from embroidering to planting, tradition holds firm that all their work was for their own families alone; unless, of course, in the way of charity. Study of the available sources does not quite confirm this view. As with the shopkeepers, so with the producers it is difficult to find much evidence before the establishment of newspapers; but some hints may be discovered. For instance, the New York tax lists for 1695 to 1699 give the assessment of Mrs. Leisler's mill and ground, West Ward, as 20 pounds, 3 shillings, I penny. By the time we have much evidence on the subject, the colonial lady was fully alive to the value of charming attire, and her husband was prepared to match her elegance with his own. Many early diaries note the presence of itinerant seamstresses; on one day Mrs. Holyoke, of Salem, found time to write no more than "Mantua maker here"; 1 and the Reverend Ebenezer Parkman noted, "Miss Polly Howard here making lace for my daughter." 1 "2 Some characteristics of dressmakers appear to be perennial, as Nathaniel Ames found in 1758, when he was an undergraduate of Harvard. He entered his troubles in his diary: 3 1 Holyoke Diaries, p. 63. 2 Parkman, p. 119. • Dedham Historical Register, January 1890, p. 15. Sept. 30, went to Molly Kingsberry to get her to make my Gowne, but now October 8th she hath disappointed me. But young Ames was not to be trifled with, for the next entry reads: Went to Boston got my Gowne. The home-grown dressmaker had rivals, however, as the following indicates: 1 Lately come from London, Mrs. E. Atkinson, who designs the making of Mantos and Riding dresses after the newest fashion, the taking in of all sorts of Millinary Work, teaching Young Ladies all sorts of Works, and dressing of Heads and cutting of Hair. Now living with Mrs. Edward Oakes's in Cornhill Street, Boston, near the Brick Meeting House. The refinements of male attire were not forgotten, either, nor were children's needs overlooked. Thus in Philadelphia: 2 Mary Cahell... makes and sells all sorts of gentlemens caps, Leather, &c. Also ladies and childrens caps, mantilets, pillareens, hoods, bonnets, long and short cloaks, mantles, and scarfs, with black bags and roses for gentlemens hair or wigs; all which she makes after the newest and neatest fashions, very cheap. N.B. She makes turbans for Negroes. 1 Boston Newsletter, March 27, 1729. "Black bags and roses for gentlemen's hair or wigs" sound almost unbelievably frivolous for the grave colonial fathers; and "turbans for Negroes" must have added a pleasant touch of color to the landscape. In 1769 the alliterative "Mary Morcomb, Mantua Maker from London," was making negligées, Brunswick dresses, etc., as well as covering "umbrilloes," for the ladies of New York, "several of whom had declared their approbation of her work." 1 The times of Watteau and Gainsborough saw the fan supreme in the colonies as well as in the Old World, and many women advertised mounting and repairing fans; Henrietta Maria East, in giving up her general shop, notified her patrons that she would "continue the fan business as formerly." Neither were the head-dresses less elaborate in this country, nor their proper adornment despised. In 1769, Anne Ducray, flower-maker from London, living in Pudding Lane, Boston, begs leave to acquaint the Ladies that she makes and sells Head-Flowers, which for Beauty and color surpass those usually imported. Ladies may be supplied with single Buds for Trimming Stomachers, 1 New York Gazette, July 10, 1769. 2 Boston Evening Post, 1761. |