Squirrels in paintings of 18C American Women & Children

1757 Joseph Badger (American artist, 1708-1765). Rebecca Orne (later Mrs. Joseph Cabot)

In the British American colonies, people raided squirrel nests for their young, & the young squirrels were sold in the city markets. I am curious about animals appearing in paintings with 18C Americans. Are they real? Or are they just emblems symbolizing some quality trait of their owners?

Reliable art historians Roland E. Fleischer, Ellen Miles, Deborah Chotner, & Julie Aronson suggest that these squirrels are not real. They suggest that the squirrels are either copied from emblem books such as Emblems for the Improvement and Entertainment of Youth published in London in 1755, or from English prints. The latter theory is supported by the fact that some of the squirrels depicted in the paintings are composites of squirrels found in both America & England.  The 1755 emblem book describes the meaning of the emblem, "A Squirrel taking the Meat out of a Chestnut. Not without Trouble. An Emblem that Nothing that's worth having can be obtained without Trouble and Difficulty." 

Actually squirrels in imagery seem to have had various symbolic meanings throughout the ages. Sometimes they were seen as symbols of grasping covetousness; because of their hoarding food for winter, they were seen as greedy.  At other times they were seen as an affectionate friend. Later squirrels were symbolic of obedience & personal restraint.

All right, we all know that patience & diligence are virtues, but is there more than meets the eye here, or perhaps less?
1765 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Frances Deering Wentworth (Mrs. Theodore Atkinson, Jr.)

British clergyman, Edward Topsell (c 1572-1625) , described squirrels in his Beastiary as “sweet sportful beasts and…very pleasant playfellows in a house,” despite their predilection for chewing up their owner’s woolen garments. Since they could easily chew their way through wood, special tin cages were developed, possessing metal bars sturdy enough to house them.

While visiting the British American colonies in 1748, Peter Kalm noted, “The gray and flying squirrels are so tamed by the boys that they sit on their shoulders and follow them everywhere.”   Colonial tinsmiths began making amusing cages for these pet squirrels in the forms of mills with waterwheels.
1760s William Williams (American artist, 1727-1791). Deborah Hall. Detail

From The Virginia Gazette, December 15, 1768
A young Lady's COMPLAINTon the DEATH of her SQUIRREL .

A thing so pretty as my PHIL,
A thing so sprightly and so queer,
The pet I lov'd so very dear,
To rob me of the pretty elf,

For him I've lost each night's repose,
Nothing enjoying but my woes.
Oh could my squirrel but survive,

But he is gone ! ne'er to return!
And useless 'tie to sigh and mourn.
I'll therefore seek another pet ,

Amongst the fops or empty beaus,
Because he'd surely make me fret,
And prove a very worthless pet.

In The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 10, 1771, Melcher Wisinger announced that he had wire work for sale including cages for birds and squirrels.

An advertisement in The Pennsylvania Gazette of October 10, 1792, gave notice that William Zane had for sale squirrel chains.

On Dec. 31, 1798, Philadelphia resident Elizabeth Drinker noted in her diary that her son William had “bought a flying squirrel in market, brought it home to please the children,” and added ruefully, “I should have been better pleased had it remained in the woods.” 

Later, in 1799, Drinker noted in another entry that. “An account in one of the late papers of a natural curiosity, I think ’tis called, to be seen in Walnut Street; a fine little bird, a beautiful flying squirrel, a rattlesnake, and other animals, are living in the most amicable terms in a neat, strong box or cage. William went yesterday to see them; the bird was hopping about, ye squirrel laying asleep in a corner; 2 or 3 frogs in the box; the snake appeared torpid, but would stir when disturbed by a stick. The torpid situation of ye snake accounts to me for their friendly living together.”
1770 Attributed to Cosmo Alexander (American artist, 1724-1772).

In the 19th century New American Cyclopaedia the squirrel is examined in detail. "The cat squirrel, the fox squirrel of the middle states, is...found chiefly in the middle states, rarely in southern New England; it is rather a slow climber, and of inactive habits; it becomes very fat in autumn, when its flesh is excellent, bringing in the New York market 3 times the price of that of the common gray squirrel...They are easily domesticated, and gentle in confinement, and are often kept as pets in wheel cages... The red or Hudson's bay squirrel...is less gentle and less easily tamed than the gray squirrel."

