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COLONIAL
WILLIAMSBURG
SPRING 2003
VOL. 24, NO. 1
Small Gestures Make the Biggest Impact:
Interpreting to Families and Children
make that familiar sound, reminding us that Colo-
by Conny Graft
nial Williamsburg's busy seasons have arrived.
Conny is manager, educational program evaluation,
in the Department of Customer Research. A version
of this article appeared in the summer 1996 issue of
the Interpreter.
In all trade shops and historic buildings and
on every tour, families with young children or
school groups from around the country make up
a large percentage of our audience. Interpreting
to the " family" audience can sometimes be a
Every year, the arrival of the spring and summer seasons is announced by the high -pitched
challenge. How do you pitch your interpretation
sounds of aspiring young musicians as they test
in such a way to hold the attention of children
without boring the other guests in your group?
their lung power on tin whistles on every street
What do parents and their children expect and
comer in the Historic Area. Accompanied by
how do they define a successful experience?
Colonial Williamsburg, and in particular inter-
teachers, moms, dads, or grandparents, children
preters and trainers, has worked hard to improve
families' experiences in the Historic Area. In
1993, we noticed in our mail-back surveys that we
had room for improvement. Ratings on a scale of
Also in this issue .. .
5
Brumn-Parish Vestry, 1774" by L. Rowe
in Colonial America" by T. Goyens
8
Who's Who in the African American
Community in 1774"
17
Arts & Mysteries —The Colonial Timberyard
in America" by N. B. Poirier
Cook's Comer" by L. Arnold
1 - 10 from families with young children were 8.4,
yet ratings from adults without children were 9. 0.
House of the Devil: Opposition to the Theater
19
24
Our first step was to conduct focus groups
with parents and children after they had spent a
day in the Historic Area to find out why we
weren't getting higher ratings and how we could
improve their experience. The research has continued, and each year we make changes to our
programs and interpretive training based on find-
Signers of the 1765 Presbyterian Petition Still
Active in the Williamsburg Area in 1774"
by L. Rowe
26
from families improves: in 1996, the overall rat-
The Earl of Dunmore" by P. Wrike
30
ings from families moved up to 9.0.
ings from the research. Every year the feedback
Who's Who at the College of William and Mary
Although not all families are alike, there are
in 1774" by B. J. Pryor
Delaporte's Folly: Virginia's French Corps of
1777 - 78" by N. B. Poirier
31
33
focus groups again and again over the past years.
Q & A" by B. Doares
36
As you prepare yourself for our busy seasons, I
Reverend James Ireland"
38
challenge all readers to review these findings and
ask yourself how you can use this information to
Bothy' s Mould"
40
strengthen your interpretations and in turn our
New at the Rock"
42
guest families' experiences.
children share and have discussed with us in our
Excerpts from the Autobiography of the
Summer Program Synergy at the Museums of
Colonial Williamsburg"
45
by T. Balderson
Editor' s Notes"
some expectations that many parents and their
46
1. First impressions are critical.
The first five minutes of the family' s experience are critical. During the focus group research we discovered that the families who
were most negative about their experience al-
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
2
preter they saw. Think about when you were
down on the floor will also gain big points. We
often forget what it is like to walk long distances with short legs, but believe me, if the
a child or the last time you took your child or
child is uncomfortable, the most exciting,
most always described their day as beginning
with a negative encounter with the first inter-
niece somewhere new. How long did it take
dramatic interpretation will be a lost cause.
that place? How easy is it to turn the child's
3. Parents want their children to learn about
the past and to be inspired to love history.
opinion around if the first encounter is negative? On the other hand, if in the first five
children to leam about eighteenth- century
for you or your child to form an opinion about
The parents we talked to wanted their
will be begging for more. And then you will
Williamsburg. Often they stated their child
had either just had American history in
discover... .
school and they wanted to enrich the class-
minutes the child feels welcomed, the child
2. If you make the child happy, you will make
the parent very happy.
be exposed to American history in school in
room experience or the children were going to
Parents remarked over and over again
September and the parents wanted them to
that, if we can find ways to get their children
get a head start. Whenever a hands -on inter-
excited and interested about the past, we will
pretive experience was not accompanied by
make the parents very happy. What do they
mean by " happy "? Small gestures make the
biggest impact. Bending down, making eye
contact, and asking the child his or her name
information about the activity or the people
takes a few seconds, but makes the child feel
very special. Asking the child to hold your
believing that history is fun and can be an exciting adventure. Many parents talked about
basket, the lantem, a fan, a cedar shaving,
how they loved touring historic sites and how
your pocket, your Visitor' s Companion —even
the smallest job will make the child feel important. Over and over again the children
they hoped a trip to Williamsburg would
told us that, wherever the interpreters were
nice to them and acknowledged their pres-
ence, they felt important and that the interpreter cared about them. They also stated
that when that happened, they found they really enjoyed the interpretation and felt they
also learned a lot.
Asking the taller visitors in your group to
allow the smaller ones to come up to the front
so they can see you and the object /activity
you are interpreting is another small gesture
that makes all the difference in the world. If
your interpretation is going to be more than a
few minutes, allowing the children to sit
associated with the activity, parents were disappointed.
Parents also want their children to leave
cause their children to want to go to historic
sites with them. I will never forget the words
of the father who told us that he had lost one
son the year before, that his wife did not
enjoy touring historic sites, and that he hoped
the son who accompanied him on this trip
would enjoy the visit here so that he would
have a pal with whom to tour historic sites.
4. Children like to discover things for themselves.
Children like to be challenged. Whenever
you can pose a problem for them to figure
out —like, " My kitchen is missing two things
you may have in your kitchen, what could
they be ?" —children will become active and
engaged learners. Discovering something new
can be a rewarding experience
when they have discovered it
for themselves. Offering children some hands -on activities
that are also connected to your
interpretive
theme
will
please
both the parent and the child.
The more children can leam
about the past by experiencing
some part of it, the more likely
they will remember what they
Teamed for a long time.
Asking them to take the role
of a mother or father, a sister, or
apprentice and asking them to
see things through the eyes of
that particular person will also
�3
Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
pique their interest. Just like
the adults in the group, they
are eager to feel they are
back in the past and role playing comes easy to them.
Once you ask them to respond
to a certain problem
or situation then... .
5. Count to ten after you ask
a question.
Children need time
to
formulate their response and
then get all
the words
out.
Often in the focus groups,
the interpreters who received
the
highest
compliments
were those who took the time to listen to what
after your interpretation begins, if the child's
the children had to say. Silence can feel awkward at first after you pose a question, but try
behavior gets to the point where it disturbs
to keep in mind it is only awkward for you. If
parent as you are moving from one room to
you have posed an interesting question, the
child might be busy thinking about it. Silently
another or from one site to another, the parent has been forewarned. This does not guar-
count to ten, and see if the child responds.
the other guests and you need to talk to the
antee that the parent will take responsibility,
Children also have their own way of relat-
but it will be helpful in most situations. If you
ing to things and ideas, and often they are
you. Although it may mean sacrificing time
are comfortable using humor, you might say
something like, "For those of you who are accompanied by people with short legs who may
spent on a specific objective, allowing children
become restless and small lungs that like to
the time to share their experiences is another
exercise themselves frequently, we need your
element that separates a successful experience
help in making sure the experience for our
from an unsuccessful experience as defined by
other guests is not disturbed. If you need to
a child.
find another space for your children to test
eager to share their ideas and reactions with
6.- Children -will tell you how you're doing —
all you need to do is ask.
If you are ever in doubt about how your
interpretation is going, all you need to do is
ask. Children will not hesitate to tell you how
their lung power or stretch their legs, I will be
happy to show you a quick exit. Just let me
know."
8. If you want to teach the mind, you've got to
touch the heart first. •
you are coming across and what they would
This principle, like many of those listed
like you to do differently. Often some of the
things they may say, such as, " I can't hear
you" or " I can't see the thing you are talking
above, works for all ages. Wherever and
whenever you touch the heart and direct
about," are on the minds of the adults who
emotional response, you will automatically
may be too polite or shy to tell you what they
engage the mind. Involving children in a dra-
need.
matic re- creation of some type of conflict;
your
interpretation
toward
some
type
of
7. Parents do not mind when you tell them at
reading aloud a primary source with feeling
the beginning of the tour you will need
about someone in Williamsburg who is expressing fear, love, hope, happiness, sadness,
etc.; or telling a story in a dramatic manner
their help in controlling the behavior of
young children.
Sometimes, even when you have tried
about real people from the past are just some
everything to capture the attention of the
of the ways you can evoke an emotional re-
young children in your group, they get bored.
sponse that will also engage the mind. Se-
Their restlessness affects the experience for
lecting stories or objects that families and
the others in the program. Whenever you see
their children can relate to will also help
young children on your tour, you should always include in your introduction that you
them make a personal connection with the
will need the parents' help in watching young
objects associated with growing up, a quote
children so they do not disturb the experience
from a parent about a child or a child about
of the other people in the program. Then,
a parent are just a few examples of things and
past. Stories about sisters and / r brothers,
o
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
4
words that help families feel a connection
with people of the past.
9. If at first you don't succeed
Whenever we do focus groups with par-
ents and ask them if their children are enjoying the experience and whether they are
learning something, parents often remark
that they don't know yet. Whenever we interview the children, before the focus group
begins, we always have to give them pictures
of all the buildings to look at first so they can
remember where they have been. They also
write a postcard about their experience before
they begin the focus group to help them start
thinking about their experiences and decide
what they like and what they don't like. Last
year we invited the parents to join us in the
room beside the focus group room and watch
their children on a monitor. Parents were fascinated to hear what their children felt and
thought about all the experiences they had in
the Historic Area.
Visitor research conducted in museums
throughout the world reveals that often the
best insights do not happen while people are
touring the museum. It takes time for people
of all ages to assemble, review, and filter
Research also shows that the greatest predic-
through all the experiences they have had on
your energy into a dramatic, creative, and en-
tor of museum -going as a lifelong activity for
adults is having a positive experience as a young
child with your family. A valuable investment in
the future of Colonial Williamsburg is creating a
gaging interpretation or you observe that
successful interpretive experience for families
families are still staring at you with blank,
frozen stares, barely breathing ... it doesn't
with children. This particular group is our future,
always mean that you have failed. The idea or
hear those tin whistles yet?
concept you are interpreting may really make
sense two doors clown from your site or later
at dinner that night, but unfortunately you
READ MORE ABOUT IT
their visits. Even though you do not see light
bulbs going off in front of you as you throw all
won't be there when the light bulb goes off.
Often it takes repeated interpretations using
different techniques on the same theme before all the pieces and experiences begin to
make sense. Never give up.
and the busy seasons are approaching ...
can you
For more information about research on the
family experience in museums and at Colonial
Williamsburg, you can read:
Butler, B., and M. Sussman. Museum Visitors and
Activities for Family Life Enrichment. The Haworth Press, 1989.
Summary
Christensen, Joel, " Interpretation Can Target
The findings listed above may not be new to
you, but I hope that they will serve as a good re-
Csikszentmihalyi, M., and Kim Hermanson. " In-
minder of what we know to date about the fam-
ily experience. Many of the principles listed
above also work for guests without children. In
reviewing guests' comments over the past ten
years, I have never heard an adult without children complain that our interpretations were too
oriented toward children, but I have heard the
Everyone," Legacy 1, no. 1.
trinsic Motivation in Museums, What Makes
Want to Learn ?" Museum News
Visitors
MayJune 1995).
Dierking, L. " The Family Museum Experience,"
Journal of Museum Education 14 ( Spring/Summer 1989): 9 - 11.
same group complain about ways interpreters
For copies of the summaries of the focus
have mishandled someone else' s children's ques-
groups at Colonial Williamsburg, call Conny
tions or needs.
Graft at ext. 7216.
�5
Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
Bruton Parish Vestry, 1774
buildings, and the most expensive of all parish
By Linda Rowe
sons resident in the parish who were temporarily
obligations— provisioning and
supporting per-
The governing body of Bruton Parish during
or permanently unable to get a living or needed
assistance due to illness or injury.
Vestry books, in which parish clerks recorded
proceedings of annual vestry meetings, do not
survive for Bruton Parish. Consequently, the ros-
the colonial period was the parish's vestry, made
ter of vestry members in any given year is usually
up of twelve vestrymen together with the parish
minister and the parish clerk. When a parish was
an approximation, dependent upon serendipi-
Linda is a historian in the Department of Historical
Research and assistant editor for this publication.
formed ( 1674 for Bruton Parish), parish house-
holders elected the first vestry, which became
tous finds in York County documents, personal
papers, and other records.
maining vestrymen. In the 1770s, court officials
By the 1770s, the majority of seats on the Bruton Parish vestry were filled by residents of
Williamsburg; the rest hailed from rural areas
within easy reach of the town, but their names
administered the oaths of the vestry to newly ap-
are less familiar than their urban counterparts.
pointed vestrymen who resided in York County
and duly recorded the fact in the court records.
The vestry met in the fall to work out the
By 1774, some of these men had served on the
vestry' s expenses for the year, including the min-
Randolph was not among the members in 1774,
ister' s salary ( set by law at 16,000 pounds of to-
although he was a Bruton Parish vestryman as
bacco a year), construction and repair of church
late as 1768.
self-perpetuating thereafter. That is, vacant seats
were filled on the recommendation of the re-
vestry for decades, others for just a few years, and
still others were recent appointments: Peyton
Williamsburg Area Parish Bounds. Bruton Parish took in the whole of Williamsburg and parts of York and James
City Counties. Though Bruton Parish Church itself was located on the York County side of Williamsburg, Bruton's
vestry oversaw church affairs for the entire parish. The remainder of York County fell within Yorkhampton Parish
which also included a small piece ofJames City County, see map) and Charles Parish. Additional parishes in James
City County included James City Parish ( bounds not shown) in which Jamestown Island and part of the mainland
were located, and Blisland Parish ( bounds not shown) that covered much of the upper end ofJames City County.
This map is a work in progress; additional parish lines will be added as research continues.
Map created by: Carrie Alblinger, Research Associate for the Digital History Project
Mites
0
1. 5
3
6
9
12 "
N
Legend
Parish Boundaries
18th- Century Counties
18th -c. Williamsburg
James City
York
Warwick
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
6
John Bracken
Rector of Bruton Parish ( 1773 - 1818)
alive in 1774. Born in Williamsburg, he was
forty-three years old in 1774.
Bom in England, John Bracken arrived in Vir-
ginia in 1772. After the death of the Rev. Josiah
Johnson, rector of Bruton Parish, the vestry
elected Bracken minister on June 12, 1773. His
competition, the Rev. Samuel Henley, had ardently sought the position, but lost out over
questions about his religious views. During the
controversy, Bracken enjoyed the support of
staunch churchman
and
Bruton vestryman
Robert Carter Nicholas. Bracken later served as
master of the Grammar School at the College of
William and Mary ( 1775 -79) and still later became president of the college and professor of
moral philosophy ( 1812 - 14). Bracken was single
in 1774. He married Sally Burwell, daughter of
Lewis Burwell ( Kingsmill, near
Williamsburg)
Vestryman for at least twenty-five years by 1774
Planter Lewis Burwell lived at Kingsmill, sev-
eral miles from Williamsburg, but he often identified his home as " near Williamsburg," as if to
emphasize his association with the capital. He
owned two lots in Williamsburg and had large
landholdings in York, James City, and Isle of
Wight Counties and elsewhere. In 1774, he was
a burgess, a colonel in the militia, and a member
of the board of visitors of the College of William
and Mary. Bom in James City County, Burwell
was more than fifty years old in 1774.
Carter Burwell of Carter' s Grove and great -
granddaughter of Robert " King" Carter, in 1776.
William Eaton ( upper York County)
Bom in the mid- 1740s, Bracken was in his late
Took oath as vestryman on March 21, 1768
William Eaton descended from the Eaton and
twenties in 1774.
Pinkethman families going back to late seven-
Matthew Moody ( Williamsburg)
Clerk of the Vestry by 1773
teenth- century York County. Their lands in rural
York County were situated in the upper district
Like his father and grandfather before him,
of York County north of Williamsburg and below
Matthew Moody was a ferry keeper and tavern
keeper. Formerly at Burwell's Ferry in James City
Skimino Creek. When William's father, Pinketh-
County, Moody, in 1774, advertised food and
ued at £ 1, 000 and included more than twenty
drink for sale at his house at Capitol Landing. He
also appears to have done some cabinetmaking
and carpentry. Moody served York County as
slaves. He left William two tracts of land in Bruton Parish —the " home plantation" and his Mill
both grand and petit juror on several occasions.
Interestingly, his father and grandfather also
served in lesser county offices such as juror, sub sheriff ( deputy sheriff), inspector of beef and
pork, inspector of flour, inspector of pitch and
man Eaton, died about 1761, his estate was val-
Swamp Quarter. William began to appear in York
County court actions with his mother, Mary
Eaton, concerning the estate. Thereafter, he oc-
casionally served on petit and grand juries. In
1768, he was appointed to the Bruton vestry and
to a committee to consider proposals for a belfry
tar, tobacco teller ( akin to a constable, kept a
bell tower) for Bruton Parish Church. In 1774,
lookout for illegal tobacco crops), and surveyor
of the highways. Whether or not Matthew' s wife,
he acted as appraiser for several York County es-
Katherine ( Kitty), was alive in 1774 is not
known. Moody was born ( date unknown) in
Williamsburg probably at his father's residence at
Capitol Landing. He was probably in his mid- to
Joseph Hornsby, a fellow vestryman, and served
late thirties in 1774.
Parish register. He was probably more than thirty
tates, mortgaged three hundred acres of land to
as surveyor of the highways in his area of York
County and Bruton Parish. Baptisms of a few of
Eaton's slaves were
recorded
in the Bruton
years old in 1774.
John Blair Jr. (Williamsburg)
Vestryman by 1771 or 1772
John Blair Jr. probably was named to fill his fa-
ther's seat on the vestry not long after the elder
Blair' s death in 1771, but the earliest documen-
tary reference to Blair Jr.'s appointment is July
15, 1775. In 1774, the younger Blair was bursar
of the college, clerk of the Council, and justice of
the York County court. In the recent past, he had
been mayor of Williamsburg and burgess for the
college. Blair owned several hundred acres of
land in York County in addition to several lots
and houses in Williamsburg. His wife, Jane, was
Thomas Everard ( Williamsburg)
A vestryman for at least twenty years by 1774
Except for a stint as clerk of Elizabeth City
County ( 1742 - 45), Everard lived in Williamsburg from his arrival in Virginia from England in
1734. He initially apprenticed to Matthew
Kemp, merchant and clerk of the General Court.
Everard was appointed to the important post of
clerk of York County court in 1745, a position he
held until his death some thirty-five years later.
In 1774, Everard lived on Palace Green in
Williamsburg (the York County side of town). He
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
7
was elected mayor of Williamsburg in 1766 and
Robert Carter Nicholas, grandson of Robert
1771. A widower for about fifteen years in 1774,
he had an unmarried adult daughter at home.
Another daughter, widow of the Rev. James Hor-
King" Carter and a lawyer by trade, was ubiqui-
rocks ( president of the college and minister at
Bruton Parish Church), had died in 1773 after a
tedious illness. Everard owned six hundred acres
in James City County and his house and lots in
Williamsburg. Born in England in 1719, Everard
was fifty-one years old in 1774.
tous in the halls of power in colonial Virginia. A
former mayor of Williamsburg ( 1757), in 1774,
he was treasurer of the colony, burgess for James
City County, member of the board of visitors of
the College of William and Mary, and justice of
the peace for James City County. Nicholas and
his wife, Anne, were widely known for their piety
and staunch support of the established Church of
England in Virginia. In 1774, Nicholas lived on
William Graves ( upper York County)
the James City County side of Williamsburg.
Vestryman for twenty-one years in 1774
Born in 1729, probably in Williamsburg,
Nicholas was forty-five years old in 1774.
William Graves was descended from several
generations of the Graves family in York County
going back as far as the 1630s. His father, Ralph
Graves, served York County as a grand and petit
juror on numerous occasions and as surveyor of
the highways. The elder Graves died in possession
John Pierce ( upper York County)
Vestryman for thirteen years by 1774
John Pierce descended from a family resident
in Bruton Parish, York County, at least as early as
of some 1, 500 acres in Bruton Parish, York
the third quarter of the seventeenth century.
County, northwest of Williamsburg. William
John himself began to appear in court in the
Graves achieved higher office than his father, al-
1760s, when he was appointed guardian to his
though he served as a juror and highway surveyor
brothers and sister. He served York County as a
as well. He was already a member of Bruton
Parish's vestry in 1753, when he represented that
petit and grand juror many times and was rec-
body as churchwarden in a debt case. Graves was
at an area tobacco warehouse in 1765. In 1768,
he served with William Eaton on the committee
among the vestrymen who contracted with Ben-
ommended to Governor Fauquier as an inspector
jamin Powell to build the steeple and make re-
to consider proposals for a belfry ( bell tower) at .
pairs to Bruton Parish Church. A substantial
planter, he was appointed justice of the peace for
Bruton Parish Church. In 1774, he was one of
York County in 1759. Several of his slaves, in-
which owed him £ 3. 12. 6. In 1775, Pierce,
cluding an adult woman, were baptized in Bruton
William Graves, James Shields, and James
Parish Graves was born in York County and was
probably in his mid- to late fifties in 1774.
