USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > The history of Salem, Massachusetts, vol 1, 1924 > Part 36
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LIFE IN THE COLONY.
NTIL time allowed for the preparation of some kind of shelter, the vessels in which the early settlers came must have continued to be their abode, except for a few of the later immigrants who were without doubt taken into the cabins of their predecessors. A space of ground had to be cleared, and without delay logs felled, out of which a house of the rudest sort was constructed. If there were other hands to assist so much the better, but generally each man had all he could do to prepare a home for his own wife and children. Probably none of the earliest ordinary houses was more than one story in height, or contained more than one room; the upper part being an attic room open to the pitch roof of thatch, grass or bark, and reached by a movable ladder. A large chimney of stones was built on the outside at one end of the house, the lower portion forming a huge fireplace. The upper part of the chimney was often of wood. The windows were little more than holes a foot or two square, and the door was of plank hewn from the log. At first the ordinary log house had no cellar.
As ballast, ten thousand bricks and two loads of chalk were sent to Naumkeag in 1628. There were also sent a large quantity of nails, a barrel of red lead for painting, a ton of iron and two fagots of steel for the blacksmith to make into hinges, hasps, nails, etc. These various materials were worked into the early houses here. The imported bricks were used for hearths only. In the summer of 1629, a kiln for the burning of bricks and tiles was built by Thomas Trusler1 at what is now estate numbered four
1Thomas Trusler lived on the westerly side of Beckford Street. He was in Salem in 1638, and probably came in 1629. In 1649, he was excused from training on account of his age. He married Eleanor, widow of Phelps. She may have been a Moulton, as he speaks of "father Moulton." He had a daughter in England in 1654. He died March 5, 1653-4; and she died before June, in the spring of 1655.
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hundred and twenty-four Essex Street, as brick clay was found there in quantity. He con- tinued the business at that Cho: Crafter place until his death, which occurred in 1654. This is lot numbered I on plan of the layout of the town in 1629 at page 313. It was this kiln to which Rev. Francis Higginson referred in his New Englands Plantation, in 1629, when he wrote: "At this inftant we are fetting a Brick Kill on worke to make Brickes and Tyles for the building of our Houfes." For more than a century this lot was known as "Brick kiln field," and after Boston Street was laid out (in 1640) and the ancient road came into disuse (in 1666), this part of Essex Street was called "Brick kiln lane." After the manufacture of bricks was begun here, there were few, if any, importations of bricks and tiles from England.
The furnishings of the dwellings were at first primitive, but through the inventiveness and skill of the settlers and the speedy importations of necessary articles from Europe they soon im- proved. The clay floor of the first cabins was ornamented and more or less covered by carpets-some of which, according to the records, were striped; and within a decade Turkey carpets were to be found in some of the houses. There were red and green rugs and a white coarse rug, besides mats.
The family and guests slept in a row on the floor. If privacy were desired, blankets or sheets were hung to divide the room into compartments. Corded bedsteads were soon made, however, and the use of the trundle bed for the children gave more room, since it was pushed under the bed during the day. Upon the tightly-stretched cords of the bedstead was placed the canvas bed- tick, which was filled with feathers or straw and sometimes with flock (coarse wool waste), and on the bed were sheets of fine or coarse canvas, linen or Holland. Blankets were common and generally white, but coverlets were often mixed in color. Quilts must have been rare, as only one is mentioned in the inventories of the estates of Salem people before 1650. Bolster ticks were filled with flock or feathers, and sometimes enclosed in cases. Pillows were filled with feathers. Pillow beers (cases) were made generally of flax, but sometimes of Scotch cloth, and ornamented with tassels. The best bed was often made with a frame above it, from which curtains were suspended. A ruffled valance was also hung around the bed. These were often made of green say material. Warming pans were used commonly to warm the chilly linen sheets upon retiring, and so are properly mentioned in connection with bed articles.
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The original table was simply a wide thick board, fastened at one side to the wall of the house near the fireplace by hinges, so that when not in use, it could be let down against the wall out of the way. Ordinary tables, sometimes circular in form, were soon made, however, and became common. The better ones were cov- ered with a "board cloth" of flax, which before long came to be known as a table cloth. The linen for the table was at first called board linen. The family linen generally included napkins of lockram, linen and diaper cloth, and sometimes of Holland. Oc- casionally, they were fringed or embroidered. Towels were generally of tow and sometimes ornamented by handwork.
