Time For True Confessions

Yes, I am prepared to share information that I should have known but didn’t.

• Solomon Wright, Queens Town, Queen Anne’s County

1 small Crickett

Okay, okay.  Yes, many inventories feature a Crickett or a variation thereof.  And yes, I have never known what that actually is.  A tool?  An article of clothing?  A decorative object?  If I’d had to guess, I probably would have said some kind of cooking vessel or tool, having the vague idea that crickets most frequently are appraised alongside objects of that ilk.

It’s a good thing nobody ever asked me to speculate, as I would have been very wrong.  Turns out a cricket is a specific kind of footstool.  I’m also not entirely sure I knew there could be different kind of footstools, and if I didn’t, then I was wrong about that, too — and this History of Footstools has set me straight.

Peggy McClard Antiques

• Lazrus Cocks, Queen Anne’s County
• John Smith, Queen Anne’s County

1 pair of Pottracks

Good grief.  Having confessed my ignorance regarding pot racks in the last post, they are now going to turn up all over the place.

7 Peices of Bastable Ware Tob Bottles

No need for me to confess any embarrassing lack of knowledge here, however — just a failure to ferret out an explanation for these items.

I was distracted for rather a long time by the writing of John Josselyn, who visited New England in the 1670s and described ‘Barstable shot . . . best for fowl [and] made of a lead blacker than our common lead.’  But even if it were plausible that Smith’s Tob Bottles could have been fashioned from lead, we would be wise to discount Josselyn’s information.  According to the editors of Colonial Prose and Poetry, Josselyn was “a writer of almost incredible credulity   [and] his credulousness rises almost to genius, as when he tells us that the Indians disputed ‘in perfect hexameter verse.'”  So he could have been dead wrong about even the existence of Barstable shot.

Once I extricated myself from John Josselyn’s writing, I did some more digging and came up with one source — just one — that sugests Bastable Ware as a specific type of earthenware, and right off the bat that’s far more likely than lead.  An estate inventory taken in 1680 in Bristol (the one in England, not the home of ESPN in Connecticut) includes ‘A small parcel of Barstable earthen ware.’  And that’s it.  I can’t tell you whether Bastable and ‘Barstable’ could be the same place, or if either (or both) places should be Barstable (formerly a region in Essex County, now obsolete) or Barnstaple (a town in Devonshire).  Or, I suppose, Barnstable, Massachusetts — but that would take us back to Josselyn’s lead.  Of these options, I’m going with Barnstaple in Devonshire; it’s only about 90 miles southwest of Bristol and just up the River Taw from Bristol Channel (plus it is possibly the oldest borough in the UK).  [Barstaple, for reference, is on the other side of England . . . and Barnstable is on the other side of the Atlantic.]

• Mary Wiles, Talbot County

one small box to put writing in

I am charmed by boxes that have a specific purpose.

• Mary Cooper, Talbot County
• George Collison, Talbot County
• Thos. Pitchfork, Talbot County
• Ennion Williams, Talbot County – Additional Inventory
• John Burroughs, Senior, St. Mary’s County
• James Bissco, St. Mary’s County

14 ½ yr[d]s. swann skin

I found this entry deeply disturbing until Merriam-Webster assured me that swanskin could be ‘fabric resembling flannel and having a soft nap or surface.’

7 yds. Grnade

I thought this would be fabric with a name derived in some way from Granada but its etymological root seems to be the French word for pomegranate.  Regardless, it is a silk weave ‘characterised by its light, open, gauze-like feel’ and currently most often used for ties.  As The Styleforum Journal assures us, ‘everyone knows original grenadine is produced exclusively in Como, a small town in northern Italy.’  Yes, of course, I definitely knew that.

• Mr. William Walker, St. Mary’s County
• John Redman, St. Mary’s County
• Charles Mills, St. Mary’s County
• Daniel Broden, St. Mary’s County
• John Huttson, St. Mary’s County
• Capt. John Leigh, St. Mary’s County

11 ½ ^lb of Allum & the box

Another box to hold a specific item.

1 Silver handle Penknife

4 Razors 1 hone 1 strap 1 rule & 1 Whittle

A strap in this context must be a razor strop, but I was not previously aware that Whittle could be a noun as well as a verb.  Wikipedia claims that ‘casual whittling’ is usually performed with a pocket knife, but Capt. Leigh evidently had a knife specifically for the art of whittling.

p^r. of small spitracks

Seems straightforward enough, and yet it took me an astonishingly long time to get from Googling ‘spitrack’ to a source I could reference with confidence.

The Century Dictionary (‘an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language: prepared under the superintendence of William Dwight Whitney’), published 1889-1891.

2 Dozⁿ. p^r. of Knitting needles

That struck me as like rather a lot of knitting needles . . . but upon further review I confess that I may well have just as many.

Just a fraction of my collection.

