E-text prepared by Mark C. Orton, Carla Foust, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 27482-h.htm or 27482-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/4/8/27482/27482-h/27482-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/4/8/27482/27482-h.zip) Transcriber's Note Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Illustrations were all placed in the middle of the original book. In this version, the illustration tags have been moved beside the relevant section of the text. Printer errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other inconsistencies are as in the original. DOMESTIC LIFE IN VIRGINIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY by ANNIE LASH JESTER Member, Virginia Historical Society Virginia 350Th Anniversary Celebration Corporation Williamsburg, Virginia 1957 Copyright(C), 1957 by Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, Williamsburg, Virginia Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 17 DOMESTIC LIFE IN VIRGINIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PART I LAYING THE HEARTHSTONES INTRODUCTION Successful colonization, contingent upon a stable domestic life, was quickened in Virginia with the coming of the gentlewoman Mrs. Lucy Forest and her maid Ann Burras, who with Mrs. Forest's husband Thomas, arrived in the second supply, 1608, following the planting of the colony at Jamestown, 13 May 1607. The possibility of finding a source of wealth in the new world, such as the Spanish had found in Mexico and Peru, and the more urgent need of finding a route to the East and securing this through the development of colonies across the seas, had motivated the several expeditions, begun with the unsuccessful settlement at Roanoke Island in 1585. Coupled with these reasons, for colonizing in the new world, was an ever expanding population in England, and the ancient law of entail, which limited possession of large landed estates to the eldest sons; younger sons and the scions of the middle classes were left with exceedingly limited opportunities or means of attaining estates in England, or, for that matter, of ever bettering their condition. Also, if England was to sustain its existing population, the nation must have sources of raw materials other than the dwindling supplies in the land, and it must have also outlets for the wares of the artisans. Thus, while the hope of wealth in one form or another was a factor in the settlement of Virginia, a prerequisite to attainment, also taken into account by the promoters of expeditions, was the establishment of homes in a new land. Homes would serve as stabilizers for permanent bases, from which could be carried on the trade essential to England's rising position as a leading power.