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diff --git a/76065-0.txt b/76065-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a840382 --- /dev/null +++ b/76065-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1996 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76065 *** + + + + DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND + IN THE + SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + +[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD + +Built in 1683] + + + + + Domestic Life + in + NEW ENGLAND + in the + Seventeenth Century + + A DISCOURSE + + Delivered in the Lecture Hall of the + Metropolitan Museum of Art in New + York City, it being one of a + Series designed to mark + the Opening of the + American Wing + + + _By GEORGE FRANCIS DOW_ + + + [Illustration] + + + _TOPSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS_: Printed + for the Author at _The Perkins Press_, + just off the _Main Street_, 1925. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1925, GEORGE FRANCIS DOW + + + FIVE HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE PREFACE + + +The publication of the following paper in its present form, became +possible when the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art found it +necessary to abandon their intention to publish a volume containing the +lectures given on the occasion of the opening of the American Wing. The +other lectures delivered in the course were devoted to the architecture +and arts of New England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +and it therefore seemed fitting that some account of the domestic life +of the period should also have a presentation. Within the limitations +of time and space it was only possible to touch lightly upon so +far-reaching a subject and the reader will soon discover that the +following pages may be somewhat over-loaded with facts gleaned from +original records. It also should be borne in mind that the public +records that have come down to us preserve a chronicle of the offences +of the day and generation while the uneventful lives of the honest and +the just frequently rest in oblivion. + + _The evil that men do lives after them + The good is oft interred with their bones._ + +Nevertheless, there were fully as many sinners as saints living within +the control of the Puritan autocracy in the Massachusetts Bay and it +is to be hoped that the contemporaneous data here presented may aid in +bringing about a readjustment of values in the mind of some reader. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD _Frontispiece_ + + FRONT DOOR OF CAPEN HOUSE 2 + + FRONT ENTRY AND STAIRS OF CAPEN HOUSE 4 + + OVERHANG OF THE CAPEN HOUSE 6 + + PARLOR OF THE CAPEN HOUSE 8 + + JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM 12 + + PARLOR OF WARD HOUSE 16 + + KITCHEN OF WARD HOUSE 20 + + DRESSER IN KITCHEN OF WARD HOUSE 24 + + WELLCURB AND SWEEP, WARD HOUSE 28 + + + + +[Illustration] + + + DOMESTIC LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND IN + THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY + + +To picture the life in the homes of the colonists in the years +immediately following the settlement would require many screens. Then +as now life had its contrasts and utmost poverty existed but shortly +removed from comparative wealth. In 1657 an apprentice to a stone-mason +in the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, testified that it was a long +while before “he could eate his master’s food, viz. meate and milk, +or drink beer, saying that he did not know that it was good, because +he was not used to eat such victualls, but to eate bread and water +porridge and to drink water.”[1] A few miles away, in the town of +Ipswich, lived Madam Rebecka Symonds, writing in her sixtieth year to +her son in London to send her a fashionable “lawn whiske,” for her +neckwear. In due time he replied that the “fashionable Lawn whiske +is not now worn, either by Gentil or simple, young or old. Instead +where of I have bought a shape and ruffles, which is now the ware of +the gravest as well as the young ones. Such as goe not with naked +necks ware a black wifle over it. Therefore, I have not only Bought a +plaine one y’t you sent for, but also a Luster one, such as are most +in fashion.” The dutiful son also purchased for his mother’s wear a +feather fan; but he writes, to her “I should also have found in my +heart, to have let it alone, because none but very grave persons (and +of them very few) use it. Now ’tis grown almost as obsolete as Russets, +and more rare to be seen than a yellow Hood.” When the feather fan +reached Ipswich it was found to have a silver handle and with it came +“two tortois fans, 200 needles, 5 yds. sky calico, silver gimp, a black +sarindin cloak, damson leather skin, two women’s Ivorie Knives, etc.”[2] + +Fine clothing surrounded itself with fine furnishings, according to the +standards of the period, and as the wealth of the Colonies increased +with the successful exportation of fish, lumber, beaver, and peltry, it +supplied them with all kinds of luxuries and refinements to be found +in the shops of London, Plymouth, or Bristol. The ships were crossing +frequently and the Colonies kept pace with the mother country much +as the country follows the city at the present time. All the while, +however, primitive living and also poverty existed everywhere. The +inventories of numerous estates show meagre household furnishings, and +many families of eight or more persons lived in houses only eighteen +by twenty-four feet in size, possibly with a shed attached. Alexander +Knight, a pauper in a Massachusetts town, was provided in 1659 with +a one-story house sixteen feet long and twelve feet wide having a +thatched roof and costing only £6 to build, which no doubt was typical +of the simple dwellings occupied by the poorer colonists in the early +days following the settlement. + +When Governor Winthrop arrived at Charlestown in 1630 with the first +great emigration he found a house or two and several wigwams--rude +shelters patterned after the huts built by the Indians--and until +houses could be erected in Boston many lived in tents and wigwams, +“their meeting-place being abroad under a Tree.” Deacon Bartholomew +Green, the printer of the _Boston News-Letter_, related that when his +father arrived at Boston in 1630, “for lack of housing he was vain +to find shelter at night in an empty cask,” and during the following +winter many of the poorer sort still continued to live in tents through +lack of better housing. + +[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD + +Front Door] + +There is a wide-spread misconception that the colonists on reaching New +England proceeded immediately to build log houses in which to live. +Historians have described these log houses as chinked with moss and +clay and as having earth floors, precisely the type of house built +on the frontier and in the logging camps at a much later period. A +well-known picture of Leyden street, at Plymouth, shows a double row of +log houses reaching up the hillside, which the Pilgrims are supposed +to have constructed. In point of fact, no contemporary evidence has +been found that supports the present-day theory. The early accounts of +what took place in the days following the settlements along the coast +are full of interesting details relating to day-by-day happenings but +nowhere do we find allusion to a log house such as modern historians +assume existed at that time.[3] + +What happened at the Plymouth Colony after the _Mayflower_ came +to anchor? The wind blew very hard for two days and the next day, +Saturday, December 23, 1620, as many as could went ashore: “felled and +carried timber, to provide themselves stuff for building,” and the +following Monday “we went on shore, some to fell timber, some to saw, +some to rive, and some to carry; so no man rested all that day.”[4] +Bradford writes “that they builte a forte with good timber” which Isaac +de Rasieres described in 1627 as “a large square house, made of thick +sawn planks, stayed with oak beams.” The oldest existing houses in the +Plymouth Colony are built in the same manner and some half dozen or +more seventeenth-century plank houses may yet be seen north of Boston. +Moreover, when the ship _Fortune_ sailed from Plymouth in the summer +of 1621 part of her lading consisted of “clapboards and wainscott,” +showing clearly that the colonists soon after landing had dug saw pits +and produced boards in quantity suitable for the construction of houses +and for exportation. + +In the summer of 1623 Bradford mentions the “building of great houses +in pleasant situations” and when a fire broke out in November of the +following year it began in “a shed yt was joyned to ye end of ye +storehouse, which was wattled up with bowes.” It will be seen that this +shed was not crudely built of logs or slabs but that its walls were +wattled and perhaps also daubed with clay, in precisely the same manner +with which these colonists were familiar in their former homes across +the sea. An original outer wall in the old Fairbanks house at Dedham, +Massachusetts, still has its “wattle and daub” constructed in 1637. +What can be more natural and humanly probable than to find English +housewrights who had learned their trade overseas, building houses and +outbuildings on this side of the Atlantic in the same manner they had +been taught through a long apprenticeship in their former homes? Can we +of today assume that they, upon the spur of the moment, invented a new +type of building--a log house--a construction they had never seen in +England--a building also unknown to the Indians? + +The houses of the Indians were “verie little and homely, being made +with small Poles pricked into the ground, and so bended and fastened at +the tops, and on the side they are matted with Boughes and covered with +Sedge and old mats.”[5] These were called “wigwams” and as they were +easily constructed and the materials were readily at hand many of the +poorer colonists built for themselves imitations of these rude huts of +the Indians. Governor Winthrop records in his “Journal,” in September, +1630, that one Fitch of Watertown had his wigwam burnt down with all +his goods, and two months later John Firman, also of Watertown, lost +his wigwam by fire. + +[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD + +Front entry and stairs] + +Thomas Dudley writing to the Countess of Lincoln, in March, 1631, +relates: “Wee have ordered that noe man shall build his chimney with +wood nor cover his house with thatch, which was readily assented unto, +for that divers houses have been burned since our arrival (the fire +always beginning in the wooden chimneys) and some English wigwams +which have taken fire in the roofes with thatch or boughs.”[6] It +was Dudley who was taken to task by the Governor in May, 1632, “for +bestowing so much cost on wainscotting his house and otherwise adorning +it,” as it was not a good example for others in the beginning of a +plantation. Dudley replied that he had done it for warmth and that it +was but clapboards nailed to the walls. A few months later this house +caught fire “the hearth of the Hall chimney burning all night upon the +principal beam.” + +The frequent references to the English wigwam seem to indicate that +some such temporary construction was usual among many of the colonists +at the outset. Settlers were living at Salem as early as 1626 and +Endecott, with a considerable immigration, arrived in 1628. Marblehead, +just across the harbor, was settled early and yet when John Goyt came +there in 1637, he “first built a wigwam and lived thar till he got a +house.”