The Leatherworker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: Being an Account of the Nature of Leather, & of the Crafts Commonly Engaged in the Making & Using of It. — John Shaqi
The Leatherworker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: Being an Account of the Nature of Leather, & of the Crafts Commonly Engaged in the Making & Using of It.Ford, Thomas K.
History
The Leatherworker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: Being an Account of the Nature of Leather, & of the Crafts Commonly Engaged in the Making & Using of It.
Ford, Thomas K.
Leatherwork -- Virginia -- Williamsburg
The account books show that Alexander Craig valued his labor and sold
his products at a good price. He charged Humphrey Hill £7 for “a Harness
for a Shaft Chair” and Thomas Atkinson £5 for “a Harness for a Single
Horse.” He billed Colonel William Byrd III £25 for harness for six coach
horses, and Colonel Benjamin Harrison £16 to make harness for “four
Charriot Horses.” For making a side saddle with cover and studded
trappings for Robert Hutchins, a tailor of the town of Blandford some 40
miles away, Craig charged £6, 10 shillings.
Some idea, albeit only an approximate one, of the purchasing power of
those sums may be gained by comparing them with prices for house
furnishings at about the same time. Colonel Robert Carter of Nomini
Hall, for instance, bought eight mahogany dining chairs, upholstered and
trimmed with brass nails, for £16 from Williamsburg cabinetmaker
Benjamin Bucktrout. Four “Elbow Chares” bought at the same time cost him
£11. A desk and bookcase—now called a secretary—brought £16.
_THE SADDLE AND HARNESS SHOP_
Elkanah Deane, carriagemaker of New York, removed his business from that
city to the little metropolis of Williamsburg shortly before the
Revolution. Both in New York and in the capital of the Virginia colony
he enjoyed the patronage of His Lordship Governor Dunmore. Deane’s house
in Williamsburg looked out upon the same green as did the Governor’s
Palace, along with the mansions of the wealthy Robert Carter and the
learned George Wythe.
This was heady company for “an Hibernian Cottager,” as one rival
coachmaker called him, and perhaps Deane deserved the label of “Palace
Street puffer” conferred on him by the same fellow citizen. Be that as
it may, the carriagemaker advertised that he also made, repaired, and
sold harness, although the actual work was probably done by another
craftsman in his shop.
Perhaps this was Edward Roberts, who gave notice in 1775 that he
“continues to carry on the business of Saddling, Cap and Harness making,
at the late Mr. Elkanah Deane’s shop.” The shop, it is to be presumed,
was primarily devoted to the varied specialties that were needed in the
manufacture of wheeled vehicles, of which blacksmithing was one of the
more vital. Deane’s forge, to the rear of his property, is a favorite
attraction in restored Williamsburg, especially for children.
[Illustration: _Exterior view of the Deane Forge and Harnessmaking
Shop in Williamsburg today. The sign before the door is the coat of
arms of the Saddler and Coach Harnessmakers’ Company of London.
Redrawn from a photograph._]
Adjoining the forge, the saddlery and harnessmaking shop of two hundred
years ago has again resumed operation. There the visitor may see
examples of saddle and harness work done in the eighteenth-century
manner with tools and equipment resembling those shown in the great
eighteenth-century illustrated encyclopedia of Denis Diderot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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