Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony — John Shaqi
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay ColonyDow, George Francis
History
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Dow, George Francis
Massachusetts -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
The Rev. Francis Higginson came over in the _Talbot_, a ship of
three hundred tons burden, which was armed with nineteen guns
and carried a crew of thirty men. She brought over one hundred
passengers. Sailing with her was the ship _George_ of three hundred
tons, in which came fifty-two passengers and a stock of cattle,
twelve mares, thirty cows and some goats. From the original records
of the Massachusetts Bay Company in New England we learn what
food supplies were shipped on board the _Talbot_ for the American
voyage. The amount was supposed to be sufficient for one hundred and
thirty-five men for three months. As a matter of fact, the voyage
from Gravesend to the anchorage in Salem harbor occupied sixty-eight
days.
The ship carried 22 hogsheads of salted beef, 12,000 of bread
(biscuits), 40 bushels of peas, 20 barrels of oatmeal, 450 pounds
of salt fish, 10 firkins of butter and 1,200 pounds of cheese. To
wash down this food they took on board 6 tons of water, 45 tons of
beer, 20 gallons of brandy, 20 gallons of Spanish wine (Malaga and
Canary), 2 tierces of beer vinegar and 20 gallons of olive oil.[2]
During the voyage two died of smallpox, including a blasphemous
seaman. A child died of consumption and a dog fell overboard and
could not be recovered. The rest came through and reached Salem
harbor in a good state of health.
[2] _Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society_, Vol. III, p.
12.
The Massachusetts Bay Company seems to have maintained a "company
store," in the modern phrase, at which the colonists might obtain
clothing, fabrics, foodstuffs and supplies of all sorts. When
Governor Endecott came over in 1628, the Company sent extra clothing
sufficient for one hundred men including three hundred suits of
clothes, four hundred shirts and four hundred pairs of shoes. Two
hundred of the suits of clothes consisted of doublet and hose made
up of leather, lined with oiled skin leather, and fastened with
hooks and eyes. The other suits were made up of Hampshire kerseys,
the doublets lined with linen and the hose with skins. There were
a hundred waistcoats of green cotton bound about with red tape, a
hundred Monmouth caps, at two shillings each, five hundred red knit
caps, milled, at five pence each, and one hundred black hats, lined
in the brows with leather. This store supplied the natural wear and
tear of headgear among the hundred men. The stock contained four
hundred pairs of knit stockings, ten dozen pairs of Norwich garters,
three hundred plain falling bands, two hundred handkerchiefs and
a stock of sheer linen with which to made up other handkerchiefs.
Scotch ticking was supplied for beds and bolsters, with wool to put
therein. The blankets were of Welsh cotton and fifty rugs were sent
over to place over the blankets, while mats were supplied "to lye
vnder 50 bedds aboard shippe."[3]
[3] _Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society_, Vol. III, p.
6.
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