[7] The rude buildings also put up by the planters at Salem +must have been looked upon at the time as temporary structures for +they had all disappeared before 1661.[8] The town clerk of Woburn, +Massachusetts, writing in 1652, mentions the rude shelters of the first +settlers “which kept off the short showers from their lodgings, but the +long rains penetrated through, to their grate disturbance in the night +season: yet, in these poor wigwams, they sing Psalms, pray and praise +their God, till they can provide them homes, which ordinarily was not +wont to be with many till the Earth, by the Lord’s blessing, brought +forth bread to feed them, their wives and little ones.”[9] + +“Before you come,” wrote Rev. Francis Higginson, the first minister at +Salem, “be careful to be strongly instructed what things are fittest +to bring with you for your more comfortable passage at sea, as also for +your husbandry occasions when you come to the land. For when you are +once parted with England you shall meete neither markets nor fayres +to buy what you want. Therefore be sure to furnish yourselves with +things fitting to be had before you come: as meale for bread, malt for +drinke, woolen and linnen cloath, and leather for shoes, and all manner +of carpenters tools, and a great deale of iron and steele to make +nails, and locks for houses, and furniture for ploughs and carts, and +glasse for windows, and many other things which were better for you to +think of there than to want them here.”[10] Elsewhere the good pastor +set down “A catalogue of such needfull things as every Planter doth +or ought to provide to go to New England” in which he enumerated the +necessary victuals per person for the first year, viz: + +“8 Bushels of meale, 2 Bushels of pease, 2 Bushels of Otemeale, 1 +Gallon of Aquavitae, 1 Gallon of Oyle, 2 Gallons of Vinegar, 1 Firkin +of Butter; also Cheese, Bacon, Sugar, Pepper, Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, +Nutmegs and Fruit.” + +The household implements listed were:--“1 Iron pot, 1 Kettel, 1 Frying +pan, 1 Gridiron, 2 Skellets, 1 Spit, Wooden Platters, Dishes, Spoons +and Trenchers.” + +Clothing, arms, and tools of all kinds of course must be taken and the +natural resources of New England and the fruits of their husbandry and +of the sea were expected to supply the rest of those things necessary +to life and comfort. Those who settled along the shore line north of +Boston found much “fat blacke earth” that yielded bountiful crops. The +soil to the southward of Boston Bay was lighter and less productive, +but the valley of the Connecticut was found to be of unsurpassed +richness. + +[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD + +Overhang and one of the “drops”] + +Pastor Higginson wrote enthusiastically of the natural abundance of +the grass that “groweth verie wildly with a great stalke” as high as a +man’s face and as for Indian corn--the planting of thirteen gallons +of seed had produced an increase of fifty-two hogsheads or three +hundred and fifty bushels, London measure, to be sold or trusted to the +Indians in exchange for beaver worth above £300. Who would not share +the hardships and dangers of the frontier colony for opportunity of +such rich gain? + +But the housewives in the far-away English homes were more interested +in the growth of the vegetable gardens in the virgin soil, and of +these he wrote: “Our turnips, parsnips and carrots are here both +bigger and sweeter than is ordinary to be found in England. Here are +stores of pumpions, cucumbers, and other things of that nature I +know not. Plentie of strawberries in their time, and penny-royall, +winter saverie, carvell and water-cresses, also leeks and onions are +ordinary.” Great lobsters abounded weighing from sixteen to twenty-five +pounds and much store of bass, herring, sturgeon, haddock, eels, and +oysters. In the forests were several kinds of deer; also partridges, +turkeys, and great flocks of pigeons, with wild geese, ducks, and other +sea fowl in such abundance “that a great part of the Planters have +eaten nothing but roast-meate of divers Fowles which they have killed.” + +These were some of the attractive natural features of the new colony +in the Massachusetts Bay, as recounted by the Salem minister. Of the +hardships he makes small mention, for his aim was to induce emigration. +There was much sickness, however, and many deaths. Higginson himself +lived only a year after reaching Salem. The breaking up of virgin soil +always brings on malaria and fever. Dudley wrote “that there is not +an house where there is not one dead, and in some houses many. The +naturall causes seem to bee in the want of warm lodgings, and good +dyet to which Englishmen are habittuated, at home; and in the suddain +increase of heate which they endure that are landed here in somer * * * +those of Plymouth who landed in winter dyed of the Scirvy, as did our +poorer sort whose howses and bedding kept them not sufficiently warm, +nor their dyet sufficiently in heart.”[11] Thomas Dudley wrote this +in March, 1631. He explained that he was writing upon his knee by the +fireside in the living-room, having as yet no table nor other room in +which to write during the sharp winter. In this room his family must +resort “though they break good manners, and make mee many times forget +what I would say, and say what I would not.” + +But these hardships and inconveniences of living which the New England +colonists met and overcame differ but little from those experienced +in every new settlement. They have been parallelled again and again +wherever Englishmen or Americans have wandered. In a few years after +the coming of the ships much of the rawness and discomfort must have +disappeared, certainly in the early settlements, and comparative +comfort must have existed in most homes. If we could now lift the roof +of the average seventeenth-century house in New England it is certain +that we should find disclosed not only comfortable conditions of living +but in many instances a degree of luxury with fine furnishings that +is appreciated by few at the present time. And this can now be shown +by means of the itemized inventories of estates that were carefully +made, listing the contents of a house, room by room, and enabling us to +visualize the interiors of the homes in which lived the pioneers of New +England. + +[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD + +The Parlor] + +Among the early settlements made in the Colony of the Massachusetts +Bay was one at Agawam, now the town of Ipswich. The news had reached +Boston that the French were pushing their settlements westward along +the coast, bringing with them “divers priests and Jesuits,” which so +alarmed the Governor and Council that it was decided to forestall +the French and hasten the planting of new towns north of Boston. The +first move was to send the Governor’s son John, with twelve others, to +establish themselves at Agawam. There were no roads and so they sailed +along the coast in a shallop and took possession of the town site +in March, 1633. Their families and other settlers soon followed and +the increase of population was such that in August, 1634, the Court of +Assistants decreed that the place be called Ipswich, after old Ipswich +in England, “in acknowledgment of the great honor and kindness done to +our people, who took shipping there.” + +Three months later, in November, 1634, one John Dillingham arrived +in Ipswich and the selectmen granted him six acres of land on which +to build a house. He was from Leicestershire and with his wife and +daughter had come over in the fleet with Winthrop in 1630, and remained +in Boston until he removed to Ipswich. Life in the frontier settlement +was too severe for him and he died during the next winter. On July +14, 1636, his widow, Sarah, made her “last will and testament” being +in “perfect memory though my body be weake & sick” and a few days +later she too was dead, leaving her orphaned daughter to be cared for +by Richard Saltonstall and John Appleton, under the direction of the +Quarterly Court. And this was not at all difficult for John Dillingham +had left a “goodly estate,” for the times. This Dillingham home has +been selected for analysis because it is one of the earliest estates in +the Colony of which we have exact and detailed information, a number of +documents relating to it having been preserved among the miscellaneous +papers in the Massachusetts State Archives.[12] Moreover, it shows the +furnishings and equipment of a settler living in a town of only two +years growth from the wilderness. + +The Dillingham homestead consisted of a house of two rooms and +outbuildings with thirty acres of upland, sixty acres of meadow, i. +e., grass land, and six acres of planting ground near the house, of +which four acres were planted with corn. Apple trees and other fruits +were fenced off in the garden. For livestock there was a mare, three +cows, two steers, two heifers, four calves, and four pigs. There was +an indentured servant, Thomas Downs, to help cultivate the land and +care for the stock, and a maid, Ann Towle, who not only helped with +the housework but also worked in the fields. “She hath been a faithful +servant,” wrote Richard Saltonstall, executor of the estate, “and +though she was discharged by her mistress a little before her time was +out, yet it may be borne by the estate, considering her diligence.” Ann +had come over in the ship _Susan and Ellen_, which arrived in April, +1635. Her passage cost £5. + +The Dillinghams occupied a good social position in the youthful +settlement but their two-room house did not contain any really fine +furniture. The parlor was also used as a bedroom, a practice which was +common everywhere in the seventeenth century. It had two bedsteads +valued at £1. 6. 8.; a cupboard, 10s.; a sea chest, 10s.; two “joyned +Chaires,” 5s.; a round table, 7s.; a deske, 4s.; and a band box, 2s. +There was also a large nest of boxes valued £2. and a small nest of +boxes worth only three shillings. The feather beds, boulsters, and +pillows on each bed were valued at about twice as much as a bedstead +and the coverlets averaged about £1. a piece. There were flaxen sheets +for Mrs. Dillingham’s bed and coarse sheets for the beds of the maid +and the indentured servant. A warming-pan bears silent testimony to +the cold of the winter season. Another bedstead valued at only three +shillings may have been in the garret and occupied by Ann Towle, the +maid. A chest stood in the kitchen--more generally spoken of at that +time as “the hall,” in accordance with the English usage--and two +boxes, probably used for storage and also for seats. That was all the +furniture listed in the kitchen that was considered of any value. The +tables, stools, benches, shelving, or other furnishings seemingly +necessary to housekeeping at that time either did not exist or were so +crude in construction as to have little or no value in estimating the +estate. We find five cushions, however, valued at fifteen shillings. + +Mrs. Dillingham died possessed of a few really fine +furnishings--possibly treasured ancestral pieces--for she bequeathed a +silver bowl to the wife of Richard Saltonstall, and to the wife of John +Appleton she gave a silver porringer. It would be extremely interesting +today to know what has become of these two pieces of Colonial silver. +No other silver is mentioned but on shelving in the kitchen rested +40-1/2 pounds of pewter valued at £2. 