A Pictorial Booklet on Early Jamestown Commodities and Industries Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Black-Smith.

The Black-Smith 1 in his Smithie (or Forge) 2 bloweth the fire with a pair of Bellows, 3 which he bloweth with his Feet, 4 and so heateth the Iron; And then he taketh it out with the Tongs 5 layeth it upon the Anvile, 6 and striketh it with a Hammer, 7 where the Sparks 8 flie off.

And thus are hammered out Nails 9, Horshoos 10, Cart-strakes 11, Chains 12, Plates, Locks and Keys, Hindges, &c. He quencheth Hot-Irons in the Cool-trough.

Courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.

A Seventeenth-Century Blacksmith At Work

A forge or smithery at Jamestown may have resembled the one in this 1685 engraving.

_From Orbis Sensualium Pictus_ by Johann Comenius (London, 1685).]

GLa.s.sMAKING

Gla.s.s was made at Jamestown in 1608-1609, and again in 1621-1624, its manufacture being one of the first English industries in the New World.

Among the colonists who reached Jamestown in October, 1608, were "eight Dutchmen and Poles," some of whom were gla.s.smakers. When Captain Christopher Newport sailed for England a few weeks later he carried with him "tryals of pitch, tarre, gla.s.se, frankincense, sope ashes; with that clapboard and waynscot that could be provided." It is not known what kinds of gla.s.s were taken to England by Newport. John Smith, writing of the year 1609, stated: "... wee made three or foure lotts of tarre, pitch, and sope ashes; produced a tryall of gla.s.s...." Again, the records do not reveal what kinds of gla.s.s were produced.

In 1621 six Italian gla.s.smakers arrived at Jamestown, and during the next three years attempts were made to manufacture gla.s.s, but it appears that only small amounts were blown.

Oddly enough, archeological excavations did not disclose what kinds of gla.s.s were made at Jamestown during the two ventures. When the gla.s.shouse site was excavated in 1948 only small fragments and drippings--dark green in color--were found. It appears that the tiny fragments could have been pieces from window panes, bottles and vials, and simple drinking gla.s.ses. No gla.s.s beads were found at or near the furnace site.

The conjectural sketch shows a Jamestown gla.s.sblower at work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Making Gla.s.s At Jamestown In 1608 _Conjectural sketch_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Artifacts Relating To Gla.s.smaking--Found Near The Site Of The Jamestown Gla.s.shouse

In the picture are shown a small melting pot, part of a working hole, fragment from a large melting pot, cullet (the broken or refuse gla.s.s in the lower left corner), and green gla.s.s fragments (lower center and lower right)]

FURS AND HIDES

Shortly after the Jamestown colony was planted the English adventurers explored the rivers and bays in the vicinity of the settlement, visited many Indian villages, and traded colorful articles to the natives in exchange for foods, furs, and other commodities.

The first exploring party left Jamestown a week after the establishment of the colony. Twenty-four of the settlers sailed up the James River as far as the falls, a distance of about ninety miles. At Arahatteak (near present-day Richmond) the explorers gave the Indians "penny knyves, sheeres, belles, beades, gla.s.s toyes &c...." for mulberries, wheat, beans, tobacco, and a "crowne which was of deares hayre, dyed redd."

Before leaving the village Captain Newport presented the Indian chief with a hatchet and a red waistcoat.

On the return trip to Jamestown the exploring party visited other Indian towns on the James River, including one whose chieftain was Powhatan's brother--the wily and crafty Opechancanough. Gabriel Archer, a member of the group, recorded that the chief's "kyngdome is full of deare (so also is most of all the kyngdomes:) he hath (as the rest likewise) many ryche furres."

Many of the early settlers listed the fur-bearing animals that inhabited the dense woods near Jamestown. George Percy, an original planter, observed that:

There is also great store of deere both red and fallow. There are beares, foxes, otters, bevers, muskats, and wild beasts unknowne.

John Smith, in one of his early books describing Virginia (_A Map of Virginia, With a Description of the Country_, Oxford, 1612), gives brief descriptions of deer, squirrels, opossums, muskrats, bears, beavers, otters, foxes, and others. With the exception of bears, these fur-bearing animals still inhabit Jamestown Island--protected by the National Park Service.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jamestown Settlers Trading With The Indians _Conjectural sketch_

For inexpensive beads and trinkets the colonists received furs, foods, and other commodities from the aborigines]

It appears that early in the century some profit was being made from the sale of furs in England, for Thomas Studley, who was in charge of the first storehouse at Jamestown, wrote that "one mariner in one voyage hath got so many [furs] as he confessed to have solde in England for 30."

