1761 Charleston SC Painter Mary Roberts flourished c1752-58 (died 1761 Charleston, South Carolina)

 Henrietta Middleton by Mary Roberts  flourished c1752-58 (died 1761 Charleston, South Carolina) Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mary Roberts (died 1761) was an American miniaturist active in Charleston, South Carolina in the 1740s and 1750s. One of the earliest American miniaturists, and the first woman recorded as working in the medium in the American colonies, she is also believed to have painted the first watercolor-on-ivory miniature in the colonies.

Almost nothing is known about Roberts' life; what little may be gleaned about her comes from advertisements run in the South Carolina Gazette and from the wills of her contemporaries. She was the wife of painter Bishop Roberts, who first advertised his services in the Gazette in 1735, and again two years later. He claimed to be able to paint portraits, landscapes, and heraldry; to offer drawings for sale; to paint houses; and to print engravings as well. He is best remembered for a view of Charleston which was engraved by W. H. Toms in 1739. Roberts died unexpectedly in 1740, in which year his wife's name appeared in newspaper notices for the first time. She provided a statement to the Gazette on her husband's death, further offering to provide "Face Painting well performed by the said Mary Roberts, who has several Pictures and a Printing-Press to dispose of"; no further written evidence exists to show that she worked as a miniaturist. In 1746 she again offered the printing press for sale. That she was continually suffering financial difficulties after her husband's death may be inferred from the will of one William Watkins, who on his death in 1747 left her fifty pounds for the support of her son. Upon the death of a friend in 1750 she received a bequest of clothing and furniture. Roberts herself died in 1761, and her burial is recorded in the register of St. Philip's Episcopal Church on October 24 of that year.

Only three miniatures by Roberts were currently known to exist until fairly recently; none is signed with her full name, but each is inscribed "MR". All are undated, but based on the styles of the clothing and wigs depicted are believed to date from the 1740s. The technique is assured enough to suggest that Roberts had some sort of formal training in painting prior to arriving in Charleston. At least one of the portraits, a watercolor on ivory rendering of a Woman of the Gibbes or Shoolbred Family, still exists in its original frame of gold set with garnets. This work descended through the Gibbes and Shoolbred families before coming to the Gibbes Museum of Art.

In 2006, five watercolor on ivory miniatures of children, a group of cousins from the Middleton family, were found at Shrublands (the family estate in England) and purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2007. Each one measures 1 1/2 x 1 in. (3.8 x 2.5 cm) and is in its original gold case and signed MR and was painted around 1752 -1758. The portrait of Henrietta Middleton is on display at the museum.

The Met tells us the tradition of portrait miniature painting in America, like that of full-size portraiture, was adapted from European models, particularly from English painting of the Rococo period. Ultimately, portrait miniatures evolved from two sources: illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages and portrait medals from classical antiquity as revived during the Italian Renaissance. With various changes in size, shape, and function over time, the first self-contained miniature portraits were made in France and England during the 15C

In the next century, Hans Holbein and Nicholas Hilliard  conceived of portraiture in the small, oval format that became prototypical for English and American miniatures. These dainty pieces were mounted in gold lockets, brooches, and bracelets, as such converging with traditions of jewelry and taking on connotations as mementos with exquisite and intimate meaning. Patronage for miniatures extended beyond the court to include the political and merchant elite, eager to own and wear such stunning small portraits of loved ones.

The single most innovative advance in the art of portrait miniature painting was made by a Venetian miniaturist, Rosalba Carriera , who applied a watercolor technique to the decoration of ivory snuffboxes. The luminosity of ivory enhances skin tones and enables the painter to render the sheen of hair and fabrics in transparent watercolor applied in delicate strokes or fine stipples. 

The earliest known American miniatures, such as Mrs. Jacob Motte  by Jeremiah Theus, were soberly painted, well-crafted portraits. The tradition continued in the hands of America’s most talented oil painters, who offered miniatures as reduced versions of their large portraits. In Boston, John Singleton Copley mastered this difficult medium. His portrait of Jeremiah  matches his full-length portrait of this grandee from Marblehead, Massachusetts.

In Philadelphia, the brothers Charles Willson Peale and James Peale executed delicate and subtle portraits for their clients, while the Charleston elite flocked to Henry Benbridge for his fine works. In New York, the Irish painter John Ramage held sway, painting many political figures including the first president, George Washington.

Toward the end of the 18C, scores of miniaturists from Great Britain, France, and Italy came to America to paint the citizens of the new republic. British artists brought with them an enlarged, more luminous miniature, while those from the Continent imported their precise, decorative style. These artists left a lasting impression on the American marketplace for miniatures, which boomed in the coming 19C.

Citation: Barratt, Carrie Rebora. “American Portrait Miniatures of the Eighteenth Century.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. 

Bibliography

Books:

Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Lori Zabar. American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010.

Frank, Robin Jaffee. Love and Loss: American Portrait and Mourning Miniatures. Exhibition catalogue.. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.

Johnson, Dale T. American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990.

Saunders, Richard H., and Ellen G. Miles. American Colonial Portraits: 1700-1776. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987.

Articles:

Anderson, Karen. "Colonial Women Miniaturists: The Case of Mary Roberts." Archives of American Art Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 2008, pp. 80-98.

Hicks, John D. "The Artistic Legacy of Mary Roberts in Charleston." South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 102, no. 3, 2005, pp. 190-210.

Jones, Rebecca. "Women Artists in Early America: The Life and Work of Mary Roberts." American Art Journal, vol. 18, no. 4, 2011, pp. 45-65.

Roberts, Mary. "Henrietta Middleton, ca. 1752-58." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection, 2007. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Smith, Laura. "Mary Roberts: Miniaturist of Colonial Charleston." Journal of Early American Art, vol. 14, no. 2, 2006, pp. 150-167.

1737 Hannah Callender Sansom (1737-1801) Philadelphia Quaker

 

Hannah Callender Sansom (1737-1801)  Her son Joseph's late-18C portrait of his mother at the American Philosophical Society.

Hannah Callender Sansom was born on November 16, 1737, into a prominent Quaker family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She was the daughter of William Callender Jr. (1703–1763) and Katharine Smith (1711–1789). Growing up in a Quaker family, Hannah received an education that was advanced for women of her time, because the Quaker community believed in education for both genders.

In the city, her family lived on Front Street in Philadelphia. They divided their time between the town and their countryside plantation, Richmond Seat, which William established in Point-No-Point, about 4 miles north of Philadelphia on the banks of the Delaware River. Richmond Seat was a working plantation producing “good English hay” for sale and 35 acres of meadow with “good English grass,” an 8-acre orchard for the cultivation of various fruits, a two-acre garden, and “a small well-built brick house, with a boarded kitchen.”

In 1762, when Hannah was 25, she married Samuel Sansom Jr. (1738/39–1824), a prosperous merchant. The couple had several children, and Hannah's diaries often reflect her roles as a wife and mother, detailing the challenges and joys of managing the health and education of her growing family plus maintaining 2 households in & near 18th-century Philadelphia. 