14. 0. As a pewter plate of +the time weighs nearly two pounds and a platter much more the supply +of pewter for the table was not large. Wooden plates, trenchers, and +bowls are not mentioned, but there were twenty-five pewter saucers, six +porringers, seven spoons, and five shillings worth of knives. As for +table forks, they were practically unknown in the Colony at that time. +Governor Winthrop brought over a fork in 1630, carefully preserved in +a case, which is supposed to be the first and only table fork in the +Colony in the earliest days of the settlements. Knives, spoons, and +fingers, with plenty of napery, met the demands of table manners in the +seventeenth century. + +The large fireplace in the kitchen had its usual equipment of pothooks, +fire shovel and tongs, gridiron, trivet, and bellows, and beside it +was an old dark lantern valued at only two shillings. There were iron +pots, kettles, skillets and ladles; a brass pot and a mortar. There +was a frying-pan with a hole in it and in a box were kept “bullets, +hinges and other smale things.” Two beer vessels were listed; a case +of bottles, two jugs, three pans, a tray, and two baskets. Such was +the simple equipment of the Dillingham kitchen. There were plenty of +table-cloths and napkins but no curtains at any of the windows. If a +broom were used it probably was made of birch twigs bound together +around a long handle. Candlesticks do not appear in the inventory and +the only store of food mentioned (aside from twenty-one new cheeses +valued at £2. 16. 0.) was seven bushels of rye, two firkins and a half +of butter, a half bushel of malt, six pounds of raisins, and some +spice. Our ancestors had a highly developed appreciation of the value +of condiments. In a Salem inventory at a somewhat later date appear +salt, pepper, ginger, cloves, mace, cinnamon, nutmegs, and allspice. + +Mrs. Dillingham’s wearing apparel unfortunately is not listed item by +item, but given a total value of £5. 8. 4. Her linen amounted to an +almost equal sum. Some of her deceased husband’s clothing is included +in the inventory, such as a coat with silver buttons, a red waistcoat, +a suit of serge and a black suit of serge unmade, a jacket of cloth, +and an old suit and cloak. Little Sara Dillingham, the orphaned child, +when sent to school to goodwife Symonds was supplied with “a stuffe +petticoat & waskote” and four “shifts with shewes”; also a gown that +cost £2. 10s. Perhaps after a time she may have been able to read and +fully appreciate the books formerly in her loving father’s chest. +They were:--“Perkins works in 3 volumes, Seaven Treatises bound in +2 volumes, the Spowse Royall, the bruised reade, & a little new +testiment.” + +By way of contrast let us glance at the inventory of the possessions +of William Googe of Lynn, who died in 1646, ten years after Mrs. +Dillingham had willed that her body be “decently buyried” and her child +“religiously educated if God give it life.” Googe left a house and +twelve acres of land and the total value of his possessions amounted +to but £28. 11. 7, with debts of £4. 9. 7. He left a widow and three +small children, and though dying in very lowly circumstances he may +have known better times, for John Mascoll, the servant of Mr. Googe of +Lynn, was fined in 1643, for neglecting the watch. The title of honor, +“Mr.,” was used but sparingly in those early days and usually indicated +a degree of social standing in the community. + +[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM + +Built in 1684; showing overhanging second story, gable windows and +casement sash] + +Googe had been a soldier, for among his personal belongings at death +were a sword and belt, a musket and bandoleers, and also gunpowder. One +cow and four hogs comprised his entire livestock, and five bushels of +wheat, ten bushels of Indian corn, and flax in the bundle lay in the +garret of his house, which was frugally furnished with a chest, a +chair, an old chair, a stool, and a trunk. The family probably slept +on pallet beds made up on the floor, for bedding is listed but no +bedsteads. They had a frying pan, a gridiron, a skillet, a posnet, an +earthen pot, six spoons, and the following wooden ware, viz: “3 wood +trayes & 3 wood boules & 3 wood dishes, 1s. 9d.; one runlitt, 1s.; +paieles & tubs, 3s.” Two bags valued at two shillings bring to a close +the list of the earthly possessions of William Googe of Lynn. When the +inventory was brought into court it very properly gave the goods to the +widow “for the bringing up of her three small children.” So reads the +record. + +Doubtless there were many families in the Colony little better +conditioned, judging from the relatively small number of estates +settled through the courts when compared with the deaths and estimated +population. + +Googe’s house and twelve acres of land were valued at only £8. This +must have been a very simple, thatch-roofed house of not more than two +rooms, comparable with the outlying farmhouse of Jacob Perkins that was +burned in Ipswich in 1668. And thereby hangs a tale. Master Perkins and +his wife had gone to town one summer afternoon leaving the house in +charge of Mehitable Brabrooke, a sixteen-year-old serving maid. We will +let the ancient document in the court files relate what happened. + +“About 2 or 3 aclocke in the afternoone she was taking tobacco in a +pipe and went out of the house with her pipe and gott upon the oven on +the outside & backside of the house (to looke if there were any hogs in +the corne) and she layed her right hand upon the thatch of the house +(to stay herselfe) and with her left hand knocked out her pipe over +her right arme upon the thatch on the eaves of the house (not thinking +there had been any fire in the pipe) and imediately went downe into the +corne feild to drive out the hogs she saw in it, and as she was going +toward the railes of the feild ... she looked back, and saw a smoke +upon her Mistress’ house in the place where she had knocked out her +pipe at which shee was much frighted.”[13] + +The wife of a neighbor came running to the assistance of Mehitable and +afterwards testified that when she reached the house she looked into +both fireplaces and saw no appearance of fire, only a few brands nearly +dead under a great kettle hanging in the chimney. She also looked up +into the chamber through the floor boards that lay very open on the +side where the smoke was. + +Could photographs more vividly picture the scene? The thatch-roofed +farmhouse had two rooms on the ground floor and a chimney with two +fireplaces. An oven was built on the backside probably having an +opening inside the kitchen fireplace in the usual manner. The house was +of but one story judging from the low roof that the maid was able to +reach when standing on the oven, and the floor of the chamber in the +loft had wide cracks between the boards so that it was possible to look +through from below and see the under side of the roof. In similar homes +lived many a family in the early days in comparative comfort. + +As for the careless Mehitable, she was brought before the Quarterly +Court on suspicion of wilfully setting the house on fire; a serious +offence, which as late as 1821, was the cause of the execution in Salem +of a sixteen-year-old boy. Among those who deposed at her trial was +a young man who said that as he and she were going into the meadow, +before the fire, to make hay, she told him that her mistress was angry +with her, but she had “fitted her now” for she had put a great toad +into her kettle of milk. As it turned out the Court ordered Mehitable +to be severely whipped and to pay £40 damages to her master Jacob +Perkins. It now seems incredible that a serving maid of 1668 could ever +get together so large a sum of money. + +The settlers in the New England Colonies, unless persons of wealth or +possessed of large families, during the early years lived generally in +houses having but one room and an entry-way on the ground floor. Above +would be a chamber--sometimes only a garret. As the family increased +in size and became more prosperous another room would be added to the +house on the other side of the entry and chimney, making the structure +a so-called two-room house. Still later, with the need for more room, a +leanto would be built on the back of the house, thereby supplying three +additional rooms on the ground floor with a kitchen in the middle. The +earlier kitchen would then become a living-room or “sitting room”--in +the New England phrase. This earlier kitchen was usually called “the +hall” during the seventeenth century and in it centered the life of the +family. It was the room where the food was cooked and eaten. There the +family sat and there the indoor work was carried on. A loom sometimes +occupied considerable space near a window and frequently a bed was made +up in a corner, on which the father of the family slept, and there +sometimes also he died. + +The principal feature of this common room was its huge fireplace in +which hung pots and kettles suspended by means of pot chains and +trammels from the hardwood trammel-bar or lug-pole that rested on +wooden cross bars and so bisected the wide flue in the chimney. These +large fireplaces in the early days were sometimes called “chimneys” in +the vernacular of the time. They were generally as wide as eight feet +and a ten foot opening is not unknown. + +This cavernous opening was spanned by a wooden lintel--a stick of +timber sometimes sixteen inches or more square, and when exposed to a +roaring fire, piled high with logs, this became an element of danger, +the charring wood smoldering all night and setting fire to the house. +The trammel-bar in the flue also caught fire not infrequently and gave +way, allowing the pots and kettles to fall to the hearth, bringing +disaster to the dinner or to the curdling milk and sometimes to those +seated near. A trammel stick in the house of Captain Denney gave way +from this cause and a large kettle filled with wort[14] fell down and +spilt the boiling liquid over four of his children who were sitting +or lying on the hearth, some of them asleep, “which scalded them in so +terrible a manner, that one died presently after, and another’s life is +dispaired of” continues the record. + +“Here is good living for those who love good fires,” wrote Higginson +in his “New-Englands Plantation,” and under the spell of the glowing +flames, the bare, whitewashed walls, the brown timbers and floor boards +of the ceiling, the dress of pewter, and the simple furnishings of the +room, enriched by the shadows, became a place full of cheer--a place +where privation and homesickness might be forgotten in the glow of the +bright firelight. On cold nights the short bench inside the fireplace +was a chosen place and the settle, a long seat made of boards with a +high back to keep off the draft, was drawn before the fire and here sat +the older members of the family. + +The larger kettles hanging in the fireplace, were of brass and copper +and some of them were of prodigious size. Hot water was always to +be had and these kettles also served for the daily cooking, the +cheese-making, soap-boiling, and