RECOMMENDED OBJECTS

HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS

Household utensils, the mundane, but necessary, objects which facilitated everyday life, were among the items listed in many household inventories. Within the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database, the subcategories of household utensils include cleaning, dairy, fire fighting, hygiene, laundry, miscellaneous, and storage. Some of these subcategory items, such as those under dairy and laundry, are clearly related to outbuildings, while others, such as those related to fire fighting, turn out to be part of urban rather than rural life. This category can be problematic because many of the items included are the types of ephemeral objects which were often overlooked by inventory takers. Clear evidence of this bias is the failure of any of the Mason inventories to contain storage items such as boxes, bags, canisters, baskets, or hampers, despite their existence in 82% of the Rural Elite Inventories (REI). It seems highly unlikely that all four Mason households lacked the various types of household stores kept in these utilitarian items. Most of these types of household stores and their containers would have been found in closets, cellars, or outbuildings. Future research should address the appropriate types of such items to include among the furnishing of Gunston Hall. For the current report, only the statistical break down of items found in the subcategories cleaning and hygiene has yielded objects to be included among the recommended furnishings for Gunston Hall.

CLEANING

Brooms and brushes were among the household utensils supplied by merchants for their clientele as well as being among goods ordered directly from England by Elite householders. Their presence in Elite households was part of an overarching concern with cleanliness of one's self and one's environment. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century prints which illustrate London street vendors and household interiors show the range of cleaning utensils available to the period consumer.

Orders placed by the Maryland firm of Wallace, Davidson & Johnson in the early 1770s confirm that a variety of such items were sold to their Chesapeake customers. In August, 1771, under the heading of “Turnery” they ordered “long scrubing Brushes . . . long hair brooms . . . better Brooms . . . mopps . . . table brushes . . . [and] cloath brushes” together with shaving, paint, tooth, and shoe brushes.(1) In a later order that same year, they added “6 stair case brooms” to the mix.(2) Charles Carroll, Barrister, in 1755, ordered through his London agent, “3 Hair Brooms, 3 Mops, [and] 3 Scrubbing Brushes.” Two years later he ordered six scrubbing brushes and six hair brooms, as well as six “Shoe Brushes.” The following year, he was apparently only in need of replacement parts for he ordered “3 scrubbing Brush heads and 3 broom Ditto.”(3) Similar objects, though not perhaps in such quantities, were ordered by other members of the Chesapeake gentry as well. The Jones Family papers contain an order in the early 1760s for “1 Dry rubbing brush, 2 Scouring Brush[es], 1 House Broom, [and] 1 Hearth Broom.”(4)

These humble household items are known today only through various period illustrations, although some insight into their use can be found in the mid-eighteenth-century housekeeping book of Englishwoman, Susanna Whatman. Some of her instructions make direct reference to the use of brushes and brooms, while others only allude to them. Her directions to the housemaid include in part:

. . . All the rooms to be dry scrubbed with white sand. To whisk all the window curtains every Saturday . . . To use a painter's brush to all the ledges, window frames and furniture and then the duster. Never to use a hard brush to any mahogany carving that has been neglected, and the dust suffered to settle in it. . . . To sweep the steps in front of the house every morning when necessary. When a floor cloth wants washing, not to use a brush or soapsuds . . . Hall and Staircase. Swept and dusted every day . . . . . . The Housemaid should never fail sweeping down the sutt[sic] [in the chimney] every morning as high as she can reach. The . . . Housekeeper should teach a new servant . . . those general directions that belong to her place in particular, such as not setting the brooms and brushes where they will make a mark . . .(5)

Brooms and brushes were tabulated as separate categories within the Gunston Hall Probate Inventory Database and clearly there were period distinctions between the two forms. Twelve of the households in REI include both forms. It is also possible, however, that in some households which cite only brooms or only brushes that the issue is one of semantics. Brooms occur in 34% of REI with an average of 2.6 and a median of 1. The two types of brooms listed are “hair” and “hand.” Brushes occur in 54% of REI with an average of 4.1 for all types and a median of 2. Among the types cited are clothes brushes, hat, scrubbing, rubbing, shoe, plate, buckle, hair furniture, bottle, and carpet brushes. If all brooms and brushes are tabulated together, they appear in 60% of REI with an average of 5.1 and a median of 3.

Among the family inventories, four (80%) have brooms and two (MASON63 and ELBCK65) also have brushes. Only MASON00 lacks either of these types. The average for brooms is 2.25 with a median of 2. For both types the average is 3.5 with a median of 2.5. Brushes are among the items for which some record of George Mason's purchases survive. In August of 1766, Mason purchased a “Cloath's Brush” for 4ƒ from Glassford's Piscataway store and the following year he bought “2 pocket brushes” at a cost of 3ƒ2 each.(6)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Brooms: 2
Origin, Date, Style, and Material: Specialized Form /Requires Additional Research

Brushes: 3-4
Origin, Date, Style, and Material: Specialized Form /Requires Additional Research

