PURITAN TRADESPURITAN TRADESPHOTOS and DATA BORROWED FROM COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, WITH PERMISSION

BY MRS. BONNELL

APOTHECARYAPOTHECARY

- In colonial times, the apothecary was more than simply a druggist. An apothecary often:

1.) Provided medical treatment 2.) Prescribed medicine

3.) Trained apprentices 4.) Performed surgery

5.) Served as man-midwives

BASKETMAKERBASKETMAKER- Baskets necessary for rural family life - Families made rather than purchased

baskets - White oak preferred material - Entire family learned the trade

- Basketmaking was a domestic activity rather than a business, as families needed baskets of all sizes and shapes for personal family use, and most families made their own baskets – which lasted many years.

BLACKSMITHBLACKSMITH - Items made for homes and other tradesmen - Blacksmiths in Williamsburg fashioned items from iron and steel for their fellow tradesmen to use in their work and also made things for household use. - Among the tools blacksmiths used were the following:

- forge - anvil - hammer - tongs - vise - file

- With forge and anvil, hammer and tongs, blacksmiths made agricultural tools for farmers and iron rims for wheelwrights. They also repaired many iron objects used by Williamsburg residents. Their skills with vise and file served customers as diverse as the miller, saddler, coachmaker, and planter.

- For the householder, blacksmiths cast, bent, welded, and riveted fireplace racks, pothooks, locks, utensils, and decorative wrought iron.

BRICKMAKERBRICKMAKER- Bricks used in new construction and repair throughout Williamsburg - Unskilled laborers made bricks - Landowners assigned slaves to brickmaking - October brickfiring tradition widely anticipated today - Unskilled men, women, and children made

bricks

- In 18th-century Virginia, slaves, poor unskilled free laborers, and sometimes indentured or convict servants practiced the brickmaking trade. In large yards owned and overseen by a master and in family-owned businesses, men, women, and children participated in the trade.

CABINETMAKERCABINETMAKER- Fine furniture built by cabinetmakers in colonial cities - By mid 18th century, only one-third of furniture was imported - Virginians preferred "plain and neat" style of furniture - Best tidewater construction respected the nature of wood

- Cabinetmakers in colonial Virginia produced fine furniture, but neither England nor the colonies could support full-time furniture producers until the last half of the 17th century. Only then did an adequate number of people have the leisure to enjoy the material trappings that reflected their new status.

CARPENTERCARPENTER- In a century when most structures were built from wood,

no tradesman was more useful than the carpenter. The main business of the colonial carpenter was to cut and join timber and board into sturdy wooden

homes and shops. As Williamsburg blossomed, the demand for new homes, shops, outbuildings stables, sheds, and their repair grew at a rapid pace.

- Common carpentry tools included: - saw - broadax - hammer - awl

- plane - mallet - scribe - drawknife - gimlet - froe

COOPERCOOPER- The art of coopering dates back centuries, and the basic

trade has remained unchanged. - Coopering requires skill, intelligence, and strength. The

tools of the trade are often handed down for generations.

- Coopers crafted casks which:- Held flour, gunpowder, tobacco, and other commodities

- Served as shipping containers - Stored liquids from wine to milk- Today, coopers are often called "barrel makers."

FOODWAYSFOODWAYS- The dining experience was important in colonial times.- Food played a very important part in the social lives of 18th-century Virginians.

- Aside from providing basic sustenance, dining was also one of the most important ways that colonial Virginians exchanged information.

- The dining process might last for two hours in some upper-class households. It wasn't unusual for some meal-time conversations to continue well into the night.

- The Governor’s palace served the finest foods- The Gentry were served food in English fashion - The Middling class provided less variety - The Lower class prepared one-pot meals

BRASS FOUNDERBRASS FOUNDER- Brass founders melted both brass and bronze and poured them into molds to form andirons, bells, coach and harness fittings, shoe buckles, sword hilts, furniture hardware, and many other things.

- Colonial foundry men used a method known as "sand casting." The mold was actually made of a fine sand and clay mixture – a material that could withstand the 2,000° F-temperature of the molten brass.

GUNSMITHGUNSMITH- Many trade skills are required for gunsmiths. - Colonial gunsmithing required the skills of a blacksmith, whitesmith, founder, and woodworker to build a gun. - A finished weapon required fine detail work on iron and steel, the carving of decorative designs, hammering and casting brass and silver into complex shapes, and engraving hard and soft metals. - These skills were usually learned in an apprenticeship lasting five to seven years. A male youth began his apprenticeship between the ages of 12 and 14 years and completed it by the time he was 21.

- Colonial gunsmiths mainly performed repair work - Because imported firearms were cheaper than those made in Williamsburg – typical of many goods in colonial America – the gunsmith mainly repaired arms and other objects. - Gunsmiths often repaired axes and other items made by blacksmiths, cast shoe buckles and other items like bells, and sometimes repaired silver objects.

