�������������������� �����������Thomas Arvin��������������������
���������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������Part 1 � Colonial Times���
���������������������������� �����������The
tenants on Lord Baltimore�s manors were fortunate to have secure
���������������������������� �����������tenures and low annual rents....But their
life was still exceedingly
��������������������������� ������������difficult...and [they] could do little to
improve their situation or to ensure
���������������������������� �����������something better for their family.������������������ �Gregory A. Stiverson
���������������������������� ������������Poverty in a Land of Plenty, Tenancy in
Eighteenth-Century
���� Thomas Arvin was born in the
The Family Name
Arvin was not Thomas�s traditional family name. It was a shortened, English-sounding version of his Gaelic family name. Most Irish names had by this time become, of necessity, altered to suit the English ear. The Dictionary of American Family Names states that Arvin is �Probably a variant of the Irish �Irvin,�� which in turn is said to be �Irish: reduced Anglicized
form of Gaelic �h�ireamhon, �son of � h�ireamh�in,�
a personal name of uncertain origin.�2 This alteration might have taken place gradually over several generations, but more likely it happened abruptly in a specific circumstance, such as when it was required by an English-speaking landlord or tenement steward. Perhaps it was even Thomas�s grandfather and father who had decided to allow the family name to become simply Arvin, at least for purposes of dealing with the ruling class, �the Ascendancy.� � h�ireamh�n [oh AY-ra-vohn] means literally �of the descendants of �ireamhon.� It had been drawn from Irish mythology, derived from �rem�n
As a boy Thomas may have learned some English, but Irish was the primary language of most of rural Ireland at this time. �English being taught at all the schools, it is understood by most of the younger part of the lower classes; but there are many persons, and particularly women, in the hilly districts, who cannot speak a word of English....The common people seldom speak any other language [than Irish] among themselves....The priests often preach alternately in Irish and English; but always in Irish, if they are desirous to be well understood.�4
��� The vast majority of Ireland was
agricultural, and Thomas probably grew up in grinding poverty on the small
acreage which his family
farmed. They were probably barely able to pay the rent on their place. As
Thomas grew to his majority, he came to realize that there were simply no
opportunities for him in
���� A great famine�An Gorta M�r�gripped
��� So Tom�s � h�ireamh�n, spurred by extreme poverty
in his homeland, decided to go into white servitude in order to get to
��
Indenture
������� The usual way for a
poor man in the British Isles or the European continent to get to the colonies
in
���� Every year, thousands of
servants came to
���� �Scotch-Irish and Irish
started coming in large numbers in the 1720�s, and they furnished by far the
largest percentage of...servants...in that century....Estimates indicate that
not less than 50 per cent and not more than 66 per cent of all white immigrants
belonged to th[is] group. They were to be found in
every colony, but the smallest number was in New England, and the largest in
���� �The economic importance
of the servant in developing the resources of the colonies, especially the
middle colonies, can hardly be overestimated. All the provinces were essentially
agricultural, but the large tobacco plantations of
���� Specifically, here is the
way indentured servitude worked in Ireland: �The second party to an indenture
was usually the captain of the vessel in which the servant sailed: this
facilitated the taking out of indentures in Ireland and their sale in America
though, in effect, the captain�s role was that of an agent for his owners or
for merchants in Ireland or America. Servants had to appear before a magistrate
to be indentured before embarkation. Not only had indentures to be signed with
the formality required by the law, but such appearance was necessary under
statutes relating to apprentices and minors. Though no reference to the
procedure of indenting servants appeared in the Belfast News Letter, such references were common in advertisements
in the newspapers of the south of Ireland....Intending applicants for passage
were warned that no servants or apprentices would be taken without proper
discharge from their last employers or without the consent of their parents or
relations or their husband or wives. The examining and indenting of the
servants was to take place in public before the lord mayor of
���� �It was customary for
servants to receive some clothing after their indentures had been signed. Such
promises as �servants will be completely outfitted and clothed� were often
included in shipping advertisements....Intending emigrants were warned that
servants were bound for a period of years to an imperious landowner whose only
object was to �derive a profit from their misfortune, and to aggrandise himself at the expense of industry in distress.
The lot of the servant was compared unfavourably with
that of the convict or negro....Judged by modern standards, the bartering of a
transatlantic passage for years of servitude is reprehensible, but such
servitude was the foundation on which many who endured it built a more
successful life than would have been possible in
���� �It is
plain that the servant himself was grievously exploited, for he was generally
not sold for the cost of his passage, as is often stated, but for a
considerably higher figure. If he could have begged or borrowed five pounds, he
might have paid his own passage to the plantations and then, if he desired,
have sold himself into servitude, keeping the profit for himself. Few servants
could raise the money, and few who could do so cared to spend it in emigrating,
for the real stimulus to emigration was not the desire of servants to go to
America but the desire of merchants to secure them as cargo....a merchant who
spent four to ten pounds getting a servant to America could count on selling
him for from six to perhaps thirty pounds. This was a comfortable profit,
despite the large risks that sickness and death might scale down the value of
the cargo, but it was not exorbitant, for the time involved in these
transactions was long and the total value of any shipload not great.�19�
����� Most likely Thomas left his homeland from the port of Dublin, but New Ross in County Wexford is also a possibility. Even smaller ports
and the larger creeks could accommodate a transatlantic sailing ship.
�Anyone who chartered a vessel and sent forth a venture had full right and opportunity
to collect as many passengers as he could. Servants sailed from every important
port in the British Isles, but by far the greatest number came from
���� No matter where Thomas
left from, it is easy to imagine a tearful scene of goodbye as he bravely left
his family and his homeland, never to be seen again. He probably had no
possessions other than the clothes on his back and a canvas travel bag. His parents
caught a glimpse of him as he boarded the ship. A brief look back, then he was
gone below decks and gone from them forever.
Passage to the
���� The transatlantic passage
itself was very dangerous and exhausting. �A speedy passage was ardently hoped
for by all emigrants and was as ardently promised by the agents of all vessels.
As the voyage lengthened, rations were reduced, adding to the dangers and
discomforts that all emigrants had to face. The average duration of the
transatlantic voyage remained fairly constant in the eighteenth century�.Given favourable conditions, the voyage lasted for eight to ten
weeks�.The stay on the emigrant vessel sometimes did not stop with the entry
into an American port. Any vessel on which fever had broken out during the
voyage had to ride in quarantine until the danger of infection had passed....
���� �All vessels that
advertised passages from the north of
�
�������������������������������
These are to certify to all people that choose to take their passages
on
������������������������������� board Britannia�.the following allowance of
provisions and
������������������������������� water will be,
per week, faithfully given to each passenger viz. Six
������������������������������� pounds of good
beef (which was put on board said ship at
������������������������� ������six pounds of good ship bread (brought
from
������������������������������� Ship) or six
pounds of good oatmeal, as the passengers may choose
������������������������������� to take; one
pound of butter, or a pint of treacle or molasses, and
������������������������������� fourteen quarts
of water.
���� �Provision other
than meat and breadstuffs were carried...potatoes��large, not washed, but dried
in the sun and not cut in the digging��and rum which was sold on board many
emigrant vessels in the �seventies at 3s 9�d per gallon.�21� We
shall see later that Thomas Arvin pays about this same price for rum purchased
at a store in
���� �Emigrants were never fed
on a princely scale during the voyage but actual starvation was the lot of but
a few who sailed from the north of Ireland to colonial America�.starvation and
thirst were usually due to calms and westerly gales�.Port-holes to provide
ventilation and light in the often overcrowded space between decks were usually
non-existent in emigrant vessels of the period�.Not only did emigrants sleep
between decks: there they ate and washed in bad weather, sang and wept, chafed
under and obeyed the petty tyrants in their midst, and rejoiced for the
newly-born and mourned for the dead.�22
���� �The mortality rate during
the voyage was often high and the selling price of the indentures of the
servants who remained was often reduced by disease. A glut of servants
naturally reduced the value of indentures during years when emigration trade
was busiest�.�23
Convicts
���� Mixed in with the
indentured servants who came to
���� �
������� One such convict was a
James Arwin(sic), of Rotherhithe (a town near London), who was �sentenced to transportation� to
����� �...it is evident that
felons were reprieved and transported from
���� Although
���� �The most famous comment
on the problem was [Benjamin] Franklin�s proposal�published after a crime wave,
perpetrated in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania chiefly by convict
servants, was luridly reported in the press�that the colonies should be
authorized to �transport� their rattlesnakes to Britain in exchange for �the
human serpents� sent us by their
�mother country.��29������
���� We cannot dismiss the
possibility that Thomas was a transported convict, since we have no real
evidence of the circumstances of his departure. However, judging from the life
he was to lead, it seems improbable that he ever committed a serious crime.
Quite the contrary, Thomas would prove himself a very capable and ambitious
servant, and later a faithful husband and the father of a large family.��
���
Arrival in
�
���� Thomas may have arrived in
the
���� Although Thomas Arvin
could have been delivered to any number of small towns anywhere along the
Chesapeake Bay or along the Potomac and its tributaries, the capitol city of
���� �As the servant ship approached the shores
of America its cargo received what furbishing up was possible; faces were
washed, hair cuts administered, and perhaps clothes put in slightly better
condition. A clean list was made of the names and accomplishments of surviving
passengers, and perhaps also the equipment with which they were furnished.
Sometimes a little fraud was practiced; convicts were adorned with wigs to
increase their respectability, and fictitious handicrafts were credited to some
of the cargo. Usually the captains of ships made contact with their owners�
representatives on shore, and entrusted to them the selling of servants, but
this was by no means necessary.
���� �In later days a merchant might insert
into the local newspaper an advertisement of his wares, giving more or less
information about the kinds and qualities of servants available, and announcing
the date for the commencement of sales. This practice was common, but by no
means universal, and most shiploads were disposed of without any such
assistance. Upon the appointed day buyers came aboard the ship. The servants
were produced from their quarters; the prospective purchasers walked them up
and down, felt of their muscles, judged their states of health and morality,
conversed with them to discover their degrees of intelligence and docility, and
finally, if satisfied, bought them and carried them off home. The whole scene
bore resemblance to a cattle market; a number of servants afterwards compared
themselves to horses displayed for sale. Towards the end of the colonial period
�soul-drivers� took over part of the trade, coming on board ship and buying
considerable groups of servants, then driving them through the country �like a
parcel of Sheep,� and selling them here and there to the best advantage.�
���� �However distressing to the dignity of men
the purchase of servants may have been it was nevertheless the accustomed
thing, and they had no particular reason to resent it...�33
���� ��As nearly all indentures
were negotiable they were regularly disposed of at auction or private sale. The
following is an example of the notices which appeared in the papers whenever a
servant ship appeared in port:
�������������������������������������������������������������������
Just Arrived
����������������������������������������� In
the ship
�������������������������������������������� �������
�����������������������������������������������������������������
Men �Servants
����������������������������������������� Whose
Indentures will be disposed of on reasonable
������������������������������������ ��������������Terms, by the Captain on board,
or the sub-
�������������������������������������������������������������
scribers� .� .� .�� etc.
����
���� �The price
received for servants varied according to their skill, age and other personal
qualities, but the average price for adults seems to have been about ₤15
to ₤20.�34
���� �Scottish
servants were esteemed the best and Irish Catholics the worst. Scotch-Irish
were much more highly esteemed...The
average selling price of a male servant indentured for four years was about ₤12 in the middle of the century and rather less
for a female servant. The price was probably less in the southern colonies
because of the relative cheapness of slaves. As the expense of clothing and
indenting a servant amounted to a maximum of ₤2, a gross profit of ₤10 was made, at least twice the passage money
for a paying passenger.�35��
Philip Key
������� It seems most likely that Thomas�s
indenture would have been purchased by a planter living in the established
tobacco growing regions of
����� Philip Key, born in
��� Mr. Key had several properties scattered
throughout the province and doubtless needed much help: slaves, indentured
servants and overseers. Mr. Key �lived in great elegance at Bushwood
Lodge,� an early colonial plantation in St. Mary�s County that had once been
part of St. Clements Manor. It was the dowry of his wife Susannah nee Gardiner.
This was part of the very same manor that had originally been patented by Dr.
Thomas Gerrard, one of the first �churgeons�
of
���� Mr. Key was quite successful, perhaps in
part because he was an �enlightened� master. As an example of his thinking,
consider this advertisement he ran in the 1 November 1745 edition of The Maryland
Gazette and the 7 November 1745 edition of The
���������������������������������������� WHereas Negro Joe,
who formerly lived with Samuel
���������������������������������������������
Ogle, Esq; when Governor of
���������������������������������������� about
13 Months ago ran away from the Subscriber (who was
���������������������������������������� then
at
���������������������������������������� the
Privateers belonging to
����������������������������������������
thither.
����������������������������������������������
These are to desire any person who can apprehend the said
��������������������������������������
��Negro, so as he may be had
again, so to do; for which on ac-
���������������������������������������� quainting me therewith, they shall be rewarded with the Sum
���������������������������������������� of
Five Pounds Current Money.� Or if the
said Negro will re-
���������������������������������������� turn
to me at my House in St. Mary�s County
, he shall be
���������������������������������������� kindly
received, and escape all Punishments for his Offence.
��������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������Philip Key.
Good Fortune
���� If Philip Key did indeed purchase Thomas�s
indenture and become his master, it may have been one of the most fortunate
circumstances that could have befallen the new arrival�at a time when he needed
fortunate circumstances the most. For, as a new arrival in the
���� �Despite the benevolent
eye of the colonial authorities, the life of the indentured servant was not an
easy one nor was it free from exploitation at the hands of his master. The lot
of the servant, especially in
���� �[The servant�s]
social position, which for many years differed little from that of the freemen
of the time, [had] gradually deteriorated with the increase of convicts and the
growth of slavery. [They] labored side by side, the servant for a term of
years, the slave for life, and the tendency was for many masters to treat them
all alike.�40
���� �The status of an indentured servant was
that of chattel of the master, protected by the terms of his indenture, the
�custom of the country,� and the right of appeal and complaint to a county
court or to the magistrates of the locality. He, or rather his service as
expressed in the indenture, could be bought and sold freely�.He could be
alienated temporarily by his master so that his services might pay off a debt,
or he could be taken by the sheriff for the satisfaction of his master�s debts.
He could be disposed of by will; his own freedom might be left him as well. He
might be won or lost in a card game. A servant was subject to corporal
punishment for various offenses....
���� �A servant could not marry without the
consent of his master. He could not vote. He could hold property, but must not
engage in trade....if he earned money in his spare time it must be given to the
master. If he ran away, he was brought back under the auspices of rigorous laws
and suffered heavy penalties. Although the point was not often discussed, the
colonists felt that masters had property in the labor of their servants, and
that the master�s rights were thus property rights,�a theory which became
important only when the king�s officers took to enlisting colonial servants in
the royal army.
���� �Whether property or not, indentured
servants were Christian and they were white, and hence they were protected
against arbitrary and unnatural cruelties, as well as against insufficient
maintenance and other injustices, by the right of complaining to the
magistrates.� [These rights] indicate
plainly the great difference in status between an indentured servant and a slave.�41�����������
����� �Servants commonly lived in huts or
cabins which they built for themselves; apparently they never lived with the
Negroes, though the two worked side by side in the fields....Trees had to be
felled, trimmed, and dragged away. Brush had to be cleared, and the soil had to
be turned for the first time without benefit of good plows and sometimes even
without draft animals....It is plain that work in the fields was required of all
servants. This is what they were primarily wanted for....�42
����� �Various types of servants can be
distinguished�.Rarely was any criticism leveled against the Scots�.Irish were
the least favored, and some colonies taxed or even forbade their importation.
