888 Words About Colonial Williamsburg

by Steve and Ken
Mr. Leahy’s class

     Many prominent Americans lived or worked in Williamsburg. Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech called "Caesar-Brutus" to oppose the Stamp Act and the House of Burgesses in the Capital building. Williamsburg was not the first capital of Virginia. Jamestown was, however Williamsburg became the capital of Virginia starting from 1699 all the way to 1776. Williamsburg became the capital of Virginia instead of James town for a few reasons. First Jamestown was in a location that was vulnerable to almost any attack. When Jamestown's state house burned down for the fourth time governor Francis Nicholson suggested that it was time to move the capital to a new location. There was a lot of choices but finally they decided to move the Capital to Williamsburg.

     About 2000 people lived in Williamsburg. Half were people who came from England, Scotland, or Ireland. Some were educated and wealth planters or merchants. While a lot were farmers, storekeepers, or tradesman. The rest were poor folks who worked as servants, laborers, or field workers. The other half of Williamsburg's population was African-Americans. More than half of them were slaves. However the African-Americans came unwillingly. They had been captured in African to work in Virginia. Slave owners thought it was a good arrangement.

     A market square is a large open area in the middle of the town. Farmers, tradesmen, and slaves would come there a few days per week to sell their wares. They would bring carts containing eggs, meat, milk, and butter; with crabs and oysters; with vegetables and fruit. Sometimes people brought cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens to sell. Surprisingly, sometimes there would be equal amounts of farm animals as people on the street. You had to come to the market square early to get the fattest pigs, the freshest fish, and the juiciest fruit.

     The people who came to shop were housewives, slaves, and Pamunkey Indians. The housewives would come to buy groceries. Slaves came to shop for their masters. Sometimes a few Pamunkey Indians would show up with pottery to sell. Plenty of children of all ages would also come. At that time they hadn't invented baby carriages, so mothers could be seen balancing babies in their arms as they poked fruits and vegetables to see whether they were ripe. Kids usually helped their mothers shop or they would look after their younger brother or sister. Sadly black people were brought to Market Square to be sold at an auction.

     In colonial Williamsburg they used coins that were made by other countries. Most of them were Spanish silver. The value of coins were how much they weighed. Merchants weighed foreign coins to figure out their value in pence, shillings, and pounds. To make change they would cut up a coin. A pound was worth a lot of money. For many people it was a few weeks pay. You would be lucky if your parents gave you a few pence to spend at a market. you could buy a pencil for 3.25 pence for a pack of playing cards for 7.5 pence. The common way for a grown-up to make a big purchase is with a tobacco certificate. It was something like a check. But instead of getting money out of the bank you would get a certain amount of tobacco from a warehouse. You could've bought a horse, wagon, or even a whole set of furniture with that certificate. You could also trade instead of buying and trade a certain amount of stuff for a certain amount of whatever your trying to get.

    Baby boys and girls were dressed almost alike. They were dressed in a dress, a shift which was a nightgown, or a shirt. Parents tries to make babies stand straight when they are still a baby. When a boy was about 4 years old. They were breeched. That means they graduated from being a baby to becoming a boy. He would get his first pair of breeches, pants that came down just over the knees. In ways, the kid would look like a mini version of his dad. Rich people would wear breeches made from silk, satin, ot fine linen. You would probably wear breeches made of wool, cotton, or course linen if you were between rich and poor. Most men and boys didn't wear underpants. They would tuck the long tail of their shirts inside their breeches. Next came waistcoats and maybe a three corner hat. Neckties don's look the same as the ones today.

     Only a few mothers would still make clothes for their children. Your mother might of made your frocks and breeches. Then she would of probably remake it so it would fit your younger brother or sister. In the town you could buy clothes such as leather shoes. Fancy fabric shoes were called stuff. to get them you would have it imported from England.

     Right now you would probably have had your hair cut at home. But in the colonial times people still go to barber shops. Charlton House was one of Williamsburg's barber shops that was in operation around 1770. Edward Charlton advertise that he could give a man a shave and a hair cut or "dress" a lady's hair and sell her fake curls to add to her hairdo.

Bibliography

If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, Barbara Brenner

Links

Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.history.org/
See the Places
http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbhdr.cfm

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Please address your comments on this web page to:
David Leahy David_Leahy@beavton.k12.or.us
Copyright © 2002 Jacob Wismer Elementary School. All rights reserved.
Revised: 05/22/02