candle-dipping. + +Much of the food of the average New Englander until comparatively +recent times consisted of corn-meal, boiled meats and vegetables and +stews. Every well-equipped household had its spits for roasting and +many had gridirons, but the usual diet of the average family was “hasty +pudding,”--cornmeal mush and milk--varied by boiled meat or fish served +in the center of a large pewter platter and surrounded by boiled +vegetables. Baked beans and stewed beans appeared on the table several +times every week in the year. Indian bannock, made by mixing corn meal +with water and spreading it an inch thick on a small board placed at an +incline before the fire and so baked, was a common form of bread. When +mixed with rye meal it became brown bread and was baked in the brick +oven with the beans and peas. + +[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM + +The Parlor] + +The brick oven was a feature of every chimney. Sometimes in early +days it was built partly outside the house but so far as known the +opening was always in the kitchen fireplace. To reach it the housewife +must stoop below the oaken lintel and stand inside the fireplace, +taking care that her woolen skirts did not come near the flames. To +heat it for a baking, a fire was built inside, usually with specially +prepared pine or birch wood that had been split and seasoned out of +doors for a short time and then housed. The oven was hot enough when +the black was burned off the top and the inside had become a uniform +light color. The fire and ashes were then taken out by means of a +peel--a long-handled, flat-bladed shovel made for the purpose--and +when dusted out with a broom made of hemlock twigs it was ready for +the brown bread, beans, peas, Indian pudding, pies, and rye drop cakes +which were made with rye meal, eggs and milk and baked directly on the +bricks in the bottom of the oven. Potatoes and eggs were roasted in the +ashes of the fireplace. + +Between the years of 1635 and 1655, court records and inventories of +estates in the Massachusetts Bay Colony mention the following articles +of food: + +Bacon, beef, butter, cheese, eggs, fowls, lamb, milk, mutton, pork, +suet, veal, wild game, and cod, herring, mackerel, salmon and sturgeon. + +Barley, beans, Indian beans, bran, cabbages, carrots, chaff, corn, +English corn, Indian corn, hops, Indian meal, rye meal, oatmeal, oats, +parsnips, pease, pumpions, rye, squashes, turnips and wheat. + +Apples, berries, fruit, honey, raisins, sugar and vinegar. + +Biscuit, blewlman, bread, cake, malt, salad oil, porridge, rye malt, +yeast, salt and many kinds of spices. + +Much of this food was raised on the farm and nearly every family +had its garden. Such articles of food as were imported were usually +obtained at the shops in the larger towns by barter, as money was +scarce. In 1651, a farmer from the frontier town of Andover came +through the woods to Salem in his cart bringing twelve bushels of rye. +He stopped at a shop owned by George Corwin and from the daybook +kept at the time and still carefully preserved, we learn that among +other necessaries he carried home sugar for the goodwife and for the +children--a doll and a bird whistle. + +In the early years domestic animals were too valuable to be killed for +meat but game was plentiful and was roasted by being trussed on iron +spits resting on curved brackets on the backs of the andirons. This, +of course, required constant turning to expose the roast on all sides +in order to cook it evenly--a task frequently delegated to a child. A +skillet would be placed beneath to catch the drippings. Sometimes a +bird was suspended before the fire by a twisted cord that would slowly +unwind and partly wind again, requiring some one in frequent attendance +to twist the cord. Families of wealth possessed a “jack” to turn the +spit. This was a mechanism fastened over the fireplace and connected +with the spit by means of a pulley and cord. A heavy weight suspended +by a cord which slowly unwound, supplied the power that turned the spit. + +At night, on going to bed, the fire was carefully covered with ashes +in order to keep it for the next day. This was called “raking up the +fire.” If through poor judgment the fire didn’t keep some one would go +to a near neighbor to borrow coals, or if this was inconvenient, resort +was then had to the tinder box. Tinder was made by charring linen or +cotton rags and the tinder box was kept in the niche on the inside of +the fireplace, made by leaving out a couple of bricks. + +In “the hall,” usually upon open shelves, but sometimes upon a dresser, +was displayed the pride of the housewife,--the dress of pewter and +lattin ware. “China dishes,” imported by the East India Company or made +in Holland, were used sparingly during the early years of the colonies. +There was much earthenware and stoneware bottles and jugs, but it was +woodenware and pewter that were commonly used. When Lionel Chute died +in 1645 he bequeathed his silver spoon to his son James.[15] It was +the only piece of silver in the house. Of pewter he died possessed of +fourteen dishes “small and great,” eleven pewter salts, saucers and +porringers, two pewter candlesticks and a pewter bottle. The widow +Rebecca Bacon who died in Salem in 1655, left an estate of £195. +8. 6., which included a well-furnished house. She had brass pots, +skillets, candlesticks, skimmers, a little brass pan, and an excellent +supply of pewter including “3 large pewter platters, 3 a size lesse, +3 more a size lesse, 3 more a size lesse,” having a total value of +£1. 16. She also had a pewter basin, six large pewter plates, and six +lesser, nineteen pewter saucers, two fruit dishes, an old basin and +a great plate, two candlesticks, one large salt and a small one, two +porringers, a great flagon, one lesser, one quart, two pints and a +half pint; and an old porringer. She also left “1 silver duble salt, 6 +silver spoones, wine cup & a dram cup of silver.” + +Giles Badger of Newbury left to his young widow, a glass bowl, beaker, +and jug valued at three shillings; three silver spoons valued at £1, +and a good assortment of pewter, including “a salt seller, a tunell +and a great dowruff.” The household was also furnished with six wooden +dishes and two wooden platters. In other inventories appear unusual +items such as a pewter brim basin, pewter cullenders, pewter beer cups, +pans, and mustard pots. Pewter tankards were common. There were new and +old fashioned candlesticks. Pewter salts came in three sizes and the +saucers were both small and large. In 1693, best London pewter plates +cost the Boston shopkeepers 9-1/2 pence per pound in quantity. + +The seventeenth century “hall” must have had little spare room for its +daily occupants, for in addition to its table and chairs, its settle, +stools and wash bench, the long ago inventories disclose such chattels +as powdering tubs in which the salted meats were kept, the churn, +barrels containing a great variety of things, keelers and buckets, +bucking tubs for washing, and the various implements used in spinning +and weaving, washing and ironing, cooking and brewing, and the making +of butter and cheese. In the chimney hung hams and bacon and suspended +from the ceiling were strings of dried apples and hands of seed corn. + +It is claimed by some that the floors were sanded. That certainly was +true at a later period but there are strong elements of doubt as to +the prevalence of this custom during the seventeenth century. Sand, +however, was used freely with home-made soft soap, to scrub the floors +which were always kept white and clean, and whenever an early house is +restored or taken down sand is always found, sometimes in considerable +quantity, where it has sifted down through the cracks between the floor +boards. The downstairs rooms had double floors but the chamber floors +were made of one thickness of boards with here and there a knothole and +frequently with cracks between the boards through which the dust and +dirt from above must have sifted down upon the heads of those seated +at dinner or engaged in their daily tasks in the rooms below. Not +only does the structural evidence show this to be true but a number +of instances occur among the papers in Court files, where witnesses +have deposed as to what they had seen and heard through the cracks in +chamber floors. A grandson of Governor Endecott once fell a victim of +two gossiping sixteen-year old girls who had spent some time on their +knees peeping through the cracks in a chamber floor. Capt. Richard +More, the last survivor of the company on the “Mayflower,” late in life +kept a tavern in Salem. He was spied upon in this manner and eventually +brought before the justices of the Quarterly Court to answer for his +evasion of the law set forth and maintained at that time. + +[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM + +The kitchen showing roasting jack, settle, birch broom, hands of seed +corn, etc.] + +The parlor, called “the foreroom” at a later time, was the room where +guests of station were received. The best bed hung with curtains and +valance and covered with a rug, stood in a corner. In those days rugs +were not used on floors but as bed furnishings. Even the baby’s +cradle had its rug. Carpets, likewise, were too fine for wooden +floors and were used as table covers. Of bedsteads there were many +kinds,--high and low, canopy, close, corded, half-headed, joined, side, +standing, inlaid, and wainscott, and slipped under the higher bedsteads +during the daytime, were trundle or “truckle” beds in which the +children slept at night. Lionel Chute, the schoolmaster, had an “old +darnkell coverlet” on his bed while some of his neighbors possessed +branched and embroidered coverlets and several had coverlets made of +tapestry. + +Among the better families the parlor and chamber windows had curtains +hung from rods. In the parlor stood one or more chests in which were +stored the family clothing and bedding, for closets did not exist +in the seventeenth century house. There were great chests and small +chests, long boarded and great boarded chests, chests with a drawer, +carved chests, wainscot chests, trunks, and boxes. A few stools +and chairs, a looking glass, a small table, and perhaps a cupboard +completed the furnishings of the well-supplied parlor. In Capt. George +Corwin’s best room there were chairs with leather bottoms and straw +bottoms, a clock valued at £2, a screen having five leaves, a napkin +press, and a “Scriture or Spice box.” White calico curtains hung at his +chamber windows and the maid had a “Calico Cuberd cloth” in her room. +Parlor walls were whitewashed and bare of ornament. The first families +owned a portrait or two in oils and here and there a map in unglazed +frame decorated a wall. The Puritan character did not warm to the fine +arts and austere living was the aim if not always the achievement of +the time. + +The chambers in the second story must have been curiously furnished +rooms, containing a huddle of stores of all descriptions. Henry Short, +the town clerk of Newbury, died in 1673 leaving a goodly estate valued +at nearly £2000.