Southall were appointed " a committee to take
many claimants against William Rind's estate,
care of" Elizabeth Prentis ( widow of vestryman
John Prentis who died in 1775) whom the York
Joseph Hornsby (Williamsburg)
County justices adjudged to be of unsound mind.
Known to be a vestryman by 1773
Merchant Joseph Hornsby inherited several
hundred acres in York County ( Bruton Parish),
plantations in James City County, and houses
They posted £ 3, 000 bond that they would take
proper care of her and keep a true account of her
and lots in Williamsburg from merchant Thomas
Hornsby, his uncle who died in 1772. Joseph was
named to the Bruton Parish vestry and appointed
a justice of the York County court in 1773. Previously he had served on several petit juries in
York County. In 1774, Hornsby was a captain in
estate. Pierce appears to have lived in York
County northwest of Williamsburg in the same
general vicinity as vestry members William
Graves and William Eaton. He was perhaps in
his late thirties in 1774.
John Prentis (Williamsburg)
Vestryman for at least five years in 1774
the militia and tithe taker for Bruton Parish.
Merchant John Prentis was the son of William
Tithe takers were not tax collectors —they were
appointed from among the court justices to as-
Prentis, owner of the Prentis Store in Williams-
burg. According to William's will, John was to
semble the list of tithables in the county.) Joseph
run the store after his father' s death. In 1774,
Hornsby' s marriage to Mildred Walker was announced in the Virginia Gazette in January 1769.
John had been a justice of the York County court
His age in 1774 is not known, but he was proba-
for twenty years, and he was a colonel in the militia. A former mayor of Williamsburg, he had re-
bly in his mid- to late thirties.
signed
as
chamberlain (
treasurer)
of
the
Williamsburg Common Council in 1773. He
Robert Carter Nicholas ( Williamsburg)
A Bruton Parish vestryman for at least twenty
years by 1774
owned lots and storehouses in Williamsburg and
some rural acreage in York and Surry Counties.
Bom in Williamsburg, John Prentis was at least
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
8
nearly thirty years. He owned a number oflots in
Williamsburg and nearly 1, 000 acres in York
County. He was king's attorney for York County
fifty-two years old in 1774. He died in 1775.
John Tazewell ( Williamsburg)
Took oaths as vestryman in 1772
John Tazewell attended the
and clerk of the General Court. Born in 1716 in
College
of
William and Mary from 1758 to 1762 and remained in Williamsburg until his death in 1781.
King William County, Waller was fifty-eight
years old in 1774.
His wife, Sarah, was alive in 1774, and they lived
George Wythe ( Williamsburg)
on the north side of Nicholson Street near
Palace Green. ( In 1778, he purchased the for-
Vestryman for at least fourteen years by 1774
Born in Elizabeth City County about 1727,
mer residence of John Randolph, a handsome
George Wythe came to the college in Williams-
house built before 1762 at the end of South Eng-
burg in the mid- 1740s. In 1774, he lived in the
Wythe House, which he held by life right of his
land Street, renamed Tazewell Hall.) In 1774,
lawyer John Tazewell was a member of the
second wife, Elizabeth Taliaferro. Wythe inher-
Williamsburg Common Council and Williams-
ited a plantation in Elizabeth City County. A
burg Committee of Safety. He was probably in
lawyer, legal scholar, and teacher of law, Wythe
his thirties in 1774.
held many important posts in colonial government including attorney general ( 1754) and
Benjamin Waller ( Williamsburg)
Vestryman for at least twenty-five years in 1774
served as clerk of important committees in the
Benjamin Waller came to Williamsburg about
1726. He attended the College of William and
House of Burgesses. He was a past mayor of
Williamsburg and former burgess for Williamsburg and Elizabeth City County. In 1774, Wythe
Mary until he was about seventeen after which
he trained in the Secretary' s Office. He obtained
was clerk of the House of Burgesses, signer /over-
a license to practice law in 1738. In 1774, Waller
had been married to the former Martha Hall for
Williamsburg Committee of Safety. Wythe was
about forty- seven years old in 1774.
House of the Devil:
cess, while not entirely dismissing playfulness
seer of treasury notes, and member of the
and conviviality.
Opposition to the Theater
Dissenters from the Church of England who
in Colonial America
settled in America —especially Puritans in New
by Tam Goyens
the most resolute condemnation. They were not
Tom is a consulting historian for the Research Divi-
downright evil.' In the plantation colonies, on
sion and has done extensive historical work on
the other hand, theater integrated comparatively
easily into the social fabric. For one thing, the
Williamsburg's Douglass -Hallam Theater.
England and Quakers in Pennsylvania— voiced
ambivalent toward the stage;
to them it was
Church of England —more tolerant on matters of
Englishmen and -women who ventured to the
entertainment —
was
the
established
church
ward the theater.` Some were indifferent, others
from Maryland to Georgia. For another, southern
mainland colonies had commercial imperatives
sought its suppression, and still others had fond
that fostered a social hierarchy topped by an
memories of attending a playhouse. As each of
agrarian elite of slave -owning gentry impatient
the settlement regions developed into colonies
with distinct characteristics, so too did the re-
to emulate English aristocrats.
spective responses to theater in those regions dif-
theater intensified when, after 1740, the inter colonial press emerged. A handful of ambitious
New World differed greatly in their attitudes to-
fer considerably.' At the start of the eighteenth
Debate and controversy about professional
century, two often -conflicting attitudes toward
theater emerged in the mainland colonies.
theatrical companies operated profitable circuits
White southern colonials regarded theatrical en-
to play at local tavems or fairs. By mid -century,
tertainment as a heritage from English aristoc-
theater companies performed in most settled
racy and also from rural leisure pastimes;
inhabitants from New England and the middle
areas of the British mainland colonies, reaching
backcountry hamlets as well as large towns.'
colonies rejected it as an aristocratic penchant
With more and more people exposed to this new
for extravagant leisure and cautioned against ex-
form of entertainment, political leaders, moral
and inspired amateurs to form their own troupes
�9
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
the moralists, this entailed a loss of control over
the lower classes, who generally embraced the-
atricals. The popularity of theater, in fact, was a
manifestation of broader sociocultural changes
that swept Europe from the end of the seventeenth to the middle of the eighteenth centuries.
This period witnessed the emergence of what
Jurgen Habermas has called the " public sphere,"
an amorphous realm of activity somehow different from the governmental sphere of officialdom
and the private world of individuals. Entertainment assumed an important role in this new dimension. What made the public arena in the
colonies a truly exciting —and for others a fright ful— domain, was the simultaneous commercialization and urbanization of Anglo- American
culture.
Plays, indeed any form of entertainment, especially paid entertainment, were to many reli-
gious leaders a reprehensible waste of time. Time
was intricately related to personal piety; every
person had only a finite period on earth. One
commentator wrote that attending the theater
The Reverend George Whitefield, M.A." ( CWF 1956-
amounted to " unprofitably wasting your time
226). Shown preaching in the open air with a Bible in
his left hand, this 1768 engraving of the popular cleric
was taken from a portrait painted by John Russell.
and substance at plays. "`
guardians, and other pundits felt compelled to
Whitefield stood in the vanguard of a religious
trumpet the merits and dangers of the stage.
revival movement in America ( later known as
Religious and moral opposition to the theater
reached its height in America during the late
1730s and 1740s. English evangelist George
What then were the arguments raised against
the Great Awakening), although awakenings
theater? Can they all be summed up, or possibly
began in New England before Whitefield's ar-
dismissed— if one views the past with a secular
rival there. Whitefield' s sharp attack on luxury
sensibility— as stemming from fundamentalist intolerance or religious bigotry? If the godly were
and leisure pastimes could account for the rela-
indeed in the vanguard of the antitheater cam-
riod in the northern colonies. " Religion and
virtue," he once proclaimed, can never bloom
paign, what did other groups, such as Yankee
tive silence inside the playhouses during that pe-
merchants or women, have to say about the art
under the shadow of a theatre." Whitefield's
of Thespis? Some criticism aimed at theater in
America and England carried a distinct antiaris-
antitheater rhetoric may have had some effect in
Williamsburg since no plays were performed here
tocratic tinge. It targeted the gentry, who, at least
from 1739 to 17452 It is, however, doubtful that
in the plantation colonies, were recognized as
the effect of one sermon in Williamsburg ended
theater' s most committed patrons. Even so, reli-
all theater activities in this provincial capital.
gious and moral objections persisted and cannot
Still, the only theatrical activities during the
be relegated solely to a group of clerics because
1730s and 1740s took place in Williamsburg,
most colonial Americans —both northerners and
Charleston, and Providence, Bahamas.
southerners —were genuinely devout and respectful of tradition.
A Cursed Engine of Pleasure, Idleness,
and Extravagance"
First, many Puritans did not object to reading
Secular considerations entered the debate
when people contended that attending plays
squandered valuable resources that ought to be
spent on charity or poor relief. " The money
thrown away in one night at a play," one New
Yorker remarked in
1767, " would purchase
plays; only public theatrical performances be-
wood, provisions and other necessaries, sufficient
came the subject of staunch reprobation? The
for a number of poor."8 References to the needs
distinction between reading and acting out a play
is an important one to make during this period.
of the underprivileged were not so uncommon
Performing meant exposing' literature to the illit-
ification in larger towns.
Financial concerns were sometimes linked to
erate and the unsophisticated. In the minds of
and make for interesting glimpses into class strat-
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
10
Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn" (CWF 1967 -570). This print by William Hogarth, dated March 25, 1738,
illustrates the indiscriminate mixing of sexes and lack of modesty that helped fuel criticism of the theater and of thespians.
moral -ones, especially when theater attracted
proceeds to charitable initiatives in the commu-
those with lean pocketbooks, such as laborers
nity. By the 1760s, such performances became
and apprentices. According to critics, this situa-
common,
tion stood to ruin the lower classes and reflected
deeds profusely. For some ultra- orthodox New
a rejection of industry on the part of those work-
Englanders and people from the middle colonies,
ers. Some writers used guilt to bolster their
polemics against the theater: " Have you not
and
troupes
advertised
their
good
theater managers' charity and public responsibil-
found a shyness to duty after attending the
ity merely amounted to a ruse in order to gain
support and sell more tickets. Such posturing,
stage ?" as one Providence commentator put it in
they believed, revealed even more the corrupt
1774.' In this sense, secular and religious critics
found common ground on which to denounce
nature of theater.
theater, portraying it as a sinful and costly waste.
platform for a spirited debate on the alleged financial burden of the theater. The dispute cen-
It didn't help that some actors and managers
faced financial difficulties to keep their companies afloat. In 1752, a Williamsburg apothecary
heard of the rapid sale of tickets of a newly arrived theater company, but quickly noted, "never
were debts worse paid. "10 In fact, many of the ac-
In 1761, New York newspapers provided a
tered on the exact amount the theater company
eamed from ticket sales. The advocate for the
theater dismissed his opponent's figure of £6, 000
by arguing that the company was able to make
no more than £ 180 a night given the size of the
tors themselves were unable to pay their credi-
playhouse, which, for a total of sixteen nights
tors, which forced Lewis Hallam ( 1740 - 1808),
would come to £ 1, 920. Moreover, the company
one of the first professional theater managers in
the colonies, to sell his playhouse in Williams-
spent about £ 1, 300 on rent, scenery, and cos-
burg in order for his actors to avoid jail time.
One way of countering accusations of extravagance, selfishness, and parasitical behavior Leveled at theater companies was to donate the
tumes, all to the benefit of the town, leaving
620 to pay for " lodging, washing, and diet."
Lastly, the theater supporter skillfully took the
moral high ground over well - -do members of
to
society by stating that theater companies
�11
Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
earn it much more fairly and honestly than
ways been implicitly associated with sexuality. In
those who have raked together thousands
England after the Restoration ( 1660), women
by an inflexible attachment to their own
dear interests, by oppressing the fatherless
were allowed to appear on the stage, and the sex-
and widows, and unfeelingly grinding the
Not only did women enter a public space, but
face of the poor. How opposite has been the
they also performed in speech and gesture before
conduct of those very comedians ?"
a crowd of (initially mostly male) onlookers." In
ual implications became even more apparent.
Some historians have rightfully pointed to the
fact that many of those Puritan conservatives
were members of a mercantile class whose busi-
ness differed substantially from the planter - erm
chants in the southern colonies."
But it was
business, all the same. Their concerns, especially
in the second half of the eighteenth century, increasingly focused on commerce and economic
viability in light of British encroachments. Religious
morality and
commercial
ethics
were
strongly interwoven in New England, and antitheater arguments were often voiced in terms
of economic survival and prudent spending as
well as moral imperatives.
a time when women were strictly confined to the
domestic sphere and ranked as second -class citizens, actresses bore the brunt of vicious attacks
by religious and secular reactionaries. In 1700,
English writer Tom Brown, for example, charac-
terized the playhouse as " the country of Metamorphoses,"
in which " honest women [ were
converted] into arrant whores. "16
The same period also prescribed a strict sex-
ual morality in which sexual expression was
firmly repressed. On one level, theater pro vided— or evolved into — arena for sexual disan
course and can be considered a venue for both
exhibitionist and voyeuristic purposes. To some
extent, an association between theater and pros-
titution is founded in reality. The Drury Lane
Artful Seducers"
and Covent Garden theaters were situated in the
Colonial conservatives viewed the entertainment function of the stage as a failure. The two
elements inherent in theater were also the most
shabby neighborhood of London's West End
Women of "ill repute" frequently seized the opportunity to solicit their trade in and near the
obvious targets for the dogmatists: public display
playhouses in the area.
and interpretive content. Unlike literature,
music, dance, or sports, theater offered the im-
against actresses and female patrons in the eigh-
In America, explicit accusations of harlotry
mediacy of fiction within the elaborate spatial di-
teenth century press were rare, although both
mension of the playhouse. These characteristics
male and female commentators alluded to it. A
challenged- traditional and religious ideas about
polemic between Philodemus ( male) and
Amanda ( female) in the New York Gazette of
1761 illustrates the debate on sexual and gender
issues related to the theater. Philodemus zeal-
privacy, civil deportment, sexual license, and
gender roles. Theater was make -believe and
could leave one dissipated and confused. In part
stating the obvious, theater critics sought to
strike at the heart of stage performance, which
was seen as untruthful and hypocritical, and thus
harmful. Actors uttered lies, they said, and were
admired for their skill at deceit, or as Shake-
speare himself wrote: " I am not that I play."
William Prynne ( 1600- 69), the English Puritan
polemicist, for instance, called actors " artificiall
changelings. "t3
The fear was that theatergoers who enjoyed
the antics of less reputable stage characters
would uncritically manifest " an inclination to
verge as far upon those criminal indulgences as
ously derides the theater " lately introduced
among us," and expresses special concerns for
women."
I must therefore beg pardon of my readers,
and especially of the Fair Sex, if I say that
I have but a very indifferent opinion of the
modesty of a lady that frequents the playhouse, which has so often proved fatal to
the reputation of the sex by criminal assignations, and lascivious intrigues.
Amanda, 17 December:]
They condemn what they do not under-
ever they can consistent with their reputation. ""
It was, of course, understood that theatrical
stand. — Cicero.
pieces were fictional, but to act out stories on
stage in front of hundreds of spectators was giv-
Nay, should think it unworthy of mine
being one of the female tribe) had he not
spirited up my resentment to the highest
ing literature an entirely new dimension.
America further discredited the amusement
pitch, by the deflamatory [ sic] treatment of
my sex; in the scurrilous insinuation on the
value of theater by pointing to its potential for
modesty of ladies that frequent the play-
sexual license. From its inception, theater had al-
house; ...
Religious
conservatives
in
England
and
Impudent fellow! Ought not
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
12
this, ladies, to be resented in the highest
Even as late as the 1770s the attention given
manner: Surely all must join with me in
answering in the affirmative. And now,
scurrilous sir, in the name of all my incented
to dress, cosmetics, and gesture by the actors in
sic] females, let me ask you whether you
for the remains of manly taste. "Z0 Here again,
order to enhance the spectacle caused one Vir-
ginia writer to ponder: " Let us search the theatre
can affirm as matter of conscience, that
terms such as manly and unmanly alluded to in-
plays in general will so corrupt a female
dulgence in sumptuousness rather than to sexual
orientation. Other comments referred to " blas-
mind, as to make her lose all sense of
virtue....
I' ll maintain that plays have not
phemous passions" and " filthy jests."
this tendency. At present I can recollect but
Theater also was associated with an assort-
one that there is in it a loose amour carry' d
ment of unlawful activities, such as thievery, pick
on; and that is the Fair Penitent.
pocketing, and fighting. Critics also warned
against diseases that might spread in crowded
Philodemus, 24 December:]
places such as playhouses.
You call on all the ladies to resent the af-
Much of the prejudice against actors and ac-
front. The play -house ladies you mean
tresses stemmed from the simple fact that they
traveled about, thereby defying the norm of a stable, settled lifestyle. In seventeenth -century England, players were judged vagrants unless they
madam, for others are not at all affected
with it....
You put the question to my con-
science, whether I think plays will so corrupt a female mind....
What has been
madam, may be again, if you want an instance, read the celebrated history of
Clarissa Harlowe, and see where the ruin
ofpoor Sally Miller, took its rise.... I perceive you and your play -house ladies, have
carried a signed letter from a noble patron. Critics
frequently linked the peripatetic nature of eigh-
teenth- century play -acting on both sides of the
Atlantic to promiscuity or an uninhibited lifestyle
on the part of the actors. In a July 1768 letter to
been made to believe you are all God-
Virginia planter Landon Carter, the Rev. Isaac W.
Gibeme lamented about the elopement of his
desses, and proper objects of adoration —A
wife, " who, I am credibly informed, keeps com-
doctrine frequently taught at the theatre!
pany every night with some strolling players. ""
Antitheater commentators in the colonies
were apprehensive about theaters as a place of
courtship. Parents and masters were especially
advised to supervise their youthful dependents if
they fancied going to the playhouse, a venue
chiefly designed for assignations. "" In this context, young people, especially girls, were seen as
helpless creatures falling prey to the gallantries
performed by rakes and fops in the playhouse
audience.
The accusation of sexual depravity was not
only directed toward women, but sometimes toward men. A few conservative and religious authors on both sides of the Atlantic, who called
upon the Bible to condemn what they labeled ef-
feminacy on the stage, sometimes hinted at homosexuality. Throughout the British world the
term effeminacy was used in different ways, however. On the one hand it meant excessive devo-
tion to luxury and denoted the " surrender to
private desire and passion" or a man neglecting
his public responsibilities in favor of collecting
stylish objects."
At that time, the Virginia Company under
manager William Verling had just left Williams-
burg although some players had stayed behind.
Only days after their departure, Williamsburg
tavern keeper Jane Vobe advertised a runaway —
her thirty- eight year -old slave Nanny: " it is supposed that she has gone off with some of the
comedians who have just left this town." Vobe
also asserted that the " brisk, genteel sensible
wench" had connections with the players for she
was seen " very busy talking with some of them. ""
The irony was, of course, that some evangelical
preachers such as Whitefield were themselves
itinerants who came in for considerable criticism
from Church of England ministers in Virginia
and South Carolina.
Competing with the Church
The Church of England, the established
church
throughout
much
of
the
southern
colonies, did not condemn plays as such, only the
abuse of the medium." Anglicans argued that decent plays could have a moral and educational
Effeminacy, therefore, had a wider meaning
value. Playwrights, actors, and patrons voiced
than just sexual. Typically, when women started
performing female roles ( instead of boys in fe-
similar arguments by stressing drama's potential
male garb) after the Restoration, Puritans held
lessons, praising the popular theater as a " school
that a coed cast was likely to incite fornication
of politeness and virtue."
and adultery. Either way, theater perverted the
traditional mores of chastity, virtue, and piety.
as an altemative way of teaching moral and civil
In Virginia where Anglicanism was most entrenched, the upper echelons of society were
�Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
13
planter lifestyle and its indulgence in leisure ac-
tivities, including gambling and plays. Samuel
Davies, an evangelical Presbyterian who was
critical of Church of England clergymen in Virginia as well as of the gentry, settled as minister
in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1747. Eight
years later, he lamented that in the colony of Virginia, " Plays and Romances [ were] more read
than the History of the blessed Jesus. ""
Religion, as understood by Congregationalists
and Presbyterians, entailed strict observance of
scriptural truth and a repudiation of the " wor-
ship of images." They feared that, like the devil,
a sinful temptation could present itself on stage
in a cloaked manner and snatch an innocent
soul. This argument is implicit in a quote initially
published in England in the 1760s: " They say, diversions are lawful; that the stage is only a diversion; that people go to it without meaning any
harm, and therefore there can be no sin in it."'
