, it was provided that if a white man bound
by indenture or the custom, fled in company with negroes,
who, being the property of their owner for life, could not
be punished by an extension of their terms, he was to be
compelled, when brought back, to remain in the employ-
ment of his master double his own time, and of the slaves'
master, during a set period for every slave Avho had gone
off with him ; and if more than one white person Avas in
the party of runaAvays, the Avhole number of white men
Avere to be proportionately liable for the time for which
the negroes, if they had been English laborers, would
have been compelled to serve, in addition to those terms
for Avhicli they Avere already bound. ^

1 General Court Orders, July 22, 1640, JRubinson Transcripts, p. 11.
- Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 117.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 25

In the session of 1655-56, the penalty of twenty pounds
of tobacco for each night, imposed upon any person who
gave entertainment or employment to an absconding ser-
vant, was increased to sixty pounds for every twenty-four
hours. The letter " R" deeply burnt into the cheek, fore-
head, or shoulder not being found a sufficient mark of
degradation, the right was granted to the master to keep
the hair of the runaway cropped close to his ears, which
would lead to his detection as soon as he escaped from the
plantation to which he belonged. ^

The pursuit of a runaway seems to have been generally
made by hue and cry. It was required that this should
be passed from the house of one county commissioner
to that of another, under a lieavy penalty for neglect. ^
This method proving unsatisfactory, an additional regula-
tion was adopted in 1663, by the terms of which, at the
request of a master whose servant had fled, the justices of
the peace were commanded to issue their warrants direct-
ing the impressment of men and boats to take part in the
pursuit, and the cost thus entailed was to be included
in the regular county levies.^ The enactment of such a
law indicates that the public sentiment of the Colony re-
garded the loss of a laborer by flight as common to the
whole community, and therefore to be made good out
of the public funds.

As numerous runaways were able to escape from the
country by means of ships engaged in carrying freight to
the Dutch Colony, provision was made for their return by
a standing request to the Governor of that Colony to send
all absconding servants back by the first vessel which
might sail to the part of Virginia from which they had
fled.* When a person was returned under these circum-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 517, 518. ^ /^j/tZ., vol. II, p. 187.

2 Ihid., p. 483. * Ibid., vol. II, p. 188.

26 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

stances, lie was received by the collector of the district in
which the ship came to anchor, and a certificate was given
to the master of the vessel, containing a statement of the
expenses which he had incurred in the transportation of
the runaway, and this amount was discharged by the
General Assembly upon the presentation of the document
to that body. In the meanwhile, the collector had notified
the master of the arrival of his servant. If he was willing
to take the servant into his employment again, he was
required first to pay all the charges that had fallen upon
the public, but if unwilling, then the servant was either
sold or hired out until the public had been reimbursed for
the outlay entailed ; and if any part of his term remained
unexpired, after this was accomplished, he was returned
to his master. 1 If, instead of attempting to escape in a
ship that was about to set sail for the Northern Colonies,
the runaway fled to the nearest Indian village, its chief
was commanded to produce him before a justice of the
peace. The latter, on receiving him, was required to pay
to the Indians who had apprehended him, twenty arms'
length of roanoke, or its value in such goods as the captors
might prefer. The justice then forwarded the servant to
his master. This law was passed to continue in force only
for a very short time.^

Experience showed that the neglect of constables in
making search as directed by their warrants, which em-
powered them to enter dwelling-houses, was the most
frequent cause of a permanent evasion of capture on the
part of absconding servants. To counteract the secret
influence brought to bear upon these officers, a master, in
case his runaway was apprehended, was ordered to pay
the constable who was the agent in the capture, two

1 This act was modified in 1686. See Heniug's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 28.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 299.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 27

hundred pounds of tobacco. Tliis was also a means of
stimulating him to greater energy in a subsequent in-
stance of a like nature.

In 1669, it was provided that a reward of one thousand
pounds of tobacco should be allowed to every person who
apprehended a servant absenting himself from the planta-
tion to which he belonged without a passport from the
authorities of the place where he resided, or a note from
his master, granting him permission. Tliis reward was to
be paid not by the master, but by the public at large, the
amount thus expended to be returned to the public funds
by the sale of the runaway for a term of years as soon as
his present employment came to an end. This law was
enacted for the benefit of the class of landowners who
were in possession of so few laborers that they were
unable to follow fugitives at certain seasons of the year
without abandoning their crops in the ground to ruin.
When a servant was captured after the passage of the
Act of 1669, he was at once carried to the office of the
nearest justice of the peace. A certificate of the term
for which the runaway was bound to his master was then
drawn up and transmitted to the next General Assembly.
In the meanwhile, the runaway was delivered to the con-
stable of the parish in which he had been seized, by whom
he was conveyed to the constable of the adjacent parish,
and so in turn until he was finally delivered to his owner.
■ In case he was suffered to escape by the neglect of one of
these officers, a penalty of one thousand pounds of tobacco
was imposed upon the delinquent for the offence. ^

The allowance of one thousand pounds for the appre-
hension of an absconding servant was found to be not
only burdensome to the public revenues but also pro-
motive of a spirit of collusion, defeating the object which
1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 273, 274.

28 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

the law had in view.^ The reward was reduced to two
hundred pounds whenever the fugitive was captured at a
greater distance than ten miles from his master's home,
and this amount was to be paid out of the public levy in
the county to which he belonged. No claim was to be
considered valid until it had been clearly shown to the
justices that the runaway and his captor had not entered
into a mutually advantageous arrangement as to his
arrest; that the arrest occurred at a certain distance from
the plantation on which he had been employed; that the
claim had or had not been purchased from the captor;
and tliat the person urging it in the court was or was not
the master or overseer of the fugitive. If the claim was
found to be tainted Avith fraud, the person guilty of the
offence, in case he was unable to pay the one thousand
pounds imposed as a penalty, was compelled to submit to
corporal punishment in the discretion of the court.^

If the servant had absconded on two occasions, the
master was directed to keep the hair of the fugitive
closely cut, or forfeit two hundred pounds as often as
he was subsequently apprehended. ^ Each constable into
whose hands he was delivered to be returned to his owner
was authorized by the commissioner's warrant to give
him a severe whipping. The heavy fine which was im-
posed in case a captured servant was allowed to escape
by the negligence of one of these officers was, in 1670,
reduced from one thousand pounds to four hundred
pounds of tobacco.* Under the regulations in operation
immediately previous to the enactment of the statute of
1686, as soon as the period for which a captured runaway
was bound had expired, the master was required to de-
liver him at once into the hands of the nearest justice of

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 277, 278, 284. 3 Ihid., p. 278.

2 Ihid., p. 284. * Ibid., p. 278.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 29

the peace in order that he might be assigned for the
public use, liis term being extended at the rate of four
months for every two hundred pounds of tobacco which
the county had expended in his capture. Under the law
of 1686, however, the entire amount of the outlay which
had fallen upon the public was assessed upon his mas-
ter or mistress, to be reimbursed by the extension in
his or her favor of the servant's time for a period which
would cover the value of the loss entailed by his re-
covery. ^

There can be little doubt that the last provision made
was the wisest that could have been adopted in the cir-
cumstances existing in the Colony. When a servant
absconded, all the resources of the public treasury and
its personal instruments for carrying on the machinery of
the government and preserving the peace were brought
to bear to effect his capture, and when that end had been
accomplished, the master was very properly required to
save the people at large from pecuniary loss. The rule
prevailing at one time that the community was to be
reimbursed by the sale of the runaway by the public
officers as soon as his original term had expired, must
have given rise to much inconvenience and some compli-
cation in the affairs of each county. The authorities,
from the great number of fugitives, were placed in the
position, as long as the law was in operation, of being
vendors of labor on a very important scale, and this made
necessary a serious enlargement of the public accounts
without any pecuniary advantage accruing from it.

The fact that so few conspiracies were hatched among
the laborers bound by articles of indenture is to be attrib-
uted not only to the fair treatment which, as a rule, they
received from their masters, but also to the comparative
1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 29.

30 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

brevity of the time for which all whose ages exceeded
nineteen, among whom alone a plot was likely to be
formed, were required to serve. It was entirely natural
that the older members of this class should have been
disposed to endure much that was harsh or repugnant
to their wishes in the expectation of the early ending of
their terms, rather than plunge into secret schemes that
exposed them to the risk of certain death in the event of
detection. There seems to have been a seditious feeling
in York in 1661, and its display w^as considered to be
sufficiently serious to justify the authorities in warning
the magistrates and heads of families in that county to
punish all discourse among those in their employment
tending to a popular tumult.^ The conspiracy of 1663,
to which reference has been made already, had a religious
and political object in view. Only a few servants appear
to have been included among those implicated in it. The
Cromwellian soldiers, reduced to the condition of common
laborers, doubtless smarted with the sense of degradation,
but beyond all this, there was a hope that the status of
the English Protectorate might by their bravery and reso-
lution be restored in the Colony. ^ The discovery of this

1 Eecords of York County, vol. 1657-1G62, p. 369, ^^a. State Library.
" A dangerous conspiracy among servants discovered Oct. 13, 1640."
Bobinson Transcripts, p. 12.

- The account which Beverley gives of this conspiracy is as follows :
"The rigorous circumscription of their trade (i.e. of the Virginians), the
persecutions of the Sectaries and the little demand for tobacco, had liked
to have had fatal consequences ; for the poor coming thereby very uneasy,
their murmurings were watched and fed by several mutinous and rebel-
lious Oliverian soldiers tha* were sent thither as servants. These, depend-
ing upon the discontented people of all sorts, formed a villainous plot to
destroy their masters and afterwards to set up for themselves." History
of Virginia, p. 55. See also letter of Thomas Ludwell, British State
Papers, Colonial Papers; Sainshury Abstracts for 1665, p. 72, Va. State
Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 31

plot led to the passage of severe laws in repression of the
sinister meetings of servants. They were forbidden to
come together in considerable numbers on Sunday, a day
on which they had been allowed entire rest, and the same
rule was also probably applicable to all recognized holi-
days. By the custom prevailing in the Colony, the labor-
ers were granted not only the Sabbath and the usual
holidays observed in England, but also the greater part
of every Saturday. ^ Apart from the hours of night, there
were many occasions when they were Avholly at leisure,
and if there had existed any disposition to conspiracy
among them, the opportunity would not have been lack-
ing. In the period of great depression following the col-
lapse of the Rebellion of 1676, there was imminent danger
of an open insurrection on the part of the servants,' but if
it had occurred, the motive would have been not merely
impatience of the landowners' authority but apprehension
of famine. The feeling died out when relief had been
obtained.

Among so large a body of laborers, it is not remarkable
that there should have been many instances of resistance
to masters. One of the earliest petitions presented to the
General Assembly in 1619, the first legislature convening
in the Colony, was that of Captain Powell, who desired to
have his servant punished for falling into grossly insubor-
dinate conduct. The petitioner was empowered to place
this servant in the pillory for a period of four days, to nail
his ears to the post, and to give him a public whipping on
each day included in his sentence. ^ The severe punish-
ment inflicted in this case does not appear to have been
repeated in later times. The person who was found

1 Leah and Rachel, p. 12, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 Lawes of General Assembly, 1019, Colonial Records of Virginia,
State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 24.

32 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

guilty of offering resistance either to his master, or to the
overseer who was appointed to supervise him, was com-
pelled to continue in the same employment two years
beyond the expiration of the term for which he was bound
either by indenture or the custom of the country. ^ If the
spirit of insubordination which he exhibited rendered him
dangerous, he could, upon complaint, be committed to jail,
a bond being given by his owner that the charge would
be pressed to a trial. During the imprisonment, the mas-
ter was required to support the servant, five pounds of
tobacco being paid to the sheriff to cover the expense of
each twenty-four hours of detention. ^

At each county seat there was a whipping-post, and this
mode of jjunishment was frequently used as a substitute
for the jail. The servant condemned to the lash was
delivered to the sheriff to be publicly chastised as a
warning to all who were similarly clisiDOsed, and after-
wards returned to the plantation to which he or she might
be attached. The master had a right to whip a delin-
quent with his own hands if unwilling to put himself to
the inconvenience of sending him to a magistrate for that
purpose.^ When the servant had shown on any occasion
the desire to inflict injury on any one not his employer,
the latter might be ordered, in the discretion of the court,
to furnish a bond that his servant would keep the peace.*
Should a servant be guilty of murder or an attempt to kill,
six men were summoned from the neighborhood where he
lived whose names were put at the head of the panel. By
the jury thus formed he was tried, and if convicted, was

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 538.

2 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1G82-1701, p. 171, Va. State
Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 266.

^Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1682-1701, p. 139, Va. State
Libraiy.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 33

sentenced to be imprisoned or hanged, according to the
circumstances of his crime. ^ Aggravated cases of rob-
bery were doubtless punished with severity, but small
offences like hog-stealing, especially when the person who
suffered was the master, exposed the offender as a rule
only to the pains of a public or private whipping. ^ In
some cases, in addition to public chastisement, he was
compelled by order of court to continue in the same
employment for a term of two years after the expiration
of the time upon which he had agreed. ^ It not infre-
quently happened that in condonation for the most serious
forms of robbery, a servant bound himself upon the con-
clusion of the period covered by his indenture to enter
into a second indenture by which he agreed to serve a
second period.* Whoever induced a man of this class
to dispose of his master's property by stealth, more par-
ticularly when the tempter became the beneficiary of the
theft, was compelled to suffer imprisonment for a month

1 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 207 ; Palmer's Calendar of Vir-
ginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 35.

2 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1673-1685, p. 36.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1680, orders March
9, 1669.

4 " Know all men by these presents that I, Henry Rewcastle . . . being
now free and having liberty to bargain, I doe freely binde my self e and
absolutely without compulsion or persuasions of any person or persons
whatsoever, to serve from the day of the date hereof three complete
years to Mrs. Elizabeth Lockey or her assigns, and to doe all such labour
as she the said Mrs. Lockey or her assigns shall sett me about duely and
truly in every respect, the consideration I doe owne to have received of
the said Mrs. Lockey, namely, for the breaking open of her store and
taking rum, mackerell and sugar out thereof, and convey it away, and for
this consideration and the true performance of three years' service from
the date hereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 18th day of
November in the year of our Lord, 1675." Becords of York County, vol.
1671-1094, p. 162, Va. State Library. See also Orders of Court, Jan. 12,
1684, Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694.

VOL. II. D

34 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and to restore four times the value of tlie articles wliicli
had been carried off.^

In the Assembly of 1619, a law was passed that pro-
vided that the servant should receive a whipping for every
oath he uttered, and should afterwards confess his guilt in
the parish church when the congregation had convened
for religious services. There is no record of this statute
having been repealed.^ The regulation imposing a fine of
tobacco upon all freemen who had been heard to swear
was steadily enforced, and there is no reason why there
should have been any relaxation of the special punish-
ment inflicted for the same offence upon those in their
employment.

A certain degree of liberty in the sexual relations of
the female servants with the male, and even with their
masters, might have been expected, but there are numer-
ous indications that the general sentiment of the Colony
condemned it, and sought by appropriate legislation to
restrain and prevent it. A woman who was got with
child by her employer was, upon the expiration of her
term, delivered to the church wardens of the parish in
which she resided, who were empowered to dispose of her
for two years, the tobacco thus obtained to be devoted to
parochial objects. The purpose that this regulation had
in view was of a twofold character. The wardens secured
by the sale of the mother for a new period of service, the
means to meet any charge which the bastard might impose
upon the parish ; on the other hand, her master was pre-
vented from deriving any advantage from his criminal
association with her such as would have resulted from an
extension of the term for which she was bound to him.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 274, 275.

2 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Becords of Virginia, State Senate
Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 27.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 35

If the woman had been required to remain in his service,
then this woukl have constituted an additional inducement
to a dissolute master to tamper with the virtue of his
female servants. It was clearly recognized, at the same
time, that to allow such a Avoman to go entirely free on the
expiration of her first term, on the ground that the father
of her bastard child was her employer, who used the influ-
ence of -the relation to force her to yield to his solicita-
tions, was to offer a strong temptation to all women in the
same situation to lay their offspring at the doors of their
masters, whether the latter were guilty or not.^

If the father of the bastard was a freeman, owning,
however, no interest in the mother, he might satisfy the
claim against him by paying fifteen hundred pounds of
tobacco, or serving for one year the master of his para-
mour. He had also to give security to save the parisli
and her employer harmless, and was compelled to defray
the whole charge imposed by the existence of the child. ^
If, on the other hand, the latter was the offspring of a
servant Avho was unable to contribute to its support, the
expense of maintaining it fell upon the p)arish until his
term had expired ; as soon as this was the case, he was
compelled to reimburse the vestry for the amount which
they had already been called upon to pay.^

In the latter part of the century, some alteration was
made in these regulations. If a woman gave birth to a
bastard, the sheriff, as soon as he learned of the fact, was
required to arrest her, and whip her on the bare back
until the blood came. Being turned over to her master,
she was compelled to pay two thousand pounds of tobacco,
or to remain in his emplojanent two years after the termi-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 167.

2 Ibid., vol. I, p. 438.

3 Ibid, vol. II, p. 168.

36 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

nation of lier indentures.^ By delivering five hundred
pounds of the same commodity to the parish, her master
could relieve her of the chastisement, and, in return, he
had a right to claim of her a service of six months,^ in
addition to the two years prescribed by law. Katharine
Higgins, of York, having borne a child out of wedlock,
was ordered to receive thirty-nine lashes. To secure
remission of this part of her punishment, John Eage, her
master, gave the vestrymen assurance that he would
deliver to the parish the required amount of tobacco as a
guarantee against loss in providing food and clothing for
the bastard.^ The punishment of whipping seems to have
been also remitted in case the mother and the father
appeared together in church at the time the congrega-
tion was assembled, both clothed in white sheets.^ A bas-
tard child remained in the service of the parish until
his twenty-fourth year, being apprenticed under strict
indentures.^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 115 ; Eecords of York Coxinty., vol.
1690-1694, p. 427, Va. State Library. See also Eecords of Accomac
County, original vol. 1666-1670, f. p. 79.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 115 ; vol. Ill, p. 1-39.

3 Eecords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 7, Va. State Library.

* Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1644-1655, Feb. 16,
1645.

5 Eecords of the General Court, p. 47. Eecords of Eappaliannock
County, vol. 1668-1672, pp. 60, 61, Va. State Library, contains an example
of these indentures : " This indenture witnesseth that we the subscribers.
Col. John Catlett and Capt. Thomas Hawkins, two of his majesty's Justices
of the Peace for Rappahannock County, do hereby covenant, promise and
agree to and with William Hodgson of the same county, planter, that
Nicholas Willard, a bastard child, begotten on the body of Katharine
Jones by Nicholas "Willard, late of aforesaid county, deed, sliall from
henceforth become a servant to the above said Hodgson, his heirs and
assigns, until the said Nicholas attains to the age of 20 years fully to be
completed and ended, and, as soon as God shall enable him, the said
Hodgson, to serve his heirs or assigns in such service and employment as

SYSTEM OF LABOR 37

If the bastard child to which the female servant gave
birth was the offspring of a negro father, she was whipped
unless the usual fine was paid, and immediately upon the
expiration of her term, was sold by the wardens of the
nearest church for a period of five years. One-third of
the proceeds of the sale was turned over to the public
treasury, one-third was paid to the informer, and the
remainder reserved for the use of the parish in which the
offence was committed. ^ The child was bound out until
his or her thirtieth year had been reached. The heaviness
of the penalty was in some measure to be attributed to
the desire to inflict a certain degree of moral punishment,
for, as will be seen when we come to the subject of the
slave, all physical intimacy between whites and blacks,
even under the sanction of marriage, was not only severely
condemned, but also rigidly punished.

Secret marriages among the servants of the Colony seem
to have been a common source of serious loss to masters,
and steps were taken at an early period to prevent their
occurrence. The penalty attached, in 1643, to this act
was the prolongation of the term of the husband for
twelve months, while the term of the wife was extended
twice its original length, owing to the anticipated loss of
valuable time in the event that she gave birth to a child. ^

by him or tliem lie shall be employed in for and during the aforesaid
time ; in consideration whereof the said Hodgson, for himself, his heirs,
executors doe hereby covenant ... to and with the aforesaid justices in
behalf of the said Nicholas during his said time, to find and allow him
meat, drink, washing, lodging and sufficient apparel, and at the end and
expiration thereof to pay and deliver him or assigns two suits of apparell,
one, kersey, the other, cotton ; a canvas pair of drawers and two shirts,
one canvas, the other lockram ; and one felt and 3 basketts of good
sound Indian corn. In witness whereof ..." At the date of the
indenture the child was two years and five months old.

1 Eecords of York County, vol. 1G90-1094, p. 209, Va. State Library ;
Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 87. - Heniug's Statutes, vol. I, p. 253.

38 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

A minister was strictly prohibited from publishing the
bans of persons of tins class, or joining them in marriage
without first having received a certificate showing that
the consent of their masters had been obtained, and if the
union took place without that consent, the parties to it
were made liable, in 1662, to the penalty of serving one
year after their articles of indenture expired. The same
punishment was inflicted upon the servant who intermar-
ried clandestinely with a free person, the latter being
compelled to pay 'the master fifteen hundred pounds of
tobacco or bacon, or become his employee for a period of
twelve months.^ Although there was a law interdicting
a union of free whites with negroes, mulattoes, and Indians,
whether enslaved or free, there seems to have been no
provision against marriage between persons of African
or Indian race and pure whites, in case the latter hap-
pened to be still bound by indenture or by custom of the
country. This, however, is probably explained by the
fact that the consent of the master or mistress was neces-
sary to give the marriage of a servant validity, a consent
practically unattainable on account of the prejudice which
existed even at this early day to such a union.

It is interesting to find that the private funerals of
servants were the occasion of so much scandal as to lead
to their prohibition. This scandal related to various
persons nearly associated with the dead, who, if guiltless
of what was whispered against them, could not vindicate
their innocence, and if guilty, could always be successful
in evading punishment. In order to remove all occasion
for aspersion previous to the burial, three or four neigh-
bors were summoned to view the corpse whenever there
was the smallest ground for suspicion, and if not, to
accompany the body to the grave. It was not permitted

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 114.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 39

that any servant should be interred in a private spot.
They were to be buried in public cemeteries established
for this purpose. The passage of such a law illustrates
with singular force the great care with which every pre-
caution was adopted by the General Assembly for the
protection of persons of this class against all forms of
encroachment upon their welfare.^

If we examine the relations which the servant bore to
the community at large, we find that he was in the enjoy-
ment of none of the higher privileges of citizenship. He
was furnished the amplest protection to life and limb
which the law could give, and was entitled to the strictest
observance on the part of his master of all the covenants
in his indenture that assured him proper food, apparel,
and lodging, but he was denied the right of suffrage, and
had no voice in the general or local administration of
affairs. It was only in the case of a great emergency
that he was called upon to bear arms in the defence of
the soil. Under ordinary circumstances, he was not per-
mitted to have weapons in his possession, although the
royal instructions in the time of James II required that
he, as well as his master, should be regularly mustered. ^
At all times, unless a war was in progress, he was subject
to be taken in execution as if he were a mere bale of mer-
chandise.^ He formed the most important part of the
basis of taxation. At one period, all servants under six-
teen were exempted from being included in the list of
tithables. This regulation, however, led to many serious
frauds, and was, therefore, revoked. It became a general
custom that after a youth had been brought into the

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. 11, p. 53.

2 Instructions to Howard, 1685, and to Culpeper, 1679, McDonald
Papers, vol. VII, p. 180 ; Ihicl, vol. V, p. 305, Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 297.

40 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

country, and his age shown to be under sixteen years, he was
not again produced, and, therefore, to the end of his term
remained unlisted. In consequence of the loss of public
revenue from this course of action, it was provided that all
persons of this class, however young, who were imported
into the Colony after 1649, were to be liable for the pay-
ment of county levies. ^ Natives of Virginia under sixteen
were excepted from the operation of this statute, and to
this number also were added the children under that age
who had arrived in the country in the company of their
parents, or without articles of apprenticeship.^ In 1680,
the general law applicable to tithables was again sub-
stantially altered, the fourteenth year being adopted as
the legal age in the case of all Christian servants who had
been brought into the Colony.^ Every woman who was
employed in the fields had to be returned as a tithable.^
No servant who had been imported by a merchant for sale
was for the first year held to be a tithable until he was
disposed of.^

When the term for which a servant was bound, whether
by indenture or the custom of the country, had expired, he
proceeded to the court of the county in which he lived, in
company with his master, or with the testimonial of the
latter that he was now at liberty. The fact that he was
free was entered on record by the clerk, and a certificate
to that effect was drawn up and presented to him, which
justified any one in employing him as a laborer. If the
document was shown to be a forgery, the servant was com-
pelled to stand two hours in the pillory on court day.
The certificate, in case it was lost, could at any time be
renewed.^ The General Court appears to have leaned
towards rather than away from members of this class

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 454. 3 //,,•(?., vol. II, p. 480. s /jj-^?.^ p, 488.

2 Ibid., p. 361. * Ibid., p. 170. « Ibid., p. 116.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 41

when a question as to their right of freedom came before
them for decision. ^

When the servant was discharged, upon the expiration
of his term, there were certain privileges bestowed upon
him wliicli it is improbable that he ever failed to claim.
Reference has already been made to the benefits conferred
on the laborers who, during the early existence of the
Company, were imported to cultivate the public lands.
At the close of their periods of service, each was granted
one hundred acres, and, when this tract had been seated,
each was probably entitled to an additional tract of the
same extent. When the apprentices bound out to the
tenants were set free, their position was still more ad-
vantageous. They had an allowance of corn for twelve
months, and for each a house was erected; each was pre-
sented with clothing and a cow of the value of forty
shillings. As much land as each could till was placed
in his control, together with gifts of armor, implements,
tools, and utensils. At the expiration of the tenancy,
which continued for a term of seven years, — during
which time one-half of all the increase of the earth and
of the cattle was theirs, — a tract of twenty-five acres was
granted to each one in fee simple subject to the payment
of an annual rent of a few pence. They could, however,
continue tenants of the Company if they wished to do so.^

After the dissolution of the Company, the amount paid

1 Numerous instances of this fact will be found in the Becords of the
General Cotcrt, preserved among the Manuscript Collections of the Vir-
ginia Historical Society,

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
pp. 41, 42. The following reference to one of these apprentices is of inter-
est: " Whereas it appears to ye court that one Henry Carman, late servant
to ]Mr. Saml. Sharp, and one of those fifty boys which were by James R.
commanded to be sent over hither, and arrived here in 1619, the condition
of whose service was appointed to be for seven years at first to their mas-

42 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to the servant at the end of his term was, in the absence
of any provision in the indenture, fixed by custom with
as much precision as if it had been prescribed by law.
He was entitled to such a quantity of grain as would
furnish him a support for one year. This, at the end of
the century, was estimated at ten bushels.^ He was also
to receive two sets of apparel, — including in general two
suits, one of kersey, the other of cotton, a pair of canvas
drawers, two shirts, one of which was made of canvas,
the other of lockram, and one felt hat.^ In the time of
Beverley, a gun worth twenty shillings was added. ^ The
value of the grain, clothing, and other articles thus re-
ceived was estimated at ten pounds sterling.^

The impression prevailed in England that every ser-
vant was also entitled to fifty acres. For this belief,
however, there seems to .have been no ground, — at least,
previous to the administration of Culpeper. In 1679,
this Governor was enjoined to lay off for each person of
that class at the end of his term fifty acres of land, and
a similar order was given to Sir Henry Chichely in Janu-
ary 1681-82, by the Committee for Trade and Plantations,
which was renewed in a somewhat modified form in 1685

ters to whom they were first put, and further if during this time, they
should commit any great malifice as whoredom, theft, drawing of blood,
that then from that time toties quoties the time of their service to begin
again for seven years, now whereas it appeareth to ye court that the said
Henry Carman hath committed fornication with one Alice Chambers,
servant of Abraham Chambers, the court orders he shall serve seven
years longer." Orders of General Court, Oct. 11, 1G2G, Bohinson Tran-
scripts, p. 52.

1 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 221.

2 See Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1668-1672, pp. 60, 61, Va.
State Library. In this case, provision was made for an apprentice at the
expiration of his term.

3 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 221.

1 Colonial Entry Book, vol. 92, pp. 275-283.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 43

in the instructions to Howard. ^ It does not appear that
the General Assembly passed a law at any time in pur-
suance of these instructions. The author of Leah and
Rachel about the middle of the century declared that
the report that fifty acres were allotted to each servant
when he became free was a delusion. ^ There must have
been strong ground for opposition on the part of the land-
owners to the establishment of such a regulation. If it
had been customary to make such a grant, the large body
of persons who, when their terms expired, entered into
indentures again, or hired themselves out at stated wages,
would have been drawn away at once to their own es-
tates, and the ability of the planters who had been their
masters to secure laborers in place of them would have
been diminished to a serious extent. ^

1 Instructions to Culpeper, 1679 ; Howard, 1685, McDonald Papers,
vol. V, p. 518, vol. VI, p. 259, Va. State Library. See also Colonial Entry
Book, No. 106, pp.339, 340; Sainshunj Abstracts for 1681-1682, p. 151,
Va. State Library.

2 Leah and Rachel, p. 11, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III. This
statement is confirmed by an order of the General Court, Jan. 13, 1626,
Bohinson Transcripts, p. 61.

3 Beverley, who wrote at a time when the right of appropriating land
had been very much enlarged, states that "each servant had a right to
take up fifty acres where he can find any unpatented." There is pre-
served in the Becords of York County, an indenture between an English
carpenter and a Virginian plante», in which the allotment of fifty acres is
referred to as "according to the custom of the country." Becords of
York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 367, Va. State Library. This indenture
was drawn up in England iu 1647, and probably by one who was really
ignorant of the customs prevailing in the Colony. The desire of the Vir-
ginian planter, who was a party to it, to secure the carpenter, may have
been so great that he was willing, when the mechanic's term came to an
end, to grant him fifty acres whether it could be legally claimed or not.
There is no concurrence of evidence that at this time the allotment of
fifty acres to a servant on the expiration of his term was an established
regulation. If he obtained this area it was probably by a perversion of
the head right.

44 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

If, during the period covered by his indenture, the
servant was guilty of some gross violation of its pro-
visions, or if, in the absence of written covenants, he dis-
regarded what was required of him by the custom of the
country, he forfeited, at the expiration of his term, those
benefits which, under ordinary circumstances, he re-
ceived. ^ The courts, general and local, were rigidly
scrupulous that the amplest justice should be done him
in the payment oi the articles due him when he became
free. All agreements between his master and himself
before his term had ended had, to acquire validity, to be
acknowledged in the presence of a legal officer, and, in
case such contracts were lacking in this sanction, his
employer was deprived of the right to hold him longer,
although many months of the period for which he had
bound himself still remained unexpired. If he was de-
tained beyond the limit of the time laid down by his
indenture or by custom, his master was compelled to
pay him in wages for this additional time. In one case,
the General Court ordered that a hogshead of tobacco
should be delivered to a servant wdiose term had thus
been forcibly extended. ^

A fair proportion only of those who were imported into
Virginia as laborers acquired handsome estates and became
prominent and influential citizens. Many Assemblies,
after 1632, contained burgesses who had begun their
career in the Colony by binding themselves out for a
set period of time. In the early sessions of the legis-
lature, the members who had at one time been servants
or apprentices had been brought in as employees of the
Company, and, through the grants of land which they
received on the expiration of their terms, had acquired

1 General Court Orders, Oct. 9, 1640, Robinson Transcripts, p. 8.

2 Becords of General Court, p. 10.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 45

immediate importance in tlie community. As late as
1654, however, we find in the Assembly, burgesses who,
only a few years before, had been working for different
planters, under indenture or by the custom of the coun-
try. The explanation of this fact is to be sought either
in their superior ability and energy after securing a re-
lease, or in their thrifty habits during the continuation
of their service. ^

It was not impossible for an active and industrious man
bound by indenture or by the custom of the country to
accumulate a good estate in the course of his employment;
it is said that there was a general disposition on the part of
the landowners to assist their laborers in acquiring prop-
erty as a preparation for starting under the most advan-
tageous circumstances on their own account as soon as
they had obtained certificates of freedom. 2 The relation
of kindness and confidence prevailing between master and
servant was shown in the frequency with which the latter
acted as the attorney of the former. ^ The servant was
often allowed a tract of cleared ground in which to plant
tobacco to be disposed of by himself when the annual ship-

1 The Assembly of 1629 included among its members Anthony Pagett,
William Poppleton, and Richard Townsend, who had come into the Colony
under the terms of indentures, Townsend, as we have seen, having been
bound over to Dr. Pott to learn the art of a physician. Adam Thorough-
good, who acquired large wealth, and was appointed a councillor, came
to Virginia as an apprentice, perhaps agi'icultural, although he had
high social connections in England. Abraham Wood and John Trussell,
members of the Assembly of 1654, had begun life in the Colony as
servants or apprentices. The author of Virginia's Cure went so far
as to assert, in 1662, that those who occupied seats in the House of Bur-
gesses had in general been men who had emigrated from England under
articles of indentures. This, however, is certainly erroneous. Virginia's
Cure, p. 16, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 Leah and Rachel, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 124, Va. State Library.

46 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ping arrived in the rivers. The articles he thus acquired
in exchange for his small crop, enabled him to buy a sow,
which his employer permitted to range with his own
cattle; one litter of pigs furnished him with means to
purchase a cow and calf, and by the time his term had
drawn to an end, he was in possession of a sufficient num-
ber of live stock to supply his needs when he opened a
plantation of his own. His indenture not infrequently
required that his master should provide him with several
head when he became free.^ Bullock strongly recom-
mended that every planter should pay to each of his ser-
vants a certain amount of tobacco for every pound of flax
which he dressed, and should in other branches of agri-
cultural work offer rewards that might stimulate them to
greater energy and assiduity. ^ The law strictly protected
the right of persons of this class in all goods which
they had brought into the country, or which they had se-
cured since their arrival during the course of their terms. ^
It frequently happened that they obtained freedom in con-
sideration of a payment of cattle or the conveyance of land.*
In 1640, Sir John Harvey presented a favorite servant
with a negro slave, an English laborer, and a cow,^ and
about the same time, Robert Felgate of York bequeathed
to one of his employees four head of cattle, and also corn
sufficient to last him for one year. To these, sixty acres
and five hundred pounds of tobacco were added. ^ In

1 General Court Orders, Oct. 9, 1G40, Eohinson Transcrii:>ts, p. 8.

2 Bullock's Virginia, p. 62.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 165 ; General Court Orders, Oct. 9, 1640,
Eohinson Transcripts.

* Becords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, pp. 121, 131, Va. State
Library.

^ Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1654-1702, pp. 374-379.

6 Becords of York County, vol. 1633-1694, p. 72 ; see also p. 76, Va.
State Library,

SYSTEM OF LABOR 47

1681, Robert Hodges of Lower Norfolk left two breeding-
sows by will to his servant Dorothy Rowell, and also
granted her the right to dwell on one of his plantations
during a period of seven years without paying rent.^
The bounty of masters was not restricted to live stock and
land; it also extended to coin.^ Nor were the acts of gen-
erosity confined to the employer. In 1634, Robert Heal-
ing of Accomac, who was bound by indenture to Thomas
Young, gave his master a- man-servant, whom he had prob-
ably purchased from a merchant or shipowner.^ Other
instances of equal liberality and good-will might be men-
tioned.

A large number of the servants, as has been pointed
out, upon the expiration of their terms became either over-
seers or renters, if they were lacking in the means to sue
out patents to estates of their own. In the seventeenth,
as in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the position
of an overseer furnished many opportunities to the in-
cumbent for the improvement of his condition by the
accumulation of property. His share in the crops which
he produced for his employer was invested in the purchase
of laborers of his own to obtain the basis of head rights
for the acquisition of land by public grant, or it was used
in buying a plantation which had already been cleared.
The number of renters among those who had been ser-
vants was probably small, for the reasons upon which I
have already dwelt at length.

There are many evidences that it was common for ser-
vants upon the close of their terms to earn a subsistence

1 Bocords of Lower Norfolk County^ original vol. 1G75-1G86, f. p. 106.

2 Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., bequeathed ten pounds sterling to one of his
servants. Becords of York Comity, vol. 1G90-1694, p. 155. See also Ibid.,
vol. 1664-1672, p. 239, Va. State Library ; also Becords of Henrico County,
original vol. 1677-1692, p. 139.

2 Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1G32-1640, p. 46.

48 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in the character of hired laborers. Payment of wages was
not unusual even during the supremacy of the Company.
Adam Dixon, a master caulker living in the Colony in
1622, was remunerated for his work at the rate of thirty-six
shillings a month. ^ In 1623, as we learn on the authority
of George Sandys, the wages generally received were one
pound of tobacco in addition to food each day ,2 but this
amount was considered to be very onerous, being much in
excess of the sum paid to the same class of persons in Eng-
land at this time. It was not very long before Sandys is
found writing to a friend in London and urging him to
procure indented laborers to be sent to Virginia, as the
wages paid in the Colony were intolerable. A maid was
engaged by Sir Edmund Plowden in 16-43, at the rate of
four pounds sterling annually, payable in merchandise
valued at its first cost in England ; ^ three years later, he de-
clared that he was unable to hire for thirty days a servant
supplied with clothing for less than two hundred pounds
of tobacco. It was at this time that John Weekes of
York agreed to work during two months for William
Light of the same county in return for a bed, a bolster and
blanket, and a pair of pot-hooks.* In 1649, annual wages
ranged from three pounds sterling to ten or their equiva-
lent in tobacco.^ If the laborer had come over at the
expense of his employer, the amount of his remuneration
was diminished by his being required to return the sum
spent in meeting the charges of his passage, but this was
carefully proportioned to the four years covered by the

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 188.

2 Sandys to Wrote, Neill's Virginia Vetiista, p. 123.

3 Archives of Maryland, Judicial and Testamentary Business, vol.
1637-1650, p. 224.

* Records of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 321, Va. State Library.
5 Bullock's Virginia, p. 52.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 49

contract. When he had been in the Colony many years,
he was exempted from such a deduction. In payment for
services extending over a period of twelve months, Stephen
Tarleton of York, in 1666, delivered to Edward Jenkins
one suit of broadcloth and one of kersey, two shirts, a hat,
one pair of shoes, and two pairs of stockings. ^

In 1680, the w^ages of a hired laborer did not in Vir-
ginia differ substantially in amount from the wages of a
servant engaged in the same character of Avork in England.
Fitzhugh, writing about this time to his agent in London,
requests him to send him a trained housekeeper, offering
to pay her passage money ; to allow her three pounds
sterling by the year ; and to furnish her with food with-
out charge. He considered that this w^ould be highly
acceptable, as the remuneration, he said, would be equal to
that which was received by the same class of domestics in
the mother country. ^

In a contract between Mrs. Weldon of York and Isabel
Nicholas in 1684, the former promised to pay the latter
for domestic service, to be prolonged over a period of one
year, fifty-five shillings, a new apron being given as an
earnest of the bargain.^ So high were the average wages
at this time that it was thought in some instances that no
profit was to be derived from hired labor.* How great
wages were in cases probably not considered extraordinary,
may be seen in the agreement between Josephine Chowne
and John Corbett of Elizabeth City County in 1697, by the
terms of wdiich Mrs. Chowne was to receive remuneration
for her work during a period of two months and a half, at

1 Eecords of Tork County, vol. 1G64-1G72, p. 106, Va. State Library.
The service was sometimes in compensation for a wilful act. See Ibid.,
1684-1687, p. 58.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 1, 1680.

3 Eecords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 59, Va. State Library.

* accords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 250, Va. State Library.

VOL. II. — E

60 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tlie rate of five pounds sixteen shillings and six pence a
month. ^ The average wages by the year appear to have
been at the close of the century six pounds sterling,^ or if
paid in tobacco, fourteen hundred pounds of this com-
modity, with one pair of shoes and one pair of stockings.
The rate by the day was twelve pence. ^

If these wages were carefully husbanded, they could be
invested in ways that were certain to bring handsome
returns. Bullock has left an interesting opinion as to the
disposition which a hired laborer at this time should make
of his earnings. A part of the sum received should go to
the purchase of a heifer, and the remainder be spent in
buying three or four flitches of bacon for exportation to
England, where they could be easily sold for two pounds
three shillings and four pence sterling. This amount was
to be expended in combs, laces, and pins, which com-
manded in Virginia double the price current in the mother
country, ensuring the owner upon his original outlay in
bacon not less than five pounds sterling. In the interval,
the cow which he had purchased had probably given birth
to a calf, and the wages of the second year had been
received. At the end of four years, Bullock estimated

1 Eecords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 415, Va. State
Library.

2 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1692, p. 136, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-1694, p. 695.
"Jeremy Overy of Middlesex County is indebted to Hugh Conaway:

16 days vrork in May @ 12'' per day

17 days work in June @ 12'' per day
2 days work in . . . @ 12'' per day

15 days work in October @ 12'' per day
1694."
The following is an entry in the Becords of Iliddlesex : —
"Judgment is granted to Joan Peirce against M"" Thomas Landon for
the sum of 8 ^ Sterling due for two years' wages." Original vol. 1694-
1705, p. 120.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 51

that the Laborer, by the exercise of sound judgment in his
trading, ought to have accumulated sixty pounds sterling,
and if he had been allowed by his employer to cultivate
a patch of tobacco of his own, this sum would be very
materially increased. ^

The women who were exported from England to the
Colony had unusual opportunities of advancing their wel-
fare in life. If they enjoyed an honorable reputation,
they found no difficulty in marrying into a higher station
than they had been accustomed to ; Bullock mentions the
fact that no maid whom he had brought over failed to
find a husband in the course of the first three months after
she had entered into his service. The fortunes of these im-
ported women were frequently superior to their deserts, for
a large proportion of them were considered to be worthless. 2

The number of persons in the Colony who had been
condemned to servitude for violating the law was always
small, and in 1642, the statute prescribing this form of
punishment, which had been passed in 1619, was abolished.-"^

The salable value of the servant depended in principal
measure on the length of time which his indenture still
had to run. It was of course affected by the degree of
his physical strength. Striking the general average for
the series of years represented in the uncompleted terms
appraised in the inventories of estates entered in the
county court records, the following will be found to be
substantially correct : a man having still one year unex-
pired, ranged in value from two pounds sterling to four ;
having two years, from six pounds sterling to eight ; hav-
ing three years, from eight to fourteen pounds sterling ;
having four years, from eleven to fifteen pounds sterling ;

1 Bullock's Virginia, pp. 52, 53.

2 Letters of William FitsJmgh, July 1, 1680.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 259.

52 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

having five years, from twelve pounds sterling to sixteen;
having six years, from thirteen pounds sterling to seven-
teen.

The value of female servants was fixed at lower rates.
Thus a woman having one year of her term unexpired
was appraised at a figure ranging from one to three pounds
sterling ; having two years, from three to five pounds
sterling ; having three years, from four to eight
pounds sterling ; having four years, from eight pounds
sterling to twelve ; having five years, from twelve pounds
sterling to fourteen ; having six years, she was appraised
at a figure which did not exceed fifteen pounds sterling. ^

There are many indications that the largest proportion of
the negro servants who were found in the Colony in the
seventeenth century were mulattoes, who had either been
set free by their white fathers or were sprung from emanci-
pated African mothers. The county records show the pres-
ence of numerous persons of half blood who were earning a
livelihood under ordinary covenants for a comparatively
short time, or who had been bound out until they should
reach their majority. If the mulatto was the offspring
of a white woman, his period of service was extended by
the vestry, which had all bastards at their disposal, to his
thirtieth year. Among those who were employed by
Robert Dudley of Middlesex just before his death, was a
mulatto woman whose term was to expire at the end of
two years. 2 The estate of Mrs. Rowland Jones of York,
in 1689, included among its items of property a mulatto
man who had sixteen years to serve. ^ Colonel John Walker

1 These estimates are based upon hundreds of entries found in the in-
ventories of personal estates preserved in tlie county records.

'^ Becords of Middlesex Connty, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 103; see
also Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1091, p. 558, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 381, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 53

was the owner of an African apprentice whose indenture
was to remain in force for twenty-eight years. ^ Among
the laborers of Mr. George Light was a negro who had
come into Virginia a free man, and bound himself out
for a period of five.^

Uj)on the close of the negro's term, he was entitled to
tlie same quantity of clothing and corn as the white ser-
vant. Independent provision was often made for him in
the indenture itself. In 1685, William, the son of a
mulatto woman named Katharine Sewell, was appren-
ticed to William Booth of York for a period of thirty
years. Booth agreeing not only to supply him with the
usual quantity of food and raiment, and to provide him
with the customary lodging, but also on his reaching his
fourteenth year, to give him a heifer, whose increase was
to be carefully preserved for his benefit until his term
expired. 3 In some cases, the negro servant was permitted
to raise hogs on condition that he turn over to his master
one-half of the amount obtained from their sale.*

There is no reason to think that the negro servant was
appraised lower in inventories than the white. His labor
was equally as valuable, and he was probably much more
easily controlled, an element of special advantage in em-
ploying him.

There were found in Virginia in the seventeenth cen-
tury a number of persons of Turkish blood, who had been
imported like English laborers under the terms of ordinary
indentures. One of the head rights which Francis Yeardley,
in 1647, gave in to obtain a patent to land in Lower Nor-
folk was acquired by his importation of Simon, who was

1- Becords of General Court, p. 119.

2 Ibid, p. 161.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 61, Va. State Library.

* General Court Orders, March 31, 1641, Bobinson Transcripts, p. 30.

64 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of Turkish nationality. ^ Jonathan Newell of York County
owned four Turkish servants, whose value was placed at
the very high figure of ninety-five pounds sterling. ^ The
inventory of the estate of George Jones of Rappahannock
included a Turk whose term had still seven years to run.
In the last decade of the century, a suit was entered in
York by Mathew Catillah, probably an Algerian, for the
recovery of his freedom, his mistress retaining him beyond
his twenty -fourth year.^

The greater number of the Indian servants were children,
many of whom were of a very tender age, the explanation
of this circumstance lying in the fact that Indian parents
were always at liberty to bind out their offspring as
apprentices. Doubtless, too, it was recognized by the
planters that the younger the Indian, the greater the
probability that he might be educated to become tract-
able and useful. The grown persons of the race, when
reduced to this condition, were in most cases unmanage-
able, and hardly worth the constant attention required to
control them. In every agreement which an Indian parent
in disposing of his son or daughter entered into, a cove-
nant had to be inserted providing that the child should
be instructed in the Christian religion. The contract, as
a whole, was to be sworn to before two justices of the
peace in order to exclude the possibility of collusion.*
The regulation was established and strictly enforced that

1 Records of Lower Norfolk, original vol. 1646-1651, f. p. 50. A Turk
was imported by George Menefie in 1635. See Va. Land Patents, vol. I,
p. 200.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 142, Va. State Library.

3 Ibid., vol. 1694-1697, p. 135, Va. State Library. References to Portu-
guese servants will be found in Records of York Gountij, vol. 1687-1691,
p. 558, Va. State Library, and in Records of Northampton County,
original vol. 1664-1674, f. p. 138.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 410.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 55

all Indian children who had been obtained by the planters
with the assistance of Indian kidnappers, or who had been
procured from their fathers directly by means of fraud,
and then held, on the claim that they had been purchased
for an adequate consideration, were to be returned to the
place to which they belonged within ten days after it
had been shown that they had been wrongfully acquired. ^
The master of a young Indian was not permitted to carry
him out of the country until the local court had received
satisfactory evidence that the consent of his parents had
been obtained.^ Youthful servants of this race were,
ordered to be brought before that body to have their
age inquired into and adjudged, so that they might be
included among the tithables, if they had reached the
degree of maturity prescribed.

In his relation to his master, the Indian servant stood
upon precisely the same footing as the white ;3 he too was
held strictly to the observance of his obligation to work,
and he also could not be retained longer than the legal
period. In some particulars, the law was more unbending
in the case of an Indian than of a white person, since it
was desirable to avoid all causes of conflict with the
neighboring tribes. No servant of aboriginal blood could
be owned without a special license from the Governor,
and his master had to place himself under bonds to be
responsible for all injuries and damages which he might

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 481, 482.

2 Ibid., p. 546.

3 The master was required, as in tlie case of white and negro servants,
to supply the Indian with proper clothing, food, and shelter. The pro-
vision in the matter of garments made for one of the Indian servants of
"William Randolph of Henrico County, in 1696, was one leather and one
cotton waistcoat, one pair of leather breeches, one pair of shoes, and
one pair of stockings. Original vol. 1677-1699, Orders, Oct. 1, 1696,
p. 124.

56 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

inflict. Unlike members of the same sex among tlie
whites, the women of the race whose ages exceeded sixteen
years were hekl to be tithable whether they were em-
ployed in the field or not, and in this they occnpied the
same position as negresses.^ The value of the Indian ser-
vant, whether male or female, did not differ materially from
that of the English or African.

1 Heuiug's Statutes, vol. II, p. 492.

CHAPTER XI

SYSTEM OF LABOR: THE SLAVE

The introduction of the African into Virginia was an
event that was certain to occur in time. The institution
of slavery sprang up there under the operation of an irre-
sistible economic law, and was to continue in undiminished
vigor until it vanished in the conflagration of battle. A
few negroes doubtless would have been brought into the
Colony in the seventeenth century even if its soil had been
incapable of producing tobacco. In this respect, the his-
tory of New England would have been repeated. The
enlargement of the area under cultivation in that plant in
Virginia signified an enormous increase in the number of
imported slaves as soon as the proper facilities for their
transportation had been established; it was not until the
last quarter of the seventeenth century was reached that
these facilities had been established on a scale fairly com-
mensurate with the demand for labor in the Colony. The
institution of slavery played there but an insignificant
part in the course of the greater portion of this century,
not because the African was looked on as an undesirable
element in the local industrial system, but because the
means of obtaining the individuals of this race were very
limited. The value of the negro as an agricultural factor
was clearly understood. The strongest competitors of Vir-
ginia in the production of its principal commodity were the
Spanish Colonies in the South, where the plant was culti-

58 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

vated by the slaves imported from the coast of Africa or
sprung from parents of African nativity. The climate of
Virginia, it is true, was less oppressive to the European
laborer than the climate of the West Indies, but the
economic reasons which made the negro a more useful and
profitable hand in the cultivation of a great staple like
tobacco, were just as applicable to him in the valleys of
the James and York as in the islands of Cuba and San
Domingo.

One of the most serious drawbacks to the employment
of indented laborers was the inevitable frequency of change
attending this form of service. In a few years, as soon as
the time for which the servant had been bound under the
articles of his contract or by the custom of the country had
come to an end, his place had to be supplied by another
person of the same class. Whenever a planter brought
in a laborer at his own expense, or purchased his term
from the local or foreign merchant who had transported
him to the Colony, the planter was compelled to bear in
mind the day when he would no longer have a right to
claim the benefit of his servant's energies because his
control over him had expired by limitation. He might
introduce a hundred willing laborers, who might prove
invaluable to him during the time covered by their cove-
nants, but in a few years, when experience had made them
efficient, and their bodies had become thoroughly enured
to the change of climate, they recovered their freedom,
and, if they felt the inclination to do so, as the great ma-
jority naturally did, were at liberty to abandon his estate
and begin the cultivation of tobacco on their own account,
or follow the trades in which they had been educated.
Unless the planter had been careful to make provision
against their departure by the importation of other
laborers, he was left in a helpless position without men to

SYSTEM OF LABOR 59

tend or reap his crops or to widen the area of his new
grounds. It was not simply the desire to become an
owner of a great extent of land that prompted the Vir-
ginian in the seventeenth century to bring in successive
bands of persons whose transportation entitled him to
a proportionate number of head rights. Perhaps in a
majority of cases, his object was to obtain laborers whom
he might substitute for those whose terms were on the
point of expiring. It was this constantly recurring
necessity, which must have been the source of much
anxiety and annoyance as well as heavy pecuniary outlay,
that led the planters to prefer youths to adults among the
imported English agricultural servants, for while their
physical strength might have been less, yet the periods
for which they were bound extended over a longer time.

It can be readily seen that from this economic point of
view, the slave was a far more desirable form of property
than the white servant. His term was for life, not for a
few years. There was no solicitude as to how his place
was to be filled, for he belonged to his master as long as
he lived, and when he died he generally left behind him a
family of children who were old enough to furnish valu-
able aid in the tobacco fields. In physical strength he
was the equal of the white laborer of the same age, and in
power of endurance he was the superior. Whilst some
of the negroes imported into the Colony, more especially
those snatched directly from a state of freedom in Africa,
were doubtless in some measure difficult to manage, the
slaves as a rule were docile and tractable, and, when
natives of Virginia, not disposed to rebel against the con-
dition of life in which they found themselves. Not only
were they more easily controlled than the white servants,
but they also throve on plainer fare and were satisfied
with humbler lodgings. Nor were they subject to season-

60 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ing, a cause of serious loss in the instance of the white
hxborers. Moreover, they coukl not demand the grain
and clothing which the custom of the country had pre-
scribed in favor of the white servants at the close of their
terms, and which constituted an important drain upon the
resources of the planters. It is true that the master was
required to provide for his slave in old age when he could
make no return because incajDable of further effort, but
the expense which this entailed was insignificant.

It would appear for these reasons that even in the sev-
enteenth century, the labor of slaves after the heavy out-
lay in securing it had been met, was cheaper than the
labor of indented white servants,^ although the latter class
of persons stood upon the same footing as the former as
long as their terms continued. This was the opinion of
men who had resided in the Colony for many years, and
enjoyed the fullest opportunity of observing the operation
of the local system of agriculture. The wastefulness of
slave labor, which has always been considered to be the
most serious drawback attached to it as compared with
free labor, was of smaller importance in that age than
when the whole area of Virginia had been divided into
separate plantations, and the extent of the untouched soil
had become limited to a degree demanding more skilful
and more careful methods in the cultivation of the
ground. In the seventeenth century, there was no ele-
ment of wealth so abundant as the new lands covered by
the fertile mould which had been accumulating on their
surface for many thousand years. The planter availed
himself of their productiveness in reckless haste, soon
reducing the rich loam to barrenness, but in doing so he
was pursuing a more profitable course and a more econom-

1 Instructions to Culpeper, 1681-1682 ; his reply to § 59, McDonald
Papers, vol. VI, p. 155, Va. State Library,

SYSTEM OF LABOR 61

ical plan than if he had endeavored to restore the original
quality of the soil. If it had been possible to obtain do-
mestic or imported manures at a small expense, it would
still have been cheaper in the end, the volume of the
annual crop being considered, to extend the clearings
and to leave nature to bring back the abandoned fields to
their primaeval excellence. The Virginian planter of
the seventeenth century was apparently the greatest of
agricultural spendthrifts, but in reality he was only
adapting himself to surrounding conditions, which were
the reverse of those prevailing in the mother country,
Avhere art had to be called in to preserve the ground from
the destructive effect of long-continued tillage. Intro-
duced into the Colony where the first principle of agri-
culture was to abuse because the virgin lands were
unlimited in quantity, the institution of slavery was not
lessened in value from an industrial point of view by the
fact that it did not promote economical methods in the
use of the soil.

There is, however, serious reason for doubting whether
the charge of wastefulness brought against slave labor
in Virginia, not only in the colonial period but in the
period between the Revolution and the War between the
States, was not to be laid at the door of the great staple,
tobacco, rather than at the door of the institution of
slavery itself. No country devoted exclusively to the
cultivation of this staple is likely to present an appear-
ance of thrift, unless its surface should be occupied by
small proprietors working their own estates, and making
use of every foot of available ground. The tobacco
plant requires for its production loam in the greatest
quantity and of the highest quality. There is always
a disposition on the part of those engaged in its culti-
vation to widen the plantation, even now, when arti-

62 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VirwGINIA

ficial manures are so effective in bringing back the fer-
tility which lias been lost. The newly cleared field is
still the soil which is most desired, and there is still and
will always be the same inclination to rely on nature for
the restoration of land. This is not the fault of in-
herited carelessness in agriculture, but it is a condition
which has descended from the seventeenth to the present
century in a form modified only by the growth of popu-
lation. If the culture of tobacco were very profitable,
the tendency to enlarge eacli estate would be just as
strong to-day in Virginia, with labor emancipated, as it
was during the existence of slavery. That institution
only promoted the extension of the plantation by cheap-
ening labor to the lowest point, which to that degree
increased the owner's returns from his crops, enabling
him to invest a greater sum each year in land. During
the first sixty years in the history of the Colony, the
slave was an insignificant element in the community, and
yet during this long period there are to be observed the
most marked indications of the tendency to appropriate
large tracts. This disposition was manifest from the start,
as the result not of the character of the labor system in
operation, but of the nature of tobacco itself. The sys-
tem of labor permitted the exhibition of this disposition
but did not create it. The agriculture of Virginia did
not reach an extraordinary degree of prosperity until
the administration of Spotswood,i and this is to be par-
tially explained by the fact that not until one hundred
years had passed was the number of slaves imported into

1 Hugh Jones states that "the Country (Vh-ginia) may be said to be
altered and improved in wealth and Polite Learning within these few
years since the beginning of Gov. Spotswood's Government more than in
all the Scores of years before that, from its first Discovery." Present
State of Virginia, 1724, p. 53.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 63

the Colony equal to the demand for their services. The
most prosperous period in the history of Virginia was
perhaps the interval extending from 1710 to 1770. The
people during this time had not only a staple that com-
manded a high price in foreign markets, but also the
most inexpensive system of labor, in the light of the
peculiar phj^sical conditions prevailing, which could have
been adopted. The institution of slavery had not been
developed sufficiently in the seventeenth century to bring
about results approaching those which were observed in
the eighteenth. If for every servant brought into the
Colony between 1675 and 1700 a negro had been substi-
tuted, the accumulation of wealth by the planters would
during this period have been more rapid than it was, not
on account of their ability to raise a larger quantity of
tobacco for sale, which would have been undesirable, as the
supply throughout the century was even larger than the
demand, but on account of that curtailment in the cost of
production which would have followed from the employ-
ment of laborers bound for life and not for a term of years.
There w^ere no scruples in the minds of the English
people of that age, whether residents of England itself
or citizens of the Colonies, against the enslavement of
the negro and the appropriation of the fruits of his toil.
Even those most fully informed as to the terrible features
of the middle passage were inclined to agree with Sir
John Hawkins in his memorable reply to Queen Eliza-
beth when reproached by her for the horrors attending
the trade in human beings which this distinguished
Englishman had been the first of his nation to begin.
Admitting the correctness of the reports made to his
sovereign, he claimed that the condition of the slave in
America was less deplorable than the condition of the
freeman in Africa, and that in removing the negro from

64 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

a land of idolatry to a land in which Christianity pre-
vailed, a service had been conferred upon the whole
African race.^ As late as the end of the seventeenth
century, the belief was held by many, even in England,
that the negro was not a man but a wild beast, marked
by an intelligence hardly superior to that of a monkey,
and with instincts and habits far more debased. ^ He
was considered to be stupid in mind, savage in manners,
and brutal in his impulses, and the multitudes that were
transported across the ocean justified the apparent harsh-
ness of this judgment. It was an age, however, in which
little mercy was shown to the lower races by the higher,
unless the lower were in a position to inflict injury upon
the higher. The Caribs in the West Indian Islands had
swiftly melted away under the stress of the unaccus-
tomed tasks which were imposed upon them. The Eng-
lishman of the seventeenth century was in no way as cruel
as the Spaniard of the sixteenth, but it is not improbable
that if the Indian tribes of Virginia had been as mild and
tractable in their disposition as their fellows in the islands
of the Spanish Main, they would at first have been brought
under a yoke at best heavy and exacting. The consider-
ation which the aborigines received from the English
settlers was due in the largest measure perhaps, not to a
sense of justice and humanity, which, as we have seen, was
far from lacking, but to a well-founded apprehension of
the savage courage and the restless spirit of the natives.

1 Williams' History of the JSfegro JRace in America, p. 138.

2 Godwyn's Negro''s and Indian's Advocate (1680), pp. 11, 12, 13, 14.
Godwyn argues very gravely, " methinks the consideration of the shape
and figure of our negroes' Bodies, their Limbs and Members, their Voice
and Countenance in all things according with other Men's ; together with
their Risibility and Discourse (Man's peculiar Faculties) should be a suffi-
cient conviction," p. 13. This pamphlet throws a curious light upon the
general view taken of the negro in the seventeenth century,

SYSTEM OF LABOR 65

The African was totally devoid of the power to resist,
and Avas easily and permanently subdued by the exercise
of force. There was a growing demand for labor in
the New World, and thither he was drawn without
opposition on his part, to become in time the mudsill
upon which the social organization of a large part of the
Western Hemisphere was to rest. Not only were there
sincere doubts in the minds of many Englishmen as to
whether the place of the negro in the general system
of life was higher than that of the horse or the ox, but
there was a belief that if he were indeed a member of
the human family, he belonged to a race of men who, as
the descendants of Ham, had been cursed by God him-
self, and so branded for all time as servants of superior
races, without claim to the fruits of their own arduous
labor. 1 This was thought to be in itself a justification
for African slavery. Its significance was as deeply im-
pressed upon the minds of the colonists in Virginia as
it was upon the minds of the colonists in Barbadoes and
the Somers Isles. ^ And yet it is a remarkable fact, that
not until many years after the introduction of the negro
into Virginia, do we find him referred to in the statute
book as a slave ; in the beginning, he was simply a ser-
vant for life, different only from the white servant in the
length of his term of service.

The first cargo of negroes brought into Virginia was
transported thither without there having been any pre-
vious arrangement on the part of the planters to receive
them upon their arrival. They were introduced under the

1 " They make them the Posterity of that unhappy son of Noah, who,
they say, was together with his whole Family and Race cursed by his
father. . . . For from thence, as occasion shall offer they'll infer their
negro's Brutality ; justifie their reduction of him under bondage . . ."
Godwyn's Negroes and Indian's Advocate, pp. 14, 43.

2 The Bermudas.

bo ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

impression that they coukl be disposed of with ease be-
cause of the growing demand for labor in the cultivation
of tobacco. The system of indented service had by this
time been firmly established, and under the wise admin-
istration of Sir George Yeardley the Colony itself had
entered upon that course of expansion in wealth and
population which, with the exception of a brief interval
occasioned by the massacre of 1622, was to show a steady
progress with the passage of each decade. In 1619, at
the moment when the settlers were beginning to feel
the first beneficent effects of a milder government,
twenty Africans were disembarked from a Dutch priva-
teer, presumably at Jamestown, as the place where a
market was most readily found for a cargo of laborers.
The ill-fated vessel, which was destined to earn by this
single act in its career a sinister immortality in history,
was sailing under letters of marque from the Prince of
Orange, and had been cruising in the Spanish Main for
the purpose of capturing Spanish prizes. The rapacious
and unscrupulous ArgoU seems to have been indirectly
connected with this introduction of the negro into the
Colony, and was, therefore, partly, although remotel}^,
responsible for it. Before the close of his term as Gov-
ernor he had dispatched to the West Indies a ship, sent
to him by the Earl of Warwick and sailing under a
commission from the Duke of Savoy, to make raids upon
Spanish shipping. This vessel was ordered to bring back
to the Colony a load of salt and goats, but it was sus-
pected at the time that its real object was to ravage
the commerce of Spain.

ArgoU during his administration had sought to reduce
all the resources of the Colony to his own immediate
profit, without regard to public or private interests. It
seems probable, therefore, that the introduction of slave

SYSTEM OF LABOR 67

labor occurred to liim as an enterprise which would be
likely to result in gain to himself and his patrons. While
cruising in the West Indies, his vessel, the Treasurer^
fell in accidentally with a Dutch privateer and remained
in company with her. It was from the officers of the
Treasurer that the commander of this ship perhaps
learned that a market for the sale of negroes could be
found in Virginia, for, after touching at the Bermudas,
the vessel proceeded to that Colony, which she readied in
the month of August, Yeardley in the meanwhile having
taken the place of Argoll, who had a few days before
the arrival of the new Governor returned by stealth to
England. The Treasurer arrived in Virginia in the
course of the same summer as the Dutch privateer, but,
meeting with a cold reception, she turned back to the Ber-
mudas, carrying with her a number of slaves, who were
placed upon the lands which the Earl of Warwick owned
in that island. ^ During her stay in the Colony, she seems
to have disembarked only one negro, so far as the records
show. 2

It has been suggested that the first negroes introduced
into Virginia after its occupation by the English were
imported in the Treasurer^ and not in the Dutch priva-
teer. ^ All the evidence which has been published goes
to confirm the statement of Rolfe, that the latter and

1 Pory to Carleton, Neill's Virginia Vetusta, p. 113.

2 See Census 16:^4-25, Hotten's Original List of Emigrants, 1600-
1700, p. 224. The name of this negro, who was a woman, was Angela.

3 Among others by Mr. Alexander Brown in the Genesis of the United
States. In his biography of Captain Elfrith, p. 886, he expresses the opinion
that the report given of the " cold reception ' ' of the Treasurer was written
for the purpose of diverting the attention of the Spaniards, and he states
that " he has several documents in the premises (which have never been
printed) giving ample information." I have not had an opportunity of
examining these documents.

G8 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

not the former vessel was responsible for this ill-omened
addition to the population of the Colony. One of the
first acts of Governor Yeardley after his arrival at James-
town was to inform Sir Edwin Sandys in England, that
it was generally believed in Virginia that the only object
which those in charge of the Treasurer had in view in
their West Indian voyage was to make an incursion upon
the Spanish islands in that quarter, a purpose not inconsis-
tent with the character of similar incursions which had
been promoted by the Earl of Warwick, the principal
owner of the vessel. The attention of the Council was
called to the expedition, but that body decided to dis-
miss the whole matter without prejudice to Warwick,
who might have been seriously compromised if it had
been shown that he had been engaged in a piratical
attack upon the commerce and property of Spanish sub-
jects in the "West Indies. The English King was at this
time very solicitous to preserve the utmost amity in his
relations with Spain. After a short interval, a second
communication was received from Governor Yeardley,
announcing that the Treasurer had returned to Vir-
ginia, but had met with a reception so little cordial that
she had soon departed, leaving behind a lieutenant, who
had admitted that those in command of the ship were
deeply involved in outrageous depredations upon the
Spanish possessions in the South. ^ This news created a
great commotion in the Council. Sandys had called that
body together for the special purpose of inducing it to
inform the Spanish Ambassador and the Privy Council of
the lawless course which had been pursued by the owners
of the Treasurer. It is obvious from these proceedings
how determined the new administration in England was

1 Manchester Papers, Boyal Hist. 3ISS. Commission, Eighth Report,
Appx., p. 35.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 69

that tlie Colony should not rest under the slightest suspi-
cion that the Company was giving countenance to the
piracy of Warwick and Argoll. That Yeardley under-
stood the importance of keeping clear of the same im-
putation, is proved by the fact that he was so hostile
to the vessel upon the strength of rumor alone that the
master, in order to evade arrest, set sail instantly when he
discovered that Argoll had taken flight. ^ This did not
prevent the vigilant Governor from dispatching a full
account of all that could be learned about the Treas-
urer to the authorities of the Company in England.
Entertaining this feeling towards the ship, and being
fully aware of the extreme peril both to himself and
to the safety of the Colony that would arise from show-
ing consideration to a vessel which had excited the violent
animosity of the Spanish Power, it seems wholly improb-
able that he would have entered into negotiations with
Captain Elfrith for the purchase of the slaves contained
in his ship. To have done so would have been to call
down the wrath of the Spaniard upon Virginia at a
time when it was the policy of the home as well as
the colonial government to avert it. To give a cold
reception to the Treasurer was the natural and prudent
course to pursue, and that this was done, both Yeardley
and Pory assert with equal clearness. If the negroes
on board had been Avithdrawn from the ship by force,
Warwick would have advanced the same claim to them
which he afterwards advanced to the fourteen whom the
Treasurer disembarked at the Bermudas subsequent to
her departure from Virginia. No such claim was made.
It is equally significant that in the census taken in 1624-25
but one negro is mentioned as having been imported into

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II,
p. 197.

70 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the Colony in this vessel. If all had arrived in Virginia
in her bottom, the same fact would have been stated in
connection with each slave. It is equally significant that
a large ]3roportion of the Africans introduced in 1619
were jDlaced upon the lands assigned to the office of the
Governor. It seems improbable that Yeardley, a man
of prudence and discretion, would, even as a feint, send
a dispatch to England in open condemnation of the
piratical voyage of the Treasurer at the very moment
he proposed to reap important benefits from that voyage
by purchasing, for the use of tenants in his service, the
negroes who constituted the principal prize of the incur-
sion from which the Treasurer had just returned.

In the space of five years immediately following 1619, the
number of Africans in the Colony was increased by two.
The muster taken of the population in 1624-25 discloses
the presence of twenty-two as compared with the twenty
brought in by the Dutch privateer, but one of these two
additions is accounted for by the fact that the Treasurer
had landed a negro in Virginia in 1619, and the other had
been imported in the Swan in 1623.^ The two children in-
cluded in the lists of the muster, it may be, were born on
the North American continent. Their ages are not given,
which makes it impossible to state this with confidence. ^
If under five years, they were natives of the Colony, but

1 Census of 1624-25, Hotten's Original List of Emigrants, 1600-
1700, p. 258.

2 If born in Virginia, two of the negroes forming the cargo of 1619
must liave died. Of this there is no record. The two additions to the
original number, as shown by the census of 1624-25, are accounted for
by the two negroes brought in by the Treasurer and Swan, from which
it may be reasonably inferred that the two negro children mentioned in
the census of 1624-25 had been counted in the importation of 1619. If
none had died in the interval, the census of 1624-25 would have shown,
in case the two children had been born in Virginia, the presence of
twenty-four instead of twenty-two slaves in the Colony.

SYSTEM OF LABOE 71

if over five years, they were born at sea or in the West
Indies. While the mind cannot contemplate the birth
of the first negro on North American soil with the same
emotions as those aroused by the birth of Virginia Dare.^
the event nevertheless was one which cannot be regarded
without a feeling of the profoundest interest when we re-
flect upon its association with the great events which were
to come after. Whichever of these children, if either,
was born in Virginia, it was the first of his race who
could claim a nativity in the soil and an absolute identi-
fication with its history. 2

It is an interesting fact that no African perished in the
massacre of 1622, when three hundred and forty-five of
the colonists fell by the tomahawks and arrows of the
Indians. This can only be explained on the ground that
their color had been influential in saving them from the
ferocity of the savages. More than two years had passed
since their arrival in Virginia, which allowed a sufficient
interval for their partial distribution among the different
settlements. Many of the negroes were doubtless still at
Jamestown, one of the few places in the Colony from which
the massacre was averted, but a number must have been
at Fleur de Hundred, which did not escajDe that terrible
visitation. Of the twenty-two negroes in Virginia in
162-3, eleven were living at Fleur de Hundred, four at
Warrasquoke,.two at Elizabeth City, one at Jamestown
Neck, three at Jamestown, and one on the plantation on
the banks of the Powhatan opposite to that place. Their
failure to increase in number during the five years imme-

1 The first English child born in North America.

^ The Spaniards are said to have occupied Jamestown Island in the
previous century and to have sought to make a permanent settlement
there, partly by means of the labors of their negro slaves. See Prof.
John Fiske's valuable and interesting Short History of the United States,
pp. 42, 4.:].

72 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIKGINIA

diately following their introduction was due to the separa-
tion of the sexes, as disclosed by the records. Thus, of the
eleven at Fleur de Hundred, in 1623, one alone apparently
was of the female sex. Two, perhaps all, of the three at
Jamestown were women. The only negro at Jamestown
Neck was a man. This was also true of the one on the
plantation lying across the river from Jamestown. Of
the four negroes at Warrasquoke, two were women. ^

An examination as to the ownership of the negroes in
1625, reveals the fact that there was greater opportunity
for their increase at that time than in 1623. On one of the
tracts of public land which Governor Yeardley had under
cultivation, there were five female slaves and three male.
Richard Kingsmill and Captain West respectively were in
possession of one male slave. Abraham Piersey, the for-
mer Cape Merchant, a man of considerable fortune, was
the owner of four male slaves and two female. On the
plantation of Captain Tucker, there was a family of slaves
composed of a husband, wife, and child. There was also
a slave husband and wife on the Bennett estate. ^ The
names which these negroes bore would seem to show that
they had been captured, as has been suggested, on the
high seas, and had after their arrival in the Colony been
given English appellations ; the name of one alone is of
Spanish origin, the negress who had been brought in by
the Treasurer being known as Angela. When at a later
period slaves were imported into Virginia from the Span-
ish West Indies, it was the custom of many who bought
them as a basis for patents, to retain their Spanish desig-

1 List of the Livingfe and Dead in Virginia, Feb. 16, 1623, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 2 ; Colonial Becords of Virginia, State
Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 41. Angela at Jamestown was doubtless the
woman brought in by the Treasurer.

2 See Hotten's Original Lists of Emigrants to America, 1600-1700,
pp. 202-265.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 73

nations. The custom was not always followed, but was
observed, as we will show hereafter, with sufficient strict-
ness to give much valuable information as to the origin
of the negroes who were entered to secure head rights.
The Africans forming the cargo of the Dutch privateer
that arrived in 1619 were known after their distribution
among the plantations by such English names as Peter,
Anthony, Frank, and jSIargaret, but these might have been
the anglicized forms of the original Spanish names.

Five years after the census of 1624-25 was taken, from
which it appears that there were twenty-two Africans in
the Colony at that time, an important addition was made
to the slave population by Captain Grey, who, during a
cruise in the ship Fortune of London had encountered a
vessel loaded with negroes from the Angola coast, cap-
tured her and brought her cargo into Virginia. This
cargo he exchanged there for eighty-five hogsheads and
five butts of tobacco, which Avere afterwards transported
to England for sale. It would seem that no difficulty was
found in disposing of these slaves, although they were rude
savages stolen only a few weeks before from their native
country. The demand for labor was now so urgent that
these untrained barbarians were doubtless purchased in
haste. 1

So far as can now be discovered, all the negroes im-
ported into the Colony in the course of the first half of
the seventeenth century were brought in like the cargoes
of the Dutch privateer in 1619, and the Fortune in 1629,
by independent ships and by individual enterprise. The
first charter for the acquisition of slaves which was
granted in this century to an organized body by the

1 John Ellzeye to Edward Nicholas, Dom. Cor. Charles I, vol. 105,
No. 35, Sainshury Abstracts for 1628, p. 185, Va. State Library. The
name appears sometimes as Guy, a misprint probably for Grey.

74 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

English Government, was in 1618, when the exclusive
privilege was conferred upon the Earl of Warwick and
his associates of carrying on a traffic of this kind on the
Guinea coast. As has been seen in connection with the
Treasurer, which, if not the property of the Company,
was owned by its leading members, the restriction to this
coast was not strictly observed in its operation. The
fact that the vessel, although belonging to men who Avere
licensed to trade in slaves, was turned away from James-
town in the summer of 1619 without being permitted to
dispose of the negroes on board, is an additional indica-
tion of how solicitous the Governor at that time was that
Virginia should not be drawn into any complication with
the Spanish Power. There is no evidence to show that
the Fortune, which was commanded by Captain Grey, was
connected with the Company over which Warwick pre-
sided. She was probably an independent vessel engaged
in general commerce.

In 1631, the year following the seizure of the Angola
slaver, a charter was obtained from Charles the First by
an association that went to an extraordinary expense in
making every provision for securing the traffic of the
Guinea coast, inclusive of the barter in negroes. The
importation into Virginia of Africans by the agency
either direct or indirect of this Company must have been
small, as eighteen years subsequent to the acquisition of
its charter the number in the Colony did not exceed three
hundred. A part of this number is to be attributed to
natural increase, for thirty years had now passed since the
negro was first landed in Virginia. A fair proportion of
the three hundred, however, had been introduced by
planters or shipowners, the principle of the head right
having been adjudged to apply to the slave as well as to
the indented servant. The first instance recorded in the

SYSTEM OF LABOK 75

l^atents now preserved in the office of the Register at
Richmond, of a grant of fifty acres on the basis of a head
riglit allowed for the importation of an African, is that
in connection with Angela, who belonged to Richard
Bennett.! This was in 1635, in which year twenty-six
negroes were introduced into Virginia. The person who
brought in the largest number was Charles Harmar, who
added four men and four women to the slave population. ^
The extent of the increase in 1636 did not exceed seven,
the importation by individual planters being in no case
larger than two. In 1637, twenty-eight negroes were
introduced, Henry Browne being the importer of eight.
In 1638, the number amounted to thirty. The planters
who obtained head rights on the basis of these thirty
slaves included such leading citizens as Francis Ejjes,
John Banister, Randall Crew, Christopher Wormeley,
George Menefie, Thomas Harris, John Robbins, and Rich-
ard Kemp. Richard Kemp brought in eleven and George
Menefie twenty-three. ^ It is stated that the whole num-
ber of Africans introduced in this year by the latter were
from England. In 1639, only forty-six negroes were
added to the slave population of the Colony, of whom
fifteen were imported by George Menefie and twelve by
Henry Perr3^* The number in 1642 amounted to seven
only ; in 1643 to eighteen, and in 1649 to seventeen, of
whom a large majority were introduced by Ralph Worme-
le}-.^ In the interval between 1649 and 1659 there seems
to have been little fluctuation in the volume of the impor-
tations. The greatest number of negroes brought in in
one body in this interval were introduced in 1656, when

1 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1G23-1G43, p. 187. See also head rights of
patent granted to David Jones in the same year.

2 Ihid, vol. 1623-1643, p. 246. * Ibid., vol. 1623-1643, pp. 705. 771.

3 Ibid., vol. 1623-1643, p. 691. ^ Ibid., vol. 1643-1651, p. 171.

76 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tliirty were imported by Tabitlia and Matilda Scarborough
of the Eastern Shore. ^ In other instances it did not rise'
above thirteen.

There are many indications that previous to 1650 the
Dutch were either directly or indirectly chiefly instru-
mental in introducing the negro into Virginia. In 1655,
Colonel Scarborough, one of the most distinguished
planters of the Eastern Shore, is stated to have visited
Manhattan, where he purchased many slaves, whom he
afterwards transported to his own home.^ The Dutch
vessels, however, were in the habit of landing Africans in
the Colony. The trade was doubtless interrupted by the
war which broke out in 1653 between Holland and Eng-
land, but as soon as peace was restored it was resumed,
although not to the extent which the landowners desired.
In 1659, the General Assembly sought to promote the
importation of negroes in Dutch bottoms by granting to
Dutch masters the valuable privilege of sending out the
tobacco, which had been exchanged for slaves introduced,
free from the duty of ten shiMings a hogshead which was
imposed upon all foreign ships, and subject only to the
duty of two shillings required upon the casks exported to
England. 3 The action of the Assembly was soon rendered
nugatory by the return of the Stuarts, and the rigid en-
forcement of the Navigation laws. Previous to this event
the English merchants who had taken part in the traffic

1 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1655-1664, p. 35. It is most probable that
in nearly all the cases mentioned, the negroes had not been directly im-
ported by the persons suing out the patents, but had been purchased from
shipowners and shipmasters, who had brought in slaves along with
ordinary merchandise.

2 Documents Belating to Colonial History of Neio York, vol. XII,
pp. 93, 94.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 540. The same privilege was extended
to " other forreiners."

SYSTEM OF LABOR 77

of supplying the American plantations witli slaves, had
become thoroughly discouraged by the encroachments of
the Dutch, who did not hesitate to seize English vessels
seeking to participate in the African trade. To prevent
the entire exclusion of these merchants, it was found
necessary, in 1662, to grant a charter to the Royal African
Company, with the exclusive right of importing negroes
into the English possessions, the number to be introduced
annually not to fall short of three thousand. The Duke
of York, brother of the King, was placed at its head. This
corporation was authorized to give a license to any Eng-
lish subject to export slaves from Africa to the English
Colonies on the payment of three pounds sterling a ton on
the tonnage of the vessel used in transporting them. It
also received permission to enter into a contract with the
Governor of Barbadoes to supply the planters of that
island with negroes at the rate of seventeen pounds ster-
ling a head. The slaves to be conveyed to the planters
of Antigua and Jamaica, under contracts with the Gov-
ernors of these Colonies, were to be delivered respectively
at eighteen and nineteen pounds sterling apiece. It is
worthy of note that the right was not specifically con-
ferred upon the Company at this time to enter into an
agreement with the Governor of Virginia as to the rates
at which Africans were to be sold to the people of that
English possession, an omission due perhaps to the fact
that the Colony was not yet regarded as an important
market for slave labor. ^

It is questionable whether in 1663 the slave population
of the Colony was in excess of fifteen hundred persons.
Eight years later it had risen only to two thousand. ^ In

1 Dom. Cor. Charles II, vol. xlvii, No. 162, p. 36 ; Sainsbury's Calendar
of State Papers, Colonial, 16G1-1668, p. 120.

2 Governor Berkeley's Replies to Interrogatories of English Commis-
sioners, Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 515.

78 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

1671, Berkeley testified that in the course of the previous
seven years the importation of negroes into Virginia did
not go beyond two or three cargoes. ^ This statement is con-
firmed by the evidence of the patent books. The found-
ers of powerful colonial families appear in this decade for
the first time as the patentees of large tracts of land on
the basis of African head rights. In 1662, Richard Lee
obtained a grant upon the presentation of a list of per-
sons that included eighty negroes, the largest number
which had previous to this time formed a part of the
basis of title. In 1665, Carter of Corotoman sued out a
patent that included twenty negroes in its lists of head
rights. In a list of sixty-nine belonging to the Scar-
boroughs, which was made the basis of a single grant,
thirty-nine were represented by slaves. In some instances
the number of such head rights preponderated to the ex-
tent of fifteen to five, and in others they constituted
the whole list, ranging as high as fifteen. ^

In 1672, the Royal African Company received a new
charter and became in a few years a powerful agency in
the exportation of slaves to America. At first, however,
it does not appear to have exercised an increased influence
in promoting the transportation of negroes to Virginia.
The decade between 1670 and 1680 w^as one of extraordi-
nary commotion in the affairs of the Colony, owing to the
insurrection under the leadership of Nathaniel Bacon, an
event wdiich was preceded and followed by a state of great
impoverishment among the people. In 1679, Culpeper,

1 Eeplies to Interrogatories of the English Commissioners, Hening's
Statutes, vol. II, p. 515. In 1664, a Dutch slaver was captured by an
English privateer, and, with her living cargo, carried to Virginia. Com-
missioners were sent by Stuyvesant to the Colony to reclaim the ship and
the negroes. Documents Belating to Colonial History of New York,
vol. II, p. 222.

2 See Va. Land Patent Books for these years.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 79

replying to the instructions from England, which directed
him to give an annual account of the number of Africans
imported into Virginia, declared that some years previ-
ously five or six hundred w^ere introduced every year,
but the number now brought in had declined to very
small proportions.! He was obviously referring to the
time which preceded the Rebellion, as in the interval that
had passed since its close, the condition of the inhabitants
had been such as to prevent their making any purchases.
The records of patents, entered between 1670 and 1680,
indicate that the increase in the slave population in the
course of this period was comparatively insignificant. A
striking feature in the character of this interval is the
acquisition of the enormous tracts of land upon the basis
of head rights represented by white servants almost exclu-
sively. Thus in 1671, a patent to ten thousand acres was
obtained by Mr. Smith, yet among the two hundred and
one persons forming the list that entitled him to the
grant, only four were negroes. Of the one huiidred and
twenty-two persons who, in 1676, were made the basis by
Colonel William Byrd of a patent to seven thousand three
hundred and fifty-one acres in Henrico, three alone were
Africans, and the proportion was still more insignificant
in the list presented by Cadwallader Jones in the same
year for the purpose of securing a patent to fourteen
thousand one hundred and forty-one acres. In the case
of many small grants made during this decade, the pro-
portion was reversed, there being four or five negroes to
one or two white servants. ^

In 1681, Culpeper declared that as yet no slaves had
been brought into Virginia by the Roj^al African Com-

1 Instructions to Culpeper, 1679. His reply to § 51, McDonald Papers,
vol. V, p. 3U, Va. State Library.

2 See Va. Land Patent Books for these years.

80 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

pany ; ^ but this statement does not appear to have been
wholly accurate. There was undoubtedly an arrangement
with that corporation for the introduction of negroes
into the Colony in 1678 ; the agent, however, seems to
have been a private person, for he was charged with
importing a larger number than he was authorized to
do. 2 Culpeper was instructed to allow no shi]3 to sail
from Virginia to that part of the Guinea coast which lay
within the territory of the Royal African Company, with
a view to exchanging tobacco for slaves, unless it had
received a special license from the Company itself.^ He
denied, in his reply to this instruction, that any Vir-
ginian vessel had at any time in the history of the Colony
carried on a traffic with the people of that coast.* This,
however, could not be said of ships from New England
which visited Virginia. In 1682, there arrived in the
Rappahannock River a Captain Jackson, in command of
a vessel belonging to persons who resided in Piscataqua,
N.H., among them Mrs. Cutts, a lady of prominence
in that community. Having disposed of his merchan-
dise, he expressed to Colonel Fitzhugh, his principal pur-
chaser, a strong desire to furnish him with a cargo of
slaves in the following year. The letter which Fitzhugh
wrote in reply to this proposition is of unusual interest,
as showing the attitude of the people both of Virginia
and of New England towards the race which, nearly two
centuries later, were to raise so serious a barrier between

1 Instructions to Culpeper, 1681-82. His reply to § 59, British State
Papers, Virginia, vol. 65 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 155, Va. State
Library.

2 General Court Orders, Robinson Transcripts, pp. 178, 264.

3 Instructions to Culpeper, 1679, § 50, McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. 314,
Va. State Library.

* Ibid., 1681-1682. Reply to § 58, British State Papers, Virginia,
vol, 45 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 153, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 81

the North and South. I>()th Virginian and New Eng-
hmder, in this case, entered into a contract, in Avhich dis-
position was to be made of a hxrge number of human
beings, in the same spirit as if the objects in which they
were trading were so many pipes of wine, casks of rum,
or boxes of clothing. In the invoice which was given to
Jackson, provision was made for the purchase of a certain
number of boys and girls of ages that were not to fall
below seven or to rise above twenty-four. These negro
3^outlis were to be landed at the wharf of Colonel Fitz-
hugh, and the payment of the sums agreed upon in
return for them was to be secured by bonds, which were
to be met within a time carefully prescribed.^

There is ground for thinking that the importation of
slaves into Virginia through the agency of New England
shipowners and merchants increased in importance as
the trade with the West Indian Islands enlarged in vol-
ume. It will be shown hereafter that a vast quantity of
the products of these islands was conveyed to the Col-
ony in New England bottoms and there exchanged for
tobacco, which in turn was transported to the mother
country. Negroes commanded as ready a sale as rum
or sugar in Virginia. It is common to find in the county
records, references to the vessels in which young negroes,
who had been introduced into court to have their ages
adjudged, had been brought into the Colony. The
names of New England ships are not infrequently men-
tioned as the vehicles of tlieir importation. ^

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Feb. 11, 1G82-1683. Jackson may have
been bound for Barbadoes.

•■2 Records of York County, vol. 1G75-1684, p. 432, Va. State Library.
The vessel in this case was the Eunice. The following is from the
Iliddlesex Becurds: "Know all men by tliese presents that I John
Endicott, Cooper, of Boston in New England, have sold unto Eichard
Medlicott, a Spanish Mulatto, by name Antonio, I having full power to

VOL. II. — G

82 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

After 1682, tliere is reason to believe that the Royal
African Company became either directly or indirectly
the principal agent in increasing the African population
of Virginia. In the commission which Culpeper received
in the course of this year, it was announced that the
English Government had recommended to that corporation
to furnish the Colony with slaves at very moderate prices,
and in return for this benefit, the authorities there were
commanded to enforce the payment of all dues to the Com-
pany on the part of planters who had purchased negroes
from its representatives. Stress was laid in the commis-
sion upon the fact that only in this way could its trade
be secured, as it was hardly probable that the Company
would continue to carry valuable goods to an unprofitable
market. 1 Ships Avere now arriving in the rivers of Vir-
ginia directly from the factories on the African coast. Such
a vessel was that which came to anchor in the James in
1686, with a large number of negroes consigned to Colonel
Byrd, several of whom were smitten with the small-pox,
which was thus introduced into his household with fatal
consequences in at least one instance. ^ Fitzhugh, writing

sell for his life time, but at ye request of William Taylor, I do sell him but
for ten years from ye clay that he shall disembark for Virginia, the ten years
to begin, and at ye expiration of ye said ten years, ye said Mulatto to
be a free man to go wheresoever he pleases. I do acknowledge to have
received full satisfaction of Medlicott." Original vol. 1673-1085, p. 126.

1 Commission to Culpeper, 1682, § 57, McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 38,
Va. State Library.

2 Letters of William Byrd, Oct. 18, 1686. Most of the ships arriving
at this time having slaves on board, doubtless carried mixed cargoes.
This is shown by the following extract from a letter of AVilliam Byrd,
dated June 21, 1684: "Mr. Paggin (a London merchant) sent about a
fortnight since into these parts, 34 negroes with a considerable quantity
of diy goods and seven or eight tons of rum and sugar, which I fear will
bring our people much into debt and occasion them to be careless with the
tobacco they make." Letters of William Bip-d. These negroes, it seems,
were placed m the hands of Mr. Kennon and Mr. Pleasants for sale.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 83

to Ralph Wormeley, refers to the fact that several slave-
ships were now expected in York River; "I am so re-
mote," said he, " that before I can have notice, the negroes
will all be disposed of, or at least none left bnt the ref-
use. " Wormeley was, therefore, requested to perform
the friendly office of purchasing for him five or six of
these Africans when they should reach the Colony. ^
About the same time, Mr. Samuel Simpson, a prominent
merchant residing at Queen's Creek, received instructions
from the local agent of Mrs. Margaret Fellows of Eng-
land to buy a certain number of negroes from the master
of the Lady Francis or the KatJierme, whichever of the
two vessels should be the first to come to anchor in the
York. 2 These were slave-ships. The fact that two such
vessels were to arrive nearly simultaneously indicates
that the volume of importation into this part of the
Colony was not inconsiderable. At a later date. Colonel
Byrd expresses much regret that the owner of a certain
ship, which was expected in the waters of Virginia with
a cargo of slaves, was so slow in his voyage. "I sup-
pose," Colonel Byrd remarked, " our parts will be supplied
long' ere he arrives," a fact that would destroy the market
for his human merchandise.^ Bills for the payment of
negroes were now given, to be made good upon the arrival
of the first slave-vessel.* A habit sprang up at this time
among some of the leading colonists of including negroes

1 Letters of WilUam Fitzhugh, June 19, 1G81. As showing the demand
for negroes at this time, tlie following from one of Fitzhugh's letters
may be quoted. A i-elative, who lived in England, had requested the
loan of a considerable sum of money. He replied by saying that "he
could hardly, with all his tobacco and anything he could part with, except
negroes,''^ supply this person with the sum proposed.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, j). 55, Va. State Library.

3 Letters of William Byrd, May 10, 1686.

* Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 569, Va. State Library.

84 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ill the invoices of supplies forwarded to their correspon-
dents in England to be filled. The Royal African Company
had its agencies in London, and to them the merchants
transferred their orders for slaves.^ It not infrequently
happened that a person residing in Virginia directed
under his will that property which he owned in the
mother country should be sold and the proceeds invested
in negroes, a conversion which was doubtless carried out
through the same corporation. ^ Many of the slaves in
the Colony were imported directly from the West Indies,
there being an extensive trade between Virginia and those
islands in grain. When Colonel William Byrd and other
prominent planters were in need of negroes, they often
forwarded orders to their merchants in Barbadoes to
return so many along with the cargoes of rum, sugar, and
molasses for which invoices were dispatched, the sex, age,
and physical points of the slaves to be sent being as care-
full}^ specified as the quality and quantity of the articles
for consumption.^ Merchants of this island were also
personally engaged in transporting negroes to Virginia
with a view to their sale to casual purchasers.^

Instructions were given to Lord Howard, in 1687, to
punish with the utmost severity all persons who were
discovered to be engaged in importing negroes in violation
of the exclusive rights of the Royal African Company.^
Acting upon the letter and the spirit of these instructions,
Howard issued orders to Captain Perry of the guard-ship
then cruising in Virginian waters, to bar the entrance of

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 21, 1692.

2 Will of John Smyth, Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1(391, p. 101,
Va. State Library.

3 Letters of William Byrd, Feb. 10, 1685.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1651, f. p. 116.
5 Colonial Entry Book, No. 83 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 97-
100, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 85

every vessel having slaves on board which could not show
a license from that corporation. ^ The promptness with
which the Governor sought to enforce the commands
received from England was probably due in a measure to
an event of the same year, which proved' that there were
shipmasters who, in the absence of this license, would
seek to bring their cargoes of negroes into the Colony by
stealth. In October, for want of provisions it was after-
wards alleged, one hundred and twenty slaves were landed
at a lonely point on the Eastern Shore, from the English
ship Society of Bristol, which, we may infer, had come
directly from Africa, since a large quantity of elephants'
tusks formed a part of its cargo. The vessel on the same
day was allowed to drift on the shore and go to wreck.
The Collector of the district seized it, its crew and cargo.
The negroes and ivory were sold for tobacco, because they
had been forfeited under the law by the failure of tlieir
owners to pay the port duties. ^

In the last decade of the seventeenth century, the num-
ber of African head rights in the Patent Books ^ show
a notable increase in the importation of slaves. They
become now the most important basis of the acquisition
of title to land. In numerous cases, the list of names are
restricted to negroes, as many as twenty-seven, sixty-four,
seventy-nine, and eighty-four being included at one time.
The average number, however, was only nine or ten. It
had grown now to be a comparative rarity for a patent to
be obtained on the basis of head rights representing white
servants alone, the proportion of slaves to white servants
even in the smaller grants being as high as one-third or
even one-fourth.

1 Instructions for Captain Perry, British State Papers, Colonial
Papers; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1688, p. 146, Va. State Library.

^ Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 30.

2 Va. Land Patents in tlie Kegister's office at Riclimond.

86 ECONOMIC HISTORY OP VIRGINIA

Doubtless, in tlie greatest ninnber of instances, the
negroes who were brought to Virginia from Africa were
renamed as soon as they came into the possession of the
planters, but this custom is not likely to have been
observed so mu(!h in the case of slaves who had been
drawn from the Spanish islands in the West Indies. The
patents from decade to decade are strewn with names of
Spanish origin, and traces of African names are also to be
detected. Mingo, a contraction of Domingo, was as com-
mon at that early date as it was at later periods. Hardl}^
less frequent is the occurrence of such names as Pedro,
Sancho, Lopez, Carlos, Francisco, Dago, Magdelena,
Andrea, Jubina, Cinchenello, Maria, Palassa, and Anto-
nio, and also Sonora, Romnio, Toniora, Dondo, Wortello,
Nandino, Sonero. In several instances whole lists of
names are exclusively African in character. The pur-
chaser of imported slaves was evidently frequently at a
loss in finding names for his chattels. When they had
come from an English Colony in the West Indies, he was
in the habit of retaining their English designations, and
this accounts in part for the number of Jacks, Kates, Pegs,
Toms, Dicks, and Bobs in the lists in the patents. He
was, however, in large measure responsible for the Biblical
names which are found so frequently, such as Abraham,
Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Daniel, Isaiah, Emanuel, Ruth, Ste-
phen, Hagar, and Jacob. It was also he who drew on the
resources of ancient history, as exhibited in the great
number of Alexanders, Csesars, Pompeys, Scipios, Hanni-
bals, and Neros. Modern history was also ransacked, and
sable Cromwells, Robin Hoods, and Rosamunds appeared
in Virginia. Mythology offered too rich a fund of names
to be allowed to remain unused. Jupiter, Juno, Cyclops,
Priapus, Hero, Leander, Pallas, Athena, and Minerva,
Mars, Vulcan, and Pan were common. Many of these

SYSTEM OF LABOR 87

were to undergo in time remarkable transformations owing
to the looseness and inaccuracy of pronunciation which
distinguished the negro. Traces of the originals are still
discoverable in names which would have seemed wholly
alien to the Greek and Roman ear. Having peopled the
Colony with gods, prophets, and generals so far as names
could impart these characters, the planters who in the
seventeenth century sued out patents on the basis of negro
head rights, turned to inanimate objects as designations
for their slaves ; thus, there were a number of Baskets
and Buckles. Great events in history were also emj)loyed,
such as the Reformation. Physical features too were used
in the construction of the lists of names ; Barebones and
Rawbones were not uncommon. The name of the place
from which the slave had come was sometimes added to
his Christian name ; among the negroes belonging to
John Carter of Lancaster County were Accomac Jack and
Barbadoes Dick.^

So numerous had the slaves become towards the close
of the seventeenth century that a planter, stocking a new
estate with slaves, was not compelled to rely entirely on
the merchants engaged in importing negroes. They could
be secured in the Colony of his fellow-planters. The
proportion of those who were born in Virginia must now
have been important, and it was this class that was justly
regarded as being most desirable. In the inventory of
the property of John Carter of Lancaster, one of the
largest slaveholders in the Colony, great care was taken
to distinguish the negroes of Virginian birth from those
who had been imported, and there was a marked difference

1 Hecords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 26. Among
the negroes owned by Mrs. Sarah Willoughby of Lower Norfolk County
was one who was called Pickaninny. He was between twenty and
thirty years of age. Original vol. 1066-1675, p. 170.

88 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in their respective appraisements in favor of the former. ^
Cok)nel Fitzhugh, in a letter which he wrote to a corre-
spondent in London in 1686, mentions incidentally that his
plantations were now cultivated by "fine crews" of slaves,
the majority of whom were natives of the soil.^ Some of
these liad been purchased by him in the Colony. A few
years before he had written to William Leigh, who lived in
another part of Virginia, to inquire if one hundred pounds
sterling, which had been placed in his hands for invest-
ment in negroes, could be expended to advantage in this
form in the county where Leigh resided. He also con-
veyed the same request to John Buclmer.^ A memorandum
which Fitzhugh gave to his agent, who was about to set
out for York, throws still more instructive light on these
local purchases of slaves. This agent was directed not to
buy more than two women under thirty years of age.
The highest price to be paid for a man was twenty pounds
sterling, unless he was a negro of extraordinary physical
strength. Fifty -four pounds were prescribed as the limit
of price for three boys whom a Mr. \V'alker had expressed
a willingness to dispose of, and for two youths whom
Major Peyton was prepared to sell, thirty-four were to be
offered as the highest figure. The agent was ordered by
Colonel Fitzhugh to confine himself strictly to these sums,
unless he should find upon inquiry that the ruling prices

1 Becords of Lancastrr Cortnty, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 33.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686. The number of slaves
now held by the wealthiest planters was often very large. Thus Ralph
Wormeley was the owner of ninety-one (see JRecords of Middlesex
County, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 115) ; Robert Beverley, of forty-two
(see inventory on file in Middltsex) ; Mrs. Elizabeth Digges, of one hun-
dred and eight ( William and Mary College Quarterly, April, 1893, p. 177) ;
Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., of forty (Becords of York; 1694-1697, p. 261, Va.
State Library) ; and John Carter, of one hundred and six {Hecords of
Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709).

3 Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 27, 1682.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 89

for slaves were so much greater that he woukl liave to
return to Rappahannock with his mission unfulfilled if he
persisted in his demands. For the negroes to be pur-
chased, payment was to be made in part in certain bills of
exchange drawn in favor of Fitzhugh by local debtors,
these bills being turned over to the agent when he started
upon his journey. 1

It is a fact of interest that the value of negroes ad-
vanced rather than declined as their number in the Colony
increased. In 1640, when the black population of Virginia
probably did not exceed one hundred and fifty persons,
a male African adult commanded about twenty-seven
hundred pounds of tobacco, and a female about twenty-
five hundred ; this amounted to an average price of about
eighteen pounds sterling a head, rating that commod-
ity at a penny and a half a pound. Three years later,
two negro women and one negro child were assigned in
York by Henry Brooke to Nicholas Brooke, a merchant
of London, in return for fifty-five hundred pounds of
tobacco.- The executors of William Pryor in 1647 sold
to Captain Chisman of York County four negro men,
two negro women, and tAvo negro children for one hundred
and fifty pounds sterling, an average value of eighteen
pounds.^ In 1659, a young negro woman in the same
county was held at thirty.* Ten years after this, it was
declared, in a report drawn up by the Committee for
Foreign Plantations, that the average price which the
newly imported African slaves commanded in Virginia
was twenty pounds sterling a head.^ In 1671, an old

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 5, 1682.

2 Eecords of York County, vol. 1638-1018, p. G3, Va. State Library.
3/6id.,p. 338.

* Ihid., vol. 1657-1662, p. 195.

^ Colonial Entry Book, No. 92, pp. 275, 283 ; Sainsbury's Calendar of
State Papers, Colonial, 1061-1668, p. 22'J.

90 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

negro woman was appraised in York County at twenty-
four pounds, a young negro woman at thirty-two, a child
of the same race, whose age did not exceed one year and
a quarter, at four.^ A few years later, in a purchase of
slaves which was made by Mr. Bryan Smith of York
County, he gave thirty pounds sterling apiece for five
men, twenty-five apiece for two women, thirty apiece
for two other women, and fifty-three shillings for a child.
In 1682, a young negro man in York was appraised at
twenty-six pounds sterling, and a young negro woman
and child at twenty-seven. ^ In 1695, two negro men who
formed part of the estate of Captain John Goodman of the
same county were held at sixty pounds sterling together.^

The valuations placed upon the slaves of Nathaniel
Bacon, Sr., whose inventory was brought into court in
1694, represented doubtless the average appraisement of
a large estate in negroes at this time in York. Nine were
entered at twenty-eight pounds sterling, ten at twenty-
five, three at twenty, one at eighteen, three at sixteen, one
at fifteen, one at thirteen, one at twelve, and two at eight.*
The value of a male child, twelve years old, was placed at
twenty pounds sterling ; of a girl of ten, at fifteen ; one
of nine, at twelve ; while a girl four years of age was
ajDpraised at eight pounds sterling,^ and another of six
years, at ten.^

In a letter written by Thomas Howell in Surry County,
about 1671, he informs his correspondent that he had just
bought a negro there for twenty-six pounds sterling and
twelve shillings ; " I suppose," he adds, " the most that
ever has been given in these parts."''

1 Records of York Coiintij, vol. 1G64-1672, p. 318, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., vol. 1675-1684, p. 486.

3 Ibid., vol. 1694-1702, p. 410, ^ j;,jVZ., vol. 1687-1691, p. 378.
* Ibid., vol. 1694-1697, p. 263. « jj^v^., vol. 1690-1694, p. 178.

■^ liecords of Surry County, vol. 1671-1684, p. 41, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 91

In 1680, Colonel Fitzliugh, who resided in the Northern
Neck, in a letter addressed to Captain William Partis,
states that he had entered into a bargain with Mr. Vincent
Goddard to pay twenty-nine pounds sterling for two
slaves ; it is to be presumed that this sum represented
what he gave, not for both, but for each one, unless they
were mere youths.^ In the proposal which he made to
Captain Jackson in February, 1682, with reference to the
cargo of negroes who were to be consigned to him in the
follomng autumn, he states in detail the prices he was
willing to pay for them. Three thousand pounds of
tobacco were to be the valuation of every boy and girl
whose ages ranged from seven to eleven ; while for those
whose ages ranged from eleven to fifteen, it was to be
four thousand, and for those whose ages ranged from
fifteen to twenty-five, five. The price of tobacco at this
time Avas from one penny and a half to two pennies a
pound. 2

When the master of the Society, the Bristol ship which
went ashore in Accomac, came to reward the persons who
had assisted him in landing the negroes he had on board,
he paid James Lamont thirty pounds sterling in the form
of a boy and girl.^ This is found to be the figure at
which two African children were appraised in Henrico
County in 1697, the value of a negro man on the same
occasion being placed at twenty-five pounds.* In Eliza-
beth City, the prices of slaves in the same decade appear
to have been substantially the same as in Henrico. In
the inventory of the estate of William Marshall, two
negro men were entered at fifty pounds sterlmg, and

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Dec. 4, 1680.

2/6id., Feb. 11, 1682-83.

3 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 30.

* Becords of Henrico County, original vol, 1697-1704, p. 134.

92 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

two negro women at forty-five. A boy, five years of age,
was listed at ten pounds, two girls, two and three years
of age respectively, at twelve, and an infant seven months
of age, at two pounds and ten shillings. In the same year
an infant, six months of age, was held at three pounds
sterling, and a child, eight years of age, at ten j)ounds.i

In Middlesex County, the prices of slaves seem to have
maintained a slightly higher average than in the counties
already named. In the estate of Major Robert Beverley,
the elder, the inventory being filed in 1687, the value of
the men ranged from twenty-six to twenty-eight pounds
sterling. 2 Ten years later, the 3'Oung slaves belonging
to the estate of Richard Willis were listed at thirty-one
pounds apiece, although in some instances so youthful as
to be described as lads. The young women were valued
at the same rates. ^ The appraisement of the negroes
belonging to Christopher Robinson was still higher. Of
the ten who were included in the inventory of his estate,
four men were entered at forty pounds apiece, one girl at
thirty, and another at twenty-five ; one w^oman at thirty-
five pounds, and a woman and child at forty.* The valu-
ation of the negroes included in the estate of Ralph
Wormeley, the inventory being filed in 1700, was not
quite so high. The men and boys were appraised at
thirty-five pounds sterling, and the girls at thirty. The
prices in Lower Norfolk show no difference from those
enumerated in the case of York County. In Rappahan-
nock, in 1695, a negro boy was entered at twenty-six
pounds sterling, and a girl at twenty -four. The valuation
of adults was perhaps considerably higher.^

1 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. 276, 300.

2 See inventory on file among Records of Middlesex County.
^ Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 57.
* Ibid., 1694-1705, p. 188.

^ Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1695-1699, p. 5. The prices

SYSTEM OF LABOR 93

Previous to 1609, the prices at which negroes were
hekl was not increased by a duty on those who were im-
ported. A law, however, was passed in that year, impos-
ing a tax of twenty shillings a head upon each slave
introduced into the Colony, to be paid by the master of
the ship in which he had been conveyed ; and if there
was an effort to evade this charge, by landing the negroes
w^ithout the warrant which had been prescribed in this
case, they were to be forfeited and sold for the public
benefit. It was stated that the object of this provision
was to swell the fund that was required to meet the
expense of the erection of a new capitol, the old one
having been recently destroyed by fire. There could
have been no intention to discourage the introduction of
slaves alone, as a duty was also laid upon the white
servants brought into Virginia at this time. No tax of
this character would have been imposed if the demand
for labor in the Colony upon the threshold of the eigh-
teenth century had been as pressing as it had been during
so large a part of the seventeenth. ^

It has already been mentioned that the negro in the
seventeenth century was thought to occupy a position in
the human family very little removed from that of the
ordinary brute. It is interesting to observe the various
obstructions, legal as well as moral, which arose when the
question of Christianizing him came to be settled. The
attitude of many of the planters in the English Colonies
in that age towards the moral elevation of the slave
through the agency of the church was expressed in the
reply of a lady of Barbadoes to Godwyn, the author of
the Negro's and Indian s Advocate — a work of unusual

of negroes in the two counties on the Eastern Shore did not differ sub-
stantially from the prices prevailing elsewhere in the Colony.
1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 193.

94 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ability and great humanity, — tliat lie might as well bap-
tize puppies as negroes, an utterance rendered the more
significant by the fact that in her own life she was
remarkable for her exemplary piety and the care she
exhibited in the religious education of her own children.
Another woman, who enjoyed a good reputation for char-
acter and sense, upon Godwyn's administering baptism
to one of her slaves, remarked that it would have been
equally as efficacious if he had sought by the same cere-
mony to make a Christian of her black bitch. ^ That this
feeling did not spring from mere prejudice or self-interest,
is revealed in the fact that there was comparatively little
opposition on the part of the planters of Barbadoes to the
baptism of mulattoes, who as the descendants of white per-
sons on one side were regarded as having been brought
within the pale of humanity. In this island, negroes
were instructed to avoid the rooms in which religious
exercises were holding by the families of their masters,
on the ground that they could not be expected to partici-
pate in the hopes and promises which the Christian relig-
ion extended. An explanation of the course followed
by the West Indians in this respect may in many cases
be discovered in the belief, that as long as the slave re-
mained unbaptized he was not responsible for his acts in
the sight of God, and as he was incapable of leading a
pure life, the administration of the sacrament of baptism
to him would expose him to certain damnation, A num-
ber of masters were influenced by an apprehension that
if the negroes were improved in their mental condition
by instruction, they might rise up against their owners
and deluge the island in blood. Others were moved by
the consideration, that if the slave were baptized it would

1 Godwyn's iVer/j-o's and Indiaii's Advocate, p. 38. I am indebted to
Godwyn for all the details that follow. See pp. 43 et seq.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 95

be necessary to show more scruple in governing him, the
conscience of each planter as well as the force of public
opinion requiring him to furnish his slave with more
palatable food and more comfortable lodgings, and to
inflict punishments with less severity under the circum-
stances. It Avas even supposed by some that the act of
baptizing the negro destroyed the right of his owner to
his service, and that he was thereafter entitled to all the
privileges of an English citizen.

Godwyn declares that the same general views as to the
impropriety of Christianizing slaves prevailed in Virginia,
and that their conversion was thought to be so idle and
unmeaning, that the reputation for good sense of the man
who suggested it was seriously impaired. This statement
was made by Godwyn in 1681, and seems to have exagger-
ated the state of feeling in the Colony witli reference to the
moral elevation of the negroes held there in bondage. It
is a fact worthy of note that one of the two African chil-
dren included in the muster of 1621-2.5, William, the
son of Anthony and Isabel, two negroes who belonged to
Captain Tucker, was entered in the general list as having
received baptism. i This privilege was conferred over
half a century before Godwyn published his treatise. A
still more interesting case occurred in 1611. John Gra-
were, who is represented as an African servant of William
Evans, was the father of a child by a slave who belonged
to Robert Sheppard. He expressed great anxiety that
this child should be baptized, and afterwards brought up
in the knowledge of religion as taught in the church of
England. Being permitted by his master to keep a num-
ber of li^gs, Grawere was able to accumulate from his an-
nual sales a small fund with which he purchased the freedom
of his offspring. The court declared that the disposition
1 Hotten's Original List of Emigrants^ 1600-1700, p. 244.

96 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and instruction of the child shoukl be left to his father
and godfather, who pledged tliemselves that he should be
■educated in the Christian belief. ^

The Council for Foreign Plantations were so much
interested in the religious condition of the slaves residing
in Barbadoes and Virginia, that in 1661 they directed that
a letter should be written to the authorities in those Colo-
nies, commanding them to encourage the introduction of
ministers of the Gospel who would devote themselves to
the reclamation of the newly imported negroes with a view
to preparing them for baptism. ^ The notion that the act
of baptizing a slave operated to release him from bondage
was certainly prevalent in Virginia at one time, but the
indisposition which it created in planters to extend the
comforts of religion to their negroes was entirely removed
by the passage of the law in 1667, that the administration
of the sacrament of baptism to them effected no change
in their legal condition.^ It was expressly stated in this
statute that its object was to encourage masters to promote
the propagation of Christianity by permitting their slaves
to come within the pale of the Christian Church. This
law would perhaps have been adopted at an earlier date if
the negroes had previously constituted a very important
element in the general population. As late, however, as
1648, there were only three hundred persons of African
blood in the Colony, and in 1667, the number could not
have exceeded eighteen hundred, and very probably fell

1 General Court Orders, March 31, 1G41, Bohinson Transcripts, p. 30.
An additional instance, which occurred in 1G55, is preserved in the
Becords of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 45, Va. State Library. Ann
Barnhouse gave Mihill Gowen a male negro child, born of the body "of
my negro Rosa, being baptized by Edward Johnson, Sept*. 2, 1655."
William, the name of the child, was the son of Mihill.

2 British State Paper's, Colonial, vol. XIV, No. 59.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 260.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 97

very much below that number.^ In the instructions
which Culpeper received in 1682 from the English Gov-
ernment, he Avas enjoined to inquire as to what would be
the best means of facilitating the conversion of the slaves
to the Christian religion, only it was added that caution
was to be shown in taking any steps that tended to throw
in jeopardy individual property in the negro, or to render
less stable the safety of the Colony. ^

Under the terms of the statute passed in 1670, all ser-
vants who were imported into Virginia who liad not l)een
brought up in the Christian religion, and who, therefore,
were still unbaptized, were held to be servants for life. It
is significant that the word "negro " was not used, although
the law was really designed to cover the case of the
African slaves, who were now introduced into the Colony
in increasing numbers. After an interval of twelve years,
in which comparatively few negroes were brought in, in
consequence of the poverty of the planters following upon
the agitation that led up to and succeeded Bacon's Rebel-
lion, this statute was repealed on the ground that it seri-
ously obstructed further additions from without to the
slave population, because many of the negroes who arrived
in Virginia had come from lands where Christianity pre-
vailed, and where they had received the rite of baptism. ^
The owners of such negroes, when they reached the Colony,
either had to undergo the complete loss of their property
or had to incur the heavy expense of returning them to
the country from which they had been exported, or of
sending them to some place where converted slaves were

1 In 1671 the slave population was estimated by Berkeley at two thou-
sand. Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 515.

2 Commission to Culpeper, 1682, § 65, McDonald State Papers, vol. VI,
p. 43, Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. 11, pp. 283, 491.

VOL. II. II

98 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

bought without auy modification of the right to liold them
for life. From this time, no discrimination was made in
Virginia as to whetlier imported Africans had been bap-
tized or not. If it happened that a negro who had been
in the enjoyment of his freedom in a Christian country
was brought into the Colony and sold for life, the person
who was guilty of the act was compelled to forfeit double
the amount which he had received in disposing of him.
The adoption of this provision as a part of the fundamental
law indicated that within the lines in which the institu-
tion of slavery operated, the General Assembly was deter-
mined that no injustice should be done to the negroes who
could justly claim their freedom. This regulation was
established by the revised code of 1705, but it rejElected pub-
lic sentiment in the latter part of the seventeenth century. ^

The first dispute as to ownership in an individual negro
seems to have arisen in 1625, when an African who had
been captured by an English ship from the Spaniards
was brought into the Chesapeake. The captain of the
vessel died and the question arose as to the ownership of
the negro. Did he belong to the heirs of the captain,
to the sailors who manned the ship, or to the colonial
authorities ? The General Court, passing upon the merits
of the case, decided that he should become the property of
the Governor without regard to any expressed wish by the
captain before his death, or any challenge on the part of
the ship's company. The reason for this decision was quite
probably that the negro had been seized while the vessel
was navigating in a public capacity, and being a prize of
war, he belonged to the State and not to the individual. ^

In the seventeenth century, the slave was classed as
personal property and stood upon the same footing as

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 448.

2 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, pp. 33, 34.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 99

household goods, horses, cows, oxen, and hogs.^ It was
not infrequent for Virginian testators to leave instructions
in their wills that certain negroes should be sold for the
payment of their debts, directions that had their motive
probably in the greater readiness with which this form
of personal property could be disposed of with little dan-
ger of sacrifice. 2 Under the provisions of the revised code
of 1705, which is of importance in our inquiry from the
light it throws on public feeling in the seventeenth cen-
tury, the slave was declared to be real estate unless he was
still held by a merchant who was seeking to sell him, in
which case he was decided to be personalty. His legal
status was highly anomalous under this modification of
the original law, Avhich had provided that he should be
held to be personalty under all circumstances. Although
a form of real estate by the code of 1705, he was never-
theless liable to be sold for the payment of debts, but no
record was required to be made of such a sale, a step that
was essential in the case of land. If unlawfully carried
off, he was recoverable by an action of trover as if he con-
stituted one branch of personal property. He could not
be made, like ordinary real estate, the basis of a claim to
all the privileges of a freeholder. ^

The rule was in operation in Virginia from an early
date, that the child should follow the condition of the
mother, which was the adoption of the English provision,
partus sequitur ventrem.'^ The necessity of deciding as to

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 288 ; Records of Henrico County, vol.
1G88-1G97, p. 457, Va. State Library.

2 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 166G-1675, pp. 68, 106.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, pp. 333, 334.

* Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 219. See, also, Green's Short
History of the English People, illustrated, vol. I, p. 28. See, however,
tlie discussion of the relation of Status to Nativity in Vinogradoff' s Vil-
lainage in England.

100 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the applicability to the Colony of this provision arose as
soon as the first mulatto sprung from a white father was
born. Was the condition of the father or the mother to
be the condition of the child ? Interest as well as the
transmitted law of the English people bearing upon the
precise point dictated that the child should be a slave, and
during the whole existence of the institution of bondage
in Virginia, there was no relaxation in the enforcement of
this regulation. It was considered to be unjust to place
young negroes on the footing of tithables until they had
acquired strength to labor in the fields. ^ In 1658, all
imported slaves above sixteen were listed for taxation.^
Twelve years was decided to be the proper age in 1680,^
but at a later period sixteen was again adopted, and the
list of the youthful tithables was made up when the sea-
son for working tobacco arrived. All African children
brought into the Colony were required to be introduced
before the court in three months after they had reached
Virginia, in order to have their ages properly adjudged.*
To ensure absolute accuracy in the returns of young slaves,
there was at one time a provision that the birth of every
black or mulatto child who first saw the light in the Colony
should be entered in the registry of the parish where he
or she was born.^ The negroes remaining in the hands of
merchants and factors were exempted from the operation
of the levy because they were not in the list of tithables.^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. IT, p. 479.

2 Ibid., vol. I, p. 454.

3 Ibid., vol. II, p. 480.
* Ibid., p. 480.

5 Purvis, 1672, p. 179; Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 296.

•^ On the petition of John Pleasants and the motion of Richard Ken-
non, consignees of William Paggin and Company, " desiring the resolu-
tion of this Right Worshipful Court concerning some negroes of the said
Company consigned them to sell, but at ye time of listing tithables,

SYSTEM OF LABOR 101

The penalty for omitting a slave tithaLle Avas the loss of
the slave. ^

It is a striking fact that all negresses born in Virginia,
when above sixteen years of age, were rated as tithable
whether their labors were confined to the house or to the
fields, differing very widely in this respect from the white
female servants, who were not listed if the work they were
called upon to perform was exclusively domestic. ^ There
was an indisposition, as we have already seen, on the part
of the planters to employ white women in agriculture,
however great might be the demand for their assistance
in the cultivation of tobacco at certain seasons, and it was
only those individuals of the sex who were tarnished in
reputation or slatternly in habits who were found engaged
in this way. This discrimination between female servants
and female slaves has been attributed to various causes.
By some, it is thought to have been due to a desire in
the colonial authorities to discourage the importation of
negroes.^ This reason seems to be untenable. It would
appear to be more probable that the exemption of the
white female domestic servants from taxation was at least
partly designed to promote the introduction of white
women without any reference to female slaves. The
number of the former who were brought into Virginia
under articles of indenture was necessarily smaller than
the number of white men imported who were bound by

remaining in their possession undisposed of : It is the opinion of the
Court that the said Kennon and Pleasants ought not to pay levy for them
this year, because the said negroes being goods belonging to merchants
in England, ought not in any reasonable time to put them to more charge
by taxes than other of their commodities imported hither." Becords of
Henrico County, vol. 1682-1701, p. 81, Va. State Library.

1 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1097, p. 53.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 296.

3 This was the view of Mr. Bancroft, the historian.

102 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

similar covenants. The Assembly were perhaps anxious
to lessen the disproportion, and the law referred to was
well calculated to produce the condition desired ; such a
law might easily have been considered advisable even if
the institution of slavery had not obtained a foothold in
the Colony. That no discrimination against the African
was intended is disclosed in the fact that all Indian female
slaves, whether employed indoors or in the fields, were also
deemed to be tithables. Doubtless also the negroes, with-
out regard to sex, more especially those who had not been
born in Virginia, were in the beginning thought to be unfit
for domestic service, being awkward in person and un-
trained in manners. White women who had been brought
from England were numerous, and they were obviously
better fitted for household work than the raw female
slaves, and but poorly adapted to the heavy tasks of the
fields, in which a greater strength and a higher power of
endurance gave the negress a marked superiority. In the
latter part of the century, however, African domestics
became extremely common, there being an increasing
number of slaves who had been born in Virginia, from
among whom each master could select those who seemed
most capable of being trained for household duties. The
amiability and docility which they displayed in the fields
made them agreeable and attractive also as household ser-
vants, and in this character they grew more popular with
the progress of each decade. Colonel William Byrd men-
tions incidentally in his correspondence in 1684, that his
wife had often urged him to send their youthful daughter
to England, as it was impossible for her to learn anything
in a great family of negroes.^ The households of many
other planters of wealth must have been largely consti-
tuted of slaves. The wills of this period show that young
1 Letters of William Byrd, March 31, 1684.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 103

African women were frequently bequeathed to daughters
to serve as their maids. ^ It may be inferred from these
facts that if the comparative rarity of female domestic
slaves in the beginning was one of the causes leading to
the inclusion of all negresses in the list of tithables, that
cause ceased to operate by the time the last decade of the
century had been reached, but the reasons prompting a
desire to promote an increase in the number of the white
female servants would still remain in force. It is not
improbable, however, that the exemption of white women
emjDloyed in household service from taxation, was due in
the greatest measure to a wish on the part of the Assem-
bly to encourage the withdrawal of all members of that
sex and race from the field. By removing the tax from
them when thus occupied and at the same time allowing
it to remain on the negresses, engaged in the performance
of household duties, it was made plainly to the interest of
the planter to confine his choice of female domestic ser-
vants to individuals of his own color, and this was a con-
sideration which only citizens of fortune could afford to
overlook.

The testimony is contradictory as to whether the owner

1 See Will of Thomas Cocke, Records of Henrico County, original
vol. 1688-1697, p. 687. Cocke bequeathed to his daughter, Agnes Har-
wood, a mulatto girl, who was to be employed as Mrs. Harwood thought
fit, except that she was not to be ordered to "beat at the mortar or to
work in the ground." "My will is that she may be an ease to my
daughter's own person, and that the girl may be well and kindly used,
and I also give with her, the weaver's loom and all the stages and harness
to the same, with all other appurtenances thereto, all of which is to be
enjoyed by my daughter, to be used by the girl, Sue. At my daughter's
death, the girl and loom to pass to her son Thomas." Cocke thus con-
cludes : " My will is that ye girl be well used in all her time of service,
whoever shall happen to be her master or mistress, for if she shall bee
by any of them notoriously abused, my will is that shee shall have liberty
to choose which of my sons she pleases fur her master to live wilh."

104 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of a negress was relieved from the payment of the levies
in case she became so disabled, either temporarily or per-
manently, as to be incapable of work. In an instance of
this kind, the court of Henrico, in 1697, decided that the
law exempting poor and impotent persons from taxation
did not apply to such a woman, however grievous the
disease from which she was suffering. ^ On the other
hand, the court of Lancaster declared that the master of
a slave in this condition could not be required to pay the
county and public levies on her account.^

The principal tax fell upon slaves and servants because
the land was thought to be sufficiently burdened already
in the payment of quit-rents. Tobacco, on the other
hand, was subject to the export duty of two shillings a
hogshead, and it was supposed could bear no further im-
position. Personal property in the form of horses, hogs,
and cattle was looked upon as being of a value too small
and uncertain to be made a subject for taxation. ^

The life which the slaves followed as agricultural
laborers could not have differed essentially from that of
the white servants engaged in the performance of the
same duties; the tasks expected of both were the same,
and in the fields, at least, no discrimination seems to
have been made in favor of the latter. During the
greater part of the seventeenth century, the negro was
regarded as a mere servant for life, and as a laborer dif-
fered in that particular alone from the white person Avho
was bound for a period of years. The opportunities open
to the indented white man were innumerable, but they

1 Records of Henrico Co^inty, vol. 1677-1G99, orders June 1, 1607, Ya.
State Library.

2 Becords of Lancaster Connty, original vol. 1G80-1C80, orders July 8,
1685.

3 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 55.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 105

bore chiefly upon the time when his service would end.
He could always entertain a reasonable hope of final im-
provement in his condition, but, while his term lasted, he
stood practically upon the same footing as the meanest
slave, in the duties to be performed by him. On the
whole, the work of the latter could not have been very
burdensome. We have the testimony of those who had
observed the operations of both the Virginian and the
foreign systems, that the negroes in the Colony were not
required to labor for as many hours as the common hus-
bandmen abroad, nor were they pressed as hard in their
tasks. 1 Side by side in the field, the white servant and
the slave were engaged in planting, weeding, suckering,
or cutting tobacco, or sat side by side in the barn
manipulating the leaf in the course of preparing it for
market, or plied their axes to the same trees in clearing
away the forests to extend the new grounds. ^ The
same holidays were allowed to both, and doubtless, too,
the same privilege of cultivating small patches of ground
for their own private benefit. In the matter of food,
however, the negro did not enjoy the same advantage as
the white servant, the substance of his fare being plainer
and less costly ; ^ his meals consisted of hominy, mush,
maize-bread, pork, potatoes, and other vegetables,^ — vict-
uals which were, perhaps, more palatable than those in

1 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 220. " I can assure you, with
great truth, that generally their slaves are not worked near so hard nor
so many hours in a day as the hushandmen and day laborers in Eng-
land." Again, "The work of their servants and slaves is no other than
what every common freeman does," p. 220.

2 For an illustration of the intimate association of white servants and
negro slaves in their work, see Becords of York County, vol, 1684-1687,
p. 206, Va. State Library.

3 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 219.

* Hugh Jones' Present State of Virginia, p. 40.

106 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

reach of the English day hiborer in the same age. The
slaves of the seventeenth century had probably more
ground for satisfaction in this respect than the slaves of
the nineteenth, whose staple food was maize-bread and
bacon. The negro of the seventeenth century also re-
quired less expensive clothing than the white servant.
In the advertisement of a slave who had run away from
his master, which was placed on record in York County
in 1686, he is described as having been dressed in " red
cotton," and as wearing " a waistcoat, canvas drawers, and
a broad brim black hat." ^ In another case, the clothing
of an African slave consisted of a full suit, a doublet, a
pair of drawers, a pair of shoes and a cap.^

The county records of the seventeenth century show
that the negro quarter had become a recognized part of
the plantation buildings in the eighth and ninth decades.^
The contents of the houses were of the simplest character,
as may be discovered by an examination of contempora-
neous inventories. An instance may be given by way of
illustration. In the Stratton inventory brought before
the Henrico court in 1697, the furniture and utensils in
the cabin of one of the slaves are enumerated, and they
consisted of several chairs and a bed, an iron kettle weigh-
ing fifteen pounds, a brass kettle, an iron pot, a pair of
pot-racks, a pothook, a frying-pan and a beer-barrel.*

1 Records of York Cottnty, vol. 1684-1687, p. 215, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., p. 19.

3 In an old Survey preserved among the Ludwell Papers, a part of the
Manuscript Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, it is stated that
one of the lines " stopped at a poplar tree by the negroes' quarter."
This estate belonged to Secretary Ludwell, 1678. The plantations of all
the principal landowners were divided into Quarters. See, for examples,
the wills and inventories of Kalph Wormeley and Robert Beverley on
record or file in the clerk's office of Middlesex County.

* Records of Henrico County, original vol. 1697-1704, p. 138. See,
also, Records of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 190, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 107

Not only was the slave a source of smaller expense than
the white servant in point of food and clothing, and per-
haps in lodgings, but it is highly probable in the matter
of medical attendance also. The planters incurred very
considerable loss from the seasoning through which the
white laborers, with few exceptions, passed on their first
arrival in Virginia. Valuable time thus slipped away
before any return was derived from their labor. The
white servants not infrequently died as the result of this
attack of illness, and the money or tobacco expended in
their purchase was thrown away. The slaves do not
appear to have been subject to this form of sickness, and
were much less affected by exposure to the oppressive
heat of the sun in the months of July, August, and
September. It is an interesting fact that of the twenty
negroes who were imported in 1619, the first who had
arrived in the Colony, not one had died previous to 1621,
an indication of the ease with which they stood the
deleterious influences of the climate. There was at this
time no parallel instance in the history of the white
servants.

There is no reason to doubt that the planters were as a
body just and humane in their treatment of their slaves.
The solicitude exhibited by John Page of York was not
uncommon: in his will, he instructed his heirs to provide
for the old age of all the negroes who descended to them
from him, with as much care in point of food, clothing,
and other necessaries, as if they were still capable of the
most profitable labor. ^ Occasionally, the records of the

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1600-1 094, p. 138, Va. State Library.
Slaves, it would seem, were not permitted to hold property, as the follow-
ing regulation shows : " Horses, cattle, and hogs marked with the mark
of a slave, to be converted by the owner of the slave to the uses and
marks of the owner; otherwise forfeited to the Parish." Hening's
Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 103.

108 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

county courts reveal instances of great cruelty on the part
of unfeeling masters, as when Samuel Gray, a minister of
the Gospel, bound his runaway slave, who was still a mere
boy, to a tree and compelled another slave to beat him
until he died.^ There were also cases in which children
were torn from their mothers at an age when such separa-
tion would be a cause of poignant grief to the parent. ^
Suicide among adults was not unknown. In 1690, Bess,
a negro woman belonging to Colonel William Byrd, threw
herself into Falling Creek and was drowned. There is
no light as to her motive.^

The increase in the number of negroes in the Colony
towards the close of the century, the population of two
thousand in 1671 having probably risen to six thousand
by 1700, enlarged the opportunities of employment for
persons who wished to follow the occupation of an over-
seer. Many of the slaves who had been imported had
been imported directly from Africa, and were savages of a
very gross type unaccustomed to any form of restraint.
It was observed that those among them who had been im-
portant men in their tribes were insolent, haughty, and
obstinate, and while this class was necessarily small, their
characteristics must have been shared in a measure by
such of their fellows as had never before been compelled
to labor steadily and continuously. The supervision of

1 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1705, p. 238.

2 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 20, Va. State
Library. In this case, Elizabeth Craik bequeathed to one daughter,
Frances by name, a negress and the third child to be born of her ; to a
second daughter, Elizabeth Moss, the first and second child to be born of
the same woman. "I vpill that the two children the said negro woman
shall happen to bear to the use of Elizabeth (Moss), be and remain with
the mother until they shall be one year old, and that then they may be
taken away."

3 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 170, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 109

an overseer was required, to make tliem perform the
various tasks to which they were set. Even if superin-
tendence had been unnecessary in the case of the white
servants, which, as has been seen, it was not, it would
have been called for as soon as slaves, whether crude bar-
barians or men already trained for their work, began to be
introduced in any number.

TJiere are indications at an early date of improper sex-
ual relations between white men and slave women, a con-
dition to be expected from the intimate association of
members of the two races in the performance of their
daily tasks. This immoral intercourse was not, however,
confined on the part of the whites to the indented male
servants. One of the charges brought against Lawrence,
the principal adviser of Bacon in the insurrection of 1676,
was that he worshipped the goddess Venus in the person
of his female slave, but that his course of conduct was as
much disapproved of in that age by the general sentiment
of the community as it was in later times, is shown by
the great scandal it created at Jamestown.^ As early as
1630, one Hugh Davis, who was discovered in the same
relation with a negress, was roundly lashed in public, and
compelled to acknowledge his fault before the congrega-
tion with which he worshipped. ^ Nine years later, Rob-
ert Sweet, who is described in a patent to him in 1628 as
" gentleman," ^ having been detected in the same offence,

1 The following is from the Archives of Maryland, Coxirt and Testa-
mentary Business, vol. 1649-1657, p. 114 : " The complainant prosecuting
against the defendant upon an action of defamation, for that the defend-
ant reported here that he had heard one Thomas Gutridge in Virginia
say that the plaintiff had got one of his negroes with child, and that he
had a black bastard in Virginia, which report the complainant saith tends
much to his disgrace and defamation, which he values at 20,000 lbs."

•^ Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 146.

3 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, p. 70.

110 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

was ordered to appear in the church of the parish in which
he resided, in a white sheet, according to the English eccle-
siastical laws, while the woman who was the other party
to the act of self-indulgence received a sound whipping. i
A case is recorded in Lower Norfolk County in which a
white man and his black paramour were required to stand
up together in the same situation dressed in white sheets
and holding white rods in their hands. ^ The public sen-
timent of the Colony was not content with leaving the
punishment to the operation of church laws ; a general
statute was passed imposing a heavy fine upon all white
men who were guilty of criminal intimacy with female
slaves, and this was the regulation at the time when the
number of negroes in Virginia did not exceed several hun-
dred.3 Nevertheless, the permanent relations between
white men and negresses were maintained to a more or less
open extent. A somewhat remarkable case came to light
in 1697. In that year a mulattress entered a petition in
the Lancaster court praying that she should be set free.
She claimed that she had been purchased by John Beach-
ing from Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer in consideration of his
tanning one thousand hides. He had caused her and her
child to be baptized, and if the assertion of the petition was
to be relied on, had promised to marry her, an evidence
that he was the father of her offspring and that he had
lived with her without disguise. The jury to whom the
question of her freedom was submitted, decided in her
favor as against Mrs. Spencer, who was a member of one
of the most powerful families in the Colony.*

The punishment inflicted upon a white woman for

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 552.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1G46-1651, f. p. 113.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 170.

* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1G9G-1702, p. 43.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 111

giving birtli to a bastard whose father was a negro or a
muhitto was stern and emphatic. ^ As has been previously
stated, if she were free she was required to pay fifteen
pounds sterling, and if unable to do this, she was delivered
into the hands of the church wardens of the parish and
sold for a period of five years. ^ If, however, she was not
in the enjoyment of her freedom, but was a servant whose
term had not expired, as soon as it came to an end she
was disjDosed of by the wardens for the same length of
time. Her child was appropriated by the parish until he
or she was thirty years of age. In addition, the white
mothers of negro bastards were frequently taken to the
county seat and there publicly whipped by the sheriff.
In some cases, the court directed that if such a woman
after securing her freedom remained in the county, she
was to be banished to the West Indies. ^

It is no ground for surprise that in the seventeenth
century there were instances of criminal intimacy between
white women and negroes. Many of the former had only
recently arrived from England, and Avere, therefore, com-
paratively free from the race prejudice that was so likely

1 See an indictment of such a woman preserved in the Becords of
York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 420. See also Becords of Henrico
County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 322, Va. State Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 87.

3 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 83, Va. State
Library. The woman in this case was of English birth, Ann Wall by
name. She was the mother of two bastards by a negro whom she
claimed as her husband. She was brought before court and ordered to
pay fifteen pounds sterling, in default of which she was to be sold as a
servant for a term of five years. It appears that she was unable to secure
the amount necessary, and in consequence was turned over to Mr. Peter
Hobson, the court declaring at the same time that if, after she obtained
her freedom, "she presumed to come into this county (Elizabeth City)
she shall be banished to Island of Barbadoes." Her bastards were also
delivered to Hobson, to be held until they were thirty years of age.

112 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to arise upon close association with the African for a great
length of time.i There must have been by the middle of
the century a number of mulattoes in the Colony, sprung
from black mothers, who were less repulsive in person
and manners than the average negro. The class of white
women who were required to work m the fields belonged
to the lowest rank in point of character ; not having been
born in Virginia and not having thus acquired from
birth a repugnance to association with Africans upon a
footing of social equality, they yielded to the temptations
of the situations in which they were placed. The offence,
whether committed by a native or an imported white
woman, was an act of personal degradation that was con-
demned by public sentiment with as much severity in the
seventeenth century as at all subsequent periods.^ Mulat-
toes were referred to by the law as an " abominable mixt-
ure,"^ and the mere fact that a marriage ceremony had
given apparent sanctity to the relations resulting in such
births, did not in the eyes of the community at large make
this mixture of whites and blacks less odious in its char-
acter. So repugnant to popular feeling became all physical
commerce between the races that intermarriages between
their members were strictly forbidden, and the minister

1 See Richmond Dispatch, Saturday, June 30, 1894. A letter from
Warrenton, Va., dated June 29, gives a case occurring in 1894, which
shows that the absence of this prejudice, arising from the same fact,
leads to the same result occasionally in the present century.

2 How degraded were the white women who had sexual intercourse
with negroes in the seventeentli century is very clearly shown in a revolt-
ing series of depositions relating to the case of Mrs. Watkins, preserved
in the Eecords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, pp. 191-195, Va. State
Library. See the characterization of Mrs. Hyde of York, who is referred
to (the exact words are too gross to be qiioted) as a woman of such
abandoned character that she would admit even a negro to her embraces.
Vol. 1694-1697, p. 14, Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 86.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 113

who disregarded tlie provision to this effect was made
subject to a fine of ten thousand pounds of tobacco. ^ If
a negress gave birth to a bastard child ^ who was entirely
of her own color, proving that its father was of African
blood, she was sent by her master to the county seat to be
chastised by the sheriff. The child remained the prop-
erty of her owner. If the mother of a full-blooded negro
bastard happened to be free, but was bound for a term of
years at the time of its birth, she was required by way of
punishment to remain in the same service for an additional
period of twenty-four months, and she was also soundly
whipped for the offence.^ The child was placed at the
disposal of the church wardens of the parish.

In proportion to the population of African blood, there
were as many runaways among the slaves as among the
white servants. Maryland seems to have been the prov-
ince in which the largest number of the fugitives escap-
ing beyond the boundaries of the Colony took refuge. A
case may be mentioned which shows the means employed
in recovering absconding negroes previous to the middle
of the century. In the course of the fourth decade, special

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 454.

- No provision was made by tiie laws of Virginia in the seventeenth
century for the legal marriage of negro slaves. The status then was
doubtless the same as it was in the nineteenth ; that is to say, the mar-
riages of slaves were not recognized in law. Slaves, however, were
married with religious services performed by ministers of the Gospel.
A negro bastard was one born either of a slave African mother who had
not been married with the ordinary religious ceremony to the father of
the child, or of a free African mother who had not been married accord-
ing to the regulations prescribed by law. The child of a white woman
by a negro or mulatto was, under all circumstances, a bastard, as mar-
riai;e between individuals of the two races was not allowed by law. In
the same way, the child of a negress was, under all circumstances, a
bastard if its father was a white man.

3 Becords of ILnrico County, vol. 1G82-1701, p. 190, Va. State Library,

VOL. II. I

114 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

permission was granted to John Mottrom and Edward
Fleet to use a section of the train bands, Avith such a
quantity of arms and ammunition as they would require,
in overtaking certain slaves who had fled from them.
The men impressed to take part in this service were to
be paid out of the public levy of the counties in which
they resided, and satisfaction was to be made in the same
manner to the owners of the boats used in the pursuit.
The negroes when caught were to be brought back, and
after being whipped, were to be put to work again in the
field. 1

Whatever disposition may have existed among the
slaves to steal away from the plantations to which they
belonged, Avas due in some measure to the influence and
example of the restless or discontented Avhite servants,
who were bolder, more energetic, and more enterprising
than members of the African race. The list of laborers
on every large estate in the last quarter of the seventeenth
century included both negroes and white men ; brought
together in intimate and constant association, the slaves
were naturally very susceptible to the improper persua-
sions of their white companions, and consequently special
laws had to be passed to jiunish the white servants who
absconded in company with them. Not all of the negroes,
however, who were guilty of the offence of running away
were prompted to do so by the influence of individuals
of the other race. A large proportion of the slaves, es-
pecially in the period following 1670, had only been
recently imported into the Colony, and being African
savages unaccustomed to a life of labor and restraint, it
is not strange that many should have felt and acted
upon the impulse to seek freedom by flight. This
part of the black population had not yet acquired an

1 General Court Orders, June 80, 1640, EoUnson Transcripts, p. 13.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 115

attachment to the plantations of their masters owing to
their recent importation. One of the most powerful in-
fluences that fostered a steady and sober spirit in the
negroes who were natives of the soil, was thus entirely
absent in the case of the imported slaves unless they
had reached the Colony whilst still very young.

It was not until 1672, that we discover indications
of open discontent among the negroes of Virginia. An
Act of Assembly passed in that year reveals the fact
that there were slaves in rebellion in different parts of
the Colony at this time, and that it had been found so
far impossible to subdue and capture them.^ There does
not appear to have been any movement among them
resembling an organized insurrection ; it was rather a
number of cases in which two or more, or even one, had
taken refuge in the fastnesses of the wilderness of forest.
Abandoning as hopeless all thought of seizing these fugi-
tives by peaceful means, the House of Burgesses authorized
whoever should seek to capture them, whether by legal
warrant or by hue and cry, to kill them on the spot if
they attempted to resist arrest. The master of every
slave who perished under these circumstances received
satisfaction for his loss at the public charge to the
extent of four thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco.
If the successful effort to seize the negro resulted in
wounding him, his owner was recouped in proportion to
the loss entailed by his sickness, which probably included
the medical expense of the cure, payment being made
in the form of a certificate, which was to be presented to
the General Assembly to be honored. In every instance
in which a slave had fled to an Indian town, its chief was
required to bring him before the nearest justice of the
peace, receiving as a reward a certain amount of roanoke,
1 Ilening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 299

116 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

or merchandise if he preferred. ^ All absconding negroes
who were arrested, but whose owners were unknown, were
directed by an order of court passed in 1691 to be for-
warded to Jamestown, where they remained until claimed,
the masters of fugitives sending thither their marks and
descriptions. 2 There were cases in which the names of
slaves, who had run away and become notorious outlaws
by the outrages they committed, were referred to in
special laws of the Assembly. Such a case was that of
the negro who, about 1700, took refuge in the woods ex-
tending over the greater part of the counties of James
City, York, and New Kent, and who was charged with
ravaging the crops, perpetrating robberies, and carrying
the greatest consternation into every community in which
he appeared. A reward of one thousand pounds was
offered for the body of this runaway, whether produced
dead or alive. It was declared to be a felony to enter-
tain him. It would seem from this that a number of
white persons were either in collusion with him, or were
afraid to arrest him when he came to their houses.^

A few years previous to this, a mulatto, who had fled
from his master, Ralph Wormeley of Middlesex, concealed
himself in the fastnesses of Rappahannock County. He
drew around' him a number of negro accomplices, and in
a short time became an object of popular terror; he
carried off numerous hogs, and went so far as to break
into one of his master's stores, from which he took away
a quantity of goods, including several carbines. He was
at last forced to surrender.*

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 299, 300.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 110, Va. State Library ;
Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 267, Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. HI, p. 210.

* Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1G80-1G91, orders Nov.
9, 1691.

SYSTEM OF LABOR IIT

All the laws relating to fugitive negroes refer to the
number who were at large in the latter part of the seven-
teenth century, and the evil was so crying in itself, and
so likely to lead to worse consequences, that the most
summary disposition of runaways, who refused to return
to their masters by submitting to arrest, was allowed
with the full concurrence of public sentiment. ^ As a
slave could not be punished like a servant who had raised
his hand against his master, by an extension of his term,
his owner was permitted instead to inflict corporal pun-
ishment upon him. If he happened to die in consequence
of the severity of this punishment, the master was not
held to have been guilty of felon}^ it being the presump-
tion of the law that the act was devoid of malice, as no
man would voluntarily and intentionally destroy his own
property. This law was one of the first indications in
colonial legislation that the increasing importation of
negroes was arousing apprehension among the planters
of a possible outbreak on the part of the slaves. A still
more unmistakable evidence of this feeling appears in a
measure passed in 1680,^ which was the reenactment in
a more rigid form of the law of 1639,^ prohibiting the use
by a negro of all instruments of offence or defence, such
as clubs, swords, guns, and staffs. If he raised a weapon
to strike or shoot a Christian, whether his master or not,
he was to be punished by the infliction of thirty lashes on
his bare back. Twice during the course of each year the
minister of each parish was required after the second lesson
in the divine service to read this statute to his congrega-
tion,* and a failure to do so was an indictable offence.

No slave was allowed to leave the plantation of his
master without a certificate of permission to go abroad,

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 86. 3 /^^-j.^ vol. I, p. 226.

2 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 481, 482. * Ibid., vol. II, p. 492.

118 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and tliis permission was only to be granted when he was
sent off on an important errand. If he was found wan-
dering about without the passport required by hiw, he
was taken before the nearest justice of the peace, who,
after giving him a whipping, forwarded him to the con-
stable in the adjacent county, who in his turn repeated
the whipping, and then delivered him to the constable
beyond, and this course was continued until the slave
finally reached the hands of his master. If he was
allowed to escape by the carelessness of one of these
constables, the owner could recover a large sum in a
court of law. No strange negro was suffered to remain
on a plantation four hours after his first appearance un-
less he had in his possession a certificate showing that his
absence from home was properly authorized. ^

It reveals the great importance attached by the officials
to the various laws for the prevention of slave insurrec-
tions, that Governor Andros, in 1691, issued a strong
proclamation calling attention to the general remissness
in their enforcement, in consequence of which, negroes
had run together in certain parts of the Colony, causing
assemblages so dangerous as to threaten the peace of the
whole community. He commanded that no certificates
should be given to slaves allowing them to go off the
estates of their masters, and in order that this injunction
should come to the ears of all the planters, he required
that his proclamation should be read in the churches, at
the musters and militia meetings, and on every occasion of
great publicity .^

1 Hening's StaUttes, vol. II, pp. 481, 493. An instance in which four
hundred pounds of tobacco were recovered by a planter on account of the
default of a constable under these circumstances is recorded in Becords
of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 282, Va. State Library.

2 Jiecords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, pp. 22, 23, Va. State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 119

When a slave was guilty of murder, he was arrested by
the sheriff of the county in which the felony had occurred,
and thrown into jail, and there he remained in irons until
his case was brought to trial. The first step to this was
the transmission of information to the Governor that the
crime had been committed; upon the reception of this
information, that official directed that an oyer and ter-
miner be issued to such persons residing in the county
where the slave was held, whom he considered to be fit to
determine the guilt or innocence of the prisoner. In the
inquiry which they at once instituted, the accused could
be convicted on the testimony of himself or two reputable
witnesses, or one witness whose testimony was supported
by strong circumstantial evidence. He could not claim
the privilege of a trial by jury.^ The expenses entailed
in supporting the slave during the time of his stay in jail
were provided for in the public levy.^ If he was hung,
the justices decided upon his value and returned a certifi-
cate embodying their estimate to the General Assembly,
who made an appropriation to the master equal to the
stated amount.^ Rape of white women, which has become
the most characteristic crime of the African since his
emancipation in the nineteenth century, was also com-
mitted by him in the seventeenth.* An ordinary assault
by a slave even upon a white man was punished by a
severe whipping only.^ When the offence was attended
by aggravated circumstances and the person guilty of it
was a free negro, male or female, the infliction of stripes

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 103.

2 Records of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1G97, p. 16, Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 270.

* Nov. 25, 1677, General Court Orders, 1677-1682. " Strong measures
to be taken for apprehending Robin, a negro who had ravished a white
woman." Robinson Transcripts, p. 264.

° Records of York County, vol. 1G90-1694, p. 343, Va. State Library.

120 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

upon liis or her back was followed by imprisonment,
which continued until the costs were paid and security
for good behavior was given. In 1693, an action of tres-
pass was brought in the county court of York by a well-
knoAvn j^lanter named Sampson and his wife against a
negress and her husband, on the ground that they had
made a violent attack upon the person of Mrs. Sampson
and threatened to take her life. Of this offence, the
negress was convicted. She was whipped by the sheriff
of the county until she had received twenty- nine lashes,
and was then thrown into jail to remain until she could find
some one to go on her bond to keep the peace. Her char-
acter was considered to be so dangerous and her life so
disorderly, that the court entered a rule that unless she
could show that her claim to freedom was capable of the
most irrefutable proof, she should be transported from the
Colony. Not being able to show this, she was sent out of
Virginia as a person whose j)resence was calculated to
disturb the peace of the community. When the act of
the slave amounted only to a menace, the person who was
the object of this menace could compel the master of the
negro to give bond as a security for his good behavior. ^

The petty offences of negroes involving the interests of
their masters only were dealt with in the seventeenth
century in the same manner, as a rule, as they were in
the eighteenth and nineteenth, their owners being allowed
to inflict such punishment as appeared to them to be advis-
able. An exception seems to have been made in the case
of hog-stealing. Upon the commission of the first offence
of this kind, the slave was soundly whipped, and for the
second, his ears were nailed to the pillory and afterwards

1 Hecords of EUzabeth City County, vol. 1684-1609. p. 126, Ya. State
Library. See also liecords of York Couiiti/, vol. 1(390-1094, p. 287, Va.
State Library.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 121

severed from his head with a knife. This punishment
was severe enough to accomplish the purpose for which
it was intended, but like a great majority of the drastic
measures passed with reference to the slaves, it was doubt-
less very much modified wdien it came to be enforced, if it
was not ignored altogether. No traveller in Virginia in
the seventeenth century has remarked upon the number of
earless negroes in the Colony, and in that age, as in more
recent times, it must have been difficult for individuals of
this race to have resisted the temptation of running down
tlie many fine young hogs that crossed their path in the
forest in whichever direction they might have been pro-
ceeding. It is quite unlikely that the master would have
been willing to have had a valuable slave lowered in value
in case he desired to sell him, as was always possible, by
reporting him to the authorities to be subjected to dis-
figurement for life. Self-interest was alive here even if
sentiment was dormant. A negro w^ith two ears w^as worth
more in the market than a dozen hogs, and to remove one
of his ears was to proclaim to every planter in the Colony
that he was a felon whom it would have been unwise to
purchase.^

The law required that the same barbarous punishment
should be imposed when the slave was convicted of rob-
bing a house or store. He was first lashed by the sheriff
until sixty strokes had been received, and was then placed
in the pillory with his ears nailed to the posts, in which
position he was compelled to remain for half an hour, at
the end of which time these members were severed from
his head. 2

There are indications of the presence of free negroes
in the Colony at a comparatively early date. The}'' were

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 179.

^ Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1705, p. 140.

122 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

either the offspring of members of their own race who
had been set at liberty, or they were slaves who had been
emancipated by their masters. In many cases, the be-
stowal upon them of all the rights of freedom had been
without restriction. This was the course pursued by
Colonel Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., with reference to his slave
Kate, to whom liberty had been promised by his wife
before her death. ^ In other cases, the gift was made sub-
ject to certain conditions, either temporary or permanent
in their nature. John Farrar, of Henrico, in emancipat-
ing a negro who had grown to old age in his service,
required that until the following Christmas lie was to
remain on the estate to which he was then attached, and
was to take an active part in producing the crop to be
planted in the course of that year.^ Tony Bowyer, the
property of Richard Bennett, was liberated by his master
on condition that he should deliver annually eight hun-
dred pounds of tobacco, and the General Court, after the
death of Bennett, required Tony to furnish ample security
for the payment of this amount. ^ Under the will of
Mrs. Beazley, which w^as admitted to probate about the
middle of the century, one of her slaves was devised to a
kinsman for a term of eight years, and, at its expiration,
he was to be set free, and the customary allowance under
the circumstances, of three barrels of Indian corn and a
suit of clothes, was to be made to him. The negro was
assigned by his mistress to a Mrs. Lucas, who, after com-
pelling him to remain in her employment three years
longer than the will of Mrs. Beazley prescribed, at the
end of that time forced him to sign a paper binding him
to continue with her during the course of twenty years.

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 154, Va. State Library.

2 Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 299, Va. State Library.
^ Becords of the General Court, p. 243.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 123

These facts were embodied in a petition whicli he entered
in court for the purpose of constraining Mrs. Lucas to
remunerate him for the three years beyond his legal term
which she had forced Inm to serve. ^

Nicholas Martian, of York, directed in his will that when
the first crop of tobacco had been gathered after the pay-
ment of the debts which he left at his decease, his two
negroes, Philip and Nicholas, should be set free, and that
one cow, three barrels of Indian corn, clothes, and nails
should be given to each of tliem. Each one was also to
be permitted during his life to have a certain area of land
in which to plant. ^

Thomas Whitehead, of York, by will emancipated his
slave, John, and bequeathed to him a great variety of
clothing, and also two cows, ordering that he should be
allowed the use of as much ground as he could cultivate,
and the possession of a house. So great was his confi-
dence in the discretion and integrity of this negro, that he
appointed him the guardian of Mary Rogers, a ward of
Whitehead's, and overseer of her property, offices which
the court refused to suffer him to fill.^

Daniel Parke shoAved equal generosity to a favorite
slave. He instructed his executors to pay to this negro,
whom he set free by his will, fifteen bushels of shelled
Indian corn, and fifty pounds of dried beef, annually, as
long as the man should live. In addition, he was to
receive each year from Parke's estate, a kersey coat, a
pair of breeches, a hat, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of
yarn stockings, two shirts, a pair of drawers, and an axe
and hoe. His levies were also to be paid.*

1 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 9. See also
Records of the General Court, p. 218.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1633-1694, p. 109, Va. State Library.
8 Ibid., vol. 1657-1662, pp. 211, 217.

* Ibid., vol. 1687-1691, pp. 278, 279.

124 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Robert Griggs of Lancaster granted by Avill freedom
to all of his slaves, for whose welfare he provided with
great liberality. To a mulatto woman owned by him, he
bequeathed a heifer and three barrels of Indian corn, and
he commanded his executor to allot her a house and a cer-
tain area of ground as long as she continued to live with
her husband ; and she was also to be supplied with one
cotton suit every year. Two of his young negroes were
to serve for a period of thirty-eight years, and then to be
emancipated. All the children in his possession were to
remain slaves until they reached their forty-fifth year.
Those of his negroes who did not come within these pro-
visions were not to be set free until thirty-nine years had
passed since their arrival in the country. ^

John Carter of Lancaster, one of the largest slave-
holders in the Colony, by his will gave freedom to two of
his negroes who were married to each other. To each he
devised a cow and a calf and three barrels of Indian corn,
and instructed his heirs to allow them the use of a con-
venient house, firewood, timber, and as much land as they
could cultivate. He also enjoined that the two young
daughters of this couple should receive their liberty when
they reached their eighteenth year, and as a provision for
them, he gave each one a yearling heifer with its increase,
which was to be permitted to run with the cattle of his
wife after his death. ^

A more remarkable instance of generosity on the part
of the Virginian slaveholder of the seventeenth century
is to be found among the records of Lower Norfolk
County. It is not improbable that the beneficiaries in
this case were the illegitimate children of the testator.
The will of John Nicholls, tiled in 1697, disclosed the fact

1 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1687, p. 91.

2 Ibid., 1690-1709, p. 3.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 125

that he had emancipated a midatto boy and girl belong-
ing to him, children of one of his female slaves. The
boy at the time of Nicholls' death was serving an appren-
ticeship to a blacksmith in Nansemond County. To the
girl, he devised two hundred acres of land in fee simple,
and to the boy three hundred and ten acres. To the
latter, he also bequeathed a pair of millstones, and all the
ironwork necessary for the equipment of a water-mill.
He gave both children the cattle which at the time of
his death would be running on the lands he had left to
them by will, and they were to share alike in the division.
To the girl, he bequeathed a feather-bed and bolster, a
rug and two blankets, four ewes and one ram, a sow
and pig, one woollen and one linen wheel, a pair of wool,
a pair of tow, and a pair of cotton cards. To the boy,
he bequeathed a feather-bed and bolster, two blankets
and a rug, four ewes and a ram, a sow and pig, and a
musket. In case either died before he or she came of age,
the survivor was to be the heir of the deceased.^

The records of the seventeenth century disclose the fact
that numerous suits were entered by slaves for the recov-
ery of their freedom, and that the courts showed them the
amplest justice. In an action brought in 1695 in Elizabeth
City County by a negro against the executors of Colonel
John Lear, in which it was alleged that he was entitled to
his liberty, the executors failed to make their appearance.
An order was adopted that unless Lewis Burwell and
Thomas Goddin, who were the representatives of Colonel
Lear, attended the next court, the plaintiff should be
set free. 2 A similar order was entered in York in the
case of Henry Tyler, the administrator of ]\Ir. INIartin

1 Becords of Lower Norfolk County^ original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 96.

2 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 107, Va. State
Library.

126 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Gardner, who had emancipated a slave bearing the name
of Napho.i

In the interval between 1635 and 1700, there were
probably a number of persons of African blood in the
Colony, who had raised themselves to a condition of
moderate importance in the community. There were
certainly some who were able to write. ^ It is known
that patents to land were obtained by a few. Thus in
1654, one hundred acres lying on Pongoteague River in
Northampton County were granted to Richard Johnson,
a negro, upon the basis of head rights which were repre-
sented by two white men. In the description of this
tract, it is stated to have been contiguous to estates
owned by John Johnson and Anthony Johnson, both of
the African race.^ Two years later, Benjamin Dole, a
member of the same race, received a patent to three hun-
dred acres in Surry County, which was due him for the
transportation of six persons.^ The transfer to negroes
of land purchased by them from private grantors was not
uncommon ; thus in 1668, Robert Jones, a tailor residing
in York, sold to John Harris, an African freeman, fifty

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 328, Va. State Library.

2 See Becords of Middlesex Couiity, original vol. 1G79-1694, p. 14. See
also Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1689-1698, p. 250.

3 Va. Land Patents, vol. Ill, -g.2Qi^. RicliardJolmson was a carpenter
(see Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1663-1666, p. 54) and a
mulatto (Ibid., original vol. 1682-1697, p. 160). We find in the Becords
of Northampton County entry of a suit by Anthony Johnson for the pur-
pose of recovering his negro servant, who had been appropriated by Rob-
ert Parker. See original vol. 1651-1654, p. 226. There seems to have been
some dispute as to the land owned by John Johnson, as the following
entry in the Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1651-1654,
p. 200, shows: "'Whereas John Johnson, Negro, hath this day made his
complaint in Court that John Johnson, Sr., detaineth a patent to 450
acres, which John Johnson, Jr., claims, John Johnson, Sr., is ordered to
appear in Court."

* Va. Land Patents, vol. 1655-1664, p. 71.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 127

acres which lie possessed in New Kent.i The estates of
negroes were sometimes sufficiently large to require the
appointment by the court of administrators to settle up
their affairs. ^

The pride of the Virginians was shown in the statute
which provided that no black freeman. should be allowed
to secure by indenture the service of white persons to
continue for the usual term of years,^ but he was not for-
bidden to acquire an interest of that nature in an Indian
or an individual of his own race. There seems, however,
to be little room for doubt that the free negroes who had
obtained an ownership in real estate were allowed to
exercise the suffrage in the times when it was based upon
a property qualification. When the privilege was thrown
open to the freemen of the Colony without restriction,
this right w^as not only enjoyed by the African free-
holders, but it would be inferred that there was no dis-
crimination in this respect against any negro who could
show that he was not a slave, whether in possession of
property or not. All freemen are included in the grant
of the right of suffrage under the statutes passed in
March, 1655, and in March, 1657, as well as in 1676, when
the peoj)le had triumphed under Bacon.* In no instance
is the black freeman excepted from the oj)eration of these
statutes by name. In the law of 1699, readopting the

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 327, Va. State Library.
Leases for 99 years to negroes were not uncommon ; see a lease of 200
acres for this period to Philip Morgan, a negro, by John Parker of
Accomac, original vol. 1676-1690, p. 185.

- Becords of York Coxmty, vol. 166-4-1672, p. 495. A judgment for 486
pounds of tobacco against the estate of Edward Jessop, a mulatto, is
recorded in Northampton County, original vol. 1683-1689, p. 258. An
instance of a negro surety is found in the records of the same county,
original vol. 1689-1698, p. 58.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 280.

4 Udd., vol. I, pp. 403, 475 ; vol. II, p. .356

128 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

property qualification, women sole or covenant, males under
the age of twenty-one years, and Popish recusants were
denied the voting privilege, but no reference by way of
exception is made to negro freeholders. ^ That the free
negro, mulatto, or Indian had been given the right of
suffrage previous to 1723 is to be inferred from the
provision adopted in that session that none of these
persons should thereafter be allowed to enjoy it.^ It
would seem to follow logically from the possession of this
right by the negro freeman or freeholder, that he was
permitted to perform many of the duties expected of
white citizens in that age. He was certainly subject to
its burdens, such, for instance, as the payment of county
levies. 2 In one case, a negro was appointed by the jus-
tices of Lancaster a beadle, but it was specially provided
that his duties should be restricted to inflicting punish-
ment b}'- stripes on those whom the court should condemn
to the lash.*

There is no evidence to show that the free negroes of
the seventeenth century exhibited as a mass any degree
of thrift. It appears from the county records that the
largest proportion of them were employed under the pro-
visions of indentures similar to those by which the white
servants were bound. Their general lack of prosperity
was clearly revealed in the fact that one of the strongest
reasons which led to the passage of the famous law of
1699, requiring the exportation of every African freeman
within six months after he was emancipated, was that the
manumitted slaves became in their old age a charge upon

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 172.
^ Ibid., vol. IV, pp. 183, 131.

3 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1081-1099, p. 2, Va. State
Library.

* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1652-1657, p. 213.

SYSTEM OF LABOR 129

the country, as tliey were lacking in the means to support
themselves.^ It is also significant to note that the addi-
tional reason was advanced that the free negroes were
receivers of goods stolen either by the slaves or the white
servants from their masters. ^ Under the provisions of
this measure, which was really designed to discourage
emancipation, the planter who liberated a negro and
failed to send him out of the Colony was liable to a levy
on his property to the extent of ten pounds sterling, to be
employed in paying the expenses incurred in the freed-
man's transportation. If a surplus remained after these
expenses had been met, it was to be used by the church
wardens of the j)arish in which his former owner resided,
for the benefit of the poor. If the slave had been manu-
mitted by will, the heirs of the testator were exposed to
the same penalty for a failure to comply with the require-
ments of the statute. 2

We have already given a brief account of the Indian as
a servant. He also played a part of considerable impor-
tance in the Colony as a slave. He did not, however,
appear in this character until 1676, when it was decided
by the Assembly, which at that time was under the con-
trol of Bacon, to make legal the enslavement of all the
aborigines captured in war, under the definition of service
for life. In 1661, it had been expressly declared that no
Indian who had fallen into the hands of the whites should
be disposed of absolutely and permanently, and this pro-
vision, in conformity with all of the same kind previously

1 Heniiig's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 87.

2 See, in illustration of this fact, an instance preserved in the Records
of Nurthampton County, original vol. 1689-1()98, p. 463.

^ In 1698, Richard Trotter of York County, by the terms of his will,
emancipated two of his slaves, to whom he bequeathed fifteen pounds
sterling apiece, to meet the expense of their removal from the Colony.
Vol. 1694-1702, pp. 194, 195, Va. State Library.

VOL. II. K

130 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

established, had its origin in a desire to promote as far as
possible peaceful relations with the surrounding tribes. ^
As late as 1670, it was proclaimed that the youthful mem-
bers of these tribes, seized during the progress of war,
should not be held beyond their thirtieth year.^ It re-
mained for Bacon to adopt the rule that slavery for life
should be the lot of every Indian who should come into
the hands of the whites during the period of hostilities,
and the Government, after the insurrection was over, fol-
lowed the policy which he had inaugurated.^ The scope
of the principle was extended in 1682, by the passage of a
law permitting the holding in bondage of all Indians who
had been captured by tribes at peace with the Colony
and sold to the planters, or who had been brought into
the country from a distance by persons engaged in trade
with the people of Virginia. The regulations established
for the management of such slaves were practically the
same as those in operation for the control of the African.
They were brought within the scope of every measure
adopted for the protection of the negro slaves, and morally
as well as materially stood precisely upon the same foot-
ing in the view of the law. They were, however, valued
at somewhat lower rates.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 143.

^ Ibid., vol. II, p. 283. "if meu or woiueu, twelve years aud no
longer."

3/6iU,pp. 346, 440.

CHAPTER XII

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLAXTEE

To inquire into the origin of the planters of Virginia
in the seventeenth century would be to enter into a
domain which is more distinctly a part of social than
economic history. Such an inquiry was justified in the
case of servants because they bore the same practical
relation to the community as the ordinary beast of bur-
den, only tempered by their human intelligence, which
led to their receiving more conscientious treatment from
their masters. Nevertheless, even from an economic point
of view, it is important to know that the great body of
men who sued out patents to public lands in Virginia
were sprung from the portion of the English common-
wealth that was removed from the highest as well as
from the lowest ranks in the community, and which, while
in many instances sharing the blood of the noblest, yet as
a rule belonged to the classes engaged in the different pro-
fessions and trades, in short, to the workers in all of the
principal branches of English activity. With those power-
ful traditions animating them, the traditions of race and
nationality, blending with the traditions of special pursuits,
they had also that enterprising spirit which prompted
them to abandon home and country to make a lodgment
in the West. It is incorrect to infer that their position
in their native land was lacking in advantages because
they showed a willingness to emigrate. Of all the mod-
131

132 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ern races, the English have exhibited the most marked
disposition to establish colonies. Until the settlement of
Virginia, this disposition had had a latent existence only.
That region furnished it the earliest opportunity for its
display. The colony at Jamestown was the first swarm
which, issuing from the central hive in England, estab-
lished a permanent home abroad. Since the 13th of
May, 1607, how many swarms have gone forth from the
same hive, how vast a portion of the surface of the earth
has now been populated by the same race! The same
practical aspirations which in the present century have
led to the formation of so many English commonwealths
in the Australasian seas, influenced men of the same
manly and self-reliant stock to remove to Virginia. A
natural desire for an improved condition has been one of
the strongest impulses for that migration to the Western
World which began in the sixteenth century. This de-
sire was just as pronounced in the founders of the most
powerful families of the Colony in the seventeenth cen-
tury, men of honorable origin in England, as it was in
the humblest person who secured his passage thither by
selling his labor for a certain term to begin after his
arrival. In the hearts of both, there lingered that deep
love of their native land which moved them to speak of
it as "home" until their latest hour, and which was
transmitted to their descendants, although the latter per-
haps had never walked an English street or gazed upon
an English landscape. ^ This profound affection for the
mother country, a trait which is distinctive of the off-
shoots of all the great races, had a vast influence upon

1 The references to England as "home" are very numerous in the
county records. See, for instance, Beeords of Lancaster County, original
vol. 1690-1709, f. p. 3, where John Carter speaks of his crop "going
home," that is, to England.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 133

the whole system of affairs in Virginia. It shaped the
tone of its social institutions, moulded its political spirit,
and guided its religious thought, and but for the peculiar
conditions attending the culture of tobacco, would have
governed its agricultural development also. There was
one department of the economic life of the people in
which it could exhibit itself without any obstruction in
the local surroundings; this was the general appointments
of the household.

In the previous chapters, I have sought to give some
account of the different j^roperties which the planter held,
the slaves, the servants, the live stock, the estate in land.
I have now come to the description of his house, his
furniture, his utensils, his food, his drink, his dress, his
means of getting from place to place, and the kindred
economies of his daily existence. The only inference to
be drawn from the copious details furnished by the re-
corded inventories of the seventeenth century, is that the
members of the planting class, ranging from the high-
est to the lowest rank, were in the possession, in pro-
portion to their resources, of all those articles which in
that age were considered to be necessary to domestic com-
fort and convenience. Virginian homes in this period
did not differ in their interior arrangement from those
English homes that were owned by men of the same
fortune as the householders of the Colony. In one im-
portant respect only the Virginian residence fell short of
the English. This was in its construction. With a few
exceptions, the contents of the house were imported, and
were therefore equal in quality to the articles of the
same character in common use in the mother country.
The bedsteads, couches, chests, and looking-glasses of the
chamber; the tables, chairs, plates, knives, and cups of
the hall ; the spits, ladles, chafing-dishes, kettles, and

134 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

pots of the kitchen; the churns, cheese-presses, and pails
of the dairy, had been purchased in the same shops in
which the English householder had bought his supplies
of a similar nature. The Virginian residence, however,
was in its framework the product of local skill and labor.
The plank, the mortar, the brick, and the stone entering
into its composition had been obtained in the Colony, and
had been put together there. The tastes of the owner,
even if he desired to erect a dwelling-house which in
general appearance should resemble some one of those
belonging to the rural gentry of England, must have
remained ungratified on account of the great costliness
of securing both the materials and the mechanical skill
which were required. There had not been sufficient accu-
mulation of wealth in Virginia in the seventeenth cen-
tury to permit of large expenditure in building houses.
The outlay attending the importation from the mother
country of highly trained workmen and of special ma-
terials, would have imposed a burden difficult for even
the most affluent members of the planting class to bear.^

So far as information is to be derived from records,
there was no residence in the Colony in the seventeenth
century which could make any pretensions to beauty of
design. The homes even of the most prominent planters
were simple and plain. Brick seems to have entered only
to a limited extent into the construction of the dwellings.
It would appear that all bricks used in Virginia in
this century were manufactured there. As this material

1 So far as I have been able to discover, the first building materials
of any kind brought into Virginia from England in the course of the
seventeenth century were imported in 1607 for the use of George Percy.
In memoranda of the Ninth Earl of Northumberland, the following entry
is found : "To Mr. INIelshewe for many necessaries, which he delivered
to Mr. Percy toward building of a house in Virginia, 14s." See Brown's
Genesis of the United States, i^. 178.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 135

was in general use in England, it is not surprising to dis-
cover that there were bricklayers, who were also doubtless
brickmakers, in the band of settlers who arrived in 1607.
Among the artisans whom the Company sought to obtain
in 1609, with a view to their transportation to Jamestown,
there were four brickmakers, who quite probably were also
expected to serve as bricklayers. ^ Brickmakers and brick-
layers were advertised for on two occasions in 1610.2 It
cannot be stated with certainty whether these men Avere
dispatched to the Colony. No brickmakers are included
by name in the list of persons sent over with the Second
and Third Supplies. Dale reached Virginia in 1611, and
was probably accompanied by workingmen of this class, as
he mentions incidentally in his letter to the Council, written
in the year of his arrival, that one of the most important
tasks which the colonists had to perform was to manu-
facture bricks. 3 Kilns were certainly erected at Henrico
wdien that place was selected as the site of the new town
which he had determined to build. ^ The first story of
all the houses there, was constructed of brick made on the
spot by men who had been brought thither in comj)any
with spadesmen, carpenters, wood-choppers, and sawyers,
for this special purpose. It was the bricks manufactured
here which Whitaker, in his Good Newes from Virginia,
had in mind when he related that the colonists had, in
digging for bricks, come uj^on a red clay possessing the
most excellent qualities for this purpose.^ At this time,

1 A True and Sincere Declaration, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
p. 353. " I did visit . . . ould Short, the bricklayer," President Wingfield
records in his Discourse, 1607. See Works of Capt. John Smith, p. xc.

2 Broadside, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 356. Broadside,
Ibid., p. 439.

3 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 492.

* New Life of Virginia, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.
5 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 584. "If we digge any
depth (as wee have done for our bricks) wee finde it to be redde clay."

136 ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA

there were in the other settlements of Virginia no houses
built of this material even in part. Tlie various structures
at Jamestown and the cabins and cottages at Point Com-
fort were made of wood.

In 1617, brickmakers were again included in the list of
artisans whom it was sought to secure by publication of
broadsides. The college lands had now been laid off and
the college hall was to be erected. Brickmakers were to be
attached permanently to these lands. ^ It is to be inferred
that a certain number were brought over to the Colony
at the expense of the Company under the formal terms of
indentures, for the Governor and Council in Virginia were
directed some time later to hold the bricklayers who had
bound themselves by contract to build the college strictly
to the obligations of their agreement, in order that when
the time for the beginning of the construction of the house
was determined upon, there would be ready at hand the
requisite quantity of bricks. ^ The importation of these
brickmakers and the strictness with which they were held
to their covenants indicate how few were the members of
this class of workmen in the Colony. This is confirmed
by the request which William Capps made of the Com-
pany. In a letter addressed to the Deputy Treasurer in
1623, he declared his willingness to undertake the erection
of an inn at Elizabeth City and another at Jamestown,
provided that he was furnished with ten or twelve artisans,
including brickmakers, for the work.^ It is possible that
Capps had reason to expect that this number of artisans
would be detached from the public lands for the purpose

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 12.

2 Letter of Company to Governor and Council in Virginia, Xeill's
Virginia Company of London, p. 330.

^ Boyal Hist. 3ISS. Commission, Eighth Report, Appx., p. 39.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 137

of carrying his proposition into practical effect, bnt it
seems rather probable that he anticipated that the work-
men whom he asked for would be imported in a body
from England. That bricks, however, were numerous in
the Colony at this time, appears from the fact that Captain
Nuce cased the sides of his well with this material. It is
also stated that when the Indians on the day of the mas-
sacre, in 1622, attacked the home of Ralph Hamor, they
were driven off with brick-bats. ^ A still more striking
proof of this fact is that bricks now formed one of the
principal articles exported from Virginia to the Bermudas,
and there exchanged, along with aquavitie, oil, and sack,
for the fruits and plants, ducks, turkeys, and limestone of
that fertile island.^ There is nothing, however, to show
that when the letters patent of the Company were re-
voked in 1624, nearly a full generation after the settle-
ment of the country, there was a single house in the
Colony constructed entirely of brick, although brickmen
were sufficiently numerous to be made subject to a fixed
charge for their labor, that is to say, forty pounds of
tobacco for laying one thousand bricks.

Thirteen years after the dissolution of the Company,
Governor Wyatt was instructed to require every land-
owner whose plantation was au hundred acres in extent
to erect a dwelling-house of brick, to be twenty-four feet
in length and sixteeii feet in breadth, with a cellar attached.
In the cases in which the area of the grant exceeded five
hundred acres, the size of the dwelling-house was to be
enlarged in proportion. This order was a fair sample of
many received from the authorities in England who had
charge of the affairs of the Colony, showing either the
most complete ignorance of the conditions surrounding
the Virginians, or indift'erence to the obstacles standing
1 Works of Capt. John SiaUh, i>. oTG. 2 /^,yZ., p. G82.

138 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in the Avay of the enforcement of their commands. To
have compelled every planter to substitute brick for wood
in the construction of his residence would have been an
imposition of the most tyrannical nature. The instruction
was a nullity because it could not be put into operation.
The inconvenience as well as the expense of obtaining the
brick for several thousand widely separated estates would
have been intolerable even if it had been practicable.
Such an order at least indicates that brick was not very
much used in the construction of plantation residences.^
Secretary Kemp, writing to Secretary Windebank at this
time, asserted that the people of Virginia were now show-
ing a disposition to erect good houses, but this statement
probably had its origin in his desire to make the imj)res-
sion on the English Government that the order to build
towns, which had only recently been received, had had
a marked influence in leading the planters at large to
improve the architectural character of their homes. ^ It
is possible that Secretary Kemp had in mind Jamestown,
where some activity in building in compliance with the
Act of Assembly to promote the growth of that corpora-
tion was now displayed. In this year, the Secretary had
erected a brick residence there, which was described as
being the most substantial private dwelling-house in the
Colony. 3 It was perhaps the first structure entirely of

^ Instructions to Wyatt, 1638-39, British State Papers, Colonial Entry
Book, vol. 79, pp. 219, 23G ; Sainsbunj Abstracts for 1638, p. 46, Va.
State Library. This order was repeated in the instructions to Berkeley,
1641. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. II, p. 284.

2 Eichard Kemp to Secretary Windebank, British State Papers, Colo-
nial, vol. IX, No. 96 ; Sainshury Abstracts for 1638, p. 7, Va. State
Library.

3 Letter of Governor and Council in Virginia, Jan. 18, 1639, British
State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 5 ; McDonald Papers, vol. II, p. 248,
Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 139

brick ever built in Virginia. No account of its exte-
rior shape or the division of its apartments has survived ;
it was doubtless devoid of architectural pretensions, a
square unadorned residence which was not even imposing
in size. A number of brick houses were now erected at
Jamestown, and if the facilities for securing brick exist-
ing there had been extended to the planters at large,
it would probably have promoted the use of this material
in the construction of their homes. It is not surprising
to find that when Berkeley built a residence at Green
Spring, distant about two miles from Jamestown, he
employed brick in its construction. He was doubtless
anxious to set an example which might be followed by
the landowners in general. This house had the wide
hall characteristic of all the larger dwellings in Virginia
at this time, and only six rooms, showing that it was a
structure of moderate proportions. The wideness of the
hall was for the purpose of obtaining the fullest ventila-
tion, the climate of this part of the Colony in the warm
season being oppressive and unwholesome. ^

It is quite certain that brick was used very generally in
the construction of chimneys before the middle of the cen-
tury. Being made on the ground or brought by water
from the nearest kiln, the small quantity which each
planter required did not put him to serious expense in
the transportation. The absence of stone in all parts of the
Peninsula was one of the most remarkable features of the
country. There were no local quarries from which mate-
rial for chimneys could be obtained. It is not likely that
wooden cross-pieces daubed with mud would have afforded

1 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 204. There were doubtless out-build-
ings. Berkeley also owned three brick houses in Jamestown, as we learn
from a deed bearing date March, 1654—55. He sold one of these houses
afterwards to Richard Bennett. See Ileuing's b'tatutes, vol. I, p. 407.

140 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

permanent satisfaction. The author of the New De-
scription of Virginia^ which was perhaps written about
forty years after the foundation of Jamestown, asserts that
the people were in possession of a store of brick at that
time, and that both houses and chimneys were constructed
of this material.^ The correctness of this statement is
proved at least by one instance, evidence of which has
survived in the records of Surry County ; it is there re-
lated that about 1652, Mr. Thomas Warren owned a resi-
dence of brick sixty feet in length. ^ Under the terms of
the Cohabitation Act of 1662, it was provided that thirty
brick houses should be erected at Jamestown, the brick-
makers and bricklaj^ers employed in this work to be ob-
tained from different parts of the Colony. No difficulty in
securing the number required seems to have been antici-
pated.^ From the middle to the end of the century, the
number of brickmakers steadily increased. Some were
men of considerable property. Thus in 1682, John
Robert of Lower Norfolk bought of George Newton two
hundred acres of land, for which he gave sixteen thousand
pounds of tobacco. In the following year, he appointed
Joseph Knott his attorney to collect the sums due him in
different counties.* John Kingston of York was also a
brickmaker in possession of a good estate ; among those

1 New Description of Virginia, p. 7, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.
Bullock, writing about this time, says : " The soil (of Virginia) is a rich
black mould for two feet deep, and under it a loam of which they make a
fine brick," p. 3. He advised the planters to build their houses of this
material. Bullock's Virginia, p. 61.

2 Becords of Surry County, vol. 1671-1684, p. 254, Va.' State Library.
One of the rooms in the house of Captain Robert Spencer of the same
county was known as the " Brick Room." Ibid., vol. 1G71-1G84, p. 451,
Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 172.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. pp. 137,
150.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 141

indebted to him for work which lie had done in the course
of his trade was Robert Booth, whose inventory showed
an account in Kingston's favor of seven pounds ster-
ling. ^ Edwin Malin, also of York, was the owner of a
plantation, having on one occasion purchased fifty acres. ^
Thomas Meders of Lancaster held landed property in
White Chapel parish in that county.^ Richard Burk of
Rappahannock and Robert Wiggins and Thomas Wade
of Northampton were also men of considerable means.*
John Franklin of Accomac in 1681 bought a single tract
that covered five hundred and fifty acres. ^

Many of the brickmakers were indented servants who
had been imported by the planters. Such was William
Eale of Elizabeth River, who for a certain term belonged
to John Townes, by whom he was occasionally hired out.^
Eale had come from Barbadoes. John Talbott had been
brought in by Richard Willis of Middlesex.'' Among the

1 Becorcls of York County, vol. 1690-1694, pp. 180, 366, Va. State
Library. Kingston, it seems, had been imported under articles of inden-
ture by John Forrest. See lUd., vol. 1687-1691, p. 170.

2 Ibid., vol. 1675-1684, p. 42.3, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1687-1700, p. 12.

*^ Becords of Bappahannoclc County, vol. 1G77-1682, p. 164, Va. State
Library; Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1674-1679, p. 164 ;
Ibid., original vol. 1689-1098, p. 391.

^ Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1676-1690, p. 275.

6 " Agreed between Captain Francis Yeardley of Lynhaven and John
Townes of Elizabeth Eiver that William Eale, bricklayer and servant to
Mr. Townes, shall well and substantially plaster, white lime . . . over
ye ... ye yellow ro'om, kitchen and ye chamber over ye kitchen, and
likewise repair all ye rest of ye rooms and chambers in ye house at Lyn-
haven ; likewise repair all ye brick work about the dwelling house at
Kecaughtan." Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1651,
f. p. 186.

" Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1680-1694, orders Dec. 5,
1692. Among those who fled to New England after tlie suppression of
Bacon's insurrection was William Mason, bricklayer. Neill's Virginia
Carolorum, p. 376, note.

142 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

planters owning brickkilns was William Sargent of Rjip-
paliannock.i Many were in possession of large quanti-
ties of brick manufactured either by their own servants
or by transient laborers. The inventory of the Croshaw
estate, situated in York, which was entered in court in
1668, included one thousand. ^ A large lot of the same
material formed a part of the estate of William Heslett of
Lower Norfolk. ^ Mr. Robert Booth of York left at his
death twenty-three thousand bricks, valued at one hun-
dred and eighty-four shillings,* a decline of nearly fifty
per cent in comparison with the price in 1668, when
they sold for fifteen shillings. It is improbable that when
bricks were rated at eight shillings a thousand in Virginia,
planters would have been led to import them from Eng-
land, where, between 1650 and 1700, they could not be
purchased for less than eighteen shillings and eight and
one-quarter pence. ^ The difference in price was rendered
still greater by the charges for transportation across the
ocean.

In the closing years of the century, brick was so com-
mon that it was used in supporting the marble slabs of
tombs. In his will, Francis Page of York provided for
the erection of a brick structure over his grave of equal
height with the tombs, also of brick, covering the re-
mains of his father and mother.^ No information has

1 liecords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 10, Va. State
Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 401, Va. State Library.
As early as 1646, a lot of bricks in possession of Henry Brooke were
attached by Nicholas Brooke. See Becords of York County, vol. 1638-
1648, p. 171, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 121.

4 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 179, Va. State Library.

5 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 5-32.

6 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 169, Va. State Library.

DOiNIESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 143

survived as to the material entering into his residence. It
is learned from his will that several buildings on his plan-
tation, including his malt-house and a barn, were con-
structed of brick;! and the probability is that the house
in which he lived was also made of that material. There
was a brick house standing on the Juxon plantation in
York.2 William Fitzhugh, who was very careful in his
management, was content to confine the brickwork of
his buildings to the chimneys. In a letter bearing the
date of 1686, he mentions that all the dwellings on his
plantation were furnished with chimneys of brick, and
there is little reason to doubt that the same influences
governing him, shajied the action in this respect of other
planters of equal prominence.^

Defective workmanship in the construction of chimneys
of brick grew to be a frequent cause of dispute. In 1674,
Captain Philip Lightfoot entered suit against Mr. Ralph
Deane on the ground that he had sustained serious injury
from the negligent manner in which the lattei- had per-
formed his contract in building the brick chimneys which
he had agreed to erect.* The use of the same material in
the construction of the whole dwelling-house had not be-
come common among the planters of Virginia as late as
the administration of Spotswood, the erection of brick
residences by several prominent landowners in the early
part of the eighteenth century having been noted by Bever-
ley as a fact of importance, perhaps because exceptional.^
He states that these houses had numerous rooms on a
floor, indicating that they were larger in size than the

1 Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 170, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., vol. 1G84-1687, pp. 32, 33.

3 Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686.
* liecords of the General Court, p. 176.

^ Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 235.

144 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

brick dwellings in the previous century, wliicli had been
built by Kemp and Berkeley at Jamestown.

In addition to the brick residences in Virginia in the
seventeenth century, there were some public buildings
constructed of this material. By contract with the Colo-
nial Government, Theophilus Hone, Mathew Page, and
William Drummond agreed to raise a fort at Jamestown,
to have a frontage of brick extending at least one hun-
dred and fifty feet.^ After some delay, this fort was built.
When Clayton visited the Colony, he found that the
structure had been erected in the shape of a half -moon. 2
In the latter part of the century, there was a large house
of public entertainment in New Kent known as the Brick
House. 2 Some of the county court-houses besides the
one at Jamestown were constructed of this material ; the
court-house in Gloucester was built of brick,* and so was
that in Middlesex.^

1 Becords of General Court, p. 149.

2 Clayton's Virginia, pp. 2.3, 24, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

3 James Elcock, in enumerating his expenses in recovering two run-
away servants, includes the cost of a pottle of beer vphich he had bought
at the Brick House. Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 501,
Va. State Library. ^

* Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, orders Feb. 2,
1684. It is incidentally mentioned in this reference that the Gloucester
court-house building was of brick, the order providing for the erection of
the Middlesex court-house requiring that it should be at least of "equal
goodness and dimensions as ye brick court-house lately built in Gloucester
county."

5 Becords of Middlesex Coxmty, original vol. 1680-1694, orders Nov. 14,
1692. The order for building of brick was dated Feb. 2, 1684. I have
not been able to find any record showing that the original order requiring
this court-house to be of this material was carried out. The flooring
alone of the court-house in York County seems to have been of brick.
In this brief enumeration of public buildings in the Colony constructed
of brick, I have designedly omitted all reference to the churches that
were made of this material, some of which, like the one standing in
Middle Plantation parish, that cost £800, had caused a considerable

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 145

It was entirely natural that the dwellings of the planters
of Virginia in the seventeenth century should, in general,
have been made of wood. The difficulty of obtaining
bricks in the necessary quantities unless the planter had
a kiln of his own, which was only possible in the case of
wealthy landoAvners, has already been pointed out. The
finest timber, on the other hand, was extremely abundant ;
oak, elm, ash, chestnut, pine, cypress, cedar, hickory, all
were to be found in the native forests. The site of every
home was overshadowed by trees of extraordinary height
and girth, and even in the rudest period, axes, frows, and
saws were near at hand to convert the trunks of these
trees into rough planks and boards. In this profusion
of timber, Virginia differed essentially from the mother
country. Stone, brick, and slate were the principal mate-
rials employed in building in England, because the area
in forests was so small. At the end of the seventeenth
century, there were only three million acres in woods and
coppices in England,^ and in the early decades their extent
was not much greater, a steady drain upon these resources
being kept up in supplying fuel for iron and glass manu-
facture. The use of wood in English houses, owing to
its dearness, seems to have been practically confined to
laths, beams, floors, stairways, and wainscoting. Every
consideration of cheapness and convenience compelled the
planter in Virginia to construct every part of his house,
except the chimney, of wood, an exception being only
made in the case of the chimney, because this part of the
building would not endure permanently if constructed

outlay. [Colonial Entry Book, No. 82, pp. 172, 174 ; S'ainsbnry Abstmrts
for 1683, p. 31, Va. State Library.] Some description of these brick
churches can with more propriety be given in an account of the state of
the Church in "Virginia in the seventeenth century.

1 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 529.

VOL. II. — I,

146 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

only of mud and sticks. The nnsiglitliness of sucli mate-
rials was doubtless another element of objection.

There are many indications that the planters who owned
large estates were in possession of a great abundance of
plank. John Smyth of York left fifteen hundred feet,i
and John Andrews of Accomac eighteen hundred. ^ The
estate of Henry Jenkins of Elizabeth City was indebted
to Pascho Curie to the extent of four thousand and tw^enty-
nine feet.^ In some cases, it was the consideration in the
sale of land.^ An attachment against it in the hands of
a debtor was a common process. Dressed timber was
known by its width in inches. The feather-edged plank
was in general use in building, and formed a valuable
part of the estates of planters.^ On one occasion, one
hundred and thirty feet of dressed timber were sold in
York for ten shillings,^ and on another, two hundred feet
were appraised at twelve shillings. In Elizabeth City
County, several thousand feet were disposed of at the
rate of three pounds sterling a thousand, this being the
average price in this part of the Colony towards the end
of the century."

During a long period, the colonist could only procure
nails at a considerable expense because they shared the
costliness of all articles manufactured of iron. So valu-
able were they, indeed, that the smaller landowners, in
deserting their homes with a view to making a settlement
elsewhere on more fertile soil, were in the habit of burn-

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, p. 419, Va. State Library.

2 Becords nf Accomac County, original vol. 1666-1670, p. 23.

3 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 174, Va. State
Library.

4 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 385, Va. State Library.

5 Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 66, Va. State Library.

6 Ibid., vol. 1690-1694, p. 268.

■^ Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 181, Va. State
Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 147

in Of their cabins when abandoned, in order to secure the
nails by which the planks were held together, and so
general did this habit become, that in 1644-45 it was pro-
vided by law, as a means of destroying the motive for set-
ting the houses on fire, that each planter, when he gave up
his dwelling, should be allowed, at public expense, as many
nails as two impartial men should calculate to be in the
frame of the deserted residence-^ All these articles in use
had been imported. Large quantities frequently formed
a part of the estate of the landowner. Thus the in-
ventory of the personalty of Francis Mathews, in 1675,
showed him to have been in possession of seven thousand
eight-penny, nine thousand six-penny, five thousand four-
penny, and two thousand ten-penny nails. ^ John Carter
of Lancaster left, as a part of his estate, over seven thou-
sand eight-penny, twelve thousand two hundred and thirty-
three ten-penny, and nearly five thousand twenty -penny
nails. ^ Fitzhugh, in ordering nails from his merchant in
London, would give directions that several thousand of
different kinds should be sent to him at one time,*

It is quite probable that for a number of years after the
foundation of Jamestown, neither plank nor nails entered
into the construction of a majority of the houses in which
the colonists lived. Undressed logs were doubtless the
material principally in use. George Sandys, in a letter to
a member of the Council in 1623, expressed the opinion
that the only advantage which resulted from the massacre
in the previous year was that it had compelled the planters
to draw into narrower limits and to live more closel}'
together, the continuation of which would inevitably lead

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 291.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 130, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 32.
* Letters of William Fitzhugh, May 11, 1697.

148 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

them to build framed dwellings. ^ Wliitaker had already
set the example. 2 Sandys probably anticipated that a
concentration of the population would diminish the ex-
pense of securing plank, not only by 23romoting the estab-
lishment of saw-mills, but also by reducing the expenses
of transportation. As it was, the plantations soon again
became too widely dispersed to justify the erection in con-
venient numbers of mills of this character, and it grew to
be almost as expensive to procure finished plank as it was to
obtain bricks. Governor Butler, who visited Jamestown
and its vicinity not long after the massacre, declared in
his pamphlet Virginia Unmasked, that the houses of the
people were the "worst in the world," and that the most
wretched cottages in England were equal, if not superior,
in appearance and comfort, to the finest dwellings in the
Colony.^ No doubt this statement was substantially cor-
rect, although it was made in a sinister spirit. The houses
were mean in the beginning, and in the damp climate of
Virginia, easily fell into decay unless carefully repaired.
The Governor and Council, replying to the strictures of
Butler, while they acknowledged that the dwellings which
had been erected had been built for use and not for orna-
ment, asserted that those occupied by workingmen, which
the great majority of the inhabitants professed themselves
to be, excelled the homes of the same class in the rest of
the English dominions. The houses in which persons of
quality resided had many points of advantage over the
cottages and cabins of the laborers, and no criticisms of
importance could be justly passed upon them in the light
of the surrounding circumstances.*

1 George Sandys to Samuel Wrote, Neill's Virginia Vetusta, p. 124.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 510.

3 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Companu of London, vol. II,
p. 171.

* Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II,

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 149

The framed liouse which Sandys was anxious for the
planters to substitute for the log cabin was gradually in-
troduced as the population increased. When Abraham
Piersey died in 1632, he was the wealthiest resident of
the Colony. In his will, he directed that his body should
be interred in the garden in which his new framed house
had been erected. This house was perhaps designed as
his own residence,^ William Fitzhugh, a man of large
means, occupied a dwelling into the construction of which
it is probable that not a brick entered, Avith the exception
of the chimneys and possibly the foundation. ^ Wlien
Nicholas Hayward decided to establish one of his chil-
dren in Virginia, he received a letter from Fitzhugh giving
valuable information as to the course pursued by many of
the planters in building. According to this writer, the
most judicious plan to follow was to import carpenters and
bricklayers from England who were bound by indenture
to serve for a period of four or five years. In this length
of time, they would be able to raise a substantial house
without constructing the walls of brick, and also, by the
performance of other tasks, to earn sufficient to meet the
cost of the planks and nails and the additional materials,
as well as to make good the outlay for their own food and
clothing. Fitzhugh strongly advised against a large dwell-
ing, and was doubtful even as to the wisdom of budding
an English framed house of the ordinary size, the charges
for skilled labor being excessively dear, although there

p. 178. Some of the residences in tlie Colony at this time had been
erected at very considerable expense. In a petition offered to the King,
in 1622, by Adam Dixon, he states that he and a companion had built a
house at a cost of £100. A house erected by William Julian had caused
an expenditure of £30. Abstracts of Proceedings of Virginia Company
of London, vol. I, pp. 189, 190.

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 5, T.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Jan. 30, 1686-1(387.

150 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

was no serious expense in obtaining timber. ^ He stated
that in constructing his residence, he Avas compelled to
pay out three times the amount which would have been
required in the case of a house of the same proportions in
London, where all the materials used had to be bought.
In Virginia, it was necessary to allow three times the
length of time that would have been taken to complete the
same work in that city. The Fitzhugh dwelling, like so
many of the houses in the Colony at this and in a later age,
was doubtless in a measure the result of several additions
at different periods as the wants of a growing family de-
manded, a room being joined to this wing or to that as con-
venience suggested. Many of the residences illustrated
in the variety of their material the evolution through which
so many of the planters' mansions had passed ; first the log
house, then the framed, and finally the brick addition or
the substitution of brick for the wood of which the central
portion of the dwelling was made. It is an indication of
how little attention was paid to the architectural effect
of these additions that Bullock advised that the orig-
inal residence should be built in such a manner that its
extension in wings would not cause a defacement.^ The
simplicity of the houses in which many persons of good
position lived is shown in a reference of Fitzhugh to the
residence erected by a brother of Hayward ; it was as
devoid of architectural beauty as a barn, which it must
have resembled exactly, as it is described by Fitzhugh as
lacking both chimneys and partitions.^

1 Culpeper, writing in 1682, dwells upon the same fact. See Instruc-
tions, 1681-1682. Culpeper's Reply to § 48, McDonald Papers, vol. VI,
p. 147, Va. State Library.

2 Bullock's Virginia, 'p. 61. The references to the "New Room" in
the inventories are very frequent.

3 Letters of William Fitzlmrjh, Jan. 30, 1686-1687. Fitzhugh probably
intended to say that this house was lacking in substantial chimneys. It
may have been in an unfinished state.

DOMESTIC ECOXOMY OF THE PLANTER 151

Unpretentious as most of tlie houses in the Colony were
in the seventeenth century, it is found that there is not
infrequent use in different records of the expression the
" Great House," which was so familiar among the negroes
in later times, when the planters had accumulated large
wealth and exhausted much of it in erecting residences of
fine proportions. When James Knott, in 1632, leased a
part of the public lands laid off in Elizabeth City by the
Company some years before its dissolution, he obtained the
privilege of holding not only the fifty acres included in
the temporary grant, but also the house standing upon
the tract and " commonly called the Great House." ^ It is
evident from this that the expression did not have its ori-
gin with the slaves, but was probably transmitted from
England. That it was in use, was no certain evidence
that many large mansions were to be found in the Colony,
since it was relative in its significance. There were also
references to the planter's residence as the " Manor House."

The typical dwelling of Virginia in the seventeenth
century — and innumerable examples of the same kind
have survived to the present day — was a framed building
of moderate size with a chimney at each end. The early
records of the eastern counties show the manner in which
these houses were erected, and the outlay their construc-
tion entailed. Reference by way of illustration may be
made to a few instances which have thus been preserved.
In 1679, Major Thomas Chamberlayne, one of the most
prominent citizens of Henrico, entered into an agreement
with James Gates, a carpenter of the same county, by the
terms of which. Gates was required to prepare the frame
of a house that was to be forty feet in length and twenty

1 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1G23-1643, p. 133. The residence of Mr.
Sparks in Lancaster is also described in the records of that county as the
" Great House." See original vol. 1690-1709, pp. 19, 20.

152 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in width. He was to put the different jjarts of this frame
together on the spot selected as the site of the proposed
dwelling, and then cover the sides with boards and place
a roof on the top. There was to be no cellar, the house
being supported by sills resting on the ground. A chim-
ney was to be constructed at either end. The upper and
lower floors were to be divided respectively into two rooms
by wooden partitions. The joists and posts were to be
squared by a line. In consideration of the satisfactory
performance by Gates of the provisions of this agree-
ment, Chamberlayne bound himself to pay twelve hundred
pounds of tobacco in cask. The house was to be finished
in seven months.^

In 1695, Robert Sharpe contracted to pay John Hud-
lesy, both being citizens of Henrico, twenty-two hundred
pounds of tobacco in consideration that Hudlesy would
build for him a framed house, thirty feet long and twenty
feet wide, having a chimney at each end. Sharpe was to
furnish the boards and shingles, and Hudlesy the nails
and timbers, the latter during the performance of the
agreement being required to supply his own food.^

Robert Stevens of Middlesex bound himself to erect for
Thomas Hill a house forty feet in length in consideration
of the payment of nine pounds sterling. ^

Under the terms of a contract between the executors
of William Pry or and Richard Bernard of York County,
the latter in leasing the Pryor estate was required, in
addition to paying the taxes, to build what was described
as a sufficient dwelling-house, that is to say, a house

1 Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1G92, p. 88, Va. State Li-
brary.

2 Ibid., vol. 1677-1699, orders Oct. 1, 1G9.3, Va. State Library.

^ Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1G80-1694, p. 53 ; see also
Ihid., original vol. 1673-1685, f. p. 17.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 153

forty feet in length and eighteen or twenty in breadth. i
Christopher Branch of Henrico County, a planter in com-
fortable circumstances, who died in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, gave directions in his will that there
should be erected for his son a residence twenty feet long
and sixteen wide, and for his grandson a dwelling to be
made up of four series of boards five feet from end to end.
The house in which he himself lived was twenty feet in
length and fifteen in width. ^ Richard Ward of Henrico
left instructions that a dwelling twenty feet wide and
thirty feet long should be built for his son. Five chim-
neys were to be erected.^

It is quite probable that the residences of the ministers
represented the average dimensions of the dwelling-houses
in Virginia at this period of colonial history. In 1635,
there was erected in one of the parishes of the Eastern
Shore a wooden parsonage, forty feet in width, eighteen
feet in depth, and nine feet in the valley. A chimney was
raised at each end. An apartment was attached to the
main structure on either side, one being used as a study,
the other as a buttery.'*

The number of rooms in the dwelling-house of this
century varied with the size of the structure ; thus the resi-
dence of Governor Berkeley at Green Spring was divided
into six apartments, while that of William Fitzhugh con-
tained twelve or thirteen. The Stratton dwelling-house
in Henrico had three chambers above and one below stairs,
a hall, kitchen, and pantry. The kitchen was probably

1 Eecords of York County, vol, 1C38-1648, p. 318, Va. State Library.

2 Eecords of Henrico County, vol. 1077-1692, p. 209 ; Ihid., original
vol. 1697-1704, pp. 192, 195.

3 Sometimes the specifications called for one inside and one outside
chimney. Eecords of York County, vol. 1091-1701, p. 205, Va. State
Library.

* Eecords of Accomac County, vol 10:32-1640, p. 43, Va. State Library.

154 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

detached. In the Osborne residence, the rooms on the
lower floor are described as the "best," the " outward," and
the "lodging;" on the upper floor, there were only two
apartments, the "best room" and the "north room." The
kitchen was under a different roof. The Farrar dwelling-
house contained a hall, an inner and an outer chamber,
and a shed. The dairy and kitchen were also referred to,
but they were probably in separate buildings. ^

In some of the houses in York County, a hall or dining-
room, a chamber and a kitchen, only were to be found.
These dwellings either did not rise above one story or they
spread out beyond the main structure. In others, the
term "parlor" is substituted in the inventories for chamber
in enumerating the suite of rooms. In others still, there
were the new room, the inner room, the little chamber, or
the little room opposite the stairs, the hall, the chamber
over the parlor, the parlor, the shed, and the kitchen. In
all of these cases, the kitchen was either attached to the
main building or stood entirely by itself.

The apartments in the house of Colonel Thomas Lud-
low, a planter of wealth, who lived about the middle of the
century, consisted of an inner room, a small middle room,
a chamber, hall, buttery, kitchen, milk-house, and store.
Mathew Hubbard was also the owner of very valuable
property. His home contained a parlor and hall, a hall
and parlor chamber, a kitchen and buttery. Edward
Lockey of the same county was a merchant who had
acquired a considerable estate both by his own thrift and
by his marriage with a widow who had received a fortune
under the will of her first husband. His dwelling-house
was probably as large as that of any man in the Colony in

1 Becords of Henrico County, Stratton, original vol. 1697-1704, p. 137 ;
Osborne, vol. 1G88-1697, p. 351 ; Farrar, vol. 1082-1701, p. 9, Va. State
Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 155

possession of the same means; it contained only seven
apartments, the chamber over the hall, the small room
situated in the rear of the chamber, the room over the
chamber, which was probably of very small dimensions, as
a bed and couch formed its only furniture, the hall, which
was situated on the ground floor, the middle room, the
porch chamber, and the kitchen. There was in addition a
dairy. Edmund Cobbs of York, who was the owner of six
negro slaves, forty-eight head of cattle, thirty-two sheep,
fifteen head of hogs, three cart and three saddle horses,
resided in a house containing a hall and kitchen on the
lower floor and one room above stairs. ^

The division of rooms in the houses of Mrs. Elizabeth
Digges and Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., of York, represents
very probably the average number in the homes of the
wealthiest members of the planting class in this county
at the end of the century. The different names given
to many of these apartments recall a contemporaneous
custom of English housekeepers Avhich has descended to
the latest generation of Virginians. There were in the
residence of Mrs. Digges, the yellow room, the red room,
and the hall parlor ; there was a large room opposite the
yellow room, which was probably the chamber of the
master and the mistress, while back of this, a small room
was situated. Above the floor on which these apartments
were found, there was a garret with a room attached, while
below there was a cellar. ^

The residence of Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., contained the old
and the new hall, an inner room over the hall, an outer room,
an upper chamber, the chamber of Mrs. Bacon and a cham-
ber above it, a kitchen, dairy, and storeroom. Colonel

1 Becords of York County, Ludlow, vol. 1657-1662, p. 275 ; Hubbard,
vol. 1604-1672, p. 464 ; Cobbs, vol. 1690-1694, p. 333, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., vol. 1690-1094, p. 213, Va. State Library.

156 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Bacon was one of the largest i^roperty holders in Virginia.^
Rosegill in ^Middlesex, the home of Ralph Wormeley, Pres-
ident of the Council and Secretary of the Colony, a man
whose personal estate was appraised at nearly three thou-
sand pounds sterling, equal in value to sixty thousand
dollars, contained a parlor with a chamber overhead, a
chamber with a second chamber above it, an old and new
nursery, the lady's chamber with a chamber overliead, an
entry, two closets, and a storeroom. Apparently detached
from the house, there were a kitchen and dairy, two
stories in height. ^

Robert Beverley, who died in 1687, was a planter of
still more valuable estate, but his residence was of much
less pretension in size and appointments. Its ai3artments
included the chamber in which Major Beverley slept,
a second chamber overhead, a porch and hall chamber,
a dairy and kitchen and the overseer's room. Richard
Willis of Middlesex was also a man of wealth. His
house, which had received several additions from time to
time, contained eight rooms and one closet, with a kitchen
and dairy attached. There were six rooms, a kitchen, and
two closets in the residence of Corbin Grithn of the same
county.^

The residence of William Fauntleroy of Rappahannock,
one of the principal landowners in that part of Virginia,
contained a hall chamber with a second chamber overhead,
a porch chamber, a hall, closet, and kitchen. * Thomas
Willoughby, a wealthy planter of Lower Norfolk County,

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, p. 261, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 113 ; see
also William and Mary Quarterly, January, 1894, p. 170.

3 Becords of Middlesex County, Beverley inventory on file, 1687 ; Willis,
original vol. 1698-1718, p. 68 ; Griffin, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 134.

* Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 108, Va. State
Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 157

resided in a house which was made up of a hall and parlor,
a porch chamber, two additional chambers known respec-
tively as the green and the red, over which there were
two garrets, a chamber which Mrs. Willoughby used and
which had a loft above it, a kitchen, meal-room, and
cellar, a dairy, quartering-room, and shed. The dw^elling
of Adam Thoroughgood, who died in 1686, had fewer
apartments. They included three chambers, a hall and
parlor, a kitchen and cellar. Apparently, it was of one
story. The house of Cornelius Lloyd, whose personal
estate was valued at 131,044 pounds of tobacco, con-
tained a chamber and hall, a kitchen, with a loft and a
dairy. The residence of Adam Keeling was distinguished
for seven rooms, including two sheds, a kitchen, and a
buttery. In the dwelling of Captain John Sibsey, there
were, besides a quartering-room and dairy, a parlor hall
and chamber. The home of Francis Emperor contained
three rooms in addition to a shed, dairy, and kitchen.
These planters were the leading citizens of Lower Nor-
folk County. 1

In the house of Southey Littleton of Accomac there
were a parlor chamber, a porch chamber, a hall chamber,
a hall, two garrets, a little room over the kitchen, the
kitchen and the dairy.^ The residence of Argoll Yeardley
of Northampton contained a hall chamber, a hall, a parlor
chamber, two small chambers next to the parlor, with a
dairy and kitchen, probably detached. ^

The partitions of the plantation dwelling-house w^ere

1 Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, Willoughby, original vol. 1666-
1675, p. 125 ; Thoroughgood, original vol. 1675-1686, p. 223 ; Lloyd,
original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 168 ; Keeling, original vol. 1675-1686, f . p. 168 ;
Sibsey, original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 5-4 ; Emperor, original vol. 1656-
1666, p. 346.

'^ Eecords of Accomac County, original vol. 1676-1690, p. 293c

2 Mecords of Northampton County, original vol. 1654-1655, f. p. 117.

158 ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA

first covered with a thick Layer of tenacious mud and then
whitewashed.! Lime was made in large quantities with
ease, on account of the masses of oyster shells to be found
in the soil or in the rivers. ^ Bullock remarked on the
excellence of this material in Virginia, its suj^eriority to
the like in use in the mother country being due to the fact
that English lime was manufactured from chalk and was
in consequence thin and less enduring. ^ In some cases,
the walls were scaled with riven boards and the partitions
lined with wainscoting. This was observed in the house
of Colonel Daniel Parke of York.* The room of the Secre-
tary of State at Jamestown was ceiled with sawn boards
which had been planed until they were perfectly smooth.^
The roofing of the houses was made of shingle, which
was a square oblong piece of cypress or pine wood. There
was some attempt to manufacture tile, but when used,
it proved to be defective.^ In the Cohabitation Act of
1662, it was provided that the roofs of the brick houses

1 Leah and Rachel, p. 18, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 New Description of Virginia, p. 7, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.
See also Glover, in Pliilo. Trans. Boyal Soc, 1676-1678, vol. XI-XII,
p. 635.

3 Bullock's Virginia, p. 3.

4 4t Whereas Mr. Robert Whitehaire, attorney of Mr. Richard, execuf
of Mr. Robert Bourne, arrested to this court, Mr. Henry White concern-
ing the furnishing and completing of his dwelling-house, as the house of
Capt. Daniel Parke then was, and it being referred to the oath of the said
"White to declare what he was to doe thereto, and he on oath declares that
he was to scale the upper rooms with riven boards, to make a wainscot
partition between the two rooms and a wainscot ... on the stair head
and to put banisters into the stairs, for which said work when finished,
the said Bourne was to pay him 666 lbs. of tobacco at Aid. per lb."
Beconls of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 71, Va. State Library.

5 Order of Governor and Council, Oct. 8, 1685, McDonald Papers,
vol. VII, p. 386, Va. State Library.

•5 New Description of Virginia, p. 7, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II ;
Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 235.

DOMESTIC ECOXO.MY OF THE PLANTER 159

to be erected at Jamestown should be covered with this
material ; ^ this constituted probably the greater quantity
in Virginia during the latter part of the century, although
it was said of the storm which occurred in 168-1 that a
large proportion of the damage which it inflicted consisted
in the destruction of the tile roofs by the hail. No slate
seems to have been employed, although, as the line of settle-
ments spread, quarries of this formation were discovered.
The cost of its transportation would have excluded it, even
if the violent winds of Virginia had not rendered its use
inadvisable. Cypress shingles were not only remarkable
for the lengtli of time during which they would last in a
state of absolute exposure to every sort of weather, but
they could be procured at a comparatively small expense,
a consideration of supreme importance. The demand for
this roofing was always steady. Among the fines imposed
upon some of the persons implicated in the insurrection of
Bacon was one of ten thousand shingles. ^

The windows of the houses were doubtless in many
cases merely sliding panels; in all homes of any pretension,
however, glass panes were in use.^ In 1684, Colonel Byrd
transmitted an order to his London merchant to send him
four hundred feet of glass with drawn lead and solder in
proportion, but a part of this was probably designed for
sale in the Colony.* Fitzhugh gave similar instructions

1 Hening's Statutes^ vol. II, p. 172. The order was "slate or tile."

2 Petition of John Johnson, British State Papers, Colonial Papers;
Sninshury Abstracts for 1677, p. 6, Va. State Library.

3 Leah and Eachel, p. 18, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III. " In the
difference between Mr. Thomas Ballard, Jr., assignee of Col. Thomas
Ballard and Jeremiah Wing, it is ordered that the said Wing doth forth-
with perform and finish the glazing work he was to do, otherwise exe-
cution for forty shillings to issue against him." Becords of York County,
vol. 1G84-1687, p. 157, Va. State Library. See also Becords of Lower
Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-165(5, f. p. 1.

* Letters of William Byrd, June 21, 1684.

IGO ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to his correspondent in England. Boxes of this material
formed not infrequently a portion of the estate of deceased
planters.^ In the county levies, provision was made for
the purchase of glass for the court-houses, and glaziers
were paid at the rate of fifty pounds of tobacco to put it
in place. 2 Some of these mechanics were so prosperous
that they were able to acquire large tracts of land by
patent. There are references in the inventories to cross
garnets for windows. In a climate like that of Virginia,
in which hail-storms and tempests arose so suddenly and
prevailed with such violence, it was necessary to protect
the glass panes with strong shutters; these shutters and
the body of the house were in many instances allowed to
remain unpainted, but this was not the case in general. ^
The example of Fitzhugh was doubtless followed by every
other planter in the enjoyment of easy circumstances ; on
one occasion alone he is found importing a large quantity
of colors, with walnut and linseed oil, brushes, and half a
dozen suits of the three-quarter cloth in which the house
painters of this age pursued their trade.

The surroundings of the planter's residence were plain
and simple. The yard, as it was called, consisted of open
ground, overshadowed here and there by trees. In the
immediate vicinity of the house was situated the garden,
devoted partly to vegetables and partly to flowers, thyme,
marjoram, and phlox being as abundant there as in England.
Many of the flowers and shrubs had only recently been

1 Francis Mathews' personal estate included 37 feet of glass (liecords
of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 130, Va. State Library), and John
Carter's, one box, containing 144 feet of the same material {Becords
of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 23).

2 Becords of Henrico Corinty, vol. 1677-1692, p. 470, Va. State Library.

3 There is an entry in Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-
1709, pp. 19, 20, in which it is stated that Edward Floyd painted the
windows of the Sparks " Great House " with white lead.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 161

brought from the mother country. Byrd is discovered in
1681 writing to his brother in England, and thanking him
for the gooseberry and currant buslies which had just been
received; in the same year, he expresses to a second cor-
respondent his appreciation of a gift of seeds and roots,
wluch had been phmted and had safely flowered. ^ The
summer-houses, arbors, and grottoes, which Beverley de-
clares were to be found near the residences were doubt-
less generally situated in the garden, and were erected to
afford a cool place of retreat in the warmest hours of the
summer day; the garden itself was always protected by a
paling to keep out the hogs and cattle which were permitted
to wander without restraint. In the immediate vicinity
of the dwellings of the wealthy landowners, there were as
a rule grouped the dove-cot, stable, barn, henhouse, cabins
for the servants, kitchen, and milk-house,^ the object of
this in the last instances being to remove from the man-
sion the operations of cooking, washing, and dairying. In
many yards, a tall pole with a toy house at the top was
erected, in which the bee martin might build its nest, this
bird bravely attacking the hawk and crow, and thus serv-
ing as a guardian of the poultry. ^ In soijie cases, wells
were dug as a means of procuring drinking water, but the
natural springs were so numerous that the use of the former
was comparatively rare.^ In the early history of the Col-

1 Letters of William Byrd, May 21, 1684; Ibid, May 20, 1684. The
seeds and roots were the iris, crocus, tulip, and anemone. Flower-pots
are sometimes included in the inventories of personal estates. See, for
instance, Secords of Henrico County, vol. 1077-1692, p. 284, Va. State
Library.

- Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686; Beverley's History of
Virginia, p. 235.

3 Such a pole stood in the yard surrounding the house of Colonel
Nathaniel Bacon, Sr.

4 " They have pure and wholesome water which they fetch wholly from
springs, whereof the country is so full that there is not a house but hath

VOL. II. M

162 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

ony, when there was a constant prospect of an assault by
the Indians, the law required that the ground immediately
adjacent to every house should be palisaded. This provi-
sion was only temporary. ^ At a later period, many of the
X)lanters were in the habit of keeping the area about their
dwellings enclosed by a "stout fence. Fitzhugh selected
locust for this purpose, the fibre of this tree being remark-
able for its endurance. 2 The same wood was for a similar
reason employed by other planters.

Before entering into a description of the different con-
tents of the plantation house and its out-buildings in the
seventeenth century, it will be interesting to consider very
briefly what several of the earliest writers who were fa-
miliar with the Colony thought necessary that the person
taking up his residence there should import in the way of
clothing and utensils. The Company advised that in ad-
dition to bringing with him certain articles of apparel to
which reference will be made hereafter, the emigrant
should carry over a pair of canvas sheets, seven ells of
fine and five ells of coarse canvas, and one coarse rug ;
for kitchen utensils, one iron pot, one kettle, a spit, one
large frying-pan, two skillets, several platters, dishes, and
wooden spoons.^ Williams recommended, as we have
already seen, that the emigrant should bring with him an
iron pot, a gridiron, a large and a small kettle, skillets,
frying-pans, dishes, platters, spoons, and knives.* The
agent in London to whom Sir Edward Verney wrote when
he had decided to send his son to Virginia, had practical
knowledge as to the household goods that would be re-
one nigh the door." Glover, in Fhilo. Trans. lioyal Soc, 1676-1678,
vol. XI-XII, pp. 635, 636.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 127.

2 Letters of William FitzJmgk, April 22, 1686.

3 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 607-609.

* Virginia Richly Valued, p. 10, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 163

quired by an emigrant to the Colony ; lie restricted the
articles which would be needed to a feather-bed, bolster,
and rug, a pair of blankets and three pairs of sheets. ^

In examining the inventories of the seventeenth cen-
tury, it is soon discovered that the overwhelming majority
of planters who left personal estates were possessed of a
far larger quantity of household goods than were found
in these meagre enumerations. The English descent of
the householders was shown in every particular of their
residences. I shall begin with a description of the furni-
ture and take the bedroom as a starting-point. The vari-
ety of beds in the possession of the planters was the same
as in English homes of the same period ; there were the
large bed, the sea-bed,^ the flock-bed, and the trundle-bed,
which was rolled under the large bed during the day. The
bedtick was generally made of canvas and Avas stuffed
with the feathers of wild or domestic fowls, or with
hair or straw.^ One of the materials most commonly
employed for this purpose in the homes of the smaller
planters was the flower of a plant that was found in all
the marshes and ponds of the Colony and which is still
known as the cat-tail. This stuff had the softness of
feathers. It was entirely a local expedient. The large
bed of the chamber was surrounded by curtains which
were upheld by a rod, some of these hangings being red,
some white, and some green. The material of which they
were made consisted of prints, linsey-woolsey, or kidder-

^ Verney Papers, Camden Society Publications ; Neill's Virginia Garo-
loriun, pp. 109-111.

2 Among the orders of court recorded in York County is tlie following:
"John Thomas ordered to pay Mathew Page a good sea-bed." Vol.
1G57-1662, p. 176, Va. State Library.

3 Colonel Norwood mentions that when he arrived at the house of
Jenkin Price in Accomac, he lay down on a bed of fresh straw. Nor-
wood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 48, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. Ill,

164 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

minster. The canopy does not appear to have been in
common use. Some of the beds had mosquito nets.^
The valances, which were bands of cloth suspended from
the sides of the bed to the floor, were made of linsey-
woolsey; drugget, a species of cloth of French production
containing gold and silver threads; or serge, a scarlet cloth,
which, like all the cloths of this period which were dyed
this color, was dear in price ; or kidderminster, flowered
green and white. The pillows and pillow-biers were
manufactured of white linen or canvas, and the former were
stuffed with feathers. The sheets were of oznaburg, can-
vas, brown or white hoUand. The most common blanket
was known as the dufheld. The outer covering consisted
either of a coverlet, which was green or white in color,
or a quilt of mixed hues. Sometimes it was of leather. ^
The rugs were made of worsted yarn or cotton, and were
white, red, green, or blue in color. In winter, the warm-
ing-pan was used as a means of taking the chill from the
sheets, this household article being manufactured of brass.
The couch, which was the forerunner of the sofa, served
the purpose both of a bed and a reclining seat ; it seems
to have been made of different materials, references being
found to wainscot, hide, tanned leather, embroidered
Russian leather, and Turkey-worked couches. The last
formed a part of the furniture in the houses of the wealth-
iest planters.

Prominent in the chamber were the trunk and the
chest. Of the former, there were the plain leather, the

^ References to mosquito cloth in the inventories are very numerous.
Among the articles of personal property owned by Thomas Batte at his
death were fourteen yards of this cloth. Becords of Henrico County,
vol. 1688-1697, p. 2.34, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 21, contains
a reference to a leather coverlet.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OP THE PLANTER 166

gilt leather, the caljinet, and the sealskin. ^ The chests
were the principal receptacles of the most costly articles
of clothing, many doubtless being highly ornamented. In
them were placed the linen not in use, the garments of the
past season, the fine dresses which were brought out only
on special occasions, trinkets of value, and in some in-
stances, plate. The substitute for the modern bureau was
the case of drawers with a looking-glass fixed to its top.
These glasses were of various sizes. There was also the
detached looking-glass, which Avas often inserted in an
olive wood frame. The chairs were made after several
different fashions. There were the rush chair, the name
derived from the material of which the seat was woven ;
the calfskin chair, which was doubtless the plainest in
appearance ; the Russian leather chair and the Turkey-
worked chair. The Russian leather chair, the chair of the
most costly manufacture, was found in all the dwellings
in which there was any pretension to an unusual degree
of comfort. In some houses, as many as two dozen were
observed. The Turkey- worked chair was one the seat of
which was covered with cloth highly ornamented with
embroidered figures. In addition to these, there was
the large wicker chair,^ the small wooden chair, with a
bottom woven of white oak strips, and the cane chair, the
plain stool, and the joint stool.

The fireplace was guarded by fenders of iron or tin„
On the hearth stood andirons of brass or iron, those of
the latter material not infrequently weighing as much as
fifty-six pounds. They often represented dogs with brass

1 Inventory of Jonathan Newell included an oyster-shell trunk.
Records of York County, vol. 1G75-1685, p. 146, Va. State Library.

2 A wicker chair formed part of the household property of Nathaniel
Bacon, Sr. Becords of York County, vol. 1G91-16'J7, p. 201, Va. State
Library.

166 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

heads. There were shovels and tongs of iron, and doubt-
less, in many cases, of brass. In some of the houses, the
backs of the chimneys were of the former metal. i A
large chafing-dish was used at times for heating the
chamber. The floor was frequently protected by carpets,
some of which were of stout leather, some of stuffs
highly figured and colored. ^ There were printed linens
for the windows and printed cottons for the chimneys.
In some of the houses, the walls of the chambers were
hung with tapestry. ^ There were screens, escritoires, and
clocks of various and often of costly patterns.^ There
were combs of horn and ivory for the arrangement of the
hair. The basin and ewer were of pewter. The soap
used in washing was either imported or the product of
domestic manufacture. The inventories contain many
references to "Virginia soft soap."

The respective value of the various articles in the
numerous chambers did not differ in a very striking
degree. In this respect, the appraisements of the con-
tents of the rooms in the residence of Thomas Stratton
of Henrico, a planter whose estate was fairly representa-
tive, was probably not exceptional ; the furniture in one
chamber above stairs was set down as worth thirty-two
pounds sterling ; in another, thirty-seven ; that in the
principal apartment on the ground floor, thirty-nine.^
The furniture in the hall of the Yates residence in Lower
Norfolk was entered at two thousand three hundred and

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 28, 1684 ; Records of Lower Nor-
folk County, original vol. 1646-1G51, f. p. 98.

2 Records of Rappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 106, Va. State
Library. The term "carpet" was sometimes applied to table coverings.

3 Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686.

* There is a reference to a clock in Records of York Gou)it>i, vol. 1657-
1662, p. 247, Va. State Library.

° Records of Henrico Count//, original vol. 1697-1704, p. 137.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 167

fifty-three pounds of tobacco ; in the buttery, at a thou-
sand and sixty-four ; in the chamber, at six hundred and
fifty ; and in the closet, at ninety -six. This was near the
middle of the century, when that commodity had begun to
maintain a general average of about two pence a pound. ^
Corbin Griihn, a planter of Middlesex who was in posses-
sion of a large amount of property, bequeathed to his
widow one hundred pounds sterling, with which to fur-
nish presumably her chamber. ^

The articles in use in the hall or dining-room, which was
sometimes called the " great room," were comparatively
few ; among them were several varieties of tables, the
most common of which were the short and the long
framed, with benches or forms in proportion to their
lengths, for seats. In addition, there were the folding,
the falling, the Spanish, the Dutch oval, and the sideboard
table. Some of these pieces of furniture were made of
l)lack walnut and some of cedar. The chairs found in
this apartment were of the same character as those be-
longing to the chamber. An ordinary feature of this
room Avas the cupboard, in which the plates and dishes
were kept. The tablecloths were manufactured of cotton,
oznaburg, dowlas, hoUand and damask, the damask table-
cloth being of the finest texture, and therefore probably
only used on special occasions. Among the articles
included in the inventory of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges of
York, presented in court in 1699,^ were nine table-
cloths of this material. The quantity of table linen in
English and Virginian homes of the seventeenth century

1 Becords of Loioer Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1651, f. p. 35.

2 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 108. The
chamber furniture of Mrs. William Basset was valued at twenty pounds
sterling. Becords of General Court, p. 121.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1604, p. 214, Va. State Library.

168 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

is one of the most striking features of the domestic
economy of that age ; it was true of the tablecloths ;
it was still more true of the table napkins, the need for
which was greater in those times than in the present on
account of the rarity of the fork. The napkin was made
of damask, canvas, lockram, oznaburg, holland, dowlas,
diaper, huckaback, and Virginian cloth. That of canvas
was of the most inferior texture. Costly as the purchase
of damask napkins must have been, it is found that
Mrs. Elizabeth Digges left thirty-six of this material.
Napkins of the finest quality were often worked in figures.
The press in which these articles were stored was one of
the most familiar pieces of furniture in the homes of the
planters of the seventeenth century. ^

The plates in use were made, some of earthen ware,
some of wooden, but the greatest number were of pewter.
Pewter plates had the advantage not only of cheapness
but also of durability, in which respect they were superior
to the earthen and wooden. References are also found
to trenchers, which were pieces of board. ^ There were
certain varieties of plates used for special purposes, as the
pie-plate and the fish-plate. Many had been finely painted.^
The dishes also were generally made of pewter, some weigh-
ing as much as five pounds apiece, and being either deep
or broad. Besides the ordinary dish, there was the chafing,
the butter, and the magazine dish. There are few references
to the fork in the inventories of the seventeenth century;

1 The furniture in the dining-roo::i of Robert Beverley, Sr., one of the
•wealthiest men in the Colony, consisted of an oval and a folding table, a
small table and a leather couch, two chests, a chest of drawers and fifteen
Eussian leather chairs, the whole valued at £9 9s. See inventory on file
among Becords of Middlesex County. The contents of the whole house
were appraised at £207 19s. Qhd.

2 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 685.

3 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1098-1713, p. 71.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 169

this article, not being generally found on Englisli tables
at this time, was not likely to enter into the domestic
economy of the English colonist. Richard Hobbs, of
Rappahannock, who died about 1677, owned a single
fork.i John Foison of Henrico was in possession of one
of tortoise-shell.'^ There are included in tlie personal
estate of Robert Dudley of Middlesex, which was entered
in court about 1700, a number of horn forks. James Blaise
of the same county owned forks valued at two shillings.
Corbin Griffin was also in possession of a few pieces of
cutlery of this kind.^ The knives in use were the case
knife, which came in packages of a dozen, and the "slope
point." The ordinary composition of the spoons was tin,
pewter, or alchemy, the alchemy spoon appearing to be as
common as the pewter. William Major of York County,
as shown in the inventory of his personal estate, owned
three dozen spoons manufactured of this material.* The
steel spoon was not unknown. The salt-cellar was made
of pewter, agate, or earthenware. There were in addition
pewter or earthen porringers, sugar-pots, castors, custard-
cups, bottle cruets, square glass and stone bottles, j^ewter
bowls, and earthen jugs. There were for purposes of
drinking a variety of receptacles, such as the tumbler, the
mug, the cup, the flagon, the tankard, and the beaker.
The cups were known by a number of names, such as the
lignum vitcG, the syllabub, the sack, and the dram. The
horn cup is sometimes referred to, but pewter was the
material of which these utensils were generally made;
there were few houses in which the raw metal was not

1 Hecords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1G77-1682, p. 11, Va. State
Library.

2 Eecords of Henrico County , vol. 1088-1097, p. 403, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1098-1713, pp. 100, 112,
133.

^ Becords of York County, vol. 1G77-1084, p. 48, Va. State Library.

170 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIKGINIA

kept on hand in considerable quantities, to be consumed
cliiefiy, however, in repairs.

A ware appearing on the table in the service of the
meals less commonly than pewter or alchemy, but still
not infrequently, was silver; plates and dishes were rarely
found of this metal in the Colony, but it entered very
often into the composition of the cups, tumblers, tankards,
porringers, and spoons. The author of Leah and Rachel,
Avriting about the middle of the century, remarked upon
the fact that there was a good store of silver in many of
the planters' homes. ^ This had either been inherited from
English relations or been purchased in Eiigland. The
instance of Margaret Cheesman, of Bermondsea, was not
exceptional; in 1679, this lady is stated to have bequeathed
a great silver beaker and tankard with other plate to the
children of Lemuel Mason, who resided in Virginia. ^
The far greater quantity in the Colony was doubtless
bought in the mother country, like other articles in house-
hold use. Byrd, writing to his merchant in London in
1681, instructs him to send to him, "two new-fashioned
silver mugs, one to contain half a pint, the other one-
quarter of a pint."^ Fitzhugh purchased silver plate
from time to time upon the principle that it was a form
of property which would never lose its value, and, therefore,
the parent was fortunate who could transmit much of it to
his children as a part of his estate. In 1687, he directed
Hayward to invest certain bills of exchange which stood
to his credit in London in a pair of nuddle-sized silver
candlesticks, a pair of snuffers, and a snuff-dish, and half
a dozen trencher salts, the remainder to be expended in a

1 Leah and Rachel, p. 16, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. ITI.

2 JVew England Historical and Genealogical Begister, April, 1093,
p. '250.

3 Letters of William Bijrd, May 20, 1084.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 171

handsome silver basin. In a letter to the same correspondent
in 1G89, he ordered to be sent him two silver dishes weigh-
ing fifty ounces apiece, and two, seventy ounces, a set of
castors for sugar, pepper, and mustard, to weigh about
twenty-four or twenty-six ounces, a basin, between forty
and forty-five ounces, a salver and a pair of candlesticks
about thirty ounces apiece, a ladle about ten ounces, and
a case containing a dozen silver-hafted knives and a dozen
silver-hafted forks. In 1698, he purchased in England
two silver dishes of eighty or ninety ounces apiece, one
dozen ordinary and two silver bread plates, one large pair
of silver candlesticks and one pair of silver snuffers with
a stand. 1

The inventories show that many planters in moderate
circumstances were in possession of a considerable quan-
tity of silver plate. Among the items of the Farrar per-
sonalty there was one silver tankard, one silver beaker,
one silver tumbler, three silver cups, two small silver salt-
cellars, and ten silver spoons. In the Davis personalty,
there were twelve silver spoons; in the Milner, a small
silver tumbler, a sack, and three dram-cups. The Crews
estate included plate valued at eleven pounds sterling.
Silver tankards, spoons, and other varieties of dining
service formed a part of the Isham estate. Richard
Ward left to his children at his death twenty-seven silver
spoons, one silver bowl, one silver dram-cup, two silver
mugs, one silver tankard, and several silver salt-cellars.^
Martin Elam bequeathed a silver tankard, two cups, and
ten spoons. The owners of this plate were prominent
landowners of Henrico County.

i Letters of William Fitzhngh, July 18, 1687 ; July 21, 1698.

2 Becords of Henrico Corinty, vol. 1677-10*12 ; Farrar, pp. 267, 268 ;
Davis, p. 284 ; jMilner, p. 280 ; Crews, p. 370 ; Isham, p. 302 ; Ward,
p. 221.

172 ECONOMIC HISTORY OP VIRGINIA

The York records disclose that there Avere an equal
number of planters in that county who were in possession
of silverware representing the same varieties. Thus the
Hunt estate included a silver currel, one sack and one
dram cup;i the Croshaw personalty, a silver sack-cup, a
silver tankard of the largest size, valued at four pounds
sterling, perhaps equal in purchasing power to an hundred
dollars in our modern currency, and tAventy-four silver
spoons. 2 Mrs. Elizabeth Digges bequeathed two hundred
and sixty-one ounces of silver plate. Robert Booth left
twelve silver spoons, one salt-cellar, and one silver tum-
bler. ^ In the estate of Richard Stock, there were thirteen
silver spoons.^ The silver plate owned by Mathew Hub-
bard was appraised at five pounds sterling,^ while the pro-
portion in the personalty of the Eubank estate was esti-
mated at two pounds.^ Joseph Croshaw bequeathed three
silver spoons and three silver sack-cups to his wife, and
one silver beaker, one silver caudle-cup, and two dram-
cups of the same metal to one of his sons.^ The estate of
William White included six silver spoons, a silver wine-
cup, and three dram-cups, one large silver tankard and
one sugar-dish ; ^ the estate of Quintillian Gutherick of
Elizabeth City, a silver salt-cellar, a silver cup, a silver
punch-bowl, and four silver spoons. Thomas Wythe of
the same county left three silver tankards, a silver cup,
and seven silver spoons.^

The personalty of William Kendall of Northampton
included, in silver plate, twenty-seven spoons, four salt-

1 Becords of York Couuti/, vol. 1675-1684, p. 100, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., p. .33. This was Richard Croshaw.

3 Ibid., vol. 1690-1694, p. 130. 6 j^ia., vol. 1684-1687, p. 255.
* Ibid., vol. 1664-1672, p. 5.32. "^ Ibid., vol. 1664-1672, p. 256.
5 Ibid., p. 472. 8 jj)f,i^ vol. 1657-1662, p. 1"2.

. 9 Elizabeth City Cminty Becords, vol. 1684-1099, pp. 35, 100, Ya. State
Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 173

cellars, two sugar-dislies, a porringer, a tankard, two dram
cups, two punch and one caudle, and a pair of snuffers. ^
Henry Spratt of Lower Norfolk possessed, in the form of
silverware, three plates, one tankard, one salt-cellar, a
beaker, three caudle, three dram, and seven sack cups,
two porringers, and fourteen spoons. Thomas Sibse}*
of the same county was the owner in silver of two beer-
bowls, two wine-cups, a tankard, a beaker, twenty-four
spoons, and four salt-cellars. The silver pieces belonging
to Mrs. Sarah Willoughby were still more valuable; they
were a large sugar basin, one large and three small salt-
cellars, twenty-four spoons, two beer-bowls and one claret,
a small tankard, a caudle and a dram cup, and a small por-
ringer.^ The silver owned by Robert Beverley of Middle-
sex were two tankards, one beaker, six cups, a j)orringer,
a sugar-box, three trencher salts, one large salt-cellar, and
seventeen spoons, amounting in value to thirty-one pounds
sterling.^ Corbin Griffin of the same county jiossessed
one hundred and sixty-six ounces of silver plate.* Mrs.
Rebecca Travers of Rappahannock owned in silver, one
large salt-cellar, six trencher salts, one sugar-dish, eigh-
teen spoons, a bottle, a snuff-dish with snuffers, a bowl, a
tankard, a tumbler, two sack-cups and a dram-cup.^

In bequeathing their personalty, the testators were gen-
erally careful to apportion the silver plate equally among
their heirs. This seems to liave been in a marked de-
gree the case in the disposition of spoons. The example

1 Becords of Nortlmmptnn County, original vol. 1689-1698, p. -500.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, Spratt, original vol. 1686-1695,
f. p. 95 ; Sibsey, original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 54 ; Willoughby, original
vol. 1666-1675, p. 170.

3 See Beverley's inventory on file in Middlesex County.

* Becords of Middlesex Ccmnty, original vol. 1698-1713, p. lo5.
5 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 289, Va. State
Library,

174 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of Richard Ward in this respect was the one commonly
followed ; in making a division of his silver plate, he left
nine spoons to each of his three children, consisting of
two sons and a daughter. The value attached by the
owners to their silver service was illustrated in the case
of Colonel Richard Lee, who took the trouble, on the
occasion of a visit to England in the time of the Pro-
tectorate, to carry over his plate with a view to clianging
its fashion. The silver service of every person who was
entitled to a coat of arms was engraved with his device. ^

There is reason to think that few paintings adorned
the walls of the chambers, halls, and parlors of the resi-
dences in that age. They were not entirely absent, how-
ever, from the homes of the most prosperous planters.
Colonel Thomas Ludlow owned a portrait of Richardson,
an English Judge. ^ In one of the rooms of his house,
Joseph Croshaw of York had hung five pictures, whether
portraits or landscapes it is impossible to discover from
the inventory of his estate.^ There was an equal number
in the hall of Lieutenant Thomas Foote. The paintings
in the parlor of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges could not have
been of a high degree of merit, as they were appraised at
five shillings only, there being in addition five of a small
size in her garret. Those in the possession of John
Smythe of York were also valued at the same amount.

1 See a reference to tlie coat of arms of Colonel Richard Lee, engraved
on his plate, in Sainsbury's Calendar of State Fapers, Colonial, vol. 1574-
16G0, p. 430.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 275, Va. State Lil^rary.

3 Records of York County, Croshaw, vol. 1664-1672, p. 257 ; Foote,
Ibid., p. 265; Smythe, vol. 1687-1691, p. 143, Va. State Library. See,
also, reference in same volume, p. 379, to the " old pictures " of Mrs. Eow-
land Jones. The inventory of James Archer included a " parcell of
pictures." Vol. 1694-1697, p. 429, Va. State Library. There is a refer-
ence to portraits in the vrill of William Fitzhugh, Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography, vol. II, p. 276.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 175

Among the articles to be found in the rooms of the
planter's residence were musical instruments, the most
common of which was the virginal, but the hand lyre
was not unknown. The cornet was also in use, and like-
wise both the small and the large fiddle, the violin, the
recorder, the flute, and the hautboy. ^

The utensils of the kitchen were made of brass, tin,
pewter, wood, or clay. In the homes of the most affluent
planters, there was probably an occasional boiler of copper
and brass, imbedded in brick and mortar, and heated from
beneath. This was a common feature of the English
kitchens of that age. A boiler of this kind was often
used in brewing. The principal utensil for boiling was
the great iron pot which was hung on moving iron racks
firmly attached to the chimney-piece ; in summer, Avhen
a large part of the cooking was done out of doors, it was
swung to a pole supported by posts and a fire lighted
under it. Doubtless, the food of all the servants and
slaves on each estate was prepared in a single mess in this
utensil. These pots weighed in general about forty
pounds, but in many cases they exceeded that figure. In
addition, there were brass, tin, and copper kettles, some
holding as much as fifteen gallons. There were iron spits
for roasting, and iron and brass ladles for pouring the
gravy over the flesh as it was cooking, and the dripping-
pan for catching the gravy as it fell. There were grid-
irons for broiling, iron and brass skillets for baking, and

1 See, for these different instruments, Becords of York County, vol.
1GG4-1672, pp. 77, 532 ; vol. 1G84-1687, p. 341, Va. State Library ; Becords
nf Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 31 ; Becords of Loicer
JVurfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 137. The items in the
inventory of Judith Parker included one recorder, two flutes, and one
hautboy. Becords of Surry County, vol. 1671-1684, p. 376, Va. State
Library. Josiah Moody owned two violins. Becords of York County,
vol. 1687-1691, p, 42, Va, State Library.

ItQ ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIKGINIA

pans for frying meats. There were brass chafing-dishes,
skimmers, and saucepans, and pans of tin and earthen-
ware for the reception of raw vegetables. There were
mortars and pestles of iron, bell -metal, and brass; tin
bread-graters, tin, sugar, and hominy sifters, wooden trays
upon which the meals were borne from the kitchen to
the dining-room ; drawing-knives, which were probably
the same as voiding-knives, with a slender blade, a keen
edge, and a sharp point ; chopping-knives, which were
long, stout, and heavy, being used in dividing the solid
meats both before and after they were cooked ; also
knives made for cutting cheese, dull and small in size ;
large flesh-forks which were employed in turning the
meats in the pots ; powdering-tubs in which beef and pork
recently slaughtered were salted ; flour-tubs, meal-barrels,
tin cullenders, and funnels, butter and galley pots, pepper-
boxes, wooden bowls, bell-metal posnets, pincers, rolling-
pins, bellows, stillyards, scales, and weights. The oven
was placed in the immediate vicinity of the house, being
a brick structure in a hole in the ground.^ The ironing
seems to have been done in the kitchen ; in the inventory
of the contents of this room, box-iron heaters and sad-
irons are generally found enumerated.

The utensils in the dairy, or milk-house, as it was
usually called, were cedar churns, pails, noggins and
piggins, tubs, trays, and strainers, cheese-presses, butter-
sticks, and earthen butter-pots.

1 accords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 10, Va. State Library.
"Upon the examination of Culpeper (a servant) ... he confessed that
John Green did come to him as he was at the oven about the bread."
Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1632-1640, p. 47. See also
Eecords of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 174, Va. State Library. Les-
sors sometimes bound themselves to repair " the brick ovens " belonging
to the houses leased. See Records of York County, original vol. 1675-
1684, p. 596.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 177

In examining tlie furniture and utensils in the different
rooms in the dwelling-house of the average planter of the
seventeenth century, it will be found that no effort Avas
made to preserve a distinct character for each apart-
ment. With the exception of the kitchen, there was
hardly a room in the building which did not contain a
bed, a fact that was due either to the size of the families
at that period, or to the hospitable spirit of the land-
owners. In the hall, where the meals were taken, there
were frequently placed fiock-beds, linen chests, smoothing-
irons, guns, pistols, powder-horns, and cutlasses, swords,
drums, saddles, and bridles. In the parlor, which Avas
the term applied to the apartment used as a sitting-
room by the family as well as a reception-room for the
guests, there were large feather-beds and truckle-beds,
and also chests filled with the most valuable clothing and
the finest table and bed linen. In the chamber, every
variety of article in use in the household was stored,
while the dairy, in addition to the ordinary utensils of
the milk-house, contained masses of old and new pew-
ter for repairing flagons, porringers, stills, chamber-pots,
tankards, and fish-kettles. Powdering-tubs, chests, rum-
casks, stillyards, spinning-wheels, raw hides, and sides of
tanned leather were enumerated as a part of the contents
of the " poultry."

It will be interesting, as showing the division of the
household articles among the different apartments of a
dwelling, as well as throwing light on the character of
these articles, to give in detail the items in the inventory
of a planter whose estate was fairly representative of
the average. I shall take the home of Thomas Osborne
of Henrico, who died in the last decade of the century,
leaving a personalty calculated to be worth one hundred
and twenty-five pounds sterling, which, according to the

178 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

values of the present clay, amounted perhaps to three
thousand dollars in American currency.^ I shall omit
all reference to the clothing and live stock of the estate,
confining the enumeration to the furniture, tahle ware,
bed and table linen, and the utensils in the kitchen and
dairy. The room designated as the "best" contained a
feather-bed, with a bolster and a pair of pillows, curtains
and valance, a blanket, and a worsted rug. There were
also two chests with locks and keys, one framed table
and a large form, one small sideboard table, one chest
of drawers, six high and six low leather chairs, a small
old-fashioned looking-glass, a pair of andirons with brass
bosses, a pair of bellows, and a small leather trunk. In
the apartment described as the " outward room " there were
a feather-bed witli kidderminster curtains and valances,
a bolster, a blanket, and a yarn rug, a pair of bellows, a
large table and form, a small table, a chest, a couch, six
rush-bottom chairs, and a pair of andirons. The apart-
ment known as the " lodging room " contained a bedstead,
a feather-bed, bolster, yarn rug, and blanket, a cupboard
and chest, two Dantzic cases, and a small trunk. Passing
from the lower to the higher floor, there were in the "best
upper room" an old feather-bed and bolster, a pair of
blankets and a cotton rug, calico curtains and valance, a
new feather-bed and bolster, worsted kidderminster cur-
tains and valance, a plain set of drawers, six Russian
leather chairs, a small round table and looking-glass, a
small seal-skin trunk and an ordinary chest. In the
" north room " above stairs there were a bedstead, feather-
bed, bolster, rug, and blanket, two pairs of hoUand and
canvas sheets, a pair of hoUand and a pair of calico
pillow-beers, two long diaper table-cloths, twenty-two
diaper and six coarse napkins, four towels of Virginian

1 Records of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 350, Va. State Library.

DO:\[ESTIC ECONOMY OF THE TLANTER 179

cloth, one chest, two warming-pans, four brass candle-
sticks, two small guns fixed and two unfixed, a carbine
and belt, a silver beaker, three tumblers, twelve spoons,
one sack and one dram cup. In the kitchen there were
three brass kettles, a brass and a bell-metal skillet, a bell-
metal and a brass mortar and pestle, a brass skimmer and
ladle, two iron pots, two iron dripping-pans, a frying-pan,
a pewter still, two iron pothooks, two iron potracks, a
pair of andirons, six pewter spoons, two pewter flagons,
one pottle-pot, one sugar basin, one salt-cellar, one pewter
tankard, one saucer, a box iron, and two heaters. Among
the miscellaneous articles enumerated in the Osborne
inventory were one wool and one linen spinning-wheel,
a pair of wool-cards, six towels made of tag ends, one
dozen new and eight old plates, eighty-six pounds of raw
pewter, a parcel of earthenware, an iron pestle, a pair
of stillyards, one gridiron, and two pairs of tongs.

The personal estate of Captain Francis Mathews of
York did not differ substantially from that of Thomas
Osborne. 1 In the hall of the INIathews residence there
were two frame tables, one six feet in length, the other
four feet, two leather chairs, a cupboard and drawers, two
brass candlesticks, a clock with weights, and a pair of
stillyards. The parlor contained a bedstead with green
curtains and valance, a feather-bed with pillow, bolster,
blanket, and rugs, a truckle-bed ^^•ith a l)olster, two
pillows, one blanket, and one rug, a flock-bed with
bolster, blanket, and rug, four pairs of canvas sheets and
one brown holland sheet, three pillow-biers, three chairs,
a pair of andirons, a gridiron, a pair of tongs and a pair
of bellows, a looking-glass, a chest and trunk, two wine-
glasses, a table case with four knives, a warming-pan,
twenty napkins and two tal)le-cloths, a towel and two

^ llecords of York County^ vol. 1071-1094, p. 130, Va. State Library.

ISO ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

night-caps. In the room opposite to the stairway, there
were thirty-two books, a saddle and bridle, two pounds
of powder and sixteen pounds of shot, a yoke, ring, and
sickle. The chamber over the parlor contained a limbeck
of copper, a pewter still and bottom, a bedstead, a saddle,
and an iron chain. In the kitchen, there were two iron
pots, three pairs of pothooks, one spit, one flesh-hook,
a frying-pan, fourteen milk-trays, one brass kettle, two
brass skillets, one brass and one iron mortar, eight pewter
dishes, a sugar basin and flagon, fourteen ordinary and
two pie plates, two porringers, a quart and a half-pint pot,
a salt-cellar, a mustard-pot, two saucers, three old pails, a
churn, one churn-press, one joint stool, one cider hogshead,
one window frame, a broadaxe, a saw and grindstone, and
three hides.

Such in general were the household goods, independently
of clothing, of the Virginian planter of the seventeenth
century who possessed the average amount of property.
The inventories of the personal estates of members of this
class varied only slightly in their details, the articles in use
being confined, as a rule, to those which were considered
necessary for substantial comfort. Descending in the scale,
it will be interesting to inquire as to the household goods
of persons in narrower circumstances. In 1678, the inven-
tory of William Gibburd of York was presented in court. ^
It showed that he had in his lifetime owned the following
articles in addition to live stock and clothing: two beds
and bolsters, two rugs, two blankets, two pillows, a
hammock, an iron pestle, a saddle and bridle, an iron pot
and pothooks, a skillet, a frying-pan, a smoothing-iron
and heaters, a pewter chamber-pot, six pewter dishes, ten
trays, two pewter drinking-cups, two porringers, a sauce-
pan, two tin pans, eight spoons, a box, six glass bottles,

1 Becords of Toi-k County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 53, Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 181

tAvo runlets, four cases, one trunk, one churn, two pails, a
butter and a washing tub, six stools, four chairs, three
hammers, three axes, a drawing-knife, a branding-iron,
a bill, a cross-cut saw, a rolling-pin, two combs and
brushes.

The house of Thomas Shippey of Henrico ^ contained
only three apartments, a hall, bedchamljer, and kitchen.
In the hall, there were found a bedstead and bed, with a
pillow and bolster, curtains and valance, a rug, a blanket
and two pairs of sheets, a table form, an elbow chair, two
leather and two wooden chairs, a small and a large chest.
There were in the bedchamber, a trunk, a bed with a bol-
ster, one rug, one blanket, and one pair of sheets, a small
table-cloth, four napkins, and a towel ; in the kitchen,
there were six pewter dishes, three plates, two saucers, a
tumbler, a chamber-pot, six spoons, a tankard, a pewter
salt-cellar, an iron ]Dot, spit, ladle, frying-pan, bread-tray,
and pail.

The inventory of the personal estate of John Porter
of Henrico, presented for record in 1689,^ showed the
following articles in use in his household: one wooden
and four pewter dishes, six alchemy spoons, six j)ewter
plates, three pewter porringers, three iron pots and pot-
hooks, a frying-pan and a meal-sifter, three trays and Uvo
stone jugs, a pail and piggin, three stools, a wooden and
a leather chair, a couch, two bedsteads, a bed filled with
cat-tails, a second bed stuffed with feathers, curtains,
valance, a cupboard, chest, trunk, and table.

To enumerate the household goods of other planters
in the same position of life would only be to repeat the
details which I have already given. Let us now consider
the nature and quantity of the household articles found

1 Bpcords of Henrico County, vol. 1G88-1697, p. 5, Va. State Library.
■^ Ibid., p. G-1.

182 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in the different rooms of the residences of phxnters in the
enjoyment of the hirgest wealth which had as yet been
accumuhited in the hands of private individuals in the
Colony. The home of Mrs. Elizabeth Digges may be
examined as no unfavorable example. ^ In the hall parlor
of her dwelling-house there were five Spanish tables, two
green and two Turkey-worked carpets, nine Turkey-
worked chairs and eleven with arrows woven in the cloth
of the seats, one embroidered and one Turkey-worked
couch, five pictures, two pairs of brass andirons, three
pairs of old tongs, and one clock. There was in the pas-
sage a chest containing th'irty damask, thirty-six diaper,
and sixty flaxen napkins, three diaper, nine damask, and
forty-eight flaxen table-cloths, eight diaper towels, three
pairs of hoUand sheets and pillow-biers, eight ells of
holland, eight yards of calico, five ells of linen, and four
yards of bunting.

In the " yellow room," there were a chest of drawers,
one Turkey-worked and two plain carpets, one remnant of
worsted tapestry and seven remnants of silk, one cloth
bed with curtains and valances lined with yellow silk, a
silk and an ordinary counterpane, a calico quilt, a teaster
and a head-piece, a suit of white, and two old red curtains
and two boxes.

In the "large room" opposite the "yellow room," there
were a chest of drawers, a feather-bed with bolster, blanket
and three winter curtains, a looking-glass, two trunks, one
pair of brass andirons, one old brush, and one Avooden chair.
In the "back room" opposite the "large room," there were
a number of small and large books, one spice-box, several
old gallipots, one pistol, two red trunks with a small
quantity of different wares, a parcel of earthen utensils

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 213, Va. State Library.
Mrs. Digges was tlie widow of Edward Digges, Governor of Virginia.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 183

and glasses, several painted boxes containing combs and
needles, small scales and weights, one looking-glass, one
ring dial, two cases of knives, eight gold mourning rings,
a diamond and a small stone ring, one parcel of sea pearls,
an old bodkin, twenty ounces of plate, an old small table,
an old paper box, an old feather-bed and bolster, an old
blanket and rug, three iron curtain rods, three old calico
curtains, three pillows, and two baskets.

In the " red room," there were a feather-bed with a bol-
ster, two pillows, one blanket, a counterpane, a quilt, and
curtains ; there were also a drugget carpet, a pair of small
iron dogs, two chairs, and a window curtain.

In the garret, there were two old feather-beds, five rugs,
two blankets, a quilt, two bolsters, a small canvas bag, a
napkin press, a brass pestle, five small pictures, one brass
fire-shovel, two wooden platters, a rope, a remnant of
canvas, and two old cushions. There were also in this
apartment four chests, one of which contained eight cur-
tains, an old blanket, and two pillows ; there were also five
old trunks with locks and keys and two old boxes.

In the second " back room," there were one bedstead,
three feather-beds, two bolsters, two pillows, eight pillow-
biers, thirteen pairs of sheets, seven old towels, three dozen
flaxen napkins, nine old flaxen table-cloths, a small chest
of drawers, two wooden and two leather chairs, one small
table and brush, a pair of andirons, and a pair of fire-tongs.

In the cellar, there were one dozen quart glass bottles,
six earthen pots, a stone mortar with wooden pestle, and
a small quantity of old lumber.

In the kitchen, there were one still, a warming-pan, and
a small quantity of old brass, two gridirons, seven spits,
four iron pots and pothooks, two pairs of jDotracks, one
pair of rack irons, three old frying-pans, one pair of old
tongs, a fire-shovel, a nutmeg grater, three brass stands,

184 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

two kettles, one brass skillet with an iron frame, a small
skillet, one large and one small copper, and an old chest.

In Virginia, in the seventeenth century, the candle was
in common use as a means of illuminating the rooms of
the planters' residences after niglit had fallen. It was
made of different materials. The candle of myrtle wax
was for several reasons one of the most popular articles
employed, owing partly to the clear light which it gave
forth, and partly to the exquisite odor emanating from it.
It was considered equal to a candle of beeswax of the
finest quality. 1 The mj^-tle was a plant that grew in all
the marshes and swamps, and as its berries could be gath-
ered in great quantities, and conv^erted by boiling into
wax, the means of illumination which it furnished was
turned to account by the poorest as well as by the most
affluent colonists. The candle made of myrtle wax was
frequently consumed in the public service. Among the
commodities paid for out of the public revenue in 1699,
were twenty-six pounds of this vegetable wax and two
pounds of cotton wick.^ Deer suet was also used. In
the statement of disbursements which Colonel Norwood
and the other owners of the ship Pink made, the arti-
cles for which the tobacco in their hands was shown to
have been expended included thirty pounds of this mate-
rial, which had been purchased to be moulded into candles.^
Candles were also manufactured of beef tallow. Many
were imported. The composition of the candlestick was
of earthenware, brass, pewter, copper, iron, or silver. In
some cases, the column was screwed to the plate. The
snuffers, and the stand in which the snuffers were placed,

1 Beverley's History of Virginia^ p. 108.

2 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 68.

3 See Accounts of Colonel Henry Norwood et «?., fly leaf, p. 23,
Letters of William Byrd.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OP THE PLANTER 185

were made of the same metals as the candlestick. There
were tin and brass lamps and tin lanterns. In the homes
of the poorest class, it is quite probable tliat the pine knot
served an important part in illumination, the turpentine,
congealed in the fibre of the wood, causing it to burn
with a fierce glare until consumed. The steel mill was
in frequent use as a means of striking a light.

The fuel of the dwelling-house was found in the sur-
rounding forests, which furnished a great variety of wood.^
The hickory and the oak were abundant everywhere. The
clearing of new grounds, this forming a part of the annual
plantation work, supplied a great quantity of trunks and
limbs of trees of all sizes. The large fireplaces of the resi-
dences in winter were filled with the heavy sticks, which, as
the flames converted them into ashes, were, with a gener-
ous hand, replenished by others. There could be no waste
or extravagance in this use of wood, tlie surface of the
country being covered with forests which the owners were
anxious to destroy. Warmth was one element of comfort
the colonial householder could secure in the coldest spells
of the winter without expense and with little inconven-
ience. The great wood fires, which cast such a cheerful
glow about the different apartments of his home, must
have done much to promote the contentment of all who
entered into his family circle. In the mother country,
throughout the seventeenth century, the forests steadily
diminished, and wood for household use, in consequence,
became dearer in value ; the difference in Virginia in this
particular must have impressed all emigrants from Eng-
land to the Colony, where firewood was the cheapest of

1 Sea-coal seems to have been imported to a small extent. In 1G90,
eight barrels of this material, lying at Handy's Landing on Queen's
Creek, were attached. BeconU of York Countij, vol. 1G87-1G91, p. 403,
Va. State Library.

186 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIHGIXIA

the more important materials entering into the domestic
economy. The climate being a mild one during the
greater portion of the year, the large fires were only kept
up in the short intervals of verj^ cold weather.

The same fact had a controlling influence in the matter
of the clothing worn by the planters and their families.
John Smith, who resided long enough in the Colony to
form a just notion as to the character of the climate, has
preserved the list of articles which the Company con-
sidered necessary to the comfort of the emigrant to Vir-
ginia in this respect ; he was advised to take with him a
monmouth cap, three falling bands, three shirts, one waist-
coat, one suit of canvas, one of frieze, one of broadcloth,
three pairs of Irish stockings, a pair of garters, four pairs of
shoes, and a dozen pairs of points. The purchase of these
articles entailed an expenditure of fifty-nine shillings. ^

If reliance can be placed on the testimony of Pory, the
presiding officer of the first Assembly convening in Vir-
ginia, the simplicity of the outfit advised by the Company
was not followed even by persons in the lower ranks of
life in the Colony. " Our cow-keeper in Jamestown,"
he wrote, " on Sundays goes accoutred in fresh flaming
silk, and the wife of one in England that had professed
the black art, not of a scholar but of a collier of Croyden,
wears her rough beaver hat with a fair pearl hat-band and
a silken suit thereto correspondent. "^ Pory was not in-
dulging in as much exaggeration as would appear upon
the surface. Among the regulations established by the
Assembly in 1619, over which he presided, there was a
provision that every person should, if unmarried, be as-
sessed according to his apparel, and if married, according
to the clothing belonging to himself and the members of

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 607.

2 Letter of Pory, Neill's Virginia Vetusta, p. 111.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 187

his family. The object of this was to discourage any dis-
position to show extravagance in dress, it being justly
thought that in the state of the Colony at that time, all
the settlers' means should be husbanded to ensure them
the absolute necessaries of life.^ Ten years after the adop-
tion of this regulation, when the Colony had recovered
fully from the blow inflicted by the great massacre upon
all of its interests, there are indications that fine apparel
was quite common in Virginia. In 1629, Thomas Warnet,
a prominent merchant of Jamestown, died, and in his will
bequeathed to different persons many articles of showy
clothing, among them a coif, a cross-cloth of wrought
gold, a pair of silk stockings, a pair of black hose, a pair
of red slippers, a sea-green scarf edged with gold lace, six
dozen buttons of silk and thread, a felt hat, a black beaver
hat, a Polish fur cap, a doublet of black camlet, a vest, a
sword, and a gold belt.^

The incongruity of such shining apparel with the rude
surroundings of new settlements in the wilderness does
not seem to have jarred upon the perceptions of the popu-
lation except so far as it implied an unnecessary expendi-
ture ; and this view was only taken when the resources
of the Colony for one cause or another were seriously
impaired. About the middle of the century, a law w*as
passed prohibiting the introduction of garments contain-
ing silk, or the introduction of silk in pieces except for
hoods or scarfs, or of silver, gold, or bone lace, or of
ribbons wrought with gold or silver. All goods of this
character brought in were to be confiscated and then

' 1 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Becords of Virginia. Senate
Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 20. In the instructions to Wyatt, 1621, he was
enjoined to allow only members of the Council and heads of Hundreds
to wear gold in their clothes. Bandolph 3ISS., vol. Ill, p. 161.

^ New England Historical and Genealogical Begister, April, 1884,
p. 197.

188 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

exported. In the matter of apparel, as in the other inter-
ests of their private lives and of the community at large,
the colonists looked upon themselves as constituting just
as much a part of the mother country in its social and
economic habits as if no ocean rolled between Virginia
and England, The physical conditions were different ; the
minds of the people were the same. Silk stockings, beaver
hats, red slippers, green scarfs, and gold lace appeared to
be as natural articles of apparel to the Virginians in the
early part of the century, when the community was made
up of a few small settlements, as they did to Englishmen
in the largest towns of the kingdom in the same age.
This was an element of those class distinctions which
have always entered so deeply into the English spirit, and
which have cropped out without regard to physical sur-
roundings ; nowhere were these distinctions more jeal-
ously observed than in the infant Colony, and it is not,
therefore, surprising to find that in spite of the rough con-
ditions of life prevailing there, there Avas a marked dispo-
sition to indulge a taste for expensive clothing.

It has been seen that it was the habit of all the planters
in affluent or even moderate circumstances to keep on hand
many ells of different cloths to supj^ly household needs as
they arose. 1 These were lockram, oznaburg, dowlas, blue
linen, striped dimity, serge, kersey, canvas, penistone,
calico, linsey-woolsey, shalloon, damask, muslin, drugget,
fustian, thread silk, galloon, and Scotch. Some description
of these various materials will be of interest as showing
the nature of the fabrics in which the people of Virginia
dressed in the seventeenth century, Lockram and dowlas
were species of cheap and coarse linen; this was also the

1 For examples, see B('cordff of York County, vol. 1684-1G87, p. 85,
Va. State Library ; Records of Henrico Countij, vol. 1(J77-1G92, p. 221,
Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 189

character of oznaburg. Canvas was a strong cloth made
of hemp or flax. The cloth known as Scotch varied in
textui'e. Holland was the name given to unbleached
linen. Calico was a cotton cloth that was first imported
into England by the East India Company, Dimity was
also of cotton but of a stout and enduring quality,. being
interwoven with figures and patterns in colors. Peni-
stone was a coarse woollen fabric of different hues. Broad-
cloth was of fine wool and commonly black in color. Fus-
tian was the term first applied to a mixture of cotton and
flax, but at a later date was used to designate a certain
species of woollen goods. Drugget in the seventeenth
century was composed in part of silk and in part of wool
or cotton, the warp containing gold or silver threads.
Galloon was a closely woven lace used in binding.

In England, as well as in the Colony, it was the custom
of the age for consumers to purchase large quantities of
these and other cloths, and to have them converted into
garments for the person or into articles for household use.
A comparison of the prices at which they were valued in the
mother country with the prices at which they were valued
in Virginia, will throw important light on one of the prin-
cipal elements in the relative exj^ense of living in England
and the Colony. In England, the cost of lockram was
generally about fifteen pence an ell ; in Virginia, it ranged
from twelve to twenty-one pence an ell, according to
breadth and quality, an ell being equal in length to a yard
and a quarter. In England, one ell of dowlas averaged
sixteen pence in cost; in Virginia, one yard of the same
material ranged from eighteen pence to two shillings and
a half, and in some cases, Avhen it was probably in a dam-
aged state, sold for fourteen and fifteen pence. Dimity
commanded in England from eight pence to one shilling

190 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

teen pence to two shillings. Scotch cloth was sold in Eng-
land at the rate of abont twenty pence a yard; in A^irginia,
it ranged from two to three shillings. The price of ozna-
bnrg in Virginia was about fifteen pence a yard ; in Eng-
land, it sold at the rate of twelve and three-quarter pence.
Kersey in England ranged from twenty-eight pence to
five shillings a yard; in Virginia, it was valued at from
three to six shillings, according to width. Serge was
sold in England in 1647 at the rate of six shillings a
yard, but declined to two and three shillings towards the
end of the century; in Virginia at this time it sold at the
rate of three to five shillings a yard, according to quality. ^
Some notion as to the texture of these different cloths
can be obtained from the character of the articles of dress
manufactured from them. The shirt was made of hoUand,
blue linen, lockram, dowlas, and canvas, according to the
quality desired; the holland representing the most costly
and canvas the least expensive. The buttons used on the
shirt w-ere either of silver or pewter, and in many cases
were carefully gilded. The drawers were of blue linen,
calico, dimity, and canvas ; a pair has been noted made of
leather.2 The stockings were either of silk, woollen or
cotton thread, worsted or yarn. Thread stockings seem to
have been used in riding. The shoes worn by men were

1 For the prices of these various cloths in England, see Rogers' History
of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V : for lockram, p. 557 ;
dowlas, p. 557 ; dimity, p. 558 ; Scotch cloth, p. 554 ; oznabiirg, p. 555 ;
kersey, p. 575 ; serge, p. 575. The statement of prices in the Colony is
based upon an extended comparison of the appraisements recorded in the
county courts. The merchants who imported the cloths into Virginia
obtained them in England at a lower price than they were retailed at
in the kingdom. This accounts for the comparatively small difference
between the prices at which they were sold in England and in Virginia.

2 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1G97, p. 223, Va.State Library.
"Drawers" was a term which in that age was very often applied to
breeches.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 191

made of ordinary leather, or they were of the sort known
as French falls. The shoe buckles were manufactured of
brass, steel, or silver. There are many references to boots,
a popular means of protection to leg and foot, since the
planters were compelled to pass much of their time on
horseback. 1 The periwig was worn in the latter part of
the century. In 1689, William Byrd forwarded one to his
merchant in London with instructions to have it altered. ^
Among the personal effects of Robert Dudley of Mid-
dlesex Avere two articles of this kind. Thomas Perkins
of Rappahannock left three at his death, and Alexander
Young of York, two.-^ The covering for the heads of men
consisted of the monmouth cap, the felt, the beaver or
castor, and the straw hat, which occasionally terminated
in a steeple. The neck-cloth was of blue linen, calico,
dowlas, maslin, or the finest holland. The band or falling
collar was made either of linen or lace, in keeping with
the character of the suit. The material of the coat ranged
from broadcloth, camlet, fustian, drugget, and serge, which
became less expensive with the progress of the century, to
cotton, kersey, frieze, canvas, and buckskin.* When of
broadcloth, it was lined with calico and doubtless with
different kinds of linen. There are numerous references

1 In 1636 a pair of boots in Accomac were valued at forty pounds of
tobacco. Records of Accomac County, original vol. 1632-1640, p. QQ.

2 Letters of William Byrd, June 10, 1689.

3 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 103 ; Rec-
ords of Rappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 37, Va. State Library;
Records of York County, vol. 1694-1702, p. 439, Va. State Library. See
also Ibid., vol. 1675-1684, p. 381. The inventory in this instance included
three. See also Stratton inventory, Records of Henrico County, original
vol. 1697-1704, p. 137.

•* There is a reference in the inventory of Edward Phelps to a buck-
skin coat. Records of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 174, Va. State
Library. For a squirrel-skin coat, see Records of Loioer Norfolk County,
Sept. 25, 1646. Full buckskin suits were not as common in the 17th as
in the 18th century.

192 ECONOMIC HISTOUY OF VIEGINIA

to the stuft coat, and the smock, and to the serge or linen
jacket. The upper garment used in riding seems to have
been made of camlet. The buttons attached to the coat
ranged in composition from small and large silk thread to
brass and pewter, stone, silver, gimp, and mohair. The
sleeve terminated in ruffles or cuffs when its material Avas
of the finest quality of cloth. Over the ordinary coat
a great-coat of frieze was worn in spells of cold weather;
on special occasions a substitute was found in a blue or
scarlet cloak or silk mantle. The waistcoat was made of
dimity, cotton or drugget, flannel or penistone, and re-
flected a great variety of colors, white, black, and blue
being the most common. It was also found adorned with
what was known as Turkey-work. The breeches when
of the finest quality were of plush or broadcloth; when of
inferior material, of linen or common ticking. There
are many references to serge breeches lined with linen or
worsted, and having thread buttons, and also to callimanco,
having hair buttons. The whole suit was occasionally of
plush, broadcloth, kersey, or canvas, or the coat was made
of drugget, and the waistcoat and breeches of stuft cloth. ^
The olive-colored suit was not uncommon. The handker-
chiefs were of silk, lace, or blue linen, the gloves of yarn,
or of ox, lamb, buck, dog, or sheepskin tanned, and were
of local manufacture. The hands of children were kept
warm by mittens. It seems to have been the habit of
many persons among the wealthy class of planters to have
even their plainest and simplest articles of clothing made
in England. Fitzhugh instructed his merchant in London
in 1697, to send him two suits of an ordinary character,
one for use in winter and the other in summer. The
exact measures for the shoes and stockings needed were

1 A suit was sometimes valued at ten pounds sterling. See Will of
Corbiu GrilBn on file in Middlesex County.

DOMESTIC ECOXOMY OF THE PLANTER 193

to be guessed at, and the only direction given as to the two
hats ordered were that they shoukl be of the largest size.

The clothing of the female members of the planters' fam-
ilies was obtained from the same source as the clothing of
the planters themselves. The most costly part of it was
imported. Many of the dresses worn must have been as
handsome as the dresses of women of the same social class
in England; there are numerous allusions to silk and
tlowered gowns, to bodices of blue linen or green satin,
and to waistcoats trimmed with lace. The petticoat was of
serge, flannel, or tabby, a species of colored silk cloth ; it
was also made of printed linen or dimity, and was trimmed
with silk or silver lace. An outfit of gown, petticoat, and
green stockings, composed of woollen material, is often
entered in the inventories. The coverings for the head
were of several kinds ; therje were sarsnet and calico
hoods, palmetto hats ^ and bonnets trimmed with lace, to
be used on special occasions. Black tippets were worn
on the lower portion of the arms, and the hands were
concealed by thread gloves. Scarfs reflecting a variety
of colors were drawn about the neck, and mantles of
crimson taffeta over the shoulders. The hose also varied
very much in color, being white, scarlet, or black . There
were silk garters dyed in different hues. The shoes of
finest quality were either laced or gallooned. Woollen
shoes and shoes with wooden heels were also Avorn. The
aprons were of muslin, silk, serge, and blue duffield.
Fans, many of which were doubtless highly ornamented,
were conspicuous articles of dress in the toilets of the
planters' wives, and golden and gilt stomachers were not
unknown. Sweet powders were also in use.^

1 Brcords of Bappahannoclc Comity, vol. 1677-1682, p. 21, Va. State
Library.

2 Que Henrico inventory contains the following item : " Two boxes of
sweet powder and four puffs." Vol. 108S-10'.i7, p. -lOo, Va. State Library,

194 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

When the stepdaughter of Joseph Croshaw of York
set out for Virgmia from Enghind about 1661, she was
furnished by Jonathan Newell with the following articles
of clothing : a scarf, a white sarsnet and a ducape hood,
a white flannel petticoat, two green aprons, three pairs of
gloves, a long riding scarf, a mask, and a pair of shoes. ^
The wardrobe of Mrs. Sarah Willoughby of Lower Nor-
folk consisted of a red, a blue, and a black silk petticoat, a
petticoat of India silk and of worsted prunella, a striped
linen and a calico petticoat, a black silk gown, a scarlet
waistcoat, with silver lace, a white knit waistcoat, a striped
stuff jacket, a worsted prunella mantle, a sky-colored
satin bodice, a pair of red paragon bodices, three fine and
three coarse holland aprons, seven handkerchiefs, and two
hoods. The whole was valued at fourteen pounds and
nineteen shillings. ^ ,

Mrs. Francis Pritchard of Lancaster was in possession of
a wardrobe quite as extensive as that of Mrs. Willoughby.
It included an olive colored silk petticoat, petticoats of
silver and flowered tabby, and of velvet and white-striped
dimity, a printed calico gown lined with blue silk, a white
striped dimity jacket, a black silk waistcoat, a pair of scarlet
sleeves, a pair of holland sleeves with ruffles, a Flanders
lace band, one cambric and three holland aprons, five cam-
bric handkerchiefs, and several pairs of green stockings.^

An instance is recorded in York of the destruction of
silks and linen valued at fourteen pounds sterling belong-
ing to a lady of that county, in consequence of the care-
lessness of her servant in dropping fire into the trunk in
Avhich they were kept.

1 Records of York County, vol. Ifi57-1662, p. 415, Va. State Library.
See in same volume, p. 3'.»9; also p. 140 in vol. 1687-1691.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 147.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1687, p. 77.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 195

Among the property of women in this age were pearl
neckhices, gold pendants, silver earrings, and gold hand
rings which were often inscribed with posies. It was
qnite common for people making provision against the
time of death to leave mourning rings to a large number
of relatives and friends. Mrs. Elizabeth Digges in her
will desired that eight, should be distributed among the
members of her intimate circle. Corbin Griffin of Middle-
sex bequeathed twenty-five pounds sterling for the pur-
chase of rings of the same character, sixteen pounds of
which were to be expended in such as would cost one
guinea apiece. In his will, Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., ordered
that twenty pounds of his estate should be used in buy-
ing mourning rings, which he directed should be given to
certain persons who were dear to him. Francis Page left
similar instructions. John Page empowered his executors
to purchase eighteen for the same purpose,^ Robert Hodge
of Lower Norfolk, fourteen, and Robert Beckingham of
Lancaster, sixteen. ^ In March, 1675, a judgment was
entered in the General Court involving a large number
of pearls which had not been delivered. ^ A few years
before, INIrs. William Bassett had been permitted by the
same court to retain her jewels as a part of her para-
phernalia. Bequests of such articles to wives by hus-
bands were not uncommon. In the estate of Arthur
Dickinson, there were included one gold ring with seven
rubies, a second ring with one ruby, a third with a white

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, Bacon, p. 153 ; Francis
Page, p. 171 ; John Page, p. 137 ; Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Loicer Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 106 ;
Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1689, f. p. 19.

3 Becords of General Court, p. 213. See also Becords of Pri7icess
Anne County, vol. for 1697, Oct. 21, in which there is an inventory that
includes among its items ten pearls and fifteen bloodstones.

196 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

stone, and lastly, a ring of plain gold.^ Nathaniel Branker
of Lower Norfolk County, at his death was in possession
of a sapphire set in gold, one gold ring with a blue stone,
another with a green stone, and another still with a yellow,
two hollow w^rought rings, a diamond ring with several
sparks, a mourning ring, a beryl set in silver, and an
amber necklace. ^ Small gold and silver bodkins were
used by the wives of the planters for the purpose of keep-
ing the headdress in place.

Plantation life towards the end of the century, as at
an earlier date, gave few opportunities even for the most
moderate display. There were no towns where, as at
Williamsburg in the following century, the families of
the leading citizens of the Colony might gather at cer-
tain seasons and show off in considerable state the con-
temporaneous fashions. The church of the parish was the
only social centre of each community. It was here alone
that fine clothing could be exhilDited on a public occasion.
Doubtless at the weddings, and other social meetings of a
private character, the most costly suits and dresses were
worn.

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 474, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Loioer Norfolk County, original yoI. 1686-1695, f. p. 17.
There seem to have been skilful goldsmiths in the Colony. This is to be
inferred from the following extract from the Becords of Elizabeth City
County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 201 : " Whereas it appears that Peter Gibson
received of Henry Royall foure gold rings to make two rings of them of
ye same weight, but they being lost by accident, as ye said Gibson alleges,
and made oath that ye said rings weighed but four pennyweight and eight
grains. It is, therefore, ordered yt the said Gibson doe forthwith make
two gold rings of ye aforesaid weight and deliver ye same to ye said Royall
or order, making reasonable payment for making thereof with costs."

CHAPTER XIII

DOMESTIC ECOXo:^^Y OP THE PLANTER — continued

All the descriptions of Virginia in the seventeenth
century transmitted to us go to show tliat the people of
all classes in that age lived in the greatest abundance.
Those conditions which had furnished the aboriginal
tribes with an unlimited supply of food of extraordinary
variety, Avith the need of but small effort in securing it,
prevailed with little appreciable modification except in one
or two particulars. 1 The soil, the air, the water, all con-
tributed to the plenty so freely enjoyed by the great body
of the English population. There were innumerable
cattle that afforded butter, cheese,^ milk, veal, and beef.
The ice-house as yet did not enter into the household
economy, and in consequence it was the custom of a
planter on slaughtering an ox to send to his neighbors
such portions of the carcass as could be spared, which
the neighbor repaid in his turn.^ At this time, the only
means employed for the preservation of fresh meats was
water flowing into a box house erected in the stream that
issued from the spring, but this expedient did not serve

1 Colonel Norwood in his Voyage to Virginia declares that North-
ampton was " the best county of the whole for all sorts of necessaries
for human life," p. 46, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

2 The inventory of the personal estate of Nathaniel Bradford of Ac-
comac included among its items fifty pounds of ' ' Virginia cheese." Itecords
of Accomac County, original vol. 1G82-1697, f. p. 214.

3 Leah and Rachel, p. 19, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

198 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to keep siicli meats in good condition for any great length
of time. Beef both dried and fresh were included in the
inventories of estates. ^ In some cases it had been salted.
The beef of the Colony, while pronounced to be of excel-
lent quality, was not as fat as that produced in England,
where the cattle perhaps were more carefully provided for
in winter. A cow or an ox designed for the butcher was
there most frequently stalled as a preparation for its con-
version into food. In Virginia, it was allowed to run
wild in the woods even in December and January, or
was scantily fed on straw, and when the spring arrived,
bringing the grass back to the fields and the leaves to
the forest, the animal was almost exhausted. With the
improved nourishment it soon recuperated, but never
acquired the fatness which made English beef one of
the most nourishing of all varieties of food.

As has already been stated, the bacon of the Colony,
many years before the close of the seventeenth century,
was considered by impartial foreign judges to be equal
to that of Westphalia, the most celebrated in the world
in that age.^ Clayton expressed the opinion that it
very much excelled the English. The very causes that

1 One of the items in the inventory of Robert Drury of York County
was "forty pounds of dried beef," this being in addition to other meats.
Becords, vol. 1684-1687, p. 333, Va. State Library. The inventory of
Margery Bullington included eighty-seven pounds of beef. Becords of
Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 306, Va. State Library. There were
professional butchers in the Colony in the seventeenth century, some of
whom, if an inference can be drawn from the case of William Johnson,
were the owners of extensive tracts of laud. See Becords of Middlesex
County, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 230.

2 Clayton's Virginia, p. 36, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III. Burn-
aby, writing nearly an hundred years later (1759), remarked : " The Vir-
ginia pork is said to be superior in flavor to any in the world." See his
travels printed in Va. Hist. Begister, vol. V, No. 1, p. 38. Large quanti-
ties of pork are enumerated in the inventories of the seventeenth century.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTEIl 199

detracted from the quality of Virginian beef were favor-
able to the quality of Virginian bacon. The wandering
existence of the colonial hog, by reducing its fat, was
probably as effective in creating the superior flavor of
its flesh as the mast, roots, and herbs upon which it fed
while ranging in the woods. Clayton declared that shoats
or porklets were the principal food of a large section of
the population. Poultry were so numerous in the Colony
even during the time of the Company that it was affirmed
that only those planters who were bad husbandmen failed
to breed an hundred a year, and that they formed a part of
the daily meals of all who were in good circumstances. ^
As the general wealth increased, the use of domestic fowls
as food was not confined to those who had comfortable
means. Devries, a Dutch captain who visited the Colony
in 1643, has recorded the fact that a carpenter, upon
whose house he had stumbled when lost in the vicinity
of Newport's News, set before him a meal consisting of
turkey and chicken, which had been killed for his use.^

The number of sheep in Virginia being comparatively
small, mutton was more esteemed than venison, which
Avas so commonly eaten in some parts of the Colony that
the people had grown tired of it.^ The other kinds of
game furnished food at certain seasons of the year in
great abundance. Not only were the flocks of wild tur-
keys very large, but the birds themselves often attained
to an extraordinary weight. The wild fowls in the rivers,
creeks, and bays were so numerous in autumn and winter

1 Worls of Capt. John Smith, p. 885. Poultry, probably because they
were so abundant, were rarely enumerated in the inventories. See Berords
of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 161 ; also Ibid., vol. 166^-1672, p. 103,
Ya. State Library.

- Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 188.

3 Clayton's Virginia, p. 35, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. Ill ; Leah
and Rachel, p. 13, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

200 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

that they were regarded as the least expensive food on
the table of the planter ; ^ the goose, the mallard, the
canvas-back, the red-head, the plover, and other species
of the most highly flavored marine birds were more
frequently cooked in his kitchen than domestic poultry.
Fish of the finest varieties were as easily obtained.
Sheepshead, shad, breme, perch, soles, bass, chub, and
pike swarmed in the nearest waters. Oysters could be
procured in quantities as large as in the first years after
the settlement of the country, while other species of shell-
fish were found in almost equal abundance.

It was thought by many good judges, that the fruit
of Virginia was superior in flavor to that of England.
This was in the most marked degree the case with the
peach and quince, the quince of the Colony, unlike that
of the mother country, being sufliciently palatable to be
eaten raw, while the difference between the English and
Virginian peach was said to be as great in favor of the
latter as that between the best relished apple and the crab.-
There were grapes, plums, and figs in all of the gardens,
and in season, large quantities went to decay because there
was no way of using the superfluity. Strawberries grew
in such abundance in the deserted fields that it was con-
sidered unnecessary to cultivate the plant ; baskets were
with little difficulty filled with the wild berries.^ Apple
orchards were numerous and furnished a supply of this
I'ruit both for the summer and the winter. There were
ten varieties of peas and two varieties of potatoes, the
sweet and the Irish ; there were pumpkins, cymblins,

1 Among the twenty-one guns owned by Ralph Wormeley were five
fowling pieces. See Eecords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1608-
1713, p. 128. Lands were frequently posted. See Becords of York County,
vol. 1090-1094, p. 251; Va. State Library.

2 Leah and Rachel, p. 1?>, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

3 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 104.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 201

melons, and roasting ears of Indian corn. All of the
English vegetables flourished in the soil of Virginia.
Walnuts, chestnuts, hickory, and hazel nuts were obtained
from every forest. Honey was a common article of food,
much attention being paid to apiculture ; there were few
householders who did not have hives under the eaves of
their outbuildings, one planter owning as many as thir-
teen stocks. 1 Mr. George Pelton, who lived about the
middle of the century, obtained from his bees an annual
profit of thirty pounds sterling. ^ There were many wild
swarms in the woods, the honeycombs, Avhich were con-
cealed in the hollows of trees, becoming very frequently
the booty of the colonial bee-hunters.

Among the imported articles of food was rice and sweet-
meats, and spices in large quantities were also brought
in. There were pepper and cloves, mace and cinnamon,
ginger, sugar,^ and lime-juice, oranges, lemons, raisins,
and prunes. Salt formed a part of the stores of every
planter, being needed not only for giving flavor to the
different dishes appearing on the table at meals, but also
for the preservation of meats reserved for household con-
sumption, or designed to be exported."^ Wheat-bread was
in common use among the members of the highest class,
but bread made of Indian corn baked in large or small

1 Hecords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 446, Va. State Library.
See also Beconls of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 354, Va. State
Library. New Description of Virginia, p. 4, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. II. Mr. Nicholas Seabrell of York owned seven hives. Vol. 1CG4-1672,
p. 162, Va. State Library.

2 New Description of Virginia, p. 15, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.

3 In a letter to John Cooper of London in 1685, Fitzhugh writes: "I
have only in my former sent for 100 pounds of sundrey sugars, and about
60 or 80 pounds of powdered sugar." June 1, 1685.

* Among the articles in household use owned by Giles Mode in 1657
were two hogsheads of salt, one of white, the other of bay salt. Becords
of York, 1657-1662, p. 48, Va. State Library,

202 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIIiGINIA

cakes in the pan, was equally as po})ular ; it was most
probably the only bread eaten by the servants and slaves.
As early as 1621, it was generally recognized by the peo-
ple of the Colony that Indian corn bread was more nour-
ishing than wheat in the arduous life which at that time
they were compelled to lead, and the same fact had been
observed at a later period in the case of men who had
been required to work with their hands.

Twenty years after the foundation of the Colony it was
asserted, it would seem with considerable exaggeration,
by a woman of prominence who had resided there, that
from her own ground of a few acres in Virginia, she
could provide for her household more abundantly than
in London by an expenditure of three or four hundred
pounds sterling,! which in that age was equal to several
thousand dollars in our modern currency. The ease with
which a subsistence was secured, the combined result of a
fertile soil and a genial climate, was the principal expla-
nation of the hospitality for which the people were distin-
guished before the country had been settled half a cen-
tury.^ Colonel Norwood, in describing his sojourn on the
Eastern Shore after his shipwreck, relates that he was
feasted not only by the host whom he happened to be
visiting for the time being, but also by all the planters
in the neighborhood. There seems to have been some
rivalry as to who should be able to set before their guest
the greatest variety of dishes. Norwood, who was not
unfamiliar with the manner of life of the English court,
commended the cooking in Virginia. ^ The gentry seem
to have felt much pride in their tables, taking pains, we

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 887.

2 Leah and Rachel, p. 15, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

3 Norwood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 48, Force'.s Historical Tracts,
vol. 111.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 203

are informed by Beverley, to have their victuals cooked
and served as if they were in London. ^

It was the general habit of the colonists to charge
nothing for the casual entertainment of a stranger, suffi-
cient remuneration being derived from the enjoyment
of his society, a pleasure of no small importance in
the secluded life of the plantations. It was especially
provided by law that unless there had been a distinct
arrangement to pay for accommodations, both in regard
to food and shelter, nothing could be recovered from a
guest, however long he might remain under the roof.^
The usual charge for board about the middle of the cen-
tury was five pounds sterling for twelve months, or about
one hundred and twenty-five dollars in American cur-
rency of the present age. Bullock stated, that by the
expenditure of this sum in the Colony, any one might live
in a manner which in England would entail an outla}' of
thirty pounds sterling, six times the amount required in
Virginia.^ The rates for victuals at all of the ordinaries
were carefully prescribed by law. Previous to 1639, the
cost of a meal was fixed at six pounds of tobacco, or
eighteen pence in coin, but in the course of that year it
was reduced to twelve pence, or its equivalent in the
same commodit3% the abundance of food of all sorts being
unusually great.* Five years later, the charge for a meal
at an inn was not allowed to exceed ten pounds. Only
wholesome diet was to be furnished, and that in sufficient
quantity.^

During the session of the Assembly in March, 1657-58,

1 Beverley's Histonj of Virginia, p. 236.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 192.

3 Bullock's Virginia, p. 87.

4 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 229.