[16] He owned a negro slave and his house was large and +well furnished. There was an old parlor and a new parlor containing +beds, chests, chairs, trunks, and boxes. In the chamber over the new +parlor there was a good feather-bed and bed clothing but no bedstead. +Wool and yarn were stored in this room together with boxes, tubs, some +feathers, and miscellaneous “lumber”--the phrase of the period for odds +and ends. The chamber over the kitchen, a comfortable room of course, +in winter, had its bed and bedding, also “5 hogsheds, 6 barrels, 5 Iron +hoopes, a pair of stock-cards, meale trough & other lumber, a parcell +of old Iron, a pike, a bed cord & other cordage.” Small wonder in such +a clutter that the rooms frequently had other tenantry than the human +occupants. + +When Jasper Dankers arrived in Boston in 1680, the captain of the +packet took him to his sister’s house where he lodged. “We were taken +to a fine large chamber,” he writes, “but we were hardly in bed before +we were shockingly bitten. I did not know the cause, but was not able +to sleep.... My comrade who was very sleepy, fell asleep at first. He +tumbled about very much; but I did not sleep any the whole night. In +the morning we saw how it was, and were astonished we should find such +a room with such a lady.”[17] + +With the present wide-spread belief in Puritan austerity of character, +there is associated a conception of a simplicity of dress and manners. +But the channels of information by which present day beliefs have +been shaped usually have been ecclesiastical, and bias and convenient +forgetfulness have been factors in outlining the composition of the +picture. Human nature and human frailities were much the same in the +seventeenth century as at the present time. In point of fact, our +New England ancestors when viewed as a body, are found to have had +standards of living far below those of today. The common speech was +gross in the extreme. Crowded living led to familiarity. There was more +drunkenness, profanity, loose living and petty crime in proportion +to the population than at the present time, and by no means did every +one go to meeting on Sunday. The ministers controlled the lawmaking +body and sumptuary laws were enacted which are enlightening. Because +of “newe and immodest fashions” the wearing of silver, gold and silk +laces, girdles and hat bands was prohibited. It was the fashion at +that time to slash the sleeves so that a fabric of another color worn +beneath would show in an ornamental manner through the slash. The +ministers decreed that neither man nor woman should wear clothing with +more than one slash on each sleeve and another on the back. “Cuttworks, +inbroidered or needle worke capps, bands & rayles,” were forbidden.[18] +Ruffs and beaver hats were prohibited, as was long hair. Binding or +small edging laces might be used, but the making or selling of bone +lace was penalized at the rate of five shillings per yard. + +But this didn’t change human nature and although from time to time +offenders were taken into court and punished, the wearing of fine +clothing fashioned after the London mode continued and a few years +later the ministers tried their hand again. Any kind of lace was +anathema and “no garment shalbee made with short sleeves, whereby the +nakedness of the arme may bee discovered.” On the other hand, large +sleeves were forbidden, so the maids and goodwives of the time must +have been somewhat at a loss to know how lawfully to fashion their +clothes. + +The minister at Ipswich grew so ill-tempered over the ungodly state of +the women in his town that he vented his spleen as follows:--“When I +hear a nugiperous Gentledame inquire what dress the Queen is in this +week, what the nudius tertian of the Court, I look at her as the very +gizzard of a trifle, the product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome +of nothing, fitter to be kickt, if she were of a kickable substance +than either honoured or humoured.”[19] + +The minister in the adjoining town, Rowley, actually cut off his nephew +from his inheritance because he wore his hair long in the prevailing +fashion. Later in the century the offense of wearing long hair was +forgotten in the unspeakable sin of wearing wigs. The Great and General +Court again took a hand and in 1675 condemned “the practise of men’s +wearing their own or other’s hair made into periwigs.” Judge Sewall in +his _Diary_ alludes to the custom. In 1685 three persons were admitted +to the Old South Church in Boston. “Two wore periwigs,” comments the +Judge. + +“1708, Aug. 20, Mr. Chievar died. The Wellfare of the Province was much +upon his Spirit. He abominated Periwigs.”[20] + +The Great and General Court at one time ordered that no person should +smoke tobacco in public under a penalty of two shillings and six pence, +nor in his own house with a relative or friend. But everybody smoked +who wanted to, even the maids, and the repressive legislation in time +met the usual fate of similar efforts to restrain individual liberty +and manners. + +It is sweet to fancy Priscilla at her spinning wheel wearing the coif +and nun-like garb of the Puritan maiden of the poet and the artist. +But the inventories of estates in the early years of the Colony, as +well as at a later time, furnish evidence of a different character. The +variety of fabrics listed is amazing and holds its own with the modern +department store. There are most of the well-known fabrics of today, +such as calico, cambric, challis, flannel, lawn, linen, plush, serge, +silk, velvet, and many others; and there are also names that sound +strangely in modern ears, viz: cheney, darnex, dowlas, genting, inckle, +lockrum, ossembrike, pennistone, perpetuana, sempiternum, stammell, and +water paragon. + +[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM + +Corner of the kitchen showing dresser with its “dress of pewter,” wash +bench, meal chest, wooden ware, etc.] + +As for dress,--the women wore bonnets, caps, silk hoods, coifs, +forehead cloths, ruffs, and whisks. Gowns, cloaks, mantles, and +muffs are mentioned frequently; as are many kinds of lace and even +fans and veils. Shawls and scarfs were not unknown and there were +gold, silver, and enamelled rings. At least one woman possessed a +mask, and stomachers were not uncommon. Tortoise shell combs appear; +all well-to-do persons wore gloves, and as for shoes--there were shoes +with French heels, fall shoes, and those with silver buckles. Even +shoe-strings appear in the inventories. There were silver, pewter, and +steel buttons and those of gympe, thread, and silk. + +Laboring men wore leather and coarse fabrics and for others there were +suits, doublets, waistcoats and breeches. Trousers are mentioned; +also a cane and periwigs. Of caps and hats there were a number of +kinds--felt, castor, demi-castor, and even straw. Capt. George Corwin, +a Salem merchant, owned a cloth coat trimmed with silver lace, a +velvet coat, a tabby doublet, an old fashioned Dutch satin doublet, +four cloaks of various kinds, two pairs of golden topped gloves, one +embroidered pair, and a pair with black fringe. He also took his walks +abroad wearing silk stockings, with a hat encircled by a silver band +and carrying a silver headed cane or a plate hilt rapier, according to +fashion. He possessed two silver watches. Who shall say that the men +and women of the New England colonies did not dress well and live well +in the early days according to their means? + +What was their conduct not only in their homes but in their relations +with their neighbors? Did they live peaceably and work together in +building up the settlements? Did they set up in the wilderness domestic +relations exactly like those they had abandoned over-seas? It was a +raw frontier country to which they came and it is apparent that at +the outset they felt themselves to be transplanted Englishmen. So far +as possible they lived the lives to which they had been accustomed +and they engrafted in their new homes the manners and customs of the +generations behind them. Most of them fully recognized, however, that +they were not to return; that they had cut loose from the old home +ties and it was not long before the necessities and limitations of +frontier life brought about changed conditions in every direction. +Politically, religiously and socially, they were in a different +relation than formerly in the English parish life. Many of them, +especially those somewhat removed from the immediate supervision of +magistrate and minister, before long seem to have shown a tendency to +follow the natural bent of the frontiersman toward independent thought +and action. Their political leaders made laws restricting daily life +and action and their religious leaders laid down rules for belief and +conduct, that soon were repellent to many. Civil and clerical records +are filled with instances showing an evasion of and even contempt for +the laws and rules laid down by the leaders of their own choosing. +Some of it doubtless was in the blood of the men who had come in +search of a certain individual freedom of action, but much of it may +be attributed to frontier conditions and primitive living. There +were many indentured servants, and rough fishermen and sailors have +always been unruly. Simple houses of but few rooms accommodating large +families are not conducive to gentle speech or modesty of manner nor to +a strict morality. The craving for land holding and the poorly defined +and easily removed bounds naturally led to ill feeling, assault, +defamation, and slander. + +It has been stated frequently that in the olden times in New England +every one was obliged to go to church. The size of the meeting houses, +the isolated locations of many of the houses, the necessary care of the +numerous young children, and the interesting side-lights on the manners +of the time which may be found in the court papers, all go to show +that the statement must not be taken literally. Absence from meeting, +breaking the Sabbath, carrying a burden on the Lord’s Day, condemning +the church, condemning the ministry, scandalous falling out on the +Lord’s Day, slandering the church, and other misdemeanors of a similar +character were frequent. + +A curious instance of Sabbath breaking occurred at Hampton, N. H. in +1646. Aquila Chase and his wife and David Wheeler were presented at +court for gathering pease on the Sabbath. They were admonished. The +family tradition has it that Aquila returned from sea that morning and +his wife wishing to supply a delicacy for dinner, fell into grave error +in thus pandering to his unsanctified appetite. + +At the Feb. 29, 1648 session of the court held in Salem, eight cases +were tried. A Gloucester man was fined for cursing, saying “There are +the brethern; the devil scald them.” Four servants were fined for +breaking the Sabbath by hunting and killing a raccoon in the time of +the public exercise to the disturbance of the congregation. If the +animal had taken to the deep woods instead of staying near the meeting +house the servants might have had their fun without paying for it. Then +came a Marblehead case--a man who had sailed his boat into the harbor +loaded with hay that he had brought from Gloucester. This was on the +Lord’s Day at the time when people were going to the morning exercises. +He, too, was fined. Nicholas Pinion, who worked at the Saugus Iron +Works, was presented for absence from meeting four Lord’s Days +together, “spending his time drinking and prophanely,” and Nicholas +Russell of the same locality was fined for spending a great part of one +Lord’s Day with Pinion in drinking strong water and cursing Pinion’s +wife thereby causing jealousy in the family; and the woman