To Colonial America
Lifestyles of the Colonists
in Colonial America
By Erin
In colonial days, one would not learn how to do a job by going to school. He learned it by being an apprentice. To pay an apprentice, the master craftsman gave him clean clothes, a place to rest, and food. After learning the skill, an apprentice had to produce a final product. This product was called a “master-piece”, because it would be judged by the master. If it passed inspection, the apprentice became a “journeyman”. He would travel to different villages making and repairing things until he earned enough money to open his own shop.
digital picture taken by Ryan
In colonial times an apothecary often provided medical treatment, prescribed medicine, performed surgery, made house calls, and served as man-midwives. Some of the ingredients in colonial medicines are similar to what is used today. Chalk was used to treat heartburn, calamine helped skin irritations, and cinchona bark was used to cure fevers. Apothecaries also sold spices, candles, salad oil, toothbrushes, tobacco, and anchovies.
digital picture taken by Ryan
In colonial times, baskets were made of hickory, cedar, ash, and reeds. Colonists preferred white oak for its clear, perfect, straight grain. They saved the reddish heartwood fort he basket handles.
A blacksmith would use forges, anvils, hammers, tongs, vises, and files to make things from iron and steel. They would make household items such as kettles, iron rims for the wheelwright, barrel hoops for the cooper, and tools for farmers. Blacksmiths would also do repairs to wagons and other items.
digital picture taken by Mrs. Lix
A colonial brickmaker was usually an unskilled laborer, slave, or indentured or convict servant. A brickmaker could be a man, woman, or even a child. Brickmakers used their bare feet to squish water into clay. Then the clay and a wooden mold were dusted with sand to keep the clay from sticking to the mold. The clay was shaped into loaves, and sticks, leaves, and other items were removed from the loaf of clay. Then the loaf was put into the mold, and wooden stick was used to remove the excess clay. It was left for about a month to dry. After it was dried, it was put into a kiln over a fire. About 20,000 bricks would go into the kiln at a time. The brickmaker was at the kiln the whole time, to watch and add to the fire.
A colonial cabinetmaker made a variety of furniture, including several kinds of tables, desks, dressers, and china cabinets. The cabinetmaking business began to grow as the colonists’ wealth increased. The amount of fancy decoration on the furniture showed the social class of the customer and the importance of the occasion for which the furniture was used.
digital picture taken by Ryan
A carpenter was perhaps the most useful colonial tradesman. The carpenter used lots of different tools, including the saw, broad axe, hammer, awl, mallet, plane, scribe, drawknife, gimlet, and froe. With these tools carpenters made smokehouses, dairies, barns, and other out buildings from woods such as oak, juniper, poplar, yellow pine, cypress, locust, tulip, and chestnut. The carpenter’s tasks included laying floors, raising rafters, chiseling joints, framing walls, hanging doors, nailing weatherboard, and carving moldings.
digital picture taken by Ryan
A colonial cooper needed skills, intelligence, and strength. They made casks and containers of many specific sizes which included the barrel, firkin, kilderkin, hogshead, butt, tierce, puncheon, rundlet and pipe. They also made pails, churns, tubs, and dippers. These were made of cedar and pine, and were used to hold goods like flour, tobacco, and water. Coopers used broad axes, planes, drawknives, and other tools to make these items.
A colonial founder melted brass and bronze and poured them into molds to make things. These included andirons, bells, coach and harness fittings, shoe buckles, sword hilts, furniture hardware, and many other items. Founders had to cast, file, scrape, sand, polish, fit, and assemble parts.
To be a gunsmith in colonial times you had to have the talents of a blacksmith, whitesmith, founder, and wood worker. A finished gun required detail on iron and steel, decorative carves designs, and hammering brass, silver, and hard and soft metals into different shapes. To do this one would probably have been an apprentice for five to seven years. Gunsmiths would often repair axes, shoe buckles, bells, and other items.
A miller was a person who ground grain into flour using a mill powered by either a water wheel or a windmill. Two huge millstones were turned against each other. The grain was poured into an opening in the center of the stones, and as it was ground to a fine powder it poured out small grooves chiseled in the stone. People paid a miller by letting him keep some of the grain.
Usually, milliners in colonial times were women. Milliners would make things like shirts, shifts, aprons, neckerchiefs, caps, cloaks, hoods, hats, muffs, ruffles, and trim for gowns out of fabric that was sold in the shop. Milliners would also sometimes sell London’s latest jewelry, hosiery, and shoes. Milliners sewed and sold mantles, gloves, petticoats, hoops, riding costumes, and dresses for masquerades.
digital picture taken by Mrs. Lix
A colonial print shop took several different kinds of tradesmen to operate. A compositor arranged the letter stamps and put them in rows in wooden cases. A beater then spread the ink on the type. The pressman pulled a lever to squeeze the printed impression onto each sheet. For books, a binder stacked the sheets, pressed them close, and sewed them together with linen thread. Then a cover of leather was made and attached.
Colonial saddlers provided hunt saddles, position saddles, racing saddles, and sidesaddles. They also sold horse accessories, which included surcingles, harnesses, girths, bridles, sponges, brushes, and curry combs. Saddlers also needed skill at creative handiwork to decorate the saddles.
A colonial shoemaker made boots and shoes out of leather. Making boots was the most difficult and respected work. Usually a shoemaker made shoes either just for men, or just for women. A shoemaker tried to keep a variety of styles and sizes ready to sell. Other shoemakers traveled from town to town, receiving room and board for their services.
digital picture taken by Ryan
A silversmith in colonial days used molds, hammers, anvils, and other tools to form hot silver into things like bowls, cups, pitchers, pots, pans, and utensils. A silversmith would need to be artistic to add style to things like coffeepots. The silver would be polished with various kinds of stone and cloth.
tin punch created by Sarah
digital picture taken by Sarah
A wheelwright in colonial days needs skills like a blacksmith and a carpenter. The wheels were made of wood and had an iron ring around them. They made wheels for carriages, wagons, and riding chairs.
digital picture taken by Ryan
A wigmaker in colonial times would provide wigs made of horse, yak, goat, and human hair. For formal events, wigs and hair were powdered. The wigs were worn by the gentry and businessmen. Their hairstyle was as important to their dress as their clothes.
digital picture taken by Mrs. Fugh