As a member of prosperous families, Hannah had access to the collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Both her father and her husband, Samuel Sansom Jr. were members with access to the institution's collection of architectural, gardening, and horticultural manuals. 

For more than thirty years, between January 1758 and November 1788, Hannah kept a diary of her everyday activities. Hannah's diary contains descriptions of several country houses built along the banks of the Schuylkill River. Some of her recorded visits occur on trips away from Philadelphia.

In September of 1758, Hannah Callender Sansom visited Bush Hill, estate of James Hamilton, near Philadelphia, & wrote in her diary, “a party to bush hill...in the afternoon, a fine house and gardens, with Statues, and fine paintings."

Hannah's Diary June of 1759, diary entry focusd on Bayard’s country seat, near New York, NY “took a walk to - Boyard’s Country seat, who was so complaisent as to ask us in his garden. the front of the house, faces the great road, about a quarter of a mile distance, a fine walk of locas trees now in full blossom perfumes the air, a beautiful wood off one side, and a Garden for both use and ornament on the other side from which you see the City at a great distance. good out houses at the back part. they have no gardens in or about New York that come up to ours of philadelphia.” On tis trip to New York, Hannah wrote of  “...a good many pretty Country seats, In particular Murreys, a fine brick house, and the whole plantation in good order, we rode under the finest row of Button Wood I ever see.”

Hannah's DiaryAugust 1, 1759, diary entry describing Richmond Seat, summer retreat of William Callender Jr. on the Delaware River in Point-No-Point near Philadelphia, "Daddy and I went to Plantation...the place looks beautiful. the plat belonging to Daddy is 60 acres square: 30 of upland, 30 of meadow, which runs along the side of the river Delawar, half the uplands is a fine Woods, the other Orchard and Gardens, a little house in the midst of the Gardens, interspersed with fruit trees. the main Garden lies along the meadow, by 3 descents of Grass steps, you are led to the bottom, in a walk length way of the Garden, on one Side a fine cut hedge incloses from the meadow, the other, a high Green bank shaded with Spruce, the meadows and river lying open to the eye, looking to the house, covered with trees, honey scycle vines on the fences, low hedges to part the flower and kitchen Garden, a fine barn. Just at the side of the Wood, the trees a small space round it cleared from brush underneath, the whole a little romantic rural scene.”

Hannah's DiaryAugust 30, 1761, visit to the Moravian settlement at Bethlehem, “Sister Garrison with good humour gave us girls leave, to step cross a field to a little Island belonging to the Single Bretheren, on it is a neat Summer house, with seats of turf, and button wood Trees round it.”

Hannah's Diary June 28, 1762, visit to the estate of the late Tench Francis Sr. near hiladelphia, “walked agreeably down to Skylkill along its banks adorned with Native beauty, interspersed by little dwelling houses at the feet of hills covered by trees, that you seem to look for enchantment they appear so suddenly before your eyes, on the entrance you find nothing but mere mortality, a spinning wheel, an earthen cup, a broken dish, a calabash and wooden platter: ascending a high Hill into the road by Robin Hood dell went to the Widow Frances’s place, she was there and behaved kindly, the House stands fine and high, the back is adorned by a fine prospect, Peter’s House, Smiths Octagon, Bayntons House &c and a genteel garden, with serpentine walks and low hedges, at the foot of the garden you desend by sclopes to a Lawn. in the middle stands a summer House, Honey Scykle &c, then you desend by Sclopes to the edge of the hill which Terminates by a fense, for security, being high & almost perpendicular except the craggs of rocks, and shrubs of trees, that diversify the Scene.”

Hannah's Diary June 30, 1762, visit to Belmont, estate of William Peters, near Philadelphia, “went to Will: Peters’s house, having some small aquaintance with his wife who was at home with her Daughter Polly. they received us kindly in one wing of the House, after a while we passed thro' a covered Passage to the large hall...from the Front of this hall you have a prospect bounded by the Jerseys, like a blueridge, and the Horison, a broad walk of english Cherre trys leads down to the river, the doors of the house opening opposite admit a prospect of the length of the garden thro' a broad gravel walk, to a large hansome summer house in a grean, from these Windows down a Wisto terminated by an Obelisk, on the right you enter a Labarynth of hedge and low ceder with spruce, in the middle stands a Statue of Apollo, in the garden are the Statues of Dianna, Fame & Mercury, with urns. we left the garden for a wood cut into Visto’s, in the midst a chinese temple, for a summer house, one avenue gives a fine prospect of the City, with a Spy glass you discern the houses distinct, Hospital, & another looks to the Oblisk.” 

Hannah's Diary July 27, 1768, visit to the estate of Joshua Howell, near Philadelphia, “went to Edgeley. Joshua Howel has a fine Iregular Garden there, walked down to Shoolkill, after dinner...walked to the Summer House, in view of Skylkill where Benny [Shoemaker] Played on the flute.”

Hannah's Diary May 14, 1785, visit to Bush Hill, estate of James Hamilton, near Philadelphia, “to Hambleton’s Bush hill estate, walked over that good house, viewed the fine stucco work, and delightful prospects round...”

Hannah's Diary, June 20, 1785, visit to Belmont, estate of Richard Peters, near Philadelphia, “crossed Brittains bridge, to John Penns elegant Villa...mounted our chaise and rode a long the Schuilkill to Peters place the highest and finist situation I know, its gardens and walks are in the King William taste, but are very pleasant...”

Her diaries reveal her knowledge of the medicinal properties of various plants. She often wrote about creating herbal concoctions and treatments, blending her gardening skills with practical applications for her family's health. This aspect of her writing highlights the important role that medicinal plants and gardens played in the daily lives of women at that time.

Sage Tea for Sore Throats: August 15, 1759: "I brewed a tea of sage for my husband's sore throat, as Mother used to do. The warmth and the healing properties of sage helped ease his discomfort."

Comfrey Poultices for Bruises and Sprains: June 5, 1760: "Applied a poultice of comfrey leaves to my daughter’s ankle after she twisted it. The comfrey helps to heal the bruise and reduce swelling."

Chamomile for Digestive Issues: July 10, 1761: "Prepared chamomile tea today for my son, who complained of a bellyache. The gentle nature of chamomile soothes the stomach, a remedy well-tried in our family."

Lavender for Calming Effects: September 18, 1762: "Filled sachets with lavender to place under our pillows. The scent of lavender is known to calm the mind and promote restful sleep."

Mint for Headaches: May 24, 1763: "Used mint leaves to prepare a soothing compress for my headaches. The refreshing aroma and cooling effect provide much relief."

Horehound for Coughs: March 3, 1764: "Made a syrup of horehound for my husband’s cough. The bitter herb, though unpleasant, works wonders on the chest and lungs."

Yarrow for Wounds: November 5, 1764: "Prepared a decoction of yarrow for Samuel's wounds. This herb staunches bleeding and helps in quicker healing."

Willow Bark for Fever: November 12, 1765: "Boiled willow bark today to make a decoction for relieving fever. Its efficacy in reducing aches and pains has been noted by many in our community."