5 Ibid., p. 287.

204 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

special rates for a meal and lodging at JamestoAvn were en-
forced by the authorities, a master being required to pay i
twenty pounds of tobacco and a servant fifteen. ^ The same |
charges were prescribed by an Act of Assembly a decade
later, this Act extending to all parts of the Colony. So
onerous were the rates adopted by the tavern keepers on
their own motion, that it is stated to have had a serious
effect in deterring persons having just claims from attend-
ing the General and County Courts and prosecuting their
suits. The excessive demands had their origin not so
much in the exorbitant spirit of the keepers of ordinaries
as in the limited character of the local custom, and the
great danger of depreciation in the leaf offered in pay-
ment. The rate fixed upon by law for a single meal,
fifteen pounds for a master and ten for a servant, was
very high, as fifteen pounds of tobacco at this time would
bring, if its quality Avas good, not less than five shillings
in modern English currency, which appears remarkable in
a country distinguished for an extraordinary abundance
of provisions.^

Ten years later some important changes were made in
the rates for food at the taverns. For a master, the
amount for a single meal was fixed at twelve pounds of
tobacco and for his servant at eight, if they were stopping
at an ordinary in the town where the General Court or
the Assembly had convened. Elsewhere it Avas to be ten
for the master and six for the servant. The cost of
lodging for each one Avas not to exceed three pounds,
whether at Jamestown or at other places in the Colony.
The charge for pasturing a horse, the owner of AAdiich Avas
a guest of the inn, AA-as fixed at six pounds for ar period
of tAventy-four hours ; if sheltered and supplied with hay
and straw, the fee for the same length of time Avas to be
1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 490. 2 jj^i^.^ vol. II, p. 263.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 205

eight. Grain was to be furnislied at tlie rate of forty
pounds of tobacco a bushel, and oats at the rate of
sixty pounds.^

At different periods in the course of the seventeenth
century, an attempt was made to arrange the general
scale of prices at which articles of food were to be sold,
without regard to their being disposed of in a tavern or
not. This was often done in tlie early decades by the
proclamation of the Governor and Council. The rates
set by the owners were doubtless very much higher than
those laid down in these proclamations, nevertheless the
rates prescribed in the latter represented with substantial
accuracy the true value of such articles at the time. In
1625, a pound of tobacco was worth about one shilling.
In this year was renewed the proclamation that appeared
in 1623, the year of the great dearth following the massa-
cre, which led to exorbitant charges for the most ordinary
articles. A pound of sugar was rated at one pound of to-
bacco or one shilling in coin, a firkin of butter at twenty
pounds of tobacco or twenty shillings, Newfoundland
fish at ten pounds of tobacco or ten shillings a hundred,
Canada dry fish at twenty-four pounds of tobacco or
twenty-four shillings a hundred, Canada wet fish at thirty
pounds of tobacco or thirty shillings a hundred. ^

In 1612, a tax was imposed upon every tithable person
in the Colony for the benefit of Governor Berkeley, to be
paid in provisions of different kinds. The rate prescribed
for geese and turkeys was five shillings apiece ; for hens,
twelve pence ; for capons, one shilling and six pence ;
for beef, three and a half pence a pound ; for a calf in
condition to be slaughtered and converted into veal,
twenty-five shillings ; for a goat, twenty shillings ; for a

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 394.

2 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 1.

206 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

roasting pig, three shillings ; for butter and cheese, eight
and six pence a pound. ^

When, in 1676, English soldiers were sent to Virginia
for the purpose of suppressing the insurrection which had
broken out under the leadership of Bacon, an order was
issued that the people should sell them the following
articles at the prices named, the ratio of the purchasing
power in the currency of the present day being obtained
by multiplying the figures by four or five : fresh beef was
to be sold at the rate of two pence a pound and dressed
beef at the rate of three ; fresh pork at the rate of two
pence and salted pork at the rate of two and a half. The
price set for dried bacon was five pence a pound ;; for a
cock, hen, or pullet, ten pence ; and for a capon, fifteen.
Milk was to be sold at the rate of two pence a quart in the
interval between September 30th and j\Iay 20th, and of
one penny between May 20tli and September 30th. During
these two successive periods, the price of butter was to be
six and five pence respectively. The price set for eggs
was a penny for three. Indian corn was to be sold at the
rate of two shillings and six pence a bushel, and wheat at
the rate of four shillings. To this must be added the out-
lay in converting these grains into meal and flour. ^

It will be seen from this general statement of prices
that the cost of the principal articles of food had fallen in
the interval since 1642 in some cases as much as fifty per
cent. Allowance must be made for the fact that the rates
laid down in this schedule had been arranged at military
dictation. The charges for food at this time were very

1 Hening's Stattitrs, vol. I, p. 281.

2 Acts of Assembly, Feb. 20, 29tli year of Charles II Reign, Wi7ider
Papers, vol. II, p. 99, Va. State Library. In 1031, milk sold at Kecougli-
tan at the rate of twelve pence a gallon. Archives of Maryland, Pro-
ceedings of Council, vol. 1667-1688, p. 235.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 207

high, the suppression of the insurrection having left all
the interests of the Colony in a state of confusion. The
schedule was adopted to override this condition of affairs
hy force of law.

In the list of debts filed against the estate of John
Griggs, in February, 1678-79, there is found an interesting
statement of prices of certain provisions. For instance,
a beef was appraised at four hundred pounds of tobacco,
a turkey at forty pounds, two geese at eighty, two bushels
of flour at ninety, and twenty pounds of butter at one i
hundred. 1 A pound of tobacco at this time was worth
from one and a quarter to two pence. In 1682, the price
of fresh beef was fixed at ten shillings or one hundred
pounds of tobacco a hundred-weight ; the price of fresh
pork at t\^'elve shillings or one hundred and twenty
pounds of the same commodity a hundred, representing
in both instances a value of one penny and one-fifth of a
penny a pound. ^ Dried beef was higher by several pence.^

The different figures quoted show very plainly that
the rates for provisions gradually fell in Virginia with
the progress of the seventeenth century; this was due
to the increase in the number of plantations, and the en-
largement of the volume of production in every depart-
ment. The decline continued in the eighteenth century
for the same reasons. When Beverley wrote his history
of Virginia, a pound of beef or pork ranged in price as
low as one penny. The fattest pullets were sold for six
pence apiece, a turkey hen for fifteen or eighteen, and a
turkey cock for two shillings.*

It is interesting to compare the rates for provisions in

1 lierords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 87, Va. State Library.

2 lUd., vol. 1671-1694, p. 104 ; Heuiiig's Statutes, vol. II, p. 507.
•'' Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 45.

* Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 2.36.

208 ECONOxMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Virginia with the rates for the same articles of food in
England during the seventeenth century; a just concep-
tion may be thus obtained of the relative expense of
living in the two countries during this long period. In
England, the price of beef at the beginning of the century
was nearly two pence a pound, and at the close of it four
pence. In the Colony, it was precisely the reverse. Three
and a half pence in 1642, when the provision tax Avas im-
posed for the benefit of Sir William Berkeley, the price of
one pound of beef was one penny and one-fifth of a penny
in 1682, and at certain seasons one penny only in 1705. In
1645, veal was sold in England at two shillings and seven
and a half pence a stone; in 1678, at two pence, two and a
half pence, and two and three-quarter pence a pound. In
these instances, the weight of the calf when slaughtered
did not exceed ninety pounds. The price lists adopted
by the Assembly in Virginia make no specific reference
to veal, the rates for this meat doubtless being included
in those for beef. The valuation laid down for a calf in
1642, namely, twenty-five shillings, conveys no definite
idea as to weight, the age alone of the animal being taken
into consideration. The Virginian price lists fail to in-
clude mutton, an indication of the small part which it
played in the economy of the household. Some notion
as to its cost in the Colony as compared with its cost in
England may be obtained from the relative values of
sheep in the two, which have been touched upon in the
account of the agricultural development of Virginia at
different periods. Pork in the mother country rose in
price as time advanced, reversing, as in the case of beef,
the history of the same article of food in the Colony,
where it commanded, in the latter part of the century, a
penny and one-fifth a pound. In England at this time
three pence seem to have been the lowest rate, and in

do:mestic economy of the planter 209

some cases it rose to six. The differences in the prices
of bacon in England and Virginia were not so marked,
five pence a pound being its value in the latter country
in 1677, while in the former it sold not infrequently for
seven. 1

In England, the price of butter fluctuated very much
in the seventeenth century. During the course of the
first thirty years, it rose very steadily; then, with the
exception of the interval between 1643 and 1652, when it
was very dear, it declined during thirty years, then rose
in price again, until in the last decade it was rated at a
very high figure.'-^ In 1600, it commanded five pence and
one-seventh of a penny a pound, or four shillings eight
and a half pennies a dozen pounds ; in 1650, six pence
and five-twelfths of a penny a pound, or six shillings and
five pence a dozen pounds ; in 1700, at seven pence a
pound, or seven shillings a dozen pounds.^ In 1642,
butter was sold in the Colony at eight pence a pound;*
in 1667, when food was dear, at six pence in winter and
at five in summer.^ By the end of the century, it had
sunk to still lower figures. The same fact is observed in
regard to butter as in the case of other forms of food,
that is to say, it grew dearer in England as the century
advanced and cheaper in Virginia. The rates for milk
in 1677, the only year in which a record of its value
exists, were two pence in winter and one penny in sum-
mer, adopting the quart as the standard of measurement.
The only reference to the price of this article in England

1 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, price
of beef and veal, pp. 334, 338 ; pork and bacon, p. 343.

2 Ibid., p. 358.

^ Ibid., pp. 373-378.
* Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 281.

5 Acts of Assembly, Feb. 20, 29th year Charles II Reign, Winder
Papers, vol. II, p. 99, Va. State Library.

VOL. II. — p

210 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

ill the same century is in connection with the interval
between 1643 and 1649; in the latter year, it sold for
five pence a gallon, or one and one-quarter pence a quart. ^
The probability is that it followed the ratio of increase in
price observed in the case of other provisions. In Eng-
land, the price of eggs fell from four shillings in 1600 to
two shillings six and a half pence in 1645, one hundred
or eight dozen being taken as the standard. For the rest
of the century there aj)pear to be no data. It would
seem that, like butter, eggs rose in price towards tbe close
of the century. The falling off in value for the first fifty
years represented a decline from half a penny an egg to
about one-third of a penny. In 1677, a year of great
scarcity, the price of an egg was in Virginia fixed at one-
third of a penny, but this doubtless was a much higher
valuation than prevailed at a later date.^ In 1642, a
capon sold in England at one shilling five and a half
pence, in Virginia at one shilling six pence ; in 1678, in
England at three shillings, in Virginia in the same year
at one shilling five pence ; in 1700, at two shillings six
pence in England, in Virginia at eight or nine pence.
A hen or pullet in England sold in 1642 at eleven and a
half pence, in Virginia at twelve pence ; in 1676, in Eng-
land at two shillings, in Virginia at ten pence ; in 1700,
in England at two shillings and six pence, in Virginia
at six pence. In 1642, a goose sold in England at two
shillings and a half penny, in Virginia at five shillings ;
in 1678, in England at three shillings and six pence, in
Virginia at forty pounds of tobacco, which were equal
in value to about one and a half pence a pound ; in 1700,

1 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 362.

2 Acts of Assembly, Feb. 20, 29tli year Charles II Reign, Winder
Papers, vol. II, p. 99, Va. State Library ; Rogers' History of Agriculture
and Prices in England, pp. 372, 375.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 211

in England at three shillings and six pence, in Virginia at
ten pence or a shilling. The same difference was to be
noticed with respect to turkeys and ducks, ^

In the True and Sincere Declaration^'^ issued in De-
cember, 1609, by the Governor and Council for Virginia,
there was an advertisement for two brewers, who as soon
as they were secured were to be dispatched to the Colony ;
and in a broadside published about this time the adver-
tisement was repeated. 3 Brewers were also included
among the tradesmen who Avere designed by the Company
to go over with Sir Thomas Gates.* This indicated the
importance in the eyes of that corporation of establishing
the means in Virginia of manufacturing malt liquors on
the spot instead of relying on the importations from
England. The notion arose that one of the principal
causes of the mortality so prevalent among those arriving
in the Colony in the period following the first settlement
of the country was the substitution of water for the beer
to which the immigrants had been accustomed in England.
The Assembly, in the session of 1623-24, went so far as to
recommend that all new comers should bring in a supply
of malt to be used in brewing liquor, thus making it
unnecessary to drink the water of Virginia until the body
had become hardened to the climate.^

Previous to 1625, two brew-houses were in operation in
the Colony, and the patronage which they received was
evidently very liberal. The i)opulation of Virginia at

1 Rogei's' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, prices
of capon, pp. 374, 378 ; hen, p. 378 ; goose, p. 375. For Virginian prices,
see Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 281, vol. II, p. 506. Beverley's History
of Virginia, pp. 230, 237.

^ Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 353.

^ Ibid., -p. 356.

^ Ibid., p. 470.

* British State Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 7.

212 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

that time had, with the exception of a small proportion of
the inhabitants, not only been born but also reared in
England, and had, therefore, the English thirst for strong
liquors. It was not long before they discovered the
adaptability of the persimmon to beer.^ It was even
sought to make wine of sassafras. ^ Barley and Indian
corn were planted to secure material for brewing, the
ale produced, both strong and small, being pronounced
by capable judges to be of excellent quality.^ Twenty
years after the dissolution of the Company, there were
six public brew-houses in Virginia, the malt used being
extracted from the barley and hops which had in con-
siderable quantities been raised for this purpose.^ In
1652, George Fletcher obtained the monopoly of brewing
in wooden vessels for a period of fourteen years. ^ In
some places, beer was, about the middle of the century,
the most popular of all the liquors drunk in the Colony,^
the great proportion of it being brewed at this time in the
houses of the planters. With the progress of time, the
cultivation of barley practically ceased. In the period

1 Broadside, 1621, Purchas' Pilgrimes, vol. IV, p. 1784.

2 This was the project of a Mr. Russell, a chemist, who proposed, in
consideration of £1000 to be paid by the Company, to demonstrate that
wine could be produced from the sassafras. The proposition was ac-
cepted by the Company with some modiiication, but as nothing more is
known of the matter, it is to be inferred that Mr. Russell failed to show
what he had undertaken. Eoyal Hist. MSS. Commission, Fifth Report,
Appx., p. 341.

3 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 886. George Thorpe, writing to John
Smith of Nibley in 1620, comments on the fact that the colonists had
found a way to make a good drink from Indian corn, which he preferred
to English beer. Cholmondeley MSS., Boyal Hist. MSS. Commission,
Fifth Report, Appx., p. 341.

* Perfect Description of Virginia, p. 3, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. II.

^ Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 231.

6 Leah and Rachel, p. 13, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 213

of the English Protectorate, there were offered a number
of petitions from English merchants who were anxious to
obtain licenses to export malt to Virginia ; ^ the quantity
brought in steadily increased, the landowners in good
circumstances purchasing it to be used in making beer.
They also imported the beer itself. The poorest class of
people had recourse to various expedients as a substitute
for malt. They brewed with dried Indian corn or with
bran and molasses ; or they brewed with the baked cakes
of the fruit of the persimmon tree ; or with potatoes ;
or the green stalks of maize chopped into fine pieces and
mashed; or with pumpkins; or the Jerusalem artichoke,
which was planted like barley to be consumed in the
manufacture of spirits. It is said, however, that the
liquor made from this vegetable was not very much
esteemed. 2 There are many references in the county
records to malt-mills and also to malt-houses,^ which
were the private property of planters. Some owned dis-
tilleries,^ others worms and limbecks.

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. XIII, No. 12.

2 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 238. The following letter relating
to the importation of malt is lareserved in the York Records :

" LoxDox, May 2, 16G0.
Brother: I doe hereby desyre you to deliver unto Mr. Robert Whit-
liaire or Richard jNIerret, and in their absence, then unto Mr. Christopher
Harris in Queen's Creek in York River, five hogsheads of mault, marked
hN No. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. . . ." Becords of York County, vol. 1(357-1062,
p. 308, Va. State Library.

3 Reference has been made to the malt-house of Francis Page. Ed-
mund Scarborough had also erected a house for this purpose. Becords of
Accomac County, original vol. 1666-1G7G, p. 31. The malt was generally
kept in the cellars. Giles Mode writes in 1657 to Mr. Bushrod as follows :
" I am sensible the mault you had in ye sellar was betwixt six and seven
bushels. . . ." Becords of York County, vol. Wb7-IQ62, IX 4S,ya. State
Library.

* Becords of Rappahannock County, vol. 166-1-1673, p. 83, Va. State
Library.

214 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Cider was in as common use as beer ; in season it was
found in the house of every planter in the Colony. In
the opinion of English judges, like Hugh Jones, it was not
much inferior in quality to the most famous kinds produced
in Herefordshire.! Fitzhugh, however, does not appear to
have entertained this opinion, although, like Jones, he had
in early life been in a position to compare English with
Virginian cider on the. ground where it was made. On
one occasion, he sent to George Mason of Bristol a sample
of the cider of the Colony, accompanying it with a some-
what apologetic letter : " I had not the vanity," he wrote,
"to think that we could outdo, much less equal, your
Herefordshire red stroke, especially that made at particular
places. I only thought because of the place from where it
came, it might be acceptable, and give you an opportunity
in the drinking of it to discover what future advantages
this country may be capable of."^

Large quantities of cider were frequently the subject of
specialties ; thus Peter Marsh of York County about 1675
entered into a bond to pay James Minge one hundred and
twenty gallons. ^ It was also the form of consideration in
which rent was occasionally settled.^ The instance of
Alexander Moore of York shows the quantity often be-
queathed; he left at his decease twenty gallons of raw
cider and one hundred and thirty of boiled. Richard
Moore, of the same county, kept on hand as many as
fourteen cider casks.^ Richard Bennett made about
twenty butts of cider annually, while Richard Kinsman
compressed from the pears growing in his orchard forty

1 Hugh Jones' Present State of Virginia, p. 41.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, May 17, 1695.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 63, Va. State Library.

4 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 106, Va. State
Library.

6 Records of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 64, Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 215

or fifty of perry.i These liquors seemed to have been
kept iu butts, hogsheads, and runlets. A great quantity
of peach and apple brandy was also manufactured.

In addition to beer and ale, the liquors most generally
used by the wealthier planters in the early history of the
Colony were sack and aquavitije.^ With the passage of
time, madeira became the most popular form of spirits
with the members of this class in use at meals, and punch,
manufactured either from West Indian rum or apple or
peach brandy, at other times. ^ The people at large drank
rum or brandy if a strong drink was desired.^ Mathegelin,
a mixture of honey and water, was also consumed.^ Among
the lighter wines in use were claret, fayal, and Rhenish. ^
It is a fact of curious interest, from our present point of
view, that the rarest French, Portuguese, and Spanish wines
and brandies were found in the ordinaries of Virginia in
the seventeenth century, and the rates at which they were
disposed of were carefully fixed by law. Where now only

1 New Description of Virginia, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.
This was, perhaps, as already stated, Kingsmill, not Kinsman.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 886. It is stated in this reference
that " few of the upper planters drink any water."

3 Beverley's History of Virc/inia, p. 238. A liquor was also made from
the quince. See Newell Inventory, Becords of York County, vol. 1675-
1681, p. 142, Va. State Library.

* Hugh Jones' Present State of Virginia, p. 52.

5 New Description of Virginia, page 15, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. II.

6 Fitzhugh, writing in 1694 to Mr. George Mason of Bristol, said : " I
thank you for your half dozen of claret, and should have in gratification
returned you a hamper of cider, but on examination found none worth
the sending." July 20, 1694. Under date of July 25, 1690, Byrd wrote
to one of his English correspondents and thanked him for a large quan-
tity of Rhenish wine which he had sent. "The wine, although the cask
was somewhat leaky, was extraordinarily good, better than any I had in
bottles, and if we could find a way to settle our trade, it would do well,
especially in this scarcity of claret."

216 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the meanest brands of whiskey can be bought, madeira,
sherry, canary, malaga, muscadine, fayal, and other foreign
wines were offered for sale. Had there been no poi3uhir
demand for them, they would not have been imj^orted.
Descended from a race of hearty and liberal drinkers, the
English, it would have been remarkable had the Virgin-
ians of the period shown no strong tendency to indulgence
in liquor. It is highly probable that the comparative
loneliness of plantation life and the absence of exciting
amusements liad a powerful influence in stimulating the
love of spirits prevailing in the Colony from the earli-
est time. The authorities of the Company in England,
writing in 1622 to the Governor and Council in Virginia,
attributed the massacre by the Indians, which had recently
taken place, to the anger of Providence, who thus sought
to punish the inhabitants " for enormous excesses in ap-
parel and drinking." ^ In 1638, Governor Harvey declared
in an official communication dispatched to England, that
one-half of the principal commodity of the country, tobacco,
was thrown away in a superfluity of wines and strong
waters. 2 One of the most cogent reasons for requiring
all shipmasters to keep the bulk of their cargoes unbroken
until they arrived at Jamestown, a standing regulation
for many decades, was to prevent a waste of the people's
substance in purchases of liquors, to the neglect of the
necessary articles of life. Fitzhugh states that in making
bargains for the acquisition of the main crop of the planters,
a certain percentage of expense had to be allowed by the
trader for the spirits which would be consumed before the

1 Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 322. See, however, the
pathetic denial of this charge iu a letter of the Governor and Council,
dated Jan. 20, 1623, p. 367.

2 Harvey and Council to Privy Council, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. X, No. 5 ; Winder Papers, vol. I, p. 145, Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 217

agreements were closed. ^ So intemperate was the in-
dulgence at funerals, more especially in cider and rum,
that some testators left instructions in their wills that no
liquors were to be distributed on the occasion of their
burials. 2

A supply of spirits was provided for the members of
public bodies when they convened. The character of the
liquors used depended somewhat on the nature of the
assemblage. When Charles Hansford and David Condon,
as the executors of the widow of the unfortunate Thomas
Hansford, who lost his life on account of his participation
in the insurrection of 1676, leased her residence in York
to the justices of the peace of that county to serve as a
court-house, they bound themselves to furnish not only
accommodations for horses, but also a gallon of brandy
during each session of the bench. It is not stated whether
this brandy was consumed by the honorable justices in
the form of the drink which has become so famous in later
times in Virginia, tlie mint julep, but if mint was cultivated
in the Colony in that age, it is quite probable that a large
part of this gallon was converted into that mixture, the
kindly effects of which were certainly not promotive of a
harsh disposition in the enforcement of the law by the
magistrates of York.^

1 Letters of William Fitshugh, April 8, 1687. In the account of Rich-
ard Longman, as attorney of his father, an Engh'sh merchant, preserved
in the lie.corcls of York County (vol. 1664-1672, p. 115, Va. State Library),
six pounds sterling is entered as the amount expended in drink in
making sale of the goods represented in the account.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 165, Va. State Library.
The language of the testator in this case was as follows: "Having
observed in the dales of my pilgrimage the debauches used at burialls
tending much to the dishonour of God and his true Religion, my will is
that noe strong drinke bee p'vided or spirits at my burialls."

3 Ibid., 1675-1684, p. 35. I have not been able to find any reference
to the mint julep in the seventeenth century. It was doubtless the inven-

218 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

In 16G6, the justices of Lower Norfolk County rented
the tract of hind on Avhich the court-house was situated,
on condition that the lessee, in part consideration for the
use of the houses and orchards each year, would pay ten
gallons of ale brewed from English grain. ^

The members of the Council appear to have been
fastidious in their tastes. It was one of the duties of
the Auditor-General to have a large quantity of wine
always ready at hand for this body; thus on one occa-
sion, William Byrd, who filled the office in the latter part
of the century, ordered for their use, twenty dozen of
claret and six dozen of canary, sherry, and Rhenish re-
spectively. A quarter of a cask of brandy was also to
be added. 2

This unrestrained indulgence in liquor, which previous
to 1624 had excited the criticism of the Company, called
down on the Colony on several occasions the animadver-
sion of the Royal Government after it had taken charge
of affairs in Virginia. In 1625, Governor Yeardley was
instructed to suppress drunkenness by severe punishments,
and to dispose of the spirits brought into the Colony in

tion of a later period. Licenses were issued for the sale of cider at the
meetings of citizens in attendance on the local courts. This is shown in
the following extract from the Becords of Lancaster County (original
vol. 1()80-1686, orders July 12, 168-2): " George Mayplis, petitioning the
court to have ye privilege of selling of cider at ye courthouse in court
time, the court doth order, provided it be no ways injurious or prejudicial
in ye disturbing of ye court in their time of sitting, have admitted him
so to do for this season." That the justices were not entirely proof against
the attractions of the cider and the other liquors sold on court days is
seen in the provision for the punishment of those members of the bench
who should become intoxicated. Heniug's Statutes, vol. II, p. 381.

1 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1666-1075, p. 35.

2 Letters of William Byrd, June 4, 1691. Under date of June 10, 1689,
Byrd wrote: "If claret is not to be had, we must be content with port
(that is, for the Council). ... I desire you to send me a hogshead of
claret wiue. ..."

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 219

such manner that it would go to tlie relief and comfort
of the whole plantation, instead of falling into the hands
of those who would be most likely to abuse it. He re-
ceived additional orders to return to the importers all
liquors shown to be decayed or unwholesome.^ In 1638,
the latter instruction, which had also been given to Wyatt,
who was Governor at this time, was modified to the
extent of requiring him to stave every vessel or cask
containing spirits shown to be unfit for drinking. The
injunction as to withholding all liquors imported into
the Colony from persons who were guilty of excess in
the use of them was repeated. ^

The attempts to prevent drunkenness were not confined
to instructions to the Governors, given by the authorities
in England; from the first session of the earliest Assembl}',
no legislative means were left unemployed to accomplish
the same object. In 1619, it was provided that the
person guilty in this respect should for the first offence
be privately reproved by his minister ; and for the sec^
ond, publicly ; for the third, be imprisoned for twelve
hours, and if still incorrigible, be punished as the Gover-
nor directed.^ In March, 1623-21, the church wardens in
every parish were ordered to present all persons guilty
of drunkenness to the commander of his plantation.
In 1631-32, the penalty of the English law was imposed,
that is to say, the offender was required to pay five shil-
lings into the hands of the nearest vestry, and this fine

1 Instructions to Governor Yeardley, 1026, British State Papers, Colo-
nial Entry Book, vol. LXXIX, p. 248 ; Virginia Magazine of History
and Biography, vol. II, p. 395.

2 Instructions to Governor Wyatt, 1638-39, Colonial Entry Book,
vol. LXXIX, pp. 219-236; Sainsbury Abstracts for 163S, p. 47, Va.
State Library.

3 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Becords of Virginia, State
Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 20.

220 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

could be made good by a levy upon his property. In
1657-58, the most stringent regulations were adopted in
suppression of this among other vices specially named;
not only was the person guilty of inebriety to be punished
by a very heavy fine, but he Avas to be rendered incapable
of being a witness in court, or bearing office under the
Government of the Colony. ^ In 1691, the penalty for the
offence of drunkenness was fixed at ten shillings, and if
the guilty person was unable to pay this sum, he was to
be exposed in the stocks for the space of two hours.
Eight years subsequently, the fine was reduced to five
shillings. 2

The opportunities of obtaining liquor were very much
increased by the large number of ordinaries in the Colony,
in all of which a great variety of spirits was sold. It is
probable that most of these establishments were mere
tippling-shops, an inference justified by the strict regu-
lations as to the prices at which liquors were to be
disposed of by innkeepers. It is interesting to examine
these prices as showing in part the expense of living in
Virginia. Previous to 1639, beer alone was rated at the
taverns, from Avhich it is to be supposed that this was the
only form of spirits to be had in the ordinaries at that
time. The amount prescribed by law was six pounds of
tobacco, or eighteen pence in coin. About the year 1639,
a condition of great plenty prevailed, and in consequence
the charge was reduced to twelve pence or one shilling.^
Five years later, not only was the sale in the taverns of
all liquors except strong beer and ale prohibited, but no
debts, made by the purchase of imported wines or other
spirits, could be enforced in a court of justice. This

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 126, 103, 433.

2 Ibid., vol. Ill, pp. 139, 170.

3 Ibid., vol. I, p. 229.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 221

was found to be so inconvenient tliat the Act of Assembly
in which it had its origin was repealed. ^

The Act does not seem to have at any time applied to
wine manufactured from grapes produced in the Colony,
or to cider or perry compressed from apples or pears of
Virginian growth, an exception being made in the case of
these spirits in order to encourage the planting of orchards
and vineyards. It was stated that beer and ale were also
excepted for the purpose of promoting the cultivation of
English grain. 2

To check exorbitant charges on the part of innkeep-
ers, special rates Avere now laid down for retailers of the
different wines and strong waters. The price by the gal-
lon for canary, malaga, sherry, muscadine, and allegant
was fixed at thirty pounds of tobacco; for madeira and
fayal, at twenty pounds ; for French wines, at fifteen ;
for the finest brands of English spirits, at eighty; and for
brandy or aquavitse, at forty. ^ It is a fact worthy of
attention that keepers of ordinaries were allowed to retail
wines and other liquors at Jamestown when the merchants
were expressly forbidden to do so. It was important to
the public that the taverns at the seat of the Colonial
Government should not fall into decay, and the exclusion
of the merchants from the local traffic in strong waters
shows how dependent the innkeepers of that community
were upon the sale of spirits for their prosperity.* This
regulation was put in operation at the close of the year
1645. In November, 1617, the old law which rendered all
debts for wines and strong waters not pleadable in a court

1 Heuing's Statutcf>, vol. I, p. 295.

2 Becorcls of Loiver Norfolk County, vol. for the years 10t2, 1643,
f. p. 34.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 300.
* Ibid., p. 319.

222 ECONO^NIIC HISTOr.Y OF VIRGINIA

of justice was revived witliout regard to the business of
the creditor.! -phe transfer of spirits by the wholesale on
shipboard was expressly excepted from the scope of this
prohibition. Although it was stated that the rule that
such debts should not be pleadable was to be perpetual,
ten years had barely passed away before it was found
necessary to establish rates for the sale of liquors by
retail, which undoubtedly gave validity to obligations
thus created. The interval between 1645, when the first
schedule of prices was adopted, and 1657, when the second,
covered only the period of a decade, and yet it is found
that in this length of time, the rates for malaga, canary,
sherry, muscadine, and allegant had doubled, while ma-
deira and fayal had advanced from twenty pounds of
tobacco a gallon to fifty ; French wines, from fifteen to
thirty; English spirits, from eighty to one hundred and
twenty ; and brandy or aquavitse from forty to sixty.
The decline in the price of the leaf in this interval was a
partial explanation of the increase in the rates. ^

We have evidence that the retailers were in the habit
of mixing the cheaper with the dearer, and of adul-
terating it still more grossly with a view to a larger
profit. In the event that the fraud was discovered, the
Commissioners of the Court in the jurisdiction of which
the act was committed were authorized to order the con-
stable of the county to stave the casks containing the
liquor condemned.^ Special rates were permitted in the
sale of spirits by retail at Jamestown during the session
of the Assembly in the spring of 1658. The keepers of
ordinaries could dispose of their Spanish wines for thirty
pounds of tobacco a quart, or one hundred and twenty
pounds a gallon, this being a quadruple advance upon the
rates at which these wines were allowed to be sold in 1645,

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 350. 2 jud., p. 446. » Ihid.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 223

and double the rates permitted in 1657. The price laid
down for French wines was twenty pounds of tobacco a
quart and eighty pounds a gallon, representing, when com-
pared W' ith previous charges, the same ratio of increase. A
rate for beer was now quoted for the first time since 1639,
when it was the onl}^ liquor that could be legally disposed
of by retail. In that year, it was valued at less than six
pounds of tobacco. It was now valued at twenty. ^

The permission to sell at these high figures, which, as
we have seen, was granted to the keepers of ordinaries
at Jamestown, only had their justification in circum-
stances wholly local in character and entirely confined
to one occasion. The Assembly was compelled to admit
that the stringent laws adopted to restrain exorbitant
charges for liquors in the ordinaries had failed of their
purpose ; this was largely on account of the extreme
fluctuation in the prices of tobacco, which led to the
establishment of a regulation apparently well adapted
to protect the interests of the retailer of liquor, as well
as those of the purchaser : the judge of each county
court was authorized to apply from time to time a sliding
scale to the rates, as the value of tobacco rose or fell.^
In order to ensure its strict observance, every ordinary
keeper was compelled to give bond, and had also to obtain
a special license, paying three hundred and fifty pounds
of tobacco to the Governor for it.^

After 1663, all retail sellers of liquors were required
to use only the English sealed measures of pints, quarts,
or gallons. Spirits imported in bottles were allowed to
be disposed of without breaking the seal. It is an indi-
cation of the heavy exactions to which buyers had been
exposed under the lax system previously prevalent, that

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 489. - Ibid., p. 522.

^ Ibid., vol. II, pp. 19, 20.

224 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

a failure to introduce the English measures as directed
by law exposed the retailer of liquor to the enormous
fine of five thousand pounds of tobacco, and if he was
also an innkeeper, to the cancellation of his license. ^

In 1666, the difficult matter of placing the rates upon
an exactly just footing to the buyer and seller of liquors
alike was settled by the adoption of an entirely new
regulation ; this consisted of allowing the seller by retail
to charge treble the amount which the spirits he disposed
of had cost him, provided that this general rate was not
in excess of the figures prescribed by law. Thus the
charge for Spanish and Portuguese wines was not to ex-
ceed ten shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco a
gallon ; the charge for French wines was not to exceed
eight shillings, or eighty pounds of tobacco a gallon ; for
rum, ten shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco ;
for brandy and English spirits, sixteen shillings, or one
hundred and sixty pounds of tobacco. Permission was
granted to ordinary keepers to secure as large a profit
from the sale of beer as they could within a limit of four
shillings a gallon, or forty pounds of tobacco. This price
was extremely high, the privilege of larger gain in the
case of this liquor being allowed on the specific ground
that it was of domestic manufacture. What were de-
scribed as " Virginia drams," that is to say, apple and
peach brandies, were to be sold within the restriction
of the rates laid down for English spirits. ^

It would seem that, for many years, the accounts of
innkeepers for the liquors furnished to their customers
had not been pleadable, although they had been charging
at established rates. The right was now granted to them
to sue upon these accounts in a court of justice and to
recover judgment, but it was required that the action

1 Heniug's Statutes, vol, II, p. 113. - Ibid.., p. 234,

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 225

should be brought within a year after the debt was con-
tracted. Twelve months later, the same schedule was
readojited, except that the rate for cider and perry was
fixed at two shillings six pence, or twenty-five pounds
of tobacco a gallon. ^

In 1668, there were so many taverns and tippling-
houses in the Colony, that it was found necessary to
reduce the number in each county to one or two, un-
less, for the accommodation of travellers, more should be
needed at ports, ferries, and the crossings of great roads,
in addition to that which was erected at the court-house.
All persons who conducted drinking-shops without li-
cense were fined two thousand pounds of tobacco. ^ The
rates adopted for liquors in 1666, and readopted in 1667,
having been found in 1671 to be too high in some in-
stances, were materially lessened ; those for Portuguese,
Spanish, and French wines were retained, while those for
brandy, English spirits, and "Virginia drams" were cut
down from sixteen shillings, or one hundred and sixty
pounds of tobacco a gallon, to ten shillings, or one hun-
dred pounds. The price of beer, which had been valued
at four shillings a gallon, and of cider and perry, which
had been valued at two shillings and six pence, was fixed
at two shillings, or twenty pounds of tobacco a gallon.
If the beer had been brewed with molasses, one shilling,
or ten pounds, was the charge.^

In 1676, during the supremacy of Nathaniel Bacon, at
which time so many laws were passed for the purpose
of suppressing long-standing abuses, a legislative attempt
was made to enforce what practically amounted to general
prohibition. The licenses of all inns, alehouses, and tip-
pling-houses, except those at James City, and at the two

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 234, 263, 287. 2 jj^ij_^ p. 209.

^ Ibid., -p. 287.

VOL. II. Q

226 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

great ferries of York River, were revoked. The keepers
of the ordinaries which were permitted to remain open at
the latter places were allowed to sell only beer and cider.
This regulation was the more remarkable from the fact
that it was adopted by the action of the people at large,
who must have been the principal customers of the tip-
pling-houses, if not of the inns. Not content with put-
ting a stop to sales in the public places, the framers of
the regulation further prescribed that "no one should
presume to sell any sort of drink or liquor whatsoever,
by retail, under any color, pretence, delusion, or subtle
evasion whatsoever, to be drunk or spent in his or their
house or houses, upon his or their plantation or planta-
tions." ^

After the suppression of the insurrection, this sweeping
measure was substantially modified by a substitute restrict-
ing the number of ordinaries allowed in each county to
two, Jamestown for obvious reasons being excepted from its
scope. The rates for " Virginia drams " were fixed at ten
shillings, or one hundred pounds of tobacco a gallon ; for
beer, at two shillings, or twenty pounds a gallon ; for perry
and cider, at twenty pounds if boiled, and at eighteen if
raw. Tobacco at this time commanded about one and a
half pence a pound. The prices of the foreign wines and
spirits were to be fixed for each county in the months of
May and November by the justices according to the mar-
ket values then prevailing; and a failure on the part of
these officers to set the rates subjected the court of which
they were members to a very heavy fine.^

1 Bacon's Laws, 1676, Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 361.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 394. The alternative "ten shillings or
one hundred pounds of tobacco " would seem to show that lifZ. a pound ,
was now the price of tobacco. It would be safe to place its value a little
higher, as the lowest figure was probably adopted by the Assembly.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 227

This system of establishing rates for foreign wines and
spirits continued in operation during tlie remainder of the
century and was embodied in the code of 1705 ; it was so
eminently proper it seems surprising that it should not
have been put in force from the beginning. Not only
were the prices of foreign liquors when thus sold made to
accord with the prices at which they were purchased before
their importation into the Colony, but they were also, and
this was a matter of still greater consequence, kept in
touch with the fluctuating value of tobacco, in which form
of currency the wines and spirits were rated. Prompt-
ness in raising or lowering the schedule as circumstances
demanded was ensured by the frequent sessions of the
justices. The records of the county courts subsequent to
the passage of the Act of 1676-77 contain regular reports
of the prices established by them. From one of these
entries, it is learned that in 1688 the charge for brandy by
the gallon was fixed at sixty pounds of tobacco ; of rum
and madeira, at fifty pounds ; and of other island wines, at
forty. This was in Henrico.^ In York County, at this
time, the rates were calculated in coin. Canary was to
be sold at eight shillings a gallon, sherry at six, lihenish
at four and six pence, claret and white wines at four,
rum, madeira, and fayal wines at two shillings and six
pence. 2 In the schedule adopted by the justices of the
same county six years later, the only change made was in
the price of claret, this wine being reduced from four to
three shillings and six pence, an indication that it was now
imported in larger quantities.^

It was required that the rates at which liquors were to
be sold should be set in all the counties. Those which have

1 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1088-1097, p. 31, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1084-1687, p. 321, Va. State Library.
8 Ibid., vol. 1690-1094, p. 225.

228 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

been given are representative. The tables from which
these quotations were drawn show that the conditions
referred to in regard to spirits offered for sale in the
ordinaries at an earlier day existed also in the latter part
of the century, that is to say, that liquors which in more
recent times have been looked upon as among the luxuries
of the rich alone, were in that age in the reach of the whole
people, and could be bought in the Virginian taverns as
readily as beer, cider, and perry of local manufacture.
Madeira, malaga, canary, and fayal wines were probably
much more abundant in the Colony than in England at this
time, and were drunk by classes which in the mother coun-
try were content with strong and small beer. In England,
beer was in such common use that no quotations as to the
rates at which it was sold are given by Professor Rogers
in his great work on the history of prices in that kingdom.
In Virginia, its value seems to have steadily advanced, as
it commanded twelve pence a gallon in 1639, and two shil-
lings in 1671; the latter price, however, was for the finest
brands, since it is stated that beer brewed with molasses
was still rated at one shilling a gallon.

The rise in the price of beer was perhaps due to the
fact that in the early part of the century, the greater
proportion of the whole quantity in the Colony was pro-
duced in local breweries, either public or private, while
towards the end of the century, liquor of this kind of the
best quality was imported, thus materially increasing the
outlay to the consumer. Cider being of local manufact-
ure altogether, did not vary substantially in value after
the orchards in Virginia had become numerous. Two
shillings and six pence a gallon seems to have been the
highest figure at which it was sold. In England, about
the same time, it was retailed at a very much lower rate.^
1 llogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England^ vol. V, p. 327.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 229

It will be of interest to compare tlie i^rices of tlie spirits
imported into the Colony with the prices of the same
spirits as sold in England in the same age. In Vir-
ginia, the Spanish and Portugnese wines, madeira, canary,
malaga, and fayal were, in 1666, as has been seen, set down
at ten shillings a gallon as the very highest fignre at
which it was legal to sell them. In 1671, this regulation
was readopted. It is not probable that the innkeepers
disposed of these wines at rates as advanced as were
allowed by law except in unusual instances, six or seven
shillings a gallon being perhaps the average amount
under ordinary circumstances. That this supposition is
substantially Correct appears from the prices fixed by
the justices of the Henrico county court in 1688, when
madeira was assessed at fifty pounds of tobacco and the
other island wines at forty pounds. If we ajDply the ratio
of values prescribed by Act of Assembly in 1682, a pound
of tobacco being accepted in that statute as worth one and
a fifth pence, which is a high rather than a low figure for a
year of large crops, like 1688, it will be seen that the cost
of madeira was about five shillings a gallon, and of other
Spanish and Portuguese island wines about four shillings.
In England, madeira sold in 1697 at six shillings eight
pence a gallon, a difference in its favor in Virginia of one
shilling and eight pence. The average rate of canary in
the mother country throughout the seventeenth century
was five shillings eight and a quarter pence,i which was
higher tlian the price of the same wine in the Colony in
1688, and probably than its average price from the time
when it w\as first imported. Sherry rose in value in Eng-
land from three shillings eight pence in 1617 to eight
shillings in 1698 a gallon. In 1688, the same quantity of
sherry was sold in Virginia at the rate of four shillings ;
^ Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 445.

230 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIKGINIA

before this, tlie highest figure allowed by law had been
ten, which, however, was specified merely as a limit with-
out being necessarily the amount fixed for the ordinary
charge. 1 In 1688, sack was sold in the Colony at four
shillings a gallon, the highest rate prescribed for it at any
previous time being half a pound sterling. This limit
also was probably never reached, except occasionally by
exorbitant keepers of ordinaries. In England, the average
price of a gallon of sack in the seventeenth century was
five shillings and three pence.

The wines of France appear to have been dearer in
Virginia than in England. The only French liquor much
used in the Colony was claret, which, in 1666 and 1671,
was rated at eight shillings a gallon, as the highest figure
at which it was to be sold. Modifying this charge in
order to reach the probable general average, and the price
of claret still remains greater in Virginia than in the
mother country, where the general average for the whole
of the seventeenth century was only three shillings a
gallon. The explanation of the costliness of French wines
in the Colony as compared with those of the Spanish and
Portuguese islands, is to be found in the fact that in con-
formity with the Navigation laws, which did not apply
to the island wines, they were imported first into Eng-
land and from thence into Virginia. English spirits were
of course dearer in the Colony, to which they had to be
transported, than on the spot where they had been manu-
factured. In 1671, English brandy commanded in Vir-
ginia ten shillings a gallon ; in England in 1671, four
shillings. 2 The prices of liquor in the Colony were prob-
ably affected somewhat by the imposition of a duty of three

1 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England^ vol. V,
pp. 445, 446.
■2 Ibid., p. 450.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 231

pence upon every four quarts of it brought in, unless it
had been conve3'ed from the mother country. English
importations were excepted from the scope of the Act.i
In 1691, the general tax was increased to four pence ; if
introduced in a vessel belonging wholly to Virginians, the
duty upon the gallon was to be only two pence. ^

The liberal use which was made of spirits by all classes
was not simply due to the indulgence of an appetite for
liquor inherited with that English blood which has always
gratified itself so freely in this respect under English
skies. It was supposed to have a favorable influence
upon the body from a medical point of view. The " morn-
ing draught " was a popular expression in the Colony long
before the close of the seventeenth century.^ This was
the draught Avith which tlie day was begun, and it was
the popular belief, a belief doubtless formed with the
most delightful facility, that such a draught was the
surest means of obtaining protection against the miasmatic
exhalations of the marshes. The taint of sickness in
summer lingered about the oldest settlements, and at all
seasons followed in the track of settlers on the frontier
engaged in cutting down the forest, who thus set free the
germs that invariably lurk in a mould created by rotting
leaves and decaying wood. This assured a large practice
to all who made any pretensions to the art of the physi-
cian. It is evident, from the number of medical bills
entered upon record in the seventeenth century, that the
expense of illness was an important drain upon the

1 Heuing's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 23.

2 Ibid, p. 88. If the vessel had been built in Virginia, no duty was
imposed.

3 Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 71, Va. State Library.
Deposition of William Clopton : " That coming to the French ordinary
on March 9, he happened to meet with Mr. Thomas Walkinson, who
asked your deponent to give him a morning draught. . . ."

232 ECONOMIC HISTOilY OF VIRGINIA

resources of the colonial families in the course of that
long period. The experience of Richard Longman, who
«was residing in Virginia in the years 1661, 1662, and 1664,
Avhere he was acting as the attorney of his father, an Eng-
lish merchant, probably represents the experience of all
who remained in the Colony only temporarily, and, there-
fore, not long enough to become inured to the climate.
He was not content to engage the services of one practi-
tioner, but in succession employed three who were dis-
tinguished for their skill. First, there was Dr. Eobert
EUyson, who presented a bill of twelve pounds sterling ;
secondly, Dr. Haddon, whose charges amounted to eleven
pounds and four shillings ; and thirdly, Dr. Napier, whose
bill was only a few shillings smaller. ^ That Longman
should have called in so many physicians in turn was due,
very probably, not to dissatisfaction with their learning
and ability, but to the fact that, in selling merchandise
and collecting debts belonging^to his father, he was com-
pelled to remove from place to place. In 1670, Dr.
Haddon charged a patient one thousand pounds of tobacco
for twenty days' attendance, the distance he had to. ride
each day being fourteen miles ; this bill was increased to
fourteen hundred and sixty pounds by the medicines
which he furnished,^ the whole representing in value a
sum slightly less than fifteen pounds sterling. In 1695,
the account of Dr. William Ellis of Elizabeth City against
William Harris, including the costs of visits, physic,
and advice, ran to seven pounds and ten shillings. ^ In
all of these instances, the number of miles which the
practitioner had to travel were carefully noted. On the

1 Eficords of York County, vol. 1604-1672, p. 117, Ya. State Library.
^ Ibid, IX 444.

3 liecords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1084-1699, p. 92, Va. State
Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OE THE PLANTEK 233

other hand, in the acconnt of Dr. George Glover against
Edmund Dil, a seaman, there Avere entries for supplies of
food and for lodging as well as for medicine and attend-
ance, the amount of this bill being seven pounds sterling.^
In some cases, the patient, in consideration of the fact
that his physician agreed to attend him and his family
during his life, granted him a tract of land covering as
much as one hundred acres in area.^

There are indications in different parts of the seven-
teenth century that the charges of practitioners were con-
sidered to be grossly immoderate. So excessive were
their rates previous to 1630, that masters were tempted to
suffer a servant to perish for want of proper advice and
medicines rather then submit to their exactions. It was
now jjrovided that in every case in which a patient had
just cause to think that the account of his medical at-
tendant was wholly unreasonable, he should have that
attendant summoned to the court of the county in which
the patient resided. Here the physician was required to
state upon oath the quantity and value of the medicines
which he had administered, and the judges then decided
Avhat satisfaction was to be allowed him. These provi-
sions remained in force during a long course of years. ^

The accounts of physicians were, in 1661, made plead-
able against the estates of deceased persons, and these
accounts, in case the patient recovered, were barred unless
sued upon before the end of six months.* In 1661, the
rule was adopted that when a practitioner was summoned
to court to answer for immoderate charges, he should be

1 Itecords of Elizabeth Citu Countij, vol. 1G84-1699, p. 143, Va. State
Library. See Records of York County, vol. 1(387-1091, p. 8 ; see also
IJ,id., p. 307, Va. State Library.

- Records of York Count>j, vol. 1057-1002, p. 272, Va. State Library.

2 Ilening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 310, 450.
4 Ibid., vol. II, p. 20.

234 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

allowed fifty per cent advance upon the value of the med-
icines administered to the plaintiff, his patient, and such a
sum for his visits and advice as they were decided to be
worth. 1 Thirty years later, he was permitted to obtain
an hundred per cent upon the full value of his drugs as
sworn to in court.^ These drugs represented a consider-
able variety of preparations, which it appears the physi-
cians were only too ready to give, however slight the
indisposition. A very popular course in the case of the
most common disease of the country, ague and fever,
seems to have been to prescribe first, several spoonfuls of
crocus metallorum, and then for the purpose of purg-
ing, fifteen to twenty grains of rosin of jalap; this was fol-
lowed by Venice treacle, powder of snakeroot or Gascoin's
powder. 3 Powders, ointments, plasters, and oils were
among the medicines most generally used.

The items in a bill of Dr. Haddon of York for the per-
formance of an amputation have been preserved. They
included one highly flavored and two ordinary cordials,
three ointments for the wound, an ointment precipitate,
the operation of letting blood, a purge per diem, two
purges electuaries, external applications, a cordial and two
astringent powders, phlebotomy, a defensive and a large
cloth. Dr. Haddon prescribed on another occasion a
purging glister, a caphalick and a cordial electuary, oil of
spirits and sweet almonds, a purging and a cordial bolus,
purging pills, ursecatory, and oxymell. His charge for
six visits after dark was a hogshead of tobacco weighing
four hundred pounds.* In a case of cancer which Dr.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 109, 110. An instance of this in
actual practice is preserved in the Becords of Middlesex County, original
vol. 1680-1694, orders July 4, 1687.

2 Ibid., vol. Ill, p. 103.

3 Clayton's Virginia, p. 6, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

* Becords of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 212, Va. State Library.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 235

Napier of York in 1666 attended, he had recourse to copi-
ous bleeding and numerous cordials. The same physician,
in a different disease, contented himself with administer-
ing almost exclusively a considerable number of the latter
mixtures. 1

The expenses attending the preparation for the grave
and the burial of a corpse were probably more serious in
the seventeenth century in proportion to the means of the
people in that age than they are to-day. About 1650,
the charge for a coffin was about one hundred pounds of
tobacco ;2 in 1667, it was fifty pounds more, which was
equivalent to one pound and a quarter sterling. ^ Thirty
years subsequent to this, the coffin in which the remains
of Thomas Jefferson, an ancestor of the celebrated states-
man of the same name, were laid, cost twelve shillings and
six pence, the larger part of which was represented in the
charge for carpenter's work.^ In several cases, the price
was ten shillings.^ The charge for a winding-sheet of
holland was one hundred pounds of tobacco in 1652,^
and in the same year the charge for making a grave was
twenty pounds.' In 1696, it was thirty.^ The assistance
needed by the digger in filling in the grave increased the
outlay on this account to ten shillings.^ The funeral

1 lipcords of Turk County, vol. 1664-1072, p. 109, Va. State Library.
- Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-1050, f. p. 78 ;
Becords of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 270, Va. State Library.
3 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 221.

* See Virginia Magazine of History and Biograx>hy, vol. I, p. 212.
'••Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1702, p. 141 ; Ihid., vol. 1087-

1691, p. 508, Va. State Library ; Becords of Lower Norfolk County, orig-
inal vol. 1080-1695, f. p. 171.

•^ Bi'cords of Loicer Norfolk County, 1651-1656, f. p. 78.

" Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1072, p. 266, Va. State Library.

* Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 117, Va. State
Library.

9 Becords of York County, vol. 1004-1072, p. 471, Va. State Library.

236 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIllGINIA

sermon added very materially to the funeral expenses,
the cost of this part of the ceremonies varying apparently
at different periods ; in two instances in York County in
1667, it was two pounds sterling,^ and in 1690, it amounted
to five pounds.^

The stones above the graves were often imported from
abroad. Thus in 1657, Mrs. Sarah Yeardley in her will
directed that after her death, her necklace and jewels
were to be sent to England, and there sold, the proceeds
to be used in the purchase among other things of two
black tombstones to be conveyed to Virginia.^ Mrs. John
Page desired her grave might be covered with a brick
tomb on which a polished black marble slab was to rest.*

The outlay which custom required to be made in food,
but more especially in liquors, for the funeral was often
very heavy. Sheep, poultr}^ hogs, and heifers, and even
an ox, were not infrequently killed to satisfy the hunger
of the friends of the deceased who attended, and who,
with few exceptions, had been compelled to come a long
distance, owing to the fact that the plantations were so
widely separated. Spirits were dispensed in large quan-
tities. At a funeral which took place in York in 1667,
twenty-two gallons of cider, five gallons of brandy,
twenty-four gallons of beer, and twelve pounds of sugar
were consumed ; ^ sixty gallons of cider, four gallons of
rum, and thirty pounds of sugar were consumed by the
company present at a funeral in Lower Norfolk in 1691.^
The amount that was drunk was indeed only limited by
the resources of the estate. Some testators gravely calcu-

1 Becords of York Coxuitu, vol. 1664-1072, pp. 217, 221, Va. State Library,

2 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 11.

3 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1656-1666, p. 117.
* Becords of York County, vol. 1094-1702, p. 64, Va. State Library.
5 Ibid., vol. 1664-1072, p. 221.

^ Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1086-1095, f. p. 171.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLAls'TER 237

lated the quantity of liquor which woukl be needed at
their own obsequies, and made provision in the minutest
details for this part of the outlay. When Mr. John Brace-
girdle, a factor of Captain Philip Foster of England, re-
siding in Virginia, came to draw his will, he not only
specified the sum of money to be expended in his burial,
but also directed that the spirits to be drunk in commemo-
ration of that event should be drawn from " the quarter
cask of drams," which at that time was lying in his
store. ^ The personal estate of Walter Barton amounted
to fifty-four pounds and fifteen shillings ; the cost of his
funeral exceeded eight pounds.^ The expense of Mr.
William A^incent's funeral was equal to fifteen hogsheads
of tobacco. 3

In the early history of the Colony, legal steps were
taken to afford to the people of each parish a public grave-
yard, and the church Avardens were required to impale

1 Records nf York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 549, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1686-1695, f. p.
171.

3 riid., original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 120. The following itemized state-
ment was entered of record in proving the estate of John Griggs (Eecords
of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 87, Va. State Library.) It covered
his funeral expenses :

Funeral sermon 200 lbs. tobacco.

For a briefe 400 " "

" 2 turkeys 80 " "

" coffin 150 "

2 geese 80 " "

1 hog 100 "

2 bushels of flour 90 " "

Dunghill fowle 100 "

20 lbs. butter 100 "

Sugar and spice 50 " "

Dressing the dinner 100 " "

6 gallon sider 60 "

6 " rum 240 "

238 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and to keep it in decent order. ^ P^rom the beginning,
however, it was the custom of numerous persons to bury
the deceased members of their families in the immediate
vicinity of tiieir homes. Abraham Piersey, the wealthiest
citizen of Virginia of his time, was buried near his dwell-
ing-house. So common did this habit become that in a
memorial drawn up by the Bishop of London in 1677, he
complained that the public places for burial were neglected,
and that the dead among the planters were interred in
their gardens.^ The bodies of many were buried in the
graveyards or in the chancels of the parish churches. ^

It would be inferred from the inventories of that period
that there was no vehicle in Virginia in the seventeenth
century resembling a carriage, but from other sources it
is learned that this means of locomotion was not unknown
in the Colony. Such a vehicle seems to have been in the
possession of a few very wealthy persons. William Fitz-
hugh owned what was known in that age as a calash,
which had been imported from England ; Governor
Berkeley possessed a coach. ^ When the average planter

1 Lawes and Orders, British State Papers, Colonial., vol. Ill, No. 9 ;
McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 93, Va. State Library.

2 Documents Relating to Colonial History of Kew York, vol. Ill,
p. 253 ; see also ■will of Richard Kemp, Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography, vol. II, p. 174.

a Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 169, Va. State Library ;
see also Records of Accomac County, 1632-1640, p. 53, Va. State Library.

* Will of William Fitzlmgh, Virginia Magazine of History and Biog-
raphy, vol. II, p. 276, refers to his "coaches." Hugh Jones, writing in
the first quarter of the eighteenth century, said that "most females (in
Virginia) had a coach, chariot, Berlin or chaise." Present State of Vir-
ginia, p. 32. See the reference to Lady Berkeley's coach in a letter of
the English Commissioners, May 4, 1677, Colonial Entry Book, No. 81 ;
Winder Papers, vol. II, p. 318, Va. State Library. Fitzhugh on one
occasion ordered what he called a "Running chair," which probably
resembled a modern sulky. See Letters, July 10, 1690.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 239

attended the meetings of the county court, or went to
church, or was present at the funerals of deceased friends,
or visited the homes of his neighbors, he was compelled,
to rely upon his horse for conveyance, unless he was willing
to travel in the ordinary farm cart : ^ the imperfections of
the highways, and in some parts of the country the entire
absence of passable roads, made the use of the horse
almost a necessity in journeying from place to place.
Among the most common entries in the appraisements of
estates were the j)illion and side-saddle, which were kept
in readiness for the female members of the family. The
equipments of the stables were complete. The saddle was
often bound in hogskin.^ A well-known planter of Eliza-
beth City County had in his possession, in 1690, one article
of this kind covered with purple leather, and another
made of plush in the seat.^ Ralph Wormeley owned a
crimson velvet saddle with broadcloth saddle-cloth and
silk spring holsters, valued at fifteen pounds.* Hackney
and troop saddles were in general use. The curb bridle
was also common. There are frequent references to rid-
ing stockings. The horses were allowed to remain unshod,
which caused no damage or inconvenience, as the road-
beds were for the most part level and sandy. The ordi-
nary pace of the Virginian riders was a sharp hand gallop ;
this led to the expression, " a planter's pace," an indica-
tion of the energy with which they travelled, and the
fleetness of their steeds.^

1 Records of York County, vol. 1664-1672, pp. 77, 4.5.S, Va. State
Libraiy ; Jiecords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, pp. 429, 072, Va.
State Library.

- See inventory of Robert Beverley, Sr., on file in Middlesex County.

3 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1084-1699, p. 254, Va. State
Library.

* Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 121.

^ Clayton's Virginia^ p. 35, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

240 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

When the public authorities had occasion to transmit
a message or to send a packet, instructions were given
to their agents to impress relay horses, and also men and
boats in the performance of their orders. These agents
in their accounts itemized the costs of the food and drink
which they consumed in the course of their journeys. ^
About the middle of the century, the principal means of
conveying public letters was to superscribe them with the
line '' for public service," and then to require the planters
in turn to pass the envelope on to its destination under
penalty of forfeiting a hogshead of tobacco in case of
neglect.^ In 1G92, a royal patent was granted to Thomas
Neale to establish post-offices in America for the trans-
portation of private and public mails ; and this patent
was recognized by an Act of Assembly in 1692 to be
operative in Virginia.^ Neale was required by the terms
of this Act to erect a post-office for the Colony at large,
and a post-office for each county. Permission was given
him to charge three pence per day for every letter which
covered only one sheet of paper and which had to be car-
ried a distance not in excess of four score English miles;
and six pence when the letter covered a space of two
sheets or less. When the number of letters was sufficient
to form a packet, the charge for every one not exceeding
two sheets was to be five pence, and if the packet con-

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 336, Va. State Library ;
Hening's Statutes at Large, vol. II, p. 250 ; Becords of Elizabeth City
County, vol. 1689-1699, p. 206, Va. State Library ; Becords of Henrico
County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 93, Va. State Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 436. A letter of Sam'l Mathews, dated
Auff. 24, 1659, written to Governor Fendall, took a month to reach its I
destination. Bobinson Transcripts, p. 270. I

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 112. The Council, it seems, had pro- I
posed a post-office in 1689. Bandolph MSS., vol. Ill, p. 447. In 1692, I
Peter Heyman was appointed deputy postmaster. Ibid., p. 455.

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE PLANTER 241

sisted of deeds, writs, and other bulky papers, the amount
t)f postage was to be twelve pence an ounce. When the
distance to be covered in the transmission was greater
than four score English miles, the rate was four pence
halfpenny for every letter not exceeding one sheet, and
nine pence for every one exceeding one sheet but not
exceeding two. When a number were made up in a
packet, to be sent to a longer distance than four score
miles, the charge for every one covering more than two
sheets was to be four pence halfpenny. If the packet
was composed of writs, deeds, and similar documents, the
charge was to be eighteen pence an ounce. The privi-
leges granted to Neale were not to interfere with the
transmission of letters by private hands if the writers
preferred this means of conveyance. ^

1 This project came to nothing. See Beverley's Ilistorij of Virginia,
p. 81.

VOL. II. R

CHAPTER XIV

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES

All the different forms of property which were held
by the Virginian planter in the seventeenth century have
now been enumerated. They consisted, as has been seen,
of land either inherited, purchased, or acquired by patent;
of tobacco, Indian corn, and wheat; of horses, sheep, g-oats,
hogs, and horned cattle; of agricultural implements, vehi-
cles, and buildings; of white servants, both native and
imported; of slaves born in the Colony or brought into
it from Africa or the West Indies; of residences contain-
ing a large quantity of furniture, carpets, plate, and uten-
sils; of clothing, both linen and woollen, coarse and fine;
and lastly, of a great assortment of household supplies of
foreign or domestic growth or manufacture. Fitzhugh
described very accurately the condition of the planters,
when he declared in a letter to his brother, towards the
close of the century, that they were in possession of an
abundance of everything except money, by which he
meant coin. Where a very large proportion of the arti-
cles consumed or used by the family of the landowner
were the products of his own soil, cultivated and gath-
ered by his own laborers, there was but little need of
a metallic medium of exchange as long as tobacco con-
tinued to have h value in the markets of the world so
high as to induce shipowners and merchants to transport
242

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 243

their goods to the very doors of the Virginians to pro-
cure it.i

1 The condition of William Fitzhngh was in all its main particulars
doubtless fairly representative of that of every planter in the Colony who
was in possession of an equal degree of wealth. In a letter to Dr. Ralph
Smith, April 22, 1G86, he thus describes it: "The plantation where I
now live contains one thousand acres at least, seven hundred acres of
which are a rich thicket, the remainder good hearty plantable land with-
out any waste either by marshes or great swamps, the commodiousness,
conveniency and pleasantness yourself knows, and upon it, there are
three quarters well furnished with all necessary houses, grounds and
fencing, together with a choice crew of negroes at each plantation, most
of them this country born, the remainder as likely as most in Virginia,
there being twenty-nine in all with stocks of cattle and hogs in each
quarter. Upon the same land is my own dwelling house furnished with
all accommodations for a comfortable and gentle living, with rooms in it,
four of the best of them hung, nine of them plentifully furnished with
all things necessary and convenient, and all houses for use furnished
with brick chimneys, four good cellars, a dairy, dove cot, stable, barn,
henhouse, kitchen and all other convenienceys, and all in a manner new,
a large orchard of about 2500 apple trees, most grafted, well fenced with
a locust fence, which is as durable as most brick walls, a garden a hun-
dred foot square well paled in, a yard wherein is most of the foresaid
necessary houses pallisadoed in with locust puncheons, which is as good
as if it were walled in, and more lasting than any of our bricks, together
with a good stock of cattle, hogs, horses, mares, sheep, necessary servants
belonging to it for the supply and support thereof. About a mile and a
half distant a good water grist mill, whose tole I find sufficient to iind
my own family with wheat and Indian corn for our necessities and occa-
sions. Up the river in this county, three tracts of land more, one of
them contains 21,996 acres, another 500 and one other 1000 acres, all
good, convenient and commodious seats and which in a few years will
yield a considerable annual income. A stock of tobacco with the crops
and good debts lying out of about 250,000 lbs., besides sufficient of almost
all sorts of goods to supply the familys and the quarters occasion for two
or three years. Thus I have given you some particulars, which I thus
deduce the yearly crops of corn and tobacco together with the surplusage
of meat more than will serve the family's use, will amount annually to
00,000 lbs. of tobacco, which at ten shillings per hundred weight is £300
per annum, and the negroes being all young and a considerable parcel of
breeders, will keep the stock good forever. Tlie stock of tobacco man-
aged with an inland trade will yearly yield 00,000 lbs. of tobacco without

244 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

The accumulation of individual wealth in the Colony
previous to 1650 was comparatively small. Sir John
Harvey stated in 1639, that Virginia at this time consisted
of very poor men. The largest estate as yet acquired
was that of Abraham Piersey,i who had enjoyed as Cape
Merchant a position of exceptional advantage for building
up a fortune, but it is quite probable that, unlike Sir
George Yeardley, who left property to the amount of six
thousand pounds sterling,^ a considerable proportion had
been earned in England before his connection with Vir-
ginia began. About the middle of the century, there had
been sufficient accumulations by individual planters to
justify the author of Leah and Rachel in saying that
many good estates were now obtained by immigrants
simply by marriage with women born in the country, who
had inherited their property from their parents, or from
relations who were citizens of the Colony, ^ Lord Balti-
more, speaking in 1667 of both Virginia and Maryland,

hazard or risk, which will be both clear without charge of housekeeping
or disbursements for servants' clothing. The orchard in a few years will
yield a large supply to plentiful housekeeping, or if better husbanded,
yield at least 15,000 lbs. of tobacco annual income." Letters of WiUiam
FitzJmgh, April 22, 1686.

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 6 ; Sainsbiwy Abstracts
for 1638-9, p. 58.

2 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. V, No. 15 ; Sainsbury Abstracts
for 1629, p. 196, Va. State Library. The executors of Yeardley de-
clared that his estate was not worth one-half of this amount. According
to John Pory, "the Governor here (that is Yeardley) who at his first
coming, besides a great deal of worth in his person, brought only his
sword with him, was at his late being in London, together with his lady,
out of his mere fittings here, able to disburse very near three thousand
pounds to furnish him with the voyage." This letter of Pory will be found
in part in Neill's Virginia Carnlorum, p. 17. Mathews valued the estate
of Piersey at £491. See British State Papers, Colonial, vol. VIII, No. 5,
II; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1633, p. 57, Va. State Library.

8 Leah and Rachel, p. 17, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 245

said that within the same length of time, it was easier for
persons residing in either to gain fortunes than it would
have been in the mother country. ^

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a per-
fectly accurate idea of the value of the estates owned by
the j)lanters of Virginia in the seventeenth century. Only
an approximate notion caii be formed. As the volume of
the personal property is set forth in the innumerable in-
ventories preserved in the county records, this portion of
the fortunes of that age is easily estimated. The real
difficulty lies in our inability to obtain full information as
to the extent of the landed interest held by individual
jDlanters, as this part of their estates was not like person-
alty listed for valuation.

It would be interesting to know what was the average
amount of personal proj)erty brought over to Virginia by
tlie great body of that class of settlers who immediately
upon their arrival in the Colony took an independent
position in the community in point of fortune. Reference
has already been made to the articles of a varied character
which Evelyn, Williams, and Bullock strongly recom-
mended that every English emigrant who was in posses-
sion of means and proposed to open a plantation should
carry over with him.^ It is highly probable that the bulk
of the assortments suggested by these writers were brought
over by every man who entered Virginia with the intention
of acquiring an interest more or less extensive in its soil-
The agent who was in correspondence with Sir Edward
Verney in 1634, respecting the course to be pursued on
the removal of Sir Edward's son to the Colony, where he
designed to establish himself as a planter, stated that the
cost entailed in the purchase of goods and in the trans-

1 Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of Council, vol. 1667-1688, p. 16.

2 See closing pages of Chapter V, Agricultural Development, 1625-1650.

246 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIllGINIA

portation of the required number of servants would come
to fifty-six 2)ounds sterling. ^ This sum did not include
the outlay in buying land. In 1690, Fitzhugh, writing to
Oliver Luke in England, who had expressed an intention
of placing his son in Virginia, advised him to deposit two
hundred pounds sterling in the hands of a trustworthy
merchant in London engaged in trade with the Colony,
with instructions to buy a suitable plantation there. At
the same time, an additional two hundred pounds sterling
were to be used in purchasing slaves from the Royal
African Company. All the live stock needed by young
Luke could be obtained in Virginia. ^

There are many evidences that a large number of the
immigrants were sprung from English families of sub-
stance.^ The instance of John Boys could not have been
exceptional; just before he set out for the Colony in 1650,
he drew up his will, dividing his valuable possessions
among sixteen heirs. ^ There were many persons in Vir-
ginia who owned an interest in property in England.^ In
1650, John Catlett and John Clayton of Gloucester County
were in the enjoyment of estates in Kent. A few years
later, John Clark of York County devised two houses
which he owned in Essex, in one of which his father liad
long resided.^ John Pen of Rappahannock, in 1676, Avilled
landed property in England.'' In 1688, John Smythe of

1 Verney Papers, Camden Society Publications.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Aug. 15, 1690.

3 Tlie instances which follow are given only as examples. They form
a very insignificant proportion of the whole number that might be men-
tioned.

* New England Historical and Genealogical Begister, April, 1889, p. 153.

5 There were, on the other hand, very many persons in England, be-
sides merchants, who owned property in Virginia.

6 Becords of York County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 78, Va. State Library.

■? Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 166i-1673, p. 95, Va. State
Library.

KELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 247

York ordered the sale of a farm which he possessed in the
vicinity of Walton, with the view of investing the proceeds
in a Virginian plantation. ^ Miles Gary owned two houses
in Bristol. 2 John Page had an interest for a term of seven
years in five tenements situated in the city of Westminster.
In 1692, Benjamin Read devised landed property which
he possessed in England. ^ Nicholas Spencer left a valu-
able estate in Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Essex.*
The inventories belonging to the period preceding
1650, upon which we have to rely to obtain a just con-
ception of the size of the personal holdings in Virginia
in that age, were comparatively few in number. The
records of York alone throw any real light upon the
point in inquiry. The largest estate in this county ap-
praised by order of court previous to the middle of the
century was that of William Stafford, which amounted
to 30,681 pounds of tobacco in value, which, at the rate
of two pence a pound,^ was equal to £250, or in pur-
chasing power perhaps to about six thousand dollars at
the present day. The personal estate of Thomas Deacon
follows next in size at an appraisement of 19,313 pounds

1 Records of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 100, Va. State Library.

2 General Court Orders, Bobinson Transcripts, p. 257.

3 Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, John Page, p. 132 ; Read,
p. 257. James Blaise of Middlesex County owned an interest in a lease-
hold in Pall Mall, London. Original vol. 1698-171.3, p. 49.

* New England Historical and Genealogical Register, January, 1891,
p. 67.

5 It is impossible to follow the exact fluctuations in the price of tobacco
from year to year. It maintained an average rate ranging from one and
a half to two pence a pound. Fitzhugh, in the account of his property
given in the first note to the present chapter, places the value at the time
at which he was writing at ten shillings a hundred-weight, or one and one-
fifth pence a pound. In the chapter on Agricultural Development, 1685-
1700, I have given references which would seem to show that Fitzhugh's
estimate was extremely conservative. In the present chapter, I adopt
two pence as the average price, as being within the highest limit possible.

248 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of tobacco, or £161. The personal estate of Francis
Carter was inventoried at 13,728 pounds of tobacco, or
about twenty-seven thousand pence. ^

Passing to the period that followed the middle of the
century, and still confining our attention to York, it is
found that in the interval between 1657 and 1662, the
largest personal estate appraised by order of court was
that of Colonel Thomas Ludlow in 1659. It was valued
at 118.598 pounds of tobacco, which at the rate of two
pence a pound Avas equal to £988, or in purchasing
power perhaps to about twenty-five thousand dollars in
American currency. He owned in the form of sums due
to him as debts, X149. The personal estate of Francis
Wheeler, consisting principally of tobacco due him, was
appraised at X1123 13s. 4cZ., from which a deduction of
<£379 10s. is to be made for his own obligations. ^ The
remaining personal estates inventoried in York during
the same interval in no case exceeded X500, and only in
few instances rose as high as X 140.3 jj^ ^j^g course of
the eight years between 1664 and 1672, the largest per-
sonal estate appraised was that of John Hubbard; it Avas
valued at <£722, independently of a large amount due
him in coin and tobacco.* The estates following next
in point of size were those of Matliew Hubbard, Richard
Holt, and James Moore. The personalty of neither ex-
ceeded <£200. In the interval between 1672 and 1690,
the largest personal estate brought before court was that
of James Vaulx, which was valued at X642, equal in pur-
chasing power perhaps to about fourteen thousand five

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1638-1618, Stafford, p. 186 ; Deacon,
p. 372 ; Carter, p. 376 ; Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., vol. 1657-1662, Ludlow, p. 280 ; Wheeler, p. 300. It is difficult
to discover the exact value of the Wheeler estate.

^ Ibid., pp. 60,64, 402.

* Ibid., voh 1664-1672, p. 324.

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 249

hundred dollars. This did not include the debts due
him. The personalty of Jonathan Newell was appraised
at £554; in addition, there was a very large sum due
him in tobacco. The personal estate of Edward Phelps
was valued at X455; of Mrs. Elizabeth Bushrod, at £355;
of Robert Cobbs, at £235;i and of Francis Mathews, at
£220.2 'pj^Q appraisement of the personalty of Major
James Goodwyn amounted to X542, and of Mrs. Rowland
Jones to £440.^ The largest personal estates inventoried
in York subsequent to 1690 were those of Mrs. Elizabeth
Digges and Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. The first was valued at
£1102; the second at £925, exclusive of live stock.*

Passing to the personal estates appraised by order of
court in Rappahannock, it is found that the records of
that county, which are unusually voluminous, show very
few that were notable in size. The three largest were
those of William Travers, George Jones, and William
Fauntleroy. The personalty of Travers amounted to
285,861 pounds of tobacco, or about £2382, a sum per-
haps equal in purchasing power to fifty thousand dollars
in American currency; the personalty of George Jones, to
108,308 pounds of tobacco; and of William Fauntleroy,
to 30,828 pounds of the same commodity. Valuing a
pound at two pence, these latter quantities represented
an appraisement of £902 and £252 respectively.^

The most important personal estates in Lower Norfolk
county in the course of the interval between 1650 and

^ Eecords of York County, vol. 1075-1(584, Vaulx, p. 300; Newell
p. 142 ; Phelps, p. 175 ; Bushrod, p. 339 ; Va. State Library. The Phelps
appraisement is exclusive of tobacco debts.

2 Ibid, vol. 1671-1694, p. 130.

3 Ibid., vol. 1687-1691, Goodwyn, p. 60 ; Jones, p. 381.

* Ibid., Digges, vol. 1090-1694, p. 217 ; Bacon, vol. 1694-1697, p. 201.
5 Records of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, pp. 55, 74, 108.
Large debts in tobacco were due both Jones and Fauntleroy.

250 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

1700 were those of Cornelius Lloyd, valued at 131,041
pounds of tobacco ; of Henry Woodhouse, at 64,034
pounds; of William Moseley, at 69,270 pounds; of Adam
Keeling, at 102,222 pounds; of John Okeham, at 27,984
pounds; of John Sibsey, at 68,313 pounds; of Lawrence
Phillips, at 81,371 pounds; of Robert Hodges, at five hun-
dred and ten pounds sterling; of William Porteus, at six
hundred and sixty-six pounds sterling; of Lewis Conner, at
five hundred and sixty-seven pounds sterling; and of John
Machen, at two hundred and eighteen pounds sterling. i

In the interval between 1690 and 1700, the largest
amount of personal property inventoried in Elizabeth
City County in a single case was that of William Mar-
shall. It was valued at .£282. The personalty of Jacob
Walker was appraised at £17Q.^ One of the most im-
portant personal estates which came before court in Lan-
caster County in the same interval was that of John
Carter, Sr., which was valued at <£2250.^ The personal
estate of Robert Beckinghani of the same county was
appraised at 342,558 pounds of tobacco, or X2852, which
represented perhaps as much as eighty thousand dollars
in our American currency.* Beckingham was a merchant,
and his whole property probably consisted of personalty.
Smaller estates in Lancaster and Westmoreland to which
reference may be made were those of David Myles, =£320; ^

1 Eecords of Lower Norfolk Coxintij, original vol. 1651-1656, Lloyd,
f. p. 168 ; Sibsey, f. p. 55 ; Phillips, f. p. 148 ; original vol. 1686-1095,
Woodhouse, f. p. 25 ; Porteus, f. p. 199 ; original vol. 1666-1675, Moseley,
p. 107 ; Machen, p. 10 ; Okeham, p. 81 ; original vol. 1675-1686, Hodges,
f. p. 117 ; original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 137.

2 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, Marshall, p. 300 ;
Walker, p. 490.

3 Virginia Magazine of Histoi-y and Biography, vol. II, p. 236.

* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1074-1687, f. p. 36.
5 Ibid., 1674-1689, orders Feb. 8, 1674.

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 251

of John Washington, £377;^ and of John Pritchard,
£476. In addition, the personalty of the hitter included
in the form of debts due him .£30 and 101,307 pounds of
tobacco.^

The largest personalty appraised in ^liddlesex County
by order of court was that of Robert Beverley ; ^ it con-
sisted of property amounting in value to £1531 4s. lOc^.
To this sum, there are to be added the debts due him in
the form of tobacco, 331,469 pounds, and in the form of
metallic money, £801. This would mean that Beverley
was in the possession of a personal estate that Avould be
equivalent to £5000 at least, or in modern figures per-
haps to about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol-
lars, rating tobacco at two pence a pound.* The personal
estate of Corbin Griffin was valued at £1131, and that of
Robert Dudley at £548.^

The personal estates appraised in Henrico previous to
the close of the century were comparatively small. The
personalty owned by Francis Eppes, who combined the
trade of a local merchant with the business of planting,
was probably as large in volume as that of any citizen in
this county; independently of the value of the contents
of his store, which at the least added as much again, it
amounted to £302.^ The personalty of Thomas Osborne
was inventoried at £208;' of William Glover, at 23,500

1 William and Mary College Quarterly, April, 1893, p. 145.

2 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 16.

3 See his inventory on file among records of Middlesex County.

* At ten shillings the hundred- vv'eight of tobacco, or li pence a pound,
the personalty of this estate vs^ould have been equal to £4537, or about
$91,000 in modern values.

^ Eecords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, Griffin, p. 136 ;
Dudley, p. 99.

fi Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 93, Va. State Library.

7 Ibid., vol. 1688-1697, p. 350.

252 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

pounds of tobacco ; ^ and of Joliii Davis, at 32,435 pounds
of the same commodity. ^

It will be seen from the figures which have been given
for the personal estates of the leading planters and mer-
chants in half a dozen of the wealthiest counties, that the
average accumulation in this species of property was very
important for that age and for a newly settled country.
In a few cases, the accumulation was extraordinary. Un-
fortunately, the records of some of the oldest counties,
such, for instance, as those of Charles City and Warwick,
have been destroyed, which prevents us from obtaining
any information as to the personal estates of planters
like the elder William Byrd.

The largest proportion of the property held by citizens
of Virginia in the seventeenth century was in the form of
land. What was the extent of the area of soil owned by
the leading planters? No accurate answer can be given
to this question, because it is impossible to say how much
each one had inherited or acquired by purchase. The
land patent books afford us the only clear light as to
the real estate in the possession of individual colonists.
Among the most important patentees in the early part of
the century were George Menefie and Samuel Mathews.^
Menelie obtained grants for eight thousand four hundred
and sixty acres, and Mathews for about nine thousand;
each one of these planters was probably in possession of
about one-third more landed property acquired by pur-
chase or mortgage. John Carter, father and son, of Lan-
caster, sued out patents to eighteen thousand five hundred

1 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 281, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid., vol. 1677-1692, p. 283.

3 Adam Thoroughgood, Richard Kemp, and William Claiborne were
also patentees of large bodies of laud, amounting in the aggregate to an
enormous area.

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 253

and seventy acres; Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., to five thonsand
more or less; John Page, to seven thousand; Richard Lee,
to twelve thousand; William Byrd, to fifteen thousand; ^
and finally Robert Beverley, to thirty-seven thousand. The
names of a dozen additional colonists of almost equal
prominence might be given who had acquired as great an
area of soil by public grants, but the instances which have
been mentioned are typical of their class. ^ It is probably
not going too far to say that the average size of the landed
property held by the members of this class was at least
five thousand acres.

What was the value of an acre in Virginia in the seven-
teenth century ? The basis which we have for an answer
to this question is very insufficient. The records of
York, between 1633 and 1700, have preserved forty-seven
instances in which tracts of land in that county aggre-
gating 8664 acres were sold, not for tobacco, the price
of which was fluctuating, but for money sterling. The
average value of an acre in these forty tracts was slightly
in excess of half a pound sterling, the value of the whole
being £3131. In Rappahannock, twenty-one tracts
covering an area of 11,519 acres brought when sold
£1601, or about one-seventh of a pound sterling an acre.
In Elizabeth City, twelve tracts aggregating 2094 acres
brought £431, or about one-quarter of a pound sterling
an acre. In Henrico, twenty-five tracts aggregating
6734 acres brought £632, or about one-tenth of a pound
sterling. It is not surprising to find that land in the
older counties, like York and Elizabeth City, commanded a

1 These different figures are merely approximate. It is not improba-
ble that the planters named obtained by patents a larger area of soil than
that stated in each case. These enumerations were made from entries in
the land patent books.

- William Fitzhugh possessed over 50,000 acres. See his will, Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography, vol. II, p. 27G.

254 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

higher price than in the more newly settled communities
of Rappahannock and Henrico. It is probable from the
figures given that one-fifth of a pound, or four shillings,
in that age perhaps equal in purchasing power to five
dollars in our modern currency, represented the average
value of an acre on a plantation under cultivation. ^ It
must be remembered that the estates of the seventeenth
century were for the most part confined to the lowlands
adjacent to the streams, which consisted of the most fertile
loam. Reduce the four shillings to two in order to be
very moderate and apply this standard of value to the
real estate owned by Robert Beverley, and it is found that
he held landed property to the value of £3700, which
at modern rates would perhaps be equivalent to about
c£18,.500 or ninety-two thousand five hundred dollars. To
be still more moderate, reduce these figures one-half and it
will be seen that the whole estate of Beverley, personal
and real, amounted to one hundred and seventy-six thou-
sand dollars at the least. It would be reasonably safe to
say that it was equal in value to two hundred thousand dol-
lars, perhaps to two hundred and fifty thousand. ^ When
it is recalled that Virginia had only been settled for eighty
years when Beverley died, the statement of Lord Balti-
more, that fortunes were more easily acquired in this age
in that Colony than in England, seems entirely consistent
with the fact. The whole property of William Byrd, who
made great additions to an inheritance already large, was

1 That is, taking the cleared and uncleared land on such a plantation
together. The average value of cleared laud alone in good condition was
perhaps twice as high as the figures given.

2 I have reduced the value of the land held by Beverley to the very
lowest point, because in a holding amounting to 37,000 acres, an enor-
mous proportion must have been covered with forest, and was, therefore,
of little practical worth beyond furnishing an almost boundless range for
cattle.

RELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 255

perhaps more valualjle than the estate of Robert Bever-
ley.^ There were fifty, probably one hundred, planters
in Virginia at the close of tlie century whose property
equalled if it did not exceed fifty thousand dollars.

Robert Beverley, the historian, declared that such was
the geniality of the climate of Virginia and such the fer-
tility of its soil, that no one there was so sunk in poverty
as to be compelled to secure a living by beggary. ^ This
statement was doubtless perfectly accurate for the time at
which it was made, but it was not entirely true of a period
fifty years earlier, when the accumulation of property was
not as yet so great. There are several recorded instances
in that age in which special licenses Avere granted to
mendicants. Such a license was obtained by John Clax-
son of York County, whose only property had been de-
stroyed by fire, and who had been left with a family of five
children without means of support. It is probable that
this professional beggar was physically disabled. Similar
cases were those of Thomas Bagwell of the Isle of Wight,
and Richard New of James City, both, like that of Clax-
son, occurring as early as 1653.3 A general complaint
arose in 1672, that the neglect into which the vagrant laws
had fallen had led to an increase in the number of vaga-
bonds, and a statute was passed in consequence looking
not only to the suppression of all idlers, but also to set-
ting the poor to work.*

1 In the course of four years, William Byrd advanced out of his own
pocket, £2955 9s. 8d. to cover deficiencies in the revenues of the Colony.
At the time he was auditor-general of Virginia. See Palmer's Calendar
of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 58. The early records of the county
ill which the inventory of Byrd's personal estate was entered on record
are not now in existence.

' Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 223.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 38L

« Ibid., vol. II, p. 298.

256 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The records of levies disclose the frequency with which
assessments were made for the benefit of persons who, from
their physical disabilities, were incapable of earning a self-
support. The sums of tobacco thus obtained were paid
either to the paupers themselves directly, or to some one
who had agreed to furnish the person who was the object
of charity with food and clothing. ^ In 1668, the Assembly
provided for the establishment in each county of a work-
house ; 2 this act must have been enforced, for in 1678 the
justices of the peace for Lower Norfolk County were in-
dicted by the Grand Jury for neglecting to observe it.^
The erection of workhouses was specially recommended
to Lord Culpeper in the instructions which he received as
Governor in 1679.^ The form of relief generally requested
by those who had become impoverished Avas exemption
from the payment of county levies ; this privilege was
granted if the person seeking it was advanced in age,^ or
so lame or so blind as to be incapable of work,^ or was
burdened with a large family of children.'''

There were in the course of the seventeenth century
many instances in which valuable bequests were made for
the benefit of the poor. In 1683, Robert Griggs of Lan-
caster left twenty thousand pounds of tobacco to the des-
titute of Christ Church Parish in that county, those who
had large families to maintain to be preferred;^ George

1 Becords of 3Iicldlesex County, original vol. 1080-1694, Dec. 4, 1693,
Jan. 4, 1685, Oct. 4, 1083.

- Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 266. These workhouses were for children.
^ Becords of Lower JSforfoJk County, original vol. 1 675-1680, f. p. 40.

* From this, it would appear that the workhouses which had been in
existence had fallen into disuse. It should, however, be remembered that
the persons who drew up the Instructions to the Governors showed, in
many cases, ignorance of the real condition of the Colony.

s Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 416, Va. State Library.
6 Ibid., vol. 1687-1691, p. 50. ^ Ihkl, vol. 16-57-1662, p. 391.

* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1087, p. 91.

• KELATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES 2o (

Spencer of Lancaster, also, left by will ten thousand pounds
of tobacco for the same purpose, the objects of his bounty,
however, to be chosen from amongst the inhabitants of
White Chapel Parish. ^ Corbin Griffin bequeathed fifteen
pounds sterling to the poor of Richmond County, and ten
pounds to persons in need in Middlesex. ^ John Linney
devised his entire estate to the destitute inhabitants of
Chiskiack in York. Richard Trotter, of the same county,
left one thousand pounds of tobacco to the poor of Charles
Parish, while Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., bequeathed twenty
pounds sterling to the poor of Hampton Parish.^ In
1698, Robert Scott willed the whole amount of the sums
due him by different persons, in the form of tobacco or
coin, to indigent persons in Isle of Wight County.* If
reliance can be placed upon the statement of Beverle}^
there was little room for the exercise of charity by benev-
olent testators towards the close of the century; he declares
that he was aware of one case in which a bequest for the
benefit of the poor in one of the parishes in Virginia had
remained untouched for nine years, because there was no
one in the limits of the parish who came within the scope
of the testator's intention.^

1 Eecords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1694, f. p. 11.
- Will on file among records of Middlesex County.
3 Records of York County, vol. 1694-1702, Linney, p. 10, Trotter,
p. 194 ; Bacon, vol. 1690-1694, p. 154, Va. State Library.

* Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, p. 123.

* Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 223.

CHAPTER XV

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES : FOREIGN
I.

In preceding chapters I have referred in detail to the
different supplies which were needed for use or consump-
tion by people of all classes in the seventeenth century.
Where and how were these supplies obtained? When
not mere natural products, to what extent had they been
manufactured at home or abroad? The most common
varieties of food were in most cases of the growth of
the soil of the Colony. We have seen that the main
subsistence of the slave, the servant, and the master was
principally drawn from the plantation itself ; the meats,
the vegetables, the flour, the meal, and, in large measure,
the fermented liquors which were so freely indulged in,
were produced in Virginia. A considerable proportion of
the articles of food to be found on the tables of persons of
wealth was not secured from their own estates, but had
been imported from abroad. This was still more the case
with the innumerable articles which made up the house-
hold goods of the individual planter, and, in a lesser de-
gree, of the implements employed in tilling the ground.
Many of these articles were manufactured, as will be here-
after shown, in the Colon}^ but the greater number had
been brought in by local or foreign merchants, or by the
landowners at their own expense.
258

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 259

The importation of English merchandise into Virginia
in the seventeentli century for the purpose of meeting the
wants of its inhabitants had something more than a local
significance. It was the beginning of that vast colonial
trade which has performed so momentous a part in in-
creasing the wealth of England, and giving her an undis-
puted supremacy among commercial nations. Almost
from the foundation of the settlement at Jamestown,
Virginia was an important dependence of the mother
country, not only as a land to which those who desired to
establish neW homes could emigrate, but as a community
which, as its population expanded, required an ever en-
larging volume of artificial supplies. Its steady growth
signified a proportionate advance in many branches of
English manufacture. With the progress of time, the
importance of all the Colonies as places where English
goods could be disposed of at a profit, was more clearly
recognized, and the benefit that would result to English
trade from the exclusion of competition, foreign or domes-
tic, from this field, was one of the principal influences |
which led to the passage of the Navigation laws, as well
as to the prohibition of colonial manufacture on a large
scale. As early as 1664, when the second Act of Naviga-
tion had been in operation only a few years, the merchan-
dise imported into Virginia and ]Maryland was thought
to be worth annually ,£200,000, a sum equal in purchasing
power, perhaps, to four or five millions of dollars in our
modern currency. ^ At the beginning of the Revolution,
a hundred and twelve years later, the value of the goods
shipped from England each year to her Colonies in North
America was estimated at X 2,732,036, a small amount in
comparison with the value of the goods imported at the
present time by the United States from the same country

1 Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of Council, vol. 1G36-1667, p. 504.

260 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

under a restrictive tariff, but in that age representing an
enormous volume of trade. ^

Previous to the issue of patents to associations of private
adventurers in 1616, the cost of the transportation of sup-
plies to the settlers in Virginia was borne entirely by the
London Company or its members, to whom fell whatever
profit was to be acquired from the sale of the commodities
of the Colony. In the beginning, the expense was met by
the Company alone, and from the fund which had been
subscribed by the different adventurers who had united
themselves under the letters patent obtained by Gates
and his associates in 1606. How large was this fund
and how great were the individual subscriptions, there
are now no means of ascertaining. That the general
amount was of notable proportions is to be inferred from
the size of the first expedition, and the number of supplies
following previous to the grant of the second charter in
1609. The same rule was adopted in the case of the
London Company, when it was formed, as in the case of
other organizations of similar character ; the adventurer
wrote opposite to his name the figures of such a sum as he
was prepared to risk, and his j)rofits were to be in propor-
tion to it. Under the regulations laid down for the gov-
ernment of the Colony, the trade during the first five years
was to be confined to three stocks at the most.^ All sup-
plies purchased with the money contributed were trans-
ported thither as the property of the subscribers as a body.
The commodities to be obtained from Virginia, whether
in exchange with the Indians or as the product of the
industry of the settlers, were to be returned to England

1 Report of a Committee of the Privy Council on the Trade of Great
Britain with United States, 1791.

2 Instructions for the Government of the Colonies, Brovra's Genesis of
the United States, p. 71.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 261

for sale, and the proceeds divided among the adventurers
in proportion to their shares. The power was given to the
persons named in the charter of 1606, to arrest all who
were found engaged in traffic with the inhabitants, and
to detain them if they were English subjects until they
had paid two and a half per cent of the goods in which
they had been trading, and if they were citizens of foreign
states, five per cent.^ Supervision of the articles to be
conveyed to the Colony was, by the formal provisions for
its government, to be assumed by a committee to be con-
stituted of not less than three members, who were in-
structed to reside in or near London, or at any other place
preferred by the Company. A careful account was to be
kept by this committee of tlie various kinds of merchan-
dise which should be exported. During a period of seven
years, goods to be used for apparel, food, or defence, or for
the necessary objects of the plantation, transported from
England to Virginia, were to be exempted from all manner
of custom and subsidy. For the purpose of preventing an
abuse of this valuable privilege by persons who had no real
intention of sending the articles which they professed to
be exporting thither, but who only wished to escape from
the duties imposed upon those who had foreign destina-
tions in view, it was provided that if any one should take
advantage of this clause in the charter to evade the cus-
toms which they ouglit prpperly to pay, and after getting
out to sea, direct their course to a land under foreign
dominion, not only was the whole cargo to be forfeited,
hut the vessel in which it was conveyed was to be con-
fiscated. The object of the charter was violated even if
the commodities thus designed for an alien country had
first been carried into Virginia in order to comply with

1 Charter of 1G06, § XIII, Brown's Genesis of the United Slates,
pp. 59-61.

262 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tlie letter of the law. The goods exported from Eng-
land by the Company were, as soon as they reached the
Colony, to be stored m a magazine, from which they could
be drawn for distribution only upon the warrant of the
President and Council, or the Cape Merchant and two
clerks who were in immediate charge of the goods. Of
the latter trio of officers, the Cape Merchant, as his name
discloses, was the chief. He was also the Treasurer of
the Colony. 1 In the beginning, it was his duty merely to
preserve and guard the contents of the magazine, whether
imported from England or produced by the labors of the
inhabitants. It was not until a modified right of holding
private property was granted that he became an agent
in exchanging the goods of the Company or of private
adventurers, for the commodities owned by the settlers.
Previous to this, he was virtually a mere supercargo.
The Cape Merchant was elected to fill the position which
he occupied only for twelve months, but he was permitted
to be a candidate for reelection, his reelection resting with
the President and Council. At the time he was chosen,
two clerks were also selected, and they remained, like the
Cape Merchant, in office for a period of one year, their
position being attended by less responsibility. They also
could be reelected. It was the duty of one of the clerks
to keep a book in which all the supplies distributed were
to be entered, and he as well as his associate could be
suspended or removed by the President and Council, or
by a majority of the body which they formed.

In the orders in Council drawn up for the guidance
of the persons in charge of the expedition of 1607, the
preservation and the supervision of the different articles
to be conveyed to Virginia was imposed upon Captain

1 Instructions for the Government of the Colonies, Brown's Gejiesis of
the United States, p. 72.

MANUFACTUIIED SUPPLIES 263

Newport, who was in command of the fleet. ^ The imme-
diate care of these articles, however, fell upon the Cape
Merchant. The first person to fill this position was
Thomas Studley, who, upon the departure of the vessels
which brought the voyagers to Jamestown Island, re-
mained in charge of the storehouse, erected, in accord
with an order in Council, by a party of men who had
been specially detailed for the work.^ Studley perished
in the course of the first summer following the founda-
tion of the Colony, and was succeeded by Smith. In the
interval preceding the arrival of the First Supply, an
event which took place in the winter of 1607, the goods
imported in the spring had almost entirely disappeared.
The oil and vinegar, sack and aquavitse, had been con-
sumed, with the exception of the few gallons reserved for
religious services and for persons stricken with extreme
illness.^ Many other commodities had been allowed by
Wingfield, the President, to be dispersed in bartering with
the Indians, or in making gifts to them.* The First
Supply reached Jamestown in January in the charge of
Newport, and it consisted of a great variety of articles
thought by the Company in England to be necessary for
the protection or subsistence of the settlers. Included
among the articles of food were biscuits, one of which was
given to each workingman at breakfast. ^ Newport had
been at Jamestown only a few days when . a fire, which
had its origin in the cargo so recently brought over, broke
out, and proved very destructive, more especially to the
victuals and clothing of individual colonists. The serious

1 Orders in .Council, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 76.

2 ma., p. 82 ; Percy's Discourse, p. Ixxii.

3 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. Ixxviii.

* A Discourse of Virginia, Worls of Capt. John Smith, p. Ixxxi.
^ Ibid., p. Ixxxiii.

264 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

character of the loss in the matter of apparel is disclosed
in a letter written at this time by Francis Perkins, to
a friend in England, in which he urges that all cast-
off garments in the possession of this friend, doublets,
trousers, stockings, and caps, should be sent to him in
Virginia to provide him with means of hiding his naked-
ness.^ The fire would probably have consumed the whole
of the Supply if a part had not been detained on board
the vessel. A large quantity of beef, pork, fish, butter,
cheese, aquavitce, beer, and oil, imported for the use of
the settlers, was consumed by the sailors, who were per-
mitted to remain at Jamestown with their commander
nearly four months longer than at first was intended,
merely in order that they might share in the profit of
discovering ores of precious metals. When the ship
sailed at last, Newport could spare only a small amount
of biscuit, pork, fish, and oil, after having sold a large
quantity of these articles of food to those persons among
the colonists who were so fortunate as to have money or
surplus clothing, furs, or rings, or who were able to give
bills of exchange on England. At this time, the great
mass of the settlers subsisted on bread and water. The
Phoenix, which ought to have arrived in January in com-
pany with the vessel commanded by Newport, did not
reach Virginia until the following April. The supplies
contained in it were distributed among the colonists.^

The Company found great difficulty in securing the
funds necessary to purchase and send out the Second
Supply, which arrived at Jamestown in the autumn of
1608 in two ships. ^ A storehouse in anticipation of it

1 Letter of Francis Perkins, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
p. 176.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 103-105.

3 Zuniga to Philip III, Spanish Archives, Brown's Genesis of the
United States, p. 172.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 265

had been erected for its accommodation. A private trade
sprang up at once between the sailors and the colonists,
and between the sailors and the Indians, the colonists
acting as factors. A strong complaint was made that
the articles which should have gone to the settlers with-
out any charge, were thus disposed of to the private
advantage of persons who belonged to the vessels. The
hatchets, chisels, mattocks, and pickaxes, forming an im-
portant part of the Second Supply, were dispersed among
the aborigines. Knives and pike-heads, shot and powder,
disappeared into the same hands, a return being made
through tlie secret agency of the colonists, in skins,
baskets, and wild animals. One mariner alone is stated
to have obtained by this means, furs which netted him
thirty pounds sterling in England. The articles sold in
an underhand way to the settlers by the sailors of the
Second Supply were butter, cheese, beef, pork, biscuit,
oatmeal, beer, and aquavitte. There are indications that
a large quantity of wheat was imported in this Supply.
It had been deposited in casks as a protection, being
intended for food, or, as seems most probable, for seed ;
this wheat in a few months had either rotted or been
consumed by rats which had found their way into Vir-
ginia in the English vessels. ^ A part of the Second
Supply was also made up of clothing ; this was especially
needed on account of the destruction of so much private
apparel in the fire that broke out at Jamestown during
the previous winter. Both in the First and Second
Supphes there were doubtless consignments of garments
to individual colonists from their relatives in England.
In this way, George Percy received in 1608 from his
brother, the Earl of Northumberland, articles of dress
estimated to be worth about ten pounds sterling, perhaps

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 121, 127, 128, 155.

266 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

as much as two hundred and fifty dollars in American
currency, a quantity which must have been considered
very large even for a nobleman. ^ The urgent request
which Perkins had made of members of the Cornwallis
family with reference to discarded clothes was very prob-
ably complied with on the occasion of the Second Supply.
The great difficulty which the Company, according to
the account of the Spanish ambassador in London at the
time, had found in securing the means for the purchase of
the goods in the Second Supply, had quite probably the
chief influence in creating the demand for the second char-
ter, which was finally granted in May, 1609. Under the
provisions of this charter, the fifty-six city companies of
London and six hundred and fifty or more persons united
themselves into a corporation of private adventurers for
the advancement of the plantation. Among them, were
many men of very large and many of very small fortunes.
About one-third paid into the general fund thirty-seven
pounds and ten shillings or more apiece; another third
paid individually less than this sum, while the remainder
failed to make payments at all.^ The city companies
did not contribute simply as incorporated bodies. In the
records of the Grocers' Company, there is a receipt show-
ing that sixty-nine pounds sterling had been placed with
the warden by members to be invested for their private
benefit in bills of adventure in the Virginian undertaking.
These sums appear to have been subscribed at regular
meetings of the Company, each member being left to bind
himself for whatever amount his own inclinations sug-
gested. The names of those refusing to do so were care-
fully taken down. The Mercers' Company agreed to

1 Memoranda (1607-1608) of Ninth Earl of Northumberland, Brown's
Genesis of the United States, p. 178.

2 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 228.

MANUFACTDllED SUrPLIES 267

adventure two hundred pounds sterling. The Cloth-
workers subscribed, as a body, one hundred marks, and the
members seemed to have subscribed individually. The
Fishmongers appear also to have been liberal in taking
shares. In some instances, these trade associations not
only contributed money, but also merchandise,^ tlie differ-
ent persons who constituted them being probably some-
what influenced by the prospect of selling to the London
Company the goods in their special line of business needed
for the supply of the Colony. ^ The first suggestion that
each city company should take shares in the London was
made in the form of a letter from the latter to the Lord
Mayor, in wdiich, in return for contributions, bills of
adventure were promised to be drawn for the benefit of
such as would subscribe. It was even proposed that the
different wards should become shareholders. Upon the
receipt of this letter, the Mayor sent out his precept to
the master and warden of each company, requiring them
to summon the members to meet with a view of making
individual subscriptions.^ The Council of Virginia at
this time were content to seek assistance from the com-
panies of London, but at a later period overtures were
made to towns in other parts of the kingdom.

The strong inducements offered to obtain shareholders
whose contributions would be expended in the purchase
of supplies for the Colony are set forth in the contempo-
raneous pamphlet, Nova Britannia. It was fully antici-

1 Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 252, 257, 258, 280, 389.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 929: "Most of the tradesmen in
London that would adventure but 12£ 10 sh.," wrote Smith, " had the
furnishing the Company of all such things as belonged to his trade ; such
juggling there was betwixt them and such intruding Committees, their
associates, that all the trash they could get in London was sent us in
Virginia."

■^ Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 252, 254.

268 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

pated by its author, in which opinion he was not alone,
that it would be necessary to make but two more consign-
ments of articles to Virginia, the returns from which were
expected to be so large that not only would there be an
ample fund for the purchase of the Third Supply, but
there would be a surplus to be reserved for the share-
holders. To assure a profit upon all the merchandise to
be thereafter sent over, the right was to be enjoyed by
the Company of holding a monopoly of the commodities
of the Colony for a period of seven years from the date
of the second charter. No division was to be made of the
gain to be derived during this period from the labor of
the settlers or by trade with the Indians until the seven
years had expired, at which time it was anticiiDated that
the capital to be distributed among the shareholders would
be vory large; the amount to be received by each one was
to be further increased by the division of land to take
place at the close of the same period, each shareholder
being entitled to an area of soil in proportion to the
amount of his stock. The distribution of the common
property in money and land was to be made in 1616.^

The terms of the charter of 1609 differed in some
respects from those of the charter of 1606 with reference
to trade. The exemption from subsidies and customs and
all forms of taxation was extended from seven to twenty-
one years. The duty to be paid by English subjects, not
members of the Company, who imported goods into Vir-
ginia, was increased from two and a half per cent to five,
and in case of aliens, from five per cent to ten. The priv-
ilege of exporting supplies to the Colony untaxed was not
curtailed in its practical enjoyment. In the month in
which the charter of 1609 received the final seal of the
King, a general order was issued by the Earl of Salisbury,

t 1 Nova Britannia, pp. 23-25, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.

MANUFACTURED SUri'LIES 269

addressed to the officers who had charge of the customs,
in which they were instructed to permit every commodity
designed for Virginia to leave their ports free from all
imposition;! this was intended to have direct application
to the fleet making ready to sail for Virginia under the
conduct of Sir Thomas Gates and now lying in the harbor
of Plymouth. The eight ships and the pinnace constituting
the fleet carried over the Third Supply to the Colony,
which differed from the two preceding it only in quantity,
being made up principally of food and apparel purchased
with the funds contributed by the personal and corporate
members of the Company in the manner already described.
The flag-ship, in which one-fourth of the persons employed
in the fleet and the greater part of the jDrovisions were to
be transported, was separated from the other vessels by a
hurricane and finally wrecked upon the islands of Bermuda.
The remainder arrived in Virginia safely. Previous to
this event. Captain ArgoU had reached the Colony on a
fisliing expedition, having in his ship a large supply of
wine and biscuit designed for private trade ; the necessities
of the people at Jamestown being very urgent at this time,
the provisions had been seized and consumed. ^ The sup-
ply brought in by the fleet was very small. After the
departure of the vessels in the following October, although
the maize planted by Smith had been recently gatliered,^
there intervened the frightful Starving Time, in which
the greater number of the colonists perished. Somers and
Gates, who had contrived means of escape from the Ber-
mudas, reached Virginia in May, and finding the settlers
plunged into the deepest misery, which they were unable
to relieve with their insignificant cargo of provisions,

1 Brown's Geiiesis of the United States, p. 307.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 159.

3 Ibid., pp. 167, 170.

270 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

embarked the whole number on board of their vessel and
dropped down the river on their way to Newfoundland,
but were met, before they had reached the Capes, by Lord
Delaware in a fleet of three ships.

It had been intended, after the departure from England
of Sir Thomas Gates in the spring of 1609, to dispatch
Lord Delaware to Virginia in the following August with
ten vessels, and for the purpose of raising the funds re-
quired to purchase this additional supply, various expe-
dients were used. Among the other steps taken, Captain
Thomas Holcroft was authorized to visit the United Prov-
inces in order to interest the English subjects residing in
that country in the enterprise, to the extent of adventur-
ing in it their persons or their means. All who should
contribute to the supply to be sent in charge of Delaware
were to receive the liberties and privileges of the Company
in the same degree as if they had belonged to that body
from its beginning. Upon them also were to be conferred,
in proportion to the amount of their subscriptions, shares
in the lands of Virginia and in the accumulated capital of
the corporation, when the first division of both took place
in 1616, previous to a general distribution among the mem-
bers. The right to enter into private commercial relations
with the colonists after 1616 was granted to each person con-
tributing to the funds of the Company, who should desire
to trade in the expectation that it would be profitable. ^

The return to England in the autumn of 1609 of what
remained of the fleet which had set out in the spring of
the same year under such favorable auspices, had, on
account of the discouraging reports brought over, the
effect of diminishing interest in the enterprise, on the part
of those who, if the issue had been more fortunate, would

1 Instructions to Holcroft, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
pp. 317, 318.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 271

have contributed liberally to its support. Ratcliffe, in his
letter to Salisbury, sent to England at this time, recom-
mended that provisions for one year should be forwarded
to Virginia, but it had now become difficult to secure the
means for the purchase of supplies. The managers of
the Company nevertheless were not to be daunted by the
calamities of the expedition under Gates, upon which so
many hopes had been founded ; barely a fortnight after
the vessels that had gone out in this expedition reached
England, they issued the True and Sincere Declaration,
in which a powerful appeal was made to every instinct of
the English people, religious, political, and material, to
induce them to contribute to the advancement of the
enterprise, in spite of the repeated disasters that had over-
taken it.i This appeal was followed up doubtless by still
more active and direct measures for securing the necessary
funds. It proved highly effective. In April, 1610, Dela-
ware sailed from England to Virginia with a fleet of three
vessels, laden with cargoes purchased in a measure by his
own contributions to the treasury of the Company. The
additional money required had been adventured by other
shareholders. As soon as Delaware had reestablished the
Colony at Jamestown, he ordered Gates to proceed to Eng-
land to obtain the articles for which provision had at the
time of his own departure from the mother country been
made, at least in part.^ It was during this visit that
Gates was summoned before the Council in London and
questioned as to the advisability of abandoning the enter-
prise, the Council being very much discouraged by his
failure to bring with him, on his return, commodities, by

' True and Sincere Declaration, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
p. 339.

■^ Zuuiga to Philip III, Spanish Archives, Brown's Genesis of the United
States, p. 386.

272 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIIIGINIA

the sale of which, the expense of the supplies to be sent to
Virginia could be met.^ Among those who had contrib-
uted to the fund covering the charges for these supplies,
were probably several of the city companies, subscribing
in the persons of their members, and, in some instances,
as incorporated bodies. The Grocers' Company advent-
ured one hundred pounds sterling. The Mercers posi-
tively refused to contribute further for the advancement
of the Plantation, and in this course they were doubtless
followed by other corporations to which similar appeals
had been made.^ In December, 1610, the ship Hercules
sailed to Virginia with a cargo of supplies, and a few
weeks later was followed by Sir Thomas Dale with a fleet
of three vessels, containing a great abundance of victuals
and furniture. In the following spring. Sir Thomas
Gates set out for Jamestown in command of three ships
and three caravels, with an equal quantity of provisions
of all kinds for the colonists.

The funds with which the supplies forwarded to
Virginia in the care of Gates had been purchased were
procured in large part by circular letters addressed to
private persons and city companies. Towns were invited
to subscribe in their corporate capacity as well as in tlie
name of particular citizens, the hope being confidently
extended that the enterprise would now have great suc-
cess. It was proposed to send to Virginia, in the course
of the following two years, three cargoes valued at thirty
thousand pounds sterling; of this amount, eighteen thou-
sand had been raised previous to February, 1611, and it
was expected to secure the remainder from the gentry,
merchants, and cities of the kingdom. Of the subscrip-
tions made by private persons, not one was less than

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 504.

2 Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 389, 391, 442.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 273

thirty-seven pounds and ten shillings; in some cases, they
ran to a figure as high as one hundred aud seventy-five
pounds. Noblemen and the companies of London sub-
scribed five thousand of the eighteen thousand pounds
sterling collected. ^

During the time that Gates and Dale were in control
in Virginia, the martial laws, drawn from the military
administration of the Low Countries, were in operation,
and were particularly effective in ensuring the preser-
vation of the imported supplies. These supplies appear
to have been still in the keeping of a Cape Merchant.
Among those who were named by Lord Delaware as
having been appointed by himself in the previous year
to positions under him, no Cape Merchant is mentioned,
although the clerks who were required to be associated
with him are referred to.^ By the martial laws, the
fullest regulations were established for the guidance of
such an officer, and for his punishment in case he mis-
appropriated the stores placed under his charge ; ^ if he
embezzled, sold, or gave away any article belonging to
these stores, or made out a false account when he pre-
sented his report to the Governor, he rendered himself
liable to the penalty of death. If any private person
carried off the victuals or arms, linen or woollen clothing,
hose or shoes, hats or caps, instruments or tools in the
care of the Cape Merchant, he exposed himself to the same
extreme punishment. That this was not a provision
designed in terrorem simply, is revealed in the fact that

1 Circular Letter of the Virginia Council, Lists of Subscribers, Brown's
Genesis of the United States, pp. 463-469.

'^ Council in Virginia to the Virginia Company, Brown's Genesis of the
United States, p. 408. Two clerks, Daniel Tucker and Robert Wild,
were appointed by Delaware on his arrival in the Colony.

3 Lawes, Divine, Morall and Martiall, p. 13, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. IIL

274 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

on one occasion a colonist who had committed a robbery
upon the store was bound to a tree and suffered to perish
by starvation.! Culprits of this kind, it is probable, were
usually hung, the harshness in this special case being
doubtless exemplary. In order to put an end to the
serious evils resulting from the unlicensed trading be-
tween the sailors on the ships arriving in the James
River, and the colonists on shore, the seamen bartering
cheese and biscuit, meal, bacon, oil, butter, spice, and
aquavitce for the clothing, furniture, instruments, tools,
and implements of the settlers, it was provided that all
mariners who made this exchange should not only be
deprived of the goods thus obtained and forfeit the en-
tire amount of their wages, but should also be publicly
whipped according to the verdict of the court-martial which
should find the charge to be true. If the exchange had
been at an unconscionable price, advantage being taken
of the necessities of the inhabitants, death was to be the
punishment. Proclamations setting forth the legal rates
in the sale of all commodities were attached to the masts
of every vessel that arrived, and this was to be taken as
sufficient notice of the consequences of an extreme vio-
lation of the law, but it was, at the same time, no justi-
fication for buying without authority the articles specified,
even at approved valuations.^ In spite of the more care-
ful administration enforced by Gates and Dale, there
appears to have been at times a great lack of necessary
supplies. Molina, writing in 1613, after a detention of
two years in Virginia, refers to the wretched clothing
of the colonists. He describes his own dress as being

1 Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Becords
of Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 74.

- Lawes, Divine, Morall and Martiall, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. III.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 275

in a state of sncli raggedness as to leave liim virtually
naked. 1

In 1612, the third charter was granted ; in this the
names of many additional adventures were inserted, the
greater proportion of whom belonged to the gentry.
The largest amount subscribed in any individual case was
thirty-seven pounds and ten shillings sterling. Under
the terms of this charter, the goods exported from Eng-
land for use in Virginia were exempted from all duties
for a period of seven years. A much more important
clause authorized the officers of the Company to establish
one or more lotteries to be held during twelve months, un-
less it was the pleasure of the King that they should con-
tinue for a longer time. At least six months' warning
was to be allowed after the expiration of the year. The
right to hold lotteries was granted without regard to any
special city, and such prizes and conditions were to be
prescribed as seemed advisable to the members. The
Company was empowered to name the persons who were
to take charge of the drawings, and no interference with
the performance of the duties assigned to them was to
be attempted by any public officer or private individual.^
The bestowal of the right to hold lotteries is an indication
of the great difficulty found, after the various discourage-
ments which had occurred, in raising funds by subscription
in order to send supplies to Virginia. It was accepted at
the time as an evidence of the loss of faith in the profitable
character of the enterprise.^ Whether those in charge
of the affairs of the Company looked at it in this light
! or not, they proceeded with great promptness and energy

1 Molina to Velasco, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 651.

2 Third Cliarter, Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 552, 553.

3 Digby to Carleton, May 22, 1013, Brown's Genesis of the United
States, p. 634.

276 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in turning to account this ngw means of procuring money
for the purpose they had in view. Books containing in-
structions were sent to the mayors of the different cities
of England, with the request that they would urge the
scheme upon the attention of their townsmen. Other
books were prepared and stamped with the general seal,
in which all who desired to invest in the lottery entered
their names, with such sums attached as they should de-
cide to risk. Lots were purchased not only by individ-
uals, but also by churches and corporations. The first
drawing began in June, 1612, and ended by the 20th of
July, five thousand pounds sterling being distributed in
prizes. From this lottery, the Company obtained sixty
thousand ducats, for the purchase of supplies. A small
standing lottery for the same purpose was erected in the
winter of 1613, the announcement being made that it was
no longer necessary to send victuals to Virginia, and that
the goods to be shipped thither were to be restricted to
clothing. 1

So far, not less than forty-six thousand pounds sterling,
obtained by private contributions or from lotteries, had
been expended for the advancement of the Plantation.
The Company now determined, as a means of increasing
their funds, to bring suit in Chancery against all the ad-
venturers who were derelict in turning over the full
amount of their subscriptions; a bill was drawn and
presented in April, 1613, in which it was stated that on
many occasions when the treasury was empty, the Com-
pany had been compelled to raise money by pledging its
credit in the expectation that the amount would be re-
funded by the payment of the claims against those mem-
bers who had refused to deliver the sums for which tliey

1 For these various details, see documents publisiied in Brown's Genesis
of the United States, pp. 555, 560, 561, 570, 572, 575, 591, 608.

MANUFACTUEED SUPPLIES 277

were bound over their signatures, or who had deferred
doing so for an indefinite period. The delinquents in-
cluded many very prominent persons. The suit against
them was successful, about four thousand pounds sterling
being thus secured. ^ In October, the ship Elizabeth left
England for Virginia with provisions of different kinds,
purchased, not improbably, with this sum. In the spring
of 1614, a tract showing the condition of the Colony and
setting forth the plan of a great lottery was issued, copies
of which, accompanied by a letter from the Privy Coun-
cil, were sent to all the city comj)anies in London ; ^ a
strong appeal was made in this letter to induce their
members to adventure in the proposed scheme. The
need of some means of raising money was now so great
that a proposition to yield up its patent was seriously
entertained by the Company. With a view to obtaining
the support of the state, a petition was presented to Par-
liament, but like all the measures of the same session, did
not come to a final decision. ^ The response of the vari-
ous city companies to the appeal of the Privy Council
was so successful, that in February, 1615, a second letter
was dispatched to the different cities and towns of the
kingdom.* A Declaration was now issued by the Lon-
don ComjDany in which it was announced that the present
standing lottery would be the last erected for the benefit
of the Plantation. Special inducements were offered to
all wlio would take lots amounting to twelve pounds, ten
shillings or more; to such persons, provided they would

1 Brooke to Ellesmere, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 630 ;
Cliamberlain to Carleton, Ibid., p. 055.

2 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 685.

3 Extract from Commons' Journal, Buown's Genesis of the United
States, p. 689. Ibid., pp. 692, 696.

■* Neill's Virginia Vetusta, p. 199.

278 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

remit any prize which they might win, bills of adventure
would be given, entitling them to a proportionate share
in the lands of the Colony when distributed, and in the
profit of the capital to be divided. Members of the Lon-
don Company who had failed to pay their subscriptions
in full, were to be entirely exempted if they risked
double the value of the shares in which they were delin-
quent ; a failure to claim their prizes conferred on them
a right to additional bills of adventure for the entire
amount which they had expended in the lottery. ^ With
a view to securing at the earliest date a sum of money to
enable the Company to send supplies to the Colony, all
persons who paid three pounds sterling into the lottery
were to receive a silver spoon, valued at six shillings and
eight pence, or that amount in coin was to be returned to
them without diminishing the sum they had ventured.
The lottery was drawn in November, 1615. The extent
to which the city companies of London and its citizens
as well as the people of the other towns took lots must
have been considerable, though it probably fell short of
the hope that had been entertained. ^ In the meanwhile,
the Company had not failed to send out supplies to Vir-
ginia. In the Declaration issued in February, 1615, it
was stated that this body had very lately dispatched two
instalments of men and provisions, including also cloth-
ing.^ Argoll had captured in his expedition to Port
Royal a large quantity of various articles which were of
great service to the Colony.*

1 A Declaration for the Lottery, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
p. 763.

2 See extracts from records of Dover and Wycombe, Brown's Genesis
of the United States, pp. 768, 769.

3 A Declaration for the Lottery, Brown's Genesis of the United States,
p. 762.

* Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 517.

MANUFACTCrilED SUPPLIES 279

In 1616, the period of seven years during wliicli the
stock of the Company to be accumulated by a monopoly
of the trade of the Colony was to remain undivided, drew
to a close. The returns from the enterprise had been so
small,^ that the profits, which were to be allowed to grow,
were never realized ; those who had adventured their
money in supporting it, found their recompense only in
the distribution of lands, conveyed in successive divi-
dends as the country was cleared of forest. In this sub-
division, all persons shared in proportion to their bills of
adventure, whether they had invested many years before
or but recently. 2 When the period of seven years ended
in 1616, the Company was compelled, owing to the lack
of funds in its treasury, to adopt a new method for fur-
nishing the colonists with the different articles which
they were forced to import to meet their necessities.
There was erected what was described as the " Society
of Particular Adventurers for Traffic with the People of
Virginia in Joint Stock." Instead of the supplies being
forwarded in the name of the Company, they were now
sent in the name of the Magazine ; to which the members
could contribute such sums as they were willing to vent-
ure in their individual capacity. It was practically an
association of private persons, among whom were divided
the returns in proportion to the amounts which they
risked. The general Company was not prevented from
investing the common funds in the Magazine; if it did
so, it shared in the profits and losses like an ordinary
adventurer.^

1 Extract from the Trade's Increase, Brown's Genesis of the United
States, p. 706.

" A Briefe Declaration, Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 778,
779.

3 Orders and Constitutions, 1619-1G20, pp. 23, 24, Force's Historical
Tracts, vol. III.

280 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The affairs of the Magazine were administered by a
director, who was assisted by a committee of five council-
lors; it was so far subject to the supervision of the Com-
pany, that its accounts were required to be passed upon
by auditors specially nominated at a Quarter Court. The
adventurers, however, held separate meetings, at which
all routine business was transacted. ^

No outside trader at this time could send supplies to
the Colony, the regulation being as strict after the adop-
tion of the new joint stock as it was previous to 1616. ^
Doubtless, however, the general rule was modified now, as
it was under the Orders and Constitutions of 1619, which
permitted any one, whether connected with the Company
or not, to import cattle, grain, and munition into Vir-
ginia if the members of that body, when requested by
the Quarter Court, declined or failed to subscribe to the
Magazine. 3 The vessels which before this year had carried
supplies to the Colony, had also brought in a large number
of persons who proposed to reside in Virginia. The ship
now conveying the articles purchased by the adventurers
who entered into the joint stock, was known as the
magazine ship, and its loading was confined to goods and

1 ColUngicood 3IS. Becords of London Company, in Congressional
Library, vol. I, pp. 22, 50. The first director was Alderman Johnson,
who showed at this time the unscrupulous qualities which at a later
period distinguished him so conspicuously as a member of the Warwick
faction. In 1G19, he was charged with diverting to the Magazine, funds
which belonged to the Company. This had been done by him first in
1617, the sum being £341 1.3s. 4(Z., and afterwards in 1618, when he
appropriated for the Magazine the money obtained from the sale of ihe
tobacco produced in the common garden. See Ibid., p. 26.

2 A broadside, issued in 1616-17, gave permission to persons in Eng-
land to send private supplies to their friends in Virginia. Brown's Genesis
of the United States, p. 798.

3 Orders and Constitutions of 1619, p. 23, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. III.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 281

to the few men who were appointed to take charge of them
both before and after their arrival at Jamestown. The
first magazine ship was the Susan, a vessel of small size.
Its cargo was restricted to clothing, of which the Colony
at all times stood in great need, apparel being only pro-
curable from England. 1 The goods in the /Susan were
placed in the care of Abraham Piersey as Cape Merchant,
both during the voyage and after Virginia was reached.
The Cape Merchant who came over in the magazine ship
Avas not simply a supercargo ; he was also the factor of the
subscribers to the joint stock, who relied upon his integ-
rity and faithfulness in exchanging the articles they sent
over, at the rates agreed upon beforehand. At this time,
the only commodities produced in the Colony which
assured a profit Avhen sold in England were tobacco and
sassafras; for them alone the contents of the magazine
ship were exchanged, and for that reason, the members of
the joint stock sought to confine their monopoly in the
trade of Virginia only to these products. Piersey returned
to England in the Susan, but in the following year he
came back in the G-eorge, the second magazine ship of
which he had charge in the capacity of Cape Merchant. ^
The cargo of this vessel was probably not larger than that
of the Susan, but it was delayed five months in the out-
ward voyage, which caused the articles brought over in it
to arrive in bad condition.^

1 Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Records of
Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 77.

2 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, p. 19.

^ Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 536. The following " Reasons touch-
ing the most convenient time and season of ye year for ye magazine
ship to set forth from England towards Virginia," are taken from Records
of Jno. Rolfe, secretary and receiver- general, Register Book, No. 41, in
the manuscript, Ch. 23, No. 221, now preserved in the library of the
Supreme Court at Washington, which formed a part of Mr. Jefferson's

282 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Piersey, as soon as he reached Virginia, delivered to
ArgoU, who at that time was at the head of affairs in the
Colony, letters with which he had been entrusted, placing
his authority in disposing of the goods of the Magazine
upon the same footing as that of the Governor. ^ This
excited the warm indignation of Argoll, who noAV pro-
ceeded to treat with contempt the command of the Com-
pany in England, that the tobacco and sassafras should 1 e
reserved to be exchanged for the merchandise imported in
the magazine ship. In spite of the severe laws introduced
by Gates and Dale, condemning with the utmost severity
all bartering between the captains and mariners of vessels
and the settlers, Argoll permitted the former, as well as
the passengers in their ships, to buy up all the tobacco and
sassafras that they could obtain, thus seriously diminish-
ing if not dissipating the supply upon which the Cape
Merchant had depended for the profitable disposition of

library, purchased by Congress ; they a,re also in Eandolph MSB., vol.
Ill, p. 1.39, Virginia Historical Society Manuscript Collections. "1. To
"be here (Virginia) in September, start in June, at which time corn
"and tobacco are harvested. 2. After September, goods can be landed
" or shipt without great hazard. 3. Because there being few tailors,
" people will not be able to get their clothes in time for winter. 4. You
" (that is, the Company) will then have the best tobacco. 5. Your
" ships will get home by Candlemas, before the East India ships set
"out, which will help ye speedy venting of your tobacco. 6. If the
" ships fail to arrive before March, our seed time, we cannot afford to
" attend to the Magazine. 7. For want of boats, it will be fourteen days'
" loss to a man in transportation of goods, in which time he may lose all
" his corn and tobacco. 8. If your ships return after April, the heat of
" the hole will hurt the tobacco. 9. Furnish the Magazine with more than
' ' is needed in the present and let a continual trade be on foot, and then
" at the arrival of your shipping, you will have a cargo of commodities
" ready, which will be soon despatched. 10. If you grant more commis-
" sions for general trade, as you have to Captain Martin, (of Martin's
" Hundred, which enjoyed special privileges and immunities) you will
"overthrow the Magazine."

1 Randolph MSS., vol. Ill, p. 140.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 283

the goods in the Magazine. Moreover, the free trade
inaugurated by the Governor destroyed all uniformity
in the rates of purchase, upon which the adventurers in
the joint stock had relied for their margin of gain.^ ArgoU
was undoubtedly influenced in this independent course by
a spirit of the grossest selfishness. His general career as
Executive was in keeping with this open violation of the
orders which he had received from his superior officers in
England. It is, however, an open question as to what
extent a conscientious person in his position might have
thought that a free exchange of the products of Virginia
for the merchandise of any trader who might come for-
ward to barter, was more promotive of the best interests of
the inhabitants, even at this early period, than the monop-
oly enjoyed by the adventurers of the jNIagazine, who had
the countenance and the aid of the Company itself. There
was no difference of opinion as to Argoll's action among
the great body of the members, those not immediately
interested in the Magazine holding the same views as
those who were. The Magazine, they declared with great
earnestness, was the prop of the Plantation and the life of
the adventurers. To destroy the profit expected of it by
allowing an absolute free commerce was to deprive the
Colony, still in a state of infancy, of an annual supply
which could be relied on with the fullest confidence. No
adventurers would be willing to send out a cargo of goods
without assurance of a market, or at best with the prospect
only of sales at very low rates. The collapse of the joint
stock would inevitably inflict injury upon the people, even
though it should give encouragement to persons who de-
sired to trade in Virginia on their own private account.^

''■ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, yo\. II,
pp. 31, 32.
2 Ibid.

284 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

There are indications that the monopoly the Company
sought to enforce in tobacco and sassafras would, if it
had been put into the strictest operation, have excluded
all independent traffic. In 1618, a petition was offered
to Lord Zouch as the warden of the Cinque Ports, in
which permission was sought by Captain Andrews of the
Silver Falcon^ who was associated with a Dutch merchant,
to make a trading voyage to America. Among the objects
to be secured were the erection of a plantation for the
production of tobacco and grain, the purchase of furs
from the Indians, and the barter of fish caught on the
coast of Canada for the commodities to be obtained in
Virginia. The great evils to be expected, according to
the statement of the promoters of the enterprise, were
that the " monopolists " of that Colony would break up
any settlement the petitioners established, by removing
the people, or would prohibit all trade between them and
the Virginians, or if they did not do this, would at any
rate except tobacco and sassafras from the list of articles
to be exchanged, in which case, all the rest might as well
be denied. 1 As a means of conciliating the Company,
they proposed that if the result of the voyage was highly
profitable, they should contribute in proportion to their
gains to meeting the regular charges upon that body in
supporting the plantation. Zouch granted the warrant
sought, the vessel being described as his own.^

The magazine ship, the Creorge was followed in the
course of the year of its arrival by two other vessels, which
had been dispatched by the same combination of private

1 Project of the voyage of the Silver Falcon, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. I, No. 38; Sainsbiiry Abstracts for 1618, p. '2?>(S, Va. State
Library.

2 Warrant from Zouch as warden of the Cinque Ports, British State
Papers, Colonial; Sainsbury Abstracts for 161S, p. 8, Va. State Library.

MAN Ur ACT [IKED SUPPLIES 285

adventurers contributing in joint stock under the auspices
of the Compan3\ The William and Thomas, the last of
these two vessels to reach Virginia, which was in January,
1618, Avas accompanied by the Gift, a ship sent to the
Colony by the Society of Martin's Hundred, one of the
private associations to w^hich a large grant of land had
been made when the year came around for the first decla-
ration of a dividend. 1 This vessel brought over supplies
intended for the Hundred only. The supplies imported
in the William and Tliomas seem to have been exchanged
for tobacco in spite of the presence of ArgoU and the ruin
which his policy had caused, for it returned to England
in July, 1619, having on board a cargo of twenty thousand
pounds. A large sum in the shape of bills of exchange
upon the Company was also brought back, apparently
indicating that the Magazine had fallen short in quantity
of goods, of the demand in the Colony, so that the Cape
j\lerchant was forced to pay in this form for a part of the
tobacco bought. Abraham Piersey did not return to
England in the magazine ship, but instead wrote a letter
in which he recommended that thereafter he should be
permitted to sell the articles forwarded to him as Cape
Merchant at such rates as he could secure, without regard
to any price fixed upon by the adventurers of the joint
stock. He also complained that much of the merchandise
sent him was not suited to the character of the trade in
Virginia. 2

1 Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Beconls of
Virr/inia, State Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 78.

- Abstracts of Proceedinr/s of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
pp. 12, 13. The Cape Merchant had difficulty in collecting some of the
debts due the Magazine, owing to the perversity of Captain Martin. " Mr.
Piersey, the Cape Merchant, taking notice of Captain Martin's denial of
protecting any within his territory from arrest for debt, affirmed that
having delivered divers warrants to the provost marshal of James City

286 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The suggestion of Piersey as to abolishing all fixed
prices in bartering goods for tobacco did not receive the
approval of the Company. Among the instructions laid
down for the guidance of the first Assembly convening
in the Colony, was one that required the members to pass
a law establishing the rate of exchange at three shillings
a pound for the highest grade of tobacco, and eighteen
pence for the lowest. The Cape Merchant was ordered
by the Assembly to appear before it and to consent to the
adoption of this regulation, which he declined to do until
a distinct command had been given him to that effect, to
serve as an acquittance in case the intention of the Com-
pany had not been clearly understood. He was limited
to a gain of twenty-five per cent in the hundred on the
original cost of the goods. In paying for tobacco offered
him for sale, he was required to settle in bills of exchange
if this should be desired by the owner, which was not
unlikely, as he might wish to remit money to debtors or
friends in England. In the mother country only were
such bills to be made payable.^

Precautions were taken to prevent fraud on the part of
the Cape Merchant in exchanging goods for Virginian
commodities. In making payment, he was instructed to
draw up two invoices, one of which was to be retained by
himself and the other to be presented to the Governor for
safe-keeping. If a dispute were to arise, there would be
at least one voucher to shov,^ the character of the original
transaction. Under special circumstances, the law passed

in Virginia, to be served en men tliat were indebted, living loosely within
Captain Martin's plantation, the provost marshall told him that the said
Captain Martin resisted the officer, and drew arms upon and would not
suffer him to execute the said Warrants." Abstracts of Proceedings of
the Virginia Company of London, vol. I, pp. 187, 188.

1 For these and following details, see Lawes of Assembly, 1019, Colonial
Becords of Virginia^ State Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, pp. 22-24.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 287

by the Assembly exempted the planter from the operation
of the rule constraining him to dispose of his tobacco to
the Magazine. If the supplies contained in the Magazine
did not include some article recognized as a necessary of
life, such an article might be bought from an}^ one who
offered it for sale, but the purchaser was required in
doing so to pay at the rate laid down for the same in all
cases in which the Cape Merchant was the seller. In such
purchases the consent of the Governor had first to be
secured. The commodities produced in the boundaries
of the land owned by private associations and known as
Hundreds, were not brought to the Cape Merchant for
exchange, the adventurers interested in the Hundreds en-
joying the right to dispose of these commodities to their
own profit, since this privilege had been granted to them
under the provisions of their patents. They were, how-
ever, subject to certain important conditions. The com-
modities must have been produced in the limits of their
jurisdiction and not obtained by trading with the planters
who occupied lands which were the property of the Com-
pany. Furthermore, if upon the termination of a joint
stock, a quantity of goods remained in the Magazine
unsold, these goods were to be exhausted by purchasers
residing in the Hundreds before the adventurers of the
Hundreds could furnish them with supplies of the same
character.

In 1619, a list of standing orders and laws, drawn from
the letters patent of the King, the royal instructions and
the rules established by the Company from time to time,
was adopted. In the provisions for the regulation of trade,
it was stated with great particularity that as soon as the
period agreed upon for the continuation of the joint stock
for the Magazine expired, entire liberty was to be allowed
every one to enter into private commercial relations with

288 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the colonists. 1 In the meanwhile, much complaint seems
to have been made of an inclination on the part of the
Cape Merchant to set a higher value on the articles in his
charge than he was authorized to do, an indirect means
of reducing the value of the planters' tobacco below the
prices laid down by the Assembly, acting under orders
from the Company. The complaint coming to the knowl-
edge of the latter, the Governor and Council were com-
manded to examine his invoices to find out whether he
had disposed of the goods sent him to be bartered, at
higher figures than he could justify in his instructions.^
It would seem that the legal rates at which the tobacco
was to be exchanged, namely, three shillings for that of
the best quality and eighteen pence for that of the worst,
were too much, and that the Cape Merchant in raising the
prices of the articles in the Magazine was merely seeking to

1 Orders and Constitutions, 1619, p. 23, Force's Historical Tracts, vol.
III. The ' ' Society of Particular Adventurers for Traffic with the People
of Virginia in Joint Stock " was dissolved Jan. 22, 1619-20. The minute
of the Company showing this is as follows : " Concerning the Maga-
zine touching the joynt . . . whether it should continue or not, after
some discussion given for the maintenance of it no longer, it was generally
agreed by ye adventurers that it should be dissolved, which by raising of
hands being put to ye question was ratified, now ordering that for ye
5200 and odd pounds worth of goods here remaining, rated at the cost of
first penny, shall first be put off before any of ye same kind shall be sent."
Collingwood MS. Records of London Company, in Congressional Library,
vol. I, p. 64. It was declared February 2, that as the Magazine, that is
to say, the Society of Particular Adventurers, had voluntarily dissolved
itself, "now matters of trade are free and open for all men." Ibid.,
p. 72. It should be remembered that the supplies which had since 1616
been dispatched to Virginia had been sent by this Society, which had been
granted a monopoly recognized by all except during Argoll's administra-
tion. Magazines continued to be forwarded to the Colony, but they were
the property of particular associations of subscribers, united in temporary
joint stock.

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 55.

MANUFACTDRED SUPPLIES 289

secure a legitimate margin of profit. The planters asserted
that the adventurers in England sold the leaf procured in
the Colony at an advance of two hundred per cent over
its cost in Virginia, and on this ground they justified a
number of deceits in passing bad tobacco upon the Cape
Merchant at the highest rates. ^ There does not appear to
have been any ground for this assertion. The Magazine
sent out in the course of 1620, under the charge of Mr.
Blaney, not only failed to assure any profit to the ad-
venturers of that particular joint stock,^ but the very
principal of the subscription was lost, and lost on account
of the impossibility of obtaining in England prices for to-
bacco that would cover the amount expended in its purchase
in Virginia, and the various charges attendant upon the
voyage. 3 The abolition of the special rates adopted by
the Assembly in 1619 became imperative. In July, 1621,
the Company, in a letter addressed to the Governor and
Council in Virginia, instructed them to secure for the
Cape Merchant who would dispose of the cargo of the ship
in which the letter was conveyed, full liberty to sell the
goods at the highest prices offered, and to get the main
commodity of the country in exchange without regard to
the rates formerly prescribed by law.^ In the same month
in which this order had been given, a Quarter Court was
held, and four rolls were offered for subscriptions. One of
these rolls related to clothing and articles of a like nature.
Eighteen hundred pounds sterling were at once obtained,

1 Company's Letters, August and September, 1621, Neill's Virginia
Company of London, pp. 238, 244.

2 The Society of Particular Adventurers in Joint Stock had now been
dissolved. This Magazine was sent out by a special and temporary asso-
ciation of subscribers.

3 Company's Letter, September, 1621, Neill's Virginia Company of
London, p. 243 ; Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of
London, vol. I, p. 124. * Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 262.

290 ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA

although many members were not present, this being the
period of vacation and the town deserted. ^ In August,
the following month, the magazine ship not being yet
ready to sail, the Company took advantage of the de-
parture of the Marmaduke to write again to the Governor
and Council in Virginia, and after complaining of the
inferior tobacco passed surreptitiously upon the Cape
Merchant, announced that upon the expiration of the
year 1621 they would not furnish any supplies to the
planters in exchange, as the latter considered it entirely
proper to purchase these supplies on long credits, but
never failed to demand cash when they disposed of their
crops to the Company. The disinterestedness of this body
in relation to the Colony in the matter of trade apj)ears
from the warning in the same communication that in
paying for the cattle which Mr. Gookin was at this time
importing into Virginia from Ireland, the best grades
of tobacco only should be used, as a means not only of
securing further consignments of live stock, but also of
goods, which could from that country be obtained at
easier rates than from the Company in England. ^

According to the promise of the Company, the maga-
zine ship, the Warwick, accompanied by a pinnace, sailed
for Virginia in September, with a large cargo of clothing
and other necessaries not to be procured in the Colony.
The articles forwarded were designed merely for the
relief and comfort of the planters, although the Company
was aware that a far greater profit was to be got from
sending over what would pander to the vanity and the
appetites of the people, such as spirits and fine apparel.
This cargo was valued at a thousand pounds sterling.
In order to avoid the certain loss which would result from

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 158. 2 Neill's Virginia Company of London, pp. 238, 240.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 291

exchanging the goods included in the Magazine, for
tobacco at the rate of three shillings a pound for the best,
or eighteen pence for the meanest grades, the Governor
and Council were enjoined to leave Mr. Blaney, who was
in charge of it, to his free discretion in disposing of the
merchandise within the limits as to price laid down in
private instructions for his guidance. The Company
also urged that it was to the interest of the planters that
there should be a profitable return upon this Magazine, as
those who had invested large sums in its purchase would
be encouraged to continue in the same course, assuring a
certain and steady supply of necessary goods for the
people of the Colony. ^ The Company admitted that its
own treasury was empty and that only reliance was to be
placed upon the purses of its members coming forward
in the character of private adventurers.^ The pinnace
accompanying tlie magazine ship was captured by the
Turks and never reached Virginia, thus causing the loss
of the goods on board designed for the planters.^ In
the reply returned by the Governor and Council to the
instructions sent over, they informed the Company that
the bulk of the crop of the previous season had been
disposed of before the magazine ship arrived, and in
consequence of this fact, they had recommended Mr.
Blaney to distribute among the colonists the merchandise
which he had imported, taking their bonds to secure his
ownership in the tobacco to be planted in the following
season. This letter reveals the fact that in practice free
trade had now been fully established in Virginia.^

1 Neill's Virginia Company of London, pp. 241-245.

2 Company's Letter, December, 1621, Neill's Virginia Company of
London, p. 268.

3 Letter of Governor and Council of Virginia to Company, January,
1621-22, Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 276.

* Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 277.

292 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

As early as tlie autumn of 1619, a ship had been dis-
patched to Newfoundland with a cargo of tobacco in
charge of the Cape Merchant, Abraham Piersey, who
was then residing in the Colony, to be exchanged for
fish.i The general example set by the Dutch privateer
which in 1619 imported into Virginia the first cargo of
negroes introduced, was doubtless imitated by other ves-
sels of the Low Countries, especially after the establish-
ment by the Company of factories at Middleburg and
Flushing. In the Discourse drawn up by former mem-
bers of that body after its dissolution, it is distinctly
affirmed that the people during the administration of
Yeardley, and also during that of Wyatt previous to the
massacre, had enjoyed, in consequence of the free trade
allowed at that time, ample supplies of necessaries from
abroad. 2 In a letter from the Governor and Council in
Virginia to the authorities in England, referring to the
latter part of 1622, the year in which the massacre took
place, it was stated that private adventurers were con-
stantly reaching the Colony who furnished the inhabitants
with articles that were particularly acceptable, such as
sweetmeats, sack, and strong liquors.^ The Dutch were
probably the chief participants in this trade.* Specific

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 541.

2 The Discourse of the Old Company, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. Ill, No. 40 ; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. I,
p. 160.

3 Governor and Council of Virginia to Company, January, 1622-23,
Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 372.

* In Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. I,
p. 25, the following entry will be found under date of September, 1621 :
"Resolution of the States of Holland and Westvriesland dated 13 Sept'.
Read a petition from Gerret Van Schoudhoven and other Guinea Traders ;
Item also, the petition of Traders to Virginia requesting to be allowed to
send out some ships to bring their returns thence to this country as the
trade and commerce thither are not to be lost before the West India

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 293

orders were sent to Governor Wyatt to prohibit all ex-
change with the people of Holland, as this diversion
of tobacco from England diminished the volume of tlie
royal customs. In 1623, Wyatt was thrown into a state
of great doubt as to what course he ought to pursue, by
the information received from the captain of an English
vessel, that a Dutch ship which he had passed at sea had
expressed an intention of making a voyage to Virginia to
exchange supplies for its principal commodity .1 The need
of such supplies was now urgent. The financial inability
of the Company had been fully set forth in its letter to
the Governor and Council in the previous autumn, in
which stress was also laid upon the discouragement of the
adventurers in consequence of the failure of Mr. Blaney,
the Cape Merchant, who had arrived at Jamestown in the
Wanvick in the previous year, to dispose of the goods in
his charge except on credits which had not yet been col-
lected.^ The Company had by this time expended one
hundred thousand pounds sterling in the Virginian enter-
prise without profit and without recovery of even a part
of the capital invested. ^ In 1623, it was compelled in

Company be formed and ready." These petitions wei;e allowed on con-
dition that the petitioners pledged " themselves to be back to this country
{i.e. Holland) before the 1st of July next." On Wednesday, Sept. 15,
1G21, the States General granted permission to Henrich Elkens, Hans
Jooris Houton, and Adriaen Janssen "to send their ship named the White
Dove, burden about forty lasts ... to Virginia, on condition that they
shall have returned to this country before the ilrst of July next with their
goods and ship." Ihid., p. 26. After this period the Dutch trade with
Virginia was carried on under the auspices of the Dutch West India
Company.

