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
At five or more ports of call, both cargo and servants were disposed of.
There were a number of items in the luxury class, such as sack (white
wine from southern Europe), strong waters (drink high in alcoholic
content), candy oil (olive oil from the island of Crete, originally
known as Candia), sugar, both powdered and loaf, shelled almonds (least
in demand among the items), marmalade of quinces, conserves of sloes
(plums), of roses and barberries, raisins, Sussex cheese, vinegar, and
handkerchiefs. Among the more useful items were: 87 pairs of shoes, 12
suits of clothing, nails of various sizes, of which there appeared to be
never enough in the Colony, peas and oatmeal. In addition to these, a
shallop, a pair of steelyards (scales), and three fowling pieces were
disposed of.
The ship stopped first at Kecoughtan (now Hampton), a populous
settlement, having been established by the colonists in 1610, and, here,
buried Hopkinson and disposed of some of her cargo of seventy-four white
persons who were sold as indentured servants. These persons, before
embarking from England, had agreed to serve a term of years, usually
seven, in the Colony in return for passage, clothes and supplies, to be
furnished them at the conclusion of their service. The major portion of
help in the colony, at this period, was of this class, although a few
Negroes were brought to Virginia by 1619, and approximately a score are
listed in the muster of 1625.
Upon departing from Kecoughtan, the ship retraced a portion of her
course in the Chesapeake Bay, and entered Back River, on which the
Langley Air Force Base and the laboratories for the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics are now located, and from there entered the
Old Poquoson River, later termed the Northwest Branch of Back River.
This very populous area was readily accessible to the port of Kecoughtan
both by water and by land.
Next, the _Tristram and Jane_ discharged cargo and sold servants on the
New Poquoson (now Poquoson) River, which flows into the Bay north of
Back River. In this latter area, first settled in 1630, patents had been
assigned, one including a large acreage to Christopher Calthrope, and it
is reasonable to conclude that both commodities and servants were
wanted.
From the New Poquoson, the ship sailed across the Chesapeake and traded
at Accawmack on the Eastern Shore, and then sailed back towards the
mouth of the James River, and entered Chuckatuck Creek and the Nansemond
River, where the Gookins, whose father had settled Newport News in 1621,
bought two servants. Other ports are not named, but among the purchasers
of servants was George Menefie on the James below Jamestown. It is
probable that the ship went as far up the River as the mouth of the
Appomattox.
Prices paid for the servants were not all the same, and a bonus of fifty
acres of land accrued to the planter, if the servant's passage money was
added to the purchase price.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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