in question +having broken her bond for good behavior, was ordered to be severely +whipped. The other cases were for swearing, in which the above named +lady was included; for being disguised in drink; and for living from +his wife. And so the court ended. + +Drunkenness was very common in the old days. Every family kept on hand +a supply of liquor and wine, and cider was considered a necessity of +daily living in the country, where it was served with each meal and +also carried into the fields by the workers. It was stored in barrels +in the cellar and the task of drawing the cider and putting it on the +table usually fell to the younger members of the family. A man would +often provide in his will for the comfort of his loving wife by setting +aside for occupancy during her life, one half of his house, with a +carefully specified number of bushels of rye, potatoes, turnips and +other vegetables; the use of a horse with which to ride to meeting or +elsewhere; and lastly, the direction that annually she be provided with +a certain number of barrels of cider,--sometimes as many as eight. + +Rev. Edward Holyoke, the President of Harvard College, was in the +habit of laying in each year thirty or more barrels of cider as he had +to provide for much entertaining. Late in the winter he would draw +off part of his stock and into each barrel he would pour a bottle of +spirit and a month later some of this blend would be bottled for use on +special occasions. + +[Illustration: WELLCURB AT THE JOHN WARD HOUSE + +Showing wellsweep, wooden bucket and girl dressed in the costume of the +late 17th century] + +As an example of life and manners in seventeenth century New England, +the ministerial experiences of Topsfield may be cited. It is an inland +town near Ipswich and was settled in 1639. The first minister was the +Rev. William Perkins who had been a selectman and representative at +Weymouth and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company +in Boston. Later he preached at Gloucester where one of his flock was +presented at court for unbecoming speeches against Mr. Perkins, saying +“if it were not for the law, shee would never come to the meeting, +the teacher was so dead ... affirming that the teacher was fitter to +be a ladys chamberman than to be in the pulpit.”[21] He removed to +Topsfield in 1656 and before long was collecting his salary through +the courts. Some of his flock retaliated and brought him into court +for drunkenness, when it appeared that he had stopped at the Malden +ordinary and called for a cup of sack but goody Hill told him that he +had had too much already and Master Perkins replied “if you think I am +drunk let me see if I can not goe” and he went tottering about the +kitchen and said the house was so full of potts and kettles that he +could hardly go. + +In 1663 a meeting house was built in Topsfield, and the Rev. Thomas +Gilbert, a Scotchman, supplanted Mr. Perkins. The new minister also had +a love for good wine and after a time Mr. Perkins entered a complaint +and it appears from the records that one sacrament day Mr. Gilbert +entertained at dinner a number of the older men and women whose homes +were distant from the meeting house. He possessed a golden cup and what +was left of the sacramental wine was drunk at dinner, the cup being +passed around the table at least twice, the minister drinking deeply +with the not unusual result, for he forgot to give thanks and sang a +psalm with lisping utterance. Mr. Gilbert was followed in his pastorate +by the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, a Harvard graduate, who, during his eight +years stay in Topsfield, became a familiar figure in the courts because +of suits for non-payment of salary, for cursing and swearing, and for a +damaging complaint for slander exhibiting much discreditable testimony. +Then came the Rev. Joseph Capen and during his pastorate of over forty +years the town and church enjoyed a peaceful growth interrupted only by +the witchcraft delusion of 1692 in which an attempt to appropriate land +of Topsfield men played an important part. + +But manners and crimes vary with the centuries as do dress and speech. +In the year 1655, the following crimes were penalized in the courts of +the Massachusetts Bay Colony: eavesdropping, meddling, neglecting work, +naughty speech, profane dancing, kissing, making love without consent +of friends, uncharitableness to a poor man in distress, carelessness +about fire, wearing great boots, etc., and a few years later we find +other strange misdemeanors, such as abusing a mother-in-law, wicked +speeches against a son-in-law, kicking another in the street, leaving +children alone in the house, pulling hair, riding behind two fellows +at night (this was a girl, Lydia by name), sleeping in meeting and +dissenting from the rest of the jury. + +With such minute supervision of the daily life of the colonists it can +readily be appreciated that it was an age for gossiping, meddlesome +interference with individual life and liberty and that in the course of +time nearly every one came before the courts as complainant, defendant +or witness. There were few amusements or intellectual diversions and +they could only dwell on the gossip and small doings of their immediate +surroundings. But all the while there was underlying respect for law, +religion and the rights of others. The fundamental principles of human +life were much the same as at the present day, and men and women lived +together then as now and as they always will--with respect and love. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + + AN ACCOUNT OF SUPPLIES FURNISHED BY + THE COMPANY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY + TO REV. SAMUEL SKELTON, THE + MINISTER AT SALEM. + + +The following account of food, fabrics, household supplies and +equipment furnished by the Company of the Massachusetts Bay to Rev. +Samuel Skelton, the first minister at Salem, is of much economic +interest. The emigrants sailed from London about the middle of April, +1629 and reached the harbor of Naumkeak (now Salem) on June 30th. Mr. +Skelton died Aug. 2, 1634 and this accounting may have been made up +after his death. It begins in 1629 at the time of the departure from +England and covers an indeterminate period. The increase of livestock +over a period of _five years_ is described and this seems to indicate +the period of residence at Salem until his death. + +It is enlightening to find that the Massachusetts Bay Company seems to +have maintained a company shop at which supplies of all kinds might be +obtained; and it is a matter for comment that the minister’s family +was supplied during the voyage and in the early days following the +settlement, with such luxuries as powdered sugar, salad oil, castile +soap and almonds, not to mention, also, a variety of spices, such as +pepper, cloves, mace, and nutmegs. + +The original of this document may be seen in the Suffolk County Court +Files, Volume I. + +Other interesting lists of all kinds of materials sent over by +the Company, may be found in the Company records printed by the +Commonwealth in 1853 (Vol. I, pp. 23-37) and also by the American +Antiquarian Society (Transactions, Vol. III, pp. 5-30e). + +Coppie of An Accompte of monies M^r Skelton is Creditor viz. + + li. s. d. + An^o 1629 Imprimis p so much w^{ch} should } + haue bene paid him in England } 20-00-00 + towards fitting him for y^e voy^{adg} } + Item for Charges att Tillbury, Cowes, + & Plimoth, being wind bound 02-10-00 + Item p Twenty ^{li} p Annum for 3 + years is y^e some of 60-00-00 + Item for on bushell of wheat flowe^r 00-15-00 + Ite. for one bushell of oatmeale 00-10-00 + Ite. for one holland & 2 ordenary + Cheess 00-10-00 + Ite. for xx^{li} of powder sugar att 01-03-09 + Ite. for one Loafe Cont 7^{li} att 1^s 6^d 00-10-06 + Ite. for one sugar Loafe Cont 5^{li} att + 1^s 7^d p li. 00-07-11 + Ite. 6^{li} of pepper 00-12-00 + Ite. Nutmeggs 4 oz 00-01-08 + Ite. one oz. of Clovs, & one oz. of mace 00-02-00 + Ite. iij^{li} of starch 00-01-03 + Ite. xij^{li} of Rice 00-06-00 + Ite. vj^{li} of Vntryed suett 00-03-00 + Ite. one gall of aquavite 00-03-08 + Ite. for one flitch of Bacon 00-14-00 + Ite. Castle soape ix^{li} att 8^d p li 00-06-00 + Ite. frute viz Rasons Corrants & + pruens 00-14-00 + Ite. Safron ij oz 00-05-00 + Ite. five qu of stronge water 00-08-00 + Ite. Almonds ij^{li} at 1^s 2^d 00-02-04 + Ite. xv^{li} of tryed suett at 8^d p. li 00-10-00 + Ite. one gall of Sallert oyle 00-06-00 + Ite. vj^{li} of Candles 00-03-00 + Ite. v geese & ix ducks 00-08-00 + + An^o 1630 Ite. xij^{li} of Butter att 00-08-00 + Ite. vj potts of Butter Cont. vij^{li} p pott 01-08-00 + Ite. ij Cheeses about x li a pc 00-11-08 + Ite. half a firkin of butter of M^r Gibbs 00-17-06 + Ite. one Third p^rt of a barrell of w^t + biskett 00-10-00 + Ite. one pott of honey vij^{li} wa^t att 00-07-10 + Ite. one pott of butte^r att 00-03-00 + Ite. x^{li} of Corrants att 00-05-00 + Ite. [ ] Bacon 00-10-00 + Ite. one doz of Candles 00-08-00 + Ite. ij Cheeses att vj^d p li 00-11-03 + Ite. iij Cheeses att vij p. li 00-17-09 + Ite. one porkett 01-05-00 + Ite. xij^{li} of tryed suett 00-08-00 + Ite. vj gees & xij ducks 00-14-00 + Ite. vj po: of powder suger about 20^d 00-10-00 + Ite. v po: of powder suger 18^d 00-07-06 + Ite. x^{li} of Loaf suger 01-00-00 + Ite. Cloves & mace 00-01-00 + Ite. ij oz of Nutmeggs j^s & Sinam^o 16^d 00-02-04 + Ite. workmens wadges for Cutting + & bringing home wood against + winter about 03-00-00 + --------- + Suma to^{lis} 105-18-11 + + + Item ⅌ so much p^d M^r Pearce[22] + for provisions of meale, pease, + Canvas, Carsey & etcr w^{th} 3^{li} + 5^s 9^d after 25^{li} ⅌ Cent. & freight. + I say p^d the some of 12-15-01 + Ite. for 3 quarts of aquavite 00-03-09 + Ite. for x^{li} of Rice att 5d 00-04-02 + Ite. 10^{li} of Butt[er] att 00-06-08 + Ite. 4 Chees[es] att 01-03-04 + Ite. 10 peeces of pork 00-11-08 + Ite. more 20^{li} of Butter 00-10-00 + Ite. more 4 bushells Virginia Corne 02-00-00 + Ite. soape 7^s & vinege^r 4 gall^o 8^s & + 1 g^l 2^s 00-17-00 + Ite. 2 pecke of w^t salte att 00:03:00 + --------- + Sumis 18-14-08 + And on the other syde the totall some of 105-18-11 + --------- + Suma to ^{lis} 124-13-07 + + +Now ye Increase + +The first yeare next after the receipte of the 2 heiffers, both the +Calues miscaried, one about a quarter ould dyed, the other neare upon a +yeare ould lost by the woolves. + +The second yeare there was a heiffer Calfe and a bull Calfe, w^{ch} +heiffer is now in my hands And the Bull Calfe M^r Skelton sould att one +ye^r and three quarters ould for eight pounds. + +The Therd yeare was which the beginning of winter weare +both eaten with the woolves. Now since the three foresaid years, the +next yeare after was Twoe bull Calvs, and an heiffer Calfe, the springe +before M^r Skeltons death. + +And This yeare since was Three bull Calues Twoe wherof are dead the one +when it was about Twenty & twoe weeks ould, the other since winter did +begin. Now for the keeping of the Catle w^{ch} should haue beene att +the Companyes Chardge, hath wholly lyen vpon vs. + + M^r Skeltons account w^{th} the Companie + M^r Skelton is D pr viz + li. s. d + ⅌ 14 yards of Dutch serge Rec^d att 02-05-09 + + It. 17 yards of ffustian att 01-07-00 + It. 11 yards of w^t English ieans 00-13-09 + It. 12 yards of Red p petuana 01-16-00 + It. 12 yards of Greene say 01-13-00 + It. 12 yards of yellow say 01-13-00 + It 12 elns of