The Blacksmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: An Account of His Life & Times and of His Craft — John Shaqi
The Blacksmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: An Account of His Life & Times and of His CraftGill, Harold B.
History
The Blacksmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: An Account of His Life & Times and of His Craft
Gill, Harold B.
Blacksmithing -- History
_Hugh Orr_, 1738-1764. Captain Orr called himself both blacksmith and
“hammer man,” and settled in Williamsburg by 1738. His house and
smithy were on Duke of Gloucester Street. He may have acted as
farrier, and either he or a slave trained to do so performed
phlebotomy—bleeding. He served as armorer for the colony for three
years and may have been an officer in the Williamsburg militia. He
is buried in Bruton churchyard.
_Thomas Pate_, 1760-1814. Did blacksmith work for John Custis and Lord
Botetourt among others, and repaired arms for Virginia troops
during the Revolution. The location of his shop is not known, but
his purchase of more than 3,000 pounds of bar iron from Robert
Carter in 1773 alone indicates a lively trade.
_William Willis_ (or _Willess_), 1768-1770. Came from Birmingham and
opened his gunsmith and blacksmith shop “near the playhouse” and
“below the Capitol,” but soon moved to Norfolk.
_Suggestions for Further Reading_
Alex W. Bealer, _The Art of Blacksmithing_. rev. ed. New York, Funk and
Wagnalls, 1976.
Garry Hogg, _Hammer & Tongs: Blacksmithery Down the Ages_. London,
Hutchinson Co., 1964.
J. G. Holmstrom, _Modern Blacksmithing and Horseshoeing_. Chicago, F. J.
Drake & Co., 1941.
John Jernberg, _Forging: Manual of Practical Instruction in Hand Forging
of Wrought Iron_.... Chicago, American Technical Society, 1917.
William Allyn Richards, _Forging of Iron and Steel_. New York, D. Van
Nostrand Co., 1915.
F. W. Robins, _The Smith: The Traditions and Lore of an Ancient Craft_.
London, Rider and Co., 1953.
H. R. Bradley Smith, _Blacksmiths’ and Farriers’ Tools at Shelburne
Museum: A History of Their Development from Forge to Factory_.
Shelburne, Vt., Shelburne Museum, 1966.
Albert H. Sonn, _Early American Wrought Iron_. New York, Charles
Scribner’s Sons, 1928.
Aldren A. Watson, _The Village Blacksmith_. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell
Co., 1968.
_The Blacksmith in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg_, first published in
1971, is based largely on an unpublished monograph by Harold B. Gill,
Jr., of the Colonial Williamsburg research staff. It has been prepared
with the assistance of Thomas K. Ford, editor until 1976, Colonial
Williamsburg Department of Publications.
Transcriber’s Notes
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.
—Marked a lacuna in the original printed edition with “{...}”.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Blacksmith in Eighteenth-Century
Williamsburg, by Anonymous
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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