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
Graves came to Massachusetts in the "Abigail," arriving in July,
1635. He settled at Salem and was a proprietor there in 1637.
Sometimes he is styled "husbandman." He got into trouble with the
authorities very soon, and in December, 1638, was sentenced to sit
in the stocks for beating Peter Busgutt in his own house. Peter made
sport of the Court at the time of the trial, and in consequence was
ordered to be whipped, this time by the constable. In 1641 Graves
was brought into court again and William Allen testified that "he
herd Rich Graves kissed Goody Gent twice." Richard confessed that it
was true, and for this unseemly conduct he was sentenced to be fined
or whipped. The records do not disclose his individual preference
as to the penalty eventually inflicted. In 1645 he was in Boston
in connection with some brazen moulds that were in dispute. A Mr.
Hill and Mr. Knott were concerned in the affair, and very likely
the moulds were for pewterers' use. On another occasion a few years
later, when Graves went to Boston, he got drunk at Charlestown, and
in consequence was mulct by the Quarterly court. Only a month later
he was complained of for playing at shuffleboard, a wicked game of
chance, at the tavern kept by Mr. Gedney in Salem, but this time he
escaped the vengeance of the law, for the case against him was not
proved. He was still pursuing his trade of pewterer in 1655 when
he so styled himself in a deed to John Putnam, and sometime between
that date and 1669 he passed out of reach of the courts to that
bourne from which no pewterers ever return.
Mention has been made of the fact that London-made pewter was
brought into New England at frequent intervals to supply the natural
demand. An invoice of pewter shipped from London in 1693 has
recently come to light in the Massachusetts Archives, and is here
printed as being of interest not only as showing the market prices
for pewter, but also the kind of utensils in demand at that time.
This particular shipment of pewter was a part of a consignment made
by John Caxy of London to Joseph Mallenson, his agent in Boston.
It consisted of a great variety of clothing, fabrics, hardware,
implements, kitchen utensils and pewter. The part of the invoice
that comprised the shipment of pewter follows, viz.:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account