1760 Joseph Badger (American artist, 1708-1765). Portrait of Two Children. One hold a coral teething rattle and the boy on the left holds a pet squirrel.

Peter Kalm, the Swedish-Finnish explorer & naturalist who traveled through North America from 1748 - 1751, published an account of his travels in a journal En Resa til Norra America, which was translated into German, Dutch, French, & English.  He described more than squirrel pets in British colonial America.  Although there are no paintings including pet beavers or raccoons, Kalm noted, “Beavers have been tamed to such an extent that they have brought home what they caught by fishing to their masters. This is often the case with otters, of which I have seen some that were as tame as dogs, and followed their master wherever he went; if he went out in a boat the otter went with him, jumped into the water and after a while came up with a fish."

“The raccoon can in time be made so tame as to run about the streets like a domestic animal; but it is impossible to make it leave off its habit of stealing. In the dark it creeps to the poultry, and kills a whole flock in one night. Sugar and other sweet things must be carefully hidden; for if the chests and boxes are not always locked, it gets into them and eats the sugar with its paw. The ladies, therefore, have some complaint against it every day."

1760 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Boy (Henry Pelham) with a Squirrel on a fine chain.

1760 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Boy (Henry Pelham) with a Squirrel. Detail

1771 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Daniel Crommelin Verplanck with Squirrel

1790 Denison Limner Probably Joseph Steward (American artist, 1753-1822). Miss Denison of Stonington, Connecticut possibly Matilda.

1798 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801). Elizabeth Eliot (Mrs. Gershom Burr)

Portrait of 18C American Woman

1753 John Durand fl 1765-1782 Eliz Boush CWF

18C American Women & Girls with Dogs & Cats

Dogs & cats appear in portraits of 18C American women, but I am not sure if these pets are emblems or symbols or copies of English prints, or are they actual pets?

Before the 1760s, most dogs appear in colonial American paintings with children. Smaller pet dogs often were referred to as comfort dogs. Most other dogs depicted in 18C English & Anglo American paintings were sporting dogs.  William Shakespeare had noted fox-hunting hounds in A Midsummer Night's Dream, when Theseus, duke of Athens, tells Hippolyta of "the music of my hounds, matched in mouth like bells / Each under each. A cry more tunable / Was never holloed to nor cheered with horn." 

1710 Justus Engelhardt Kuhn (fl 1707-1717). Eleanor Darnall 1704 - 1796 with Dog

During the 17C in colonial British America, life for a dog could prove tenative, especially during the Salem witch trials. From June to September in 1692, 156 people were accused; 14 women, 5 men, & 2 dogs were hanged--children accused the dogs of giving them the "evil eye."

However, Pennsylvania's founder William Penn (1644-1718) took a more sympathetic approach to dogs.  He wrote in his Reflexions and Maxims that "men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children."

1710s Justus Engelhardt Kuhn (fl 1707-1717) Young Girl with Dog

An increase in dogs as pets occurred just as scientific classification of species of plants & animals was growing. The 1st official classification of English breeds was published in 1570, by British physician John Caius (1510-1573) in De Canibus Britannicis, or Of English Dogges.  Among other types, he identified bloodhounds & terriers, otter hounds & Maltese. During the 18C, an era of taxonomies & catalogues, Georges Buffon (1707-1788) & Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) expanded on the definition of Caius, with Linnaeus listing such animals as the Shepherd's Dog, the Pomeranian, the Iceland Dog, the Lesser Water Dog, the Mastiff, & the Barbet.

1715 Attributed to Charles Bridges (1670-1747). Child of Rev. Richard Chase (1692-1742) of London and Maryland, and his wife Margaret Frances Townley (d. 1741) with Dog

As the scientific interest in dog species grew, the expanding love of humans for canines was endorsed by philosophers, playwrights, and poets. Voltaire wrote, "the best thing about man is the dog." Alexander Pope declared that "histories are more full of examples of fidelity of dogs than of friends."

