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
All other possessions are listed in the "outer room, the chamber and
the shedd." These three areas constituted the Calthrope home. In the
chamber where the family apparently lived and slept, there were two
feather beds, with the usual appurtenances of bolsters, sheets,
blankets, valances and curtains, and also a couch bed and a couch. In
the outer room, apparently a storeroom, there was, in accordance with
the practice of planters to keep a supply of materials on hand, a
quantity of piece-goods in dowlas, lockram, dimity, coarse Holland, fine
Holland and tufted Holland, osnaburg and kersey, and seventeen ells (45
inches in English measure and 27 inches in Dutch measure) of sheeting,
as well as yarn stockings. A limited supply of colored calico, East
Indian stuff and Norway stuff are evidence that the English merchantmen,
tramping to all parts of the world, brought some of their cargoes from
remote areas to Virginia.
Cooking was carried on in the shed, probably a thinly enclosed area,
equipped with a large fireplace and attached to the house. Here, there
were andirons, racks, a spit, hooks and bellows. Utensils for preparing
food included an iron pot, a gridiron, frying-pan, dripping-pan, two
brass kettles, a skimmer, a mortar and pestle, and a grater. Pewter-ware
and a supply of three dozen napkins and six tablecloths made meals
something of an occasion for the family.
Evidently, the Calthrope family had little fear of enemies in their
area, from which the Indians had previously been driven away, for they
owned but one gun and that was "unfixt," that is, not equipped with a
firing mechanism.
James Calthrope, only son of Christopher, inherited his father's
plantation, served as Justice of York County and, in his will, proved
1690, bequeathed land to New Poquoson Parish, which evidently was that
upon which the church had originally been erected.
The fourth generation of Calthropes in Virginia maintained title to a
portion of the York County grant, more than a century and a quarter,
after the progenitor of the family came to the colonies. Thus, did the
Englishmen reach out across the seas, and plant branches of their
families to carry on in the English tradition in the new world.
ROYALISTS IN VIRGINIA
By 1644, conditions in England had become difficult because of the Civil
Wars. In a correspondence with Daniel Llewellyn of Charles City, William
Hallom of England wrote: "if these times hold long amongst us we must
all faine come to Virginia."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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