• Lawrence Gally, St. Mary’s County
• Eliz. Williams, St. Mary’s County

a Ladle flesh forks & Slice

From time to time I see a Slice among the kitchen items in an inventory, and I have always visualized something along the lines of an egg slicer — despite knowing that an egg slicer was an unlikely object to find in a colonial kitchen.

OXO Good Grips Egg Slice

Having (finally) done some research, I confess that Elizabeth Williams’s Slice is far more likely to have been a tool for managing her fire (even though it is on the same line as a Ladle and flesh forks, which are easy to recognize as tools that actually come into contact with food).  From all I can discover, a Slice is a type of fire iron called a ‘slice bar,’ which has a flatter tip than the more familiar fire poker.  According to Wiktionary, a slice could also be ‘a spadelike implement, variously proportioned, and used for various purposes, as for stripping the planking from a vessel’s side, for cutting blubber from a whale.’  A tool used to stir the coals of a fire makes much more sense.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a picture of an actual slice bar . . . and could only find lots of pictures of slices of pizza (offered up by niche restaurants that consider themselves ‘slice bars’), plus a few shots of iron pokers but nothing specifically identified as the right kind of fire shovel.  I did get hungry, though.

• John Sweetman, St. Mary’s County
• Mary Mullon, St. Mary’s County

1 old Silver bodkin

I am now prepared to admit that up until this minute I have not actually known the definition of a bodkin — I just knew it was something old-fashioned and related to clothing.  I should have known long since that it’s a ‘small, pointed instrument of steel, bone, or ivory, used for piercing holes in cloth, etc.’ — or sometimes, ‘a similar blunt instrument, with an eye, for drawing thread, tape, or ribbon through a loop, hem, etc.’ (both definitions from The Century Dictionary, my new best friend).  But now I am up to speed, and you can be, too (even more so with a quick detour to Historic Jamestowne).

• Mr. William Stoddert, Prince George’s County
• Mr. William Marshall, Prince George’s County
• Nathaniel Chew, Anne Arundel County
• Mary Chew, Anne Arundel County

One new Silver pepper box, two D^o. Saltsellers 1 D^o. Watch & chain & D^o. new Spoons One new Silver Tankard & Cup

As you would expect, many of the items in Mary’s inventory were appraised earlier in her husband Nathaniel’s (which were taken about 18 months apart, even though Mary died less than 3 months after Nathaniel). These new silver items, however, must have been received after Nathaniel’s death — and likely from Capt. John Hyde & Co., merchants in London, to whom Nathaniel was indebted at the time of his demise.

12 p^r. of Pelony Shoes

Well. Searching ‘pelony shoes’ just got me pictures of shoes decorated with peonies.

Giuseppe Zanotti

When I tried ‘pelony definition,’ Google offered me ‘polony definition,’ which took me to Merriam-Webster and the third possible definition, an adjective meaning ‘Polish.’  Although I quickly abandoned an effort to determine what could make a pair of shoes distinctively Polish (you try weeding out all the hits about how to polish shoes), this seems to me to be the most likely interpretation. [But if you are dying to know what experts have to say about Poland’s sneaker scene, Highsnobiety would love to share opinions gathered at Sneakerness Warsaw.]

And now I am truly caught up — both with the inventories I have indexed and with Poland’s sneaker scene.

Cripes

I’m not caught up after all.  I conveniently forgot that I spent a couple of mornings adding new inventories to the index before tackling Peter Bouchell’s apothecary shop.  And so we continue.

• Sarah Combs, Widow, Prince George’s County

No Creditors as yet known by the Admr. & the Relations refuses to sign without any objection to the Appraisement of the Goods of the Deced

Process of probate again.  I wonder what objections the relations had to the appraisal.

• Mr. William Clarkson, Prince George’s County

one Sane

I am still perplexed by this item and the wide variety in appraised values that I have seen.  This one was deemed to be worth £4 – is it really a fishing net?

• Elizabeth Plumer, Prince George’s County

1 Potwreck 9 ½ lb.

Should this be pot rack?  Did colonial kitchens sometimes have pot racks?  The previous entry is 4 Iron Pots 1 Iron Kettle, so a pot rack would be logical.  Also I now know that ‘to potrack’ is to ‘make the natural high shrill noise of a guinea fowl.’

[Update: I’ve been gently chastised for not realizing that this potwreck is a stand from which pots were hung over a fire for cooking.  In my defense, I did search every variation of ‘pot’ and ‘rack’ I could think of, and none of the top hits included any discussion of rack as an item from which pots were hung (except as we now use the term, that is).  Revisiting this today, I did turn up chimney crane but still no reference to a rack.  Even with further investigation while tracking down spitracks (for a pending post), I have not come across a definitive online source for pot racks within the fireplace.]

5 Hogsheads Oyster Shells

Modern uses of crushed oyster shells (or oyster flour, which you can buy at Home Depot) include making cement, treating wastewater, and amending garden soil.  That third use strikes me as the most relevant — and specifically the use of oyster shells to control soil acidity.  Plus, you can feed crushed oyster shells to chickens.  Oh, and you can also use oyster flour to maintain your bocce court.