In Pope's Essay on Man, he writes condescendingly of Native Americans & their faithful dogs.
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the Solar Walk, or Milky Way;
Yet simple Nature to his hope has giv'n,
Behind the cloud-topp'd hill, an humbler heav'n;
Some safer world in depth of woods embrac'd,
Some happier island in the wat'ry-waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christian thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,--
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.
1728 New York Depeyster Limmer. Depeyster Twins: Eva & Catherina with Dog

Writing tributes to beloved pets increased into the 18C.  In 1693, English poet & diplomat Matthew Prior (1664-1721) wrote a short elegy at the death of True, a pet of Queen Mary II:
Envious Fate has claim'd its due, 
Here lies the mortal part of True.

English poet John Gay (1685-1732) published "An Elegy on a Lap-Dog" in 1720:
 He's dead. Oh lay him gently in the ground! 
 And may his tomb be by this verse renown'd. 
 Here Shock, the pride of all his kind, is laid; 
 Who fawned like man, but ne'er like man betray'd.
1730s Child of the Pierpont Family with Dog

In Scotland, Robert Burns (1759-1796) wrote that "the dog puts the Christian to shame."

In the British American colonies in 1738, Benjamin Franklin wrote, "There are three faithful friends—an old wife, an old dog, and ready money."
c. 1735 Charles Bridges (1670-1747). Anne Byrd with Dog

The rise in fox hunting in both England and its American colonies spawned a need for a medium-sized hound with the stamina to follow prey for miles, a keen nose for scent, & a bark that could summon his master from a distance. While women did not participate in the hunt itself, they were part of the audience & the elegant suppers that followed the hunt.

One of the first packs of hunting dogs was brought to America in 1650 by Robert Brooke of Maryland. They were black & tan & chased the slower gray fox. Often recorded as English hounds, these dogs now are thought to have been the Irish Kerry Beagle.

Historian James Horn tells us that in 1799, a wry New England minister gave a glimpse of the sport:

From about the first of Octor. this amusement begins, and continues till March or April. A party of 10, and to 20, or 30, with double the number of hounds, begins early in the morning, they are all well mounted. They pass thro' groves, Leap fences, cross fields, and steadily pursue, in full chase wherever the hounds lead. At length the fox either buroughs out of their way, or they take him. If they happen to be near, when the hounds seize him, they take him alive, and put him into a bag and keep him for a chase the next day. They then retire in triumph, having obtained a conquest to a place where an Elegant supper is prepared. After feasting themselves, and feeding their prisoner, they retire to their own houses. The next morning they all meet at a place appointed, to give their prisoner another chance for his life. They confine their hounds, and let him out of the bag—away goes Reynard at liberty—after he has escaped half a mile—hounds and all are again in full pursuit, nor will they slack their course thro' the day, unless he is taken. This exercise they pursue day after day, for months together. This diversion is attended by old men, as well as young—but chiefly by married people. I have seen old men, whose heads were white with age, as eager in the chase as a boy of 16. It is perfectly bewitching. The hounds indeed make delightful musick—when they happen to pass near fields, where horses are in pasture, upon hearing the hounds, they immediately begin to caper, Leap the fence and pursue the Chase—frequent instances have occurred, where in leaping the fence, or passing over gullies, or in the woods, the rider has been thrown from his horse, and his brains dashed out, or otherwise killed suddenly. This however never stops the chase—one or two are left to take care of the dead body, and the others pursue. 

1720s-30s Gerardus Duyckinck (1695-1746). Around 1735, the New York artist Gerardus Duyckinck painted the portrait of young Jacomina Winkler, who was probably 10 or 12.  She is holding a very unhappy, probably fanciful, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in her lap.  Poses & dogs were often copied from English mezzotint engravings.

Avid fox hunter George Washington, who named his dogs Sweet Lips, Venus, & True Love, during the Revolutionary War, even returned a dear pet, a stray terrier, to the enemy - its owner, British General Howe, along with a note that read: "General Washington does himself the pleasure to return ...a dog, which accidentally fell into his hands."