MILLERMILLER- A colonial windmill was a large and complicated machine built for the simple purpose of grinding small grains; it was a narrow, two-story house balanced on an oak post and fitted with four 26-foot frames rigged with linen sails. When the wind rose, the miller pivoted the house to harness the power of the wind.

HOW IT WORKED: 1.) The sails spun a shaft mated to a geared wheel of 51 teeth called a "rack." 2.) The rack drove a perpendicular wooden cage gear called a pinion. 3.) The pinion turned a shaft that spun a running millstone against a fixed bed stone below. 4.) Wheat and corn fed through a hopper between the stones emerged as flour and meal. - The stone had to turn from 105 to 110 times a minute - For his skill and trouble, the miller received one sixth of the grain he ground.

MILLINERMILLINER- In the 18th century, millinery shops were almost always owned by women. From fabric sold in the shop, milliners would make items such as:

- shirts - shifts - aprons - neckerchiefs - caps - cloaks - hoods - hats - muffs - ruffles - trim for gowns

PRINTER & PRINTER & BINDERBINDER

- The Press was powerful in colonial times, too!- Thomas Jefferson's "Ideas on American Freedom" was first printed on Clementina Rind's hand-pulled press. - It was a document Jefferson had drafted at Monticello for the guidance of Virginia's delegates to the Continental Congress. The colony's House of Burgesses considered the composition too radical for official endorsement, but a group of Jefferson's friends persuaded the Widow Rind to issue it as a pamphlet. Thus A Summary View of the Rights of British America appeared in August 1774. The future author of the Declaration of Independence later wrote:"If it had any merit, it was that of first taking our true ground, and that which was afterwards assumed and maintained." - It was just one Revolutionary demonstration of the printer's power to spread incendiary views. But it still may be the most historically important job to come off a Williamsburg press since William Parks set up the first one in 1730.

SADDLERSADDLER- Colonial saddlers furnished 18th-century Williamsburg citizens with hunt saddles, postilion saddles, racing saddles, sidesaddles, and various "horse furniture," which included harnesses, bridles, girths, surcingles, brushes, curry combs, and sponges.

- Steer hide was the raw material used by a saddler. - His primary tools were the crescent-bladed round knife, the pricking iron, and the wooden-handled stitching awl.- Like his counterparts at today's Harness and Saddle maker, the colonial saddler used two steel needles to stitch pieces with waxed flax cord. - Saddlers also had to show skill at ornamentation to please customers who wanted a decorative saddle.

SHOEMAKERSHOEMAKER- Shoemaking was among the strongest trades in the 18th-century.- Boot making was the most sophisticated and prestigious branch of the trade; the making of boots and shoes for men and the making of shoes for women were separate pursuits. - A person would select their shoe of choice from a stock of "sale shoes" in popular-styled, already-sized shoes – just like today. If his feet were an unusual size, he could have a pair made to suit his taste and fit his individual size. - Various leathers and tools made by specialty trades and imported from England were readily available for sale from merchants' stores in Williamsburg- A shoemaker's complete tool kit included relatively few items and could be purchased for about the same price as a common pair of shoes – the same as one day's wages for a journeyman shoemaker working for Wilson.

SILVERSMITHSILVERSMITH- In order to be a silversmith, one required the talent of an artist, the tasks were almost like that of a sculptor.- Consider the fashioning of a coffeepot:

- The silversmith melted sterling in a graphite and clay crucible to about 2,000°. - He poured the liquid silver into a tallow-greased, sooted cast-iron mold to produce an ingot. - Using a large hammer, he would hot-forge the ingot into a billet – a thick sheet that he would then cut into a circle. - Using "raising" hammers, anvils, and stakes, the smith would stretch the piece of silver into a thinner piece as he hammered against the anvils, cupping it into a bowl shape.

WHEELWRIGHTWHEELWRIGHT- Made of wood and bound with iron, the wheels of the carriages, wagons, and riding chairs that navigated rugged colonial roads had to be strong and tight. But first and foremost, the wheels had to be round. - This trade required strength and precision:

- Producing wheels requires strength, ingenuity, and the talents of both a carpenter and a blacksmith. Precise measuring skills are mandatory.- The wheelwrights who practice the trade at the Governor's Palace today start with a hub fashioned on a lathe from properly aged wood such as elm.

- A tapered reamer opens the center to receive a metal bearing; The wheelwright uses a chisel to create rectangular spoke holes around the circumference of the wheel.

- Carved from woods like ash, the spokes radiate to meet a rim of mortised wooden arches, called "fellies," that join to form a perfect circle.

WIGMAKERWIGMAKER- Dressing fashionably in the 18th century meant looking good from the head down. The precise dress of the head was as important as any other article of clothing. - Gentry and businessmen wore wigs: The colonial wigmaker provided wigs, or perukes, and dressed the hair of the gentry and many successful businessmen of Williamsburg. - Wigs and hairpieces were available in horse, goat, yak, or human hair. The wigmaker's skill allowed him to weave hair and fashion it into the latest coiffures from London. - Wigs and hair were often powdered to give them a more formal air.