1 GoyQxnor^Yy^ttto3o\\n.'Eevver, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. II,
No. 26 ; Sainshury Abstracts for 1623, p. 87, Va. State Library.

2 Neill's Virginia Company of London, pp. .355, 356.

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 144. In a petition to the King, presented in 1623 by the Somers Isles
(Bermudas) and London Companies, it is stated that £200,000 had been

294 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

spite of its poverty to pay out an enormous sum for that
age to rescue the inhabitants of the Colony from a famine
precipitated by the terrible mortality prevailing there in
the spring of that year. The Privy Council issued an
order requiring that the name of every member of the
Company and the number and value of his shares should
be certified to the Council, the object of this being to
mulct him in proportion to his holding, as a contribution
to the fund to be raised for purchasing supplies for the
starving people. The payment made by each shareholder
was not to fall short of ten shillings.^ It was not intended
to restrict the proportion which each was to give, to
the amount of his stock ; each could contribute a larger
sum if he wished to do so, or become an adventurer in
a private magazine to be sent out to the Colony. Such
a magazine was erected, Richard Caswell receiving the
appointment of Treasurer. By July 4th, sixteen names
had been obtained, the amount promised being seven
hundred and twenty-seven pounds sterling, in sums rang-
ing from ten to one hundred pounds ; ^ the subscriptions
were attached to several rolls, the signatures having been
secured by Mr. Caswell, who had made personal visits to
members of the Company who happened to be in town.^
The supplies included in the magazine were transported
to Virginia in the charge of a cape merchant appointed
especially to superintend its disbursement. This cape

expended in their plantation. British State Papers, Colonial, vol. II,
No. 50; Sainshury Abstracts for 1623, p. 158, Va. State Library.

1 Abst7'acts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II,
p. 227.

2 List of Underwriters for a Speedy Supply to Virginia, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. II, No. 39; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1623, pp. 122,
123, Va. State Library.

3 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II,
p. 228.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 295

merchant was afterwards accused by the faction hostile to
the Southampton Administration of selling its contents
at excessive rates, being able to do so on account of the
great demand for such articles. The charge was fully
refuted by Mr. Caswell. In a speech delivered at a Gen-
eral Court, he stated that the meal, which constituted a
very important part of the supplies, and in connection
with which it was asserted extortion had been exercised,
had been purchased in England at nine shillings a bushel,
an amount swelled to thirteen shillings by the charges for
custom and freight. In England, a hogshead of meal
measuring nine bushels was valued in the market at five
pounds and seventeen shillings. In Virginia, at this time,
the same quantity was sold for eighty pounds of tobacco,
a commodity commanding in England eighteen pence a
pound, in consequence of which the margin of profit upon
each bushel sank to six pence after the payment of all
charges and after allowance for shrinkage.^

There were other magazine ships dispatched to Virginia
in 1623, in addition to the Hopeivell^ which transported
the supplies secured by Mr. Caswell. The magazine sent
in the Truelove was valued at five hundred and thirty-six
pounds sterling. The master of the ship invested sixty
pounds in its cargo, while Mr. Dodson, a prominent mem-
ber of the Company, subscribed to an interest in it, which
would now be represented by two thousand dollars. ^
This last subscription reveals the liberal spirit shown at
this crisis in the history of the Colony, for Mr. Dodson
had already been compelled by the order in Council to
contribute to the general fund for the use of tlie people

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II,
p. 261.

- British State Papers, Colonial, vol. II, No. 43, II ; Sainsbury
Abstracts f>r 1G23, p. 139, Va. State Library.

296 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in Virginia, in proportion to his shares. In making a
venture in the private magazine carried over in the True-
love^ his prospect of gain, owing to the depressed condition
of the Colony, must have been very small. His action
was reflected in that of many other members of the Com-
pany, whose experience in the past had not been such
as to raise their expectation of profit.

The supplies forwarded to the people in Virginia were
not obtained from England only. The William and
John brought in a cargo from Flushing in the Low
Countries, in which city, as has -been seen, the Company
had opened a factory for the sale of its tobacco.^ A large
quantity of necessary articles of all kinds was also received
by individual planters from friends or relatives in Eng-
land ; in September, for instance, there arrived for George
Harrison, from his brother, flour, oatmeal, peas, cheese,
vinegar, and a chest containing spices, tools, and powder. ^
The goods imported at this time were introduced in hogs-
heads, one ship bringing over two hundred and forty. In
the same year, several vessels were engaged in transporting
fish to Virginia from Newfoundland. ^

The revocation of the charter in 1624 left the planta-
tions open without restriction to independent traders. In
a brief interval immediately following the recall of the
letters patent, before the new relations of the Colony with
the mother country had been fully adjusted, the English
Government, which had now absorbed into itself all the
powers of the former Company, took the necessary pre-
cautions to prevent a dearth of supplies in Virginia. The

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. II, No. 42.

^ Ibid., No. 44; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1623, p. 142, Va. State
Library.

3 Dephebus Canne to John Delbridge, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. II, No. 36 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1623, p. 119, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 297

Company, as long as it remained in existence, felt under
the strongest obligation, apart from all consideration of
profit, to promote the importation of English goods to
meet the necessities of the people. This feeling was trans-
mitted to the royal government when that corporation
ceased to exist. The royal government was also in some
measure actuated by the desire to prevent the diversion of
tobacco to Holland, which would have diminished the cus-
toms of England proportionately. In the beginning, the
Colony was in serious danger of suffering in the extreme
from the want more especially of apparel and munition.
The ol)ject which Sir George Yeardley was instructed to
accomplish in his mission to London in 1625 was to obtain
ample quantities of tools, powder, shot, and clothing, wine,
aquavitce, sugar, and spice. ^ He found on his arrival
that an order had been issued by the Privy Council to the
municipal authorities of Southampton to send a vessel to
Virginia loaded with a large cargo of the articles needed
there ; ^ to this order, an answer was returned that a ship
was already fitting out in that port designed to carry a
great store of merchandise to the Colony. In addition to
this ship, a vessel of one hundred and eighty tons sailed
from London and a third from Plymouth.^ In the course
of 1626 and 1627, it was clearly shown that so far from the
abolition of the Company having inflicted any suffering
upon the settlers by curtailing their imported supplies,

1 Petition of Sir George Yeardley, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. Ill, No. 40 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1625, pp. 119, 120, Va. State
Library.

2 Mayor and Aldermen of Southampton to Privy Council, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 48 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1625, p. 123,
Va. State Library.

2 Mayor and Aldermen of Southampton to Privy Council, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 48 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1625, p. 123,
A^a. State Library.

298 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

they had never before received so large a quantity, espe-
cially in the matter of liquors and clothing. The most
active participant in this new trade was John Preen of
London, who at this time had only reached his thirty-
sixth year; in 1626, he is found, together with Thomas
Willoughby of Rochester and John Pollington of London,
seeking permission to convey to Virginia not only passen-
gers and munition, but also goods of various sorts. Ten
barrels of powder constituted a part of the cargo. As the
voyage was attended with great danger of attack from
enemies roaming the seas. Preen obtained the consent of
the authorities to the purchase of an additional fifteen
barrels to be reserved for the defence of his ship. It is an
indication of the perils of the age that he thought it neces-
sary, before starting upon his voyage, to secure exemption
from impressment, however great apparently the emer-
gency. ^ In 1628, he testified to the fact that he had trans-
ported supplies to the Colony on four different occasions,
and that in each instance he had borne the whole burden
of the expense. 2

The English Government was very much disposed at
this time to encourage the several schemes advanced on
the part of private individuals looking to the purchase of
the annual crop of Virginia under the terms laid down in
a regular contract, the object being to increase the amount
of the customs by assuring the transportation into the
mother country of all the tobacco raised in the Colony.
Much stress was laid upon the fact that in this way the
planters would receive in each year a large magazine of
goods representing every variety needed. The Virginians

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 13; No. 13, I; No. 15;
Sainsbury Abstracts for 1626, pp. 148, 149, 152, Va. State Library.

2 Petition of Captain .John Preen, British State Papers, Colonial, vol.
IV, No. 58; Sainsbury Abstracts for 162S, p. 189, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 299

were not adverse to the suggestion, as has been seen, pro-
vided that in buying their product, a rate was adopted
which would not assure a higher degree of profit to the
owners of the goods than twenty-five per cent.^ In the nego-
tiations carried on by Sir George Yeardley, as the agent of
the planters, and a Mr. Amis, who proposed to enter into
a contract for a large part of the annual crop, it was
required of the latter that he should furnish a standing
magazine of articles to be exchanged for tobacco on the
basis of eighteen pence a pound. This proposition was
rejected by Amis, although it would have insured him a
gain of fifty per cent upon the cost of his merchandise in
England. 2

There was now no dearth of imported supplies in the
Colony. So great was the abundance of goods brought
in immediately previous to 1630, that the planters became
deeply indebted to the different persons who traded in
Virginia. 3 The quantity of commodities of various sorts
brought in after that date increased in proportion to the
growth of population, not being exposed to serious inter-
ruptions except in an interval when foreign wars were
in progress. During the long period between 1630 and
1700, the great volume of goods landed in the Colony were
exported from England. A very important proportion,
however, previous to 1661, came from Holland, and also
both before and after that year, from the New Netherlands,
the West Indies, New England, New York, and Maryland.

1 Governor and Council of Virginia to Privy Council, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 10 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1626, p. U-J,
Va. State LibrarJ^

2 Governor Yeardley to Privy Council, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. IV, No. 21 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1627, p. 156, Va. State Library.

3 Governor West and Council to Attorney-General Heath, British State
Papers, Colonial, Vol. IV, No. 40 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 162S, p. 172,
Va. State Library.

300 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Before entering into a description of the course of ex-
change between England and Virginia from 1630 to 1700,
it will be interesting to give some account of the commer-
cial relations of the planters with the countries which have
just been named.

II.

I have already referred to the commerce with the Dutch
during the existence of the Company and the steps taken
to put an end to it. After the dissolution of that body,
similar measures were adopted by the English Govern-
ment, but they do not appear to have had more than a
temporary effect.^ In the winter of 1626, the Flying
Hart arrived in Virginia from Flushing, and although its
commander could show no commission, the authorities of
the Colony, contrary to the well-known orders in Council
issued on several occasions, admitted the vessel to trade. ^

1 "That as the King has directed his commission to divers gentlemen
to treat and conclude a contract for all the tobacco of the English colonies
for his Majesty's use, and that there are at this time divers ships freight-
ing in the Low Countries for Virginia and the Caribbees, with intention
to trade there and return with tobacco contrary to several orders and
proclamations, as also the utter ruin of the contract now in treaty and
likely to take effect, it is desired that strict charge be given from his
Majesty or this Honorable Board (Privy Council) to the Governor of Vir-
ginia especially not to suffer any such trade, there being no need of their
provisions, ships of good store of our own already gone and now going
to supply their wants if any there be. This to be despatched with all
speed, there being a ship ready to set sail, which may convey this Com-
mand before any of the Hollanders arrive." Dom. Cor. James I, vol.
169, No. 7, Sainsbury Abstracts for 1624, p. 2, Va. State Library. This
letter was written in 1624. In October of that year, a ship reached Hol-
land from Virginia, having on board a cargo of furs and other com-
modities, tobacco included presumably. Documents Eelatiug to Colonial
History of New York, vol. I, p. .34.

2 Governor and Council to Commissioners for Virginia, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 1; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1026, p. 124,
Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 301

111 justifying their conduct afterwards, they decLared that
the o^yners of the Flying Hart were Englishmen and ad-
venturers of the late Company, one of them, Arthur
Swain, having been its jDrincipal factor in Holland. In
the instructions drawn for the guidance of Yeardley, when
he became Governor in 1626, the warmest disapprobation
was expressed of the intercourse between Virginia and the
Low Countries, but the uselessness of the disapproval is
shown by the fact that a few years later the commerce
with the Dutch had grown to such proportions that Cap-
tain Tucker, a leading merchant of the Colony, protested
to the Privy Council against its being permitted to con-
tinue. He declared that the admission of supplies from
Holland curtailed the Virginian market for English traders
to an extent which diminished their profits very seriously,
and that the discouragement of these traders signified that
the planters would be deprived of the only agency upon
which they could rely with absolute certainty for the
acquisition of necessary foreign commodities; that the
Dutch were already encroaching upon the boundaries of
the Colony, and that a monopoly of its product would give
them in the end the most complete possession of its soil.
As an evidence that his statement as to the large volume
of transactions by Dutch merchants in Virginia was not
exaggerated. Captain Tucker called attention to the fact
that two vessels from Zealand were then on the point of
setting out for the Colony, the exchange of the cargoes of
which for tobacco would impose a loss upon English mer-
chants of four thousand pounds sterling, i

^ Documents Belating to Colonial History of JSfeio York, vol. Ill, p. 43 ;
British State Papers, Colonial, vol. VI, No. 82 ; Sainshury Abstracts
for 1633, p. 48, Va. State Library. Tucker was supported in his posi-
tion by Sir John Wolstenholme, who used all his influence to procure
letters from the Privy Council to the Governor and Council in Virginia,

302 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The active commercial relations between Holland and
Virginia at this time seem to have been maintained in part
at least by English merchants who resided in the Low Coun-
tries. In 1633, for instance, there arrived in the Colony
from thence two vessels dispatched by John Constable
and his associates, who were only prevented from carry-
ing into Holland the tobacco obtained in Virginia in ex-
change for their goods, by the vigilance of the English
admiral who was in command of the fleet cruising in the
English channel.^ Governor Harvey recommended to
the Privy Council that no shipmaster should be allowed
to dispose of a cargo in the Colony unless he could present
a cocquet which had the approval of the authorities at
Jamestown. The only effective means in his opinion for
the enforcement of the rule shutting out all foreigners
was to erect a custom-house in which vessels arriving
should be compelled to make entry. ^ The suggestion
was not acted upon. Even if steps had been taken to
put it into practice, there is no reason to think that it
would have accomplished the purpose in view. This
was afterwards shown in the history of the different laws
passed for the erection of ports, which, on account of the
peculiar configuration of the country, failed to check the
dispersion of trade. Public opinion at the date of Har-
vey's suggestion was opposed to the imposition of any
restraint upon freedom of exchange with the Dutch, and

prohibiting the admission of the Dutch to trade. See his btter to Sir
William Beecher, British State Papers^ Colonial, vol. VI, No. 81 ; Sains-
bury Abstracts for 1633, p. 47, Va. State Library.

1 These were the two vessels from Zealand to which Captain Tucker
had referred. See British State Papers, Colonial, vol. VIII, No. 3 ; Sains-
hury Abstracts for 1633, p. 53, Va. State Library.

2 Governor and Council to Privy Council, British State Papers, Colo-
nial, vol. VIII, No. 3 ; SainsMiry Abstracts for 1633, p. 53, Va. State
Library,

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 303

little attention seems to have been paid to the wishes in
this respect of the authorities in England. In the em-
bittered controversy that arose in 1635 between Governor
Harvey and Samuel INIathews, one of the gravest charges
brought against the latter by the former was, that in the
face of the expressed command of the Privy Council that
all commerce with the Dutch should cease, he had admitted
merchants from Holland into his house and had large
transactions with them.^ The open way in which they
traded is disclosed by abundant evidence. Thus in 1634
there arrived in the Colony a ship from the Low Coun-
tries which disembarked one hundred and forty passengers
who had been taken on board when the vessel touched at
the Bermudas in the course of its voyage to Virginia. ^ In
the following year, Devries, a Dutch captain of distinction,
visited the Colony and disposed of his cargo apparently
with as much freedom from restraint as if he had been an
English subject. The character of the business is revealed
in the fact that he was compelled to disperse his goods
among the planters upon the security of liens on the grow-
ing crop. In the autumn of the same year, he returned to
Virginia, and his first step after his arrival was to obtain
a license entitling him to the privilege of sailing up and
down James River for the purpose of receiving from his
debtors the amount of tobacco for which they were bound
to him. He seems to have had poor success in gathering
his dues in hand. The volume of the crop was small and
the greater portion of what had been produced had, at
the earliest moment, been seized by the factors of the
English traders who resided in the Colony. Devries not
having a representative of his interests there at that time,

1 British State Papers^ Colonial, vol. VIII, No. 85.

2 Census of 1634, Colonial Bccords of Virginia, State Senate Doct.,
Extra, 1874, p. 91.

304 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

found that the security for his credits had for that year
at least been preempted, and in consequence he was
forced to defer his collections for a period of twelve
months. 1 This fact indicates the extreme precariousness
of the trade, and it was quite probably no uncommon
instance. The necessary loss of interest for twenty-four
months on the money originally invested in the goods
disposed of to the colonists in the case especially referred
to, could only have been covered by an extraordinary
profit in the sale of the tobacco when it had at last been
paid. It was only the certainty of such a profit which
would have justified the merchant in running such
risks.

Devries formed a high opinion of the capacity of the
Virginians in the matter of bargains. Peter, he said, was
always very near Paul in that country. Unless the for-
eign merchant was on the alert, he was in danger of being
stuck in the tail. To get the best of him in an exchange,
by deceit, was considered to be a Roman action, v.hicli
entitled the performer to admiration and praise. ^ The
Dutchman was probably smarting under the recollection
of having been outwitted when he expressed this opinion ;
it sounds oddly as coming from a citizen of the nation
which was justly regarded as being composed of the
slirewdest and not the most scrupulous traders of that
age. If all the deceits practised in the dealings with the
people of the Colony in the seventeenth century were
carefully summed up and a balance struck as to which
party secured the greatest advantage from them, the

1 Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, pp. 112, 113. Devries,
commenting on his own experience, said that "the English Virginias
were an unfit place for the Dutch nation to trade, unless they continued
the trade through all the year." pp. 113, 114.

^ Ibid., p. 186.

MANUFACTURED SUrPLIES 305

planter or the merchant, it wonkl l)e soon seen that the
former was more often the victim than the Latter, and
that his necessities were used to force him into bargains, in
which he alone suffered. The English authorities seem
to have thought at this time that the Virginians were in
much more danger from the Dutch in their commercial
intercourse with that people than the Dutch were from
the Virginians. The colonists were warned in a solemn
document sent over by the Government that the Holland-
ers were seeking to make a prey of their tobacco by secur-
ing it at rates of exchange highly extortionate. It was
pointed out that one of the worst evils of the exclusive
devotion of the planters to that commodity was that it
forced them to look to the Dutch in large part for their
supplies, England not furnishing a sufficient market for
the whole quantity produced, a fact of which the Dutch
took advantage. The Governor and Council were ordered
to put a stop to all trade with the Low Countries except
in a time of great distress, and even in such a period, when
a Dutch ship, after disposing of its cargo, left the Colony
loaded down with tobacco, a bond was to be required of
its master that he should proceed to London with his ves-
sel for the purpose of paying the customs, after which he
was to be permitted to continue his voyage to Holland. ^
An injunction to the same effect was inserted in the in-
structions given to Wyatt when he became Governor in
1638,2 and it was repeated in the instructions to Berkeley
in 1641.3 There was quite probably an irresistible dis])osi-

1 BrUish State. Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 47 ; Sainsbunj Abstracts
for 1637, p. 193, Va. State Library.

2 Colonial Entry Book, vol. 79, pp. 219-236 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for
1638, p. 49, Va. State Library.

3 Instructions to Berkeley, McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 388, Va. State
Library. See, also, for these Instructions, Virrjinia Mayusinc of lli.-^tury
and Biography, vol. II, p. 280.

VOL. II. — X

306 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tion on the part of the authorities in Virginia to consider
that the period of distress in which the strictness of the
rule was to be relaxed had arrived whenever a Dutch
ship made its appearance in the James or York, and that
it was, therefore, entirely proper to issue to its captain a
license to trade. ^ A case of this kind occurred in 1640.
A Flemish vessel reached the Colony early in the season,
and exchanged her goods for tobacco, which was taken
on board and a security given for the payment of the cus-
toms in London. A petition was entered by the masters
of the English ships riding at that time in Virginian
waters, asking that an example should be made of the
alien by confiscating her cargo. The General Court re-
jected it, alleging that when the Dutch vessel had arrived
the people were in pressing want of supplies ; and that
the articles imported by her had afforded great relief ;
that the English ships reaching Virginia at a later date
had been lacking in the commodities so much needed, and
that if dependence had been placed upon them alone, the
colonists would have been left in a state of " intolerable
exigency." The license to the Fleming, instead of being
revoked, was solemnly confirmed. ^

The authorities of Virginia were disposed to extend to
the Dutch as ample encouragement as they dared. A

1 In the well-known speech delivered by Sir William Berkeley in
March, 1651, before the Assembly, in condemnation of the first Act of
Navigation, he charged the "men at Westminster" with the desire to
bring the people of the Colony "to the same poverty wherein the Dutch
found and relieved them." See Virginia 3Iagazine of History and Biog-
raphy, vol. I, p. 77.

2 General Court Orders, Feb. 4, 1640, Bobinson Transcripts, p. 18S.
The following is preserved in the Becords of Accomac County in vol. 1632-
1640, p. 17 (Va. State Library), being a part of an account between Mr.
Burnett and Daniel Cughley of "several voyages made by the good
vessel called the Virgine.''^ " Pr. Contra: more for overplus of goods
received out of ye Dutch voyage, 9 £."

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 307

special statute was passed in the session of 10-12-43
having this object directly in view. The shipowners
from Holland had complained, in a paper presented by
them to the Assembly, that the requirement that they
should always give bond, before their vessels departed
from the Colony, to pay the duty on their cargoes of
tobacco, had had the effect of seriously restricting the
introduction of supplies from the Low Countries because
it was difficult for Dutch traders to obtain the necessary
security in A^irginia. To remove this obstruction, the
Assembly provided that no obligation should be demanded
of the master or owner of any Dutch vessel who had pro-
cured letters of credit from an English merchant of high
standing, guaranteeing the payment of the customs by the
holder. This amount was to be settled in the form of a
bill of exchange drawn on the person who had come for-
ward as his surety. 1 The passage of this Act had a
marked tendency to increase commercial intercourse with
Holland. In the year in which it became a law, Devries
observed four vessels from that country in the waters of
Virginia, and there were doubtless others escaping his
notice because lying in other parts of the Colon}- during
his stay. 2

An incident, occurring in 1613, reveals the little impor-
tance attached by many of the Dutch traders to the
requirements as to letters of credit. During the visit of
Devries to New Amsterdam in the autumn of this year, a
vessel from Rotterdam arrived, having been driven far out
of her intended course. This vessel, after leaving Holland,
had proceeded to Madeira, and there taking on board a cargo
of wine, had afterwards sailed to the West Indies. From
thence, she had turned towards Virginia, where it was pro-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 258.

2 Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 183.

308 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

posed to exchange the wine for tobacco. Ignorant of the
coast, the master of the vessel had passed the Capes and
had been blown as far to the north as New England.
This Colony was found to be no market for liquors, and
in consequence he had sailed to New Amsterdam, hoping
to find purchasers in the burghers of that town. It will
be seen in this case, that although the master of the ship
had not toadied at an English port and obtained the
letters of credit which were necessary, he nevertheless had
made his way towards Virginia with the full purpose of
selling his wines to the planters. He disposed of them to
an Englishman whom he met in New Amsterdam, but
agreed to transport them to the Colony and there to
deliver them into the hands of a factor. A portion of the
wines were discharged at Jamestown and a portion at
Fleur de Hundred. ^

In 1646, the Dutch West India Company gave formal
permission to the citizens of Holland to send out their
own ships to the different places, including Virginia, com-
ing within the jurisdiction of that corporation. ^ The
records of the county courts belonging to this part of the
seventeenth century show the importance of the private
trade which in consequence of this order sprang up be-
tween Holland and Virginia. In 1646, an attachment
was issued in York against all the property of Captain
Derrickson, a' citizen of the Low Countries, which was to

1 Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, pp. 176, 181, 183.

2 Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York, vol. I, p. 162.
In this year (Jan. 23, 1646), Parliament adopted a regulation which
remitted customs on merchandise exported to Virginia, the Bermudas, and
Barbadoes, the excise tax alone excepted. This privilege of exemp-
tion from payment of customs was, however, to be withdrawn from all
the Plantations which continued to transport their tobacco to Europe
in foreign (that is, continental) bottoms. Hazard, vol. I, pp. 634,
635.

MANUFACTUKED SUPPLIES 309

be found in tliat county, Derrickson having carried off a
maid-servant who was under articles of indenture to Mr.
Richard Glover. ^ A few years later, Captain Francis
Yeardley made an assignment, to a prominent firm of
Rotterdam, of three negroes as security for the payment
of a large amount of tobacco which he had promised to
deliver in return for goods already received. ^ Powers
of attorney from Dutch merchants to representatives in
Virginia now become numerous. One instance among
many was the appointment of John INIerryman in 1647, to
serve as the agent of Cornelius Starrman of Rotterdam in
the collection of every form of indebtedness due the latter
in the Colony. ^ In 1647, also, Thomas Lee Avas selected
as one of the attorneys of William Scrapes of the same
town.* The disordered condition of affairs in the mother
country at this time, by withdrawing the attention of the
English Government from Virginia, was doubtless highly
promotive of the commerce between the planters and
the Dutch, which only required absolute freedom for its
expansion. In the Avinter of 1649, twelve ships from
Holland arrived with cargoes of goods for exchange ; the
number of English ships coming in during this season was
the same, indicating that the trade of the Colony was now
equally divided between the Dutch and the English. ^ In

1 Records of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 189, Va. State Library.

2 Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1046-1651, f. p. 162.

3 Records of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 301, Va. State Library.

* Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1651, p. 165.
There is the following entry in the same vol. f. p. 138, with reference to
Lee : " It is ordered that three good hogsheads of tobacco be provided to
be sent to Holland with Mr. Thomas Lee, to be sold there for the best
advantage of Henry Seawell, to defray the charge of his passage and
other charges of the said Seawell, who is to go to Holland with the said
Lee." Seawell, it appears, was an orphan, and Lee, his kinsman, prob-
ably his guardian.

^ New Description of Virginia, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. IL

310 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

1651, when Virginia yielded to Cromwell, a war was in
progress between England and Holland, but it appears
to have had no influence upon the intercourse between the
planters and the owners of Dutch vessels. When the sur-
render to the Commissioners of the Commonwealth took
place, the quantity of goods in the Colony belonging to
Dutch merchants was so large that a special clause was
introduced in the articles of submission, stipulating that
these goods should be protected from surprisal.i

In a previous chapter, I have dwelt at some length on the
exports of the Dutch from the Colony in the course of
the Protectorate. There are only a few details relating to
the importations by the same traders during this interval to
be touched upon. In a petition now offered to the States-
General by a large number of the merchants of Holland,
who declare that for twenty years they had been engaged
in commerce with the Virginians, they mention incidentally
that the principal commodities which they had been con-
veying to the Colony were linen and coarse cloths, beer,
brandy, and other distilled spirits. ^ These goods were
exempted from Dutch customs.^ Stuyvesant was at this
time anxious that all vessels leaving the Low Countries
with cargoes of merchandise for Virginia should be re-
quired to stop at New Amsterdam on the outward voyage,
but the directors of the West India Company refused to
comply with his request to that effect.* The owners of
these cargoes were in many cases English merchants

1 Hening's Statiites, vol. I, p. 365.

2 Documents Belatinrj to the Colonial History of Neio York, vol. I,
p. 437. The JNIaryland Council declared that " the Dutch trade was the
darling of the people of Virginia and Maryland." Archives of Mary-
land, Proceedings of Council, 1636-1667, p. 428.

^ Documents Belating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. XIV,
p. 139.

* Ibid., vol. XIV, p. 209.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 311

engaged in business in Holland. In 1653, Henry Mount-
ford of Rotterdam appointed an agent in Lancaster
County, who was instructed to collect all that was due
his principal for advances of goods ; and a similar power
was given by John Sheppard of the same city to his rep-
resentative in that county. ^ I21 1656, Simon Overzhe,
who described himself as a citizen of Rotterdam, granted
a full discharge to Thomas Lambert, who had been acting
as his factor in the county of Lower Norfolk. 2 A few
years later, John de Potter of Amsterdam chose as his
attorney in Virginia, his sister, who had married Thomas
Edmunds of Elizabeth River. ^ Among the merchants
residing in the Low Countries who were engaged at the
time in trade with the planters of the Eastern Shore were
Cornelius Schut, Nicholas Van Bleck, and Cornelius Sten-
nick.^

1 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1652-1657, pp. 83, 84.

2 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-1656, p. 232.
Simon Overzhe resided at one time in Virginia, and at another in "Mary-
land. Among other English merchants seated in Holland, who had
dealings with planters in Lower Norfolk County, was William Harris.
See his release of Francis Yeardley from all debts due by him to Harris,
Ihid., p. 24. William Moseley, who lived in Lower Norfolk County, was
at one time a resident of Rotterdam. See Ibid., p. 24.

3 Ibid., 1650-1666, p. 240.

* Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1655-1657, p. 53 ;
Ibid., original vol. 1657-1666, orders Sept. 7, 1666. There is entered in
the records of the same county a power of attorney from Jacob Derrick-
son and Abram Johnson of Holland to John Johnson to serve as their
factor, both in Maryland and Virginia. See original vol. 1654-1655, f. p.
121. The following charter party drawn up in 1646 is a fair sample of
the charter parties by which English merchants secured the advantages of
Dutch shipping: "In the name of God, Amen. A charter party made
the fourth day of September, 1646, and an agreement made by me
Abraham Pyle, a publique . . . allowed and admitted of by the Lord
of Holland, dwelling in . . . in the presence of the following partyes,
namely, William Wright, Rowland INIarstone, and John Bason together
and every one, as all (in solidum) English merchants and freighters, to

312 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The passage of the Navigation Act of 1660, which was
directed against the people of all the Colonies, deprived
the Virginians of the advantage of free trade enjoyed by
them for so extended a period. In the beginning an illicit
commercial intercourse was maintained with Dutch mer-
chants, but at the end of ten years, except on the Eastern
Shore, where smuggling continued throughout the rest of
the century, the law seems to have been substantially en-
forced against all foreign countries. Ludwell declared in

Reignard Cornelius, husband and master of the shipp next, under God
named, the Foxe, being of burthen about twoe hundred and sixty tunnes
and being mounted with six good iron gunnes, and all other ammunition
for warre, accordingly made in manner and form as foUoweth, vizt., that
the aforesaid husband is obliged with the shipp to bee ready .... to
deliver her tight and well caulkt, and also to be p'vided with anchors,
cables, sayles and ropes, and in all other needful necessaries to be suffi-
ciently provided, the which being thus made ready, then shall the officers
and mariners bee taken care for by the fraighters, viz. : theire wages and
victualls ; this done then shall the maister sett sayle and run with the
first convenient wynd and weather right through the seas to Virginia, and
there having delivered and traded her goods, then to lade her again with
such goods and wares as the fraighters please, and then the said ship
being laded, the maister and officers with the aforesaid shipp (with the
next fair wynd and weather which God shall be pleased to send), sett sayle
back again for the Tassell and then to the port where he is to deliver.
All which, in forme and manner before written, being accomplished, the
aforesaid fraighters shall then first and not before, bee engaged and obliged
to pay unto the said husband or his owners for his deserved freight, that
is to say, for each month that the voyage shall last (to reckon a running
monthe according to the almanacke) the summe of five hundred gilders
per month, together with average and pilotage according to the manner
and custom of the seas, which voyage shall begin when the said shipp
shall be without the last boye in the Tassell. And then the said shipp
being arrived at her desired port and at anchor, then shall the fraighters
bee engaged for seaven months certain, although the voyage could be per-
formed in a shorter time, but in case it doth continue longer, then to pay
as before understood, viz., every month five hundred gilders; And it is
also agreed that the fraighters in their returne, may put into Rochelle to
seek convoy, but finding there none for Tassell, the said fraighters may
then arrive in the Mase ; there being arrived, the fraight shall then be due

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 313

1(370, that no alien vessel had been allowed to exchange
with the people of the Colony, and that the foreign ship-
masters who had attempted to sell their commodities for
tobacco had been arrested and brought to trial. ^ It was
in this year that the Dolphin, which pretended to hail
from Dartmouth, but which in reality was the property of
Dutchmen, was seized by order of court and her contents
confiscated, on the ground that she was navigated contrary
to the Act. A similar charge was brought in 1670 against

and the shipp out of pay. Allsoe, it is agreed that if the said shipp do
arrive in the Mase, that the fraighters shall pay the half of the charges to
bring her to the Tassell or otherwyse do agree thereupon ; moreover it is
conditioned that the shipp shall not be carried into any other place to trade
in any manner. Alsoe we are on both sides agreed that the shipp shall be
ready to sett sayle in the space of one and twenty dayes without further
delay or any neglect of either side, beginning upon the ninth of this
instant month ; farther, the freighters shall pay for such powder as they
shall unnecessarily shoote away or deliver other powder in the place.
Allsoe, it is conditioned that the fraighters shall give to the shipp one
Jack and flagg ; alsoe it is conditioned that the said husband shall eat
and drink and sleep in the cabbin at the fraighters' charges, but his wages
to bee payd him by his owners. It is alsoe conditioned that the said
husband shall have privilidge to lay into the shipp soe much goods as may
produce four hogsheads of tobacco, without paying fraight for ; And it is
agreed the shipp shall bee delivered at ... ; whereupon wee bind our-
selves each to other for the performance of what is aforesaid mentioned
both in our persons and estates, and especially the fraighters' goods,
shipped abroad, and the husband and said shipp fraight and all belonging
to her, to be under submission unto all courts and justice. All this being
uprightly done within ... in the presence of Peter Losooke and Fred-
erick Hopkins, as witness hereunto with the Notarie Publique." Becords
of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1G51, f. p. 30. AVe find the
following in Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. IGoO-lGGG,
p. 342 : " Acct. of Nicholas Brotis, April 15, 1G62, forty ells of white linen
. . . at forty gilders, Dutch ells; six and twenty Dutch ells of canvas,
sixty-seven gilders ; three pieces of callicoe, thirty-six gilders ; half
piece of fu.stian, sixteen gilders."

1 Letter of Secretary Ludwell, British State Papers, Colonial, vol.
XXV ; Winder Papers, vol. I, p. 257, Va. State Library.

314 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the Hope of Amsterdam and the same judgment entered. ^
All trade with Holland carried on after that period had
first to pass through England. In consequence of the
expense attending this necessity, it soon became unprofit-
able.2

The commerce between the Colony and the Dutch com-
munity seated at New Amsterdam was one of very con-
siderable volume. It was so important, indeed, that in
December, 1652, when hostilities were soon to break out
between Holland and England, the Directors of the West
India Company urged upon Stuyvesant the strong expe-
diency of maintaining the most harmonious relations with
the people of Virginia in order to retain their trade. ^ In
the following spring, a commission was dispatched to
Jamestown for the purpose of concluding a treaty, al-
though the English and Dutch were now actually at war.
The Governor there did not consider that he had the power
to enter into such an arrangement without the permission
of the authorities of the Commonwealth. A few months
later, Stuyvesant sent a second commission, who were to
ask for the continuation of the commercial intercourse
between Virginia and the people of New Amsterdam, and
who were also to secure the right to pay what the mer-
chants of the Dutch province owed in the Colony, and to
collect what was due them by its inhabitants. It was
proposed that the grant of these privileges should be
wholly provisional until the consent of their respective
governments in Europe to the agreement had been
obtained. This arrangement, it would appear, led to an
extensive sale of merchandise in Virginia.*

1 Becords of General Court., pp. 8, 12.

2 See Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 26, 1686.

3 Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York, vol. XIV,
p. 194. * Ibid., p. 301.

MANUFACTUKED SUPPLIES 315

In 1655, the hostilities between Holland and England
having been brought to a close, the Directors of the West
India Company again instructed Stuyvesant to promote by
every means in his power the commerce between Virginia
and the New Netherlands, a matter which they thought
devoid of difficulty, as the English were unable to supply
the people of the Colony with all of the different kinds of
merchandise they required. ^ To encourage the course of
trade between the two, Stuyvesant was ordered in 1657 to
impose a duty of only one per cent on all commodities
shipped from New Netherlands to Virginia. In 1660, the
volume of this trade was described as being very great. ^
The vessels from the Dutch province which brought in
goods proceeded, as soon as they had secured their cargoes
of tobacco, directly to Holland. ^

When the New Netherlands became a possession of
England, the volume of trade between that Colony and
Virginia continued to be important. In 1666, Jacob
Leisler of the former place put on record in the county
court of Rappahannock, a power of attorney authorizing
Thomas Hawkins to collect the different debts due him
in that part of the country, in the form of bills, bonds,
and open accounts.* In 1680, Edward Hill of Charles
City became the agent of Daniel De Hart of Manhattan
Island. 5 Henry Linch, in 1680, entered in the records of
Lower Norfolk a power of attorney which he had re-

1 Documents Belating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. XIV,
pp. 333, 350. A considerable proportion of the commodities which were
now imported into Virginia from New Amsterdam had been brought by
way of Holland from the far East. Ibid., p. 3S5.

2/5iU, pp. .389,471.

3 Ibid., vol. XII, p. .328.

* Hecords of Rappahannock County, vol. 166.3-10G8, p. 115, Va. State
Library.

^ Records of Henrico County, \ol. 1677-lG92,p. 170, Va. State Library.

316 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OP VIRGINIA

ceived of John Smith of New York to enable him to col-
lect the sums in which the planters of that county were
indebted to his principal. ^ Julian Verplanck of the same
town likewise imported, during a long period of years, a
large quantity of goods into Lower Norfolk. ^ Jacobis
Vis had important transactions in the exchange of mer-
chandise for tobacco in the counties of the Northern
Neck.3

The debts due in the Colony to these merchants of New
York became very often the subject of suit.* On the other
hand, actions were not infrequently brought against their
attorneys in Virginia and valuable property attached. In
1698, a judgment was secured by Major William Wilson
of Hampton against Thomas Walton in the sum of fifty-
two pounds and ten shillings sterling. In the same year,
a vessel from New York ran aground near Hampton, and
her cargo was seriously damaged.^

1 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 90.

2 Ibid., 1666-1675, p. 62 ; original vol. 1656-1666, p. 419.

3 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1654-1702, p. 332.

* Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 4, Va. State Library.

5 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. 127, 162.
Tiiere is an incident connected with the trade between Virginia and New
York which shows the determination of the authorities in the former
Colony to enforce the Navigation laws. An information was lodged in
1685 by the Attorney-General against the sloop Katharine of New York,
on the ground that her master and some of her seamen were not of
English nativity. The master appeared in York court and admitted that
he was a Frenchman by birth, but insisted that he had received denizen
papers from the Governor of New York. The Attorney-General proved
that certain commodities of European growth had been imported into
Virginia by the sloop, without having been loaded, as the Navigation Act
required, in England, Wales, or Scotland. The captain replied by saying
that these commodities had been obtained in New York, and he produced
in court a certificate from the collector of that port in confirmation of
his statement. The case was submitted to the justices, who gave a
verdict that the vessel and its contents should be forfeited to the Crown.
Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 148, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 317

There are evidences tliat the commercial intercourse
between Virginia and New England began at an early
date. In 1640, the General Court sitting at New Haven
laid down the scale of prices to be used in the purchase of
commodities from the Southern Colony.^ The trade with
this community increased in volume with the progress of
time. In 1645, a suit was brought in New Haven by
Richard Catchman, as attorney for Florentine Payne of
Virginia, against Thomas Hart, who was largely indebted
to Payne in their business transactions in that Colony. ^
John Thompson, at a subsequent date, was engaged in trans-
porting supplies to the plantations on the James and York,
and Mr. Evance was also the owner of a vessel employed in
the same trade. In 1655, complaint was entered in the
court at New Haven, that the badness of the biscuit and
flour made at Milford had brought discredit in the South-
ern Colony upon all goods imported from the north. ^

John Treworgie and Nicholas Shiplagh of New Eng-
land, in 1647, appointed Isaac Allerton, Edward Gibbons,
and John Richards their agents, to recover the amount in
which George Ludlow of York was indebted to them in
running accounts.^ During the previous year. Gibbons
had dispatched a ship to Virginia with a cargo of goods,
which had barely escaped being wrecked.^ In 1648, the
dealings of Roger Fletcher of Boston with the Colony
were so large that he appointed Thomas Bridge to act as
his attorney.^ Three years subsequent to this, there were

1 New Haven Colonial Becords, vol. 1638-1649, p. 35.

^Ibid., p. 170.

3 Ibid., vol. 1653-1665, pp. 142, 317 ; vol. 1638-1649, p. 291.

* Eccords of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 423, Va. State Library.

^ Letter of Governor VVintlirop, October, 1646, Neill's Virginia Car-
olorum, p. 172, note.

^ Records of Loioer Norfolk County, original vol. 1646-1651, f. p. 61.
See also New England Historical and Genealogical Register for April,

318 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

found in tlie waters of Virginia as many as seven vessels
belonging to citizens of New England, which had entered
to obtain cargoes of the different products of the country
in return for merchandise.^ In 1654, a sale was made by
Thomas Willett of New Plymouth to Mathew Fassett of
Lower Norfolk of his entire interest in the Hopeivell, a
vessel of twenty-six tons, to be used in the New England
trade. 2 The owners of ships in that region not infre-
quently hired them to persons in Virginia who wished to
export goods from the North; thus in 1654, William Vin-
cent of Lower Norfolk County entered into a charter party
with John Hart, by which the latter rented his bark to
Vincent for five months and sixteen days at the rate of
eight pounds sterling per month, payment to be made in
coin, merchandise, and agricultural products to the extent
of one-third in eacli.^ Two years later the goods which
Francis Emperor and Richard Whiting, prominent citizens
of the Colony, were importing from New England in the
Dolphin of Salem were damaged by a leak that was sprung
not long after the ketch passed out of Nantucket. Captain
Emperor, who at this time owned a part interest in the
ship, the Francis and Mary, was actively engaged in the
trade with the English provinces at the North.* The

1893, p. 201. A few years later the widow of Cornelius Lloyd of Lower
Norfolk County appointed Nicholas Hart of New England her attorney,
presumably to collect what was due the estate of her late husband in
those parts. Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1G51-1656,
f . p. 109. He may, however, have been expected to act only in Virginia.
See original vol. 1656-1666, p. .338.

1 Weeden's Social and Economic History of Xew England, vol. I,
p. 250. The wages of a sailor employed in the navigation of tliese ships
were three pounds sterling by the month. The wages of a boy for the
same length of time were one pound and fourteen shillings. See Records
of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 129.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original %)1. 1651-1656, f . p. 83.

3 Ibid., f. p. 129. * Ibid., 1656-1666, pp. 34, 114.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 319

Dolplim, it appeared, belonged to James Uiidenvood, who
had a considerable estate in Norfolk County; in 16G2, an
attachment was laid against his property because his vessel
had on three different occasions taken in tobacco in Vir-
ginia without obtaining a license to trade or paying the
duties laid down in Acts of Assembly. ^ A few years
before, the ship of a prominent merchant of Boston had
been seized with its cargo of goods at Nominy by the col-
lector of the district on the ground of having violated the
law.2

In the interval between 1656 and 1664, there were
recorded a number of powers of attorney from merchants
in New England, including among many others such men
as John Saftin, Timothy Front, and John Giffard of
Boston, William Payne of IpsAvich, William Browne of
Salem, and John Holland of Dorchester.^ A duty of ten
shillings had, previous to 1665, been imposed upon every
hogshead exported from Virginia to New England, but in
this year, the Assembly having reason to believe that this
tax diverted from the Colony an important part of the
trade of the Northern provinces, repealed it, thus placing
all ships from that quarter upon the same footing as the
vessels arriving from England.*

As soon as hostilities broke out between England and
Holland in 1672, the ships employed in the trade with
New England were in special danger, since, being princi-

1 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1656-1666, p. 350.

2 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, Appx., 418.

^ See Becords of Northampton and Bappahannock Counties. Baffin
was very actively engaged in the trade between New England and Vir-
ginia, either on his own account or as the agent of others. See Becords
' of Bappahannock County, vol. 1668-1672, p. 117, Va. State Library, for
i an instance in which he was the representative of John Pinchon of New
! England.

* Heniug's Statutes, vol. II, p. 218.

320 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

pally ketches, they had little ability to resist an attack of
the enemy. In 1673, the Providence^ belonging to Richard
Hollingsworth, was captured off Block Island while on a
voyage to Virginia, and in the same year, a vessel owned
by John Grafton of Salem was also taken. It had on
board for the Southern market a large quantity of rum,
salt, sugar, mackerel, and cloth. ^

An increased number of powers of attorney from New
England merchants were placed on record in the county
courts in the interval between 1670 and 1685. Among
these merchants were Thomas Hillard, Joseph Townsend,
Anthony Haywood, Thomas Maul, John Price, Richard
West, Jonathan Corwin, John Pinchon, and Peter Sergeant.
They secured their debts by mortgages upon the planta-
tions, servants, slaves, and live stock of their debtors. ^ In
one instance, Henry Ashton, a planter residing in Lancas-
ter County, sold to John Saffin of Boston a house in that
town in consideration of twenty-two pounds sterling, but
this was probably a transfer of property, in which no
security for previous obligations entered.^

1 Documents Belating to the Colonial History of JYeio York, vol. II,
p. 662. There are several references in the Records of Xorthampton
County to a ketch named the Providence. See original vol. 1664-1674,
f. pp. 170, 173. Some years later the brigantine, the Eose of New Eng-
land, came near being wrecked in Lynnhaven Bay. Becords of Loicer
Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 233.

2 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1682, p. 398. Becords
of -3Iiddlesex County, original vol. 1679-1694, p. 1. In 1673, Anthony
Checkley and John Malley of Boston made a single shipment to Cherry-
stone in Northampton of goods valued at £171 9s. Becords of Northamp-
ton County, original vol. 1664-1674, f. p. 187.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1682, p. 190. There
are entries in the county records which show that persons residing in
Virginia not infrequently removed to New England, and, on the other
hand, that citizens of New England sometimes established themselves
in Virginia. In the will of Captain Nathaniel Walker of Northampton
(original vol, 1683-1689, p. 24), he describes himself as "late of Boston,

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 321

There is recorded in Lancaster, a letter from Captain
James Barton of New England, which throws light on the
relations of the merchants there with the trade of Vir-
ginia at this time. He urges his correspondent, who was
in the latter Colony and who was acting as his attorney,
to secure a cargo of tobacco, hides, and pork for the mar-
ket in Barbadoes, to be purchased with commodities already
in his hands, and with goods that Barton Avould dispatch
in his own ketch, now about to sail for Virginia. While
the vessel was absent on the voyage to and from the West
Indies, that being the second point of destination, the
attorney was to make a further collection of hides, which,
with tobacco, was to be shipped directly to Holland, an
evidence that the merchants of New England openly
evaded the injunctions of the Navigation Act.^

In case of disputes between New England traders and
Virginian planters, it seems to have been occasionally the
habit to settle the causes of difference by reference to
arbitrators chosen among the citizens of Virginia. Such
was the course pursued in 1680 by Hugh Campbell of
Boston and Philip Edwards of Lower Norfolk County. ^
The attorneys representing many of the merchants of
New England were shipmasters of the two Colonies.^

The commodities brought in by these vessels were only
in small part of West Indian or New England growth or
manufacture; through the merchants and shipowners of

now of Northampton." On another occasion, he speaks of himself as
"formerly of New England." Becords of Northampton County, original
vol. 1664-1674, f. p. 175. In 1679, Thomas Bridge of Lower Norfolk
County disposed of several tracts of land which he owned in that couiity,
and took up his residence in Salem, Massachusetts. Becords of Lower
Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 76.

' Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1682, p. 440.-

2 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1086, p. UO.

3 Ihid., 1686-1695, f. pp. 58, 73, 84.

322 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the Northern Colonies, the planters of Virginia obtained
a large quantity of supplies which had originally come
from Europe. The letters of Colonel William Byrd dis-
close the fact that he ordered through his correspondents
in New England a great variety of goods, such as clothing,
agricultural implements, and the like, a large proportion
of which was not obtained by means of tobacco, but was
purchased with bills of exchange.^ His example was
doubtless imitated by many of his contemporaries, whose
letter books have not been transmitted to us.

The proximity of Maryland to Virginia naturally led
to a very extensive trade between the two Colonies. As
early as 1641, the records of the former show that its in-
habitants purchased many of their supplies in the older
communities south of the Potomac, and, on the other liand,
that citizens of the latter were obtaining goods of differ-
ent sorts from persons living in Maryland.'-^ In 1642,
Leonard Calvert acknowledged in court that he had at
one time owed Thomas Stegg of Virginia as much as five
thousand pounds of tobacco, and in the same year James
Neale was granted process upon all the debts and merchan-
dise which William Holmes of the same Colony possessed
in Maryland, where he had been engaged in important
transactions.^ Suits on protested bills of exchange indi-
cate at this time the volume of the mutual dealings; thus
Margaret Brent of Maryland sought to compel Colonel
George Ludlow of York to pay a bill of this kind for
twenty pounds sterling returned from England dishonored,
while Robert Kinsy of Virginia demanded of the court at

1 Records of similar instances are very numerous in liis letter book,
now preserved among the Manuscript Collections of the Virginia Histori-
cal Society.

2 Archives of Maryland, Court and Testamentary Business, vol. 1637-
1650, pp. IIG, 143.

3 JbiiL, pp. 147, 164.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 323

St. Mary's that Robert Nicliolls should settle an obliga-
tion amounting to fifteen hundred pounds of tobacco
which he had refused to deliver. In 1643, John HoUis, as
the representative of John Hillard of Maryland, was in-
structed to enter suit in Virginia against John Thatcher. ^

These suits were not confined to tobacco. In the same
year, William Parry of Virginia, through his attorney,
Giles Brent, sought in the court at St. Mary's a verdict
against Thomas Boys for eight pounds of beaver. This
beaver w^as probably the consideration in a sale of cattle,
as there seems to have been from an early date a trade in
live stock between the citizens of Kecoughtan, the place
where Parry resided, and the Colony farther to the north.
In 1644, Leonard Calvert and Fulk Brent of Maryland
were sued by Richard Bennett for a sum of tobacco due
for supplies ; and John Walton by Edward Bland for the
value of a boat which Walton had obtained while trad-
ing in Virginia. Among other citizens of prominence in
the latter Colony who at this time were carrying on com-
mercial transactions with merchants in Maryland, were
Thomas Mathew, Robert West, and John Hansford.^

When on one occasion it was decided by the authorities
in Maryland to make an incursion upon the Indians liv-
ing upon the Eastern Shore of that Province, a shallop
was dispatched to Virginia to procure twenty corselets,
a barrel of powder, four rundlets of shot, a barrel of oat-
meal, three firkins of butter, and four cases of spirits. ^
In 1640, a proclamation was issued forbidding the trans-
fer in Maryland, without a special license, of goods pur-
chased in the Colony to the south. A strict inquiry was

1 Archives of Maryland, Court and Testamentary Business, vol. IGoT-
1G50, pp. 191, 192, 214.

2 Ibid, Parry, p. 220 ; Bennett, p. 2G9 ; Bland, p. 345 ; Mathew, West,
and Hansford, pp. 410, 483, 518.

2 Ibid., Fruceedings of Council, vol. 1636-16G7, p. 85.

324 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

required to be made of the sales of liquors on board of
the vessel owned by Ralph Beane, a citizen of that Colony.^

During the course of the last half of the century, the
volume of trade between Virginia and Maryland steadily
increased with their growth in wealth and population.
The intercourse between the latter province and Lower
Norfolk County seems to have been extremely frequent.
Among the citizens of Maryland engaged in these commer-
cial transactions, were William Holland, Edward Lloyd,
Emanuel Ratcliffe, and Charles Egerton.^ The exchanges
with York and the Northern Neck were also very exten-
sive. One of the notable features of the commerce be-
tween the two peoples at this time was the introduction
into Virginia of mares from the Colony north of the
Potomac, which was doubtless undertaken with a view to
improving the breed of horses.^

The trade with the West Indies began as early as 1633,
in which year. Captain Devries states that he made at
Jamestown the acquaintance of Captain Stone, Avho had
recently arrived from that part of America, it is to be
presumed with a cargo of supplies to be bartered for
tobacco.* The directors of the Dutch West India Com-
pany, writing to Stuyvesant in 1646, called his attention
to the fact that persons from Virginia had already made
their way to Curacoa, and were exchanging their com-
modities for its products.^ Oiilj a few years later, ship-
masters from Barbadoes are found selling negroes to the

1 Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of Council, vol. 1636-1607, pp. 94,
177.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-165G, f. p. 109.
Ibid., original vol. 1675-1686, f. pp. 106, 166, 186.

3 Becords of the General Court, p. 47.

•* Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, pp. 51, 52.
^ Documents Belating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. XIV,
p. 77.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 325

planters along the York and James. i It was the custom
of many of the vessels sailing from this island to proceed
first to Virginia and afterwards to New England. Tlie
occasional course of trade is shown in the case of a cargo
forwarded to the Colony towards the close of the century
by ]\Iessrs. Anthony Palmer and Company ; it was to
he delivered to Paul Carrington, who was instructed to
exchange it for tobacco, pitch, tar, and live hogs. If he
found it impossible to obtain the return cargo in the
course of five weeks, or to secure a freight rate of five
pounds sterling a ton, he was commanded to dispatch the
ship to Philadelphia with a load of pitch and tar,^ In
a vessel which left Barbadoes in 1661, the Charles of
Southton, there were among the consignments for Vir-
ginia, six hogsheads of bay salt.^ In some instances
these consignments were restricted to negroes, in others
to sugar, rum, and molasses.* How large they were very
often, is illustrated in the case of William Byrd. On
one occasion he obtained from this islajid twelve hundred
gallons of rum, five thousand pounds of muscovado sugar,
three tons of molasses, two hundred pounds of ginger,
and one cask of lime-juice ; on another, four thousand
gallons of rum, five thousand pounds of muscovado, one
very heavy barrel of white sugar, and ten tons of mo-
lasses.^ The planter who had gone to Barbadoes to
buy these commodities in person was frequently able

1 Bexords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol, 1646-1G51, f. p. 115.
The monthly wages of these shipmasters were frequently paid in sugar at
the rate of six pennies the hundred-weight, ten pounds in the hundred
being allowed for shrinkage. liecords of Lower Norfolk CounVj, original
vol. 1646-1G51, f. p. 205.

2 William and 31ary College Quarterly, April, 1893, pp. 200, 201.

3 liecords of Lancaster County, original vol. lGGO-1082, p. 31.

* Becords of Bappnhannock County, original vol. 1G5G-1GG4, p. 274.
Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1GGG-I07u, p. 23.
5 Letters of William Byrd, October 18, 1G86, April IG, 1G88.

326 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to make his purchases with bills of exchange which he
had brought with him ; thus in 1668, John Keele pre-
sented to Nathaniel Cooke of that island, three instru-
ments of this character calling for j)ayment in sugar,
amounting in the aggregate to nearly five thousand
pounds.^ Disputed accounts arising in the course of
this trade were carried to the General Court in Vir-
ginia for decision, and were ordered to be settled in
kind, and not in coin or tobacco. An instance of this
nature occurred in 1673, when this body, in a suit by
Mr. Edmund Cowles against the attorneys of Mr. Wil-
liam Marshall, required the latter to deliver two hogs-
heads of muscovado sugar, one puncheon of rum, and
eighty -five gallons of molasses.^

Tobacco and grain were not the only articles used in
procuring the commodities of Barbadoes ; in 1686, the
sloop Happy transported from Lancaster County to that
island, two firkins of butter, two barrels of pork, and
twenty-two sides of tanned leather, in addition to one
hundred and forty-four bushels of Indian corn.^

Many instances might be given of persons who were
either residing in Virginia or who were visiting it for the
special purpose, being invested with a power of attorney
by merchants of Barbadoes who had disposed of goods
there. In 1665, Edwin Thomas, Avho was on the point
of setting out for the Colony from that island, was ap-
pointed the factor of Giles Hall, with the authority to
gather together the different amounts in the form of pork
and beef wdiich were due him for West Indian goods,
delivered some time previously.^ A power of attorney is

1 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1660-1675, p. 41.
- Becords of General Court, p. 158.

^ Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1682-1687, p. 111.
* Becurds of Bappahannock County, vol. IGU0-IOG8, p. 87, Va. State
Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 327

recorded in Rappahannock in the same year from Epiph-
any Hill of Barbadoes, to Mr. Gates Hussey of that
county, to collect all indebtedness to Hill, not only in the
form of pork and beef, but also of tobacco and money
sterling, as evidenced by note, bond, and judgment.^
jNIany ships from year to year arrived in Virginia with
cargoes of West Indian commodities, the owners of which
depended on casual purchasers for the disposal of their
stock, these purchasers being sought by passing from
landing to landing in the principal rivers, the lower rates
at which these articles were often sold under these cir-
cumstances inducing many planters who were engaged in
trade not to send their orders to merchants in the West
Indies. 2 The operations of these persons covered all parts
of the Colony, from the country adjacent to the Potomac
on the north to the valley of the James on the south.
The rum, sugar, and molasses were conveyed in casks and
barrels. The former not infrequently held only twenty-

1 Hecords of Bappahannoclc County, vol. 1663-1668, p. 85, Va. State
Library. The following entries in the county records will further show
the intimacy of the connection between Virginia and Barbadoes in this
age. John Thomas, of the sloop Content, belonging to the Isle of
Barbadoes, appoints as his attorney in Virginia, Thomas Ward. Records
of Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 125. Benjamin Dwight,
of Barbadoes, sues Christopher Wormeley for debt. See orders, Oct.
7, 1689, Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694. It is
stated in the inventory of John Godsill of Lancaster County that a parcel
of rum belonging to his estate is expected from Barbadoes. Records of
Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1687, f. p. 22. The \V\\\ of John
Morrah of Rappahannock County contains the following: "I give to my
godson, Thomas Warden of Barbados, 1000 lbs. of muscovado sugar,
now in the hands of Joseph Warden of Barbados, his father." Vol.
1677-1682, p. 17, Va. State Library. Nicholas Ware of Rappahannock
County "acknowledges himself bound to John Vassall of Barbados in
17,234 lbs. tobacco." Original vol. 1656-1664, p. 274. See also, William
and Mary College Quarterly for April, 1892, p. 145.

2 Letters of William Byrd, May 29, 1689.

328 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

five gallons, eight being required to make a ton. The
loss in consequence of the number of casks, casks and
contents not being discriminated in the weight, was esti-
mated at one-third. The same objection was urged
against the sugar-barrel, which, by increasing the number
needed in transportation, added in proportion to the
amount paid in freight, without any compensation for so
much dead material. ^

The commercial intercourse between Virginia and the
islands of the West Indies was often of an illicit charac-
ter, the duty on liquor, so much of which was imported
into the Colony from these islands, causing many ship-

1 Among the merchants of Barbadoes who made large sales of com-
modities in Virginia in the course of the last half of the seventeenth
century were James Graham, Thomas Beard, John Felton, Richard Bats,
Christopher Mercer, John Barwick, and John Sadler. The trade between
Virginia and the West Indies was not confined to Barbadoes. The fol-
lowing is taken from the Eecords of Lower Norfolk County : " Know all
men . . . that I, William Sheers, of London, merchant, have agreed
with Mr. John Brett of Nansemond, merchant, that I, the said William
Sheers, is to receive aboard ye ship Francis and Mary, now riding in
Elizabeth River and bound for Antigua, Mavis and St. Christopher, within
thirty days after ye date, six head of neat cattle with provisions for them,
on the said Brett paying for their transportation 700 lbs. of the best
muscovado sugar, to be paid at ye arrival of the ship at either of above
places within ten days, the said Sheers to find water for said cattle until
their arrival, and one hogshead of corn for every one of them, freight
free ; and for all other goods Brett shall have aboard is to pay at ye rate
of 350 lbs. good muscovado sugar, the penalty being 1600 lbs. Virginia
toba,cco." This contract is dated 1657. ^ee Eecords of Lower Norfolk
County, original vol. 1656-1666, p. 133. In 1685, William Dundas of
Jamaica appointed Henry Spratt and Antony Lawson of the "continent
of Virginia" his agents in the collection of debts due him by the estate
of Robert Calderwood. Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol.
1675-1686, f. p. 202. In 1693, John Wilkinson, Governor of the Bermudas,
empowered Thomas Walke of Lower Norfolk County to act as his attor-
ney in that county. See original vol. 1685-1696, f. p. 194. Reference to
a Jersey ship will be found in Eecords of General Court, p. 99, and to a
Jersey merchant's estate in Virginia, in ibid. p. 62.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 329

owners and masters to make no report to the collector of
the district in which their vessels came to anchor. The
unlawful trading was especially prevalent on the Eastern
Shore and in the Lower James, as these localities offered
many facilities for eluding the vigilance of the ofhcers of
the re venue. 1

In one instance only has evidence of a trade between
South America and Virginia in the seventeenth century
been discovered. ^ In 1G70, it was decided that the arti-
cles enumerated in the Act of Navigation should not be
transported directly to Ireland. Previous to the passage
of this statute, as well as subsequent to it, there was a
considerable volume of commerce between Virginia and
the Irish ports. ^

There are a few indications of commercial intercourse
between Virginia and Scotland in the seventeenth cen-
tury. In 1638, a special warrant was issued to John
Burnett of Aberdeen, granting him the privilege of trad-
ing in the Colony upon condition that he paid the cus-
toms due upon the tobacco to be exported by him, and
that he gave bond that he would only unload in Scot-
land.* In 1670, Thomas Bushrod, acting as the attorney
of Thomas Lowry of Edinburgh, obtained judgment in the

1 See Official Letters of Gov. Spotsivood, Virginia Historical Society
Publications.

- William and Mary College Quarterly, April, 1893, p. 152.

3 This was a regulation of Parliament. See acquittance in Virginia,
in 1G70, of the ship Anthony of Londonderry, against which an in-
formation had been lodged by one of the collectors, on the ground that
she was not a free vessel. Becords of General Court, p. 40. For evi-
dences of the trade between Virginia and Ireland, see Becords of Loxcer
Norfolk County, original vol. 1666-1075, pp. 46, 179; Becords of Lan-
caster County, original vol. 1G87-1700, pp. 167, 177 ; original vol. 1666-
1682, p. 150.

^British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 118; Sai)ishury Ab-
stracts for 1G8S, p. 23, Va. State Library.

330 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

General Court against Samuel Onsteen for one hundred
and twenty-seven pounds sterling, and four years later
the same factor brought suit against William Drummond
and Samuel Austin for the payment of a somewhat
smaller amount. ^ In 1697, Benjamin Harrison shipped a
cargo of tobacco directly to Scotland, but it is worthy of
note that the name of the vessel was illegally changed in
order to enter the port of its destination. ^

1 Becords of General Coiirt, pp. 5, 173.

2 British State Papers, Colonial, Virginia B. T., vol. II, B. 3.

CHAPTER XVI

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES : FOREIGN — continued

The great bulk of imported supplies consumed in the
Colony after the dissolution of the Company, as previous
to that event, was obtained from England, with which
kingdom the course of trade differed from that carried on
with the northern settlements and with the West Indies
only in volume. A detailed account of its character and
the agencies by which it was conducted is of general
application to the commercial intercourse of Virginia, in
the seventeenth century, with all the countries having
transactions with its people. Among the English mer-
chants who brought in supplies after the revocation of
the letters patent in 1624, and previous to 1700, there
were few who could be described as casual dealers, that
is, dealers who were without representatives in the Col-
ony, to whom their goods could be consigned to be dis-
posed of gradually, but who instead relied upon the
chance of selling their commodities as they passed in
their ships from river to river. The objections to this
manner of business were numerous. As early as 1635,
Captain Devries declared, as the result of his own obser-
vation, that all who conveyed supplies to Virginia with
the object of exchanging them for tobacco, should erect
private storehouses to be placed in the care of a factor,
who should be required to remain in the Colony in order
to be prepared at the proper season to take possession of

332 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the crops of the planters to whom goods had been sold on
credit, not improbably twelve months beforehand. ^ The
English merchants were in the habit of doing this, and
in consequence enjoyed a notable advantage over their
Dutch rivals. The opinion of Captain Devries was just
as correct in its relation to the condition of trade fifty
years later as it was at the particular period in which he
wrote. In 1683, Colonel William Fitzhugh, who had a
thorough knowledge of the course of business in Virginia,
corresponding with certain shipowners in New England
who had recently for the first time sent to the Colony a
vessel loaded with merchandise, but with no one to dispose
of it but the captain, who was ignorant of the country,
stated that casual trading was destructive of all profit, be-
cause the owner of the goods, being in Virginia only for a
short time, had to hasten his departure to reduce the cost
attendant upon the navigation of his ship, and was, there-
fore, compelled to sell in order to secure a cargo of to-
bacco, whether its price was high or low. If, on the
other hand, the merchandise, as soon as it was brought to
the Colony, was placed in the hands of a factor, the latter
could as occasion arose gradually dispose of it to advan-
tage, being in a position to wait for an advance in rates
if those prevailing were not satisfactory. When the
vessel belonging to the owner of the commodities arrived,
the products for which these commodities had previously
from time to time been exchanged would be ready for
delivery at certain places, and the expense of a long stay
would be avoided. These facts were well known to the
English traders and governed their action. ^

The English merchants who supplied the planters with
manufactured articles may be roughly divided into two

1 Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 112.

2 Lett&rs of William Fitzhugh, Feb. 5, 1G82-83.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 333

classes: first, those who resided in tlie mother country
and disposed of goods to the colonists either directly
upon the receipt of the tobacco in England, or who
shipped goods to Virginia to be sold there by factors;
secondly, those who lived either permanently or tempora-
rily in the Colony and exchanged the commodities which
they had ordered, for the products of the country, acting
either in their own persons or through local representa-
tives in their different mercantile transactions. To the
first class belonged men of such standing as Micajah
Perry, Thomas Lane, John Gary, John Cooper, George
Richards, Peter Paggin, and John Bland. These Eng-
lish merchants in many instances had brothers or near
relatives in Virginia who served as their agents. This
was the case wdth Micajah Perry. It was also the case
with John Bland. The English traders who resided in
the Colony were men like Francis Lee, John Chew,
Thomas Burbage, Robert Vaulx, and John Greene. In
some instances they returned to England. This was the
case with Robert Vaulx,i John Greene,^ and Francis Lee.^
Participation in commercial exchange Avith the Virginians
does not appear to have been the direct means of acquir-
ing vast fortunes on the part of the merchants who re-
sided in the mother country, although it is known that
many persons engaged in this trade were men in affluent
circumstances. Of the twenty-four who, towards the
close of the seventeenth century, furnished the greater
portion of the supplies of various kinds imported into the
Colonies of Maryland and Virginia, not one bore a name

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 1G3, Va. State Library.

2 References to Greene will be found in vol. 1663-1GG8 of Eappahan-
noclc Records, Va. State Library.

3 In Records of Middlesex County (original vol. 1673-1685, p. 103), Lee
speaks of himself as "of London, formerly of Virginia." See also Rec-
ords of York, 1694-1702, p. 35, Va. State Library.

334 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

which is identified in an illustrious degree with the subse-
quent history of England either in a social or political way.^

1 The following is the list : Micajah Perry, Thomas Lane, James Dry-
den, Jonathan Mathews, Richard Cox, Samuel Groom, Anthony Stratton,
John Gary, Josiah Bacon, John Blackall, John Browne, Edward Little-
page, Robert Bristow, James Wagstaffe, John Taillor, Robert Ruddle,
Arthur Bayley, Robert Bristow, Jr., Timothy Keyser, John Cooper,
George Richards, Daniel Parker, Christopher Morgan, Sr., Peter Paggin.
See British State Papers, America and West Indies, No. 512 ; McDonald
Papers, vol. VII, pp. 251, 252, Va. State Library. Among the other
English merchants who were engaged in the trade with Virginia were the
following : York County — Stephen Duport, Peregrine Browne, John Lee,
Josep)h Hunter, Joseph Francis, Daniel Jenkins, Samuel Dean, Richard
Starkey, Thomas Walsh; Lower Norfolk — William Bird of Bristol,
Nathan Stainesmore, William Atterbury of London, Francis Wells,
Thomas Meriwether, Joseph Knott, John Muuyon, John Kick, Isaac
Merritt, James Harris (some of these merchants refer to themselves now
as of England, and now as of Lower Norfolk); Accomac — Thomas
Willbourne of York, Francis Lee of London; Rappahannock — David
GriSin of London, George Daly of Plymouth, John Nuttall, Thomas
Griffith, Francis Benton, William Jenkins, Richard Gower ; Middlesex —
William Twigg of Dublin, Daniel Stoodeley of London, Francis Moore of
Dublin, George Lee, Roger Burrough, Gawin Corbin, Edward Hill, John
Bowles, Perient Trott, Richard Wilson, John Jeffreys, James Gary,
William Crisp, all of London ; Richard Lonnon of Dublin, Henry
Ashton of Liverpool, John Goodwin, Jonathan Mathews, John Taylor;
Lancaster — Thomas Ellis, Edward Harper, both of London; William
Jennings, Anthony Cock of Bristol, John Hinde, Philip Taylor, Mathew
Pitt, Philip Whistler of London, Thomas City, Francis Febran, Thomas
Chitwood, Robert Hooper, John Fish, Thomas Booth, John Drake,
all of London ; Thomas Cooper, Joseph Hunt, and John Jayne of Bris-
tol ; Northampton — Nicholas Jackson, Thomas Heeman, Isaac Foxcroft,
Ralph Allen, Thomas Buckner, Richard Corkhill of Biddeford, Henry
Scarborough, John Martyn, John Bryce, Edward Prescott of London,
Joseph Hunt of Bristol. The estates of many of these merchants at their
deaths were inventoried in Virginia, showing that they were property
holders if not residents at one time of the Colony. Thomas Chitwood is
referred to sometimes as of Lancaster, and sometimes as of England.
" Some from being wool hoppers and of meaner employment in England,"
remarks the author of Leah and Bachel, " have in Virginia become great
merchants and attained to the most eminent advancement the Country
afforded." p. 20, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 335

There is reason to think that the trade with Virginia
was not steadily lucrative to an uncommon degree after all
the necessary cliarges liad been met, although the nominal
margin of gain appeared to be very large. This margin is
easily discovered through the whole extent of the century.
In the winter of 1623, which, as has been seen, was one of
such extraordinary want as to raise the prices of all articles
of food to a point hitherto unknown, George Harrison
wrote to his brother in England that if he would secure a
vessel and send her to Virginia with a cargo of wine, but-
ter, cheese, sugar, and other provisions, he could easily
obtain a profit of two hundred pounds sterling at the
least, about five thousand dollars in our modern currency.
The amount required for the purchase of such a cargo in
England rendered this sum equivalent to a gain of not
less than fifty per cent, perhaps even to a gain of a hun-
dred. ^ In 1626, the margin, after paying three shillings
a pound for tobacco, was so small, that the English mer-
chants declared that there was no inducement to exchange
their goods for that commodity. The regulation fixing this
as the price was revoked, and the English traders permit-
ted to obtain, for their goods, tobacco at the lowest rates at
which they could purchase it, in order to ensure some profit
after the payment of all expenses. ^ This profit is stated
to have ranged in 1638 from six to ten pence on each
pound of that product disposed of at wholesale.^ About

1 George Harrison to his Brother, British State Papers, Colonial, No.
17, vol. II ; Sainsbimj Abstracts for 1623, p. 78, Va. State Library.

- Instructions to Governor Yeardley,1020, J3r«<is/j State Papers,Colonial;
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. II, p. 394. In the In-
structions to Berkeley, 1641, there was the follovping clause: "that the
merchant be not constrained to take tobacco at any price in exchange
for his wai-es, but that it be lawful for him to make his own bargain for
his goods." British State Papers, Colonial; McDonald Papers, vol. I,
p. 358, Va. State Library.

3 Remonstrance of Planters, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX,
No. 100 ; Winder Papers, vol, I, p. 124, Va. State Library.

336 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the middle of the century, the difference in the price of
goods in England and Virginia was in the ratio of two to
three. When Sir Edward Verney decided to send his son
to the Colony to open a plantation, he wrote for informa-
tion to an agent in London who enjoyed the fullest oppor-
tunities of learning the relative values of articles in the
two countries ; there was nothing, this agent replied, that
costs twenty shillings in England which would not, if con-
veyed to Virginia, bring thirty shillings.^ The margin of
advance, thirty-three and one third per cent, was not
extraordinary when it is recalled that out of it the duty
on English exports as well as the duty on Virginian im-
ports, if they happened to be liquors, had first to be paid,
not to mention the heavy charge upon each ton of freight
in the ocean voyage. ^ In 1658, a grandson of Sir Richard
Newport, who had been a resident of Virginia for several
years, returned to his English home with the report that
the profits of trade with the planters were so small as to
be unworthy of consideration. ^ At later periods, there
were times in which the chance of gain fell off to such
a point that the merchants no longer regarded it as advis-
able to transport their commodities to the colonial market.
In 1690, Colonel Fitzhugh complained of the great uncer-
tainty as to whether vessels from England would in that
year make their appearance in the waters of the rivers in
his part of Virginia.* Scarcity of shipping in the James
was not infrequently a subject of comment with Colonel

1 Verney Papers, Camden Society Publications ; Neill's Virginia Caro-
lorum, p. 110.

2 In 1654, the Act " forbidding above fifty per cent gain in merchandise "
was repealed. See Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 413. In 1661, the law
permitted the settlement of the tax of two shillings per hogshead in goods
at thirty per cent advance upon first cost. See Ibid., vol. II, p. 131.

3 Boyal Hist. 3ISS. Commission, Fifth Report, p, 145.
* Letters of William Fitzhugh, Aug, 10, 1690.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 337

Byrd in Ids correspondence, the explanation heing the
same in both instances. The margin of gain was very
high in some years, but on the average perhaps was mod-
erate only. Colonel Fitzhugh, who was unusually familiar
with all the conditions affecting it, declared that unless
the tobacco obtained in exchange for goods had been pur-
chased at a very low figure, the chief means by which the
fortunes in that age were accumulated, the profit even in
favorable years would be quite meagre. A variety of
points had to be Aveiglied in considering the prospect of
securing even this degree of profit. These points included
the length of the stay which the ship containing the cargo
of merchandise would be compelled to make in Virginia
before the goods could be sold, this being necessarily a
source of great expense ; the outlay required to cover the
charges for storage and dunnage ; the commission fees
to be paid to the factors ; the losses frequently incurred
by their dishonesty, or, if they were conscientious in their
dealings, by their negligence and carelessness, whether
they were natives of Virginia or England ; the uncer-
tainty in relying upon an agent if he was expected to per-
form the duties of a shipmaster, since if he gave the greater
part of his attention to the sale of his cargo, and in pur-
suit of that purpose absented himself from his ship, his
crew would be slow in moving the vessel from place to
place where tobacco was to be secured ; and if, on the
other hand, he showed indifference in looking for pur-
chasers, a still greater amount of time would be lost to
the merchant in whose employment he was engaged. ^

None of these considerations had application in the cases

in which the planter shipped his annual crop directly to

the merchant in England, with instructions to exchange it

for certain commodities to be returned to Virginia. There

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 8, 1G87.

338 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

was probably no one who produced tobacco in very large
quantities who was not in correspondence with persons en-
gaged in business residing in London, Bristol, Plymouth,
Liverpool, and other English towns on the seaboard or
river coast. As early as 1628, perhaps in consequence of
the exactions of the traders in Virginia, some of the colo-
nists united in exporting their tobacco to the mother coun-
try, where it was sold for the articles they needed, i This
course of action was continued by individual planters,
especially by those who purchased the crops of their
neighbors in great quantities in hope of securing a wide
margin of gain ; the consignments of such men were
eagerly sought by the English merchant, as in the bulk
they were so large as to afford a certain profit. Every
shipment by the planter in Virginia to his English corre-
spondent was accompanied by a bill of lading, giving the
person to whom it was addressed the right to sell the
products named in it ; the English merchant thus brought
into relations with the colonist was not only his commis-
sion merchant in the modern sense of the term, but also his
general banker, having many hundred pounds sterling on
deposit to his credit. ^ These balances were easily con-
verted into such goods as the planter thought proper to
direct to be sent him ; if the cost of the articles speci-
fied, as a whole, should exceed the amount of money re-
sulting from the sale of the tobacco, the merchant was

1 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 55. The planters who accompanied
their crops to England in 1628 in the Temperance may not have in-
tended to return.

2 Numerous accounts of Virginian planters with their English mer-
chants are preserved in the records of the seventeenth century. The fol-
lowing may be given as an example {Becords of York County, 1657-1662,
p. 413, Va. State Library) :

"June 29, 1659. Mr. Richard Jones for 28 hhd. received from Wil-
liam and John and Thomas and Ann ships containing about 10,938 lbs.
of tobacco :

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 339

instructed to abate the order, or was requested to cover
the deficiency upon the strength of a promise to make a
second consignment to him.^ Many disputes arose between
the phanters and their English correspondents as to fair-
ness of dealing respecting the charges for commission and
as to the quality of goods returned. The original prices

To custom on same 10,938 lbs £45.11.06

" Excise " " " 45. 11. 06

" . . . at 2^'! per 20^'' 4.11.09

" Carriage of 28 lihd. at 8^" per hlid. ... 18. 08

" petty cliarges at 20511 2. 00. 08

" Virginia Duty 2^^ per hhcl 2. 10. 00

" portridge at 4s>> per bhd 9.04

" Cooperage at 4sh 9. 04

" Freiglit 28 lihd. , 7 £ per ton 49.00.00

" Wareliouse room at 2sh 2. 10. 00

154. 10. 09
To Mf Jolm Wliirken who went over in the

Thomas and Ann ship 22. 11. 00

To ditto on bill of Exchange 4. 00. 00

181. 01. 09
To goods consigned to M! Richard Jones and

sent in ye i7o)ior 21.01.11

202. o;j. 08
Cr.
M' Richard Jones is credited for 28 hhd. received from aboard the
William and John and the Thomas and Ann q'. neat 10,938 lbs.

©6-1 per pound £273.09.00

M^ Richard Jones is D": upon yis yeares Ac-
count £177. 00. 00

£ 90. 09. 00
M^ Jones is debtor for goods sent in the Ilonor

yis yeare £ 21. 01. 00

Upon a bill 04. 00. 00

£ 25.01.00"

See, for a still more interesting example, the account preserved in
Records of York County, vol. 1057-1002, p. 297, Va. State Library. See
also Ibid., vol. 1675-1684, p. 442 ; also Records of Elizabeth City County,
vol. 1684-1699, p. 395, Va. State Library.

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 11, 1G92.

340 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

were also at times causes of much dissatisfaction, and
these grounds for occasional discontent partially explain
the number of English merchants with whom the Virginian
dealt when he was in the habit of exporting tobacco to
England on his own account. The reasons for dissatis-
faction, however, were not all on the side of the planter ;
there were cases in which the English trader had occasion
to regret that he had advanced supplies beyond the value
of the consignment which he had received. In 1688, a
petition was brought before the Privy Council, in which
it was affirmed that Edmund Scarborough was indebted
to the petitioners to an extent exceeding seven hundred
pounds sterling, the consideration being large quantities
of goods shipped from time to time to Scarborough's
plantation, which still remained unpaid for. This sum
amounted in our modern currency perhaps to sixteen or
seventeen thousand dollars. ^

The articles ordered by the planters of their English
merchants represented a great variety in kind and quality.
Striking instances of this fact are scattered throughout
the letter books of Fitzhugh and Byrd. On one occasion
Fitzhugh instructs his English merchant to send to him
five dozen gallon stone jugs;^ on another, a new feather-
bed with curtains and valance, and also an old feather-
bed, as he had been informed that one which had never
been used was apt to be full of dust. On still another
occasion he wrote for two quilts, a side-saddle, a large
silver salt-cellar, a pair of woman's gallooned shoes, a
table, a case of drawers and a looking-glass, two leather
carpets, several gallons of oil, and a box of glass with white
lead and colors.^ Many of the orders given by Fitzhugh

1 Privy Council to Governor Berkeley, British State Papers, Colonial ;
Sainsbury Abstracts for 1668, p. 138, Va. State Library.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, May 22, 1683. 3 i^a.^ July 20, 1698.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 341

related to clothing. Writing in 1681 to his merchant in
London, he directed that the balance which remained un-
disposed of after the several commissions he had given had
been filled, should be expended in the purchase of linen,
including the finest holland. There should also be one
piece of kenting and several pieces of dimit}'. The selec-
tion ^yas left to his ccrrespondent.^ In a subsequent
letter Fitzhugh expresses himself in less general terms,
in asking to be sent to him, with bills of lading, to be
delivered at his landing, a certain quantity of kerseys, cot-
tons, and coarse canvas, thread and silk, shoes and iron-
ware, and also a hundred-weight of Gloucester cheese. ^
Several years afterwards he directed Mr. Sergeant in Lon-
don to devote the proceeds of the tobacco which he had
just shipped to him to the j)urchase of kerseys, cottons,
blue linen, a bale of canvas, thirt}^ ells of holland sheeting,
nails, hoes, and axes.^ His orders were not forwarded to
London merchants alone. In 1681, he is found in corre-
spondence Avith Stephen Watts of Bristol, who is told to
return for the tobacco consigned to him two dozen pairs of
shoes, among other articles,* and similar instructions were
given by him to merchants who resided in other towns in
England. Fitzhugh, by this course of exchange, obtained
goods not only for use in his own household, but also for
sale to his neighbors.

Colonel William Byrd, whose home was situated on
James River, which was in more direct communicati(m
with England than the Potomac and even the Rappa-
hannock, was equally in the habit of giving to his English
merchants both large and small commissions, to be filled
on receipt of the tobacco and bills of exchange forwarded
by him. In 1685, he is found writing for a hat and a pair

1 Letters of William Fitzhwih, June 7 ,1G81. 3 7;,,^?., July 23, 1G!«.

2 Ihid., June 15, 21, 1092. ^ Ibid., March 30, 1081.

342 ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA

of slioes, and in the same year for a saddle and for letter
paper. In 1690, lie orders to be sent to him half a dozen
riding neck-cloths and tAvo or three pairs of linen stocks.
While his house at Westover was in the course of erection
in 1690, he instructs his English merchant to ship to him
in Virginia a bedstead, bed, and curtains, a looking-glass,
one small and one middling oval table, and a dozen Russian
leather chairs. From time to time he procures from Eng-
land through the same agency clothing of every kind and
a great variety of European wines. ^

It was not uncommon for the captain of a vessel on the
point of transporting the crop of a planter to England, to
enter into a contract with him, by the terms of which, the
shipmaster was to exchange his cargo in the mother coun-
try for goods specified in the agreement between the two
parties. An instance of this nature is found in the
records of Rappahannock for 1669. Thomas Butler of
that county in this year bound himself to deliver to
George Brown, the captain of the Mizaheth of London,
three hogsheads of sweet-scented tobacco belonging to the
choicest portion of his crop. Brown was to carry this
tobacco to England and there was to dispose of it for
money sterling. After having laid aside twenty-two
pounds for his own use, the amount of a claim which he
held against Butler for goods previously sold to him.
Brown was to employ whatever remained in buying linen
and woollen cloths, shoes, and stockings, to be conveyed to
Butler in Virginia. ^

The general course of the English merchant in dealing
with the planters was to send out a cargo to Virginia,
there to be placed in the hands of a factor who had re-

1 LpMers of William Bijrd, June 5, 6, 1685 ; August 8, 1G90. This was
not the present Westover house.

- Eecords of Bappahannock County, original vol. 1668-1672, p. 291.

MANUFACTURED SUrPLIES 343

ceivecl formal authority to serve as liis agent. The cliar-
acter of this cargo depended in large measure upon the
special line of trade which the person who dispatched it
pursued. Every branch appears to have been represented
by the English merchants who had commercial intercourse
with Virginia in the seventeenth century; there were
tallow-chandlers, haberdashers, distillers, stationers, pew-
terers, fletchers, ironmongers, cordwainers, apothecaries,
felt-makers, merchant tailors, weavers, goldsmiths, coopers,
vintners, and woollen drapers. Only in a few cases did they,
in the powers of attorney which they gave to their factors in
the Colony, describe themselves as tobacconists. ^ The value
of the goods sent by the English traders to the Colony
was very great; those included in a single shipment made
in 1681 were held at twelve thousand pounds sterling.^
Instances of cargoes appraised at two thousand pounds
sterling were not uncommon, a sum with a purchasing
power perhaps equivalent to as much as fifty thousand
dollars at present.^ A fair notion may be obtained of the
size of many of these cargoes from the warrants issued in
the time of the Protectorate giving permission to mer-
chants to transport shoes to Virginia, there being a law
then prohibiting the exportation of leather without a spe-
cial license from the Government. In 1653, licenses of
this kind were granted to the masters and owners of twelve

1 Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 171 ; Ihid., vol. 1691-
1701, p. 89, Va. State Library.

2 Petition of William Fisher et al., British State Papers, Colonial;
Sainsbury Abstracts for 16S1, p. 104, Va. State Library.

3 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 64. In 1678, James
Vaulx imported a cargo of goods valued at £260. Becords of York
County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 390, Va. State Library. A cargo brought into
Northampton County about the middle of the century by Edward Pres-
cott was appraised at £ 471 18s. Gd. See Becords of that county, original
vol. 1654-1655, f. p. 43.

344 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

vessels to carry out respectively eighteen hundred pairs,
making twenty-one thousand and six hundred pairs in
all;i live years later, the masters and owners of ten
ships were authorized to export to Virginia twenty-
four thousand pairs. ^ During the forty years which
elapsed between the Restoration and the close of the cen-
tury, the increase in this one item of imports must have
been extremely large in consequence of the growth in pop-
ulation. ^ The same expansion, it is reasonable to infer,
extended to the great variety of other goods brought in
at the same time.

If the English merchant who had determined to export
goods to Virginia did not possess a ship in which they
might be conveyed, he entered into a contract with tlie
owner of a vessel for their transfer, the goods themselves,
however, remaining in charge of the person whom he had
appointed to accompany them. Several traders who fol-
lowed different branches of business often united in char-
tering a ship and employing a single factor to represent
their several interests in the cargo. In many cases, the
captain of the vessel acted for the English merchant whose
property he had taken on board, such an agent receiving
instructions which were generally placed on record as soon
as he arrived in the Colony.* The commodities trans-

1 Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1574-1660, p. 411.

2 Inter. Entry Book, vol. 106, p. 762.

3 It is not improbable that in the previous cases the word " Virginia "
was intended to include the English plantations in the West Indies and
all the English colonies in North America.

4 The agency of the captain was sometimes made conditional, as the

following from Eecords of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 46, Va. State

Library, will show :

"London 4«i Xber 1672.

Mr. Thomas Warren. —The goods which I have on board y shipp
vizt. the 3 chests and 6 bbls. etc., which goe consigned to M^ Samuel
Trevillian, be pleased to take into ye charge of it, should please God to

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 345

ported were stored in large cases, chests, trunks, liogs-
heads, barrels, and casks. At times, a heavy loss resulted
to the owner not only from rough handling and the casu-
alties of an ocean passage, but also from embezzlement by
the seamen and even by the master of the ship.i If a war
was in progress, there was always peril of capture by the
enemy. In 1665, the Dutch, who were then engaged in
hostilities with the English, destroyed a fleet of merchant-
men in the mouth of the James. From the earliest period,
the vessels employed in the Virginian trade were under the
necessity of carrying guns. In 1633, the number in single
instances ranged from twenty to twenty-four.^ A pro-
take away the said Samuel Trevillian, and dispose thereof to my best
advantage, remitting the proceeds thereof home in the best sweete scented
tobacco in your owne and M": Fassett's shipp, and wherein I have taken
30 hlid. certaine and five uncertaine if notice thereof be given in 10 daies,
and it should have occasion to make use of any factor or merchant
therein, the disposall of any concerne shall decide you therein if it may
be convenient for you to make use of my friend and kinsman, Mr John
Mohun, leaving what cannot sell on his hands. M". Trevillian hath
invoice hereof, which in case of his own mortality he hath promised shall
be delivered to you.

Your friend,

Bernard Mitchell."

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 64. The following is
from the Records of G-eneral Court, p. 146: "Judgment is granted Col.
Daniel Parke Esq. against M^ Thomas Warren, commander of the ship
Daniel in Virginia for payment of £29, IZ^^, 2^, being for money due
for goods of the said Parke damnified in the said ship in her late voyage
from London, the money to be paid within 40 days upon her next arrival
in England." Five other persons also suffered losses in the same voy-
age. See reference to the robbery of a sloop which had been sent in to
a river landing with a cargo of goods taken from a vessel lying in the
main stream. Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1680-1686,
orders July 13, 1681.

^ Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 112. In time of war
the masters of shijis were directed by law to seek certain places as safe
harbors. A proclamation of Nicholson in 1691 named the following :
"Upper James, Sandy Point; Lower James, Elizabeth River; Nansemund,

346 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

vision was expressly adopted that each ship plying be-
tween the mother country and the Colony should not only
be furnished with mounted cannons, but should also keep
on board men who had been trained in their use. At the
time of the passage of this law, there was danger of
pirates making an attack upon the vessels entering or
leaving the mouth of the Chesapeake. ^ In 1684, a ketch
was furnished by the English Government for the- protec-
tion of the Virginian coast as well as for the arrest of
illegal traders. Occasions arose when its assistance was
very much needed; thus in 1699, the Maryland Merchant.,
while lying in the waters of Virginia, was seized and
plundered by an unknown ship carrying thirty guns and
manned by a large crew. The Governor took immediate
steps to warn the people of Elizabeth City, Norfolk, Prin-
cess Anne, Accomac, and Northampton Counties of the
presence of these dangerous outlaws. The commander of
the militia in each of the counties named was instructed
to appoint persons to keep watch along the shore, each
one having a certain distance to patrol. x\s soon as there
was reason to suspect the presence of pirates, information
was to be given to the nearest commissioned officer, who in
turn was at once to communicate with the commander of
his district. 2 As late as 1692, Fitzhugh, considering the

above fort on Pagan Creek ; Warwick River, above Sandy Point ; York,
as high as Colonel Bacon's ; in Rappahannock, above fort in Corratoman
River ; in Potomac, in Wicocomico, and Matchatax, as high as they can ;
Eastern Shore, at Appomattox ; rivers of Mobjack as high as the ships
can go." Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-169-4, p. 472.

1 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 23, note.

2 Becords of Loioer Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. .p. 165.
In Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 306, will be
found a proclamation of Governor Andros, instructing the naval officers
of Virginia "to take all possible care to apprehend Capt. Kidd, who had
recently seized a ship in the West Indies." In 1685, John Sherry of York
was arrested and brought before court as having given comfort to pirates.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 347

perils to which a merchantman was exposed both on the
inward and outward voyage, declared that a person en-
gaged in the Virginian trade might be worth one thousand
pounds sterling to-day and to-morrow lose the last groat. ^
The policies ordinarily secured upon a cargo by its owner
did not extend to the acts of public enemies. The insur-
ance was five guineas upon every one hundred guineas'
worth of goods. 2

In the instances in which the English merchant owned
the ship transporting his commodities to the Colony, the
most serious charge which he had to meet was the wages
of his captain and seamen, an item of importance on
account of the length of the voyage, since the vessel not
infrequently took a circuitous route, touching first at the
Canaries, then at Barbadoes, and finally reaching an an-
chorage in the waters of one of the Virginian rivers.^
The remuneration of the shipmaster was probably about
nine pounds sterling a month ; ^ that of a sailor in 1008
was thirty shillings for the same length of time.^ There
is an instance recorded in Lower Norfolk in 1680 in which
a common mariner was paid only eight shillings. Fifteen
years later, there was a second instance in the same county,

See Records of York County, vol. 1G84-1687, p. 51, Ya. State Library. In
1688, Edward Davis, Lionel Delawater, and John Hinson were seized at
the mouth of the James, having a considerable amount of plate in their pos-
session. They were arrested as pirates. Randolph MSS., vol. Ill, p. 442.

1 Letters of William Fitshugh, July 21, 1692. In 1665, five hundred
and eighty hogsheads of tobacco belonging to Thomas Sands were cap-
tured by the Dutch. See Colonial Entry Book, No. 83, pp. 115-117 ;
Sainsbury Abstracts for 1686, p. 10, Va. State Library.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 360, Va. State Library.

3 Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, vol. 1574-1660, p. 409.
* Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1080-1694, orders Jan. 2,

1692-93.

^ Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1680, orders July 8,
1668.

348 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in which a seaman received by the month two pounds and
four shillings ; a chief mate, four pounds j a ship physician
and carpenter, three pounds and ten shillings respectively.
In 1695, a suit was brought in Lower Norfolk for work
performed on the vessel of Captain Phillips during the
course of twenty-five days and twenty-four nights, at the
rate of eighteen pence for each twelve hours. ^

If the merchant was not the owner of a vessel, his
principal expense in transporting his goods to the Colony
was the charge for freight. The rates did not vary
materially in any part of the seventeenth century. Dur-
ing the administration of the Company, the cost was three
pounds sterling a ton;^ in one case recorded, of that
period, a rate of two pounds sterling was offered and
accepted.^ In 1649, the freight cliarge upon each ton
was three pounds, and at this figure it remained.*

The seamen were far from being a class of men on
whom reliance could be placed. As soon as Virginia
acquired a very considerable population, there was a strong
disposition on the part of many of the persons thus em-
ployed to desert their vessels upon their arrival in the
Colony, and by 1690, the evil had grown to such propor-
tions that a special proclamation was issued by Governor
Nicholson with a view to suppressing it. In order to
increase the vigilance of shipmasters, a bond with a pen-
alty of one thousand pounds sterling was required of them
that they would return all the sailors to England whom
they had brought into Virginia. They were commanded
to act with the utmost fairness to their seamen, who, in

1 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 104;
original vol. 1695-1703, orders Jan. 16, 1695.

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 172.

3 Ihid., p. 28.

* Bullock's Virginia, p. 50.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 349

case tlie contracts witli them as to food and other neces-
saries were not faithfully performed, had the right to
enter complaint with the nearest justice of the peace.
Particular orders were published that no one should
entertain a fugitive mariner, and that all ferrymen should
refuse to set him over their ferries unless he could present
a note from his captain showing that he had received per-
mission to leave his ship. Any person could arrest him
without warrant.!

Every vessel arriving in the Colony was compelled to
show a cocquet upon pain of confiscation. It had also to
pay certain duties imposed by law. What was known as
the castle duty was established in February, 1631-32, at
which time a fort at Point Comfort was in the course of
erection.2 This tax consisted of one barrel of powder and
ten iron shot.^ The fort was completed in the autumn of
1632, and the provision as to the amount of powder and
shot to be delivered by every ship on its arrival was ex-
pressly renewed. In 1632, each vessel was made subject
to the payment of one-quarter of a pound of powder and
a proportionate quantity of shot for every ton represented
in its bulk.* Three years after this enactment, the num-
ber of forts in Virginia had increased to five. The duty
was now placed at fifty pounds of powder for every vessel

1 British State Papers, Colonial; 3IcDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 261,
262, Va. State Library.

2 In addition to the castle duty, even the ships belonging to Virginians
had to pay 2s. Gd. for entry, 2s. Qd. for license to trades, and 2s. Gd. for
clearing. Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 387. The cocquet rates were a
halfpenny per hhd. for all bills of lading not containing above 20 hhd. ;
twelve pence for every cocquet if exceeding that number. Ibid., p. 387.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 176 ; Letter of Governor Harris to
Dorchester, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 5 : McDonald
Papers, vol. II, p. 40, Va. State Library.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 218 ; British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. X, No. 5 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1638, p. 50, Va. State Library.

350 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of two hundred tons and an amount in proportion for
every ship of greater or smaller burden ; a proportionate
quantity of shot, match, and other material used in defence
was also to be delivered. ^ The merchants of all classes
complained of these charges as well as of the tax imposed
for administering the oath of allegiance to each passenger
who arrived in the Colony and for registering each hogs-
head sent out.2 In 1643, the law of 1633 was reenacted.^
The quantity of powder to be paid in settlement of the
castle duty was in 1645 increased from one-quarter of a
pound to one-half for every ton in the burden of the ship,
the quantity of shot or lead being fixed at three pounds. As
a means of ensuring a full collection of these articles, officers
were appointed upon every river of importance in the inhab-
ited parts of Virginia, who were to receive the duties in
kind or in valuable commodities, and in case of collusion
between the master of a vessel and the person in charge of
a port, the recognizance of the latter was to be forfeited.*
The change in the material in which the castle duties
were to be paid, tobacco or whatever product formed the
freight of the ship being substituted for powder and shot,
and delivered not when the vessel arrived but when she
departed, is to be ascribed to the fact that a few years
before, these duties had, under an Act of the General
Assembly, been appropriated to the Governor instead of
going as before to the captains of the forts. ^ This
change did not continue for many years. In the session

1 Governor and Council of Virginia to Pri^'y Council, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 5 ; McDonald Papers, vol. II, p. 233, Va.
State Library.

- Report of Sub-Committee for Foreign Plantations, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 122 ; Sainshury Abstracts for 1638, p. 29,
Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 247.

* Rid., pp. 301, 53L '" Ibid., p. 423.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 351

of 1661-62, the castle duties were again made pa3-al)le in
powder and shot at the rate of half a pound of powder
and three pounds of leaden shot for every ton represented
in the burden of each ship arriving. It was permitted,
however, to a master of a vessel to settle these duties in
money sterling or in bills of exchange.^ Many owners of
ships engaged in the trade with Virginia complained in
the following year that it was a great hardship to require
them to pay twelve pence as a castle duty upon every ton
of merchandise they imported, and they petitioned that
instead they should be allowed to deliver half a pound of
powder and three pounds of lead towards the defence of
the plantations. 2 This request apparently failed to re-
ceive a favorable response. In 1680, the amount which
it was optional for the shipowners to substitute for pow-
der and shot was fixed at one shilling and three pence a
ton. 2 A tonnage tax of fifteen pence was imposed upon
every vessel arriving in the Colony towards the end of
the century.* A present of liquor or provisions to the
Governor by the shipmaster on anchoring, which in the
beginning was a mere act of courtesy,^ came in time to
be a recognized charge, amounting to twenty shillings on
each vessel above one hundred tons and thirty shillings
if under. Culpeper remitted the gift in consideration of
the payment of its value in tobacco or coin.^

1 Hening's Stattitcs, vol. II, pp. 177, 178.

2 British State Papers, CuloJiial Papers, August, 1GG2 ; Sainsbimj
Abstracts for 1062, p. 26, Va. State Library.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 466.

4 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 58. See
Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 345.

^ In 1667, Berkeley called the attention of Colonel Scarborough to the
fact that the ships arriving on the Eastern Shore had not paid "their
yearly presentation of wine," pretending that they had none. Records of
Accomac County, original vol. 1664-1670, p. 63. Colonel Scarborough was
the collector for the district. « Beverley's History of Virrjinia, p. 73.

352 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

A complaint was raised in 1660 by the masters of mer-
chantmen, that on arriving at the mouth of the James,
they found no one to steer their vessels up that stream,
and no beacons to mark the sites of shoals in its waters.
With a view to removing the ground of this complaint.
Captain William Oewin was appointed the chief pilot in
James River, and to encourage him in the performance of
the duty thus imposed on him, he was allowed the privi-
lege of demanding five pounds sterling from the master of
every vessel above eighty tons who engaged his services,
and forty shillings from the captains who declined the offer.
Every ship dropping anchor in the Roads was required to
pay Captain Oewin a fee of thirty shillings. This was not
so much of a gratuity as it appeared, since he was expected
to maintain beacons at every point between Willoughby
Shoals and Jamestown where navigation was dangerous.
If these beacons were removed or destroyed, it was his
duty to replace them before the expiration of fifteen
days.i The successor of Captain Oewin was Captain
Chichester, who was followed by his son. The position
was filled by the latter during the time of the second
administration of Sir William Berkeley, and during the
whole of the official terms of Culpeper and Howard. In
a petition presented to Governor Nicholson in 1691, he
referred to himself as for a period of many years the only
pilot in James River who was serving under commission
from the colonial authorities. The duties of his office
occupied his whole time and was his only means of liveli-
hood. In order that there might be competent men at
hand to take his place when he died or became disabled
by accident or old age, he declared himself ready to in-
struct apprentices in the art of his calling and to inform

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 35, The spelling of the name is fol-
lowed as given in Hening,

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 353

them as to all dangerous points in the waters in which he
served as pilot. ^

At an early period in the history of the Colony, strict
laws were ])assed prohibiting the master or owner of a
ship from breaking bulk before his vessel came to anchor
off Jamestown Island. The object of these laws in the
beginning was to put a stop to forestalling and engross-
ing commodities, as an evil especially injurious to Vir-
ginia because its population was so far removed from the
source of manufactured supplies. In later times, the
desire to promote the growth of Jamestown by making
it the only port of entry was an important motive in the
passage of the same class of Acts ; and after the imposi-
tion of a duty on all liquors brought into the Colony,
the determination to secure the full amount of the public
funds arising from this tax, which could be done only by
requiring all vessels arriving to hold their cargoes un-
broken until the port of entry had been reached, was an
additional reason for these enactments. As early as 1617,
Governor Argoll instructed the masters of all ships drop-
ping anchor at Kecoughtan to refuse permission to their
sailors to go on land or to the colonists to come on board,
as the mariners, when allowed to have personal inter-
course with the people, obtained an opportunit}- of dis-
posing of the goods consigned to persons in Virginia who
happened to have died before the arrival of the ship.^ It
was provided in 1623, by an Act of Assembly, that as soon
as a vessel reached anchorage at Point Comfort, an olhcer
should go on board and read a proclamation directing
that without the express permission of the Governor and

1 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 32. Tliere
were in 1702 a number of autluirized pilot.s in the Colony. See List of
Public Officers for that year, Virginia Magazine of Ilistory and Biogra-
phy, vol. I, p. ."GO.

- Randolph MSS., vol. III. pp. 140, 144.

354 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Council, no part of the cargo was to be sold previous to
tlie arrival of the ship at Jamestown, and this proclama-
tion was ordered to be nailed to the mast as a means of
giving it the fullest publicity.^ The General Court, in
1626, adopted the rule that no one among the colonists
should be allowed to enter a vessel on its way to that
place without special license from the authorities. This
was in strict conformity with the instructions received by
Yeardley in the course of this year on his appointment to
office. 2 That the provision was enforced is shown by the
fact that in 1627, Michael Wilcox, a planter, was fined
because he had gone on board of the Charlie while it was
lying at anchor in James River and purchased twelve
pounds of sugar. 3 So firmly resolved was the local gov-
ernment that no permission should be granted to ship-
masters and owners to break the bulk of their cargoes,
whether to sell in large quantities to a forestaller who
might propose to take advantage of the necessities of the
people, or to a person like Wilcox, who was only seeking
to supply his private wants, that when the Marmaduke in
1626 ran aground below Mulberry Island, orders were
given that no goods should be removed from her with a
view to lightening the vessel for the purpose of floating
her, unless the owners of these goods gave assurance that
the merchandise, when removed, should be brought to
Jamestown, without any effort being made in the interval
to dispose of it by secret bargains and indirect sales.*
In 1632, the Act requiring that a proclamation should

1 Lawes and Orders, Feb. 16, 1623, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. Ill, No. 9 ; 3IcDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 08, Va. State Library.

"^ Bandolph M8S., vol. Ill, p. 199; British State Papers, Colonial
Entry Book, vol. LXXIX, p. 257 ; Sainshury Abstracts for 1626, p. 137,
Va. State Library.

3 General Court Orders, April 3, 1627, Bobinson Transcripts, p. 63.

* Ibid., Dec. 18, 1626, p. 57.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 355

be nailed to the mast of every ship arriving at Point
Comfort in prohibition of all breaking of bulk before
Jamestown was reached, was passed a second time, the
penalty imposed for its violation being the forfeiture of
the goods and the imprisonment of the captain for a
period of four weeks. ^ This severity appears to have
had no deterring effect upon the shipmasters and owners;
they continued to make sales and contracts for the future
disposition of merchandise, as their vessels pursued their
way iTp the river. So notorious did this custom become
that it was found necessary to assign an officer of the law
to each ship arriving at the Point, whose duty it was to
accompany the vessel placed under his supervision to
Jamestown. 2 Tlie instructions of Wyatt, when he was
appointed to the governorship in 1638-39, and of Berkeley
in 1641, when he was named for the same office, expressly
directed them to prohibit the breaking of bulk before an-
chor was cast at that port. Berkeley was commanded to
see that warehouses were erected there for the reception
of goods upon their removal from the ships. ^

In spite of these repeated provisions, there is reason to
think that planters found their way on board of vessels in
the river, for the purpose of making purchases, without
any serious obstructions. In the fight which took place
near Blunt Point between a Bristol frigate and two ships
from London, the one being in sympathy with the cause
of the King, the others with that of Parliament, the only
person killed was a citizen of the Colony who had gone
on board to buy merchandise.^ It was impossible to
enforce a law which produced such serious inconvenience.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 101. 2 j^,-^.^ p. 215.

3 Instructions to Berkeley, 1041, British State Papers, Colonial Pa-
pers; McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. .384, Va. State Library.
* Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 180.

356 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Wishing to conform to the instructions from England,
and at the same time recognizing their impracticability,
the Assembly in 1661 passed an Act compelling all ves-
sels after reaching Virginia to make entry at Jamestown,
but granting their masters and owners the right to obtain
a license to engage in trade in any part of the Colon3\i

Previous to the appointment of collectors, the master
of a ship which had just dropped anchor at Jamestown
was expected to deliver to the authorities an invoice of
the goods in his vessel when he reached Point Comfort. ^
At one time he was required to certify his arrival to the
Governor.^ When the rule compelling every ship dis-
charging its cargo in Virginia to make entry at James-
town fell into abeyance, it became the duty of the master
to report his arrival to the officer in the waters of whose
jurisdiction his vessel happened to stop, and his failure to
do so exposed him to its seizure.^ Much complaint arose
at one time that the captains who were under the necessity
of going to the home of this officer in order to make a
legal entry, after incurring great inconvenience and seri-
ous expense in the journey, very frequently failed to find
him.^ This evil does not appear to have been corrected
as late as 1689, the performance of the duties of the col-
lectors being left to deputies.^ In the session of 1692-93,
it was provided by an Act of Assembly, that the officers
who were empowered to enter all ships arriving in the
Colony should either themselves or in the persons of their
substitutes, reside in the places which had been named as

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 135.

2 lUd., vol. I, pp. 150, 151. 3 /jiVL, p. 392.

* Secords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 67, Va. State
Library.

5 Reply of Burgesses to Howard, Oct. 9, 1685, British State Papers,
Colonial ; McDonald State Papers, vol. VII, p. 394, Va. State Library.

6 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 59.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 357

legal ports. 1 The fee for entering a vessel in one of these
ports was the same as that for clearing, namely, fifteen
shillings, if the vessel was twenty tons or less in burden,
and thirty if it exceeded that number ; this fee included
the charge not only for making entry, but also for issuing
a license to trade, and for taking the bonds required of all
the shipmasters at this time.^

In 1671, Sir William Berkeley affirmed, in response to
an inquiry made by the Commissioners for Foreign Plan-
tations, that at this time no duty was imposed upon any
article imported into the Colony. ^ This had not always
been the case. Ten years previously, in consequence of
the numerous diseases which, it was supposed, were pro-
duced by the free use of liquors among the planters, a
tax of six pence had been laid upon every gallon of rum
brought into Virginia by a vessel not owned entirely by
its citizens, and the same provision was adopted with
reference to pavele sugar.* This duty was not to become
operative until 1663, and in the following year it was
abolished on the ground that it raised a serious obstruc-
tion in the way of the prosperity of the general trade of
the Colony.^ It was, however, at a later date reimposed
on rum, and was subsequently extended to wine, brandy,
and other spirits. At first the amount was three pence a
gallon, but this was increased in 1691 by a penny in the
case of all liquors imported unless they came directly from
England. No spirits were to be transferred from the ship
to the shore until the duty had been paid, generally in the
form of either money sterling or bills of exchange, to the
officers appointed to receive it.*^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 111. 2 7/^,^., vol. II, p. 443, 444.

3 Ibid., p. 516. * Ibid., p. 128. 5 Jl,l^l^ p. 212.

« Ibid., vol. Ill, p. 88 ; Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State
of Virginia, 1697, p. 59. Sp( cial exemptions were allowed to Virginian
importers who owned their ships.

358 ECONOMIC HISTOEY OF VIRGINIA

After the revocation of the charter, the master or fac-
tor in charge of a cargo, on reaching Jamestown, was
required to wait until ten days had passed before he
shoukl attempt to dispose of the goods in his care, the
object of this provision being that the colonists should
have full opportunity to learn of the arrival of the vessel
and time to make a journey to Jamestown to purchase
such parts of its contents as they wanted. ^ By the Act
of 1633, all the commodities landed at that place to be
bartered for tobacco had to pass through the hands of the
storekeeper who had charge of the general warehouse at
that point, a certain percentage being granted him in the
exchange. 2

The most careful regulations were adopted to prevent
the forestallment and engrossment of merchandise after
it had been landed and offered for sale. This was one
reason, as has been shown, for the passage of the series
of Acts requiring all ships that arrived in the Colony
to keep their cargoes intact until Jamestown had been
reached. One of the first measures of the Company after
the election of Southampton to the treasurership was to
instruct the authorities in Virginia to exercise unceasing
vigilance in suppressing every attempt to buy up the
great bulk of commodities with a view to raising prices
to an exorbitant extent by anticipating the market.^ In
a dispatch to the Governor and Council, forwarded in the
Warwick in 1621, the effort to monopolize the principal
articles imported during the previous year, as a part of
the supplies of the Magazine, was condemned with great
severity on the ground that it not only restricted the
profits of the joint stock by means of which these supplies

1 General Court Orders, Oct. 13, 1626, BoUnson Transcripts, p. 55.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 221.

3 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 6G1.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 359

had been purchased, but also compelled the people to pay
at high rates for goods which could have been bought at
low rates if obtained directly from the Magazine itself. ^
Replying to these communications, the Governor and
Council after reprobating the engrossing and forestalling
of merchandise as wrong in themselves, firmly denied that
they had been practised in Virginia. ^ When Wyatt was
appointed to administer the affairs of the Colony, he came
over with special instructions to put a summary stop to these
forms of extortion, if they should be found to exist, and if
not, to adopt measures which would prevent their arising.
The General Court passed an order in 1626, forbidding
any person who had purchased goods in Virginia to dispose
of them at prices higher than he had paid for them, under
a penalty of five hundred pounds of tobacco ; and in 1629,
a second order of the same court fixed the penalty at an
amount of that commodity representing three times the
value of the articles sold.^ In 1630, it was enacted that
no one should be allowed to buy imported merchandise,
whether on l)oard ship or ashore, unless he intended to
apply it to his own use, and if he found that he had pur-
chased a greater quantity than he really needed, he should
have the right to dispose of his surplus only at the rates
at which he had acquired it. Goods were to be exchanged
only on the basis of six pence for every pound of tobacco.^
In 1622, a forestaller was legally defined as a man who liad
obtained, under the terms of a contract, actual possession
of merchandise or right to its possession before it reached

1 Company's Letter, dated September, 1G21, Neill's Virginia Company
of London, p. 245.

^ Ibid., p. 309. They reprobated " ingrossing as horrible Treasone
against God himself e."

3 General Court Orders, Oct. lo, 102G ; General Assembly, Oct. IG,
1029, Robinson Transcripts, pp. 91, 90.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 150, 102.

360 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Jamestown, whether introduced by land or by water.
There were also included in the same category, all who
used any subterfuge whatever for the purpose of enhanc-
ing the price of goods when offered for sale in the market
or who prevented their transportation to market at all.^
In 1633, the special articles in which it was thought advis-
able that there should be no f orestallment by purchase from
the importing merchant, were shoes, Irish stockings, and
coarse woollen and coarse linen stuff designed to be con-
verted into shirts and sheets for the use of servants.^ The
regulation prohibiting the acquisition of these articles for
the purpose of reselling them, was held not to apply to
persons who bought for the benefit of planters who re-
sided in remote places ; to such persons was granted the
right to increase the amount of the purchase money by
a margin of gain that would be sufficient to compensate
for the risk and inconvenience attending the transporta-
tion of the goods ; but they were to secure no merchandise
except Avhat had been specifically ordered by the planter.^
In the course of the same year, it was provided by law
that in buying such merchandise, tobacco should be rated
at nine pence a poimd, an advance of three pence over
the price laid down three years previously."^ In 1644, all
the Acts for the suppression of engrossing were expressly
repealed and the privileges of an absolute free trade in
their business dealings with each other were allowed to
all the people of the Colony.^

In the session of 1654-55, an Act was passed which
established markets at certain points in Virginia;^ every
shipmaster was required to transport his cargo to some
one of these markets under the penalty of being consid-

1 Ilening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 194. * Ibid., p. 210.

■^ Ibid., p. 217. ^ Ibid., p. 296.

3 Ibid. « Ibid., p. 413.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 361

ered a forestaller according to the provisions of the laws
of England. A few years later, the statute granting free
trade to the colonists among themselves was reenacted,
apparently indicating that the regulations for the suppres-
sion of engrossing and forestalling had again come into
operation although at one time repealed. ^ In the instruc-
tions for the guidance of Culpeper when he became Gov-
ernor, he was ordered to put an end to every form of these
evils practised in Virginia, but he denied very emphatically
that they had any existence in his jurisdiction; ^ notwith-
standing this, the same command was repeated in the
instructions given a few years later to Howard on his
assuming the reins of administration. In the statement
of grievances presented by the authorities of Northampton
to the three commissioners from England who arrived
after the collapse of the insurrection of 1676, it was
declared that in this county, the engrossing of merchan-
dise was carried on to such an extent as to prejudice the
welfare of the community at large ; an earnest petition
was in consequence entered that no person should be
suffered to purchase after the arrival of a ship a larger
quantity of goods than he could pay for out of the pro-
ceeds of his annual crop.^

The importance in public estimation of the regulations
as to forestalling, which involved engrossing, was shown
as long as these regulations remained in the statute book
by the penalties prescribed for their violation. For the
first offence, the punishment was imprisonment during
two months without bail; for the second offence, six

1 Ileniiig's Statutes, vol. II, p. 124. The reenactment of the repeal
may have been simply a means of making still more public the abolition
of all restrictions upon internal trade.

2 Instructions to Culpeper, 1681-1682. Reply to § 56, British State
Papers, Colonial; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 153, Va. State Library.

3 Winder Papers, vol. II, p. 173, Va. State Library.

362 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

months; for the third offence, exposure in tlie pillory,
forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for such a length of
time as the Governor should decide to be proper. ^ The
laws against forestalling between 1630 and 1640 were but
a reflection of the same class of enactments in operation
in England. As early as the session of 1631-32, the House
of Burgesses ordered that the English statutes bearing on
this point should be proclaimed and executed in Virginia.^
There was, however, far greater need of such laws there
than in the mother country, the A^ery fountain of the
manufactured supplies which were so essential to the
welfare of the population of the Colony. The volume of
goods imported by the English merchants could rarely
in any one year have been much in excess of the require-
ments of the planters. A successful attempt to advance
the rates of these goods by obtaining a partial monopoly
in them, was an injury to the general community even in
the years in which tobacco commanded the most remuner-
ative prices. Whenever the crop was cut short, or the
rates at which the planters were compelled to sell were
too low to ensure a profit, the hardships resulting from
engrossing and forestalling under the most favorable cir-
cumstances were greatly increased.

It was not, however, to the interest of the merchant
that the laws against engrossing and forestalling should
be strictly enforced. His object was to sell the goods
which he had on board of his ship or which he had trans-
ferred to land under care of himself or factor, to the first
person who offered tobacco of fine qualit}^ for them, and
to him it was a matter of indifference at what prices the
buyer subsequently disposed of them among the inhabi-
tants of the Colony. The need of the people for merchan-
dise might have been great enough to constrain them to

1 Heuiug's Statutes, vol. I, p. 194. - Hid., p. 172.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 3(|3

pass a law prohibiting the exportation from Virginia of
articles once imported, in case the exporter and importer
were different persons, — such a law was actually passed,^
— -and yet it would have been still to the advantage of
the trader bringing in a cargo of commodities to sell them
to the first person who was speculating upon the wants
of the community. To be required to discriminate as to
the individual purchaser was to impose upon the newly
arrived merchant a burden of trouble and annoyance
which was certain to render the law unpopular with him-
self and all the members of the class to which he belonged.
What he desired was a free market, and the right to break
the bulk of his cargo whenever a buyer appeared. All
the restrictions upon the market and the buyer alike were
finally abolished, not only because the quantity of goods
imported increased enormously with the progress of the
century, but also in consequence of the powerful influence
exercised by the English merchants at home. Such an
influence these men never failed to bring to bear when
it was the question of removing some obstacle that dimin-
ished their profits by increasing their expenses, or which
exposed them, in exchanging their commodities for tobacco,
to grave inconvenience. When it was sought to establish
a number of ports in Virginia by compelling traders to
adopt certain places as their exclusive markets in the
Colony, upon the penalty of punishment as forestallers
if they disregarded the law to that effect, the undertaking
resulted in failure, because it Avas opposed to the interests
of this class. In claiming the right to land their cargoes
at any point Avhere purchasers offered, its members were
simply adapting themselves to local conditions not to be
disregarded without serious damage to all. The gain
derived from a venture was moderate, even when they

1 Ilening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 519.

3§4 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

were at liberty to follow the course that was suggested
by the topography of the country and the system of plan-
tations. Restrictive laws merely added to the drawbacks
inherent in the physical character of Virginia. Owing to
tlie dispersion of the plantations along the rivers, mer-
chants were already forced to seek their markets at private
landings, often several hundred miles apart, by the water
highway.

The person in Virginia to whom goods from England
were consigned Avas not infrequently a merchant who
owned a share in them, and who, therefore, in selling,
acted rather as a partner than as a factor ; the profits
of a venture were often for this reason divided among
several traders, only one of whom had either visited or
resided in the Colony. As a rule, however, the factor,
who, by the terms of the Navigation Act, must be a native
or a naturalized subject of England, had no pecuniary
interest in the cargo received by him beyond the com-
mission on the sales. As early as 1639, this commission
amounted to ten pounds of tobacco in the hundred. ^
In the latter part of the seventeenth century, the agent
was entitled to ten per cent of that commodity passing
through his hands, and five per cent of the goods. He
was sometimes paid an annual salary .2 Whether a native
of Virginia or England, he derived his authority to act
from a power of attorney drawn by the English mer-
chant, acknowledged before an English notary and then
forwarded to the Colony to be recorded in the county
in which the factor was instructed to transact business.

1 Report of Commissioners, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. X,
No. 15, 1, II, III ; Sainshiiry Abstracts for 1639, p. 71, Va. State Library.

2 Petition of John Jefferies and Thomas Colclough, British State Pa-
pers, Colonial Papers, August, 1669; Sainsbiiry Abstracts for 1669,
p. 145, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 365

In order to avoid the complications certain to arise in
case the hitter died without any one having the legal
right to represent the interests of his principal, a second
person was authorized on the same occasion to take the
place of the original agent in this emergency.^ A failure
to provide against such a contingency was frequently
the cause of serious loss. In 1638, John Woodcock, an
English merchant who traded with the planters, was
compelled by the death of his factor in Virginia and
his consequent inability to collect debts from the per-
sons into whose hands his goods had been dispersed, to
make application to the Privy Council for assistance in
his predicament ; to this application, a ready response was
given, and instructions were sent to the Governor and
Council to aid Woodcock in securing what was due him.^
A second instance may be given. In 1672, one of the
factors of George Lee, an English merchant, died in Vir-
ginia indebted to his principal in a balance of seven hun-
dred pounds sterling. His property passed into the hands
of his mother, who appointed an attorney to take charge
of it. The latter proceeded immediately to convert the
whole estate into tobacco, which he was about to ship to
his own consignee in England, when the General Court
interposed with an order requiring him to transfer the
entire quantity to a third person in the mother country,
until the justice of the claim of Lee on the property of
his deceased agent had been decided. To facilitate this,
all the books of the factor containing his accounts with
his principal were directed to be sent to England.^

1 For an example, see Becords nf Henrico County, vol. 1G88-1697,
p. 645, Va. State Library.

2 Order of Privy Council, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No.
123 ; Sainsbiiry Abstracts for 16.38, p. 31, Va. State Library.

8 Becords of General Court, pp. 131, 132.

366 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

It not infrequently happened in the case of the death
of a factor and the remarriage of his widow, if no one
Avas appointed to act as his successor under a power of
attorney from the owner of the goods, that the goods fell
into the hands of the second husband, who very often
showed no scruple in dealing with them as his j^rivate
property. Such a case was that of Thomas Kingston, the
agent of Thomas Cowell, who owned a plantation in the
Colony about the year 1636. Kingston having died and
his relict having become the wife of Thomas Loving, the
latter at once appropriated the credits and merchandise
of Cowell. Upon the petition of Cowell, Loving was
required by the Governor and Council to take an inven-
tory of the former's property in his possession, and to
give bond in a large sum to hold it without further pur-
loining it.i

Many of the factors proved themselves to be untrust-
worthy, and numerous suits arose in consequence of their
defalcations. There were also many instances of contro-
versies between the English traders and their agents,
which Avere settled by boards composed of merchants
residing in the Colony. The arbitrators appointed in
the case of Lawrence Evans in 1638 were among the
wealthiest and most prominent men interested in busi-
ness in Virginia, including John Chew, Thomas Stegg,
George Ludlow, and Thomas Burbage.^ It was one of
the conspicuous features of commercial intercourse with
the Colony that an important portion of the dealings of

1 Letter from Governor and Council to Privy Council, British State
Papers, Colonial; IIcDonald Papers, vol. II, May 12, 1639, Va. State
Library. For a second instance, see Records of General Court, p. 59.

2 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, Nos. 15, I, II, III ; Sainshury
Abstracts for 1638, p. 71, Va. State Library, Boards of Arbitration
were often appointed by the General Court. An instance is given in
Becords of General Court, p. 61.

MANUFACTUKED SUPPLIES 367

the persons engaged in it, whether living in Virginia or
England, Avas transacted on a basis of credit, and many
of the sales in consequence resulted in debts Avhich it
was found impossible to collect. This was a danger to
which the trader was especially liable, not only in the
early part of the seventeenth century when the popula-
tion was still comparatively small, and when, as has been
seen, there was a strong disposition among so many to
move from one locality to another in search of virgin
lands, thus enabling them to a large extent to evade
their obligations, but also in the latter part of the cen-
tury, when the older communities had become firmly
established and their inhabitants as a mass fixed to the
soil, with property that could be levied on without ob-
struction. A number of the planters were still disposed
to shirk their debts and could only be trusted at a risk of
loss. There were many instances of individuals among
them who, having become deeply involved for advances
of supplies, were induced to throw off the weight of their
obligations by taking refuge in Maryland and so escaping
the process of their creditors.^ It was not improbably in
consequence of this disposition to abscond on the part
of debtors among the colonists, that the regulation was
adopted that all persons residing in Virginia who decided
to go on a journey or voyage beyond the boundaries of
the Colony were required to put their intention on public
record sometime beforehand, in order that it might be-
come a matter of common notoriety. ^

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Feb. 18, 1687.

- See Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1673-1685, f . pp. 14,
21, 9.3. Fourteen persons advertise in these particular references their
intention to depart for England. In 1675, the General Court imposed a
fine of 1000 lbs. of tobacco on a shipmaster who had carried out of the
country a person who was unable to show a pass. Becords of General
Court, p. 216.

368 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Strong influences were at work in the Colony encourag-
ing the planter on the one hand to obtain credit from his
merchant, whether residing in Virginia or acting in the per-
son of his factor, and disposing the merchant on the other
to extend it. Of all the staj^le crops, with the exception
of cotton, tobacco is attended in its culture by the most
numerous elements of speculation on account of the rapid
fluctuations in its price. It may be depressed in the mar-
ket during one year, and twelve months later be selling at
very high rates. This was true of tobacco in the seven-
teenth century, as it is of the same commodity in the
nineteenth. The Virginian planter in the seventeenth
century, however much discouraged as to the results of
the operations of one season, could indulge the hope that
the following season would not only restore what he had
lost on the crop of the present year, but add to the amount
the margin of a very handsome profit. This expectation,
which had its justification in actual experience, led him to
make purchases on credit of goods from the importing mer-
chants which the tobacco of the succeeding year did not
always enable him to cover, and a series of unprosperous
years not infrequently involved him in a slough of debts
from which it Avas difficult, and, in many cases, impossible,
to extricate himself. The merchant doubtless took a clearer
view of the situation. It was natural that he should not
be as sanguine as to the prices of future crops as the
planter, and he sought to discount a possible period of
depression twelve months later by selling not only at
lucrative rates, but also in figures representing money
sterling.

For the special encouragement of traders, an Act was
passed in 1633 requiring that all contracts and bargains
should be made and all accounts kept in money sterling,
and not in tobacco, according to the prevailing custom at

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 309

that time ; ^ this remov^ed from the consideration received by
the merchant in his sales that element of fluctuation which
marked all valuation in the latter commodity from year to
year. A large proportion of these sales were on credit in
anticipation of the next year's crop. In the course of this
interval, the price of the leaf might sink to a point which
would not only leave him without a margin of gain, but
even expose him to heavy loss. If his contract had been
drawn in figures representing a fixed amount in money
sterling, his profit would be independent of an advance or
decline in the value of tobacco, and the same would be
true if his running accounts were kept in the same form.
As a means of ensuring ample security for the payment of
debts due them for advancement of goods, many of the
merchants required a purchaser to give a bill to be placed
on record in the books of the county court where the trans-
action occurred ; in this document, he acknowledged the
amount which he owed, accompanying the admission with
a statement that the obligation was to be met in the suc-
ceeding autumn, when the tobacco crop had been got in.
In case what was due was not settled, the creditor in the
bill, that is to say, the merchant, could take possession of
the landed property conveyed to him subject to the pay-
ment of the debt. If the crop in the autumn was suffi-
cient to cover what was owed by the purchaser of the
goods, he could claim a release in full.^

Another course followed by a merchant who had dis-
posed of goods on credit was to insist that the purchaser
should consent to a judgment in court in the amount of
tobacco represented by his obligation, against all the
projDerty in his possession, and this judgment was enforced
according to the provisions of a deed directing execution

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 21fi.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1638- 1G48, pp. 63, •'^42, Va. State Library.

VOL, II. 2 B

370 ECONOMrc history of vieginia

to issue immediately upon the failure to pay at the ap-
pointed, time.^ In order to collect the debts which the
planters in the Colony owed them, whether secured by a
conditional deed or not, it seems to have been the custom
of the English traders to send to Virginia agents who had,
under powers of attorney carefully placed on record, the
authority to represent their principals in suits if it was
found necessary to have recourse to law to recover what
was due. These men, like the ordinary factor who accom-
panied a cargo of goods, represented very frequently more
than one trader. Merchants engaged in widely different
branches of business seemed to have thus employed the
same person. ^ The sea-captain especially was very often
employed in this capacity, probably on account of the
greater cheapness of his services, as the cost of the passage
was thus saved. The agent was sometimes instructed
to collect all the debts due his principal in Virginia,
without regard to counties. In some instances, his juris-
diction was confined to one county. Very frequently, he
was authorized to collect from a single person, this person
being the regular factor of the principal in the Colony.

By the provisions of a law passed at the session of
1657-58, the creditor was deprived of all right to require
the settlement of a debt on demand, if made payable in
tobacco, except in the interval between October 10th and

1 Records of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 296, Va. State Library.
See also Becords of General Court, p. 171. In December, 1647, Robert
Vaulx, merchant, purchased from Ralph Wormeley, forty hogsheads of
tobacco for £200, and conveyed a large estate to secure the payment, the
property, however, to go back to him on condition that he delivered the
£200 on the Royal Exchange, London, within forty days after the arrival
of the Desire at that poi-t, or upon tlie first day of the following May,
whicliever should come about first. Becords of York County, vol. 16.38-
1G48, p. 302, Va. State Library.

■•^ Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, pp. 308, 309.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 371

January Slst.^ If he was a resident of the Colony, he
coukl bring no suit upon accounts which had been running
three years ; if a non-resident, on none which had been
running five.^ A strong disposition was shown at an early
date to protect the debtor in cases in which he was unable
to settle in kind. If he had promised to do so in grain,
tobacco, and other agricultural products, and his crops
failed or were destroyed, it was in 1644-45 provided that
he should give an inventory of his estate to the creditor,
and the Commissioners of Court should decide what part
should be delivered in payment of his obligations.^ It was
subsequently ordered that the valuation of the property of
all persons who were imprisoned for debt and who were un-
able to settle in kind, should be made by two persons, one
selected by the creditor and the other by the debtor, and
whatever satisfaction they awarded should be final, and
in case of a disagreement between the appraisers, the two
next adjoining Commissioners should serve in their place.*
In 1663, it was provided that the debtor when laid under
execution should first swear that he was unable to pay
either in tobacco or money sterling ; that he should then
render an estate thrice the value of his debt ; and that if
he had no movable property, he should give an inventory
of whatever he possessed to the creditor, who was to be
at liberty to choose according to his preference. What-
ever he selected was to be appraised by four men, two
having been named for that purpose by each party. If
the whole estate was not sufficient to discharge the obli-
gation, the debtor remained in prison ; ^ from which it
will be seen that the English law as to incarceration for

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 489. The creditor, however, could sue
for security for the next year.

2 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 296, 297. ^ 75 j-^^.^ vol. I, p. 294.

* Ibid., p. 340. 5 jjjid^^ vol. II, pp. 189, 190.

372 T^CONOMTC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

insolvency was in force in Virginia in the seventeenth
century. 1

All debts made out of the Colony and due to mer-
chants who did not live within its boundaries were subor-
dinated to obligations contracted in Virginia, provided
the claim based upon the latter was brought forward
before the expiration of twelve months. If, however, the
factor of the trader who was a non-resident took the
precaution, two months after he arrived in the country
with goods for sale, to enter on record the name of his
principal and the value of the merchandise in his hands as
agent, the principal acquired thereby all the rights en-
joyed by the inhabitants of the Colony. A debt for goods
was not recoverable in Virginia unless they had been
really imported, no relaxation of the rule being allowed in
case they had been captured by an enemy or had gone
down in a wreck while on the way.^ It showed the ten-
derness of the authorities for the merchants who, towards
the end of the seventeenth century, supplied the people
with commodities, that not infrequently when a debtor had
fled, leaving a crop in the ground, which, unless worked
and protected would go to ruin, the county court in-
structed the planter who lived nearest to the spot to give
the tobacco the proper attention, compensation for his
trouble and loss of time being subsequently allowed him.^

1 Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 212^ Ya. State Library.
Bpxords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 464, Va. State Library.
About 1690, tlie authorities of York Couuty proposed to the General
Assembly that after the first three months' imprisonment, the creditor
should support his debtor in jail, if the latter had sworn that he was not
in possession of property equal in value to the debt. See Becords of York
County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 182, Ya. State Library.

2 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 42.

3 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 109, Ya. State
Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 373

This spirit had not always been displayed towards the
importing merchants. Their unconscionable dealings be-
came at an early date the subject of legislative denuncia-
tion. To such a point were these exactions carried in
1G28, that a large number of colonists, as we have seen,
united in exporting their own tobacco to England and
there exchanging it for the articles they required, instead
of passing it into the hands of the English traders in re-
turn for goods at exorbitant charges. So great was the
unpopularity of this class as late in the century as 1672,
that during the course of the attack which the Dutch,
then at war with England, made upon the fleet of vessels,
which in that year were bound out of James River with
heavy cargoes on board, the planters were not anxious to
furnish assistance, alleging in excuse the oppressions of the
owners of the cargoes.^ The fault, however, did not lie en-
tirely on the side of the latter. In the year 1632, when such
a dearth of manufactured supplies prevailed in Virginia
that vessels loaded with grain and tobacco had to be sent
out to procure them from other Colonies, Captain Tucker,
a leading trader, was accused of instructing his factors to
sell only at the highest rates ; this he denied, claiming
that the planters were already deeply in his debt for goods
advanced them, and that he was not justified in incurring
tlie risk of additional loss, since there was already no
})rofit in the prices at which his agents were selling.^

It was the most common ground of complaint against
the merchants that they insisted on holding buyers to the
payment of the quantity of tobacco agreed upon, notwith-

1 Governor and Council to King, July 16, 1672, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. XXX ; Winder Papers, vol. I, p. 285, Va. State Library.

2 Governor Harvey to Lords Comniissioners, May 27, 1632, British
State Papers, Colonial, vol. VI, No. 54 ; McDonald Papers, vol. II, p. 123,
Va. State Library.

ol-i ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

standing any rise in the price of that staple after the con-
clusion of the bargain. In such an instance, it was com-
plained that the goods were sold at a more advanced rate
than was anticipated. The course of events, however,
might have worked in favor of the purchaser. Tobacco
fell with as much rapidity as it rose. Articles to be paid
for in so many pounds of that commodity in the following
autumn might have been delivered when it was high,
and before autumn arrived, might have fallen very low,
entailing a heavy loss upon the trader. It is not likely
that any complaint was heard from the planters in such a
turn of prices as this.^

Accusations of deception were also brought against
many of the merchants in regard to the weights and
measures which they used. The perpetration of this
species of fraud, not only by the traders, but by the in-
habitants of the Colony in general, became so notorious
that a special law was passed, declaring the English
statute concerning that offence to be in force in Virginia.
Whoever endeavored to cheat by the use of false stillyards
was required to pay to the person whom he had sought to
injure three times the amount of damage which he would
have inflicted by his deceit. ^ As a further means of dis-
couraging the repetition of acts of this nature, every
county was required to provide at the public charge
scaled weights of half-hundred, quarterns, half- quarterns,
seven, four, two, and one pounds, and measures of ell and
yard, bushel and half-bushel, peck and gallon of Win-
chester measure, pottle, quart, pint, and half-pint ; and
these standards were to be used by all persons who were

1 King to Governor and Council of Virginia, B7-itish State Papers,
Colonial, vol. IX, No. 47, iSainsbitry Abstracts for 1637, p. 193, Va. State
Library.

2 Heuiug's Statutes, vol. I, p. 391.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES Sib

not in possession of such as had been scaled or tried in
England, upon the penalty of forfeiting one thousand
pounds of tobacco. If the commissioners of the county,
upon whom Avas imposed the duty of securing the proper
measures and weights, failed to do so, they were to be
fined five thousand pounds.^

The measures and weights to be found at the different
county seats were procured from England. In 1665,
Colonel Lemuel Mason and Major Thomas Willoughby
were appointed by the court of Lower Norfolk County to
enter into an agreement with a reliable shipmaster to im-
port a full set of these instruments for use in that county. ^
This was doubtless the manner in which they were always
obtained.

The Navigation laws undoubtedly had the effect of
placing the people more in the power of the English
merchants by restricting to the latter the right of import-
ing into the Colony all of its foreign supplies. These
laws went into practical operation after the Restoration,
and perhaps raised the prices of imported goods in Virginia
higher at first than they did afterwards, when the demand
for its staple in the English market had increased, furnish-
ing a larger field for its sale, and when British shipping
had grown in volume, thus reducing the charges for
freight. It was observed as early as 1657, that shoes,
bought at the rate of twelve pounds of tobacco during the
time the Dutch traders were introducing supplies into the
Colony, could not be obtained after the passage of the first

1 Heiiing's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 89, 90. In 1678, the justices of Lower
Norfolk County were indicted by the Grand Jury for not providing weights
and measures as the law required. Original vol. 1G75-1686, f. p. 40.

- Becords of Lower Norfolk C'oimty, original vol. 1656-16G0, p. 436.
There are frequent references in the Records of York and Middlesex
Counties to the public weights and scales. See, for instance, Hecords of
Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, orders Dec. 5, 1693.

376 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Navigation Act, wliicli, as has been seen, was enforced
with great laxity, for less than fifty pounds, and it was
claimed that the prices of all other commodities rose in
proportion, even before the second Navigation Act had
excluded the merchants of Holland altogether. ^ The
Act of 1660 added sensibly to the dearness of imported
articles, because it removed all active competition between
the Dutch and English. The Dutch trader had enjoyed a
great advantage over the English in being able to sail his
ship at lesser expense, not only because the vessel had
more room, but also because it was manned by a smaller
crew. 2 Throughout the greater part of the seventeenth
century, the people of Holland were larger producers of
certain kinds of manufactured goods than the people of
England, and were in a position to sell at lower figures.
As long as English and Dutch merchants stood upon
an equal footing in the Colony, the English had to con-
form to the prices of the Dutch in disposing of their
cargoes in Virginia, and from this fact its population
reaped a decided advantage in the purchase of their sup-
plies. The exclusion of the Dutch signified that the
English trader was restricted only by competition with
men of his own nationality in fixing his prices. The pro-
tection of the inhabitants lay in the improvement in the
methods of British navigation, and in the increase in the
number of persons engaged in commerce with the Colony.
That this number was able in the last part of the century
to supply the demand for goods is shown in the answer
made by Culpeper in 1681 to the authorities in England
who had instructed him to suppress every form of fore-
stalling and engrossing ; he declared that he had never
received a single complaint with reference to such forms

1 Public Good ivithout Private Interest, p. 1-4.

2 Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. II, p. 210.

MANUFACTCTRED SUPPLIES 377

of extortion ; that they were not practised in Virginia ;
and that the Council were ignorant of tlie meaning of the
terms. 1

However small or large the gains of the foreign mer-
chant, whether dealing with the inhabitants of Virginia
by means of annual vessels, the cargoes of which were
peddled wherever on the various rivers purchasers could
be found, or sold through factors or agents who resided in
the Colony, which was the usual course, the profit was suf-
ficiently great to tempt most of the enterprising planters
to enter into trade on their own account. It was one of
the most marked features of the economic life of Virginia
in the seventeenth century, that the leading citizens were
engaged in more than one pursuit. The lawyers and
physicians were not only producers of tobacco, but also
keen speculators who bought a large quantity of that com-
modity with goods or bills of exchange and shipped it to
England to be disposed of by their representatives there.
At a period as early as 1637, George Menefie, who was
interested in planting, described himself as a merchant
of the corporation of James City,^ and he found distin-
guished successors as traders in tobacco at a later day in
Fitzhugh and Byrd, who have left minute records in their
correspondence of their different ventures. The authors
of the Present State of Virgiriia, 1697, referred to the
general class of merchants in the Colony as being simply
country chapmen, but this was true only to the extent
that they supplied the wants of a rural and scattered
population. 3 In 1687, it is stated that there were on all

1 Instructions to Culpeper, British Stale Papers, Colonial, 1G81-82 ;
reply to 56th clause, McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 153, Va. State
Library.

2 Petition of George Menefie, Doni. Chas. I, vol. o23, pp. 130, 138,
Sainsbnry Ahstrarts for 1637, p. 207, \'a. State Library.

=* Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1C97, p. 9.

378 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of the navigable streams, from ten to thirty phxnters who
had a part in tliis local trade, ^ and so considerable were
the operations of these wealthy citizens in mercantile life,
that Jones, who visited the Colony many years afterwards,
affirms that they made as great and advantageous a busi-
ness for the advancement of the public good as most
merchants upon the Royal Exchange in London. He
especially commended the "fair and genteel" way in
which they carried on their transactions.^ These mer-
chant planters were men of the first consequence in the
Colony, sitting not only as members of the House of Bur-
gesses, but also as Councillors of the State and filling all
of the higher ofiices. With few exceptions, the founda-
tion of the great fortunes in lands, negroes, and live stock,
which gave so much distinction to the leading families in
the eighteenth century, had been laid in the seventeenth
in largest part by trading in tobacco, in addition to culti-
vating that staple. The manner in which this trading
was conducted is illustrated in many instances preserved
in the letters of Colonel Fitzhugh. He was in the habit
of contracting to deliver many thousand pounds of tobacco
to the local representatives of an English merchant in
return for so many pounds sterling worth of goods, and
in case of a deficiency in the cargo he was to receive a
certain amount of metallic money or a certain number of
slaves and servants. The details of this arrangement had
their counterpart, with some little variation, in the numer-
ous bargains of other planters of the same period. Where
such an agreement had been entered into with an English
merchant, it was not uncommon to adopt the following
plan in turning over the tobacco named in the stipulation:

^ Colonel Quarry's Memorial, 3Iass. Hist. Collections, vol. VII, .3d
series, p. 232.

■^ Hugh Jones' State of Virginia, p. 55.

MANUFACTUllED SUPPLIES 379

as soon as the vessel arrived in Virginia, her master was
handed notes for the delivery of one-third of her loading,
these notes being honored at the rolling-houses where the
tohacco was stored ; when this part of the cargo had been
taken on board, the planter was ready to give notes for
the delivery of the second third, and so on until the whole
amount had been stored in the ship. In many instances,
doubtless, he was prepared to transfer the whole amount
in one series of notes. In a case mentioned by Fitzhugh,
he contracted to deliver ninety-two thousand pounds, one-
third of which was to be obtained from his own estate, and
the other two-thirds from rolling-houses in his vicinity.
Ninety-two thousand pounds made up a cargo of two hun-
dred hogsheads, Avhich, according to the prices prevailing
at that time, were worth seven hundred and seventy-six
pounds sterling. One-half of this amount, Fitzhugh de-
sired to be paid him in the form of merchandise suitable
to the needs of the country. ^ In a letter to Captain Sam-
uel Jefferson in 1685, he proposed to deliver fifty thousand
pounds of tobacco, in return for which he was to receive
goods amounting in value to three hundred and fifty-eight
pounds sterling. 2

In the early history of the Colony, merchant planters
in many instances had residences and storehouses at
Jamestown while holding and cultivating large estates
elsewhere ; this was the case with John Chew, Arthur
Bayley, and Edward Sanderson. Some at this period,
on the other hand, lived on their plantations and kept

1 See a somewhat similar instance in the Becords of York County,
vol. 1664-1672, p. 177, Va. State Library, illustrating the use made of
notes in passing title to tobacco stored in warehouses.

