U.S. Technology: History

Lesson 2: Colonial Husbandry and Artisans

Were Self-Sufficient Colonial Farms a Myth?

Most of the families that lived on colonial farms had a simple standard of life; they were neither impoverished, nor were they rich. They ate well, most likely better than their European counterparts as evidenced by the increase in birth weights and growth in life span. Their diets tended to be monotonous, with porridge in the morning, a modest midday meal, and cheese and bread in the evening. They tended to drink a lot more milk than in Europe.

Their wardrobes were also simple and plain. Each member of the family usually had two pairs of shoes; one for winter and one for summer. Women had one or two petticoats, a couple of skirts, a bodice, a nice dress or two, and a few aprons. The men usually owned a few pairs of stockings, a couple of pairs of trousers, a few very plain shirts, and a cape or two to keep them warm when it was cold outside. There is no mention of underwear or sleepwear; perhaps they slept in their bodies and shirts.

Houses tended to have a large table for eating, a few chairs, a bench or two, some chests and boxes, some bedsteads (wooden frames, laced with rope), and featherbeds with some sheets and quilts. Not every house had a bed for each member and some members of the family might sleep on the floor near the hearth. Eating utensils tended to be either wooden or pewter.

For a family maintaining a farm, tools were the big expense. They needed cider presses and plows, looms and harrows, harnesses and spinning wheels, knives and molds to make candles to provide light to work by. Many of these tools were expensive, as they were made by craftsmen and some of them were rather complex and took more than one craftsman to make them. Many of the tools had to be imported or at the very least shipped from other colonies.

These farmers also had to be skilled at a variety of things. For a farmer’s wife to maintain a household at this time she had to be able to practice over a dozen crafts. She had to spin flax and wool, she had to know how to weave and dry it, and then dye it. She had to be a fuller and a tailor to make the cloth into some article of clothing. She had to make candles, be a knitter, a seamstress, a gardener, a brewer, milk the cow, and make soap so she could clean up after doing all those chores; not to mention the fact she was probably chasing a few little children around while doing them.

Her husband was not typically a lazy soul either. He had to know how to plow, reap, be a carpenter and a wood carver, know how to chop wood, and butcher cows. He had to know how to slaughter a cow and clean it not just for food, but for leather. He also had to know stonemasonry, carting, milling, brewing and a bit of blacksmithing and shoemaking.

Cowan looks at all of this and feels that the thought of a self-sufficient farmer in the Colonial times is a myth! What do you think?

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