Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century — John Shaqi
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
Unfortunately, there is no complete list of the women who came to
Virginia prior to 1616, but, in addition to those heretofore named, the
presence of others is recorded. Joane Salford, wife of Robert Salford of
Elizabeth City, came by 1611, and Salford's sister Sarah reached
Virginia at the same time, or just a year or so later. Susan, wife of
John Collins of West and Shirley Hundred, came in the _Treasurer_, 1613.
Elizabeth, wife of Lieutenant Albiano Lupo, came in the _George_, 1616,
and little Susan Old was brought by her cousin Richard Biggs, when she
was only two years of age; eight years later she was reported living
with the Biggs family in Charles City Corporation. Martha Key was with
her husband Thomas by 1616. Rachel Davis joined her husband Captain
James Davis before 1616, and their son Thomas later settled in Isle of
Wight and Upper Norfolk (Nansemond) Counties, taking out land patents,
in the name of his parents as old planters. Mary Flint, wife of Captain
Thomas Flint of the area which later became Warwick County, was the
widow of Robert Beheathland, who had come to Virginia with the first
settlers in 1607. Beheathland's wife arrived some time before 1616 and
they had two daughters, Mary and Dorothy, who married and left Virginia
descendants. Izabella,--three times married, first to Richard Pace,
second, to William Perry and third to George Menefie came to the colony
before 1616.
THE COMPANY'S TENANTS, THEIR SUPPLIES AND THEIR WIVES
After the first settlement at Jamestown, the Virginia Company recognized
that youthful, hearty young men were essential in the new land, in order
to cope with the wilderness. Inducements were offered, both in passage
across the seas at Company expense, and in supplies and equipment
furnished each man. Moreover, by 1616, there was the lure of land at the
end of the required seven-year tenure of service and the hope of
becoming a planter. Probably, articles of indenture were drawn for these
tenants as they were later between colonists and their servants.
The cost of sending and supplying these young men was a considerable
sum. Passage alone cost L6 and, together with supplies furnished and
freight on them, the total cost of bringing a youth to Virginia amounted
to L20. Even if an adventurer paid his own passage he was advised to
come with the same "necessaries." In apparel, each needed a Monmouth
cap, three falling bands (large loose collars), three shirts, a
waistcoat, a suit of canvas (work clothes), a suit of frieze and a suit
of cloth, also three pairs of Irish stockings, four pairs of shoes, a
pair of garters, a dozen points, a pair of canvas sheets, canvas to make
a bed and a bolster, to be filled in Virginia and serving for two men,
canvas to make a bed enroute, also for two men, a coarse rug (covering)
at sea for two men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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