This was partly because of their religion, which was held to be
politically dangerous, but mainly because of their tendency to be idle and to
run away. Jefferson wrote that many of them were �good for nothing but
mischief�; we read that they �straggled� in Bermuda, that they rioted in
Barbados, that they would never settle down to an obedient servitude,
satisfactory to their masters. Welsh were highly esteemed. Germans came in for
little criticism....�43
���� �The willingness of merchants to recruit
and finance potential servants, and the willingness of planters to purchase
them, was tempered by the risk of losing them to illness, death, or running
away.�44� In his book, Voyagers to the West, author Bernard Bailyn shows us a photocopy of a Ledger Book wherein a
Capt. Charles Ridgely of
�� ����Although early indentures specified a term
of just four years, some immigrants came to the colonies without the protection
of a written indenture at all, and they had only �the custom of the country� to
limit their terms of service. �Five years soon became the usual term for a �custom
of the country� servant of mature years....Earliest of the many laws on this
subject which have survived is one passed at the first Maryland assembly in
1638/9, which provided that menservants over eighteen were to serve for four
years and under eighteen until they reached the age of twenty-four....To avoid
abuses under this act another was passed in 1654 requiring that servants
considered to be eighteen or under should be brought before a court and
registered, and their ages judged by the magistrates.�46� This is what happened to Thomas�s future
father-in-law, Edward Darnall, who came to
�
���������������������������������� Edward Darnoll servant to
Mr. Phillip Lynds [Lynes]
being according
���������������������������������� to act of
Assembly brought hither to hand [have?] his age
adjudged
���������������������������������� for
Conveying to this country without indenture it is adjudged by ye
���������������������������������� court
hereupon bein� of ye said servant that he is seventeen
years of
���������������������������������� age and
ordered that he serve his said master or his assigns according
���������������������������������� to act in
that case made and provided.47
��� Phillip Lynes, who had recently become the innkeeper of the
ordinary next to the
Seasoning
���� ���
���� The first year of a new arrival�s time in
���� �...Hours of labor, furthermore, had to be
suited somewhat to climatic conditions. Three hours [of rest in the heat of the
day] was the rule in
���� Not everyone adjusted well to their new
homeland. Henry Callister, former indentured servant
and now a clerk on the
������������������������������������������ �Imprimis, The Country being altogether wild & savage at
�������������������������� �����������the first discovery, it was found to
be an immense forest, full of
������������������������������������� Vermin of
various sorts and sizes. European merchants have
������������������������������������� found it
their Interest to introduce a new brood of Vermin wch
������������������������������������� they keep
the Country supplied with, viz. Cats, Dogs, Negroes,
������������������������������������� &
Convicts. We are swarming with Bugs, Musketoes, worms
of
������������������������������������� every
sort both land & water, spiders, snakes, hornets, wasps, sea
������������������������������������� Nettles,
Ticks, Gnats, Thunder & Lightening, excessive heat,
������������������������������������� excessive
cold�irregularities in abundance, I mean according to
������������������������������������� our
Notions of regularity; Great variety of strange Birds, Beasts
������������������������������������� &
fishes, trees & plants. Nothing less than a whole Volume
������������������������������������� could
give you a Catalogue of the rarities of this new World.
������������������������������������� The best
Character of the Country, I think, is, that the indus-
������������������������������������� trious ma live very well here; those that love pleasures, but
������������������������������������� poorly;
& no Encouragement for Thieves�This is the Purgatory
������������������������������������� of Rogues
& Fools.
����������������������������
��������������������������������������������������
Our fires are wood, our houses as good,
��������������������������������������������������
Our diet is Sawney [bacon] and Homine,������������������������
��������������������������������������������������
Drink, juice of the Apple, Tobaccoe�s our Staple
��������������� �����������������������������������Gloria tibi Domine� 49
���� But Thomas Arvin was one of those who
managed to survive his seasoning and apparently adapted to life as an
indentured servant. And it was as an indentured servant that Thomas learned how
a tobacco plantation operated. Perhaps it was indeed Mr. Philip Key, Esquire, a
progressive planter using motivation rather than discipline to achieve his
goals, who purchased Thomas�s indenture. And perhaps Mr. Key put Thomas to work
on one of his several properties, tending the tobacco that was everywhere�it seemed to be the colony�s very reason for existence. And perhaps
Thomas impressed Mr. Key as being unusually motivated and good natured, despite
being mere Irish. Mr. Key may have recognized young Thomas�s enthusiasm and
potential, and made sure that he advanced in responsibilities and authority during his five years
of servitude. �For the ambitious and intelligent servant, his term of servitude
was by no means time lost. He became seasoned to the colonial climate, if he
did not perish first, and he became accustomed to the modes of living and
working which colonial conditions made necessary. He learned the best methods
of farming, and the system of marketing farm products. He made acquaintances
which might be worth something to him among the planters of the vicinity�.a
decent master often gave his servant a plot of land, or even a few beasts,
which he could have in possession during his servitude, and which would build
him up a small substance before his term was over.�50�
���� �There were many
advantages to voluntary servitude. Servants...provided perhaps the greatest
immigration agency of the colonial period. They also ultimately formed the
backbone of the colonial middle class, without which
���� �Perhaps it was a fortunate thing that
pioneer conditions were as difficult as they were, if there is any truth in
theories of heredity, for the weak, diseased, and unenterprising
were not preserved. The strong and competent survived, and if this manner of
separating sheep from goats put too great a premium on sheer physical health,
that at least was something well worth distinguishing and preserving. There was
a speedy winnowing of the vast influx of riffraff which descended on the
settlements; the residue, such as it was, became the American people.�52����
�
Freedom,� Marriage,�
Sharecropping
���� At long last, about 1750, Thomas�s five
years of indenture was nearing an end. And he was not alone. �If, as the
���� It had always been the responsibility of
the master to provide food and shelter for his servant during indenture, and
upon its termination to provide something for the servant to help him get
started as a free man. So, if Mr. Key was Thomas�s master, it was now time for
him to pay Thomas his freedom dues. �...all servants were to receive �freedom
dues.� These freedom dues were payable to the servant on the expiration of his
term of service and, in the seventeenth century, usually included about fifty
acres of land as well as corn, clothing and a musket. By the eighteenth
century, these dues were discharged by a money equivalent and gifts of clothing.�54
����� But perhaps Thomas had justified Mr.
Key�s faith and confidence in him, and had proved himself to be a capable servant, and perhaps
Mr. Key welcomed the opportunity to continue an association with Thomas when he
became free. If so, Mr. Key might just have done more for Thomas than simply
pay him his freedom dues. He might have set him up with some land leased from
Lord Baltimore, to be worked under a share-cropping arrangement. He might even
have made Thomas an overseer of other workers on this property.
���� First, a little background. The Calvert
family, holders of the hereditary title �Lord Baltimore,� had been granted the colony of
���� So Mr. Key�fifty-four years old and in his fourth term in the Lower House
of Assembly�knowing that Thomas�s indenture was about to expire and perhaps
knowing he was competent, likeable and ambitious, may have set up a lease in
one of his Lordship�s manors specifically for Thomas to farm or perhaps even to
oversee. �...the abler servants were in great demand as overseers as the
plantation system developed and they were also often offered favorable
sharecropping terms...�56
���� Mr. Key must have always
been on the lookout for good help. �From the beginning, the problem of the
people who took up big tracts was to find labor to work them, and particularly
overseers to operate the separate units�.It was hard to persuade servants to
stay on and work for a former master. A few, it is true, were willing to stay
on a crop-sharing basis until they were able to buy tracts of good
size�.Washington did not have any overseer or manager he could really trust
with his estates when he left to take command of the Revolutionary
Army.�57� It was the same everywhere in
the tobacco colonies. �Employers tried to hire people known for their
�Sobriety, Industry, and Integrity,� their �knowledge and fidelity,� but
performance did not necessarily match expectations, as Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer learned to his dismay. As a proprietary official Jenifer frequently was absent from the county, and in 1769
he hired an overseer to manage his plantation there. The man signed a contract
in which he promised to be, �Dilligent, faithful,
honest, and Industrious.� Yet he repeatedly rode off on Jenifer�s
horses and �left the Negroes without any Control or Direction�; embezzled hogs,
corn, and tobacco; and �Corrupted one of the Slaves� by convincing him to lie
about who owned the tobacco. Even when at the plantation, the overseer managed
poorly�or so Jenifer thought after once finding him
�Shut up in the House at ten O�Clock in the Day time
after being out all Night and on another day discovering him �playing Cards
with Negroes� from the neighborhood.�58�
���� Thomas, who was now about
twenty-five years old, probably would have readily agreed to a sharecropping
partnership. The days of being granted land as freedom dues were long gone, and
this was a way to begin freedom. �Renting a plantation also offered a means of
starting out, and working for shares of the crop furnished still another. The
distinctions between sharecropping, renting, and leasing were never clear-cut,
so that considerable room for negotiation always existed between interested
parties.�59
���� We know that Mr. Key did
negotiate a lease on a certain Lott No. 34 of Zachiah
Manor in
���� And if Thomas did began
living in Zachia Manor in 1750, it was here that he
first met the young lady who would become his wife�Miss Sarah Darnall. As it happened,
���� Edward Darnall
and his wife Sarah nee Roby had a large family. The children�s names were John,
Edward, William, Isaac, Thomas, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth. The order they were
born in is not definitely established, but Darnall
family history does explain that the first-born son of the family, John, had
died tragically as a young man in 1735; he had drowned while crossing the
����� Lord Baltimore�s records show that the
young Edward Darnall, now the oldest living son,
would take out his own lease in Zachia
Manor, Lott No. 54, in January 1754. And Thomas Darnall,
age 36, was at this time taking over the operation of Lots 36 & 42 from the
father, who was almost eighty years old. Thomas Darnall�s
wife was also named Sarah (maiden name McQueen.)62���
�
���� We don�t know why Philip Key chose to
lease this land in Zachia Manor rather than somewhere
else, but
���� Whatever the reasons, Mr. Key�s placing
his former servant on Lott No. 34 of Zachia would turn out
to be another very fortunate circumstance for Thomas Arvin, because he met
Sarah there. Thomas might have appeared to Sarah like a knight in shining armor,
newly freed and working or even overseeing for the famous Mr. Key. Thomas Arvin
soon became Sarah�s charming new neighbor living just to the south!�
���� The year of young Miss Sarah Darnall�s birth is unknown (she may have been older than
Thomas), but we do know that her father had recorded a cattle mark for her and
her older brother, Thomas Darnall, with the county
court on 14 December 1726.64� �Maryland
planters generally made no attempt to restrain their animals, letting them run
loose in the woods year around�.General roundups were necessary every spring so
that planters could mark the young animals by notching ears and branding
hides�� And almost everyone had livestock, and even �The poorest
families...kept about 10 cattle, 2 horses, and 8 swine.�65
���� So at this pivotal time,
about 1750, after working off his indenture and now free, Thomas Arvin �made
his addresses� to Miss Sarah Darnall. They soon married.
Although we have no documentation, we rely on Darnall
family traditions to substantiate the event, which was probably a civil ceremony. �The
clergy were so few that marriages were in general performed by justices of the peace.�66 (Although the preface to the Maryland State Archives, Vital Records - Marriages, section states that civil marriages were not legal in Maryland until 1963.)
�����
Relocation
�����
����� This sharecropping
arrangement with Philip Key may have lasted to the satisfaction of both parties
for a few years. But, although the evidence is indirect and insubstantial, it
appears that Sarah and Thomas may have eventually become restless or
dissatisfied with it. They had the growing needs of a growing family, and may
have sought a better life for themselves. So they decided to strike out on
their own.
��� The timing might have been
decided by the death of Sarah�s father, who passed away in 1754. They probably
relocated northwest, to newly organized
���� Sarah�s older brother, Edward Darnall, now lived in
���� Thomas and Sarah probably could not afford
to buy any land, and therefore could have rented from a private landowner in
���� The Arvins might
have lived a few miles up into Frederick County (present day Montgomery
County), north of a little town named after the king�George Town�newly
established on the east bank of the Potomac River in 1751. This was great
tobacco growing country. The Arvin�s probably located fairly close to the
���� Thomas may have traded at a store in
Family
���� Typical of the times, Thomas and Sarah had
a large family. They had a child, a son, whom they named Elias, born in late
1750 or early 1751.74� His name in Irish would have been Oillil (AHL-yil), meaning sprite or elf. And this leads
to an interesting speculation. If Sarah and Thomas followed either the English
or the Irish naming
pattern, they would have named their first-born son after the father�s father.
Thus, Thomas�s father�s name could also have been Elias Arvin. But because of the
loss of records in
���� Another child, also a son�Elisha�was born in late 1752 or early 1753. Perhaps he also
was named after someone in Thomas�s family back in Ireland.75� Later evidence indicates that the two boys
apparently stayed close their entire lives.
��� Another child was probably born about 1755;
perhaps this was their son Thomas, Jr.76�
And they must have been blessed with daughters amongst the sons as well,
although there are no written records of them. (No doubt one of the daughters
would have been named Sarah after her mother and grandmother.) We have no
written records of any of these children�s births, which would help to
definitely place the family in
���� The Arvin family was very poor. �The big
incomes came from selling land at mounting prices, from trade, and from
job-holding in the higher ranks of government. Some men [like Mr. Key] managed
to achieve all three. But for every man in these prosperous
classes there were perhaps 50 who were either in bondage or merely managing by
hard work to support their families on a limited scale, almost entirely by
farming and farm work. And the only cash crop of the great majority was
tobacco.�77� But poor or not, these
southern families took care of their children. �...the apparent niggardliness
of some
���� Growing tobacco was a family affair.
�...everybody in a planter�s family, except among the gentry, had to toil over
the money crop. As an anonymous visitor of 1705-06 explained:
���� ������������������
������������������������������������������������
�...the cheifest Comodity
which is so much
������������������������������������������������
Looked affter is Tobacco which imploys all
���������������������������������������������� ��hands in every Family.� for with that they
������������������������������������������������
by there slaves and white servants as also
������������������������������������������������
theire Cloaths and
all there liquors as Wine,
�������������� ����������������������������������Brandy,
Rum, Stout English Beere, etc: and
������������������������������������������������
also Cattle horses sheep, and they likewise
������������������������������������������������
buy
������������������������������������������������
Paines taken to raise itt
than any one thing
������������������������������������������������
in the world again.��79�
Housing�������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������
�������� �Most tenants in [the lower
��� ��In
short, the average proprietary tenant...lived in a very small frame house
covered with clapboards [boards split
thinner on one edge than the other, which allowed them to be nailed
horizontally to the wall posts and insulated with �nogging�].
His dwelling measured about sixteen or eighteen feet wide and twenty-four feet
long. The fireplace that dominated one end of the house had a chimney
constructed of wood and clay....The ground floor of the house was divided into
two, or at most three, small rooms�.Part of the floor might be covered with
planks, but the remainder of the floor was probably nothing but packed earth,
especially at the end of the house where sparks from the fireplace caused a
greater fire hazard....In physical appearance, the average tenant�s house lacked
any suggestion of architectural refinement; it was cheaply and unskillfully
constructed, and it was ugly. Little wonder that travelers so rarely described
the dwellings of the poor people in Tidewater
���� �Most tenants cooked in the open or over a
fire in their dwellings, not by choice but because they could not afford to
erect a special building for that purpose.�84�
�The poorer planter families worked and slept in the same room in which they cooked and ate.
There was only one woman to handle the cooking and laundry chores until a
daughter grew big
enough to help.�
���� �Crowding was common, by our standards.