It has been suggested that the clergy in the
northern colonies resented actors as artistic com-
petitors. For New England divines preaching was
the cornerstone of the church meeting and the
Anglican Bishop Holding a Wine Glass" ( CWF 1993442). Dating to 1740 -50, this painting of an Anglican
bishop by an unknown artist illustrates the prejudices
that many dissenters had against the Church of England:
worldly concerns were more important than spiritual ones.
eager to support theater as long as it remained
true to English fashion. In the summer of 1751,
when a traveling theater company arrived in
Williamsburg, acting governor Lewis Burwell, a
wealthy planter and President of the Council,
immediately approved the building of a playhouse. " A taste for the elegancies as well as the
more erudite parts of literature," one early historian remembered, " shone out beneath the patronage
and
example
of
the
president
Burwell] . "
24
If Virginia Govemor Dinwiddie had initial
doubts about granting permission to another
London theater troupe in Williamsburg in 1752,
an impatient public quickly overturned his deci-
sermon often a stunning piece of oratory. On numerous occasions Cotton Mather ( 1663- 1728),
the Boston minister and orator of merit, described the pulpit as a stage. In this sense, secu-
lar theater became a rival to religious practice on
two levels: its content ( false learning) and its
form (false pulpit). This insight led one historian
to ponder the following: " had the theatre' s true
potential for propaganda been recognized, men
like Cotton Mather might have been extraordinary playwrights. "
By the 1760s, colonial religious leaders in the
northern colonies realized that heavy- handed
preaching against theatrical entertainment had
little effect, and many shifted toward accommodation. They would arrange with the top managers, such as David Douglass ( circa 1720- 89),
an ambitious theater manager and builder of
playhouses in several American cities, to see that
theater at least offered serious and instructive
sion. Moreover, Thomas Jefferson and George
plays. Some even became patrons of the theater
Washington were avid theatergoers during the
and helped " pacify" it. In May 1762, Douglass
1760s and 1770s whenever the players came
donated a " handsome sum" destined for the
through the Virginia capital. The pursuit of cul-
charity school to the churchwardens of New
tural legitimacy in the eyes of their British coun-
Haven, while the local newspaper praised the
terparts gave these gentry colonials a compelling
unblamable" conduct of his company?
reason to patronize the theater in their communities.
Riots
viewed theater as a threat to the institution of
Opposition to the theater was not always a
verbal affair; physical violence broke out on
the church and its teaching. Sects and denomi-
some occasions in and around the playhouse.t9
nations dissenting from Anglicanism harbored
Tension was usually the result of the prohibitive
many concerns about the effect of theater on the
atmosphere created by certain elements in a
souls of ordinary colonials. They loathed the
community or town, particularly in the northern
In sharp contrast, New England Puritans
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
14
colonies. As soon as a traveling theater company
arrived and requested permission to play, leading
year, a group of actors employed by Douglass' s
local personalities, usually clergy, mobilized a sec-
Beekman Streets in New York. Meanwhile, Par-
tion of the populace against the players.
liament passed the Stamp Act causing many
company opened the theater on Nassau and
When in 1750 two English actors attempted
popular disturbances in the American colonies
to stage a play in Puritan Boston, a small riot en-
throughout the spring and summer of 1765. As
sued.30 The event that probably incensed theater
one historian wrote: " Parliament unintentionally
opponents the most was the ceremonial opening
politicized consumer goods. "33
of a new theater building. These festive occasions proved to be very worrisome to antitheater
advocates who sought the complete suppression
Theater was a commodity too and was implicated in the Stamp Act crisis because it was
widely perceived to cater to royalist taste. In Oc-
of the stage, not its encouragement and prolifer-
tober 1765, Douglass had sailed back from Lon-
ation. In Philadelphia, for example, despite longstanding Quaker opposition, theater had
ingratiated itselfinto the booming city since mid century, but the opening of the majestic Chest-
don and began rehearsals of the comedy in New
nut Street Theater in 1794 unleashed loud
protest. " When it was first opened," recalled
the upcoming performance coincided with news
traveler Francis Bailey, " there were sad disturbances and riots among the populace for several
hope that " the public has no objection to the
above performance. "30
York. When news of the March 1766 repeal of
the Stamp Act reached America, The Twin Rivals
was still in rehearsal. The May announcement of
of the repeal. The actors anxiously expressed the
nights; they attacked and insulted almost every
Alas, their hope was in vain. The announce-
person who went in." Bailey entertained no high
opinion of the foes of theater, whom he described
ment offended many New Yorkers, who threatened violence if the comedy was not canceled.
as " a few unenlightened fanatics. "11
According to some historians, the Sons of Lib-
In the spring of 1764, David Douglass left for
England to recruit new talent?' The following
erty expressly organized themselves to counter
the performance of this play, which was viewed
Mr. Garrick in the Farmers Return" ( CWF 1973 -259). Taken from a painting executed by Johann Zoffany, this
scene from " The Farmer' s Return" shows popular actor David Garrick in 1766 in one of his successful roles. Although
professionals such as Garrick made the stage more acceptable, a career in the theater continued to be viewed as less
than respectable well into the nineteenth century.
�15
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
as a provocation. When the performance began,
a mob stormed the playhouse, injuring several
people in the process. The building was utterly
senting denominations in the north, who railed
destroyed, and afterward, the vandalizing crowd
sustained campaign against immoral and frivolous pastimes. Bostonians did not see a theater
carried the pieces to the Common, where they
consumed them in a bonfire.. '
against a lax established church as well as the
aristocratic aspirations of the gentry, launched a
building until 1795, while Williamsburg, with the
Modern readers may be inclined to dismiss
support of an eager governor, laid the foundation
the reactionary rhetoric of those who opposed
for the first recorded purpose -built playhouse in
theater as unenlightened and bigoted. While
America in 1716. Apart from its many pleasures,
many critics of the theater undoubtedly fit that
the success of theater must also be attributed to
description, numerous Americans and Britons
the managers of the companies who, though they
were not so much opposed to the wantonness or
were keenly aware of the objections against their
alleged immoral tendencies of the theater as they
trade, nevertheless established theater on firm
were concerned about the growing superficiality
footing.
of their culture as a whole.
Theater, it should be noted, was not only a
part of the emerging secular culture of leisure,
but was also a product of the consumer revolu-
tion. Aristocratic patronage during the eighteenth- century restyled the theater and theater
culture into a vehicle for display and, arguably,
shallow gratification. As a result, many members
of the middle and learned classes reacted against
what they saw as frivolousness and superficiality.
As early as 1700, English writer Tom Brown
wittily derided the post -Restoration stage. He
pointed to its crude superficiality and dismissed
new plays as " damned insipid, dull farces, con-
founded toothless satire, or plaguy rhymy plays."
These " new plays" dominated the English and
later the American stage during the eighteenth
century. John Adams also lamented the spread of
After the restoration of Charles I1 the ban on theatrical performances was lifted throughout the empire. The
colony of Jamaica authorized -theater in 1682, and the restrictions in Pennsylvania were repealed by London in 1692.
The Assembly of Pennsylvania, however, enacted another
law in 1700 restricting stage -plays. See Odai Johnson and
William J. Burling, eds., The Colonial American Stage,
1665 - 1774: A Documentary Calendar ( Madison, N. J.: Fair leigh Dickinson University Press; London; Canbury, N. J.:
Associated University Presses, 2001), 94 -97; George B.
Bryan, American Theatrical Regulations, 1607 - 1900, Conspec-
tus and Texts ( Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993).
See for instance M. Moses and J. Brown, eds., The
American Theatre as Seen by Its Critics, 1752 - 1934 ( New
York: Norton, 1934). For regional studies, see among others,
Loren 1C. Ruff, "Joseph Harper and Boston's Broad Alley
Theatre,
1792- 1793,"
Educational
Theatre Journal
26
March 1974): 45 - 52; George C. D. Odell, Annals of the
New York Stage ( New York: Columbia University Press,
1927}9); Thomas C. Pollock, The Philadelphia Theatre in the
frivolous pastimes and the consequent loss of in-
Eighteenth Century Together with the Day Book of the Same Pe-
dustry and truthfulness. Some postwar critics dis-
riod ( Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1933);
George Willard, A History of the Providence Stage, 1762 - 1891
credited the theater companies' fashionable
Providence, R. 1.:
Rhode Island News, 1891); Eola Willis,
spectacles as " rank nonsense.""
The Charleston Stage in the XVIII Century, with Social Settings
Objections against theater were more directed at theater' s perceived shift toward low en-
of the Time ( New York and London: Benjamin Blom, 1968);
tertainment and away from its original purpose of
N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1960).
imaginative and creative amusement. Intelligent
Hugh Rankin, The Theatre in Colonial America ( Chapel Hill,
For Philadelphia, see William S. Dye, " Pennsylvania
reactions against commercialism could be found
at both ends of the political spectrum. Progres-
Versus the Theater," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 55 ( 1931): 337; Harold Shiffler, "Religious Opposition to the Eighteenth Century Philadelphia Stage,"
sive critics stressed citizens' duty to strive for
Educational Theatre Journal 14 ( October 1962): 215 - 223.
noble democratic ideals, in which personal satis-
faction and communal harmony might coexist.
Conservatives tended to invoke the bliss of a former age of moral order in a hierarchy of saints or
masters, in which Mammon dared not intrude.
By 1800, theater nonetheless had established
itself as a popular and respectable pastime in the
Weldon B. Durham, ed., American Theatre Companies,
1749 - 1887 ( New York: Greenwood Press, 1986). This work
is a useful reference tool, although incomplete. See also,
Johnson and Burling, eds., Colonial American Stage; James
Bost, Monarchs of the Mimic World; or, The American Theatre
of the Eighteenth Century Through the Managers —The Men
Who Made It (Orono, Maine: University of Maine, 1977).
New York Gazette & Weekly Post -Boy, 1 February 1768.
See for instance Bruce C. Daniels, Puritans at Play: Leisure
new republic. During the colonial period, opposition to theater was vigorous, but by no means
evenly spread among the thirteen colonies. Reli-
and Recreation in Colonial New England ( New York: St. Mar-
gious objections prevailed and this accounts for
argument persisted throughout the nineteenth century and
the striking discrepancy between an intolerant
north and a tolerant south. The Anglican domi-
tin's Griffin, 1995).
New York Journal, 28 January 1768. Interestingly, this
surfaces in Horatio Alger's mid -century work -ethic essays. If
a man " wanted to succeed in life," he once wrote,
he must
do something else than attend theatres and spend his
nated plantation colonies of the south saw no
evenings in billiard saloons." Quoted in Madelon Powers,
harm in elegant English entertainment. The dis-
Faces Along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman's So-
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
16
loon, 1870 - 1920 ( Chicago and London: The University of
Chicago Press, 1998), 42.
Twice Whitefield made sweeps down through the
American colonies beginning in New England. Quoted in
Johnson and Burling, eds., Colonial American Stage, 125.
Whitefield preached at Bruton Parish Church in 1739. Virginia Gazette, 16 December 1739.
New York Journal, 7 January 1768.
Providence Gazette, 23 April 1774.
George Gilmer to Walter King, 30 November 1752.
Gilmer Letter Book, quoted in Hugh F. Rankin, The Colonial
Theatre: Its History and Operations ( Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1961), I: 79.
New York Mercury, 28 December 1761.
See Peter A. Davis, " Puritan Mercantilism and the Politics of Anti Theatrical Legislation in Colonial America" in
The American Stage: Social and Economic Issues from the Colonial Period to the Present, ed. Ron Engle and Tice Miller (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
1J Quote from Jurgen Wolter, ed., The Dawning of American Drama: American Dramatic Criticism, 1746 - 1915 ( West-
port, Conn., and London: Greenwood Press, 1993), 35;
Twelfth Night, I, v, 184; Jean -Christophe Agnew, Worlds
Apart: The Market and the Theatre in Anglo -American
Thought, 1550 - 1750 ( Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1986), 100.
New York Gazette, 7 December 1761.
See for instance William J. Pritchard, " Outward Ap-
are capable of forming virtuous sentiments, and mending the
heart; but dislikes, and justly, their being accompanied with
any thing that may efface the good, and leave bad impressions."
john Burk, The History of Virginia: From Its First Settlement to the Present Day ( Petersburg, Va., 1804 - 16), 3: 140,
quoted in Paul Leicester Ford, Washington and the Theatre
New York, Benjamin Blom, 1899), 3.
Quoted in Ford, Washington and the Theatre, 2.
Pennsylvania Chronicle, 9 February 1767.
d7 The well- spoken Virginia politician Patrick Henry
once wrote that he acquired his oratorical skills by listening
to Presbyterian minister Samuel Davies. Walter J. Meserve,
An Emerging Entertainment. The Drama of the American Peo-
ple to 1828 ( Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press,
1977), 22. London -bom actor and playwright James Fennell
1766 - 1816) recalled the request of a clergyman to visit him
in order to receive instructions on oratory. The priest demanded complete secrecy lest his congregation find out
about his contact with an actor; Fennell declined the invita-
tion. James Fennell, An Apology for the Life ofJames Fennell,
written by himself [ 1814] ( New York: Benjamin Blom,
1969), 439 -440. See also Norman Blaine Potts, " The Acting
Career of James Fennell in America" ( Ph.D. diss., Indiana
University, 1969).
This term comes from Bryan F. LeBeau, Religion in
America to 1865 ( New York: New York University Press,
2000), 196; Connecticut Gazette, 1 May 1762. David Dou-
pearances: The Display of Women in Restoration London"
glass was extremely successful in deflating much of the op-
Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1998).
Tom Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical and
Other Works ( 1700), ed. Arthur Hayward ( London: Rout -
campaign during his tenure as foremost theater manager in
ledge, 1927), 35.
For an excellent feminist analysis of the relation between theater and patriarchy, see Sue -Ellen Case, Feminism
and Theatre ( New York: Methuen, 1988). See also Lesley
Ferris, Acting Women: Images of Women in Theatre ( New York:
New York University Press, 1989); Judith Butler, "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution," Theatre Journal 40 ( December 1988): 519 -531. The newspaper entries have been
reproduced selectively.
18 Boston Evening Post, 6 April 1767.
John Brewer, The Pleasures of the Imagination: English
Culture in the Eighteenth Century ( New York: Farrar, Strauss,
Giroux, 1997), 80.
Virginia Gazette ( Purdie & Dixon), 21 January 1773.
S1 Walter R. Wineman, The Landon Carter Papers in the
University of Virginia Library: A Calendar and Biographical
Sketch ( Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia,
1962), 20.
Virginia Gazette ( Purdie & Dixon), 30 June 1768.
A clarification of the position ofBishop Gilbert Burnet
1643 - 1715) and Archbishop John Tillotson ( 1630 -94) appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette ( 26 March 1754): " He
Burnet] likewise allows that there are good plays, such as
position toward theater by a well -designed public relations
the colonies from 1758 until 1774.
See Richard Butsch, " American Theatre Riots and
Class Relations, 1754- 1849," Theatre Annual 48 ( 1995):
41 -59.Charles William Janson, The Stranger in America,
1793 - 1806 ( New York: The Press of the Pioneers, 1935), 2.
Francis Baily, Journal of a Tour in Unsettled Parts of
North America in 1796 & 1797, ed. Jack D. L. Holmes ( Carbondale and Edwardsville, Ill.: Southern Illinois University,
1969), 29.
See for instance David D. Mays, " The Achievements
of the Douglass Company in North America: 1758- 1774"
Theatre Survey 23 ( November 1982): 141 - 149.
Ron Engle & Tice L. Miller, eds., The American Stage:
Social and Economic Issues from the Colonial Period to the Pre-
sent ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 23.
New York Mercury, 5 May 1766.
Engle & Miller, eds., The American Stage, 8- 9; New
York Gazette 6P Weekly Post -Boy, 8 May 1766.
Brown, Amusements Serious and Comical, 35; Kenneth
Silverman, A Cultural History of the American Revolution:
Painting, Music, Literature, and the Theatre ... 1763 - 1789
New York, 1976), 547.
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
17
Who' s Who in the African-American Community in 1774
Aggy ( also known as Great Aggy)
It is likely that Fauquier purchased Bristol soon
Born 1753; enslaved woman owned by Peyton
Randolph. Aggy, one of twenty-seven slaves
the west coast of Africa. Bristol was valued at
listed in Randolph's Williamsburg household in
the estate inventory of 1776, was valued at £60.
In his will dated August 1774 ( he died in Octo-
ber 1775), Randolph left Great Aggy and her
children to his wife, Betty. Great Aggy and Ran dolph's other slave women had domestic respon-
sibilities in the kitchen, dairy, and laundry
behind the Randolph House. Great Aggy and
her son Henry were among the Randolph slaves
who ran to Dunmore after his November 1775
proclamation.
Isaac Bee
after the enslaved man's arrival in Virginia from
55 in the inventory of Fauquier' s estate. Permitted to choose a new master under the terms of
the governor' s will, Bristol selected Thomas
Everard, who then paid £ 41 for him by September 1768. The proximity of Everard's house to
the Palace may have been especially important to
Bristol because of friendship ties with people at
the Palace. Bristol was hired out to Lord Bote-
tourt on several occasions between January 1769
and May 1770.
Lydia Cooper ( also known as Lydia
Richardson and Lydia Blue)
Free black woman; wife, mother, and slave
Son of a free black man, John Bee ( also
known as John Insco Bee), and an enslaved
woman who belonged to John Blair Sr. Isaac
Bee's name appeared on a list of students attend-
ing the Bray School in November 1765. He became the property of Lewis Burwell of
Mecklenburg County in the Piedmont section of
Virginia after the death of Burwells grandfather
John Blair Sr. in 1771. Bee ran away from Burwell
in the summer of 1774. An advertisement in the
Virginia Gazette in September 1774 stated:
RUN away from Subscriber, about two
Months ago, a likely Mulatto Lad name
owner. Lydia gave birth to son James on February
11, 1753, by her first husband, William Richardson. She was married to Joseph Cooper by March
9, 1768, when their son William was bom. Lydia
worked occasionally in the Palace kitchen in
1769. She owned two enslaved men, Mann and
Doctor. In 1770, Lydia rented a house in
Williamsburg from Thomas Hornsby. The York
County grand jury cited her in December 1773
for failure to appear in court to pay a fine for not
listing her tithables. It is possible that she had
moved to Elizabeth City County where a strong
community of free blacks had formed.
ISAAC BEE, formerly the property of the
late President Blair, and is well known in
Eve
Williamsburg, where I am informed he has
Enslaved woman owned by Peyton and Betty
Randolph. Her son George was baptized on July
been several Times seen since his Elopement. he is between eighteen and nineteen
Years of Age, low of Stature, and thinks he
has a Right to his Freedom, because his
Father was a Freeman, and 1 suppose he
will endeavour to pass for one. He can
read, but I do not know that he can write;
however, he may easily get some one to
forge a Pass for him. I cannot undertake to
describe his apparel, as he has a Variety,
and it is probable he may have changed
them.
Lewis Burwell recovered Isaac and returned
him to Mecklenburg County. Isaac appeared on
the 1782, 1783, 1784, and 1785 personal property tax lists of that county. These lists also indicate that he had a family in Mecklenburg.
Bristol
Waiting man owned by Gov. Francis Fauquier
and later Thomas Everard. He was described as a
new adult" when he was baptized in early 1767.
6, 1766. A value of £100 indicates that Eve was
an important part of the day - o -day activities in
t
the household, possibly Betty Randolph's personal maid. Eve and George are thought to have
run to the British in 1781.
James
Slave owned by Carter Burwell and Nathaniel
Burwell. A skilled gardener who lived at Carter's
Grove, James hired out to Govemors Fauquier,
Botetourt, and Dunmore from 1764 to 1771 to
work in the Palace gardens. In September 1769,
James Simpson, the Palace gardener, ordered a
pair of shoes for him. James had the privilege of
tending some land on his own time —Palace butler William Marshman paid him for 58 pounds of
hops at one shilling per pound in October 1769
and for 44 pounds of hops in September 1770.
James left the Palace and returned to Carter's
Grove in 1771 and remained there until at least
1786.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
18
Johnny
Enslaved waiting man owned by Peyton Randolph and later his nephew Edmund Randolph.
Peyton Randolph took his " man Johnny" and an
enslaved boy with him when he traveled to
Philadelphia in 1775 to attend the Continental
Congress. ( It's possible that Johnny accompanied
Randolph on all of his trips to Philadelphia.)
After Randolph's death in 1775, Johnny, valued
at £ 100, was left to Edmund Randolph. Johnny
was a runaway by December 1777 when Randolph advertised in the Virginia Gazette that he
would give a reward of five dollars, besides
what the law allows, to any person who
will apprehend Johnny, otherwise called
John Harris, a mulatto man slave who for-
merly waited upon my uncle, the late Peyton Randolph, Esq; and secure him, so that
I may get him again. He took with him,
when he went away, a green broadcloth
coat, and a new crimson waistcoat and
breeches, a light coloured Bath coating
great coat, a London brown bath coating
close bodied coat, a pair of old crimson
cloth breeches, and some changes of
clothes. He is about five feet seven or eight
inches high, wears straight hair, cut in his
neck, is much addicted to drinking, has
grey eyes, can read and write tolerably
well, and may probably endeavor to pass
for a freeman. The above reward of five
dollars will be given if he is taken in Virginia, but five pounds, besides what the law
allows, will be paid to any person who ap-
prehends him out of Virginia, and conveys
him to me.
There is no evidence that Randolph regained
possession of Johnny.
Judith
Slave owned by William Prentis ( 1761 -65),
Elizabeth Prentis ( 1765 -70), and John Prentis
1770 -75). In his will, Williamsburg merchant
William Prentis left Judith and her children Effy,
Molly, and Jimmy to his thirteen-year -old daughter, Elizabeth. Judith and her children were val-
Nanny
Enslaved woman owned by Gov. Francis
Fauquier and later by silversmith James Geddy. In
1758, under the terms of Fauquier' s will, Nanny se-
lected James Geddy as the new master for herself
and her daughter, Sukey Hinderkin. Her daughter
died before Geddy took possession of the pair.
Nanny and another slave woman performed the
domestic work in the Geddy household under the
supervision of Elizabeth Geddy. The Geddys and
their slaves moved to Dinwiddie County in 1777.