2 Letters of William Fitzhugh, Feb. 18, 1684-85. Fitzhugh, writ-
ing to John Cooper in May (18th), 1685, says: "I suppose this crop,
if crops prove anything like, I shall be master of betwixt 500 or COO
hogsheads." Ibid., May 18, 1685.

380 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

storehouses at Jamestown ; this was the course followed
by Abraham Piersey, the former Cape Merchant and the
most promment citizen in Virginia at the time of his
death. 1 Very large areas of land were secured by men
of this class in consideration of the importation or pur-
chase by them of many servants and slaves. In 1638,
George Menefie sued out a patent to three thousand acres
on the basis of sixty head rights, and in the following
year he acquired a patent to three thousand acres addi-
tional.^ In 1634, Robert Vaulx and William Gooch
obtained a patent to six thousand acres. ^ Thomas Stegg,
William Byrd, and others who combined the pursuits of
trading and planting, are found from time to time acquir-
ing large grants. j\Iany of the English merchants owned
much land in Virginia, not only in individual holdings,
but also in partnership with persons who resided in the
Colony.*

The store was one of the principal institutions in Vir-
ginia, whether the property of a foreign or a native
merchant. In the course of time, stores Avhich at first
Avere confined to the principal ports were found in great
numbers on every navigable stream, this situation being
preferred not only because the adjacent country was the
most thickly settled and the planters the wealthiest, but

1 An Account of Abraham Kersey's Estate, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. VIII, No. 5, II ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1633, P- 57, Va.
State Library.

2 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, pp. 691, 704.

3 Ibid., vol. 1652-1655, p. 357. Similar instances are preserved in
great numbers in the Patent Books.

* Ibid., vol. 1623-1643, p. 417. There are many instances in which
English merchants devised by will estates in Virginia. See New Eng-
land Historical and Genealogical Begister, April, 1893, p. 273. It is said
that John Bland spent £10,000 on his plantations in Virginia. British
State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, No. 80, pp. 51-59 ; Sainsbury Ab-
stracts for 1676, p. 235, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 381

also because the principal highways of each community
were the creeks and rivers. The authors of the Present
State of Virginia^ 1697, complained that the stores were
such important centres in each neighborhood that they
had a powerful influence in repressing the growth of
the towns, which it was sought to foster by legislation,
and they suggested as the first step towards giving an
impulse to the expansion of these towns that it should be
required to build or keep open stores elsewhere.^

The store was sometimes a room in the house of a
planter ; this was true in the case of the store of Robert
Hodges of Lower Norfolk,^ and also of Newell's in York.
Jerome Ham, who is described in the deed as "gentleman,"
in making a lease of his plantation in the latter county,
refers to his dwelling-house, kitchen, and store, as if they
were grouped very closely together.^ The store was
generally detached from the dwelling. It was probably
as a rule a boarded house with a loft and with a shed.*
In the towns, it was very often a rented building ; this
being the case with the one at Hampton referred to in the
records of Elizabeth City County for 1G94. The charge
for its use was twenty-five shillings a month. ^

Whether the store was owned by a merchant who
resided abroad, and who therefore carried on business
through the agency of his factor, or was the property of a
wealthy planter ^ or a native merchant, the aim of the owner

1 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 12.

2 Becords of Lower Norfolk County., original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 117.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, Newell, p. 139 ; Ham,
p. 596.

4 Ibid., vol. 1664-1672, p. 260, Va. State Library.

s Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 29, Va. State
Library.

'J "To all, etc., now know ye, etc., I give and grant unto Col. Richard
Lee five acres of Land lying in the County of Gloucester towards the

382 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

was to supply the special goods demanded by the needs of
the inhabitants of the Colony. To enumerate the contents
of one of these establishments would be to name all the
articles, with a few exceptions, in use in Virginia in the
seventeenth century. A store in the rural districts of
the State to-day is less of an epitome of the wants of the
people in certain directions than a store in the valley of
the James in the last half of the seventeenth century. In
the present age, custom is diverted from the country store
by the proximity of cities in which the best class of goods
can be procured without difficulty, in person or by corre-
spondence. It is true that in the seventeenth century,
custom was diverted from the store by orders given to
merchants in England, but these direct dealings with the
mother country were practically restricted to planters
engaged in trade or possessed of large wealth. It is not
strange to find that cloths and garments made up the larger
portion of the contents of the average establishment. In
this respect, the inventory of the Hubbard store, situated
in York County, which was taken in 1G67, after the death
of the owner, did not differ from others which either pre-
ceded or followed it. It contained lockram, canvas, dow-
las, Scotch 'cloth, blue linen, oznaburg, cotton, hoUand,
serge, kersey, and flannel in bales, full suits for adults
and youths, bodices, bonnets, and laces for women, shoes
for persons of both sexes, gloves, hose, cloaks, cravats,
handkerchiefs, hats, and other articles of dress in use in
that age. In addition, there was a large miscellaneous
collection of goods, such as hammers, hatchets, chisels,
augers, locks, staples, nails, sickles, bellows, froes, saws,
axes, files, bed-cords, dishes, knives, flesh-forks, porringers,

head of Poropotank Creek, whereon the store of the said Col. Lee standeth,
and is a part of a dividend whicli Peter Knight, merchant, deserted for
want of seating." Va. Land Patents, vol. 165d-1GG4, p. 47.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 383

sauce-pans, frying-pans, gridirons, tongs, shovels, hoes, iron
posts, tables, physic, wool-cards, gimlets, compasses, nee-
dles, stirrups, looking-glasses, candlesticks, candles, fun-
nels, twenty-five pounds of raisins, one hundred gallons of
hrandy, twenty gallons of wine, and ten gallons of aqua-
vitee. The contents of the Hubbard store were valued at
six hundred and fourteen pounds sterling, a sum which
represented about fifteen thousand dollars in our present
currency.^

The inventory of the store of Edward Phelps, taken in
1679, showed the same enormous disprojDortion of cloths
and clothing as compared with other kinds of goods.
There were for one item alone about six hundred and
seventy-five yards of linen of many varieties, and also
about three hundred yards of woollen, eighty-one pairs of
stockings, fifty pairs of shoes, a large quantity of tape,
gimp and thread buttons, felt hats, blankets, curtains, and
valances. In addition it included many articles of a miscel-
laneous character, such as smoothing-irons, scissors, knives,
bellows, frying-pans, pots, kettles, spoons, hoes, axes, files
and adzes, curry-combs, saddles, nutmegs, mustard, soap,
twenty-four thousand ten-penny nails, seventeeJi thousand
six-penny, eight thousand double-penny, one hundred and
nine pounds of shot, twenty pairs of fishing lines, and
fifteen hooks for sheepsheads. The contents of this store
were appraised at one hundred and ninety-four pounds
sterling, or about forty-eight hundred dollars in our pres-
ent currency. 2

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1CG4-1672, p. .319, Va. State Library.

2 The inventory of the personal property owned by Phelps at his death
will be found in Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 172, Ya.
State Libraiy. The special reference in the text is to the appraisement of
goods "out of the store belonging to Mr. Edward Phelpes, Dec^ , in the
possession of Mrs. Temperance Dun, delivered to Coll. Wm. Cole, one of
the attorneys of James Wall, guardian to Edward Phelpes, an orphan

384 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The contents of the store kept by Mr. Isaac Cullen, as
the agent of John Harris and John Cooper, merchants of
EngLand, in 1675, were chiefly composed of canvas, cot-
tons, hoUands, kerseys, Scotch cloth, jeans, broadcloth,
blue linen, tape, ribbon, thread, buttons, combs, hose,
shoes, and other articles for wear. The inventory of this
store also included a large number of kitchen utensils,
tools for the workshop, and scales and weights.

The inventory of the store owned by Colonel Francis
Eppes of Henrico, taken in 1678, discloses contents still
more remarkable for quantity, quality, and variety. In
the matter of linen, there were one hundred and twenty
ells of dowlas, fifty-one ells of oznaburg, sixty ells of can-
vas, three hundred and twelve ells of holland, and eighty
yards of table and napkin diaper. There was a large
quantity of serge, red cotton, kersey, broadcloth, Spanish
cloth, white duffield, rugs, blankets, bed -ticking, sixty-two
pairs of shoes, yarn and worsted hose for women and
children, brown and white thread, tape, lace, hoods, pins,
buttons, bodices and sleeves, razors, knives, scissors, shears,
steel tobacco-boxes, pewter salts, candlesticks, tankards,
spoons, tin quart pots, sauce-pans, lamps, cullenders, pep-
per-boxes, lanterns, large and small fishing lines and
hooks, wooden bellows and sifters, sieves, dishes, ladles
and brooms, iron pots, chafing-dishes, frying-pans, shovels,
spades, hoes, shares and colters, hammers, chisels, and
augers, many thousand nails of all sizes, brass mortars,
one barrel of powder, five barrels of shot, fifty pounds of
sugar, half a firkin of butter, four pounds of ginger, and
finally a small collection of books. ^

in England the last day of June or first of July, 1679." See same
volume. See also liecords of York County, vol. 1671-1694, p. 113, Va.
State Library.

1 Jiecords of Henrico CoxmUj, vol. 1677-1092, p. 93, Va, State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 385

Tlie store of Edward Lockey contained, in addition to
the usual quantity of cloths and clothing, brass coat-but-
tons, a paper of hooks and eyes, andirons, sheep-shears,
plough-chains, brass scales, and reap-hooks. Among the
articles in the Foison store in Henrico were holland night-
caps, muslin neck-cloths, silk-fringed gloves, silver shoe-
buckles, embroidered holland waistcoats, two dozen pairs
of white gloves, one lace cap, seven lace shirts, nine
lace ruffles, holster caps of scarlet embroidered with
silver and gold, gold and silver hat-bands, a parcel of sil-
ver lace, three yards of gold lace, and a feathered velvet
cap. This storekeeper possessed at the time of his death
eight buckskins and sixty-five doeskins. In the inventory
of Edward Lockey, there were also three tanned doeskins. ^

There were few storekeepers in the Colony who were not
engaged in the Indian trade, the exchange of merchandise
for furs, skins, and other goods being attended with large
profits. Guns, ammunition, rum, blankets, knives, and
hatchets were the articles in greatest demand among the
tribes. It will be interesting to make some examination
of the various regulations which were from the earliest
period adopted to control this trade. In the session
of 1631-32 all traffic with the aborigines was prohibited,
whether carried on by public or private enterprise. ^ In
the following year, an Act was passed providing that

1 Records of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 260, Va. State Library.
Additional instances of stores and their contents will be found in the
inventories of Robert Beckingham of Lancaster (liecords, original
vol. 1674-1687, p. 33) and Robert Hodges of Lower Norfolk (orighial vol.
1675-1686, f. p. 116). It may be mentioned as an evidence of the extent
to which business was at this time conducted on credit, that the debts due
Beckingham amounted to 193,420 lbs. of tobacco, and to William Travers
to 1.51,072 lbs. Records of BappaJiannock County, 1677-1682, p. 73. An
interesting invoice of goods, that of Captain Robert Ranson, will be found
in Eecords of York County, vol. 1604-1697, p. 368, Va. State Library.

2 Heuing's Statutes, vol. I, p. 173.

VOL. II. — 2 C

386 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

forfeiture of all his property and imprisonment for life
sliould be inflicted upon any one who sold guns, powder,
and shot to Indians or bartered these articles for their
goods. 1 Previous to this time, it appears to have been
the habit of many to purchase large quantities of cloth
from the stores, and to exchange it for furs and skins,
thus creating a dearth of this material, which led to
much inconvenience and suffering among the planters ;
this trade was now forbidden unless the Governor had
reason to know that the supplies of cloth to be found in
the Colony could be diminished by partial withdrawal and
dispersion among Indian buyers without trenching upon
the needs of the people. A license, however, had to be
obtained before this trade could be legally pursued. ^ Ten
years later, the penalty for bartering guns, powder, and
shot with the Indians was the forfeiture of his whole
estate by the offender ; if the commodities exchanged
were ordinary goods, he was to undergo imprisonment for
as long a period as the Governor and Council should con-
sider his offence deserved. ^

In 1656, the right was granted to every freeman to sell
to the Indians any article not included in the list of
those especially prohibited by law. It was still forbidden
to exchange guns, powder, and shot.* In 1658-59, this
regulation was abolished on the ground that the people
of the neighboring plantations, both English and Dutch,
were furnishing the aborigines with large supplies of
weapons and ammunition. By this alteration of the law,
the safety of the Colony, it was stated, was not dimin-
ished, and the profits acquired by barter with the Indians
were very much increased.^ It was soon found, however,

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 219,

2 Ibid., p. 219. 4 Ibid., pp. 415, 441.

3 Ibid., p. 255. 5 j^id^ p. 525.

MAXUFACTUEED SUPPLIES 387

that the trade in arms and ammunition filled the settle-
ments with rumors of projected outbreaks, leading to
widespread uneasiness ; it was determined, therefore, to
require every person engaged in this trade, Avhich seems
at this time to have been practically confined to beaver,
otter, and other furs, to obtain a commission from the
Governor of the Colony. The latter was admonished
to grant it only to those who were known to be distin-
guished for integrity, and who in consequence could be
relied upon not to abuse the privilege. ^ This Act seems
to have been disregarded to a great extent, many unli-
censed men continuing in a secret way to trade with the
Indian tribes. To suppress this evil, it was provided that
every uncommissioned person discovered dealing with the
aborigines should forfeit treble the value of the articles
which he obtained under these circumstances. All contro-
versies between the Indians and the commissioned traders
were to be settled by the Governor, or an arbitrator whom
he should appoint for the purpose.^

The importance of the Indian trade was shown as
early as 16G2, by the report of a committee which at that
time sat upon Indian affairs. This committee, finding
that the traffic of the Virginians with the aborigines was
seriously injured by the encroachments of the English
and Indian inhabitants of Maryland, as well as of tribes
residing further to the north, recommended that measures
should be adopted to put a stop to this system of barter-
ing on the part of these strangers, and in pursuance of
tliis recommendation, a prohibitory law was passed.^ The
exchange of arms and ammunition for the commodities
of the Indians was again expressly interdicted in 1665.*
The punishment now prescribed was a fine of ten thou-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 20, s /^jV/., p. 153.

2 16 1(7., p. 140. i Ibid., IX 21o.

388 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

sand pounds of tobacco or imprisonment for two years,
and if the offence was committed a second time, it was
to be considered a felony. It was found later that far
more severe steps had to be taken for the strict enforce-
ment of the statute. In March, 1676, when the prospect
of an Indian war was imminent, it was provided that all
who supplied the aborigines with arms, powder, and shot
should not only forfeit their whole estates but suffer death
in addition. The only persons allowed to furnish friendly
Indians with match-coats, hoes, and axes were such as
had been nominated by the county courts.^ One of the
first of the laws passed by the Assembly controlled by
Bacon made all trade with the aborigines illegal unless
they were serving in the war with the English, in which
case also no weapon or ammunition was to be given them.^
In the following year, the right of absolute free trade was
granted to the Indian population of the Eastern Shore,^
and a year later there was a relaxation of the rule for-
bidding all commerce with the tribes of the Western
Shore, since it had been found highly injurious to the
inhabitants of the Colony. Certain places were now
appointed as public marts, to which all Indians who were
at peace with the whites were invited to come at a speci-
fied time. These marts were situated respectively in
Henrico, Isle of Wight, New Kent, Rappahannock, Lan-
caster, Stafford, Accomac, and Northampton, and were to
be open in March, April, and May, and in September and
November, the occasion for each being restricted to a day
in one of the spring months and » day in one of the au-
tumn. For each mart, an account of all the trading which
took place there was kept by a clerk appointed by the
Governor. The Wicocomico Indians in Northumberland

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 337. 2 j^id., pp. 350, 351.

^ Ibid., p. 403.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 389

and the Cheskiack in Gloucester were to be permitted to
trade with the English under special regulations adopted
by the authorities of the counties in which they resided. ^
Three years subsequent to the passage of this Act, the
rules it laid down were found to be the source of so much
inconvenience that all obstructions to an absolute free trade
with the friendly tribes were removed and the colonists
were left at liberty to exchange commodities with them
wherever and whenever the interests of both sides dictated.
This rule was to remain in force only until the next Assembly
convened, but in a few years it was reenacted in still more
explicit terms. It was made "lawful for all persons at all
times and at all places to carry on a free and open trade
with all Indians whatsoever. "^

No description of the mercantile condition of Virginia
in the seventeenth century would be complete without
some reference to the repeated but unsuccessful attempts
to establish regular markets in the Colony. The fair was
one of the oldest of the trade institutions of the mother
country, having its origin and principal encouragement
in an age when population was sparse, and when it was
therefore necessary to have fixed occasions on which
people could come together from a distance and exchange
their products. The introduction of the fair into Vir-
ginia would have been natural not only on account of the
commercial traditions of the inhabitants as scions of the
English stock, but also because of the scattered population
of the Colony. In 1649, it was decided to hold markets
every week at Jamestown, which was one form of the
English fair. These markets were to be restricted to
Wednesdays and Saturdays. The boundaries of the mar-
ket-place were to be carefully laid off. Execution was
to issue upon any written and properly attested evidence

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 410-412. 2 /^^-j.^ y^i m^ p_ (39.

390 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of debt that had been drawn in proof of a bargain entered
into in its limits at any time between eight in the morn-
ing and six in the afternoon without the usual requirement
of first obtaining judgment. The clerk was to record, in
a book to be provided for the purpose, every bond, bill, or
other writing passed in a sale, and if the amount rej^re-
sented in a bargain exceeded three hundred pounds of
tobacco, his fee was to be four pounds, and if under that
figure, one pound. Ground seems to have been assigned
for the site of this market-place. ^

In 1655, the Assembly determined to establish one or
more market-places in each county, to be situated in the
neighborhood of a river or creek, with a view to greater
accessibility. Here all the trade of the country was to be
concentrated; the articles imported from England or else-
where were to be brought to these points from the ports
prescribed by law; and if the owners of such articles
disposed of them without having done this, they were to
be punished as forestallers. They were, however, left at
liberty to sell their goods in any one which they preferred.
All were to be kept open on certain days, but there was
to be no conflict between the days of adjoining markets.
The court-house, the prison, the offices of the clerk and
sheriff, and, as far as possible, the churches and ordinaries
of each county, were to be erected in the circuit of its
market. When merchandise had been in the country for
a period exceeding eight months, the owner could dispose
of it wherever he wished without exposing himself to pun-
ishment as a f orestaller.2 It is a curious commentary upon

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 362. See Ibid, vol. I, pp. 397, 414.

2 Tbicl, pp. 412-414. The following is from the records of Lancaster
County under the date of 1655 : " Whereas the western side of Curroto-
man River was only mentioned the last June Court for a market-place,
and that by the Act for Stores the market-place might be on both sides
of a small river if it is convenient for the inhabitants, it is ordered that

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 391

the provisions of this elaborate statute that only two years
after its passage, the Assembly passed a second Act 'de-
claring that whoever established a market, "whether the
merchants shall come for sale or not," shall be looked
upon as a public benefactor ; a tacit confession that the
previous law, like all laws restricting the action of the
traders, had proved a failure. ^ The instructions given to
Culpeper in 1679, to establish markets and fairs in the
Colony, seem to have come to nothing. All endeavors of
the kind were likely to have the same end, not only be-
cause they were opposed to the interests of the merchants
but also because of the configuration of the country, which
was unfavorable to any concentration of the population,
even of the same j^arts, for however brief a time.

the said market-place extend also from the eastern side of the said river
downwards two miles according to the said Act." Records, original vol.
1652-1657, p. 214.

1 Heuiug's Statutes, vol. I, p. 476.

CHAPTER XVII

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES : DOIMESTIC

In describing the influences which led to the coloniza-
tion of Virginia by the English people, it was pointed out
that among the objects sought to be secured by that mem-
orable enterprise were not only the acquisition of a virgin
territory in which might be produced those raw materials
that England was compelled to purchase at a heavy ex-
pense, and with a constant risk of interruption, from the
Continental nations, but also the creation of a new market
in which she might dispose of an enormous quantity of
merchandise of her own manufacture. These two an-
ticipations were closely related to each other. The prin-
ciples they represented were the corner-stones of the
famous mercantile system, which formed the commercial
policy of the English Government from the beginning
of the sixteenth to the close of the eighteenth century.
The planters in Virginia were expected to export their
raw materials to England, and in return to receive from
the mother country the various supplies required. The
exclusive attention given to tobacco from the earliest
period in the history of the settlement defeated one of the
leading purposes for which it was founded ; that is to say,
the new Colony failed to furnish England with the com-
modities which she had been exporting from Russia,
Sweden, Holland, France, Spain, and the East. It will
be remembered that the exportations in question left the
392

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 393

balance of trade constantly in favor of these countries.
The amount of English goods which they took in ex-
change was insignificant, and as the difference in the
balance in trade was paid in coin, there resulted a con-
dition Avhich in that age appeared full of danger to Eng-
lish interests. The persistence with which the Virginians
continued to cultivate tobacco occasioned keen disappoint-
ment to English economists in the early part of the seven-
teenth century, as it destroyed all prospect of the Colony's
furnishing a remedy for this supposedly unfortunate state
of trade by presenting a field where England would be
able to procure the raw materials which she required in
exchange for her manufactures, without the need of pass-
ing a single pound sterling in addition.

While Virginia did not fulfil the hope that had been
entertained as to its ability to furnish the English people
with the supplies exported hitherto from the continent
of Europe, the expectation that it would form a valuable
market for the sale of English merchandise was soon
found to be just. That the Colony was in a position to
purchase this merchandise was to be attributed not to
shipments of iron, timber, potash, hemp, silk, and the
other commodities which English statesmen had at one
time so confidently looked forward to obtaining from its
soil, but to shipments of tobacco, a product which, in the
beginning, the English Government had sought strenu-
ously to discourage, and had afterwards striven hard to
monopolize, at first unsuccessfully but successfully later,
when, by the terms of the Navigation Act of 1660, it
became an enumerated article.

The same commercial principle influencing the English
authorities to use every means at their command to pre-
vent the diversion to Holland and other foreign countries
of the tobacco jiroduced in Virginia, also impelled them

394 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to repress all efforts on the part of the colonists to manu-
facture their own clothing and other supplies equally
necessary. The Dutch did not pay for the cargoes
which they purchased of the Virginians in coin or bills
of exchange, but in merchandise of various sorts. Every
coat worn by the planter, every dram of spirits consumed
by him, which had been obtained by means of tobacco
from traders of Holland, diminished to that extent the
value of the Virginian market for English goods ; and to
an equal extent, the value of that market was dimin-
ished whenever the planter substituted for the suit which
he was able to buy of the English merchant, a suit woven,
cut, and sewn by members of his own family. To pro-
mote or allow the growth of the manufacturing spirit in
the Colony was as dangerous as to refuse to interfere
with the exercise on the part of its people of the right
of absolute free trade. In time, they might not only
meet their own needs as to manufactured goods, but
also export such goods to countries where England now
enjoyed a profitable market, a market which might soon
grow unprofitable to her by rivalry with Virginian com-
petitors, since the latter would possess the advantage of
cheaper raw materials as the basis of their manufactures.
For these reasons, it appeared to be of vital importance to
the English statesmen of the seventeenth century that
the planters should not be allowed to take steps looking
to the development of manufacturing interests among
them, and it cannot be said that their views were wholly
untenable. To permit the colonists to export their agri-
cultural products to any foreign country and at the same
time to foster manufactures in Virginia, was to destroy ^
all the ties except those of race uniting England to the
population of that territory ; upon her would have been
imposed the burden of defending the planters in case of

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 395

an attack by a foreign enemy, without any proportionate
advantage.

The mercantile system bore less hardly on Virginia
than on New England. Her soil was capable of produc-
ing a commodity which found a remunerative market in
the mother country, whereas New England was thrown
back upon her agricultural products, whicli it was im-
possible after 1650 to import into England on account
of the heavy duties then imposed to protect the English
farmer from foreign competition. The inhabitants of
New England were, therefore, comj)elled to exchange
their provisions for the rum, sugar, and molasses of the
West Indies, as almost their only resource for obtaining
the means of paying for the English manufactures needed
by her people. Virginia having a direct trade Avith the
mother country in a commodity for which a market was
always ready there, a commodity that assured the acquisi-
tion of all manufactured articles entering into the general
economy of her population, was deprived of one of the
strongest motives in which the development of manufact-
ures has its origin. Such development begins with local
wants, and growing larger and more extensive in its
scope, ends in supplying foreign needs. The Virginian
planter was not forced, like the farmer of New England,
to transfer his products to Barbadoes and Jamaica to be
exchanged for the products of those islands, which in
turn were to be conveyed to the English ports, there to
be sold to obtain the clothing which he was to wear, the
furniture which he was to place in his chamber and hall,
the utensils for use in his kitchen and dairy, the tools for
handling in his workshop, and the implements whicli he was
to employ in his fields. The English ship that sailed up to
his wharf came loaded down with a cargo of these articles,
which were offered to him for his tobacco ; and he had

396 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

merely to consign his crop to the sailors who manned the
vessel by the temporary transfer of the keys of his barns.
When he sold, not to the owner of the ship, but to the
local merchant who had supplied him with goods, the
process of delivery was equally free from complication
and indirectness. From this, it will be seen that the
Virginian planter of the seventeenth century had but
a small inducement to begin or promote a movement in
favor of local manufactures on a scale of great importance,
even if we suppose that the influence of all the economic
interests of the mother country would not have been set
against such a movement.

There was no inherent repugnance in the English stock
transferred to the valleys of the James and York, to the
pursuit of manufactures, although they leaned, like men
of their race in the mother country, towards an agricult-
ural life. They became an agricultural people by force
of the conditions surrounding them from the foundation
of the earliest settlement. The power of the English
Government was used to divert their attention from
manufactures even in the rudest form ; many influences
united to discourage the growth of manufacturing inter-
ests in the Virginian Colony as in all other colonies,
however populous, but even if the English authorities
had sought to advance the prosperity of these interests
in Virginia in the seventeenth century, and the local
conditions had been favorable to a manufacturing spirit,
there would doubtless still have been reason to remark
upon the disinclination of the people to produce their
own manufactured supplies without any assistance from
the outside. In the long period between the close of the
Revolution and the breaking out of the late war between
the sections, when all restrictions upon the growth of
manufactures had been removed, the State remained a

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 397

community of plantations, althougli so much of tlie fer-
tility of the soil had been exhausted. In the seventeenth
century, Virginia was still more distinctly a plantation
community, a community of small principalities bound
together by social ties, but not economically dependent
upon each other. There was alwaj's a tendency in each
plantation towards still greater concentration of its special
interests, because the requirements of tobacco culture exer-
cised an unceasing influence towards the enlargement of
the boundaries of each estate, thus increasing its isolation
from the community in general. One of the principal
effects of the seclusion of plantation life in Virginia result-
ing from the enlargement of the plantation area, was to
discourage the growth of the cooperative spirit among the
people in their economic affairs. It is this spirit upon
which manufactures in their perfected form must rely
in great measure for support. The lack of this spirit
explains to some extent the absence of small towns in the
Colony in the seventeenth century, but this fact, as will
be shown hereafter, was also due to the configuration of
the country, which was opposed to a concentration of
population. Such a concentration, of course, would have
been highly favorable to manufactures. Beverley, who
indulged a spirit of exaggeration to some extent, writing
towards the end of the seventeenth century, when the
English had been in possession of the country for nearly
a hundred years, reproached the inhabitants not only for
their slovenly and wasteful system of agriculture and their
neglect of many products to which the soil was adapted,
but also for their strong indisposition to supply themselves
by local manufactures with a larger proportion of those
articles which they had, from the foundation of the first
settlement, been obtaining by importation from, abroad.
The Virginians, he said, sheared their sheep only to cool

398 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

them. There was little thought of the clothing into which
the fleeces could have been converted. The head covering
of the Virginians was made of fur which had been sent
to England from the Colony for working up, and then
returned in the shape of hats to be sold or bartered at a
great advance on the cost of the raw material. A large
quantity of the hides which were a part of the annual pro-
duction of every plantation were thrown on the ground to
rot, or were used to protect goods from the rain dropping
through the leaky roofs. Some of the hides, it is true,
were manufactured into shoes, but the process was so
carelessly and rudely performed that the planters bought
English shoes in preference whenever the opportunity
presented itself. Although the forests of Virginia fur-
nished varieties of woods which in delicacy of grain
and durability of fibre were peculiarly suitable for the
manufacture of every kind of woodenware, neverthe-
less the inhabitants of the Colony persisted in obtain-
ing from England their chairs, tables, stools, chests,
boxes, cart-wheels, and even their bowls and birchen
brooms.^

Regarded from a general point of view, these criticisms
of Beverley were not unjust. Virginia in the seventeenth
century was not, in the modern sense of the word, a seat
of manufactures, but it would be grossly inaccurate to say
that manufactures in the ruder forms were totally un-
known. Such a condition of affairs would have been
wdiolly inconsistent with the peculiar spirit of the planta-
tion system, that system which tended to create in each
estate its own source of supplies as far as a crude skill
could create it. English manufactures began in the
home ; there were few dwelling-houses in the rural parts
of England in the seventeenth century which did not con-
1 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 239.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 399

tain a spinning-wheel or a weaver's frame. ^ The busy
hum of the one and the measured rattle of the other were
heard in nearly every household. How natural then to
expect to find in the homes of the Virginians of the same
period — men and women, who, in many instances, had
been born in the mother country and who clung to the
habits as well as to the traditions of their race — rude
appliances for the plainest manufactures to cover their
simplest material needs. That such appliances were to be
found there, will be shown in the proper place.

Let us first inquii-e into the condition of the mechanical
trades in the Colony. The white mechanics of Virginia
in the seventeenth century can be divided into two dis-
tinct classes. First, there were those who as servants
were bound under the terms of their contracts for a cer-
tain number of years ; secondly, freemen who were skilled
in the use of tools and who were prepared to perform any
work pertaining to their trade which was given them to
do. The class of indented tradesmen was the largest of
the two, being recruited from abroad or from among the
natives of the soil. There were not, however, as strong
motives to influence the handicraftsmen of England to
emigrate to Virginia as servants, as existed in the case of
its agricultural laborers. The English mechanic belonged
to an order enjoying special privileges by the force of
legislation ; he was carefully trained in his particular
craft b}^ an apprenticeship that admitted him into a close
corporation, the number of the members of which was
not sufficiently great to diminish seriously his chance of
olitaining work, by raising up many competitors. If he
was skilled in his calling and sober in his conduct, there
was little danger of his being thrown upon the parish

1 Rogers' ffistory of Agriculture and Prices in England, Vol. V,
pp. 551, 587.

400 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

even for a partial support. The great body of the labor-
ing classes of England in the seventeenth century, what-
ever their grade or pursuit, very naturally preferred to
remain in their native country, and when they emigrated
to America, they were perhaps moved by a desire to
escape from intolerable evils as much as by a hope of
securing an independence.

Virginia was well known to be essentially an agricul-
tural community. In seeking a new home there, the
English agricultural laborer expected to change his skies
but not his employment. On the other hand, to the Eng-
lish mechanic who was able to support his family by fol-
lowing his trade, the advantages offered by the Colony
were comparatively small unless he wished to adopt agri-
cultural pursuits. There were mechanics in the mother
country, however, who were either discontented with the
degree of success which they had won, or who were
swayed by a restless disposition or tempted by liberal
offers. To such men, Virginia extended the prospect of an
improved condition of life and they readily assented to pro-
posals to try their fortunes there, first as handicraftsmen
bound to service by indentures, and after the expiration
of their terms, as planters and handicraftsmen combined.

The necessity of introducing mechanics into the Colony
was recognized from its foundation. Among the band
of men who made the voyage to Virginia in 1607, there
were four carpenters, two bricklayers, a blacksmith, and
a mason. 1 The persons who were sent over in the First
Supply included a cooper and a blacksmith. ^ Fourteen
artisans were imported in the Second Supply. From
time to time, the Company issued advertisements for the
purpose of securing members of the different trades. In
one of these public papers, there were enumerated brick-

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 94. - Ibid., p. 108.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 401

makers, bricklayers, masons, wrights for water and iron
mills, founders, makers of edge tools, shipwrights, car-
penters, ealkers, coopers, tanners, shoemakers, and tile-
makers.^ Previous to the departure of Gates and Dale
from England, a broadside was published, in Avhich special
inducements were offered to carpenters, smiths, coopers,
tanners, shoemakers, shipwrights, and brickmen, among
others, to emigrate to Virginia as a part of the expedi-
tion to set out at an early day.^ In the account of the
population in 1616, the only tradesmen referred to were
smiths and carpenters, indicating that either the advertise-
ments had not been generally successful in persuading Eng-
lish artisans to settle in the Colony, or if representatives
of the different crafts had gone over, a great majority had
been absorbed in the body of the agricultural laborers, there
being no field for the employment of their skill.^

ArgoU seems to have been disposed in the early part of
his administration to adopt measures to promote the wel-
fare of the trades ; all mechanics were relieved by him
from the operation of the provision that the tenant should
cultivate two acres in grain under penalty of forfeiting
their crops, and of being reduced to slavery in the public
service.* In the instructions received by Yeardley on
taking charge of affairs in 1619, he was directed to allot
to every tradesman who decided to follow his handicraft
in preference to engaging in husbandry, a tract of four
acres. This area of ground, upon which a dwelling-house

1 Tradesmen to be sent to Virginia, Brown's Genesis of the United
States, p. 409. It is stated tliat wlien Smitli witlidrew from the Colony
in 1609, there was but one carpenter left among the settlers. See Wo7'ks
of Capt. John Smith, p. 486.

2 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 445.

^ Rolfe's Relation, see Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 107.
The "etc." in the text of the Relation may include the other artisans.
•* Randolph MSS., vol. Ill, p. 143.

VOL. II. —2 D

402 ECONOMIC HISTOEY OF VIKGINIA

was to be erected, was to be conveyed in fee simple, sub-
ject to a quit-rent of four pence. ^ In a petition drawn
by the First Assembly which met in Virginia, for presen-
tation to the Company in England, it was urged that
steps should be taken to dispatch workingmen to the
Colony who should be competent to erect the projected
college building, an indication that there were few me-
chanics among its population at this time.^ In compliance
with this request apparently, a committee appointed by a
Quarter Court, sitting in London in this year, recommended
that smiths, carpenters, bricklayers, brickmakers, and pot-
ters should be transported to Virginia to be set down on
the lands assigned to the college. ^ That the number of
the mechanics still remained unequal to the demand for
their services is shown by the letter, addressed to the
Company in the winter of 1622 by the Governor and
Council, stating that it had been decided to erect an
inn at Jamestown for the accommodation of persons who
had just arrived, but that it was first necessary to secure
from England, carpenters, brickmakers, and bricklayers.
There was, the colonial authorities declared, a great lack
of such useful tradesmen, although all persons engaged in
these pursuits were remunerated at a generous rate.* A
few months subsequent to the transmission of this letter,
Leonard Hudson, a carpenter, accompanied by five appren-

1 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. II, p. 160. In
1619, Rolfe expressed regret that there were at that time no carpenters in
Virginia to make carts and ploughs. See Works of Capt. John Smith,
p. 541.

2 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Records of Virginia, State Sen-
ate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 16.

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 12.

* Letter of Governor and Council, January, 1621-22, Neill's Virginia
Company of London, p. 284.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 403

tices, was sent to Virginia hj the East India Company,
which had undertaken to establish an English free school
at Charles City. These mechanics were placed among the
tenants on the college lands, and in a short time four of
them perished from the effect of the change of climate. ^

The necessity of importing mechanics belonging to a
variety of trades did not cease with the existence of the
Company. In 1638, many years after the dissolution of
that organization, when a levy of tobacco was raised for
the purpose of erecting a State House at Jamestown and
putting the fort at Point Comfort in good repair, George
Menefie, a prominent merchant in the Colony, was in-
structed to visit England, and, with a part of the tobacco
procured by the levy, engage men who were skilful in
building such work.^ It was one of the most serious
drawbacks attending the employment of the indented
servant, that, save in the case of youths, the term was
too brief to admit of education in a mechanical trade.
Landowners of wealth sought to overcome this difficulty
by instructing their English merchants to forward to Vir-
ginia the mechanics whom they needed. Colonel Byrd
not infrequently directed his correspondents in England
to send him a carpenter, mason, or bricklayer, to take the
place of one whose term was rapidly drawing to a close,
and he always expressed a willingness under these cir-
cumstances to pay a larger sum than was usual in the
instance of the ordinary servant.^ Fitzhugh made similar
requests of his English merchants, declaring, like Colonel
Byrd, his readiness to go to extraordinary expense to ob-
tain English mechanics, on the ground that he lost heavily

1 Neill's Vircjinia Company of London, pp. 309, 374.

2 These instructions will be found in British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. X, No. 5.

3 Letters of William Byrd, Feb. 25, 1G83 ; May 31, 1G80.

404 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

in employing the tradesmen who were to be obtained in
the Colony. 1

The indentures which the planters and these imported
mechanics entered into doubtless differed from each other
in some details, although substantially alike. The agree-
ment by which the services of Gerrard Hawthorne were
secured was probably a typical one in its principal features.
Hawthorne bound himself by covenant to serve Thomas
Vause in Virginia for a period of three years, in consider-
ation of which Vause agreed to pay the charges for the
transportation of Hawthorne to the Colony, and to allow
him after his arrival there sufficient food, lodging, and
clothing ; to provide him with tools for working in the
combined trades of carpenter, joiner, and cooper ; and at
no time to make an assignment of him to other persons
without his own consent. On the expiration of his term,
Vause was required to make over to him a full title to the
bedding, furniture, and tools which had been in his use in
the course of his service, and also to convey to him a tract
of land equal to fifty acres in area. Moreover, for the
length of twelve months succeeding the close of his period
of service, Vause agreed to continue to supply Hawthorne
with food, shelter, apparel, and all other necessaries. ^ The

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, June 7, 1681. In 1673, a carpenter,
who was under articles of indenture to Samuel Trevillian of York County,
was valued at eighteen pounds sterling. See Records of York County,
vol. 1671-1694, p. 59, Va. State Library.

2 Records of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 366, Va. State Library.
The length of the terms for which these imported mechanics were en-
gaged varied widely in different cases. John Graves of Brackley, North-
amptonshire, entered into a contract with Richard Kitchener of York
County for four years only. At the end of that time, he was to own his
working tools. Graves was forty years of age. See Ibid., vol. 1694-
1702, p. 238, Va. State Library. William Birch of London bound himself
to Mr. Edward Wyrly of the same city, with a view to his transportation
to Virginia, for seven years. See Ihid., vol. 1657-1662, p. 356, Va. State
Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 405

liberal provisions of this indenture reveal not only the great
anxiety of the planters to secure English mechanics, bvit
also the difficulty of obtaining them without extending
tlie most powerful inducements.

The English mechanic emigrating to the Colony under
indenture often brought tools with him which had been
bought at tlie request of the planter in Virginia by the
merchant acting as intermediary. ^ The constantly recur-
ring necessity of having to supply the place of a white
mechanic whose term was drawing to a close by importing
a successor, must have had an important influence in
causing the' planters to have their slaves instructed in
trades. The county records of the seventeenth century
reveal the presence of many negro mechanics in the
Colony during that period, this being especially the case
Avith carpenters and coopers. This was what might be
expected. The slave was inferior in skill, but the ordinary
mechanical needs of the plantation did not demand the
liighest aptitude. The fact that the African was a ser-
vant for life was an advantage covering many deficiencies;
nevertheless, it is significant that large slaveholders like
Colonel Byrd and Colonel Fitzhugh should have gone to
the inconvenience and expense of importing English hand-
icraftsmen who were skilful in the very trades in which
it is certain that several of the negroes belonging to these
planters had been specially trained. It shows the low esti-
mate in which the planters held the knowledge of their
slaves regarding the higher branches of mechanical work.^

1 LeMers of WilUam Fitzhugh, June 7, 1G81.

- Among the slaves of the first Robert Beverley was a negro carpenter
valued at thirty pounds sterling (see inventory on file at Middlesex C. H.).
John Carter, Jr., of Lancaster owned a negro cooper (see Records of
Lancaster County, original vol. 1G90-1709, p. 24). Ralph Wormeley of
Middlesex County owned both a negro cooper and a negro carpenter,
each being valued at thirty-five pounds sterling {Records of Middlesex

406 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

In the class of meclianics who were serving terms under
the provisions of formal indentures, there must be in-
cluded the numerous orphans and indigent children who
were bound out to acquire proficiency in crafts.

In 1656, it was provided that all orphans whose estates
were not sufficient to meet the expense of their free educa-
tion, or whose kinsmen or friends were unable to furnish
them support, should be instructed in the mysteries of
manual pursuits until they reached their majority. Six-
teen years later, the county courts were empowered to
apprentice the sons of poor men to tradesmen up to the
age of twenty-one, and to bind the daughters over to em-
ployment suited to their sex until their eighteenth year.
The church wardens of the different parishes were di-
rected to present the names of the children who were thus
to be placed with a view to their training in some manual
art.i

There are many instances in the county records to show
that the provisions of these laws were carried into prac-
tice. In 1684, Samuel Bond was apprenticed to Benjamin
Brock of York, a skilful carpenter, with a view to acquir-
ing a knowledge of the trade of a wheelwright and turner.
His term was to continue for five years. The mutual obli-
gations assumed are worthy of enumeration. Bond agreed
to keep inviolate the secrets of his master ; to obey him
with strictness and cheerfulness ; to inflict upon him no
injury, and to warn him of impending harm if observed ;
to commit no waste in using his property, and to refrain
from lending any portion of it to other persons. Bond

County, original vol. 1608-1713, p. 130). In his will, Thomas Wythe of
Elizabeth City County directed that his " negi'o Tom doe tann as many
hides yearlely as shall be needfuU for both familys, that is, my mother's
and mine." See Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1099, p. 35,
Va. State Library.

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 416 ; vol. II, p. 298.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 407

further agreed not to play cards or dice, or to haunt
taverns, or to absent himself by day or night from his
employment, or to commit fornication. The master, on
the other hand, agreed to instruct his apprentice in the
special art of a wheelwright or turner ; to furnish him with
the quantity of meat and drink which he needed ; to sup-
ply him with clothing and lodging, and to allow him wash-
ing ; and finally, the master bound himself not to withdraw
the apprentice from the pursuit of the trade in which he
wished to become proficient, in order to compel him to
take part in any branch of plantation work except the cul-
tivation of maize, and only in this when the demand for
his assistance was pressing. At the end of the term pre-
scribed, Brock agreed to give to his former apprentice a
full set of wheelwright tools, a coat made of kersey, a serge
suit, a new hat, two pairs of shoes and stockings, one shirt
of dowlas, and two of blue linen. ^ In the event that the
master died before the expiration of the apprenticeship,
Bond was to be required to serve only one-half of his
time, provided the death of Brock had occurred previous
to this point in the course of his term. If this was the
case, Bond was to receive only the clothing which he had
in his possession when the apprenticeship began. If Brock
died after Bond had served more than one-half of his term,
the latter was to be allowed not only the same amount of
clothing as was in his possession when he came to his mas-
ter, but also the full set of tools used by wheelwrights.

1 This was the common form of the English indenture for apprentices.
The terms of the agreement between Bond and Brock were identical with
those of the indenture given in a note in the second chapter on Servants.
Beverley, referring to these provisions, states that " besides their trade
and schooling, the masters are generally obliged to give them (i.e. the
apprentices) at their freedom, cattle, tools or other things, to the value
of 5, 6, or 10.£ according to the age of the child when bound, over and above
the usual quantity of corn and clothes." Ilintort/ of Virginia, p. 209.

408 ECONOMIC HISTOllY OF VIRGINIA

It was a notable part of the obligation assumed by Brock,
reference to which has been deferred until the last, that
he bound himself to instruct Bond in the art of writing,
and to teach him the science of arithmetic, a clause in the
indenture showing the enlightened interest of the court in
the welfare of the apprentice as well as their desire to pro-
mote the cause of education. ^

It is not necessary to give in detail the contents of other
indentures. Points of variance alone may be touched
upon. In articles of agreement between Mrs. Phoebe
Heale and John Keene of York, the son of the former
was required to remain in the service of Keene until he
reached his twenty-first birthday. Not until he was eigh-
teen years of age, however, was he to begin to learn the
mysteries of the trade of cooper, which was followed by
Keene. Upon the attainment of his sixteenth birthday,
the apprentice was to receive from his master a heifer, the
increase of which was to be carefully preserved until his
term of service was ended, when delivery was to be made.^

Thomas Best of Elizabeth City was assigned by his mas-
ter in 1694 to a blacksmith for a period of seven years,
with a view to his instruction as a smith, at the end of
which time he could claim a full set of the tools used
in that trade, and the amount of grain and quantity of
clothing allowed by the custom of the Colony.^ In 1694,

^ Becords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, pp. 60, 61, Va. State
Library. lu the articles by which Valentine Harvey, who was seven
years of age, was bound as an apprentice to Daniel Wyld, the latter
agreed to keep Harvey at school three or four years, provided there was
a schoolmaster in the parish. See Becords of York County, vol. 1064-
1672, p. 201, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 84, Va. State Library.

3 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 30, Va. State
Library. For the terms of another apprenticeship to a blacksmith, see
Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1680-1692, p. 28.

MANUFACTUKED SUPPLIES 409

also, a child five years of age was apprenticed in the
same county for a period of sixteen j-ears. One of the
duties to be performed on the part of the master was
to teach his j^outhful servant so that he should be able to
read a chapter in the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and the
Ten Commandments. 1 Failure on the part of the master
to perform his agreement subjected him to the penalty
of a fine of five hundred pounds of tobacco. If he was
delinquent in delivering the suit of clothing, and the
grain which custom required of him, the same fine was
imposed.^

If cases arose of children of the poorest classes showing
vicious propensities which their parents made no effort
to restrain or repress, the local courts stepped in and
required them to be placed in the care of competent and
industrious handicraftsmen. In 1G94, there were three
children in Elizabeth City County, the offspring of a
woman of bad character, who had become notorious for
their criminal conduct, the more remarkable as they were
still very young. They were inveterate thieves, finding
a refuge in the recesses of the woods. One of the three
was a girl. The court placed her in the service of a
planter and his wife who resided in the county, requiring
them to provide her with food, clothing, and lodging and
also to instruct her sufficiently to enable her to read a
chapter in the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten
Commandments. One of the two remaining children was
bound at first to a merchant, but on his requesting that
he should be transferred to a shoemaker, the court con-

' Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. .SO, Va. State
Library. This was tlie usual provision of such an indenture. There is
no reason to believe that it was not strictly carried out.

-Rid., p. 139; Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 144, Va.
State Librarj'.

410 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

sented to conform to his wishes. ^ In some instances, when
the apprentice was still of tender years, his master was
compelled by the court to put him to school, if a school-
master was to be found in the parish.^

The class of free mechanics in Virginia was an impor-
tant one in spite of its small number. As late as 1680, it is
stated that a handicraftsman was regarded by the planters
with the highest esteem and courted with their utmost
art. 2 That the supply of free tradesmen was unequal to
the demand for their services was not to be attributed to
any lack of encouragement on the part of the colonial
administration. All of the early Governors received in-
structions to promote the welfare of those engaged in the
various mechanical pursuits, and to restrain any disposition
on their part to abandon these pursuits with a view to
producing tobacco. In 1621, Wyatt was directed to take
steps to have young men trained as mechanics and to
compel them to devote themselves to their business in
preference to tobacco culture.* Ten years later, the
statute 1 James I, C. 6, which relates especially to
mechanics, was declared by the General Assembly to be
in force in the Colony, and at the same time, an appeal
was made to the Privy Council in England to encourage

1 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. .38, 42, Va.
State Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1G72, p. 202, Va. State Library.

3 The following passage in support of this statement is from the Life of
Thomas Hellier, p. 28 : " Many who were of mean education and obscure
original beggars in their native soil, have by their drudging industry since
their arrival in this country attained to something of estate. The gross
fancies of such cloudy-pated persons will by reason of their invincible
ignorance misplace their esteem on a tailor, smith, shoemaker or the
like necessary handicraftsmen, courting such a one with their utmost
art and skill, when a scholar shall but be condemned and happily set at
nought. ' '

* Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 115.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 411

the emigration of tradesmen to Virginia. ^ The evil still
remained that after the tradesmen arrived, they persisted
in forsaking the pursuits in which they had been educated
and expending their labor in the production of tobacco.
So injurious were the effects of this irresistible inclina-
tion, that in 1633, brickmakers, carpenters, joiners, sawyers,
and turners were expressly forbidden to take part in any
form of tillage and the commanders were required to en-
force the regulation. To encourage the tradesmen to rely
upon their business alone for a livelihood, they were to
receive remuneration for the work which they had done
for the different planters, out of the tobacco that under
the Inspection Act of this year was to be brought to the
several stores to be erected for its safe-keeping. 2 In the
instructions given to Wyatt in 1638-39 and to Berkeley
in 1641, all the handicraftsmen in the Colony Avere to be
drawn into towns. The object of this policy Avas to
remove them from temptation to plant on their own
account.^

No statute passed by the Assembly during the century
shows more clearly the public desire to advance the pros-
perity of those engaged in mechanical pursuits, than the
enactment of 1661-62, exempting tradesmen and handi-
craftsmen from the payment of levies.* This provision
extended to all in their employment, subject, however, to
the one condition that both the master and servant should
devote their time to their trades and should not be inter-
ested either in or out of the Colony, directly or indirectly,

1 General Court Orders, March 6, 1631, Bobinson Transcripts, p. 97.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 208.

3 Instructions to Wyatt, Colonial Entry Book, vol. 79, pp. 219-236 ;
SainsJnmj Abstracts for 1638, p. 48, Va. State Library ; Instructions to
Berkeley, McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 386, § 26, Va. State Library.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 85 ; see Ibid., p. 307. This was ten
years later.

412 ECONOMIC HISTOilY OF VIKGINIA

in the culture of tobacco. Levies for the support of the
Church were not included in the exemption. Relief of
any one class in the community from taxation, however
important that class might be considered, to encourage its
members in their business, was an experiment which could
not be carried out without imposing hardships on the indi-
viduals of other classes ; this was foreseen when the law
was passed, for it was ordered that the statute should only
remain in operation for three years. This length of time,
it was expected, would give ample opportunity to test its
merits. It was suspended before the first year had ex-
pired, the suspension to continue during five years, this
provision having been suggested entirely by the poverty of
the times. 1 It would seem that handicraftsmen at the end
of this period were again exempted from the payment
of levies by the revival of the same law. This is the
inference to be drawn from the statute of 1672, passed
ten years after the temporary revocation of the original
privilege. Only youths below the age of sixteen who
were really apprentices were excepted from the operation
of this Act, which placed all mechanics upon the footing
of the ordinary citizen in the matter of taxation, whatever
usage prevailed to the contrary. ^ That it should have
been necessary to pass such a law, is an indication that the
artisans had previously been relieved from taxation on the
ground that the interests of the community demanded
that they should be especially encouraged in the pursuit
of their trades.

The celebrated Act of Cohabitation, adopted in 1680,
provided for the restoration of all the special privileges
which in the past had been granted for the encouragement
of the mechanical trades. It not only relieved the per-
sons engaged in these trades, who would take up their resi-
1 Heniiig's Statutes, vol. II, p. 179. 2 /^,^Z., p. 307.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 413

dence in the projected towns and forego tobacco culture
altogether, of the burden of the public levies, but also
during a period of five years exemj)ted them in the boun-
daries of their towns from personal arrest and from seizure
of their goods for the payment of debts which they had at
a previous time contracted elsewhere. ^ The most favor-
able legislation, however, was unable to create a large and
prosperous class of mechanics in Virginia, that is to say, a
class of men following the trades, who earned their liveli-
hood and accumulated a competence in these pursuits
alone. It was natural that no body of mechanics resem-
bling those to be found in England arose and flourished in
the Colony. The most hostile influence was x)erhaps the
lack of a metallic currency. It was stated as early as
1626, that the absence of such a currency was a serious
obstruction to the advance in prosperity of the manual
trades.^ A decade later, the same impediment existed to
a still more discouraging degree. Harvey declared in a
letter to Secretary Windebank that mechanics positively
refused to follow their callings because they were com-
pelled, after finishing their work, to wait for their remu-
neration until the crop of tobacco for the year had been
gathered in and cured. In the interval, they complained,
and complained justly, that they wanted the means with
which to support themselves and their families.^ To
modify this condition, a law was passed prescribing that
all pieces of eight should be current as equal in value to
five shillings, irrespective of the metal entering into their

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 476.

2 Governor and Council to Privy Council, British State Papers, Colo-
nial, vol. IV, No. 10; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1626, p. 143, Va. State
Library.

3 Governor Harvey to Secretary Windebank, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. IX, No. 17 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1626, p. 161, Va.
State Library.

414 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

composition. It was soon seen that this provision, which
sought to give a fictitious value to coin intrinsically com-
paratively worthless, was more calculated to injure than
to promote the welfare of the tradesmen. It was, there-
fore, determined that only silver pieces of eight should be
accepted as worth five shillings and to pass current at
that valuation.!

The influences which operated to depress the general
condition of the trades remained in force down to 1700,
and appeared to be just as strong at the end as in the
middle of the century. The free mechanic was still com-
pelled to pass from plantation to plantation in search of
work, and a large part of his time was absorbed in these
journeys, owing to the great distance intervening between
the different estates. He was still remunerated for his
services, not in coin, but in the staple of the country,
which could be delivered only at one season in the year.
In performing his tasks, therefore, he either expected
payment to be made many months subsequently, when a
crop not yet in the ground or only recently planted had
been gathered in, granting that it escaped the numerous
casualties to which tobacco was subject while in the
hill, or he received his fee in small parcels of that com-
modity, which it was both inconvenient and expensive
to transport to .his own home.^ Having obtained these
parcels, there was no market in which he could use them
in the purchase of supplies of meal and bread. He could
not always rely upon his neighbors to buy them. He
was, therefore, almost forced to produce grain and breed
live stock, even if he did not cultivate tobacco. This is
only one of the many instances in the economic history of
Virginia in the seventeenth century, of the obstructive

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 397.

2 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 8.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 415

influence exercised upon tlie material prosperity of all
classes in the Colony by the enforced use of its staple
crop as a substitute for coin. That commodity was not
only an agricultural product, but also a currency in which
every form of payment was made, public or private. It
was not unnatural that many persons Avho had been
trained in the mechanical arts should have preferred to
obtain tobacco, not by doing mechanical work, but by
tilling the ground, an impulse which was encouraged by
the abundance of lands still in a condition of the highest
fertility.

In the early history of Virginia, an attempt was made
to establish a general tariff of rates, in conformity with
which the free mechanics were to receive remuneration
for their labor. Thus it was provided by the first Assem-
bly, which met in 1619, that a person engaged in a
mechanical pursuit should be paid according to the qual-
ity of his trade, and if the amount of his wages was not
prescribed by the terms of a contract, its determination
was to be left to the officers of the district in which the
work was performed. ^ In 1623, the rewards of mechan-
ics varied from three to four pounds of tobacco a day in
addition to an allowance of food.^ This was extraordi-
nary, as each pound of merchantable tobacco at this time
was equal in value to two and a half and even to three
shillings. It is not surprising that George Sandys should
have declared that the compulsory rates of wages in Vir-
ginia during the period of his treasurership imposed a
burden almost intolerable. Twenty years subsequent to
this utterance, the scale of the remuneration received by
handicraftsmen employed in the erection of Forts Charles

1 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Becords of Virginia, State Senate
Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 22.

2 Letter of George Sandys, Neill's Virginia I'e<z(s<a, p. 123.

416 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and James was, for the work of each day, seven pounds
of tobacco. The value of a pound at this time did not
exceed two pence. The daily wages of these mechanics
were one shilling and a few pence, perhaps equal to about
one-fourth of the modern English pound sterling, no
insignificant return for the industry of a few hours, even
after allowance has been made for the expense incurred
in transporting and selling the tobacco.^ Instances are
found about the middle of the century, and they were
probably not uncommon in every part of it, of the pay-
ment of what was due mechanics for their labor, in the
form of goods or live-stock ; thus in 1647, the court
of York County instructed Joan Trotter to deliver to
Edward Grimes, in return for carpentry work, one pair
of shoes, a green rug, and eight poultry. ^ How large were
the sums in which many of the planters became indebted
to mechanics for tasks completed under terms of con-
tracts is illustrated in the instance of Edward Digges,
against whom John Mead, a member of that class, brought
in an account amounting to three hundred and one pounds
sterling, six shillings and eleven pence, representing in
value perhaps as much as seven thousand five hundred
dollars in our present American currency. ^ The Act
passed in 1662 for the purpose of encouraging the erection
of towns, fixed the wages of the carpenters to be employed
in this work at thirty pounds of tobacco a day, in addition
to rations of food ; brickmakers and bricklayers were to
be paid for each one thousand bricks moulded and laid,
while the remuneration of sawyers was to be measured by
the number of feet included in the timber they supplied.*

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 293, 294.

2 accords of York County, vol. 1638-1648, p. 309, Va. State Library.

3 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 4.
* Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 172.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 417

A clear insight into what was considered at this time to
be a just reward for the services of free mechanics may be
obtained from an order of the General Court with reference
to the fort at Point Comfort. The county of Nansemond
was commanded to supply forty men to take part in its
restoration ; Lower Norfolk was to furnish thirty, Warwick
twenty-five, and Elizabeth City twenty. It is probable
that only a few of them were skilful, as each ship arriving
in the river was required to detail one carpenter for the
work. Whatever the numerical proportion between the
mechanics and ordinary laborers amongst the men im-
pressed into service on this occasion, all received the same
wages, amounting in each instance to twenty pounds of
tobacco. 1 The carpenter of the sloop of war hired by the
authorities of the Colony during the administration of
Culpeper was paid monthly at the rate of one pound and
fifteen shillings.^ That this was smaller than the sum
generally allowed a mechanic in that situation is shown by
the wages of Edward Denerell, who served in the same ca-
pacity on board of the Edmond and ElizahetJi of Hampton
River ; in this instance, it was fifty-five shillings a month.^

1 General Court Orders, March 29, 1G66, Bohinson Transcripts, pp. 112,
113.

■' McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 198, Va. State Library.

3 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 437, Va. State
Library. The following bill will give some notion as to the charges made
by coopers and carpenters about 1655 : " Col. Yardley deb? for works
done for his proper use, viz. for building a dwelling house of 20 foote
square with a lodging chamber and a buttery and a chimnye, all neces-
saries belonging to a dwelling house, 600 lbs. tobo ; for settinge up of six
tunne of caske, the one halfe coming to me by condition, 300 lbs. ; for
making too bulke heads in his sloope, 40 lbs. ; for the making of a cradle
to shale corn, 90 lbs. ; mending of one cart putting a new bottoms in it
and ye sides, 50 lbs. ; mending of 5 hogsheads newheaded and hooped and
the making of a new hogshead, 65 lbs. ; making of one newe churne, 60 lbs. ;
making of two newe milking pailes and a paile for ye sloope, 75 lbs.; for
ye hooping of 4 Duty anchors and making new coverlids, 48 lbs. ; for the

418 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

While it would be erroneous to say that as a general
class the free mechanics of Virginia in the seventeenth
century enjoyed even a moderate degree of prosperity from
the mere pursuit of their trades, there are nevertheless
many evidences that numerous individuals belonging to
this class were men in possession of considerable wealth,
derived, there is reason to think, as much from the cultiva-
tion of tobacco on their own account, as from the accumula-
tion of the proceeds of their mechanical work in the service
of their neighbors.^ The trade of the blacksmith was perhaps
the least remunerative of all the callings of that general
character, since, the roads being level and free from stones,
it was the habit of the planters to allow their horses to go
unshod. Iron was also in that age a costly metal, and as a
rule quite probably was to be found only in small quan-
tities in the smithies.^ The blacksmith seems to have per-
formed sometimes the functions of a silversmith ; he was
also often engaged in mending guns which had been
broken or injured in barrel or lock, or in restoring the
temper of damaged swords.^ In 1691, a complaint was

hooping of an English hogshead and making a new coverlid unto it for a
powdering tub, 30 lbs.; cutting of an English tearce in two and new
hooping of them and putting new eares to them, 24 lbs.; mending of a
cheese presse, 25 lbs. ; setting up two shelves of plank in the house, 10 lbs."
Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1651-1656, f. p. 180.

1 Joseph Hollowel of Lower Norfolk County, in two deeds of convey-
ance, refers to himself in one as a planter, in the other, as a carpenter.
These deeds will be found together in Becords of Lower Norfolk County,
original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 182. See, also, an instance in Ibid., original
vol. 1675-1686, p. 199. Another instance is that of John Gibson of Lan-
caster County, original vol. 1666-1682, pp. 340, 433.

2 The following is an enumeration of the contents of one of the black-
smiths' shops belonging to Ralph Wormeley: " 1000 lbs. trash iron, 1 pr.
bellowes, 1 anvil, 1 back iron, 4 great vices, 4 hand vices, screwplates,
taps, files, hammers, tongs." Records of Middlesex County, original vol.
1698-1713, p. 126.

3 Records of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1609, pp. 20, 152, Va.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 419

offered to the General Court by the commander of the
militia that the men of this craft had refused to put the
muskets of the soldiers in condition for use because they
were to receive in return tobacco alone. ^

At times, it was found necessary to regulate the ac-
counts of blacksmiths, owing to their exorbitant charges ;
in reality, it is probable that they made their fees large in
order to insure themselves against the fluctuations in the
price of tobacco, the medium in which they were paid.^
The county records of the period show that persons in this
calling were able to acquire small estates. There is an in-
stance in Rappahannock County in 1671 in which a black-
smith appears as a purchaser of a tract of land; in a second
instance, another disposed of one part of his plantation for
four thousand pounds of tobacco, and at a later time, of a
second part for two thousand.^ Among the blacksmiths
of York who were owners of small areas of ground were
Owen Davies, James Derbyshire, and William Rice. In
168-1, Walter Binford of Lower Norfolk County purchased
a tract of land covering seventy acres.* Isaac Coding, in
1677, bought a plantation of one hundred acres in Middle-
sex.^ Daniel Flaher held one hundred and fifty acres in
Lancaster, and Joseph Depre two hundred and sixt}'.^ In

State Library. Fitzhugh, writing to a correspondent in Bristol, whom he
had instructed to purchase certain pieces of silver, directs liim to leave the
plate untouched, as he had in his own service in Virginia a man who was
" a singular good engraver." Letters of William Fitzhvrjh, July 21, 1698.
The inventory of the Sheets personal estate included a full set of goldsmith's
tools. See Records of Henrico County, original vol. 1C97-1704, p. 208.

1 Records of York County, vol. 1600-1G94, p. 141, Va. State Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 11.

" Records of Rappahannock County, vol. 1671-1070, p. 232, Va. State
Library.

* Records of Loicer Norfolk County, original vol. 1075-1686, f . p. 170.

5 Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1673-1685, p. 109.

^ Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1687-1700, p. 64 ; Ibid.,
original vol. 1606-1082, p. 222.

420 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

1653, John Williams acquired two hundred acres in North-
ampton County. Charles Parker was still more prosper-
ous ; at his death, he devised not only several extensive
tracts of land, but also a water-mill.^

The trade of a cooper was far more profitable, the field
offered for the exercise of skill being a wider one. In the
account which has been given of the agricultural develop-
ment of the Colony from decade to decade, the importance
of this calling appears clearly from the number of regula-
tions adopted by the General Assembly for its govern-
ment. There were few more important articles connected
with the economy of the plantation than the hogsheads in
which the tobacco, when cured, was stored for shipment.
It was the business of the cooper to manufacture these
receptacles, an occupation in which a handsome remunera-
tion was assured owing to the abundance of the work ; it
is not surprising, therefore, to discover that this class of
tradesmen were in possession of considerable tracts of real
estate and owned many kinds of personalty. Numerous
patents to public lands were obtained by them. In 1657
alone, two were issued, aggi'egating seven hundred and fifty
acres. In the following year, William Strowder, a cooper,
obtained a patent to five hundred acres, and in the course
of the same year, Richard White, also a cooper, was one of
three persons who acquired a grant to a thousand on the
basis of the transportation of twenty servants.^ Additional
instances derived from the same source might be offered.

In 1667, Edward Palmer, a cooper, is found in posses-
sion of a plantation in York.^ About the same time, John
Dangerfield, who belonged to the same calling, disposed of

1 Eecords of Northampton County, original vol. 1657-1666, orders
Jan. 27, 1653 ; Ibid., original vol. 1689-1698, p. 270.

2 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1655-1664, pp. 144, 195, 283, 332.

3 Eecords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 191, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 421

the half interest which he held in a very large tract lying
in Rappahannock.^ There are later instances in the his-
tory of this county of sales and purchases of land by men
in this pursuit ranging from one hundred to five hundred
acres. The record of the trade in Elizabeth City County is
substantially the same. In one instance in that county, a
cooper paid as much as seventy pounds sterling for a tract
of two hundred and fifty acres, a sum equivalent in value to
nearly eighteen hundred dollars in our modern currency.^

Coopers enjoyed unusual prosperity in Lower Norfolk.
Dennis Dalby, in that county, was in 1674 in possession of
six hundred acres.^ In 1689, Henry Snagle owned in one
body seven hundred and fifty acquired by patent. Thomas
Salley is found in 1685 selling five hundred acres. In 1690,
Robert Butt purchased six hundred and fifty.* Moses
Prescott, Humphrey Smith, Thomas Miller, and George
Ballentine were also among the members of the same call-
ing who were owners of land.

The personal property bequeathed by coopers was often
of considerable value measured by the accumulations of
the seventeenth century. John Keene died in York
County in 1693, having left to each of his three sons five
head of cattle and fifteen pounds sterling ; and the same
number of cattle and the same amount of money were
bequeathed by him to each of his daughters.^

1 Beconls of Bappahannock County, vol. 1668-1672, p. 239, Va. State
Library.

2 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 358, Va. State
Library.

3 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1G66-1675, p. 186.

4 Ibid., original vol. 1686-1695, f. pp. 108, 129 ; Ibid., original vol. 1675-
1686, f. p. 205.

5 Becords of York County, vol. 1C90-1694, p. 316, Va. State Library.
A cooper's inventory will be found in Becords of York Cuunlj, vol. 1690-
169-4, p. 358, Va. State Library.

422 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

There are many indications that the estates of men who
followed this branch of mechanics were not derived from
the pursuit of their calling alone ; they were not only
engaged in planting tobacco, but also in some cases in
selling merchandise in the character of factors. In 1693,
Messrs. Perry and Lane, who were deeply interested in the
trade of Virginia, made to a cooper a consignment of goods
valued at forty-two pounds sterling, representing a great
variety of articles, such as ironware, spices, drugs, liquors,
hats, stockings, shoes, and cloths.^

Persons engaged in the pursuit of carpentry in general
combined with it the trades of wheelwright, turner, and
joiner. There are numerous evidences that many of these
persons were thrifty and prosperous, most probably because
they were able to unite other callings with the coordinate
branches of mechanics which they followed. Among the
first grants recorded in the Colony was one to Richard
Tree, to whom fifty acres were in 1623 assigned by patent
at Jamestown. Nor was this the only case at this early
period in which a tradesman of this kind secured tracts of
public land either in fee simple or by lease for a long term
of years. Towards the middle of the century, however, the
patent books show that but few patents were obtained
either by carpenters or any other handicraftsmen. ^ During
many years previous to 1648, John Hewitt was the only
mechanic who appeared as a patentee.^ In 1755, John
Motley of Wicocomico, a carpenter, acquired a grant in
Westmoreland County of six hundred acres on the basis
of the transportation of twelve persons.^ Subsequent

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 361, Va. State Library.

2 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, Tree, p. 19. For other instances,
see Ihid., pp. 11, 98. Thomas Passmore, a carpenter, also held property in
Jamestown. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. I, p. 89.

3 Va. Land Patents, 1643-1651, p. 1-38.
•i Ihid., 1652-1G55, p. 349.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 423

instances, in which patents to tracts of considerable extent
were secured by persons in this pursuit, might be given.

Still more numerous were the private conveyances in
which a carpenter was either the grantor or the grantee.
Only the most important can be mentioned. In 1669,
John Waggener purchased a large tract in Rappahannock
County in consideration of fifty-five hundred pounds of
tobacco, and in a short time he transferred the property
to Henry Lucas, who was a member of the same calling.
John Williams of the same county was the owner of eigh-
teen hundred acres.^ The most prominent and prosperous
of all the carpenters of Rappahannock was Thomas Madi-
son, whose name appears with great frequency in the records
as a seller or purchaser of land ;^ at his death, he had to his
credit in England seventy pounds sterling, a proof that the
means which he had accumulated had been gained, at least
in part, by shipments of tobacco to the mother country .^

John Ladd of Lower Norfolk in 1672 disposed of four
hundred acres, and, a few years later, Mathew Causwell
of the same county, of two hundred. In 1685, Robert
Cartwright became the purchaser of five hundred acres.

In the succeeding decade, Augustin Whiddon bequeathed
several large tracts to members of his family.* Thomas

1 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1668-1672, pp. 141, 142. See,
also, Ihid., pp. 59, 81, 143 ; Williams, IbitU vol. 1656-1664, p. 88 ; also
vol. 1656-1664, p. 124 ; vol. 1680-1688, p. 95 ; vol. 1677-1682, pp. 146,
364, Va. State Library.

^ Ihid., vol. 1668-1672, pp. 48, 59, 215, Va. State Library; Ibid.,
original vol. 1656-1664, p. 149.

'^ Ibid., vol. 1664-1673, p. 78, Va. State Library. Madison is sometimes
referred to as "ship carpenter."

^ Becords of Lower Norfolk County, Ladd, original vol. 1666-1675,
p. 121 ; Causwell, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 181 ; Cartwright, Ibid.,
f. p. 205; Whiddon, original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 190. See, also. Ibid.,
original vol. 1051-1656, f. p. 133 ; original vol. 1095-1703, p. 80 ; original
vol. 1686-1095, f. pp. 87, 116, 104; original vol. 1666-1675, pp. 148, 167,

424 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Smith, a carpenter of York, on one occasion bought several
hundred acres of Joseph Croshaw.^ On another, WiUiam
Foster of Northampton sold fifteen Imndred,^ and Robert
Wilson of Accomac, twelve hundred.^

Powers of attorney to persons who resided at a great
distance from the grantors, entry of which in the county
records so often occurs in the case of carpenters, indicates
that many members of this calling, occasionally at least,
traded in tobacco, for such powers were not always con-
ferred for the collection of what was due them for mechan-
ical work. That men of this craft belonged to a class
enjoying unusual advantages is shown by the fact that
many could sign their names, an accomplishment which
was by no means general at that day.*

A full set of the tools used by carpenters probably
averaged about one pound sterling and ten shillings in
value ; the appraisement of a combined set of carpenter's,
cooper's, and joiner's tools amounted in many cases to
four pounds sterling.^ The number and variety owned
by some members of these trades at this time would seem
to show that they not uncommonly retained several appren-
tices and servants in their employment, and that they were
often in a position to undertake contracts for building on
an important scale. A single instance may be mentioned.
An inventory of the personal estate of Mr. John Cumber

182. The inventory of a carpenter's personal estate in this county will
be found in original vol. 1051-1656, f. p. 205.

1 Becords of York Connty, vol. 1057-1662, p. 193, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1608-1686, p. 1.

^ Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1076-1090, p. 9. See, also,
Becords of Middlesex Connty, original vol. 1079-1094, pp. 82, 388 ; Becords
of Lancaster County, original vol. 1687-1700, pp. 10, 70.

* Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1008-1672, p, 240, Va. State
Library; Becords of York County, vol. 1684-1087, p. 119, Va. State Library.

® Becords of Henrico County, original vol. 1097-1704, p. 135.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 425

of Henrico was presented in court in 1679.1 It reveals
the fact that his tools were at the time of his death lying
at four different places in the county. It will be interest-
ing to enumerate them. At Mr. Cox's, there were one jack-
plane, one smoothing plane, and four small plough planes,
two files, two bramble bits, one keyhole saw, a quarter-inch
and a one and a half inch gouge, a half-inch and a quar-
ter-inch short auger, a one-half inch and one-quarter inch
heading chisel, two mortising chisels, one gimlet, one pair
of compasses, one pair of piercers, two hand-irons for a
turning lathe, a chalk line, two wooden gauges one-half
foot square, and one tool chest.

At Mr. Radford's, there were one hand-saw, a pocket-
roll, a jack and line, one two-inch and one half-inch auger,
two smoothing and eight small narrow planes, one hold-
fast, one hammer, a bench hook, four small pincer bits,
a file for a hand-saw, one inch and one half-inch heading
chisel, a broad turning chisel, one paring and one half-inch
ordinary chisel, two gimlets, a quarter-inch gouge, and a
small pincer bit, two small squares, one gauge, one bow-saw,
and one pair of compasses.

At Falling Creek JNIill, there were two broad axes, three
adzes, four augers, three chisels, one whip and three hand-
saws, one foreplane, two hammers, one pair of compasses,
one chalk line, and two files. At Mr. John Hudlesy's,
there were two chisels and one small jack-plane.

In a general way, it may be said, that the equipment of
the carpenter for his trade comprised hand, cross-cut, and
bramble saws, half-inch augers, auger bits, chisels, claw-
hammers, files, narrow and broad axes, adzes, hatchets,
wedges, smoothing planes, rabbit planes, foreplanes, creas-
ing and half-inch round planes, parting and turning gouges,
and nail-boxes. Leather doublets doubtless formed a part

1 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1G77-1G9-2, p. 105, Ya. State Library.

426 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of the outfit of the carpenter as well as of the black-
smith.

The shipwright was as prominent as the carpenter in
the economic system of the Colony. The resources of
Virginia for ship-building were recognized at the time of
the earliest exploration of the country, the height, girth,
and variety of the trees being one of the most remarkable
features of the valleys adjacent to the streams. Smith
commented on the fine quality of the timber for the con-
struction of vessels, and he referred to it as a source of
wealth if properly used.^ Experienced shipwrights who
visited the Colony at an early period in its history, stated
that nowhere in the world could more suitable material
for ship-building be found than that which abounded
everywhere in its forests ; ^ this fact was so well known
in England by report, that it was proposed that the Eng-
lish Government should draw its supply for the construc-
tion of vessels entirely from Virginia, and on account of
the inexhaustible quantity obtainable there, that the Eng-
lish navy should be annually increased by the building of
two ships of a thousand tons burden for a period of ten
years. Not only would the defences of the mother country
be strengthened in this way, but its small area of woods
would not be further reduced.^ It was calculated that
Holland and England expended one million dollars annu-
ally in the purchase of ship timber.*

The first vessel of Virginian construction was built
previous to 1611, and was equal in weight to twelve or

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 64.

2 " Relation of the Present State of Virginia by William Perse," Neill's
Virginia Carolortim, p. 60.

3 Captain Bailey's Project, Domestic Corr. James I, vol. 189, No. 36;
Sainsbnry Abstracts for 1623, p. 129, Va. State Library.

* New Britain, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 268. See
original Nova Britannia, p. 16, Porce's Historical Tracts, vol. I.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 427

thirteen tons.^ In 1613, the construction of a much heavier
ship was ordered at Point Comfort by Argoll, who had just
returned from a voyage on the tributaries of the Chesa-
peake, where he had obtained from the Indians a large
cargo of grain for the use of the colonists. Leaving the
vessel, which was in the course of building, in the hands
of his carpenters, he made a second voyage to the Potomac.
When he again arrived at Point Comfort, he pressed for-
ward the building of his frigate, and upon its completion,
dispatched it under the command of one of his subordinate
officers to Cape Charles, where its crew were to engage
in catching fish for the people at Jamestown. He also
caused a fishing boat to be constructed at the Point as
soon as the vessel was finished. The plank which entered
into this ship and boat was obtained on the spot, the timber
having been cut down and prepared by members of Argoll's
company.2

It was claimed by those who condemned the manner in
which the Colony's affairs were managed by Sir Thomas
Smyth, that at the end of his term, about 1618, there was
in Virginia only one ancient frigate, which really belonged
to the Somers Isles, a shallop, a ship-boat, and two small
boats which were the property of private individuals.^
This statement was emphatically denied by members of
the Warwick faction, who declared, to the contrary, that
in the course of this administration, barges, shallops, pin-
naces, and frigates had been built, an assertion not sup-
ported by the facts.* In 1620, when the new government
had taken a firm hold, and were pursuing a most energetic

^ Molina's TJeport of the Voyage to Virginia, Spanish Archives, Brown's
Genesis of the United States, p. 520.

2 Argoll to Hawes, Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 644.

3 Discourse of the Old Company, British State Papers, Colonial, vol.
Ill, No. 40 ; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. I, p. 157.

* Ituyal Hist. MSS. C'ummissiou, Eighth lieport, Appx., p. 45.

428 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and enlightened policy, John Wood, who, as has been
previously stated, had been interested in the transportation
of cattle to the Colony, petitioned the Quarter Court that
he should be permitted to have the use of a certain shore
on Elizabeth River, covered with fine timber, and also
abutting on water sufficiently deep to allow the safe
launching of vessels. He proposed to build ships for the
service of the Company, and his proposal was received with
sufficient favor by the latter to be recommended to the
consideration of the Governor and Council in Virginia.^
These authorities are found entreating the Company in
the following year to carry out the project which that
body now had under advisement, of sending shipwrights
to the Colony for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants
with vessels of various sorts, the need of which, the Gov-
ernor and Council urged, prevented the prosecution of
further discovery in Virginia or the extension of trade
with the Indians, or an easy passage from one settlement
to another.^

Many members of the Company now consented to ad-
vance a sum of money for the purpose of defraying the
expense of securing and forwarding skilful workingmen.
Lord Southampton and Sir Edwin Sandys contributing
for this purpose two hundred pounds apiece.^ A short time
after these subscriptions were obtained, in order to facilitate
and hasten the labors of the shipwrights and forty carpen-
ters who were to be sent out from England in the follow-
ing spring, the Governor and Council in Virginia were
directed by a Quarter Court to cut down many white and

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol, I,
p. 88.

2 Letter from Governor and Council in Virginia, January, 1621-22,
Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 285.

^ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 141.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 429

black oaks, and in November and December to strip the
bark from others then standing. The Company was under
the impression that the ironworks and the saw-mills which
had been erected were in full operation, and relied upon
both to furnish the shipwrights with the iron and plank
which would be required. If the furnaces and mills were
still incomplete, then the workmen could accomplish noth-
ing.i In conformity with the previous announcement.
Captain Barwick and twenty-five ship-carpenters were dis-
patched to Virginia in the following spring. They were
to be employed only in the trade in which they had been
educated.^ The band were commended to the particular
care of Treasurer Sandys, who was instructed to seat them
upon a tract of land containing twelve hundred acres of
fine timber, and to allow them the use of four oxen for
dragging the logs from the forest to the spot where they
would carry on their work. Captain Barwick and his car-
penters established themselves at Jamestown. At first,
they were employed in erecting houses to afford shelter
for themselves, and afterwards were engaged in building
shallops. It was in shallops, rather than in ships, that the
tobacco was transported, for the latter were too heavy in
draught to make their way into the creeks. It was not
long before six or seven of the carpenters had succumbed
to the deadly influences of the climate. Captain Barwick
also perished. This appears to have caused their mission
to end in failure.^

The Company had been very solicitous for the erection
of saw-mills in Virginia with a view to house and ship
building ; in the Second Supply, sent to Viiginia under

1 Company's Letter, August, 1G21, Neill's Virginia Company of Lon-
don, p. 239.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 571.

3 Boyal Hist. 3ISS. Commission, Eighth Report, Appx., p. 39.

430 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the command of Newport, Poles and Dutchmen had been
included for the purpose, among others, of erecting mills
of this character.! In 1619, there were forwarded both men
and material with the same object in view, and at a later
date trained workmen were procured from Hamburg.^ No
saw-mill had been erected in England previous to 1633.^
In the course of January, 1622, information was received
from Virginia of an interview between a prominent citizen
of that Colony and a Dutch captain who had proposed to
introduce a master-w^orkman from Holland for the con-
struction of saw-mills propelled by the wind. It is not
stated that this project was carried out.* Wyatt was
enjoined to erect mills for sawing, and in doing so, to choose
sites immediately adjacent to the Falls of the Powhatan, in
order that the lumber might be brought thither by means
of water.^ With these facilities for obtaining planks and
with a vast abundance of the finest timber, one or more
ships Avere probably constructed during the treasurership
of Sandys for the use of the Colony, as four at that time
were in the possession of the settlers, a very small number
it is true, but sufficient for the needs of the inhabitants.
The number of boats built in the course of the same
period is calculated to have been ten times larger than
during the administration of Sir Thomas Smyth.^

It is probable that some of the most skilful boatwrights

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 434.

2 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, pp. 67,
75, 84. These Dutchmen were in a short time permitted to return, the
scheme having been found impracticable. See Boyal Hist. 2ISS. Com-
mission, Eighth Report, Appx., p. 45.

3 Bishop's History of American Manufactures, vol. I, p. 93.

* Letter of Governor and Council in Virginia, January, 1621-22, Neill's
Virginia Company of London, p. 286.

5 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 115.

6 Discourse of the Old Company, British State Papers, Colonial, vol.
Ill, No. 40; Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. I, p- 159-

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 431

in the Colony perished in the great massacre of 1622. It
would be inferred from a letter of George Sandys to John
Ferrer, written after that terrible event, that there were
few if any persons then in Virginia who could lay claim
to special knowledge of ship-building. It seems that a
pinnace had been driven ashore at Elizabeth City, where
it was lying in the state of a wreck. Sandys instructed
an agent to make an examination of her condition and
to proceed Avith his men to repair the damage which
she had suffered. None of these, as well as others who
were ordered to give assistance, deserved, in the opinion
of Sandys, the name of shipwright. As the Treasurer was
a public official who commanded the best resources of the
Colony in the way of handicraftsmen, it seems unlikely
that he would be content to leave the restoration of the
pinnace to its original state in the hands of unskilful
mechanics, if it had been in his power to obtain at James-
town, or at any other settlement in Virginia, men w^ho
were thoroughly competent to make the repairs required, i
In the interval between the revocation of the charter
of the Company and the appointment of Harvey to the
governorship, ship-building , in Virginia apparently fell
into complete decay. In 1632, Harvey informed the Lord
Commissioners in England that recently some beginning
had been made in this industry in the Colony. ^ Saw-
mills at least had been erected to furnish the plank. ^
This beginning must have been followed up with little
energy, for only three years later, Devries, on arriving at
Jamestown and discovering that his ship was in a leaky

1 See Sandys to Ferrer, British State Papers, Colonial, vol. II, No. 27 ;
Sainsbnnj Abstracts fur 1623, p. 89, Va. State Library.

- Governor Harvey to Lords Commissioners, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. VI, No. 54; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1632, p. 34, Va.
State Library.

^ Boyal Hist. 3ISS. Commission, Fourth Report, Appx., pp. 2P0, 291.

432 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

condition, found it necessary to sail to the New Nether-
lands for repairs. It would seem that there were no
facilities or appliances in Virginia for mending his vessel,
so that he could not escape the expense of a long voyage. ^
It is interesting to observe that it was at this period that
Peter de Licques of Picardie presented his petition to the
King. The privilege which he solicited was that of pro-
viding, in return for a certain remuneration, sufficient tim-
ber from the forests of the Colony during a course of five
years, to maintain five of the royal ships in as fine a con-
dition as when they were first completed, and on the ter-
mination of the five years, to build annually for the Royal
Navy, one vessel of five hundred tons burden. This he
was to continue to do until permission was witlidrawn.^

In the interval of fifteen years between the departure of
Devries in 1632, and the middle of the century, there are
many evidences that numerous barks, pinnaces, and row-
boats, both large and small, were built in Virginia. This
activity sprang from an absolute necessity, as the planta-
tions, with a few exceptions, were situated on rivers and
creeks, and could only be reached by passing from one to
the other by means of th& water highway.^ No ships,
however, were constructed. This was a cause of serious
concern to many persons in the Colony, and as a remedy,
Secretary Kemp recommended in a letter to Secretary
Windebank in England, that a custom-house should be
established in Virginia with a view to encouraging the
building of large vessels.^ The industry required more

1 Devries' Voyages from Holland to America, p. 108.

2 Petition of Peter de Licques, British State Papers, vol. VI, No. 42 ;
IIcDonald Papers, vol. II, p. 108, Va. State Library.

3 New Description of Virginia, p. 6, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.
^ British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 9 ; Sainsbiiry Abstracts

for 1637, p. 154, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 433

active promotion than was to be obtained through such a
pLm. In the session of 1656, all ships owned exclusively
by persons residing in the Colony were exempted from
the payment of castle duties.^ A still more valuable
exception in their favor was granted in 1659. By a law
passed in the course of that year, the merchants, ship-
owners, and masters engaged in the colonial trade were
ordered, whenever the cargo was not destined for the
English dominions in Europe, to pay upon each hogshead
of tobacco a duty of ten shillings in the form of coin, bills
of exchange, or commodities at an advance of twenty-five
per cent on the original cost. All persons transporting
their cargoes in bottoms which were the property of Vir-
ginians alone, whether native or resident, were relieved from
the burden of this imposition.^ It was stated in the text
of the statute that one of its objects was to induce the
planters to purchase an interest in vessels. It is obvious
that if it had had this effect, it would also have created to
some extent a tendency to build ships in Virginia. In
March, 1661, fifty pounds of tobacco a ton were granted to
every person in the Colony who should construct a vessel
large enough to make a sea voyage.^ More detailed pro-
visions were subsequently added. If the burden of the
ship exceeded fifty tons but fell short of one hundred,
the builder was to receive one hundred pounds of tobacco
a ton, and if in excess of one hundred tons, the reward
was to be two hundred pounds of tobacco a ton. These
public encouragements were made conditional upon the
assurance by the builder of the vessel that he would not
part with his ownership until three years had passed,
unless he disposed of his interest to a citizen of Virginia.*

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 402.

- Ibid., p. 537 ; also from the duty of two shillings ; see Ibid., vol. II,
p. 136. 3 Ibid., vol. II, p. 122. ^ /^f,?,, p. 178.

434 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

These laws had the effect of promoting ship-building in
Virginia to some extent. In 1655, Secretary Ludwell
wrote to Secretary Bennett that there had been recently
constructed in the Colony several small vessels which
could safely make voyages along the coast, and he ex-
pressed the hope that ships able to take part in tlie carry-
ing trade between Virginia and England would soon be
built. This hope was realized.^ In 1667, only two years
subsequently to Secretary Ludwell's communication, the
King in Council was petitioned by the widow of Captain
Whitty, with a view of obtaining a license for the return
to Jamestown of the ship America, owned by her and
other Virginians, the America having been built in
the Colony by her husband.^ This vessel carried thirty
or forty guns, and in workmanship and appearance was
so admirable an example of its class, that expectations
were raised in England that the Virginians might soon
become as skilful in ship-building as the English them-
selves were.^ The tonnage of the America was prob-
ably very moderate, if any reliance can be placed on the
general statement of Berkelc}" in 1671. In answer to one
of the interrogatories of the English Commissioners, sent
him in the course of that year, as to the condition of the
Colony, he declared that at no time had its people owned
more than two vessels, and that the burden of these vessels
did not exceed twenty tons. He went so far as to say
that no ships, either large or small, were built in Virginia.
This sweeping assertion, however, like his famous state-

1 British State Papers, Colonial Papers; Sainshimj Abstracts for
1665, p. 72, Va. State Library.

2 British State Papers, Colonial Papers, April 19, 1G67 ; Sainshunj
Abstracts for 1667, p. 112, Va. State Library. A General Court order,
June 6, 1666, refers to the building of a ship. See Bobinson Transcripts,
p. 251. Was this the America ?

3 William and Mary College Quarterly, April, 1893, p. 198.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 435

ment as to the absence of free schools, was not supported
by fact.^ For refutation, reference has only to be made
to the vessel of Captain Whitty, the manner in which
it was constructed liaving, as we have seen, excited ad-
miration even in England. Berkeley attributed the indif-
ference of the Virginians of his time to ship-building to
the discouraging influences of the Navigation Acts. In
the opinion of others, it was due to the absence of a school
like the Newfoundland fisheries in which the colonists
might have been trained in seamanship.^ It is really to be
ascribed to the circumstance that there was produced in
Virginia a commodity which attracted to its rivers the ves-
sels, first of England and Holland, the two gi'eat maritime
nations of that age, and after the passage of the last Navi-
gation Act, of England alone. No necessity was imposed
on them, as on the people of New England, to build nu-
merous ships by means of which the products of an un-
kindly soil and climate having no market in England and
Holland, might be exchanged for tobacco, rum, and su-
gar, commodities which in their turn might elsewhere be
exchanged for clothing and other articles of use. The
buyers of the only staple of Virginia sought its planta-
tions. The Virginian planter did not, like the New Eng-
land farmer, have to seek the foreign purchaser. It
followed most naturally that even when the population
and wealth of the Colony had increased to a remarkable
degree, ship-building did not become an important interest.
There was no lack of barges, shallops, and sloops, the
only vessels which the planters required for the move-
ment of their crops. Every facility was at hand for the
construction of boats of this character at the time that

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 516.

2 The patentees of Southaniptou Hundred enjoyed the right to send
ships to the Newfoundland fisheries.

436 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Berkeley gave his written testimony in reply to the in-
quiries of the commission. A statement is to be found in
the records of York County for the year 1672, presenting
in an itemized form the cost of building a sloop. The
total amount was four thousand four hundred and sixty-
seven pounds of tobacco, which, at the rate of two pence
a pound, represented an expense, perhaps, of about nine
hundred and twenty-five dollars. In the construction of
this sloop, the various parts were supplied by different
persons.

The plank necessary, namely, three hundred and ninety
feet, was furnished by Richard Meakins, the rigging by Mr.
Newell, the sail by Captain Shepherd, and the rudder irons
by Mr. Williams. It seems to have required four months
to complete it, the charges for the food furnished the car-
penter running over that length of time ; a cask of cider
was also consumed by him during the same period.^

That the desire to promote ship-building in the Colony
still remained in spite of the poor results commented upon
by Berkeley, appears from the Act passed in the winter of
1677, relieving the owners of a vessel built in Virginia and
belonging to Virginians alone, of all duties except those
imposed upon shipmasters in making entry, in clearing,
and in securing license to trade, or in giving bond to sail
directly to England.^ By this Act, it will be observed
that it was not sufficient that the vessel should simply
belong to inhabitants of the Colony. It was distinctly

1 Records of York County, vol. 1071-1694, p. 25, Va. State Library.
Sloops were sufficiently large to hold as many as fifty hogsheads. See
Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 44. A shallop
probably could not with safety carry more than twelve hogsheads. See
Ibid., same page. The average cost of such a boat was about twenty- two
pounds sterling. Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699,
p. 489, Va. State Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 387.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 437

stated that the privilege of exemption which had been
enjoyed by such persons was withdrawn from them. In
October of the same year, it was urged by the owners
of the Planters' Adventure^ among whom was Nathaniel
Bacon, Sr., all of his associates being residents of Virginia,
that their ship should continue to be exempt from the
castle duty and the duty of two shillings a hogshead, as it
would be unjust to apply the repeal of the provision to
vessels which had for many years enjoyed its benefit.^

So active as well as so judicious were the steps now taken
in Virginia to encourage the building of ships, that the
apprehensions of the English Government were aroused.
In 1680, Culpeper was ordered to annul the laws exempt-
ing the Virginian owners of vessels constructed in the
Colony from the payment of duty on exported tobacco, to-
gether witli the duty imposed upon incoming ships for the
maintenance of the fort.^ The ground upon which this
command was based was the injustice of granting special
privileges to shipowners in Virginia which were not
enjo3-ed by owners of English vessels trading in Virginian
waters. INIoreover, the encouragement held out by the
Virginian laws to Virginian ship-builders, would, in the
judgment of the English authorities, impair the success of
the Navigation Acts by creating a Virginian fleet which
would be able to transport the tobacco to the mother
country without the assistance of English vessels. It
would also, it was said at a later date, tempt the owners of

1 Order of General Assembly, British State Papers, Colonial Papers ;
Saiusbury Abstracts for 1677, p. 68, Va. State Library. This petition
was carried to the Committee for Trade and Plantations, but was denied.
Colonial Entry Book, No. 106, p. 305 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1681,
p. 121, Va. State Library.

2 Letter from Privy Council to Culpeper, Oct. 14, 1680, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. Ixxx ; McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. oO-i, Va. State
Library.

438 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

English ships to enter them as belonging to Virginians.^
The order in council condemning these laws showed rather
premature apprehension, since John Page and others, in
a petition presented by them to Lord Culpeper in 1681,
stated that there were but two ships in the Colony which
were owned by citizens of Virginia and had been built in
its confines.^ The English Government apparently did
not oppose the construction in the Colony of sea-going ves-
sels, provided that their cargoes were made subject to the
usual duties.^ In 1697, ships were constructed in Virginia
by Bristol merchants who were influenced to build there
by a consideration not only of the fine quality of the tim-
ber, but also of the comparatively small cost entailed in
the performance of the work.*

In the course of the same decade, several vessels were
built by Virginians for their own use. Among them was
a ship of forty-five tons, constructed for John West of
Accomac, which was staunch enough to make a sea voy-
age.^ John Goddin of the same county also built a vessel,

1 Minute of a Committee for Trade and Plantations, British State
Papers, Colonial Entry Book, No. 100, p. 305 ; Sainslniry Abstracts for
1681, p. 121, Va. State Library.

2 These petitioners meant entirely owned. See petition of the elder
Nathaniel Bacon et al., British State Papers, Colonial Papers; Sains-
bury Abstracts for 1681, p. 122, Va. State Library.

3 Minutes of a Committee for Trade, British State Papers, Colonial
Entry Book, No. 106; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1681, p. 121, Va. State
Library.

4 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1G97, p. 4.
There is preserved in the records of York County (vol. 1694-1702, p. 272,
Va. State Library), a document, to -which Philip Popplestone, merchant,
Charles Harford, linen draper, Edward Harford and James Peters, soap
makers, all of Bristol, were parties, appointing William Jones, of that
city, master of a ship in which the signers of the document "were or
were to be part owners," the ship having been "built or to be built in
Virginia."

^ Records of Accomac County, original vol. 1G90-1G9G, f. p. 121.

MAKUFACTUEED SUPPLIES 439

which was twenty-five tons in burden.^ In 1695, a ship
known as the Virginian was constructed by Daniel Parke,
but on its first passage to England was found to be defec-
tive in its steerage.2

Among the principal shipwrights in Virginia in the
seventeenth century were John Meredith, John and Robert
Pritchard of Lancaster, Abraham Elliott, Richard Yates,
and John Ealfridge of Lower Norfolk. Meredith was in
possession of large tracts of land which he had acquired by
purchase or by original grant.-^ The estate of John Pritch-
ard was appraised at four hundred and eighty-two pounds
sterling, exclusive of all tobacco due him. This last item
amounted to 101,307 pounds."^ Ealfridge devised a planta-
tion to each of his two sons.^ The estate of Richard Yates
was valuable in personal and real property alike. Elliott
was an owner of lands both in Virginia and England.^

1 Bandolph 31 88., vol. Ill, p. 304.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1702, p. 228, Va. State Library.

3 For one tract, 560 acres, obtained by patent, see Becords of Lan-
caster County, original vol. 1652-1657, p. 134. A sale of 600 acres by
Meredith is recorded in Ibid., original vol. 1655-1702, p. 19. In 1652, he
contracts to build a sloop and a small boat in payment of a debt, due by
him, for 47,632 lbs. of tobacco. See Ibid., original vol. 1652-1657, p. 25.

* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 19.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. pp. 16,
50. Ealfridge was also at one time in possession of a half interest in
a mill ; see Ibid., original vol. 1666-1675, p. 170.

6 Becords of Loicer Norfolk County, original vol. 1666-1675, p. 9.
Among other shipwrights residing in Lower Norfolk County, who were
owners of land, were Nicholas Wise, John Creekman, Isaac Seaborne,
John Tucker, Quintillian Gutterick, Roger Houseden, Edward Wilder ; in
Rappahannock, Simon Miller, who, on one occasion, bought 625 acres in
one tract (Becords of Bappahannock County, 1668-1672, p. 139, Va. State
Library), John Griffin ; in Lancaster, William Edwards ; in Northampton,
AV alter Price, Christopher Stribliug ; and in Elizabeth City, George and
Jacob Walker.

CHAPTER XVIII

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES: DOMESTIC — continued

It was in glass-making that the first step was taken in
Virginia to promote manufactures in the wider sense of
the word. The explanation of this fact lay in the neces-
sity of providing a large quantity of beads for the use
of the settlers in their trade with the Indian natives.
There was doubtless a subordinate expectation that Vir-
ginia might be able to export raw glass for the English
market. One of the most serious obstructions in England
to all forms of manufacture involving the consumption of
much fuel, was the growing scarcity of wood in conse-
quence of the heavy inroads on the forests. This was
felt most severely in the manufacture of iron, but it was
also felt in glass-making. The abundance of trees in Vir-
ginia was thought to be a notable element of success in
the manufacture of this latter commodity in the Colony.
When Newport arrived in Virginia in the fall of 1608,^
he was accompanied by a number of Dutch and Poles,
who formed a part of the Second Supply, the object for
which they had been sent out being, among other things,
to make a trial of glass. A glass-house was accordingly
erected about a mile from Jamestown.^ The first material
of this kind was made during the absence of Newport on
his excursion into the country of the Monocans, and it
was made under the supervision of Smith ; when New-

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 434. 2 jjji^^ p. 407.

440

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 441

port returned to England, he carried with him as a portion
of his cargo, the specimens of ghiss which had been thus
produced.^ In the spring of 1609, the manufacture was
continued with success.^ During the memorable Starv-
ing Time following on the departure of Smith from the
Colony, the work which had been in progress at the
glass-house must have ceased entirely. Nothing more
was heard of glass manufacture in Virginia until 1621,
in which year there was an effort to reestablish it on a
permanent footing.

In 1621, the Company entered into a contract with
Captain William Norton, who had decided to emigrate
to the Colony with his family, under the terms of which
he was to carry over with him four Italians skilled in
glass-making, and also two servants, the expense of trans-
porting these six persons to be borne by him, while the
Company was to furnish their general equipment. In the
course of three months after his arrival in Virginia, Nor-
ton was required to erect a house for the manufacture of
every variety of glass. The privilege of exclusive manu-
facture was to be enjoyed by him during a period of seven
years, and he was expected to give not only his personal
superintendence to the work, but also to instruct appren-
tices in the art of making glass. As a reward for this,
he was to receive one-fifth of the moiety of the product
reserved for the Company and was to be' allowed in addi-
tion, four hundred acres of the public land. It was ex-
pressly provided that no beads were to be retained hy
Norton, for these could only be useful as a medium of
exchange in the Indian trade, in whicli the Company
alone had the right to engage.^

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 441. 2 //>,y7., p. 471.

^ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 130.

442 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The contract with Captain Norton was reconsidered at
a Quarter Court convened at a hiter date. Attention had
in the meanwhile been called to the fact that the Com-
pany was at this time in no condition to undergo the
heavy charge of supplying eleven persons — the number
constituting the band of Captain Norton — with apparel,
tools, victuals, and other necessaries, and of transporting
them to Virginia. It appeared, moreover, that the cal-
culation of the expense in the beginning had not been
sufficiently accurate. It was decided to recommend the
proposed manufacture to private subscribers, the Com-
pany, however, to advance one-fourth of the amount re-
quired to set the enterprise on a firm basis. The patent
to be granted was to continue in force for a period of
seven years, and was to include the right to make not
only glass but also soda, as a necessar}'^ ingredient of that
substance. Fifty acres were to be allowed for every per-
son sent over by the private adventurers. A roll was
drawn at the same court at which the proposition was
broached, and received the signatures of the proposed in-
vestors.^ Having b}^ this means secured the fund needed
for the equipment of himself and his followers for the
enterprise in which they were to engage, and to meet
the charges for the ocean passage, Captain Norton, his
family, and workingmen set sail for Virginia. There lie
succeeded in erecting a glass furnace. Unfortunately,
Norton died, and the Treasurer, Sandys, who had been
appointed to take his place in that event,^ came in charge
of the works but soon met with disappointment, as he
found it difficult to obtain the proper variety of sand. On
one occasion, he sent a shallop to the Falls for a supply,

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virrjinia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 138.

- Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 236.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 443

but none adapted to his purpose was found there. He
was successful in obtaining the kind which he required
from the banks at Cape Henry, but its qualit}^ proved
so unsatisfactory that Sandys wrote to Ferrer in Eng-
hviid requesting him to forward two or three hogsheads
of the proper material.^ The difficulty did not lie only
in securing the sand. The Italian workmen employed in
the glass-house were wholly intractable ; Sandys, in the
violence of his anger and disgust, went so far as to say
" that a more damned crew hell never vomited," a char-
acter which their actions justified his attributing to them.^
The Italians were anxious to return to Europe, and in
order to effect their release, not only proceeded so slowly
in their work as to accomplish nothing of consequence,
but cracked the furnace by striking it with a crowbaro
Their studied efforts to obtain permission to leave the
country by breaking up the industry in which they were
engaged ended in failure, for among those who were
enumerated in the census of 1624-25 as residing on the
Treasurer's lands, were Bernardo and Vicenso, two of the
four Italians who had come out with Norton in 1(321.^

There is no positive evidence to show for how great
a leno'th of time the sflass-house remained in existence

1 Sandys to Ferrer, April 8, 1623, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. II, No. 27 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1623, p. 90, Va. State Library.

2 George Sandys to Ferrer, Boyal Hist. MSS. Commission, Eighth
Report, Appx., 39.

^ Muster of tlie Inhabitants of Virginia, 1624-2-5, Hotten's Original
Lists of Emigrants, 1600-1700, p. 235. At the time the census of 1623
"was taken there were five persons living at the glass-house. British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. Ill, No. 2 ; Colonial Becords of Virginia, State
Senate Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 47. Governor Butler, who arrived in Vir-
ginia not long after the massacre took place, states that at the time of
his visit the glass furnace was "at a stay and in small hopes." See his
Unmasking of Virginia, Absti'acts of Proceedings of the Virginia Com-
pany of London, vol. II, p. 172.

444 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

after the massacre. The land upon which it was sit-
uated was conveyed during Governor Harvey's adminis-
tration to Anthony Coleman. By the heirs of Coleman,
it was assigned to John Senior; from Senior it passed
first to John Pitchett, then to John Phipps and William
Harris. Phipps having conveyed his interest to Harris,
Harris in turn conveyed the tract to Colonel Francis Mor-
rison. This was done in September, 1655. ^

One of the strongest motives that led to the coloniza-
tion of Virginia by the English was the expectation that
it would supj)ly the mother country with a vast quantity
of raw iron. The demand for manufactured iron was
rapidly increasing in England, and yet the ability of the
English furnaces to meet this demand was declining on
account of the diminishing quantity of fuel furnished by
the local forests. It was entirely just that the English
people should look forward to the day when they might
be forced to rely on foreign nations for their supply of a
material which was coming rapidly into greater use each
year.2 In 1740, it is calculated that England and Wales
together produced only seventeen thousand tons ; ten
years later, five thousand represented the increase.^ In
1621, the price of a ton of iron was about ten or twelve
pounds sterling, equivalent in purchasing power to two
hundred and fifty dollars.^ Virginia was expected not only
to relieve England of its dangerous and uncertain depend-
ence upon foreign nations for its supply of raw iron, but

1 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1652-1655, p. 367.

2 Rogers' History of Agriculture and Prices in England, vol. V, p. 479.

3 Bishop's History of American Manufactures, vol. I, p. 21.

* In 1630-31 the price was forty-two shillings a hundred- weight. In
the interval between 1671 and 1692, it was thirty-six shillings and two
pence. In 1697, it was thirty-five shillings and eight pence. The average
cost of a ton was £37 18s. lid. See Rogers' History of Agriculture and
Prices in England, vol. V, p. 482.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 445

also to furnish that commodity at a cheap rate, owing to
the abundance of wood that could be used as fuel in the
manufacture.^ These anticipations were justified b}^ the
numerous indications of the presence of iron ore observed
by the earliest settlers. Smith, whose mind was always
directed to the practical and sober aspects of his surround-
ings, was among the first to call attention to the adapta-
bility of the new country to iron manufacture as one of
the most promising of its sources of wealth, and in order
to show the substantial ground on which his expectations
were based, he forwarded to England during his presidency
two barrels of stones rich in tracings of iron ore.^ In 1609,
Captain Newport transported a large quantity of the same
kind of ore to the mother country on his return in the
course of that year. So excellent was the metal extracted
from it, amounting to sixteen or seventeen tons, that it
was purchased by the East India Company, according to
whose statement it proved more satisfactory than any iron,
procured from other countries, which they had as yet
used.3 The metal was sold to that Corporation at the rate
of four pounds sterling a ton.

The earliest attempt to manufacture iron in Virginia, if
reliance can be placed on the testimony of Don Maguel,
a Spanish witness, was made previous to 1610. Already
in the course of the first three years following the founda-
tion of the settlement at Jamestown, machinery had been
erected by the English settlers to work the iron mines.*

1 It was stated in the Instructions to Governor "Wyatt, 1621, that the
iron works then in the course of erection were "the greatest hope and
expectation of the Colony." Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 110.

2 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 444.

3 Strachey's Historie of Travaile in Virginia, p. 132.

* Keport of Francis Maguel, IGIO, Spanish Archives, Brown's Genesis
of the United States, p. 398. The existence of iron ore near the Falls
was, it is to be inferred from a passage in Strachey, known to Dale :

446 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The adventurers of Soutliampton Hundred were perhaps
the first who undertook to manufacture iron in the Colony
in a systematic way. The circumstances in which this
attempt had its origin were peculiar. In 1619, some un-
known person contributed five hundred and fifty pounds
sterling for the conversion of Indian children living in the
Colony, and this large sum was deposited in the hands of
the Company to be used for the prescribed purpose in the
manner which seemed to be most advisable. That body
after some deliberation decided to place the money with
the adventurers of Southampton and Martin's Hundreds,
in order that the wishes of the anonymous benefactor
might be carried out, relieving itself thus of the burden of
a very troublesome and perplexing trust. The adventurers
of Martin's Hundred, however, were too shrewd to under-
take the difficult and thankless task ; they declined to
accept their share of the benefaction, on the ostensible
ground that their property in Virginia was in a state of so
much confusion as to render it impossible for them to
expend the fund in the manner desired. The adventurers
of Southampton Hundred were as anxious as the Company
to evade the trust, but being destitute of a plausible excuse
such as that of the adventurers of Martin's Hundred, they
expressed their willingness to add one hundred pounds to
the gift on condition of not being required to assume the
proposed responsibility. Their offer was not accepted,
although to that extent the conversion of Indian children
would have been facilitated. At a meeting held shortly
afterwards, the adventurers of Southampton Hundred

"At the head of the Falls (in the Powhatan) ... on Pembroke side
(i.e. the southern side), Sir Thomas Dale hath mentioned in his letters
to the Lordships of the Counsaile of a goodlye iron mine." See Historie
of Travails into Virginia, p. 132. Was this "goodlye mine" the one
that was afterwards opened on Falling Creek, a stream situated some
miles below the Falls ?

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 447

determined to conform to the wishes of the Company,
but in a manner somewhat different from what was an-
ticipated by the unknown Indian benefactor. Instead of
deciding to use the money directly for the benefit of
Indian children, they concluded to increase the amount
by adding to it a large sum out of their own purse, and to
employ the whole in establishing iron works in Virginia,
the profits of which, ratably to the benefaction, were to be
expended in instructing thirty Indian children in the
doctrines of the Christian Church. Two purposes would
be thus accomplished, one of which would promote the
economic welfare of the colonists, and the other elevate
the moral condition of the heathen.^ A letter was ad-
dressed to Yeardley, who was not only Governor of Vir-
ginia, but also Captain of Southampton Hundred, in which
he was urged to show the utmost care and industry iu
setting the projected works on foot, as upon these works
were fixed the " eyes of God, Angels, and men." Captain
Blewit was dispatched to the Colony to superintend the
manufacture of iron, but, like so many others who went
out to Virginia at this early period, he succumbed to
disease soon after his arrival. This had the effect of
obstructing the proposed industry for a time.^ He had
been accompanied by eighty men. After the death of
Blewit, Mr. John Berkeley, with twenty experienced iron
workers, came to Virginia to reinforce the survivors of
the original band. These additional workmen had been
obtained by Berkeley on condition that the Company
would assume tlie expense of transporting himself, his
son and his three servants. The cost of sending over the
workmen was also defrayed by that Corporation, and they

1 Ab.^tracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
pp. lG2-l(i-4.

2 Ibid., p. 1G4.

448 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

were to be supported at its charge for a period of twelve
months and to remain in its service for the term of seven
years.i The original purpose was to establish three iron
works,^ but only one furnace appears to have been erected,
its site being on Falling Creek, in the present county of
Chesterfield.

It is interesting to find that this spot as a place for
iron-making had already been regarded with great enthu-
siasm by George Sandys, who declared that if Nature
had intentionally prepared it with a view to this special
manufacture, the advantages for that purpose which it
possessed could not have been more remarkable. In
expressing this opinion, he had in mind the circumstance
that there were present in proximity here not only ore
and water, but wood, and stones with which to construct
the furnace.^ A mine was opened and a successful effort
made to work it. The men employed were provided
with food and clothing by the Company, whilst the
adventurers of Southampton Hundred allowed them the
use of five kine.'^ The cost of setting up the iron works
was in 1621 calculated by Sir Edwin Sandys to be four
thousand pounds,'^ but it is stated by other authorities to
have been as much as five thousand.^ According to the as-
sertion of the enemies of the Southampton administration,
the only practical return which the Company obtained for
this enormous outlay was an iron shovel, a pair of tongs,

1 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 123.

^ Ibid., p. 67.

" Relation of Waterhonse, Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 338.

* Company's Letter to Governor and Council of Virginia, Neill's
Virginia Comjmny of London, p. 310.

^ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 122.

^ Ibid., vol. II, p. 148.

MANUFACTUllED SUPPLIES 449

and a bar of iron.^ To such a point of perfection, how-
ever, had the works been brought by this expenditure
of money, that in 1622, it was confidently anticipated
by those in charge that in three months they would be
in a position to forward large quantities of raw iron to
England. Very soon, however, the massacre by the In-
dians brought destruction to the little settlement on
Falling Creek. The tools were destroyed or thrown into
the river by the savages,^ and the workmen, with the
exception of a boy and girl, were killed.

The attack upon the iron works at Falling Creek and
its results, disheartening as they were, did not at the
moment diminish the interest in that undertaking felt
both by the Company in England and by the colonial
authorities. But for the revocation of the charter of the
former, it is highly probable that the works would have
been restored and the manufacture of iron resumed.
After receiving information of the massacre, the Company
instructed the Governor and Council in Virginia to place
the men surviving, who had been connected with the
iron works, in charge of Mr. JNIaurice Berkeley, to be
employed by him elsewhere until the works could be
set in operation. In the meanwhile, a note of what tools
would be needed when the manufacture began the second
time was to be transmitted to England. The Company
declared that it would know no quiet until the works
were again perfected, since they regarded them as abso-

1 Bandolph 3ISS., p. 212.

2 Letter of General Assembly in Reply to the King, March 26, 1G28,
British State Papers, Colonial Papers, vol. IV, No. 45; Sainsbiiry
Abstracts for 1628, p. 178, Va. State Library. Among tlie most inter-
esting relics preserved in the building of the Virginia Historical Society
at Kichmond is some of the slag produced in the Falling Creelv furnace.
It was picked up on the ground nearly two and a half centuries af ler the
destruction of the works.

450 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

lately necessary to the prosperity of the Colony.^ The
colonial officers showed great willingness to respond to
this spirit, and seem to have taken some steps looking
to the restoration of the furnace.

Five years after the massacre, William Capps, who had
a few years before been in correspondence with the War-
wick faction among the members of the Company, being
at that time a resident of the Colony, was sent by the
King to Virginia with a general commission to establish
a number of industries, including the manufacture of
iron.2 The Governor and Council expressed the utmost
readiness to give Capps all the assistance in their power,
but he became involved in trouble very soon, and before
he could put any of his plans in operation, was forced
to leave the country.^ A proposition was made to the
King in 1628 to incorporate a number of persons residing
in England, whose names were subscribed, with special
privileges for manufacturing iron in Virginia. They
petitioned for the exclusive right, during fourteen years,
of producing that commodity in the Colony, and also
sought exemption from customs, subsidies, and other
duties in importing it into England. There is no evidence
that this charter was granted, but the desire to obtain it
indicates that the demand for iron in the mother country

1 Company's Letter to Governor and Council in Virginia, 1622, Neill's
Virginia Company of London, p. 329. In a letter from tlie Company,
dated Aug. 6, 1623, they state that they send over nine men to make iron
by a " blomery." These men v?ere to be assisted by private persons, who
were to receive shares in their profit. If such persons declined to take
any part in it, the tenants of the Company were to be required to give
aid. The iron workers were to be seated at Martin's Hundred, or
"some commodious place." Bandolph 3ISS., vol. Ill, p. 174.

■^ King to Governor and Council of Virginia, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. IV, No. 32; Sainsbury Abstracts for 162 7, p. 164, Va. State
Library.

3 Examinations taken Nov. 2, 1629, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. V, No. 32 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1629, p. 209, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 451

had directed the attention of many enterprising English-
men to Virginia as a place where that material could
be manufactured at a profitable rate. In the same year,
probably in reply to an inquiry from the English Govern-
ment, the Governor and Council state that they had
recently sent ore to England, presumably from Falling
Creek, declaring at the same time, that the cost of restor-
ing the works and importing operatives was too great
to be assumed by the Colony. ^

In 1630, Governor Harvey made a journey to the site
of the old iron Avorks on Falling Creek, with a view to
discovering whether they could be restored. He found
the spot surrounded by a heavy growth of timber sufficient
to supply an abundance of fuel. There was a bold stream
near by, from which water could be procured; and also
a large bed of freestone and numerous outcroppings of
iron ore. As a result of the impressions received on
this visit, he wrote to the authorities in England that
all the conditions of the locality were favorable to the
reestablishment of the works ; he sent over at the same
time two specimens of ore, one of which he had obtained
from the valley of the Upper James, probably near the
Falls of the river, the other from the valley of the Lower.
A few years later, Sir John Zouch and his son seem
to have taken steps to establish iron works in Virginia,^
but the project collapsed on account of the failure of their
partners to come to their assistance.^ The cost of reviving

1 Britii^h State Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 45 ; Sainshury Abstracts
for 1628, p. 178, Va. State Library.

■^ Governor Harvey to Dorchester, Two Letters, British State Papers,
Colonial, Xo. V, April 15, 16:30; May 29, 1030; McDonald Papers,
vol. II, pp. .32, 45, Va. State Library.

^Randolph MSS., vol. Ill, p. 2-32. Sir John stated in his will that
his sou "had lost two hundred and fifty pounds in the iron works and as
much more of my own." William and Mary College Quarterly for April,
1893, p. 196.

452 ECONOMIC HISTOliy OF VIRGINIA

the manufacture of iron in the Colony was so great that
practical interest in it died out for a period of many years.

The author of the New Description! of Virginia^ published
in 1649, recognized the possibilities of iron manufacture
in the Colony. He dwelt at length on the number of
the streams there to furnish water for the works, tlie
amount of the wood to supply fuel, the quantity of
stone suitable for the construction of furnaces, and the
abundance of ore. He declared that works of this kind
would be as valuable as a silver mine, since their product
could be used not only for plantation purposes but also
in building ships, casting ordnance, and making armor
and muskets. There were many laborers in Virginia
whose services could be easily secured, and it would entail
but a small cost to provide for them, since food was plenti-
ful. He stated that it would require only six months to
erect the works, and that the charge for importing skilled
men and the necessary tools ought not to exceed four hun-
dred pounds sterling. The expensiveness of iron manu-
facture in the Colony appears from the suggestion of the
author of the New Description of Virginia, that the under-
takers of a new enterprise, with this object in view, should
give their workmen one-half of the annual product, instead
of paying them definite wages, in case of a successful
issue to their operations ; the scheme would thus be
carried out on the cooperative principle, probably the
first instance in colonial history in which it was proposed
that this principle should be given a practical test.^

In 1657-58, a law was passed by the General Assembly, j
prohibiting the exportation of iron, in addition to hides j
and wool.2 This was expressly intended to apply to old ,
iion only .2 The object of the law, so far as that com- j

1 New Description of Virginia, p. 5, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. 11.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 488. » /5j(^.^ p. 525.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 453

modity was concerned, was to promote the blacksmith's
trade, but as it did not accomplish this among the other
purposes for which it was designed, it was in 1658-59
repealed. In 1661-62, it was again enacted, onl}^ to be
repealed a second time in 1671.1 There is no indication
of the manufacture of iron in Virginia in the period
between the first enactment and the last repeal of this
statute ; in the interval, Berkeley had been instructed
to report on the feasibility of establishing iron works in
the Colony, the King having expressed a determination
to erect these works at his own expense if the ore justified
the great outlc\y necessary.^ Berkeley in his reply dis-
couraged the project on the ground that the quantity of
iron ore in Virginia was not sufficient to keep one mill
going for seven years.^ Clayton, during his visit to the
Colony, inquired into the practicability of carrying on iron
manufacture there, and his conclusions were adverse to the
undertaking. No one there, he wrote, had money enough
to bear the expense of starting and sustaining iron works,
and in view of the great distance rendering personal super-
vision impossible, it would be equally impracticable for a
resident of the mother country to assume the risks of the
enterprise.'^ In 1682, the original law prohibiting the ex-
portation of iron, among other articles, which, as has been
seen, was repealed in 1671, was reenacted in the hope of
giving employment to many persons who were then idle
and in want of the necessaries of life. The penalty for
exporting a pound of the material was fixed at ten pounds
of tobacco,^ but this provision, like the original law, must

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 124, 287.

2 Instructions to Berkeley, 1662, § 7, McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 418,
Va. State Library.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 514.

* Clayton's Virginia, p. 27, Force'.s Historical Tracts, vol. III.
s Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 493.

454 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

have been intended to apply to iron which had been
brought into Virginia, since none appears to have been
manufactured at this time in the Colony. Under the Act
for the establishment of ports, which was passed in 1691,
but never put in operation, a duty of one penny was
imposed upon every pound exported.^

Much interest was shown by planters in the closing
years of the century in finding out whether the ores in
Virginia were adapted to iron making. Both Fitzhugh
and Byrd shipped specimens to England to be examined
there. In 1689, Fitzhugh sent a considerable quantity
to Mr. Boyle for this purpose.^ Byrd tested some of the
lead ores by the use of a charcoal fire and a pair of hand
bellows.^

As early as 1612, it was anticipated that Virginia would
become an important seat of linen manufacture, owing to
the adaptability of the soil to the production of flax. In
this respect, it was considered superior to the soil of Eng-
land. The early explorers confidently expected that in
time the Colony would furnish the mother country with
an abundant supply of linen, not only from the flax plant,
which grew there in such profusion in a wild state, but
also from the water-flag found in the marshes. This
latter plant, when boiled, was found to yield an integu-
ment remarkable for the strength of its texture as well as
for its length. From this product was derived a material
that could be used, it was said at the time, in making the
finest linen. Some portions of it were adapted, it was
thought, to the manufacture of a stout and durable
cordage. Two hundred pounds of this stuff were im-
ported into England not long after the settlement of

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 63.

2 Letters of WiUinm Fitzhiuih, July 10, 1090.

3 Letters of William Byrd, May 20, 1084.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 455

Yirginia, and proved on trial to be of excellent quality
both for show and use.^

In spite of the repeated instructions given by the au-
tho)ities in England to the Governors of Virginia, in
the long interval between 1612 and 1646, to promote the
cultivation of flax, no persistent effort was made until the
last year to manufacture linen in any quantity. In 1646,
the General Assembly decided upon the erection of two
houses at Jamestown for this purpose. They were to be
built of substantial timber and were to be forty feet in
length, twenty in width, and eight in pitch. The roofs
were to be covered with boards properly sawed, and in
the centre of each house, brick chimneys were to be placed.
Each house was to be divided into rooms by convenient
partitions. The different counties were respectively
required to fui^nish two children, male or female, of the
age of eight or seven years at least, whose parents were
too poor to educate them, to be instructed in the art of
carding, knitting, and spinning. In order that ample pro-
vision might be made for the health and comfort of the
pupils, each county was required to supply the two chil-
dren whom it sent, with six barrels of Indian corn, a sow,
two laying hens, linen and woollen apparel, shoes, hose, a
bed, rug, blanket, two coverlets, a wooden bowl or tray,
and two pewter spoons. This law, whether fully carried
out or not, reveals the interest which was felt in the
Colony at this time in the manufacture of linen.^

It was during this period of colonial history that Cap-
tain Mathews, who resided at Blunt Point on the Lower
James, was offering to the people of Virginia a notable
illustration of the ease with which a planter, by skilful
management of property, could procure within ihe bounds

1 New Life of Virginia, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 336.

456 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of his own estate all the supplies needed in carrying it on,
whether springing directly from the soil and used in their
natural state or after undergoing the process of manu-
facture. Among the numerous artificers who were found
in the list of his servants and slaves, were spinners of the
liax which he had produced in the cultivation of his own
land.i There were probably other planters, contempora-
ries of Captain Mathews, who made a similar use of the
same plant obtained in a like manner, and this continued
through the interval preceding 1681. In that year, we
find Colonel Fitzhugh writing to Thomas Mathew and
congratulating him on his progress in manufacturing
linen, and expressing the hope that it would be profitable,
and at the same time, commending his example to all
the landowners of the Colony .2

In 1682, at the instance of Lord Culpeper, a law for
the encouragement of linen and woollen manufactures was
passed, on the ground advanced by the Governor, that
" it might be of some use," which reveals that previous
observation had not led him to be very sanguine as to any
important development of these industries. ^ The pro-
visions as to the manufacture of linen were very complete
in detail, but thc}^ show that there was no general effort
on the part of the planters to convert their flax into this
material. To every person who brought flax or hemp to
the court of the county in which he resided, in a condition
to be placed on the spindle, two pounds of tobacco were
given for every pound of flax or hemp so presented, but it
must have been the product of his own land. The certifi-

1 New Description of Virginia, pp. 14, 15, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. II.

2 Letters of Willia7n Fitzhugh, July 3, 1681.

3 Instructions to Culpeper, 1081-1682. His Reply to 72d clause, Mc-
Donald Papers, vol. VI, p. 171, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 457

cate which he received entitled him to be paid by the
General Assembly out of the public levy. If the owner
of the flax or hemp manufactured it into linen cloth, he
was allowed six pounds of tobacco for every ell, which
was to be three-quarters of a yard in width at the least.
This linen was first examined by the county court, and proof
of its being of the growth and manufacture of the owner
had to be offered and accepted before the regular certificate
could be obtained. Every tithable was required to produce
either two pounds of flax, or hemp, or one pound of each,
every year, and the penalt}^ for the neglect of this regula-
tion was the forfeiture of fifty pounds of tobacco. To en-
sure its performance, the heads of families and the overseers
of servants and slaves were directed, before the annual
levy was made, to appear before the nearest justice of
the peace, and give in for each tithable under him, the
amount of dressed flax or hemp prescribed by law.^

The statute was to continue in force until 1685, but it
was repealed before its limitation was reached, on the
ground that it imposed too heavy a burden on the public,
both in the quantity of tobacco paid out under its provi-
sions, and in the loss resulting from the passing of that
commodity through the hands of officers. It was also
stated that the advantages derived by the planters from
this form of manufacture would be so great that there was
needed no further encouragement to ensure its continua-
tion.2

The disapproval which the English Government expressed
with reference to the original regulation does not seem to
have influenced the General Assembly in deciding to de-
clare its provisions inoperative. Whether this was the
case or not, the inventories placed on record in the county
courts in the period between the repeal of the law and its

iHening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 503. -Ibid., vol. Ill, p. 16.

458 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

reenactment show that there were few of the more impor-
tant households in the Colony, in this interval, in which
linen-stuffs were not manufactured for domestic uses.
Linen-wheels are frequently enumerated.^ In 1693, the
statute offering a reward for the encouragement of linen
production was again passed. This is only one among
several instances disclosing how little attention was paid
by the General Assembly to the opposition with which all
colonial laws looking to the promotion of manufactures
was regarded by the English authorities. Under the re-
vived Act of 1693, the justices of the peace Avere required
to levy upon the inhabitants of their respective counties
a proportionate amount of tobacco for distribution among
the persons who should present specimens of linen of their
own manufacture, this linen to be at least fifteen ells in
length and three-quarters of a yard in width. Each per-
son claiming the reward was to bring forward three pieces
representing different grades in texture. For the piece of
the finest quality, eight hundred pounds of tobacco were
to be allotted; for the piece of second rate quality, six
hundred pounds, and for the piece of third rate, four hun-
dred pounds. This Act was to continue in force until
1699.2 The county records show that its rewards were
claimed by local manufacturers of linen. One of the first
instances entered was that of Thomas Chisman of York,
who, in 1694, presented to the court of this county a piece
of linen cloth which had been made in his dwelling-house
by members of his family. On the same occasion, Thomas

1 So numerous are the references to linen-wlieels in this interval, that
it would be impossible to give a full list of them. Among the articles in
use which appear to have been very often made of this Virginian linen,
were napkins. In one inventory, the Osborne, eighteen will be found
included among the items of property belonging to the estate. See
Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1G97, p. 350, Va. State Library.

'■^ Heuing's /Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 135.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 459

Fowler offered a similar piece. In the course of the same
year, Chisman presented a second piece of linen cloth and
was allowed eight hundred pounds of tobacco.^ The same
amount of tobacco was granted for the same reason to John
Smith of Middlesex in 1695,2 ^nd to Thomas Cocke of
Henrico.3 In 1697, Tobias Hall of Lancaster claimed the
reward for the production of this kind of cloth, and again
in 1698.'* Among the manufacturers of linen in Middlesex
were Ralph Wormeley, who, in 1684, brouglit into court
one hundred pounds of dressed flax fit for the spindle;
Captain Henry Creyk, who presented seven yards of cloth ;
and Richard Parrott, who presented thirty-five yards.
Thirty-three yards were offered by other persons.^ In
1698, the court of Middlesex, replying to a communica-
tion from the Governor asking to what extent linen had
been manufactured in this county, stated that the quantity
had amounted annually to about fifty yards.*^

No special attempt was made to foster by the offer of
statutory encouragement the growth of domestic cotton
manufacture, although Governor Andros, towards the close

1 Eecords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, pp. 60, 74, Va. State Library.
An order of York court authorized the justices of the peace to pay the
rewards prescribed by Act of Assembly ; for the first piece of linen, GOO
lbs. of tobacco; for the second, 400; for the third, 200. Ibid., p. 222.
This was in 1695.

2 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1705, orders Nov. 12,
1695.

3 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 606, Va. State Library.
* Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1696-1702, p. 32.

5 Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, April 9, 1684.
A reward was granted to Mr. Bayley of Elizabeth City County in 1696
for a "prime piece of Lynen," 22 yards in length. See vol. 1684-1699,
p. 117, Va. State Library. Also, in 1694, to Mrs. Sarah Emperor of
Lower Norfolk (records for 1694, November 13) for "best linen cloth."

« Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1705, p. 222. The
court was doubtless only referring to what had been presented to them
to secure the reward.

460 ECONOMIC HISTOEY OF VIllGINIA

of the century, took steps to extend the culture of the
phmt in Virginia. There are many indications, however,
that this material was spun in considerable quantities in
the households of the people. In a letter written in 1685
to one of his correspondents in England, Colonel Byrd
refers to the rivalry among his dependents as to who sliould
spin the most cotton, and this was not an uncommon case,
as is revealed by the number of spinning-wheels included
in the inventories, the use of which could not have been
confined to wool and fiax.^

There was always a stronger opposition in England to
the manufacture of woollen cloths in Virginia than to the
manufacture of linen. The author of the Nova Britannia^
which was written in the earl}^ part of the century for the
purpose of advancing the interests of the Colony by calling
the attention of the English people to the many advantages
it offered, was careful to depreciate its adaptability to
sheep husbandry. God, he declared, had denied sheep to
Virginia, and yet among its population there was a I'apidly
increasing demand for clothing. He predicted that this
would in the end cause the Colony to become a market
of great importance for the sale of garments of English
manufacture, and thus be the means of restoring the Eng-
lish trade in cloth, now fallen into a state of decay in spite
of the anxiety in the mother country to reestablish it.^
From an early period, woollen manufactures were carried
on in a small way in the liomes of the planters, the quan-
tity thus made being restricted rather by the paucity of
sheep than b}- the limited facilities for production. Colonel
Mathews, perhaps the leading citizen of Virginia in 1646,

1 Letters of William Byrd, March 8, 1685. There are occasional ref-
erences in the inventories of this period to cotton-cards. See Becords of
Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 06.

2 Nova Britannia, p. 22, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 461

not only spun linen from flax, but also wove cloth of
wool. In the list of his employees there appear a number
of artisans for this purpose.^ In 1656, the authority was
given to Northampton County to pass laws to promote and
govern its own manufactures, among which the woollen
were probably of importance. ^

In 1659, a regulation was adopted prohibiting the ex-
portation of wool, among other articles.'^ Seven years
later, the difficulty of obtaining clothing from England to
supply the needs of the peojjle became so great that the
General Assembly determined to take more active steps
for the encouragement of domestic woollen manufactures.
What could be accomplished in this direction had already
been illustrated in Governor Berkeley's success in furnish-
ing his own household. The Assembly estimated that
five women, or the same number of children of ages not
exceeding thirteen years, could provide clothing for thirty
persons. In order to remove the objection that there were
no looms in the Colony, the court of each county was in-
structed to set up one of these machines and to emplo}^ a
weaver to work it. A failure to comply with this order
exposed the court derelict to a fine of two thousand pounds
of tobacco.^ In 1668, the scope of this law was enlarged

1 New Description of Virginia, pp. 14, 15, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. II. It is stated by Aubrey that Davenant, the poet, when at Paris
during the time of the Protectorate, " laid an ingenuous design to carry a
considerable number of artificers, chiefly weavers, from thence to Virginia,
and by Mary, the Queen Mother's, means he got favour from the King of
France to go into the Prisons and pick and choose ... he took thirty-
six, as I remember, and not more, and shipped them, and as he was on
his voyage to" Virginia, he and his weavers were all taken by the ships
then belonging to the Parliament of England."

2 Hening's Statiites, vol. I, p. 39G. 3 Ibid., p. 488.

* Ibid., vol. II, p. 238. One of the charges against Sir William Berke-
ley in the Charles City Grievances, 1676 ( Virginia Magazine of History
and Biography, vol. Ill), was that he misappropriated the tobacco levied
for the encouragement of weavers.

462 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIEGINIA

by conferring upon the commissioners of the different
counties the authority to erect houses in which the chil-
dren of indigent parents were to be taught the art of spin-
ning and weaving as well as other trades, these children
to be selected at the disci-etion of the commissioners.^

In 1671, the statute prohibiting the exportation of wool,
among other articles, was repealed on the ground that the
handicraftsmen whose trades it was designed to aid had
failed to take advantage of it.^ In 1682, it was reenacted.
Wool and woolfels and the other articles named, the statute
declared, were essential to the welfare of the people of the
Colony, as furnishing necessary materials for use, and also
as offering subsistence to many persons because they
would find occupation in working them up. The penalty
for exporting wool and woolfels was now placed at forty
pounds of tobacco for every pound of these materials
carried out of the country. The owner of the ship trans-
porting it forfeited his interest in the vessel if aware of
its presence on board, while the master and seamen were
deprived of their goods and chattels for their participation
in the act, besides being made subject to imprisonment for
three months. If any person who had knowledge of the
fact that a certain quantity of wool and woolfels were to
be exported seized upon it, he was entitled to one-half of it
as a reward for furnishing information as to its prospective
illegal removal. The collectors were instructed to an-
nounce to every shipmaster arriving, the passage of this
statute, and to insert in the entry bond of each one, a con-
dition that he should observe its provisions.^ With a view
of encouraging the manufacture of the wool thus kept in
Virginia, a second law was passed in 1682, which, as we
have seen, was also applicable to linen, prescribing that
six pounds of tobacco should be paid to every person who
1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 266. 2 jj^id ^ p. 287. 3 /^jj^., pp. 493-497.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 463

brought to the court of the county in which he resided, a
yard of woollen cloth or linsey-woolsey three-quarters of a
yard wide, the same to be examined in the manner required
in the case of linen. The fact that it was of the growth
and manufacture of the person delivering it, was also to be
shown and embodied in the certificate to be presented to the
Assembly to ensure the payment of the reward. Under
the provisions of the same law, ten pounds of tobacco were
granted to every one in the Colony who made a fur or
woollen hat, and twelve pounds to the maker of every
dozen pair of worsted hose for men and women.^

The rewards offered by these statutes had a strong influ-
ence in directing the attention of the planters to local
woollen manufactures. In 1684, Ralph Wormeley pro-
duced before the court of Middlesex, fourteen yards of
woollen cloth woven on his estate. Christopher Wormeley,
on the same occasion, presented ninety-five yards. Captain
Henry Creyk sixty-one, John Farrell fifty-five, and Richard
Parrott thirty-four. Forty-five yards were brought in by
different planters at subsequent meetings of the same
court.^ There is reason to think that persons in other
counties took advantage of the same public inducements
to manufacture woollen cloth.

As far as possible, the English authorities discouraged
the manufacture of every form of cloth in Virginia, and
it is, therefore, not surprising to find that the statute pro-
hibiting the exportation of wool and woolfels, and the
statute passed to encourage woollen and linen production,
should have been regarded with the strongest disapproval
by the English Government.^ In 1683, both measures

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 504.

2 Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, April 9, 1684.

3 Additional Instructions to Howard, 1683, clause 6, British State Papers,
Colonial, No, 82 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 293, Va. State Library.

464 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

were expressly disallowed by the commissioners of the
customs on the ground that they diminished the corre-
spondence between the mother country and the Colony ;
weakened the dependence of the colonial population upon
England ; curtailed the freight which was furnished to
English shipping, and thus obstructed an increase in the
number of English seamen ; seriously narrowed the mar-
ket for English woollen and other manufactures ; advanced
the cost of tobacco to the English consumer by raising
the charges of navigation ; and finally, reduced the volume
of the customs.! It has been pointed out that the statute
to encourage the growth of linen and woollen manufact-
ures was repealed in 1684, but for reasons which did not
include the opposition of the English Government to its
continuation. In spite of the adverse report of the com-
missioners, this law was revived in 1686, to continue in
force for four years, and was again reenacted at the end of
that time, to remain in operation until the close of 1694.^
In the famous Act for Ports, a duty of six pence was
placed on exported wool. The determination of the local
authorities to establish woollen manufactures was shown
in 1693 in the valuable privileges extended to all persons
who proposed to erect fulling mills ; if such persons
owned land on but one side of a stream, they could have
condemned an acre on the other side for the convenience
of carrying on the work of their mills, provided that
there were no housings or orchards on the tracts thus
appropriated. 3

1 Report of the Commissioners of Customs, 1683, British State Papers,
Colonial, No. 82 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 2G9, Va. State Library.

•■2 Heniiig's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 60.

3 Ibid., p. 110. It was in this year that the Act for reviving the "Act
for the Advancement of the Manufactures of the Growth of this Country "
was suspended by proclamation of Governor Andros. See Becords of
Middlesex County, original vol. 1679-1G94, p. 606,

MANUFACTURED SUrPLIES 465

During his tenure of the governorship, Nicholson recom-
mended to the English Government that measures should
be adopted to discourage woollen manufactures in the
Colony, an additional indication that the opposition of the
mother country to these manufactures had proved ineffec-
tive. Nicholson was justly charged by Beverley with gross
inconsistency in this recommendation, for in the same let-
ter, he had informed the English authorities that the price
of tobacco had sunk to such a point that the people were
unable to purchase clothing, which, as Beverley remarked
with some bitterness, left it to be inferred that the planters
were to go naked.^ Nicholson was really advising Parlia-
ment to pass a law which it was impossible for that body
to put in operation. To suppress the branch of domestic
manufacture to which he referred, it would have been
necessary to instruct constables to visit the different homes
in their respective districts and destroy every loom and
spindle. It is easy to see how such a duty, if performed
at all, would have been performed with reluctance by the
officers of the law, in consequence of their sympathy with
their own people and the injury which they would have
been inflicting upon their own interests. It is even proba-
ble that these officers would have openly connived at the
disregard of such an Act of Parliament, on the part of the
population at large ; but, admitting that they might have
sought with zeal and honesty to carry out their instructions,
the distance between the plantations, and the remote life
which the inhabitants led, would have been fatal obstacles
to success in any attempt to put an end to local manufact-
ures altogether. A prohibitory Act of this kind would
not have had the approval of any class in the Colony, and
the welfare of the whole population would have prompted
a general combination to defeat the officers of the law.

1 Beverley's History of Virginia, pp. 83, 84.

VOL. 11. — 2 H

466 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Parliament was too wise to consider the suggestion of
Nicholson seriously; but in 1699, it adopted the rule that
no wool or woollen goods produced by the plantations in
America should be transported from one Colony to another,
or from one point in a Colony to another point in the same
Colony, or to anj^ foreign place whatever.^ Only a few
years before, the English Government had expressed the
most emphatic disapproval of the order passed by the
General Assembly forbidding the exportation of wool or
woolfels, on the ground that it conflicted with the spirit
of the Navigation laws. England had now become appre-
hensive lest the transfer of wool and woolfels from Colony
to Colony should diminish the volume of her own trade
in clothing with her American possessions. There was in
the statute no prohibition of the making of woollen goods
for private use.

It was the logical effect of these restrictive laws relat-
ing to navigation and the exportation of wool and woollen
products, that they stimulated a manufacturing spirit in
the Colonies. The Navigation Acts were passed chiefly
because England was unable to compete with Holland in
the carrying trade of the world owing to the greater cheap-
ness with which a cargo could be transported in the bottoms
of the latter nationality. The exclusion of the Dutch had
signified to the planters of Virginia not only the payment
of higher freight rates in the conveyance of their tobacco
to England, but the payment, moreover, of higher prices
for the goods which they purchased from the English mer-
chants for their servants, slaves, and their own families.
This resulted from the fact, that now that the competi-
tion of the Hollanders was removed, the merchants of the
mother country were only restrained in their charges by
competition among themselves. During the years in which

1 10 and 11 William and Mary, ch. X.

MANUFACTUEED SUPPLIES 467

the value of tobacco sank very low, any addition to the
rates of transportation, however small, or to the price of
manufactured articles imported, however trivial, had a seri-
ous effect in still further depressing the condition of the
people. At once, there arose a desire to make at home all
the goods which were needed in the plantation households-^
This was a measure of economy inevitably suggested by
the circumstances. On several occasions, the House of
Burgesses boldly protested against the imposition of new
duties on tobacco, on the ground that all measures tending
to reduce the profits of the Virginians in the commodity
inclined them to turn their attention to manufacturing on
their own account, because their ability to purchase articles
of English production had been impaired. ^ In an address
by the Governor and Council to the Privy Council in 1692,
that body was warned that unless the people were supplied
from the mother country with an abundance of the goods
which they needed and at the proper season in the year,
" great inconveniences were likely to follow by the plant-
ers being forced to betake themselves, as many of them
had already begun, to the improving and making several
commodities " ^ usually brought to them from England.

It will be seen from this quotation that the authorities
of the Colony looked upon a general system of local manu-
factures as a condition precipitated by low prices or de-

1 This was observed in a marked degree in 1681. In the course of that
year, William Fitzhush wrote to a correspondent in England, " that little
wool was to be obtained in his part of Virginia at that time, because it
had been converted by the people into wearing apparel." August 24,
1681.

2 Address of Burgesses to the King, November, 168-5, British State
Papers, Colonial Entry Book, Virginian Assembly No. 86 ; McDonald
Papers, vol. VII, p. 331, Virginia State Library. See also Hening's Stat-
utes, vol. Ill, pp. 34, 35.

3 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, pp. 38, 39. See
also Beverley's History of Virginia, pp. 261, 262.

468 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

iicient supplies from abroad. There was no disposition
among the inhabitants to foster manufactures on a large
and important scale independently of the pressure of
these merely temporary influences. They probably did
not seriously object to the Act of Parliament of 1699,
since it was in direct conformity, so far as wool was con-
cerned, with the letter and spirit of their own statute passed
in 1682. The Virginians, when they made clothing at all,
made it not for shipment, but for their own use. The
Colony was not sufficiently adapted to sheep husbandry
at this early period to render the exportation of wool very
profitable, and there was no prospect of its becoming a
seat of woollen manufactures beyond the point of supply-
ing the needs of its own plantations. As early as 1700,
it had grown to be the habit of the people to mix cotton,
linen, and wool in the manufacture of coarse garments for
the use of their negroes and white servants, but although
this form of manufacture was carried to such a point of
development by 1710 that one county alone in that year
produced forty thousand yards of woollen, cotton, and
linen cloth, nevertheless, it was expressly stated by Spots-
wood that this manufacture had sprung from necessity
rather than from inclination ; that the people gave little
promise of attaining to skill in it ; and that the clothing
obtained in this manner really cost more than that which
was imported when tobacco was commanding a high price. ^
While the amount of clothing manufactured in the
households of the planters was always diminished by any
advance in the value of tobacco, since their ability to buy
English goods of this character was thereby increased,
there is no reason to think that in any year or series of
years, however prosperous, the manufacture of woollen
garments for rough domestic use fell into abeyance. From

1 Letters of Governor Spotswood, vol. I, p. 72.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 469

the middle of the century to the close, there are few in-
ventories of large personal estates among the items of
which wool-cards and woollen-wheels do not appear. A
few instances drawn from different periods may be given.
Edward Jones of Henrico had four spinning-wheels ;
William Porteus of Lower Norfolk and Richard Pargatis
of Middlesex, two each ; John Nicholls of Lower Norfolk
and Nicholas Gage of Lancaster, one each.i Joseph Croshaw
of York left three woollen-wheels.^ In 1670, a woollen-
wheel and two reels formed a part of the Hubbard estate,^
and also of the estate of John jNIarch of the same county.*
A pair of wool-cards were in the same year included in
the Bond estate.^ The Newell estate possessed nine pairs, ^
John Collins of York owned eleven and John Hubbard
eight wool-cards,'' William Marshall of Elizabeth City
eighteen,^ Henry Sjjratt of Lower Norfolk five,^ and Henry
Jones of Henrico four, and Thomas Osborne two.^^ The

1 Hecords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, pp. 628, 630, Va. State
Library ; Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 22 ;
Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 96 ;
Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 97 ; Becords of
Lower Norfolk County, vol. 1686-1695, p. 198. The references to woollen-
wheels in the records of this county are very numerous.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 166-4-1672, p. 256, Va. State Library.