William Strachey, who lived at Jamestown in 1610-1611, described a trading expedition made by Captain Samuel Argall in 1610:

Within this river, Captayne Samuell Argoll in a smale river which the Indians call _Oquiho_. Anno 1610. trading (in a bark called the Discovery) for corne, with the great king of _Patawomeck_, from him obteyned well neere 400. bush.e.l.ls of wheat, pease and beanes (besyde many kind of furrs) for 9. powndes of copper, 4. bunches of beades, 8 dozen of hatchetts, 5 dozen of knives, 4 bunches of bells, 1. dozen Sizers, all not much more worth than 40_s._ English....

It is evident, therefore, that the Jamestown colonists who traded their colorful beads and trinkets to the woodland Indians in exchange for food and other commodities--including furs and hides--were the pioneer English fur traders in the New World. The experiences which adventurers like Christopher Newport, John Smith, and Samuel Argall had with the cunning Virginia aborigines were just as exciting and stirring as those shared by the hardened trappers and traders who searched the Rocky Mountain streams for beaver two hundred years later. The hunt for furs which began at Jamestown in 1607 did not diminish until the western boundary of the United States had expanded to the sh.o.r.es of the Pacific Ocean during the middle of the nineteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo courtesy National Park Service._ Objects Found At Jamestown Which Were Used For Trading With The Indians Shown are gla.s.s beads, bell fragments, a hatchet, scissors, knives, and an incomplete bra.s.s pan.]

BUILDING

The day the colonists landed at Jamestown, May 14, 1607, they began building a triangular-shaped fort ("a pallizado of planckes and strong posts, foure foote deepe in the ground, of yong oakes, walnuts, &c."), "a setled streete of houses," a church, a guardhouse, and a storehouse. It is apparent that all men familiar with tools and building skills were extremely busy during the first few weeks, especially the four carpenters in the group (William Laxon, Edward Pising, Thomas Emry, and Robert Small), two bricklayers (John Herd and William Garret), and mason (Edward Brinto). As brick houses were not built at Jamestown until about 1625, the bricklayers who came to Virginia with the first group of colonists undoubtedly aided the carpenters. Perhaps it was they who made the first stone footings and mud and stick chimneys for the frame houses which were built inside the fort.

As timber was plentiful in Virginia during the early years of the settlement, most of the houses were of frame construction. During the first decade or two house construction reflected a primitive use, not of materials brought from England but those that were found ready at hand, such as saplings for a sort of framing, use of branches, leaf.a.ge, bark and animal skins. During these early years, when the settlers were having a difficult time staying alive, mud walls, wattle and daub, and marsh gra.s.s thatch of a coa.r.s.e sort were used. Out of these years of improvising the construction with squared posts, later with quarterings (studs), came into practice. There probably was little thought of plastering walls during the first two decades, and when it was done, clay, or clay mixed with oyster sh.e.l.l lime, was first used. The early floors were of clay, and it should be remembered that clay floors continued to be used in the humbler dwellings throughout the seventeenth century. It can be a.s.sumed that most of the dwellings, or shelters, of the Jamestown settlers, certainly until about 1630, had the primitive appearance of "settlers" houses, and were rough on the exterior.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Landing May 14, 1607.

The day the colonists landed at Jamestown (May 14, 1607) they began building a triangular-shaped fort ("a pallizado of planckes and strong posts, foure foote deepe in the ground, of yong oakes, walnuts, &."), "A setled streete of houses," a church, a guardhouse, and a storehouse _Conjectural sketch_

From _A Pictorial Story of Jamestown Virginia: The Voyage and Search for a Settlement Site_, by J. Paul Hudson. Not to be reproduced without permission of the author.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photo courtesy National Park Service. Research by A.

Lawrence Kocher.

A Small Jamestown House Built About 1630

_Conjectural Painting_

The frame house shown is believed to be typical of many built by the yeomen settlers after 1630. A coa.r.s.e marsh gra.s.s thatch covers the roof and rough clapboards cover the sides of the building. The few cas.e.m.e.nt windows used have diamond-shaped panes, and heavy wooden doors swing on hand wrought iron strap hinges. In the foreground is a large brick chimney, oven, and woodshed. The shed and recessed nook in front of the oven are covered with red earthenware pantiles. Jamestown has taken on a degree of permanency, and many of the Colonists are realizing small profits from the sale of tobacco.]

After the settlement had become fairly well established the colonists began building a few brick houses. In the picture English artisans are shown erecting a small brick structure at Jamestown about the year 1630.

It is quite clear from the doc.u.mentary records and the archeological remains that the colonists not only made their own bricks--and probably many of their roofing tiles--but that the process, as well as the finished product, followed closely the English tradition.

An old account, relating to brick-making in England three hundred years ago, is summarized:

1. Before Christmas we begin to dig the earth and let it lie to mellow till Easter.