Valerian Root for Sleep: January 14, 1766: "Prepared a tincture of valerian root to help Mother sleep. The calming properties of this root have been a great comfort in her restless nights."

Fennel for Colic: April 22, 1766: "Made a tea of fennel seeds to relieve my sister's colic. Fennel is gentle and helps soothe the stomach."

Fennel Seeds for Colic: July 9, 1767: "Used fennel seeds today to ease my brother’s colic. Steeped them in hot water and the tea provided almost immediate relief."

Elderberry Syrup for Cough: June 14, 1768: "Used elderberry syrup to treat the children's cough. This syrup has always been effective in easing their symptoms."

Dandelion Roots for Blood Cleansing: October 21, 1768: "Harvested dandelion roots and made an infusion for cleansing the blood. This practice, learned from Mother, has always kept us healthy through the seasons."

Thyme for Respiratory Troubles: October 29, 1769: "Prepared an infusion of thyme to help with Mary's respiratory troubles. The steam and properties of thyme are very beneficial."

Calendula for Skin Issues:  February 11, 1770: Sage Tea for Sore Throats: August 15, 1759: "I brewed a tea of sage for my husband's sore throat, as Mother used to do. The warmth and the healing properties of sage helped ease his discomfort."

Hannah Callender Sansom passed away on March 9, 1801. Her diaries remain an invaluable historical resource, offering a window into the massive responsibilities of a wife & mother & of her plants revealing her contributions to the expandong 18th century knowlege of medicinal plants, horticulture, and botany.

Bibliography

Books:

Bloch, Ruth H. Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650–1800. University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003.

Frost, J. William. The Quaker Family in Colonial America: A Portrait of the Society of Friends. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1973.

Gaddis, John Lewis. The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past. Oxford University Press, New York, 2002.

Illick, Joseph E. Colonial Pennsylvania: A History. Scribner, New York, 1976.

Klepp, Susan E., and Karin Wulf, eds. Diary of Hannah Callender Sansom: Sense and Sensibility in the Age of the American Revolution. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2010.

Lewis, Jane. Women in Colonial America: A Study of Hannah Callender Sansom. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1995.

Mack, Phyllis. Quaker Women, 1650-1690. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1995.

Richards, Thomas. Faith and Practice: The Role of Quaker Women in Colonial Society. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1987.

Thompson, Samuel. The Quaker Influence on American Colonial Culture. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1998.

Articles:

Adams, Margaret. "The Social Networks of Hannah Callender Sansom: A Quaker Woman's Perspective." Journal of Social History, vol. 40, no. 2, Winter 2006, pp. 391-410.

Brown, Ellen. "Daily Life and Domestic Duties in the 18th Century: Insights from Hannah Callender Sansom." Early American Studies, vol. 5, no. 3, Fall 2007, pp. 225-240.

Johnson, Mark. "A Quaker Woman's World: The Diaries of Hannah Callender Sansom." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 134, no. 4, October 2010, pp. 351-370.

Smith, Laura. "Gardening in the Eighteenth Century: The Diaries of Hannah Callender Sansom." Journal of Early American Gardens, vol. 6, no. 2, 2015, pp. 45-60.

Turner, Alice. "Hannah Callender Sansom and Her Philadelphia Garden." American Horticultural Society Journal, Summer 2011, pp. 24-35.

Williams, Joan. "Quaker Perspectives on Family and Gender Roles: The Writings of Hannah Callender Sansom." Quaker History, vol. 90, no. 1, Spring 2001, pp. 19-33.

Eleanor Magruder Briscoe (1766-1806) by John Drinker (1760-1826) 1800-02

Eleanor Magruder Briscoe by John Drinker, in Jefferson County West Virginia 1800-02 

When Eleanor Magruder Briscoe was born on January 6, 1766, in Maryland, her father, Alexander, was 46, and her mother, Susannah, was 39. She married John Briscoe on February 19, 1784, in Frederick, Maryland. They had 11 children in 16 years. She died on March 11, 1806, in Virginia at the age of 40.

MESDA tells us that this portrait of Eleanor Magruder Briscoe by John Drinker shows a woman seated in a Chippendale type chair, half-length, facing forward & dressed with a white high crowned cap, gray dress & white neck piece with a black ribbon & jewel at her throat. She has brown eyes, dark hair. She holds a reddish-brown book in her right hand & is seated at a column base to the right, with red drapery & tassel, & with a balustraded rail & trees in the background to the left. 

Eleanor (Magruder) Briscoe (1766-1806) & her husband Dr. John Briscoe (1752-1818) lived at Piedmont, an imposing two-story brick house in Jefferson County, West Virginia, near Charlestown. The families had 17th century roots in tidewater Maryland: The Briscoes in St. Mary’s & Charles County, Maryland; the Magruders in Queen Anne County, Maryland. The couple married in 1784 in Frederick County, Maryland. 

The portrait descended at Piedmont, the Briscoe Family home, in Berkeley County, Virginia. Two years later they formally acquired the land on which Piedmont was built. Though the deed to the house is dated November 22, 1786, it is generally believed that the Briscoe family were living on the property for some years prior to that time. It is now generally thought that Piedmont was constructed between 1786 & 1800. (Piedmont was surveyed in 1937 by the Historic American Buildings Survey:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/wv0088/ Piedmont was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973: http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/73001913.pdf)

The artist John Drinker (1760–1826) was a miniaturist, portrait painter, & drawing master, who advertised in 1787 that he was opening a drawing school in Philadelphia with the assistance of Matthew Pratt. Using funds from an inheritance Drinker began investing in Berkeley County, Virginia, land in the 1780s. In 1797 he married Elizabeth Peppers in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Though the couple first lived in Philadelphia, by 1801 they had permanently resettled in Berkeley County. This painting is signed on the reverse “A.D. 1800/ by Drinker.” . He was listed as a portrait painter or limner in Philadelphia directories in 1800-1801. Two portraits by him are listed by FARL (Frick Art Reference Library)

The MESDA Collection includes 5 paintings from “Piedmont," the house built between 1786-1890 for Dr. John Briscoe, Jr. (1752-1818), & Eleanor (Magruder) Briscoe (b.1766). These include portraits of Dr. & Mrs. Briscoe by John Drinker (1760-1826) (MESDA acc. 973.1-2); a portrait of Sarah D. Rutherford by Drinker (MESDA acc. 973.3?); & a portrait of General William Darke (1736-1801), by Frederick Kemmelmeyer (1760-1821) (MESDA acc. 973.3).

See: Kate Hughes, “Piedmont’s Portraits: Patrician Image-Making in the Lower Shenandoah Valley”, MESDA Summer Institute 2017.

Bibliography for Eleanor Magruder Briscoe (1766–1806)

Books:

Buchanan, James. History of the Buchanan Family. William K. Boyle & Son, Baltimore, 1923.

Decker, Peter R. Fortress of American Independence: Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga. University of Vermont Press, Burlington, 1986.

