Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth CenturyJester, Annie Lash
History
Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century
Jester, Annie Lash
Plantation life; Virginia -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
The 1232 persons living in Virginia, January, 1625, dwelt at
twenty-five locations. Several of these were large plantations, such as
Peirsey's Hundred, Mr. Treasurer's (George Sandys'), Martin's Hundred,
Captain Roger Smith's, Captain Samuel Mathews', Mr. Crowder's, Mr.
Blaney's and Newport News, where colonists lived in groups, presumably
as employees for the promotion of extensive enterprises. As previously
mentioned a number of these colonists at Henrico, James City, Charles
City and Elizabeth City were living on the Company's land. Yet, many at
this time dwelt upon their own acreages, assigned to them individually
in patents of record in a list sent to England the following year. For
instance, Lieutenant John Chisman and his brother Edward were living at
Kecoughtan on their patent of 200 acres, as was Pharoah Flinton who had
been assigned an 150 acre plot, and John Bush with his 300 acres, where
he dwelt with his wife, two children and two servants. For protection
against the Indians, palisades had been erected at a number of the
plantations.
Staples on hand are listed for every household, including corn, peas,
beans, oatmeal, fish, the latter both smoked and in brine. Besides, many
of the planters owned swine, poultry, goats and cattle. A few luxuries
were mentioned such as a flitch of bacon, cheese and oil. For
protection, the colonists possessed armor such as had been used in
England, but which probably proved to be of little use against the
stealthy natives in thickly wooded areas. Nevertheless, there were whole
suits of armor, including headpieces, coats of mail and coats of plate
and jack-coats (thickly padded jackets). The guns were of various types.
Many apparently were of the older design and the charge had to be fired
by the application of a fuse; others had been fixed with the more
up-to-date firing mechanism attached to the gun. There were also
matchlocks, snaphaunce pieces, pistols, swords and hangers (cutlasses).
For the larger plantation there were small cannon, called murderers,
usually placed at the bow of a ship to prevent boarding, falconets and
petronels. The matches mentioned were the slow-burning fuses, kept by a
soldier in his bandoleer. Once ignited, these "matches" kept a
smouldering fire and could be used again and again. Pirates were
accustomed to stick them lighted in their beards and hair, not to give a
ferocious look, but for convenience.
Powder and lead also were on hand in many households, for life, on the
edge of a wilderness with stealthy Indians frequently lurking about, was
hazardous in the extreme. Men who worked in the fields took fowling
pieces with them and, at times, armed guards were stationed to be on the
lookout, and warn the workers in case of danger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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