[Another update: OK, so oyster shells were valued as the source of shell lime, a substitute for limestone and a key ingredient in mortar and plaster.  I did have an inkling of this, and apologize for not pursuing it.  I was distracted by the bocce court.]

• John Watson, St. Mary’s County
• Robert Taylor, St. Mary’s County

a parcell of Tradesmans tools

a parcell of Planters working tools

a parcell of Shoemakers Tools

The distinction between the tools of tradesmen and the tools of planters makes sense to me, but I don’t know why shoemakers get special treatment.

• William Bladen, Esqr., Anne Arundel County – Account of Tobacco Received
• Stephen Ward, Senr., Somerset County

19 P^d of Nails 9^s 6^d

49 P^d of Nails 1^l~4~6

10 P^d of Nails 5 Shillings

The appraisers of this estate valued nails by weight instead of number, which may not be unique, but is certainly unusual.

5 Alcome Spoons

Any ideas?

6 ½ of Slease Linnen

Searching for this led me to another book that I am sure I will find useful going forward, George S. Cole’s A Complete Dictionary of Dry Goods and History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool and Other Fibrous Substances (1892).  Of ‘silesia’ Cole says:

Formerly a thin linen fabric, or sleasy kind of Holland, so called because made in Silesia, a province of Germany.  At present the term describes a fine-twilled cotton fabric, highly dressed and calendered, used for linings.

If you are wondering, a number of online dictionaries and blogs do assert that ‘sleazy’ derives from the idea that ‘Sleasie Holland’ was a cheap imitation of the fine linen made in Silesia, but this theory is (I think) effectively de-bunked at Mashed Radish, not least because there are the word appears in other contexts several decades before its association with fabric.

• Edward Vegros, Somerset County
• William Turvil, Senr., Somerset County

1 old Howell with old Iron

Unlike a few people I know (well, one person, really), I have not spent much time learning about different woodworking tools, so I had to look this up.  I did quickly discover that a cooper’s howel is ‘a carpenter’s plane mounted in a convex sole,’ which was used by coopers ‘to champfer the inside edges of barrels’ ends so the lids would fit snugly.’  (This information is from Discovering Lewis & Clark, ergo discussing tools in the early 19th century, but there’s no suggestion that the characteristics of a typical howel changed at all between 1737 and 1803.)

• Samuel Roach, Somerset County
• Jonathan Shaw, Somerset County

an old Joynter Croze & Wimble

Ah, more cooper’s tools — also helpfully explained by Discovering Lewis & Clark.  A jointer was used to bevel the barrel staves, and a croze to groove the ends of the staves.

But the Wimble.  First of all, not a wimple (but wouldn’t that have been interesting?).

A wimple as shown in Portrait of a Woman, circa 1430-1435, by Robert Campin (1375/1379–1444), National Gallery, London.

Rather, a gimlet — but not this kind:

 

I confess that although I have known from context that a gimlet is a woodworking tool, I could not have told you what it looks like or the task for which it is used.  Now I can do both — it looks something like this:

Good Vintage Gimlet Auger Drill Bit in Boxwood Handle, courtesy of The Vintage Tool Shop

And it is used to drill small holes without splitting the wood (at least by craftsmen who, for one reason or another, don’t want to use a power drill).  Do you want to know more?

A gimlet is always a small tool. A similar tool of larger size is called an auger. The cutting action of the gimlet is slightly different from an auger, however, as the end of the screw, and so the initial hole it makes, is smaller; the cutting edges pare away the wood which is moved out by the spiral sides, falling out through the entry hole. This also pulls the gimlet farther into the hole as it is turned; unlike a bradawl, pressure is not required once the tip has been drawn in.

Yes, I pulled all that straight out of Wikipedia.

• Mr. James Lindow, Somerset County

1 Dutch tea table

1 brass Extinguisher Snuffers & stand

Well, good grief.  I always thought that a candle snuffer was the useful and often highly decorative tool that you employ to put out the candles after a holiday dinner (holiday dinners generally being the only times our family uses candles) but it seems I am wrong.  Well, not precisely wrong; rather, the nomenclature for candles has . . . evolved?  What is now typically called a snuffer (as evidenced by Wikipedia and every shopping site that comes up if you search ‘candle snuffer’) used to be called an extinguisher.  But before the middle of the 19th century, a snuffer was the tool used to trim candle wicks.  These tools still exist — I know, because I have one — but now they are called ‘wick trimmers.’

(It took me a while to find these.  As I have indicated, they don’t get a lot of use.)

1 Banhan

Thanks to Tuesday’s post, I can confidently identify this as another banyan.