Gardner, Andrea. Women and Botany in Colonial America. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1999.

O'Malley, Michael. Ethan Allen: His Life and Times. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 2000.

Schlissel, Lillian. Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey. Schocken Books, New York, 1992.

Shepherd, Walter. Life of Ethan Allen. Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1907.

Smith, Barbara Clark. After the Revolution: Women Who Influenced the Early Republic. Columbia University Press, New York, 1980.

Stagg, J.C.A. Mr. Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783-1830. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1983.

Articles:

FamilySearch. "Eleanor Magruder Briscoe." FamilySearch.org, 2023.

WikiTree. "Eleanor (Magruder) Briscoe (1766-1806)." WikiTree.com, 2023.

Bibliography for John Drinker (1760–1826)

Books:

Adams, E. Bryding. "John Drinker, Portrait Painter and Limner." Early Southern Decorative Arts, vol. 7, no. 2, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, November 1981.

Barratt, Carrie Rebora, and Lori Zabar. American Portrait Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010.

Johnson, Dale T. American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990.

Saunders, Richard H., and Ellen G. Miles. American Colonial Portraits: 1700-1776. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987.

Articles:

HellenicaWorld. "John Drinker." HellenicaWorld.com, 2023.

Prabook. "John Drinker." World Biographical Encyclopedia, 2023.

Wikipedia. "John Drinker." Wikipedia.org, 2023.

1716 Frances L’Escott (1705-1747) by Henrietta Johnston(c 1674-1729)

1716 Frances L’Escott (1705-1747) by Henrietta Johnston(c 1674-1729)

Frances L’Escott was born in 1705, the daughter of Reverend Paul L’Escott, a prominent pastor of the French Protestant (Huguenot) Church in Charles Town, South Carolina. Reverend Paul L’Escott served the Huguenot congregation from 1700 to 1719 and again from 1731 to 1734. 

This church was crucial for the community, providing religious and cultural continuity for French Protestant refugees who fled persecution in France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The Huguenots, French Protestants who followed the teachings of John Calvin, faced severe persecution in the 16th and 17th centuries, leading many to flee to settlements in Europe, the colonial Atlantic coast of America, and Africa.

In 1723, Frances married Peter Villepontoux, a wealthy Huguenot plantation owner. Peter owned significant properties, including a plantation on James Island, a town lot near the Quaker Meeting House on King Street, a lot on Trott’s Point, and a plantation in Christ Church Parish. 

His wealth and status were further solidified by his innovations in agricultural practices, particularly in rice threshing. In 1733, Peter received a patent for a rice threshing machine capable of cleaning 2000 lbs. of rice a day with four horses, although it was costly and easily copied.

Frances and Peter had seven children, though only one daughter and four sons are mentioned in Peter's will, suggesting that two children may have died young. 

Frances actively participated in managing the family's properties, evidenced by her signing deeds in 1741. Peter Villepontoux was also listed among those who suffered significant losses in the Charlestown fire of 1740. It is believed that Frances predeceased her husband, who died on April 25, 1748, as she is not mentioned in his will.

Peter’s estate, valued at £3,925, included an extensive inventory of farm implements, household furniture, and slaves, reflecting his substantial wealth. The inventory included various farm implements such as plows, hoes, and other tools essential for managing his large plantations. These items provide insight into the agricultural practices of the time and the scale of operations managed by the Villepontoux family.

MESDA tells us that there is an anecdote about young Frances L’Escott in The Carolina Chronicle of Commissary Gideon Johnston in his letter to the secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. His letter, dated July 5, 1710, reads: “One of the enclosed papers is a letter of Sir John Chardins to Mrs. L’Escot. . . .You will see by it that a Legacy of 30 [pounds] was left to her daughter, which was to revert to the Mother in case of the Daughters death. The Daughter is still alive & the father & Mother think it their undoubted right to have this money & the Interest of it hitherto.” The letter does not state whether the parents received control of the legacy. It does, however, mention that Mr. L’Escot could not understand English so that any other correspondence to him must be done in “Latin or French.”

About the Artist Henrietta Johnston(c 1674-1729)

Henrietta Johnston, born around 1674, was the daughter of Susannah de Beaulieu and of French Huguenot descent. Born in northwestern France, her family immigrated to London in the mid-1680s to escape religious persecution. 

In 1694, Henrietta married William Dering and moved to Ireland, where she began to draw pastels, evidenced by her earliest portraits of her in-laws, including members of the Percival family. Although the quality of her work suggests formal training, details of her education remain unknown. Like her contemporaries, she followed the conventions set by London court painter Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) and possibly studied with Dublin artist Edward Lutterel (1650-1710).

Widowed by 1704 and the mother of two daughters, Henrietta married Anglican clergyman Gideon Johnston in 1705. Two years later, he was appointed to serve as commissary of the Church of England in North and South Carolina and the Bahama Islands, and as the rector of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Charles Town (Charleston), South Carolina. 

The Johnston family arrived in Charleston in 1708, and over the next few years, Henrietta’s work as a pastel portraitist became critical to the family's economy. This is proven by one of her husband’s letters, in which he wrote: “were it not for the assistance my wife gives by drawing of Pictures (which can last but a little time in a place so ill peopled) I should not be able to live.”

To supplement the family’s income, Henrietta created pastel portraits, a relatively uncommon medium in colonial British America at the time. Her works primarily depicted prominent figures in Charleston society and the Huguenot community, capturing each likeness with remarkable skill and detail. 

Gideon Johnston died in a boating accident in 1716, and Henrietta remained in Charleston until her death in 1729. 

She is believed to have traveled to New York City in 1725, where she drew at least four portraits of a family of that city. More than forty of her portraits survive, many of which are of members of Charleston’s early Huguenot community. 

Henrietta Johnston’s contributions are significant, because she was among the earliest known professional female artists in America and one of the few to work in pastel. Despite financial hardships and her husband's ill health, Henrietta's artistic work gained her recognition and clients among the colonial elite. Her portraits provide valuable insights into the early American colonial period, particularly in South Carolina.

Women's work Martha Washington's Laundry Wash House at Mount Vernon in 18C Virginia

George & Martha Washington's Wash House at Mount Vernon in Virginia   

Compiled by Sydney Marenburg 

In the Mount Vernon home of Martha & George Washington. the Laundry or Wash House, enslaved laundresses performed weekly washings for the Washington family, long-term guests, hired white servants, & overseers.

Laundry in the 18C was usually a 3-day, labor-intensive process reserved for household linens, like sheets & tablecloths, & clothing worn closest to the skin: shirts, shifts, & stockings. Many people contributed garments to each laundry load, so clothes & linens often were marked with the owner’s initials or name in ink or cross-stitch. 

At Mount Vernon, as at many other elite 18C houses, the employment contracts of unmarried, white male servants often included the provision of laundry services. (See: Agreement with Burgis Mitchell, 1 May 1762,” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-07-02-0074.) 

A married man’s laundry fell to his wife. (See: "George Washington to James Anderson (of Scotland), 7 April 1797,” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-01-02-0059.)