Tapestry coverings were rarely found, but cushions were common. A great cushion wrought with worsted is early men- tioned. Cupboard cloths and cupboard cushions are early and frequently men - tioned. In the in- ventory of the estate of William Clarke of Salem, in 1647, are named a sempiternum (ever- lasting or perpet- ual "cubbard cloth" with silk fringe, and two "cubbard cush- ions," one of dam- ask and the other of needle work.
Chairs were scarce, and stools TRASK CHEST. and plank seats, called forms, served for seats until better means could be provided. Settles soon came into use. Looking glasses were rare indeed.
Trunks were common, and there was one piece of furniture, the chest, which was brought to America by each family, serving as a receptacle for small belongings on the ship. These chests continued to be very useful in the houses in the new land. Some were beautifully wainscotted and made of English black oak, but most of them were plain. After three centuries, some of these ancient chests are in use and treasured in the homes of descendants of the first settlers. Two of these which are extant to-day were without doubt brought over by Capt. William Trask who came with Endecott in 1628. One of them remained on the old home- stead, in Salem, until 1870, when it was taken to Boston, where it is now in the possession of the Museum of Fine Arts.
PUTNAM SIDEBOARD.
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OSBORN CHEST.
The other remains in the neighborhood in which Captain Trask lived, and is in the possession of Lyman P. Osborn of Peabody. The ancient sideboard which is said to have been brought to Salem from England by John Putnam about 1638, descended to Mrs. Harriet Fowler of Danvers, and from her to her daughter Harriet Putnam Fowler who gave it to the Essex Institute, at Salem, which has possessed it for more than a score of years. The ancient cradle used in the family of Jef- frey Massey in Salem is now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Boston, hav- ing been given to it in 1799 by the Massey family. It measures three feet in length and one foot in width at the bottom, and is MASSEY CRADLE. made of oak. It is now in a dilapidated condition.
In the fireplace, a fire of logs, laid upon stones, until andirons or iron firedogs were brought over, warmed the room and cooked the food. Sea coal and charcoal, also, were used somewhat. Starting a fire was not always easy. The flint and steel, tinder box and light kindling were all necessary; and often a long and ag-
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gravating operation was the cost of the fire. Accompanying the fireplace were tongs, shovel and bellows.
For light, other than that obtained from the hearth fire, the first settlers learned from the Indians to use pine tree splints, made of short sections of pine cloven into thin slices. The pitch in them burned like a torch. Tallow candles were lit- tle used, except by the wealthier people, until beef tallow became common. Then, of course, candlesticks also increased in number ; these were frequently made of brass. There were here very early, too, pewter and brass lamps, in which grease was probably burned. The CANDLE STICK. ancient perforated tin lantern is still sometimes seen.
Suspended upon a spit and turned by hand be- fore the hearth fire, were roasted fish and venison and other meats. The jack, a mechanical contriv- ance for constant turning of the meat, was occasion- ally found in Salem. The coarse bread was baked upon some flat surface as of a piece of plank, slanted toward the fire. Some of the immigrants brought great and small pots and kettles of iron, copper or LANTERN. brass with them; and suspending them over the fire in the fireplace, on pot hangers or hooks, boiled therein their meat, fish, lobsters, oysters, clams, green and dry corn, beans and peas, turnips, parsnips, carrots and pumpkins, or made their hasty pud- ding or other mush, pea or bean porridge, soup or broth from salt beef and pork mixed with corn meal, or brewed beer for a bever- age, when they desired something stronger than water.
Baking was done in an oven of stone, later of brick, built into the house beside the fireplace. Sometimes, probably at the very first, the oven was made of stone in the ground near the house. In either case, a fire was built in the oven, and when the stones were sufficiently heated, the remains of the fire were removed, and the prepared food placed therein, to remain for some twenty hours, until it had become thoroughly cooked. This slow process gave a flavor to the food which is unequalled by any other method of cooking, ancient or modern. In this manner the Indian pudding, or English plum pudding, and brown bread, pandowdy and beans were baked. When the oven was built by the side of the chimney and was large, the earthen pots were carried to or drawn from their place in the oven by a long-handled flat iron shovel called a peel. It was so thin and flat that it could be quickly pushed under the pots, or jerked away without disturbing their equilibrium.
