offered to the General Court by the commander of the militia that the men of this craft had refused to put the muskets of the soldiers in condition for use because they were to receive in return tobacco alone.[1]
At times, it was found necessary to regulate the accounts of blacksmiths, owing to their exorbitant charges; in reality, it is probable that they made their fees large in order to insure themselves against the fluctuations in the price of tobacco, the medium in which they were paid.[2] The county records of the period show that persons in this calling were able to acquire small estates. There is an instance in Rappahannock County in 1671 in which a blacksmith appears as a purchaser of a tract of land; in a second instance, another disposed of one part of his plantation for four thousand pounds of tobacco, and at a later time, of a second part for two thousand.[3] Among the blacksmiths of York who were owners of small areas of ground were Owen Davies, James Derbyshire, and William Rice. In 1684, Walter Binford of Lower Norfolk County purchased a tract of land covering seventy acres.[4] Isaac Goding, in 1677, bought a plantation of one hundred acres in Middlesex.[5] Daniel Flaher held one hundred and fifty acres in Lancaster, and Joseph Depre two hundred and sixty.[6] In
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 141, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. II, p. 11.
- ↑ Records of Rappahannock County, vol. 1671-1676, p. 232, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Records of Lower Norfolk County, original vol. 1675-1686, f. p. 170.
- ↑ Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1673-1685, p. 109.
- ↑ Records of Lancaster County, original vol. 1687-1700, p. 64; Ibid., original vol. 1666-1682, p. 222.