3 Lhid., p. 464.

^ Ibid., vol. 1687-1691, p. 40. The list of owners of woollen-wheels
might be extended almost indefinitely. In some cases, the wheel and
support were made of black walnut. See Henry Randolph's estate, Bec-
ords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1G97, p. 428, Va. State Library.

^ Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 448, Va. State Library.

« Ibid., vol. 1675-1684, p. 140.

•^ Ibid., vol. 1677-1682, p. 105; Ibid., vol. 1664-1672, p. 319, Va. State
Library.

8 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 300, Va. State
Library.

^ Records of Lower Norfolk County, oriuinal vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 95.
w Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, pp. 351, 630, Va. State
Library.

470 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

inventories of Middlesex, Lancaster, and the Eastern
Shore disclose an equal number.

The presence of the loom is also shown in a number
of cases. In 1668, William Parker, a former servant of
Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., owned and operated a machine
of this character in York with valuable encouragement
from the county.^ Many years later, there was recorded
in Elizabeth City an indenture, by the terms of which
John Stringer was bound out for a period of five years to
serve as an apprentice of Charles Combs and his wife in
the trade of a weaver. ^ John West of Lower Norfolk,
William Glover, William Cocke, and Martin Elam of
Henrico, John Wallop of Accomac, and Charles Kelly
of Lancaster were owners of looms. ^ William Phillips,
also of Accomac, a weaver by profession, was a man of
property ; in 1696, he is found buying a plantation in that
county covering one hundred acres.* The manufacture of
these looms extended to blankets and to flannel.^

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 285, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 113, Va. State
Library. In 1689, Stringer had bound himself out as an apprentice to a
cooper. See Ibid., p. 361. Edmond Swansy of this county also owned a
loom. Ibid., p. 494.

3 Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 199 ;
Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, pp. 284, 706, Va. State
Library; Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1692-1715, p. 18;
Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1696-1702, p. 96. There are
also many references to wool-combs.

* Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1692-1715, p. 118.

^ Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1692-1707, pp. 235, '

253 ; Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 652. The inventory j
of William Taylor of Accomac County included " 35 yards of Virginia

cloth," original vol. 1692-1715, p. 201. References to " Virginia stock- :

ings" will be found in Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680- |

1694, orders April 9, 1684, and in Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1697, I
p. 292, Va. State Library. For Virginian cloth, napkins, and towels, see

Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 350. It should be borne j

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 471

The wills of the seventeenth century on record in the
county courts indicate that there were many negroes, more
especially of the female sex, who had been carefully edu-
cated to take part in domestic manufacture. After the
cloth had been made, it Avas converted into suits, either by
the slaves or by the servants. Byrd, in his instructions
to his English merchants to send him mechanics, oc-
casionally wrote for a tailor, stating that the term of the
one then in his employment was on the point of expiring.^
The conditions upon which such tradesmen were engaged
doubtless varied in different instances. The covenants into
which Luke Mathews, a tailor of Hereford, entered with
Thomas Landon of Virginia were probably fairly repre-
sentative ; ]Mathews bound himself to serve Landon for a
period of two years, his term to begin when he reached the
Colony ; the remuneration was to be six pence a day when
working for members of Landon's family, but when for
other persons, he was to be entitled to one-half of the
proceeds of his labor, whatever it might be.^

There were cases in which tailors bound by covenants
had, before the date of their indentures, acquired or in-
herited such large means, or had enjoyed such opportunities

in mind that only a portion of the county records of the seventeenth
century have survived to the present day. Those which were destroyed
would have thrown still further light on the extent of local manufacture.

1 Letters of William Byrd, May 31, 1686. One of the white servants
of Robert Beverley, Sr., was a tailor, who very probably had been im-
ported. See inventory on file at Middlesex C. H. Among the servants
who were brought over in the First Supply (1608) were six tailors. A
tailor formed one of the company of voyagers of 1607. See Works of
Capt. John Smith, pp. 390, 412. In many cases, the wealthy planters
imported from England the clothes worn by these servants and slaves.
See Letters of William Byrd, May 31, 1686.

2 Becords of Middlesex Connty, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 14. Landon
afterwards removed for a time to Carolina, and before doing so, entered
into a second agreement with Mathews. See Ibid., p. 116.

472 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

to accumulate property in the hours during which they
were not engaged for their masters, that they were able to
purchase their freedom. ^ Many of the persons who fol-
lowed this calling secured a livelihood by working by the
day or by the special task. In 1678, Philip Thomas of
Henrico brought in a statement of indebtedness against
Captain Crews of that county, which showed that he had
for forty-two days and a half been employed in the service
of the latter under an agreement promising him twenty
pounds of tobacco each day. Among the other articles of
clothing made by Thomas during this time was a pair of
leather drawers. ^ In 1692, the estate of Robert Booth
owed to John Bradford, a tailor, the sum of one pound
sterling, eighteen shillings and six pence. ^ William ^lurray
of Elizabeth City County was, in 1697, sued by John Nelson,
also a tailor, for the amount which had been determined
upon as his reward for services extending over six weeks.
This was one thousand pounds of tobacco.* Some years
previously a tailor residing in Rappahannock County had
charged forty pounds of tobacco for making a coat, seventy
for making a leather waistcoat, and ninety for making a
complete suit.^ The charges in Lancaster at this time
were somewhat higher. The remuneration asked for
making a coat was sixty pounds of tobacco, and for a
pair of breeches twenty pounds.^ Hatters were not un-

1 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 16G8-1672, p. 200, Va. State
Library.

- Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 154, Ya. State Library.
These " drawers " were probably a pair of breeches, as this term was in
that age very often applied to this article of dress.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 180, Va. State Library.

* Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. 150, 164, Va.
State Library.

5 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1668-1672, p. 248, Va. State
Library.

<= Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 79. The

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 473

known in the Colony ; William Harrison of Henrico
followed this trade, and the names of others might be
mentioned.!

A curious instance which throws light upon the social
standing of the men in the Colony who were engaged in
these trades is recorded in York County. James Bullock,
a tailor, entered into a wager with Mr. Mathew Slader
that in a race to take place between their horses he would
prove the winner. The court, instead of allowing him
the amount agreed upon in the bet, which he seems to
have won, fined him one hundred pounds of tobacco, on
the ground that it was illegal for laborers to participate
in horse-racing, this being a sport reserved exclusively
for gentlemen. Tailors, nevertheless, were considered
sufficiently respectable to act as the attorneys of leading
planters in special transactions, and also in a long course
of business.^

There are numerous indications that the tailors enjoyed
a large measure of prosperity. In 1674, Henry Clianey
of Accomac, a member of this trade, purchased a planta-

following tailor's bill is from the Lancaster records, original vol. 1G90-
1709, p. 79 : " John Mallis, D^ , for work done, 205 lbs. tobacco ; allowed
George Chilton, for one garment, 50 lbs. ; Thos. Yerby, Dt , for work done,
225 lbs.; John Davis, D% for making seven women's jackets, 70 lbs.; for
making a coat for y^ wife, 00 lbs. ; for altering a pair of plush britches, 20
lbs.; Henry Stonam, D^, f or y^ wife and daughter's jackett, 30 lbs.; for
y: britches, 20 lbs.; coat, 40 lbs.; y^ boys' jackets, 20 lbs.; y^ son's
britches, 25 lbs.; ye eldest son's ticking suite, 60 lbs.; John Travers'
ticking suite, 60 lbs.; Wm. Smith, Dr to making one vest and loose coat,
90 lbs.; Wm. Goodridge, Dr, to making a dimity waistcoat, serge suite, 2
cotton waistcoats, and y. dimity coat, 185 lbs.; Richard Alderson, D',
for a pr. of buff gloves, 100 lbs.; for one neck cloth, 12 lbs. ; a pr. stock-
ings, etc., 120 lbs.; for a pr. leather britches, pr. Callimanco britches, 60
lbs.; for a coat making, 40 lbs." This bill was brought into court by
John Daniell, administrator of Noah Eogers.

1 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 229, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1071-1094, p. 84, Va. State Library.

474 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tion which mcliicled one thousand acres in its area.^ A
few years previous to this, John Watterson of Northamp-
ton had bougiit four hundred and forty-four acres. ^ In
Rappahannock, towards the close of the century, Joseph
Smith, Thomas Winslow, and Herman Skiklerman arc
found selling large tracts of land which they owned. ^
John Elder of Lower Norfolk purchased three hundred
and seven acres. A few years later, John Winder of the
same county bought one hundred.^ In 1660, John Walker
of Lancaster was in possession of four hundred and thirty
acres ; and a few years afterwards, John Carpenter of the
same county sold five hundred,^ and Nicholas West of
Middlesex purchased two hundred.^ It is probable that
in all of these instances the area of ground held by the
tailors named was very much in excess of that which has
been mentioned.

The list of artificers for whom the London Company
advertised in 1609 did not include tanners, curriers, and
shoemakers, from which it would be inferred that the cor-
poration expected to furnish the settlers with shoes from
England in addition to every other form of clothing.'^

1 Records of Accomac County, original vol. 1673-1675, p. 192.

2 Becords of Northampton County, original vol. 1666-1668, p. 32.

3 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1695-1699, pp. 76, 170 ; Ibid.,
vol. 1677-1682, p. 148 ; see also John Owen, Ibid., vol. 1682-1692, pp. 79,
80, Va. State Library.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1666-1675, p. 117 ;
Ibid., vol. 1675-1686, p. 23. Bryant Cahill, a tailor, owned' two lots in
Norfolk town in 1692. Ibid., original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 186. William
Simpson, another tailor, owned one lot in York town. See Becords
of York County, vol. 1691-1701, p. 195, Va. State Library.

^ Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1654-1702, p. 390; Ibid.,
vol. 1666-1682, p. 35. Thomas Thompson of this county was also a land-
owner. See Ibid., p. 289.

^ Becords of Middlesex County, original vol. 1673-1685, p. 72.

'' Brown's Genesis of the United States, pp. 353, 355.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 475

This is confirmed by the enumeration given by the author
of Nova Britannia of the artificers whose services would
be required in Virginia ; it is significant to note that the
tradesmen just named were omitted, the explanation being
that the author was anxious to advance the interests of
the Colony, and was, therefore, careful not to present it as
a possible rival of the English people in any branch of
trade in which they were largely engaged. He wished to
make them favorable to Virginia by showing that an in-
crease in its population would cause it to become a larger
market for the sale of English manufactured goods, and
in that character grow in importance each year. In the
broadside issued by the Company in 1611, tanners and
shoemakers were among those to whom inducements to
emigrate were offered ; ^ and these inducements proved
effective, for it is known that there were shoemakers and
tanners in the Colony in 1616 who followed their trades
as well as cultivated the ground. ^ It is evident, however,
that the Company was still anxious not to create the im-
pression in England that the settlers would be able to
manufacture their own supply of shoes. When a com-
mittee was appointed from among its members to report
upon the best course to be pursued in the development
of the lands assigned to the College in Virginia, they
recommended that smiths, carpenters, bricklayers, brick-
makers, potters, and husbandmen should be sent over,^ but
made no reference to tanners, curriers, and shoemakers,
who, it is true, were not especially needed to carry out
the purpose in view. In 1618, Samuel Mathews, in addi-
tion to having spinners and weavers among his servants

1 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 445.

2 Rolfe's Virginia in 1616, Va. Historical Register, vol. I, No. Ill, p. 107.
^ Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,

p. 12.

476 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

and slaves, owned a tannery and employed eight shoe-
makers, a number so great that they must have been
engaged in part in making shoes for sale.

There are many indications in the records of the latter
half of the seventeenth century that both tanners and
shoemakers constituted a class of importance in the Col-
ony, including those who were free as well as those who
were serving under articles of indenture. It was not
infrequent that the sons of planters were apprenticed to
these trades.^ Beverley declared that the workmanship
of the tanner and shoemaker was so careless and defective
that the people were unwilling to use the product of their
rude skill whenever shoes of English manufacture could
be obtained. This statement was undoubtedly exagger-
ated. That shoes made in the mother country were pre-
ferred, was natural enough, but that the trade either of
the tanner or the shoemaker languished in Virginia is
not borne out by the facts recorded in the books of the
county courts. There were few planters of easy fortune
who did not, like Colonel Mathews, have tradesmen of
this character in their employment. Colonel Edmund
Scarborough, in a complaint which he entered in the court
of Northampton County in 1662, mentions incidentally
that he had nine shoemakers in his service, and that he
had been at a heavy charge in tanning leather and mak-
ing shoes. It is probable that he was a party to a con-
tract with the local authorities for supplying the public
wants in these particulars. He petitioned that Nathaniel
Bradford, a currier by trade, should be punished for his
failure to perform the duties which the law imposed
upon all who followed that business. ^ Bradford was the

1 Records of Eappahannock County, vol. 1695-1699, p. 112, Va. State
Library.

2 Records of Northampton County, original vol. 1657-1664, p. 153. The

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 477

owner of a tan-house and a shoemaker's shop, and at the
tmie of his death was in possession of three hundred and
eighteen hides and forty-six lasts. ^ Daniel Harrison of
Lancaster gave employment to three shoemakers. His
personal estate included, when appraised, one hundred
and twenty-two sides of leather, seventy-two pairs of
shoes, thirty-seven awls, and twenty-six paring knives,
twelve dozen lasts, and numerous currier's and tanner's
tools. 2 Richard Willis and Ralph Wormeley, who were
planters of wealth, left large quantities of sole leather ^
and hides. This was also true of Mathew Hubbard of
York.4

The leading planters were in the habit of importing
shoemakers from England for the "same reasons that
moved them to bring in representatives of other trades.
Fitzhugh, writing to John Cooper, one of his London
correspondents, in 1692, requests him to send over to
Virginia several shoemakers, with lasts, awls, and knives,

following is from the York records: "It is this day agreed between
ye Court on behalf of themselves and ye whole County of York, and
William Heyward Calvert, who intermarried with the relict of John
Heyward decl, and the said William did for his part engage himself and
negroes that ye tanue house and pitts and other things appertaining shall
be maintained and kept at his and their charge as ye County's tan house
and pitts for 7 years from this time, (the same being on ye said John
Heyward's plantation in New Poquoson), also to take all ye hydes of ye
County that shall be brought him and allow for them according to Act of
Assembly, also to tann, curry and make shoes of ye said hides and sell
them at ye ratio appointed by ye said Act. In consideration whereof the
Court hereby order that ye said William shall have paid him and his heirs
at ye next leavy 4400 lbs. of tobacco as convenient as can be." liecords
of York, vol. 1657-16G2, p. 373, Va. State Library.

1 Records of Northampton County, original vol. 1682-1697, f. p. 213.

2 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1674-1678, f. p. 43.

3 Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1698-1713, p. 73 ; Il>id.,
original vol. 1604-1703, p. 128.

* Records of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 468, Va. State Library.

478 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

together with half a hundred shoemaker's thread, some
twenty or thirty gallons of train oil and proper colorings
for leather. He had set up a tan-house and wished to
convert the product into shoes on his own plantation, i
The need of importing shoemakers was probably greater
in the Northern Neck, in which part of the Colony Fitz-
hugh resided, than in the older communities, where the
representatives of the trades were more numerous and
more skilful.

The county records of that period contained many
indentures between planters and shoemakers. Of these,
a fair example was the contract between Robert Gate and
Peter Wyke of Henrico in 1679. Gate entered into bonds
to serve Wyke for -a term of four years. He was to be
exempted from the task of planting and tending tobacco,
but was required to perform all other agricultural work;
he was to receive by way of remuneration, food, drink,
apparel, washing, and lodging, and when his agreement
expired, a good suit and three barrels of Indian corn were
to be given him. It will be observed that while Gate
was engaged principally for his knowledge of the shoe-
maker's trade, he was also expected to make himself use-
ful in other branches of industry .2 This was probably
the case with all classes of mechanics who earned a liveli-
hood in the employment of landowners in the seventeenth
century.

Many of the tanners were men of considerable property.
The personalty of Roger Long of York was valued at sixty-
four pounds and fifteen shillings, and he owned in the form
of debts to him, fourteen thousand pounds of tobacco.^
In several instances in Lower Norfolk County, members

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 4, 1692.

2 Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1088-1697, p. 8-5, Va. State Librarj'.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1G64-1672, p. 475, Va. State Library.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 479

of tliis trade bought or disposed of valuable and extensive
tracts of land. Thus in 1691, James Jackson sold one
hundred acres, and George Valentine purchased one hun-
dred and lifty.^ A few years previously, Thomas Nicol-
son of Accomac had sold four hundred. ^ The shoemakers
of the Colony were probably in possession of still larger
areas of ground. In 1681, Joseph Carling of Lower Nor-
folk bought one hundred acres ; James Loun, a few years
later, the same number, and Benjamin Robert one-half that
area.^ Thomas Sadler, a shoemaker of Rappahannock,
purchased one hundred acres of land on a single occasion.
If the leather produced in the Colony was as defective
as Beverley represented it to have been,* the fact was not
to be attributed to lack of legislative attention; tanners,
curriers, and shoemakers Avere subject to very careful
restrictions in following their callings. In order to en-
sure its proper condition, no leather was to be thrown
into the vat until the lime had been thoroughly soaked,
nor was the leather to be allowed to remain there until it
had become over-limed. The currier was not permitted
to use salt in its preparation, and if he did so, he was to
pay the owner of the hide ten shillings as a fine for the
offence. He was suffered to charge two shillings and six
pence for a bundle of ten hides or six dozen calf -skins.
The shoemaker was forbidden to work up leather which
had not been legally sealed as well-tanned and well-cur-
ried. He was to use only thread that was sound, twisted,
and waxed or rosined. The stitches were to be drawn
with the utmost care. The inspectors or viewers were

1 Becords of Loioer Norfolk County, original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 164 ;
Ibid., original vol. 1675-1686, p. 114.

2 Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1676-1690, p. 159.

3 Becords of Loioer Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 104 ;
Ibid., original vol. 1686-1695, f . pp. 153, 179.

« Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 239.

480 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

instructed to appropriate all leather that was badly tanned
or curried, and all boots, shoes, and bridles manufactured
from defective material. Six persons were appointed
as inspectors and they were required to perform their
duties in open court. Acceptance of bribes, or the exaction
of a larger amount than was sanctioned by the law, exposed
them to a fine of twenty pounds sterling. If they refused
to place their stamp on leather of good quality, they were
mulcted forty shillings. Five pounds sterling constituted
the penalty for declining to accept the office of inspector.
Under the provisions of this law, leather consisted of the
skin of the ox, steer, bull, cow, calf, deer, goat, and sheep. ^
The first Act interdicting the exportation of hides from
Virginia was passed in 1632. It was designed to apply
to the skins of deer as well as to the skins of all sorts of
domestic animals. The same provisions were shortly
reenacted, furs, such as those of the beaver and otter,
for example, being excepted from its scope. ^ In 1645,
a prohibition was laid upon the shipment of raw hides
and leather, together with a variety of other articles
specified in the same statute.^ In the succeeding year,
this regulation was repealed. Seventeen years later, the
exportation of hides as Avell as of wool and iron was
strictly forbidden, the penalty incurred in violating the
law falling only upon the buyer. At the following ses-
sion of the Assembly, the penalty was extended to the
seller, this penalty amounting to one thousand pounds of
tobacco. In the Act passed in the course of this year,

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, pp. 75-80. An instance of the seizure of
defective leather will be found in Records of York County, vol. 1000-1694,
p. 271, Va. State Library. See, for appointment of viewers, Becords of
Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1601, orders March 1, 1691-1692 ;
Feb. 6, 1692-1693 ; purchase of seal, Ibid., orders Dec. 4, 1693.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, pp. 174, 199.
^ Ibid., p. 307.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 481

deer and calf skins were declared to be included in the
meaning of the word "hide." ^

Tlie scope of the original Act was in 1665 again ex-
tended. The penalty for shipping hides from the Colony
had previously been restricted to the buyer and seller, but
it was now made to apply to all tanners who sought to
export leather and shoes, and to all masters of vessels
who received these articles. By the original law, a large
ship was permitted by special license to carry out eight
hides, and smaller ships a number in proportion to their size,
according to what was calculated to be sufficient for the
needs of their crews. The collector issued the licenses
before the hides were brought on board, and the masters
and commanders of vessels were liable for an excess over
the number allowed by a special clause in their bonds.
For every hide or skin beyond this number exported, the
seller, whether a tanner or not, was fined one thousand
pounds of tobacco, and the same penalty was imposed
upon the shipmaster or commander who received it. For
every pair of shoes transported from the country, the
seller and buyer forfeited one hundred pounds of the
same commodity. ^

All the laws relating to the exportation of hides, as well
as of iron and wool, were repealed in 1671 on the ground
that the tradesmen whom it was intended to benefit had
failed to derive any advantage from them.^ It is diffi-
cult to see how the welfare of the tanners, curriers, and
shoemakers in the Colony could be advanced materially
by enactments expressly jjrohibiting the shipment of
dressed leather and shoes, but this clause was inserted
probably to remove the apprehension of the Englisli
Government lest Virginia should become an active com-

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 124, 179, 185.
"^ Ibid, p. 216. 3 /ftjVL, p. 287.

VOL. II. 2 1

482 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

petitor of the English shoe manufacturers in countries
lying outside of its own borders. The Assembly had, in
16G0, adopted rules which would furnish this class of
workmen, it was supposed, with an ample market at home.
Each county was instructed to erect a tan-house and to
employ tanners, curriers, and shoemakers. There was
appointed for each house an overseer, who was directed
to receive all hides brought in, paying two pounds of
tobacco for each pound of hide. To the persons present-
ing hides he was required to sell plain shoes at the rate
of thirty pounds a pair. French falls of the largest size
were to be sold to such persons at the rate of thirty-five
pounds a pair, whilst those of the smallest were to be sold
at twenty pounds. A penalty of five thousand pounds of
tobacco was imposed upon every county that failed to
erect a tan-house in pursuance of this legislative act.^

By the law of 1682, the rule prohibiting the exportation
of hides and skins, tanned and untanned, together with the
other articles named, was reestablished on the ground, as
has already been pointed out, that it would give employ-
ment to many idle and suffering people, besides supplying
the Colony with manufactured goods. The penalty for
sending out hides and skins, or leather worked up into
wearing apparel, was, by the terms of this measure, fixed
at one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. The ship-
owner and seamen detected in the act of transporting
these articles from Virginia, were subject to the same
punishment as we have seen imposed in the case of wool.
The duty of the collectors was the same.^

1 Heninpj's Statutes, vol. II, p. 123. It was under the provisions of
this law that the tan-house belonging to York County, referred to in a
previous note, was maintained.

2 Ibid., p. 493. The number of skins exported by a single person was
often very large. In March, 1G82, Richard Buller petitioned the Privy
Council for the restoration of one thousand skins, which had been seized

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 483

In 1682, a dressed buckskin was appraised at two shil-
lings four pence and three-quarters, and one undressed at
a shilling and two and a quarter pence ; the value of a
dressed doeskin was fixed at one shilling and nine and
a half pence ; if undressed, at eleven pence. ^ In the Act
for Ports, passed in 1691, but never put in operation, an
export duty was laid upon all skins and furs shipped from
the Colony, this being tantamount to a repeal of the law
forbidding their exportation. On every raw hide, the
export duty was one shilling ; on every tanned hide, two
shillings ; on every buckskin, dressed or undressed, eight
pence ; on every doeskin, dressed or undressed, five pence ;
on every elkskin, one shilling. A duty was also placed
on the skins of beaver, otter, raccoon, wild-cat, mink, and
muskrat.2

In 1693, an export duty was laid on skins for the benefit
of William and Mary College ; on every raw hide, the tax
was three pence ; on every tanned hide, six pence ; on
every dressed buckskin, one penny and three farthings ;
on every undressed buckskin, one penny ; on every doe-
skin dressed, one penny halfpenny ; on every undressed
doeskin, three farthings. A graduated tax was also laid
on the skins of the beaver, otter, raccoon, wild-cat, minx,
fox, and muskrat.

Passing from articles of a general character to certain
forms of food, or ingredients of food, manufactured in the
Colony, it is found that an attempt to produce salt was
made as early as 1616. Seventeen men, who were pro-
vided for at the expense of the Company, were established
at Dale's Gift at Cape Charles in the course of that year

on account of the violation of the Act in force forbidding exportation
of hides.

1 Hening's Statutps, vol. II, p, 507.

"^ Ibid., vol.111, p. 63.

484 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

for the purpose of engaging in this work.^ For evapora-
tion, they appear to have relied at first principally on the
heat of the sun. Until Argoll assumed the administration
of affairs, the f)eople obtained their supplies of salt from
this source,^ but in the common wreck precipitated by his
government, the little band of men were dispersed, and their
appliances fell into decay ; ^ this led to much suffering, as
the settlers were forced to eat their pork and other meats
in the fresh state. The distempers resulting from this
necessity were so severe that the Company in 1620 decided
to erect the salt works again, and in the following year
Miles Pirket, who was skilled in salt-making, was sent to
Virginia.^ The object which the Company had in view
was not only to furnish the people with the salt needed,
but also in time to produce so great a quantity that all the
fisheries on the American coast might look to the Colony
for supplies of this article.^ In 1621, John Pory was in-
structed by Yeardley to visit the Eastern Shore to select
a spot combining the most conveniences for the proposed
manufacture.^ The supervision of the erection of the
works was given to Maurice Berkeley, who had as his
principal subordinate. Miles Pirkett, and also the assist-
ance of a second man trained in making salt.' The
undertaking could not have been placed on a permanent

1 Rolfe's Relation, in Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 111.

2 Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 180.

3 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 65.

* Company's Letter, Sept. 11, 1021, Neill's Virginia Company of
London, p. 249.

5 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 68.

6 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 567.

■^ Letter of Governor and Council to Company, January, 1621-22,
Neill's Virginia Company of London, p. 283. Pirkett is sometimes
referred to as Pickett, sometimes as Prickett.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 485

footing, for, in 1627, William Capps was sent to the Colony
to try an experiment in the manufacture of bay salt in
addition to carrying out the other objects of his mission to
Virginia. If he began the experiment at all, he was soon
interrupted by a contention in which he became involved,
and which ended in his expulsion from the country.

The General Court at Jamestown, in 1630, passed an
order, in conformity probably with instructions from
England, that the manufacture of salt should be begun
again. 1 This seems to have been done, for the Governor
and Council shortly afterwards informed the English
authorities that the colonists, who in the production of
this article had hitherto employed artificial heat in the
process of evaporation, would soon be using the heat of
the sun. 2 Harvey indulged in many hopeful expectations
when writing upon the point at this time.^ Thirty years
after the close of his administration, the General Assembly
rewarded Mr. Dawen, a citizen of Accomac, for the speci-
mens of salt which he had produced by requiring the costs
which he had incurred in visiting Jamestown, to be de-
frayed out of the general levy. He was also exempted
from the levy of Accomac* In 1660, the Assembly offered
to grant ten thousand pounds of tobacco to Colonel Edmund
Scarborough of Northampton if he should succeed in mak-
ing eight hundred bushels.^ In the following session, still
more valuable encouragement was extended to him in con-
sideration of his having erected works for that purpose.
He was made the beneficiary of the whole amount of revenue
collected in Northampton County in the settlement of the

1 Bandolph MSS., vol. II, p. 215.

2 Boyal Hist. MSS. Commission, Fourth Report, Appx., pp. |toO, 291.

3 Governor Harvey to Dorchester, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. V, No. 83 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1630, p. 213, Va. State Library.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 12.
5 Ibid., p. 38.

486 ECONOMIC HISTORY OP VIRGINIA

duty of two shillings imposed upon every hogshead ex-
ported, subject, however, to the condition that he was to
deliver to persons designated by the Assembly the salt
which he manufactured, the exchange to be made at the
rate of two shillings and six pence a bushel. No salt
was to be imported into the county of Northampton after
1663, and if the master of a ship, bark, or any smaller craft
disregarded this order, he was to suffer the confiscation of
his vessel.^ Anticipating that Colonel Scarborough might
be unable to supply by his own manufacture the people
of the Eastern Shore with the whole amount they required,
the Assembly at a later date granted to him the exclusive
privilege of importing this article into that Peninsula, and
if the needs of the inhabitants in this respect were not met
in spite of these additional facilities for obtaining salt, they
were to be permitted to buy it of any one who possessed
it, for "their own use, but not for the purpose of selling it.^
This monopoly having been found to be repugnant to the
public health and convenience, it was withdrawn as far as
it related to Northampton, and was not again renewed. ^
There is no evidence that salt was manufactured anywhere
in Virginia in the seventeenth century except on the
Eastern Shore, the waters of the inland bays and estuaries
being less impregnated with brine than the waters of the
open sea. The reference to the importation of the foreign
article became more frequent towards the close of the
century. This importation was never interrupted in the
greater portion of the Colony, salt being brought in as a
part of the annual supplies consigned to Virginia.*

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 122.

2 Ihid,, p. 186.

3 Ihid:, p. 236. It is stated in a General Court entry for 1671 that
Berkeley encouraged the making of salt in Virginia, presumably at this
time. Bohinson Transcripts, p. 258.

* Hening's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 405.

MANUFACTDKED SUPPLIES 487

The need of some means of grinding grain was felt in
the Colony as early as 1620, and in the summer of that
year, to meet this want, a proposition was brought for-
ward at a General Court of the Company to send over
skilful Wrights to construct water-mills. In 1621, Gov-
ernor Yeardley built a windmill in Virginia, which was the
first building of this character erected in North America.^
In the same year, the Treasurer of the Colony was com-
manded to construct a water-mill. The numerous streams
of Virginia rendered it easy to secure the necessary power
for grinding, and after the first mill was erected, the
number steadily increased with the growth of population.
In 1631, a mill was erected at Kecoughtan by the mill-
wrights whom Claiborne had introduced into the Colony. ^
In the following year, it is found that there was a struc-
ture of this kind standing on the plantation of William
Brocas, situated not far from Jamestown. ^ Corn-mills
were also owned in Virginia at this time by Hugh Bul-
lock.^ In 1645, there were a sufficient number in the
Colony to require that legislative provisions should be
adopted for their regulation. As, in consequence of the
small trade or local monopolies, the charges of the owners
had become excessive, the law stepped in to protect the
planters in the matter of rates, declaring that the miller
should take as his remuneration only one-sixth of the
Indian corn brought him for grinding. Means, however,
were found to evade this provision in the levying of toll,
and it was consequently prescribed that all mill-owners

1 Governor and Council of Virginia to the Company, Januaiy, 1G21-
22, Neill's Virginia Compan)/ of London, p. 283.

"^ Archives of Maryland, Proceedings of Council, 1667-1G87, p. 2:1(5.

3 Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 117. See also Va. Land Patents,
vol. 162.3-1643, p. .533.

* Becords of York Cotintij, vol. 1<)33-I(in4, p. 30, Ya. State Library.

488 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

should keep scales and weights on hand for the ensure-
ment of accurate measures.^ In 1649, there were five
water-mills in Virginia, four windmills, and a great num-
ber of horse, and hand mills. ^ Some years later, it became
necessary to make the regulations adopted to secure accu-
rate weights still more rigid, as there was a stronger
disposition to disregard them. All grain received was
to be carefully weighed, as well as all meal delivered.
Stilyards or statute scales were to be used. A fine of
one thousand pounds of tobacco was to be imposed in
every instance in which there was an intentional failure
to observe these requirements.^ In 1667, the number of
mills in the Colony was not sutficient to supply the
needs of the population, and valuable inducements were
offered to encourage their erection, these inducements
being the same as those extended in the case of fulling
mills at a later date, that is to say, if the person who
wished to erect a mill was in possession of land lying only
on one side of the stream upon which he proposed to build,
he was granted the right to appropriate an acre on the
other side, two commissioners being appointed by the
court to appraise its value. The appropriation, however,
was not permitted, and this, we have seen, was also the
case in the instance of fulling mills, if it involved the
destruction of houses, orchards, and other conveniences.*

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 347.

2 New Description of Virginia, p. 5, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.
See also Eecords of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 12, Va. State
Library. Henry Spratt, in 1688, owned two hand-mills and one horse-
mill. See Eecords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1686-1695,
f . p. 95. Among the entries in the inventory of Ralph Wormeley's estate
were horse millstones. See Eecords of Middlesex County, original vol.
1698-1713, p. 124.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 485.
* Ibid., vol. II, p. 260.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 489

From 1G67 to the close of the century, there was a
rapid increase in the number of mills. The references to
them in the description of metes and bounds in patents
become more and more frequent. ^ There are also many-
references to the transfers of this form of property. ^ The
details of the expense of erecting a building of this char-
acter at this time have been transmitted to us in the
recorded account of a mill belonging to Edward Chisman
of York. The stones and iron were imported from Eng-
land at a cost of thirty-seven pounds and thirteen shil-
lings.^ The remuneration of the millwright was ten
thousand pounds of tobacco. The other items of expense
were the labor of the sawyers in preparing the plank, of
the smith in putting in the machinery, the wages of two
persons in superintending the workingmen, the food and
lodgings of the latter, the timber which entered into the
construction of the building and the gates of tlie race, and
finally the nails. The entire cost amounted to twenty-
one thousand four hundred and five pounds of tobacco,
equivalent in value to one hundred and seventy pounds
sterling. It is interesting to note that the annual profits

1 For an instance, see Becords of Rappahannock County, vol. 1G68-
1672, p. 71, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of York County, vol. 1687-1691, p. 30, Va. State Library ;
Ibid., vol. 1684-1687, p. 9, Va. State Library. In 1676, a half-interest in
a mill situated in York County, the property of John Heywaxd and his
wife, was sold for twenty pounds sterling, one thousand pounds of Indian
corn, and five bushels of English wheat. The twenty pounds sterling
were to be paid in goods ; and as an additional consideration, the pur-
chaser agreed to grind the grain of Hey ward free of toll. Ibid., vol.
1671-1694, p. 157, Va. State Library.

3 The personal estate of Ealpli Wormeley included a pair of French
burr millstones. Becords of Middlcspx, original vol. 1694-1703, p. 126.
A millstone owned by William Eyrd, and used in his mill at Falling
Creek, was valued at £40. See Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-
1699, orders, April 1, 1697.

490 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

of tills mill were calculated at four thousand pounds of
tobacco. 1

In 1671, we discover the first indication of the existence
of flour-mills in the Colony, from the legal provision of
that year that the toll for grinding wheat should be one-
eighth instead of one-sixth of the amount of grain brought
to the mill, one-sixth, as has already been pointed out,
being the proportion allowed in the case of maize. ^ Tow-
ards the end of the century there were a number of flour-
mills in Virginia. Fitzhugh mentions incidentally in his
correspondence in 1686 that there was a mill not far from
his house which ground both wheat and maize, and it was
here that he obtained his regular supply of meal and
flour. 3 Colonel Byrd was the owner of two grist-mills
managed by men whom he had obtained from England.
In 1685, he informs an English correspondent that he
expected in the course of another year to forward to
England a sample of flour manufactured on his planta-
tion, his bolting-mill at this time not being finished.*
Much of the wheat shipped to the West Indies was first
converted into flour.^

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1084, p. S2, Va. State Library.
Among the owners of mills were Daniel Parke and John Page of York
County, George Newton of Lower Norfolk, Matliew Kemp of Middlesex,
Robert Carter, David Fox, Joseph Ball, and Robert Beckingham of
Lancaster, Richard Kennon, John Pleasants of Henrico, and Thomas
Gunston of Rappahannock.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. IT, p. 280. There were flour-mills in the
Colony at a date doubtless earlier than this. In 1661, there are refer-
ences to flour in the inventories, but this had probably been sent to
Virginia from England. ' See Becords of York County, vol. 1657-1662,
p. 380, Va. State Library.

3 Letters of William Fitzhugh, April 22, 1686.
* Letters of William Byrd, Feb. 10, 1685.

5 Ibid., Oct. 18, 1686. Thomas Cocke of Henrico County also owned
a flour-mill. Becords, vol. 1677-1092, p. 71. This mill was situated near
Malvern Hill.

MANUFACTURED SUPPLIES 491

I have already adverted to the saw-mills in Virginia
during the existence of the company. In 1630, land at
Jamestown was granted to persons who undertook to
erect mills of this kind, and that they were built is shown
in the correspondence of Harvey at this time.i As late
as 1649, however, it is stated that a mill to saw boards
was very much needed in Virginia. Either tlie term
"board" was not used to include the material of Avhich
the houses were usually constructed, or the demand for
plank in the Colony was so great tliat the mills already
in operation were unable to supply it.^ After the middle
of the century, the saw-mills became as numerous as the
grist-mills. In some cases, they were propelled by horse
power. 3 The steel saws were imported from England.
Patterns were sent to the mother country to obtain saws
of the exact size desired, and the same method was
adopted as to the rest of the iron machinery.*

There are indications that a small quantity of plank,
which had been sawed in the Colony, was occasionally
exported to England. In 1695, Fitzhugh sent walnut
plank to John jNlason of Bristol, but was so much discour-
aged by the pecuniary outcome of the venture that he

1 Delaware 3ISS., linyal Hist. 'BISS. Commission, Fourth Eeport,
Appx., pp. 290, 291. A deed bearing the date of 1G37 shows that Hugh
Bullock owned at that time saw-mills in Virginia. See Becords of York
County., vol. 1G33-1G94, p. 30, Va. State Library. The first saw-mill erected
in England was not built until 1(5.55. Tliis was due to the ignorance of the
people, who thought that the trade of the sawyers would be ruined by
such mills. Bishop's History of American Manufactures, vol. I, p. 93.

2 New Description of Virginia, p. 5, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. IL
The reference to saw-mills in the Neio Description of Virginia led Mr.
Bishop, in his History of American Manufactures, to suppose that no mill
of this character had previous to 1G49, been erected in Virginia; the
records show that he was mistaken.

3 Becords of York County, vol. 1GG4-1G72, p. 407, Va. State Library.
* Letters of William Byrd, March 8, June G, 1G83 ; Feb. 2, 1G84.

492 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

wrote that he was unwilling to repeat the experiment.^
It seems that Fitzhugh was not the only planter who had
made such a shipment ; Captain Brent also had for-
warded several cargoes of the same material for the use
of Mr. Blaithwaite, having purchased it in Virginia at
the rate of six pence a foot.^

Pipe-staves and clapboards were manufactured in Vir-
ginia from an early date. This was one of the employ-
ments in which the colonists were engaged during the
presidency of Smith. Among the conditions inserted in
every grant of land, as laid down by the Orders and Con-
stitutions of 1619-20, was one that the patentee should,
among other tasks imposed on him at the same time,
fashion boards for house-building.^ Williams calculated
in 1650 that a man was able to make annually fifteen
thousand pipe-staves and clapboards, which could be
sold in the Canary Islands for twenty pounds sterling
a thousand.* That this manufacture was carried on at
the time in question, is proved by the statement of the
author of the Neiv Description of Virginia^ who declared
that the shipmasters, when they were unable to obtain
a full lading, carried out pipe-staves, clapboard, walnut,
and cedar timber.^ The freight to Barbadoes on the first,
towards the close of the century, was one-half of the
charge imposed for their transportation to England. On
one occasion, Fitzhugh was about to make a shipment of
staves to Barbadoes, but on the captain's deciding to go
to England, Fitzhugh sold them to him at the rate of

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 21, 1698.

2 Ihid. Pine plank was valued in Lower Norfolk County in 1695 at five
shillings a foot. See Records, original vol. 1695-1703, p. 2.

3 Orders and Constitutions, 1619, p. 21, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. III.

* Virginia Kichly Valued, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.
5 New Description of Virginia, p. 5, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. II.

MANUFACTURED SUPrLIES 493

fifty shillings a thousand, a hamper of canary being thrown
iii.i j^-^ r^ later date, Fitzhugh transported six thousand
two hundred and forty articles of the same kind to Bar-
badoes.2 At still another time, he proposed to send to
his merchant in London ten thousand, and expressed him-
self as ready to dispatch, if a fair profit could be secured,
as many as seventy thousand trunnels.^ In 1690, John
Waugli of York gave a note to William Sedgwick, prom-
ising to deliver on a designated day, fourteen thousand
pipe-staves, which were now valued at two pounds and
ten shillings a thousand. Notes of this character were
not uncommon, and they were frequently causes of suit.*
Pitch and tar were produced in Virginia in small
quantities during the administration of the Company,
several Poles having been sent out to the Colony for that
purpose. It was proposed that a number of apprentices
should be set to learn the art of this manufacture under
the foreigners.^ There is no evidence that these articles
were made on a scale of importance in the subsequent
history of the Colony, although England was compelled
throughout this period to import large quantities from
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.^ In 1698, the only
place Avhere pitch and tar were produced in Virginia in
a considerable quantity was in Elizabeth City County.
The amount did not exceed twelve hundred barrels

1 Letters of William Fitzhugh, May 22, 1083.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid., June 5, 1682.

* Records of York Connty, vol. 1687-1691, p. 448, Va. State Library ;
Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol., orders Sept. 19, 1094.
Boards and staves were sometimes the consideration in the purchase of
land. See Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703,
f. p. 103.

5 Abstracts of Proceedings of the Virginia Company of London, vol. I,
p. 17.

•^ Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. Ill, p. 2.

494 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

annually, knots of old pine trees being the material used.^
Barrels of tar were from an early period very frequently
included in the inventories of estates in Lower Norfolk
County, and the entries of this form of property increased
in a very notable degree in the last five years of the cen-
tury. This commodity became an important consideration
in the transfer of titles to land; in some instances, it was
offered in part payment and in others in whole. ^ There
were also fitful attempts to manufacture potashes. In
several cases, samples were shipped to England, but at no
time did the production of this commodity develop into
an important industry. ^ It sold for about 7s. 6d. a
barrel.*

1 British State Papers, Colonial, Virginia B. T., vol. II, B. 17. "In
obedience to his excellency's the Governor's letter, this court having
taken the same into consideration, doe returne for answer that there
never was any quantitys of pitch and tar made in this county nor is there
any quantity of pine to make the same." Eecords of Middlesex County,
original vol. 1694-1705, p. 222.

2 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1086, f . p. 83 ;
Ihid, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 103.

3 Governor Harvey to Privy Council, October, 1630, British State
Papers, Colonial, No. 5 ; McDonald Papers, vol. II, p. 45, Va. State
Library.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, p. 2.

CHAPTER XIX

MONEY

The history of Virginia in the seventeenth centnry
furnishes perhaps the most interesting instance in modern
times of a country established upon the footing of an
organized and civilized community, with an ever-growing
number of inhabitants and an ever-enlarging volume of
trade, yet compelled to have recourse to a method of
exchange which seems especially characteristic of peoples
still lingering in the barbarous or semi-barbarous state.
From 1607 to 1700, the period upon which I am dwelling,
a period covering an interval of ninety-three years, in the
course of which the small band of colonists who disem-
barked at Jamestown in the spring of 1607 increased
from a few hundred persons to many thousands, a period
in which the unbroken forest east of the falls in the
rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay was in large
part cut down and the soil dug up and planted in
tobacco, wheat, and maize, the financial system of Vir-
ginia was in principal measure based upon exchange in
its crudest and simplest form. An agricultural product
was given for a manufactured, or a manufactured product
for an agricultural. Coin, which is just as much of a
commodity as an agricultural or manufactured article,
circulated in Virginia only in small quantities, even after
nine decades had passed since the foundation of the
Colony. Tobacco was the standard of value at the very
495

496 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

time that the whole community was engaged in planting
it. It was the money in which all the supplies, both
domestic and imported, were purchased; in which the
tax imposed by the public levy was settled; in which
the tithables of the minister, the fees of the attorney and
the physician, the debts due the merchant, the remuner-
ation of the free mechanic, the wages of the servant, the
charges of the midwife and the grave-digger were paid.
In no similar instance has an agricultural product entered
so deeply and so extensively into the spirit and frame-
work of any modern community. It was to the Colony
what the potato has been to Ireland, the coffee-berry to
Brazil, the grape to France, and corn to Egypt; and it
was also something more. It was, as it were, at once an
agricultural and a metallic commodity, which, owing to
the perverse taste of mankind, was as valuable in itself
as the potato, the coffee-berry, the grape, the grain of
wheat, and at the same moment as precious as gold or
silver and more precious than iron. It was as if men
had substituted the barns in their yards for purses in
their pockets. The universal use into which tobacco
came as currency, arose, not from the preference of the
settlers, but by the force of circumstances which they
could not have controlled even if they had wished to.
In the beginning, there was no need for a medium of
exchange. It was the exchange only which was wanted.
Virginia raised tobacco to barter for English clothing,
tools, utensils, and implements that were indispensable
to the people, and which they themselves could not at
that early period manufacture. The Magazine estab-
lished in 1616, the contents of which were delivered by
the Cape Merchant to the planters in return for tobacco,
could only have maintained its existence in a country
in which the original principle of trade was operating

MONEY 497

on account of the poverty of that country or its infancy
as an organized community. The buyer and seller simply "
exchanged articles. The buyer was a seller and the seller
a buyer at the same moment. There was no occasion for
the passage of a single coin from one to the other. As
the population enlarged, and the volume of exported
tobacco and imported merchandise increased, the demand
for coin in the transfer of the great agricultural j)ro-
duct of Virginia for the manufactured goods of England
remained in proportion to the extent of the transaction
almost as small. The principle governing it continued
to be in its essence the same. The Virginians still
desired to procure English commodities, the English
merchants were still anxious to obtain the staple of the
Colony. It was not necessary for the Virginian land-
owner to transport his crops to the West Indies to secure
articles to be disposed of in England for coin to be used
in the purchase of English goods, as was the case with
the farmer of New England in selling his grain and other
provisions. The Magazine set up at Jamestown during
the administration of the Company was in later periods
practically established upon each estate by an English
or native merchant when he exchanged his imported
goods for the planter's tobacco, still without the inter-
vention of a single coin. The inconveniences of such a
system were felt not in the operation of external trade,
that is to say, in the barter of Virginian for English
products or the reverse, but in the working of internal
affairs, in the transactions of local business, for instance,
in the sale of the commodity of labor and professional
knowledge and the like.

The peculiar character of the commercial relations ex-
isting in the seventeenth century between Virginia and
England was precisely what had been desired as well as

498 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

anticipated by English statesmen and merchants at the
time of tlie foundation of the Colony. It was approved
by the public men of England throughout the century
not only because it increased the volume of English manu-
factures, but also because it created no balance of trade
against the English people, involving, as in the case of
their dealings with the countries of Continental Euroj^e,
a withdrawal of large quantities of coin each year from
the kingdom to cover this balance. It was approved by
the merchants during the same period because it gave
them an opportunity to secure a double profit, first, a
profit on the goods which they imported into Virginia,
and secondly, a profit on the tobacco which they exported
from the Colony. Had th'fey been compelled to pay in
coin for every pound of that commodity purchased from
the planters, they would not only have secured no gain
on the outward voyage, since in that instance they would
have carried over no cargo, but they would have lost irre-
trievably the large amount expended in meeting the cost
of navigating their ships in passing from England to
Virginia.

In one of the petitions drawn up by the first Assembly
which convened in the Colony, it is stated that there was
at this time " no money at all " in Virginia. The true
explanation of this condition was recognized by the Bur-
gesses when they declared that they had no mint, the
only means in the circumstances of trade existing then by
which coin could have been obtained. Under the provi-
sions of the charter of 1606, the right to make money of
metal was granted to the Company, but this privilege was
not renewed in the second charter. It does not appear to
have been exercised in the brief interval to which it was
confined. The Assembly of 1619 was very earnest in
urging that the Treasurer who was to be appointed to

MONEY 499

collect the quit-rents, which ought properly to have been
paid in coin, should accept tobacco in its stead, in order
to avoid the deadlock which would result from demand-
ing rents in the metals, at a time when the latter were
not to be found in the Colony. ^

When Sir George Yeardley in 1628 came to draw up
his will, he inserted among its provisions, strict directions
that the portion of his estate in Virginia, including lands,
cattle, and servants, should be sold for tobacco, and that
this should be transported to England and there disposed
of at the highest price. These instructions show how
impossible it was, a generation after the foundation of the
Colony, to convert an estate into coin or even bills of
exchange for transmission to the mother country, although
this method, of course, would have been far preferable to
one which involved the shipment of an agricultural prod-
uct with the heavy freight charges attendant.^ For a
number of years previous to 1632, it seems to have been
the habit to value all articles in tobacco, an indication not
only of the supreme importance of the commodity in the
financial system of the Colony, but also of the compara-
tive stability of its price in the market. As soon as this
price began to fluctuate with more or less suddenness, it
became highly advisable to use the figures of English cur-
rency in all ordinary appraisements ; it is not, therefore,
surprising to find that in 1632 an Act of Assembly was
passed requiring that in calculating the amount of estates
of deceased persons, coin alone should be used as the
expression of value. ^ It is probable that this regulation

1 Lawes of Assembly, 1619, Colonial Records of Virginia, State Senate
Doct., Extra, 1874, p. 16.

2 Will of Sir George Yeardley, JVew England Historical and Genea-
logical Register, January, 1884, p. 69. See General Court Orders, Feb. 4,
1627, Robinson Transcripts, p. 71.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 170.

500 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

had been adopted in relation to salaries some years before.
A decline in the price of tobacco would have inflicted
special loss on the class of office-holders if the rule had
been different. No class in the Colony were more careful
in maintaining every condition that was favorable to their
welfare. Although their salaries were rated in 1638 in
English currency, it is known that they contented them-
selves with receiving tobacco instead of money sterling,
either because there was no coin in Virginia or because
this course was more in accord with their interests. ^

At this time, a certain amount of money sterling was
introduced by means of masters of ships, who, in some
cases, paid in this form the tax of two pence, imposed for
the benefit of the Register upon every hogshead exported
from Virginia. 2 So small, however, was the volume of
the metals in circulation in 1636, that Governor Harvey,
in a letter to Secretary Windebank, stated that there was
in the country " little or no money " sterling, and so much
inconvenience and damage did this fact occasion, that he
was prompted to beg that a large quantity of farthings
should be dispatched to the Colony to facilitate transac-
tions in local business.^ Among the persons to whom a
patent had been granted by the King to make and to place
in general use in England coin equal in value to a farthing
was Lord Maltravers, and upon him was conferred the
right of supplying the people in Virginia with the same
coins in exchange for such commodities as were readily
salable in the English markets.* Their face value was

1 Governor Harvey and Council to Privy Council, Jan. 18, 1039, British
State Papers, Colonial, vol. X, No. 5 ; Sainsbury Abstracts for 163S-
1639, p. 52, Va. State Library.

2 Ibid.

3 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 17 ; Sainsbury Abstracts
for 1636, p. 101, Va. State Library.

■* British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 96, I.

MONEY 501

higher than the intrinsic value of the copper entering into
their composition. This fact was well known to the in-
habitants of the Colony. As soon as the royal intention
of exporting these coins to Virginia was announced, the
House of Burgesses called the attention of the Governor
and Council to the deficiency ; they declared that mechan-
ics Avould be unwilling to receive such money in remuner-
ation for their labor, hired servants for their wages, and
merchants for their debts. The Burgesses suggested that
a petition should be presented to the King, begging him
to import into Virginia five thousand pounds sterling
annually to meet the constant need of coin, and that this
money should be in the form of silver, Avith an allowance
of ten per cent to such merchants as should bind them-
selves to satisfy the exchanges. ^ A few years before, it
had been calculated that the Colony would require annu-
ally as much as twenty thousand pounds sterling, but in
this estimate, there were included not only the salaries of
the public officers, but also the expenses to be incurred in
destroying the forest, in stocking the new plantations with
cattle, in raising fortifications at the mouths of the large
rivers, in maintaining an army which should be kept in
active service, and in extending the exploration of Vir-
ginia both by land and sea.^

No fact illustrates in a more impressive manner, the
absolute dearth at this time of the metals in the Colony
than the Act of Assembly passed in January, 1641, which
provided that no debts contracted in Virginia to be settled
in money sterling should be pleadable in a court of law.

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 9G, II ; Winder Papers,
vol. I, p. Ill, Va. State Library.

2 Governor and Council to Privy Council, May 17, 1620, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. IV, No. 10 ; JtlcDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 30o, Va.
State Library

502 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The only exception allowed by this regulation was when
the debt to be paid in coin had been incurred in the pur-
chase of horses, mares, and sheep. ^ Only three years sub-
sequent to the passage of this Act, the General Assembly,
in the preamble of a new law bearing upon the problem of
introducing money sterling, referred to the great Avants
and miseries which arose day after day from the general
use of tobacco as currency. In their anxiety to promote
the influx of Spanish money, which appears at this time
to have been flowing in in small quantities, probably from
the Spanish and English islands in the West Indies, they
determined to establish an arbitrary rate at which it Avas
to be received in payment of all forms of indebtedness ;
the result of their deliberations was that the piece of eight
should pass as equal in value to six shillings, and all other
coins of the same origin be estimated in proportion. In
the event that Spanish money sterling could be drawn into
Virginia, the General Assembly were apprehensive lest it
might soon be drained away, and to provide against this
possibility, they resolved to import ten thousand pounds
avoirdupois of copper, to be purchased at eighteen pence a
pound, and to be paid for in tobacco. To secure such a
large quantity of the latter commodity, amounting to one
hundred and twenty thousand pounds weight, a levy of
twenty-four poujids a head was to be laid on the inhabitants
of the Colony. It was decided that twenty shillings should
be manufactured from each pound of copper, making, after
a liberal deduction for the costs of mintage, a difference
between the intrinsic value of the bullion and the face
value of the coin amounting to eight thousand seven
hundred and fifty pounds sterling, an enormous sum in
that age. This copper was to be moulded into two, three,
six, and nine penny pieces. Two rings were to be im-

1 Heniug's Statutes, vol. I, pp, 267, 268.

MONEY 503

i^ressed on each coin, in one of wliich a motto was to be
inscribed and to remain permanently. There was to be
annually stamped on the other a new figure, and an officer
to perform this duty was to be appointed in each county.
Captain John Ui^ton was named as the general master of
the mint. The Assembly, in order to give this money a
steady value, declared that if at any time it was called in,
and in consequence ceased to have currency, the public
treasury would pay to the holders, to each one in propor-
tion to the amount in his possession, the sum of ten thou-
sand pounds sterling, as represented in tobacco, this large
quantity of the commodity in question to be obtained by a
general levy. Death was to be the penalty for counter-
feiting this copper coin.^

It is interesting to note the arbitrary means employed
by the General Assembly not only to give a fixed value to
the piece of eight, but also to compel the inhabitants of
the Colony to accept this form of money at the rate pre-
scribed. This, it is almost unnecessary to say, has been
the logical consequence in all ages of all attempts to gov-
ern the value of money by an act of legislation, instead of
leaving that value to be controlled by the preciousness of
the metal as governed by the price in the market. As
has been seen, the Assembly proclaimed that the piece of
eight should pass current as equal in value to six shil-
lings. This was in 1645. It is evident that in the opin-
ion of the people the piece of eight was not intrinsically
worth so many shillings, and they, therefore, declined to
use this coin in exchange at this rate although fixed by
law. The Assembly, in consequence, decided in 1655 to
lower the legal value to five shillings, proclaiming that all
who refused to accept a piece of eight as thus valued were
to be summoned before the court of the county in which

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 308.

504 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

they resided to answer for their disregard of the provisions
of the statute.^ This Act failed to accomplisli the pur^Dose
which it had in view. It was announced that it had been
passed in the interest of mechanics especially, and yet the
mechanics, as soon as they had had some experience of its
practical operation, appear to have been the first to protest
against it, on the ground that, after laboring for a subsist-
ence, "they had only so many counters instead of ster-
ling money for the sweat of their brows." It is obvious
that advantage was taken of the regulation, to pass, not
only upon members of that class but also upon others,
a quantity of spurious coin.^

All debts which by the terms of the contract were to be
paid in money sterling could now be enforced in court,
provided that these debts had not been incurred in the
interval between 1643 and 1649. In that case they were
held to be unpleadable.^

The continued anxiety of the Assembly to promote an
influx of money sterling is shown in the acknowledgment
introduced into the preamble of the celebrated regulation
imposing a tax of two shillings upon every hogshead ex-
ported from A^irginia. It is there stated that one motive
for the adoption of the regulation was that it would per-
haps be conducive to the increase of the volume of coin in
the Colony, an anticipation based upon the fact that when
the duty of one penny for the benefit of the Register was
placed on each cask, a regulation which was in operation
only during a brief period, the shipmasters in many cases

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 410.

2 Ibid., p. 397. In consequence of this fact, it was provided in 1655-56
that only the silver piece of eight should pass as five shillings. See Ibid,
p. 397.

3 Ibid., p. 417. It would appear that " all money debts which are or
shall be made in England for goods imported into this colony," that is,
Virginia, were also included in the scope of the exception. Ibid., p. 417.

MONEY 505

had preferred to pay this duty m money sterling to sub-
serve their own convenience. ^ The author of Public
Good ivithout Private Interest^ writing during tlie time
of the Protectorate, complained of the serious obstruction
caused in the transaction of all business by the bulkiness
of tobacco, the only money then in general use in Virginia,
and he urged the expediency of sending over a supply of
coin to be made current there. ^

The prevailing notion in the seventeenth century that
legislation was able to create any condition in the public
wealth which lawgivers thought proper to bring about,
again led the General Assembly in 1658 to play a trick of
jugglery with the piece of eight. It was formerly pro-
vided that not only should this coin pass as equal in value
to five shillings, but also that no person could refuse to
receive it at that figure without rendering himself liable to
a penalty. It was soon found, as we have seen, that this
gave an opportunity to pass metal of inferior quality, and
the law was repealed. In 1658, the original statute was
reenacted, but with the clause that a refusal of sound
silver pieces of eight alone should be punished by a fine
of twenty shillings. ^ It would be inferred from this that
in the popular opinion a piece of eight, although made of
silver and of unquestionable soundness, was not equal in
value even to five shillings ; there would otherwise have
been no necessity for adopting a rule to compel the colonists
to take it at that rate, unless the object of the law was
really to protect the planters against the extortions of the
merchants and shipmasters, a supposition which appears
improbable, as tobacco was in universal use when goods
had to be bought of the importers, who were as anxious to

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 491.

2 Public Good without Private Interest, p. 21.

3 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 493.

506 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

secure that commodity as they were to sell their mer-
chandise. This view seems to be sustained by the fact
that in the same statute it was provided that no money
sterling in excess of forty shillings should be exported
from Virginia, under a penalty for a violation of the reg-
ulation in double that amount. ^

That the right to sue for debts contracted in money
sterling remained unimpaired after the middle of the cen-
tury is revealed in the conclusion reached by the county
court of York in 1669, in the suit of Captain Samuel
Cooper, as attorney of Edward Smith, against John Page
and others in their character of executors. The sum in
dispute was twenty-six pounds, twelve shillings and six
pence. They were ordered to deliver this amount in coin.
It is safe to say that this decision would not have been
arrived at if the court had thought that it would impose a
special hardship to require the defendants to pay in money
sterling, and we may accept the fact as an indication that
English currency was now somev/hat more abundant in
Virginia than twenty years earlier. 2 When Colonel Nor-
wood, who had been spending several months at Green
Spring, left Jamestown to go to Holland with the view of
securing from Charles the Second the position of Treasurer
of the Colony, it is stated that he was furnished with a
sum of money by Governor Berkeley.^ Whatever coin

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 493.

2 Eecords of York County, vol. 1664-1672, p. 378, Va. State Library.
" Hipwell Hilton .sueing Mr. Thomas Wythe Sr. deft, for £11 16s. sterling
for % of vrorke done for ye deft, who also produces an % for ye same
worke rated in tobacco, and saythe that tobacco is only due according to
agreement, it is ordered that in case ye pit. cannot prove his agreement
■with ye deft, for money due for ye said worke, that then the deft, be
allowed to make oath to his % the same as due in tobacco." Records of
Elizabeth City Co^mty, vol. 1084-1699, p. 7, Va. State Library.

3 Norwood's Voyage to Virginia, p. 50, Force's Historical Tracts,
vol. IIL

MONEY 507

was to be found in Virginia at this time was most probably
in possession of men who held ofticial positions, positions
wliich gave them an opportunity of acquiring whatever
money sterling had been paid by the merchants and ship-
masters. It is remarkable how small is the amount of
coin appearing among the items of inventories even as
late as 1670. Even where an estate was equal in value
to several thousand dollars, it is exceptional if we find a
few shillings. Among the few instances preserved in the
records of the county courts were those of Robert Glas-
cock of Lower Norfolk, whose inventory included two
pounds and a half in coin ; ^ Mrs. Elizabeth Bushrod of
York, who left at her death seven pounds sterling in the
same form,^ and John Nilkson of the same county, who
left only two pounds. ^ Francis Wheeler, Avhose personal
property when he died was valued at X1123, bequeathed
in coin only four pounds and a few shillings.* By 1670,
it had become extremely common to draw specialties in
money sterling, but it is doubtful whether on maturing
they were paid in this medium, the wording being only a
precaution against the fluctuations in the value of tobacco.
Again, in 1680, the General Assembly were careful to
prescribe the legal rates of the money sterling in circula-
tion in Virginia. The French coin was estimated at six
dollars ; the piece of eight at six shillings, an advance of
one shilling on its value as legal tender previous to the
middle of the century ; half -pieces of eight at three shil-
lings, and one-quarter pieces at eighteen pence. The
New England coin was to be held at one shilling. As no
reference is made in this table to Virginian coins, it is to

^ Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1640-1651, f. p. 46.
2 Becords of York County, vol. 1675-1684, p. 338, Va. State Library.
8 Ibid., vol. 1694-1007, p. 16.
* Ibid., vol. 1657-1662, p. 197.

508 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

be presumed that the provisions of the law of 16-i-i for
striking off a local metallic currency ^ had not been car-
ried into effect.^ We find at this time that the General
Assembly petitioned the King for permission to enhance
the value of all the coins imported into the Colony to an
extent represented by one-fourth of their face value ; in
other words, that body desired to obtain authority to rate
a coin equal, let us say, to one dollar in our modern cur-
rency, at one dollar and a quarter, and havmg by the
mere stroke of the pen given this arbitrary value, to
compel all persons to whom it was offered, to receive it
under threat of severe punishment. ^

Two years later, Lord Culpeper, for his own private
profit, began to claim the right as the representative of the
King to fix the value of money sterling by proclamation.
He was accused of having obtained a great quantity of
pieces of eight at a low figure and of then compelling the
soldiers who still remained in the Colony after the sup-
pression of Bacon's Insurrection, to receive their wages in
this coin, which he had raised to the value of six shillings
apiece. The prescription worked both ways. Culpeper
finding that he was losing heavily, inasmuch as his perqui-
sites were settled in money sterling at this rate, issued a
second proclamation restoring the former standard of five
shillings.*

How small was the quantity of money sterling in the
Colony as late as 1685 is shown in the memorable reply
of the Burgesses in that year when called upon by How-
ard, who was acting under instructions from England, to

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. T, p. 308.

2 Bandolph 3ISS., vol. Ill, p. 398.

3 Council and Burgesses to the King, British State Papers, Colonial,
July 26, 1681 ; Sainsbjiry Abstracts for 1681, p. 106, Va. State Library.

•* Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 7-4.

MONEY 509

pay their quit-rents in coin instead of in tobacco, ac-
cording to the rule which had prevailed for so great a
length of time. They boldly declared that it was impos-
sible to obey such an order. Not only was money ster-
ling entirely lacking, but it could not be procured from
England, the laws of that kingdom prohibiting its expor-
tation. ^ The people of Virginia, although they had been
enduring the evil condition springing from a dearth of
coin for so long a period, seemed unable to accustom them-
selves to the inconveniences it caused in such a variety of
ways. In 1686, the Governor and Council drew up a
petition to the King, in which he was asked with great
earnestness to grant the authorities of the Colony the
right to advance pieces of eight, French crowns, and other
foreign money beyond their intrinsic worth. It was an-
ticipated that the merchants engaged in the tobacco trade
Avould be tempted by this increase in rating to import
large quantities of coin in order to secure the margin of
profit which would thus be created between the arbitrary
and the real value of the metal.

The proposition of the Council was submitted to the
Commissioners of Customs in England for an opinion as
to the expediency of accepting it. Their reply was in
many respects a memorable one, and deserves perhaps to
be pondered even in the present age. They took the
ground that "no rate ought to be set upon money ster-
ling other than according to its real intrinsic value and
worth ;" and they further declared, "that the proposition,
if carried out, would be a great hindrance to trade, and
instead of a general advantage, conduce only to the ad-
vantage of some particular persons, who, being in debt,

1 Address of Burgesses to Howard, October, 1685, British State
Papers, Colonial; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, p. 340, Va. State
Library.

510 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

would by this means gain an opportunity of defrauding
their creditors."^ This was striking language to hold in
the seventeenth century, when, on account of the failure
to recognize money sterling as a simple commodity like
iron and wheat, a general belief prevailed that it was
perfectly consistent with economic laws to disregard the
intrinsic worth of coin and to place upon it any value
that mistaken notions as to the true interests of the peo-
ple suggested. The proposition of the Council, which
the Commissioners passed upon so justly, was doubtless
made at the instigation of Howard, who had been specially
instructed by the English Government to refrain from
altering the metallic currency of Virginia unless he should
receive distinct authority to do so from the King.^

The authors of the Present State of Virginia, 1697,
have thrown important light on the condition of the Col-
ony in the last decade of the century with reference to
money sterling. From this pamphlet, it is learned that
the piece of eight was valued at this time at five shillings
by law. No weight for the coin was prescribed, and in
consequence frequent occasion was taken by private per-
sons to reject it on the ground that it was so light that it
could not be good silver, or if good silver, that it had
been clipped. From this fact, it is to be inferred that the
intrinsic worth of the j)iece of eight was not generally
considered equal to five shillings. No attempt was made
to ascertain by legislative enactment the current value
of other coins of foreign as distinguished from English
origin. The quantity of English money in circulation

1 Report of Commissioners of Customs, April 30, 1687, Colonial Entry
Book, Virginia, No. 83 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 107, 108, Va.
State Library.

2 Commission to Howard, 1683, clause 75, British State Papers, Colo-
nial ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 264, Va. State Library.

MONEY 511

was extremely small, which would seem to indicate that
the pieces of eight, the Peruvian pieces, and the crowns
had been imported almost wholly from the West Indies.
Even these coins did not remain very long in the Colony,
if the testimony of the authors of the Present State
of Virginia, 1697, can be accepted. Pennsylvania had
adopted an order that pieces of eight of twelve penny-
weight should pass current as equal to five shillings, and
in the same proportion, pieces of eight of an increased
weight. As the most valuable piece of eight was ascer-
tained in Virginia at five shillings, and in Maryland at
four shillings and six pence, there was created a tendency
in this coin to flow from the two Colonies just mentioned
to Pennsylvania, where it could be disposed of as an ordi-
nary commodity at a profit, in one instance of a shilling
and in another of a shilling and a half.^

The lack of coin in Virginia at this time was by some
attributed to the action of the Governor, who found it to
his interest, it was said, to encourage the use of tobacco
as money because it enabled him to receive his salary in
the form of bills of exchange which could be transmitted
to England with more facility and safety than the metals.
He objected quite naturally to the payment of what was
due him in pieces of eight, at the wholly arbitrary valuation
of five shillings. As soon as he forwarded them to Eng-
land, these coins would have been credited to him at their
true worth, to his very serious damage. The Governor
Avas probably in large part paid in tobacco received for
quit-rents, this being delivered to him at a more reason-
able rate than he could have secured it in the open mar-
ket. He was also a purchaser of the same commodity
procured from the same source on terms equally to his

1 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1697, p. 14.
See, also, Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 53.

512 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

advantage. For one hundred pounds of it, for instance,
he was required to pay only four shillings and six pence;
he could not only dispose of it at a handsome profit, but,
obtained at so low a price, he was enabled to buy all of
his supplies practically at half rates. The example set
by the Governor in discouraging the use of money ster-
ling was followed by the Auditor-General in receiving
from the collectors the amount which they were called
upon to turn over to him, and by the collectors in receiv-
ing the duties which were paid by the merchants on tobacco
exported by them and on certain articles which they im-
ported. The authors of the Present State of Virginia,
1697, declare that the influence of the example of these
officials extended to the people in their mutual transac-
tions in business, but this statement is open to serious
doubt, since to follow their example did not coincide with
the popular interests. The expressed sentiment of the
colonists is, moreover, in conflict with it.^

In a series of proposals drawn in the autumn of 1697
for submission to the House of Burgesses by leading citi-
zens of Accomac, it was asserted emphatically that money
sterling was the most convenient agency in carrying on
trade and commerce, and that its absence discouraged men
in every walk of life because it compelled them to wait or
sell upon credit, which frequently terminated in a total
loss. For this reason, it was stated to be of the highest
importance that all coins should bear a fixed value. The
petitioners, thereforS urged upon the attention of the
Burgesses the necessity of laying down the rates at which
all money sterling except that of English mintage should
pass as current in Virginia. Unless steps were taken to
put this suggestion into practical operation, the small
amount in circulation in the Colony, the petitioners pre-

1 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1C97, p. 13.

MONEY 513

dieted, would be drawn away to the provinces where the
coins had an ascertained value, i The suggestion seems to
have been adopted either immediately or at a later date, for
when Beverley wrote his History, the value of all money
sterling in use in Virginia had been fixed by law. Besides
coins of English origin, there were coins which had come
from the mints of Arabia, France, Portugal, Spain, and
Spanish America. Both gold and silver were represented.
The silver coin bearing the stamp of France, Spain, or Por-
tugal was appraised at three pence and three farthings a
pennyweight. The gold coin of these countries and also of
Arabia was valued at five shillings a pennyweight. The
English guinea passed current at twenty-six shillings and
English silver at an advance of two pence in every shilling.
Old English coin was rated in proportion to its weight. ^

It is significant to find that among the different kinds
of money sterling in circulation in the counties on the
Eastern Shore was the lion or dog dollar, as it was called,
from the device on its face. This was perhaps a Dutch
coin which had obtained a furtive admission into the Col-
ony by the smuggling traffic, which, in spite of the Navi-
gation laws, was carried on between the people of those
countries and the merchants of Holland. Its presence in
Virginia as late as 1696 was the strongest evidence of the
continuation of this illicit commerce. In the course of
that year, a petition was presented by the planters of
Accomac to their representatives in the House of Bur-
gesses, to be delivered to that body when it assembled,
asking that a legal value be set upon the lion or dog
dollar, in order that it might be used to advantage in
current business transactions.^

1 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 53.

2 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 230.

3 Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, vol. I, p. 52. In Records

VOL. II. — 2 L

514 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The instances in which coin formed a part of a testa-
tor's estate were more frequent in the last decade of the
century than they had been previously. Mrs. Katherine
Thorp of York, who died in the course of this period, left
six pounds sterling in gold and thirteen pounds in silver. ^
The estate of Nathaniel Branker of Lower Norfolk in-
cluded four pounds sterling in silver and one pound in
gold. 2 It is stated in the inventory of William Porteas
of Lower Norfolk that he had among his effects nineteen
pounds sterling, a large sum when it is remembered that
his personal estate did not exceed six hundred and sixty-
six pounds ; ^ the only instance comparable with this was
that of William Knibbe of Henrico, who had collected
enough coin to fill one-half of a small cabinet, his object,
however, being to meet the cost of a trip to England.^
Robert Lightenhouse of York, whose personalty was ap-
praised at seventy-two pounds sterling, bequeathed four-
teen pounds in metallic money. ^

A large quantity of the money sterling that was now
left at the deaths of planters was of foreign origin. Thus
in the personalty of William Knott of Lower Norfolk
there were fourteen pounds sterling in Spanish money
and three Arabian gold pieces.^ John Morrah bequeathed
eleven shillings in English money, two shillings in New

of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, p. 151, there is this
reference to bits: "Watching on board the sloop Content from Oct.
19, 1697, to Nov. 12, 1697, is twenty two days and nights at 3 bitts per
day, and 3 bitts per night comes to 4£ 2^^ 6<i."

1 liecords of York ConnPj, vol. 1694-1G97, p. 193, Va. State Library.

2 Becord- of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 17.

3 Ibid., original vol. 1695-1703, p. 36.

* Becords of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 101, Va. State Li-
brary.

5 Becords of York County, vol. 1694-1702, p. 387, Va. State Library.

6 Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 95.

MONEY 515

England, and five pieces of eight ; ^ Thomas Teackle of
Acconiac, four pounds sterling in Spanish coin ;2 Tliomas
Tomson of Lancaster, five pounds ; ^ and Jacob Walker
of Elizabeth City, twenty-one.* The inventory of Peter
Cartwright included twenty-three pounds sterling in Span-
ish coin, an Arabian gold piece, and half a gold pistole.
Among the effects of William Chichester of the same
county were eight pounds sterling and four lion dollars.^

The increase in the volume of coin in circulation by
the end of the century is shown in the vast number
of specialties which at this time were made payable in
money sterling, a precaution which meant, in many cases,
that onl}' the amount of tobacco representing the figures
named should be delivered, but more frequently that the
specialties were to be carried out as they stood, the person
under bond being required to meet his obligation in specie.
The only preference allowed him was the alternative of
settling in English or Spanish money. ^ It was directed

1 Becords of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 16, Va. State
Library.

2 Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1692-1715, p. 140.

3 Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1690-1709, p. 59.

* Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 489, Va. State
Library.

^ Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 106 ;
Ihid., Chiclie.ster, p. 150. Fitzhugh, writing to Colonel Brent under
date of Feb. 25, 1687, said, "I send you by this messenger one guinea
and twelve pieces of eight." Letters of William Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh
speaks of this as being his entire stock of ready money except one piece
of eight.

6 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 100, Va. State
Library. The debt was sometimes required to be paid in New England
coin, as the following instance preserved in Becords of Middlesex County,
original vol. 1673-1685, p. 135, shows : "Judgment granted to John Pick-
worth, Benj. Pickworth and Richard Hudson against Mrs. Margaret Bridge,
administratrix of Mr. Francis Bridge, for ye sum of 43£ 16^^ New England
money, together with interest for said money according to ye obligation-"

516 ECONOMIC HISTOKY OF VIRGINIA

that personal estates should be sold for tobacco or coin as
convenience should dictate to the executor. ^ Contracts
for work to be paid for in money sterling alone were
now drawn and strictly enforced by courts of law when
appeal was made to them.^ Coin was also the considera-
tion in the sales of land.^

No financial device played a more important role in the
internal and external trade of the Colony than the bill of
exchange. This instrument was only used when the party
who gave it had a balance to his credit in the hands of some
merchant, the drawee being generally a person of this call-
ing who resided in England, New England, Barbadoes, or
in one of the other English Colonies. Illustrations of the
ordinary circumstances under which bills of exchange were
passed may be offered. A foreign or native trader who
was engaged in buying and selling Virginian tobacco
purchased a large quantity of this commodity ; instead of
making payment in some form of merchandise or in money
sterling, he delivered a bill of exchange drawn on a mer-
chant who lived in England or in one of the Colonies,
as the case might be. This manner of settling indebted-
ness was peculiarly agreeable to the planters who had
direct dealings with these outside countries, as it placed
a large sum to their credit in the very place where they
were in the habit of buying goods. The person receiving
the bill transmitted it to his own correspondent in Eng-
land, New England, or Barbadoes, with instructions to
collect it and devote the sum of money sterling thus

1 Becorcls of York County, orders for Oct. 2, 1692, Va. State Library.

•^ Becorcls of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 8, Va. State
Library.

3 It is worthy of note, however, that when land at this time was sold
for tobacco, the expression "sum of so many pounds of tobacco" was
generally used. See Records of BappaJiannock County, vol. 1671-1676,
p. 338 ; vol. 1663-1668, p. 35.

MONEY 517

obtained to the purchase of such commodities as he
might designate, or he directed that his correspondent
should hold it subject to future orders. The correspond-
ent thus became his banker. It was also common for a
planter, in forwarding his hogsheads of tobacco, to accom-
pany them with bills equal in value to his interest in the
cargo, drawn on the consignee, who was ordered to return
in the form of goods the sum represented. If the price
of the articles as a whole exceeded the aggregate amount
of the bills, an abatement was made in the order, or the
deficiency was covered by a second shipment of tobacco.
The planter would not infrequently draw a bill of ex-
change on the merchant in England in whose hands a
balance remained to his credit, for the purpose of settling
a difference in his account with a second English mer-
chant. It happened very often that the Virginian, instead
of sending wheat or tobacco to the Northern Provinces,
forwarded to a correspondent residing there, bills of ex-
change made payable in England or the West Indies,
these bills having been delivered to him by merchants or
planters in the Colony with whom he had had business
transactions, or having been drawn by himself ; they were
honored by their exchange for what he needed, the corre-
spondent relying upon their soundness when presented to
the persons named as drawees. This was an ordinary
illustration of the part which a bill of exchange played
in the economic life of Virginia. It may have passed
through a dozen hands in the Colony, like a piece of coin,
before coming into the possession of the last holder. It
then made the long voyage to New England. There
it may have gone through many additional hands in
succession before it was transmitted to England or the
West Indies for acceptance by the merchant who was the
drawee from the besfinnino:.

518 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

The bill of exchange was drawn m general in the form
of three duplicates, one of which, the first, second, or
third, apparently without discrimination, was very often
entered on record in the county in which the bill itself was
given. It was to be met twenty, thirty, or forty days or
even longer after presentation to the drawee. It could be
transferred, being made payable to order. i As the risk
of protest was always present, it is not surprising to find
that precautions were taken to ensure the payment of the
amounts represented in bills of exchange by requiring
the delivery of collateral security. The local government,
when it first imposed a duty of two shillings on each hogs-
head exported, was careful to provide that if paid for in
bills of exchange, these bills should be fully protected. In
private transactions, the security most frequently consisted
of a bond in which the person delivering the bill bound
himself to pay double the amount set down in it in the
event that the document was protested. In some cases,
the security was a recorded assignment of the servants,
slaves, cattle, and tobacco in the possession of the drawer,
and this was to be made final if the bill was dishonored.^

There is much evidence to show that the bills of ex-
change were in many instances protested. The cargo on
which they were based sometimes miscarried or after its
arrival in England remained unsalable, or perhaps the con-
signee proved bankrupt or was unscrupulous in his busi-
ness life. The return of such documents occasioned such
serious damage even in some cases in which they had been

1 Eecords of York County, vol. 1G71-1694, p. 152, Va. State Library ;
Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, pp. 291, 337, Va. State
Library. In one case, sixteen separate bills of exchange were recorded
together in Becords of Lancaster County, original vol. 1666-1682, pp. 147.
This was in 1671.

2 An instance of security in the form of a bond will be found in Becords
of Rappahannock County, vol. 16(i8-1672, p. 54.

MONEY 519

secured by the conditional assignment of property in the
Colony to the persons in whose favor they were drawn,
that the General Assembly determined to impose a heavy
penalty upon the drawer of a bill, although he might be
able to show that the default of the drawee in England or
whatever country the latter might reside in was altogether
unjustified. He was required to pay the creditor not only
the amount of the protested bill, but also thirty per cent
in excess of it. He was, however, allowed, whenever the
drawee had ample funds in his hands to meet the call upon
him, to secure from any property in Virginia belonging to
the drawee the amount which he, the drawer, Jiad been
compelled to pay both in principal and damages to the
creditor.! It was found that the interests of the Colony
suffered from the high percentage at which the losses
resulting from protested bills were rated, and the pro-
portion once recoverable on this account was lowered to
fifteen per cent. This penalty was strictly enforced and
no alteration was suffered to be made in it by private
agreement, even for the advantage of the creditor. In
1670, John Hungerford of York delivered to Mrs. Eliza-
beth Napier bills of exchange amounting to nine pounds
sterling which he had drawn on an English merchant
and bound himself in damages to the extent of thirty
per cent in case they were returned rejected. Under the
law, his responsibility was restricted to fifteen per cent;^
the court, therefore, decided that Hungerford was only
answerable in this degree when the bills were sent back
dishonored. He had, however, to pay the charges of pro-
test and the costs of the suit.^

If the drawer of the protested bill was not to be found
when he was sought in order to enforce his liability for its

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 171. 2 j^jd^ p, 243.

^ Becords of York County, vol. 1G04-1G72, p. 450, Va. State Library.

520 ECONOMIC HISTORY OP VIRGINIA

amount and the damages, process of attachment was issued
against his estate in case he owned any property in the
Colony. 1 In order to avoid the possibility of a bill which
had been paid being presented for payment the second time,
when the receipt perhaps had been lost, or the original par-
ties to the document or the witness of the transaction which
it represented had died, it was provided that suit upon such
a bill must be brought before three years had expired
since its passage, unless it had been renewed within that
interval, or had been placed on record in the books of the
General Court at Jamestown or in the county in which
the debtor had resided or still lived.^ At a session of the
General Assembly held several years later, it was enacted
that the right of suit on a bill should not extend beyond
live years beyond its date unless the debtor had left Vir-
ginia, thus rendering it impossible to renew the document.
The validity of a judgment obtained upon a protested note
was not to last longer than five years, unless the debtor by
departing from the Colony had put it out of the power of
the holder of the bill to enforce it against him.^

The only forms of money which it still remains to touch
upon are roanoke and wampumpeke. These had a legal
circulation in the Colony, having come down from the
aborigines.* The references to roanoke are most frequent
in the records of such outlying counties as Accomac and
Rappahannock. It seems to have been measured by an
arm's length, and was not infrequently paid out to the
Indians along with match-coats for services performed by
them for the public good.^ It was occasionally found

1 Becords of Elizabeth City County, vol. 1684-1699, p. 1, Va. State
Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 390. ^ /jj-^^,^ p. 434. 4 /^jcZ., p. 397.
5 Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1663-1666, p. 94 ; see also

Becords of General Court, p. 169.

MONEY 621

constituting a part of an estate. ^ The references to wam-
pumpeke are comparatively few.^ The use of beaver as a
currency appears to have been most common on the Eastern
Sliore, where eight pounds in 1637 was valued at one hun-
dred and sixty pounds of tobacco. It was also the subject
of specialty.^

1 Records of Bappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 44; Ihid., vol.
1656-1664, p. 57, Va. State Library.

2 Becords of Accomac County, original vol. 1632-1640, pp. 19, 95.

3 Ihid., p. 24. Beaver and moose skins were legal tender in Canada
about 1669 and 1674. See Weeden's Social and Economic History of
New England, vol. I, p. 325. Rliode Island at one time made wool a
standard of value. Ibid., vol. I, p. 328,

CHAPTER XX

THE TOWN

In the account which I have given so far of the economic
condition of the people of Virginia in the seventeenth cen-
tury, it will have been seen that the general system of
colonial life rested upon the plantation as the centre, and
not, as in New England, upon the township. A just concep-
tion of its whole economic framework may be acquired by
an investigation of the character of a single large planta-
tion, whether that plantation was situated on the Potomac
or the York, the Rappahannock or the James. Each com-
ponent part of the community, that is, each plantation,
was in itself a complete reflection of the entire community,
whether bounded by the lines of one neighborhood or the
whole Colony. The community was a series of plantations
which were only locally distinguished from each other. In
all essential particulars, they were practically the same.
The plantation is of the first and highest importance in
the study of the general system. As tobacco culture
tended irresistibly to promote the constant expansion of
the area of each plantation, by compelling the appropria-
tion of virgin lands either by patent or purchase, the
economic dependence of plantation on plantation was
always growing weaker until, as the logical conclusion of
the process, the owners were finally able to rely exclu-
sively on the supplies, natural and manufactured, furnished
by their own land, or by the foreign merchant. This local
522

THE TOWN 523

isolation, this economic freedom, was thoroughly antago-
nistic to the concentration of population at different places
in the Colony in the form of towns. The plantation was
a small principality, the number of inhabitants of which
was not in proportion to the extent of the property to
which they were attached. The dependence of the servants
and slaves upon their master was increased by the distance
which lay between them and the settlements of the adjacent
plantations, and the same fact increased the importance of
the planter himself. It is easily perceived that the inde-
pendence of his life, an independence extending to every
branch of his affairs, social and economic, would have culti-
vated in him a strong distaste for the confined existence of
residents in cities, which he had either observed when visit-
ing England, or had been informed of through books or by
travellers. Accustomed to the freedom of his own fields,
woods, and streams, assured of the absolute subservience of
the whole population of his plantation, with no neighbors
of his own class sufficiently near to disturb his sense of
local supremacy, with a firm conviction derived from
practical experience that the main product of his soil com-
pelled him to be always widening the area which he
cultivated, with an inclination, moreover, for agricultural
pursuits inherited from his English forefathers, confirmed
and strengthened by all the conditions of his situation, it is
natural that he should have exhibited no disposition to
drift towards the life of towns. Indeed, it would have
been remarkable if the gravitation had not been in the
other direction.

I have already dwelt upon the effect of this tendency in
discouraging the grov/th of the cooperative spirit among the
planters. As the sense of personal independence increased,
an inevitable result of the plantation life, the disinclination
of the individual to combine with other individuals of the

524 ECONOMIC HISTORY OP VIRGINIA

same class for the accomplishment of common economic
purposes became more marked. This spirit not only ob-
structed the systematic advance of manufactures, but it
also prevented the erection of towns. So powerful was the
tendency towards the concentration of all economic inter-
ests in the plantation, and so weak was the disposition of
the planters to cooperate in their economic affairs, that
even had Virginia in the seventeenth century possessed
but one harbor to which all vessels engaged in transporting
to the other Colonies and to Europe the tobacco produced
in its soil had been compelled to resort in order to secure
their cargoes, it is doubtful whether even then the absence
of towns would have been less marked. There would have
been a small concentration of population at that point, but
not in proportion to the economic importance of the spot.
Instead of there being one harbor, as suggested hypotheti-
cally, there were almost as many harbors as plantations. In
the seventeenth century, as has been observed already, the
area included in the patents was confined principally to the
lands which were situated immediately on the navigable
streams. The number of these streams was extraordinary.
Beginning with the Powhatan, York, Rappahannock, and
Potomac, there were, at comparatively short intervals,
rivers, creeks, or estuaries deep enough to float the largest
ships employed in the carrying trade between Virginia and
England. At that early period, every planter owned a
wharf; indeed the strongest reason after fertility of soil
which influenced him in selecting a tract of land was that it
'fronted on a water highway. Even if the stream was not
sufficiently deep to afford room for the keel of a large
vessel, it gave free passage to the shallops in which the
planter's tobacco could be conveyed to the place where the
ship was lying at anchor. With these facilities at his own
door for moving his crop to market, there was nothing to

THE TOWN 525

be gained by transporting it either across country or by
water to some far-off point which might have been fixed
upon by kw as a port of entry. There was not tlie slight-
est justification for such a course of action in any advan-
tage which it might secure. On the contrary, every interest
of the planter was opposed to it. There was a risk attend-
ing the shipment for a long distance in the shallop to be
incurred, as well as the increased freight charges to be
paid. By rolling his hogsheads directly on board of a sea-
going vessel which had dropped anchor at his own wharf,
or only a few miles away, he not only escaped all the per-
ils to which his crop would have been exposed if conveyed
for a distance in a frail boat heavily loaded, but he also
retained the amount which he would otherwise have been
compelled to expend in freight. The charge for trans-
portation from his own wharf to England was the same as
the charge from Jamestown or any other authorized port
of entry. The cost of hiring a shallop was saved, or the
inconvenience and loss of valuable time entailed in send-
ing his servants and slaves in his own boats avoided.

The presence of a navigable stream near every planta-
tion not only furnished its owner with a convenient high-
way for the removal of his tobacco to market, but it also
enabled him to secure his imported supplies without the
expense, inconvenience, or delay of sending for them be-
yond the bounds of his own estate. The ship could unload
its cargo at his wharf, and there, too, he made his purchases
or received the articles consigned to him by his English
merchant.

The only place in Virginia previous to 1700 to which
the name of a town could, with any degree of appropriate-
ness, be applied, was Jamestown, and even this settlement
never rose to a dignity superior to that of a village. The
first structure bearing a resemblance to a house erected on

526 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

that site was the wooden fort which the adventurers began
to build as soon as they had established themselves on land.
The earliest dwellings were merely thatched cabins con-
structed with extraordinary rapidity under the energetic
direction of Smith.^ It is most probable that in deciding
upon the relative situations of houses, the instructions of
the Council brought over by the colonists were strictly
followed. These instructions required that the dwellings
should be set evenly upon a line on either side of the
street, and that each street was to debouch into one central
market square. The Council gave this direction in order
that from one point all the streets might be commanded
by field ordnance. ^ As soon as Captain Newport arrived
with the First Supply, in the winter of 1607, he employed
his men in erecting a storehouse and a church.^ The
entire group of houses appears to have been surrounded
by a stockade. It was not long before a great fire broke
out in the town, and as the dwellings were thatched with
reeds, they soon fell a prey to the flames, which raged so
fiercely that even the palisades standing a little distance
away were entirely consumed. The arms, apparel, bed-
ding, and a large quantity of provisions held in private
ownership were destroyed. Mr. Hunt, the minister, also
lost his collection of books.* The rebuilding of the town
did not begin until the spring, at which time the work
was undertaken under the supervision of Smith and Scriv-
ener.^ The erection of the second church and storehouse
does not seem to have been completed before September.
The church was like a barn in appearance, the base being

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 392.

2 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 84.

8 Wingfield's Discourse, Works of Capt. John Sinith, Introduction,
p. Ixxxvi.

* Works of Capt. John Smith, p. 407
5 Ibid., pp. 408, 409.

THE TOWN 527

supported by crotchets, while the top was composed of
rafts, sedge, and earth. The walls were made of the same
rude materials.! The houses were also of similar composi-
tion and afforded onl}^ a frail protection against the wind
and rain. Water was procured from a well which had
been dug in one of the forts. The whole town was de-
fended by twenty-four pieces of ordnance mounted on
platforms and commanding an unobstructed view. In the
early part of 1609, twenty additional houses were built at
Jamestown. When Smith withdrew from Virginia in the
fall of 1609, the town contained sixty houses.^

On Delaware's arrival in the Colony in the following
year he found the dwellings in the extreme of decay. The
town was described as having the appearance of a fortifica-
tion which the action of time had overthrown. The pali-
sades were prostrate on the ground, the gates were fallen
from their hinges, and the church was sunk in ruin.^ The
buildings, it would seem, had been very unsubstantial in
their construction, or the dampness of the climate had
rotted the material of which they were made. -Both in-
fluences were doubtless at work to produce the transforma-
tion, a transformation, we may remark, which was again
frequently noted in the character of the town in its subse-
quent history. The structures put up in one j^ear were in
a state of decay before barely twelve months had elapsed,
and in a few years were in a condition of complete ruin.
This was illustrated in the most marked degree in the
early history of Jamestown, but continued to be true of
the place until the site of the town was abandoned.

One of the first steps taken by Delaware on assuming

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 471, 957.

2 Ibid., pp. 471, 48(3, 612.

^ Council in Virginia to the London Company, Brown's Genesis of the
United States, p. 405.

528 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

control of the affairs of Jamestown, was to build a num-
ber of houses which are described as well protected against
the encroachments of the severest weather. Their roofs
were covered with boards and the sides of some were de-
fended by Indian mats;^ and yet in spite of the apparently
substantial character of these dwellings, Sir Thomas Dale,
when he reached Jamestown in the following year, after
Delaware had been forced by bad health to withdraw from
the Colou}^, was compelled to order the inhabitants to re-
pair the church and storehouse at once, for fear that if this
was longer deferred, the roofs and walls would tumble
down on their heads.^ He was not content with rebuild-
ing the old structures at Jamestown and adding to their
number a munition house, a house in which to cure stur-
geon, a cattle-barn, and stable ; ^ after some time devoted to
a search for a site, he decided besides to establish a town
on the neck of land which has in a more recent period been
changed into an island by the digging of the Dutch Gap
Canal. Here he first enclosed a plat of seven acres, rais-
ing at each corner a watch-tower. He then built a wooden
church and several storehouses and laid off three streets,
on the line of which framed dwellings were erected, with
the first story of brick. Five houses were also built upon
the verge of the river, and these were occupied by tenants
who acted as sentinels for the approaches to the town by
water. The erection of a hospital to contain four score
rooms and beds seems to have been begun. According to
Hamor, Henricopolis, the name given to the new town in
honor of Prince Henry, presented at the end of four months

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 502, 503.

2 Ibid., p. 507 ; Ralph Hamor's Tnie Discourse, p. 26 ; Brown's Genesis
of the United States, p. 492.

3 Brown's Genesis of the United States, p. 492 ; Neill's Virginia
Vetusta, p. 81.

THE TOWN 529

a more substantial aspect than Jamestown. Nevertheless,
the new settlement soon showed the same symptoms of de-
cline as the earlier one ; the buildings began to decay, and
during the five years that followed were only preserved by
constant repairing. At the end of that time they appeared
to have fallen into hopeless ruin. The brick church wliiuh
Dale proposed to erect at Henrico never rose above its
foundations, and even the foundations remained unfin-
ished. It Avas designed to be one hundred feet in length
and fifty in width.^ In the meanwhile. Sir Thomas Gates,
who had returned to Virginia, had expended much time
and labor in increasing the number of the houses at James-
town. Under his direction and supervision, two rows of
framed buildings were constructed on either side of a reg-
ular street, these buildings being two stories in height,
with a loft in which corn should be deposited. There
were also three storehouses, which really formed one
structure, with a breadth of forty feet and a length of one
hundred and twenty. The whole town was enclosed in a
paling. At the East End there was a platform for ord-
nance. A bridge was also built to connect the island with
the mainland. There were situated outside of the fenced
area several houses which Hamor described as pleasant
and beautiful, but which were probably only so by contrast
with the dwellings within. To these are to be added two
block and a number of farm houses.^

The passage of a few years produced the same changes
previously observed ; indeed, it was now admitted that
unless the houses and cabins were annually repaired they

1 For these details, see Ralph Hamor's True Discmtrf:e, p. 30 ; N'eio
Life of Virginia, p. 14, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I ; Colonial liecords
of Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 75.

2 Hamor's True Discourse, p. 33; Royal Hist. MSS- Commission,
Eighth Report, p. 42.

VOL. II. — 2 M

530 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

would fail into ruin. In spite of the substantial condi-
tion of Jamestown in 1614, it had been reduced by the
time of Argoll's arrival, in 1617, to five or six buildings.
The church had tumbled to the ground, the palisade had
been broken, the bridge had gone to decay. One of the
few structures remaining intact was the residence of the
Governor.^ Argoll took possession of this dwelling and
afterwards enlarged it. A church fifty feet in length and
twenty feet in breadth was built during the course of his
brief administration, the inhabitants of Jamestown assum-
ing the entire expense entailed by its erection. ^ No other
house was constructed during the period of his control.
The bounds of the corporation of Jamestown at this time,
in addition to the whole of the island, included that part
of the mainland situated on the east side of Argolltown,
which probably lay opposite to Jamestown immediately on
the back river ; the neck of land on the north point, more-
over, as far as the end of Archer's Hope ; Hog Island, and
the country to the south as far as Tappahannock.^

When Yeardley arrived in Virginia in 1619, not only
was Jamestown in a state of great decay, but Henrico also
and the adjacent settlements. There were at Henrico a
few houses, all of which had gone to ruin. The church
was in the last stage of dilapidation. The condition of
the dwellings at Coxendale and Arrahattock resembled
that of the houses at Henrico and Jamestown. There
were also six houses at Charles City in ruin.* The activ-
ity displayed by Yeardley under the guidance of the

1 Works of Capt. John Smith, pp. 535, 536.

2 Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Becords of
Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 80.

3 This was Tappahannock on the Powhatan ; Abstracts of Proceedings
of the Virginia Company of London, vol. II, p. 37.

* Briefe Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia, Colonial Records of
Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 80.

THE TOWN 531

persons who were now administering the affairs of the
Company soon produced an improvement in the aspect
of Jamestown ; so many houses were erected, that by 1623
the number to be found there was quadruple the number
in existence only five years earlier, and these houses were
far superior to the latter in the character of their material
and construction. It would appear that an inn had not
yet been built, although sawyers had been engaged a
short time before the massacre in preparing plank for
such a structure. Sawyers had also been employed in
securing timber for the construction of a palisade and
Court of Guard.i

There have survived a number of deeds, recorded dur-
ing the administration of Governor Wyatt, conveying title
to plats of ground in the Corporation of Jamestown,
which afford us a glimpse of the different ownerships
at that time in the ground on which the town was situ-
ated. The residence of Governor Yeardley stood in the
most extensive lot, the area within his enclosure being
seven acres. There were four acres in the lot of Captain
Roger Smith. The lot of Ralph Warnet, a prominent
merchant, covered an acre and a half. The immediate
neighbors of Warnet were George Menefie, Richard Ste-
vens, and John Chew, who were also engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits. The lot of Captain Ralph Haraor lay some
distance from these properties.^ The houses occupied by
these citizens were built entirely of wood. The popula-
tion of the town and corporation in February, 1623, was
calculated at one hundred and eighty-two.^

1 Governor Wyatt to John Ferrer, British State Papers, Colonial,
vol. II, Xo. 26 ; Samshury Abstracts for 1623, p. 80, Va. State Library.

2 Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, p. 5.

3 List of the Living and Dead in Virginia, 1623, Colonial Becords of
Virginia, State Senate Doct., Extra, p. 41.

532 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Among the rules adopted in 1623 for the improvement
of affairs in Virginia, was one requiring that all towns to
be erected in future in the Colony should be built in the
neighborhood of each other, this provision being suggested
b}^ the massacre of the previous year, which had been ren-
dered more deadly in consequence of the fact that the
different settlements were situated far apart, and so, in
that terrible emergency, unable to afford any assistance
to each other. The towns referred to were to be collec-
tions of farm-houses rather than towns in the ordinary
sense of the word. The great mortality prevailing in
Virginia in 1623 perhaps occasioned the further provi-
sion, that in choosing sites for towns and dwelling-houses
only spots remarkable for their healthfulness should be
chosen.i The same year was rendered still more notable
as the date of the earliest of the orders passed to compel
every ship arriving in Virginian waters to proceed to
Jamestown without breaking the bulk of its cargo before
reaching that place. The Governors of the Colony after
the revocation of the charter of the Company were for
many years successively instructed to enforce this regula-
tion. The effect anticipated was not only that an end
would be put to the habit of forestalling imported sup-
plies, but also that the population of that place would
be increased owing to the extension of the opportunities
for employment.

The practical operation of these laws in time excited
great discontent, and the committee in England in charge
of the affairs of the Plantations was in 1638 earnestly
petitioned to express disapproval of them. One of the
principal grounds upon which they were opposed was that
there were no houses at Jamestown in which either to-
bacco or goods could be stored. The sub-committee, in

1 British State Papers, Colonial., vol. II, No. 35.

THE TOWN 533

its report on these objections, which were submitted for
a decision, expressed the warmest approval of the regula-
tion itself, but recommended its temporary suspension for
the reason that the public storehouse at Jamestown had
fallen into ruin and the private storehouses were too few
in number to furnish room for the goods landed by the
merchants. It was recommended in addition that the
Governor should encourage citizens of the Colony to build
warehouses for the purpose of renting them to members
of this class.^ The authorities in Virginia appear to have
disregarded this order suspending the law, because they
were irritated, partly by the insolence of the shipmasters,
who openly boasted of their power to do away with any
regulation which obstructed their freedom in trading, and
partly by a desire to prevent forestalling. Commenting
on the report of the sub-committee, the Governor and
Council declared that there was but one way of encour-
aging the building of towns, namely, by confining the
local trade to certain points, as this would compel mer-
chants and mechanics to establish themselves there in
pursuit of their special branches of business. The order
of the Lords Commissioners suspending the requirement
that all ships should proceed to Jamestown until store-
houses had been erected at that place, had, it was claimed
by the Governor and Council, a disheartening effect upon
many persons who had determined to build there. The
order was wholly unnecessary, inasmuch as there was a
sufficient number of stores for the protection and shelter
of all goods brought in.^

1 Report of Sub-Committee for Foreign Plantations, British State
Papers, Colonial, vol. IX, No. 122 ; Sainshury Abstracts for 163S, p. 29,
Va. State Library.

2 Governor Harvey and Council to Privy Council, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. X, No. 5; Sainsbury Abstracts for 163S, pp. 50-57, Va.
State Library.

534 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

Under an Act of the General Assembly passed in 16361
a lot sufficiently extensive in area to furnish room for a
house and garden was granted, at an annual rental to the
King of one copper, to every person settling at James-
town.2 This Act, which was renewed in 1638, seems to
have accomplished in a measure its object. For the length
of half a mile along the river bank, not a foot of ground
remained unappropriated as a site for a private residence.
Nevertheless, only twelve houses and stores were erected.
The number included a residence of brick for Secretary
Kemp, of such solid and uniform construction that it was
pronounced to be the finest house, public or private, as yet
built in the Colony. His example led others to erect
framed houses. It was at this time that a large amount
of tobacco was contributed for the building of a brick
church. It appears that the design aroused very general
interest, for the contributors to it included masters of ships
and planters who lived in other parts of the Colony, as
well as residents of Jamestown.^ A levy was also ordered
for the purpose of erecting a state-house and repairing the
fort at Point Comfort, and it was to secure mechanics for
these public works that Menefie's visit to England in 1G38
was undertaken. The state-house when completed was
forty feet in length and twenty feet in width.* It was
constructed of brick. There is no evidence that at this time

1 See Va. Land Patents, vol. 1623-1643, p. 689.

2 Governor Harvey and Council to Privy Council, British State Papers,
Colonial, vol. X, No. 5; Sainsbury Abstracts for 1638, p. 54, Va. State
Library.

3 Ibid., p. 57.

* On each side of the state-house there was a building of the same
length and width. The three structures came into possession of Henry
Eandolph, who in 1671 conveyed the middle one to Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. ;
the second to Colonel Thomas Swann ; and the third to Thomas Ludwell.
See General Court Rule Book, No. 2, pp. 155, 617, Bobinson Transcripts,
p. 258.

THE TOWN 635

there was an inn at Jamestown ; only a few years before,
Governor Harvey had comphiined that he coukl with as
much justice be called the host as the Governor of Virginia
from the number of people entertained by him in the
absence of a public house. ^

Berkeley arrived in Virginia in 1642. The seventeenth
clause of his instructions as Governor of the Colony con-
ferred upon him and his Council the power to lay off the
site of Jamestown in such a manner as should appear to
them most advisable. Every person to whom a lot was
granted was required to construct a residence of brick
sixteen feet in breadth and twenty-four feet in length.
There was to be a cellar under each house. The Governor
w^as authorized to erect a building in which the Council
and himself might convene and consult on affairs of public
interest and decide cases. It was perhaps the most notable
feature of Berkeley's instructions that the Governor and
Council, with the advice of the Assembly, could remove
the capital of the Colony if the dilapidation of the houses
at Jamestown and the unwholesomeness of the spot were
sufficiently great to justify it ; the new town, if the deter-
mination were favorable to its erection, should still be
known by the old name.^

There still remained at Jamestown many lots unused as
building sites, and as they were eligibly situated and their
practical abandonment interfered very seriously with the
extension of the town, it was provided by law that whoever
should erect a residence on one of these lots should be
protected in his occupation whether his title to the ground
was valid or not, the only condition imposed being that he

1 British State Papers, Colonial, vol. VI, No. 54; Sainshury Abstracts
for 1632, p. 35, Va. State Library.

2 Instructions to Berkeley, 1641, § 17, McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 382,
Va. State Library.

536 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

should pay the reguhir quit-rent. If the original owner
insisted upon his proprietorship in the lot, his claim was
not to be allowed, but another lot as near to it as could be
obtained was to be assigned him.^

The regulation establishing market days in Jamestown,
Wednesdays and Saturdays being selected, seemed calcu-
lated to increase the importance of the town, but in practi-
cal operation it accomplished nothing, and in consequence
was repealed in 1655.^

The wild character of many of the schemes agitated
about the middle of the century, with a view to the pro-
motion of town building, is illustrated by the suggestion
advanced by the author of the pamphlet Virginia's Cure?
He proposed that every person in the Colony who had a
large number of servants in his employment, should build
a house in the town situated nearest to his plantation.
Here he and his family should dwell, the planter visiting
his estate as often as he considered that his interests
demanded it. On Saturday afternoon, when, accoi-ding
to the custom prevalent in Virginia, the servants were
relieved of work, the author recommended that they
should be ordered to leave the plantations, a few only
being instructed to remain, the rest to go to the towns
in which their masters had taken up their residence, and
there in their masters' houses to spend the Sabbath. This
would give them an opportunity to attend divine service,
a privilege from which they were debarred, at the date of
this pamphlet, by the remoteness of the plantations and
the sparseness of the population, both of which circum-
stances were hostile to the prosperity of the church in
the Colony. This notion was probably suggested to the

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. I, p. 252.

2 ij^ia.^ pp. 362, 397.

3 Virginia's Cure, p. 10, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. III.

THE TOWN 537

author by the system prevailing in several continental
countries, in which the village was the centre of each
agricultural community. It only shows how ignorant
were the Englishmen of that day of the economic condi-
tions in operation in Virginia as a consequence of the
peculiar character of their staple product. Tliis product,
as already pointed out, promoted irresistibly the constant
enlargement of the plantation, dispersed the population,
and sank the importance of the community, while it raised
the importance of the separate estate. The proposition
that the owners of the land should reside in towns might
have been practicable had they been able to rent their
plantations to tenants after the English fashion, but, as
has already been observed, there was no marked disposi-
tion among the inhabitants of the Colony to lease lands
on account of the vast extent of the virgin soil which
remained unajjpropriated. The average planter was com-
pelled to give his personal attention to the management
of his property, whether he had an overseer in his employ-
ment or not. If all the landowners of a large neighbor-
hood had lived together in a single village, it would have
been necessarj'- for each one to spend a considerable por-
tion of his time each day in making the journey to and
from his plantation. This plan of life was not possible
in a country where the estates, owing to their extent, were
remote from a common centre. Such a physical obstacle
would have been insurmountable even if the natural lean-
ing of the people of the Colony had been towards urban
life. But this was not their inclination, and all the influ-
ences of tobacco culture tended to confirm their disposi-
tion in the opposite direction.

If there really existed any desire among the planters
at large to promote the building of towns, it would have
taken no practical shape but for the periodical instructions

538 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

by the authorities in England to the Governors of Virginia
to see to the passage of laws having that object in view.
For a long series of years, the anxiety of the English Gov-
ernment was confined to the extension of Jamestown, the
effort towards which appears to have inflicted only a bur-
den on the people,! but in 1662, Berkeley, who had been
restored to his old position at the head of the Colony, after
the return of the Stuarts to power, was commanded to use
his influence to induce the planters to erect a town upon
every important river. It is a significant commentary on
the effect of the numerous laws which had been passed
with a view to enlarging Jamestown, that Berkeley was
specially directed to begin at this place the new attempt
at town-building in Virginia. Such was the recommenda-
tion which was necessary after all the carefully considered
undertakings of fifty years. Jamestown was still to be
seated ; the Governor had, practically, still to lay its foun-
dations and to promote its growth with the most vigilant
solicitude. Berkeley himself was commanded by the Eng-
lish Government to build several houses in the town, pre-
sumably at his own expense, and he was told to inform the
members of the Council that the authorities in England
would be highly pleased if each one would erect a resi-
dence at Jamestown.2 To such expedients was the English
Government driven to breathe life into that languishing
corporation ! It might have been supposed that the Com-
mittee for Foreign Plantations in England would, by this
time, have plainly understood that if the local conditions
in Virginia had failed to promote the growth of towns
there, all the legislation which might be enacted in the

1 Grievances of Surry County, 167G-1677, British State Papers, Colo-
nial, Virginia, No. 62 ; Winder Papers, vol. II, p. 100, Va. State Library.

2 Instructions to Berkeley, 1662, § 1, McDonald Papers, vol. I, p. 414,
Va. State Library.

THE TOWN 539

future, like all that had been enacted in the past, would
accomplish nothing whatever, but the belief was still too
widespread that a statute had power to effect a-ny pur-
pose, however oj^posed to the spirit of the economic sys-
tem of the people upon whose interests it was designed to
operate.

The General Assembly showed great willingness to con-
form to the wishes of the English Government, although
its members must have perceived very clearly the imprac-
ticability of all schemes to promote the building of towns
in the Colony. In the session of 1661-62, the law requir-
ing that every ship which arrived in James River should
sail to Jamestown and there obtain a license to trade was
reenacted,! in spite of the fact that such a measure would
add nothing to the growth of that place, as had been al-
ready proved by previous experience, and must enhance
to an appreciable extent the cost of all imported articles
in consequence of the longer voj^age and unavoidable
delay in delivering them, the expenses of the vessel being
recouped by the higher prices demanded from the pur-
chaser of the goods. There was now but one justification
for the action of the Assembly in taking steps to compel
all vessels bringing cargoes of goods into the Colony to
go to Jamestown and there obtain a license to sell, namely,
the endeavor to keep the volume of revenue undiminished,
since all liquors, if landed elsewhere, escaped the burden
of the import tax. But if this was the motive governing
the Assembly, it was soon seen that the regulation was
impracticable. A determined effort was now made to
carry out the instruction that a town should be built upon
every river to serve as a port of entry. In the session of
1662 there was passed the most detailed and carefully con-
sidered measure which had as yet been brought forward.^

1 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 1:35. - Ibid., pp. 172-170.

540 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

This law constitutes one of the most interesting acts of
legislation in colonial history, and might be regarded as
a remarkable triumph of legislative hope over practical
experience were it not for the statement of the preamble
that the Assembly had undertaken to encourage the build-
ing of towns because they looked upon it as their duty
to conform to the wishes of their sovereign in England.
There is a brief reference to the probable economic advan-
tages to accrue to themselves. The determination to estab-
lish these towns had its origin almost exclusively in a feeling
of loyalty, a poor justification for so momentous a step. The
hand of Berkeley is detected in the whole framework of
the statute and his preference is evidently consulted.

A full synopsis of this Act will be found interesting as
revealing the procedure of the General Assembly in the
seventeenth century when it sought to build up a town
in the face of a powerful combination of hostile influences.
The best means to promote the growth of the capital was
the problem which was to occupy the attention of the
Colony during the first year after the passage of the stat-
ute, and at the end of that time, the public energies were
to be devoted to establishing a town on the York, Rappa-
hannock, and Potomac respectively, and on the Eastern
Shore. Under the terms of this statute, it was provided
that Jamestown should consist of thirty-two houses, a
number which indicated that the General Assembly was
disposed to be moderate and prudent in its requirements.
Each house was to be forty feet from end to end, twenty
feet in width in the interior, and eighteen feet in height.
Each was to be constructed of brick. The walls were to
be two bricks in thickness as far as the water table, and
one and a half the remaining distance. The roof was to
be covered with slate or tile, and was to be fifteen feet in
pitch. The manner of the relative arrangement of the

THE TOWN 541

houses, Avhether in a square or line, was left to be decided
by the (iovernor.

Although the Colony had prospered in a fair measure
for a period of fifty years without having a large settle-
ment at Jamestown, nevertheless, it had now been deter-
mined in earnest to establish one there. It was thouo-ht
advisable to proceed with great dispatch. To accomplish
this, each of the seventeen counties into which Virginia
was divided at this time, was ordered to build a house at
Jamestown at its own expense. The authority was con-
ferred on all to impress into service the mechanics needed
for the work, such as bricklayers, carpenters, sawyers, and
other tradesmen. The strictest regulations were laid down
to prevent every kind of exaction. The bricks were to be
manufactured in the most careful manner and were in size
to represent statute measure ; the price was not to exceed
one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco for every one
thousand. In addition to receiving his food without charge,
the ordinary laborer engaged in erecting a house was to be
paid at the rate of two thousand pounds of tobacco a year.
The brickmakers and bricklayers were to be remunerated
according to the number of bricks moulded and laid, while
the wages of each carpenter were not to exceed thirty pounds
of tobacco a day. Each sawyer was to receive half a pound
of tobacco for every foot of plank and timber for joices
which he fashioned into shape. The workmen furnished
by each county were ordered to report themselves twenty
days after the Governor had forwarded to the commis-
sioners of the county the notice to send them. The
keepers of the taverns at Jamestown were required to
supply the ordinary laborer with food at the rate of one
thousand pounds of tobacco a year, and the most skilled
workmen at the rate of fifteen hundred.

There was not a landowner in the Colony upon whom

542 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

the enforcement of this law would not impose a more or
less onerous burden. Thus it directed that a Itfvy of thirty
pounds of tobacco a head should be raised by the counties,
and that each county should use ten thousand pounds of
the amount thus collected, in paying for the construction
of the house which it was required to build at Jamestown,
in case the structure was completed in the course of two
years after the original subscription. Ten thousand pounds
of tobacco were also granted to every person who finished,
at that place, a dwelling of the prescribed size before the
termination of the same time. The surplusage of the
general levy was to be distributed by the Governor and
Council among those who had undertaken to erect houses,
in the order of time in which these houses were completed.
If any one who had bound himself to build at Jamestown
in accord with the provisions of the law, should fail to
carry out his agreement within the period allowed, he
exposed himself to a fine of fifteen hundred pounds of
tobacco. In order to induce persons to erect brick houses
on the lots assigned them, they were granted a fee simple
title to ground adjacent to their property sufficient in
extent to afford room for a store.

Having taken measures which seemed adapted to ensure
the erection of a large number of houses and stores, the
General Assembly, recognizing that unless a steady volume
of trade could be secured for the inhabitants, the corpora-
tion would have no reason for existence, established the
regulation that from the year Jamestown was completed,
the tobacco crops of James City, Charles City, and Surry
should be transported thither in sloops and shallops, and
there put on board ships. If a planter refused to conform
to this regulation, he was to be mulcted one thousand
pounds of tobacco. The remuneration of each person
who should convey the tobacco of others in his sloop or

THE TOWN 543

shallop to Jamestown was fixed at ten pounds of that com-
modity per thousand, and the owner of the storehouse in
which it was deposited was to receive six pounds in the same
proportion. None of these charges prevailed under the
system in force at the time this statute became a law ; the
planter rolled his tobacco on board the merchantman at his
wharf, or transported it in a sloop of his own to a point
where the vessel was lying. No expense, as a rule, was
incurred in this course, for the work was generally per-
formed by his own men. The charges entailed by the
proposed law would have been borne with impatience even
during periods of high prices for tobacco, but when this
product was selling at a low rate the burden was intoler-
able, and was in itself sufficient to render the statute in
operation altogether hopeless of a good effect. To ensure
the transfer of a still larger quantity of tobacco to James-
town, it was further provided that no vessel should take
on board a cargo between that place and Mulberry Island.
All tobacco ready for shipment above the latter point
was to be conveyed to Jamestown first, and there loaded
for transportation abroad. Whatever merchandise was
consigned to planters or merchants residing between the
capital and Mulberry Island was to be landed at the former
place, and, if a vessel was loaded or unloaded elsewhere,
its cargo was to be forfeited. To promote the growth of
population at Jamestown, it was provided that during the
first two years following the inauguration of the work of
building houses there, the person and projDcrty of every
man who resided in the town, and passed to and from
it in the course of his daily business, should for two
years be exempted from every form of legal process unless
it was issued for debt contracted within the bounds of the
corporation, or for the commission of a capital crime. An
important provision of the law was that after its passage

544 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

no wooden house was to be erected in Jamestown, and all
such houses then standing in the Colony should not be
repaired with the same material, but should be replaced by
structures of brick. The levy of thirty pounds of tobacco
a head was for the period of one year to be devoted to the
extension of Jamestown, but after the expiration of that
time, the annual levy for building was to be expended in
establishing towns in Accomac, and on the York, Rappa-
hannock, and Potomac.

This brief synopsis of the law of 1662 shows how elabo-
rate were tlie provisions of that measure for the enlarge-
ment more especially of Jamestown. As far as legislation,
independently of favorable local conditions, could create a
town where none existed, it might be supposed that this
law would have been successful in accomplishing its object,
so far, at least, as the capital was concerned. It provided
in detail for the erection of a number of houses at a cost
which was distributed among the people of the seventeen
counties.^ The mechanics to be employed in the work
were to be provided for properly, and to be fully remuner-

1 " Whereas by act of last session (16G2) of the Hon"e Grand As-
sembly, a towne is appointed to be builded at James Citty, and in order
thereto each County is to build one house of bricke. It is ordered that
a house be there built for this County (York) and as the county house, of
the length, height and wideness appointed by ye said Act, and Maj.
Joseph Croshaw who hath undertaken the same is by ye court nominated
and impowered to have the whole management and ordering thereof, and
of all things relating thereunto, viz, hyre and agree with or if occasion be,
to presse workmen, labourers and others in the county, according to Act,
and at ye prizes thereby set, and to take care that all timber worke and
other things convenient be fitted and caryed in place, and the said house
built and finished with what speed may be, and to doe and procure to be
done all other necessary thing or things concerning ye same where agree-
ments and disbursements to be sattisfied in ye county to ye persons
employed, and said Maj. Croshaw's pains and trouble in ye management
thereof to be considered and allowed by ye County." Becords of York
County, vol. 1657-1662, p. 475, Va. State Library.

THE TOWN 545

ated for their labor. Title in fee simple to a lot was to be
given, without charge, to ever}^ one who erected a house in
the town, and finally, trade was to be secured for it by
making it tlie only port on the James above Mulbei-ry
Island where a cargo could be legally loaded and unloaded.
Necessarily, if this regulation was strictly enforced, James-
town would become the residence of all the principal
merchants in that part of the Colony. What was the prac-
tical result of all these carefully considered provisions?
Three years after their adoption, Secretary Ludwell, writ-
ing to Secretary Bennett in England, stated that enough
of the proposed town had been built to accommodate the
officers employed in the civil administration of Virginia,^
but this, it may be inferred from a remark contained in a
letter from Morryson to Lord Clarendon, amounted onlj- to
the construction of four or five houses. He declared that
the erection of this scanty number of buildings had entailed
the loss of hundreds of people, apprehension of impress-
ment having driven many mechanics from the Colony .^

In 1675, Jamestown consisted of only twelve or four-
teen families, who obtained a living chiefly by keeping
houses of entertainment.^ This would signify a popula-
tion of about seventy -five. There were twelve new brick
houses and a number of framed houses with brick chim-
neys attached, the value of the whole number, it was

1 British State Papers, Colonial Papers, April 10, 1GG5 ; Sainsbxmj
Abstracts for 1665, p. 72, Va. State Library.

2 This letter is given in Neill's Virginia Carolorum, p. 295. The fol-
lowing is taken from the Grievances of Surry County, drawn up in
response to the special request of the English commissioners sent to
inquire into the causes of Bacon's Insurrection: "That great quantityes
of tobacco were levied upon ye poore inhabifants of this Collony for the
building of houses att James Citty, which were not inhabitable by reason
they were not finished." British State Papers, Colonial, Virginia, No.
62 ; Winder Papers, vol. II, p. 160, Va. State Library.

2 Bacon's Proceedings, p. 25, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.
VOL. n. — 2 N

546 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

calculated, being 1,500,000 pounds of tobacco. ^ All the
houses were not inhabited. ^ The two most substantial
residences in the town at this time were owned by Mr.
Lawrence and Mr. Drummond, men who figured very
prominently in the popular uprising in the following year.
The town extended about three-quarters of a mile from
east to west.^ When Jamestown was laid in ashes by the
soldiers of Bacon, Drummond and Lawrence applied the
torch each to his own home. The church and state-house
were both destroyed in the conflagration. When the
English regiments dispatched to the Colony to suppress
the insurrection arrived, there was not a house left
standing in the town to furnish them shelter from the
weather.* The commissioners sent to Virginia to inquire
into the causes which led to the uprising of the people
reported in favor of continuing the capital at Jamestown,
and this recommendation received the approval of the
Privy Council.^ The General Assembly had proposed to
move the chief seat to TyndalFs Point in Gloucester.^
When Culpeper was appointed to the head of affairs in
Virginia, he was instructed to rebuild Jamestown and to
reestablish there the executive residence, the principal
courts of justice and the other public offices. It was

1 Final Report of the English Commissioners on Bacon's Rebellion,
Winder Papers^ vol. II, p. 503, Va. State Library. The destruction of
several of the chief residences alone involved the loss of £1000. Ihid.,
p. 446.

2 Bacon's Proceedings, p. 25, Force's Historical Tracts, vol. I.

^ By the provisions of a law passed during the supremacy of Bacon,
the corporation of Jamestown was made to include the whole island as
far as Sandy Bay. See Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. .502.

4 Colonial Entry Book, IJo. 80, pp. 90, 94.

5 Order of King in Council, March 14, 1678-79, Colonial Entry Book,
No. 80, pp. 206, 273; Sai^isbury Abstracts for 1678, p. 212, Va. State
Library.

6 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, p. 405.

THE TOWN 547

further declared that it woukl give the King much satis-
faction if the members of the Council and the leading
citizens of the Colony should build houses at Jamestown
and dwell there. A state-house was soon erected to
accommodate the Burgesses, the Secretary, and the Clerk.
A prison was also built. ^ The population of Virginia
was now spread over such a wide area that the necessity
of increasing the number of ports of entry as each suc-
cessive statute for the encouragement of the growth of
towns was enacted, was clearly recognized. It was im-
possible even for the English authorities, who had shown
so much blindness in the past to the physical conditions
of the country, to entertain the belief that Jamestown
could still be made the only port of entry and that all
efforts should be restricted to enlarging that place ; they
therefore recommended that a town should be built in
the valley of each of the principal rivers. The need of
this, in case ports of entry were to be established by law,
had been known as early as 1662, and this need had only
grown in force with the expansion in the volume of popu-
lation and the extension of the area of the plantations.

Culpeper arrived in the Colony in May, 1680, and
in the following month an elaborate measure for the en-
couragement of Cohabitation was passed by the General
Assembly. 2 In this statute, no special preference was
shown to Jamestown, as had been the case in all previous
Acts relating to the subject. Virginia had not yet re-
covered from the confusion caused by the insurrection of

1 See Address of Burgesses to Howard, Oct. 4, 1685. See order of
same, British State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, Virginian Assembly-
No. 80; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. .305, 367, Va. State Library.

2 Hening's Statutes, vol. II, pp. 471, 478. Eitzhugh, writing to Captain
Francis Partis, July 1, 1680, said: "We are going to make towns; if
you can meet with any tradesmen that will come in and live at the town,
they may have large privileges and immunities." Letters, July 1, lObO.

548 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

a few years before; the people were in a state of poverty
in consequence of the turmoil through which they had
passed and the continued low price of tobacco, and they
were, therefore, prepared to adopt any suggestion which
seemed likely to afford them relief. They were disposed
to countenance a new Act of Cohabitation, in the hope
that it would raise up occupations for the inhabitants of
the Colony and probably diminish their dependence upon
England for manufactures, the cost of which fell very
heavily upon the people when their main commodity was
depressed in value. The new statute made no reference
to this anticipation, nor did it contain, like the statute of
1662, the expression of a loyal desire to conform to the
wishes of the King; it merely declared that the reasons
prompting its passage were the low prices of tobacco and
the great advantages which would accrue from the estab-
lishment of storehouses at convenient places for the recep-
tion of all merchandise to be imported into the country and
all tobacco to be exported. Under the terms of this stat-
ute, it was provided that fifty acres should be purchased
by the authorities of each county in its own boundaries, to
be held by duly appointed feoffees in trust. The price to
be paid for this land was set at ten thousand pounds
of tobacco, against which appraisement the owner of each
fifty acres was without right of appeal, nor could he make
a legal resistance to the appropriation itself. He was
required to pass an absolute deed of conveyance, and in
case he refused to do so, mere entry by the feoffees dis-
possessed him of his legal title. The following places
were selected as sites for new towns: Varina in Henrico,
Fleur de Hundred in Charles City, Smith's Fort in
Surry, Jamestown in James City, Patesfield in Isle of
Wight, Huff's Point in Nansemond, mouth of Deep Creek
in Warwick, the Jervise plantation in Elizabeth City,

THE TOWN 549

the Wise plantation in Lower Norfolk, the Read planta-
tion in York, the Brick House in New Kent, Tyndall's
Point in Gloucester, the Wormeley plantation in jMiddle-
sex, Hobb's Hole in Rappahannock, Peace Point in Staf-
ford, Calvert's Neck in Accomac, the Secretary's plantation
on King's Creek in Northampton, Corotoman in Lancaster,
and Chickacony in Northumberland.

As an inducement to build on these sites, a lot, half an
acre in extent, was granted in fee simple to any one on
condition of erecting a residence and store on it, this con-
veyance to be subject to the additional condition that the
beneficiary should pay one hundred pounds to the county.
The failure in the course of three months to build operated
as a forfeiture of the lot. If half an acre appeared in-
sufficient for his purpose to any settler Avho wished to
establish himself in any one of these to^\■ns, he might
secure an acre on condition that he should erect on it two
residences and two warehouses, and should pay to tlie
county an additional one hundred pounds of tobacco.
The tobacco was forfeited if in the course of three months
he neglected to erect the houses agreed upon. The sur-
veyors who determined the boundaries were to receive, on
the delivery of the plats, twenty pounds of tobacco for
every half -acre laid off. If a surveyor refused when
requested to make a survey of a lot, he subjected himself
to the forfeiture of five hundred pounds of the same
commodity to the person seeking his services. All the
products of native growth and manufacture were to be
brought to these towns, there to be sold, and then to be
carried on board for exportation abroad. The penalty
imposed for a failure to comply with this order was the
forfeiture of the articles. All forms of merchandise, all
English servants and negro slaves imported into tlie Col-
ony, were to be landed and to be disposed of only in these

550 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

towns, under the pain of confiscation if the reguhition was
violated. Cattle and provisions were excepted from the
operation of this rule. The cost of hiring a sloop, the
only means of transporting the tobacco from the planta-
tions, was fixed at twenty pounds of that commodity for
each hogshead, provided the distance to be traversed did
not exceed thirty miles ; if it was greater than this, the
charge was to be forty pounds, and should the owner of
the sloop demand more, he was to be punished by the
forfeiture of one hundred pounds for each hogshead con-
veyed by him at the illegal rate. The expense of storage
in a warehouse was to be the same for a single day and a
single month, namely, ten pounds of tobacco a hogshead.
If the period ran beyond a month, the additional charge
for each month was fixed at six pounds. In order to
facilitate the transportation of the tobacco belonging to
persons whose plantations were situated at a distance
from the nearest site chosen for a town, these persons
were permitted to appropriate land at the most convenient
point for the dispatch of vessels, on which a rolling-house
was to be erected to furnish accommodation for all the
producers in their neighborhood. When the planter had
prepared his crop for shipment, he could convey his hogs-
heads to this house for safe-keeping until a sloop or shallop
arrived to transport them to the nearest port of entry. If
he had a sloop or shallop of his own, he could either carry
his tobacco to the rolling-house by water or directly
to the legal port and there have it deposited in the public
warehouse. The rolling-house was expected to be a shelter
not only for the tobacco in the course of transportation to
the port of entry, but also for the goods which had been
unloaded at the latter place and had afterwards been
brought to the rolling-house for distribution among the
planters residing in the neighborhood.

THE TOWN 551

It can be seen liow seriously a provision of this kind, if
carried fully into effect, would have added to the expenses
of the XDlanter. Instead of dropping its anchor at liis
wharf and there discharging a cargo of goods and taking
on a cargo of tobacco, the trading vessel would have
stopped at a point ten, twenty, or even fifty miles away.
Whether the planter was compelled to reach this vessel
by transporting his tobacco in a hired shallop or sloop, or
in a vessel of his own, he would have been put to an ex-
pense for which he could expect no return. The interven-
tion of a rolling-house would have been favorable to his
convenience, but would not have diminished the charge
imposed by the system of ports of entry. Under the
terms of this law, the tobacco conveyed thither was to
be exempted in the course of transportation, and after it
reached its destination, from the process of law for any
debt which might have been contracted previous to the
passage of the statute, and the same privilege was ex-
tended to the bodies and estates of the citizens of the new
town. In neither case, however, was it to continue for a
longer period than five years. At the end of that time,
the creditors of such persons might bring suit without
apprehension lest the statute of limitations should be
offered in bar. To enjoy this protection, it was neces-
sary that the debt should not have been contracted within
the bounds of one of the proposed corporations. After the
publication of the Act, all mechanics residing in the new
communities were to be exempted for a period of five
years from the payment of levies, on condition that they
neither planted nor tended tobacco. In order to diminish
the expense entailed in establishing a town, it was pro-
vided that two counties might unite and erect it upon
a site equally convenient to the inhabitants of both.

This Act was as judicious and as far-seeing in its details

652 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

as any law with so impracticable an object in view could
have been. No influence was omitted that was likely to
impress the minds of persons who were in a position to
build in the towns projected. The offer of a lot for a
small amount of tobacco and the exemption within the
boundaries of each town of the person and property of
its citizens from the process of law for the recovery of
debts which had been contracted previously elsewhere,
were in themselves inducements of the highest importance.
The law of 1680 was not open to the objection which could
be very justly urged against the statute of 1671, for it did
not seek to establish one port on each of the four large
rivers of the Colony ; on the contrary, a port of entry
was appointed for each county on a site admitted to be
the most convenient for a majority of its inhabitants.

In accord with the provisions of the Act of Cohabitation,
steps were taken by the authorities of all the counties to
lay off sites for towns at the different places designated
by law. Records of this fact have come down to us in
a few instances only. In the levy entered in court in
Lancaster in January, 1683, five hundred and fifty pounds
of tobacco were allowed George Heale for defining the
boundaries of the proposed port of entry at Corotoman.i
In 1681, Robert Beverley and Abraham Weeks were ap-
pointed to serve as trustees of the town to be built in
:Middlesex.2 The feoffees empowered to act in Norfolk
County were William Robinson and Antony Lawson,
and among the first purchasers of lots were such prom-
inent citizens as Peter Smith, Richard Whitby, Henry
Spratt, and William Porteus.^ The feoffees who conveyed

1 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1680-1686, orders Jan. 10,
1682-83.

2 Records of MiddJesox County, original vol. 16S0-1694, p. 41.

3 Records of Lower Norfolk Couniy, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 126.

THE TOWN 553

title to property in New Plymouth, in Rappahannock,
were Jolm Stone, William Lloyd, Henry Awbrey, and
Thomas Gouldman.^

Jamestown, instead of deriving any practical benefit
from the passage of the Cohabitation Act, suffered a posi-
tive disadvantage. The opinion had for scmie time pre-
vailed in the Colony that the capital was far less fa\orably
situated than many spots Avhicli might have been cliosen
for the same purpose. When the statute of 1680 became
a law, there Avas a general impression that one of the
towns to be established under its terms would be selected
as the metropolis of Virginia, and in consequence many
persons who would have otherwise felt differently and
probably acted accordingly, were indisposed to build resi-
dences at Jamestown. The expressed wish of the King
that the members of the Council and other citizens of
prominence and influence should set an example to the
population at large by establishing homes at that place,
failed to have a general effect. Colonel Bacon built two
houses in the town, and Colonel Bridger and Mr. Sherwood
laid the foundation of others. ^

Many of the shipmasters appear to have disregarded the
statute of 1680 as if it had no existence,^ while many dis-
continued their commercial intercourse with the Colony.

1 Records of liappahannocJc Countij, vol. 1680-1688, p. 2, Va. State
Library. A plat of the town will be found on p. 1 of this volume of
Rappahannock records.

2 Instructions to Culpeper, 1681-82. His reply to § 68, British State
Papers, Colonial, Virginia, vol. 65 ; 3IcDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 165,
Va. State Library.

3 In some cases, the shipmasters who treated the Act with contempt
were arrested, and their cargoes of tobacco seized. See information
against the Becovery and the Bnltimore, Becords of Middlesex Count'i,
original vol. 1680-1694, p. 60. See appeal of the captains of these two
vessels from the warrants issued to enforce the forfeiture of the tobacco
which they had taken on board. Ibid., p. 04.

554 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

To such an extent did the Act curtail the revenue which
the English Government annually derived from Virginia,
and so much did it interfere with the profits of the Eng-
lish merchants who found a market in the Colony,^ that
it was at length suspended, but not until it had become
thoroughly odious to the people, more especially in conse-
quence of the prosecutions arising under the provisions of
the law for the payment of forfeitures for violation of its
terms. 2 The whole question as to establishing a number
of towns was referred back to the General Assembly.
This was the first practical admission on the part of the
English Government that the policy of promoting town
building in the Colony, which it had so long urged upon
the attention of the people of Virginia, had ended in fail-
ure. ^ The conflict of opinion as to the causes of this
failure was very marked. Secretary Spencer was in-
clined to ascribe it to the fact that the erection of too
many towns was undertaken. It would have been far
wiser, he thought, to have attempted to build only one on
each river.* In the opinion of otliers, the whole scheme
was impracticable, whether it was sought to erect only
one town on each of the important streams or a town in
each county, and this opinion seems to have been fully
confirmed by the practical effect of the Cohabitation Act
of 1662, and also by that of 1680, the latter providing for
the erection of a town in each county, the former for the
erection of a town in the valley of each of the principal
rivers.

1 Bandolph 3ISS., vol. Ill, p. 400.

2 Heniug's Statiites, vol. Ill, p. 541.

3 Order on the Act of Cohabitation, Privy Council, Dec. 21, 1681,
British State Papers, Virginia, No. 82 ; McDonald Papers, vol. VI, p. 7,
Va. State Library.

* Letter of Nicholas Spencer, Aug. 20, 1680, British State Papers,
Virginia, No. 80 ; McDonald Papers, vol. V, p. 373, Va. State Library.

THE TOWN 555

It would have been suj^posed that the result of the Act
of 1680 would have discouraged all further efforts to re-
vive this class of laws. Eleven years later, however,
what ^\•as known as the Act for Ports was passed. This
measure, like the majority of similar ones in the past,
became a law at the suggestion of the man who was at
that time at the head of affairs in Virginia. In this in-
stance, it was Governor Nicholson, i The people at large
were adverse to the passage of such a statute, as we know
from records left by contemporaneous observers. ^ It was
not always an easy matter, they argued, for the inhabi-
tants of the Colony to earn a livelihood, though dwelling
dispersed, as they were then doing, in a manner to leave
ground for each individual to cultivate. Hoav much more
difficult for a hundred families to obtain subsistence when
they should be confined to an area not more than half a
mile in extent ! Now, this was an entirely valid inference
to draw in the light of the peculiar economic system
prevailing in Virginia ; there Avas no substantial interest
demanding the presence of a hundred families upon any
one contracted site in the Colony, and in the absence of
such an interest, they must necessarily lack the means
of support and in consequence suffer severely. It was
pointed out at the time of the passage of the Act for
Ports that the greater number of Burgesses were entirely
ignorant of the conveniences and advantages of towns,
having never in their lives enjoyed an opportunity of
visiting one. The authors of the Present State of Vir-
ginia^ 1697, writing in the closing years of the seven-
teenth century, agreed with Secretary Spencer in thinking
that the mistake committed in the Acts establishing
towns and ports of entry was in the appointment of too

1 Beverley's History of Virginia, p. 81.

2 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1GU7, § l,p. a

556 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

many sites, a mistake which, they asserted, was to be laid
at the door of the Burgesses, each of whom desired to
have a town in his own immediate neighborhood, if not
on his own plantation. ^ It is much more probable, how-
ever, that the Burgesses clearly recognized the impracti-
cable character of the schemes for the building of towns,
and wished to diminish the inconvenience which the law
entailed in requiring one at least to be erected in each
county or one port of entry to be laid off there. They
had their eyes, perhaps, not so much upon an advantage to
be gained as upon an injury to be avoided.

The Act for Ports, in 1691, provided for the erection of
a greater number of towns than the Cohabitation Act of
1680. For the counties of Charles City, Gloucester, Nanse-
mond, Elizabeth City, York, James City, Middlesex, North-
umberland, Rappahannock, and Accomac, the sites chosen
were the same under both measures. The port for Lower
Norfolk was again placed at the mouth of the eastern
branch of Elizabeth River, for Stafford on Potomac Creek,^
for Northampton on Cherrystone Creek, and for Lancaster
on the west side of the mouth of the Corotoman. In ad-
dition to these ports of entry and clearing, there were a
number of points selected as places for selling and buying
goods, namely, at Bermuda Hundred in Henrico, at the
mouth of Pagan Creek in the Isle of Wight, at the mouth
of Deep Creek in Warwick, at the mouth of Gray's Creek in
Surry, and at the mouth of Nominy in Westmoreland. Sev-
eral of these spots had been surveyed under the terms of
the law of 1680, and contained a number of residences as
well as prisons and court-houses built of brick. The jus-
tices of the peace in each county decided upon the fifty acres
which were to be set apart as the site for the county port ;

1 Hartwell, Chilton, and Blair's Present State of Virginia, 1097, p. 10.

2 The name given to this port was Marlborough.

THE TOWN 557

this area was carefully surveyed, and lots determined for
the stores and warehouses in which imported goods and
tobacco for exportation were to be dejDosited. If the
owner of the land appropriated refused to give it up, a
jury of twelve men, summoned by the sheriff, were to
assess its value, and the amount thus named was to be
satisfied by a levy upon every tithable in the county.
When the owner of the site of a port had transferred his
title to the feoffees, or that title had passed to them by
his refusal to make a deed, they were authorized to grant
half an acre or more to any person who should agree to
erect on it in the course of four months a house twenty
feet square. After October, 1692, all merchandise brought
into the Colony and all the products sent out were to pass
through one of these ports, and if they were conveyed into
or out of the county elsewhere, their forfeiture was to be
the penalty.^

The support which this measure had in popular favor
was shown in the action of many of the leading citizens of
the Colony with reference to building a town at York. A
plat of ground owned by Benjamin Head was laid off into
eighty -five lots, covering an area of fifty acres. Only two
appear to have remained without a purchaser. Among the
persons who invested in them were such well-known men as
Colonel William Digges, John Buckner, Thomas Jefferson,
Colonel Edmund Jennings, Colonel William Cole, Dudley
Digges, Thomas Chisman, Nathaniel Bacon, Sr., Charles
Hansford, Edward Hill, and Governor Francis Nicholson. ^

It is a fact worthy of note that a number of mechanics
purchased lots at York, for the purpose, doubtless, of car-
rying on their trades in the town. Among them were

1 Henins's Statutes, vol. Ill, p. 53.

2 Becords of York Count'i, vol. 1G90-1694, pp. 55, 84, Va. State Library.
A full plat of the town is given on p. 84 of this volume of York records.

558 ECONOIMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

William Simson, a tailor, James Derbyshire, a smith, and
Robert Harrison, a carpenter. ^ Several innkeepers also
acquired holdings there. The trustees were Joseph King
and Thomas Bollard. ^ The feoffees for the town laid off
in Middlesex County were Mathew Kemp, Christopher
Robinson, and William Churchill. ^ The site had been the
property of Ralph Wormeley, who refused to convey it
upon order of the court, and in consequence it was for-
feited ipso facto. Wormeley was anxious to retain a re-
mainder interest in the property, very probably because
he anticipated the failure of the objects of the law, but the
authorities refused to consent to this.* Among the pur-
chasers of lots were Edwin and John Thacker, Cristopher
Robinson, James Curtis, Robert Dudley, John Head, Wil-
liam Daniel, jNIaurice Cocke, and John Smith. ^ The feoffees
for the town in Lancaster were David Fox and Robert
Carter,^ and the site was purchased from William Ball for
thirteen thousand pounds of tobacco." The owners of the
lots included such men as Edwin Conwaj- and Richard
Willis. In Henrico, the feoffees for Bermuda Hundred
were William Randolph and Francis Eppes, the considera-
tion in the purchase of the land being twelve thousand
pounds of tobacco.^ Among those who acquired lots were
Thomas Cocke, Edwin Stratton, Thomas Jefferson, and
Edward Hatcher. The feoffees for Lower Norfolk under

1 Becords of York County, vol. 1691-1701, pp. 195, 211, Va. State
Library.

2 Ibid, vol. lGOO-1694, p. 56.

3 Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, orders April
10, 1690.

* Ibid., orders Sept. 7, 1691.

5 Ibid., original vols. 1680-1694 and 1674-1694.

6 Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1687-1700, p. 66.
T Ibid., original vol. 1686-1696, levy for the year 1691.