1 box of Doctors means

2 Boston Axes

Way, way back in July 2017 I went on a little riff about New England axes, which show up in Maryland inventories pretty regularly.  I still don’t know whether New England axes were actually imported from the New England colonies or if ‘New England’ identified a specific style of axe head but not necessarily a specific place of manufacture.  Either way, Boston Axes are a new variation on this theme.

• Samuel Horsey, Somerset County
• John Donelson, Somerset County

8 lights in frame for Vessells

Portholes?  Not likely — although Donelson’s inventory also includes 1 old vessell Gun.  These lights (i.e., pieces of window glass, which is not strictly speaking the correct terminology) are in a frame, and therefore looked more like this:

than like this:

— although I don’t expect they really looked like either.  More like this (but surely not nearly as grand):

about a peck Indian beads

Definitely beads, not beans or peas.

some old Junk

• Ezekiel Denning, Somerset County

1 old quilted Jacket

Not a banyan . . . I guess Ezekiel wasn’t a super studious guy (or at least not in comparison to Benjamin Rush).  [Ideally this link would take you right to Rush’s quote, but I have not thus far figured out how to link to specific text within a post.  But it’s in there, I promise.]

• John Linch, Sr., Somerset County – Additional Inventory
• Mr. Boar Outterbridge, Somerset County

1 minute glass broke frame

• Mr. Thomas Layfield, Somerset County – Additional Inventory
• Clare Mackeel, Dorchester County
• Joseph Nicolls, Dorchester County – Additional Inventory
• James Barkhurst, Queen Anne’s County – Additional Inventory
• Thomas Barber, Queen Anne’s County
• William Burroughs, Junr., Queen Anne’s County
• Henry Johnson, Queen Anne’s County
• James McLeane, Queen Anne’s County
• Mr. John Rowles, Queen Anne’s County

a parcell Tea Geer

Still Life: Tea Set, ca. 1781–83, painting by Jean-Étienne Liotard

• William Pinder, Queen Anne’s County

2778 Pounds of Tobco.

600 Pounds ground leaves

I don’t often see the ground leaves appraised — aren’t they useless?

mans Phil^a. Saddle

First Boston Axes, now a Phila[delphia] Saddle.  Can’t Marylanders make anything for themselves?  (But seriously: What would make a saddle a Philadelphia saddle?)

6 pr. small x garnets

pr. Dufftailes Ditto

Hinges, in both cases.  Cross garnets are now more commonly called strap hinges, and dovetails are butterfly hinges.  [Thanks to Captain Gray’s Houses: A History of Sion Row, Twickenham for a concise presentation of this information.]

3 ½ Bushell Wheat Sowed

2 ½ Ditto for house use

• William Pinder, Queen Anne’s County – Additional Inventory

Still not caught up.  And my next post will build on the Wimble and the Extinguisher — I plan to come clean about lots of things I should have known but didn’t.

Just Seven Today

But then I will be caught up — and I may even have time to bring Colonial Libraries up to date, too.  [Update: No such luck.  But tomorrow is another day.]

• Saml. Harper, Dorchester County
• John Howison, Charles County
• Henry Mudd, Charles County
• Jess Jacob Bourne, Gent., Calvert County

Several things to discuss here, but like items are not listed consecutively in the document, so I am taking the liberty of rearranging a bit.

1 five foot Chest & 1 old Dutch Case

1 Large Strong box L & K

1 Case L. Key & 12 bottles

1 small Dausick Case (no L Key) & 8 bottles

It would be great if that ‘u’ were clearly an ‘n’ — so Dansick, which could be Danzig, and then I could show you this, from The Antique Dispenary:

Antique Case Goldwasser Bottle

Danzig No1

A rare sealed bottle indistinctly marked DANZIG below a crown. Light aqua glass with circular pontil to base. Danzig is another word for Gdansk in Poland and these bottles were made in this region of the Baltic states.

But it really looks like a ‘u’ — pity.

4 hanging Maps

2 small Maps & 3 small pictures

a small Mapp

The first of these map entries made me realize that I had always just assumed that the maps that show up in inventories were intended to be hung.  I don’t know why . . . perhaps because in my mind’s eye antique maps are framed and hung for display, and by definition these are antique maps (now, that is, not necessarily then).  Plus if a map were more along the lines of a rough sketch on a piece of parchment, then would it have been appraised at all?  Inventories do not, to the best of my knowledge, include random pieces of writing (letters, promissory notes, household accounts, that sort of thing).  I expect maps that get appraised fall somewhere in the middle: enough of a tradeable commodity to merit enumeration, but not necessarily so fancy as these 4 hanging Maps.

Map of Maryland by John Ogilby, 1671
Enoch Pratt Free Library / State Library Resource Center

1 p^r brass button Moulds

1 p^r Do. bullet Moulds

1 p^r Do. Spoon moulds

A trifecta.