lin [torn] men 00-14-00 + It. 14 elns Nouess [torn] llain 01-17-04 + It. 20 elns o[f loc] krum 01-05-10 + It. 20 elns stript [linsey] woolsye 01-09-04 + It. [ ] yards [torn] buckrum 00-05-03 + It. one peece of Noridg serg 00-15-00 + It. 20 elns of Lockerum 01-05-10 + It. 15 yards of w^t fflannell 00-15-00 + It. 20 elns of Course Canvas 01-04 [torn] + It. one pound of whalbone 0 [torn] + --------- + 20-11-00 + Item ⅌ so much p^d ⅌ M^r Renell + p^rt of M^r Pearce his bill, the some of 08-00-00 + Item ⅌ 9^{li} of Iron att 3^d is 00-02-03 + It. ⅌ one syth 00-03-00 + It. ⅌ one fishing line 00-03-00 + It. ⅌ 30 pound ocum 00-07-06 + It. ⅌ 2000 Nails 6^d p C. 00-10-00 + It. ⅌ 600 Nails 10^d p C. 00-05-05 + It. ⅌ 1 Reame of paper 00-10-00 + Item, borrowed of Cp. Endicot of + y^e Comp. 7 yrds of bays att 2^s 6^d + ⅌ y^d is 00-17-06 + halfe a elne of ffustian att 00-00-10 + It. 2 yards & half of yellow Carsey + 3^s 4^d 00-08-04 + --------- + Suma To^{lis} St. 031-19-05 + + Ite. 2 gall of Metheglen 00-08-00 + It. one Lethe^r Jack 00-01-06 + It. two Tubbs } + It. one wooden hand boule } + Ite. vinegar } 00-03-06 + It. 3 peuter botle^s quarts } + It. one pinte peute^r botle 00-00-10 + Ite. one hatt 00-10-00 + --------- + 33-03-03 + + rec of M^r Winthrop Govern^r + Ite. 3 y^rds of Cambrick + 6 y^rds & a h: of Loomeworke + 2 Drinking hornes + 8 p^r of shoes for men + 6 p^r of gray stockings for men + 6 p^r of stockings for women + 6 p^r of stockings for children + 10 y^rds of Carsey + Thred + 2000 of pinnes + 6 Alls + one webb of blew gartering + 2 knots of Tape + +[Illustration] + + + + + AN INVOICE OF ENGLISH GOODS SHIPPED TO + NEW ENGLAND ABOUT 1690. + + +In July, 1694, suit was brought in the Court at Boston, by John Caxy +of London, England, against Joseph Mallenson of Boston, to whom the +London merchant had consigned various goods for the Boston market, the +shipment consisted of a great variety of clothing, fabrics, hardwear, +implements, kitchen utensils and pewter. Mallenson not having remitted +for the goods, suit was bought and a copy of the invoice was presented +at court and is still preserved among the Massachusetts State Archives. +This document throws considerable light on the furnishings of the +colonial home at that time and the prevailing scale of prices. + + Invoice and Contents of Sundry Goods Laden on Board the good ship + called the Friendship Capt. John Ware Comand^r bound from this Port + of London for Boston in New England and goes consigned to M^r Joseph + Mallenson for the proper Accompt & Risque of John Caxy. + + One Large Fatt q^t Felt & Castor hatts as viz^t N^o. 1. + + N^o. 1 3 doz: Boyes Felts Edged & Lin’d + at 14/p doz: £2.02.0 + 2 3 doz: ditto at 16 p doz: 2.08.0 + 3 3 doz: ditto at 18 p doz: 2.14.0 + 4 3 doz: ditto at 20/ p doz: 3.00.0 + 5 4 doz: Mens felts at 34^s 6.16.0 + 6 10 doz: ditto at 40^s p doz: 20.00.0 + 7 3 doz: ditto at 48^s p doz: 7.04.0 + 8 3 doz: Mens Carrolinas at 8/6 p ps 15.06.0 + 1 4 doz: Mens Castors at 5/6 13.04.0 + 2 3 doz: ditto at 6/6 11.14.0 + 3 2 doz: ditto at 7/9 9.06.0 + 4 2 doz: ditto at 9/ 10.16.0 + 5 1 doz: ditto at 11/ 6.12.0 + 6 doz: Rubers at 15^d p doz: 0.07.6 + + 6 doz: ditto at 2/6 p doz: 15.00.0 + a Large Fatt Cost 12^s 12.00.0 + ---------- + £112.16.6 + + One Small Case haire Powder, & Wash Balls No 1. + + 4 doz & halfe of Sweet haire Powder at 8^d doz: 1.16.0 + 3 li of best Damask Powder at 3/ p li 0.09.0 + 7 gross Wash Balls at 8^d p g^s 2.16.0 + a Case cost 2^s 0.02.0 + ------- + 5.03.6 + + Two hh^{ds} Turnerie Ware N^o 1 & 2 as viz^t & 7 bundles of + Steel Shoe Shovells & Spads N^o 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 + + 3 Pottle Tun Canns at 3.09.00 + 2 doz: Fine pint Tun Canns at 18.00.00 + 6 quart Tunn Canns at 06.00 + 3 Three pint Tunn Canns at 04.00 + 4 Snap Mouse Traps 01.00 + 4 Double fall Mouse Traps at 02.02 + 2 Single fall Mouse Traps at 01.04 + 2 Large Single fall Mouse Traps at 01.06 + 4 Wooden Ratt Traps with Springs at 05.00 + 1 doz: Punch Strainers Sett up 02.09 + 9 doz: 6 best Maple Treachers at 30/ p doz: 1.06.11 + 1 doz: Milk Trayes at 11.00 + 3 doz: Platters at 6/ 18.00 + 3 doz: hand Boles at 3/6 10.06 + 1 doz: Porridge Dishes at 11.04 + 2 doz: handle Boles at 8/p doz: 16.00 + 2 doz: Carved Spoons at 6^d p doz: 01.00 + 6 doz: Beer Tapps at 3^d p doz: 01.06 + 5 gs 2 doz: plaine Spoons at 2/6 p gro. 12.11 + 1 gs Course haire Cottons kom’d at 2/9 1.13.00 + 1 gs Midle hayre cottons kom’d at 3/3 1.19.00 + 6 doz: Large haire Strainers at 2/ p doz 12.00 + 3 doz: Small haire ditto at 18^d p doz 04.06 + 2 doz: Midle Bellows at 18/ p doz 1.16.00 + 1 doz: 6. Small ditto at 16/ p doz 1.04.00 + 1 doz: Sucking Bottles at 2^s 12.00 + 1 doz: Large Ladles at 1^s8 01.08 + 1 doz: Small ditto 01.00 + 12 doz: Steel Shod Shovells & Spads at 16/ 9.12.00 + 2 hh^{ds} Cost 7^s each 14.00 + -------- + 25.03.10 + + One Case Lookeing Glasses N^o 3 as + + N^o 1 6 Dressing Glasses 10 Inches in Sight at 5/ ps. 1.10.0 + 2 6 ditto at 6^s ps 11 Inches in Sight 1.16.0 + 3 6 ditto at 7^s ps 12 Inches in Sight 2.02.0 + 4 3 Glasses in Large Frames at 15/ ps 12 Inches 2.05.0 + 5 3 ditto at 18^s ps 14 Inches in Sight 2.14.0 + 6 2 ditto at 22^s ps 16 Inches in Sight 2.04.0 + 7 2 ditto at 28^s ps 18 Inches in Sight 2.16.0 + 8 2 ditto at 35^zs ps 20 Inches 3.10.0 + A Case Cost 5^s 05.0 + ------- + 19.02.0 + + One Case N^o 2 q^t as viz^t + + N^o 1 2 Perriwiggs at 18^s p ps 1.16.0 + 2 2 ditto at 2^s 2.00.0 + 3 1 ditto at 25^s 1.05.0 + 4 1 ditto at 30^s 1.10.0 + ------- + 6.11.0 + + N^o 1 2 doz: Child, woll hose at 5^s p doz: 10.0 + 2 2 doz: ditto at 6/8 13.4 + 3 1 doz: ditto at 8/ 08.0 + 4 1 doz: ditto at 10/ 10.0 + 5 2 doz: Womens Woll ditto at 9/6 19.0 + 6 2 doz: ditto at 10/6 1.01.0 + 7 1 doz ditto at 11/6 11.6 + 8 1 doz ditto at 13/6 13.6 + 9 1 doz ditto Mens Wool at 13/ 13.0 + 10 2 doz ditto at 15/6 1.11.0 + 11 2 doz ditto at 18/ 1.16.0 + 12 1 doz ditto at 20/ 1.00.0 + 13 1 doz ditto black at 22/ 1.02.0 + 14 1 doz Womens Worst ditto at 29/ 1.09.0 + 15 1 doz Mens Short Worst Mixt at 36/ 1.16.0 + 16 1 doz ditto at 38/ 1.18.0 + 17 1 doz ditto at 43/ 2.03.0 + 18 1 doz ditto black at 40/ 2.00.0 + 19 1 doz Mens Mixt Role at 45/ 2.05.0 + 20 1 doz ditto at 52/ p doz 2.12.0 + 21 1 doz ditto bla: & blew at 52^s 2.12.0 + 1 Case Cost w^{th} Cords 2/ 02.0 + -------- + 28.05.4 + + Thirty One Quoiles of Cordage Con^t as vix^d + + N^o. 1 3 Inch 1/4 qt 3.02.09 + 2 1 ditto 4 Inches 4.01.00 + 3 1 ditto 5 Inches 6.01.06 + 4 1 ditto 5-3/4 Inches 8.02.02 + 5 1 ditto 6 9.01.25 + 6 1 Quoile 3 2.03.25 + 7 1 Quoile 2-3/4 2.02.08 + 8 1 Quoile 2-1/4 1.03.13 + 9 1 Quoile 2-1/2 2.00.10 + 10 1 Quoile 2-1/2 2.00.12 + 11 1 Quoile 2-1/4 1.03.23 + 12 1 ditto 2-1/2 2.00.17 + 13 1 ditto 2-3/4 2.02.04 + 14 1 ditto 3 Inches 3.01.02 + 15 2 ditto 2 2.00.25 + 16 2 ditto 2 2.00.12 + 17 2 ditto 2 2.00.21 + 18 2 ditto 2 2.00.13 + 19 2 ditto 1 Inch 1/2 1.02.24 + 20 2 ditto 1-1/2 1.01.13 + 21 3 ditto 1-1/4 1.03.20 + 22 2 ditto 1-3/4 1.03.11 + 23 3 Quoiles 1-1/4 1.02.27 + 1 Cable 8 Inches 3/4 19.00.14 + 2 5-1/2 7.02.26 + 1 ditto 4-1/2 5.01.22 + 1 ditto 4-3/2 5.03.07 + 1 Quoile 2-3/4 2.01.11 + 1 Quoile 2-3/4 2.01.11 + 1 Quoile 2-1/4 1.01.08 + For a Lyghter to carry it on board 15.00 + +One hh^d N^o 4 q^t wro^t Brass & wro^t Iron worke as viz^d + + 12 brass Kettles q^t 1 C. O.4^{li} at 15^d p li 7.05.0 + 2 pr of 8 Square Monument Candlesticks 15.0 + 2 pr ditto at 6^s 12.0 + 2 pr ditto at 5^s 10.0 + 2 pr ditto at 4^s 08.0 + 2 pr ditto at 3/6 07.0 + 2 pr ditto at 3/ 06.0 + 2 pr of 4 square ditto at 7/ 14.0 + 2 pr of ditto at 6^s 12.0 + 2 pr of Round ditto at 3/6 07.0 + 2 pr of ditto at 4^s 08.0 + 2 pr ditto at 4^s 6 09.0 + 2 pr ditto at 5/ 10.0 + 2 pr ditto at 5/6 11.0 + 2 pr ditto at 6/6 13.0 + 6 doz: Iron Sp^r Candlesticks at 5/6 1.13.0 + 2 Fine Mortars & Pestells at 4/ 08.0 + 2 ditto at 4/6 09.0 + 2 ditto at 5/6 11.0 + 2 ditto at 7/3 14.6 + 1 doz. Flower Boxes 11.0 + 1 doz Pepper Boxes 06.0 + 5 doz Brass Snuffers at 7/6 1.17.6 + 6 Snuffers Stands at 10.6 + 4 Snuffers Panns at 04.8 + 1 doz: Beife Forkes 07.0 + 1 doz Grid. Irons w^{ta} 98 Ribbs 17.0 + 18 plaine Bellows 1.03.0 + 4 doz: Alkomy Spoons at 12/9 11.0 + 2 doz: ditto at 2/3 04.6 + 1 doz: Brass Extinguishers 03.0 + 6 brass Ladles at 6^s 6^d 03.3 + 6 ditto at 9d 04.6 + 6 ditto at 14^d 07.0 + 6 Slices at 7^d 03.6 + 6 ditto at 9 04.6 + 2 doz: brass Save-alls at 5^s p doz 10.0 + 3 doz ditto at 4/ 12.0 + 3 doz ditto at 3/6 10.6 + 2 doz ditto at 3/ 06.0 + 1 doz dubble Iaggers 06.0 + 1 doz: ditto at 06.0 + 2 doz: Single ditto at 3^s 9 07.6 + 2 doz: Small mincers at 7^s 14.0 + 1 doz Large ditto at 15.6 + 1 doz Chopers 12.0 + 1 doz Cleavers 17.6 + 3 doz Small padlocks at 5^s 6 16.6 + 2 doz: ditto at 6^s p doz 12.0 + 2 doz: ditto at 7/9 p doz 15.6 + 1 doz ditto at 09.6 + 10 doz Scuers w^{th} fraimes 16.6 + 2 doz: Small Sp^r. Locks at 8^s p doz 16.0 + 2 doz Duble Sp^r Locks at 17/ p doz 1.14.0 + 4 bundles Frying Pans q^t 1 C. 1. 26^{li} at 45/ 3.09.6 + 1 hh^d Cost 6^s 06.0 + ------- + 41.11.5 + + One Trunk N^o 1 q^t Nothing butt Buttons as viz^t + + N^o. 1 12 gs Gimp Fallow Brest at 9^d p gro 09.0 + 2 48 gs Gymp Fallow Coatt at 1.11^d 2.04.0 + 3 34 baggs Coat Pillers q^t 136 gro: 18^d p gro: 10.04.0 + 4 10 gross bla: haire best at 20^d 16.8 + 5 10 baggs best Pillers Coats q^t 40 gro: at 23^d 3.16.8 + 6 24 gross Silke browne best at 23^d 2.06.0 + 7 13 baggs q^t 52 gross of Accor. Coats 2/6 p gs 6.10.0 + 8 12 gross bla: hayre Milo Coats 3/3^d 1.19.0 + 9 20 gross Cutt haire Coats at 3/10 p gs 3.16.8 + 10 30 gross Large Silke Coats at 3/10 5.15.0 + A Trunk & Cords Cost 15/ 15.0 + ------- + 38.12.0 + + One Large hh^d N^o 3 q^t of Tinnerie Ware as viz^t + + 6 Lanthorns at 2^s 3^d p L 13.6 + 5 ditto at 21^d 10.6 + 6 ditto at 18^d 09.0 + 2 Large fish kettles & plates at 5^s 10.0 + 2 Small ditto at 3^s 06.0 + 2 doz Slices at 2/6 05.0 + 6 Large pastry panns at 22^d 11.0 + 6 Small ditto at 14^d 07.0 + 3 Setts Kettles at 1.01.0 + 3 doz: Pockett Graters at 2^s p doz 06.0 + 3 doz ditto at 20^d 05.0 + 1 doz Large Square pudding pans at 14^s 14.0 + 1 doz ditto Small at 12^d 12.0 + 6 paire of Snuffers & panns at 18^d p 09.0 + 6 hanging Candlesticks at 12^d 06.0 + 2 doz: Large Corringers at 4^s 08.0 + 3 doz Midle ditto at 3^s 09.0 + 2 doz: Small ditto at 2/ 04.0 + 6 Large Funnells at 9^d ps 04.6 + 2 doz quart ditto at 6/ p doz 12.0 + 2 doz pint ditto at 4/ p doz 08.0 + 2 doz ditto at 2/6 05.0 + 2 doz ditto at 2/ 04.0 + 1 doz Large Sauce panns at 8^d p ps 08.0 + 2 doz: quart ditto at 6^d p ps 12.0 + 2 doz: point ditto at 4/6 09.0 + 2 doz: Flower Boxes at 3/6 07.0 + 2 doz: pepper boxes at 2/6 05.0 + 4 Large Dripping pans at 2/3 09.0 + 6 Small ditto at 20^d 10.0 + 1 doz Quart potts at 6^d ps 06.0 + 2 doz: pint ditto at 4/ p doz 08.0 + 1 doz: Large Round Pudding panns 13^d 13.0 + 1 doz ditto Small at 11^d 11.0 + 1 doz: Candlesticks at 6^d ps 06.0 + 6 Planish Candlesticks at 8^d 04.0 + 1 doz Casting Ladles at 4^d ps 04.0 + 1 doz: bread Graters at 7^d ps 07.0 + 1 doz: ditto at 4^d ps 04.0 + 1 doz: Tinder boxes & at 8s 08.0 + 8 Candle Boxes at 14^d ps 09.4 + 6 round Fish plates at 11^d ps 05.6 + 6 Cullendars at 16^d ps 08.0 + 1 doz halfe pint potts at 2^d ps 02.0 + A Large Casque Cost 9^s 09.0 + ------- + 18.04.4 + + One Bayle of Stuffs & N^o 8 q^t as viz^t + + N^o 1 12 ps Worst. Fancies at 20^s 12.00.0 + 2 3 Woollen Shades at 22^s ps 3.00.0 + 3 6 playne Silke Crapes at 23/ ps 6.18.0 + 4 6 Stript Worst. Crapes at 23/ 6.18.0 + 5 2 Strip’t Silke Crapes at 26/ 2.12.0 + 6 4 Spotted Strip’t Silke