The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: An Account of His Barbering, Hair-dressing, & Peruke-Making Services, & Some Remarks on Wigs of Various Styles.Bullock, Thomas K.
History
The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg: An Account of His Barbering, Hair-dressing, & Peruke-Making Services, & Some Remarks on Wigs of Various Styles.
Bullock, Thomas K.
Wigmakers; Wigs -- History
In addition to wigmaking, shaving, and hairdressing, Andrew Anderson
practiced dentistry and phlebotomy (bleeding). But these were
traditional phases of the barbering craft, not extra occupations—albeit
only Anderson among Williamsburg barbers practiced them so far as we
know.
Charlton at one time took a flier in real estate along with John
Stretch, bookbinder and bookkeeper in William Hunter’s printing office.
The partners bought the playhouse and lot (about where Mrs. Campbell’s
Tavern now stands) from Lewis Hallam, proprietor of the Company of
Comedians recently from London. The evidence is inconclusive, but
suggests that the venture was not a glittering success.
From time to time Charlton recorded the sale of such items as a “Ferkin
of butter,” a gross of bottles (apparently empty), “eight pounds
Chooklate,” stockings, “five Hundred Limes,” a piece of linen, three
dozen strong beer, one “cheas,” and part of a lottery ticket. However
intriguing these entries may be, they are too infrequent and irregular
to support a conclusion that the barber was running a retail store on
the side. When so much business was done by barter, any craftsman might
have incongruous articles to sell.
Like the Silversmith James Geddy, Jr., and other craftsmen of
Williamsburg, Charlton once served on the city’s common council. This
position carried no compensation, but election to it showed that a man’s
neighbors trusted and respected him.
The tradition of the humble artisan whose industry and integrity earned
him the esteem of his fellow citizens ran strong in colonial America.
Unfortunately for the wigmakers, however, no bulwark could withstand the
ebb tide of fashion. George Lafong, whose Williamsburg wig shop rivaled
Charlton’s in the early 1770s, ended as a beggar in 1796. Someone, it
seems, must pay the price for every forward step in the march of
progress. Were it not so, all of us might still be wearing wigs today.
_THE BARBERS AND WIGMAKERS OF WILLIAMSBURG_
_Andrew Anderson_—Apprenticed for seven years to John Peter Wagnon of
Williamsburg in 1731. After only five years became his own master
and bought Wagnon’s shop next to the Raleigh Tavern. The only
Williamsburg barber known to have practiced dentistry and
phlebotomy. Frequently in court as witness, plaintiff, or
defendant in suits over property, debts, etc. Sold out to William
Peake, Yorktown barber and wigmaker, and was preparing to leave
for England when he died suddenly in 1752.
_Stephen Besouth_—Died April 3, 1726, leaving an estate appraised at £40
12_s._ 1_d._ and consisting almost solely of articles suitable to
barbering and wigmaking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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