1 p^r w^t Mettal Spurs

1 small old spur box

1 Man’s old Saddle wth. old Cloth Housen

1 Mans Saddle With fringed housen & bridle

2 new Cart bridle bits

Keeping up with my evident interest in all things equine and equestrian.  I especially like two different descriptions of saddle housing (i.e., saddle pads, if you happened to miss the earlier discussion), which suggests that the value of a decedent’s tack could be affected by the quality of the housing.

1 tin Lanthorn a Shark Hook & short Chane

Shark hooks . . . I didn’t see anything on the Internet that discussed shark hunting in a colonial context.  I did see a lot of disturbing images of modern shark hunting.

• Mr. Henry Brome, Calvert County
• Johanna Hall, widow, Baltimore County

1 pr. Girls Lamb Mittens

a pcell. of old unsorted Mohair

1 ½ lb. of fine Bellendine Thread

Well.  Searching ‘Bellendine thread’ turned up absolutely nothing.  Searching ‘Ballendine thread’ yielded two hits — and both of them are transcriptions of the 1751 estate inventory for Mr. Henry Holland Hawkins of — wait for it — Charles County, Maryland.  So . . . why can I not find a trace of this specific type of thread anywhere except in these two Maryland inventories?

a Frett line

Also a mystery; I could not get the Internet to give me anything except information about guitars.

1 pr. Spanish Leather Shoes

I prefer Boots of Spanish Leather.  (Actually, I prefer the Nanci Griffith cover.)

2320 lb. of Corn fed Pork

Why specify corn fed?  My best guess is that the hogs had been kept in a pen and fed corn, rather than being permitted to forage about the countryside eating goodness only knows what.  Whether people would pay a premium for corn-fed pork, as I do for grass-fed beef, I do not know — but evidently the appraisers felt the corn-fed-ness of the pork was noteworthy.

• George Drew, Baltimore County

2 pair of hound Couplas

A new one for me.  It’s to do with fox-hunting — which I now know thanks to Harvard Fox Hounds.  Hounds are always counted in couples, and a couple is a device for keeping two hounds joined for training.

Leather collar couples with brass coupling chain.
Berney Bros. Ireland
Saddlery & Riding Wear

a Shark hook

Another one.

Watson and the Shark
John Singleton Copley, (1738–1815)
Oil on canvas, 1778
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

This fellow is using a spear, not a hook, but the image — gruesome as it is — is so much less disturbing than the hooked sharks I could show you.

3 Plough Muzzles small

Interesting.  The first hit for my search was the Dictionary of the Scots Language, which tells us that a plough muzzle is ‘the bridle or iron loop at the front of the beam to which the draught is attached and which has holes or notches so arranged to regulate the depth or width of the furrow.’  Please note: Using ‘plough’ and not ‘plow’ makes a difference; the top hit for ‘plow muzzle’ is about muzzling cats.  Yes, cats.

600 Gallons of bad Cyder £7.75

It’s bad, but still worth £7.75?

1 old Cheese fat 6d

So appetizing.

a Gold ring Sett with a Turkish Stone

I checked: There’s no folk song titled ‘A Ring of Turkish Stone.’

And that’s it.  I am all caught up, which means tomorrow bright and early I can start indexing some more inventories.

A Short Break, Indeed

Diving right back in, and hoping to chip away at my inventory backlog.

• John Crockett, Baltimore County

A Stript Ginghan Banian

That would be a striped gingham banyan (also called an Indian gown).  As this helpful page from Colonial Williamsburg explains, a banyan was a loose, informal robe worn instead of a coat.

2 yards ordinary Chex

Fabric, of course – not the party mix.

1 best London Razor 1 best Surgeons D^o

3 ordinary Razors

1 Neat Razor Case with a hone Glass Oyl bottle & pair of Scizzars

1 Lond^o Lancet

3 old Ditto and Case

Crockett is not identified as a doctor or chirurgeon, but he certainly has the equipment.

A Seed Plow with furniture

1 Harrow Plow with Clevis Bold & Chain

A fluke Colter and Stock

Flukes again — and this time definitely a plow, not a hoe or an anchor.  [You can find previous musings about flukes here and here.]  I thought at first that perhaps Colter was actually supposed to be a collar, but my friends at Merriam-Webster set me straight: a colter is ‘a knife, sharp disc, or other cutting tool that is attached to the beam of a plow to cut the sward in advance of the plowshare and moldboard.’

A pad Saddle

And saddle housing again, but this time described more in line with modern terminology.

one brass kettle w^t 7^lb at Joppa

Another item abroad, but at a specific location, not left somewhere vague like Peter Bouchell’s cloak.

A Circumferentor and Seal Skin Case with a pair Compasses 4 Sparelegs & Protector and 2 Perch Chain

Fancy surveying tools.

And just in case you haven’t been paying meticulous attention to both blogs, I refer you to Colonial Libraries, which has a post devoted to Crockett’s extensive library.