In one of the early families in Salem was a great pewter pot ; in another, a chafing dish ; in another, a jug pot; and in another,
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a double saltcellar. Earthen pots and pans and other earthenware were early made here; and China dishes soon reached the houses of the settlers. The kneading trough was an important utensil, and so were the mortar and pestle, which were sometimes of brass. Bowls, mugs and wooden, iron and silver spoons and the child's porringer, for use in eating soups, broths, oatmeal and other kinds
PEWTER PORRINGER.
of porridge, were common. The pewter porringer and its cover shown herewith, reduced to one-fourth its size, is in the possession of the Essex Institute, at Salem. It is said to have belonged to Henry Herrick, the immigrant, who came in 1629. Saucers were rare. There were pewter plates and platters. Upon wooden plates or trenchers, solid food was cut with a knife. There were no forks. Wooden plates were easily made from a pine log cut into sections ten or twelve inches long, and split into slices about an inch thick. These were left square, generally, though they were sometimes rounded, and frequently were slightly hollowed. Other dishes and platters were sometimes made similarly. The frying pan, brass pan, baking iron, brass or iron skillet, gridiron, dripping pan, skimmer and sieve were in most of the kitchens ; and the cooper soon furnished tubs, pails, buckets, kegs, barrels, rundlets and hogsheads. Flagons and silver beakers were in the possession of the wealthier families. Drinking horns were used in the house of Rev. Mr. Skelton, and probably they were not uncommon.
Within the house, the wife did what she could with the means at hand to properly prepare and conduct her household ; and, with- out, the husband gave his attention to other things. A shelter had to be secured for the domestic animals, as cows, oxen, horses, sheep, swine, goats and hens, which he had brought with him or
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had obtained after his arrival.1 The house, barn and other shelter had to be as strong as possible for protection from the bear, wolf and fox. Some of the planters called their cows by pet names, which indicates the individual interest shown in them ; John Balch had two cows which he called Reddie and Cherrie.
If a good spring were conveniently near, water for culinary and other household purposes and for the cattle could be obtained from that source most easily ; but, unless houses were located near such a supply, wells had to be dug. From wells, water was drawn by a bucket attached to a pole or chain.
Each settler made a clearing in which to erect a house and other buildings and to plant his seed. The mattock and spade were the principal implements for preparation of the ground after the trees had been felled and burned. The wooden plow and harrow were soon made and used, however. Fences had to be built around buildings, and sometimes a garden.
Other tools of the settler consisted of broad and narrow hoes, broad and felling axes, hatchets, thwart, hand and whip saws, stone and ordinary hammers, planes, shovels, reaping hooks, scythes, rakes, pickaxes, augers, spoke shaves, chisels, wrenches, piercers, drills, punches, files, trowels, frows,2 hand bills, beetles and wedges.
Associated with the dairy were milk pans, cheese press and churn.
Vehicles were rare. The rivers and bay were the first thoroughfares, and they were traversed by canoe, dugout and boat. On land, people ordinarily traveled on horseback, mother and child sometimes riding upon a pillion behind the father, who was in the saddle. Two-wheeled carts were the first wheel vehicles for both traveling and field work. The tip-cart, or tum- brill, which it was originally called, and hand carts were the first vehicles used on the farm. In winter, when the snow lay upon the ground, sleds were used for traveling and for hauling loads. These were large and clumsy, but good to pave the snow and make smooth roads.
To a limited extent clothing had been brought with the im- migrants, but soon new articles were needed. These supplies were
1In the winter of 1628-9, the Company made an agreement with the Ply- mouth people that the latter would furnish the settlers at Naumkeag six sows with pig.
The Company sent over in the ships, in 1629, forty-two goats, which they had bought; and, at the same time, the Company and Mr. Cradock shipped a number of horses, mares, cows and bulls.
2A frow was a cleaving tool having a wedge-shaped blade, with a short handle set at right angles to the length of the blade, and used in splitting laths and staves for casks and pails. It was driven by a mallet.
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slow in coming and patched clothes became common. An argu- ment that afforded some consolation in the winter time found expression in this line :-
Patched clothes are warmer than single whole clothing.