Selim ( circa 1735 —
after 1789)
Algerian immigrant to Virginia and Mohammedan convert to Christianity. Selim, a na-
tive of North Africa educated in Constantinople,
was captured near Gibraltar and sold into slavery
in New Orleans. He escaped and traveled on
foot to Kentucky, where Indians captured him.
After escaping from the Indians he was taken in
by a kindly hunter in Augusta County, Virginia,
circa 1760. Selim regained his health and learned
English. Later near Staunton, Virginia, he met
the Rev. John Craig, a Presbyterian minister, who
took him in and gave him religious instruction.
Selim converted to Christianity and was baptized. He traveled back to his home in North
Africa, but was disowned by his parents because
of his conversion. Eventually, Selim returned to
Virginia. Sometime between the Revolution and
1789, he was admitted to the Public Hospital as
a mental patient. Eventually, John Page of
Rosewell became his patron.
Will
Enslaved man owned by Anthony Hay ( by
1770) and James Southall ( 1771 —
after 1786). A
coachman and carter, Will was one of twenty
enslaved men, women, and children owned by
tavern keeper Anthony Hay when he died in
late 1770 ( sometime between November 19 and
December 17). Will was valued at £ 60. In May
1771, James Southall purchased both the
Raleigh Tavem and Will. Southall paid £ 101 for
Will, indicating that this enslaved man was " a
good Coachman and Carter" ( as noted in the
woman with domestic skills. Prentis' s widow,
Virginia Gazette). It's possible that Southall had
Will run errands between the Raleigh and his
plantation in Charles City County. ( Southall' s
Mary, sent Molly to the Bray School in Novem-
receipt book indicates that he purchased a vari-
ber 1765. Judith bore two children, Pompey and
ety of foods and beverages from planters in York,
James City, Charles City, and Elizabeth City
ued at £ 115, suggesting that she was a young
Nancy Lewis, between early 1766 and late 1768.
Elizabeth Prentis died on October 5, 1770, at age
eighteen, and her brother John gained possession
of Judith and her children. After John Prentis's
death in 1775, Judith was probably sold. The
identity of her purchaser is unknown.
Counties between May 1771 and January 1776.
He also bought items from ship captains anchored in Yorktown.)
Excerpted from the Becoming Americans story
line book Enslaving Virginia.)
�19
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
Arts & Mysteries
What did the operation look like? What was sold
The Colonial Timberyard
the colonial timberyard offered the eighteenth -
in these timberyards? Who worked there? These
questions need to be answered to discover what
century woodworker. Those who worked the pit -
in America
saw played as vital a role in the construction of
colonial cities, furniture, and wheels as any car-
by Noel B. Poirier
penter, cabinetmaker, or wheelwright. Also, all
a journeyman carpenter joiner in the
/
tradespeople who work in wood should be aware
Department of Historic Trades and a member of the
of the historic source of their medium, how it was
shaped, and what it took to get it into their hands.
Noel is
Interpreter Planning Board.
One way to illuminate colonial timberyards is
When considering the buildings that made up
colonial American cities, the amount of material
used
to construct such attractive
and resilient
structures can be awe inspiring. It is a testament
to the men who worked so diligently and skillfully
to construct those buildings that many still stand
today for thousands upon thousands to enjoy.
While many people, through their visits to Colonial Williamsburg or other historic cities, have a
cursory knowledge of the building trades, rarely
to examine the timber business throughout
Britain and her colonies. The many physical descriptions of sawing operations found in British
dockyards and timberyards might mirror the situation in the American colonies. These sources
paint a picture of what colonial American timberyards looked like at the height of their opera-
tion. The many runaway advertisements and
court records that speak to us about the types of
men who labored in the yards help determine
are they aware of the work that occurred before a
who staffed them. Another valuable source on
house carpenter ever picked up a saw or chisel.
those laborers are descriptions by writers and di-
The preparation of the raw materials used to con-
arists of sawyers. These descriptions include not
struct America's colonial cities may lack the
drama of a frame raising, but without the sawyers
only the sawyers' methods but, in many cases,
at the colonial timberyards, the carpenters, coopers, cabinetmakers, and other tradespeople who
their personalities. Studies of the use of enslaved
labor in the wood trades add to this knowledge
and clarify the role that people of African de-
used wood as a medium would have found it difficult to compete.
The question of timberyards in the American
scent played in colonial American timberyards.
colonies - has -never been adequately addressed.
sawpits. These were
Without exception, the most important part
of any eighteenth- century timberyard was its
areas where teams of
Four - -a- half f-oot section of a pitsaw recovered from the saw house within the James Wray site in Williamsburg.
and
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
20
sawyers worked to saw out the various timbers to
the shelter of a saw house. In March 1768, a
their finished dimensions. The appearance of
Warwick County, Virginia, landowner advertised
these sawpits can be gleaned from a variety of
sources. In 1737, Blaise 011ivier, master shipwright to the king of France, toured the dock-
that he had a " saw - ouse for three pairs of
h
yards of Britain and Holland in an effort to
open sides. In the far larger and more industrial
dockyards of Britain, the sawpits were often en-
improve French shipbuilding techniques. He
made some observations about the sawpits found
in those shipyards:
sawyers." The sawpits in Antigua were covered
by a simple post building with a gable roof and
tirely enclosed in Large brick buildings'
At these timberyards were found many differ-
They have at their dockyards sawpits
which are 22 to 25 feet long, 3 feet wide,
and 6 feet deep, situated 3 to 4 feet one
ent species of wood stacked up in great piles,
some still in log form, others squared and ready
for the saw. In the case of whole logs, the oak
from the other....
The walls of these saw -
timbers may have been simply piled up and al-
pits are lined with brick, with two or three
lowed to remain out in the weather, uncovered,
small lodging places cut into the walls
where the sawyers keep their tools. When
to season. Meanwhile, " pitch pine" ( American
longleaf yellow pine) timbers were buried in the
ground or left to soak in man made pools in an
they wish to saw up a timber they place it
top of the timber, and after they have sawn
the full length afforded by the pit they slide
effort to keep the resin, or " pitch," in the heartwood from drying out.' These two methods of
storing pine were in use in British shipyards during the eighteenth century. There were also alternatives to leaving the material outdoors to
on rollers over one of the pits; the rollers are
blocked with wedges; one of the sawyers
descends into the pit, the other stands on
the timber easily on its rollers with no need
season. In 1754, an immigrant sawyer, who had
of a device other than a crow.'
011ivier was impressed enough by the sawing
begun a business in New York City, advertised
that he had "a good house for keeping timber out
methods that he composed a sketch of the pits.
of the weather. "' As noted above, Thomas Jeffer-
Such sawpits can also be found in the British
son constructed a storage building at Monticello
for the stockpiling of his building materials.
colony of Antigua, where His Majesty's ships
were often refitted or repaired'
George Sturt, a tum -of the- century British
wheelwright, described the local sawpits of his
Once the material had been sawn out, it
needed to be stacked and sorted so that it could
youth as an enclosed pit, "five or six feet" deep,
dry properly. Often sawn plank was stored by laying down a bed of cinders, then stacking the
with - rick sides. The sides of the pit contained
b
plank in such a way that air flowed freely be-
open spaces where the pitman could stash small
pots of oil and wedges. Sturt remembered the
tween the boards, thus drying them sufficiently.
This was commonly referred to as " stickering"
sawpit fondly, saying that it provided him with "a
the plank. There are illustrations of this practice
sense of great peace." An English chairmaker,
in Diderot's Encyclopedia showing the top set of
Thomas Hudson, described a sawpit as being a
planking tilted at an angle to allow the rain to
rectangular hole dug in the ground with ... a
few boards wedged in the ends to keep the earth
from falling in" and that the pit was " damp and
flow off the boards easily. A circa 1810 water-
dark." In his book The Village Carpenter, Walter
background with its inventory stacked in tall,
color of a London dockside, The Adelphi Terrace
and Coal Wharf, clearly shows a timberyard in the
Rose provides a photograph of an old, English
stickered" piles and covered with angled boards
sawpit that probably resembled those found on
to shed rainwater and shield the wood from the
colonial plantations and in timberyards'
sun.'
The use of sawpits is also well documented in
Timber was also stacked in what was called a
America. In February 1760, George Washington
timber- perch," two vertically placed forked
inscribed in his diary that " Mike and Tom sawed
posts with a pole running between them, with
122 feet of oak" in the sawpit at Mount Vernon.
the sawn timbers resting diagonally on the hori-
Thomas Jefferson had a sawpit built on Mulberry
zontal pole for storage. This type of storage
method can be found in a woodcut in Thomas
Bewick's Vignettes and in Thomas Malton's 1765
Row at Monticello, adding a structure for wood
storage and drying adjoining it.'
In some cases sawpits were enclosed in houses
watercolor painting, The Royal Crescent in the
to protect the sawyers and the pits from the
Course of Construction.
weather. Sometimes, in the mild English sum-
William Rose remembered that the perches pro-
mers, the sawyers would work in sawpits in the
vided alcoves that " were lofty and cool, even in
woods, which often had no covering at all. In the
the hottest weather. "'
winter months, the sawyers preferred to work in
English carpenter
Timberyards in the British Isles contained in-
�21
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
was sawn from 2 to 8 inches in thickness. If a
piece was thinner than 2 inches, it was often re-
ferred to as deal In colonial America the words
board and scantling appear in the record of timberyard material. In Burlington, New Jersey, a
timber
merchant
referred
pieces 1' /a inches and /
to
pine
and
cedar
inch thick as boards.
Forty years later, a Charleston timber merchant
used the term board to describe material that
was 1''4 inches thick as well. The word scantling
was used by this same merchant to describe material that was anywhere from 3 inches by 3
inches to 4 inches by 10 inches and larger. As
both scantling and plank could be anywhere from
12 to 30 feet in length, the length of the material seemed not to affect the term applied to it.
Advertisements for timberyards in South Car-
olina, New York, Virginia, and New Jersey all include the above terms in their descriptions of
their available products.'
It is likely that most colonial timberyards fell
somewhere between the large sawing operations
found in British dockyards and the smaller saw -
houses found on Virginia plantations. Using the
Close up of James Wray pitsaw.
descriptions above, one can piece together a pic-
digenous woods like oak, ash, elm, sycamore, and
ture of how most colonial timberyards probably
looked and the materials they offered, but who
beech. In the large, urban dockyards, woods, pri-
brought these colonial American timberyards to
marily firs and pines, also were imported from
life? Who were the men handling the tiller and
Europe and North America. As in Britain, colo-
box of the pit saw?
nial timberyards dealt primarily with indigenous
Again, a great deal of information about the
men who worked in colonial timberyards can be
woods of their specific region. In 1774, a King
William County, Virginia, timberyard contained
gleaned from an examination of their British
quantities ofwhite oak, black walnut, sweet gum,
ash, poplar, birch, longleaf yellow pine, and
brethren. The use of the pit saw required that
cheaper slash pine. Material including walnut,
stroke, the other to pull down on the saw to
cedar, and white pine was also exported from the
make the cut. Sometimes the more skilled man
British colonies to the mother country during the
men work in teams of two: one to handle the up-
It was not until the early half of the nine-
would stand on the top of the log guiding the
saw, only referring to his pitman by the title
donkey," " marrow," or simply " man." On occa-
teenth century that Great Britain saw the value
sion the top -sawyer was also the owner of the
in American longleaf (or "pitch ") yellow pine for
saw and would " swear down at the man sweating
shipbuilding. After 1804, the British Navy lost its
in the saw - it" if he failed to perform to expectap
prejudice against the wood and realized its qual-
tions. However, being a sawyer required a great
ities as a shipbuilding material." In general, the
deal of cooperation, and the two men had to get
eighteenth century10
British market favored its native woods over
those of the colonies. Lloyds of London, in con-
sidering a wood' s use in shipbuilding, consistently
rated American woods lower than their British
or European counterparts.
along. If not, disagreement could lead to one
man " adjourning to the public-house," thus
spoiling the day' s work."
While the majority of sawing in Britain was
done by the large, semiskilled population of
A woodworker wishing to purchase material
sawyers, a great deal of labor involved in the tim-
from a colonial timberyard could select from a
variety of sizes and products. In Britain and
bering process in colonial America was done by
the large, unskilled enslaved population. Very
America, material was available in timber form
few in depth studies of the role of African Amer-
as plank, deal, board, and scantling. To a British
icans in the building trades have been written.
woodworker, timber was the term applied to ma-
However, the ones that have, offer insights into
the amount of enslaved labor used in timber
terial that was larger than 8 inches in thickness.
The term plank usually referred to material that
preparation.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
22
more than 796 references to slave sawyers oper-
for the hire of two sawyers. Richard Henry Lee
paid a sawyer £ 3, plus provisions, for twenty-six
ating in the Charleston, South Carolina, area
days of work on his plantation in Westmoreland
alone. These men often worked not only as
sawyers but as carpenters, coopers, and shingle
County. Even though Jefferson employed many
In the period from 1760 to 1800, there were
makers as well.
slave sawyers at Monticello, he also hired white
sawyers when needed. In October 1795, Jeffer-
There are also many Williamsburg references
to enslaved men laboring in the timber business.
In 1763, Williamsburg leatherworker Alexander
son hired two men to come to Monticello and
Craig paid Thomas Cowles £ 4 for the hire of two
sions." 17
saw for me." The men were paid by the piece
and, as in Lee' s case, provided with " provi-
enslaved sawyers. In 1780, Allen Chapmen
The most interesting aspect of studying the
claimed that he had lost a twenty-five -year old
eighteenth -century timberyard is the descrip-
slave sawyer to the British army. He received
tions of the sawyers and their personalities. The
125 in compensation for his loss. The location
most common thread among observers of these
of Jefferson's sawpit on Mulberry Row indicates
that slaves were doing the majority of sawing at
Monticello. This fact is borne out by Jefferson's
hiring, at £40 a year, two enslaved sawyers.
men is that of the drunken sawyer. George Sturt,
In all, roughly 21 percent of the 302 known
describing the sawyers he knew, commented that
one of the pair might "drift off to a public- house"
for four days, thus preventing any work from occurring. Sturt observed that, when need be, the
African-American building tradesmen in Virginia were trained as sawyers." Notwithstanding
sawyers would determine to drink nothing but
the large number of enslaved sawyers, the evidence demonstrates that white and black labor
and to repent for their past absenteeism.
Walter Rose, an English carpenter, observed
was called upon to toil together in colonial Vir-
that " a sawyer' s faith in beer was absolute" and
ginia's timberyards.
Sawyers, Anglo American or African Ameri-
can, either learned their work on the job or
served a more traditional formal apprenticeship.
While the trade of sawing was typically viewed as
unskilled, there are a few references to young orphans in Virginia who were apprenticed to learn
the trade of sawing. One example, from LancasterCounty, Virginia, stated that Francis Hat taway ( age 5) was apprenticed to John Davis to
tea so as to meet the demands of their employers
they often found " relaxation at the pub." Wheelwright Percy Wilson noted that the sawyers " lost
a lot of sweat" and that they replaced it with beer
because they believed it "was safer than water."
Was alcohol the " provision' that Richard Henry
Lee and Thomas Jefferson supplied their sawyers? While it is true that Jefferson opposed dis-
pensing hard liquor to his workmen, one gets the
impression that alcohol and sawing went together.18
The colonial American timberyard resem-
learn the trade of a sawyer." Another young
man in Princess Anne County was apprenticed
bled, in many ways, the modem lumberyard. The
to be a sawyer."
customer could select from a broad spectrum of
Sawing required some specialized skills.
George Sturt described the process as being " full
products and materials, sawn to specific and rea-
of skill" and thought sawyers were " specialists of
sitting out, probably under some sort of shelter or
no mean order." While Sturt admitted that the
covered with angled planks. The wood, of all
sawyers may have looked " stupid," he argued
that their skill was " an organic thing, very differ-
species, would be stacked up in large, stickered
ent from the organised effects of commerce."
A customer could buy anything from a whole log
Walter Rose described the sawyers of his com-
to a thin plank and could select the type of wood
munity as having " considerable skill and intelligence" in spite of their apparent " dumb
mentality." Simply sharpening the saw was " no
best suited to his needs.
sonably standard dimensions. The material was
piles or perched on end pointing toward the sky.
In the background were the sawpits, along
mean act of skill" and required years of practice,
with the colorful men occupying them. The size
and number of sawpits were determined by the
being handed down from one generation of
ability of the timber merchant to acquire mate-
sawyers to the next.16
rial and employ sawyers. In the South, it is prob-
References to sawyers are also found in the
able that many sawyers were enslaved individuals
records of a number of colonial Virginians. In
while in the northern colonies there was a ma-
1748, John Mercer paid Peter Murphy over £ 16
for four months of sawing. If Murphy worked at
jority of free men. The buyer could inspect the
sawing year-round, his annual income could
have been as much as £ 64! As mentioned earlier,
Alexander Craig paid a person named Cowles £ 4
material, making sure it was of the quality, size,
and length needed. The air would be filled with
the faint smell of wood, damp sawdust, sweat,
and alcohol. In the background, instead of hear-
�23
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
ing the whir of the power saw, the customers
heard the sounds of the pitsaw and the oaths of
the sawyer as they fell upon his unfortunate
donkey."
18th- Century City: Bath Spa ( Bath, England: Bath Preservation Trust, 1991), 3.
Rose, 1 - 3, 16; Albion, 3 - 38; Virginia Gazette ( Purdie
and Dixon), 7 April 1774, p. 3, col. 1; Ibid. ( Rind), 25 December 1766, p. 2, col. 1; Ibid., p. 2, col. 2; Albion, 31.
Albion, 325, 36- 38.
Ibid., 8- 10; New York Gazette, or, The Weekly Post -
Boy, 3 June 1754, p. 3, col. 1 and 23 September 1751, p. 3,
Blaise 011ivier, 18th - Century Shipbuilding: Remarks on
the Navies of the English and Dutch from Observations Made at
Their Dockyards in 1737, ed. and trans. David H. Roberts
East Sussex, England: Jean Boudriot Publications, 1992),
col. 1; South -Carolina State - Gazette fA Timothy & Masons
Daily Advertiser, 1 December 1797, p. 3, col. 3; The South -
Carolina Gazette, 25 September 1736, p. 3, col. 1; Virginia
Gazette ( Purdie and Dixon), 7 April 1774, p. 3, col. 1.
Donald Woodward, Men at Work: Labourers and
75.
Architecture and Engineering Works of the Sailing Navy ( Alder-
Building Craftsmen in the Towns of Northern England,
1450 - 1750 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
shot, Harts., England, and Brookfield, Vt.: Scholar Press,
1995), 19; Sturt, 39.
1989), 359.
Mary Allison Carll, The Role of the Black Artisan in
the Building Trades and the Decorative Arts in South Car-
Jonathan G. Coad, The Royal Dockyards, 1690 - 1850:
George Sturt, The Wheelwrights Shop ( Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1993 reprint edition), 57 - 58;
Elizabeth Seager, ed., The Countryman Book of Village Trades
olina's Charleston District, 1760 - 1800 ( Ann Arbor, Mich.:
and Crafts ( London: David and Charles, 1978), 103 - 104;
Alexander Craig Account Book, 29 June 1763, cited in Social History Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,
M- 153 -3; York County Claims for Losses, 1780, cited in Social History Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation,
Walter Rose, The Village Carpenter ( New York: New Am-
sterdam, 1987), 29.
Donald Jackson, ed., The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 1 ( Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia,
1976), 239; Jack McLaughlin, Jefferson and Monticello: The
Biography of a Builder ( New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988), 85.
Sturt, 29; Virginia Gazette ( Purdie and Dixon), 7
March 1768, p. 3, col. 1; Coad, 359.
Robert Albion, Forests and Seapower: The Timber Prob-
lem of the Royal Navy, 1652 - 1862 ( Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1926), 70- 71.
New York Gazette, or, The Weekly Post -Boy, 6 June
1754, cited in Social History Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Albion, 70; Charles Gillispie, ed., A Diderot Pictorial
Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry, vol. 2 ( New York:
Dover Publications, 1987), plate 292; Celina Fox, Londoners ( London: Thames and Hudson, 1987), 173.
Rose, 3; Thomas Bewick, Vignettes: Being Tail- Pieces
Engraved Principally for His " General History of Quadrupeds"
and " History of British Birds," ed. lain Bain ( London: The
Scolar Press, 1978), 64; James Ayres, The Building of an
University Microfilms International, 1982), 112 - 120;
M -1. 45, 8; McLaughlin, 85, 429n.; Vanessa E. Patrick, "' as
good a joiner as any in Virginia': African-Americans in
Eighteenth -Century Building Trades" ( Colonial Williamsburg Research Report, 1995.) This work offers the most
comprehensive examination of African Americans in Vir-
ginia building trades to date and deserves attention.
15 Lancaster County Order Book 1729 - 1743, 14 July
1738, cited in Social History Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 209; Princess Anne County Order Book,
1728 -1738, 4 December 1728, as cited in Social History
Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 6.
16 Sturt, 32, 33; Rose, 32, 6.
John Mercer Ledger G 1741 - 1750, 1748, cited in So-
cial History Database, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation;
Richard Henry Lee Memorandum Book, 1776 - 1794, 7
February 1786, 116; McLaughlin, 427n.
18 Sturt, 39; Rose, 33; George Ewart Evans, Tools of
Their Trades: An Oral History of Men at Work, c. 1900 ( New
York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1971), 31; McLaughlin, 235.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
24
Laura is a member of the Interpreter Planning
Board.
Saturday mornings, during the summer and
fall of 2002, found Williamsburg residents and
found at the James Geddy House, behind the
George Reid House, and at the Colonial Nursery.