• Samuel Lowe, Baltimore County
• Thomas Tolley, Junr., Baltimore County

An old Saddle ^bridle^ and Gambadose

What the heck could gambadose be?  I thought this would be a challenge to interpret, but actually my first search attempt yielded gambadoes, which dictionary’s.net explains is the same as gamashes.  What’s that you say? You are not familiar with gamashes either?  I guess you are not up on your archaic Scottish.  According to the ever-helpful Merriam-Webster site, these are leggings or gaiters worn by horseback riders — in other words, what my equestrian expert calls half chaps.

• Jonas Hewling, Baltimore County

a parcel of Smiths Tools

a parcel of Shoemakers Tools

a parcel of Sea Instruments

a parcel Ship Carpenters Tools

a parcel of Joiners Tools

a parcel Coopers Tools

Quite an assortment of trades represented here. Tools for shoemaking and cooperage are pretty common, and joinery tools show up fairly frequently, but I believe the combo of blacksmith tools and navigation instruments is unusual.  [These are not consecutive entries in the appraisal, by the way, with the longest gap between the first two sets of tools.]

• Richard Stevenson Vickry, Baltimore County
• Mr. John Spencer, Kent County

Like Jonas Hewling, Mr. Spencer’s inventory includes tools for a couple of different trades, except the items that could loosely be considered smith’s tools are just 1 pair of old bellows and 1 pair of old Smith Vice [sic] and then there’s a random Bricklayers Trowel. Woodworking tools, however – whoa, Nellie. Would you believe 53 entries for woodworking tools, including more than 15 different kinds of planes?

2 Pannel Plans

7 Rounding Plans

6 Hollow Plains

2 quarter Round & Groving Plans

3 quarter round Plans

4 Plow Plans

2 Nosticles planes

2 Square head Plans

2 hallow and round Plans

3 Cornish Plans

2 Back Ogee Plans

1 small hallow Plan

1 Beed Plan

1 Stoon Moulding Plan

1 Sash Plan

1 Ogee and Beed

2 long Jointers

1 Jack Plan and 2 small D^o.

1 Turning Plan

1 old Cornish Plan

I *could* have spent a lot of time cutting and pasting pictures of different of planes . . . but instead I will refer you not only to Wikipedia (for the basics) but also this fun site: The Vintage Tool Shop.  And just in case you think I’m slacking, I did search for both Nosticles and Stoon Moulding to no avail; the other descriptive terms are easy to find.

Additional items of interest:

1 Joiners Iron Stand

1 Scribing Iron

11 Shifting Scribes

I thought perhaps a Shifting Scribe might be something along the lines of a pantograph (invented in 1603, and nothing to do with the kind that collects energy for buses or trams).  But it seems unlikely that Hewling had 11 such contraptions, however useful they might be.

Pantograph used for scaling a picture. The red shape is traced and enlarged.

[Don’t ask me how Wikipedia got that animated image or why I was able to keep the animation when I pasted it here; I have no idea.]

2 old Muzling Turnovers

This one should have been easy, as Muzling is surely muslin and therefore a turnover is some sort of garment.  Still, it took me a while to zero in on turnover as a category of collar.  Although one generally thinks of a collar as an integral part of a shirt, Wikipedia explains that “among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or cut part of the same piece of fabric used for the main body of the garment.”  So there.  In hindsight I realize I should have figured this out more quickly, given how often Georgette Heyer’s heroines need to freshen up by putting on a clean collar — although in my defense I don’t believe Heyer ever specifies a turnover collar.

• Mary Anderson, Kent County
• Mr. Richard Normansell, Kent County

3 Dozen bottles of red wine

But only one wine Glass — I guess he didn’t like to share.

2 Dozen and nine Milkpans

Mr. Normansell only had one Cow and Calf and two year old heifer, so I am not entirely sure why he needed so very many milk pans.

The end of this inventory provides useful information about the process of probate.  In order to be accepted by the county’s deputy commissary (the local agent of the colony’s Commissary General, who held administrative and judicial authority over matters of probate) as an accurate appraisal of a decedent’s estate, an inventory had to be signed by two kinsmen (or women) and by two creditors (who also could be – and not infrequently were – women). Because close relatives and creditors had the most to gain from the distribution of the assets, their approval was a check against any fraudulent valuation of the items.  In this case, however, the administrator (Normansell’s widow) explained to the dep. comm. (as I like to refer to him) that she was unable to collect the necessary signatures:

Katherine Normansell Adm^x. of Richard Normansell being duly and Solemnly Sworn on the Holy Evangels of Almight God Deposeth to the Justness and truth of the foregoing Inventory in such manner and form as is prescribed by his Honour the General Commissary in his instructions directed to me [the dep. comm.] and she further made Oath that she caused a Letter to be wrote directed to Cap^t. William Finch and Rob^t. Bradley Merch^t. signifying to them (believing them to be two of the Greatest Creditors to the Deceased) to be at the Appraisement of the said Deceased Estate and that she hath great reason to believe the said Letter of Notice came to their hands but that neither the said Finch or Bradly were at the said appraisem^t. nor had she a convenient opportunity to tender the Inventory of the said Deceased Estate to them to Sign the same they living at so great a distance from her and that she knows of no Person Related to the said Deceased but the aforesaid Capt. Willm. Finch

• Peter Dozen, Kent County
• Abraham Milton, Kent County

A p^rsell Shoemakers tools, & Seat

Tools for making shoes are very, very common – but I don’t believe I have seen a seat specifically designated for shoemaking before.  (In a Maryland inventory, that is; of course I am familiar with a shoemaker’s bench, having been to many, many living history museums.)