There may have been as many as four people to a bed in the poorest
families...probably half the households lived in just one or two rooms...with
some members sleeping on the floor by the hearth at night....[those with] the
necessary resources [had] the soft feather bed set on a lattice of rope strung
between the sides of a crude oaken bedstead. This, together with a few chests
and trucks, a table and benches, made up the required complement of necessary
furniture. Without these, [a] Marylander would have felt deprived. With them,
he had the luxury of choice, and added sparingly to the contents of his house.�
���� �The houses of the
����
Education
����
���� �
���� �The educational situation in Maryland was
not by any means wholly a result of scattered character of the farms. Basically, the trouble
was a general indifference, for, with horses running wild, any farm boy would
have had a chance to reach a school if his parents and their neighbors had been
anxious to support one. Some of the gentry did send sons abroad for an
education...and around the middle of the eighteenth century a few small private
boarding schools...became available for boys whose parents
were well-to-do. Some families may have had tutors, though none have been as
yet discovered�.No such services, nor anything like them, were available to the
lesser freemen�s sons and illiteracy long continued in
Prosperity in War,� Depression in Peace
���� The French and Indian War, a
confrontation between
���� During this war one of Thomas�s young
neighbors across the
����
���� William Arvin is listed on the �Muster
Rolls of Maryland Company of by Francis
Ware� which runs from 8 November 1757 to 8 October 1758. These troops, known as provincials, were due 9 pence a day for
their service, as recorded in the roster compiled from these muster rolls. William was killed during the Battle of Fort Duquesne on 14 September
1758. Francis Ware Sr., born 1732, was a resident of the Port Tobacco East Hundred. He rose to the rank of colonel and became the second-ranking officer in the Maryland Line during the War for Independence. (Thomas�s son, Edward Darnall Arvin, was also in the Maryland Line during the war.)
����� Back in
in the form of their
cash crop, tobacco, even though more production meant a lower overall price in
the marketplace.
�...their relative
poverty would have acted to spur them on to produce more tobacco, not less, when its price foundered, even though the
ultimate result of such effort was to worsen the glut, at which point one might
not be able to sell the crop at all.
���� �If no one would take their crops, the
planters� families could not obtain the things they depended on the market to
provide: clothing, shoes, tools, nails, powder and shot, or salt�to name only
the most important. Their reliance on imports made them critically vulnerable
to shipping interruptions of any kind as well as to cyclical downturns in the
market. So long as anyone would take
their tobacco, they were lured into staying. If no one took it, they were not
only destitute but helpless.90 ����� �...oversupply led to a fall in the
Continental tobacco market, a drop in prices paid ���� Compounding these problems, Parliament was
struggling to meet the costs of paying for the war and maintaining a standing
army in ���� �The tobacco trade had rallied, after the
adversities of war, in a brief advance of 1763, but in 1764 it dropped into a
severe decline which was marked by both falling prices and diminishing
expectations...From the great and the lowly alike, there was but one report,
that of depression, in 1764 and 1765. The councilor, Benedict Calvert, wrote to
his uncle, the secretary, that �our trade is ruined we are immensely in debt,
and not the least probability of getting clear. Our gaols
[jails] Are not half large
enough to hold the debtors, upon every road you ride you meet people going from
different parts of the province to get out of the way of creditors. I can
venture to say that the people of ��� Back to Zachia � ����� As a consequence of the depression
commodity prices plummeted, and times were rough for small farmers like the Arvins. In addition to this, there had grown up a fear of
attacks in the frontier from both the Indians and the French, and this had a
strong psychological effect on everyone in ���� So with the assistance of Sarah�s older
brother, Thomas Darnall, and his family, the Arvin
family returned to Zachia Manor. Zachia
Manor, which had the poorest soil of all his lordship's manors. It was home and
there were no alternatives. It would have to do. ���� And apparently the compassionate Philip
Key, now sixty-seven years old, did allow his former servant Thomas Arvin, now
close to forty and with a large family, to return to old ��� Philip Key, Esquire, had become more
influential in the colony�and wealthy�than ever. After having �quitted and made
room for his son� in the Lower House of Assembly,95 he was now a member of
the Upper House of Assembly. And he was not only the Presiding Justice of St.
Mary�s County, but also a member of the court of appeals for Maryland�the
Provincial Court�which met in Annapolis.96�
In addition, Governor Sharpe had repeatedly urged his appointment to
fill the next vacancy on
the Council of State, and Lord Baltimore had assented. (In a letter dated 21
August 1763, the governor writes to Lord Baltimore that, �In consequence of His
Lordship�s pleasure signified to me, I have advised old Mr. Key of his being
appointed a Member of the Council & shall, when he comes hither next month
to the ���� Holding public office helped make him a
wealthy man indeed. �...in 1754, the average income of each member of the
council from his several offices was about ₤372 currency...the fees of office in 1774 were
at least fifty percent greater in value than they were
in 1754.� (There was a price to be paid for holding high office, however. �The
lord proprietor, Frederick, seems to have thought the income of some of the
members of the council large enough to ask four of them to contribute, at first
₤250, and later ₤400 each year toward the salary of Secretary
Calvert.� This contribution was called a �saddle.�)98���� ���� Mr. Key still held his lease on the manor
land, which consisted of approximately 300 acres.� And after Thomas had gone to ���� Best of all, Thomas and Sarah Arvin and
their family would again be neighbors to Thomas Darnall
(now age 50 or so), and his wife Sarah Darnall. Their
two lots to the north contained a total of 245 acres. The Darnalls,
with their children John, Elizabeth, Samuel, Isaac, James, Thomas, Mary and
Nancy, probably lived along Dressing branch as well. With these three lots
there was probably was more land than the two families needed or ever could
make use of, even if it was poor quality. �In colonial parlance, plantations
were the cultivated parts of one�s holdings. A relatively small proportion of a
���� Death of Philip Key ����� But the Honorable Philip Key, Esquire, died
on 20 August 1764. He had been in good health the prior year, as he mentioned
in a letter to his second eldest son Edmund Key (who would soon become Attorney
General of Maryland.)100� We don�t know
exactly what happened, but for the first time in over twenty years the Assembly
did not meet. �The small-pox kept the
Assembly from meeting in 1764.�101� Now
he was gone, and all his business affairs were left hanging, including his
sharecropping arrangement with Thomas. Here is his obituary, as published on
the front page of The Maryland
Gazette on 30 August 1764: ������������������������������������������������������������
A N N A P O L I S,�� August 30. ���������������������������������������������������������
On Monday the 20th of this
Instant, Died, at ��������������������������������������������������������
his Seat in St. Mary�s County,
in the LXVIIIth�
��������������������������������������������������������
Year of his Age, the Honble PHILIP
KEY, Esq; ���������������������������������������������� ����������one of the Council of this
Province.� He was a ��������������������������������������������������������
truly pious and devout Christian, an affectionate ��������������������������������������������������������
and tender husband, and indulgent and fond ��������������������������������������������������������
rent, a humane Master, a warm Friend, a friend- ��������������������������������������������������������
ly Neighbor, and a most agreeable and chearful ����������������������������������
����������������������Companion.� His Death is sincerely lamented by ��������������������������������������������������������
his Family, and all his numerous Friends and ���������������������������������������������������������������
Acquaintance. � �� ����In his will he disposes of a very large and
landed personal estate.�102� In fact,
he disposes of an estate worth more than ₤7,000,
with sixty slaves, an unknown number of indentured servants and over thirty
properties containing as much as 11,000 acres of land, including ��my manor
land in Charles Co. near Zachia, 300 ac.� which went
to eldest son Richard Ward Key.103 � He
names three of his sons, Richard Ward Key, Edmund Key and Thomas Key, as the
executors, with instructions to them to �collect money due me and divide
into 8 equal parts� to be paid to the family members he names. But despite
their best efforts, the executors may not have been able to manage Mr. Key�s
complex business affairs as well as he had done himself, or
perhaps without his personal touch. As we shall see, they may not have paid all
the estate�s payables nor collected all the
money due it. ���� The Honorable Philip Key, Esquire, was one
of �those individuals...whose large estates raised them far above the fortunes of
many...Every county had its gentry...The Keys of St. Mary�s...the Bennetts on the ���� As an aside, remembering John Arvine [John Army]
of the seventeenth century, we note that �...The death notice of Richard
Bennett, a great landholder and trader on the Eastern Shore [grandson of the puritan leader Richard
Bennett, who was John�s neighbor, who had established Providence, Maryland in
1649, been governor of Virginia 1652-1655, and who had �reduced�
���� But back to Thomas Arvin.� Mr. Key�s sons may have struggled to manage
his vast and scattered estate after his death. They may have had their hands
full with their own interests, or not have had their father�s personal touch
with people. And they may never have collected the estate�s share of the crops
grown on Lott No. 34 of Zachia Manor for 1764. We know that Mr. Key willed the
manor lease to his eldest living son Richard Ward Key, but Richard Ward Key
himself died on 10 April 1765, and this undoubtedly complicated the
sharecropping arrangement further.107�
Philip Key's estate was not probated until late in 1769.108 The estate may never have collected
its share of the 1765 crop either. Listed in two places among the 622 debtors
of the estate of Philip Key is a Thomas Arwin (sic).
The two debt listings may represent the
estate�s belated claims for its share of Thomas�s crops for 1764 and 1765.
���
���� The fate of
��� But in the summer of 1765, with the deaths
of Mr. Key and then Richard Ward Key, and contact with the Key family
drastically reduced or nonexistent, Thomas Arvin may have come to the
conclusion it was time for him to establish his own tenement in Zachia. The rent on
���� But whatever the circumstances, we know
for a fact that Thomas Arvin did indeed initiate his own lease in Zachia Manor in 1765. Thomas apparently wanted, or needed,
or thought he could afford to rent, just 19 acres. It was probably fairly close to Dressing branch. It lay just south of the Darnall
family Lotts No. 36 & No. 42. The lease which Thomas negotiated with Young Parran, steward of all His Lordship�s manors in St. Mary�s
and
���� The proprietor was no longer granting
leases based on three lives now, but only for a set number of years. So Thomas
was only able to lease the lot for 18� years, meaning it would expire in 1784,
rather than upon anyone�s death. The annual rent was only 3 shillings 10�
pence, a very modest amount. Thomas may have also agreed to pay the �alienation
fine,� due when property changed hands, of 3 shillings 10� pence. This would
give him and Sarah a secure, long-term lease, and they could at least control
their own fates. And both the Darnall and the Arvin
families could work all their land in common, and in so doing, survive
the depression. �The best land was inevitably surveyed first, leaving poorer
land vacant. Frequently, land excluded from previous surveys was in such small
strips and irregular pieces that it was of little value to anyone except
persons owning land on either side. Most vacancies were too small to support
separate families�.When a tenant applied for a lease on one of
the proprietary manors, the manor steward surveyed the lot, beginning at a
point and following a course indicated by
the lessee. Poor soil, land without adequate water, and thinly timbered sections
of the manors were avoided by lessees�.tenants were eventually required to
incorporate vacancies whenever their leaselots were
resurveyed, but as late as the mid-1760s many vacancies were still to be found
on every manor.�113
����
����
The Tenement Survey
���� Young Parran had the land surveyed according to Thomas�s directions and arranged for the lease to
start on the 2nd of September
1765.114� �Young Parren...was
the steward for all the manors in St. Mary�s and St. Charles counties, a total of more than 35,000
acres of land. Although his responsibilities were great, Parren�s
annual [5%] commission could not have been exceeded ₤18...Despite the low pay, Parren
was a conscientious steward...�115� Of
course, he was also a member of the Lower House of
Assembly, and he had the use of 1,100 acres of land rent-free from Lord
Baltimore as additional compensation.116��
����� Here is an abstract of the survey. It is
the earliest documentary evidence we have of Thomas Arvin which still exists.
With a touch of Irish humor, he wryly named his land, �Littleworth.�
��
����������������������� Laid
out by Order of Mr: Young Parran for Thomas Arvin
�� of the
�� between the lands of Thomas Darnall and Mr: Key
which is called Little
�� :worth and bounded as
follows Viz: Beginning at a bounded white Oak standg
�� in the head of a Glade near
Dressing branch Runing thence South
�� Eighty one degr: East fourteen perc:
then North thirty two degr East thirty
�� two pcrs:
then South fourteen pcrs then South forty six degr:
East nine
�� pcrs:
then East one hundred and Two pers then
North sixty degr:
�� pers:
then East forty pers: then South seventeen
pers: then West Two
�� hundred pers:
thence with a Strait line to the first beginning Containg
�� Ninteen
Acres as by the plat hereunto Annexed may Appear
����������������������������� �����������������������������Survey�d & laid down by a scale of 50 pcrs� [perches]������
����������������������������������������������������������
in an inch this 2d of Septem: 1765�����������������������������������������
���� [Here a drawing of the perimeter
����� of the lot, including
sketch of
����� the bounded white oak tree]�������������������������� Pr
���� �In addition to an annual rent,
proprietary tenants were required to pay an alienation fine equal to not less
than one year�s rent whenever they renewed their lease or sold it to a third
party. Alienation fines were rarely collected....however...In 1760 Lord
Baltimore complained about the small revenue produced by the alienation fines,
and thereafter Governor Sharpe attempted to increase that part of the
proprietor�s income. Each leaseholder was assessed for the arrears of fines due
on his tenement...The proprietor�s income from fines did not increase in the
1760s, but the size of the arrears indicates widespread noncompliance by
tenants in paying the alienation fee...�117�
���� �Despite the liberal lease terms, most
tenants were very poor. Their poverty was reflected in the small number of them
who owned slaves or servants, in the value of personal property recorded in their
inventories, and in the small size and poor quality of the dwellings and other
improvements on their tenements. Few resident manor tenants were able to
accumulate sufficient assets either to improve their own standard of living or
to insure that their children would do better.�118
���� The tenement is described as containing
nineteen acres, but in the rent rolls which Young Parran
kept for Lord Baltimore for 1768, this same property is described as Lott No. 39,
containing 15 acres. Surveying techniques were not precise, and boundary
disputes were a common problem.
���� The survey and lease may have been hurried
along because that infamous Stamp Act was set to become effective on the first of November. It would require an embossed �stamp,� attached to the document by way of a colonial-era staple, on documents to make them legally
enforceable. It had been announced in The
Maryland Gazette on 18 April 1765, bemoaned all summer long, and was now
approaching the crisis point of actually going into effect. Parliament saw the
Act as a step toward having the colonies help cover the expenses of their own
defense, but the colonies saw it as "taxation without
representation," and a great burden in the depression. In
���� News of the repeal reached
�
���� The rents on the manors were cheap because
Lord Baltimore, as the proprietor of the colony, used what author Gregory Stiverson refers to as �developmental leasing� of his manor
tenements�leasing at a low rent if the tenant improves the property during the
lease. �The principal object of developmental leasing was to develop previously
uncultivated land into working farms and plantations so that the rental or sale
value of the tract would be increased. Ideally, developmental leasing benefited
both the landlord and the tenant. The tenant received a tract of land for a low
annual rent, and the landlord could charge much higher rents when the first
lease expired, counterbalancing the years of small income from the
developmental lease....tenants were forbidden to cut more wood than was
necessary for constructing improvements on their lots or clearing land for
cultivation....Tenants were required to plant an orchard, generally consisting
of 100 trees. The orchard had to be planted within five years of the execution
of the lease, the tenant had to protect it with a strong fence, and he was
required to replant trees that
died or were destroyed�.tenants of Zachiah Manor were
required to plant 200 trees regardless of the size of their lot�.Most leases
also required a 20 ft by 30 ft house with a brick chimney to be built, but Zachia Manor had such poor land that the requirement to
build such a large house was not included in the leases that survive in the
Maryland Hall of Records.�120 We get a good description of Littleworth from the 1783 Tax Assessment. At that time the assessor described the land as being �Forest� with �midling lively soil� and �midling light sandy soil.� It had �1 small dwelling & old tobo house� and a �Very good apple orchard� on it.��
Attempted
���� No sooner had Thomas and Sarah started
leasing their own tenement in Zachia Manor than they
had to again face the uncertainty of losing their homestead. Word spread that
the Sixth Lord Baltimore, Frederick Calvert, had decided to sell his manors. He had
instructed the governor to begin sales immediately. The sales were to be
conducted by a commission composed of Governor Sharpe, Daniel Dulany (deputy secretary of the province), and John Morton
Jordan (a merchant a friend of the proprietor.)�
The first set of instructions to the commission had been written in
January 1765, but the commissioners thought the price set was too high.