Eighteenth- century kitchen gardens supplemented the provisions bought at the local mar-
visitors enjoying the new
ket, but residents of Williamsburg who also
owned plantations ( like Robert Carter and Pey-
Farmer' s Market in Merchants Square. Clams and
plantations for consumption by their families and
oysters, breads and cook-
slaves.
ies,
of flowers added to the va-
The garden and farm books of Thomas Jefferson are probably the best guides to what Virginians were planting (and eating) in the eighteenth
riety of produce offered by
century. Patrick Henry accused Jefferson of com-
free -range
ton Randolph) brought in food grown on their
chicken,
herbs, honey, and bouquets
the friendly vendors. The asparagus and peas of
spring gave way to the beans, corn, and tomatoes
of summer. As the changing leaves on the trees ushered
in
pumpkins,
fall,
apples,
and squash re-
ing home from France " so Frenchified that he adjured his native victuals. "' The accusation was
only partially true. Jefferson was interested in
French wines before he lived in France, and the
size of his gardens and orchards at Monticello al-
lowed him to experiment with a large variety of
strawber-
seeds and plants imported from Europe or received as gifts from friends. His meticulous
For those of us accus-
records document the effect of weather on his
omed to buying s rawberries in December, the
crops and reinforce the seasonality offood prepa-
placed
peaches,
ries, and melons.
market was a reminder of how eighteenth cen-
ration.
tury cooks were dependent upon the seasonal
Some of Jefferson's nota-
availability of ingredients for their tables. Many
of the twenty-first -century shoppers, dressed in
tions for 1774 include sowing
two varieties of peas on March
casual clothes, soon fell into the eighteenth -cen-
10 and two kinds of cabbage,
tury habit of carrying a basket to hold their purchases. As they walked back to their cars, they
lettuce, salsify, radishes, and
sorrel on March 15. The entry
became shadows of the men
for March 21 reads " Peas of
and women who, six days a
Mar. 10. are up. "' Plantings for
week, patronized similar stalls
March 23 listed two other vari-
eties of peas, three kinds of
in Market Square more than
two hundred years ago. Without refrigeration, frequent visits
to
the
market
were
a
necessity for those earlier
shoppers. Menu planning fo-
beans and carrots, and two
types of parsnip in addition to sp' nach, broccoli
ettuce,
onions
and radishes.
By the end of March, Jefferson
had added more peas, lentils,
cused on what was available,
black eyed pea , cresses, cel-
according to the season.
ery, and asparagus — a list that
While the present -day Farmer' s Market is a
reveals his fondness for salads
weekly event, Colonial Williamsburg's guests are
encouraged every day to explore the kitchen gar-
and
dens throughout the Historic Area. Some of
throughout April. Then a sad
these small gardens are tucked away at the back
of a property. Larger, more visible gardens can be
entry on May 5: " a frost which
slaves
vegetables.
continued
Jefferson' s
to
plant
destroyed almost everything. it
�25
Uo1. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
killed the wheat, rye, corn, •
many
tobacco
plants,
Brandied Peaches
and
From the section " Thomas Jefferson's Paris
even large saplings. the leaves
Recipes ")
of the trees were entirely
killed. all the shoots of vines.
Wipe off the peaches
to remove the down.
at Monticello near half the
Prick them in four or
five places with a fork.
fruit of every kind was killed;
and before this no instance
Drop them into boiling
Grape"
had ever occurred of any fruit
killed here by the frost. "'
water for a moment, re
move, and place imme-
Much has been written about Jefferson's fasc -
nation with peas and garden vegetables. Yet h s
orchards
contained
more
than a hundred varieties of
apples,
apricots,
nectarines,
cherries,
peaches,
pears,
and plums. He also grew alAltair / Nm,.*
monds, chestnuts, filberts,
hazelnuts,
one pound of sugar to four pounds of peaches.
Boil until, when you dip two fingers into it, they
will stick together. Let cool. Add the peaches and
let stand for twenty-four hours. Bring the syrup
to a boil again and add 1 pint of brandy. Do not
leave the syrup on the fire while you are doing
this. You will bum your face if you do not take
hickories, pecans, and walnuts
this precaution. Let the syrup cool again and add
the peaches. The following day remove the
peaches again, bring syrup to a boil and add as
much brandy as you wish. Put in the peaches and
as well as currants, figs, gooseberries, grapes, raspberries, and
strawberries. The springtime
frost of early May 1774, considered a " partial loss," was followed in March of the next year
diately in cold water. Remove and let them drain
Make a syrup of sugar and a little water, using
let simmer until tender. Let them cool, then rePear
move gently and put in jars. Strain the syrup over
them through a cheesecloth.
by a week of cold weather and frosts that " killed
every peach at Monticello .. .
apples
and
cherries
killed [ i.e.,
were
Sliced Apple Pudding
also
the fruit, not the
From the section " The Monticello Recipes ")
grain and tobacco could be re-
Beat 5 eggs very light. Add 1 pint of milk.
Pare 3 apples or 5 peaches, very thin and lay in a
planted, but it would take years
baking dish. Add enough flour to the milk and
trees]. "* Jefferson' s cash crops of
to recoup the losses from the destruction
of
plants
and
trees
bearing fruits and nuts.
Never one to worry about financial details,
Jefferson's palate no doubt suffered more than his
pocketbook until fair weather and incremental
eggs to make a medium thick batter. Add a pinch
of salt and 3 tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
Pour over the fruit and bake until set. Serve with
sugar, melted butter and nutmeg.
Almond Custard
recipes calling for fruits or nuts were deleted
From the section " The Monticello Recipes ")
Blanch ' 4 pound of almonds and put them
from Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book, an already
through the food chopper, using finest grinder.
slim volume would be reduced to pamphlet size.
Put them in 4 cups of milk and bring to boiling
Thomas Jefferson' s Cook Book, with Jefferson's
point. Beat 6 eggs with 6 tablespoonfuls of sugar
commentaries about food and drink, is largely a
and a pinch of salt. Pour milk on them, put in
double boiler and stir until the custard has thick-
planting replaced the damaged orchards. If
collection of recipes adapted from those of his
chefs, his family, and his friends. The adaptations
ened.
simplify their preparation by substituting modem
equipment and terminology. When you try the
following recipes, you will experience the essence
of Virginia foodways: preservation of food for future use, the preparation of a recipe using sea-
sonally available ingredients, and the use of rich
sauces to enhance cakes and other fruit - ased
b
dishes. Enjoy the fruits of spring!
Marie Goebel Kimball, Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book
Charlottesville, Va.: University Press of Virginia, 1976), vii.
Robert C. Baron, ed., The Garden and Farm Books of
Thomas Jefferson ( Golden, Colo.: Fulcrum, 1987), 60.
Ibid., 67.
Ibid., 68.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
26
Signers of the 1765
Presbyterian Petition
The Presbyterians met irregularly and only
when a licensed Presbyterian minister was in
town, but, by notifying the county court of their
Still Active in the
dissenting status, the Presbyterians obtained
Williamsburg Area in 1774
original signatories of the petition all Lived in
by Linda Rowe
Linda is a historian in the Department of Historical
Research and the assistant editor of this publication.
A group of Presbyterians began meeting in
Williamsburg after filing the following petition
with the York County Court in 1765:
At a Court held for York County in the
Town of York at the Courthouse on Mon-
legal sanction for their meetings. The seventeen
rural York County or on the York County side of
Williamsburg. Most were tradesmen, and some
held minor county offices.
By 1774, at least six of the signers still lived in
Williamsburg. The congregation never acquired
a permanent minister, but visiting Presbyterian
preachers continued to serve the congregation
intermittently until the late 1770s. Note that the
births and baptisms of children and slaves of sev-
eral of these Presbyterians continued to be
recorded in the Bruton Parish register as required
day the 17th day of June 1765 and in the
fifth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign
Lord King George the Third.
by law. They may even have attended services at
Bruton Parish Church in order to keep within
These are to Certify the Worshipful Court
of York that We intend to make use of a
since they did not have a permanent minister of
House in the City of Williamsburgh Situate
the church attendance law ( i.e., repair to the
parish church or chapel at least once a month),
their own.
on part of a Lott belonging to Mr. George
All biographical information is documented
Davenport as a place for the Public Wor-
in the York County Project files in the Depart-
ship of God according to the Practise of
ment of Historical Research.
Protestant Dissenters of the Presbyterian
denomination which we desire may be Reg-
James Atherton
istered in the Records of the Court and this
Certification we make according to the di-
Active in Williamsburg and York County
rection of an Act of Parliament comonly
Age in 1774: At least 36 ( date and place of birth
called the Act of Toleration
P. . As we are not able to obtain a Settled
S
Minister we intend this Place at present
only for occasional Worship when we have
opportunity to hear any legally qualified
Minister.
William Smith
Edward Cumins
John Connelly
Thomas Skinner
Walter Lenox
Daniel Hoye
James Holdcroft
John Bell
Robt. Nicolson
James Smith
John Ormeston
William Brown
James Douglas
Jo. Morris
James Atherton
Charles Hankins
William Gemmell
1759 - 78
unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg, York County
Land/Lots: Owned one lot in the Moody subdivision 1762 - 74. ( The Moody subdivision
consisted of twelve lots along the west side of
Capitol Landing Road. They were annexed by
the city of Williamsburg in 1759.) Atherton
sold his lot to John Shepard, hamessmaker, in
November 1774.
Family: Wife, Lucy, was alive in 1774. In 1775,
James advertised in the Virginia Gazette that
Lucy was unfriendly to him and that, as a
consequence, he would not pay her debts.
One son, James, was born in 1759.
Occupation( s): Guard at the Magazine ( 1762),
carpenter joiner
/
The Presbyterian Meetinghouse near the
Status: Atherton was a corporal under the com-
Capitol today depicts the simple setting in which
this group of Presbyterians was accustomed to
mand of General Braddock in 1756. Wounded
meet. Their action signaled an important change
in the wrist, he was temporarily rendered incapable of getting a living. Atherton called him-
in the religious landscape of eighteenth- century
Williamsburg. Since the town's founding in 1699,
self "very poor" in 1762 after the guard at the
Magazine was discontinued, claiming that he
Williamsburg had had only one place of public
worship, Bruton Parish Church, the center of re-
was too poor to acquire proper arms for the
ligious life in colonial Virginia with its legally es-
militia muster from which he had been exempt
while a guard at the Magazine. Atherton's fi-
tablished,
nancial situation seems to have improved over
or state, church —the Church of
England ( Anglican).
the years. He acted as security for a defendant
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring2003 -
in York County court in 1766. In 1767, he advertised in the Virginia Gazette that " by great
severity, and many misfortunes," he was no
longer able to carry on the carpentry business
in the manner he had done for several years
past." He hoped " to engage with any Gentlemen by the year, either in Virginia, Carolina,
Florida, or the West Indies" and claimed to
have " tools for eight or ten hands." In spite of
this notice, there is evidence that Atherton
practiced his trade locally through 1774. He
had left the area by 1778.
Slaves /servants: Unknown. Usually listed as
having one tithable ( himself) or two tithables
himself and perhaps a son, an apprentice, a
hired slave or laborer).
Offices held: Petit juror, York County ( twice in
1762, thrice in 1763, once in 1764)
Special notes: Retailed liquor without a license
in 1766. In that same year, he submitted a
public claim to York County court for taking
up a runaway. Advertised that he planned to
leave Virginia for several months in 1775.
Atherton was found not to be a resident of
York County during a 1778 debt case in
which he was named defendant.
27
Edward Cummings [ Cumins]
Active in Williamsburg and York County
1750 - 74, 1777 - 86
Age in 1774: At least 41 ( date and place of birth
unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg, Norfolk ( 1774 - 76 ?)
Land/Lots: Lived on Nicholson Street near the
Capitol in 1752, had a tailor as a lodger. Pos-
sibly still there in 1768 when he advertised in
the Virginia Gazette that articles were stolen
from " an outhouse where the subscriber now
lives." The missing items included twelve
soup plates, one shallow soup plate
and a
Quart pewter tankard, all marked E' S."
Family: Possibly a wife, Sarah Cummings, who
had a claim against the Rind estate on October 18, 1773
Occupation( s): Printer, bookbinder, clerk?
Status: Employed by William Hunter 1751 - 52.
He settled the books and accounts of a deceased person in
1769. Later, Cummings
worked for the Rind printing office. In 1772,
he advertised in the Virginia Gazette: " Just
Published and to be Sold, by Edward Cumins,
at the New Printing Office in Williamsburg,
The Storer, or the American Syren. Being a
collection of the newest and most approved
John Connelly
Songs, Price one Pistereen." Cummings peti-
Active in the Williamsburg area 1762 - 78 ( died
in Williamsburg)
tioned York County court to be paid £ 140.0.2
by the estate of William Rind in October
Age in 1774: At least 33 ( date and place of birth
unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg
Land/Lots: Custis tenant in Williamsburg in
1769. In 1772, he purchased a Williamsburg
lot and house on Prince George Street from
James and Frances Wray.
Family: Wife, Mourning, was alive in 1774.
1773. In 1774, he advertised, " Just come to
hand, and to be sold by Edward Cumins, a
Parcel of Books, among which are several Sets
of Juliet Granville, and many other, which
may be seen in the Catalogue."
Slaves /Servants:
Baptism of slave James,
in
1761, recorded in Bruton Parish register
Special Note: Cummings worked as a book-
Births of sons Newton ( b. 176 ?) and John ( b.
binder in John Hunter Holt's printing office
1766) and daughter Nelly (b. 1768) recorded
in Norfolk after the Rinds died. Holt's Norfolk
in the Bruton Parish register.
Intelligencer was harshly critical of Lord Dun-
Occupation( s): Guard at the Magazine ( 1762);
hatter ( 1764); several estate settlements in the
more during the events of 1775. Dunmore ordered Holt' s printing equipment and
1770s show him to have been owed money,
workmen seized and brought on board his
possibly for shoes and other articles of clothing.
ship where he hoped to print his side of the
Status: Called himself "very poor" in 1762 when
story. Cummings was among those pressed
the House of Burgesses discontinued the
aboard. Later released, Cummings appears to
guard at the Magazine. While a guard, he was
have been back in the Williamsburg area
exempt from the militia; afterward he claimed
he was too poor to acquire proper arms for
until about 1780.
the militia muster. Within two years, however,
Connelly was security for persons in York
County court. He purchased a riding chair for
8 from Francis Fauquier' s estate in 1768.
Slaves /Servants: none
Offices held: Petit juror, York County ( once in
1767 and once in 1771); jailer for James City
County 1772— ca. 1775
Walter Lenox
Active in Williamsburg and York County
1759 - 84
Age in 1774: At least 36 ( date and place of birth
unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg ( 1766 - 80); lived at
Red Lion from 1768 onward
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
28
Land/Lots: Tenant of members of the Ludwell
family, owners of lots 44 ( Red Lion) and 45
Ludwell- Paradise House)
b. 1763), William Allen ( b. 176 ?), Thomas
b. 1766), and [ ] ter Randolph ( b. 1768)
recorded in the Bruton Parish register.
Occupation( s): Barber /perukemaker, boardinghouse keeper
Status: Master of his own shop. His household
usually included apprentices, hired servants
and slaves, and apprentice and /or journeymen
In
Active in Williamsburg and York County
1749 –after 1799
Family: Wife, Elizabeth. Births of sons John
barbers /perukemakers.
Robert Nicolson
the
1760s
and
1770s, Lenox was often in York County court
as plaintiff or defendant in debt cases. In
1773 - 74 Lenox mortgaged furniture and stock
to Joseph Hornsby: eight feather beds and furniture, eighteen black walnut chairs, three
black walnut tables, bedsteads and curtains,
twenty-four pictures and prints, black walnut
desk, buffet with glass doors, safe, dairy, two
large looking glasses, eighteen candle molds
with stands, black walnut tea chest, twelve silver spoons, pair of silver tea tongs and strainer,
pair of hand irons with brass heads, pair still -
Age in 1774: At Least 46 ( date and place ofbirth
unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg ( Duke of Gloucester
Street)
Land/Lots: Nicolson owned thirty-five acres in
James City County and the Nicolson Shop
and lot in Williamsburg. He was highest bidder (£ 230) for 130 acres in York County in
1774.
Family: Wife, Mary, alive in 1774. Her death at
the age of 73 in 1795 recorded in the Bruton
Parish register. Births of sons William
b. 1749), John ( b. 1750), Robert ( b. 1753),
George ( b. 1757), and Andrew (b. 1764) and
daughter Rebecca ( b. 1766) recorded in the
Bruton Parish register.
Occupation( s): Tailor, merchant, lodging housekeeper
Status: Nicolson owned his own tailor shop. He
advertised for journeymen tailors ( " good
Workmen, and soberly disposed ") in 1767,
1771, and 1772. Nicolson purchased a read-
yards, cart and gear for four horses, three
horses, and three cows. Lenox was to forfeit
ing stand from the estate of Francis Fauquier
the items if he was unable to pay Hornsby
men who attend the General Courts and As-
101. 8.0 by March 1, 1774. Lenox owned a
bright bay gelding that went missing in No-
sembly may be accommodated with genteel
vember 1774. He offered 40 shillings reward
for its return and, if the animal was stolen, another £5 on conviction of the thief. Lenox ad-
vertised for journeymen barbers in the 1770s.
Slaves /servants: In 1763, Lenox hired a female
slave, Sally, from the estate of Carter Burwell
and possibly Cuffy, property of the Rev. John
Fox of Gloucester County. Cuffy and a free
black named Isaac came to trial in York
County court that year for the attempted poisoning of the Lenox household including the
slave Sally, a female servant, five apprentices
or journeymen, and Walter, Elizabeth, and
John Lenox. In 1771, Lenox hired a slave
name unknown) whose husband, Gaby, was
owned by James Burwell of Queen's Creek,
York County. Gaby was a runaway thought to
be in Williamsburg where his wife was work ing— at Walter Lenox's. She later worked for
Robert Nicolson ( see below).
Offices held: Petit juror for York County in
1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, and 1771
Special note: Charged with absenting himself
from Bruton Parish Church in 1770; case dismissed.
in 1772. He advertised in 1766 that " Gentle-
lodgings, have breakfast and good stabling for
their horses." Nicolson stopped taking gentlemen lodgers in 1777.
Slaves/ Servants: Baptisms of Nicolson's slaves
recorded in Bruton Parish register: adult slave
Dunbar in June 1766; Molly, daughter of
slave Cloe, in 1766; Sylvia, daughter of slave
Phillis, in 1782; John Todd in
1782 and
Phillip Barber in 1785, sons of slave Clamina;
Willow, son of Phillis, in 1785; Chloe Hoops,
daughter of Molly, in 1790; and Henry, son of
Molly, in 1797. Nicolson hired a female slave
name unknown) in 1768 from James Burwell
of Queen's Creek, York County. Burwell advertised that the woman's husband, named
Gaby, also owned by Burwell, was likely being
hidden by his wife in Williamsburg at Nicolson's where she worked. Gaby' s wife previ-
ously worked for Walter Lenox ( see above).
Offices held: Petit juror for York County ( twice
in 1762, once in 1773); grand juror for York
County ( once in 1763). In 1774, he served as
an appraiser and executor of several estates
recorded in York County court.
�Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
29
Thomas Skinner
Williamsburg, October 29, 1774.
Active in the Williamsburg area 1760- 82
The Subscriber having just set up the
Age in 1774: At least 30, possibly older ( date
SHOEMAKING Business in a House the
Back of the Raleigh Tavern, and got a
and place of birth unknown)
Residence: Williamsburg
Land/Lots: By 1773, Skinner either rented or
quantity of very fine Boot Legs, with a
owned a house in Williamsburg, but its exact
Skins, and good Workmen, should be glad
location is not known. In August 1774, Skin-
to serve Gentlemen and other, on short No-
ner opened a shoemaker's shop " at the back
tice, for ready Money only. I shall be much
obliged to those indebted to me to make Payment this Meeting [ of the General Court],
as I may be enabled to pay my Creditors;
those who fail may expect that as soon as
of the Raleigh Tavem." In 1778, he pur-
chased a lot and houses on Capitol Landing
Road in the Moody subdivision from Mary
Tuell of Williamsburg.
Family: Unmarried in 1774. Married Elizabeth
Ryan in 1775. No record of any children.
Occupation( s):
Shoemaker. In
1773,
John
Number of English and Philadelphia Calf
Law take Place I shall put such Accounts as
are not paid into an Attorney's Hands,
which will be very disagreeable to me.
Leitch of Warwick County, possibly a lodger
Thomas Skinner
in Skinner' s house, offered a reward for the
Purdie and Dixon, 20 October 17741
return of his portmanteau and other belongings that were stolen sometime during the
Slaves /Servants: Since 1770 had hired slave
night of December 7 from Skinner' s house in
October 1774, she ran away and was sus pected of hiding on one of Johnson's quarters.
Williamsburg.
Status: Appears to be on firm financial footing.
Dolly, the property of Col. Philip Johnson. In
Skinner offered 10s. reward for her return
Master of his own shop. Advertises in the Vir-
and forewarned all persons from harboring
ginia Gazette on several occasions for journey-
her.
men shoemakers. For example:
Williamsburg August 18, 1774
Offices held: Petit juror, York County ( twice in
1768, once in 1769, and twice in 1771); acted
as security and special bail for parties in debt
cases in York County court.