Crapes at 26/ 5.04.0 + 7 2 Sattin Strip’t Crapes at 28/ 2.16.0 + 8 10 Strip’t Druggetts at 28/ 14.00.0 + 9 3 Woollen Damask at 29^s 4.07.0 + 10 6 Mixt Serges at 30/ 9.00.0 + 11 2 Strip’t ditto at 33^s 3.06.0 + 13 10 Silke Fancies at 36/ ps 18.00.0 + 14 6 Effigianes at 38/ ps 11.08.0 + 15 6 Silke Damaske at 46/ 13.16.0 + 16 3 Strip’t Cambletts at 46^s 6.18.0 + 17 1 Mock Calliminco at 3 3.00.0 + 18 1 Right ditto 4.00.0 + 19 3 Role ps Silke Fancies q^t 37:37:37-1/2 + is 111-1/2 yd at 18^d 8.07.3 + 20 1 ps Red Flannel q^t 20 ) + 21 1 ps Yello ditto q^t 21 ) 110 yds at 14^d 6.08.4 + 22 1 ps ditto q^t 25 ) + 23 1 ps white q^t 44 ) + peices 92 + A Coard & Canvis paper & packing 1.04.0 + 4 doz: of Course hose in ditto Bale + -------- + 146.14.7 + + One Drume Fatt N^o 2 Containing Pewter as viz^t + + 12 Pottle Tankards at 3^s 10^d ps 2.06.0 + 12 Quart ditto at 3^s 1.16.0 + 24 Midle ditto at 2/6 3.00.0 + 24 Small ditto at 2/ 2.08.0 + 12 doz: Large Poringers at 9^s 6^d p. doz 5.14.0 + 12 doz: Small ditto at 8/ 4.16.0 + 3 pr New-fashion’d Candlesticks at 4^s 12.0 + 3 pr ditto at 3^s 09.0 + 2 pr Round ditto at 2^s 10^d 05.8 + a Fatt Cost 07.0 + + One Drume Fatt No 3 q^t more Pewter viz^t + + 18 Large Chamber Potts at 2/10^s ps 2.11.0 + 30 Middle ditto at 2^s d^d 3.10.0 + 40 Small ditto at 2^s 4.00.0 + 12 doz Alkney Spoons at 2/9 1.13.0 + 24 doz Powder ditto at 2/3^d p doz 2.14.0 + 12 Large Salts at 2^s 2 ps 1.06.0 + 24 Middle ditto at 20^d ps 2.00.0 + 48 Small ditto at 12^d ps 2.08.0 + 18 Basons q^t 32-1/2 at 12^d 1.12.6 + 2 doz: Sawcers at 9^s p doz 18.0 + 4 doz Small ditto at 7^s p doz 1.08.0 + 2 Pottle Wine Measure Potts at 5/6 11.0 + 6 Quart ditto at 2/8 16.0 + 6 Pint ditto Potts at 22^d ps 11.0 + 6 halfe Pint ditto at 14^d 07.0 + 6 Quartern ditto Potts at 9^d p ps 04.6 + a ffat Cost 7^s 07.0 + + One halfe Barell Fatt N^o 4 Con^t more pewter + + N^o A 78 Dishes q^t 265^{li} at 9^d 1/2 10.09.9-1/2 + A ffat Cost 3^s6 03.6 + ------------ + £76.02.5-1/2 + + One Bayle of Lincy Woolsie Con^t 30 ps + + No 7 at 31^s ps 46.10.0 + Canvis &c^a 1.07.0 + ---------- + 47.17.0 + + Two Large Bayles of Kersyes N^o 4:5 viz^t + + N^o A 3 Browns) + 1 Gray ) at 26^s p ps. 5.04.0 + B 3 Browne) + 1 Gray ) at 28^s ps 5.12.0 + C 1 Browne) + 3 Grays ) at 30^s 6.00.0 + D 4 Browns at 31^s 6.04.0 + E 4 Browns at 32^s 6.08.0 + F 3 Browns) + 2 Grays ) at 35^s 10.10.0 + G 4 Browns) + 2 Grays ) at 37^s 11.02.0 + H 4 Browns) + 2 Grays ) at 38^s 11.08.0 + I 6 Browns at 39^s 11.14.0 + K 3 Browns) + 2 Drabbs) at 42^s 12.12.0 + 1 Gray ) + L 6 Honly Reds at 42^s 12.12.0 + M 2 Grays ) + 1 Drabb ) + 3 Browns ) at 43^s ps 25.16.0 + 6 Nap’t ) + N 3 Browns) + 2 Grays ) at 58^s ps 14.08.0 + 1 Drabb ) + O 3 Browns) + 3 Grays ) at 55^s ps 20 yds Long 16.10.0 + Canvis Cord Paper & packing 38^s p bayle 3.16.0 + ---------- + 159.16.0 + + One Bayle of Cottons of Severall Collers viz^t + + 6 White Cottons at 15/ 4.10.0 + 6 White ditto at 20/ 6.00.0 + 6 Red ditto) + 5 Blew ditto) + 5 Cloth Cullerd ditto) at 17^s p ps 19.11.0 + 5 Ashe Cullerd ditto) + 2 Yellow ditto) + 4 Red ditto at 23^s ps 4.12.0 + 1 Blew ditto at 24/ 1.04.0 + Canvis & Packing 1.18.0 + ---------- + 37.15.0 + + One hh^d N^o 5 Con^t Sundry Lotts of Goods as Viz^t + + 12 hogskin Saddles Stirrups, Leathers bridles, + Girts & Snaffels at 14^s 8.08.0 + N^o 18 li whited Browne Thread at 2/3 13.6 + 20 li ditto at 2/6 15.0 + 22 li ditto at 2/10 17.0 + 24 li ditto at 3/3 19.6 + 26 li ditto at 3/8 1.02.0 + 28 li ditto at 4^s p li 1.04.0 + 4:15 3 li Nunns Thread at 6^s 18.0 + 5:10 3 li ditto at 7^s p li 1.01.0 + 6:10 3 li ditto at 8/ 1.04.0 + 8:10 1 li ditto at 10^s p li 10.0 + 9:10 1 li ditto at 12/ 12.0 + 12:10 1 li ditto at 16/ 16.0 + N^o 1 6 doz best Brown Thread at 22^s p doz 6.12.0 + 2 3 doz Cull^r ditto at 26/ p doz 3.08.0 + 3 4 doz: blew & Collerd Tape at 9/6 1.18.0 + 4 2 doz: blew & Collerd filletting at 13/6 1.07.0 + 5 1 doz: White filletting at 15 p 15.0 + 6 2 doz fine white Twist at 3/4^d 06.8 + 7 2 doz Narrow Holland Tape at 7^s p doz 14.0 + 8 2 doz broad ditto at 10/ p doz 1.00.0 + 9 3 Gross Cotton 6^d Ribbin at 10^s p gro 1.10.0 + 10 1 ps broad Strip’t 12^d Ribbin at 4/6 04.6 + 11 2 doz Pinns at 6/8 p doz 12.0 + 12 3 doz. ditto at 7/2 p doz 1.01.6 + 13 4 Mille Needles at 5/ p mille 1.00.0 + 14 2 Gross Womens Brass Thimbles at 5/6 11.0 + 15 6 doz: Mens Steel ditto at 7^s p gs 03.6 + 16 6 doz. horne Combs at 14^d 07.0 + 17 6 doz: ditto at 18^d 09.0 + 18 6 doz: ditto at 22^d 11.0 + 19 2 doz Ivory Combs at 3/6 p doz 07.0 + 20 2 doz ditto at 6/8 12.0 + 21 Old Brass Curtaine Rings at 14^d 07.0 + 22 2 doz. Small Inckhornes at 20^d 03.4 + 23 1 doz: Large ditto 02.9 + 24 1 doz Large Sands at 4^s 04.0 + 25 2 gro: Tin brest Buttons 12^d 02.0 + 26 6 gro: Large ditto at 15^d 07.6 + 27 6 gro: ditto at 18^d p gro 09.0 + 28 2 gro: Ell Thread Laces at 2/4 04.8 + 29 2 gro: ditto y^d & 1/2 at 3/8 06.0 + 30 1 gro: ditto Silke 2 yd^s at 30^s 1.10.0 + 1 hh^d Cost 5/ 05.0 + Trunk N^o 2 + 31 6 gro: Large White Wastcoat Buttons + at 15^d 07.6 + 32 6 gro: fine Small ditto at 18^d 09.0 + 33 2 gro: gilt sleeve buttons at 3/4 06.8 + 34 1 doz: bla: Velvitt Markes lin’d w^{th} 14.0 + 35 1 doz: best ditto at 15/ 15.0 + 36 1 doz: best ditto lin’d w^{th} Silke at 22^s 1.02.0 + 37 1 doz: Callico quilted Caps at 9^s 09.0 + 38 1 doz: Holland ditto at 12/ p doz 12.0 + 39 18 yds Grey Lace at 3^d 04.6 + 40 20 yds ditto at 4^d p yd 06.8 + 41 33 yds ditto at 4^d-1/2 12.4-1/2 + 42 15 yds ditto at 5^d p yd 06.3 + 43 12 yds ditto at 6^d 06.0 + 44 16 yds ditto at 8d^d 10.8 + 45 34 yds bla: Silke bone Lace at 5d-1/2 p yd 15.7 + 46 42 yds ditto at 7d-1/2 1.06.3 + 47 24 yds ditto at 12d 1.04.0 + 48 16 yds ditto at 13d 17.4 + 49 18 yds ditto at 14d 1.01.0 + 50 2 Gro: Silke Bindins at 18/6 p gro: 1.17.0 + 51 2 Gro: Silke Galunes at 18/ 1.16.0 + 52 1 gro: Narrow: Black Silk purle for Tippett 05.0 + 53 2 gro: Brord ditto at 14^s p gro: 1.08.0 + 54 1 gro: White, Thready brord gause purle + at 10/6 10.6 + 55 2 doz: black & White Net Gause at 11/ p doz. 1.02.0 + 56 1 doz: black Mourning gause at 12.0 + 57 1 doz: White ditto at 12^s 12.0 + 58 2 doz: White Thread gause at 12/ 1.04.0 + 59 2 doz: black Silke ditto at 13/ 1.06.0 + 60 3 doz: Women Silke Girdles w^{th} Buckles 6/ 18.0 + 61 2 doz: Long ditto Copper Tassells at 3/9 07.6 + 62 1 doz: Rich Silke & Silver Tassle ditto 12/ 12.0 + 63 1 doz: best ditto at 15^s 15.0 + 64 1 doz: Romall handkerchiffs at 16^s p doz 16.0 + 65 1 doz: Silke ditto at 20^s p doz 1.00.0 + 66 1 doz: best Large ditto at 23^s 1.03.0 + 67 4 doz: black Moyhaire ring at 6/ 1.04.0 + 68 4 doz: Deep ditto at 7^s p doz 1.08.0 + 69 2 doz: Copper Cull^r & purled ditto at 6/ p doz 12.0 + 70 4 doz: Cullr Mixt ditto at 7^s 1.08.0 + 71 4 doz: Cloth Culler: bla: & Scarlett + ditto at 8/ 12.0 + 72 2 doz: Deep bla: Duble ditto at 9^s6 19.0 + 73 18 doz: Nar: fringe to Sett on ye Top + of Fringe 20^d 1.10.0 + 74 18 yds White Corded Thred fringe at 10^d yd 15.0 + 75 13 oz. 1/2 bla: bella. Silke fringe at 25^d 1.02.6 + 76 27 oz: best Nar: & Deep ditto at 21^d 2.07.3 + 77 12 oz: Copper Cull^r Nar: & Deep ditto at 22^d 1.02.0 + 78 18 oz: 1/16 d^o & white Nar: & deep + Mixtd. 2^s 1.16.1-1/2 + 79 21 oz 1/2 Clo: Cull^r blew & white Nar + & Deep 2-1/2^d 2.08.4 + 80 21 oz 1/2 Clo: Cull^r green & white corded + d^o 2/4^d 2.10.2 + 81 17 oz: 1/4 3/16 bla: Corded ditto at 2/ + p doz 1.14.10-1/2 + 82 1 gro 1/2 Silke bread to Sett at Bottom + of fringe 14^s 1.01.0 + 83 5 ps ferrett 6^d Ribbon at 7^s ps 1.15.0 + 84 1 gro: bla: 1^d Taffety Ribbon at 7^s 07.0 + 85 2 gro: ditto 2^d ditto at 16 p gro 1.12.0 + 86 12 ps Dutch 7/4 Ribbins for binding + Drowls 20^d 1.00.0 + 87 4 ps 6^d Taffety Ribbon at 5/ 1.00.0 + 88 4 ps 8^d ditto at 9 ps 1.16.0 + 89 1 ps 10^d ditto at 11.0 + 90 1 ps 12^d ditto 13.0 + 91 4 ps Double Love Ribben 6^d at 6/ 1.04.0 + 92 2 ps 8^d ditto at 8 16.0 + 93 1 ps 10^d ditto at (?) 09.6 + 94 2 ps white Span. 6^d ditto at 8/6 17.0 + 95 1 ps ditto 8^d at 10 10.0 + 96 3 doz: Sattin Stripes 8^d Ribbon at 6^s 18.0 + 97 2 doz Cloth Cull^r & purple Figur’d 10^d + ditto 8^s 16.0 + 98 2 doz: blew & Green 12^d ditto at 11^s 1.02.0 + 99 2 doz Copper Cullr’d & bla: 14^d ditto at 13^s 1.06.0 + 100 81i Clo: Cull^r Silke w^{th} a Little bla: at 17/6 7.00.0 + 101 1 Childs Peake at 6/ 06.0 + 102 1 Womans Laced head dress at 10^s 10.0 + 103 1 ditto Laced at 13/ 13.0 + 104 1 Alamode Drowle Trim’d at 2^s w^{th} bla purl 02.0 + 105 1 Tippett ditto at 2/4^d 02.4 + 106 1 Best ditto at 6/8 Laced w^{th} bla: Silk? 06.0 + 107 2 doz: New fashon’d Peake Wyers at 18d + p doz 03.0 + 108 2 doz: Cornitt Wyers ditto at 2/ p doz 04.0 + 109 4 doz: Comode Wyers ditto at 4/ p doz 16.0 + 110 17 Roles at 5d p ps 07.1 + 111 4 doz New Fason’d pass Wyers at 10^s 03.4 + 112 1 gro: Strip’d Worsted at 9^s p gro 09.0 + a Trunke & Coards Cost 12/ 12.0 + ---------- + 59.18.0 + + One Bayle of Linning Cloth N^o 3 Cont as viz^t + + 20 40:2 19:2 20 39 330:2 + 20 39:2 39:2 17 18 394 + 19:2 40: 39 20 20 435 + 19: 19:2 20 19:2 20 313:2 + 19:2 19 19:2 19:2 40 392 + --------- + 20:2 20 19:2 19: 19:2 1864:2 + 17 20 62 40 40: 932:1 + 20 38:2 60 19:2 19:2 + 19 40 38 19:2 39:2 + 37 20 20 19:2 20: + 19 19 19:2 20 19:2 + 20 19 20 18:2 39:2 + 19 19 19:2 20:2 19:2 + 24 19 19:2 20:2 19: + 40 19 19:2 19:2 19 + -------------------------------------- + 330:2 394 435 313:2 392 + -------------------------------------- + Is 932 Ells 1/4 of Kamells cloth at 6^d p ell 23.6.0 + 85 50 60 86 69 43 73 68 78 101 42 + 42 43 49 78 77 44 91 is 1129 of + Brown Oxenbrigs at 50^{li} p Role 1500 + ells to a Role at 8^d p ell 37.12.8 + --------------- + 60.18.8 + --------------- + £1127.17.7 + + + + + FOOTNOTES: + + [1] _Essex County Quarterly Court Records_, Vol. II, p. 28 + + [2] Waters, _Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony_. + + [3] In the Delaware settlement houses of logs split through the middle + or hewed square were built “according to the Swedish mode.” + + [4] _Mourt’s Relation_, Boston, 1841. + + [5] Higginson, _New-Englands Plantation_, London, 1630. + + [6] _Force’s Tracts_, Washington, 1838. + + [7] _Essex County Quarterly Court Records_, Vol. VI, p. 363. + + [8] _Essex County Deeds_, Book V, leaf 107. + + [9] Johnson, _Wonder Working Providence_, London, 1654. + + [10] Higginson, _New-Englands Plantation_, London, 1630. + + [11] _Force’s Tracts_, Washington, 1838. + + [12] _Massachusetts Archives_, Vol. 15B, leaves 59-67. + + [13] _Essex County Quarterly Court Records_, Vol. IV, pp. 56-57. + + [14] Beer in the making. + + [15] _Probate Records of Essex County, Mass._ Vol. I, p. 47. + + [16] _Probate Records of Essex County, Mass._, Vol. II, p. 348. + + [17] Dankers, _Journal of a Voyage to New York_, Brooklyn, 1867. + + [18] _Records of the Mass. Bay Colony_, Vol. I, p. 126. + + [19] Ward, _The Simple Cobler of Aggawam_, London, 1647. + + [20] _Sewall’s Diary_, Vol. II, p. 231. + + [21] _Essex County Quarterly Court Records_, Vol. I, p. 275. + + [22] The master of the ship _George Bonaventure_ in which Mr. Skelton + came over. + + + + + Transcriber’s Notes + + Perceived typographical errors in the author’s text have been silently + corrected. + + Archaic spelling and inconsistent punctuation in quoted text and tables + have been retained as in the original. + + Inconsistencies in hyphenation and compound words have been maintained + as printed. + + Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text. + + The per sign ⅌ is a symbol used to indicate a ratio. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76065 *** |