George & Martha Washington’s famous hospitality included providing laundry services for Mount Vernon guests staying longer than 1 week (the typical turn-around time of the Wash House.) A constant stream of guests surely created a heavy workload for the enslaved laundresses.

Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, a visiting Polish Nobleman who stayed at the plantation for 2 weeks, noted that the enslaved workers “took care of me, of my linen, of my clothes,” treating him “not as a stranger but as a member of the family.” (See: Ursyn Niemcewicz, Julian, Early Description by Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz. June 5, 1978.)

The 1799 probate inventory taken after George Washington’s death recorded the contents of the Wash House. The building contained 9  tubs, 4 pails, 2  small buckets with handles (called piggins), 4 tables, & 2 copper tubs (called boilers) valued at $34.75. (See: P.C Nash, Fairfax County Will Book J, 1801-1806, Fairfax, Virginia: Fairfax County Court Archives, 1810, George Washington.) 

In addition, 8 jars of soap, valued at $25, were stored in the Mansion cellar. When Washington inherited the property in 1761, the Wash House inventory records 9 hand irons.

Although there were no automated laundry appliances, Mount Vernon’s Wash House was equipped with a built-in brick stove that held a copper kettle over a fire. This was a feature of many elite homes in the 18C & was a relative luxury, as laundresses did not have to move the heavy pots of hot water.

Generally, laundry in the 18C was conducted exclusively by women. (See: Mohun, Arwen Palmer. “Laundrymen Construct Their World: Gender and the Transformation of a Domestic Task to an Industrial Process”The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for the History of Technology, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan., 1997): 97-120

Woman with Bag of Laundry The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University 

Records from 1759 to 1799 indicate the names of 9 enslaved women & when they were assigned to the Wash House.

Jemima, 1759

Jenny, 1759

Mima, 1787 –1788

Sall, 1786 –1791

Sinah, 1794

Lucy, 1794

Caroline, 1793 –1798

Dolshy, 1786 –1799

Vina, 1798 –1799

Home-care manuals of the 19C instructed that laundry should begin Monday & conclude on Wednesday, leaving Thursday to Saturday free for other work. (See: Leslie, Eliza. Miss Leslie's Lady's House-book: A Manual of Domestic Economy, Containing Approved Directions for Washing, Dress-making, Millinery, Dyeing, Cleaning, etc 1850.  Note: although this source is from a much later period, it is conjectured that the laundry process remained very similar between eras until the widespread use of laundry machines.)

Many of the enslaved women assigned to Mount Vernon’s Wash House were not only doing laundry, but also acted as seamstresses, spinners, & knitters.

Laundresses also needed a wide knowledge of treatments for all sorts of stains on many different fine fabrics. Finer garments made out of wool, silk, & cotton were rarely, if ever, fully washed, but instead spot-treated for stains. 

Laundry was an intense job requiring an incredible amount of physical strength. During the hot Virginia summers, the washhouse would be an almost unbearable temperature due to the constant fires & clouds of billowing steam. Laundresses had to move pounds of clothing, made even heavier with water, from pot to pot & agitate the laundry—all by hand.

The enslaved laundresses began each load by hauling the necessary water & firewood: thirty to fifty gallons of water from the kitchen well to fill copper kettles, & roughly 180 pounds of firewood to feed the boiler that heated water for the first phase of washing. Depending on the volume of laundry, a total of over 100 gallons of water could be necessary. This could entail more than 2 dozen trips back & forth to the well for each day of washing.

Copper kettles, not iron, were used for washing. The water, soap, bleaching agents, & heat would cause iron to leach into the water, potentially ruining delicate linen fabric.

Soap was rubbed over stains & soil, but not added to the water. Items of the highest quality were washed 1st; when the water was cleanest.

Washerwomen agitated the clothes by hand, stirring them in the water or scrubbing them with laundry bats, flat wooden paddles with ridges.

Usually, once cleaned, the clothes would be rinsed in separate water. To keep the fine white fabrics of shirts, shifts, & tablecloths white, sometimes a bluing powder would be added to the water. A bluing powder, made of indigo, would counteract the yellowing of the fabric & make it look whiter. (See: Dunbar, James. Smegmatalogia, or the art of making potashes and soap, and bleaching of linen. By which the industrious farmer is taught to bleach and wash his cloath with the produce of our own country. United Kingdom: the author, 1736.)

To dry, items could be hung over drying racks indoors or spread out on the grass outdoors on warm, dry days.

Once dry, the process of ironing would begin. Ironing required experience & skill: the laundress managed the temperature of at least 3 irons. When one grew too cool, another would be ready for use, hot but not hot enough to burn the fabric.

Finally, the laundry would be folded with the assistance of the housemaids & distributed to the closets of the house & outbuildings.

Much of this research & more are available from George Washington's (1732-1799) home Mount Vernon's website, MountVernon.org. You can donate to their excellent efforts directly from their website. Please do. 

Women's Work - Doing Laundry in the 15-18C

A Laundress on the Beach, The Decameron, Manuscript 5070. 1432. Arsenal, Paris. 

Soap, mainly soft soap made from ash lye & animal fat, was used by washerwomen supplied by their masters or employers. Soap was rarely used by the poorest people in medieval times but by the 18C soap was fairly widespread: sometimes kept for finer clothing & for tackling stains, not used for the whole wash. 

1736 Giacomo Ceruti (Italian painter, 1698-1767) The Laundress

1736-75 Richard Houston, after Philippe Mercier Domestik Employment 

A variety of preparations might be used on stained clothing. Chalk, brick dust, & pipe clay were used on greasy stains. Alcohol treated grass stains & kerosene, bloodstains. Milk was thought to remove urine stains & fruit. Urine, due to the ammonia content, was often used for bleaching as were lemon & onion juice.

1740 Pietro Longhi (French-born Italian artist, 1701-1785) The Laundress

1730 Jean Siméon Chardin (French artist, 1699-1779) The Laundress

Shakespeare calls a laundry basket a “buck basket.” The phrase might be related to the back-&-forth action of washing laundry, agitating water, soap, & clothes in a tub, not unlike the motion of a bucking horse. A buck was a tub for soaking or washing. And a small buck was a bucket.

1750s Henry Robert Morland (British artist, 1716-1797) A Lady’s Maid soaping Linen

Silk was cleaned by scourers, who fully cleaned gowns, usually only once a year. Mainly they spot-cleaned them, using salt, chalk, or fuller’s earth & solvents like turpentine, lemon juice, warm milk, or urine. The whole gown was not immersed in water or scrubbed. As a result, silk garments tended to last. They were loosely stitched, because sooner or later they would be taken apart & remodeled. In 1763, one of Martha Washington’s old dresses was sent to London to be retailored in a more contemporary style.

1768 Hubert Robert (French painter, 1733-1808) La Bievre

Washing clothes in the river is still the normal way of doing laundry in many parts of the world. Even in prosperous parts of the world riverside washing went on well into the 19C, or longer in rural areas - even when the river was frozen. Stains might be treated at home before being taken to the river. Women might take tools to the river to help the work: like a washing bat or a board to scrub on. 