THE Subscriber having opened a Shop at
the Back of the Raleigh Tavern, intends
carrying on the SHOEMAKING Busi-
Special notes: Produced a public claim in York
ness in all its Branches, as he has got some
1764. In 1774, declared his intention to work
County court for taking up a runaway in
good Hands, and will do every Thing in his
only on leathers and other materials that
Power to serve Gentlemen and others, who
were within the limits of the Association. In
may please to employ him, upon the short-
1775, Skinner appeared in York County court
est Notice, and on reasonable terms; but,
on behalf of Francis Driver, an apprentice to
at the same Time, he intends to work no
John Sclater, against Sclater. York County jus-
Kind of leather, or any Thing else, but
tices discharged Driver from Sclater' s service,
what is within the Limits of the Association, and he works for ready Money only.
whereupon the churchwardens of Bruton
Thomas Skinner
phan, to Skinner " to learn the art of shoe-
Purdie and Dixon, 18 August 1774]
Parish bound out Francis Driver, a poor ormaker as the law directs."
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
30
admiral, Lord Dunmore had dominion and au-
The Earl of Dunmore
thority that extended over the Great Lakes and
the Mississippi; however, he was still militarily
by Pete Wrike
subordinate to British Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage.
Pete is a historical interpreter for the Department of
Educational Program Support, a member of the In-
It is unlikely that Lord Dunmore ever visited
the schooner Earl of Dunmore. Quite probably,
terpreter Planning Board, and the author of numer-
the schooner and her consorts were part of the
ous books and articles.
plans of Lt. Col. (Dr.) John Connolly for securing
the frontier for the governor in the fall of 1775.
Between 1770 and 1789, various parties
named more than two dozen vessels the Dun-
more, Lord Dunmore, or Earl of Dunmore, all after
the same individual, John Murray, fourth earl of
Dunmore and Virginia' s last royal governor.
Many of these vessels represented private interests, but several were government owned and operated. One of these, the schooner Earl of
Dunmore, sailed on Lakes Erie,
Huron, and
Michigan from 1772 until 1803.
Richard Cornwall, a New York shipbuilder,
designed and constructed the schooner under
the direction of John Blackburn, a British Trea-
Connolly' s capture in Maryland in late 1775
ended those plans. At the same time, implementation of the Quebec Act brought three civil
governors to the Great Lakes region —all under
the authority of Maj. Gen. Sir Guy Carleton.
Carleton significantly augmented the Lakes'
maritime forces and added seven hired sloops
and schooners to the fleet on Lakes Erie, Huron,
and Michigan. However, during the American
Revolution, Lakes Ontario, Champlain, and
George saw most of the freshwater naval action.
At the war's conclusion, the fleet on Lakes
Erie, Huron, and Michigan shrank to three ves-
sury Department contractor. In 1772, Comwall
launched, outfitted, and rigged the Earl of Dun-
sels, including the Earl of Dunmore. On the Great
more at Fort Detroit, then part of Virginia. The
schooner measured 60 feet on the deck, 20 feet
at the beam; she drew 7 feet; and her burden was
106 tons. Cornwall placed aboard her ten four -
515 officers and men, including 47 in the dockyards. This number was reduced to 214 and, by
1785, numbered under 100. The Earl of Dunmore
continued to sail year- round, including the difficult winter months, and, by 1790, was the oldest
pound carriage guns and a twenty-two man
crew. Comwall, who earlier constructed the
transport
Chippewa,
also
built
the
armed
Lakes, the British naval department numbered
vessel on the Lakes. She had survived for more
than eighteen years at a time when wind, waves,
schooner General Gage in 1772. The Earl of Dun-
and ice reduced the average Life of Great Lakes'
more -and -these consorts moved men, supplies,
vessels to less than ten years.
and information to the trading posts and forts on
In 1794, Detroit shipwrights rebuilt the Earl
of Dunmore from the frames upward. She re-
the Great Lakes.
active service on Lake Erie and maintained both
ceived new framing, planking, decking, rigging,
and armament. With a crew of thirty-two and
British and Virginian rights to govern the vast
eight four pound carriage guns, the schooner
territories bordering on the Great Lakes. The
Earl of Dunmore represented part of the maritime
forces under her namesake' s authority. As a vice
continued in active service until
The Earl of Dunmore spent much of her early
1803.
She
ended her career as a hulk near the shore at
Amherstburg in Ontario, Canada.
References
Collections and researches made by the Pioneer and Historical Society of the State of Michigan.
Dunnigan, Brian L. " British Naval Vessels on the Upper
Great Lakes, 1761- 1796" Telescope 31 ( 1982).
Frederick Haldimand Papers, British Library.
Lyon, David. The Sailing Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal
Navy: Built, Purchased, and Captured, 1683 - 1860. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1993.
Malcomson, Robert. Warships of the Great Lakes,
1754 - 1834. London: Chatham, 2001.
1•••
National Archives of Canada, Record Group
8, British Military and Naval Records:
British Library, Frederick Haldimand Papers.
Drawing by Pete Wrike 2003
�31
Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
Who' s Who at the College
of William and Mary in
1774
Chancellor
Richard Terrick—bishop of London (and North
America); see " Who's Who in the World of
1774," Interpreter ( Winter 2003)
Rector of the Board of Visitors
John Murray, earl of Dunmore —Govemor
General of Virginia; rector ( chairman) of the
board of visitors and governors since 1772
Members of the Board of Visitors
Edward Ambler — Jamestown; appointed in
of
1770
Carter Braxton —
appointed in 1769
William Byrd III — Westover Plantation; apof
pointed in 1769
The Rev. Thomas Field —appointed in 1773
The Rev. James Maury Fontaine— appointed in
1767
Col. Benjamin Harrison — Berkeley Plantaof
tion; brother of Peyton Randolph's wife Betty;
appointed 1773
This detail from the Charles Bridges' s portrait of Com-
missary James Blair (owned by the College of William
and Mary) is the earliest view of what we today call the
Wren Building.
Dr. Arthur Lee— of Williamsburg
Thomas Nelson ( Jr.) —of Yorktown; appointed
in 1770
Robert Carter Nicholas— of Williamsburg
John Page —of Rosewell Plantation
Richard Randolph —of Curles Plantation; appointed in 1770
George Wythe—of Williamsburg
1766 -69;
recommended
for
position
at
William and Mary in November 1769; ordained by bishop of London in December
1769; arrived in Virginia in April 1770; news-
paper controversy over Henley's non- ortho-
doxy began in May 1773; salary £ 100 and fees;
left Virginia for England in 1775; died in 1815
The Faculty
President, The Rev. John Camm —named tem-
porary president in 1771; permanent president and commissary of the bishop of London
in 1772; salary £ 200 per annum ( see Interpreter [ Winter 2003])
Professor of Natural History and Mathematics, James Madison —bom 1749; from Au-
gusta County; cousin of James Madison (later
United States President); recommended to
the visitors as a scholar in November 1770;
appointed to first studentship in November
Professor of Divinity, The Rev. John Dixon bom in Kingston Parish circa 1725; attended
William and Mary in the early 1740s; Grammar School usher in 1749; ordained in 1748;
rector of Kingston Parish 1750 - 70; professor
1771; appointed writing master in 1772;
given the medal for classical learning and degree of bachelor of arts in July 1772; appointed professor of natural history and
mathematics in May 1773; ordained in 1775;
of divinity since before 1770; salary £ 150 and
later president of the college ( 1777 - 1805)
fees; died 1777
and first bishop in Virginia ( 1790 - 1812)
Professor of Moral Philosophy, The Rev.
Samuel Henley —bom in England in 1774;
Master of the Grammar School, The Rev.
Thomas Gwatkin —
born in Middlesex
son of Samuel Henley of Abbots Kerswell,
Devon; attended Doddridge Academy,
County, England, in 1740; attended Oxford
Northhamptonshire, 1760 - 66; assistant minister at St. Neots Chapel, near Cambridge,
served as professor of natural philosophy and
in 1762; ordained in 1770; came to Virginia;
mathematics ( 1773 - 75); named professor of
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
32
humanities and chaplain to Lord Dunmore in
1774; left the colony with the governor in
1775 and returned to England; salary as
grammar master £ 150
Master of the Brafferton School, Emmanuel
Jones —by 1774 had been a part of the college for twenty years; also librarian and clerk
to the " Society"; salary approximately £ 100
Usher, James Innes —born in 1754; son of the
Rev. Robert Innes of Drysdale Parish, King
and Queen County; matriculated into the
college in 1770; recommended to the visitors
as a Nottoway Scholar and so appointed by
November 1770; admitted to the degree of
bachelor of arts and appointed usher in July
1773; joined the Masonic Lodge in August
1773; perhaps began his legal studies in
1773/ 74; frequently absent from the college
on military business after May 1775
Assistant Usher, William Yates —born circa
1755; son of the Rev. William Yates of Glou-
cester County and Williamsburg (president of
the college, 1761 - 64) and Elizabeth Randolph Yates; attended Grammar School
1764 - 72); in the Philosophy School in January 1773; named assistant usher in July 1773;
Writing Master, Robert Burton —
son of
William Burton of Albemarle County;
charged for board from April to July 1772;
recommended by visitors as a student of the
foundation to which he succeeded in July
1772; appointed writing master in May 1773
and served in that position until March 1775
Others Connected to the College
Bursar, Robert Miller —
salary £ 50
Gardener, Caretaker, and Steward, James Wil-
son— hired in January 1773; salary £ 50
Housekeeper, Maria ( Molly) Digges —hired
February 1773; salary £ 30
Keeper of the Chapel, Edward Digges —hired
June 1774.
Nurse, Phoebe Dwit—employed since before
1771.
Servant to Phoebe Dwit —
Mary Smith
Clerk to the Board of Visitors, Keeper of
the
College' s Philosophical
Instruments,
Matthew Davenport
Burgess representing the College —John Randolph
Compiled by B. J. Pryor, character interpreter in the
Department of Historic Interpretation.
appointed usher in November 1775; left to
enlist in 1775; died 1789
Delaporte' s Folly: Virginia's
French Corps of 1777 -78
by Noel B. Poirier
Noel is a journeyman carpenter joiner in the De/
partment of Historic Trades and a member of the
Interpreter Planning Board. He is also a military
historian.
When the Chevalier de Pontgibaud came
ashore near Hampton, Virginia, in the autumn
of 1777, it was not the arrival in America that he
ets.
Pontgibaud walked from Hampton to
Williamsburg hoping that he could obtain information on the best way to proceed to Washington's camp.
This adventurer, who couldn't speak English,
thousands of miles from home, and nearly penniless, worried that he would be unable to find
food much less the Continental Army. One can
imagine Pontgibaud' s surprise when, upon arriv-
ing in the capital city of Virginia, " Frenchmen
are to be met with everywhere. "` Adding to
Pontgibaud' s surprise must have been the pres-
ence of a small cadre of French -speaking sol-
had hoped for. His ship had run aground in its
efforts to escape a British warship patrolling
diers, some from France and others from various
Hampton Roads. Once lodged, the ship became
providing guards for the some of the city' s pub-
the target of a raiding party of loyalists and exslaves who looted the vessel of any valuables.
lic buildings. These troops were members of a
Pontgibaud's belongings, which he had planned
on selling to pay for his passage to the Continental Army's camp near Philadelphia, were
gone, and he found himself with just " nine or
ten Louis" that he happened to have in his pock-
islands of the West Indies, who were at that time
short lived unit of the Virginia State Garrison
Regiment under the command of Captain Be-
jeau Delaporte ( de la Porte), recently transplanted from the island of Martinique.'
Delaporte, by trade a merchant, had been a
friend of Russian traveler Theodore Karjavin
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
33
during the latter's stay on the island of Martinique and had traveled to Virginia sometime in
early 1777. Delaporte planned to get permission
from either the Continental Congress or the
Commonwealth of Virginia to recruit several
hundred Frenchmen from the islands of Martinique and Santo Domingo for service of the
Continental Congress against Great Britain.
Delaporte, referred to in the Council's journal
as Delaporte DeCrome, along with " several
french Gentlemen,"
applied to
the Virginia
North Carolina, so to assist him, the state of Virginia provided him with a horse and about £ 180
to enhance his ability to recruit the necessary
quota of men. Other Frenchmen were also petitioning the Council for permission to recruit men
for Delaporte' s corps.
Joseph Carlivan, serving as a lieutenant in the
company, attempted to raise enough men to as-
sure his lieutenancy while serving garrison duty
with the corps in Williamsburg during the sum-
Council in April 1777 for permission to recruit,
mer of 1777. James Louis de Beaulieu was issued
a warrant for £ 64 in October 1777, so that he
train, and uniform a company of men " in the
might raise enough men to obtain a vacant en-
manner of French troops." The Council ap-
signcy in the French Corps. De Beaulieu must
proved the petition, believing that such a corps
have raised his quota because he received his
commission in February 1778. Other men, like
would introduce "good discipline, neatness in the
dress and laudable spirit of emulation amongst
our troops and wou'd most. probably greatly interest the french in general." Delaporte was or-
dered to enlist as many foreigners as would fill a
company and, upon doing so, he was to receive
the captaincy of the company.'
While he welcomed the decision of the Virginia Council, Delaporte was also interested in
having his plan approved ( and perhaps adopted)
by the Continental Congress and Continental
Army. To that end, he sent the plan to Congress
and the Board of War for their consideration.
Delaporte, along with M. de Grandmaison and
M. de Rondemare, petitioned Congress in early
May 1777 for permission to recruit " 3 or 400
troops" with an eye toward " as many Tradesmen
and Artificers as possibly may be got" in order
that " at the end of the War" there would be a
useful little colony" of Frenchmen in America.
Delaporte went on to say that he and his compatriots had already petitioned the governor of Virginia and his Council for just such a plan,
incorrectly ( and somewhat misleadingly) stating
that its approval would be forthcoming only if the
Continental Congress approved.
Delaporte did not have long to wait for Congress' s answer.' The Board of War decided later
in May to postpone any decision on the petition.
The Frenchman, undoubtedly disappointed, received the news while he was recruiting in and
around Williamsburg.° Delaporte had failed
to convince Congress of the efficacy of
his plan, but he had already begun recruiting the men for his French
Corps as a part of Virginia's military establishment.
Delaporte' s recruiting was
hampered by his inability to
travel extensively
to the port communities
Virginia
of
and
Piere [ sic] Du Chatelier and Peter Dubar were
merely given funds by the state in the ongoing effort to keep the company at full strength.
Not surprisingly, recruiting for a company of
Frenchmen in tidewater Virginia and North Carolina proved difficult, but not impossible. In
April 1778, Delaporte was warranted a further
sum of £102.8.0 to recruit another second lieutenancy quota of men. De Beaulieu's success as a
recruiter gained for him a first lieutenancy in the
company.
The desire to maintain the unit in service is
demonstrated by the Council's willingness to
continue to offer monies for the ongoing recruiting, including the commissioning of Andre
LeBaud as an ensign.' Delaporte's recruiting also
took him to North Carolina where he apparently
found himself in " a quarrel" significant enough
to warrant Governor Henry's intercession.8
Recruiting for the company continued
throughout the year or so of its existence. The
biggest challenge in clothing the company came
from Delaporte's desire to have the men dressed
in the manner of French troops." Delaporte and
his subordinates were issued uniform material
from the Public Store in Williamsburg for the
men they had managed to recruit. By the end
of April 1777, the recruits had received hats,
hose, shoes, blankets, linen, and thread. Just a
few days later, Delaporte requested considerably more cloth, including shalloon, linen,
etc., valued at nearly £58.
Recruiting for the French Corps
must have gone fairly well during
the initial
months.
Delaporte
again received clothing for the
unit in June 1777, including hats,
shoes, linen, and thread for the
fabrication
uniforms
of
valued
at £ 33.' During
the
summer of
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
34
as shirts, shoes, hose, and blankets from the Pub-
and established a store in Edenton, North Carolina." However, his troubles did not end with
lic Store in Williamsburg. In early June, the company received twenty-one yards of cloth for
his resignation. Many of the supplies he had received from the Public Store in Williamsburg had
coats, six yards of oznabrugs, eighteen yards of
not been paid for, and he was held responsible for
1777, the unit continued to draw supplies such
shalloon, nearly thirty-two yards of linen for
the debt. In August 1778, Delaporte found him-
jackets, twenty-six yards of material for breeches,
and two dozen of the " best plated" buttons. It
self under arrest as a result of the debts he carried
more than £360) on the Public Store' s account
would appear that, rather than the hunting shirts
books. Once again Gov. Henry interceded and
commonly worn by Virginia forces, the French
Corps was having success in being uniformed in
ordered Delaporte' s release on the understand-
ing that he would eventually pay off the debt.16
more traditional French -style regimental coats. 10
Delaporte retumed to Edenton to run his
During the French Corps' s short existence, its
business importing European goods with his part-
military activity was limited. As mentioned
ner Galvan Debernoux. Their store offered
above, the company protected Williamsburg' s
public buildings and stores. The company was
everything from French pins to German steel, as
primarily commanded by 1st Lt. Carlivan, while
from Bordeaux and Cadiz called at Edenton with
Delaporte continued to travel throughout tide-
goods." However, business in Edenton must not
water recruiting men. The company seems to
have remained on garrison duty in Williamsburg
until the spring of 1778, when Delaporte himself
have been what Delaporte expected, for in June
well as a variety of English manufactures. Ships
1779, he advertised that he was selling his " top
took part in a celebration of British General Bur -
gallant sail schooner" of 50 tons burden. A week
later he advertised the sale of his house and lot
goyne' s defeat at Saratoga."
in Edenton."
On the orders of Lt. Gov. John Page, the com-
Having met with little success in North Car-
pany prepared to travel to either Portsmouth or
Hampton in April 1778 to relieve the smallpox -
olina, Delaporte returned to Williamsburg. Using
his old rank as part of his advertising campaign,
stricken garrisons there. Delaporte' s preparations
he made it known, in June 1779, that his Russian
included drawing more supplies from the Public
Store in Williamsburg, comprising enough material to fabricate fifty regimental uniforms. There
friend from his days on Martinique, Theodore
is no record of whether the company ever actu-
Kharjevin, was offering language lessons from
Delaporte' s store " next door to Mrs. Vobe' s."
Captain Delaporte moved his store to " the house
preparations placed an incredible financial bur-
lately occupied by Mr. Beall" in October 1779,
where he offered " rum by the gallon," among
den on Delaporte, the company' s commander.'
other items. Delaporte ran this store until at least
ally marched to either town, but the cost of the
The French Corps began to disintegrate in the
May 1780, when he advertised that a man
spring of 1778. The officers could no longer limit
their recruiting to Frenchmen, as evidenced from
the following desertion notice:
named Thomas Andrews had purchased more
than £ 12; 000 worth of goods with a fraudulent
Deserted from Capt. De Laporte, the fol-
lowing soldiers, viz. Patrick Cary, an Irishman, about 5 feet high, has chesnut
coloured hair, round face, blue eyes, flat
nose, small mouth, has the mark of a sore
upon his leg, and is about 26 years old; had
on when he went away a brown coat and
breeches, and dark jacket."
Desertions were not the only problem in the
French Corps. Delaporte resigned, asserting that
draft on the state treasury."
Shortly after this event, Delaporte was once
again on the move, opening a store in Fredericksburg with his old business partner Bemoux.
In September 1780, Bemoux decided to return
to France, leaving the business in Fredericksburg
entirely in Delaporte' s hands.20 Delaporte appar-
ently oversaw the store, then known as Laporte,
Galvan and Company, until his death in 1782,
when the " dry goods, household fumiture and a
schooner, late the property of Bajieux Laporte,
deceased" were offered for public sale.
his company was " being reduced by Desertions
Ultimately Virginia's French Corps and its
other accidents, to a very inconsiderable
commanders were of no military significance
Number." Delaporte' s resignation was accepted
during the American Revolution. Their service
by the governor and Council. The French Corps
to the Commonwealth of Virginia, short and
ceased to exist. Those who remained were ab-
without battlefield experience, amounted simply
to providing security to the various state build-
sorbed into the existing Virginia state forces, and
many French officers in the company vanished
from the historical record. 14
Delaporte left Williamsburg shortly afterward
ings and military camps in and around the city of
Williamsburg. The boredom of this task and the
attractions of the Virginia countryside led to
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
wholesale desertion and the corps was ultimately
absorbed into more stable military organizations.
The French Corps was significant, however, sim-
ply because it existed, and its existence speaks
volumes about the Williamsburg community as a
whole.
Williamsburg, as capital of the new commonwealth of Virginia, was no longer a provincial lit-
tle town of two thousand souls. The city teemed
35
State of Virginia ( Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library,
1931), 1: 389.
Papers of the Continental Congress ( National Archives,
D.C.),
Rockefeller Library microfilm,
Washington,
M- 1900.39, reel 48, Item 41, 1: 131.
Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774 - 1789 ( Washington, D. C.: Library of
Congress, 1907), 7: 342.
Mcllwaine, ed., Journals of the Council, I: 473; 2: 19, 84,
108, 116. James Louis de Beaulieu also appears in the record
as Joseph Lewis de Beaulieu.
with bureaucrats and politicians from all over
Letter from Gov. Henry to Gov. Caswell of North Carolina,
Virginia, foreign adventurers, artificers in state
9 July 1777, cited in H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Official Letters of
employ, and, of course, soldiers— hundreds of
the Governors of the State of Virginia, Vol. 1: The Letters of
Patrick Henry ( Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1926),
them. Men from Russia, Sweden, France, and
the West Indies came to Williamsburg during the
few years it served as Virginia's capital.