8 Records of Henrico County, vol. 1688-1697, p. 236, Va. State Library.

THE TOWN 559

the statute of 1691 were the same as under the Cohabita-
tion Act of 1680 ; William Hislett succeeded William
Robinson, who was in his turn succeeded by Samuel
Boush. Among those who owned property in the town
were such prominent citizens as Malachi Thruston, who
built a residence and other houses on the six lots which
he purchased,! William Knott, who also erected three
buildings,^ Peter Hobson, who lived in the town,^ Bryant
Cahill, Thomas Nash, Thomas Walke, and Francis Simp-
son. Several lots were purchased by mechanics. A lot
having on it a house and garden was in 1693 sold for nine
pounds sterling. 4 The records of 1699 show that Norfolk
at that time had at least one wharf. The inhabitants in
the previous year had been visited by an epidemic. °

Although the Act for Ports, which was as carefully
considered as the Cohabitation Act of 1680, the policies
of the two being practically identical, had been passed at
the urgent suggestion of Nicholson, nevertheless, in the
following year he openly expressed his dislike of the law,
and sought, by increasing its unpopularity, to secure its
repeal. This inconsistent conduct Avas attributed at the
time to the influence of the English merchants, with
whose trade in Virginia the Act for Ports interfered as
much as the former Cohabitation Acts had done. In the
session of 1692-93, the statute was suspended b}' the

1 Becords of Lower Xorfolk County, original vol. IBTS-ITO.", f. p. 170.

2 Ibid., original vol. 1686-1095, p. 187.

3 Becords of Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-1703, f. p. 107.

* Becords of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1686-1695, f. p. 2^P,.

5 Becords of Norfolk County, original vol. 1695-170.3, f. pp. 122, 154.
The land on which Marlborough in Stafford County was laid off belonged
to Captain Malachi Peale, with reversion to Giles Brent. The first feoffees
were -John Withers and Mathew Thompson, who conve}'ed twenty-three
lots to different purchasers. See Case and Petition of John Mercer, Lud-
well Papers, Va. Hist. Soc. Mss. Coll.

560 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VmOINIA

Assembly, after having been in operation during several
months. The ostensible reason offered for this course
was that the consent of the Government in England had
not yet been obtained to its becoming a law. It was well
known at the time, however, that the true explanation of
the suspension was to be found in the complaints which
the English merchants engaged in trade with Virginia
had made as to the practical working of the statute, as
well as in the inconvenience it entailed upon the people
of the Colony at large. ^ In spite of this inconvenience,
there was a marked disposition on the part of many citi-
zens, in the interval during Avhich the Act for Ports was
in operation, to purchase lots from the feoffees of the dif-
ferent towns. This disposition continued even while the
Act was supposed to be in a state of suspension. In
Hampton, in 1694, for instance, one of the lots which had
been laid off was transferred to a purchaser for seven
pounds sterling. 2 The site of the new town at this place
consisted of twenty-six half-acres, all of which appear to
have been sold. Two years later, one of these lots was
conveyed by Henry Royall to John Walker in considera-
tion of six pounds sterling. Royall was bound under the
terms of sale to build a house twenty feet in length ;
Walker claimed that this condition had not been fulfilled
properly, and on this account, the amount of purchase
money was cut down to five pounds and fifteen shillings.^
In 1698, Hampton was a place of sufficient importance to
require the appointment of a special constable.* Upon
many of the lots, houses were erected and other improve-

1 Beverley's Histortj nf Virginia, p. 81.

2 Becords of Elizabeth City Comity, vol. 1684-1699, p. 458, Va. State
Library.

3 IlwU p. 119.

* Ibid., orders of court for 1698.

THE TOWN 561

ments established by the owners. In order to protect the
interests of persons whose titles to property had been
affected by the Act of Suspension and also to promote
building, it was provided in 1699,^ eight years after the
Act for Ports and six years after the Act of Suspension
had been passed, that the trustees should confirm titles to
lands bought previous to the latter Act or afterwards,
just as if that measure had never been adopted. All
vacancies in the board of feoffees were to be filled and all
other powers conferred on these officers were to be exer-
cised as if the Act for Ports had remained in force. So
far, therefore, as this part of that law was involved, it
continued to operate. In sustaining the right of the
trustees to dispose of lots in spite of the suspension of
the Act, it would ajDpear that there was a desire among
the members of the Assembly to encourage the growth
of towns in the Colony as long as the movement did
not affect the custom prevailing among the planters of
exporting tobacco from their own wharves or receiving
there all their imported merchandise. A still more strik-
ing evidence of the same desire was the grant of an exten-
sion of time to all who had ceased to build after the
passage of the Act of Suspension. The Act for Ports
was embodied in the code of 1705, the statement appear-
ing in its preamble that the consent of the Government in
England to its being put in operation had been obtained,
but it was not long before it was again suspended through
the influence of the English merchants trading in Virginia. ^
After the restoration of Jamestown, the settlement does
not seem to have numbered more than twenty houses. ^

1 Henins's Statutes, vol. ITT, p. 186.

2 Beverley's Ilistonj of Virginia, p. 88. It was repealed by I'roclaTiia-
tion, July 5, 1710.

3 Documents Bdatinri to Colonial History <>f Xcw York, vol. IV, p. 009.

VOL. II. — 2 o

562 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

It had, however, a representative in the Assembly. In
the last decade of the century, what remained of the town
was destroyed by fire, and it never recovered from the
effect of the conflagration. In the period of its highest
prosperity, which had always been small, it had hardly
amounted to more than a geographical name, a name cele-
brated in history as designating a locality associated with
thrilling and romantic events rather than the languishing
hamlet that it was. It never rose to the dignity of a town
in the modern sense of the word, and yet there are few
deserted sites on the face of the globe which call up to
the mind of the visitor, scenes more interesting in them-
selves or more far-reaching in their historical significance.
It was here that the English-speaking people made their
first permanent settlement on the North American Con-
tinent ; this fact alone has given the spot an undying fame,
a fame that will increase as the power of the Anglo-Saxon
race in the Western Hemisphere expands. A quarter of
a century after the conflagration, Jamestown consisted of
three or four substantial inhabited houses and a great
mass of brick rubbish.^ To-day, hardly a trace of the
rubbish remains.

When the town was laid in ashes towards the close of
the seventeenth century, it was decided to remove the
capital of the Colony to the Middle Plantation, as it was
known, a place offering the advantages of a healthy and

1 Hugh Jones' Present State of Virginia, p. 25. That the entire site
of the town will not finally sink beneath the waves of the river will be
due to the measures of protection which the National Government have
adopted at the earnest solicitation of the Association for the Preservation
of Virginia Antiquities. This organization is performing a noble and
sacred work in rescuing so many of the ancient landmarks of the State
from ruin, a work into which it has thrown a zeal, energy, and intelli-
gence entitling it to the honor and gratitude of all who are interested in
the history, not merely of Virginia, but of America itself.

THE TOWN 563

temperate situation, a large number of wholesome springs,
and the proximity of two creeks, one of which emptied
into the James, the other into the York. As has been
seen, the plan of abandoning Jamestown as the site of the
capital had been contemplated on several occasions. It
was always supposed, however, that the new seat of the
colonial government would be one of the towns designated
in the text of the Cohabitation Acts. The measure for
incorporating the new capital was not introduced into the
Assembly until 1699, and it was embodied in the code of
1705. The details of this statute illustrate the practical
manner in which a new town was laid off in Virginia in
the seventeenth century. The first provision was for the
appropriation of four hundred and seventy-five square feet
of land as a site for the state-house. An area of two hun-
dred feet in its immediate neighborhood was to remain
unobstructed in every direction. Two hundred and
eighty-three acres and thirty half-poles of land were
reserved for the general uses of the town. Of this, two
hundred and twenty acres were designed as sites for houses,
and fifteen acres and forty-four poles and a quarter were
set apart for a roadbed to lead from the town to Queen's
Creek, a stream flowing into York River. At the point
where the road reached the creek, fourteen acres, seventy-
one poles and a quarter of land were to be laid off for a
port, and for a similar purpose, twenty-three acres, thirty-
seven poles and a half of land were reserved on Archer's
Hope Creek, the name of which was changed to Princess.
This second port was connected with Williamsburg by a
road for which ten acres and forty-two poles were allowed
b}^ statute. The appropriation of the ground upon which
the town was built was made b}^ a jury of twelve men
drawn from the counties of York, New Kent, and James
City, freeholders who were not related by blood or mar-

504 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

riage to the owners of the proposed site. Their appraise-
ment was returned to the ofifice of the Secretary, and
immediately upon its reception the feoffees whom the
Assembly had appointed, a Burwell, a Ludwell, a Harri-
son, and later a Bjaxl, being included among the number,
were authorized to enter upon the land, their title to it
becoming at once an absolute estate for inheritance in fee
in trust for the object defined in the statute. This owner-
ship, however, did not extend to any lot upon which a
house was standing at the time the new town was incorpo-
rated. In such an instance the proprietorship remained
with the original owner. The general plat was divided
into lots half an acre in extent. One of the most impor-
tant duties of the feoffees was to convey a title to the pur-
chasers of these lots, who were to pay an advance of fifty
per cent on the original cost to the Government, of each
one. It was also provided that every buyer should in the
space of twenty-four months erect on his property a dwell-
ing twenty feet in width and thirty feet in length. Every
house on the main street was to be built within six feet of
the roadway and was required to be at least ten feet in
pitch. If any person purchased two adjoining lots on the
main street, and before the termination of a period of
twenty-four months erected a house fifty-four feet long
and twenty feet broad, or a brick or wooden house, having
two stacks of brick chimneys and also cellars, forty feet in
length and twenty in breadth, he was considered to liave
complied with the condition and could claim an absolute
title to his property. He could claim the same title if he
purchased an entire acre on the main street and one or
more lots in the immediate rear, and erected in the course
of twelve months, on the acre fronting on the main street,
as much housing as would amount to five hundred square
feet superficial measure on the ground plat for every lot

THE TOWN 565

which he had bought. He was also considered to have
fulfilled the condition of ownership if in the same length
of time he completed in brick or framework, with brick
cellars and chimneys, as much housing as would make
four hundred square feet superficial measure on the
ground plat for every lot included in his purchase. Six
months after a building had been finished, the owner was
required to enclose the lot or lots with a wall or paliiig, or
with post and rails, and if he failed to comply with this
order, he forfeited five shillings a month for every lot that
remained open. The power of incorporating the town was
reserved to the chief executive of the Colony. At any time
he could issue his letters patent under seal, and unite all
who had an interest in property in Williamsburg into one
corporation, to be known as the Mayor, Aldermen, and Com-
monalty of the city of Williamsburg, with the right to exer-
cise full municipal authority.^

1 Heuiiig's Statutes, vol. Ill, pp. 197, 419.

CHAPTER XXI

CONCLUSION

In casting a brief retrospective glance over the period
of time to which this inquiry has been confined, it is seen
that by far the most momentous fact in the history of Vir-
ginia in the seventeentli century was the discovery, through
Rolfe's experiment in 1612, that the soil of the Colony was
adapted to the production of a quality of tobacco which
was destined to prove valuable in the European markets.
From the very beginning, this discovery thwarted one of
the principal objects of the colonization of the new coun-
try: it deprived the people of England of all hope of ob-
taining from the Colony the commodities which they were
importing from the Continent at an enormous outlay. Its
most vital influence, however, bore directly upon the fate
of the people of Virginia themselves. It shaped that fate
absolutely. The manner in which this result was effected
is soon described. Tobacco had not long been cultivated
in the Colony before the virgin land was discovered to be
necessary to its production in perfection, since there were
no artificial manures in that age for retaining or restoring
the fertility of the ground. As soon as the soil gave signs
of exhaustion, it was allowed to relapse into coarse grasses
and finally into forest; a new field was created by the
removal of trees over an area selected in the primaeval
woods, which covered the greater part of every plantation,
and this field was in turn abandoned when it became impov-
566

CONCLUSION 667

erished and the old course was again adopted for a new area
of forest land. The whole .effect of tobacco culture was to
extend the clearings with the utmost rapidity in the ever-
recurring need of a virgin soil. In this need, the system
of large plantations had its origin. The tobacco planter
was compelled to own a broad extent of land in wood,
upon which he might encroach from year to year as the
ground under cultivation lost its fertility. The advantage
of possessing a wide range for his cattle, which were thrown
on their own resources to gain a subsistence, was an addi-
tional motive in his appropriation of the soil.

The economic and moral influences springing from the
system of large plantations thus built up were radical and
supreme. Looking at that system from an economical
point of view, it will be seen that it produced a spirit of
wastefulness, which was fully excused by the prevailing
abundance of all the necessaries of life. The whole coun-
try, even where it was most thickly inhabited, bore the
aspect of a wilderness but slightly changed by the applica-
tion of the axe and hoe. The methods of agriculture in
the midst of such a profusion of natural wealth were, as
might have been expected, rude and careless, a thoughtful
and calculating treatment of natural resources being unnec-
essary as long as these resources were unbounded. If the
estates had been limited in area, an intensive system would
have been introduced. Greater care would have been
employed in the use of the soil, and the forests would not
have been so ruthlessly destroyed. The isolation of life
which the large plantation created and promoted, discour-
aged the growth of towns and villages, not only by dimin-
ishing all tendency towards cooperation among the people,
but also by simplifying the interests of each community.
Each plantation stood apart to itself. It had its separate
population; it had its own distinct round of occupations;

568 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIEGINIA

it had its own laborers, its own mechanics. It either pro-
duced its own natural and manufactured supplies or it
imported them from abroad. There was no mutual depend-
ence among plantations such as would have been observed
if the estates had been small, which would have signified a
division of labor.

The moral influence of the large plantation was equally
extraordinary. It fostered habits of self-reliance in indi-
vidual men ; it assisted in promoting an intense love of
liberty ; ^ it strengthened the ties of family and kinship at
the very time that it cultivated the spirit of general hos-
pitality. Descended from the race of Englishmen, indeed,
in many instances born under English skies themselves,
the Virginians of the seventeenth century led a life, in
consequence of the independent and manly existence per-
mitted by the plantation system, that confirmed all the

1 Edmund Burke, in his celebrated speech on Conciliation with Anaer-
ica, attributed the intense love of liberty characteristic of the people of
the Southern colonies to the presence of slaves. " There is a circum-
stance attending these colonies (Southern) v^hich . . . makes the spirit
of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the Northward.
It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have a vast multitude of
slaves, \yhere this is the case in any part of the world, those who are
free are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. Freedom is
to them not only an enjoyment but a kind of rank and privilege. Not
seeing there that freedom, as in countries where it is a common blessing,
and as broad and general as the air, may be united with much abject toil,
with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude, liberty looks amongst
them like something that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean to
commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as
much pride as virtue in it ; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The
fact is so ; and these people of the Southern colonies are much more
strongly and with a higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty,
than those to the Northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths ;
such were our Gothic ancestors ; such in our days were the Poles ; and
such will be all masters of slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such
a people, the haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of
freedom, fortifies it and renders it invincible."

CONCLUSION 569

great qualities which had formed a part of their moral
inheritance as scions of the English stock. It was a life
that allowed the individuality of each planter to expand
without obstacle. It is not surprising that in a great crisis
like the American Revolution, when sufficient time had
passed for Virginia to produce a population racy of her
own soil, and moulded by her own material conditions,
there should have sprung up a body of men of exalted
merit in those departments of human affairs in which her
general system was most calculated to develop talent, the
sphere of military action and the sphere of statesmanship.
The large plantations, by giving birth to a class of great
landowners, increased the importance of leaders in the
community. It promoted the aristocratic spirit not the
less strongly because there were no legally defined ranks
in society. It created a rural gentry as proud as that of
England.

The system of large estates was the result of the special
conditions of tobacco culture alone. It did not spring
from the existence of slavery, although that institution, by
furnishing a cheaper laborer, gave a strong impulse to the
expansion of the area included in the tract of each plan-
tation. The plantation system of Virginia was founded
upon a permanent basis many years before the number of
slaves in the Colony had reached a thousand. That sys-
tem would have flourished if not a single African had been
introduced into Virginia. In its principal aspects indented
service was a form of slavery ; the servant was merely a
slave for a fixed number of years instead of for life ; he
was for the time being absolutely at the disposal of his
master, his physical powers being as persistently directed
to the removal of the forest and the cultivation of the
ground. The increasing substitution of new servants for
old, whose terms had come to an end, gave, on each large

570 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

plantation, a continuity to the labor system of white ser-
vants as unbroken as if it had been the labor system of
slaves. The economic results were substantially the same ;
the moral and social influences of both were in many
respects exactly similar.

Nevertheless, it is a cause for lasting regret that the
African slave gradually took the place of the indented
English servant. From a political point of view, the chief
merit of the system of white laborers was that upon the
expiration of their terms they became at once citizens who
were identified in race with members of the ruling class.
They could in time rise to a high position in that class if
they had energy and ability, or could, if they themselves
were lacking in these qualities, transmit the right to rise
to their descendants, either immediate or remote. The
complete homogeneity of the community was not affected
by the presence of the white servant ; in that servant the
community possessed the most admirable instrument for
the eradication of the primaeval forest, the supreme task
of the colonial age, because he was just as thoroughly and
directly in the power of his master as the negro slave him-
self ; at the same time, the public interests foresaw in him
a free man, who was destined to the highest possibilities
as soon as he had taken his place in the ranks of the com-
munity at large.

In all the advantages of citizenship, there was no essen-
tial difference between the immigrant who took up a tract
of land on his arrival in the country and the son or grand-
son of the indented white laborer, or the indented white
laborer himself after the end of his term, if he was able
to acquire an equal amount of property. The discipline
which the indented white servant was brought under, the
very hardships to which he was exposed, and which he
was compelled to endure, formed a school which was most

CONCLUSION 571

admirably adapted to prepare him to make his way suc-
cessfully when he had become free. If the system of
indented white laborers had prevailed down to the Revolu-
tion without the introduction of a single negro upon the
soil of Virginia, there would have been fcMnd, after the
establishment of the national independence, a community
composed entirely of a homogeneous English stock. All
the influences of the system of large plantations, to which
the great personalities of Virginia in that momentous era
are principally due, would have been in oj^eration, because
the system of white indented laborers, as the early histor}^
of the seventeenth century shows, would have promoted,
equally with the institution of slavery, the expansion in
the area of the separate estates.

It is impossible to speculate without interest upon the
probable condition of Virginia after the Revolution if the
planters had had only the white laborer to depend on.
Would the importation of indented servants from England
have continued? Hardly in the same volume, although
the dearness of labor in the State, as in the Colony, would
have led to the offer of strong inducements by the planters
to procure foreign laborers, among whom the English
would doubtless have been preferred. Under the new
political regime, it was quite improbable that indented
labor as known in the seventeenth century would have
prevailed, because of its inconsistency with the spirit of
the new institutions. The modern system of free labor
would no doubt have sprung up, and this might have been
a cause of serious embarrassment to the owners of great
estates. The system of large plantations, as soon as arti-
ficial manures began to be used in the cultivation of to-
bacco, would probably have yielded to the influences of
disintegration attendant on free labor; Virginia might
have grown into close sympathy with the economic condi-

572 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

tions of the Northern States long before the present day
had been reached.

We may acknowledge that the negro wonld in all proba-
bility have been introduced into the Colony in the seven-
teenth century, even if the soil had been incapable of
producing the tobacco plant, but without that plant it is
not likely that the institution of slavery could have ob-
tained a permanent foothold in Virginia. In time it
would have died out and the African population have
remained an insigniticant part of the community. The
extension of tobacco culture signified the importation of
African slaves in large numbers as soon as the facilities
for procuring them had been increased. What that cul-
ture required was the cheapest form of labor, and this the
negro furnished because he was a bondsman for life, for
whom only a provision of bare subsistence had to be made.
It was not until the end of the century that the means of
importing slaves grew to be equal to the demand for them.
The white indented servant and not the negro was the
principal factor in the labor system in operation in the
Colony in that age ; and yet as far as slavery existed then,
it had all the features of the same institution as observed
down to the late war between the States. It cannot be
said, however, that it had an important effect upon the
economic conditions in the Colony ; on the contrary, if
not a single negro had been introduced into Virginia in
the seventeenth century, the peculiar character of that
community during this period would hardly have been
altered, for the very simple reason that the chief influence
forming and controlling it sprang from the special needs
of tobacco culture, which were satisfied by the system of
indented labor, that system, as has been pointed out, being
merely one of temporary slavery.

It was not until the eighteenth century that the impres-

CONCLUSION 573

sion of slavery upon existing institutions grew to be pro-
found ; and yet that this impression was not essentially
different from that which the early system of indented
service produced, is shown in the general identity of the
Virginian communities during the whole of the eighteenth
century with the same communities previous to the middle
of the seventeenth, when the number of slaves amounted
only to a few hundred. Indeed, there is nothing in the
history of the Colony in the seventeenth century more strik-
ing than the similarity between the conditions prevailing
then under the system of indented labor, and those pre-
vailing under the institution of slavery as soon as it
became universal, down to the hour of its destruction,
although two hundred years had passed, and a radical
change of government had taken place. The explanation
lay wholly in the fact that the requirements for the pro-
duction of tobacco had during this long period remained
practically the same. Although artificial manures had been
introduced, the planters still preferred that virgin soil
which could only be obtained by clearing away the forest.
It was this fact still that maintained the system of large
plantations in undiminished vigor.

No system of land tenure could have been adopted more
admirably calculated to ensure the rapid settlement of the
Colony than that which was in operation there throughout
the seventeenth century. There were in that age no such
facilities in ocean transportation as exist at j)resent to
diminish the outlay entailed by emigration from Europe to
America. To-day, the expenses of the passage are so small
that even the peasant can meet the unavoidable charges,
and, in consequence, from all paits of the Old Country,
men belonging to the lower ranks of life have flocked into
the far West and taken up land. So costly was the voyage
in the seventeenth century, that unless the importer of

574 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGIXIA

laborers had been offered fifty acres for every one he intro-
duced, but an insignificant proportion of that class which
formed the principal basis of the head right would have
found their way to Virginia, and in the absence of that
class, the destruction of tlie forest on a great scale would
have been deferred for many decades. The head right
ensured an enormous immigration of agricultural laborers,
the tract of fifty acres being looked upon as a partial com-
pensation at least for the expense of bringing in the ser-
vant. The West was settled by an influx of population
which, under the homestead law, became at once a commu-
nity of small landowners, but in Virginia in the seventeenth
century, the mass of the inhabitants were men and women
who had no interest in the soil. In spite of the fact that
the average size of the patent sued out was not very con-
siderable, the face of the country was in possession of only
a section of the people.

The valuable inducements held out to men of means to
become landowners in Virginia led to the emigration of a
large number of Englishmen who represented the most
refined elements of the mother country, and who were
therefore anxious to introduce into their new communities
all of those economic conditions to which they were accus-
tomed on their native soil. They were compelled to fol-
low a new system of agriculture, because the}^ had not only
to overcome the obstacle of a heavy growth of forest, but
also to adapt their action to the needs of the tobacco
plant, but in all the other departments of their economic
affairs they adhered as far as possible to the methods and
customs of England. This was especially observable in
the interiors of their dwelling-houses and in the general
conveniences of their daily lives.

It is doubtful whether there was ever a new community
that obtained its supplies, whether natural or manufactured,

CONCLUSION 575

with more ease and in greater abundance than Virginia in
the seventeenth century. The Colony was very fortunate
in the early years of its history in possessing a staple like
tobacco, which, although it fluctuated in value and often
sank in price below the cost of production, was neverthe-
less practically in constant demand in the foreign market.
The Virginians, unlike the people of New England, were
not compelled to seek purchasers for their main product ;
foreign shipmasters, with vessels loaded down with the
greatest variety of merchandise, sailed directly up to the
plantation wharves and there exchanged their goods for
tobacco, or they placed these goods in the hands of factors
who distributed them among the people in return for that
commodity.

There have been few people enjoying a greater variety
and abundance of food than the Virginians in the same age.
The natural supplies which were not dependent upon their
own production were to be found in greater profusion at
that period than at any subsequent period, because the
course of destruction had not been so prolonged. Beasts,
birds, and fish were to be obtained in almost incredible
quantities. There has never been a soil more admirably
adapted to every species of vegetables than the soil of Vir-
ginia, even at the present day, after being under cultivation
for nearly three hundred years. Although little attention
was paid to fruits in the seventeenth century, there was
nevertheless an abundant supply for use. The various
cereals flourished also to an extraordinary degree.

An absence of great personalities was one of the most
remarkable features of the history of Virginia in the
seventeenth century after the dissolution of the Company.
Nathaniel Bacon alone stands out upon that vast back-
ground in the proportions of an extraordinary man, but he
was an Englishman and not a Vii-ginian. It sliouhl l)e

576 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

remembered that great men of action are the products of
critical times alone, for they require a motive and a stage.
There was but one heroic tumult in the course of that
long period ; if no native Virginian took supreme control
of affairs then, it was nevertheless the spirit of the native
Virginian which sustained the youthful Bacon in his mem-
orable enterprise. The highest powers of the most capa-
ble men of the age were directed to the accumulation of
property. The country was new and was covered with
forest : it required a concentration of thought and energy
on the part of individuals to secure material success in the
midst of such conditions, and a certain degree of such
success was necessary if a foothold was to be won, and
when won, maintained. In the beginning it was to be ex-
pected that the instincts of the people should be entirely
fixed upon the improvement of their fortunes, and it fol-
lowed that the leading men were those who were most
successful in increasing their estates. The principal fig-
ures in the history of Virginia in the seventeenth century
were men of the stamp of Samuel Mathews, George Mene-
fie, Robert Beverley, Adam Thoroughgood, Ralph Worme-
ley, William Fitzhugh, Edmund Scarborough, and William
Byrd, men who were important, not because they filled
high offices, but because they had gathered together great
properties by planting and trading.

To the generation of Virginians now living, the history
of their community in the seventeenth century should be
peculiarly interesting, for this was the period in which the
foundation was laid for those conditions that the new
regime will in time wholly destroy. All that is great in
the annals of the Colony and the State was accomplished
during the existence of these conditions : the character of
the most illustrious soldiers and statesmen of Virginia
were moulded by the old economic system, and her contri-

CONCLUSION 577

butions to the wealth of the world were made under its
operation. The era upon which the commonwealth has
entered will, no doubt, as time goes on, be found, in all
of its principal aspects, antipodal to that long period,
which, beginning in 1607, only ended in 1865. The most
powerful influences of the seventeenth century, the forma-
tive age in the history of Virginia, tended directly, as has
been seen, to the creation of great estates in land. At the
present day, the most powerful influences tend directly to
the disintegration of the system of large plantations, and
this is observed even in those parts of the State where tlie
population is compelled to rely principally upon tobacco
for a subsistence. A virgin soil is no longer necessary to
the production of that plant in perfection, artificial manures
being now used in preparing land for its culture. Unfore-
seen influences, independent of those springing from the
destruction of slavery, have hastened the drift towards the
subdivision of the soil. The extension of the area under
cultivation in the West, by lowering the prices of all
agricultural products, including tobacco, has rendered
hired labor unprofitable except where the soil is extremely
fertile. In the present age, it is the landowner who works
with his own hands who can in the long run follow the
pursuits of farming and planting without a loss, and there
is little reason to expect a reversion of this condition.
Virginia in the twentieth century seems destined to present
in its holdings a condition precisely the opposite of what was
observed in the seventeenth, in the eighteenth, and in the
greater part of the nineteenth. It will doubtless become
a community of small landowners. That appearance of
waste and neglect which accompanied the system of large
plantations seems likely gradually to disappear as the area
under cultivation comes to include practically the entire
face of the country.

578 ECONOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA

All the influences of the seventeenth century, as has
been seen, were hostile to the building of towns and cities,
and this can also be said of the system of large plantations
as long as it lasted in its primitive vigor. All the influ-
ences of the new regime are promotive of the growth of
centres of population. The influences of the old r%ime,
as founded in the seventeenth century, were such as to
exalt the importance of the individual ; the influences of
the new are such as to raise the importance of the mass.
The isolated life of the large plantations of the past fos-
tered very marked traits in the character of each person,
and in the character of each community ; the subdivision
of the land, by increasing the population enormously and
bringing the people into the closest and most constant
intercourse, will tend to reduce the inhabitants to a more
uniform type, and this process will be daily hastened by
the ever-growing facilities of communication with the
country at large.

It is safe to predict that under the new economic system,
Virginia will no longer produce the same class of men as
she did under the old. Her illustrious citizens in the past
sprang from the rural gentry. A rural gentry is impossible
under prevailing conditions ; the remnant which has sur-
vived to the present day is so small as to be unworthy of
consideration from a numerical point of view, and in a few
years it will be altogether gone. All that is highest and
noblest in the civilization of the State will find its repre-
sentation in the town and not as of old in the country.

Virginia, which was once imperial in extent, has shrunk
into the confines of a narrow State, and the time may come
when the name will be used to designate a geographical
entity of the past. This result cannot be reached until
there has been a complete subversion of all those princi-
ples that her people have cherished and revered, the seeds

CONCLUSION 579

of which were planted in the western soil b}^ their fore-
fathers in the seventeenth century, and nourished by all
the influences of the plantation system founded in that
age. The simplicity of life, the manliness of spirit, the
love of home and family, and devotion to liberty, promoted
by that system, are the strongest pillars upon which the
honor and safety of government can rest. It will be happy
indeed if the future of the State shall show that all these
virtues can flourish under the new economic order as fully
as they flourished under the old, and that growth in her
material wealth and the concentration of her population in
cities shall not mean a decline in the character of her citi-
zens as compared with the character of that extinct race
of country gentlemen which produced Washington and
Lee, and a long line of statesmen and soldiers, hardly less
illustrious, whose achievements have, in the eyes of the
world, conferred imperishable distinction upon the Ameri-
can name.

INDEX

Aberdeen, ii. 329.

Accomac County, i. 320, 351 ; aboriginal
tribe in, 140, 141 ; remarkable fore-
sight of Indians residing in, 157 ;
Yeardley's visit to, 258; case of
Walter Chiles in, 350; irregular
trade of, with Holland in 1663, 358 ;
sheep owners in, 377; amount of
tobacco produced in, in 1681), 456;
Indians of, make complaint of their
straitened condition, 495; Indians
of, 496, 497 ; ii. 47, 346, 351 ; value
of slaves in, 91 ; Bristol ship goes
ashore in, 91 ; residences in, 157 ;
English merchants trading in, 334;
Indian marts in, 388; carpenters
owning land in, 424; owners of
looms residing in, 470; its people
petition that all coin in Virginia ex-
cept the English shall be rated, 512 ;
also that the value of the dog dollar
shall be ascertained, 513; value of
beaver in, 521; town building in,
549, 556.

Adams, Captain, i. 219.

Africa, i. 71, 72, 409, 487 : ii. 59, 63.

Agricultural developmeut, reasons for
selecting Jamestown as the site of
the settlement, i. 189-192; disadvan-
tages of the site, 190 ; the first sow-
ing of wheat, 193; clearing of new
grounds, 196; first planting by the
English of maize, 198; how the
ground was cultivated, 200; the im-
plements, 201 ; the increase in num-
ber of livestock, 201; Delaware's
plans to promote agriculture, 203,
Henricopolis founded by Dale, 208; !
steps taken to protect cattle by
raising palings, 209 ; first cultivation [
581

of tobacco, 210; its rapid extension,
212; Dale grants privileges to the
farmers, 213; the terms of the ten-
ancy, 215 ; settlements in Virginia at
Dale's departure, 216; commodities
exported to England during his ad-
ministration, 218; the first produc-
tion of wine and silk, 219; first
introduction of the plough, 219;
Yeardley grants privileges to the
inhabitants of Charles Hundred,
221 ; Argoll arrives, 222 ; his first
measures beneficial, 223; the wreck
caused by his administration during
the second year of its existence, 224;
Yeardley's second administration,
226 ; the grant of private ownership
in land, 227; amount of land re-
served for officers, 228; provision
made for their cultivation, 229; the
importation of tenants for the pub-
lic lands, 229 ; the terms of agree-
ment, 230; operation of the tenant
system in 1619, 231 ; implements
imported for the use of the ten-
ants, 233 ; privileges granted for the
cultivation of staple commodities,
234 ; production of English wheat,
237; obstacles to its culture, 2.38;
development of silk industry, 240;
destroyed by massacre of 1622, 242 ;
efforts to manufacture wine in the
colony, 243; number of cattle in
Virginia in 1620, 247 ; their steady
importation, 248; contracts with
■\Vood and Gookin, 248, 249; lack of
lilouglis. 250; agricultural condition
of Colony at close of Yeardley's ad-
ministration, 251 ; improvements in
the handling of tobacco, 253 ; reasons

582

why special attention given to culti-
vation of tobacco in time of the Com-
pany, 254; obstacles to cultivation
of wheat, 257 ; amount of tobacco ex-
ported, 262 ; policy of James tended
to discourage its cultivation, 2G3;
warehouses for sale of tobacco es-
tablished by the Company in Hol-
land, 2G5; the King's attempt to
control the trade, 266 ; the first con-
tract between James and the Com-
l^any, 269; it falls through, 270;
massacre of 1622, 270; contraction
of the settlements, 271; epidemic
following the massaci'e, 272; effect
of scarcity in prices, 273 ; provisions
taken to suppress the Indians and
to encourage the production of
grain, 274; revocation of the Com-
pany's letters patent, 276; recom-
mendations of the Company as to
contract with the king for the to-
bacco of the colony, 277; terms of
the Ditchfield contract, 278 ; reasons
for the colonists opposing it, 279;
importation of Spanish tobacco pro-
hibited, 281; Amis contract, 284;
Charles makes a direct proposition
for the tobacco of the Colony, 285 ;
the Goring contract, 288 ; cultivation
of tobacco in England prohibited,
289; tobacco exported to Holland,
290; measures taken to prevent it,
291 ; importation into England of
Spanish tobacco, 293; how tobacco
shipped to England, 295 ; increase
in number of cattle, 296; prices of
neat cattle, horses, and goats, 297,
298 ; proposition to build a palisade
across the Peninsula, 299; greater
attention paid to the cultivation of
wheat, 301 ; varieties of tobacco,
303; causes for the production of
much mean tobacco, 303 ; first regu-
lations looking to inspection, 304;
inspection law of 1630, 304 ; amend-
ments, 305 ; Harvey's efforts to
improve condition of agriculture,
308 ; exportation of grain to the
North and West Indies, 310; cattle
exported, 311 ; the palisade built,
312; the first fence law, 313; the

character of the early Virginia
fences, 316; province of Maryland
created, 318 ; population of Virginia
at this time, 319; Charles I. seeks
to divert attention of planters from
tobacco, 320; plans for reducing
volume of annual crop, 321 ; the
disposition to abandon old planta-
tions and the reasons for it, 323; Act
of 1639, requiring the distribution of
one half the good tobacco, 324 ; cus-
toms upon tobacco, 326; Harvey
seeks to diversify the iproducts of
the Colony, 328; cultivation of Eng-
lish grain, 329; Berkeley encourages
the planting of cotton, flax, and
hemp, 331 ; increase in number of
neat cattle, 332; prices of horned
cattle, 333; the number of horses,
335; agricultural condition of the
Colony in 1649, 336; abundance of
natural products, 337 ; articles which
the immigrant should bring into Vir-
ginia, 338 ; opinions of Evelyn, Wil-
liams and Bullock on this point, 339;
the course pursued by the planter in
his first year after arriving in Vir-
ginia, 340; how the proceeds of his
crop were to be laid out in purchases
in England, 342; special inducements
offered by Virginia to all classes in
England to emigrate, 343; effect
upon Virginian agriculture of Eng-
lish legislation, 345; interference on
the part of the mother country with
free trade of the Colony, 347; the
reasons, 347, 348 ; ordinance of 1650,
349; Navigation Act of KJSl, 349;
the extent to which free trade was
enjoyed by Virginia during the Pro-
tectorate, 350-352; impost of ten
shillings on each hogshead exported,
353 ; advance in charges for freight
transported across the ocean, 354;
Act of Assembly in 1660, requiring
a bond of each shipmaster that he
would not molest any foreign trader,
355 ; the Navigation Act of 1660, 356 ;
its provisions, 357; evasion of the
Act, 357 ; petition of John Bland in
opposition to the Act, 360; his rea-
sons for objecting to it, 361, 362;

583

cultivation of tobacco in England
again prohibited, 3(53; steps taken
to enforce the prohibition, 364; re-
newed attention paid to the culture
of the silk-worm, 305; Virginians
who took part in it, 366; efforts of
the Ferrers to advance silk hus-
bandry, 367 ; character of the Vir-
ginian silk-worm so called, 368;
legislative encouragement of silk
culture, 369; abundance of cattle,
370 ; winter of 1673 causes many to
perish, 372; number of cattle owned
by leading planters, 372; herds of
wild oxen, 373 ; number of horses,
374; sheep husbandry, 376 ; holdings
of various planters, 378; measures
for the protection of hogs, 378 ; prices
of grain, 380; prices in Virginia and
England compared, 381 ; number of
ships engaged in the Virginia carry-
ing trade, 384; revival of the duty
of two shillings on each hogshead
exported, 386; how collected, 387;
the officers employed, 388; decline
in the value of tobacco, 389 ; effort
to secure a cessation of planting by
concert of action between Virginia
and Maryland, 390; Baltimore pre-
vents the carrying out of' the plan,
392; great storm of 1667, 395; re-
wards offered for silk culture, 396 ;
the industry fairly successful for a
time, 398 ; Berkeley's interest in the
husbandry, 400 ; low price of tobacco,
401 ; demand for a cessation refused
by the English authorities, 402 ; as-
sembly called to meet the emergency,
402 ; the Plant-cutters' Rebellion fol-
lows, 405; its destructive effect, 406;
tobacco again rises in value, 407;
contentment of planters, 407 ; Eng-
lish government satisfied with the
production of tobacco only in the Col-
ony, 408: scheme for the improve-
ment of Virginian tobacco, 409; lit-
tle disposition to lease lands, 411;
the reasons, 411, 412; length and
terms of leases, 413 ; case of Reeves
and Arrington, 415; system of high-
ways in the Colony, 418; bridges,
420; public ferries, 421; general agri-

cultural condition of Virginia at the
end of the century, 424, 426 ; com-
parison with that of England, 425;
natural manures in Virginia, 427;
value placed on new grounds, 428;
manner of remunerating overseers,
429; its influence, 430; extent of
marsh land, 431; the steps taken to
redeem it, 431; opinion of Mr. Clay-
ton, 432; his experience with a Vir-
ginian overseer, 433; varieties of
tobacco, 436; the lands adapted to
the Oronoco and sweet-scented, 438;
the plant bed, 438; time of trans-
plantation, 439; manipulation in the
field, 440; how handled in the barn,
441; assortment of the tobacco ac-
cording to grade and variety, 441 ;
regulations affecting the hogshead,
442; final disposition, 443: the re-
ceiver, 443; rolling the hogsheads to
the wharves, 444 ; transportation in
sloops and shallops, 445; character
of ships engaged in the trade, 446 ;
frequent difficulty in obtaining ships,
447 ; few vessels owned even in part
by Virginians, 448; bill of lading,
449; ocean freight rates, 450; ad-
vances in time of war, 451 ; ship-
ments in bulk, 452; the reasons for
it, 452; injury resulting to the roj-al
revenue, 453; to the interests of the
Colony and planters, 454; proposed
remedy, 455 ; price of tobacco, 457 ;
amount of tobacco sent to England
in 1689, 458; cultivation of the cere-
als, 459; amount of wheat produced,
460; implements used in its cultiva-
tion, 461 ; sickle and reap hook, 464 ;
how threshed, 465; cotton culture,
466 ; decline in interest in silk, 467 ;
orchards and varieties of fruit, 468 ;
no effort made to improve them, 469;
introduction of the olive, 470; culti-
vation of the grape, 470 ; experience
of Robert Beverley, Jr., 471 ; the breed
of Virginian horses in the last dec-
ade of the 17th century, 472; their
smallness in size, 473; wild horses,
and methods used to capture them,
474 ; value of horses, 475; carts, 47(; ;
horned cattle, 477 ; marks used, 477 ;

584

cowbells, 478; little attempt made
to supply them with food in winter,
479 ; price of cows, bulls and steers,
480; increase in number of sheep,
481 ; number owned by individual
planters, 482 ; depredationsof wolves,
483; price of wool, 485; abundance
of swine, 485 ; ex^jorts of pork, 486.

Alder, i. 101.

Alderson, Richard, ii. 473.

Ale, ii. 218.

Alewives, i. 112.

Algerians, i. 625; seize English mer-
chandise, 43 ; servants, ii. 54.

Algernon, Fort, i. 105.

Alicante wine, i. 244.

Allen, Arthur, i. 536; Ralph, ii. 334.

Allerton, Isaac, i. 390; ii. 317.

Almonds, i. 251.

Amadas, Captain, i. 5, 46, 88, 167, 186.

America, i. 12, 23, 45, 46, 160; Ship, ii.
434.

Amis, i. 284, 287 ; ii. 299.

Amsterdam, i. 351, 354; ii. 314.

Ancient planter, i. 227.

Andrews, Captain, ii. 146, 284; Prof.
Charles M., i. 571.

Andros, Governor, i. 553 ; encourages
culture of cotton, 46(j, 467 ; the tire
in the Secretary's office in time of,
528; ii. 118, 346; suspends Act for
advancement of manufactures, 464.

Angela, a negress, ii. 67, 72, 75.

Animals, wild, i. 124-128.

Anthony, ship, ii. 329.

Antigua, i. 352; ii. 77, 328.

Apples, i. 331, 332, 468; crab-apples
only found in aboriginal Virginia,
94.

Appomattox, i. 164, 179 ; ii. 346 ; River,
i. 210, 511; Indians, i. 141; Queen
of, 156.

Apprentices ; see Servants.

Apricot, i. 331, 468.

Aquavitfe, ii. 215, 263, 265.

Arabia, i. 51; ii. 513; coin of, 514.

Arber, Edward, i. 31.

Arbitrators, boards of, appointed, ii;
266.

Archangel, i. 1, 22.

Archer, i. 429.

Archer, James, ii. 174.

Archer's Hope, as a site for the first
town, i. 192 ; included in corporate
limits of Jamestown, ii. 530; name
of creek changed, 563.

Arctic Ocean, i. 22.

Argoll, Samuel, i. 240, 276, 588; ob-
serves buffalo in Virginia, 125; re-
turns from Potomac River, 158;
leaves Virginia with Somers in 1610,
202; visits Newfoundland fisheries,
203; imports horses from Canada,
216; granary at Charles Hundred
full of grain at his arrival, 221 ; ar-
rives in Colony, 222; adopts meas-
ures favorable to agriculture, 222;
his action in destroying prosperity
of the Colony, 224, 226; imports
wheat from Canada, 239 ; confusion
in Colony at close of his administra-
tion, 251 ; his administration inter-
feres with distribution of lands, 504 ;
ordered to find a new route to Vir-
ginia, 624; ii. 285, 484; his connec-
tion with the first slaves, 66, 69;
arrives in Virginia on a fishing expe-
dition, 269 ; his expedition against
Port Royal, 278; resents Piersey's
interference, 282 ; breaks up maga-
zine, 283; instructions to masters of
ships iit 1617, 353 ; adopts measures
to promote the trades, 401 ; orders a
ship to be built at Point Comfort,
427.

Argoll's Town, i. 207 ; ii. .530.

Arlington, Lord, i. 561, (i07.

Armada, i. 66.

Armenians, two imported by Edward
Digges, i. 365, 368.

Arrahattock, i. 91, 146, 179, 198, 208,
319; ii. 530; tribe of Indians, i. 141.

Arrington, William, i. 317, 415, 416,
460.

Artichokes, i. 337.

Arundel, Earl of, i. 64.

Ash Tree, i. 91, 196.

Asheton Estate, i. 475.

Ashton, Henry, ii. 320, 334.

Asia, effort of English to obtain ac-
cess to, i. 22.

Asparagus, i. 3.37.

Assembly, in 1623 passed laws for pro-
viding grain, and a commission ap-

INDEX

585

pointed for the purpose, i. 274, 275 ;
Act of, in KJGO, to prevent masters
of English vessels from shutting out
foreign competition, 355; premiums
to encourage silk-culture, 369; in
1(;69 prohibited the importation of
horses, and any brought in were
seized and sold, 375 ; they had re-
voked the law forbidding their ex-
portation, 376; laws prohibiting the
exportation of sheep and for the
destruction of wolves, 378 ; in 1662,
by order from the Privy Council,
appointed commissioners to meet
representatives from Maryland to
confer about restricting culture of
tobacco ; they met, but did not agree ;
why, 390; in 1666 again sent mes-
sengers to Maryland, who agreed
not to plant from February, 16()6, to
February, 1667 ; and Carolina joined
them, 394 ; came to nothing because
disapproved by Lord Baltimore, 394 ;
in 1661-62 re-enacted law requiring
mulberry trees to be planted, and
extended time for planting; effect
of these regulations, 397 ; took away
from silk its tobacco rewards, and
repealed mulberry planting law, 398 ;
but was compelled by results to re-
store premiums, 400: prayed to his
Majesty for a cessation of tobacco-
planting in 1681 ; but their appeal
was refused by Commissioners of
Customs in London ; why, 402, 403 ;
held a stormy called session about
tobacco, but did nothing; a second
one summoned, but prevented by
frenzy of inhabitants of Gloucester
and other counties, who destroyed
their own plants and those of their
neighbors, 405, 406; cavalry called
out, 406; in 1686 passed a carefully-
considered law, not enforced, how-
ever, for improving the strain of
horses and to operate for seven
years ; its provisions, 472, 473 ; after
dissolution of London Company,
from time to time protected the
Indians in the possession of their
hunting grounds and cultivated
fields, 491; repealed the statute

which made it felony in all who
sought to establish themselves on
north side of York River, 492 ; in 1653
adopted regulations which assured
to Pamunkey and Chickahominy
Indians protection against all intru-
sion, 492; right given to some tribes
to dispose of land by deed, if ap-
proved by Governor and Council,
492; in 1656 interposed to che(;k sales
of land by Indians ; why, 493 ; for-
bade the Accomac Indians to alienate
their lands, but not so with other
aborigines ; in 1661, privilege granted
the Chickahominies to dispose of
their grounds; how, 496; in 1662
admitted the friction with Indians
caused by the encroachments of the
English ; what they did and main-
tained until, in 1676, war broke out,
497, 498 ; what they did in 1676, as a
means of prosecuting hostilities, and
how it was previously, 498; in 1674
there was a stern injunction to colo-
nists who had seated themselves in
territory of Nottoways to withdraw,
498 ; by the Colonial Code of 1776, in
addition to head right, power of pur-
chasing public lands with coin or
tobacco was -allowed, and price for
every fifty acres fixed at five shil-
lings, 526; legislation to settle dif-
ferences as to boundaries which
prevailed in 1623-24 ; and as to im-
provements made on another's land,
540-543 ; law of processioning ; pro-
visions of the law and how carried
out, 543, 544, 545; compelled to in-
terpose to prevent or punish the
gross misconduct of surveyors, 547;
also, in 1666, to induce better class
of men to follow the profession of
surveying, 547 ; approved of com-
position entered into by Governor
and Secretary with holders of es-
cheated lands, 5()7 ; in 1638-39 taxed
all passengers arriving at Point
Comfort, and towards close of cent-
ury this tax was greatly increased
on servants of alien birth, (J31 ; peti-
tions for mechanics, ii. 402 ; adopts
a scale of wages, 415 ; prohibits ex-

586

portation of iron, hides and wool,
452; decides to erect two houses at
Jamestown for manufacture of linen,
455; passes law to encourage linen
and woollen manufactures, 45G ; pro-
visions adopted by, for preparation
of leather, 479, 480; prohibits ex-
portation of hides, 480 ; requires that
estates of testators shall be estimated
in coin, 499; passes a law that no
debt in money sterling shall be
pleadable, 501 ; fixes a value on
pieces of eight, 502, 503, 505, 507 ;
petitions for the power to enhance
the value of all coins, 508; imposes
a fine on drawer of a protested bill,
519; seeks to promote the building
of towns in Virginia, 539; proposes
to move the capital of the colony to
Tyudall's Point, 54G.

Asses, i. 39, 248. '

Association for Preservation of Vir-
ginia Antiquities, ii. 5(32.

Atterbury, William, ii. 334.

Aubrey, ii. 4()1.

Austin, Samuel, ii. 330.

Australia, i. 13.

Avis, i. 614.

Axes, i. 233, 339.

Babylon, i. 51.

Baccalaos, i. 2.

Bacon (meat), ii. 198, 199.

Bacon, Josiah, ii. 334.

Bacon, Lord, i. 51, 261, 345, 589.

Bacon's Insurrection, i. 193, 400;
English soldiers sent to suppress,
affected by eating Jamestown weed,
99; flights of wild pigeons observed
before, 121; one of the causes of,
359; sheep seized by authorities
after, 377 ;ii. 159, 20(i, 545.

Bacon, Nathaniel, Jr., ii. 78, 127, 206,
546 ; attempts during his supremacy
to enforce prohibition, 225; causes
Jamestown to be burnt, 546; the
most conspicuous figure in the his-
tory of Virginia in the 17th century
after abolition of Company, 576.

Bacon, Nathaniel, Sr., a box attached
to his house for bee-martins, i. 120;
owns an interest in a vessel, 448 ;

received the quit-rents as auditor,
561 ; ii. 122, 195, 346, 437 ; number of
his slaves, 88; their value, 90; his
residence, 155; his personal estate,
249; laud patents obtained by, 253;
his gift to the poor, 257 ; owns weav-
ers, 470: buys a lot at Jamestown,
534; builds at Jamestown, 553; pur-
chases a lot at Yorktown, 557.

Baffin Bay, i. 41.

Bagwell, Thomas, ii. 255.

Bailly, Captain, i. 596.

Baker, George, i. 410.

Baldwin, John, ii. 17.

Ball, Joseph, owns a mill, ii. 490;
William, 558.

Ballard, Thomas, ii. 159; trustee of
Yorktown, 558.

Ballentine, George, ii. 421.

Baltic Sea, i. 42 ; Company, 69.

Baltimore, Lord, i. 348, 392; ii. 244,
254.

Baltimore, ship, ii. 553.

Bancroft, George, ii. 101.

Banister, John, ii. 75.

Barbadoes, i. 349; cattle sent from
Virginia to, 298; sugar mills of,
turned by Virginian oxen, S21 ;
wheat shipped to, from Virginia,
460; political prisoners landed in,
609 ; exportation of servants to, from
England, 616 ; ii. 65, 84, 111, 141, 325,
347 ; condition of slaves in, 93, 94 ;
sells negroes to Virginians, 324 ; salt
exported from, to Virginia, 325;
trade of, with Virginia, 325, 328;
Fitzhugh ships staves to, 492, 493;
bills of exchange drawn on, 516.

Barber, William, sheep owned by, i.
377.

Barker, William, i. 521.

Barkham, i. 490, 491.

Barley, i. 238, 239, 301, 337, 381 ; used
in brewing, ii. 212.

Barlow, Captain, 1. 5, 46, 88, 167, 186.

Barns, i. 440.

Barnstaple, i. 384, 620.

Barrett, Captain, i. 609, 628; Thomas,
i '^27

Barry, William, i. 600.

Barton, James, ii. 321; Walter, per-
sonal estate of, 237.

587

Barwick, John, ii. 328; Captain, dis-
patched to Virginia with twenty-
five ship carpenters, 429.

Basan, i. 51 ; John, ii. 311.

Basse, Nathaniel, i. 310, 311.

Bassett, Mrs. William, her jewels, ii.
19.-).

Bastards, ii. 109-113; white, 35; ne-
gro, 37.

Bats, Richard, ii. 328.

Batte, Tliomas, i. 482 ; amount of cloth
in his estate, ii. 1(14.

Banldry, Robert, i. 449, 450.

Bay trees, i.l4().

Bayley, ii.4.59; Samuel, i. 448; Arthur,
ii. 334, 379.

Beaching, John, ii. 110.

Beane, Ralph, ii. 324.

Beans, i. 98, 152, 153, 1(57, 179, 251, 3.37.

Beard, Thomas, ii. 328.

Bears, i. 126, 183; character of their
meat, 172.

Beaver cod, 1. 262.

Beavers, i. 126 ; meat of, 172 ; skins of,
used by Indians, 181 ; ii.323; skins of,
used as a medium of exchange, 521.

Beazley, ii. 122.

Becker, Martin, i. 412.

Beckingham, Robert, i. 377 ; his mourn-
ing rings, ii. 19.") ; personal estate of
2.50; his store, 385; debts due him
in tobacco, 385; owns a mill, 490.

Beds, ii. 342; stuffed with straw and
feathers, 163.

Beecher, Sir William, ii. 302.

Beef, i. 211, 339; exports of from Vir-
ginia about 1690, 486; price of, in
England, 579; ii. 198, 207,264, 265.

Beer, ii. 212, 228, 264, 265: effect of
substituting water for, 211 ; from
what materials made in Virginia,
213; rating of, in 1639, 220.

Behring Straits, i. 41.

Bellefield, i. 365.

Bennett, i. 265; Richard, plants apple
trees, 332 ; the form of land patent
during his administration, 517: ii.
72, 75; emancipates a slave, 122:
buys a house at Jamestown, 1.".9 ;
makes cider, 214: sues Maryland
citizens, 323.

Bennett, Secretary, i. 397, 398 ; ii. 434 ;

receives a letter from Lndwell, 545.
See also, Arlington, Lord.

Benton, Francis, ii. 334.

Berkeley, John, i. 622 ; emigrates to
Virginia with a band of iron-work-
ers, ii. 447 ; Lady, i. 103; Lord, 507 ;
Maurice, put in charge of iron-
works, ii. 449; ordered to supervise
erection of salt-works, 484.

Berkeley, Sir William, i. ."48, 408, 507 ;
fits out an expedition to find the
South Sea, 39, 40 ; refers to health-
fulness of Virginia climate, l."9;
instructed to take bond of all ship-
masters, 293 ; presents Devries with
six goats and one ram, 299 ; encour-
ages diversification of Virginian
agriculture, 330; increase in cattle
during his first administration, 332 ;
condemns Navigation Acts, 359 ;
gives discouraging account of flax
culture, 397 ; makes an encouraging
report as to silk culture, 397 : refers
to small amount of land in Colony
redeemed from marsh, 431 ; peti-
tioned to grant land to heirs of
Freeman, 510; instructed to recall
the law allowing payment of quit-
rents to be deferred for seven years,
558; estimates population of ser-
vants in 1671, 610; instructed to
enforce the law ensuring ocean pas-
sengers proper comforts, 027 ; or-
dered not to allow servants to be
turned ashore until their masters
had been informed of their arrival,
632. ii. 78, 351, 352; owns brick
houses in Jamestown, 1.39, 144; his
residence at Green Spring, 153 ; tax-
ing provisions for benefit of, 205 ;
his coach, 238 ; ordered to draw all
craftsmen into towns, 411 : refers to
number of ships owned by Virgin-
ians in 1671, 4.34 : furnishes his house-
hold with woollen cloth of their own
manufacture, 401 ; charged withmis-
approi)riation of tobacco, 461 : sup-
plies Colonel Norwood with a sum of
money, 50() : in.structed to encourage
building at Jamestown, 5.">5; also to
build severalhousesof his own there
538.

588

INDEX

Bermuda Hundred, i. 91, 21(1, 217, 423 ;
ii. selected as public place for buying
merchandise, 556 ; feoffees of, 558.

Bermudas, i. 04, C6, 253, 269, 290, 308;
Spanish tobacco shipped to England
along with cargoes from, 293; ii.
293 ; exports from Virginia to, 137 ;
Somers and Gates wrecked on, 269;
trade with Virginia in 1693, 328.
See also, Somers Isles.

Bernard, Colonel, i. 366; Richard, ii.
152.

Bernardo, ii. 443.

Best, Thomas, ii. 408.

Beverley, Robert, Jr., describes the
soils of Virginia, i. 77, 78; asserts
that there was no individual prop-
erty among Indians, 149; plants a
large vineyard, 471 ; experiments in
making wine, 471; ii. 30, 42, 43;
his reference to brick houses, 143;
his description of the planters' cook-
ing, 203 ; prices of food in his time,
207 ; his comment on the climate of
Virginia, 255; his reference to the
absence of poverty in Virginia, 257 ;
describes repugnance of Virginians
to manufactures, 397; criticises
shoes made in Virginia, 398 ; charges
Nicholson with gross inconsistency,
465.

Beverley, Robert, Sr., charged with
using soldiers under his command
as guard for governor in felling
trees and making and "toating
rails," 1. 316; number of hoes in his
inventory, 463; number of sheep
owned by, 482 : nominated as arbitra-
tor in a dispute about a survey, 545 ;
size of his personal estate, ii. 18,
88, 161, 251; value of his slaves,
92; his residence, 156 ; value of his
furniture, 168; his silverware, 173;
land patents acquired by, 253 ; value
of his whole estate, 254 ; owned negro
mechanics, 405 ; also a tailor, 471 ;
feoffee of the town for Middlesex
County, 552; a representative man
of the 17th century, 576.

Biddcford, i. 384, 620; merchants of,
trading with Virginia, ii. 334.

Bills of Adventure, i. 502 ; of Exchange,

payable in England in coin, 302; see
Money ; of Lading, 449, 455, 633.

Binford, Walter, ii. 419.

Birch, William, ii. 404.

Birds, i. 114-123. See also names of
birds under separate heads.

Biscuit, ii. 264, 265.

Bishop, ii. 491.

Blaekall, John, ii. 334.

Blackberry, i. 96.

Blackraan, Jeremy, i. 335.

Blacksmith, i. 217; ii. 125; number
imported in 1607,400; and at later
date, 401 ; Thomas Best educated as
a, 408; contents of a shop, 418;
accounts of, regulated, 419; per-
sons following this trade residing
in different countries, and the lands
owned by them, 419.

Blackwater River, i. 499.

Blaise, James, ii. 247.

Blaithwaite, receives plank from Vir-
ginia, ii. 492.

Bland, Edward, i. 551; ii. 323; John,
his remonstrance against Naviga-
tion Act of 1660, i. 294, 360-362;
spends large amount of money on
his plantations in Virginia, ii. 380;
Theodorick, i. 518, 536.

Blaney, i. 600 ; ii. 289, 291, 293.

Blewit, Captain, superintendent of
iron manufacture in Virginia, ii. 447.

Bligh, James, i. 437.

Block Island, ii. 320.

Bluebirds, i. 184.

Blue Ridge Mountains, i. 40, 85.

Blunt Point, i. 311; ii. 355.

Board, charges for, ii. 203, 204.

Bonanova, ship, i. 266.

Bond estate, wool cards belonging to
the, ii. 469.

Bond, Samuel, contract of, with Benja-
min Brock, ii. 406.

Bonds, example of, given by shipmas-
ters under Navigation Acts, i. 359.

Bonoel, i. 241.

Bonoma, i. 51.

Books, ii. 180.

Booth, Robert, i. 482; ii. 141, 142: his
silverware, 172 ; a tailor's bill against
his estate, 472 ; Thomas, ii. 334 ; Wil-
liam, ii. 53.

INDEX

589

Boston, i. 311 ; ii. 320.

Bourue, Robert, ii. 158.

Boush, William, ii. 559.

Bow Church, i. 581.

Bowles, John, ii. 334.

Bows and arrows, i. 170, 171.

Bowyer, Tony, ii. 122.

Boys, John, ii. 24(5; Thomas, ii. 323;

Bracegirdle, John, ii. 237.

Brackley, England, ii. 404.

Bradford, John, ii. 472; Nathaniel,
470,477.

Branch, Christopher, directions given
by him in his will, ii. 153.

Brandy, ii. 215-231.

Branker, Nathaniel, ii. 514 ; his jewels,
196.

Brazil, i. 308, 350; methods of cur-
ing tobacco in, 409.

Bread, of Indian corn, ii. 201, 202.

Breeches, ii. 190, 192.

Brent, Fulk, ii. 323; Giles, sues a
Marylander, 323 ; receives coin from
Colonel Fitzhugh, 515; ships plank
to England, 492; Margaret, 322.

Brett, John, ii. 328; Robert, 421.

BrewHouse,ii. 211,212.

Brewers, included among early colo-
nists, ii. 211.

Brewster, Captain, goes into Monacan
country, i. 19 ; Richard, i. 252.

Briar, i.'lOl.

Brice, Thomas, i. 602.

Brick House, The, ii. 144, 549.

Bricklayers, ii. 135-137; number
brought in in 1607, 400; at later
date, 401 ; wages of, in town build-
ing, 540.

Brickmakers, ii. 135-137, 140, 142;
wages of, 416; wages of, in town
building, 541.

Bricks, ii. 1.34-144, 149, 564; use of, in
chimneys, 1.39 ; price of, 142 : brick
public buildings, 144 ; brick churches,
144, 145 ; state house constructed of,
5.34.

Bridewell, i. 600.

Bridge, Mrs. Elizabeth, ii. 515 ; Fran-
cis, 515 ; Thomas, 317, 321.
Bridger, Colonel, ii. 553.
Bridges, built at cost of counties in
which situated, and maintained by

county levies in tobacco ; in some
instances erected by individuals,
i. 421 ; when between two counties,
Governor and Council ordered courts
to appoint commissioners, 421.

Bridgewater, i. 415.

Brigg, Henry, ii. 7.

Bristol, i. 448, 620; ships in Virginia
from, 384, 385 ; ii. 85, 338 ; merchants
of, trading in Virginia, 334; mer-
chants of, build ships in, 438.

Bristow, Captain, i. 600; Robert, ii.
334.

Britain, i. 71.

Brocas, William, mills on plantation
of, ii. 487.

Brock, Benjamin, contract of, with
Samuel Bond, ii. 406.

Brodbent, Joshua, i. 303.

Brooke, Henry, ii. 89, 142; Nicholas,
89.

Brookes, Thomas, ii. 10.

Brotis, Nicholas, ii. 31.3.

Brown, Alexander, preface, x ; ii. 67;
George, 342.

Browne, Henry, ii_. 75; John, 334;
Peregrine, 334 ; William, 319.

Bruce, James Douglas, preface, xi.

Bryce, John, ii. 334.

Bryn Mawr College, preface, xi ; 1. 571.

Buckingham County, i. 82.

Buckingham, Marquis of, i. 269.

Buckles, of brass, steel and silver,
ii. 191.

Buckner, John, ii. 88; purchases a lot
at Yorktown, 557; Thomas, .334.

Buckskins, i. 181; a coat of, ii. 191;
value of, 483.

Buffalo, i. 125, 170.

Bulk tobacco, i. 452^55.

Bullington, Margery, ii. 198.

Bullock, Hugh, owns corn mills, ii.
487 ; also saw mills, 491 ; James,
473; William, states what articles
emigrants should carry to Virginia,
i. :!40-344: calculates the time that
should be taken in making the
voyage to Virginia, 624: estimates
the cost of the passage, 630; ii. 46,
50, 51, 140, 1.58, 245; his advice
about building houses, 150; esti-

I mates cost of living in Virginia, 205.

590

INDEX

Bulls, prices of, in lfi40-45, i. 333, 334,

478; value of, about 1(J88, 480.
Burbage, Mrs., i. 36(j ; Thomas, ii. 333,

3G6.
Burgesses, House of, ii. 44, 45; the
wealthiest planters members of, 378 ;
protest by, against imposition of
new duties on tobacco, 4G7 ; reply
of, to Howard respecting payment
of quit-rents in coin, 508, 509. See
Assembly.
Burials, ii. 217, 235, 236; Abraham

Piersey buried in his garden, 149.
Burk, Richard, ii. 141.
Burke, Edmund, shows the effect of
the institution of slavery on charac-
ter of the Southern Colonists, ii. 568.
Burleigh, Lord, i. 24.
Burnett, John, ii. 329.
Burnham, John, i. 545.
Burrough, Roger, ii. 334.
Burwell, ii. 564.
Bushell, John, ii. 22.
Bushrod, ii. 213; Elizabeth, ii. 249,

507 ; Thomas, ii. 329.
Butler, Governor, his unmasking of
Virginia, i. 109; his sufferings near
Jamestown, 131 ; refers t'^ great
mortality in Virginia, 134 ; his refer-
ence to wine-making and silk cul-
ture, 245; his letter to Sir George
Yeardley, 1621, 251 ; describes the
houses of Virginia in 1623, ii. 148;
refers to glass furnace at James-
town, 443.
Butler, Thomas, ii. 342.
Butter, i. 339; ii. 209, 274; price of,

209.
Buttons, ii. 190.
Butts, Thomas, i. 448.
Buzzards, i. 118.
Byrd MSS., preface, ix.
Byrd, William, Jr., i. 125, 129.
Byrd, William, Sr., forwards tobacco
to Eugland in different vessels, i.446 ;
complains of scarcity of shipping,
447; also great losses of tobacco at
sea, 477 : brought in debt by his inter-
est in a ship, 449 ; ships 200 hhds. to
England at £14 a ton, 451 ; contracts
for Northern ships to transport his
tobacco, 451 ; ships tobacco in bulk.

4.52: writes a treatise against ship-
ments in bulk, 455; refers to low
price of tobacco, 457-8; orders ser-
vants from England, 621 ; ii. 83, 84,
108, 159, 325, 341, 342; takes up a
large area of land, 79 ; small-pox in
his family, 82 : his family servants,
102; imports glass, 159; refers to
his flowers and fruits, 161; buys
silver in England, 170; his wigs, 191;
orders wine for Council, 218; value
of his personal estate, 252 ; his land
patents, 253 ; estate of, 254, 255 ; im-
ports sugar and molasses from West
Indies, 325 ; complains of scarcity of
English vessels in Virginian waters,
337 ; articles imported by him from
England, 340, 341 : as a trader, 377 ;
acquires large grants of land, 380;
imports mechanics from England,
403; relies but little on slave me-
chanics, 405 ; ships specimens of iron
ore to England, 454; owns a mill-
stone, 489; also two grist mills, 490;
a representative man of the 17th
century, 576.

Cabbages, i. 251.

Cabot, John, i. 2.

Cadiz, i. 13, 66.

Cahill, Bryant, ii. 474, 559.

Calderwood, Robert, ii. 328.

Calf, ii. 205.

California, i. 13, 472.

Callen, Isaac, his store and its con-
tents, ii. 384.

Calthorpe, Christopher, i. 421.

Calthorpe estate, number of cattle in
i. 372.

Calvert, Leonard, ii. 322, 323; William
Heyward, ii. 477.

Calvert's Neck, ii. 549.

Cambaya, i. 239.

Campbell, Charles, i. 165: Hugh, ii.
321.

Canada, i. 216, 239; ii. 521.

Canary Isles, i. 64, 401, 624; ii. 347,
492.

Canary wine, ii. 216-231.

Candles, ii. 184.

Candlesticks, ii. 184.

Canhow, ii. 9.

591

Canterbury, ii. 1.

Cape Merchant, Smitk delivers corn
to, at Jamesto^\Ti, i. 38; fifteen hun-
dred acres granted to, 229; asks the
Company to import ploughs, 250;
purchases tobacco crop of the plant-
ers, 253 ; all bad tobacco brought to,
to be burnt, 303, 304; ii. 4!)6; bow
appointed, 2()2; martial laws relat-
ing to, 273 ; Abraham Piersey comes
over as, 281 ; ArgoU dissipates the
supplies of, 282 ; Piersey desires free
rates for, 285 ; Blaney appointed,
1G20, 289; bad tobacco passed upon
by, 290.

Capes, Charles, ii. 483; Fear, i. .309;
Good Hope, i. 22, 41; Horn, i. 22;
Henry, i. 79, 83, 87, 101, 108, 110,
178 ; ii. 443.

Capons, ii. 206, 210.

Capps, William, i. 136 ; attributes sick-
ness in Virginia to gross uncleanli-
ness in ships, 136; maize produced
by servants of, 252; instructed to
manufacture iron in Virginia, ii.
450 ; also bay salt, 485.

Caribbees, ii. 300 ; the Indians of, 64.

Carleton, Dudley, i. 16, (JG; Richard,
602.

Carlile, Christopher, i. 9, 12, 13, 42, 54,
59, 60.

Carling, Joseph, ii. 479.

Carman, Henry, ii. 41, 42.

Carolina, i. 329, 394.

Carpenters, imported in 1607, ii. 400;
at later date, 401 ; wages in 1662,
416 ; wages of, on sloop of war, 417 ;
earliest grants to, 422 ; private con-
veyances to, 423; act as attorneys,
424 ; tools of, 425 ; wages of, in town
building, 541.

Carpenter, John, ii. 474.

Carpets, ii. 166, 340.

Carrington, Paul, ii. 325.

Carrots, i. 25] , 3.37.

Carter, Francis, ii. 248; John, 1. 480,
598 ; number of sheep owned by,
482 ; ii. 78, l."2, 160 ; negroes owned
by, 87, 88; emancipates certain
slaves, 124; land patented by, and
his son, 252 ; personal estate of, 2.50 ;
John, Jr., owns negro mechanics,

405 ; Robert, 490 ; feoffee of the Lan-
caster town, 558; William, i. 519.

Carts, i. 476.

Cart-wheels, i. 476.

Cartwright, Robert, ii. 423.

Cary, James, ii. .334; .John, 333, 334;
Miles, i. 247, 535. 5.36.

Casks ; see Hogsheads.

Castile, i. 66.

Caswell, Richard, i. 594; ii. 294, 295.

Catchman, Richard, ii. 317.

Cate, Robert, ii. 478.

Caterpillar, 1. 368.

Catillah, Mathew, ii. 54.

Catlett, John, i. .545; ii. 3G, 246.

Cattapeuk, the Indian spring, i. 177.

Cattle, i. 202, 215, 231; what protec-
tion given them in winter, 206 ; pro-
visions for preservation of, under
Dale's martial laws, 216 ; number in
Colony at beginning of Argoll's ad-
ministration, 222; number in Vir-
ginia in 1620, 247; prices of, 1()20,
248 ; imported into Virginia from
Ireland, 249; prices of, 1627, 296;
number during Harvey's adminis-
tration, 311 ; the fence law for pro-
tection against, 313 ; not subject to
taxation, ii. 104; excepted from pro-
visions of Cohabitation Act of 1680,
550. See Cows, Steers, Oxen.

Cattle marks, i. 477.

Cauliflower, i. 251.

Caune, Dephebus, i. 274.

Causwell, Mathew, ii. 423.

Cedars, i. 47, 48; plank made of, ii.
492.

Cessation, people of Virginia petition
for a cessation in tobacco culture,
i. ,389; commissioners of Virginia
and Maryland convene at Wicocom-
ico to discuss the ad^^sability of, ."190 ;
Maryland Assembly refuses to ac-
cede to, 390; Lord Baltimore shows
the evils of, for tlie people of Mary-
land, 392 ; General Assembly of Vir-
ginia, in 1666, send messengers to
Maryland to induce the authorities
to consent to a, 393 ; Virginia, Mary-
land, and Carolina agree upon, 394;
Lord Baltimore disapproves of, and
the scheme falls through, 394 ; appeal

592

of Virginians in 1681 for, refused by
comniissiouers of customs, 402.

Chaerett, Christian, i. (514.

Chairs, ii. 165, 342.

Challous, voyage of, i. 137.

Chamberlain, i. 16.

Chamberlayne, Thomas, ii. 151.

Chambers, Abraham, ii. 42

Chauey, Henry, ii. 473.

Charles the First, adopts his father's
proclamations respecting tobacco, i.
281 ; condemns planters' devotion to
tobacco culture, 285 ; appoints com-
missioners in 1634, 289 ; forbids cul-
tivation of tobacco in England, 290 ;
urges planters to produce tar and
pitch, 298; urges diversification of
crops in Virginia, 320 ; effect of the
execution of, in Virginia, 349 ; con-
firms letters patent with reference
to grants of land, 515 ; ii. 74.

Charles the Second, i. 472, 558, 608,
611 ; prohibits cultivation of tobacco
in England, 363 ; presents a servant
with 2000 acres of land, 510.

Charles City, i. 229, 571; ii. 403, 530.

Charles City County, population of,
in 1634, i. 319; town building in,
ii. 548 ; tobacco of, to be transported
to Jamestown, 542, 556.

Charles, Hundred, i. 215, 220, 221, 222,
225, 228 ; Parish, ii. 257 ; River, i. 39,
.300; Ship, ii. 325.

Charlton, Stephen, i. 448.

Charter, of 1606, ii. 261; of 1609, 268;
of 1612, 275.

Cheese, ii. 274, 296, 341.

Cheesman, Margaret, ii. 170.

Chelsea, i. 109.

Cheltenham, i. 364.

Cherry, i. 94, 332, 417, 468.

Cherry Stone Creek, ii. 556.

Chesapeake, Bay, i. 26, 27, 73, 87, 103,
105, 107, 108, 109, 111, 113, 115, 116,
125, 156, 273, 371, 567 ; ii. 346, 495 ;
tribe, i. 27, 141.

Cheskiack, i. 142; the palisade to,
from Martin's Hundred, 39, 300 ;
inspection of tobacco at, 305 ; In-
dians, i. 142, 497 ; ii. 257 ; permitted
to trade with English under special
regulations, 389.

Chesterfield county, ii. 448.

Chestnut trees and nuts, i. 93, 167,
168.

Chests, ii. 165.

Chew, John, i. 510, 518 ; ii. 333, 366 ;
resides at Jamestown, 379, 531.

Chewning, Robert, i. 545.

Chieheley, Sir Henry, i. 366 ; ii. 42.

ChJckacony, selected as site for a town,
ii. 549.

Chickahominy, i. 158; Indians of, 141,
143, 145, 492, 494, 496 ; River, 80, 104,
143, 319, 511.

Chickens, ii. 206. See Poultry.

Chiles, Walter, i. 350.

Chilton, George, ii. 473.

China Seas, the, i. 22.

Chinquapins, i. 93, 167, 168.

Chippoak, i. 319.

Chiskeack. See Cheskiack.

Chisman, Captain, ii. 89; Edward,
erects a mill, 489; Thomas, manu-
factures linen, 458; purchases a lot
at Yorktown, 557.

Chitwood, Thomas, ii. 334.

Choanoke, i. 27.

Chowne, Josephine, ii. 49.

Churches, preface, vii ; church at Mid-
dle Plantation, ii. 144; the brick
church at Henrico, 529.

Churchill, William, feoffee of the town
in Middlesex county, ii. 558.

Cider, ii. 214; drunk at meetings of
court, 218 ; prices of, 228.

Cinque Ports, i. 618 ; ii. 284.

City companies, invest in bills of ad-
venture, ii. 266; a successful appeal
to, by Loudon Com^mny, 277.

City, Thomas, ii. 334.

Claiborne, Leonard, i. 412; William,
his approval of the Goring contract,
i. 288; transfers cattle to Kent Is-
land, 298; offers with Mathews to
erect a palisade, 300 ; with Mathews
builds the palisade, 312; appointed
surveyor of the Colony, 533, 534 ; his
patents to land, ii. 252.

Clapboard, i. 50, 211 ; ii. 492.

Claret, i. 471 ; ii. 216-231.

Clark, John, i. 616, ii. 1, 246; Robert,
i. 442.

Clarke, Bartholomew, ii. 1, 2.

593

Claxton, John, ii. 255.

Clayton, Rev. John, i. 84, 88, 122,
123, 127, 431; refers to the night
raven, 118; to wolves, 125, 125; hnds
rattlesnakes near Jamestown, 12!);
Secretary Spencer tells him of the
freezing over of the Potomac, 131 ;
his visit to Jamestown, 189, 190; his
account of the site of Jamestown,
193; impressed by the quantity of
shells in the Virginian soil, 427 ; his
experience with a Virginian over-
seer, 432-434; refers to yield of
wheat in Virginia, 464; mentions
value of horses, 475; his interest in
the preservation of Virginian cattle,
479; ii. 144; his opinion of Virginian
bacon, 198; John, Jr., i. 116; ii. 246.

Climate of Virginia, i. 130-132.

Cloptou, William, ii. 231.

Cloth, i. 54; ii. 168, 188; importations
of, by Fitzhugh, 341 ; by Byrd, 343,
344; manufacture of linen, 454-459;
of woollen, 460-473. See Wool.

Clothing, Indian style of dress, 1. 181-
185 ; articles of, the emigrant should
carry to Virginia, 339, 340; ii. 186-
195; for beds, 163; ladies' dresses,
193; sent to Francis Perkins, 264;
martial laws relatino- to, 273; sup-
plies of, 290 ; laws as to engrossing
and forestalling of, 3()0; tailors'
charges for making, 472, 473.

Clothworkers' Company, ii. 267.

Coat, ii. 191.

Cobbs, Edmund, ii. 155; Robert, 249.

Cock, Anthony, ii. 3;>4.

Cocke, Thomas, i. 416; ii. 103; manu-
factures linen, 459 ; owns a tiour
mill, 490 ; William, owns looms, 470 ;
Maurice, 558 ; owns a lot at Bermuda
Hundred, 558.

Cocquet, ii. 349.

Cod, i. 203.

Cohabitation Acts, ii. 158, 412, 413,
547-552.

Cohattayough, the Indian summer, i.
177.

Cohonk, the Indian winter, i. 177.

Coin, exportation of, considered dan-
gerous to the State, i. 52, 53. See
Money.

2Q

Cole, William, ii. .383; purchases a lot
at Yorktown, 557.

Coleman, Anthony, ii. 444.

Collars, i. 476.

Collectors, i. 388; ii. 512.

College, East India, mechanics con-
nected with college lands, ii. 136.
See University.

Collins, John, ii. 469.

Colonization, first English expedition
to America, i. 2 ; expedition of Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, 2-4; Raleigh ob-
tains letters patent and sends out
Amadas and Barlow, 5 ; expedition
to Roanoke Island, 5; Gosnall,
Pring, and Weymouth, 6; reasons
for, 6-11 ; the desire for gold, 11-15 ;
provisions made for the discovery
of gold in Virginia, 16; attempts to
find gold, 17-20; the desire to dis-
cover the South Sea, 21 ; expeditions
for the discovery ot the Northwest
Passage to the South Sea previous to
the foundation of Jamestown, 22-24 ;
the London Company justified in
thinking tbat the route to the South
Sea lay through Virginia, 25-27;
Newport's first voyage to the Falls,
28 ; reports among Indians as to the
proximity of the South Sea, 29-,33;
Newport's expedition into the Mona-
can country in search of the South
Sea, 36-38; the expectation of find-
ing the route to the South Sea
through Virginia lingered as late
as 1670, 3S-40; the third motive for
colonization was the expectation
that Virginia would supply a large
number of articles which the English
people were compelled to buy from
foreign nations, 41 ; the articles pur-
chased by England of these foreign
nations, 42-44; special productions
which Virginia could supply Eng-
land with, 45-49; culture of tobacco
defeats one of the main objects of, 51 ;
fourth motive for, was to avoid ex-
portation of coin in purchasing sup-
plies needed by E!igland,52,53; fifth
motive: it would create a new mar-
ket for English woollen goods, 54,
55; sixth motive: it would promote

594

INDEX

growth of British shipping by swell-
ing the volume of ocean freight, 56,
57; seventh motive: it would fur-
nish a vent for the surplus population
of England, 58-()0; eighth motive:
it would raise a barrier in the West
against the Spanish Power, 61-65 ;
expected to propagate the Christian
religion among the Indians, 66-68;
the Virginia Company of London
was a commercial organization trad-
ing in joint stock, 69, 72.

Colsell, John, i. 457.

Columbia River, i. 111.

Columbus, i. 21.

Combs, Charles, ii. 470.

Commissioners of Customs, ii. 509.

Condon, David, ii. 217.

Conner, Lewis, ii. personal estate of,
250.

Conquer, ship, i. 612.

Conspiracies, ii>29-31.

Constable, John, ii. 302.

Constables, ii. 118.

Contracts, for tobacco, i. 277-288.

Conway, Edwin, owns a lot in the Lan-
caster town, ii. 558; Hugh, ii. 50.

Conyers, John, i. 431.

Cooke, Nathaniel, ii. 326.

Cooper, John, ii. 201, 333, 334, 379,
384, 477; Mary, i. 614; Thomas, ii.
334; Samuel, ii. 506.

Coopers, ii. 81, 401, 420, 422.

Copeland, Rev. Mr., i. 581 ; ii.

Copper, i. 33, 34, 42, 45, 47, 48, 82, 83,
161, 183, 184.

Corbett, John, ii. 49.

Corbin, Gawin, ii. 334; Henry, i. 545.

Cordage, i. 41, 45.

Corkliill, Richard, ii. 334.

Cornelius, Reignard, ii. 312.

Cornwallis Family, 'A. 266.

Corotoman, i. 104, 142, 416; ii. 549;
River, ii. 390.

Corwin, Jonathan, ii. 320.

Cottington, Lord, i. 63.

Cotton'^ i. 194, 246, 260, 262, 466, 467 ;
tobacco crop, as compared with, ii.
368.

Coulbourne, Colonel, ii. 22.

Courts of law, when the first monthly
courts in Colony established, i. 571.

Coventry, Lord, i. 402.

Cowes, England, i. 292.

Cowles, Edmund, ii. 326.

CoM'S, i. 202, 370 ; price of, in 1620, 250 :
prices of, in 1645, 333 ; running wild
in York County, 1685, 477 ; value of,
in 1688, 480.

Cox, ii. 425 ; Richard, 334.

Coxendale, ii. 530.

Craik, Elizabeth, ii. 108.

Cranes, i. 118.

Cranford, Lionel, i. 225, 269.

Crashaw, Rev. Mr., i. 9, 10, 60.

Creighton, Charles, i. 136.

Crew, Randall, ii. 75.

Crews, ii. 472; silver belonging to es-
tate, 171.

Creyk, Henry, ii. 459, 463.

Crickman, John, ii. 439.

Criminals. See Servants.

Crisp, William, ii. 334.

Cromwell, i. 352, 356, 605, 608, 610;
prohibits tobacco culture in Eng-
land, 363, 364 ; ii. 310.

Croshaw, Joseph, number of his
horses, i. 375 ; sheep owned by, 376 ;
ii. 142 ; his silverware, 172 : his
pictures, 174; his daughter's cloth-
ing, 194 ; owns woollen-wheels, 469 ;
Richard, undertakes to build a house
at Jamestown for York county, 544.

Croshaw Estate, number of cattle in,
i. 372.

Crouch Estate, i. 376.

Crown, ship, i. 363.

Crows, i. 118.

Croyden, ii. 186.

Cuba, ii. 58.

Culpeper, Alexander, i. 535.

Culpeper, Lord, i. 369, 561, 568, 570;
describes mortality in the fleet
bringing him to Virginia, 138 ; com-
ments upon the contentment of the
Virginians in 1684, 407; Fitzhugh pro-
poses to buy a large body of land
from, 537 ; instructed to apply quit-
rents to the erection of a fort, 563;
one of the proprietaries of Northern
Neck, 567 ; despairs of silk culture,
585 ; the King orders him to allow im-
portation of Scotch prisoners, 611; ii.
10, 78, 79, 82, 351, 352, 361 ; instructed

595

to establish workhouses, 25G ; de-
nies the existence of engrossing
and forestalling in 1681, 37G; in-
structed to establish markets and
fairs, 391; wages of carpenters dur-
ing his administration, 417 ; receives
a petition from John Page, 4o8 ; sug-
gests a law for encouragement of
linen and woollen manufacture, 45() ;
passes depreciated coin on soldiers
sent to suppress the Insurrection,
508; instructed to rebuild James-
town, 546; suggests the passage of
Cohabitation Act of 1680, 547.

Culpeper, Lord, the second, i. 568,570.

Culpeper, Thomas, i. 567.

Cumber, John, ii. 424.

Cumberland, Earl of, i. 1.

Cunningham, Professor, i. 58.

Curacoa, ii. 324.

Curie, Thomas, i. 414 ; Pascho, ii. 146.

Curlew, i. 115.

Currants, i. 470.

Curriers. See Tanners.

Currotoman, fort at, ii. 346. See Coro-
toman.

Curtains, ii. 163.

Curtis, James, ii. 558.

Custis, Edmund, i. 352.

Custom House, i. 326, .327; Harvey
recommends the erection of a, ii.
302.

Customs, royal revenue curtailed by
loss of, on tobacco not shipped to
England, i. 347; planters must
transfer all their products to Eng-
land to assure payment of, 348 ;
in deference to Navigation Act, a
duty of ten shillings was placed on
every hogshead of tobacco bought
in the Colony with Dutch goods
and afterwards exported in Dutch
or English vessel bound for a foreign
or American port; but no duty if in
English ship to discharge cargo in
England, 353; ten shillings reim-
posed on every hogshead exported
on a ship not chartered to dis-
charge cargo in English dominions
in Europe, 355; tobacco in Virginia
vessels exempt by Act of 1658, ;!56 ;
great advance in English wheat in

1673, 1674, and 1678 would not have
enabled colonists to surmount bar-
rier which customs created, 382 ;
duty of two shillings a hogshead
repealed in 1659, but revived in 1662,
and source of large revenue ; ex-
pected to take place of poll tax;
operations of this duty considered
and how it was paid, or secured, 386,
387 ; between 1662 and 1679, neces-
sary to pass special law for collec-
tion of tax in Northumberland and
other counties on account of eva-
sions there and loss of revenue, 387,
388 ; when tobacco on which tax
had been paid was seized by public
enemy, its owners were allowed to
send out an equal quantity duty-
free, 388; in 1()80, tax again fixed
at two shillings, ibayable only in
current coin of England, and strin-
gent regulations to prevent and
punish evasions, 388; in 1667, Vir-
ginia was paying into English
treasury 100,000 pounds sterling,
and yet condition of her people
one of desperation, 401 ; customs re-
mained the same, however extreme
the fluctuations in the value of
commodity on which they were
levied, 403; great loss to royal rev-
enue from frauds when tobacco was
shipped to England in bulk, also to
the Colony and to the planters; —
reasons, 453, 454. See Duties.

Cutts, Mrs., ii. 80.

Cymblins, i. 152.

Cypress, i. 91, 196.

Dairy, ii. 176.

Dalby, Dennis, ii. 421.

Dale, Sir Thouuxs, i. 233, 587 ; his view
as to Virginia being a vent for sur-
plus population of England, 60 ;
declares that Virginia would check
Spanish Power, 61 ; describes his
first impression of Virginia, 74;
catches many fish, 112; calculates
number of bowmen among Chicka-
hominy Indians, 143 ; letter to Salis-
bury, 156; arrives in Virginia, 204;
arrives at Jamestown and finds set-

596

tiers playing bowls, 205; measures
adopted by, after bis arrival, 206 ;
visits Paspabeigli, 207 ; writes to
Salisbury, 208; erects a new town
at Henrico, 208, 210; compels colo-
nists to plant maize, 212 ; establishes
a system of tenancy, 213, 214 ; bene-
fits allowed new comers by, 215;
live stock in Virginia during bis
administration, 216 ; the different
settlements of Colony in his time,
217; products shipped to England
while he was governor, 218; no
plough in Colony at this time, 219 ;
products carried to England by him
in 1616, 219; returns to England,
220 ; work performed by him in Vir-
ginia, 220, 222; good effects of his
administration destroyed by Argoll,
225 ; silkworms imported in time of,
240; failure of effort by, to produce
wine, 244; privileges allowed by,
to every one who had emigrated
to Colony previous to his return,
511, 512; his proposition to intro-
duce criminals, 592, 593 ; time taken
by, to make the voyage to Virginia,
624 ; ii. 401 ; mechanics brought over
by, in 1611, 135 ; his ship arrives
in Virginia, 272; martial laws of,
273; supplies in Colony in time of,
274 ; probably knew of the existence
of iron ore near the Falls of the Pow-
hatan, 445, 446; builds Henricopolis,
528.

Dale's Gift, i. 21G ; ii. 483.

Daly, George, ii. 334.

Dan, river, i. 125.

Danberry, i. 86.

Danger field, John, ii. 420.

Daniell, John, ii. 473; William, 558.

Dantzick, i. 57.

Dartmouth, i. 384, 620; ii. 313.

Davenant, project of, to import weav-
ers into Virginia, ii. 461.

Davis, silver belonging to the estate,
ii. 171.

Davis, Major Charles, 1. 431 ; Hopkins,
441; James, 205, 217; John, 24, 98;
ii. 252,473; Edward, ii. 347; Hugh,
109.

Davis' Straits, i. 24.

Dawen, Mr., manufacture of salt by,
ii. 48(i.

De Hart, Daniel, ii. 315.

De Long, Captain, i. 22.

Deacon, Thomas, size of estate of, ii.
247.

Dealboard, i. 46.

Dean, Samuel, ii. 334.

Deane, Ralph, ii. 143.

Debtors, obligations of, and punish-
ments of, in case of default, ii. 371,
372.

Deep Creek, ii. 548, 556.

Deer, i. 124, 125. See Hides, Duties.

Delaware Bay, i. 121.

Delaware, Lord, i. 9; first arrival in
Colony, 17-19, 202, 205, 206, 587,
592; Crashaw's sermon before, 60;
his arrival at Jamestown, 133;
stricken with ague, 134; promotes
cultivation of soil, 203 ; tests virtue
of native grape, 203; leaves Vir-
ginia in consequence of sickness,
204; sent to Virginia to succeed
Argoll, 226 ; experiments in wine
making, 244 ; reaches Virginia with
his ships, ii. 270, 271 ; size of James-
town when he arrived, 527.

Delawater, Lionel, ii. 347.

Delbridge, John, i. 274.

Denbigh, i. 305, .365.

Denerell, Edward, ii. 417.

Denmark, i. 42, 50, 393.

Depre, Joseph, ii. 419.

Derbyshire, James, ii. 419, 558.

Derrickson, Captain, ii. 308, 311.

Desire, ship, ii. 370.

Devonshire, i. 363.

Devries, Captain, detects at sea odors
of woods, 88; refers to the number
of wild pigeons, 121 ; also to mortal-
ity in Colony, 137; leaves James-
town in 1633 with six goats and one
ram, 299; finds thirty-six sail at
Blunt Point in 1635, 311 ; refers to
fluctuations in annual fortunes of
Virginia people, 312 ; finds planters,
in 1643, sowing wheat, 329; ii. 307,
324; visits a carpenter at New-
port's News, 199; visits the Colony,
303; his high opinion of Virginia
trading capacity, 304 ; advises erec-

597

tion of private storehouses, 331 ;
uuable to repair his ship at James-
town, 431.

Dewberry, i. 96.

Dickiusoii, Arthur, riugs of, ii. Iil5.

Digby, Lord, i. 63, 66.

Digges, Dudley, purchases a lot at
Yorktowu, ii. 557; Edward, i. 365;
ii. 416; William, 557; Elizabeth,
number of slaves owned by, 88;
her residence, 155 ; tablecloths owned
by, l(i7 ; her silverware, 172 ; her
pictures, 174 ; furniture in her house,
182-184; and mourning rings, 195;
her personal estate, 249.

Digges' Neck, i. 436. •

Dil,' Edmund, ii. 232.

Dislies, i. 339 ; ii. 168.

Distilleries, ii. 213.

Ditchfield, i. 278-281, 287.

Dixon, Adam, ii. 48 ; cost of his house,
149.

Dodson, ii. 295.

Dog, i. 126.

Dole, Benjamin, ii. 126.

Dolphin, ship, i. 354; ii. 313, 318.

Dorislaus, Dr., i. 350.

Dove, i. 120.

Drake, Sir Francis, i. 1, 29, 66 ; John,
ii. 334.

Drayton, i. 15, 87.

Drinking vessels, ii. 169, 171 ; water,
i. 101.

Drogheda, i. 608.

Drummond, lake, i. 101.

Drummond, William, ii. 3.30; aids in
building brick fort at Jamestown,
144 ; burns his own house, 546.

Drunkenness in Colony, ii. 216, 219,
220.

Dryden, James, ii. 334.

Drysdale, William, i. 602.

Dublin, merchants of, trading with
Virginia, ii. 3.34.

Ducks, i. 172, 182, 183; varieties of, in
Virginia, 115; ii. 211.

Dudley, Eobert, i. 482; ii. .52; owns
foi-ks, 169 ; his wigs, 191 ; buys a lot
in the Middlesex town, 558.

Duke. George, i. 610.

Dun, Mrs. Temperance, ii. 383.

Duudas, William, ii. 328.

Dunkirk, i. 352.

Dujiort, Stephen, ii. .334.

Dutch, enlarge their trade, in the six-
teenth century, with Russia, i. 42;
Dutclimen sent to Virginia, 1608,49;
Raleigh's pamphlet on the trade
of, 57 ; superiority of, in maritime
affairs, 57 ; England seeks to pre-
vent the, in 1636, from exporting
Virginia tobacco, 293 ; first Naviga-
tion Act passed partly to cripple
the, 349 ; greater cheapness of trans-
portation in the vessels of, as com-
pared with those of the English,
350: ships of, set out from Virginia
for Holland in 1651 and 1652,^351;
tobacco purchased in Colony with
goods of, 353; price they paid for
Virginia tobacco before first Navi-
gation Act, 354; removal of the
competition with, signifies decline
in the price of tobacco, 355; As-
sembly in 1658 includes the, among
those to whom ample protection in
trading with Virginia would be af-
forded, 356; ships of, navigated at
a cheap rate, 361 ; four men-of-war
belonging to, in the James River in
1667, 385; system of agriculture of
the, 426; mould board an invention
of, 462 ; first slaves introduced by,
into Virginia, 572; a, servant, ii. 24;
colony at New Amsterdam , 25 ; man-
of-war lands first slaves, 65 ; negroes
imported by, previous to 1650, 76;
a, merchant, 284; early trade of,
with Virginia, 292, 293; all ships of,
dealing with Virginia to give bond
to sail to Loudon, 305 ; ship masters
required to take out license, 306;
West India Company, 308; trade
with, 1649, 309; imports into Vir-
ginia during Protectorate, 310 ; ex-
ample of chart erjjarty with, shippers,
311; trade of, with Eastern Shore,
311 ; trade of New Englanders with,
321 ; destroys a fleet of Virginia mer-
chant men, 345; attack Virginia mer-
chantmen, 1672, 373; cost of shoes
during time of, importation of goods,
375 ; competition between English
merchants and, 376 ; furnished abo-

598

INDEX

rigines with weapons and ammu-
nition, 38U; pay for cargoes from
Virginia in mercliaudise, 394; men
introduced from Holland for the
purpose of erecting saw-mills, 430;
accompany Newport to Virginia,
440; effect of the exclusion of, on
prices of merchandise, 4G6; the lion
or dog dollar in circulation on the
Eastern Shore, 513. See Holland.

Dutch Gap, i. 20»J; ii. 528.

Dutch man-of-war, ii. 67.

Duties ou cargoes, ii. 339; castle
charges, 349-351 ; imposed on wines
aud sugar, 357. See Customs.

Duty, ship, i. 266.

Dwight, Benjamin, ii. 327.

Dwina, river, i. 26.

Eagles, i. 117, 183.

Eale, William, ii. 141.

Ealf ridge, John, ii. 439.

East, Thomas, i. 416.

East India College, i. 229, 230, 232.
See College, University.

East India, Company, i. 53, 69; in-
terested in London Company. 25;
exports meal, 258, 259; attempts to
establish a free school at Charles
City, ii. 403 ; buys ore from Virginia,
447; Sea, i. 39; Merchandise, 354.

East Indies, i. 53.

Eastern Shore, i. 76, 387, 632; grasses
on, 100 ; deer abundant on, 124 ; In-
dians on, 143 ; proposition for the
planters to retire to, after massacre
of 1622, 273 ; case of Walter Chiles,
350; Indian tribe inhabiting, 495;
ii. 70, 85; A^alue of slaves on, 92; a
wooden parsonage erected ou, 153;
Norwood's visit to the, 202; Dutch
merchants trading with the, 311 ;
smuggling carried on on the, 329;
safe harbor selected for the, 346;
ships arriving at, 351 ; Indian popu-
lation of, granted free trade, 388;
the lion or dog dollar in circulation
on, 513; beaver used as money on,
521 ; town ordered to be built on
the, 540.

Edinburgh, ii. 330.

Edmond and Elizabeth, ship, ii. 417.

Edmunds, Thomas, ii. 311.

Educatiou, preface, vii. ; children ap-
prenticed taught to read, ii. 408.

Edwards, Lewis, i. 602 ; Philip, ii. 321 ;
William, 439.

Egerton, Charles, ii. 324.

Eggleston, Edward, i. 155.

Elam, Martin, owns looms, ii. 470.

Elbing, i. 57.

Elcock, James, ii. 144.

Elder, John, ii. 474.

Elfrith, Captain, ii. 67, 69.

Elizabeth, City, silk-men at, i. 242;
erection of a court at, 571 ; ii. 346 ;
inn at, 136 ; pinnace driven ashore
at, 431 ; River, i. 113, .320 ; ii. 24, 345,
428; Ship, i. 219; ii. 277, 311.

Elizabeth City County, i. 413, 414, 429 ;
records of, preface, ix ; Mrs. Naylor
leases her orchard in, 469 ; value of
cattle in, about 1690, 480 ; owners of
sheep in, 481, 482; prizes given by,
for destruction of wolves, 483;
prices of sheep in, 484, 485 ; exports
of pork from, in 1699, 486; prices of
slaves in, ii.91 ; silverware owned by
its citizens, 172; personal estates in,
250; value of land in, 253; a store
in, 381 ; a family of thieves infest-
ing, 409 ; ordered to supply men for
building fort at Point Comfort,
417 ; land owned by coopers in, 421 ;
ship-builders living in, 439 ; manu-
facture of linen in, 459; weavers
residing in, 470; manufacture of
pitch and tar in, 493; coin in inven-
tories of, 515, 556 ; town building in,
548.

Elizabeth, Queen, i. 1, 23; ii. 63.

Elk, river, ii. 22.

Elkens, ii. 293.

Elliott, Abraham, ii. 439.

Ellis, Thomas, ii. 334; William, 232.

Ellyott, Anthony, i. 609.

Ellyson, Dr. Robert, ii. 232.

Ellzeye, John, ii. 73.

Elms, i. 48, 93.

Emperor, Francis, i. 446, 448; his
widow, ii. 157; imports goods from
New England, 318; Sarah, 459

Endeavor, ship, i. 575.

Eudicott, John, ii. 81.

599

England, i. 224, 230, 428; Newport
returns to, 16 ; belief in, as to the
proximity of the South Sea to Vir-
ginia, 26; withdrawal of coin from,
by East India Company, 53 ; market
of, in United States, 51J ; vessels sent
by, into Holland in the sixteenth
century, 57; Virginia expected to
furnish a vent for surplus popula-
tion of, 58 ; marshes of, compared
with those of Virginia, 10!); red-
birds shipped to, 119; climate of
Virginia compared with that of,
130; first settlers in Virginia anx-
ious to return to, 198 ; commodities
shipped to, in 1()16, 218; specimens
of Virginia flax forwarded to, in
1622, 239; how tobacco shipped to,
in 1622, 253; tobacco sold in mar-
kets of, 254; all tobacco of Vir-
ginia in 1621 required to be brought
to, 266; rights of London and
Somers Isles' Companies to import
tobacco into, 277; no Spanish to-
bacco to be imported into, 281 ; cul-
tivation of tobacco in, in 1627, 289;
all shipmasters from Virginia with
loads of tobacco to proceed first
to, 291; bills of exchange on, 302;
why members of different classes
in, should emigrate to Virginia,
342-344 ; reasons for the restrictive
policy towards Virginia by, 347 ; war
between, and Holland, in 1653, 351;
cultivation of tobacco in, 363 ; prices
of grain in, compared with those
in Virginia, 380-382; war between
Holland and, 385; English lessees of
Virginian lands, 412, 413; condition
of agriculture in, 425; people of,
obtained false impression of Vir-
ginia from sailors, 444 ; tobacco
smuggled into, 454 ; productiveness
of land sown in wheat in Virginia
as compared with the same in, 464;
certain fruits of, compared with
those of Virginia, 468; prices of
horses in, as compared with those of
Virginia, 476 ; cart wheels imported
from, 476; importation of cattle
from, 478; grass seed imported
from, 479; care of cattle in, 479;

neglect of sheep in, 484; wool
cheaper in Virginia than in, 485;
value of pigs in, about 1700, 48();
English authorities disapprove of
Howard's allowing colonists to pay
quit-rents in tobacco, 562 ; iuHuences
at work in, to encourage emigration
of servants, 575 ; wages in, in seven-
teenth century, 578-580 ; exportation
from, of political prisoners, 608-
612; work of spirits in, 613-616;
and the efforts to put an end to
it, 61()-619; agents in, for securing
laborers for the Colonies, 620; the
time when vessels set out from, for
Colonies, 622; ii. 85, 105, 185, 270,
300, 365; extent of woods in, 145;
relative value of cloths in Virginia
and, 189; tobacco and sassafras sold
in, 281 ; hostilities between Holland
and, 315 ; Virginian factors appointed
by powers of attorney, drawn in,
364 ; with Holland, expends one
million dollars in ship timber, 426;
sand obtained from, for glass manu-
facture, 443 ; iron from Virginia to
be exempted from customs in, 450;
iron ore from Virginia sent to, 451 ;
unable to compete with Holland in
freight rates, 466 ; bills of exchange
drawn on, 516, 517, 518.

Engraver, ii. 419.

Engrossing, ii. 353-364.

Epes or Eppes, i. John, 600; Francis,
4()2; ii. 251, 384,558.

Epidemics, causes of sickness in open-
ing up forests, ii. 231. See Health.

Eriff, i. 109.

Escheators, i. 565, 56G.

Essex, England, i. 86, lU; ii. 246.

Evance, ii. 317.

Evelyn, Robert, i. 115, 116, 335, 3.39,
535; refers to wild turkeys, 116;
also to prevalence of ague in Vir-
ginia, 134; ii. 245.

Factors, compelled to be natives or
naturalized subjects of England, ii.
364; their commissions, 364; how
appointed, 365 : many prove untrust-
worthy, 366 ; sea-captains employed
as, 370.

600

Fairs, effort to introduce, into Vir-
ginia, ii. 389.

Faldoe, i. 17, 19.

Falling Creek, mill on, ii. 425, 489;
the mine on, 446; furnace erected
on, 448; furnace on, destroyed by
Indians, 449.

Falls of the Powhatan, i. 18, 93, 105,
106, 128, 133, 156, 178, 198, 489.

Fans, ii. 193.

Farneshaugh, Deborah, ii. 11.

Farrar, ii. 122 ; silver belonging to the
estate, 171 ; dwelling-house of Wil-
liam, 154.

Farrar's Neck, i. 145, 208.

Farrell, John, ii. 463.

Fassett, ii. 345.

Faulcon, ship, i. 248.

Fauntleroy, Moore, i. 496; William, 1.
377; ii. 156,249.

Fayal wine, ii. 216-231.

Febran, Francis, ii. 334.

Fee-simi)le tenure, i. 227.

Felgate, Philip, i. 234; Robert, ii.
46.

Fellows, Margaret, ii. 83.

Felons. See Servants.

Felton, John, ii. 328.

Fences, laws relating to, i. 313-316;
stealing rails prosecuted and worm
fence described, 317, 318; ii. 102.

Fendall, Governor, ii. 240.

Fenders, ii. 165.

Ferrer, John, i. 365 ; letter from George
Sandys, ii. 431 ; Sandys requests him
to forward sand for glass manufact-
ure, 443.

Ferrer, Miss, her expectations respect-
ing Virginia silk-worms, i. 367

Ferries, 1. 421, 422.

Fevers, i. 133-136.

Figs, 1.42, 328; ii. 200.

Fish, i. 51, 339; their abundance in
aboriginal Virginia, 111, 112; varie-
ties of, 113 ; manner of cooking
among Indians, 172; ii. on tables of
planters, 200.

Fish, John, ii. 334.

Fisher, William, ii. 343.

Fishmongers' Company, ii. 267.

Fitzherbert, i. 385.

Fitzhugh MSS., preface, ix.

Fitzhugh, William, recommends terms
in renting estates, i. 414; desires to
lease large area of soil to Hugue-
nots, 417 ; refers to the adaptibility
of the soil of the Northern Neck
to sweet-scented tobacco, 437 ; ships
to England stemmed and unstemmed
tobacco, 442 ; asserts that he could
load a large vessel M'ith as much
facility as a small one, 446; com-
plains of losing large crops by ship-
wreck or capture, 447 ; expresses
intention to become part owner in a
vessel, 449 ; authorizes Captain Jones
to sell his tobacco at the mast, 453 ;
sells tobacco at rate of £5 sterling a
cask, 457 ; refers to low price of to-
bacco, 458 ; agreement with Captain
Jackson, 461 ; imports hoes, 463; his
orchard of apple trees, 468 ; his trees
grafted, 469 ; attempts cultivation of
the olive, 470; imports grass seed,
479 ; proposes to buy a large body of
land in Northern Neck, 537 ; superin-
tends a survey for Nicholas Hey-
ward, 539; ii. 83, 88, 162, 166, 367;
hires a housekeeper, 49 ; his bargain
with Captain Jackson, 80; wants to
buy slaves from slave-ships, 83;
prices offered for slaves, 91 ; builds
his chimneys of brick, 143 ; character
of his house, 149, 150 ; imports glass,
159; his locust fence, 162; buys sil-
ver in England, 170 ; his pictures,
174 ; orders clothing in London, 192;
writes to London for sugars, 201 ;
opinion of Virginia cider, 214 ; writes
for claret, 215; refers to amount of
drinking necessary in making bar-
gains, 216; his vehicles, 238; his ac-
count of his estate, 243; advises
Luke as to settling in Virginia, 246;
extent of his holdings in land, 253;
condemns casual dealings of mer-
chants with the Colony, 332 ; com-
plains of the scarcity of English
vessels in Virginian waters, 336 ; his
estimate of the costs of trading in
Virginia, 337 ; articles imported by
him from England, 340, 341 ; com-
ments on uncertainty of Virginian
trade, 347 ; as a trader, 377 ; his

INDEX

601

manner of trading, 378, 379 ; writes
to Cooper, 1685, 379; imports me-
chanics from England, 403; relies
but little on slave mechanics, 405 ;
his engraver, 419; ships specimens
of iron ore to England, 454; writes
to Thomas INIathew, congratulating
him on his manufacture of linen,
45(j; remarks upon the scarcity of
wool in Virginia in 1(J81, because it
had been converted into clothing,
467 ; imports shoemakers and tools,
477 ; owns a mill which grinds wheat
and maize, 490; exports plank, 491 ;
refers to his lack of ready money,
515 ; refers to town building in 1680,
547 ; a representative man of the
seventeenth centurj^ 576.

Flaher, Daniel, ii. 419.

Flax, i. 41, 100, 234, 239, 341, 342,
466 ; cultivated in the common gar-
den, 206, 207; price of, 262; culture
of, encouraged by Governor Berke-
ley, 331 ; Berkeley on the prospects
of flax culture in 1665, 397, 398;
seed to be sent to Virginia in 1681,
404; ii. 46; linen manufacture, 454-
459.

Fleet, Henry, i. 500; Edward, ii. 114.

Fleming, John, i. 574.

Fleueman, William, i. 603.

Fletcher, George, obtains monopoly of
brewing in wooden vessels, ii. 212 ;
Roger, ii. 317.

Fleur de Hundred, i. 271; 11.71,72,548.

Florida, i. 66.

Flour, shipped to the West Indies, ii.
490; mills for grinding, 490. See
Mills.

Flowers, i. 100; ii. 160, 161.

Floyd, Edward, ii. 160.

Flushing, warehouses at, i. 265; the
Duty sets sail for, 266; ii. 292, 296,
300.

Fluvanna County, i. 82.

Flying Hart, ship, ii. 300, 301.

Flying Horse, ship, i. 253, 254.

Foison, John, owns a fork, ii. 169;
contents of his store, 385.

Fontaine, i. 471.

Food, prices of, in 1643, ii. 205; prices
in 1676, 206; prices in 1682, 207.

Foote, Thomas, his pictures, ii. 174.

Forestalling, ii. 353-364.

Forests, absence of undergrowth in
Virginia, i. 85, 86.

Forrest, John, ii. 141.

Fort Field, i. 413.

Forts, i. 511, 563; charges for benefit
of, ii. 349-351.

Forts, Algernon, i. 204 ; Caroline, i. 61 ;
Henry and Charles, 204, 205, 511 ;
Jamestown, 189, 193; ii. 144; James,
i.511; Koyal, 511.

Fortune, ship, ii. 73, 74.

Foster, Captain, i. 610; Philip, ii. 237;
William, 424.

Fowl, wild, their abundance in aborig-
inal Virginia, i. 114-116.

Fowler, Thomas, ii. 459.

Fox, David, ii. 4<l0, 558.

Foxcroft, Isaac, ii. 334.

Foxe, ship, ii. 312.

Foxes, i. 125, 126.

France, i. 47, 49, 55, 93, 130, 219, 362,
400; importations from, into Eng-
land, 42 ; asses to be imported into
Virginia from, 248; wines of, in
Virginia, ii. 230; coins of, in Vir-
ginia, 513.

Francis, Joseph, ii. 334.

Francis and Mary, ship, ii. 318.

Franklin, John, ii. 141 ; Sir John, i. 5.

Freeman, Thomas, i. 510.

Freight charges, i. 354, 450-452 ; in
time of Company, 256; ii. 348.

French crowns, ii. 509.

Frenchmen, imported into Virginia to
cultivate vines, i. 246.

Frethorne, ii. 6, 7, 17.

Frobisher, Martin, i. 22.

Frobisher's Straits, i. 23, 24.

Frogs, i. 128.

Fruit, i. 51, 331, 339, 468 ; ii. 200.

Fuel, for the dwelling-house, ii. 185.

Funerals, ii. 38. See Burials.

Furniture of household, ii. 163-167.

Furs, i. 46, 48 ; ii. 265, 300.

Gage, Nicholas, ii. 469.
Gainge, William, i. 521.
Game, ii. 200.
Garden seed, i. 239.
Gardiner, Martin, ii. 125.

INDEX

Garrett, Mrs., i. 366.

<Jates, James, ii. 151; Sir Thomas,
136, 208, 420, 624; gives favorable
account of Colony, i. 50; refers to
indications of iron ore in Virginia,
81 ; recalls voyage with Somers, 136 ;
imports cattle in 1611, 210; peti-
tioned by colonists to establish sepa-
rate tenures, 214, 215 ; bis agreement
with tenants of Charles Hundred,
220; ii. 282, 401; imports brewers,
211 ; one of the patentees of 1606,
260; sets out for Virginia with a
fleet, 269-274 ; his work in restoring
Jamestown, 529.

Gaul, i. 71.

Geese, i. 115, 172, 182; ii. 205, 210.

General Court, MSS. of, preface, ix;
i. 313, 333, 498, 565; ii. 11; inter-
poses in favor of the heirs of George
Lee, 365 ; order of, with reference to
the fort at Point Comfort, 417;
passes order for manufacture of
salt, 485; protested bills of ex-
change recorded in, at Jamestown,
520.

George, John, i. 429; ship, 1.232; ii.
281, 284.

Germany, i. 71, 93.

Gibbes, i. 21)7.

Gibbons, ii. 317.

Gibbs, William, i. 602.

Gibburd, William, furniture in his
house, ii. 180.

Gibson, Peter, ii. 196.

Gifford, John, ii. 319.

Gift, ship, i. 513; ii. 285.

Gilbert, Adrian, i. 24; Sir Humphrey,
i. 14, 46 ; charter granted to, 2 ;
terms of his testamentary assign-
ment of his letters patent, 3, 4 ; asso-
ciated with Peckham, 0 ; interested
in a search for metals in Newfound-
land, 11, 12; his enterprise requires
the support of many adventurers,
12; expects assistance from Queen
Elizabeth, 12.

Ginger, i. 251.

Glascock, Robert, i. 334; amount of
coin in his inventory, ii. 507.

Glass, i. 17, 41, 49, .50; ii. 1.59, .340;
manufacture of, 440; contract with

Norton for making of, 441, 442; fur-
nace destroyed, 443.

Glaziers, ii. 159.

Gloucester County, mulberry trees
planted in, by Major Walker, i. 399;
the Plant-cutters' Rebellion in, 40.5,
406 ; a panther killed in, about 1688,
484 ; opposes imposition of jail-birds,
605; brick court house, ii. 144; Ind-
ians of, allowed trade privileges,
389; proposition to build capital at
Tyndall's Point in, 546 ; town build-
ing in, 549, 556.

Gloucestershire, i. 363, 364.

Glover, the writer, i. 101, 107, 112,
122, 431, 469; Dr. George, ii. 232;
Richard, 309; William, 251, 470.

Gloves, ii. 192.

Goats, i. 202, 248, 299, 311 ; price of,
in 1643, ii. 205.

Goddard, Vincent, ii. 91.

Goddin, John, builds a vessel, ii. 438;
Thomas, 125.

Godsill, John, ii. 327.

Godwyn, ii. 64, 93, 95.

Gogliagan, Patrick, ii. 22.

Gold. See Metals.

Goldfinches, i. 120.

Gondomar, i. 39, 66, 201, 239; letter
of, to Philip in., 60.

Gooch, William, ii. 380.

Goodrich, Henry, i. 448.

Goodridge, William, ii. 473.

Goodwyn, James, i. 482 ; ii. 249 ; John,
334.

Goody, Katharine, i. 628.

GookiD, Daniel, i. 24(5, 248, 249; aver-
age age of his servants, 600; im-
ports cattle from Ireland, ii. 290.

Gooseberry, i. 96.

Goring Contract, i. 288.

Goshen, i. 489.

Gosling, .John, i. 450.

Gosnold, Captain, i. 6.

Gouldman, Thomas, ii. 553.

Gourds, i. 98.

Gower, Richard, ii. 334.

Graft, i. 351.

Grafton, John, ii. 320.

Graham, James, ii. 328.

Graies, Thomas, i. 505.

Grants of Land, terms attached to, in

INDEX

603

time of Ycardley, i. 234. See Title
to Land.

Grapes, i. 47, 470-472; abundance of,
in aboriginal Virginia, 96, 97 ;
efforts to manufacture wine from,
243, 244; ii. 200.

Graves, Kalpb, i. 402; John, ii. 404.

Gravesend, i. 014, 019.

Graveyards, ii. 238.

Grawere, John, ii. 95.

Gray, Samuel, ii. 108.

Green, John, ii. 17(i, 333.

Greenland, i. (iO.

Green Spring, cold spring at, i. 103 ;
fruits i)lanted by Governor Berke-
ley at, 331; residence of Governor
Berkeley at, ii. 153; visited by
Colonel Henry Norwood, 506.

Gresham, i. 24.

Grey, Captain, i. 295 ; ii. 73, 74.

Griffin, Corbin, i. 482 ; leaves money to
his wife to furnish her chamber, ii.
167 ; owns forks, 169 ; his silverware,
173; his will, 192; his mourning
rings, 195 ; personal estate of, 251 ;
gift to the poor, 257; John, 439;
David, .334.

Griffith. Thomas, ii. 3.34.

Griggs, Robert, emancipates his slaves,
ii^"l24: liis gift to Christ Church
Parish, 256: John, list of debts of,
207 ; cost of his funeral, 237.

Grimes, Edward, ii. 416.

Grocers' Company, ii. 266, 272.

Groom, Samuel, ii. 334.

Guinea, i. 1 ; ii. 74.

Gum trees, i. 196.

Gunston, Thomas, owns a mill, ii. 490.

Gutridge, Thomas, ii. 109.

Gutterick, Quintillian, i. 482 ; ii. 172,
439.

Gwyn, Hugh, ii. 23.

Haddon, Dr., ii. 232, 234.
Hail, i. 1.32, 224.
Hakluyt, Richard, i. 6, 47.
Hall, Giles, ii. 326 ; Tobias, 459.
Ham, Joseph, i. bequeaths goats to his

children, 299; Jerome, his store, ii.

381.
Hammers, i. 233.
Hammond, John, i. 130.

Hamor, Ralph, i. 124 ; his reference to
wild pigeons, 121 ; mentions para-
keets, 122 ; his visit to King Pow-
hatan, 180 ; refers to Dale's explora-
tions, 208; attributes the tenant
system to Dale, 213, 214; he de-
scribes quality of Virginian tobacco,
218 ; his reference to ploughs in 1614,
219; remarks on character of Vir-
ginian wheat, 238 ; ii. 528, 531 ; home
attacked by Indians, 137; his ac-
count of Jamestown, 529.

Hampton, i. 193 ; ii. 316, 560 ; a store
at, 381 ; Parish, ii. 257 ; River, 417.

Hampton Roads, i. 27, 89, 104, 108.

Hancock, Simon, i. 372.

Handy's Landing, ii. 185.

Hanover County, i. 98.

Hansford, Charles, i. 429; ii. 217: pur-
chases a lot at Yorktowu, 557 ; John,
323.

Happy, ship, ii. 326.

Harding, Henry, i. 616.

Hare, i. 127.

Harford, ii. 438.

Hariot, i. 154, 162, 178 ; encourages the
sending out of an expedition to head
of Moratoc River, 26: account of
natural products of Virginia, 48.

Harmar, Charles, ii. 75.

Harper, Edward, ii. 334.

Harris, James, ii. 334; Christopher,
213: Thomas, 75: John, 126, 384;
William, ii. 232, 311, 444.

Harrison, ii. 564; Benjamin, 330; Dan-
iel, 477; George, i. 253: ii. 296, 335;
Robert, ii. 558 ; William, ii. 473.

Hart, John, ii. 318; Nicholas, 318;
Thomas, 317.

Harvey, Sir John, i. 330,408; his ex-
pedition west of the Falls in 1(530,
82 ; instructed to require all ship-
masters leaving Virginia to trans-
fer their cargoes to England, 291 ;
charged with permitting Dutch ves-
sels to load with tobacco, 292 : his
reference to enforcement of the In-
spection Law, .307 ; begins his admin-
istration, 308; dispatches a vessel
to Cape Fear, 309 ; commissions Na-
thaniel Basse, 310 : the palisade built
during first part of the administra-

604

INDEX

tion of, 312; recommends the erec-
tion of a custom house in Virginia,
32U ; sows rape seed, 328 ; ii. 46, 444,
494 ; comments on the great expen-
ditures for wines, 21ti ; condition of
the Virginian people in 1(539, at close
of administration of, 244; recom-
mends the erection of a custom
house, 302 ; controversy with Math-
ews, 303; declares that mechanics
refuse to follow their calling because
paid in tobacco, 413 ; beginning made
in ship-building in time of, 431 ;
makes a journey to the iron works
at Falling Creek, 451 ; writes Winde-
bank that there was no coin in Vir-
ginia, 500.

Harvey, Valentine, ii. 408.

Harwood, Thomas, i. 429.

Hatcher, Edward, ii. 558.

Hats, ii. 191.

Hatteras, i. 47 : perilous character of
the Shoals of, 109.

Hatters, residing in Colony, ii. 473.

Hawes, Nicholas, i. 84, 125.

Hawk, i. 117, 183.

Hawkins, Sir John, i. 1, 45; ii. 63;
William, i. 541 ; Thomas, ii. 36.

Hawley, Henry, i. 421 ; Jerome, i. 327,
5.57.

Hawthorne, Jarratt, 1. 412; Gerrard,
ii. 404.

Hay, i. 100.

Haydon, John, i. 603.

Hayes, James, i. 385.

Haynes, Thomas, i. 463.

Hayward, Nicholas, i. 539, 570; Fitz-
hugli's advice to, about building a
house in Virginia, i. 149; Samuel,
470.

Haj-wood, Anthony, ii. 320.

Head, John, ii. 558.

Head rights, i. 512-518; violation of
law relating to, by shipmasters and
sailors, 519, 520; ii. African, 85.
See Title to Land.

Heale, George, ii. 552 ; Phoebe, 408.

Healing, Robert, ii. 47.

Health, effect of climate of Virginia
on health of first settlers, i. 132, 1.33 ;
crowded condition of ships produce
epidemics in Colony, 136, 137 ; Gov-

ernor Wyatt refers to longevity of
the Virginians, 138; health of Ind-
ians, 145, 186-188. See Epidemics.

Heeman, Thomas, ii. 334.

Hemp, i. 393, 466; cultivated in com-
mon garden, 206, 207 ; jirice of, in
England, 262; culture of, encour-
aged by Governor Berkeley, 331 :
seed of, to be sent to Virginia in
1681,404 ; linen manufacture, ii. 454-
459.

Henrico Borough, i. 228; County, 414,
416, 440; records of, preface, ix;
population of, in 1634, 319; sheep
owners in, 377; wages paid ferry-
men in, 422, 423; a lease of land in,
460; value of cattle in, about 1690,
480, 481 ; prices of horses in 1688,
475 ; owners of sheep in, about 1690,
482; prizes given in, for destruction
of wolves, 483 ; ii. 425 ; houses in, 152 ;
silver owned by citizens of, 171 :
personal estates in, 251; prices of
liquor in, in 1688, 227, 229; value of
land in, 253; Indian marts in, 388;
manufacture of linen in, 459; owners
of looms residing in, 470; shoe-
makers living in, 478; owners of
mills in, 490; coin in inventories
taken in, 514 ; town building in,
548, 556 ; feoffees of Bermuda Hun-
dred, 558.

Henricopolis, i. 192, 216, 217; estab-
lished by Dale, 208-211; vineyard
established by Dale at, 219 ; kilns at,
ii. 135 ; named after Prince Henry,
528 ; falls into ruin, 530.

Henry, Fort, i. 204.

Henry IV. of France, ii. 8.

Henry, Prince, ii. 528.

Henry, William Wirt, preface, xi ; i.
30, 227.

Hercules, ship, ii. 272.

Herdsmen, i. 478.

Herefordshire, ii. 214.

Herons, i. 118, 184.

Heslett. See Hislett.

Hewitt, John, ii. 422.

Heyward, John, ii. 477, 489.

Hickory, i. 167. See Walnut.

Hide. See Hyde.

Hides, exportation of, prohibited, ii.

605

480; scope of the Acts relating to,
extended in 1665, 481 ; penalties for
exporting, 481 ; laws relating to the
exptirtation of, repealed in l(i71,
481 ; reenacted in 1(582, 482 ; duties
upon, 483.

Higgins, Catherine, ii. 36.

Highways, i. 418-420.

Hill, Edward, i. 82 ; ii. 315, 334, 557 ;
Thomas, i. 551, 602.

Hillard, John, ii. 323; Thomas, 320.

Hilton, Hipwell, ii. 506.

Hinde, John, ii. 334.

Hinson, John, ii. 347.

Hislett, William, ii. 142, .550.

Hobb's Hole, selected as the site for a
town, ii. 540.

Hobbs, Richard, ii. 169.

Hobson, John, i. 505; Peter, ii. Ill,
559.

Hodge or Hodges, Robert, i. 374 ; num-
ber of sheep owned by, 377 ; perstmal
estate of, ii. 47, 250; his mourning
j-ings, 195; his store, 381, 385.

Hodgson, William, ii. 36, 37. ^

Hoes, i. 200, 201, 233, 463.

Hog Island, i. 313, 600 ; included in the
corporate bounds of Jamestown, ii.
530.

Hogs, i. 469, 485 ; imported in First
Supply, 201: Dale establishes a range
for, at Henricopolis, 209 ; owned by
private persons, 216; persons kill-
ing a wolf allowed to kill wild, 296;
their increase in 1639, 3l5 ; too abun-
dant about 1(!70 to be enumerated in
estates, 378; punishment for steal-
ing, in 1()62, 379 ; tbeir value in 1655,
380; not subject to taxation, ii. 104;
stealing, by negroes, 120.

Ho^bee, Daniel, i. 363.

Hogsheads, i. 442-444; legal size of,
383; ii. 296.

Hulcroft, Captain Thomas, ii. 270.

Holland, i. 34(), 385, 428; vessels sent
to, by English, 57 ; trade with Vir-
ginia, 58 ; Virginian tobacco sold in,
in 1621, 249 ; tobacco sold in markets
of, 254 ; greatest storehouse of grain
in the world, 258 ; London Company
decide to export their tobacco to,
265 ; Privy Council protests against

export of tobacco to, 266 ; right of
planters to sell tobacco in, under
tobacco contract, 286; exportation
of tobacco to, continues, 2!i0; ships
from Virginia arrive in, l(i51 and

1652, 351; war with England in

1653, 351 ; permission sought by
merchants in, to sail to Virginia,
1653, 352 ; transshipment of tobacco
to, in disregard of Navigation Act,
357, 358 ; silk arrives in, from Vir-
ginia, 369; war between England
and, 385; agricultural methods in-
troduced from, 425; exchange with,
prohibited, ii. 293 ; supplies from,
299; ships arrive in, from Virginia
in 1624, 300; Arthur Swain in, 301;
English merchants in, 302; trade
with Virginia, 300-315; hostilities
with England, 315; produces more
of certain kinds of merchandise
than the English, 376; expends
$1,000,000 in ship timber, in com-
pany with England, 426 ; New Eng-
land not able to exchange its own
products for those of, 435 ; England
unable to compete with, in freight
rates, 466 ; Colonel Norwood sets out
for, 506; smuggling trade with, on
Eastern Shore, 513. See Dutch.

Holland, John, ii. 319; William, 324.

Hollier, Samuel, i. 481.

Hollingsworth, Richard, ii. 320.

Hollis, John, ii. 323.

Hollowell, Joseph, ii. 418.

Holmes, William, ii. .322.

Holt, Richard, his personal estate, ii.
248.

Hominy, i. 167, 173.

Hone, Theophilus, ii. 141

Honey, i. 262; ii. 201.

Honeysuckle, i. 101.

Honour, ship, ii. 339.

Hooks for reaping, i. 2.37.

Hooper, Robert, ii. 334.

Hope, ship, ii. 314.

Hopewell, ship, ii. 295, 318.

Hops, i. .3.37.

Hopton, Lord, i. 567.

Horses, i. .39 ; the character of those
in Colony in the early years after
the settl-ement, 247 ; uum-ber in 1627,

606

INDEX

208 ; number in Colony in 1647, 335 ;
number about 1605, 374-376 ; prices
of, about 1065, 374 ; used in tbresb-
ing wbeat, 465 ; reasons for decline
in size, 473 ; number of wild, run-
ning at large, 474 ; value of, in last
decade of tbe century, 475 ; not sub-
ject to taxation, ii. 104.

Horsey, Howard, i. 559.

Hougb, Mr., 1. 332.

Housden, Roger, 11. 439.

Houton, ii. 293.

Howard, Lord, 1. 408, 409, 569; retires
from Virginia in sickly season, 139 ;
the Burgesses appeal to, about va-
cated Indian lands, In 1685, 499;
plats of surveys not recorded previ-
ous to his arrival, 548 ; declares that
Court of Chancery prescribed the fee
for surveyed plats, 550 ; ordered to
receive quit-rents only in coin, 501 ;
his course, in connection with quit-
rents, causes di,scontent among the
English authorities, 502 ; directed to
introduce a bill legalizing the intro-
duction of political felons, 611, 612;
ii. 43, 84, 352 ; reply of Burgesses to,
respecting quit-rents, 508 ; instructed
not to alter the value of coin in Vir-
ginia, 510.

Howell, Thomas, ii. 90.

Hubbard, John, ii. 469; Mathew, i.
372, 375, 629; number of his sheep,
377 ; his residence, ii. 154 ; personal
estate, 248 ; Richard, his store and
its contents, 382 ; woollen-wheels and
reels belonging to, 469 ; leaves hides
at his death, 477.

Huddleston, William, ii. 9.

Hudlesy, John, ii. 152, 425.

Hudson, Henry, i. 25 ; Leonard, ii.
402; Richard. 515.

Hudson's Bay, i. 23.

Huff's Point, selected as the site for a
town, ii. .548.

Huguenots, i. 45, 61, 417, 471.

Hull, i. .384, 020.

Hume, David, i. .55.

Humming-bird, i. 120.

Hundreds, Dale divides the country
about Farrar's Island into, i. 210; pro-
visions for, out of magazine, ii. 287.

Hungerford, John, ii. 519.

Hunt estate, silver belonging to the,

ii. 172.
Hunt, Joseph, ii. 334 ; Thomas, i. 420;

Rev. Robert, loses his library in fire

at Jamestown, ii. 526 ; his efforts to

restore the town, 528.
Hunter, Joseph, ii. 334.
Husband, Richard, i. 350, 351.
Hussey, Gates, ii. 327.
Hutchinson, i. 451.
Hyde, Mrs., ii. 112 ; Robert, orchard of,

i. 408.
Hyssop, i. 251.

Illinois, i. 585.

Inspection laws, i. 304-308.

Indentures. See Servants.

Indians, reports among them as to the
lost colonists of Roanoke Island, i.
5, 6; reports among, of a mine on
TfeMoratoc River, 11, 14 : slay mep-
bers of Dflnwnre-s Evporlition. 1!);
Percy sent to prorni-i' '-■rnin fr(^[p ,

^; Ch

;ati(Ui of, by Loudo

Comnan^Y. 08; their villages and
dwellings, 145, 148; their fondness
for mulberry, bay, and locust trees,
wild roses, sunflowers, grapevines
about their homes, 146; their wig-
wams, how constructed, 146, 147 ;
their beds and mats, 147 ; their
folds for drvino- mai^P nnr^ figh

.scaffo

148; their palisades, royal dwellings,
temples, 148 ; principal temple at
Uttamassack, on Pamiinkey, its
size, side-buildings, and effigies, 148 ;
Powhatan's treasure-house, 149;
each tribe had absolute title to its
immediate territory subject to an-
nual tribute to its king, 149; how
Land cleared by. i^'r>, lyl ■ W^
ground pl'opared and cnUivn.ted.
l.Tl: different seeds sowedliv. Jn
the same fielil between one nnntber.
at (litterent date_s. l."2: their fond-
ness i'or roasting eai-s. l."2 : nii Indian
field of maize on the PowITritan the
counterpart of a \ irgini.a plaijter'i!.
IST:, m: tlieir maize fields being
concentrated on navigable streams
led English to exaggerate the area

INDEX

607

under cultivation. 156 ; Queen of Ap-
pomattox's ana upeehancaiiough's
large fields, 15(3, 157; survivors of
massacre of 1622 glad that thev
could take ijossession of cleared

laT7
sTTT

^m

lisli sav(

seuioml in lii( i'
his IQiK.) basket

.Martin at Naji-
Indians carrv off

ot uram. I.'jS; sup-
plies of urain olitaincd from, at
kecduuhtan an.l other iilacesTTol;
nuuentatinn wlini culniiists^eized
their grain, in Kin".!, I5,s, 15'.); how
tobacco cultivated by; no full ac-
count of aboriginal method, 162, 163 ;
houses ijalisaded against, 162; they
smoked large, heavy, and carved
pipes, 163; natives in full eni^jv-
ment of tobacco when first advent-
urers arrived. HJi: aborigines con-
tinued to raise maize, but mostly
ceased to grow tobacco, 165 ; na-
tives used as food many natural
products, such as seed of sunflower,
mattoom, and tuckahoe, 166 ; had
no knowledge of spirits ; preferred
water that had been standhig long
in ponds, 167 ; weirs, how made ; fish
traps at Falls lti9 ; bows and arrows,
how manufactured ; their skill in
iising them ; tlie force "f tboir .irr^ws
exhibited at T;iniest(iivii..I7Q: sword
and tomahawk, 171 ; hemmnig game
with a circle of fire ; also running
them into angles of land with wide
streams on only one side and hunt-
ers in ambush with boats, 171 ; how
they prepared various articles for
eating, 172; in spring men went off
on distant hunts, women accompany-
ing them ; sometimes built lodges
and returned to same places ; slaugh-
tered even pregnant animals; very
fond of bear meat and held it at a
high price, 172 ; how fowls, fish, and
animals cooked by, 172, 173; how
maize prepared for consumption,
173; bread and meat not eaten to-
gether, 173, 174 ; natives had to
labor only one-fourth of year; not
idle or improvident : i^olonists made
their pleasures more scarce. 17il: '

general system of life, 175, 176;
allowed by employers double ra-

"tions, 176: no jauiines, but supiiTics

^'j; W^^t diviiled by, into live sca-
sons, according to its varying char-
acter, 177 ; feasts adapted to each
season, and sometimes pi-olongpd fur

. several days, 177, 178: urrat i.lt-nty
before English intrudi*! : lios|iit*ili-
tics to English at vanmis places, \rilh
laTish provisions, \'^. ITji: abun-
clance at \\ crowciconiocoanil Paniun-
key, when visited by Smith and New-
port, ,170 iSQ^- Hamor entertained
by Powhatan, j8()^ native clothing
and .ornamentation, 181; the king
had 11,0 characteristic dress ; that of
a priest conspicuous, 182; conjurers
sCfintily clothed, 183; hair dressing;
ears pierced and curiously orna-

. mented, 183; pearls, oil, and paint;
war paint, 184; tattooing, 185;
splendid physique; no deformity;
gigantic Susquehannocks ; some Ind-
ians small, but all erect and agile;
features, 185; two exceptions, how
accounted for; all eyes black and
expressive, 186 ; women graceful
and symmetrical, with good voices ;
longevity, 186; medicines and med-
ical , treatment ; physicians, J8j]j
sweating house for dropsy and kin-
dred affections; did not answer for
small-pox, 188; supplies furnisjied

• 1^, 190 : teaching the English how to
plant maize, 198; the tribes depre-
date upon caftle of the colonists.2()6;
Dale seizes lands of the Appomattox,
209; character of tobacco planted
by,_211; cease to furnish tribute of
grain, 225 ; university projected
for education of . j2g : massacre of
1()22 destroys silk culture, ^2^
colonists present their arms to, in
1622, 270; massacre of 1622, JJiO,
274:-*B!cIusion of, from valley of
Tlames River, 296; maize obtained
from, in 1630, ''3^); palisade from
Yorlv to Martin s'liundred excludes
tlu\ 312; the cow expected to civil-
ize, ^70, 371; disposed to kill the

608

swine of the colonists about 1660,
379; required to have a tribal mark
for their hogs. oSQ; their right iu
' soil of aboriginal Virginia not rec-
ognized by the English, 4gJ; views
as to their rights held oy cettain
pamphleteers, A8^: London Com-
pany refuses to admit their right
to make grants of land. 489. 4:'.)L:
different jfolicy adopted after revo-
cation of 0>ompany's patent, 491 ;
agree to abandon the Peninsula to
the Efiglish, 492; Assembly adopts
regulations to protect Pamunkey,
Chickahonnny,and Northampton In-
dians, 492, 493: English settlers en-
croach upon grounds of, 493 ; laws
passed to prevent this, 494: an at-
tempt to reduce Indian holdings
within definite limits, 494, 495; In-
dians of Accomac in 1660, complain
of their straitened condition, 495,:
scrupulous care of the Assembly in
enforcing Indian grants, ^96; ap-
prehension of Indian outrages one
ground for the just action of the
Assembly, J^T ; all Indian lands con-
fiscated in 1676, 498; Indian popu-
lation gradually diminishes, ■jL^j
tribes petition the Assembly that
all lands not used by them shall be
granted to white settlers, 499 ; time
' for seating lengthened in case of
appreliension of an Indian attack,
^54: slaves flying to Indian towns,
ii. 115; supplies obtained from. 26Q:
gifts made to. 263 : private trade
with, 265, 268 fP^^'rcliase of furs

• from, ^; I'rUde with, 385^ '^^:
beads usecl in trade with, 440, 441 ;
schemes for the conversion?ff,*by
London Company, 446, 447? *

Indigo, i. 337: effort madS to culti-
vate, 246.

Tngfam, Richard, i. 602.

Inns, ii. 535; keepers of, ii. 224, 225,
"226, 558. •^•

Iowa, i. 585. * "

Ireland, i. 249, ^6T trade with Vir-
ginia, ii. 329. *

Irish servants, i. 609.

Iron, i. 42, 45, 48, 52, 81, 2(8, 339; tips

f'or ploughs, 201 ; ii. 146 ; manu-
facture of, In England, 444; prices
of, 444 ; iron ore transported to
England by Captain Newport, 445 ;
earliest attempt to manufacture, in
Virginia, 445 ; Southampton Hun-
flred agrees to set* up iron works,
446, 447; John Berkeley eiuigrartes
to Virginia witli ironmakers, 447 ;
*George Sandys' opinion of Falling
Creek as a site for manufacture of,

' 448 f* Sir Edwin Sandys calculates
the cost of iron works, 448; iron
works at Falling Creek destroyed
by Indians, 449 ; action of the Com-
pany about manufacture of, after
the massacre, 449 ; William Capps
authorized to manufacture in Vir-
ginia, 450; proposiirion in 1623 to
'erect a bloomery, 450; Governor
Harvey visits 1;he site of the old
iron works on Falling Creek, 451;
Sir John Zouch and his son under-
take to establish iron works and fail,
451 ; possibilities of iron manufact-
ure iu the Colony described by the
author of the Wew Description of
Virgi/ua, 452; Berkeley instructed
to report on feasibility of iron works
in Virginia, 453 ; planters export ores
to England, 454.

Isfe of Wight, Englan«, i. 292, 622.

Isle of tVtght County, i. 103: its poor,
ii. 2.57; Indian marts in, 388; town
building in, 548.

Italian workmen, employed in glass
manufacture, ii. 443.

Italy, i. 42^4, 47-49, 55, 93, 241.

Jackson, Captain, ii. 80, 91; James,
479 : Nicholas, 334 ; Thomas, i. 412.

Jamaica, i. 605 ; ii. 77, 328.

James City, inspection of tobacco, to
be made at, i. 305. See Jamestown.

James City County, population of, in
1634, i. 319; runaway slaves in, ii.
116; tobacco of, to be transported
to Jamestown, 542; town building
in, 548, .")5(); jurors from, to
site of Williamsburg, 563.

James City Island, i. 313.

James, Edward W., i. 234.

INDEX

609

James the First, i. 51, 62, 127 ; his in-
terest in silk culture, 240; claims
the right to lay charges on Virginian
tobacco, 263; his object, 264; the
dispute between him and Colony
concerning tobacco, settled, 269;
first tobacco contract with, falls
through, 270; appoints commission-
ers for government of Virginia, 277 ;
assumes absolute authority over
aboriginal Virginia, 487; requires
the Company to receive dissolute
characters, 599.

James the Second, i. 608; petitioned
to prohibit shipment of tobacco in
bulk, 454.

James River, i. 82, 103-105, 107,
117, 124, 300, 320, 361, 447, 492,
621 ; sassafras in the valley of,
93; marshes of, 109; number of
ships sailing from, to England, in
1635, 311 ; Dutch men-of-war in, in
1667, 385 ; amount of tobacco pro-
duced in valley of, in 1689, 456 ; ii.
82, 522; Devries sails up, 303;
pirates seized in, 347 ; pilots in, 352.
See Powliatan River.

Jamestown, preface, viii; i. 15-17, 24,
56, 84, 98, 115, 165, 199, 492, 578,
586, 592, 606; effect of the dis-
covery of gold on the advancement
of the Colony at, 25; Newport re-
turns from Falls to, 29; Francis
Maguel at, 32; search for gold in
neighborhood of, 34; Newport sub-
ordinates the real interests of, to
the discovery of gold, 36 ; Smith de-
livers corn to the Cape Merchant at,
38 ; General Assembly declares the
South Sea to be only six days' jour-
ney from, 39; Berkeley's expedition
to South Sea from, 40; evidences of
iron ore at, 81 ; number of ash trees
in vicinity of, 91 ; country in vicinity
of, 100 ; sturgeon killed in river at,
112; animals observed near, 124;
hares, 127; rattlesnakes, 129; colo-
nists at, eat reptiles in Starving
Time, 129; deaths at, in 1607, 133;
Lord Delaware reaches, 1.34 ; sickly
in dog days, 139 ; number of Indians
in sixty miles of, 140; the English
2 R

at, saved from starvation by In-
dians, 157; Smith returns to, with
seven hogsheads of maize, 158; first
settlers at, adopt their manner of
planting tobacco from the Indians,
162; Indian trial of skill with bow
and arrow at, 170 ; Newport's return
to, 179; Hamor returns from We-
rowocomoco to, 180, 181; first
ground broken by an English agri-
cultural implement in America was
at, 189; Clayton's visit to, 189; cir-
cumstances leading to formation of,
liJ5-193 ; erection of a fort at, 193 ;
colonists live in great abundance at,
in the second winter of the settle-
ment, 194; production of clapboards
near, 197 ; Francis Perkins arrives
at, 198 ; Delaware reaches, 202 ; Ar-
goll returns to, with a cargo of cod,
203; distance from, to Paspaheigh,
207 ; Dale leaves, to establish Hen-
ricopolis, 208, 209; commotion at,
upon arrival of Gates, 210 : Dale ar-
rives at, 213 ; number of inhabitants
at, at time of Dale's departure, 217 :
Dale's letter to Salisbury from, 220 ;
one hundred acres allowed Nuce at,
229 ; tenants employed by treasurer
near, 232 ; cattle brought to, after
the massacre, 1622, 271 ; supplies
sent to, 274; Devries leaves, with
six goats and one ram, 299: goods
imported under inspection law
landed only at, 306 ; country around,
principal cattle reserve, 313; Mrs.
Pierce's garden at, 328; quarter
court convening at, 1639 ; plan of a
Cessation discussed in Asseml)ly at,
in 1662, 391 : construction of roads
to, 419; ferry charges at, 423; sur-
veyors report to Surveyor-General
at, 534 ; surveyors form a society at,
536; quit-rents to be paid into treas-
ury at, 567 ; all sales of land to be
recorded at, 570; foundation of
Colony at, tended to increase growth
of shipping, 584 ; no goods to be sold
until ship arrived at, 631; ii. 109,
431, 495, 497; building at, in 1638,
l."S, 139: brick houses at, in 1662,
140; brick fort at, 144; Governor

610

INDEX

Butler's visit to, 148 ; Secretary of
Colony's quarters at, 158 ; dress of
early settlers at, ISG ; cost of lodg-
ing at, 204 ; the law against break-
ing bulk until Jamestown was
reached passed to prevent excessive
drinking, 216; innkeepers allowed
to retail wines at, 221 : licenses of
inns at, revoked, 225 ; First Supply
reaches, 263 ; sailors remain at, 264 ;
Delaware reestablishes colony at,
271 ; Gates sets out for, 272 ; com-
mission sent to, from New Amster-
dam, 314; Devries meets Captain
Stone on his way from, 324; beacons
between Jamestown and Willoughby
Shoals, 352; breaking bulk before
reaching, 353, 354 ; laws against en-
grossing and forestalling as affect-
ing interests of, 353-364 ; merchants
living at, 377, 379, 380; effort to
hold markets at, 389-391; inn rec-
ommended to be erected at, 402 ;
Meuelie visits England to obtain
mechanics to erect state house at,
403; Tree obtains a patent to land
at, 422 ; fish caught at Cape Charles
for people of, 427 ; shipwrights es-
tablish themselves at, 429; Devries
fails to find facilities at, for repair-
ing his ship, 431 ; ship America to
return to, 434 ; glass house at, 440-
443; houses at, in which children
were to be trained in cloth manu-
facture, 455; General Court at, pass
order for manufacture of salt, 485 ;
mills in vicinity of, 487 ; erection of
saw-mills at, 491 ; Colonel Henry
Norwood leaves, for Holland, 506;
protested bills recorded in books of
General Court at, 250; charge for
transportation from the planter's
wharf the same as the charge from
Jamestown, 525; the only town of
any importance in Virginia previous
to 1700, 525 ; first dwellings at, 526 ;
burnt down in 1607, 526; contained
sixty houses at Smith's departure,
527; when Delaware arrived, the
town in extreme decay, 527 ; steps
taken by Delaware to rebuild James-
town, 528 ; in a state of decay when

Argoll arrived in 1617, 530 ; bounds
of the corporation at this time, 530;
owners of residences in, during
Wyatt's administration, 531 ; no
ship to break bulk before reaching,
532; ships not to proceed to, unlil
storehouses had been erected, 533;
the enactment, in 1636, that a lot
should be granted to every person
settling at, 534; Secretary Kemp
builds a brick residence at, 534 ;
state house erected at, 534 ; no inn
at, in 1632, 535; Berkeley instructed
to lay off site of, in 1642, 535 ; mar-
ket days at, established, 536; in
1662, Berkeley ordered to begin town
building at, 538 ; law requiring that
every ship arriving in James River
should sail to, and there obtain a
license to trade, reenacted in 1662,
539: terms of the Act of 1662 re-
quired that Jamestown slionld con-
sist of thirty-two houses, 540 ; each
county ordered to build a house at,
541, 542 ; tobacco crops of James
City, Charles City, and Surry to be
transported to, for exportation, 542 ;
all tobacco ready for shipment above
Mulberry Island, under Act of 16()2,
to be first conveyed to, 543; com-
plaint of the people of Surry
County in 1676 as to house building
at, 545 ; burnt by soldiers of Bacon,
546 ; Culpeper instructed to rebuild,
546 ; state house erected at, 547 ; no
special reference to, in Cohabitation
Act of 1680, 547 ; derives no benefit
from Cohabitation Act, 553 ; size of,
after restoration, 561; its present
condition, 562.