1782 Camp Laundry. Robert Sayer & J. Bennett. London

1761 Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French painter, 1725-1805) The Laundress

This painting shows a rather well-dressed washerwoman with her utensils. She sits on two boards laid across the top of a buck. The buck’s unplugged hole drains away lye or dirty water. Behind her is a buck basket. Atop the cabinet are a large boiling copper and two earthenware pots. Two sheets dry on the line. And in the lower-left corner is her battledore, or bat, for hammering wet linen until it released its dirt.

1765 Henry Robert Morland (British artist, 1716-1797) A Lady's Maid Soaping Linen

As a rule, wool was dry-cleaned by people called fullers, who tackled stains on woolens using fuller’s earth, a clay that absorbs grease. They also used fuller’s teasel, a thistle, to rough up the fibers & mechanically shake away the offending dirt.

1770 Illustration from Basedow's Elementary Work

A 1770 inventory of the laundry at Williamsburg’s Governor’s Palace in colonial Virginia on the death of Governor Botetourt includes “2 Linnen Baskets, 3 Washing Tubs, 3 Rensing Tubs, 2 pails, 1 Large Iron pot, 1 Large Boyling Copper. ”

1750-80 Mrs Grosvenor Laundry Woman to the Queen  Unknown British Artist

Soaking laundry in lye, cold or hot, was an important way of tackling white & off-white cloth. It was called bucking, & aimed to whiten as well as cleanse. Colored fabrics were seldom used for basic items like sheets & shirts. Ashes & urine were the most important substances for mixing a good "lye" to remove stains & encourage a white color, these acted as de-greasing agents.

1760-70 Nicolo Cavalli (Italian artist, 1730-1832) La Lavandaja

Bucking involved lengthy soaking & was not a weekly wash. Until the idea of a once-a-week wash developed, people tended to have a big laundry session at intervals of several weeks or even months. Many women had agricultural & food preparation duties that would make it impossible for them to "waste" time on hours of laundry work every week. 

1750-80 Miss White Clear Starcher to the Queen Unknown British artist

Starch & bluing were available for better quality linen & clothing. A visitor to England just before 1700 sounded a little surprised at how much soap was used in London: "At London, & in all other Great Britain where they do not burn Wood, they do not make Lye. All their Linnen, coarse & fine, is wash'd with Soap. When you are in a Place where the Linnen can be rinc'd in any large Water, the Stink of the black Soap is almost all clear'd away." M. Misson's Memoirs & Observations in his Travels over England (published in French, 1698)

1774 Henry Robert (British artist c 1716-1797) Laundry Maid (after Moreland)

In most cases, that source was a brigade of servants or slaves who trudged to a nearby well or stream. But in the basement laundry in the colonial Virginia Wren Building at Williamsburg’s College of William & Mary, water was drawn from a well in the center of the room.

1750s Henry Robert Morland (British painter, 1716-1797)  Woman Ironing

Blacksmiths started forging simple flat irons in the late Middle Ages. Plain metal irons were heated by a fire or on a stove. Some were made of stone, like soapstone irons from Italy. Earthenware & terracotta iroms were also used, from the Middle East to France & the Netherlands.

Flat irons were also called sad irons or smoothing irons. Metal handles had to be gripped in a pad or thick rag. Some irons had cool wooden handles. This stayed cool while the metal bases were heated & the idea was widely imitated.  Cool handles stayed even cooler in "asbestos sad irons." The sad in sad iron (or sadiron) is an old word for solid. Goose or tailor's goose was another iron name, & this came from the goose-neck curve in some handles. In Scotland, people spoke of gusing (goosing) irons.

Many 2 irons for an effective system: one in use, & one re-heating. Large households with servants or slaves might have used a special ironing-stove for this purpose. Some were fitted with slots for several irons, & others might have water-jug on top.

1800 Louis Leopold Boily (French painter, 1761-1845) Young Woman Ironing

Box irons, charcoal irons used the base of the iron as a container for putting glowing coals inside it & keep it hot a bit longer.  Notice the hinged lid & the air holes to allow the charcoal to keep smouldering. These are sometimes called ironing boxes, or charcoal box irons, & may come with their own stand.

For centuries charcoal irons have been used in many different countries. When they had a funnel to keep smokey smells away from the cloth, they were sometimes called chimney irons.  Today charcoal irons are manufactured in Asia & also used in much of Africa. 

1750s Henry Robert Morland (British artist, 1716-1797) A Girl Ironing Shirt Sleeves

Some irons were shallower boxes & had fitted "slugs" or "heaters" - slabs of metal - which were heated in the fire & inserted into the base instead of charcoal. It was easier to keep the ironing surface spotlessly clean, away from the fuel, than with flatirons or charcoal irons. 

Brick inserts could be used for a longer-lasting, less intense heat. These are box or slug irons, were also called ironing boxes. In some countries they are called ox-tongue irons after a particular shape of insert. 

 1785 Henry Robert Morland (British artist, 1716-1797) Laundry Maid Ironing

At home, ironing traditional fabrics was a hot, arduous job. Irons had to be kept immaculately clean, sand-papered, & polished. They must be kept away from burning fuel, & be regularly but lightly greased to avoid rusting. Beeswax prevented irons sticking to starched cloth. Constant care was needed over temperature. Experience would help decide when the iron was hot enough, but not so hot that it would scorch the cloth. A well-known test was spitting on the hot metal, but Charles Dickens described someone with a more genteel technique in The Old Curiosity Shop. The ironer held "the iron at an alarmingly short distance from her cheek, to test its temperature..."

The 1770 inventory of the laundry at Williamsburg’s Governor’s Palace in colonial Virginia on the death of Governor Botetourt includes owned “5 Flat Irons, 2 Box Irons, with one Heater to each, 2 Iron Stands, 1 pr of Tongs” The ironing would have been done on Botetourt’s “2 pine Tables,” which were probably padded with his “2 Ironing Cloaths,” wool blankets perhaps pinned to tabletops. 

The inventory of the Palace laundry says that Botetourt had “4 Mangle Cloaths, 1 Mangle.” This was a sort of ironing machine that was coming into use in the late 18C. Also called a box mangle, it was a box of stones resting on 2 large cylinders. When it was rolled across carefully folded items of washing that had been tucked inside the clean mangle cloths, many items could be smoothed and ironed at once.

Women washing clothes in a river, spreading them to dry in the fields alongside and hanging them from a rack, Splendor Solis, Harley 3469, fol. 32v. 1582. British Library, London.  

Wash or the Great Wash were names for the irregular "spring cleaning" of laundry. Soaking in lye & bucking in large wooden bucking tubs were similar to processes used in textile manufacturing. So was the next stage - drying & bleaching clothes & fabrics out of doors. Sunshine helped bleach off-white cloth while drying it. Sometimes cloth was sprinkled at intervals with water &/or a dash of lye to lengthen the process & enhance bleaching.