There were so many foreigners in town that
the governor, "having experienced very great inconveniences for some time past," felt the need
to have an interpreter of "French & other foreign
Languages." That interpreter, the famous
Charles Bellini, had served in Delaporte' s French
Corps" Thus the real value in an examination of
the history of Delaporte's folly lies in how it helps
illuminate a view of life in Williamsburg during
the turbulent years of the American Revolution.
169.
Mary R. M. Goodwin. Clothing and Accoutrements of the
Officers and Soldiers of the Virginia Forces, 1775 - 1780 from the
Records of the Public Store at Williamsburg. (Williamsburg, Va.:
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Research Report, 1962),
122, 123, 126.
Virginia. Records of the Public Store in Williamsburg
1775 - 1780, Day Book, October 12, 1775 - November 30, 1778
Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library) Rockefeller Library
microfilm, M- 1016. 1;
Deserter advertisement, Virginia
Gazette ( Hunter and Dixon), 28 August 1777, p. 3, col. 1.
Mcllwaine, ed., Journals of the Council, 1: 473; E. M.
Sanchez -Saavedra, A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations
in the American Revolution, 1774 - 1787 ( Richmond, Va.: Vir-
ginia State Library, 1978), 115; Virginia Gazette ( Dixon), 31
October 1777, p. 2, col. 1.
McIlwaine, ed., Letters of the Governor, 266; Peter E
Copeland and Marko Zlatich, "Captain De La Porte' s French
Robert B. Douglas, ed. and trans., The Chevalier de Pont -
gibaud, A French Volunteer of the War of Independence ( Paris:
Charles Carrington, 1898; repr.: New York: New York Times
and Arno Press, 1969), 34- 37.
There has been some confusion as to the identity of
Captain de la Porte, but a careful examination of the primary
Company, Virginia State Forces, 1777- 1778," Military Collector and Historian 18 ( Spring 1966): 17.
Virginia Gazette ( Purdie), 1 May 1778, p. 3, col. 2.
McIlwaine, ed., Letters of the Governor, 300; Copeland
and Zlatich, " Captain De La Porte' s French Company," 17.
Virginia Gazette ( Purdie), 29 May 1778, 3: 2.
source information reveals that Bejeau de la Porte ( or Dela-
Copeland and Zlatich, " Captain De La Porte' s French
porte) is the man who petitioned the Virginia Council in
Company," 17.
Virginia Gazette ( Purdie), 16 October 1778, p. 4 col. 2;
ibid. ( Dixon), 12 February 1779, p. 4 col. 1.
Ibid., 26 June 1779, p. 1 col. 2; 10 July 1779, p. 3 col. 1.
1777 ( referred to by the Council as Delaporte Decrome) to
raise a company of Frenchmen for Virginia. This is confirmed by de la Porte' s later petition to the Continental Con-
gress in May 1777, in which he references his earlier petition
19 Ibid., 26 June 1779; 30 October 1779, p. 4 col. 2; 13
to the Virginia Council. Delaporte' s name appears in a num-
May 1780, p. 4 col. 2; Eufrosina Dvoichenko -Markov, "A
Russian Traveler to Eighteenth -Century America," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 97 ( September
ber of butchered versions throughout the records of this pe-
riod. Even the " Williamsburg People File" at Colonial
Williamsburg' s John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library erroneously
refers to Delaporte as " Bojien Laport "
It is likely that these " gentlemen" were Monsieur de
Grandmaison and Monsieur de Rondemare, Delaporte' s copetitioners to congress.
H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Journals of the Council of the
1953): 352.
SOLocal Notices from the Virginia Gazette, 1780, 6 Septem-
ber 1780, cited in The Virginia Genealogist, 5 ( January- March
1960: 38.
McIlwaine, ed. Journals of the Council, 2: 109; SanchezSaavedra, Guide to Virginia Military Organizations, 116.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
36
Some Virginians saw no need to import even
white mulberries for silk, due to the indigenous
Morus rubra. In 1610, Thomas Gates wrote of
the
abundance
of the
native red
mulberry
which in so warme a climate may cherish and
feede millions of silke wormes, and retume us in
a very short time, as great a plenty of silks as is
vented into the whole world." Many other seventeenth- century writers referred to the red mul-
berry as suitable for raising the worms. In the
early eighteenth century, William Byrd II observed Large stands of red mulberries that he believed would be suitable for silk production.
Q&
A
Clearly, there was little reason to have paper
mulberries
masquerade
as
true
mulberries.
Colonists wrote with ease about the differences
Question: I' ve heard that merchants scammed
among species of mulberries, and it seems un-
would - silk producers in early Virginia by sellbe
likely that they mistook paper mulberries for the
ing them paper mulberry trees, which are not
the proper food of the silkworm. Is there any
real thing.
truth to this?
Answer: There has indeed been some confusion
about the paper mulberry tree ( Broussonetia papyrifera), which is not really a member of the
mulberry family ( genus Moraceae). Though
worms do eat the paper mulberry, they prefer
true mulberry ( Morus), of which there are ten
species. In the Historic Area today, we have two
types of true mulberry: the Chinese white mulberry ( Morus alba) and the American red mulberry ( Morus rubra). Silkworms like the white
mulberry best, and the production of silk is based
on this species.
We do have, at Colonial Williamsburg, the socalled " paper mulberry" ( Broussonetia), an East
Asian/Polynesian tree long used in making paper
not silk) before its importation into Europe.
John Clayton's Flora Virginica ( 1760s) shows that
the paper mulberry made it to eighteenth cen-
Paper mulberries do have a long history in
Williamsburg and the surrounding area, as the
Clayton Flora Virginica attests. Photographs of
pre- Restoration Williamsburg show paper mul-
berries ( or French mulberries, as they were
known) scattered throughout the town. For
whatever reason, the mulberries
captured
the
imagination of Arthur Shurcliff, our first landscape architect, who went to great lengths to
preserve them. Today, paper mulberries are as
Williamsburg" as the boxwood.
A good place to view a paper mulberry is in
the center of the formal oval behind the Orlando
Jones House on Colonial Street, the street that
runs from the Williamsburg Inn to Duke of
Gloucester Street.
Lawrence Griffith and Wesley Greene, Landscape)
Question: Did Lord Dunmore have title to any
land in the Ohio Territory?
tury Virginia, but it was not used for silk production. Its use here seems to have been purely
Answer: No. When Lord Dunmore returned
omamental. Over time, erroneous lore became
petitioned the king in council (Privy Council) for
attached to the paper mulberry.
It is very unlikely that the paper mulberry was
involved in a scam. For starters, this tree was in-
from his trip to the West in September 1773, he
20, 000 acres for each of his five sons, in the back
part of Virginia, being free of quitrents, to be located together or in five separate lots as may be
died out. The main effort at silk production was
most convenient to the petitioner. In November
1773, the request was forwarded to the commissioners for Trade and Plantations. Attached was
in the seventeenth century. To that end, Gov.
a request from Capt. Edward Foy, secretary to
troduced into Virginia in the mid- 1700s, long
after the dream of silk production in Virginia had
Francis Wyatt imported the first true white mulberries in 1639. In 1642, instructions to Wyatt's
successor, William Berkeley, stipulated " every
Plantation to plant a proportion of Vines, answerable to their numbers, and to plant white
Mulberry Trees, and attend Silk worms." Maj.
Thomas Walker of Gloucester County planted
Lord Dunmore, for a grant of 20, 000 acres in the
back part of Virginia.
By June 20, 1774, the commissioners had
made their decision: the petitions from Lord
Dunmore and Captain Foy would not be approved. The commissioners cited as their reason
13, 642 white mulberries in 1664 and 56, 755 the
the recently issued instructions by the crown for
the surveying and disposing of all crown lands.
next year.
These instructions called for land to be surveyed
�37
Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
into smaller plots and sold to the highest bidder.
There is no doubt that Lord Dunmore would
have continued to press his claim for western
lands had the war not intervened.
Phil Shultz, Interpretive Training)
chased from Donald Ross, December 1773.
The Commission reimbursed Dunmore for each
of these properties.
Phil Shultz)
Question: Was Lord Dunmore a party in any of
the speculative land companies?
Answer: Yes. By deed dated October 18, 1775,
with the Piankashaw Nation, Lord Dunmore
claimed 2/ 20 shares of 37,497, 600 acres between
the Quabache ( Wabash) and the Ohio Rivers.
The land company, known as the Wabash Land
Company, was made up of twenty speculators, in-
cluding the governor and his son John. Dunmore
was never reimbursed for any costs associated
with this venture.
Phil Shultz)
Question: Was the word boycott used in the
eighteenth century?
Answer: No! The Oxford English Dictionary defines boycott as " to combine in refusing to hold
relations of any kind, social or commercial, public or private, with ( a neighbour), on account of
political or other differences, so as to punish him
for the position he has taken up, or coerce him
into abandoning it."
The word arose in the autumn of 1880 to describe such action taken by the Irish Land
League against those who incurred its hostility.
Shown - in old- age, -Lord Dunmore appears in this portrait
painted by an unknown artist) wearing a tartan with
his Scots bonnet on the table by his side ( Private Collec-
The first such person to be " boycotted" was one
Captain Boycott, an Irish landlord. This would
make the word eponymous in origin.
So, what does eponymous mean? This, too, is a
nineteenth -century word. Again, the OED defi-
tion).
nition of its noun form eponym: " One who gives,
Question: Did Lord Dunmore own land in Vir-
or is supposed to give, his name to a people,
ginia?
place, or institution. One whose name is a syn-
Answer: Yes. In his schedule of losses, dated Feb-
ruary 25, 1784, to the Commission on Losses of
American Loyalists, he claims the following
property in Virginia:
579 Acres of land ...
onym for something." For example, Pennsylvania,
derived from the family name Penn, is an eponym
or an eponymous word.
Phil Shultz)
Porto Bello and ( ad-
joining) Old Farm in York County." The
property, about five miles from Williamsburg,
was purchased in three separate pieces from
Robert Carter III, Rachael Drummond, and
Dr. James Carter between May 1772 and November 1773.
Mount Charlotte, 2, 600 acres, Berkeley
County. Purchased from Lord Fairfax by
1773.
3, 645 acres in Hampshire County from Lord
Fairfax.
House and lot in Williamsburg, south side of
road from Williamsburg to Yorktown. Pur-
Q & A was compiled by Bob Doares, training specialist in the Department of Interpretive Training,
and member of the Interpreter Planning Board.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
38
Excerpts from the
taking some aids with him, who were as much
Autobiography of the
personage attended at Capt. M' Clanagan's in
Reverend James Ireland
order to detect the falsity of Mr. Pickett's doctrines before his parishioners. Being acquainted
with Mr. Pickett's tum of mind, I felt very uneasy
that day, when I saw the position the Parson
prejudiced against that sect as he was....
Third Installment, circa 1768
This
took. The place Mr. Pickett was to preach in, was
James Ireland ( 1748 - 1806), a native of Edinburgh,
Scotland, and Presbyterian by upbringing, immi-
pretty capacious for the congregation; the parson
had a chair brought for himself, which he placed
grated to Virginia sometime after the French and In-
three or four yards in front of Mr. Pickett, on
dian War. He settled in the Shenandoah Valley
around 1766. There he came under the influence of
the Baptist community of believers and was ordained
which he seated himself, taking out his pen, ink
as a minister of that faith in 1769. Ireland's first - erp
son account of the struggle for religious freedom in
of Parson Meldrum's Parishioners, they appeared
to be highly elated, under an assured expectation
colonial Virginia is preserved in an autobiography
of his baffling the new light, as they called him.
published posthumously by J. Foster of Winchester,
As soon as Mr. Pickett had finished his discourse, the Parson called him a schismatick, a
Virginia, in 1819. There has been no subsequent edi-
and paper, to take down notes of what he con-
ceived to be false doctrine. By the countenance
tion. Bob Doares, training specialist in the Department of Interpretive Training and Interpreter Board
member, owns one of these rare 1819 imprints.
Beginning with the fall 2002 issue of the Inter-
broacher of false doctrines, and that he held up
damnable errors that day. Mr. Pickett answered
him with a great deal of candour, and supported
the doctrines he had advanced, to the satisfac-
preter, Bob has shared some of his favorite excerpts
tion of all those who were impartial judges of
from The Life of the Rev. James Ireland, Who
doctrine. He was a man slow in argument, and
Was, For Many Years Pastor of the Baptist
Church at Buck Marsh, Waterlick and Happy
when contradicted it would in a measure confuse
Virginia. [ Punctuation and spelling have been mini-
him, which I soon observed, by some points he
advanced, in which, in my judgment, he was perfectly right. The Parson at the same time, I ob-
mally edited for clarity.] The story continues here.
served, was taking notes of what the other said,
Creek, in Frederick and Shenandoah Counties,
Book III, Chapter 2, Running Afoul of
the Established Church
which made me careful to retain it on my mem-
ory, standing close to Mr. Pickett when he spoke.
The notes the Parson took, were absolutely the
Hearing that the gentleman who had disap-
reverse of what Mr. Pickett delivered, and the
pointed us in coming on the aforesaid visit, was
to preach about forty miles from us, I was very
Parson asserting them with dogmatical precision,
anxious to go to hear him. There is no necessity,
and his parishioners exulting in the same, I could
not forbear immediately interfering.
to secret his name; it was Mt. John Pickett of
I addressed the Parson to this effect, " Sir, I
Fauquier County; he was to preach at Capt.
presume you will grant the privilege of other' s
Thomas M'Clanagan's. At that time the Church
of England Parsons were exalted in domination
hearing and determining as well as yourself: I
over all dissenters in the colony, as it was then
called, of Virginia. The dissenters had to pay
their proportion for the building of Churches,
to determine with others. With respect to these
have got eyes to see, ears to hear, and a judgment
remarks you have made, upon what you say Mr.
Pickett asserted, they are of no avail; he did not
for the support of those Clergymen, exclusive of
say those things with which you charge him, and
in justification of what I assert, I could freely ap-
building their own houses for worship, supporting their own Ministers, and being precluded the
benefit of marrying the members of their own so-
peal to others." He wheeled about on his chair
towards me, and let out a broadside of his eloquence, with an expectation, no doubt, that he
ciety, except they procured and paid to the
Church Parson of their Parish a full marriage fee
would confound me with the fast fire. I gently
for each couple. And this galling yoke continued
close by him, determined to argue the point with
on the necks of the dissenters until some time
him from end to end.
and sixteen thousand weight of tobacco annually
after our glorious revolution took place.
The Church Parson in Culpeper County had
laid hold of a chair, and placed myself upon it
Understanding he had been raised Presbyterian,
before he
commenced
Episcopalian, I
made it a practice, where any of those Baptist
formed the plan of entering into a discourse with
Preachers would have an
appointment for
him. First, upon the doctrines of religion, and
preaching, to go in person to those meetings,
secondly, upon the practice of it. This was with a
�Vol. 24, No. I, Spring 2003
view to endeavor to gain his consent that what
he called damnable errors were consistent with
gospel principles and practices; which consent I
obtained in the sequel...
39
tertained with a sermon delivered by the Rev.
Nathaniel Sanders.
A disagreeable piece of business took place
next moming, just as we were going to family
However, I discovered that pursuing the argu-
worship. Three very dissipated men, who had
ment was and would be at the risque of incurring
been at certain race paths in the vicinity early
that morning, trying the speed of their horses,
came riding up to the porch of the house where
the displeasure of both gentlemen and ladies of
his society, and perhaps the greater bulk of them.
They would look at me with utmost contempt
and disdain, supposing it no doubt, presumption
in such a youth as I, to enter into an argument
with the teacher of the county. In the course of
our argument, they would repeatedly help him to
scripture, in order to support his arguments,
which made me observe to them that they did
not treat me with common justice, that I had
none that helped me, whilst they were supplying
we were. Our [Baptist] Landlord had no connection with the race paths. One of these men, the
most daring in wickedness, most insultingly
abused one of the ministers, accompanied with
horrid oaths. Another minister reproving him for
swearing after he was dismounted and in the
porch among us; the ruffian instantly flew at him,
seized him by the throat, and choaked him till he
was black in the face; the minister making no re-
their Pastor with every help they could afford.
I immediately got up and addressed one of the
gentlemen who had been so officious in helping
sistance, the landlord and I, interfered in his be-
his teacher; he was a magistrate at that time, and
small trouble and difficulty to get rid of this out-
one of those who afterwards committed me to
rageous banditti; but at length we succeeded and
prison.
they went off apparently both mortified and
half and with difficulty, disengaged the ruffian's
hands from his throat. After this, we had no
ashamed.
Book III, Chapter 3, The North Carolina
Baptist Association and Fending Off
Ruffians
Book III, Chapter 5, A Virginia _
Gentleman Turns Baptist
The ministers from the different states [ i. e.
Hearing that there was to be an association in
North Carolina, at a place called Sandy Creek,
Shubalstam being the stated pastor there; at
colonies] were exceedingly satisfied with me and
which place the ministers of the separate order,
to the publick; but the press of business pre-
from South Carolina, North Carolina and Vir-
Ministers from Virginia. They were delegated
vented my being baptized & c. at that time and
place, for which they expressed their sorrow.
However, the plan for fully accomplishing my ob-
from their association to attend that association,
jects was formed and communicated to me. Col.
in order to bring about a union between the two
Samuel Harris was to be ordained at this Associ-
bodies which was not effected at that time, but it
ation, by which means the ordinances of the
Gospel would be administered by him in Virginia,
giniawere to meet, likewise a number of regular
was some years afterwards.
my gifts; got me to attend the stage in preaching
The solicitations of my dear friends at Smiths
Creek as well as a consciousness of duty, deter-
until he received co -aids in the work, and by my
mined me to attend the aforesaid association, in
ters were to attend him, for certain purposes, I
order to give them a relation of what I hoped
could have my own ends accomplished.
riding to his residence where a number of minis-
God had done for my soul; there not being an or-
He was a great favourite of the ministers in
dained Minister in Virginia, of the separate order
Virginia, and they had planned it among them,
to administer baptism, that being also one prin-
that I should be the first person he would baptize.
cipal object with me in going there; as also to ex-
I saw him ordained, and a moving time it was....
ercise my gift among them, whereby they might
When the Association concluded, we took our
judge of the propriety of granting me credentials
course for Pittsylvania County in Virginia, until
to exercise in the Ministry. One disadvantage,
with regard to this journey, I laboured under: the
we arrived at Mr. Harris' s residence. When Col.
ministers that went out from Virginia, went to-
he was disposed to figure high in life. His old
gether in a body, and had got considerably the
start of me to the association. However, by cross-
house, though a very good one, did not answer
ing the country, and obtaining good directions, I
overtook them, in traveling about one hundred
more elegant plan; but, by the time he had fin-
Harris was a member of the Virginia legislature
his wishes; he therefore constructed one on a
and fifty miles, in Amelia County, on the other
ished the out works of it, it pleased God to convert his soul, and he appropriated or converted
side of James River, where they had an appoint-
his new building into a meeting house. The bap-
ment for evening meeting.... I was agreeably en-
tist church met there for government and disci-
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
40
pline; and their preaching was statedly there.
Three days and greater part of the nights
gave me the right hand of fellowship, and de-
were employed in preaching to the people at Mr.
Next day in the afternoon, was appointed for the
Harris' s; many of the listeners having come great
distances....
The third day the whole body of
administration thereof; it being Sunday, we were
the church went into their meeting house, and
according to their rules, sat as a Church to hear
eleven ministers being there with other inferior
gifts. Considering the distance I lived from
clared me to be a proper subject for baptism.
to meet very early in the morning for preaching,
experiences and receive subjects for baptism....
there, it was proposed among them, and acceded
After some short interrogations, only for the sat-
to, that I should preach my trial sermon, and ob-
isfaction and edification of the church, they
tain credentials.
Bothy' s
Mould
In the 1760s, Attorney General John Randolph
circa 1727 -84), younger brother of Speaker Peyton
Randolph, built a house ( later named Tazewell Hall)
at the end of South England Street. Over the next ten
years he laid out behind this dwelling one of the
largest gardens in Williamsburg. The following planting calendar, taken from A Treatise on Gardening
written by Randolph, presents the latest dirt (mould)
from the gardener's hut ( bothy).
JANUARY.
MARCH.
Slip your Artichokes, if fit, plant kidney Beans,
Cabbages, Celery, Parsley, Cucumbers, Currans,
Chamomile, Celandine, Nasturtium, Feather -
few, Fennel, Ivy, Horse Radish, Hyssop, Lavender, Lettuce, Radishes twice, Marjoram, Marsh
Mallow, Mint, Melons, Millet, Mugwort, Onions
and for seed, Peas twice, Potatoes, Raspberry,
Rosemary, Rue, Spinach, Tansy, Thyme,
Tumeps; You may begin to mow your grass
walks, and continue so to do every morning, and
roll them, turf this month, plant Box.
PREPARE, hot beds for Cucumbers; as little can
be done this month in a garden, I would advise
APRIL.
the preparing of your dung, and carrying it to
If Artichokes not slipped last month, do it this,
your beds, that it may be ready to be spread on in
February.