Jamestown, Fort, i.91 ; Island, i. 28, 30,
74, 92, 133, 196, 432; ii. 353; weed,
i. 99.

Janssen, ii. 293.

Jay-bird, i. 119.

Jayne, John, ii. 334.

Jeannette Expedition, i. 22.

Jefferson, Samuel, agreement with
Fitzhugh, ii. 379; Tliomas, 558;
purchases a lot at Yorktown, .557:
Thomas, the statesman, i. KiO, 491 ;
ii. 235, 281.

INDEX

611

Jeffreys, John, ii. 334.

Jenkins, Daniel, ii. 3.^; David, i.
429; Edward, ii. 4;); Henry, 146.

Jennings, Edmund, purchases a lot at
Yorktown, ii. 557; William, ii. 334.

Jersey, ii. 328.

Jervise Plantation, selected as the site
for a town, ii. 548.

Jessop, Edward, 127.

Jewelry, ii. 195.

Johnson, Abram, ii. 311.

Johnson, Alderman, i. 225; diverts
magazine funds, ii. 280; Anthony,
126; John, i. .351; ii. 126; Philip, i.
457; Richard, 318 ; William, ii. 108.

Jones, Hugh, i. 410; notes peculiar
character of lands between York and
James rivers, 436 ; refers to cultiva-
tion of cereals, 459; estimates pro-
ductiveness of land sown in wheat
in Virginia, 464 ; refers to the adapta-
bility of Virginian soil to vegetables,
468; describes Virginian claret, 471 ;
ii. 62 ; his opinion of Virginian cider,
214 ; also of the Virginian merchant,
378; Francis, i. 575; David, ii.75;
Edward, 469 ; George, 54, 249 ; Henry,
469; Richard,339; Robert, 126; Mrs.
Rowland, i. 482; ii. 174, 249; Wil-
liam, 4.38.

Jordan, Samuel, i. 271.

Julian, William, ii. 149.

Julips, mint, ii. 217.

Juniper, i. 102.

Juxon Plantation, ii. 143.

Kanawha-river, i. 34.

Kansas, i. 585.

Katherine, ship, ii. 83, 316.

Kecoughtan, i. 91, 109, 115, 128, 174,
229, 521; flax at, 100; aboriginal
settlement at, 145; trees at, 146;
Indians living at, admirable hus-
bandmen, 156; attack upon, by
Smith, 158; first voyagers enter-
tained at, by Indians, 178; advan-
tages offered by, for first settlement,
191; Dale leaves, on his way to
Jamestown, 208: one of the settle-
ments at Dale's departure, 216, 217;
one of the settlements retained after
massacre of 1622, 271; cattle sent

from, to Kent Island, 208 ; Byrd ships
tobacco to, 447 ; ii. 353 ; the Yeardley
house at, 141 ; price of milk at, 206 ;
its trade with Maryland, 323; a mill
erected at, 487.

Keele, John, ii. 326.

Keeling, Adam, his residence, ii. 1.57;
personal estate, 250.

Keene, John, leaves a large property,
ii. 421 ; his contract with Mrs. Phoebe
Heale, 408.

Kelly, Charles, owns looms, ii. 470.

Kemp, Mathew, i. 545; owns a mill,
ii. 490 ; feoffee of the town in Mid-
dlesex County, 558; Richard, con-
demns the Goring contract, i. 289;
recommends the establishment of a
customhouse, 326; named Register,
327 ; describes servants as mer-
chandise, 621 ; ii. 75, 138, 144 ; laud
Ijatents sued out by, 252; his brick
residence at Jamestown, 5.34.

Kemps, i. 198.

Kendall, William, his silverware, ii.
172.

Kennon, Richard, ii. 82, 100; owns a
mill, 490.

Kent, England, i. 1.34, 312, 428; ii. 246.

Kent Island, i. 298.

Keyser, Timothy, ii. 334.

Kick, John, ii. 334.

Kidd, Captain, ii. .346.

Kidnappers, Indian, ii. 55. See Spirit-
ing away.

King, Joseph, ii. 558.

King Creek, ii. 549.

Kingfisher, i. 120.

Kingsmill, Richard, i. 322; ii. 72.

Kingston, John, ii. 140; Thomas, 366.

Kinsman, Richard, i. 332 ; ii. 214. See
Kingsmill.

Kinsy, Robert, ii. 322.

Kiskiack. See Cheskiack.

Kitchener, Richard, ii. 404.

Knibbe, William, ii. 514.

Knight, i. 24; ii. .382.

Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, i.
40.

Knives, i. 3.39; ii. 176.

Knott, James, ii. 151 ; Joseph, 140, 334 ;
William, 514, 559.

Konigsburg, i. 57

612

INDEX

Ladd, John, ii. 423.

Lady Frances, ship, ii. 83.

Lambert, i. 253; ii. 11, 311.

Lament, James, ii. 91.

Lancaster County, preface, ix; i. 413,
416 ; prices of horses in, 375 ; number
of sheep in, 377 ; prizes for wolves'
heads in, in 1G75, 378; charges for fer-
riage in, 423; value of cattle in, about
1690, 480; owners of sheep in, about
1690, 482; price of wool, 485; per-
sonal estates in, ii. 250; trade with
Barbadoes, 326 ; English merchants
trading with planters in, 334 ; Indian
marts in, 388; shipbuilders residing
in, 439 ; manufacture of linen in, 459 ;
owners of looms residing in, 470;
manufacture of shoes in, 477; own-
ers of mills in, 490; coin in invento-
ries of, 515; town building in, 549,
556, .558.

Landon, Thomas, ii. 50, 471.

Lane, Ralph, i. 25, 32, 54; describes
country about Roanoke Island, 11 ;
his dream of precious metals at
Roanoke dissipated, 14; his account
of Roanoke Colony, 26 ; anxious to
discover a harbor on Chesapeake
Bay, 27 ; his expedition to the Chese-
pians, 27; his account of the natural
products of Roanoke Island, 47 ; ii.
422 ; Thomas, ii. 333, 334.

Lark, i. 119, 120.

Lawnes Creek, i. 319.

Lawrence, Richard, ii. 109, 546.

Lawson, Antony, i. 373, ii. 328, 552.

Leah and Rachel, ii. 9.

Lear, Colonel John, ii. 125.

Leases, system of, in time of Company,
i. 229 ; reasons discouraging renting
of land, 411, 412; land leased by
Governor and Council after disso-
lution of Company, 412, 413; pro-
visions of, 413-417 ; Fitzhugh wishes
to lease land to Huguenots, 417.

Leather, ii. 326; quantities of, owned
by leading planters, 476, 477 ; Bev-
erley condemns leather of Virginia
as very defective, 479; viewers ap-
pointed to seize defective, 480. See
also Hides.

Lee, Francis, ii. 333, 334 ; George, 334,

365; John, 334; Richard, i. 448, 573,
609; his silver plate, ii. 174; lands
patented by, 253; owns a store, 381,
382; Robert E., 579; Thomas, 309.

Leeward Islands, i. 460.

Leicester, Lord, i. 24.

Leigh, William, ii. 88.

Leisler, Jacob, ii. 315.

Lemons, i. 48, 251, 328.

Lenior, Thomas, i. 418.

Leominster, i. 484.

Leopoldus, ship, i. 352.

Lettuce, i. 251.

Lewis, John, i. 545.

Licques, Peter de, ii. 432.

Light, Robert, ii. p. 53; Williams, 48.

Lightenhouse, Robert, ii. 514.

Lightening, i. 131, 132.

Lightfoot, Philip, ii. 143.

Lime, ii. 158.

Linch, Henry, ii. 315.

Lindsay, Earl of, i. 292.

Linen, i. 99; Virginia expected to be-
come an important seat of manu-
facture of, as early as 1612, ii.454: no
persistent effort made to manufact-
ure, until 1646, when it was decided
to erect two houses at Jamestown
for the purpose, 455 ; Samuel Math-
ews employs spinners of flax,
456 ; law for encouragement of linen
manufacture passed at the instance
of Lord Culpeper, 45(>-458 ; rewards
for production of, 458 ; linen-wheels,
458; planters who manufactured
linen cloth, 458, 459.

Linney, John, gift to the poor, ii. 257.

Liquors, used by Indians, i. 167. See
Wines.

Littlepage, Edward, ii. 334.

Littleton, Southey, i. 377; residence
of, ii. 157.

Liverpool, ii. 338; merchants of, trad-
ing with Virginia, 334.

Livingstone, i. 72.

Lloyd, Cornelius, i. 372; ii. 1.57, 250,
318; his personal estate, 250; Ed-
ward, .324; William, 553.

Lobs, George, i. 366.

Lockey, Edward, number of his cat-
tle, i. 372; number of horses owned
by, 375; his residence, ii. 154; con-

61^

tents of his store, 385 ; Elizabeth,
33.

Locust, i. 146, 170. See Fences.

London, i. 63, 64, 69, 87, 92, 286, 2!)1,
293, 353, 363, 384, 385, 424, 448, 450,
452, 458, 581, 590, 592, 593, 608, 610,
614, 615, 620, 630; ii. 48, 84, 150, 297,
334, 338, 355, 370, 378.

London Company, its powers, 1. 2 ; its
quarter courts, 3 ; ventures preced-
ing it too weak, 6; gold and the
supposed nearness of the South Sea,
their intiuence in the formation of,
11 ; letter to, from Jamestown, 15 ;
interest of members weakened, 20;
Smith's practical letter to, 21 ; in-
structions to colonists in 1607, "0;
Newport's instructions, 36; temper
of Spain and England at time of
the formation of the Company, 44 ;
diverted from trade and production
by expectation of gold, 49 ; in 1610
Company summoned Gates before it ;
what he said, 50; also Smith's
views, 50; steps to establish vine-
yards and raise silk-worms, 51;
its urgent commands to Virginia
authorities to give more attention
to staple commodities; reasons for
this change, 52 ; strong reason *or
formation of the Company, that in
the commercial relations between
England and Virginia there would
be little demand for money sterling,
53 ; at its formation, British seamen
idle and going into foreign service,
and merchants selling their ships,
56; a commercial organization, 69;
unlike other companies, for colo-
nization as well as trade and discov-
ery, 69 ; one hundred of its members
in East India Company also, and Sir
Thos. Smythe the head of both,
69; advertise for ploughwrights for
Colony, 200; in 1610, instructed
authorities in Virginia to return to
mother country sassafras and a
number of other articles, 261 ; pro-
tests against policy of King James
towards tobacco, 265 : presented Mr.
Bennett with freedom of its guild
because his treatise had urged that

importation of Spanish tobacco into
England should be prohibited, 265;
agreement with Somers Isles Com-
pany, and its tobacco sent to Hol-
land, 265; by patent of 1609 ex-
empted from every form of custom
except 5 per cent, but this disre-
garded to advantage of the Spanish,
267; appointed informers to enforce
King's proclamation, 270; urged to
let no settler come unless he brought
one year's supply, 275 ; dissolved,
276 : contention with King James in
1821, 346; after dissolution, Privy
Council ordered its lauds to be
planted and seated, 412; terms of
years which had been assigned by
it to the Governor were granted as
late as 1647, 413 : upheld with firm-
ness, right under its charters, of ab-
solute disposition of the soil of
Virginia, 488, 489 : its ability to con-
vey interest in land in Virginia, 500 ;
Governor and Council mere agents
of, in conveying land, 501 ; manner
of conveying land, 502 ; the grounds
upon which a grant was made;
the bill of adventure, 502-508; per-
formance of meritorious service,
508-511 ; importation of persons
into the Colony, 512-515; grant of
land in large areas in time of, 527 ;
surveyor dispatched to Colony by,
532, 533; fees for issuing patents
in time of, 552; establishment of
monthly courts by, 571 ; servants
and their indentures in time of, 588 ;
how far the Company was willing
to import criminals, 589-(i01 : orders
Argoll to find a new route to Vir-
ginia, 624 ; length of passage in
time of, 624; first supplies intro-
duced by, ii. 260 ; sends out Second
Supply, 264; funds raised by lot-
teries, 275; small returns to, from
the enterprise, by 1616, 279 : adopts
rules and orders, 287 ; its ability to
supply the Colony exhausted, 291 ;
issues an advertisement for skilled
mechanics, 400, 401 : proposition
made to, by John Wood, for build-
ing of ships on Elizabeth Kiver, 428 ;

QU

INDEX

anxious to erect saw-mills, 429 ; con-
tracts with Norton for glass manu-
factixre, 441,442 ; its offers to South-
ampton and Martin's Hundreds with
reference to conversion of Indian
children, 44(J; provides food and
clothing for iron workers at Falling
Creek, 448; action after destruction
of iron works on Falling Creek, 449;
proposes the erection of a bloomery,
450 ; tanners and shoemakers intro-
duced by, 474, 475 ; seeks to promote
manufacture of salt, 483, 484 ; intro-
duces millwrights, 487 ; manufact-
ure of pipe staves and clapboards
in time of, 492 ; pitch and tar, 493 ;
condition of Jamestown in time of,
526-531.

London tradesmen, ii. 267 ; funds of,
270.

Londonderry, ii. 329.

Long, Roger, ii. 478.

Longman, Richard, i. 575; ii. 217, 231.

Lonnon, Richard, ii. 334.

Looms, i. 55 : ii. 461, 470.

Lotteries, funds raised by, for Lon-
don Company, ii. 275-278.

Loving, Thomas, i. 535 ; ii. .366.

Low Countries. See Dutch and Hol-
land.

Lown or Loun, James, ii. 479.

Lowry, Thomas, ii. 330.

Lucas", Henry, ii. 423; Mrs., ii. 122.

Ludlow, George, ii. 322 ; sued by New
England merchants, 317 ; appointed
arbitrator, 3()6 ; Thomas, number of
sheep owned by, i. 377; ii. 174; his
residence, 154; his personal estate,
248; Colonel, i. 366.

Ludwell, Mss., preface, ix; Philip,
appointed deputy surveyor-general,
i. 535 ; his general notice as deputy
surveyor, 53(5 ; Thomas, 397, 607 ; his
letter about the country traversed
by Berkeley's expedition in search
of the South Sea, 40 ; proposes a
form for land patents, 517; ii. 30;
writes to Secretary Bennett as to
ship-building in Virginia, 434 ; buys
a house at Jamestown, 5.34; writes
as to condition of Jamestown in
1665, 545.

Luke, Oliver, ii. 246.
Lynhaven, i. 307, 353; ii. 141; Bay,
320; River, i. 374.

McClure, Captain, 1. 41.

Machen, ii. 250.

Mackerel, ii. 33.

Macocks, i. 98.

Madeira Island, i. 401; wheat shipped
from Virginia to, 460.

Madeira wine. See Wines.

Madison, Captain, i. 217; Thomas, ii.
423.

Madrid, i. 63.

Magazine, i. 225 ; prices for tobacco
adopted by, 255 ; ii. 295, 358, 359, 496 ;
a joint stock for its purchase, 279;
how administered, 280 ; time and
season for sending it, 281 ; broken
up by ArgoU, 283; precautions
against fraud, 286 ; abolished, 288.

Maguel, Don, i. 27, 32, 189, 243; his
reference to iron manufacture in
Virginia, ii. 445.

Maize, Indians had individual prop-
erty in, i. 150 ; manner of planting,
151 ; time for planting, 152 ; varieties
cultivated by Indians, 153 ; gathered
and stored by Indians, 155 ; extent
of maize fields in aboriginal Vir-
ginia, 155-157 ; quantities of gar-
nered maize owned by Indians, 157,
158; used by Indian conjurers in
their ceremonies, 159; manner of
cooking it among the Indians, 173;
first cultivation of, by the English,
198 ; the crop of, in United States in
1879, 199 ; Dale encourages planting
of, 212 ; every householder in 1619 to
reserve a barrel of, 236 ; its rate of
increase, 252; reasons for its not
becoming the main product of the
Colony in the beginning, 258 ; in 1624
all planters allowed to sell maize at
highest price obtainable, 275 ; price
of, in 1630, 309 ; bought from Indians
in 1634, and the price, 330; size of
the barrels in which the law required
it to be shipped, 382 ; method of pre-
paring soil for planting, 4<)6; price
of, in 1676, ii. 206; used in brewing,
212.

615

Major, William, owns spoons, ii. 1G9.

Makule, John, i. 351.

Malaga, ii.21G-231.

Malin, Edwin, ii. 141.

Malley, John, ii. 320.

Mallis, John, ii. 473.

Malt, i. 3oil, 579 ; new-comers to bring
in a supply, ii. 211, 213.

Malt mills, ii. 213.

Maltravers, Lord, granted the right to
supply people of Virginia with corn,
ii. 500.

Mamanahunt, i. 158.

Maiigoaks, i. 27.

Manhattan, wheat and maize disposed
of to traders of, i. 329.

Manosquosick, i. 110.

jNIausell, Henry, i. 270.

Manufactured supplies, domestic, re-
lations of Colony to manufactures, ii.
391-390; Beverley comments on lack
of local manufactures, 397, 398;
classes of mechanics, 399 ; mechanics
imported, 400, 401 ; privileges al-
lowed them, 401; planters import
mechanics from England, 403; im-
ported mechanics bring tools from
England, 405; orphans and indigent
children trained in mechanics' arts,
400^10 ; contract between Bond and
Brock, 406, 407 ; free mechanics, 410 ;
provisions for improving condition
of, 410-413 ; lack of a metallic cur-
rency injurious to interests of me-
chanics, 413; remoteness of planta-
tions also, 414; wages, 41.5-417; me-
chanics enjoyed prosperity, but
largely from planting, 418; black-
smiths, 418, 419 ; coopers, 420-422 ;
carpenters, 422-426 ; shipwrights,
426 ; first ship built in Virginia, 426 ;
numerous boats about 1650, 4-32 ; ex-
emptions allowed to ship owners
re.siding in Virginia, 433, 436, 437 ;
Berkeley's reference to ships owned
by Virginians in 1671, 434; making
of glass, 441,442; of iron, 444-454;
of linen , 454-459 ; woollen manufact-
ures, 460; tailors, 471-474; tanners,
curriers, and shoemakers, 474-480;
leather, liides, and skins. 47<V483;
manufacture of salt, 483-486; of

meal and plank, 487^91 ; pitch and
tar, 493, 494.
Manufactured supplies, foreign, sig-
nificance of importation of foreign
supplies, ii. 259; value of, in l(i64,
259; cost of First Supply borne by
Company, 2(50; the Second Supplj-,
265 ; City Companies aid in sending
supplies, 266 ; the Third Supply, 268 ;
duties under Second Charter, 268;
martial laws relating to supplies,
273 ; funds raised by lotteries, 275 ;
the Magazine, 280; first Magazine
ships, 281 ; Magazine broken up by
Argoll, 283 ; Magazine abolished,
288 ; trade with Dutch, 292 ; famine
following massacre, 294, 295 ; sup-
plies brought in by John Preen, 298;
supplies from Holland, 300-315; De-
vries trades in Virginia, 303 ; trade
with Holland during Protectorate,
310; a charter party with Dutch
shippers, 311 ; trade with New Neth-
erlands, 314, 315; New York, 315,
310; New England, 317-322; Mary-
land, 322-324; West Indies, .324-328;
Ireland, 329 ; South America, 329;
Scotland, 329; England, 331-391;
English merchants engaged in im-
porting supplies, 332-334 ; profits of
Virginian trade, .3.35-337 ; course fol-
lowed by English merchants in ship-
ping cargoes to Virginia, 342-344;
pirates, 346; wages of seamen, 347;
freight charges, 348 ; port duties,
349-352; engrossing and forestall-
ing, 353-364; markets established at
certain points, 360; the factor and
his commission, 364: prevalence of
the credit system in Virginia, 367 ;
contracts to be drawn in figures of
money sterling, .368 ; mortgages used
by merchants to secure debts on
advances of goods, 309, 370: debt-
ors, 371 ; unconscionable dealings of
merchants, 373 ; deceptions prac-
tised by, 374; Navigation laws en-
hance price of goods imported, 375,
376; planters who imported mer-
chandise, 377-380 ; merchants resid-
ing at Jamestown. 377, 379, 380;
stores, 382-385 ; trade with Indians,

616

INDEX

385-389 ; attempts to establish regu-
lar markets, 389-391.

Manures, i. 322, 426-428.

Maracocks, i. 98, 153.

March, John, ii. 4G9.

Marjoram, i. 332.

Markets, established at certain points,
ii. 360; effort to establish regular
markets in Virginia, 389-391.

Marl, i. 79, 427.

Marlborough, town, ii. 559.

Marmaduke, ship, ii. 290, 354.

Marseilles, i. 400.

Marsh lands, i. 109, 431-435.

Marsh, Peter, cider specialty of, ii. 214.

Marshal, i. 229.

Marshall, Roger, i. 511; "William, 465;
ii. 91, 326; personal estate of, 250;
his ■wool cards, 469.

Marson, John, ii. 22.

Marstone, Rowland, ii. 311.

Martian, Nicholas, ii. 123.

Martin Brandon, i. 412.

Martin, Captain, i. 37, 133, 157, 506;
proposes to till the Phaenix with ore,
20; experiments vrith silk-grass, 219 ;
ii. 6, 282, 286 ; obstructs collection
of Magazine debts, 285 : John, i. 449,
450, 624 ; William, 575.

Martins, i. 127.

Martin's Hundred, i. 207, 300, 505, 506,
507, 513, 533, 587 ; erection of the
palisade from, to Cheskiack, 39, 300,
312 ; ii. 6, 282 ; the directors of, refuse
an offer of money for conversion of
Indian children, 446; proposition to
seat iron workers at, 450.

Martyn, John, i. 297 : ii. 334.

Maryland, i. 385, 387: Virginians re-
tire to, in sickly season, 139; its
erection, 318; wheat and maize dis-
posed of to traders of, 329; Bland,
in name of planters of Virginia
and Maryland, remonstrates against
Navigation Acts, 360-362 : planters
of Virginia request cessation of
tobacco culture in, 389; Assembly
of, refuses to prohibit the planting
of tobacco after June 20th, 390 ; size
of tobacco crop in Virginia and, in
1664, 391 ; Lord Baltimore declares
that a cessation is injurious to the

people of, 392 ; General Assembly of
Virginia, in 1666, send messengers
to Maryland to agree upon a cessa-
tion in spite of the King's order, 393;
Assembly of Maryland agrees, 394 ;
disapproved by Baltimore, 394 ; ii.
23, 2.39 ; supplies from, 299 ; method
of threshing wheat in, in 1790,
i. 465; trade with Virginia, ii. 322-
324 ; debtors take refuge in, .367 ; its
Indians encroach on traffic of Vir-
ginians with the Indians of Virginia,
387.

Mason, George, sends Fitzhugh claret,
ii. 215 ; John, 491 ; Lemuel, 170, 375 ;
William, 141.

Massacre of 1622, i. 270-274; ii. 71.

Massinnacock, i. 18.

Masts, i. 46.

Matchatax, river, ii. 346.

Mathew, Thomas, ii. 323, 456.

Mathews, Francis, number of cattle in
his possession, i. 372; number of his
horses, 375; plank in his personal
estate, ii. 147; glass, 160; furniture
in his house, 179 ; his personal estate,
249 ; Jonathan, 334 ; Luke, 471 ; Sam-
uel, his approval of Goring tobacco
contract, i. 288; offers with Clai-
borue to erect a palisade from Mar-
tin's Hundred to Cheskiack, 300;
together with Claiborne builds the
palisade, 312; his petition again.st
tobacco culture in England in time
of Cromwell, 364; grant to, by Wicco-
comico Indians, 494, 496; average
age of his servants, 600; ii. 240;
lands patented by, 252 ; controversy
with Harvey, 303; owns numerous
artificers, 456 ; weaves cloth of wool,
460, 461 ; owns a tannery, 475, 476 ;
a representative man of the seven-
teenth century, 576.

Mattapony, king of, i. 493 ; River, 104,
141, 159.

Mattoom, i. 165.

Maul, Thomas, ii. .320.

Maverick, Samuel, i. 311.

Mavis, ii. 328. See Mevis.

Mayplis, George, ii. 218.

Mead, John, contract with Digges for
mechanical work, ii. 416.

INDEX

617

Meakins, Richard, ii. 436.

Meal, price of, in 1623, i. 273; ground
by water mills, ii. 487. See Mills.

Mechanics, i. 57() ; special privileges
granted them by Argoll, 223; the
classes of, ii. 399, 400 ; reasons to dis-
courage their emigration from Eng-
land, 400; earliest privileges allowed
them, 401 ; servants' terms too short
to allow a careful education in me-
chanical trades, 403; imported me-
chanics bring tools with them, 405;
orphans and indigent children edu-
cated as, 406-410; provisions made
for them at end of term in time of
Robert Beverley, Jr., 407 ; the class
of free mechanics, 410; exempted
from payment of levies, 411, 412;
privileges allowed them under Co-
habitation Acts, 412, 551 ; lack of
metallic currency hostile to their
prosperity, 413; prosperity dimin-
ished by the remoteness of planta-
tions, 414 ; wages of, 415-417 ; en-
joyed fair measure of prosperity,
but largely from planting, 418.

Meders, Thomas, ii. 141.

Medicines, used by Indians, i. 187.
See Physicians.

Mediterranean Sea, i. 43.

Medlicott, Richard, ii. 81, 82.

Melons, i. 98; ii. 201.

Melshewe, ii. 134.

Melville Sound, i. 41.

Menetie, George, plantation of, famous
for fruits, i. 332; ii. 54, 75; land
patents obtained by, 252 ; describes
himself as a merchant, 377 ; sues out
a patent, 1()38, 380; visits England
to secure men to build a state house
at Jamestown, 403; his residence at
Jamestown, 531; visits England to
obtain workmen, 534; a representa-
tive man of the seventeenth century,
576.

Menendez, i. 66.

Mercer, Christopher, ii. 328 ; John, 559.

Mercer's Company, ii. 266, 272.

Merchants, i. 235; English, engaged
in trade in Holland, 352; trade of
English, in eastern merchandise,
354; they condemn action of spirits,

616, 617; ii. 84, 101, 3,-^; English,
anxious to export malt to Virginia,
213; not allowed to retail wines at
Jamestown in 1645, 223; English, re-
siding in Low Countries, 302; and
trading with Virginia, 311; few
casual dealers among, 331; classes
of English, trading with Colony,
332; trade of English, Avith jilanters
making shipments to England, 338-
341 ; course followed by English, in
shipping cargoes to Virginia, 342;
branches of trade represented by
English, 343; conditional agencies
created by them, 1344; their inter-
ests hostile to enforcement of laws
against engrossing and forestalling,
362, 363; compelled to seek mar-
kets at private landings, 364; the
merchant as a partner, 364 ; preva-
lence of credit system in Colony,
367 ; bad debts incurred by, 367 ; all
contracts to be made in money, 3()9 ;
different methods adopted to secure
debts, 369-371 ; debts contracted out-
side by Virginia, 372; unconscion-
able dealings of, 373, 374 ; deceptions
practised by, 374; Navigation Acts
increased cost of merchandise to
colonists, 375 ; competition between
Dutch and English, 376; described
as chapmen, 377; planters engaged
in trade, 377-380; the store and its
contents, 380-385; the trade with
Indians, 385-389; petition for days
of departure for ships engaged in
Virginia trade, 385; English, own
land in Virginia, 389; the attempt
to establish regular markets, 389;
Bristol, build ships in Virginia, 438 ;
the English, oppose the Act for
Ports, 559, 561.

Meredith, John, ii. 439.

Meriwether, Thomas, ii. 334.

Merret, Richard, ii. 213.

Merritt, Isaac, ii. 334.

Messages, public, how tran.smitted,
ii. 239.

Metals, importance of the mine in a.s-
sociation with colonization, i. 11 ; dis-
covery of ore in Newfoundland by
Gilbert, 12; presence of precious

618

INDEX

metals expected to cause a great
influx of population, 12, 13; the
thirst for gold and silver in the age
of Elizabeth, 13, 14; special provi-
sion made in the letters patent of
160(3 for the division of the gold,
silver, and copper found in Vir-
ginia, 14 ; Newport writes Salisbury
that Virginia was very rich in gold
and copper, 15, 16 ; Newport accom-
panied to Virginia, when in charge
of First Supply, by goldsmiths and
refiners, 16; infatuation of settlers
in their search for gold, 16 ; Newport
makes an expedition into the Mona-
can country partly for the discovery
of the precious metals, 17 ; the colo-
nists given up to the search for the
precious metals during a part of
Delaware's administration, 18, 19;
Faldoe, the Helvetian, misleads the
colonists as to a silver mine, 19;
John Smith condemns the search
for gold and silver, 20 ; expeditions
west of Falls after 1630 to discover
gold and silver, 81, 82.

Mevis, i. 321. See Mavis.

Mexico, i. 13, 34, 66 ; Gulf of, 34.

Michell, Bernard, ii. 345.

Middle Plantation Parish, ii. 144, 562.

Middleburg, i. 265, 266; ii. 292.

Middlesex County, records of, preface,
ix ; prizes for wolves' heads in 1675, i.
378 : Plant-Cutters' Rebellion in, 405 ;
injury inflicted by Plant-Cutters'
Rebellion on people of, 406 ; prices of
horses in, in 1688, 475 ; value of cat-
tle in, about l(i90, 480, 481 ; owners
of sheep in, about 1690, 482 ; opposes
importation of jail-birds, 605 ; value
of slaves in, ii. 92; brick court house
in, 144; residences in, 156; silver-
ware used by citizens of, 173 ; per-
sonal estates in, 251 ; the poor in,
257 ; English merchants trading in,
334; weights and measures used
in, 375; manufacture of linen in,
459; manufacture of woollen cloth
in, 463; references to "Virginia
stockings," in records of, 470; own-
ers of mills in, 490; town building
in, 549. 552, 556, 558.

Middleton, i. 211.

Mildmay, Sir Humphrey, i. 86.

Milford, flour imported from, ii. 317.

Milk, ii. 206, 209, 210.

Miller, Robert, i. 482; Simon, ii. 439;
Thomas, 421.

Mills, ii. 243 ; millwrights sent to Col-
ony in 1620, 487 ; first windmill in
Virginia in 1621, 487; corn-mills
owned by Hugh Bullock, 487;
charges of millers excessive, 487;
number of, in Vii'giuia in 1649,
488 ; inducements to encourage erec-
tion of, in 1667, 488 ; rapid increase
in number from 1667 to close of cen-
tury, 489 ; cost of building, 489 ; flour-
mills in 1671, 490 ; Colonel Byrd owns
two grist-mills, 490; saw-mills at
Jamestown in 1630, 491; propelled
by horse power, 491.

Milner, silver belonging to estate of,
ii. 171.

Minge, James, i. 536; ii. 214.

Minks, i. 127.

Mobjack Bay, ii. 346.

Mocking-birds, i. 123.

Mode, Giles, ii. 201, 213.

Mohun, John, ii. 345.

Molasses, ii. 325.

Molina, i. 32, 64, 66, 104. 105, 134, 2.39.

Monacan country and Indians, i. 17,
21, 36,41, 197; ii. 440.

Money, lack of metallic currency in-
jures prosperity of mechanics, ii.
413; pieces of eight valued at five
shillings in order to improve con-
dition of mechanics, 413, 414; to-
bacco the standard of value in Vir-
ginia throughout the seventeenth
century, 495, 496 ; the inconven-
iences of tobacco as a currency, 497 ;
in 1619 there was no coin in Virginia,
498; Sir George Yeardley's estate
converted into tobacco as a substi-
tute for coin, 499; coin introduced
into the Colony by masters of ships
in paying tax on exported hogs-
heads, 500 ; Lord Maltravers granted
the right to supply the people of
Virginia with coin, 500; burgesses
suggest that a petition be presented
to the King begging him to import

INDEX

619

into Virginia £5000, 501 ; no money-
debts pleadable iu a court of law,
501 ; arbitrary rates established for
the piece of eight, 502; means
adopted by the Assembly to compel
the inhabitants to accept coin at the
rates prescribed, 503, 504; the tax
of two shillings upon every hogs-
head exported had in view in part
the introduction of coin, 504 ; the
General Assembly in 1658 inflict a
fine for a refusal to take sound sil-
ver pieces of eight, 505 ; contracts
in 1669 drawn in coin to be paid in
coin, 506; coin included in inven-
tories of estates, small in amount as
late as 1670, 507 ; General Assembly
in 1680 again prescribe legal rates
for money sterling, 507; Lord Cul-
peper fixes the value of money ster-
ling by proclamation, 508; planters
unable to obtain coin from England
to pay quit-rents, 509 ; commission-
ers of customs in England in 1686
refuse the request of the colonial
authorities to advance coin beyond
its intrinsic worth, 509, 510; in 1697
quantity of English money in circu-
lation in Virginia extremely small,
510, 511 ; the reasons for this lack
of coin, 511, 512; the lion or dog
dollar in circulation on the Eastern
Shore, 513; instances towards end
of century in which coin formed a
part of the personal estate of de-
ceased persons, 514, 515 ; specialties
at this time in large numbers made
payable in money sterling, 515;
debts sometimes required to be paid
in New England money, 515 ; im-
portance of the bill of exchange in
internal and external trade of Col-
ony, 516, 517 ; bill of exchange drawn
in form of three duplicates, 518; in
many instances bills protested, 518;
the penalty, 519 ; process in case the
drawer of the protested bill was not
to be found, 519, 520; how long the
right of suit on a protested bill
should last, 520; roanoke, wam-
pumpeke, and beaver used as cur-
rency, 520, 521.

Monkeys, 1. 127.

Monmouth, Earl of, i. 611.

Monroe, Fortress, i. 105.

Moody, .Josiah, ii. 175.

Moone, Abraham, i. 429; John, 551.

Moor, i. 625.

Moore, Francis, ii. ;!34; Alexander,
214; James, 248; Richard, 214.

Moratoc River, i. 26, 32,511; Indians
report a mine on, 11.

Moraughtacund, i. 142.

Morefields, i. 240.

Morgan, Christopher, ii. 3S4; Philip,
127 ; Rowland, i. 299.

Morrah, .John, ii. 327, 514.

Morrison, Captain Francis, ii. 444.

Morryson, Governor, i. 373; writes to
Clarendon as to the building at
Jamestown under Act of 1662, ii.
545.

Mortgages, employed by merchants to
secure debts, ii. .369.

Morton, Sir William, i. 567.

Moscow, i. 22.

Mo.seley, William, i. 5.36; number of
his horses, 375; number of sheep
owned by, 377 ; appointed agent of
Thomas Sheppard, 522; ii. 311; per-
sonal estate of, 250.

Mosquitoes, i. 128.

Moss, Edward, expenditures for his
servant, ii. 9 ; Elizabeth, 108.

Motley, John, ii. 422.

Mottrom, John, ii. 114.

Mouutcastle, Henry, appointed an
agent, ii. 311.

Mowheminike, i. 18.

Moysonicke, i. 80, 150, 158.

Mulattoes, i. 318; ii. 53, 91, 110, 112,
126 ; a Spanish Mulatto, 80 ; a wea-
ver, 103; a runaway, 116; property-
holder, 127.

Mulberries, i. 91, 165, 179, 240, 369,
.399.

Mulberry, Island, ii. 354 ; all tobacco
above this point to be transported
to Jamestown for shipment abroad,
543 ; Shade, i. 91.

Munyon, -John, ii. 334.

Murphy, Charles J., i. 260.

Murray, William, ii. 472.

Muscadine, ii. 216, 221.

620

Muscovy Company. See Russia Com-
pany.

Musical Instruments, ii. 175

Muskmelons, i. 98.

Mutton, more esteemed by colonists
than venison, ii. 19!).

Myles, David, personal estate of, ii.
250.

Myrtle berry, i. 98.

Nails, i. 233, 339, 420; ii. 146, 147, 149.

Naraantack, i. 17.

Nansemond, County, i. 103; trade
with West Indies, ii. 328 ; safe har-
bor selected for shipi^ing in waters
of, 345 ; ordered to supply men for
building fort at Point Comfort, 417;
town building in, 548, 556; Indi-
ans, i. 141, 499; River, 80, 104, 105,
133, 142, 156, 157, 208.

Napier, Dr., ii. 232, 234; Elizabeth,
519.

Napkins, ii. 168.

Naples, i. 400.

Narsis, i. 51.

Naval officers, i. 389 ; stores, 8, 41.

Navigation Acts, i. 52, 584; their
effect upon growth of English
shipping, 58; Bland's remonstrance
against, 294 ; first suggestion of, in
1641, by English merchants, 348; Act
of 1651 and its terms, 349; the right
of free trade claimed by Virginians,
349; instance of Walter Chiles,
350; New England traders disre-
gard the necessity of securing a
special license, 351 ; right of free
trade suspended during war with
Holland, 351, 352; duty of ten shil-
lings on each hogshead exported in
deference to the Act, 353; advance
in freight rates during Protectorate
would seem to show that absolute
free trade was not enjoyed, 354;
General Assembly require a bond
of English ship-masters not to inter-
fere with alien vessels, 355 ; passage
of Act of 1660, 35(i ; its terms, 357 ;
at first evaded, 358; more strictly
enforced as time went on, 359; Mr.
Bland's remonstrance against, 360;
reasons for his objection to, 360-362 ;

naval officers created by terms of,
389 ; Berkeley declares the, destruc-
tive of the silk industry in Virginia,
400; the Virginians petition for a
revocation of, 401 ; the planters shut
out of transatlantic markets except
by way of England, 403; Lord Cul-
peper meets representatives of the
Muscovy Company, 404; not appli-
cable to island wines, ii. 76, 230; a
desire to exclude all comijetition
leads to the passage of, 259; they
deprive Virginians of the advan-
tage of free trade, 312 ; arrest of
the sloop Katharine under author-
ity of, 316; the New Englanders'
disregard of, 321 ; smuggling on
Eastern Shore, in spite of, 329 ; the
factor required by, to be a native
or naturalized subject of England,
364 ; increase cost of imported mer-
chandise, 375 ; discouraging to ship-
building in Virginia, 435; effect of,
on local manufacrtures, 466.

Naylor, Mrs. Mary, i. 469.

Neale, James, ii. 322 ; Thomas, 240.

Neckcloth, ii. 191.

Necotowance, i. 492.

Negroes, as overseers, ii. 18, 24; as
servants, 52, 53; doubtful views as
to their humanity, 64, 65; first
brought to Virginia, 71 ; baptism of,
95; free, 121-128; emancipation by
masters, instances, 122-125 ; owning
land, 126 ; not allowed to acquire
white servants, 127 ; enjoying right
of suffrage, 127, 128; acting as
sureties, 127. See Slaves.

Nelson County, i. 82.

Nelson, John, sued by a tailor, ii. 472;
Captain, i. 196.

Nepenough, the Indian September, i.
177.

Netherlands, i. 51.

Netherway, Richard, i. 609.

Nevis, ii. 328. See Mavis and Mevis.

Nevitt, Hugh, i. 606.

New Amsterdam, i. 352; ii. 307, 308,
310, 314.

New England, i. 312, 461 ; Indian corn
shipped to, 310; Indian corn ex-
ported to, in 1643, 329 ; Stratton au-

INDEX

621

thorized to transport grain to, 330 ;
prices of cattle in, in 1645, 333 ; ship-
masters of, disregard the require-
ments as to special license in 1653,
351 ; tohacco from Virginia sent to,
in disregard of Navigation Acts, 357 ;
irregular trading of ship-masters
from, 363; horses imported from,
376; planters write to, for ships to
transport tobacco to England, 448,
451 ; wheat shipped from Virginia
to, 460 ; shipments of pork to, 486 ;
intestacy law in, 571 ; ii. 80, 81, 141,
308; trade with Virginia, 317-322;
no market in England and Holland
for many of its products, 434 ; mer-
cantile system bore harder on, than
on Virginia, 395; ascertained value
of its coin in Virginia, 507; judg-
ment granted in money of, 515 ; bills
of exchange drawn on, 516, 517.

New Haven, ii. 317.

New Kent County, i. 554 ; Plant-Cut-
ters' Rebellion in, 405, 40G ; runaway
slaves in, ii. 115; Brick House in,
144; Indian marts in, 388; town
building in, 54'.) ; jurors from, to
assess site of Williamsburg, 563.

New Netherlands, ii. 299, 432.

New Plymouth, ii. 318, .553.

New, Richard, i. 609 ; ii. 255.

New York, ii. 299, 315.

Newcastle, ii. 22.

Newell, Jonathan, cow-bells in his
store, i. 478 ; ii. 54, 165 ; supplies
Joseph Croshaw's daughter with
clothes, 194 ; his personal estate,
249; his store in York County, 381 ;
furnishes rigging for a sloop, 436;
his wool cards, 469.

Newfoundland, i. 1, 4, 12, 46; Com-
pany, 69; Fisheries, 230; ii. 292,
435.

Newgate, i. 602, 605.

Newport, Captain, writes to Salisbury,
i. 15, 49; carries worthless dirt to
England, 16, .35 ; fits out a shallop
to explore the Powhatan, 28 ; inter-
ested in finding South Sea, as an
officer of the Russian Company, 3() ;
his visit to Werowocomoco, 1.58, 180 ;
his voyage to the Falls, 178; his

visit to Opechancanough, 179, 184;
Powhatan offers him a whole king-
dom, 489; has charge of the first
supplies, ii. 262, 264 ; transports iron
ore to England, 445; arrives with
the First Supply, 526.

Newport's News, i. 102, 246, 271.

Newport, Sir Richard, ii. 336.

Newton, George, ii. 140.

Nicholls, John, emancipates slaves,
ii. 124; owns spinning-wheels, 469:
Robert, ii. ,323; Thomas, ii. 15.

Nicholson, Governor, 1. 363; ii. 3.52;
designates safe harbors for ships in
1691, .345; his proclamation with
reference to seamen, .348; seeks to
discourage local manufactures, 465 ;
suggests the passage of the Act for
Ports, 555 ; buvs a lot at Yorktown,
5.57.

Nicolson, Thomas, ii. 479.

Night raven, i. 118.

Nilksou, John, ii. 507.

Nominy, ii. 556.

Nordenskiold, i. 41.

Norfolk County, Lower, preface, ix;
storekeeper appointed for, i. 307;
value of cattle in, about ICAo, 3.33,
.3.34 ; number of horses in, about
1647, 335; prizes for wolves' heads
in, 1649, 336; its trade with Hol-
land, 353 ; cattle owners in, about
1650, 372; wild cattle in, 373: num-
ber of horses in, about 1665, .374,
375 ; law passed for collection of
duty in, .387; owners of vessels in,
446; owners of sheep in, about 1690,
482 ; prizes given in, for destruction
of wolves, 483; specialties for pork,
486; ii. 346-348; prices of slaves in,
92; residences in, 156, 157; silver-
ware owned by citizens of, 173; a
funeral in, 23(1; personal estates of
citizens of, 249 ; workhouses in, 256 ;
Dutch trade with, 311 ; trade of,
with New York, 315; with New
England, .318; with Maryland, .324;
with Bermudas, .328; English mer-
chants trading in, SM ; ordered to
furnish men to build fort at Point
Comfort, 417 ; records of, 418 : land
owned by coopers in, 421 ; carpeu-

INDEX

ters owning land in, 423; ship-
builders residing in, 439; owners of
looms residing in, 470 ; also tanners,
478; owners of mills in, 490; manu-
facture of tar in, 494 ; coin in inven-
tories of citizens of, 514, 515 ; town
building in, 549, 552, 556, 558, 559.

Norfolk Peninsula, i. 7G.

Norfolk town, first feoffees and lot
owners, ii. 552.

North America, i. 40. See America.

Northampton County, trade of, with
the Dutch in 1653, preface, ix; i. .351 ;
sheep owners in, .377 ; law passed
for collection of duty in, 387; cat-
tle marks used in, 477; privileges
allowed Indians of, in 1654, 493;
town building in, ii. 127, 346, 424,
556; residences in, 1.57; silverware
owned by citizens of, 172 ; Nor-
wood's account of, 197; English
merchants trading with, 334 ; Indian
marts in, 388 ; shipbuilders resid-
ing in, 4.39; manufacture of woollen
cloth in, 461 ; also of leather, 476 ;
and salt, 485, 486.

Northampton, ship, i. 358.

Northamptonshire, ii. 404.

North Carolina, i. 88, 89.

Northern Neck, i. 417, 4.37, 475, 477,
537, 567, 569, 570; proprietaries of,
523 ; ii. 316, 324, 478.

Northumberland, Earl of, ii. 134, 265;
County, law passed for collection of
duty in, i. .387; Indian marts in, ii.
388 ; town building in, 549, 556.

Northwest Passage, i. 22, 24 ; the Com-
pany, 69.

Norton, Captain William, contracts
with Company to manufacture glass
in Virginia, ii. 441, 442 ; brings to the
Colony a number of Italians, 443.

Norway, i. 22.

Norwood, Colonel Henry, bis descrip-
tion of hominy, i. 167 ; required to re-
port his disposition of the quit-rents,
563; ii. 202; visits the Accomac
Country, 163 ; one of the owners of
the Pink, 184 ; his account of North-
ampton County, 197; leaves James-
town, 50(); Richard, i. 533.

Nottoway Indians, i. 498.

Nuce, i. 229 ; ii. 137.

Nuthall, Elias, i. 574, 575; John, 574,

.575 ; ii. 334.
Nuts, i. 167 ; ii. 201.

Oaks, i. 48, 90, 166, 196.

Oats, i. 99, 337, 380, .381.

Oatmeal, i. 339, 579; ii. 296.

Oewin, William, ii. 352.

Ohio River, i. 34.

Oil, i. 51, 184; ii. 263, 264, 274, 340.

Okeham, John, personal estate of, ii.

250.
Olives, i. 251, 328.
Onions, i. 251, 337.
Opechancanough, i. 30, 31, 157; his

village at West Point, 110; abun-
dance of food at his residence, 179;

visited by Newport, 184; presents

land to Yeardley, 490.
Oranges, i. 48, 194, 328.
Orange, Prince of, ii. 66.
Orapaks, i. 144.
Orchards, i. 417, 468, 469.
Oronoco tobacco, i. 434, 436-438, 441.
Osborne, Thomas, i. 482; ii. 154, 177-

179, 257, 469.
Otters, i. 127, 181.
Oven, ii. 176.
Overseers, i. 429, 430, 432, 433 ; ii. 17,

50; reasons for employing, 17, 18;

a negro overseer, IS ; share in the

crops, 47.
Overzhe, Simon, ii. 311.
Owen Davies, ii. 419.
Owls, i. 117, 118.
Oxen, i. 462. See Steers.
Oxfordshire, i. 363.
Oysters, i. 84, 113, 114, 173, 179; shells

of, i. 427.

Pagan Creek, ii. 346, 556.

Page, Francis, his will, ii. 142 ; his
mourning rings, 195; owns a malt
house, 213; John, owns interest in a
vessel, i. 448; ii. 36, 107; his mourn-
ing rings, 195; owns property in
England, 247 ; acquires land patents,
253; owns part interest in a ship,
438; also a mill, 490; sued as execu-
tor, 506; Mrs. John, her tombstone,
ii. 236 ; Mathew, i. 625 ; aids in build-

INDEX

623

ing brick fort at Jamestown, ii. 144 ;
buys a sea-bed, 163.

Pagett, Anthony, ii. 4.5.

Paggin, ii. 82; Peter, 333, 3.34; Wil-
liam, 100.

Palmer. Anthony, ii. 325; Edward,
420: Henry, i. 253; Dr. William
P., preface, xi.

Palos, i. 21.

Pamunkey, Indians, i. 492, 494 ; King
of, i. 510; Neck, 499; River, 104,
110, 140-144, 165, 494; Town, 37, 180.

Panthers, i. 128, 170, 484.

Parakeets, i. 122.

Pargatis, Richard, ii. 469.

Paris, i. 61.

Parke, Daniel, emancipates a favorite
slave, ii. 123; his house, 158; se-
cures judgment against Thomas
Warren, 345; builds a ship, 439;
owns a mill, 490.

Parker, Daniel, ii. 334 ; Charles, 420 :
John, 127; Judith, 175; Robert, 126;
AVilliam, 470.

Parliament, i. 289, 351, 3.56, 596 ; grants
free trade to Virginia, 350; seeks
to discourage colonial manufactures,
ii. 466.

Parrott, Richard, i. 545 ; manufactures
linen, ii. 459; also woollen cloth,
463.

Parry, William, ii. 323.

Parsley, i. 251.

Parsnips, i. 251, 337.

Partis, Francis, ii. 547; William, 547.

Partridge, i. 120.

Paspaheigh, i. 207, 600; Werowance
of, presents a deer to the English,
179 ; deserted fields at, 225 ; Indians,
170.

Passmore, Thomas, ii. 422.

Patents. See Title to Land.

Patestield, selected as the site for a
new town, ii. 548.

Patuxent River, i. .38.

Pawpaw apple, i. 96.

Payne, Florentine, ii. 317 ; William,
319.

Peace Point, ii. 549.

Peach, i. 331, .332,417,468.

Peake, Sir Robert, i. 574.

Peale, Malachi, i. 500; ii. 559.

Pearls, i. 47, 48, 161, 183, 184.

Pears, i. 332, 417, 468, 543.

Peas, i. 153, 167, 195, 251, 273 ; ii. 296. '

Pecke, Thomas, i. 632.

Peckham, Sir George, i. 9, 54, 58, 60.

Peirce, Joan, ii. 50.

Pelton, George, owns bees, ii. 201.

Pen, John, ii. 246.

Penkevel, Richard, i. 25.

Penn, William, ii. 4S8.

Pennington, i. 291, 292.

Pennsylvania, seeks to draw coin from
Virginia and Maryland, ii. 511.

Penrose, John, i. 412.

Penruddock, Edward, i. 610.

Percival, Edward, cattle owned by, i.
334.

Percy, George, sent out to procure
grain from Indians, i. 35; first im-
pressions of Virginia, 74; describes
country near Jamestown, 100; refers
to marshes at Cape Henry, 110 ; also
to fevers among first settlers, 133;
of liberal religious training, 205;
fails to compel settlers to cultivate
corn when in charge of Colony, 205 ;
ii. 134; receives clothing from his
brother, 265.

Perkins, Francis, 1. 122, 198; ii. 204,
2()6 ; Thomas, his wigs, ii. 191.

Perrin, Sebastian, i. 486.

Perry, Captain, ii. 84, 85; Henry, 75;
Micajah. .333, 334, 422.

Persia, i. 1, 22,48,49,51.

Persimmons, i. 95, 160 ; ii. 212.

Person, Robert, i. 613.

Perth, i. 510.

Peru, i. 13, 99.

Peyton, Major, ii. 88.

Pheasant, i. 120.

Phelps, Edward, his inventory, ii. 191 ;
and personal estate, 249; his store
and its contents, 383.

Philadelphia, ii. 27, 325.

Philip III., i. 60, 62, 64.

Phillips, Captain, ii. 348; Lawrence,
250; William, 470.

Philpot Lane, i. 69.

Phipps, John, ii. 444.

Phoenix, i. 16,20, 37: ii. 264.

Phy.sicians, ii. 13, 2.31, 234.

Picket. See Pirket.

624

Piekworth, John and Benjamin, ii. 515.
^ Pictures, ii. 174.

Piece of Eight. See Money.

Pierce, William, i. 242, 288, 299, 600;
Mrs. William, 328.

Piersey, Abraham, sows wheat and
barley, i. 301 ; average age of his ser-
vants, 600, 601; his ownership of
slaves, ii. 72; wealthiest planter in
the Colony, 149; where buried, 238;
his estate, 244; summoned before
first Assembly, 286; comes over as
Cape Merchant, 281; delivers let-
ters to Argoll, 282; writes to Com-
pany, 285; tries to collect debts at
Martin's Hundred, 285; goes to New-
foundland for fish, 292 ; owns a store-
house at Jamestown, 380.

Pigeons, wild, i. 121.

Pillory, ii. 120.

Pilots, ii. 352.

Pinchon, John, ii. 320.

Pineapples, i. 194.

Pine tree, i. 87-89, 262.

Pinnace, i. 239.

Pipe, i. 161, 163, 164.

Pipe staves, i. 262; ii. 492.

Pirates, ii. .346.

Pirket, Miles, ii. 484.

Piscataqua, i. 461; ii. 80.

Pitch, i. 17, 41, 46, 48-50, 89, 262, 393;
ii. 325, 493.

Pitchett, John, ii. 444.

Pitt, Mathew, ii. 334.

Place, James, i. (i03 ; Rowland, 545, 546.

Plank, ii. 146, 491.

Plantains, i. 251.

Plantation System, its moral and eco-
nomic influence, ii. 567-569; the re-
sult of needs of tobacco culture, 569.

Plant-Cutters' Rebellion, i. 404-406.

Planter's Adventure, ship, ii. 437.

Plates, ii. 168.

Plato, i. 489.

Pleasants, John, i. 482; ii. 82, 100,
490.

Ploughs, i, 223, 321, 461, 462; none in
Virginia previous to Smith's de-
parture, 200, 201 ; number in Colony
in 1649, ,338.

Plowden, Edmund, ii. 48.

Plumer, Francis, ii. 1.

Plums, i. 94, 468.

Plymouth, i. 15, 35, 353, .384, 412, 522,
620; ii. 297, 338.

Pocahontas, i. 211.

Pocoson, parish of, i. 421 ; river, 104.
See Poquoson.

Pohickory Drink, i. 167.

Poindexter, Charles, preface, x; i. 31.

Point Comfort, i. 64, 156, 271, 330, 631 ;
origin of the name, 104 ; Dale arrives
at, 204 ; ii. 1.36, 349, 353, 356, 534.

Poland, i. 41, 46.

Poles, dispatched to Virginia in 1608,
i. 49; ii. 430; accompany Newport
to Virginia, 440; Burke's reference
to the, in his speech on Conciliation,
568.

Polecats, i. 127.

Pollard, J. Garland, i. 499.

Pollington, John, ii. 298.

Polly, Mary, ii. 2 ; Samuel, 2.

Pomegranates, i. 251.

Poppleton, William, ii. 45.

Popplestone, Philip, ii. 438.

Population, in 1628, of Virginia, close
upon 3000, i. 287 ; when Maryland
was erected in 1634, did not exceed
5000: how distributed, 319; census
of 1635 gives 4914 ; but Harvey esti-
mated 2500 more, in all 7414, 319:
in 1649, about 15,000 whites and 300
slaves, 336; in 1664, of Virginia and
Maryland about 40,000, 391 ; Berke-
ley, about 1666, calls it 40,000, 397 ;
in 1624, number of servants, 601 ;
number of slaves, ii. 77, 108.

Poquoson, ii. 477. See Pocoson.

Porcupine, i. 127.

Pork, i. 211, 311, 312, 330, 339. 486; ii.
20(5, 207, 264, 265, 326.

Poropotank Creek, ii.382.

Port Royal, ii. 278.

Portan, i. 420.

Porter, -John, ii. 2, 181.

Porteus, William, i. 482; ii. 514; per-
sonal estate of, 250 ; owns spinning-
wheels, 469 ; buys a lot in Norfolk,
552.

Porto Rico, i. 64, 623.

Ports, Act for, ii. 555, 561.

Portugal, i. 43, 44, 49; ii. 513.

Portuguese, early map drawn by, i. 18 ;

625

in possession of the Cape of Good
Hope, 22; servants, ii. 22, 54.

Pory, John, i. 297 ; his expedition to
the Southwest, 38; representations
by, as to condition of the tenants,
232; as Secretary of Council forwards
flax to England', 239; ii. G9; his ref-
erence to cow-keeper at Jamestown,
186.

Post-Office, ii. 240.

Potashes, i. 2G2.

Potato, i. 98, 194, 197, 251, 337 ; ii. 200.

Potomac, Creek, ii. 55(5 ; Indians, i. 140,
144 : River, 38, 83, 93, 103, 104, 105,
319, 387 ; scarcity of shipping in, 447 ;
ii. 341, 346, 522, 524, 540, 544; Ar-
goll's expedition to, 1613, 427.

Pott, Francis, i. 600 ; John, 574 ; ii. 45.

Potter, John de, ii. 311.

Poultry, i. 202 : ii. 199. See Chickens
and Pullets.

Powder, ii. 193.

Powell, ii. 31.

Powhatan Confederacy, i. 140, 142, 144.

Powhatan, Falls of, i. 109; Newport's
expedition to, 28, 29; distance of
South Sea from, 30; country west
of, 110. See Falls; also Powhatan
River.

Powhatan, King, i. £0, 174: reports
nearness of the South Sea, 30 : later
denies it, 33: in communication with
tribes in Southwest and Northeast,
34; his coronation, C8; league of
friendship with the English, 38 ; his
pillow made of leather, 147 ; his hos-
pitality to the English visitors to
Werowocomoco in 1609, 179, 180;
Hamor's visit to, 180; his dress,
182 ; his wives, how they were
dressed, 184; sends men to teach
the English the proper manner of
planting maize, 198 ; offers Newport
a whole kingdom, 489.

Powhatan River, i. 56, 62, 63, 79, 91,
100, 102-105, 107, 129, 164, 165,
178, 198; metals in country along,
16 ; West seated at the Falls of, 18 ;
route to the East Indies by way of
the, 2,") ; the tribe near its mouth, 27 ;
Newport's expedition to the Falls,
28; different routes to the South

VOL. II. — 2 S

Sea from the Powhatan, 32; the
valley of, comparatively thickly in-
habited by Indians, 72; fertility of
its valley, 79; chestnut trees near
Falls of, 93 ; marshes in the valley
of, 110; oyster rocks in, 113; bed of,
covered with shells at Wyanoke,
114; blackbirds and turkeys ob-
served along, IK!; Indian tribes
dwelling in valley of, 140, 144: an
Indian field of maize in valley of,
153 ; Opechancanough's residence on
the, 157 ; tribes on the, 185 : a very
old Indian observed at Pamunkey
on, 186 ; Jamestown founded on, 189 ;
enormous trees growing in valley of,
19(); explored by Dale, 208; paling
from Appomattox to, 210: lands re-
served for public uses situated on
northern side of, 228 ; settlements on,
263 ; presence of marl in valley of,
427 ; first division of lands along,
503; ii. 71, 524; saw-mills to be
erected at the Falls of, 430. See
James River.

Powhatan Tribe, i. 141. See Indians.

Preen, John, carries supplies to Colony
in 1626, ii. 298.

Prescott, Edward, ii. 334, .343; Moses,
421.

Price, Daniel, i. 51 ; Jenkins, ii. 163 ;
John, 320; Thomas, i. 481; Walter,
ii. 439.

Prickett. See Pirket.

Princess Anne County, ii. 346.

Pring, Captain, i. 6.

Printing, preface, vii.

Pritchard, John, personal estate of,
ii. 251, 439; Robert, 439; Mrs. Fran-
cis, 194.

Privy Council, i. 348: protests against
the exportation of tobacco to Hol-
land, 266: receives letter from Gen-
eral Assembly about Tobacco Con-
tract, 282: petitioned by Sir George
Yeardley, 283; seeks to enforce the
law as to customs, 291 ; refers ques-
tion of Yeardley's cattle to a com-
mittee, 297 ; authorizes Assembly to
appoint commissioners. 390 : refuses
to allow a cessation, 392 ; informed
of the lawless course of the ship

626

INDEX

Treasurer, ii. 68 ; addresses a letter
to the City Comiianies about the
Lottery, 277 ; requires a coutribu-
tion by every member of the Com-
pany towards the support of the
colonists iu Virginia in 1(}23, 294;
Captain Tucker protests to, against
the continuation of the Dutch trade,
301 ; Governor Harvey recommends
to, the establishment of a custom-
house, 302 ; petitioned to enforce the
payment of a debt due by Edmund
Scarborough, 3-10; directs the Gov-
ernment in Virginia to aid John
Woodcock, 3G5 ; warned that the peo
pie of Virginia would in a certain
contingency manufacture their own
clothing, 467 ; approves the recom-
mendation of the commissioners in
1676 to continue the Cajjital at
Jamestown, 546.

Processioning, i. 543.

Prodger, Edward, i. 510.

Protectorate, i. 354; ii. 30, 213, 343,
505.

Prout, Timothy, ii. 319.

Providence, ship, ii. 320.

Pryor tobacco, i. 436.

Pryor, William, i. 448 ; ii. 89, 152.

Puccoon, i. it9, 185, 261.

Pullets, ii. 206, 207, 210. See Chickens
and Poultry.

Pumpkins, i. 98, 167, 195, 251 ; ii. 200.

Purchas, Samuel, i. 490.

Pyankitank River, i. 80, 104 ; Indian
tribes dwelling in valley of, 140-144.

Pyle, Abraham, ii. 311.

Queen's Creek, ii. 83, 185, 213, 563.

Quince, i. 48, 331, 468.

Quirauk Mountains, i. 28.

Quit-rents, a condition of tenure, i.
556; payable to the Treasurer, 557,
558; Howard Horsey petitions for
the Receiver-Generalship of, 559;
continued source of ill feeling with
planters, 5()0; payable in tobacco,
560; attempt to make it payable in
coin, 562 : how disposed of, 563.
See also Title of Land.

Quiyough, i. 83.

Quiyoughcohannock, i. 141.

Raccoons, i. 127, 181, 183.

Radford, ii. 425.

Radish, i. 251.

Raisins, i. 42.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, i. 14, 36; terms
of his letters patent, 2; sends out
Amadas and Barlow, 5; his enter-
prise requires support of many ad-
venturers, 12; lost colonists of, 17;
his pamphlet on Dutch Trade, 57.

Randolph, MSS. preface, ix ; Henry, i.
377; ii. 534; William, 55, 558.

Ranson, Robert, his invoice of goods,
ii. 385.

Rappahannock, County, preface, ix;
prices of cattle in, i. 374; sheep in,
377 ; amount of tobacco i:)roduced in,
in 1689, 456; ii. 36; value of slaves
in, 92; runaway slaves in, 116: sil-
verware owned by its citizens, 173 ;
personal estates of citizens of, 249;
value of land in, 253; trade of, with
New York, 315; with Barbadoes,
327; English merchants trading in,
334; Indian marts in, 388; black-
smiths owning lands in, 419; land
owned by coopers in, 421 ; also car-
penters, 423; ship-builders in, 4.39:
owners. of mills in, 490; town build-
ing in, 549, .5,53, 556 ; Indians, i. 178,
185; River, 38, 85, 156, 500; fish in,
112 ; Indian tribes dwelling in valley
of, 140-144 ; Smith's visit to the, 1()4 ;
scarcity of shipping in, 447 ; freight
rates in the transportation of tobacco
from, 450 ; first settlement north of,
492; ii. 80, 341-342, 346, 522, 524; a
town to be built on, 540, 544.

Raspberry, i. 95, 165.

Ratcliffe, Edward, ii. 271; Emanuel,
324; President, i. 37.

Rats, i. 223; musk, 128.

Rattlesnakes, i. 129.

Read, Benjamin, owns property in
England, ii. 247 ; Plantation, selected
as the site for a town, 549.

Reade. Abraham, i. 353 ; George, 629 ;
Henry, .598.

Reaphook, i. 464. See Hook.

Receivers, i. 443.

Recording of conveyances, i. 570, 571.

Recovery, ship, ii. 553.

627

Redbird,i. 119, 184.

Reedy Swamp, i. 431.

Reeves, i, 317, 415, 460.

Register, preface, ix; i. 327, 501, 528,
529, 617 ; ii. 500, 504.

Relye, Thomas, i. 441.

Reuters, i. 217. See Leases.

Residences, i. 323 ; fortified after mas-
sacre, 274 ; ii. 134; wooden, 145 ; cost
of building in Virginia, 150; the
Great House, 151; a typical dwell-
ing, 151, 152; partitions in, 157;
surroundings of, 161 ; value of fur-
niture in different rooms, 166 ; char-
acter of furniture in the various
apartments, 177; cost of, burnt by
Bacon's soldiers at Jamestown, 546;
English taste of immigrants par-
ticularly observable in, .574.

Rewcastle, Henry, ii. 3.S.

Rhode Island, wool a standard of value
in, ii. 521.

Rice, i. 260, 337, 467.

Rice, John, i. 448; William, ii. 419.

Richard the Second, i. 346.

Richards, i. 464; ii. 317, .333, 334.

Richardson, Judge, portrait of, ii. 174.

Richmond, County, poor of, ii. 257;
City, i. 192.

Rigby, Peter, i. 541.

Rives, William Cabell, preface, xi.

Roanoke, i. 1, 2(), 47, 54, 88, 162, 167,
186; River, 511; Money, ii. 115,
520.

Robert, Benjamin, ii. 479; .John, 140.

Robins, Edward, i. 330; John, ii. 75.

Robinson, Conway, preface, ix; Chris-
topher, ii. 92, 558; Henry, i. 603;
William, ii. 552, 559.

Roby, Peter, i. 482.

Rochdale Hundred, i. 210.

Rogers, Alice, ii. 15; Mary, 123; Noah,
473; Samuel, i. 599; Professor Tho-
rold, ii. 228.

Rolfe, John, i. 217 ; first to experiment
in planting tobacco, 211, 212; refers
to production of English grain in,
238; complainsof want of mechanics,
250 ; estimates the production to the
man, 252; observes marl in the Pow-
hatan Valley, 427; his reference to
the Magazine, ii. 281; his experi-

ment -with tobacco, 566; Thomas,
i.511.

Rolling houses, i. 306, 440.

Rome, i. 310.

Rose, i. 146.

Rose, ship, ii. 320.

Rosegill, ii. 156.

Rosemary, i. 332.

Rosin, i. 41, 46, 48.

Rossingham, i. 267, 297.

Rotterdam, ii. 307.

Rowland, Kate Mason, preface, x.

Rowsley, William, i. 135.

Rowzie, Edward, ii. 1, 2.

Royal African Company, ii. 77, 78, 80,
82, 84, 246.

Royal Oak, ship, i. 358.

Royall, Henry, ii. 196, 560.

Ruddle, Robert, ii. 334.

Ruthn, Edmund, i. 427.

Rum, ii. 33, 84, 215, 325.

Russell, Mr., his scheme for making
wine from sassafras, ii. 212; John,
i. 372.

Russia, i. 22, 41, 42, 16, 49, 69, 393.

Russia Company, Frobisher obtains a
license from, i. 22 ; sends out two ves-
sels to discover Northwest Passage,
24; interested in the discovery of
the South Sea by Newport, 36 ; prin-
cipal agent in suppljing England
with naval stores, 42 : expends
£80,000 in promoting its trade, 53;
its character, 69 ; consults with Lord
Culpeper about Russia as a tobacco
market, 404.

Rutland County, i. 578.

Sack, ii. 215, 216, 231,263.

Saddles, ii. 239, 340.

Sadler, John, i. 412; ii. 328.

Saffin, John, ii.319, 320; Thomas, 479.

Sage, i. 332.

Sailors, 1. 444; number engaged in

Virginian carrying trade, in 1636,

311; English bottoms navigated by

Dutch, 358. See Seamen.
Sakers, John, i. 334.
Salisbury, Earl of, i. 15, 63, 129, 156,

208,592; ii. 268, 271.
Salle', i. 625.
Salley, Thomas, ii. 421.

628

INDEX

Salt, i. 167, 202; the attempt to pro-
duce, in Itilt), ii. 483; manufacture
of, stopped during time of Argoll,
484; sjjots selected for its manu-
facture by John Pory in 1()21, 484;
General Court adopts order for man-
ufacture of, in 1630, 485; William
Capps sent to Colony iu 1627 to try
au experiment in the manufacture
of bay salt, 485 ; Mr. Dawin rewarded
for production of, 485 ; also Colonel
Edmund Scarborough, 485, 486; large
quantities imported, 486.

Sanderson, Edward, ii. 379.

San Domingo, ii. 58.

Sands, Thomas, ii. 347.

Sandy Point, ii. 345.

Sandys, Sir Edwin, suggests the ap-
pointment of a committee, i. 235 ;
proposition by, to import heifers into
Virginia, 247 ; his comment on power
of the king to divert all tobacco to
Virginia, 268; moves for appoint-
ment of a committee whose duty
should be to obtain youths depend-
ent upon the parish for shipment to
Virginia, 593 : ii. 68, 428 ; calculates
cost of iron works, 448; George,
wishes to make a search for South
Sea, i. 39; seeks to revive silk cul-
ture after massacre of 1622, 242, 243 :
also to promote culture of grape
after the massacre, 246; explains
the supremacy of tobacco as a prod-
uct of Virginia, 255 ; denies intention
of planters to withdraw to the East-
ern Shore, 273 ; ii. 48, 147, 148 ; refers
to effects of the high rate of wages
in Virginia, 415; shipwrights com-
mitted to care of, 428 ; writes to John
Ferrer, 431 ; takes charge of glass
works, 442 ; his opinion of the Ital-
ian glass makers, 443; his account
of the Falling Creek site for iron
manufacture, 448.

Sargent, William, ii. 142.

Sassafras, i. 48, 92, 211, 235, 261.

Savory, i. 251

Savoy, Duke of. ii. 66.

Saw-mills, ii. 429, 431. See Mills.

Saws, i. 233.

Scarborough, Edmund, i. 358, 536,

609 ; owns an interest in a ship, 448 ;
Surveyor-General of the Colony, 535 ;
ii. 76, 340, 351 ; owns a uiaU-house,
213 ; has nine shoemakers iu his ser-
vice, 476; rewarded for manufacture
of salt, 485, 486; a representative
man of the seventeenth century, 576 ;
Henry, ii. 334 ; Littleton, i. 609 ; Ma-
tilda, i. 609; ii. 76, 78; Tabitha,
i. 609; ii. 76.

Schools, a free school established in
Charles City County, ii. 403.

Schouldhoven, ii. 292.

Schut, Cornelius, ii. 311.

Scotch servants, i. (i09.

Scotland, i. 611 ; ii. 329.

Scott, Nicholas, i. 448 ; Robert, ii. 257.

Scrapes, William, ii. 309.

Seaborne, Isaac, ii. 439.

Seabrel, i. 376; owns bee-hives, ii. 201.

Seals, colonial, i. 549.

Seamen, wages of those sailing from
West Indies, ii. 325 ; also of those en-
gaged in Virginian trade, 347 ; unre-
liability of, 348. See Sailors.

Seasoning, ii. 59; negroes not subject
to, 107.

SeaM-ell, Henry, ii. 309.

Secretary of the Colony, i. 229.

Sedgwick, William, ii. 493.

Segar, Oliver, i. 421.

Senior, ii. 444.

Sergeant, Peter, ii. 320.

Servants, were not menials ; whites
bound to service by indenture, or
otherwise, for prescribed time, i. 573 ;
term not confined to laborers, arti-
sans, and mechanics, but included
apprentices seeking knowledge of
learned professions; example, 574;
nor were they necessarily of humble
origin, 574; in seventeeuth century,
two powerful influences to increase
the number of, in Colony, one iu
England and the other in Virginia,
575; what they were : first, the con-
dition in England of the poor and
laboring population, 576-584; and
second, the advantages of Virginia
and the demand for labor there,
584-587 ; until 161(i, belonged to the
Company ; arrivals at different

629

dates; none set free until the
departure of Dale, then this privi-
lege granted by Yeardley to a few,
587; Argoll granted it to some, but
made them pay an extraordinary
price, 588; exact chai'acter of in-
deutui-es before Yeardley not ascer-
tained, but no doubt contained the
ordinary English covenants ; jjrivate
persons and Hundreds imported ser-
vants in 1(519,588; many introduced,
588, 589; in 1619, the Company, in
order to promote the culture of
other products than tobacco, offered
to pay for these products in, 589;
criminals and dissolute persons of
both sexes going over as, 589 ; at
first all persons sent to Colony
were to be of good character, 590;
in 1609 the Company rejected the
offers of the Privy Council, 590-592;
the Privy Council, Mayor of Lon-
don, the King and Dale in favor
of relaxing the policy in regard
to character of jjersons sent out
as, 592, 593; in 1619 a number of
youths were sent over, 593 ; what
the Company bound itself to do for
the youths sent to Colony by city of
London, 594; charge for transpor-
tation reduced, 594; cost, in 1621,
of sending a boy to Colony, 595;
introduction of young persons fa-
vored, 595; in 1621, Company will-
ing to accept poor men and women ;
approved by Parliament; but this
source of supply was small, 596;
precautions of Company as to char-
acter of emigrants, 597 ; crimes
of the convicts sent over, 597-
599 ; contention between the Com-
pany and the King about sending
dissolute persons to Colony, 599;
numbers and ages of, by census of
1621-1625, 600, 601 ; even after disso-
lution of Company, public officers op-
posed to introduction of criminals,
illustration, 601 ; criminals intro-
duced after dissoluti(m,were bi-ought
over by merchants and others as (U--
dinary servants, instances, 602 ; dis-
position of English authorities to

send criminals to "Virginia arose
from the severity of English peual
code, 603, (iOi; extenuating circum-
stances and small offences, 604;
after Restoration, number of crimi-
nals among, greater, ()04, 605 ; Crom-
well's banislied soldiers compelled
to act as, and rebelled, 605; iu 1667,
earnest opposition to "jail-birds";
General Court in 1670 prohibited
introduction of English felons, 605;
English authorities confirmed ac-
tion of General Court, 606; proc-
lamation of General Court, how
enforced, 606, 607 ; opposition to con-
victs; gratitude to Arlington, 607;
in 1682j Commissioners of Trade
and Plantations required security of
transported felons; its effect, ()07;
larger number of those imported,
after having been guilty of offences
iu England, had only taken part in
rebellious movements, instances,
608, 609 ; number of Irish and
Scotch, 609; whole number in
1671, six thousand, and not many
political offenders among them, 610 ;
in 1678, Scotch rebels shipped to
America, 611; in 1685, English
rebels sent to Virginia, 611 ; pref-
erence for youths continued after
Company dissolved, and tlie de-
mand during the rest of the cen-
tury, 612; how their youthfulness
revealed, 612, 613; obtained in Lon-
don and Bristol by felonious means,
instances, 613, 614; legal proceed-
ings against shipmasters and others
on account of persons inveigled on
boai'd vessels, example, 614; spirit-
ing away, 615; in 1664, Committee
for Foreign Plantations had to inter-
pose, 616 ; in 1664, English merchants
took an active part against spiriting
away, ()16 ; what the Committee who
had charge of Colony did : a Register
appointed, his duties and powers, ()17,
618; not entirely effective, 618; in
1670, other strict measures were
adopted, 618; severe Act of Parlia-
ment did not stop spiriting away;
ten years later, 10,000 persons were

630

annually spirited from the kingdom,
618 ; Order of Council in 1682 ; wbat
it required ; bow it was violated, 618 ;
confirmed and republished by the
Commissioners of Trade and Plan-
tations, 619; not all obtained by
unlawful and foul methods; many
supplied by agents of high character
in London, Bristol, Weymouth, Dart-
mouth, Hull, Biddeford, Barnsta-
ple, and Southampton; what they
did, 620; however procured, were
shipped as mere merchandise and
to be exchanged for tobacco, 620;
desired by shippers from England,
as they helped to pay expenses of
outward voyage and were in such
demand in Colony, 622 ; demand for
them well sustained by necessity for
them, 623 ; servants subject to priva-
tion and hardship, on outward voy-
age, and exposed to pestilence;
crowded and poorly fed, 625; epi-
demic of 1622 ; instructions to Yeard-
ley and directions to Governor and
Council ; presentment and punish-
ment of owners and masters of ves-
sels, 626 ; West's report, C>26 ; in W41,
Berkeley instructed to enforce the
rules which provided for the poorest
on shipboard wholesome victuals and
ample quarters, 627 ; the same statu-
tory care for the most indigeut ser-
vants shown at a later day, 627 ; on
outward passage often treated bar-
barously, example, 627, 628 ; charges
for conveying them to Virginia sub-
stantially the same throughout sev-
enteenth century ; figures given, 620 ;
cost of transporting; Bullock de-
clares that the expense of living
until vessel sailed had to be added,
630 ; articles to be furnished accord-
ing to indentures, 630; taxed by
Assembly on arriving at Old Point ;
afterwards more heavily taxed if of
alien birth, 631 ; penalties against
forestalling the market did not apply
to them, 631 ; when they gave own-
ers of vessels the right to dispose of
their labor to pay for their passage
frequently the charge was advanced,

and often gross extortion was prac-
tised, which, though complained of,
was never remedied, 631 ; the Statute
of 1612 required masters of vessels
not to sell any goods until they ar-
rived at Jamestown and had been
there twenty-four hours; this Act
was repealed and did not include
Eastern Shore or York River; ser-
vants to be landed along with ordi-
nary merchandise, 632 ; in assigning
them to the planters, the terms of
their indentures had to be followed ;
if no indentures, they could be sold
only for the period laid down by the
custom of Virginia, 633 ; where they
were landed ; how disposed of when
they were consigned under indent-
ure to planters named in bills of
lading and in other cases, 633; not
allowed to break their indentures
by binding themselves to a second
party; compelled to serve both the
agreed terms in succession, 634;
the indenture, its provisions, ii. 1;
the custom when there were no
indentures, 3, 4 ; all servants, alien
or English, placed on the same
footing, 4; the rights which they
could claim, 5; food, 6; clothing,
8 ; protection afforded them by law
in case of bad treatment, 10-13 ; their
moral improvement, 14; duties of
women servants, 15; character of
servants' work, 13, 16 ; offence of
running away and its punishment,
10-29; conspiracies, 29, 31 ; resist-
ance to masters, 31 ; murders by,
32; stealing, 33; sexual relations,
34-37 ; bastards by negroes, 37 ;
secret marriages, 37; funerals, 38;
status in citizenship, 39; rights on
expiration of term, 40-44 ; appren-
tices, 41-43; prosperity of; after
close of term, 44-46; members of
Assembly, 44 ; overseers, 47 ; how
wages of, could be invested, 50; op-
portunities open to women imported
from England, 51 ; persons con-
demned to service for stealing, 51 ;
value in money sterling of, 51, 52 ;
negro servants, 52; Turkish, 54;

631

Algerian, 54; Indian, 54-56; wliere
landed under Act of Cohabitation,
1680, 549; character of indented
service, 369, 570.

Sewell, Katharine, ii. 53.

Sharpe, Robert, ii. 152 ; Samuel, 41 ;
Thomas, i. 429.

Sheep, the first introduced, i. 202;
number in Colony in 1627, 298;
number in 1649, 336; few at first
in Colony, 376; not until 1690 did
they become numerous in Virginia,
481; owners of, about 1690, 482;
number diminished by wolves, 483;
no effort made to protect them in
winter, 484 ; price of wool, 484, 485 ;
no sheep in aboriginal Virginia, ii.
460.

Sheepshead, i. 112.

Sheers, William, ii. 328.

Sheffield, i. 582.

Shenandoah Valley, i. 125.

Shepherd, Captain, ii. 436.

Sheppard, John, ii. 311; Robert, 95;
Thomas, i. 522.

Sheriffs, i. 548.

Sherry, ii. 216-231.

Sherry, John, ii. 346.

Sherwood, ii. 553.

Shingles, ii. 159.

Ships, i. 51, 445, 446; colonization of
Virginia expected to increase the
number of English, 8, 56; fine tim-
ber in Vii'ginia for building, 85;
those sailing in convoy in Novem-
ber, 1689, 385 ; the time of their leav-
ing England, 622; the route of, to
Virginia, 623, 624 ; time taken in pass-
ing from England to Virginia, 624 ;
discomfort of voyage to Virginia,
625-627 ; charges for ocean passage,
629; furnished with cannon, ii. 345,
346 ; when first built in Virginia,
426; ship built at Point Comfort,
1613, 427 ; barks, pinnaces, and row-
boats numerous in 1650, 432; ex-
emption allowed to ship owners
residing in Virginia, 4.33, 434; own-
ers of, if Virginians, relieved of all
duties except those of clearing, 436.

Ship-building, ii. 426-439; cost of cer-
tain parts of a sloop, 417 ; wrights, 426.

Shiplagh, Nicholas, ii. 317.

Shippey, Thomas, furniture in his
house, ii. 181.

Shirley, Hundred, i. 216, 217, 271;
Island, 305, 319.

Shirts, ii. 190.

Shoes, ii. 193, 340, 343, 3(J0, 375, 376.

Shoemakers, ii. 401 ; not among arti-
ficers imported in 1()09, 474; adver-
tised for by Company in 1611,475;
Samuel Mathews employed eight,
476; number of, held as servants
by leading planters, 476, 477; im-
ported from England, 477 ; contracts
between planters and, 478 ; owners
of landed property, 479 ; subject to
strict statutory regulations, 479 ; the
Act prohibiting exportation of hides
intended to aid, 480.

Shovel, i. 200, 201, 233, 339.

Sibsey, John, i. 372; ii. 157, 250;
Thomas, 173.

Sicily, i. 310.

Sickles, i. 237, 464.

Silk, i. 42, 51, 52, 91, 219, 241, 467;
first essay in culture of, made in
time of Smith, 240 ; King James' in-
terest in, 240; every planter obliged
to set out six mulberry trees, 241;
copies of treatises on culture of, for-
warded to Virginia, 241 ; silk-worm
seed imported from Valencia, 242;
massacre of 1622 puts an end to cul-
ture of, 242 ; effort to revive, after
massiicre, 243 ;• interest in culture of,
revives in 1638, .328: culture of, ex-
pected in 1649 to supersede tobacco,
338 ; marked progress in culture of,
about 16.")4, 365 ; experiments of Ed-
ward Digges in culture of, 365 ; in-
terest felt in, by the Ferrers, 36(i,
367 ; rewards offered for production
of, by the Assembly, 368, 369; ex-
traordinary amount of attention
paid to, about 16()1, 3{)6; rewards
for culture of, 397 ; Berkeley sends
the King a gift of, 399; number of
mulberry trees planted by Major
Thomas Walker in 1666, ."99; the
Assembly revives the premium for
silk-making, 400.

Silk-grass, i. 219, 234, 262, 467.

632

Silks, ii. 187, 194.

Silver. See Metals.

Silver Falcon, ship, ii. 284.

Silversmith, blacksmith sometimes
performed the work of, ii. 418.

Silverware, ii. 170-174.

Simpson, Samuel, ii. 83; William, 474,
558.

Skilderman, Herman, ii. 474.

Skins. See Hides.

Slader, Mathew, his wager with a
tailor, ii. 473.

Slaves, first introduction of, into Vir-
ginia, i. 227 ; brought in by Captain
Grey, 295; number in Virginia in
1649, 336; their relative numerical
proportion to servants, 572, 573;
ii. 56; advantages of, as compared
with servants, 58 ; cheapness of their
labor, 60; first landing of, 65; in-
crease in number, 70; distribution
of, in 1625, 72; number brought in
by Captain Grey, 73 ; first charter-
ing of Slave Company, 73 ; number
imported by individual planters, 75 ;
Royal African Company, 77; slave
population, 77 ; number imported
annually about 1679, 79; number
brought in by New England ships,
81; slave-ships, 82, 83; the slave-
ship Society lands negroes on the
Eastern Shore, 85; African head
rights in patent books, 1690, 85;
native slaves, 88; values of, 88-93;
duty on, 93 ; Christianizing, 93 ; bap-
tism of, in Virginia, 95 ; first dispute
as to ownership in, 98; regarded
as personalty, 99; female, taxed,
103; taxation of, 100, 104; duties
of, in the field, 104, 105 ; slave quarter,
106 ; clothing, 107 ; not permitted to
hold property, 107; suicide among,
108; population of, in 1700, 108;
sexual relations with whites, 109-
113; marriages among, 113; run-
ning away, 113, 114; discontent
among, 115 ; number at large about
1690, 117; certificate allowing, to
leave master's plantation, 118; in-
surrections among, 118 : murder and
other crimes by, 119-121 ; emanci-
pated, 122-125; required to be sent

out of country, 128 ; Indian, 129, 130 ;
negroes imported from Barbadoes,
324, 325; the African, inferior in
mechanical skill, 405 ; where landed
under Cohabitation Act of 1680,
549; extension of tobacco culture
strengthened African slavery, 572 ;
influence of slavery in seventeenth
century, 572, 573.

Smalridge, Elizabeth, i. 614.

Smith, Bryan, ii. 90; Edward, 606;
Henry, i. 377; Humphrey, ii. 421;
Jobni of Middlesex, 459, 558; John,
of Nebley, 212 ; John, of New York,
316; Joseph, 474; Lawrence, i. 554;
Nicholas, ii. 10 ; Peter, 552 ; Robert,
i. 307, 377; Roger, 600; ii. 531;
Thomas, 424; Samuel, i. 457; Wil-
liam, ii. 473.

Smith, Captain John, his authority
paramount before arrival of Dela-
ware, i. 18 ; alone, of the prominent
leaders, had a proper conception
of the true wealth of Virginia,
20; condemns the search for the
South Sea, 20; his principles for
promoting the safety and prosperity
of Virginia, 21; his suggestion to
Henry Hudson, 25; his reports, ob-
tained from the Indians, encourage
the notion as to the nearness to Vir-
ginia of the South Sea, 29 ; a defence
of his character, GO, 31 ; visits Pow-
hatan, 33 ; deprecates expedition into
Monacan country, 37 ; believes that
Colony should be placed on a foot-
ing of permanency before any at-
tempt to make use of its natural
products in supplying wants of Eng-
land, 50, 51 ; his description of Vir-
ginia, 74, 75 ; his account of Virginia
soil, 79, 80 ; Indian captured by, 85 ;
account of Virginia wgods, 86;
his impression as to excellence of
Virginia timber, 87; remarks on
presence of the gooseberry in Vir-
ginia, 96; asserted that the droi>-
ping of leaves turned the grass into
weeds, 100; his first voyage in the
Chesapeake, 107; his reference to
marshes of Virginia, 109, 110; his
visit to Werowocomoco in 1608, 111;

INDEX

633

observes schools of fish in the Ches-
apeake, 111, 112; wounded by a
stingray, 113; kills wild fowl, 115;
observes no dangerous reptiles in
Virginia, 129; linds Werowocomoco
frozen hall a mile from either shore,
lol ; calculates numbers of Indians in
aboriginal Virginia, 140-144 ; houses
at Kecoughtan when visited by, 145 ;
declares that each Indian household
knew its own fields, 149; his refer-
ence to number of ears on a stalk of
Indian corn, 152; his expedition up
the Chickahominy, 156; returns to
Jamestown with seven hogsheads
of maize, 158; his experience with
Indian conjurers, 159, 160; observes
enormous pipes in possession of the
Susquehannocks, 163 ; visit to the
Rappahannock in 1608, 164; enter-
tained by Indian women at Wei"o-
wocomoco in 1608, 174; his visit to
Opechancanough, 179 ; his visit to
King Powhatan, 180; stops at Ke-
coughtan and is feasted by Indians,
181 ; measures the calf of the leg
of a Susquehannock warrior, 185;
his Indian guide on the Potomac,
186; description of site of James-
town, 190; says that no thought
was given to tobacco at first, 195;
superintends cutters of clapboards,
197; makes first successful attempt
to plant Indian corn, 198, 199; no
plough at work previous to his de-
parture, 200; Dale compared with,
220; manufacture of wine during
administration of, 243 ; his answers
to the Royal Commissioners about
tobacco, 255; induces Powhatan to
grant lands to Captain West at the
Falls, 489; character of servants
before his departure, 588; ii. 6; his
list of articles to be brought over
by the emigrant, 186 ; refers to Lon-
don tradesmen, 2()7 ; maize planted
by, gathered, 269; only one carpen-
ter in Colony when he withdrew,
401 ; manufacture of glass in time of
his administration, 440, 441 ; calls at-
tention to the adaptability of A^ir-
ginia to iron manufacture, 415; also

of pipe staves and clapboards, 492;
supervises the erection of James-
town, 526; size of Jamestown when
he left the Colony, 527.

Smith's Fort, selected as the site for
a town, ii. 548; Hundred, i. 505, 533,
587 ; Isles, i. 112.

Smithy, John, i. 609.

Smuggling on Eastern Shore, ii. 329.
See Navigation Acts.

Smyth, John, ii. 84, 146, 174, 246.

Smyth, Sir Thomas, i. 225, 277, 592;
Governor of the East India Com-
pany, 69; ships in Virginia during
his administration, ii. 427, 430.

Snagle, Henry, ii. 421.

Snakes, i. 129.

Snipe, i. 115.

Snow, i. 131.

Snow-bird, i. 119.

Soap ashes, i. 17, 41, 45, 46, 49, 50.

Society, ship, ii. 91.

Somers, Sir George, i. 129, 136, 202,
624; ii. 269.

Somers Isles, James I. restricts amount
of tobacco to be exported from Vir-
ginia and, 264; ship tobacco to Hol-
land, i. 267 ; right to bring tobacco
into English ports reserved to Vir-
ginia and, 277 ; its tobacco to be
conveyed to London alone, 277, 279;
Amis contract for tobacco of, 284;
Richard Norwood makes a survey
of, 533; ii. 65; amount expended in
plantation of Virginia and, 293; a
frigate belonging to, 427 ; Company,
i. 69, 265, 599.

Sora, i. 116.

South America, trade with Virginia,
ii.329.

South Sea, i. 9-11; the desire to dis-
cover a northwest passage to, 21,
22; the search for it, 22-24; the
London Company justified in boil-
ing that a route to, could be found
through Virginia, 25-27 ; Newport 's
first expedition to the Falls de-
signed for the discovei-y of, 28;
reports among Indians as to, 29-
.".4; Newport's expedition into the
Monacan country for tlie discovery
of, 35-37; Smith opposes expcdi-

634

INDEX

tion, 38 ; the hope of finding a route
to the, lingers long in England,
38, 39; Governor Berkeley in 1670
attempts to find a passage to,
through Virginia, 40.

Southampton, Administration, ii. 448;
Hundred, i. 507; ii. 446, 448; River,
i. 204, 305, 421.

Southampton, England,!. 620; ii. 297.

Southampton, Lord, ii. 358 ; contrib-
utes to expense of forwarding ship-
wrights to Virginia, 428.

Spades, i. 200, 201, 233, 339, 463.

Spain, i. 42-44, 47, 49, 51, 55, 93, 219,
241, 244; ii. 513.

Spaniards, i. 13, 48, 61-66, 186, 196 ; ii.
57.

Spanish, Main, i. 13, 88, 623 ; ii. 64, 66,
69; Money, ii. 502, 514, 515; To-
bacco, i. 267, 281, 293, 294, 303, 325,
363, 365.

Sparks, ii. 151, 160.

Speke, i. 72.

Spelman, Henry, i. 102, 140, 152; re-
fers to variety of birds in Virginia,
123 ; describes Indian manner of
eating, 174.

Spencer, Mrs. Elizabeth, ii. 110;
George, gift to the poor, 257 ; Rob-
ert, 140 : William, i. 213, 227.

Spencer, Nicholas, i. 575; refers to
the soils on the banks of the Po-
tomac, 84 ; also to the freezing over
of the Potomac, 131 ; writes to Lord
Coventry about the deplorable con-
dition of the Virginia people in
1681, 402 ; comments on the content-
ment of the Virginians in 1684, 407;
owns property in England, ii. 247;
ascribes failure of town building to
number of towns projected, 554;
deprecates attempt to build too
many towns, 5.")5.

Spices, i. 42, 51, 339; ii. 274, 296.

Spillman, Thomas, ii. 15.

Spinners, i. 54.

Spirits, ii. See Wines.

Spiriting away, i. 613-616.

Spitalfields, i. 240.

Spoons, i. 339. See Silverware.

Spotswood, Governor, i. 40, 431 ; ii. 62,
143.

Spratt, Henry, ii. 328; his silverware,
173 ; his wool cards, 469 ; owns mills,
488; buys a lot in Norfolk town,
552.

Springs, i. 102, 103. 146 ; ii. 161.

Squirrels, i. 127, 181, 183.

Stafford County, i. 412 ; Indian marts
in, ii. 388; town building in, 549,
556, 559.

Stafford, William, i. 334; ii. 247.

Stainesmore, Nathan, ii. 334.

Stanard, William G., i. 253.

Stanley, H. M., i. 72.

Starke, Richard, his silverware, ii. 172.

Starkey, Peter, i. 414 ; Richard, ii. 334.

Starr, ship, i. 90.

Starrman, Cornelius, ii. 309.

State House, ii, 403; erected at James-
town, 534; rebuilt after the burning
of Jamestown, 547.

Steel, i. 42.

Steers, i. 224; value of, about 1688,
481. See Cattle.

Stegge, Thomas, i. 335, 448; ii. 322,
366, 380.

Stennick, Cornelius, ii. 311.

Stephens, Richard, ii. 9.

Stepney, Parish of, i. 424.

Stevens, Richard, ii. 531 ; Robert, 152,

Stickweed, i. 167.

Stingray, i. 113.

Stith, John, i. 546.

Stockholder, Edward, 1. 500.

Stockings, ii. liiO, 193.

Stockton, Commodore, i. 82.

Stonam, Henry, ii. 473.

Stone, Captain, i. 311; ii. 324; James,
i. 338 ; John, ii. 553.

Stoodeley, Daniel, ii. 334.

Stores, size of, ii. 381 ; enumeration of
contents in special instances, 382-385.

Storm, the great, of 1667, i. 395, 396.

Strachey, William, i. 18, 84, 88, 113,
121, 122, 143; gives reasons for col-
onization of Virginia, 10 ; his calcu-
lation as to number of Indians in
aboriginal Virginia, 142-144 ; de-
scribes Kecoughtan Indians as ad-
mirable husbandmen, 156 : describes
apparel of an Indian princess, 182 ;
his account of the tobacco of the
Indians, 212.

INDEX

635

Stratton, ii. 106, 153; Anthony, 334:
Edwin, 558; John, i. 330; Thomas,
ii. IWi.

Strawberries, 1. 97, 165.

Stribling, Christopher, ii. 439.

Stringer, John, a weaver, ii. 470.

Strowder, William, ii. 420.

Studley, Thomas, ii. 2()3.

Sturgeon, i. 112, 262.

Stuyvesant, i. 351, 369; ii. 78, 310, 314,
315, 324.

St. Albans, Earl of, i. 567.

St. Christopher, i. 321.

St. John's River, i. 61.

St. Katharine's, i. 614.

St. Valencia, 1.242.

Suez Canal, i. 41.

Sucrar, i. 84, 93, 251, .325, 339; ii. 33,
328, 357.

Sugar, maple, i. 93.

Sumac, i. 262.

Sunflower, i. 146, 165.

Surry County, preface, ix ; sheep own-
ers in, i. 377 ; ii. 126 ; value of slaves
in, 90; brick houses in, 140; to-
bacco of, to be transported to James-
town, 542 : town building in, 548, 556.

Surveyors, appointed by Act of 1662 ;
duties and powers ; what vestries
and wardens of a church parish
could do, i. 419 ; in 1616, sent over
to draw map of lands to be dis-
tributed among adventurers accord-
ing to plan agreed upon ; map-mak-
ers in Colouy before this: ArgoU
probably brought over one; nego-
tiations with Norwood failed and
Claiborne employed ; his compensa-
tion and duties, .5.33, 534 : surveyor-
general created after abolition of
Company; appointed in England
and Governor prohibited from ap-
pointing him ; his duties, 534 ; pow-
ers of surveyor-general conferred
upon William and Mary College;
the college trustees in 1692 ap-
pointed Miles Cary; surveyors to
pay college one-sixth of their fee's
and to make to it an annual report,
534, 535 ; in 1690, Governor and
Council petitioned Board of Trade
that surveyor-general reside in Col-

ony, 535 : how appointed in different
periods of seventeenth century ;
form a society; men of high posi-
tion, 536 ; how the surveyor pro-
ceeded when one wished to sue out
a patent; lands on streams mostly
taken and streams used as bases,
537 ; next survey on same streams,
538; gross defects in first surveys;
compass at that time untrustworthy
and surveyors negligent; instances,
539: in 1623-24 diiferences as to
boundaries: legislation to settle
them; resurveys; improvements on
another's land, 540, 541 ; resurveys
under processioning law, 544 ; great
differences in them and in their
work ; some drew plats without
having any instrument, and sold
them ; Assembly compelled to inter-
pose, .546, 547: in 166(i, Assembly
doubled their fees to induce better
men to become surveyors; other
pro\isions, 547, 548 ; regulations
regarding, under Cohabitation Act
of 1680, ii. 549.

Susan, ship, ii. 281.

Susquehannock Indians, i. 163, 185.

Sussex, England, i. 428.

Swain, Arthur, i. 2()5; ii. 301.

Swan, i. 182.

Swan, ship, ii. 70.

Swann, Thomas, i. 53(5 ; buys a house
at Jamestown, ii. 534.

Swansy, Edward, ii. 470.

Sweden, i. 42, 393.

Sweet, Robert, ii. 109.

Sweet-scented tobacco, i. 435-438, 441.

Tables, ii. 167 ; linen for, ii. 167, 168.

Tacitus, i. 71.

Taillor, John, ii. 334.

Tailors, 1.217 ; indebtedness of, ii. 471 ;
charges and wages, 472, 473 ; social
status of, 473; in possession of con-
siderable property, 473, 474.

Talbott, John, ii. 141.

Talford, John, i. 602.

Tanners, i. 217; ii. 401, 406; not in-
cluded in list of artificers in 1609,
474; advertised for, by Company, in
1611,475; Samuel Mathews owns a

636

INDEX

tannery, 476; an important class in
Colony after abolition of Company,
476; in possession of considerable
property, 478; methods followed in
tanning, 479; Act interdicting ex-
portation of hides from Virginia,
partly for the purpose of promoting
interest of tanners and curriers, 480.

Tapestry, ii. 166.

Tappahannock, on the Powhatan, ii.
530.

Taquetock, the Indian autumn, i. 177.

Tar, i. 17, 41, 46, 49, 50, 89, 26*2, 393;
ii. 325; produced in time of Com-
pany, 493; barrels of, enumerated
in inventories of estates in Lower
Norfork County, 494; samples of,
shipped to England, 494.

Tarleton, Stephen, ii. 49.

Tassore, i. 198.

Tatnall, Captain, i. 451.

Taverns, ii! 204, 220, 225. See Inns
and Innkeepers.

Taxation, i. 388; tax on horses, 376;
the duty of two shillings on tobacco,
386; duty on slaves, ii. 93; negro
slaves regarded as personalty in
taxation, 99, 100, 104; fort duties,
349-353 ; duties on skins, 483 ; duty
of two pence on hogsheads exported,
500. See Duties.

Taylor, John, i. 154; ii. 334; Philip,
334; William, 81,470.

Tazewell, Governor, i. 538.

Temperance, ship, ii. 338.

Tenants, i. 213, 214, 594; imported into
Colony, 230; terms of agreement
with, 230, 231; their condition after
the massacre, 273; damage com-
mitted by, 418.

Tenure in fee simple, i. 221, 227.

Terra sigillata, i. 47, 48, 185.

Thacker, Edwin and John, ii. 558.

Thames, i. 612.

Thatcher, John, ii. .323.

Thomas, Edwin, ii. 326; John, i. 380,
381, 465 ; ii. 163, .327 ; Philip, 472.

Thomas and Ann, ship, ii. 339.

Thomas and Edward, ship, i. 449.

Thompson, John, ii. 317; Mathew,
559; Thomas, 474; William, i. 418.

Thoroughgood, Adam, i. 4S2; number

of goats owned by, 299 ; owns cow-
keepers, 299 ; cattle owned by, 372 ;
number of his horses, 375; number
of his sheep, 377, 482 ; came to Col-
ony as a servant, 574 ; his residence,
ii. 1.j7; his land patents, 252; a rep-
resentative man of the seventeenth
century, 576.

Thorpe, George, ii. 212; Katharine,
514.

Throckmorton, John, i. 598.

Thunder, i. 131, 132.

Thyme, i. 251, 332.

Timber, i. 45, 85.

Tithables, ii. 40; slave, 100, 101, 104.

Title to land, all the soil of Virginia
vested in the King, who granted it
to the Loudon Company; rights of
the Indians not acknowledged ex-
cept ill very qualified manner, i. 487-
490; Governor and Council in Vir-
ginia derived all their authority to
grant land from the Company, in a
quarter court, and documents con-
veying land had to be sent to Lon-
don and be approved at a quarter
court, composed of all the members
or their representatives, 500, 501 ;
during the existence of the Com-
pany, who held the soil in free and
common socage, the power to con-
vey an interest in it was, by charter
of 1606, in the Council, and by that
of l(i09, in the Treasurer, Council,
and Association of Adventurers in
England — their powers, 500-501 ;
how a grant of land was actually
and completely made in Virginia,
502 ; grounds upon which it could be
made ; bills of adventure ; foi-m
given, 502 ; dividends expected, 503 ;
first one was to have been in 1616,
503; Argoll's interference, 503, 504;
the great sub-patents, with two ex-
ceptions, not granted until l(>18,why,
506 ; sub-patents obtained by private
societies; the earliest, Martin's and
Smith's Hundreds; associations al-
lowed to engross enormous bodies of
land, how, 505 ; not favored by the
Company, 506; after dissolution of
Company these associations broke

INDEX

637

down, 507 ; lands belonging to some
associations transferred without re-
gard to their ownersliip, and these
new patentees were protected by
special instructions from English
Government, in 1G39-I(i-H ; case of
Southampton Hundred, 507; Mar-
tin's and Barclay's Hundreds, 508;
second ground for grant of land
meritorious services, by clergy, offi-
cers, physicians, and others, 508;
Delaware, in KJIO, received authority
to recompense services by bills of
adventure ; cases of Newport, Dale,
and Captain of Royal James, 509;
grants for services liable to abuse
and guarded against by the Com-
pany, 509 ; but they continued after
their dissolution, instances, 509,
510 ; grants for services on the
frontiers, instances, 510, 511 ; also
for manual services by tenants and
servants, instances, 511 ; claim set
up by some shareholders that the
cost of emigrants sent by them, who
died, or were lost at sea, should be
borne by the Company and paid in
land, brushed aside, 512, 513; by
orders and constitutions of 1618,
every planter who liad come to the
Colony before or during Dale's ad-
ministration entitled to 100 acres ;
this allowed as late as 1635, 512;
third ground, the head right ; in
operation in 1618, and became
principal basis of title ; what it
was, 512-514; right to 50 acres by
the head right not confined to
shareholders ; wise law and why,
514; uneasiness of colonists as to
titles after dissolution of Company ;
Yeardley's mission to England
in 1625, 514 ; instructions in 1639
to Wyatt, and to Berlveley in 1641,
in favor of head right, 515, 516;
forms of land patent immediately
after dissolution of Company, 515,
517; head right, in 1651, reserved
in surrender to Parliament and pro-
tected by Act of Parliament, and
after Eestoration repeatedly con-
firmed by instructions to Governors

of Virginia, 516 ; head right not so
inexpensive, why ; figures given,
517; abused and evaded, instances;
yet in conformity with the letter of
the law; frauds of ship-masters,
518, 519 ; of sailors, 519-521 ; many
patents to sea-faring men, 521; per-
versions of the head right (tarried so
far that the clerks of Secretary of
the Colony granted patents to all
who would pay from one to five
shillings, 524 ; these abuses crept in
by general consent, the reasons,
524-526 ; by code of 170(i, the power
of purchasing public lands with coin
or tobacco was given, and the price
for each fifty acres fixed at five
shillings, 526 ; how obtained during
existence of Company recapitulated,
and how obtained after abolition of
Company descriljed, 526, ">27 ; for a
long period no limit to tlie area one
individual could acquire; at first
plantations small ; how and why
enlarged and many owned by one
person ; protest of Governor and
Council unheeded; cases given of
sizes of tracts, 527-530 ; in l(i23-1624
differences as to boundaries; legis-
lation to settle them ; where im-
provements had been made on land
belonging to another ; i-esurveys,
540, 541 ; law of processioning to
quiet titles, but did not always do
so, examples, 543-545; after patent
obtained, two important conditions
in order to perfect a title, what they
were, 553-558; might be suspended
for special reasons, 554; a large area
of soil lapsed to the King because
provision as to "seating" in three
years had not been complied with ;
to what this applied, 564; issue of
second patents was encouraged, 565 ;
when one seized of laud in fee
simple died without heirs and intes-
tate, his lands reverted to tlie King;
who could now get them and liow,
5()5; escheator and what he did,
565,566; laxness still prevailed, 566;
fine of composition, 566; titles in-
volved in great confusion ; how this

638

was revealed in a strikins; light,
566, 567 ; in the Northern Neck at
first several proprietaries, with large
powers and privileges ; afterwards
one proprietary, who had an agent
who could delegate his powers ; quit-
rents payable in coin or tobacco ;
forfeiture, 567-569 ; head right not
basis of tenure in Northern Neck ;
there a system of purchase ; scale of
prices, 569 ; single ownership of enor-
mous tracts of land, 569 ; larger quan-
tity abandoned there than in other
parts of Colony, 570; deeds recorded
from an early period ; how acknowl-
edged before estate could pass in
later times ; object, 571 ; ii. 573, 574.
Tobacco, whether indigenous or not, i.
160; regarded by Indians as a spe-
cial gift from Great Spirit and used
by their medicine men and conjur-
ers, 160, 161 ; how used by warriors
and how cultivated, 162 ; cultivation
commenced by Rolfe in 1612, 210,
211 ; four years after his experiment
one of the staple crops, and of su-
perior quality, 217 ; grown in streets
of Jamestown, 222; how handled,
252 ; inspected, 254 ; the finest " long
sort " ; the only kind not prohibited ;
knowledge as to how to handle it,
303 ; inspection law in 1619 ; lowest
grades destroyed, 303; quality im-
proved by legal regulations, 308;
proclamation in 1631 ; increasing
quantity imported secretly from the
Brazils and Spanish Provinces in
America because of demand for the
highest grades, 308 ; principal crop
of Maryland also ; its cultivation
in Virginia interfered with because
the two Colonies were under differ-
ent administrations, 318, 319; labor
of one man would insure from £20
to £25 sterling at three pence a
pound, 337 ; Bullock's hypothetical
instance of a new planter, 342;
tendency of planters to run ahead
of demand in England, and they
lacked a market for the surplus,
345 ; in 1624 introduction of, into
England in foreign bottoms pro-

hibited by proclamation, 348 ; taxed
10s. a hogshead in deference to Navi-
gation Act, when ; also 2s. on every
hogshead exported from Colony,
without regard to nationality of
owner or point of destination, 353 ;
Dutch made a profit on, at three
cents a pound ; the removal of their
competition reduced its value, and
by 1657 they were led to i^roduce it
in their own territory, 355; in 1672,
one penny a pound imposed upon a
shipment from Colony to Colony;
reshipping, 359 ; inferior to Spanish,
yet more popular in England and
Holland, 361; to be imported only
into England or English dominions,
but legal provisions evaded and
how, 357, 362 ; raised in England
and sometimes sold for Spanish,
363 ; its cultivation in England pro-
hibited under James I., Charles I.,
Cromwell, and Charles II. to protect
revenue, 363 ; size of casks pre-
scribed by law ; complaints of ship-
masters, yet they mutilated hogs-
heads and damaged tobacco, 383 ;
gross weight of full cask about 475
pounds, but often more, 383 ; none to
be planted after July 10th ; stringent
regulations for improving its quality,
383, 384 ; shipped in 1665 to English
towns ; number of vessels transport-
ing it given, 384 ; in 1667, there were
anchored in James River eighteen
merchantmen loading with, 385 ; in
1662, petition from persons inVirginia
and Maryland interested in tobacco
trade to force vessels engaged in it to
leave the two Colonies only in sum-
mer; denied, and again refused, but
substantially granted when war
broke out between Holland and
England, 385, 386; duty of two shil-
lings a hogshead revived in 1662 ; its
effects considered : how paid and
secured ; only one duty in force after
repeal of ten shillings tax, except the
penny a pound upon tobacco con-
veyed from Virginia to other Colo-
nies, ."'86, .387 ; large quantities by
1672 shipped in bulk and the tax

639

fixed at the rate of two shillings
for every 500 pounds loose, 387 ;
from 1(J55 to l(i{)2, price so low
that a petition was offered to Kint?
and Council to command total ces-
sation of its culture in Virginia and
Maryland during 1(163; rejected and
the like not to he repeated, hut
this intemperate action was recalled,
389, 390; conference hetween Vir-
ginia and Maryland ahout restrict-
ing its culture in order to raise its
price ; Virginians proposed to stop all
planting after June 20th, hut Mary-
landers would not consent, why, 390 ;
similar plan proposed hefore, 391;
in l()tJ4, Virginia and Maryland crop
50,000 hogsheads which amounted to
£150,000 sterling, yet price so low
that planters brought in debt £50,000
sterling ; complaint of Governor and
Council against Maryland, 391 ; sub-
ject discussed, 392; crop of 16()6
enormous, and required 100 vessels
to remove only a part to England,
394; in 16(17, crop curtailed by a
memorable storm, but exports still
large on account of surplus, 394:
in 1666, a drug in the market ; As-
sembly sent messengers to Mary-
land to unite in stopping planting
despite King's order : agreement
made, in which Carolina joined, not
to plant for one year; came to noth-
ing, 394 ; between 1660 and 1(570 still
depressed in value, and extraordina-
ry attention given to other commodi-
ties, 396: quantity in 1682 greatly
reduced by rioters in Gloucester,
New Kent, etc., and people in impov-
erishment, 406 ; but by this reduction
the prodigious crop of 1683 brought
higher prices and vast relief; in
1684 Colony contented and peaceful,
407: crop of 1686 unusually large
and yet remunerative, and in 1687
planters enjoyed peace and plenty,
409 ; curious scheme for improving
it, 409, 410; granted to private citi-
zens for keeping a highway in order,
419, 420 : in 1(570, annual allowance
to Thomas Hunt of 1000 pounds

binding him to maintain a good road
over Portau niilldam, 420: Kev. Mr.
Clayton's advice to reclaim bogs
and marshes for, instead of clear-
ing more land followed with success,
432-434; grown on swampy land
and elsewhere ; the sweet-scented,
the Oronoco, the Pryor, 435, 436 ;
Indians said to have had several
varieties about 1685, unknown to
colonial husbandry, 436; lands
peculiarly adapted to the sweet-
scented between the York and the
James ; Digges' Neck in York
County, 436; adaptability of North-
ern Neck for fine grades of,
437 ; crops of Fitzhugh's, in l(i85-
1688 ; the Oronoco and sweet-scented
described; how seeds and plants
were treated and protected ; tall and
attenuated stalks called " French-
men," 438, 439 ; transplantation, tof}-
ping, suckering, worming, cutting,
and curing : pegs and sticks, 439-441 ;
when cured, taken down, stripped,
and assorted according to grade
and vai-iety ; lowest grade called
"lugs" as early as 1686; shipped
both with and without stems, 441,
442 ; casks for, regulated by law ;
weight increased, ranging from 500
to 1000 pounds ; the larger preferred,
442, 443 ; final disposition of, de-
pended upon a variety of circum-
stances, 443 : knavishness of re-
ceivers, 443, 444 : what purchasers
did, 444; casks propelled from be-
hind, 444; in handling and shipping
it, slaves, servants, and seamen all
employed, 444 ; how shipped where
the landings were not accessible
and the streams shallow ; sloops
employed to collect for ships, 445;
channels of streams protected by
law, 445; ships built for storing it;
cargoes ranged from 200 to 600
casks, i.e. from 120,000 to .300,000
pounds, 446 ; shippers divided their
casks between different vessels;
wrecks and capture, 44(). 447; some
seasons vessels insufficient. ■147:
sometimes difficult to ol)taiii trans-

640

portation, and why, 447^49;
freights fluctuate ; regulated by law ;
bills of ladiug, 449-451 ; ship-masters
preferred to ship it in mass, because
it could then be smuggled, sold pri-
vately, ancl^ade away with, 452,
453; evil effects of shipping in
bulk, 453, 454; shipping it in bulk
a very serious matter and fully
considered ; Byrd's views, 454-456;
quantity shipped from Virginia each
year of last decade of seventeenth
century; returns of collectors in
eight established districts, figures
given, 456 ; allowances to ship-
masters, collectors, and auditors,
456; prices of, in closing years of
seventeenth century; complaints of
planters, 457 ; used to pay for the
servants or laborers, who were to
make it, 620 ; effect of tobacco cult-
ure, ii. 61, 62; not subject to direct
taxation, 104; price of, in 1625, 205;
in 1676, 226; in 16S6, 243; in 1691,
247; the contracts for the annual
crop of the Colony, 298 ; exported
directly to merchants in England,
337-340: payment of mechanics in,
injures their prosperity, 413 ; low
price of, encourages local manufac-
ture of clothing, 468 ; all salaries
rated in, 500 ; sent to England,
accompanied by bills of exchange,
517 : where to be sent for shipment
abroad under Act of 1662, 542 ; con-
trolling inffuence on economic his-
tory of Virginia, 566. See Money.

Tortoises, i. 114, 179.

Townes, John, ii. 141.

Towns, existence of numerous stores
depresses growth of, ii. 381 ; the
plantation the real centre of the
community, 522, 523 : causes dis-
couraging growth of, 523-525 ; James-
town the nearest approach to a town
in Virginia in seventeenth century,
525 ; the character of earliest houses
there, 52(;; in a state of decay at
Delaware's arrival, 527; Sir Thomas
Dale founds Henricopolis, 528; im-
provements by Sir Thomas Gates at
Jamestown , 529 ; Jamestown reduced

to a few buildings at time of Argoll's
arrival, 530; Henrico in 1619 in a
state of ruin, 530 ; private residences
at Jamestown in time of Governor
Wyatt, 531 ; rule adopted in 1623
that all towns in Virginia should be
built in neighborhood of each other,
532; law against breaking bulk as
relating to Jamestown, 532; Lords
Commissioners in 1638, suspend the
requirement that all ships should
proceed to Jamestown, 533 ; General
Assembly in 1638 grants a lot to
every person settling at Jamestown,
534; Secretary Kemp liuilds a brick
residence there, 534; State House
erected at Jamestown, 534; Berkeley,
in 1642, instructed to divide the site
of Jamestown into lots for resi-
dences, 535 ; the regulation establish-
ing market days at Jamestown,
repealed in 1655, 536 : suggestion for
town building made by the author of
Vivr/inia's Cure, 536 : the scheme im-
practicable, 537 ; Berkeley, in 1662,
commanded to induce the planters
to erect a town upon every impor-
tant river, 538 ; an Act passed in
1662 for erection of towns, 540;
synopsis of terms of Act, 540-545;
size of Jamestown in 1675, 545, 546 ;
Jamestown burnt, 546 ; Culpeper in-
structed to rebuild it, 546; Cohabi-
tation Act of 1680, 547; terms of
this Act, 547-552 ; steps taken under
Cohabitation Act to lay off sites for
towns in all the counties, 552;
Jamestown derives no benefit from
Cohabitation Act, .^53: the Act sus-
pended, 554; causes for failure of
policy of promoting town building,
554; the Act for Ports, 1691, 555;
terms of this Act, 556, 5.57; promi-
nent citizens take advantage of Act,
552, 558, 559 ; Nicholson attempts to
defeat objects of the Act, 559; Act
for Ports suspended, 559, 560; lots
still granted by feoffees of the differ-
ent towns in spite of the susjiension
of the Act, 560, 561 ; size of James-
town after its restoration, 5*)1 ; the
capital removed to Middle Planta-

INDEX

641

tion, 562 : provisions for laying off a

town tliere, oGIJ-505.
Townsend, Joseph, ii. 320; Richard, i.

574 ; ii. 45.
Travers, John, ii. 473; Rebecca, 173;

William, 249, 385.
Travillian, John, ii. 22.
Treasurer, ship, ii. 67, 68, 69, 70, 72.
Tree, Richard, ii. 422.
Trevillian, Samuel, ii. 344, 345, 404.
Treworgie, John, ii. 317.
Trott, Perient, ii. 334.
Trotter, John, ii. 416: Richard, 129,

257 ; Thomas, i. 542.
Truelove, ship, ii. 295, 296.
Trunks, ii. 165.
Trunnels, ii. 493.
Trussell, John, ii. 45.
Tryal, ship, i. 248.
Tuckahoe, i. 166.
Tucker, William, i. 288, 533, 600; ii.

72, 95, .301, .373; John, i. 417.
Turkey, i. 43, 48, 49, 79, 280, 286.
Turkey Company, i. 24, 69.
Turkeys, i. 116, 170, 172, 182, 183 ; ii.

205, 207, 211.
Turks, i. 625 ; ii. 53. See Servants.
Turpentine, i. 46, 48, 262.
Twigg, William, ii. 334.
Tyler, Daniel, i. 625; Henry, ii. 125:

Lyon G., preface, ix; i. 549.
Tyndairs Point, proposition to build

capital at, ii. 546; selected as the

site for a town, 549.
Tyrus, i. 51.

Underwood, James, ii. 319.

University, for education of Indians,
i. 228. See College; East India
Company ; and Indians.

Upton, Captain John, named the Gen-
eral Master of the Mint, ii. 503.

Utensils, ii. 162, 175-177, 180-184.

Uttamussack, i. 148.

Valentine, George, ii. 479.

Van Bleck, Nicholas, ii. 311.

Varina, i. 423 : ii. 548.

Vassal, John, ii. 327.

Vaulx, James, ii. 248; Robert, 333,
370, 380; Mrs. Robert, i. 412.

Vause, Thomas, contract with Haw-
thorne, ii. 404.
2 T

Vegetables, ii. 201.

Vehicles, ii. 238, 239.

Velasco, i. 60, 66; reports the feeling
of disappointment among colonists,
20.

Veruey, Sir Edward, ii. 162, 245, 336.

Verplauck, Julian, ii. 316.

Vicenso, ii. 443.

Victoria, Australia, i. 13.

Vincent, William, ii. 237, 318.

Vine-dressers, i. 244, 302, 338.

Vines, i. 52. .■

Violet, i. 101.

Virginia, general reasons for its col-
onization, i. 6-10; influence of . the
hope of discovering gold upon colo-
nization of, 10-14; search for the
precious metals in, 14-21 ; the
effect of the expectation of finding
through, a route to the South Sea,
21-40; the anticipation that Vir-
ginia would supply certain articles
imported by England, 41, 43-45;
Lane and Harlot's description of
the natural products of, 47, 48; dis-
appointment as to Virginia's ability
to supply England with special arti-
cles, 51, 52; colonization of, sup-
posed to promote the woollen manu-
factures of England, 54, on; also to
increase British shipping, .56 ; to fur-
nish a vent for surplus population of
England, 58, 59 ; to check growth of
Spanish power, 61 ; aboriginal condi-
tion of, its soils, forests, fruits, fish,
animals, and climate, 71-139; first
exi>eriment with tobacco planting,
210, 211 ; settlements in, at time of
Dale's departure, 216; number of
horned cattle in 1616, 216; com-
modities of, shipped to England in
1616, 218; first fee simple tenure in,
221; first legislative Assembly, 226;
apportionments of lands in time of
Company, 229; conditions attached
to grants in time of Yeardley, 234 ;
a treasurer appointed for, 23(i : early
cultivation of wheat in, 237, 238;
effort to produce silk in, in time of
Yeardley, 240-242: first efforts to
produce wine in, 243; cotton culti-
vated in, in 1620, 246; cattle in, in

642

1620, 247; cattle imported into,
from Ireland, 249, 250 ; how to-
bacco shipped to England in 1G22,
253; reasons why tobacco culture
took precedence from beginning,
254-257 ; amount of tobacco ex-
ported from, in 1619, 1620, 1622,
262, 263; massacre of 1622 takes
place, 270-272; epidemic in, after
the massacre of 1622, 272 ; dissolu-
tion of the Company in 1624, 276 ;
tobacco contracts, 271-288; prices
of tobacco from, in England, 294 ;
cattle and their value in, in 1627,
296-298 ; exportation of wheat and
corn from, in 1631, 310 : condition of,
in 1649, 336-338 ; what articles emi-
grants to, about 1649, carried out,
339, 340 ; passage of Navigation Acts
and effect upon, 348-362 : silk cult-
ure in, about 1654, 365-369; num-
ber of horses in, about 1665, 374^
376; prices of grain in, from 1666-
1682, 380; agitation in, for a cessa-
tion of tobacco planting, 389-392 ;
silk culture in, about 1<J65, 39U-400;
Plant-Cutters' Rebellion, 404-406;
its agricultural condition at end of
century, 424; marsh land in, un-
redeemed, 431-434 ; varieties of
tobacco cultivated in, 434—441 ; ma-
nipulation of tobacco in, 441 ; freight
rates on tobacco shipped from, to
England, 450 ; tobacco exported from,
in bulk, 452^55 ; cultivation of ce-
reals in, 459 : production of wheat in,
460^66; grape culture in, 470-472;
horses, 472-476; number and prices
of cattle in, about 1690, 477-481;
sheep husbandry in, about 1690,
481-484 ; policy of Company towards
the Indians of, 487-491 ; also the pol-
icy of the General Assembly after
dissolution of Company, 491-499;
grounds upon which grants to land
in were made, 502-512; the areas of
these public grants of land, 528, 532 ;
first surveyors in Colony, 532, 533;
names of tirst surveyor-generals of,
535 ; conditions of tenure in, seating
and payment of quit-rents, 553-564;
extent of lapse land in, 564; es-

cheated lands, 565 ; system of land
tenure in Northern Neck, 567-570;
recording of conveyances, 570; es-
tablishment of monthly courts, 571 ;
influences at work in, to promote
immigration of servants, 584-586;
the extent to which criminals were
imported into, in time of Company,
589-601 ; opposition to importation
of criminals in 1667, 605-608; im-
portation of political felons, 608-
612; boys supplied by city of Lon-
don, 612, 613 ; servants brought into,
as mere merchandise, 620, 621 ; rela-
tive value of cloths in England and,
ii. 188, 189; relative prices of food
in England and, 208-210 ; wealth of
the people in, in 1639 and 1667, 244,
245; surrender to Cromwell, 310;
effect of Navigation Acts on people
of, 312 ; trade of, M'ith New Nether-
lands, 314, 315 ; with New York, 315,
316; with New England, 317-322;
with Maryland, 322-324; with West
Indies, 324; trade of, with England,
331 ; English merchants engaged in
the trade with, 334 ; profits of trade
with, 335-337 ; branches of trade rep-
resented by English merchants send-
ing goods to, 343; name " Virginia "
often included West Indies, 344; Eng-
lish Government furnishes ketch for
protection of trade with, 346; en-
grossing and forestalling in, 353-
364 ; debts contracted outside of the
Colony, how enforced, 372; planters
of, engaged in trade, 377-380; Eng-
lish merchants own lands in, 380;
Indian trade, 385-389; attempt to
establish regular markets in, 389-
391 ; fails to supply England with
articles exported from Russia,
Sweden, Holland, France, Spain,
and the East, 392; reasons why
England discouraged growth of
manufactures in, 393, 394, 396;
classes of mechanics in, 399; wages
of mechanics in, 415-417 ; excellence
of timber in, for shipbuilding, 426;
first ships built in, 427 ; no facilities
in, for repaii-ing ships, 431, 432; Bris-
tol merchants build ships in, 438;

643

manufacture of glass in, 441, 442;
of iron, 444-454; of linen, 454^59;
woollen cloth, 460-473 ; tailors resid-
ing in, 471-i74; the tanners, cur-
riers, and shoemakers of, 474-480;
leather made in, 479; salt manu-
factured ill, 483-486; pitch and tar,
493, 494; history of money in, in
seventeenth century, 494-521 ; towns
and town-building in, 522-565; moral
and economic influences of the plan-
tation system, 567, 568; the part
played by the servants who had
been freed, in the life of, 569, 570;
influences of slavery on the history
of, in seventeenth century, 572, 573 :
system of land tenure well adapted
to increase the population of, 573,
574; emigrants to, of the highest
class, represented most refined ele-
ments of the mother country, 574;
abundance of manufactured and
natural supplies in, 575 ; character
of leading men in, in seventeenth
century, 576; present condition of,
compared with condition in seven-
teenth century, 577-579.

Virginia Historical Society, preface,
ix; ii. 449.

Virginian, ship, ii. 439.

Vis, Jacobus, ii. 316.

Volga, river, i. 26.

Wade, Thomas, ii. 141.

Wages, i. 578; ii. 7, 48-50, 347, 415-

417.
Waggener, John, ii. 423.
Wagstaffe, James, ii. 334.
Wainscoting, i. 46.
Wales, i. 248.
Walke, Thomas, ii. 328.
Walker, i. 606; ii. 88; Jacob, i. 469;

ii. 250, 439; George, 439: John, 52,

560; Nathaniel, 320, 321; Thomas,

i. 399.
Walkinson, William, ii. 231.
Wall, Ann, ii. Ill; James, 383.
Wallop, John, owns looms, ii. 470.
Walnut, i. 90; ii. 491, 492; oil, i. 48,

167, 262.
Walsh, Thomas, ii. 334.
Walsingham, Lord, i. 24.

Walton, England, ii. 247; John, ii.

323 ; Thomas, 316.
Wampumpeke, used as money, ii.
520.

Ward, Richard, instructions of, by
will, ii. 153; his silver plate, 171.

Warden, Thomas, ii. 327.

Ware, Nicholas, ii. 327.

Warming-pan, ii. 164.

Warnet, Thomas, his will, ii. 187, 531.

Warrasquoke, i. 306; ii. 71; Indians,
i. 141 ; County, 319.

Warren, Thomas, owns a brick resi-
dence, ii. 140, 344.

Warrenton, ii. 112.

Warwick, Earl of, i. 225; ii. 66-69;
County, population of, i. 320 : marsh
land in, 431 ; ordered to furnish men
to build a fort at Point Comfort, ii.
417; town building in, 548, 556;
Hannah, ii. 18; River, ii. 346; Ship,
ii. 290, 293, 358; Shire, i. 579, 580.

Washington, John, personal estate of,
ii. 251 ; George, 579.

Water flag, i. 99; ii. 454.

Watermelon, i. 98.

Watkins, George, i. 377 ; Thomas, 417 ;
depositions relating to Mrs., ii. 112.

Watterson, John, ii. 474.

Watts, Stephen, ii. .341.

Waugh, John, i. 412; ii. 493.

Wayne, John, i. 542.

Weasel skins, i. 182.

Weavers, i. 54; ii. 470; each county
required to liave, by law, 461 ; proj-
ect to export, from France, 461.

Webbe, Captain, i. 217.

Weeds, i. 100.

Weights and measures, deceptions
practised in, ii. 374.

Weeks, Abraham, ii. 552; John, 48.

Weir, i. 169.

Welch, Daniel, i. 545.

Weldon, Mrs., ii. 49.

Wells, Francis, ii. 334.

Werowocomoco, i. 80, 158, 489; Smith
makes a voyage to, 115: Sniitli
visits, 131: number of warriors at,
142; abundance of food at, 179;
Smith arrives at, 1609, 179: Smith
stops at Kecoughtan on his way to,
181.

644

West, Captain, i. 18, 103, 489; Gov-
ernor, 217, 62G; resents charges
against Virginia's climate, 137;
John, 288; ii. 438, 470; Nicholas,
474; Richard, 320; Robert, 323.

West Hnndred, i. 216.

West Indies, i. 13, 34, 47, 64, 74, 162,
218, 246, 263, 290, 293, 320, 448, 450,
461, 610, 623 ; maize exported to, in
1643, 329; shipment of pork to, 486;
ii. 58, 64, 68, 71, 72, 81, 84; supplies
from, 299; trade of, with Virginia,
324-328; New England exchanges
provisions for the rum, sugar, and
molasses of, 395 ; flour shipped to,
490; coin imported into Virginia
from, 502 ; bills of exchange made
payable in, 517.

West India Company, i. 351, 369; ii.
292, 310, 315.

Westminster, i. 581.

Westmoreland County, law passed for
collection of duty in, i. 387, 388;
personal estates in, ii. 250; town
building in, 556.

Westover, ii. 342.

Westphalia, ii. 198.

Westrope, Major, i. 366.

Weymouth, Captain, i. 6, 24.

Weymouth City, i. 384, 620.

Wheat, i. 214, 218, 223, 234, 235,
237-2.39, 341; prices in England in
time of Company, 256; reasons for
neglecting culture of, in Virginia in
time of Company, 257-259 ; amount
sowed by Abraham Piersey, 301 ;
exported from Virginia, 310 ; large
amount sowed in last years of Har-
vey's administration, 329; amount
of, that two laborers could sow,
329; number of acres in, in 1649,
337 ; price of, from 1666 to 1682, 380-
381; not to be exported, 460; how
land for production of, prepared,
461-464 ; production to acre, 464 ;
implements used in reaping, 464;
how threshed, 465 ; ii. 206.

Wheeler, Francis, his personal estate,
ii. 248; coin in his inventory, 507.

Whiddon, Augustin, ii. 423.

Whipping post, ii. 32.

Whippoorwill, i. 118, 119.

Whirken, John, ii. 339.

Whistler, Philip, ii. 334.

Whitaker, i. 18, 74, 79, 115, 208, 244,
316 ; ii. 135, 148.

Whitby, Richard, ii. 552; Roger, i.
617.

White, William, ii. 172 ; Richard,
420.

Whitechapel Parish, ii. 141, 257.

Whitehaire, Robert, ii. 158, 213,

Whitehead, Thomas, ii. 123.

White Sea, i. 22.

Whiting, Richard, ii. 318.

Whitty, Captain, ii. 434, 435.

Whortleberry, i. 95.

Wiccocomico, i. 390 ; ii. 346 ; Indians,
i. 185, 494, 496; ii. 388; River, i.
lOi.

Wiggins, Robert, ii. 141 .

Wigs, ii. 191. •

Wilbourne, Thomas, ii. 334.

Wilcox, Michael, ii. 354.

Wild cats, i. 127.

Wilder, Edward, ii. 439.

Wilkins, Peter, i. 377.

Wilkinson, John, ii. 328.

Willard, Nicholas, ii. 36, 37.

Willett, Thomas, ii. 318.

William and John, ship, ii. 296.

William and Mary College, preface,
ix; i. 535, .5.36, 564; ii. 483.

William and Thomas, ship, ii. 285.

Williams, E., i. 329, 465: his descrip-
tion of Virginia, 75: describes In-
dian fields as being very numerous,
157 ; ii. 436 ; articles which he stated
should be brought over by emi-
grants, 339 : calculates ability of a
man to make pipe staves and clap-
boards, ii. 492; John, 420.

Williamsburg, i. 192, 365; ii. 196, 563,
565.

Williamson, Ralph, i. 611.

Willis, Richard, i. 482; ii. 92, 141, 156,
477, 558.

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, i. 22: Sarah,
ii. 87; her silverware, 173; her
wardrobe, 194; Thomas, i. 372, 375,
377: ii. 298; his residence, 1.56; his
wife's chamber, 157 : Court directs
him to import weights and measures,

INDEX

645

Wilson, Richard, ii. 334 ; Robert, 424 ;
William, 316.

Winchcomb, i. 3U4.

Wiudebauk, Secretary, i. (i21 : ii. 413,
432, 500.

Winder, John, ii. 474.

Windmills. See Mills.

Wines, i. 48, 234, 243, 338, 471 ; ii. 215,
216-231, 342, 357.

Wing, Jeremiah, ii. 159.

Wingate, Robert, i. 558.

Wingfield, President, his poultry, i.
202; ii. 135; allows supplies to be
disbursed, 263.

Winslow, Thomas, ii. 474.

Wise, Nicholas, ii. 439.

Wise Plantation, selected as the site
for a town, ii. 549.

Witches, i. 628.

Withers, John, ii. 559.

Wolstenholme, Sir John, i. 513; ii. 15,
284, 301.

Wolves, i. 125, 296, 336, 370, 376, 378,
483.

Wood, Abraham, i. 511 ; ii. 45; John,
petitions with reference to ship-
building on Elizabeth River, ii.
428; Thomas, i. 248.

Woodcock, i. 115.

Woodcock, John, applies to Privy
Council for power to collect debts in
Virginia, ii. 365.

Woodhouse, Henry, 1. 372, 375, 377;
ii. 250.

Woodpecker, i. 122, 123.

Woodward, John, i. 609.

Wool, i. 484, 485 ; Virginia at first not
expected to be a seat of woollen
manufacture, ii. 460; Colonel Math-
ews weaves cloth of, 460 ; regulation
in 1()59, prohibiting exportation of,
461 ; General Assembly directs each
county to set up a loom, 461 ; statute
prohibiting exportation of, repealed
in 1671 and reenacted in 1682, 462 ;
terms of statute, 462, 463; planters
who took advantage of the rewards
offered for manufacture of woollen
cloth, 463: English authorities dis-
courage manufacture of woollen
clotli in Virginia, 463, 464; privi-
leges extended to persons erecting

fulling mills, 464; Nicholson recom-
mends the English Government to
discourage woollen manufactures iu
Virginia, 465; Parliament i)asses a
law that no woollen goods of Amer-
ican manufacture shall be exported
from the Colony where made, 46(; ;
effect of Navigation Acts on local
manufacture, 466, 467; local manu-
facture stimulated by low price of
tobacco, 467, 468 ; owners of woollen-
wheels and wool cards, 469; owners
of looms, 470; weavers, and the
property held by them, 470; slaves
educated to take part in domestic
manufacture, 470.

Worcester, Battle of, i. 608.

Workhouses to be erected at James-
town for children, who were to be
educated in carding, knitting, and
spinning, ii. 455.

Wormeley, Christopher, ii. 75, 327;

Wormeley, Ralph, number of sheep
owned by him, i. 482; ii. 75, 83, 88;
value of his slaves, 92 ; his residence,
156 ; his saddle, 239 ; sells tobacco to
Robert Vaulx, 370 ; owns negro me-
chanics, 405; contents of his black-
smith's shop, 418: manufactures
linen, 459 ; manufactures woollen
cloth, 463; left large quantities of
leather, 477; owns millstones, 488,
489; forfeits land on whicli Middle-
sex town was designed to be built,
558; a representative man of the
seventeenth century, 576.

Wormeley Plantation, selected as the
site for a town, ii. 549.

Worms, i. 128; for silk-worms, see
Silk.

Would, William, i. 421.

Wraughton, William, i. 416.

Wright, William, ii. 311.

Wrote, i. 243, 297.

Wyanoke, 1. 92, 114, 141, 306, 319, 490,
499.

Wyatt, Sir Dudley, i. 567.

Wyatt, Governor, i. 330, 348, 408, 507 ;
refers to sickness among settlers,
134, 1.35; also to longevity of Vir-
ginians, 138: required to take bond
of all shipmasters, 293; instructed

646

INDEX

in 1638 to grant patents, 510 ; form
of the land patent during liis admin-
istration, 515; accompanied to Vir-
ginia by William Claiborne, 534; ii.
137, 21)2, 293 ; instructions as to the
clothing of officials, 187 ; instructed
to require bond of Dutch ships, 305 ;
his instructions in 1(338-1631), 355;
ordered to stop all engrossing, 359 ;
instructed to train young men as
mechanics, 410 ; ordered to concen-
trate mechanics into towns, 411 ;
enjoined to erect saw-mills, 430;
Jamestown in time of, 531.

Wyke, Peter, ii. 478.

Wyld, Daniel, ii. 408.

Wyrly, Edward, ii. 404.

Wythe, Thomas, employs a negro tan-
ner, ii. 406; his silverware, 172;
sued by Hip well Hilton, 506.

Yates, ii. 160; cattle owned by the
Yates estate, i. 334; Richard, ii. 439.

Yeardley, Argoll, residence of, ii. 157;
Francis, ii. 53, 141, 309; a carpen-
ter's bill against, 417; Mrs. Sarah,
her tombstone, 236; Sir George, i.
234, 587, 588, 626; goes into Mon-
acan country as an officer under
Delaware, 19; commands at Lower
Bermuda Hundred, 217 ; appointed
Deputy-Governor, 220; displaced by
Argoll, 222; arrives in Virginia,
1619, 226; accompanied by tenants,
230; summons Assembly in 1619,
236; successful with wheat sow-
ing, 237; condition of Colony at
close of his administration, 251 ;
visits Accomac, 258; sales of his
tobacco in Holland, 267 ; sent to
England in 1625, 283 ; appeal of, suc-
cessful, 283 : his herd of cattle, 296,
297 ; uses marl as manure, 427 ; pre-
sented by Opechaucanough with
land, 490, 491 ; a form of patent is-
sued by, 501; subdivision of soil
into separate holdings in time of,
504 ; obiects of his mission to Eng-
land, 514; ii. 66, 67, 70, 72, 292, 299;
ordered to suppress drunkenness,
218 ; size of his estate, 244 ; sent to
London in 1625, 297, 301 ; instructed

to allot land to tradesmen, 401 ; cap-
tain of Southampton Hundred, 447 ;
builds first windmiU in Virginia,
487 ; his estate after his death con-
verted into tobacco, 499; his resi-
dence at Jamestown, 531.

Yerby, Thomas, ii. 473.

York County, i. 414, 417, 442, 462, 574,
629; records of, preface, ix; goats
in, in 1637, 299; injury to live
stock in, 316; value of cattle in,
about 1645, 333; cattle owners in,
334, 372; number of horses in, about
1665, 374, 375; sheep in, about 1665,
376; price of tobacco in, in 1661,
389; injury inflicted on peojile of,
by Plant-Cutters' Rebellion, 406;
Digges' Neck in, i. 436; lands in,
peculiarly adapted to sweet-scented
tobacco, 436; amount of tobacco
produced in, in 1689,456; orchards
in, 468; prices of horses in, in 1688,
475; wild cattle in, in 1685, 477;
value of cattle in, about 1680, 480;
owners of sheep in, about 1690, 482;
prizes in, for destruction of wolves,
483; price of wool in, 484, 485;
value of shoats in, 486; proces-
sioning in, 544; objects to importa-
tion of jail-birds, 605 ; ii. 8, 30, 88;
value of slaves in, 89, 90; a slave
who took refuge in its forests, 116;
residences in, 154; silverware owned
by its citizens, 172 ; prices of liquors
in, in 1688, 227; a funeral in, 236;
personal estates in, 248; value of
land in, 253; English merchants
trading in, 334; weights and meas-
ures in, 375; blacksmiths owning
lands in, 419; land owned by coop-
ers in, 420; carpenters owning land
in, 424 ; cost, in 1672, of building a
sloop in, 436; manufacture of linen
in, 458; mills in, 489, 490; coin in
inventories of, 514; provision made
by, for erection of a house at James-
town, 544; town building in, 549,
556-558; jurors from, to aid in as-
sessing the value of the site of Wil-
liamsburg, 563.

York, Duke of, i. 618; ii. 77; River, i.
39, 80, 103-105, 107, 117, 124, 148,

INDEX

647

320, 632; marshes in valley of, 110;
Indian tribes dwelling in valley of,
140-144; palisade to, from Martin's
Hundred, 312; Colonists petitioned
for right to move to the north side
of, 428; ii. 83, 522, 524, 563; ferries
on, 226 ; safe harbor in, 346 ; a town
to be built on. 540, 544 ; shire, i. 614 ;
town, ii. 557, 558.

Youghtanund, i. 142, 159.
Young, Alexander, his wigs, ii. 191;
Arthur, i. 426 ; Thomas, ii. 47.

Zealand, ii. 301.

Zouch, Sir John, undertakes to estab-
lish iron works in Virginia, ii. 451 ;
Baron, 284.

Zuniga, i. 62.

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