Towns, larger estate houses, & weavers often had an area of mown grass set aside as a bleaching ground, or drying green, where household linens & clothing could be spread on grass in the daylight. Early settlers in North America established communal bleaching areas like those in European towns & villages. Both washing & drying were often public or local group activities.

Pieter de Hooch  (1629–after 1684 ) A Woman & Child in a Bleaching Ground 1657-1659 Betail Private collection

People also dried clothes by spreading them on bushes in Europe & the North American colonies. Outdoor wooden drying frames & clotheslines are seen in a few paintings from the 16C, but most people would have spread laundry out to dry on grass, hedgerows etc. Clothes pins appear to have been rare before the 18C. 

Drying the laundry in sunshine was, among other things, an effective way of bleaching linen & keeping it white. Spreading laundry on grass, bushes or washing lines out of doors meant there was a risk of having it stolen. In Britain. thieves of white clothes & household linen were sometimes called "snow gatherers."

Well-to-do 17C households were advised that box or privet (primp) hedges were good for drying. They could be clipped to have a "smooth & level" surface. "...a border of Primpe, Boxe, Lauandar, Rose-mary, or such like, but Primpe or Boxe is the best, & it was set thicke, at least eightéene inches broad at the bottome & being kept with cliping both smooth & leuell on the toppe & on each side, those borders as they were ornaments so were they also very profitable to the huswife for the drying of linnen cloaths, yarne, & such like: for the nature of Boxe & Primpe being to grow like a hedge, strong & thicke, together, the Gardiner, with his sheares, may kéepe it as broad & plaine as himselfe listeth." See: Gervase Markham, The English Husbandman, 1613

George Moreland 1792 Drying clothes on Branches of Trees 

In his 1745 Directions to Servants, Jonathan Swift suggests that “the place for hanging” laundry “is on young Fruit Trees, especially in Blossom; the Linnen cannot be torn, and the Trees give them a fine Smell.”  ... “When your Linnen is pinned on the Line, or on a Hedge, and it rains, whip it off, although you tear it, &c. ”

London lawyer  Roger North liked hedges better thja tree limbs. He set down his thoughts on buildings, gardens, & housekeeping in a long manuscript called “Cursory Notes of Building,” which he wrote after the completion of building his country house at Rougham, Norfolk, England in 1698.  For the best clothes drying, North wxplained, “Hedges of prim are best; thorn tears linen, and box is of slow growth, and not sweet.” By “prim” he meant privet. 

Janet Schaw, an Englishwoman, liked little or nothing about the washing methods in early America. She observed laundry being done in Wilmington, NC in 1776.  She wrote that “all the cloaths coarse and fine, bed and table linen, lawns, cambricks and muslins, chints, checks, all are promiscuously thrown into a copper with a quantity of water and a large piece of soap.  This is set a boiling, while a Negro wench turns them over with a stick.”..."This operation [boiling] over, they are taken out, squeezed, & thrown over the Pales to dry. They use no calendar; they are however much better smoothed when washed.  Mrs Miller showed them [how to wash linen] by bleaching those of Miss Rutherfurd, my brother & mine, how different a little labour made them appear, & indeed the power of the sun was extremely apparent in the immediate recovery of some bed & table-linen, that has been so ruined by sea-water that I thought them irrecoverably lost." 

Schaw also noted that North Carolinians were the “worst washers of linen I ever saw, and tho’ it be the country of indigo, they never use blue, nor allow the sun to look at them.”  See: Janet Schaw, Journal of a Lady of Quality; Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal, in the Years 1774 to 1776, eds, Evangeline Walker Andrews and Charles McLean Andrews,  (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921)

University of Maryland English Professor Michael Olmert, who integrates art, architecture, & archaeology into his literature & drama classes, says that in England & America, the large country & town houses often  had dedicated laundry outbuildings, or at least a separate room with a large hearth, dedicated to cleaning and repairing clothes and all sorts of fabrics. Its basic elements were a hearth, space to manipulate the vast copper tubs of hot water, dressers or tables for ironing, ropes or racks overhead for drying, & a source of water. 

Professor Olmert tells us that in Calvert County, Maryland, a 1711 house is listed as having an outside laundry, according to a probate inventory from 1715. 

As with the kitchen in America, the laundry moved out of the main house as the 18C wore on. Originally, most people had washed their clothes in the room where they cooked & lived. But in elite households, both operations moved outside to a separate one-room structure, in which laundering & cooking were once again done at the same hearth.

At the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia, although entirely demolished, the archaeology of the site discovered a laundry building was made of brick & had a basement with a paved floor. The site also had a catchment for wash water, & the floor had brick drains connected to a drainage system that ran from the Palace down to the garden canal.

In Williamsburg, all that remained of the original Tayloe House laundry was a decayed brick foundation that indicated a large chimney & a brick entrance platform where a door would have been. Although there was no record of what the 16-by-12 foot building looked like above ground, it is clear it was framed, to judge by the narrow 8-3/4 inch width of the old foundation; heavier, brick structures have more substantial roots. The reconstruction was given the simplest of roofs, a typical gable-end A-frame with forty-five-degree slope. Colonial precedent was used for the details of weatherboarding, cornice, windows, & shutters. Mainly, the design was meant to match other Tayloe buildings. The paneled door was copied from a number of existing Tayloe doors: six-paneled, but with the paneling on one side. It is a workaday structure.

A laundry near a kitchen appears in 1770s Williamsburg in colonial Virginia, The ledger of Williamsburg builder Humphrey Harwood shows that October 9, 1777, he was paid 19 shillings for whitewashing the kitchen & laundry of printer Alexander Purdie. On May 14, 1783, Harwood got 12 shillings for repairing the plaster in the kitchen & laundry of Susanna Riddell. Before she died in December 1785, Riddell lived on Francis Street. Her home is gone, but the archaeological report on her kitchen site indicates it had 2 rooms & was likely a kitchen-laundry. Riddell also rented the Everard House in Williamsburg & its brick laundry, a separate building with a massive chimney & attic. On July 13, 1784, Humphrey Harwood got another 7s 6p for whitewashing the Riddell laundry.

The Nicholas-Tyler Laundry & its matching office fronted Francis Street, according to the Frenchman’s Map, the 18C military map detailing Williamsburg’s structures. An 1820 insurance plat shows the building & lists it as “wood, one story, 16 x 36’, valued at $400.” The laundry was pulled down in the mid-19C century & was reconstructed on its original footprint in 1931 & 1940.

Professor Olmert notes that in Williamsburg, Virginia, Wetherburn’s Tavern (& laundry) was a combination kitchen-laundry, servicing an ordinary that catered to overnight guests as well as townies out for a meal, a drink, a chat, & a card game. Wetherburn’s estate inventory says he owned 20 pairs of sheets, 19 pillowcases, 18 tablecloths, 27 napkins, & 17 towels. He also had 12 very busy slaves.

In Annapolis, Maryland, the 1739 Ogle Hall had a “brick kitchen & laundry 16 by 32” feet, according to the United States Direct Tax of 1798. 