Shoemaker’s bench attributed to Brother Richard B. Woodrow, 1845 [Shaker Museum, Mount Lebanon]

• Thos. English, Kent County

6 Slays for a Weaver’s work

3 pair Weavers harness

a Weavers Loom, warping box & quilling wheel

The quilling wheel, I should point out, obviates the need for a swift, and the yarn is spun directly onto a quill for weaving.

• Capt. Harmanus Schee, Kent County
• John Borris, Kent County
• Patrick Gault, Kent County

One very old Stampt linen Banjan

Ah, another banyan.

Ward Nicholas Boylston in a brilliant green banyan and a cap, painted by John Singleton Copley, 1767.

Gault’s inventory lists a number of tools that I am reliably informed are those of a silversmith, including:

14 Crucibles

2 p^r old tongs

1 Silver Smith Ladle

2 p^r Silver Smiths old bellows

And in case you’d like to try some silversmithing for yourself, here’s a handy WikiHow page to teach you to melt silver. [Step 2 is ‘Get a foundry crucible’ and Step 3 is ‘Find some good heavy-duty crucible tongs.’  Sure thing — let me just hunt for those out in the garage.]

• S^t Leg^r Codd, Esqr., Kent County – Additional Inventory
• Richd. Jerman, Kent County
• Mordock Dowlin, Anne Arundel County
• John Fanning, Kent County
• George Gleaves, Kent County – Additional Inventory
• Charles Baker, Kent County
• Joseph Carman, Kent County
• Danl. Cox, Dorchester County – Additional Inventory

2 old Indian Gowns at 5/ pr.

Suddenly banyans are everywhere!  And why not?  As Benjamin Rush observed,

Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries.

Benjamin Rush 1746-1813
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
Oil on canvas, 1783 and 1786
Winterthur Museum

Not so much studious women, however.  We get corsets.

Anne Catherine Hoof Green, c. 1720–1775
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827)
Oil on canvas, 1769
National Portrait Gallery

An Apothecary (And An Apology)

Yes, it has been nearly two months since I dangled an apothecary shop before you.  Yes, I indicated I would share its wonders shortly after the 4^th of July.  And yes, my efforts to make good on that pledge have been stymied by travel and family and a certain lack of self-discipline.  So I offer my apologies, and hope you will find the 55 items in the appraisal of the shop worth the wait.  (Yes, 55 items.)

• Dr. Peter Bouchell, Cecil County

This inventory contains many interesting items, even before we get to the apothecary.  For example:

a 30 hour clock & case

Why 30 hours?  Wouldn’t 24 make more sense?

to a stand of Delf ware with a Vinegar & Oyl Cruit to it

a bird Cage with Chimes

2 cast Iron plates of a dutch stove one split

Wikipedia states that “virtually any recipe that can be cooked in a conventional oven can be cooked in a Dutch oven.”  I’m trying to imagine making cookies in a Dutch oven . . . it really does not seem possible.

An American Dutch oven, 1896

Wheat in the Straw

Rye in the Straw

Barley in the Straw

Oats in the Straw

and

Indian corn on the Stalk

But no turkey in the straw, so far as we know.  These entries have unusual wording for crops — and it must have been a large crop of wheat, as it was valued at £37.5!

a blew broad Cloth Cloak left abroad so as [the administrator of the estate] cant produce it

Another example of the logistical difficulties that sometimes complicated the probate process.

a Weavers Swift & 18 Spools

I don’t recall seeing a swift before, although they are such useful tools that I wonder why there are not more of them.

An umbrella swift in the background, holding a skein of red yarn.

[The swift in this painting is, regrettably, in shadow, and therefore a trifle difficult to see — but it’s so much more interesting than a photo of a modern swift.  Plus it has the red yarn, which looks eerily like the skein of silk that was on my swift for months while I tried to untangle it after an ill-advised effort to wind a ball just using the back of a chair.]

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A pharmacist making up prescriptions in his shop. Woodcut, artist unknown, 1800s. Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection (CC). [Appropriated from Jars of “Art and Mystery”: Pharmacists and their Tools in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.]

Finally we arrive at today’s star attraction.  [I’ve done my best to transcribe accurately; you can check my work here.]

In the Apothecarys shop

1 ¼ lb Lapis Hopatitis

10 oz: Sal Prunella

A salve made from one variety or another of Prunella (also known as ‘self-heal’).