�Although Gov. Horatio Sharpe protested the proprietor�s order to sell the manors, Lord
Baltimore remained adamant. The proprietor�s second sale order, addressed to
Sharpe in February 1766, left no doubt about ���� �The most striking thing about the
proprietary sales...is that most tenants were unable or unwilling to purchase
their tenements and that other people failed to bid on their lots. The
proprietary sales were least successful on the lower ��� Frederick Calvert, Sixth and last Lord
Baltimore, died in September 1771; his illegitimate son Henry Harford took
ownership of the proprietary. The commission�s attempts to continue selling the
manors ceased when news reached the colony. Ultimately, of the 5,407 acres
offered for sale in Zachiah Manor, only 103 acres
were sold. Neither Thomas Arvin�s �Littleworth� nor
Thomas Darnall�s two lots were sold, and the Arvins and the Darnalls were able
to continue their subsistence farming. ��� Trading at the Colonial Stores ���� ���� As Thomas and Sarah Arvin �seated� their
tenement in Zachia Manor (e.g., rebuilt their house
and re-established the homestead), they may have started trading at a store
located at Chickamuxen Creek. Although were have no
records for any stores there, we
do know that there was a tobacco inspection station and warehouse located
there, making the placement of a store or two likely. Perhaps Thomas and Sarah Darnall had already established credit and were trading
there when the Arvins relocated to Zachia Manor. Or perhaps Thomas continued to trade with
Scottish factor James Brown after Brown left Cunningham�s store at ����
While the English had stores which were located in the larger cities,
and many of the larger planters dealt directly with London via consignment
agents who operated the stores (such as William Molleson
in George Town), Scotland had gained legitimacy after its Union with England in
1707 and was rapidly establishing stores in the smaller towns and villages in
Maryland and was concentrating on dealing with the small planters. �It is
probable that most stores were at the warehouses. About the time ���� Both Chickamuxen
Creek and Piscataway Creek had been designated as being among the eighty sights
for tobacco warehouses by the Act for
altering and establishing certain Warehouses of June 11th 1748: �...one other Warehouse be and is hereby established to be at Chickamuxen Creek, on the ���� ���� One of the largest of ���� Glassford didn�t have all the business. Another Scottish concern was Simson Baird & Company, which established a store in ��� �The great ���� �A Scots factor was commonly a salaried
employee. He was supervised by a chief factor, who might receive a percentage
commission as well as a salary. Chief factors were sometimes partners in the
employing firm. The subordinate factors were each in charge of a store or two,
and assisting the factor in each store would be one or more storekeepers,
clerks, or �boys,� commonly under contract or articles.�130 ���� ���� This is precisely what one prominent
nearby planter did�Colonel George Washington. As a member of the The 1767
���� Customer purchases were
initially written on throw sheets, kept each day, then carefully transcribed by
the clerks into a ledger, everything, of course, handwritten with quill pens. The
ledgers were large 11 x 17 inch bound books of vellum paper. These ledgers were acquired by the Library of Congress in 1899
and are now in the custody of its Manuscript Division in Washington, D.C. They were microfilmed in
1983. The collection is made up of �disbound items rebound for archival purposes into volumes.� James Brown uses the beautiful �English Round Hand� style of writing, a sign of his good breeding. Wikipedia tells us that, �by the mid-18th century the Round Hand style had spread across Europe and crossed the Atlantic to North America.� ���� The English style
bookkeeping system, typical of the times, was used to record the debits (Dr)
and credits (Cr) of customer accounts at Simson Baird &
Company�s new store in Piscataway Town. �The factors well
represented the established interests and purposes of the old British mercantilism.
As employees rather than free correspondents of the British firms, their status was inferior and their attention
consequently devoted to the conventional exchange of finished
products from the mother country for colonial tobacco. Their
contracts required them to keep in regular communication with the chief factor of the firm in the colony or with the firm
itself, and they were required periodically to go before a judge and swear to the accuracy of their books.�134 ���� Written on the first page of the Simson Baird Ledger No. 1 for 1767 is the following: ���� ������������������������������������������ Then
came James Brown Attorney in fact for Messrs ���� Simson Baird
& Compy Merchants in ���� of Almighty God, before me one of his
Lordships Justices of the Peace for the County ���� aforesaid, that all the Accounts contained
in this Book from folio One to folio two ���� hundred and One inclusive were Just and
true and that he nor any person for their Use ���� hath received any part, parcell, security or Satisfaction for the same more than ���� Credits given to the best of his Knowledge ������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������
GeoHardyJunr����� ������� ���� �They [the factors]
received salaries of from five to ten pounds sterling monthly, and were given
allowance for maintenance and the hire of some assistance. They were sometimes
allowed to import and sell on their own accounts, but under restrictions which
were calculated to prevent injuring the interests of their principals. ���� �The factors� stores represented a large
British investment in ����� Thomas does not appear on
Brown�s Ledger No. 1, but by June, 1767, it appears from an entry on this
Ledger No. 2 that Thomas had a note transferred to this store in Piscataway from 157 ��������������������������������������� ������������ ���������� ��������� �� June� 9 To 12 Ells Oznab
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11/6� 3� Yds
Check @ 2/6..3� Yds Check holland @ 2��
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d.. 2 felt hats @ 3/9..�ee Soap @ 1/3.. 100..d/2 nails @ 5� .� ..��
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��� ��
Ells: �An Ell was a measure of cloth containing a
yard and a quarter (45 inches.) ��
Rum came to ��� Taylor Shears: Sarah and the older daughters made all the family�s
clothes. ��� Oznabrigs was an unbleached linen or hemp cloth commonly
used for trousers, sacking and bagging. It was available in brown, blue, white and probably other colors as well. Originally made
in ��
Russhia Drab was another very durable cloth, and might have been one type of � �� Rolls may have been short for Brown Rolls, another type of cloth. �� Check is �a fabric made of many fibers in plain weave with colored
warp and weft stripes intersecting at right angles to form squares....May also be printed.� Red, blue, green and tan were
combined with white; stripes were sometimes added. This fabric was very popular in ���� Historical note: It was not known in the colonies yet, but on the
very day that Thomas bought �� dozen knives and forks,� 29 June 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Revenue
Act, to become effective 20 November. It imposed import duties on British glass, red and white lead, painter�s colors, paper�and tea. This act would play a dramatic
role in the development of the American Revolution. �� Allum, Indigo Blue, Copperas (iron sulfate) were all used to dye
fabrics, but in the �backwoods� it had a home remedy use also. �In the �backwoods� both physic and surgery were rough,
rude, and tainted with many prejudices and superstitions. People believed in �spells� and witchcraft, and in charms and
remedies. If a child had worms, he was given salt, copperas, or pewter filings...�143� �� Castor hat was a cap made from felted beaver wool. Castor is Latin
for beaver. �� Brimstone is an old term for sulphur; one
of the ingredients of black gunpowder, and matches. William Byrd�s advice on keeping cider drinkable: ��keep a lighted match of brimstone under
the cask for some time. This is useful in so warm a country as this,� he explained, �where cider is apt to work itself
off both of its strength and sweetness��144 ������ ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
157 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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Anno 1767 � ��������������������������������������������������������
Contra��������� Cr Septr 25�
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185ee transfer as.� .�
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175 � Nov�� 7 By charges of merchandize for 13 � Bushells Oats @
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�������������������������================ ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
43.. 4..7����� 2158 ���� ���� To save
space in the Ledger, James Brown carried Thomas�s debits over to the right side
of the folio. ����� Duffles was a
coarse woolen cloth. ���� Butts.� Buttons. Most if not
all the clothing in the Arvin household must have been hand made by Sarah and
the older girls. ���� Soap:
��The laundry was probably done at
the waterside instead of at home, perhaps by using soap purchased especially
for the day�s needs. Imported hard soap must have seemed far more desirable
[than boiling the homemade kind] to those who could afford it, and one suspects
that most Marylanders did so or went without.�145 ���� carefully recorded on folio 173. The large size of the cash advance
to Thomas seems to reinforce the idea that he had been previously known to James Brown. Perhaps Thomas and Sarah needed this
money to complete their relocation to Manor. ���� On the right
side of folio 157, Thomas received credit for two hogsheads, or hhd (large wooden barrels packed with cured tobacco), which by law had been inspected,
warehoused and certified by tobacco inspectors. �Another beneficial feature of tobacco was that by the mid-eighteenth
century people the methods of cultivating the crop were well understood and the marketing system was highly developed.�146� �In 1747, in response to years of poor prices
for ����� �One thousand pounds of tobacco can
safely be considered the maximum amount grown by most tenants who did not own slaves or
servants.�148� Therefore, the 1,981
pounds brought to market by Thomas probably represented the efforts of his family
as well as Thomas Darnall and his family. ���� Also notice that on August
3rd Thomas received credit for 175 pounds of crop tobacco by transfer from a
John Moland, cross-referenced to folio 167. And sure enough, folio 167 shows the
account of John �Molland,� with, �Thos Arvin Security� written in small letters after his name. Apparently Thomas was
guaranteeing payment of John Moland�s account. For
what reason we do not know. Perhaps he was kin or a close neighbor. ���� A typical small farmer, Thomas apparently
adhered to crop rotation on the tenement, and this year grew a few acres of oats in
addition to tobacco (and probably other grain crops such as wheat, rye, beans
and Indian corn.) He probably kept some of the
oats for their own family�s consumption and sold the balance to the store. The
store credited him with the oats he had brought
in, and it perhaps warehoused them at Piscataway for shipment to ���� This year
Thomas Arvin�s end-of-the-year �Settlement� with James Brown shows he still
owed ₤11..16..4, almost a third of his purchases for 1767. No matter, Simson
Baird simply carried forward its customers� balances to the next ledger for 1768. To summarize: ���� ◦ Thomas�s total
purchases at the store for the year 1767 were ₤43..4..7�. ���� ◦ He and his family
(probably along with Thomas Darnall and his family)
produced 2158 ���� ◦ Total credit for this
production was ₤29..14..3�. ���� ◦ He still had a �Ballance due� of ₤11..16..4.� This
was �carried to Ledger No. 3� for 1768. ���� Note the
tobacco was discounted to currency at a rate of 30 shillings per hundredweight
in ���� Thomas
Arvin and Thomas Darnall had problems of a different
sort from the problems of the merchants. �With little personal property, few assets, and a large family to
support, a tenant had to be as self-sufficient as possible. But only by producing large cash crops could he hope to improve
his economic condition. If a tenant grew tobacco at the expense of food, however, he could only fall more deeply into
debt to the local planter or storekeeper who extended him credit for necessities. Even when a tenant attempted to be
self-sufficient, he still had to purchase a few store goods each year and pay his rent, and expenses often consumed all the
profit the tenant and his family could make from the tobacco and other cash crops the grew.�151 ���� There are
small vignettes of the family�s life recorded on this folio also. On Wednesday,
28 October 1767, Thomas bought �2 Boys felt hats.�� Making purchases at the store�later known as �shopping��was
still a male-dominated activity in the colonies. Most accounts were
in men�s names. (Though not all. Nancy Darnall had an account later on.) One can imagine him taking the oldest boys, seventeen year-old Elias and fifteen year-old Elisha, to the store that day, and letting them pick out
new hats as a special reward for working long and hard in the fields that year. Notice
he also bought Sarah an expensive silk bonnet for 14 shillings. This purchase must surely have been an extravagance; the
rent on Lot 39 of Zachia Manor, after all, was only 3
shillings 10� pence per year. Thomas, like just about everyone else,
was attracted to the �Baubles of Britain.� � The 1768 ���� The
colonies were starting to rebound from the depression of the past few years,
and in a limited way, the Arvins�thanks to the help of the Darnalls�shared
in the slowly building prosperity. But the seeds of the American Revolution
were growing as Parliament implemented the Townshend
Acts. �The Townshend
Acts of 1767 returned goods to the center of American political discourse. These ill-conceived statutes levied a duty upon
imported glass, paper, tea, lead, and paint. Patriotic leaders throughout the colonies advocated a campaign of nonconsumption, and...it revealed the powerful capacity of
goods in this society not only to recruit people into a political movement
but also to push them...to take ever more radical positions. As in the Stamp Act crisis, imported British manufactures provided a
framework in which many colonists learned about rights and liberties.�152 ���� �Perhaps it is safe to say that the
increased emphasis on personal decision in the selection of goods introduced
people of that era to what we call shopping�.by the middle of the eighteenth
century the retailing system and the cultural needs of the populace had arrived
at the point where purchasing had become at least a rudimentary form of
shopping.�153 ��� ��� In 1768 James Brown got an assistant at the
store�Alexander Hamilton, a factor who had come up to ����� This year the store ledger is kept in a
different hand, probably that of ������ Here is an abstract of the �Dr� side of Thomas Arvin's account in Simson Baird &
Company�s ledger for the first part of 1768. His balance at the store is carried over from the previous year, to folio 61 of this Ledger No 3.��� ���� The Arvin surname is now spelled �Arvine.� Did Hamilton, James Hoggan
or Miller Brown mistake the Arvin surname for a variant of ������������ Janry� 1 To Ballance from Ledger N.2 .��
.�� .��� .��
.��� .��� .��
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.� .���
.� .� .�
.�� .�� .11..16.. 4 �������� 15 To
narrow ax No.2� 5/� 2 yds white
sheeting @ 2/4 Rugg 14/ ..bedbord 3/.� .� ���.���
.�� .������ .���
1..� 6.. 8 ������������� To
Cash .�� .�� .��
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~.. 1.. 9 Febry 20 To 3 � yds Bagging @ 1� � yd brown
thread 3/8� 1 Bushell
Salt 3/ .�� .�� .�
.��� .�� .��
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9..2 March �2
To 3 pints Rum@9d /1.3/
1 Quart Rum 1/6 .� .�� .�
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.. 3.. 9 ����������� 12 To Cash .�� .�
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Sugar @ 10d 1oz
thread 8d � yds Linen @� 1 /4 .�� .���
.���� .��� .�������
.�� .�� .�
.� ~ .. 4 ..8� ����������� 31 To 5 Bushells
Salt @
3/..� 3 Ells OZnab
@
1/6� 250 8d nails @d8/..� .����
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.� .� .. ~. .~ ..11� ���������������� To���� John Lovejoy .�� .���
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2.. 8 April��� 2d�
To Cash to buy fish .��� .���� .�����
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To 25 needles d3..1
razor d8. 1
oz thd 5.d� 1 doz butt 7d� 1� d�
bearskin� 7/6 .�� .���
.�� .�� .��
.�� .~ ..� 9.. 5 ���������������� To 1 pr Spectacles 1/ .���� .���
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.��� .��
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.����� .������ .�����
.�� .���� . 39 .��
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.�� .�� 6.. 1� June���� 4��
To 1 pint rum 9d� 1 Broad hoe 3/6..7th
Bottle Snuff 2/6 ..1 qt rum 1/6 .���
.���� .����� .�
.�� .����� ~ .. 8..3 July���� 7�� To 2
yellow poringers 1/. 1 yellow mugg
9d 50
Ells Oznab @ 1/6. /8/ 2� yds linen a 3/. 7/6�
.�� .��� .��
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4..� 4 .. 3 ����������������� To 1 oz
blue 4d 3� oz
indigo 3/6 2 knives� 1/4 .25 needles 3d 1/00 knitting needles3d.1e bro thread.4/4� .��
.��� .�� .�
.�� ~ .. 10..__ ����������������� To� 2 yds Durrant[?]6/8 1� doz buttons1/
Steaks tenant[?]1/. 2 oz thread@10d� 1 oz@ 6d.��� .���
.�� .�� .��
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����������������� To 8� yds
Irish Linen@ 2/10
2 de/t.� 1 yd broad Cloth 15/. 5 yds blue@ sory[?]@4/6
22/6 .��� .����� .��
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pink Durrant[?] � . 15/. 2 oz thread 10d 4oz @ 1/8.