The attire worn every day by both sexes was plain and simple, but at other times was remarkably bright and attractive. The people liked pretty things, and, although they made their own clothing of the few and unsatisfactory materials they could obtain, they used various dyes to make it showy. From the Indians they learned of roots and berries that would produce holiday colors, and Governor Endecott introduced the troublesome woodwax for a similar purpose. There was also the indigo plant. Ornaments and jewelry were not common ; and all superfluities were for some years necessarily absent.
The wool for their clothing came from their own sheep. This they spun upon the woolen wheel. Cotton was early obtained, and that was spun upon the cotton wheel. They raised their own flax for their linen. This had to be broken by a flax brake, and the woody stalk cleared from the fibre by a swingle knife and hatchel, through which it was pulled. Then it was carded, that is, combed. This produced tow, which had to be spun upon the spinning wheel. The loom, for FLAX BRAKE. weaving, was not very common in the earlier days. It was very large and required much room, and was made at considerable expense and good workmanship. Weaving also required more skill than spinning.
The man wore a loose-fitting coat, called a doublet, which reached a litttle below the hips, and was so called because it lay in folds over the larger part of the body of the person. Beneath the doublet was worn a long full waistcoat. Trousers were large and extended to just below the knee, and held by cords or garters. About the neck a broad white collar, called a falling band, was worn. It was sometimes prepared with wire and stiffened with starch that it might stand out horizontally ; and was usually held by a cord and tassel at the neck. A great cloak added warmth in winter. The hat had a narrow brim and a conical crown.
A proper outfit for a man as an emigrant to New England consisted of three suits, one of a sort of canvas, one of frieze, and the other of cloth, three shirts, a waistcoat, three pairs of stock-
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ings, four pairs of shoes, three falling bands and a Monmouth cap.1 Some of the clothing was of cloth and some of leather.
A large amount of clothing was provided by the Company for the men who were sent to Naumkeag. There were four hundred shirts, four hundred pairs of shoes,2 three hundred pairs of stock- ings, two hundred of which were of Irish make and one hundred knit, ten dozen Norwich garters, one hundred suits of doublets and hose3 of leather, lined with oiled skin leather, the hose and doublets made with hooks and eyes, one hundred suits of Nord- hausen or Hampshire kersey, the hose lined with skins and the doublets with linen, and other suits of Guildford or Gedleyman kersey, four hundred plain bands, one hundred of which were falling bands, one hundred green cotton waistcoats, bound with red tape, one hundred leather girdles,4 one hundred mandilions," lined with white cotton, one hundred leather suits of doublets and breeches of oiled leather, one hundred pairs of breeches of leather to wear with either of the other suits, one hundred Monmouth caps, five hundred red knit millede caps, one hundred black hats, lined in front with leather, two hundred dozen hooks and eyes and small hooks and eyes for mandilions, sixteen dozen gloves, twelve of calfskin, two of sheep and two of kid. There were also sent linen for handkerchiefs, a bale of French cloth and linen and woolen cloth.
Materials for clothing and other supplies here in the earliest days were English jean, red perpetuance, lawn, say, kersey of various colors, coarse Holland, lockram, linsey-woolsey, cotton cloth, broadcloth, trucking cloth, buckram, striped calico, Norwich serge, Dutch serge, stuff, white flannel, baize, cambric and fustian.
The dress of the women was in general much the same as it has been ever since that time. The earliest gowns here were blue, cheny, black grogram, sad colored kersey, mixed color cloth, russet cloth and purple cloth and lined with green say. Under the skirt was worn a stuff or green kersey petticoat, although sometimes blue, red or purple in color ; and one is mentioned as having three laces about it. Another petticoat is described as a
1Monmouths caps were so called from the place where they were made, and were worth about five times as much as those that were knit.
2These were made of cow-hide, seamed and with inner and outer soles. They were made by John Hewson, John Wise, Mr. Dunbridge and Robert Hanet, shoemakers, in London, by the Company's order.
3Coverings for the legs.
*Girdles were worn to hold the doublets close to the body, probably at first.
"These were short loose wraps, resembling long capes. The name was derived from the Italian outside loose garment.
6Milled caps were knit from double-twisted yarn, and were, of course, thicker and warmer than those knit from a single thread.
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stamill kersey mitred about the skirt with velvet. Over the waist was worn a waistcoat, made of serge, cotton, cotton shag or Hol- land ; white, red, black or purple, in color ; and sometimes trimmed with lace. Aprons were common, being white, blue, green, russet or tawny in color, and made of shag, calico, say, linsey-woolsey and Holland and fleecy Holland. They were sometimes trimmed with lace.