In Lunenberg County, Virginia, Cumberland Parish built a 28-by-16-foot kitchen-laundry that must have been a two-room structure, because the vestry book stipulates the kitchen floor is to be tiled, while the laundry floor is “to be layd with Plank." The entry requires the laundry walls to be “lath’d & plastered.” 

An elegant two-room laundry still exists at 1739’s Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia, made of brick & plastered throughout.

Olmert's observations are verified beginning in the 1750s up to the Revolution, when colonial American houses with combination kitchens & laundries appeared for sale ads in regional newspapers.

The PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE. September 22, 1757

To be Sold...an exceeding good large Brick Dwelling house, in the Town of Newcastle, almost opposite to the Court house, a fine Garden and Lot thereto adjoining, with an excellent Laundry , Kitchen, Stable, Chaise house, and other Houses thereto belonging, a large commodious Cellar under the whole House...John Land 

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE. August 15, 1766

A BEAUTIFUL tract of LAND, situated on Rappahannock river, about half a mile below Port Royal , containing 700 acres, on which is a very good brick house one story high, 4 rooms and 3 closets on the lower floor, and 2 above, a good cellar under it, a portico 52 feet long and 8 wide facing the river, a 12 foot porch on the front side, a good kitchen and laundry with a brick chimney, a garden 200 feet square paled in with sewed pales, poplar rails, and cedar posts

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE.  April 21, 1768

I PURPOSE to reside in the county of Culpeper , as soon as I can sell my habitation and estate in and near Fredericksburg for near its value. I therefore now offer it for sale; and, although the great worth of it is well known, yet it may not be amiss to describe it, that it may be more generally known. The dwelling-house is very pleasantly situated on the main street, in a retired part of the town, and near the river, where a ship may lie close to the shore. There are three very good rooms, a large airy passage, and two large closets, below stairs, and three commodious dry cellars, with stone walls; and up stairs are four good chambers, with three fire-places, and a large closet. The out-houses are, a new built kitchen and laundry under one roof, with two good white limed rooms and fire-placed above stairs, two other common kitchens for servants to lodge in, two diaries, one of them built with freestone, with several steps under ground; there are many other conveniences, such as a smokehouse, hen houses, a well of water, and several yards wood, fowls, &c. a large coach house, with stables at each end, and two other stables and a large stable yard, and cooper's and shoemaker's shop. These improvements are fixed on three lots and a half of ground, consisting of half an acre each; the garden contains an acre of ground, is well paled in with locust posts, and the north west end has a high freestone wall, and is well stocked with fruits and every thing necessary for a family...Roger Dixon

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE. LANCASTER, April 15, 1770.

I OFFER...my plantation, handsomely situated on Corotoman river, containing about 400 acres, on which is a large and very commodious dwelling-house, above 50 feet long and 30 wide, with six good rooms and a fireplace to each, five closets, two large passages, and cellars under the whole, in three rooms. There is another house divided into a kitchen and laundry, with lodging rooms above, also a neat dairy and meat house, all new, and handsomely finished, and several outhouses. There are two very good springs, and fish and oysters very convenient, besides good landings, and water for vessels of any burthen...James Waddel

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE, March 10, 1774

I will dispose of the Tract of LAND whereon I live, containing about 820 Acres, six Miles from Petersburg , mostly very level, good Wheat and Corn Land, as may appear from the present crop of fifty Acres sown in Wheat; it is well timbered with Pine, White and Red Oak, has on it a new Dwelling-House 32 Feet by 18, neatly finished, good Cellars, a new Kitchen and Laundry 36 Feet by 18...Duncan Rose

Publication: THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE. December 8, 1774

THE purchase I lately made of Warner Washington , Esq; consisting of an exceeding good Brick House with five Windows in Front, a very good Kitchen and Laundry , Coach House and Stables (the Latter entirely new) Negro Quarters, &c. together with 2000 Acres of Land, more or less, whereof about 500 Acres adjoin to the House...Jonathn Watson

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3.  January 17, 1777

I HAVE for sale a valuable plantation, on Nottoway river, adjacent to Freeman's bridge, about 500 acres, whereon is a dwelling-house, with two rooms below and two above, with a passage on each floor underpinned and brick chimnies, and a cellar under the whole, a kitchen and laundry , of the whole building underpinned, and a stack of chimnies in the middle...Augustine Claiborne

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3. April 18, 1777

For SALE , EIGHT valuable lots in the town of Fredericksburg , on which are the following improvements, viz. A large and commodious brick dwelling-house, two stories high, with five rooms on a floor, and a good cellar, a kitchen, laundry , wash house, meat house, dairy, joiner's shop, stable, coach house, and granary; also a brick storehouse and warehouse convenient, well situated for trade, being on them in street. Four of those lots are well improved with a good falling garden, &c. , the others are under a good enclosure...Edward Carter

THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE. August 8, 1777

Port Royal. TO BE SOLD...a valuable House on the Market Square in this City, with 4 handsome Rooms below neatly papered, and a Fire Place in each, with 3 Closets, and 6 Rooms above, with dry Cellars under the Whole, a good Kitchen and Laundry , with Closets, a Brick Dairy, Corn House, Smokehouse, Stable, and Coach Houses, with a Flower and Kitchen Garden, well paled in; also a small House adjoining, with 2 Rooms and Fire Places, a good Cellar, and Yard...John Baker

Even the early decades of the 19C saw the kitchen & the laundry combined in an outbuilding in Washington, DC, where the Octagon House had a separate wood-frame laundry built in 1817. Writing in 1870, a family member said the structure was “a two story house for the laundry & servant rooms.”

See:

“Fuller’s earth”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.,

“History of Laundry.” Old & Interesting. N.p., 13 June 2010. 

Leed, Drea. “Ye Shall Have It Clene” : Textile Cleaning Techniques in Renaissance Europe. In Robin Netherton and Gale R. Owen-Crocker (Eds), Medieval Clothing and Textiles 2. Woodbridge, UK Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2006.

Markham, Gervase. The English Houswife : Containing the Inward and Outward Vertues Which Ought to Be in a Compleat Woman: As Her Skill in Physick, Surgery, Cookery, Extraction of Oyls, Banquetting Stuff, Ordering of Great Feasts, Preserving of All Sorts of Wines, Conceited Secrets, Distillations, Perfumes, Ordering of Wool, Hemp, Flax: Making Cloth and Dying; the Knowldege of Dayries: Office of Malting; of Oats, Their Excellent Uses in a Family: Af Brewing, Baking and All Other Things Belonging to an Houshold. a Work Generally Approved, and Now the Eighth Time Much Augmented, Purged, and Made Most Profitable and Necessary for All Men, and the General Good of This Nation. London: Printed By I.B. for R. Jackson, 1615. 

Olmert, Michael. Laundries : Largest Buildings in the Eighteenth-century Backyard

Sim, Alison. The Tudor Housewife. The History Press: Stroud, 1996. 

Wheeler, Jo. Renaissance Secrets, Recipes & Formulas. London New York: Victoria and Albert Museum. Harry N. Abrams, 2009.