Leaf of Prunella vulgaris var lanceolata

7 oz: Rad^r Irias

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Rad. and its assorted forms of abbreviation means Radix — which is the Latin word for root (clearly I should have consulted my Latin expert).  My best guess for Irias is, indeed, iris — or more specifically, orris root.

1 oz: Sal. Saturny

11 oz: Sperna Cety

10 oz: Gum Ammoniack

13 oz: Antimony Diaphoreticum

1 ½ lb Sal Armoniac

1 oz: Oculy Canery

1 ½ lb Rhenish Tartar

5 oz: Cantharides

Spanish fly (or secretions from other blister beetles) — potentially poisonous, but nevertheless used as an aphrodisiac.

7 oz: bacca Lawry

1 oz: Mace

5 oz: Cloves

1 oz: Cinnamon

3 oz: small Cardamom

True cardamom (E. cardamomum)

Who knew the flowers were so lovely?

3 oz: Chrystal Tartary

1 ½ oz: Oyl mint

½ oz: Mercury Priscipitate Rubre

Red precipitate (i.e., mercuric oxide)

3 Oz: Cinnaber

Cinnabar — more toxic mercury (just what the doctor ordered, apparently).

3 Oz: Spir^t. Nitry Dulces

1 Oz: Oyl Cloves

¾ Oz: Sal Absinty

1 Oz: Conchenell

Cochineal?  Near as I can tell, this was used as a dye, not in medicine . . . but as we have seen in a handful of other inventories (Henry Vanbeber springs to mind), dyes and medicinal herbs tend to show up together.

Wool dyed with cochineal

5 Oz: Cinnaber Nativy

2 Oz: Mercury Vivi

3 lb Lapis Hopatitis

½ Oz: Camphire

4 Oz: Venice treacle

2 Oz: blue stone

4^lb Diascordium home made

A ‘stomachic and astringent electuary made from the dried leaves of the water germander or other herbs’ (so says Merriam-Webster).

½ lb read allum

2^lb Gum Araback

4^lb white Vitriol

Zinc sulfate

3 Oz: Gum Caranini

2 Oz: Liquorish Bal.

½ Oz: Scammony

2 Oz: Gum Boollum

1 Oz: Sanguis Draconist

3 Oz: Alisto^s. longa & rotunda

Aristolochia, sometimes called ‘birthwort’ (although I prefer the more colorful ‘Dutchman’s Pipe’), and thought to aid women in childbirth.

Aristolochia labiata

2 Oz: Gum Labdanum

2 Oz: Gum Tabramack

1 Oz: Euphorbium

½ Oz: Bensoim

Bensoin, a balsamic resin (and — fun face — a major component of the type of incense used in Russian Orthodox churches).

Laurits Tuxen’s depiction of the wedding of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt

2 Oz: Rad^r. Sucdoaria

¾ lb bole Armonick

4 ℥ Mirrh

This is interesting (and not a typo).  Every other entry given in ounces clearly uses the common “oz.” abbreviation (and without putting the ‘z’ in superscript).  But this one line uses ℥, the symbol for ounce in the apothecaries’ system of weights and measures.  My questions, then, are 1) how did an appraiser (or, more likely, the clerk who transcribed the inventory) know the apothecary symbol; and 2) why did he use it just for this one entry out of forty-one items measured in ounces?  [I encourage you to look at the document; the distinct use of the apothecary symbol is quite striking.]

6 oz: gutta gum

4 oz: poporis albi

2 oz: Mercury dulces

2 q^ts. Linseed oyl

2 qu^ts. Honey

4^lb Aqua fortis

‘Strong water’ (i.e., nitric acid).

8 lb Red lead

3 lb Supher Viccum

a parcell of Physical books

11 pewter boxes @ 18^d

a parcell of square bottles some which contain the drugs many Empty yellow pots vials bottles Jugs glass funnels &c^a.

4 Iron Spadulas

1 silver Spadula w^t. 5/6

a parcell of Retorts & bolt heads

A copper retort

a parcell of Physical books

a pot metal Ingues

I had a dream the other night (yes, a lyric from ‘Something I Need’ by OneRepublic, a frequent earworm for me) in which I figured out what an ingues could be . . . but, alas, no.  I hypothesize a tool for preparing, measuring, or compounding drugs, something analogous to the retorts, and I spent a fair bit of time looking at chemistry equipment, but I am still at a loss.

Clearly I have not tracked down all of these items (because I’d like to do something else this week, if possible).  Some items also appear in Henry Vanbeber’s inventory and are investigated in that post, but if you want to decipher others for yourself, I recommend this source:

There are scads of similar works and websites, but this is the one I discovered this morning, and very helpful it was.

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I had intended to jump right into another batch of inventories, but this apothecary business has taken so very long that I need a break.  I have quite a backlog of material, however, so it had better be a short one.