1� Ells Rusi 1/6₤
.�� .���
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.�� .��
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.� ~.19.~� ����������������� To silk thread@
6/8..1� 1/2eepepper
1/9.� 9th 2 felt hatts
.4/6. 2 ditto 6/8. 23d 250 8d nails
2/ .�� . .� .��
.�� .�� .��
.���� 1 ..8.. 3 ������������ 23 To 2 Gallons rum 10/. 1 Ell Oznab 1/6. 29th_.. � m pins 6/1. 1 oz thread 5d 2 yds ribbon 2/� .�� . .���
.�� .��� .���
.�� ..� ~..16..5 ������������ 29 To 2 Snuff boxes 1/8. 1Gl rum
4/3 .���� .����� .������
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.��� 2.11 Augt
.� .�
4 To 1 hhead tobacco on Nanjamoy
R T S No
204.1015. 105. 910. 36 .�� .�� .����
.��� .��� .���
.��� .� .��
.� 946 ����������������� To Cash for
daybook .��� .��� .���
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.������ . 18. 3. 4 ��� �����������6 To 1 hank shoe thread 1/.12th Cash
140/20th 2 pr
black leather Breeches 15/.2 felt hatts 13/4� . .�
.� 11
.��� .����� .��
.��� .�� .� 8..
9. 4 ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������============ �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Amount carried up����������������������������������������������������
55.18.5� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
[Writing becomes smaller and less legible as space available on folio
diminishes.]��� ������ Bedboard: The Arvin home must
have been big enough to allow room for bed(s). This was probably a big day for
the Arvins. Perhaps Sarah and Thomas could now move down from the loft, or perhaps raise the bed off the ground. By 1787, Thomas has four bedsteads. ���� ���� Porringers
were small, hemispherical, somewhat shallow vessels with one or two handles,
used for eating foods like soup or porridge. Earthenware pottery, it was an
improvement over wooden bowls.156����� � ����1 quire paper refers to
one-twentieth of a ream, equal to 24 sheets of handmade paper or 25 sheets of
machine-made paper. Presumably this was writing paper, and we can conclude that
Thomas must have been at least semi-literate. ���� Leather
Breeches were an outer covering for
the legs ending just above, or more usually just below, the knees. �Although
knee breeches became stylish, they were confining, and many farmers probably
wore instead short, floppy trousers extending to a little below the knee.
Breeches made of crudely tanned leather...must have been hot for ordinary
fieldwork and were probably intended for the messy tasks of tanning,
butchering, and the like. For special occasions, if he could afford them, the
planter wore a linen shirt bleached as white as his purse allowed, cloth
breeches a little baggier than those fashionable in the eighteenth century,
cloth or knitted stockings, leather shoes with wooden heels...these last were
sewn and buckled rather than
closed by ties. With the breeches, the planter wore a cloth waistcoat over the
shirt and under the coat, for a complete outfit. Only the most affluent men
wore a greatcoat in winter; the others just kept moving. ���� �Work clothes for women were also designed
for comfort. A simple linen shift, with or without sleeves, tucked into a full
skirt that ended above the ankles composed the basic outfit. Over the shift,
what we would now call a long blouse, a woman wore a pair of �bodies� if she
could afford them. This garment could be short or long, and might even have
sleeves. For warmth, she added more petticoats, as skirts were often called,
and to keep them clean, an apron over all�.Probably no woman of the poorer
classes wore stays�.Fieldwork, particularly at the hoe, is not conducive to the
upright posture so greatly in favor among the better sort of the time, so the
dumpy figure and stooped carriage of the poor woman served to declare her
status, even before her weathered face and horny hands could give it away�.Women
wore neither brassieres nor underpants, both of which are inventions of the
nineteenth century.�157� ���� By August, Thomas�s balance was over ₤55. This would be
reduced by credits for his crop production for 1768 later in the year. On folio
277 of this Ledger we find the �Dr Ballance accompt,� showing the balances of the accounts as of 31
December 1768. Thomas�s balance was ₤31..1..4, which was carried over to 1769 in
Ledger No. 4 by ���� Zachariah
Moreland is also a customer of the store. His account is recorded on folio 159
of this ledger. He will marry Thomas Darnall's daughter Mary. More about him later.� ��� Bayne Smallwood also appears in the ledgers
during these years. Mr. Smallwood was an aristocrat and prosperous planter
living in the area, retired legislator and owner of Mattawoman Plantation.
His son, William Smallwood, was gradually taking over the operation from his father. William was destined to play an important role in the upcoming War for ��� Colonel George Mason, a revolutionary
activist and member of the Virginia Legislature, who was approximately the same
age as Thomas, also traded at this store. Mason owned Gunston
Hall, which, like ����� The 1769 ��� ��� The store is still owned by Simson Baird
& Company at this point, although �����������������������������������������
Inventory of Goods belonging to Messrs Simson Baird & Company �� ���������������������������������������at their
Piscattaway Store taken 2nd January 1769�
by James Brown�� ���� ��� ���� Once again Thomas�s credits had fallen
short of his debits, and a balance had been carried forward from 1768. No
matter, the demands of his farm and family went on, and the balance continued
to grow in 1769. By 4 May ���� In response to the Townshend
Revenue Act,
���� Shown below is an abstract
of the left side of this folio, where Thomas and another person�s accounts were
maintained. All debits and credits are denominated in goods, or in
���� �Rum was most often taken
neat, straight out of the bottle or tossed off from a dram cup that was then
refilled and passed to the next person in turn. Rum and cider, mulled with sugar
and spices, made a popular drink for large gatherings such as funerals. Rum served more than convivial purposes, and
offered readily available anesthesia for surgery, tooth extraction, and childbearing. Furthermore, it fended off the rigors
of winter and kept the work crews going in harvest time�.Rum, although cheap, cost far more than cider, and required an
outlay that poorer planters tried to avoid if they could. Milk and milk products played a far smaller role in their diet
than cider. Both milk and cider were seasonal in nature....The variety of fresh fruits in
��
���� Here is the right side of
folio 157, where customer credits were usually recorded. And here is an
abstract of the right side:
������� pounds
of crop tobacco and also sold 17 bushels of oats to the store.
���� �Probably a
family of seven required something like ₤50 currency in the country and ₤60 or so in the towns
to maintain themselves at the subsistence level. Food would cost ₤30, clothes ₤12, medical expenses
and schooling ₤5, firewood, taxes and miscellaneous essentials a few more pounds. House
rent might add another ₤5 or ₤10. These estimates assume that the family provided none of its own food or
clothing.�149� The Arvin household had
a minimal rent and provided their own housing, food, and clothing. But things were still
very tight, and we can see there would be no chance to set aside anything for emergencies or to accumulate any wealth at
all. In addition, a bad crop year or weather calamity could prove disastrous. There was no such thing as insurance.��
���� �����Here is folio
119 of Ledger No. 4 for 1769:
���������
�������������������
To Balance from Ledger No 3��
.� .������ .���
.��� .��� .��
.��� .�� .�� .
61.� .��
.�� . �.��
.� .� .���
31. 1. 4
February
11 To 5� yards white Sheeting at 2/0 14/..10 oz W.B. Min @ 7d ..1 at rum 1/6 .� .�
.� 16 1
�������������� 18 To 1 primer 8d (March 13th) 5� Ells Oznaburgs at 1/6. 8/3.. 2 yds durays 6/ .� .� .14 4
March���� 13 To 1 doa
Small twist butts 8d..3 large ditto 3d� 1 stick twist 6d
.�� .���
.���� .��� .��
.� .��� 1� 5
��������� ����������To 1 oz thread 5d (17th) Cash 2/6 (20th) 1 pint rum 1/6 9d
.�� .��
.��� .�� .�� 3
.�� .����
.� 3� 8
��������������� 27 To John Turton
for your order in favors of� Frans
Jenkins .��� .��� .165 .���
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5� 2
� April������
17 To Cash 10/ .��� .���� .���
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felt hatts 3/2..2 ditto 2/10 ..1 linnen
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6�� .��
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4�..�m pins 6�..1[?] Shott 2d.�� .�� .�
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��������������������� To Elizabeth Kelly .�� .����
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24 . .������ 8 .6
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���������� 26 To trans Tobacco 47wt is 45wt .:Cash 45/�
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4� / Oct 6th . 3
Ells oznaburgs 1/8� 1ee Brown Sugar 10d .. 2..� .�� .���
.��� .� . 10
October 6 To dzn
Shoe Tacks1d(16th)1
pint Rum 9d..Cash
1/11�..2� yds Temmy
2/2�� 15 .��
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���������� 16 To 2 pr
garters 5d.. 2 qts rum 3/. ..1 timbler
3d 1ee B.
Sugar 10d..7/8
yd
ribbon.6�
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��������������� To 1 Caroline felt hatt 2/6..1 ditto 3/. .. 2� yds
Duffle at 9/10 7/9� .�� .�� .�
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���������� 24 To 1 quart rum 1/6.. 7 yds binding 7d 10 dzn
large basketbutts 6� ..1ozthread
2d . .� .�
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��������������� To 2� yds Cotton at 9�.1/17�..4� yds
Silk ferreting 9d 1 pr
sleeve butts .����������� .��
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����������� _____________________________�
�������������������������� ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������45
3 16.2��� 40 13 7
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______________________________���������������
������
�� Basket buttons were buttons covered
with an interlacing pattern or a metal imitation thereof, especially
fashionable on men�s coats.
�� Caroline
felt hatt was a felt hat made of Carolina Beaver.
The fur, from the
��� Thomas�s account is carried forward to another
folio within Ledger No. 4.
gratuitous
letter �e� to the Arvin name. And still
the account balance went higher. By the end of this year it stood at over
₤56. This was a sizable amount of money for a poor planter. By
way of comparison, Alexander Hamilton�s wages for
1769 were ₤45164
=====================================================================
�����������������������������
������������������� To amount from folio.�� .��
.��� .����� ...�������� .���� .����
119.� .�� 45����
7 13 3 ������ 40 16 7
December 23 To 1� oznaburgs1/�..2ee B.Sugar 1/8..1 dutch Oven 9[?]..2
6� 1/5yarnhose
1/5
5. � .���� 1 8
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_______________________
�����������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7 18 3��� 15 16 7
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�=============
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45������������������������
56.14.10
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���������������______________________________
�
���� At the end of the year, the store has a
folio titled, �Dr� Ballance Accompt, which is a listing of all the balances owed by its
customers. Thomas is shown owing� ₤27..18..4� in currency,
as carried forward from his account in the 1769 Ledger (folio 138). So even
after he was credited for his crop for 1769, he still had a balance owing to
the store. In fact his is
one of the larger balances being carried forward into 1770 by Simson Baird.
���� An inventory taken by the store at the
beginning of the following year, 1770, includes a folio titled �Inventory 1770
Continued.� On this folio is �A list of Crop & Transfer Tobacco on Hand 1st January.� For each hogshead in its inventory the store
lists the maker�s mark, the number of the cask, the gross weight, the tare(?),
the net weight and the name of the warehouse. Two of the casks have a mark
of� T A on them. If these belonged to Thomas, we can get an
idea of how much he and Thomas Darnall produced for
the year 1769. One has a net weight of 1042 pounds and the other a net weight
of 1048 pounds. So their total production for 1769 would have been 2090 pounds
of tobacco. Both casks were listed as being at the Broad Creek warehouse
at the time of this inventory.
����
Store owners like Brown gave the planters credit for their tobacco in
goods at the store, or in cash, but �...problems arose from the so-called �two
price� system. At
���������������������������������������������������
Advertisement
������� This Subscriber just opened a very full
and general Assortment of Goods, which
he will sell on the
lowest Terms for ready Money or Tobacco. ~ Those who deal with him
and pay Tobacco any
Time this Inspection, shall be charged Goods at the real genuine
Cost, as they are
imported from
per Cent on the final Cost, only, and the Cost Price allowed them,
for said Tobacco, that is
given in
deal with him for Money paid ready down, or to be paid, any time
before the first Day of
January next, shall have their Choice of any Goods in his Store at
One hundred per Cent
advance on the genuine Cost of said Goods. ~������ And as he thinks it is just and
reasonable, that a proper Distinction should be made between those
Customers, who pay
ready down, and those whose Circumstances require some time of
Credit,
in which he hopes every reasonable Man will join him. he gives this public
Notice to all his Customers
that they shall be all charged with Goods at the real genuine Cost,
from this Day forward
and any Payments made him in Tobacco this Inspection, or in Money
before the first of
January next, shall be settled as above, and any Balances remaining
due on his Books
at the End of the Year, in Cost of Goods will be turned into
Currency, at One hundred and
twenty five per Cent advance, and Tobacco will be taken in Discharge
thereof, at the genuine
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
is paid����
Cash Price Tobacco sells at in
������ The
Subscriber hereby assures his good Customers, that are now, or may hereafter
choose to become such,
that
they shall all be treated on the above mentioned Terms, untill
further public
Notice
is given to them, as many Occurrences may happen which cannot be foreseen, and
which
may require some Attentions in Business, and being well convinced from
Experience
that Short
Settlements make long Friends, he
is determined
to
settle regularly and fully with all his good customers, Once in every Year,
which
he hopes will be as agreeable to them as it will be to
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
their very humble Servant�
��
�������������������� May 29��� put up a copy of the above @ Broad Creek
Church��� sent by A Hamilton
�������������������������������������������������������������������
on the Store Door
����������������������������� 30� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.Piscataway Warehouse.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� . .� .by Ign Ward
������������������ June���� 2���
sent a copy to� Bryan Town .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� by Smith Midleton
��� ���������������������������4��� put up a Copy @� Ben.
����������������������������� 11�� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� .�
.� .� Courthouse�
Door�
������������� �����������������������������������Advertisement
The Subscriber finding
from a short Trial that the Method he proposed in a former
Advertisement of
changing his Goods at the first Cost Prices, was disagreeable to
many of his good
Customers, now informs them agreeable to his former Promise, that
from this Day forward,
he will leave off that Method, and charge the Goods either in
the Cost or Currency
Prices, as his Customers may choose at the time of taking up the
Goods�� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~� ~��
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
James Brown
����
Alexander Hamilton was beginning to take over operations at the store. �
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������������� Just imported, and is to be sold for Cash,
Bills of Ex-�����
��������������������������� ��������������������change, or Crop
Tobacco,� at a low advance,�����
����������������������������������������� A�
BOUT ��₤ 670 Cost of Goods,��
consisting of�����
�����������������������������������������������
Osnabrigs, Irish
Linens, Irish white and
brown�����
�����������������������������������������
Sheeting, home made Checks, coarse and fine Hats,�����
������������� ����������������������������low priced
Clothes,�� 10d and 20d Nails,� and many�����
����������������������������������������� other
Articles too numerous to particularize.�����
�������������������������������������������������
(6w)���������������������� ����������������JOHN BAYNES.�����
����
Advertising in the papers was the exception rather than the rule. Many
merchants did not advertise, as many of their clients could not read, nor could
they afford to subscribe to the papers.