Bushel and garden Beans, sow Cabbages, 12th,
FEBRUARY.
sow Cauliflowers, sow Celery, Cresses, Nasturtium, Lettuce, Peas, sow Radishes twice, Sage
Sow Asparagus, make your beds and fork up the
will grow in this or any other month, Turnips,
sow Salsify early, Pepper, Turf this month.
old ones, sow Sugar Loaf Cabbages, latter end
transplant Cauliflowers, sow Carrots and trans-
MAY.
plant for seed, prick out endive for seed, sow
Lettuce, Melons in hot beds, sow Parsnips, take
up the old roots and prick out for seed, sow Peas
and prick them into your hot beds, sow Radishes
twice, plant Strawberries, plant out Tumips for
seed, spade deep and make it fine, plant Beans.
Latter end Broccoli, Celery, Cucumbers for pickles, Endive, Featherfew, Hyssop, cuttings of M.
Mallow, Melons, Peas, sow Radishes twice, Kid-
ney Beans, turf this month.
�41
Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
JUNE.
NOVEMBER.
Cabbages should be sown, sow Radishes twice,
Take up your Cabbages, sow Cabbages, take up
transplant Cabbages, Prick out Cauliflowers, do.
your Cauliflowers, such as are flowered and
ditto] Broccoli, Draw up by the roots all your
house them, take up your Carrots, trench all
your vacant land, prune your trees and vines,
weeds.
JULY.
Transplant Broccoli, sow Cabbages, Coleworts,
transplant Cauliflowers to stand, Endive, gather
plant out every thing of the tree or shrub kind,
that has a root to it, if any thing is done to your
Artichokes, this is a good month, plant Box, turf
early.
Millet seed; take up Onions, sow Radishes twice,
sow Turnips, plant Kidney Beans to preserve.
AUGUST.
Sow Cabbage, latter end Carrots, get your Cucumber seed, sow Cresses, prick out Endive,
early sow Lettace, Mullein, gather Onion seed,
plant Garlick, get Parsnip seed, Bean ?,sow Peas
for the fall, sow Radishes, middle sow Spinach,
tho' some say not till after the 20th, sow Turnips.
SEPTEMBER.
Sow Cabbages,
10th, sow Cauliflowers, plant
cuttings of Currants, Clary, Comfrey, plant cuttings of Gooseberries, sow Radishes, plant layers
or suckers of Raspberries, Rosemary, plant out
Strawberries, string your Strawberries, and dress
your beds, plant Tansy.
OCTOBER.
Latter end cut down your Asparagus, and cover
your beds with dung, plant Beans for spring, sow
Cabbages, 20th, transplant Cauliflowers, plant
Horse Radish, prick Lettuce into boxes, sow Peas
for the hot bed, Radishes, turf this month.
Frontispiece of A Treatise on Gardening. The only
surviving copy of this treatise is located in the Special
Collections of the Wyndham Robertson Library at
Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia. It is reprinted at
the Colonial Williamsburg's Printing Office by the kind
permission of the university.
DECEMBER.
Cover your Endive with brush, cover Celery, and
every thing else that needs shelter, if the weather
will
admit
turn
over
your
ground
that
is
trenched, in order to mellow it, and pulverize
it—Whatever will prevent delay and enable you
to begin spading in February, should be done this
month.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
42
Becoming Americans Story
Lines: New Titles in the
Newman, Richard S. The Transformation of
American Abolitionism: Fighting Slavery in the
Early Republic. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of
Rockefeller Library
North Carolina Press, 2002. [ E 446.N48 2002]
Taking Possession
through the 1830s, saw the transition from " first -
Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Coun-
wave" to " second -wave" abolitionism. Elite
try: A Native History of Early America. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001. [ E 98. F39
white men
R53 2001]
antislavery reform. The more egalitarian second -
The formative period of the antislavery movement, roughly from the late eighteenth century
with
conservative
republican views
espoused a rational and dispassionate variety of
Focusing on interactions with Europeans east
wave included females and black activists and
of the Mississippi, this survey of Native American history from pre- contact times to the early
developed mass -action strategies that aimed to
transform public opinion.
nineteenth century attempts to reintegrate Indians into the history of North America. The au-
Redefining Family
thor sees the French and Indian War as the
Fischer, Kirsten. Suspect Relations: Sex, Race, and
pivotal divide between possibilities of coexis-
Resistance in Colonial North Carolina. Ithaca,
tence and the inevitability of conflict.
N. Y.: Comell University Press, 2002. [ F 257. F53
2002]
Gallay, Alan. The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of
the English Empire in the American
Concepts of race, sex, and gender changed
South,
significantly in the eighteenth century, and
1670 - 1 -717. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
these shifts affected each other. In particular,
Press, 2002. [ HT 1162. 035 2002]
they interacted to reformulate racial theories
For several decades, a flourishing commerce
into " biological racism," the idea that one' s race
involved the export of Indian slaves to finance
consists of an inherited set of moral, intellectual,
the purchase of African slaves, the latter seen as
and physical qualities. The author examines
less likely to flee or revolt. The focus here is on
court cases involving interracial relationships,
the illicit activities of lower class white women,
South Carolina and the cooperative arrange-
ments between the English and various Indian
confederacies. The Indians abruptly ended the
slander suits, and sexualized violence to show
how the actions and attitudes of ordinary people
commerce in 1715 by killing English traders and
contributed to the evolving concept of racial dif-
attacking the colony.
ference.
Enslaving Virginia
Gillespie, Joanna Bowen. The Life and Times of
Fett, Sharla M. Working Cures: Healing, Health,
and Power on Southern Slave Plantations. Chapel
Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press,
Martha Laurens Ramsay, 1759 - 1811. Columbia,
S. C.: University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
F 279.C453 R364 2001]
This biography of the daughter of a promi-
2002. [ RA 448. 5. N4 F48]
Slaveholders were interested in the " sound-
nent Charleston family and mother of eleven
ness" of slaves, meaning their capacity for labor
spans the period from the American Revolution
and reproduction. The slaves had a more spiritual
concept of health that connected individual well-
from her father' s papers and her own memoirs as
being to broader community relationships and
edited by her husband, Martha Ramsay's life ap-
also provided opportunities for self expression
and resistance. The author draws on plantation
pears to have been confined to a patriarchal
world. The author emphasizes the spiritual
framework through which Martha sought to un-
records, diaries, slave narratives, and early -twentieth- century interviews with former slaves.
through the Early National era. Drawn mainly
derstand her experiences. -
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
43
Choosing Revolution
Freeing Religion
Krawczynski, Keith. William Henry Drayton:
Bourne, Russell. Gods of War, Gods of Peace: How
the Meeting of Native and Colonial Religions Shaped
South Carolina Revolutionary Patriot. Baton
Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press,
2001. [ E 302.6. D7 K73]
Early America. New York: Harcourt, 2002.
BL 2525. B685 2002]
In this detailed biography, a low -country
This is an attempt to examine Indian - hite
w
planter and opponent of nonimportation, makes
relations through the prism of the parties' spiri-
a late choice for revolution. With the enthusiasm
tual systems. The author contends that the
of a recent convert, however, he becomes a cen-
cross -fertilization of native and Christian reli-
tral figure in South Carolina's revolutionary
gions was significant in the process of our be-
movement. The author emphasizes Drayton s
concerns for personal reputation and class privi-
lege, but provides little on his experiences as
coming Americans. His authority is undermined
somewhat, however, by a lack of documentation
and a tendency to focus on personalities rather
planter and slaveholder.
than broader societal changes.
Lee, Wayne E. Crowds and Soldiers in Revolution-
Murphy, Andrew R. Conscience and Community:
Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early
Modern England and America. University Park,
Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
ary North Carolina: The Culture of Violence in Riot
and War. Gainesville, Fla.: University Press of
Florida, 2001. [ E 263. N8 L44 2001]
Incidents of public violence in eighteenth-
BR 757. M87 2001]
The emergence of religious toleration in sev-
century North Carolina reveal the cultural
norms and other factors that influence a society' s
enteenth- century England and America is exam-
tolerance for violent dissent. The public' s sense
ined to see if there are lessons for contemporary
of the legitimacy of violent actions is crucial to
society. The author argues that the earlier con-
the conduct of mobs and armies. The course of
cept of religious toleration was different from our
events during the Revolution is analyzed to show
own. Then, there was an uneasy coexistence that
how concepts of legitimacy can evolve, through
demonization of the enemy and the " necessities"
required no surrender of an exclusive claim to
of war, to include acts of revenge and retaliation.
the truth; now, identity politics involve an affirmation of the equal value of lifestyles.
Compiled by Del Moore, reference librarian, John D.
Rockefeller, Jr. Library.
New at the Rock
New Items in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library' s
Special Collections Section
Land grant. [ MS /00 /1768 /Sep 20 /1X Oversize]
John Blair, council president, Williamsburg, to
Thomas Miers for 250 acres in Nansemond
County, Virginia, September 20, 1768.
Letter: John H. Norton, Yorktown, to George
William Fairfax, York, England, June 31, 1774.
MS /00/ 17741 un 31]
This letter to Fairfax, a close friend of George
Letter: Greg Cunningham & Co., New York, to
Washington, includes personal and business matters, together with a description of the anti British
Mssrs. Newton and Gordon, Madeira, June 18,
mood in America following Parliament's response
1774. [ MS /00 /1774/Jun 18]
to the Boston Tea Party. Referred to the first of the
Sent by the provisioning agents for the British
army to wine merchants in Madeira, a Portuguese island just off the Canary Islands, this
Intolerable Acts," which closed the port of Boston.
Commission: George III appoints Henry Gold-
communication offers insight into the difficulties
smith as lieutenant in the 54th Regiment of Foot,
of conducting business during the early days of
the Revolutionary War, particularly the importa-
November 27, 1775. [ MS /00/ 1775/ Nov 27]
tion of goods into the colonies.
paper seal of the English monarch.
The document includes the signature and
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
44
Letter: Ross & Gray to Henry Goldsmith, Bristol,
Newspaper: Virginia Gazette ( Hunter), June 27,
March 21, 1776. [ MS /00 /1776/ Mar 21]
1755.
This communication from military agents forwards
the
above -mentioned
commission
to
Goldsmith and instructs him to hold himself "in
This issue includes notice of Governor Din widdie ordering preparation of county militias
against expected incursions by the French.
Readiness to embark for North America."
Newspaper: Virginia Gazette ( Hunter), July 17,
Newspaper: Virginia Gazette ( Hunter), April 25,
1755.
1755.
Compiled by George Yetter, associate curator for the
Newspaper: Virginia Gazette ( Hunter), June 20,
architectural drawings and research collections, John
1755.
D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library.
This issue includes references to the beginnings of the French and Indian War with news of
Fort Duquesne on the Ohio River.
New Books for Children
Janice McCoy Memorial Collectio n Rockefeller Library
Activity Books
Berkeley, 1619 - 1726: Life on the James River
Education and Etiquette
Morse, Flo, and Vincent Newton, eds. A Young
and Color. Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 1977.
Shaker' s Guide to Good Manners. Woodstock,
Vt.: The Countryman Press, 1998.
Carlson, Laurie. Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide
Sateren, Shelley Swanson. Going to School in
Plantations in Colonial Days: A Book to Read
to Life in the New World. Chicago: Chicago
Colonial America. Mankato, Minn.: Blue
Review Press, 1997.
Earth Books, 2002.
Dosier, Susan. Colonial Cooking. Mankato,
Minn.: Blue Earth Books, 2000.
Lewis and Clark Expedition
Blumberg, Rhoda. The Incredible Journey of Lewis
African-American History
McKissack, Patricia C., and Fredrick L. McKis-
sack. Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in
the Quarters. New York: Scholastic, 1994.
Musgrove, Margaret. The Spider Weaver: A Leg-
end of Kente Cloth. New York: Blue Sky Press,
2001.
and Clark. New York: Beech Tree Paperback
Books, 1995.
Gunderson, Mary. Cooking on the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. Mankato, Minn.: Blue
Earth Books, 2000.
Kroll, Steven. Lewis and Clark: Explorers of the
American West. New York: Holiday House,
1994.
Biography
Ferry, Joseph. Thomas Jefferson. Stockton, N. J.:
Mason Crest Publishers, 2003.
Fritz, Jean. Why Not, Lafayette? New York: G. P.
Putnam's, 1999.
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock? New
York: PaperStar Books, 1997, 1976.
Furbee, Mary Rodd. Outrageous Women of Colonial America. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
2001.
Kozleski, Lisa. James Madison. Philadelphia:
Mason Crest Publishers, 2003.
Marcovitz, Hal. James Monroe. Philadelphia:
Mason Crest Publishers, 2003.
Snyder, Gail. George Washington. Philadelphia:
Mason Crest Publishers, 2003.
Reference Books
Coddon, Karin, ed. Colonial America [ Interpret-
ing Primary Documents Series]. San Diego,
Calif.: Greenhaven Press, 2003.
Ganeri, Anita. The Story of Maps and Navigation.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Williamsburg, Virginia
Alter, Judy. Williamsburg. Minneapolis, Minn.:
Compass Point Books, 2002.
Gourley, Catherine. Welcome to Felicity's World,
1774. Middleton, Wis.: Pleasant Company
Publications, 1999.
Waters, Kate. Mary Geddy's Day. New York:
Scholastic, 1999.
Watson, Virginia. The Legend of Pocahontas, Re-
Wirkner, Linda. Mystery of the Blue- Gowned
told by Karla Dougherty. New York: Children's
Ghost. Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial
Classics, 1995.
Williamsburg Foundation, 1994.
�Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2003
45
Summer Program Synergy
at the Museums of Colonial
weaver's perspective on making period bed coverings, Max and his assistants are weaving a oneof a -kind folk art coverlet. The weaving shop's
afternoon home is at AARFAM from June 16
Williamsburg
by Trish Balderson
through Labor Day.
Exciting programming initiatives combining
Trish is manager of museum education in the Mu-
ums are further augmented by the incorporation
seum Division.
of character interpreters in both museums. In ad-
the strengths of the Historic Area and the muse-
With support from around the Foundation,
dition to costumed tours at pre -arranged times,
guests come face -to face with first person char-
cooperation, integration, and creative collabora-
acters in the galleries on a regular, weekly basis.
tion will be the name of the game this summer at
Character interpreters personalize the exhibi-
the museums of Colonial Williamsburg. Historic
tions by relating their individual experiences to
the objects on view. They make connections be-
Area interpreters, museum educators, and the
Hennage Auditorium programmers have been
busy creating educational programs incorporating themes and resources shared by the museum
tween original objects and the Historic Area.
Guests to the museums are encouraged to visit a
diversity of sites in the Historic Area to leam
exhibitions and the Historic Area. The Language
more about material culture and its many aspects
of Clothing exhibition at the DeWitt Wallace
and manifestations.
Decorative Arts Museum has been the launch-
Classic program favorites remain at the core of
ing point for many new joint programs. The ex-
expanded museum programming. The Hennage
Auditorium offers an exciting and diverse sched-
hibition's
objects,
numerous
and visual
themes,
appeal offer
abundance
of
unlimited pro-
gram possibilities.
ule of music, entertainment, lectures, and first -
person interpretive programs. Schedules for
daily highlights tours of the exhibition at 1: 30 P.M.
successful recurring programs such as " Wee Folk"
and Weekend Family Programs have also been
expanded this summer. "Wee Folk," for example,
In an attempt to add another dimension to the
is offered twice a week this summer at AARFAM.
touring experience, " Fashioning Fashion" tours
During these programs, three- to seven -year -olds
Since The Language of Clothing opened last
October, museum staff and volunteers have given
began in March. Every Wednesday and Friday at
and their adult friends can enjoy exploring the
3: 30 P.M., a fashion tradesperson from the His-
galleries
toric Area gives a costumed tour of the exhibition from his or her special perspective. On
Wednesdays, guests view the exhibition from the
Throughout the summer, Family Programs are of-
experiences of a milliner, and on Fridays, guests
team what life was like for a colonial tailor.
Fashioning Fashion" integrates the hands -on
historical expertise of trade interpreters into
modern museum exhibition spaces helping
through
stories
and
art
activities.
fered three times a week at both AARFAM and
DWDAM. During scheduled times, families participating in these programs leam about an object
on display or a particular aspect of an exhibition
and make a related art project to take home.
Guests can check the Uuitor' s Companion for
guests make connections between the Historic
dates, times, and program themes.
Through collaborative programs in the mu-
Area and the museums. A similar experience is
seum exhibitions and Hennage Auditorium, His-
offered at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art
Museum with weaver Max Hamrick setting up
toric Area interpreters as well as museum staff
and volunteers hope to promote all the resources
shop in the afternoons this summer. Max, with
the tools of his trade and help from other His-
of Colonial Williamsburg. Integrated interpretation, entertainment, and activities will reinforce
toric Area weavers, demonstrates the art of
the visitor experience in the Historic Area, as
weaving for guests in conjunction with their visit
well as educate guests about original objects pre-
to Made in America: Coverlets from the Collection
served and interpreted by the museums and col-
of Foster and Muriel McCarl. While interpreting a
lections of Colonial Williamsburg.
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
46
DI
0R'S
NOTES
We regret that the following sources were inadvertently omitted as footnotes in "Archaeological Excavations at the James Wray Site" by Jameson Harwood, Julie Richter, and Tom Goyens in the Winter
2003 issue of the Interpreter:
Gaynor, James M., and Nancy L. Hagedom. Tools: Working Wood in Eighteenth -Century America.
Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1993.
Marzio, Peter. "Carpentry in the Southern Colonies during the Eighteenth Century with Emphasis on
Maryland and Virginia." Winterthur Portfolio 7 ( 1972): 229 - 250.
Poirier, Noel. " The Colonial Timber - ard in America." The Chronicle of the Early American Industries
y
Association 54 ( June 2001): 54 - 59.
The amended version can be found on Colonial Williamsburg' s website.
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter is a
quarterly publication of the Historic Area Divi-
Planning Board:
Laura Arnold
Harvey Bakari, Bertie Byrd
Bob Doares, Jan Gilliam,
sion.
Noel Poirier, John Turner,
Editor:
Ron Warren, Pete Wrike,
Nancy Milton
Terry Yemm
Copy Editor:
Mary Ann Williamson
Assistant Editor:
Linda Rowe
Editorial Board:
Cary Carson
Production:
The Print Production
Services Department
Diana Freedman
Ron Hurst
Betty Leviner
Emma L. Powers
2003 The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. All rights reserved. All images are the property of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
��
Dublin Core
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Title
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Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Description
An account of the resource
<p><em>The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter</em> was a newsletter published July 1980-September 2009 by the education and research departments of Colonial Williamsburg and authored mainly by staff researchers and interpreters. Its purpose was to disseminate information germane to the current interpretive focus of the Historic Area uniformly across the various departments involved with historical interpretation. Some of the articles sprang from the need to impart new research or interpretive information to staff while others were inspired by employee questions or suggestions. In the earlier issues, standard sections include “The King’s English” which explained various words or terminology encountered in 18th century life, “Occurrences” which noted different programs and events of interest to employees and visitors, and “The Exchange” which was a guest column that offered the perspective and knowledge of non-research department employees on various subjects. Later issues had regular columns about historical subjects, archaeology, gardening, new books at the Foundation library, “Cook’s Corner” about foodways, “Interpreter’s Corner” concerning issues of interpretation, and a Q & A section. The number of issues published per year varied as did the length of the newsletter.</p>
<p>Several supplemental publications sprang from the Interpreter including <em>Fresh Advices, Questions & Answers</em>, and A<em> Cultural Time Line & Glossary for Williamsburg in the Eighteenth Century</em>. Fresh Advices offered discussions of recent research conducted by the Foundation and opportunities for applying it in the Historic Area. It was published infrequently from 1981-1987. <em>Questions & Answers</em> began and ended as a column in the <em>Interpreter</em>, but also existed as a supplemental publication from 1980-1989. It functioned as a means to answer common interpreter questions to the research department about eighteenth-century history and culture, Williamsburg area history, and Colonial Williamsburg itself. The one-time 1990 publication <em>A Cultural Time Line & Glossary for Williamsburg in the Eighteenth Century</em> consisted of a oversize poster-sized timeline and a glossary booklet. The time line included notable events in the Age of Enlightenment in the categories of politics, philosophy and religion, education, science and technology, fine arts and architecture, and performing arts and literature. The glossary was an expansion on selected entries from the time line to give more information on people and events that directly or indirectly influenced the development of colonial Virginia society.</p>
<p>An index to the <em>Interpreter</em> and its supplemental publications may be found here: <a href="http://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/library/_files/Interpreter.pdf">Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter Index, 1980-2009</a>.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter, volume 24, number 1, Spring 2003
Description
An account of the resource
Small Gestures Make the Biggest Impact: Interpreting to Families and Children -- Bruton Parish Vestry, 1774 -- House of the Devil: Opposition to the Theater in Colonial America -- Who's Who in the African- American Community in 1774 -- Arts & Mysteries: The Colonial Timberyard in America -- Cook’s Corner: What Virginians were planting and eating in the eighteenth century -- Signers of the 1765 Presbyterian Petition Still Active in the Williamsburg Area in 1774 -- The Earl of Dunmore -- Who's Who at the College of William and Mary in 1774 -- Delaporte's Folly: Virginia's French Corps of 1777-1778 -- Questions and Answers -- Excerpts from the Autobiography of the Reverend James Ireland (Third Installment, circa 1768) -- The Bothy’s Mould: planting calendar taken from A Treatise on Gardening by John Randolph -- Bruton Heights Update: New at the Rock: Becoming Americans Story Lines: New Titles in the Rockefeller Library -- New Items in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library's Special Collections Section -- New Books for Children: Janice McCoy Memorial Collection -- Summer Program Synergy at the Museums of Colonial Williamsburg -- Editor’s Notes