______________

HYGIENE

Many of the items found in this subcategory relate to personal hygiene and sanitation. Chamber pots provided an indoor alternative to going outside to the privy in bad weather or at night. While there is evidence that indoor facilities of various configurations were built into some of England's great houses as early as the end of the 15th century,(7) there is no evidence that such features were part of the interiors of even Elite homes in America until the very end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries.(8) Chamber pots, usually of ceramic and occasionally pewter, provided a practical solution to this human need. Also included in the hygiene subcategory are “wash hand basins,” a portable solution to personal cleanliness in an age without piped in water and no general perception that bathing involved the immersion of the body or even the regular wetting of body parts normally covered by clothing.(9)

Chamber Pots

Chamber pots, like the rest of household accouterments, were available to Elite Chesapeake households either through purchase from regional merchants or as part of their extensive yearly invoices to English agents. A 1768 order placed by Virginia merchants John Norton & Sons included six dozen “dutch Blue & White Chamber pots” and “one half dozen white Earthen” ones. Four years later, among goods to be shipped to John Wilkins were six dozen “Blue & White Stone Chamr. potts,” while an order directed to Littleton Savage included two dozen “white delf Chamr potts” and two dozen “blue & white Stone do do.”(10) Shipments in these quantities were probably intended for resale by other merchants. However, private individuals also purchased these necessary, but breakable, household objects in large numbers. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, in the fall of 1771, included “21 large white stone Chamber Potts” in his request for goods. The following year he wanted “24 white stone chamber potts,” perhaps he did not receive those ordered the previous year, as well as “24 strong coarse do [chamber pots] for servants.” In 1773, Carroll again ordered two different grades of chamber pots for family and servant use, although only a dozen each this time.(11) White stone chamber pots were also among the items regularly sent to George Washington, usually a dozen at a time.(12)

Chamber pots occur in 56% of REI, a number that undoubtedly under represents this humble but important part of household furnishings. The average number is 4.8 and the median is 4.

Among the family, four (80%) list chamber pots. Only MASON00 does not include this form. In the family, both the average and the median is 5. These numbers are somewhat misleading as ELBCK65's listing is indeterminate as to numbers of examples, the uncounted chamber pots simply being included among the other examples in “a parcel of Stone & Earthen Ware.”(13) The three Mason inventories which list the form also include ceramic examples MASON63 owned delft, MASON86 included “earthen” examples, and MASON97 listed six of “Queens china.” Interestingly, both MASON63 and MASON86 also owned pewter examples. Chamber pots are among the items recorded among George Mason's purchases. In 1766, he bought “4 dutch Stone Chamber Potts” for 7ƒ each from the Piscataway store of the Glassford company and in 1780, the invoice of goods shipped by De Neufville & Son included two pewter chamber pots and 6 cream colored examples.(14)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Chamber Pots: 4-6
Origin: Britain
Date: 1750-1788
Style: Determined by date and material
Material: 2 Pewter; 2-4 ceramic--creamware, etc.
Note: Future archeology may provide additional information about Mason's ownership of these objects.

Wash Basins

Wash basins served as moveable sinks for members of genteel households. The period description “wash hand basin” offers a solid clue as to their usage. Water, carried by slaves, was provided for the washing of a person's face and hands. Often the listings for wash basins are coupled with special containers for the water in the form of ceramic bottles, jugs, or pitchers. However, not all basin listings are accompanied by references to a water container. One is left to speculate that some households made do with kettles, or water jugs which were also used for other household chores, and thus listed elsewhere in the household. It is likewise possible that some basins and jugs were of different materials and therefore tallied with items of like materials rather than together as a functional unit.

George Washington, in his July 1771 order requested “6 Str^gWash Bason's & Bottles” as part of an order of Queen's China.(15) Charles Carroll of Carrollton ordered “6 wash hand basins & bottles” as part of his 1771 invoice and in 1783, his order included “6 pewter wash hand basins.”(16) In their purchases of 1769, the Jones family received “2 large white stone wash hand basins” and “2 delf hand basins.”(17) Just as basins could be ordered separately, so too, could water jugs. A 1768 invoice of John Norton & Sons included a listing for “3 brown stone water Juggs” at 6, “3 larger Do” at 8, “2 black & white Dutch Water Jugs” at 12 each and two “very large” at 18.(18)

Basins occur in 70% of REI with an average of 4.6 and a median of 2. Basins listed with some type of water vessel occur in 42% of households having type or 30% of REI.

Among the family inventories, three (60%) have basins with only MASON97 having water vessels, listed as basins and pitchers. The family average for basins is 9.6 with a median of 3. ELBCK65 which lists pewter basins grouped together with other pewter objects, also lists jugs with the earthen and stone ceramics; these could well have been used together. Similarly, MASON86 may have used one of the stone jugs listed with either the pewter wash basin or the wash basin and stand listed. Wash basins are among the items listed among the goods purchased by George Mason from De Neufville in 1780. He bought six creamware and two pewter wash basins.(19) Although Mason did not purchase water bottles or jugs with this order, it is possible that he owned such objects; however, pending further research or evidence, none are recommended at the current time.

RECOMMENDATION:

Wash Basins: 6-8
Origin: Britain
Date: 1750-1788
Style: Determined by date and material
Material: 2 Pewter; 4-6 ceramic including some creamware
Note: Future archeology may provide additional information about Mason's ownership of these objects.