����
The Townshend Acts, with the exception of the
tax on tea, were repealed at this time.�
�The repeal of the Townshend Acts in 1770
retarded the growth of national consciousness in the American colonies�.Repeal,
in fact, unloosed a frenzy of consumption. Though the tax on tea
remained, the colonists could not be deterred from buying British manufactures. Between 1770 and 1772 they set
records for the importation of foreign goods.165
����
Public Entertainment
���� Life in colonial
chief public
gatherings were at church services, courts of the commissioners, and race
tracks. Probably the main attraction
of the churches was
that people could there gossip with friends and neighbors and make arrangements
for future visits at this home or that�.While the Court of the Prince George�s
County commissioners was in general held at the county seat...the commissioners
did sit occasionally elsewhere, using a room in an ordinary. Marylanders were a
litigious lot and the courts provided drama, comedy, and tragedy on occasion.
���� Also popular was something transplanted
from the mother country: �A[n]...occasional entertainment in Piscataway Hundred
was brought by touring theatrical companies...They were using a tobacco barn in
Upper Marlborough, and this seems a likely house for performance in Piscataway,
too.�166� The company�s repertoire was
known to include Shakespeare�s play, The
Merchant of Venice, among others.
���� �Equally popular was horse-racing. With
horses running wild, farm boys grew up riding and racing each other long before
fast thoroughbreds were introduced to
���� �At least two planters near
���� Here is part of an advertisement which ran
in the Maryland Gazette on Thursday,
26 October 1769:
����������������������������������������������������������
�P I S C A T W A Y����� R A C E S.
���������������������������������� TO�� BE��
RUN�� FOR,� at
��� �������������������������������������������������Tuesday
the Seventh day of November next,
����������������������������������������������������
A�� PURSE��
OF�� TWENTY�� POUNDS,
����������������������������������������������������������������������
Fee for any Horse, Mare, or Gelding, the
����������������������������������������������������
best of Three Three Mile
Heats, to carry Weight
����������������������������������������������������
in Size [etc, etc.] ...
������������������������������������������ �����������The HORSES for the First Day, to be entered
����������������������������������������������������
with Francis King, on Monday the Sixth, by
���������������������������������������������������
Twelve o�Clock, and to pay, if Subscribers,
One
��� �������������������������������������������������Shilling
in the Pound, if not, One and Six-pence,
����������������������������������������������������
and if at the Post, double.----------The winning
����������������������������������������������������
Horse, &c. the First Day, only excepted.
����������������������������������������������������
Proper Judges will be appointed to determine all
����������������������������������������������������
Disputes that may arise.
���� It is quite possible that the Darnall and Arvin families both attended this event, which
was held in the style of a two-day fair drawing the people of the area. Often
times the innkeepers got involved in the event. Francis King, mentioned in this
advertisement as handling the entrance fees, had been a member of the Lower
House of Assembly, but he was now a tobacco inspector and the innkeeper of an
ordinary in Piscataway Town.168�
�Ordinaries were the true centers of the communities. Here letters,
packages, and messages were left and picked up. Here gossip was exchanged,
magnified, and interpreted. On occasion, the justices of the peace held court
in such public places. [And perhaps even
held wedding ceremonies?] Katherine Kellock, in her Colonial Piscataway in Maryland,
tells us that there is now a brick structure on the south side of the road
nearly opposite the villagestore, which may well be a successor to this
ordinary. Today the local people call it the Hardy House, because Isadore Hardy took charge after Francis King.��
���� Francis King died in 1771, and debts due
the estate are listed in the Inventories. One of the names listed is Thomas
Arvin.169 And this leads to another interesting speculation: was this a debt associated with the races? Perhaps an unpaid entry
fee for one of the boys? Or perhaps
a gambling debt? Could it even have been
for some event the Arvin�s held at the ordinary, even a wedding ceremony for
one of the children? Or even the location of Thomas and Sarah�s wedding? We
cannot tell from the information we have. All we can do is speculate.�
Prosperity,� The Boys Move Out.� Then a Panic
��������� The economic rebuilding of the late
1760s was almost complete, and good times once again prevailed for the
colonists in
���� It appears that in these expansive times
Elias and Elisha may have decided to move out of the
family homestead and away from Zachia Manor and
establish their own households. It�s not too hard to imagine this scenario:
���� Elias, approaching his majority, marries
and moves out. He settles in
���� Although James Brown & Company�s
Ledger No. 5 for 1770 and Ledger No. 6 for 1771 have not survived, we can see
from the ledger for 1772 that Elisha Arvin has his
own account at the store in
���� The American Revolution increased in
intensity as a classic financial �panic� and its resulting depression, on the
order of the Great Depression of the 1930s, settled over the colonies. �A
number of factors combined to produce a depression in 1772 and 1773. In 1771
and 1772,
by 1771
merchants...supplied
����� �...the Scottish firms seem to have had a
hard time.
The 1772
���� �Walter Wilson came to Piscataway in 1772,
�as an assistant to a considerable factor there [e.g. Alexander Hamilton]�...
���� The store kept Ledger No. 7 in 1772.
Thomas�s account balance is carried over from Ledger No. 6 from 1771, although
the Ledgers No. 5 for 1770 and Ledger No. 6 for 1771 apparently have not
survived. The handwriting in the 1772 ledger looks to be different from prior
years.
��������
�
���������
������������������� To Balance from Ledger N
6����������������������������� 261������������������� ����������������₤
32.� 7.��
1
January�� 16� To
4 Ells rolls 4/4..13 Ells Tucklenburghs @ 1/10 . 23/10 .�
.���� .�� .�
.��� .��� 1��
8�� 2
������������������� To 3 Ells oznabgs 3/9..1/5 oz oznbg
thrd 1/.. 3oz colld thrd 1/3�
.���� .��� .�
.�� .���� 6�
__
����������������� ��To 1 hank silk 10d ..2 bushels Salt 6/ ../23
March/ 1 Spelling Book 1/8 .���� .���
.��� .�� .���
3�� 6
�� March�
25 To 1
Taper Ink Ponder 1/.. Thos Clagett
for Inke holder 4d��� .
.� .�
16.�� .��� .���
.��� .��� . 1�
4
������������������� To 12 Ells Tinklenburgs
@ 22d ₤1.2.__1/6 ld Oznaburg thread 10d .���
.��� .��� .���
.� �.� �.�
1� 2� 10
������������������� To 1 Paper Fins 11 �.. Pints
Rum 1/11../4 April / 1 � Bushl Salt 4/6 .���
.�� .�� .��
.�� .����� 7�
4�
�� April�����
9� To Cash ₤3..~..~..� ..:2 Ells Osnaburgs
1/6 . 3/.. 2 Ells Rolls @ 1/2/� 2��� .���
.�� .�� .� ���.� 3. 5.�
~
���������������� "� To 3 � Yds
Bagging @ � 4/8../ 20 May / 500 8d Nails @ 8./� 4/.�� .���
.�� .�� .�
8.� 8.
��� May����
20 To 3 � Yds Drillings @� �3 / 4..11/8d ..1 Oz thread 5d � tt
Oznabg ditto 1/� . .��
.�� .� .����
13 2�
���������������� "� To 10 Ells Oznaburgs
@ 1/6 15/..3 Yd Whited B
Sheeting @ 2/6� 7/6� .���� .���
.�� .�� .� .� .1.� 2.
6
���������������� "� To 1 Pint Rum 9d../June 12th/Sheriff of
June . . 19 To 2 Oz Whited
B Thread 1/8d ..2 Oz Coloured
ditto 10d ..1 Oz ditto Yuns 10d .
.�� .��
.��� .�� . 3. .4
���������������� "� To tt
Osnaburg thread 1/1d 1 Pair Wool Cards 3/9d
1 Bale Rope .� .�� .�
.��� .� . 7� .4
���� ������������"� To 15 Ells Osnaburgs� 1 / 4 20/.
15 ditto 1/6� 22/6 .���� .��
.�� .��� .���
.�� .�� .� �.� .�� 2. 2. 6
��� July . .�
.3 To 2 Gallons Rum 10/._ .. / 10 / 3 � Gallons Rum 5/.� 16/3 .�
.��� .��� .���
. .�� . 1� 6� 3
��������������� 23 1 To 4� Ells Osnaburgs 1/6 6/9d..300 & 8d Nails 2/9 .. 2 tt Osnabg
thread ������� .��
.� .�� .��
9� 7�
���������������� "� To 2 Galls Rum 10/.~./August
10th/ 1 Pint Rum 9d..���
.��� .���� .���
.�� .��� .�
.��� .� .10 .9
� August��
24 To Yds Stampt Cotton 4/6 31/6d 2 Oz Indigoe Blue 1/ 2/.~. 1ee Pepper 1/6� .���� .
��.
�.��
.�� 1 15� ~
��������������������� "� To 1 Card SleeveButtons
1/6d... � Yd Broad Cloth 11/30/3 Stock loves[?]/10d���
.�� .�� .�� 6
12.7
����������������������������������������������������������� �����������������������������������==========������� ==============
�������������������������������������������������
Carried up to Cr side
.� .��
.�� .� .��
.� .��� .�
.� .�� . 85�����
.� .49 18 .9�
��� The Spelling
Book purchased on March 23rd is especially intriguing, another indication
that Thomas was at least semi-literate, and trying as best he could to educate himself and his
family despite the lack of schools in the province. This book might have been
one of the very few books the family owned. Imagine the disadvantage this put
the children at. �During the early years of the
��� Noah Webster did not publish his famous American Spelling Book until 1783. The
book purchased was probably Daniel Fenning�s Universal Spelling-Book; or, a New and Easy
Guide to the English Language. which was first published in
Taper Ink Ponder: Although no information on this item could be found, it might be a type of ink well and therefore could considered addition evidence that Thomas was literate.
���� At the end of the year the store recaps
its accounts. On folio 242, we find that Thomas Arvin and Thomas Darnall have a single account,
written on one single line. This gives credence to the Darnall family tradition that
�Thomas Arvin was involved in a number of business transactions with Thomas
Darnell...�176� The folio is written
thus:
�
��������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Sterling��� CropTo��� Goods��
Currency�
� Thomas . . . .Arvine
.�� .��
.&Thos Darnall .�� .�� . �����.��
.�� .��� .�� .
1039 .���� .��� .��
.�� 17..5..6�
� John. . . . . .�
� John .�
.� .� . .Allen�
.�� .�� .��
.�� .��� .��
.��� .��� .��
.�� .� ��.���
.��� .�� .���
.� .�� .��
.�� .��� .���
.� . 1..8..1�
� James .�
.� . . Alder .�� .��� .��� .��
.�� .���� .���
.�� .�� .��
.��� .���� .���
.��� .��� .����
.���� .����� .��
.�� 2..6..8
� John.�
.�� .� . .Anderson��
.��� .��� .���
.���� .��� . .��
.�� .��� .��
.�� .�� .���
.��� .��� .�����
.�� .� .��
.�� 5..4..6
� Miss Sally. . Allford� .��
.�� .� .��
.��� .���� .���
.��� .�� .��
.��� .��� .����
.��� .���� .���
.��� .�� .��
.�� .� .. 1..~
� Monica .�
.�� .Brook� .��
.�� .�� .���
.��� .��� .����
.����� .���� .���
.��� .��� .���
.��� .�� .���
.��� .��� . �.
2.15.10
� John.��
.�� .� . Bloinfords.� .� Exrs.�� .
.��� .���
.��� .� .��
.��� .��� .���
.�� .�� .���
.�� .��� .��
.�� .��� 3..17.8���������
��
��� Also in 1772, we find for the first time an account for �Elisha Arvine
of Thos.� This must be Thomas�s
second son. Elisha, who is now 19 years old and is
apparently out on his own. Elisha may have been
listed by the store as �of Thomas� to distinguish him from an older person
named Elisha Harbin, who lived in the area and had
established an account at the store
in Port Tobacco prior
to this time. The Harbins were apparently not related
to the Arvins. It�s also possible that Elias and Elisha, with their wives and the children, lived in a
single household and that they maintained just one account at James Brown�s
store, under Elisha�s name this year.
���� Here is an abstract of Elisha�s
account:
������ Elisha Arvine of Thos ��������Dr
�April������
3 To1 Pair Traces 3/..1 Pair Leading Lines 1/.. 3 Ells Rolls 3/3 .�� .����
.��� . .�� . 7..3
��������������� "�� To Cash 12/6..4� Bushls Salt 13/6 .. /24th /Cash 2/6.��
.�� .2&3.� .��� . ��.� .
1..8..6
�June�������
3�� To 3 Ells Osnaburgs@ 1/7d
4/9 1 Pair Knee Buckels 1/..�� .�����
.��� .�� .��
.� .� 5..9
��������������� "�� To� 3 Yds white
Sheeting� 2/6� 7/6� 1
Oz whited B thread 10d .��� .��� .��
.���� 8. 4
��������������� "�� To 1/5th Osnaburgs thread 10d . 1 Ivory Comb 1/10� .� .���
.���� .��� .���
.�� .� 2. 8�
�July�������
10� To 2� Ells Osnaburgs
1/4d 3/4d .1 Broad Hoe 4/6d ./28/1 Hair Sifter 1/6.� .��� .���
.�� ..� 9. 4
�August���
29 To 1
Pair Mens Common Shoes 8/.~ ..10� Yd Russia Drab
2/6� 25/7�d.��� .���
.�� .�� 1.13. 7�
��������������� "�� To 6 Ells Osnaburgs
1/7 9/6d 2@5 Osnaburg thread 10d 1/8d..4 Ells Hessian 6/.~ .�� .� . . . 17. 2
��������������� "�� To Womans
Silk Bonnet 12/6d .. 1 Check Handkff 2/4d.����� .�
.�� .�� .��
.� .� .14.10
Septemr�� 12 To
George Wilson 750$Transferr is .���� .�
.��� 207.� . 705@ 32/6 pr�� .� .� �. 11. 9.1�
October�� 29 To 1 Shoe Hammer 2/6d.. 1 PrPinchers
3/3d..1 Bushel Salt 3/.~.�� .��
.�� .�� .�� 8.
9
���������������� "� To 1 Iron Pott
18� @ 4d 6/2d 200 8d Nails 1/10d 1� doz Auls 6d 9d .���
.�� .�� .��
.�� .� .��
.� 8. 9
���������������� "� To 1 Pegging Aul 3d..1/2 ee Shoe thread 3/6d 1/9d..3 7/8 Ells Osnabgs � 4/6�.�� .�� .�
.�� .� 6. 6�
���������������� "� To 4 5/8 Yds Welsh
Cotton 2/9 12/8�..2 Shoe Knifes 1/4d .. 1 Hankff
1/4d.� .�� .�
.� .�� �. ���15 7�
Novemr���� 6 To 3 Snuff
���������������� "� To � Yd I Linen 2/4�d 1 � Yd German Serge 8/.~ 10/.~ 4 Oz thrd
1/8.� .��
.�� .�� .�
.�� .��� .14~ �
���������������� " To 1 Paper Pins 9d .. 3� Yds Bagging 1/8d 5/10d..1 pr Sleve
butts 6d . ��.����
.�� .�� .��
.� .��� . 7..1
Decemr���� 5 To 1 Stock Lock(?) 2/6d.. 1� Yds Sercy
3/9d ../10/ 1� Ells Osnabg
1/2 1/9d .�� .�� .��
.�� .�� . 8 ~
��������������� 27 To 5 Quarts Rum 7/6d .��
.�� .�� .��
.�� .����� .��
.�� .�� .��
.�� .� �.�� .��
.�� .�� .�� .�� .�
.�� . 7 6
���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
=============
�������������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������22�� 6� 8�
�� Knee
Buckles were used to fasten
men�s breeches to his stockings at the knee.