Cloaks and girdles were worn, some of the latter being made of silk and embroidered. There were whalebone bodices, stock- ings knit or made of cloth, boots sometimes russet in color, stomachers of white stuff and occasionally wrought, neck cloths and handkerchiefs bordered with lace and mittens or gloves of cotton or white knit thread. A headdress, called a coif, was worn, being cutworked or bordered with lace, white or black in color and made of grogram, stuff or Holland. Caps or hoods were also known as coifs, and were made of kersey, sometimes red in color.
The supplies of the household were not confined to the meat, fish and vegetables already mentioned. Many of the families had powdered and loaf sugar, and spices, as pepper, ginger, clove, mace, cinnamon and nutmeg. Some of their butter and Holland and other kinds of cheese was imported, and some they made. They brought bacon with them, but afterward cured their own. They dried herring and other fish. Vinegar and Gallipoly, May- orke and salad oil they brought with them. White salt was im- ported, and also found evaporated from the sea water upon the rocks. Materials for soap, ashes and saltpetre were found in abundance, thus making further importation of soap unnecessary.
Growing in the grass were strawberries, pennyroyal, winter savory, sorrel, brooklime, liverwort, carvel and water cresses. Leeks and onions were common. Various fruits, as mulberries, plums, raspberries, currants, hurtleberries and hawes of white thorn, and nuts, chestnuts, filberts, walnuts and several small varieties were common. Raisins and prunes were imported.
There were excellent vines in the woods, and Captain En- decott planted a vineyard as well as apple and pear trees im- mediately upon his arrival at Naumkeag. The Company sent over Malaga, Canary and Spanish wines ; and other drinks were aquivitæ (brandy) and a drink made of honey and water, fermented with yeast, called metheglen.
The environment was delightful during the summer season, especially, and in the autumn the New England foliage was a happy surprise. In the woods and clearings were abundant sweet plants and flowers, especially sweet damask roses. Undoubtedly roots and seeds of flowering shrubs and flowers from the English gardens were soon planted around the cabins.
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The Company sent over plenty of field seeds for planting, so that the settlers had no lack of several kinds of seed when the ground was ready to be planted. There were a hogshead each of wheat, rye, barley, oats, beans and peas. There were also sent stones of peaches, plums, and cherries, pear and apple seeds, filberts, quince kernels and pomegranates, saffron heads, mustard and liquorice seed, madder roots and seed, sweet potatoes, hop roots, flax seed and currant plants. A native hemp was found fit for making cordage and cloth, but the Company also sent over seed of their cultivated hemp for planting.
The seed brought in the several vessels in 1629 arrived rather late for planting, yet much of it came to fruition, growing quickly in the sheltered clearings. Maize was the most important crop for the sustenance of the people. The old planters and the Indians had plenty of it for seed, and also seeds of pumpkins, peas, beans and other vegetables. Seeds of fruit trees were planted, and orchards of apple, pear, plum and peach were soon growing. Those were busy days. The people had no intention of making the settlement a camp simply,- their whole attitude was that of builders of a permanent abode for themselves and their posterity.
Several kinds of business were being carried on among these husbandmen. Trade was transacted with the Indians for furs of beaver, otter and other animals. Shipbuilding was one of the very first enterprises, because of its necessity. Vessels furnished not only the means of communication between the continents, but along the coast, in the bays and on the rivers. Boats and canoes were the vehicles prior to the existence of roads, and were easily propelled. In April, 1629, the Company sent to Salem six ship- wrights, Robert Moulton being the head one. Pitch, tar, resin, oakum, cordage and sailcloth were sent over in the summer of 1629, in charge of George Farr.
Most of the settlers had their own nets or seines, hooks and lines for their private use, but fishing was also carried on as a business. In the summer of 1629, Governor Endecott was re- quested to secure shallops for the use of the six fishermen who were sent over from Dorchester and three others who were to be sent later and some of the ship's company, to salt the fish, pack it in hogsheads or otherwise and send it to England in the ships Lion's Whelp and Talbot, in each of which had been sent over five weigh of salt. There had also arrived in the ship Mayflower eleven weigh of salt, Four Sisters, fifteen, and Pilgrim, three, with seines, lines, hooks, knives, boots and barrels, necessary for fishing in the harbor or upon the banks.
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