John Brush was the earliest Williamsburg smith whose name is known today. He was primarily a gunsmith and armorer, but may have done blacksmithing too. He bought two lots in the shadow of the Governor’s Palace in 1717, and the modest home he built there (later enlarged by Thomas Everard) still stands on Palace Green. So far as surviving records have revealed, he was followed by no more than fourteen individuals over the next three-quarters of a century who worked iron and steel in one or more of the smithy crafts: blacksmith, gunsmith, locksmith, cutler, nailmaker, and farrier. Only fourteen. Even granting the possibility that some blacksmiths never left their name or mark in a written record, this seems remarkably few for so long a period in one of Virginia’s chief towns. The small number can probably be taken as another indication that most of the colony’s smiths—like eighty to ninety percent of its population—lived and worked in the country. Surviving advertisements, invoices, and inventories of Williamsburg blacksmiths suggest that the work they did was of a somewhat different nature from that of the rural smith. The following extracts from account books of James Anderson and Thomas Pate indicate something of the urban variety: 1771 Mr. Henry Morse Dr to James Anderson Jan 22 To Cleaning 3 guns @ 3/ 1 9 0 March 22 To Cleaning 3 Do @ 3/ 0 9 0 August 28 To plating Chair Shafts ? ? 3 To mendg a spring 0 2 6 1772 May 25 To a New tumbler pr lock 0 2 6 June 3 To Mending Bridle Bitt 0 0 7½ 7 To Mending a Chair 0 2 6 July 30 To Altering a spring 0 3 9 To Do 2 bolts 0 1 3 May 18 To feeding 2 horses 20 days @ 4/ 4 0 0 To laing axletree pr Chair 0 15 0 To 3 Tiar Nails @ 1½d 0 0 4½ To pr Clamps pr Wheels 0 2 6 July 5 To 2 gallons oats 0 1 3 Decmb 7 To a key pr lock 2/6 mendg lock 1/3 0 3 9 .... 1774 Jany 18 To a Nutt for Chair 0 0 7½ Augt 22 To 8 Dog Nails 8d Cleang a Gun 2/6 0 3 2 1775 May 17 To a Key for a lock 0 2 6 Work done for the Capitol By James Anderson 1773 May 24 To Cleaning a Stove 1 0 0 July 26 To 4 Bars prs Statue 2 4 5 Octr 3 To 3 Bars prl Doors @ 2/6 0 7 6 To 4 Do @ 5/ . 20 mendg a hinge 2/6 1 2 6