�� Iron
Pot: �Not only were cast-iron
pots very heavy but they were also very brittle and susceptible to burning out,
so they were not ideal cooking utensils. On the other hand, they were cheap and
could be patched by a blacksmith. Pot iron in early Maryland cost about threepence a pound, and cooking pots weighed from 20 to 60
pounds or more, so that one cost from four to fifteen shillings...The people of
the period used the term �pot� for the larger vessels, with capacities usually
measuring in the gallons, fitted with loop handles and hooks for suspension
over the fire, not seating them in the fire. The smaller capacity of �kettles�
was generally measured in quarts, and these had lids, whereas pots did
not.�177�
����
The 1773
��������� As the American Revolution continued
to grow in intensity, the depression in the colonies ground on through 1773.
��Such times has never been in the memory of man,� wrote Joshua Johnson as he
predicted, �I should not be surprised at a general revolution of the mercantile
world.��178
���� Thomas Arvin and Thomas Darnall apparently did not make any more purchases on their
joint account in 1773. In fact, they were not to trade ever again with James
Brown & Company.� However, the store
continued to carry their account on its books, which was brought over from
Ledger No. 7 to Ledger No. 8. Below is what appears to be a summary of the
accounts for 1773.
����
��������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������� 1st Class� ��������������������������������������
�1� Miss
Sally.� .�� . Allford�� .���
.� Dr To Balance from Ledger N 8�� .��
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6
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Thomas .�� .�� .Arvin &} .�� .���
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do ����do prBond 100 . .1039��
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To ditto . . from�� . . . do .�� .
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�7 Miss Betsey.�
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do.� ����.�
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.��� .�� .��
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. .�� .� .��
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.�� .�� .Blanford .�� .�
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2.� 6
�12
���
�
���� Thomas Arvin�s son Elias did make
purchases at the store in 1773. The account for him and his brother Elisha may have been maintained in his name this year, for
whatever reason. Their families were still dependent on what James Brown &
Company had to offer.
���� �The colonists came increasingly to rely
upon British merchants not only for what they now perceived as the necessities
of daily life but also
for a continued supply of credit. So long as the Anglo-American economy
remained relatively prosperous and stable,
it was possible to maintain the fiction of personal independence in a market
system that in fact spawned dependence.�179 ���
��� Elias�s purchases are listed on folio 158 of Ledger No. 8. They run from 27 March through 13 November 1773. Total store
credit at the end of the year was ₤5..3..6�.
An abstract is shown here:
158 ���������������������
�������������
������������������������������������������� �������������������������������Currency�
March 27 To 1�YdsHampt Mon 4/6
..6/9d ..1 Check HKff 1/9d..1� B.Salt
4/6d . . . .� .19..9
����������� "�� To 1�YdRibbon 1/1d 1/7�d 1Yd Oxnaburg thread 11�d ..�
.�� .�� .��
.�� .�� .��� .
2.6�
April...10 To 1 Pair Traces 1/6d
..1 Pair Leading Lines 10d..2� Ells Rolls 2/6d .� .�
.� .� . . 4..16
����������� "�� To 3 Ells Osnaburgs
1/7d 4/9d..Pocket Looking Glass 1/3d..QuartR(?)6d.� .�
.� 7.. 6
June���� 22 To 2� Fine ditto 1/3d 4/7d ../July 26/1
Pair Sleeve Buttons 6d .� .� .� .� .�
.�� .� .� 5..
1
July����� 26 To 1 Castor Hatt
12/6..1� Yds Drillingo 2/3
.. 6/4� .� .�� .��
.�� .�� .��
.�� .�� .�
.� . 15.10��
���������������� To� 1 OzWhited Bronin Thread 7d..1 Bottle Snuff 2/6d .�� .��
.�� .�� .�� .�� .��
.�� .� .� 3..1
���������������� To 1 Pint Rum 9d.. /30/ � Yd
Muslin 2/5d .. Stock Buckle 1/3d .�
.� .�� .��
.�� . �.� 4..5
August�� 7 To 1 Pair S:Chr
Pumps 12/6d .. 2ea Brown Sugar 1/6d..1 Snaffle Bridle 5/.� .� .
19..2
Novembr13To Sundries paid Thomas Arvine 20/.~../Decembr/ 500 10 Nails 5/6 800 3d ditto .���� .��
.�� .��� 1..8..3
����������������������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������===================
� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������5.
3.6��
Here is an abstract of the right (Credit) side of the folio:
������������������� Anno� 1773������������� ���������������158
�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Folio
CropTo� Goods
Currency
��������������� Contra�������������� Cr
December 11..� By Francis Mudd.�� .���� .���
.���� .��� .���
.���� .��� .���
.� 75� .���
.���� .��� .���
.� ~..6..~
������������������������ By
Balance to Ledger No 9� .��� .���
.��� .��� .���
.��� .��� 8 .���
.��� .��� .��
.�� 4..11..6��
�� Francis Mudd: This
is likely the family which, in a later era, would produce Dr. Samuel A. Mudd. Dr. Mudd set the broken leg
of John Wilkes Booth, who was fleeing through Zachia
after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Historical notes: On 10 May 1773, The Tea Act was passed in
����
Zachariah Moreland, whose family lived in Zachia
Manor, still had an account at the store. Zachariah would marry Thomas Darnall�s daughter Mary in 1773. He will play a role in
Thomas�s life later.
The 1774
���
���� �Something extraordinary
occurred in 1774. Thousands of ordinary people responded as they never had done
before to an urban political crisis. Events in
���
���� James Brown & Company found itself
overextended and caught in the middle. On 28 May 1774, Alexander Hamilton,
under pressure from his employers, writes, �You say you are astonished at the
small remittance made you last year from this store, where so much money is due
you. I can assure you that I did every thing in my power to make it Better and
did not a thing neglect your Business. But there being no Inspection Law and
People not obliged to Bring their Tobacco to the Warehouses until they pleased,
and the prices lower than they expected, many of them would not carry at all
[not deliver to the store], and to sue them, which has been the case with many,
has not yet compelled a payment; from the State[ment]
I
sent you last, you
will see that I have sued a great many, few or none of which I have Received
any Payment from yet, nor do not expect before
the 10th day of February next; although I expect to get Judgement
against them at August Court, I shall not received the payment then, as they
will Superside until February. You are very well
acquainted with the tediousness of the Law here and the
generally litigious disposition of the people, how well they are acquainted
with every chicanery that the Law will admit of to keep off payment of their
debts & what good use they make of that knowledge.
���� �It is true I have a great many Goods on
hand, but they are not Such as I want or Such as I can sell at this time�.You will see by the
Inventory that it will take a Considerable part of my scheme to assort the
Store & that Large Quantity of Goods on hand is much owing to many of unsaleable goods,�I mean not, nor desire not, to increase
your debts, but I should be glad to have
such a Supply as will Command some respect to this store and enable me by the
Sale of them to help pay for the Charge of Storekeeping and at the same time
not injure the Collection & lessening of many of your debts.
����� �I shall give due attention to your
orders, and shall not draw on you for any part of the Tobacco purchase, but
confine myself to what I may receive in payment of debts�The first time I see
Daniel Jenifer [a
prominent lawyer, older brother of Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer]
Shall present our order for payment.
���� �From the present prospect there will be a
great deal of Tobo. planted, most people are
prepared, and many have planted part of their
Crops.�
����� �30th�����
Since writing the within the post has brought the Resolutions of the
City of
���� Although �there was a growing despair
among the colonists that their self-imposed embargo caused economic
fluctuations in
���� On 31 October he reiterates, �I need not say
much more about Goods you have sent out than what I have already said. The
lateness of their coming and the small quantity has proved very prejudicial to
my purchase, & many of my best
customers have been
under the necessity of lying out part of their Crops at other places. You made
a very great mistake in sending hoes instead of Irish Linens, having a greater
quantity of the first than I wanted, and no low priced of the last, and Check
and stript
���� Again on 31 October he writes, �The Colonys are extremely adverse to the late Parliamentary
Measures, and the say they will never submit
to be taxed without their Consent, but would be willing to pay any reasonable
sum towards the Exigencys of Government provided they
are allowed to raise it as the Judge most convenient for themselves�.Should the
difference betwixt Britain and the Colonys continue
on twelve-month longer, and the imports & exports be strictly adhered to,
the poor people and all those who could not lay in more Goods than would answer
their present Necessitys will be in the Utmost
Distress, and will I am afraid be exceedingly riotous against the better sort
of people who have fully supplied themselves for a Length of time. If the
Premier [Lord North] who seems to be thoroughly acquainted with the Situation
of
the Country and its
Inhabitants, and a man of great firmness, should persevere in his Plan, I am
greatly afraid he will gain his point, however it will not be without some
Bloodshed. It is said the people of Massachusetts bay are very desirous of
cutting off General Gage, before he has fortified himself and received fresh
reinforcements from
���� Later in the year, there were even bigger
problems. �James Brown & Co. came into direct conflict with the revolutionaries by the
end of 1774 when goods consigned to its Bladensburg factor, James Hoggan, were confiscated by the Committee of
Observation for
���� At the end of 1774 all the account
balances shown on the closing folios of Ledger Number 9 were �Carried By Balance to Ledger Number 10.� Thomas Arvin & Thomas Darnall�s account was also �Carried By Bond to Ledger Number 10.� Alexander Hamilton
again classifies his debtors as 1st
Class, 2nd Class and 3rd Class. The account titled �Thomas Arvin &
Thomas Darnall� is listed as 1st Class. Accounts of the 1 st Class alone number
300 and total over ₤10,500.
���� After the listing of the 1st Class debts,
�
���������������� Number 303 is Thomas Arvine, with a total owed of���� ₤42..18..~�
���������������� Number 304 is Elisha Arvin, with a total owed of������ ���₤12..~..14
���������������� Number 306 is Elias Arvin,
with a total owed of����������� ₤�
4..17..6���
���� Elias seems to
be the most conservative, or perhaps simply more resistant to the �Baubles of
Britain.� He makes few purchases and keeps his account balance low.� For reasons we do not know, he apparently
gave John Roby ₤3 in September.
����������������������
==============================================================================
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January��� 1 To Amount Brought from .� .��
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April��� 6 To Broad Hoe 4/6..1 Bushell Salt 3/..Ells Rooled
1/..2/6� .�� .��
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.�� .�� .�� .�� . �.�
..� 10. ....
������������� 16 To Cash..2/6 / May 23/ � ea Powder..8d
..1ea Shott 5d .� .� .�
.� 17 .� .������
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��
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9 To John Roby son of Richd ₤3 .� .��� .��
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165 .�� .�� .�
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Pr Contra . .� .�� .��
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��������������� ..� To John Roby ..60/~. (October 21st)3 Wlls Oznab 1/6:4/6 .�� .165.�� .��� .
.��� .�� .�
.�� .� 3..� 4
.. 6
October����� 22�
To Elisha Arvin for � bushel salt ozd
him April 23d� .�� .�� .��
.116.���
.��� .�� .��
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Decemb������� 7� To Cash 5/~../24th/ � Gallon rum 3/..� .��
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11..5.. 6
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====================================�
����
And here is the credit side. He brings no tobacco to market this year,
at least not with James Brown & Company, but
he gets credit for some tobacco
from the estate of Thomas Owens. He appears to be settling his account with
Hamilton,
and has a �final bill� in
September, which will bear interest from the first of January next.
����������������������������������� Contra��� �������������Cr
��
July���� 16 By The Estate of
Thomas Owens ..7.3dCropTobo
&5/.. is.� . .� 179 .�
.� 19 .7�
�September 9 By Your Final Bill on Int. fr 1st Jany next .� .���
.��� .���� .���
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By Cash 37/1 . ..(21st)By Cash� 21/1
.� .��
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� Decem. . . 10 By
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���������������������� By Bond .� .��
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���������������������� By Ballance
.� .��
.�� . 10.18} To Ledger No. 10 .�� .���
.��� .��� .�
9� .����� .���
.���� 8.. 2.. 4
������������������������������������� �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������=========
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���
��Second son Elisha
Arvin, who turned 21 this year and may also be married, continues his own account into 1774. Here
is the Debit side of folio 116.
Note Elisha purchases some of those 8 penny nails,
the only kind Alexander Hamilton has in stock.
�
������������������������
January�� 1 To Balance Brought Forward�� Your Notes of hd
& 9..1..3}� 7�� .�
.�� .��� .�
12.� 1 .7
���������� ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Balance��������������������� 2..6..11
February� 7 To Dutch Ax 10/~� March 19�
(?)Henry Muren�
29/7 . .� .� 147.��
.�� .�� .� .
.�� 1..19. 7
April . . . 23 To � Bushell
Salt 3/- 1/6~ /26/ 5� Ells Osnabrigs @&/7��� .�� .��
.�� .� .� .�� . .�
.10.1�
August~� 19 To 50: 8d Nails 6d ../27/ To
Luke Lovelas 150eaC.Tobo . 199. 150�
.� .���� .��
.�� 6
��������������� 27 To Allowance for Poricing(?) 4/6 .��
.��� .�� .��
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. 4. 6
�������������������� To Inor
on The Conra Credit��
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October�� 22 To Bond per contra� .�
.� .�� .��
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.��� . 11..~� �
�������������������� To Pint Rum 9d..December 12th
5 yds Sects Pladen(?)
1/6� 7/4 .�� .���
.�� .�� 13.3�
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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11.13..3�
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����
����
And the credit side of folio 116. Elisha also
gets credit from the estate of Thomas Owens. He apparently earned this
by �stiping,
packing & prizing a light hhd� of tobacco for the
estate, although the actual amount of credit is not recorded.
����������������������������������������
�����������������������
Contra������� Cr
� July�� 16 By The
Estate of Thomas Owens for Striping packing} 179 .� .��
.� .�� .��
.�� .�� .����
��������������� ����������������& prizing a light Hhd Tobo .�� .��
.�� .� .
August 17 By Crop Tobo on Piscattaway E H 474.609.105..504.�� .� 92
����������������������������������������������������������������������������
4PrCt����������� 20
��������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������--------� 524
����������������� By Elias Arvin for � bushel
Salt of april 23d .�� .���
.� .�� .� 156
.�� .��
.��� .�� .�
.�� .�� . 1.6
October 22 By Discounted to
Currency @ 20/ PrCt .� .��
.�� .�� .��
.�� .�� 374..�
.�� .�� 150.�
..3.14.9���
����������������� By Bond due 1st Novbr bearing Int. from 1st March next .����
.�� .� .�
.�� .��� .�
.� 11.~.�
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����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
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��
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����
He brings no tobacco of his own to market this year, at least not with
James Brown & Company.�������������������
����������������������������������������������������������������������������
��
Prizing: packing the
tobacco leaves tightly into the cask, usually done with leverage�
�
���� Third son Thomas Arvin, Jr., now probably
19 years old, has an account. He may
also have married and moved out of his parents� home
but later censuses will show he is still living in
61� ����������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
Folio�� Tobacco� Goods Currency����������������������������������������������
����������
January 1� To Balance Brought forward .�� .��
.�� .�� .���
.��� .��� .���
.��� .�� .���
.�� .�� .���
.42..18.~ �
================================================================
������������ 27 To Your Note on hand pr Contra
.�� .���
.��� .��� .���
.��� .��� .���
.��� .�� . ��.� .�
42..18.~ �
������������� "�
To � yd Shoe thread 1/4�� ..1Yd White Sheeting
2/6..2 Yds Bed Tyoke5/10�� .��
.� .� .�� .� ��9. 8�
�March�
17 To 1 Pair Leading Lines 10d ..200 8d Nails 2/~1 .��
.�� .�� .��
.��� .�� .�� .�� .��
.� 2..10
�
June���� 2� To 20 Ells Osnabrigs@ 1/6~30/~..3� Yds Irish
Linen @
3/2..11/1� .� .. .�
.11..1
������������� "� To Gimblets @
3d~6d..1 oz Nuns
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in 1722, its main seat of production was
�� Shalloon: a lightweight wool or worsted fabric, used chiefly for
coat linings
����
Thomas also buys some of the 8 penny nails.
����
Here is the credit side of folio 61, Ledger Number 9:
��� �������������������������Anno 1774��������� 61
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January�� 27� By
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October�� 31 By ditto on Piscattaway
T A� 490..1020:110:910 .��
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���������������������������� �����������������������������������������������������������������������======================�������������������������������
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����
Thomas, Jr. seems to be living a very intense life. He brought to market
more than he two other brothers combined, as much tobacco as two people. He
also purchased a great deal more than his older brothers this year. Did he have
extra help? A larger family than the brothers? Debts to pay? In his August 24th letter to James Brown, 1774 historical timeline: April� �What would be the
last meeting of General Assembly of the province of Maryland convenes. 17 June�� 6 August� � 5 September� �The First
Continental Congress opens in 14 October �� 19 October� � 31 October� �Alexander Hamilton knows there
is a lot of work to be done in the area of debt collection. He writes to his
employer, �The Collection of your debts I have given due attention to, and
shall continue it while I have the Management of your Business. Nothing shall
be wanting on my part to get Bonds and Notes as well as signed Settlements,
which I am very sensible is very advantageous in Collecting debts, as well as
conducting Business with propriety�.I have sold one of the Horses on hand at
the Inventory; the other three are still on hand, one of which came from the
Lower Marlbro� store. He shall be sold as soon as
possible. I can assure you I do not want to burden the Store with any
unnecessary expense, being as sensible as any person can be, that the small
purchase I make, cannot afford it. If one horse answer for the Business of the
Store I should desire no more�.George 8 to 12 December� �The Maryland Convention meets
at ���� Found in Unpublished Revolutionary War Records of Maryland, by Mrs. G. W.
Hodges, is the following entry. No dates are given. Per Mrs. Hodges, �This company consisted of a
Captain, 2 Lieutenants, an Ensign, 4 Sergeants, 5 Corporals, a Drummer and 59
Privates. It was part of the 26 Batta(lion) commanded
by William Harrison, Esq. The 12th
and 26th Battalions
were commanded by ���������������� CHARLES Capt. Benjamin Cawood�s Company���������������� (page 234) line 184.����� Thomas Harvin, Jnr.���� private����� (page 234) line 191.����� Edward D. Harvin��������
private����� (page 235) line 222.����� Armanias Harvin���������� private����� (page 236)������� [His relationship to Thomas is unknown.]� ����
�31
March� �King George approves several measures called
The Coercive Acts. They include the Boston Port Act, which is meant to punish
Continued in Thomas Arvin Part 2 � Revolutionary Times�
Researched and written by Robert Joseph Arvin, Jr.
�
Copyright A.D. 2006
Notes
1.� History of Knox and
2. Patrick Hanks, ed., The Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)
3. The Internet Surname Database (http://www.surnamedb.com)
4. William Tighe, Statistical observations relating to the county of Kilkenny 1800 and 1801 (1802), p 515
5. �Bob Joyce, Baptismal
Records, Borris Roman Catholic Parish,
�� ��Family Research (https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlcar2/BaptismalRecordsBorris.htm).
6.� Bernard Bailyn, Voyagers to the West (1986), p 43-44
7.� Abbot Emerson Smith, Colonists in Bondage, White Servitude and Convict Labor in 8. David Dickson, Artic Ireland (1997), p 11, 69 9. �R. J. Dickson, 10.� Eugene Irving McCormac,
White Servitude in 11.� Oscar Theodore Barck,
Jr. and Hugh Talmage Lefler,
Colonial 12.� Bailyn, Voyagers to the West, p 205, 208 13.� Gloria L. Main, Tobacco Colony, Life in Early 14.� Barck, and Leffler, Colonial 15.� Smith, Colonists
in Bondage, p 336 16.� Charles A. Hanna, Scotch-Irish (1995), Vol. 2, p 180 17.� J. M. Vincent, J. H.
Hollander, W. W. Willoughby, eds., �Johns Hopkins University Studies in
Historical
(1947), p 46
and Political Science,� Series 23, No 3-4, (Mar-Apr 1904). Also, McCormac, White
Servitude in
Maryland,
p 34
19.� Smith, Colonists,
p 39
20.� Smith, Colonists,
p 209. �
The Maryland Gazette February 20, 1752;
March 22, 1753; October 2, 1753; May 30, 1754.� The
Gazette can be viewed online at the Maryland State Archives website.
21.�
22.� Dickson, Immigration, p 208-214
23.� Dickson, Immigration, p 90-97
24.� Dickson, Immigration, p 90-97
25.� McCormac,
White Servitude in
26.� Peter W. Coldham, The Complete
Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775
(1988), p 20
27.� Smith, Colonists, p134
28. Dickson, Immigration, p 90-97
29.� Bailyn,
Voyagers, p 263
30.� McCormac,
White Servitude, pp 7-31, quoting J.
Thomas Scharf, History
of
������ Periods to the Present Day, (1881) p 370-371
31.� McCormac,
White Servitude, p 30
32.� Smith, Colonists, p 325-326
33.� Smith, Colonists, p 221-222
34.� McCormac, White Servitude, p 42
35.� Smith, Colonists, p 38, 39 and note
36.� Archives of
37.� Edward C. Papenfuse, Alan F. Day, David W. Jordan and Gregory A. Stiverson, A
Biographical Dictionary of
������ The
������ 1959), Vol. 7, No. 10, p
384-385. Also: �
������ Magazine (1998) Vol. 2, p 121
38.� Donnell MacClure Owings, His
Lordship�s Patronage, Offices of Profit in Colonial
39.� Dickson, Immigration, p 90-97
40.� McCormac, White Servitude, p 76, 78
41.� Smith, Colonists,
p 233-235
42. �Smith, Colonists, p 257
43.� Smith, Colonists, p 289
44.� Gloria Main, Tobacco Colony, p 99
45.� Bailyn,
Voyagers, sketchbook insert, p 452 ff
46.� Smith, Colonists, p 229-230
47.�
48.� Smith, Colonists,
p 255
49.� Quoted from the
papers of Henry Callister by Lawrence C. Wroth, �A
Maryland Merchant and His Friends in
������ 1750.�
50.� Smith, Colonists,
p 291
51.� Barck and Leffler, Colonial
52.� Smith, Colonists,
p 306
53.� Bailyn, Voyagers, p 266
54.� Dickson,
Immigration, p 90-97
55.� Gregory A. Stiverson, Poverty in a
56.� Katherine A. Kellock,
Colonial Piscataway in
57.� Kellock,
58.� Jean B. Lee, The Price of Nationhood, The American Revolution in
59.�
60.� Dr. Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh,
������
Sources. State of
61.� William Grafton Robey,
Robey/Roby/Robie, The Family History From Early
������ Darnell ancestry information on the web.
62.� Brumbaugh, Maryland Records: State of His Lordship�s Manor, Vol. 2, p 32. Survey of Zachia Manor used with
������ permission of Maryland State Archives. Accession No.:40,283-186 MSA No.:S65-220 Location: B5/10/1/
63.� Papenfuse, Day,
64.� Marlene S. Bates and F. Edward Wright, Early History of
������ Land: L # 2, 312
65.�
66.� Kellock,
67.� Charles Albro
Barker, The Background of the Revolution
in
68.� Petitions
of Freeholders and Freemen of All Saints Parish in
������
Parishes.
69.� Kellock,
70.� Kellock,
71.� Jacob M Price, �The Rise of Glasgow in the
������ Also, T. M. Divine, The Tobacco Lords (1975) p 87
72.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 99
73.� �William Lux Letterbook, 1763-1769,�
74.� Extrapolated from 1776 Census,
������ 1776. A facsimile is printed in Brumbaugh�s, Maryland
Records, Vol. 2, p 81. In the preface of his book is the
������ following caveat: �Many of the names of
the Colonial period were phonetically and otherwise poorly spelled. The
������ spellings found in the original records
have been followed�.The searcher should constantly keep in thought the
possible phonetic variations of the names being
sought in the index.�
75.� 1776 Census,
76.� Second Census of the
77.� Kellock,
78.�
79.� �Narrative of a Voyage to
������ Katherine Kellock
in Colonial Piscataway in
80.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 82
81.�
82.�
83.�
������ accurate replica of a poor tenant
family�s farm circa 1771. It is authentic in every detail.
84.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 64
85.�
86.� Oliver P. Chitworth,
A History of Colonial America, p 461,
quoting
������
87.� Kellock,
88.� Robert J. Brugger,
������
89.� �Calvert Papers,� as reprinted in the Maryland Historical Magazine (September
1910). Also T.J.C. Williams and
������ Folger
McKinsey, History of
Revolutionary Patriots of Charles County Maryland, 1775-1783 (1997), p 313.
90.�
91.�
92.�
93.� Charles Albro
Barker, The Background of the Revolution
in
94.� Stiverson, Poverty, p. xiii
95.�
96.�
97.�
98.� Mereness,
99.� Kellock,
100.�
101.� Mereness,
������
General Assembly 1764-1765, Vol.
59, Preface 17
102.� The Key
Family,
�������� (1980) Vol. 2, p.121
103.� �Key Family Papers,� MS650,
��������
Wills, 1764-1767, Vol.
13, p 32-34
104.�
��������
Revolution in
105.� Barker, Revolution,
p 40
106.� Obituary in The
107.� Carolyn Key Hazen, Key Family � Philip, p 2
108.� V. L. Shinner, Jr.,
Abstracts of the Inventories of the
Prerogative Court of Maryland 1718-1777, p 58-59,
�������� from Liber
102, folios 101-114 of the Court Records
109.� Jane Baldwin Cotton,
110.�
111.� Owings, His
Lordship�s Patronage, p 155. Also, Jane Baldwin Cotton,
�������� Vol. 14, p 240-241
112.� Brumbaugh, State of
113.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 14-15
114.� Unpatented Certificate # 263,
�������� see
�������� (1915) Vol. 2, p 31
115.� Stiverson, Poverty, p18. Also Papenfuse,
Biographical Dictionary, p 637-638
116.� Papenfuse, Biographical Dictionary, p 637-638
117.� Stiverson, Poverty,
p 21
118.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 137
119.� J. Thomas Scharf, History of
120.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 10-11
121.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 104-105
122.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 110
123.� Kellock,
124.� Proceedings
and Acts of the General Assembly 1748-1751, Maryland State Archives, Vol.
46, p 160. They can
�������� be viewed on-line at the website of the
Archives.
125.� �Bacon�s Laws of Maryland,� Maryland State
Archives, Vol. 75, p 595
126.� Assembly
Proceedings November 16�December 23, 1773,
127.� Jacob M. Price, �The Rise of
��������
Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 11
(1954) p 179-185
128.� �John Glassford and
Company Records� Collection Description. Library of Congress, Manuscript
Division,
��������
129.� Price, �The Rise of
�������� MacMaster
and David C. Skaggs, eds., �The Letterbooks of
Alexander Hamilton,
�������� Part 1 - 1774,"
130.� William Allason
Manuscripts, Virginia State Library, as noted by Jacob M. Price in �The Rise of
�������� William
and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 11. p 194
131.� Kellock,
132.� MacMaster and
Skaggs, �The Letterbooks of Alexander Hamilton. Part
I, 1774,� p 151
133.� MacMaster and
Skaggs, �Letterbooks. Part I,� p 151-152
134.� Barker, Revolution,
p 74
135.� Barker, Revolution,
p 75-77
136.� �Journal of a French
Traveler in the Colonies, 1765, II,�
American Historical Review (Oct 1921)
�������� p 70-71, as quoted by
Katherine Kellock in Colonial Piscataway in Maryland, (1962) p 53
137.� J. H. Soltow,
as cited by T.M. Devine, The Tobacco
Lords, p 87
138.� Theodore Draper, A Struggle for Power, The American
Revolution, p 95
139.�� �Letterbooks
of Alexander Hamilton. Part I, 1774.� p 157
140.�
141.�
142.�
143.� Scharf,
History of
144.� Louis B. Wright, ed. The Prose Works of William Byrd of Westover,
p 349, as quoted by Gloria Main in Tobacco
�������� Colony, p 198
145.�
146.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 92
147.� Prince
George County Tricentennial website
148.� Stiverson, Poverty, p
98
149.� Jackson Turner Main, The Social Structure of Revolutionary
150.� �Letterbooks.
151.� Stiverson, Poverty, p 48
152.�
�������� Eighteenth Century (1994), T. H. Breen, ��Baubles of
�������� Eighteenth Century,� p
466
153.� Of Consuming Interests:�
Ronald L. Bushman, �Shopping and Advertising in Colonial
154.�
155.� �Letterbooks.
Part I,� p 150
156.� Diagnostic Artifacts in
157.�
158.� Jean B. Lee, The Price of Nationhood, p 239
159. �
160.� Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency George Washington, (2004)
p 48 ff
161.� Of Consuming Interests:�
Richard L. Bushman, �Shopping and Advertising in Colonial
162.� �Letterbooks. Part I,� p 149
163.� �Letterbooks. Part I,� p 152
164.� �Letterbooks. Part
I,� p 151
165.� Of
Consuming Interests: �T. H. Breen,
�Baubles of
166.� Kellock,
167.� Kellock,
168.� Papenfuse,
Day,
169.� V. L. Skinner, Jr., Abstracts of the Inventories of the
Prerogative Court of Maryland 1718-1777, p 64, from
�������� Liber
112, folios 105-115
170.� Of Consuming Interests: �Lois
Green Carr and Lorena S. Walsh, �Changing Lifestyles and Consumer Behavior in
�������� the Colonial
171.� Edward C. Papenfuse, �In Pursuit of Profit: The
�������� 1763-1805,� American Historical Review, (April 1976)
Vol. 81, No.2, p 61-63
172.� Barker, Revolution, p 343 note
173.� Richard K. MacMaster and David C. Skaggs, eds., �Letterbooks
of Alexander Hamilton,
�������� Part III, 1775-1776.�
174.� Louise Joyner Hienton,
������ ��
175.� Frances Austin, History of Reading News, Vol. 23, No. 2.
The Universal Spelling-Book can be
viewed online at
�������� the
�������� Schoolbooks.)
176.� William Grafton Robey,
Jr., Roby/Robie/Robey,
(1994) Vol. 1, p 64
177.�
178.� Hoffmann, Spirit of Dissension, p 103
179.� Of Consuming Interests: �T.
H. Breen, �Baubles of
180.� Of Consuming Interests:� T. H. Breen, �Baubles of
181.� Jensen, Founding
of a Nation, p 561. Cited in Of
Consuming Interests, p 482
182.� �Letterbooks.
Part I,� p 159-162
183.� Richard K. MacMaster and David C. Skaggs, eds., �Letterbooks
of Alexander Hamilton,
�������� Part II, 1774-1775.�
184.� �Letterbooks.
Part II,� p 315
185.� �Letterbooks.
Part II,� p 318-319
186.� �Letterbooks.
Part II,� p 306
187.� �Letterbooks. Part II,� p 311
188.� �Letterbooks. Part II,�
p 312
189.� �Letterbooks. Part II,�
p 314
190.� �Letterbooks, Part II,� p 316-317