Thomas Jefferson did not particularly share his fellow Virginian's attachment to dogs.  In 1789, returning from his assignment as ambassador to France, he imported "shepherd's dogs" for Monticello & later presented Washington with puppies.
1755 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). The Gore Children with Dog

In Williamsburg and its environs, the Virginia Gazette often carried advertisements for lost dogs. In 1751, Alexander Finnie, who ran the Raleigh Tavern, offered to pay "Half a Pistole" to anyone who returned his "spaniel BITCH, with white and brown spots." In 1752 Williamsburg, a pet dog Ball, a reddish spaniel was lost, and his owner James Spiers was willing to part with a dollar to get him back. In 1774, Glasgow, a brown-and-white bulldog with an iron collar, had gone missing and his owner offered 20 shillings for his return. In the same paper in 1777, a pet black Pomeranian called Spado was stolen and a $20 reward was offered.

In the only written connection between dogs and women that I have found yet---in 1775, Williamsburg's Virginia Gazette printed,
"On the Death of a Lady's Dog"
Thou, happy creature, art secure
From all the troubles we endure..

1758  John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Mary and Elizabeth Royall with Dog

1767 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Girl with Bird and Dog

1771 John Singleton Copley (American artist, 1738-1815). Mary Elizabeth Martin with Dog

1785 John Singleton Copley (American, artist, 1738-1815) Daughters of King George III (Sophia, Mary and Amelia) Painted while Copley was in England.
1730 John Smibert (1688-1751). Mrs Nathaniel Cunningham with Dog
C 1750 John Wollaston (1710-1775) Magdalen Charlton (Mrs. Thomas Dongan) with Dog
c 1760 Benjamin West (1738-1820). Anne Allen (later Mrs. John Penn) with Dog.  John Penn (1729-1795) was the last governor of colonial Pennsylvania, serving from 1763-1771 & 1773-1776, & he was a grandson of William Penn. Portrait of the daughter of West's benefactor Chief Justice William Allen may have been painted as West was traveling from Pennsylvania to Italy and then to England.
1760 English artist James McArdell (1728-1965) after Joshua Reynolds Joshua Reynolds (English Rococo Era Painter, 1723-1792) The model for Copley's painting below.
1763 John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) Mrs Jerathmael Bowers with Dog

c 1770-90s Unknown artist, Child with a Dog

1772 William Williams (Colonial American painter, 1727-1791). The William Denning Family with Dog
1773 Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828). Christian Stelle Banister & Son John with Dog

Begun in 1773 Charles Willson Peale (American painter, 1741-1827) The Peale Family with Dog

Ralph Earl (American born painter, 1751-1801) Portrait of a Child. Painted while Earl was in England
1787 Henry Benbridge (1743-1812). Hartley Family with Dog
1785-90 Beardsley Limner Possibly Sarah Bushnell Perkins (1771 - 1831). Elizabeth Davis (Mrs Hezekiah Beardsley) with Dog

1790 Ralph Earl (American artist, 1751-1801). Abigail Starr (Mrs. William Taylor) and Son Daniel with Cat

1787 Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826 Sarah Greenleaf (Mrs Oflin Boardman) & Benjamin Greenleaf Boardman with Dog

1787 Unknown artist, Child with Dog
1789 - 1791 Payne Limner. Martha Payne with Cat

1790 Payne Limner Alexander Spotswood Payne & John Robert with Dog

1797 Christian Gullager Christian Gullager (American artist, 1759-1826) Baby with Dog

1798 John Ritto Penniman 1782–1841  Family Group with Dog

By the dawn of the 19th century, there could be no doubt that dogs were an integral part of the American family.

 John Trumbull (American painter, 1756-1843) Sarah Trumbull with a Spaniel 1802

Portrait of 18C American Woman

1753 Jeremiah Theus 1716-1774 Elizabeth Prioleau Roupell High Mus

Pregnant Slave in 1712 New York City Slave Revolt

In the early 1700s, New York had one of the largest slave populations of any of England’s colonies. Nearly one out of every five New York residents was enslaved.  Slavery in New York differed from some of the Southern colonies because there were no large plantations in the crowded city. Many of the enslaved Africans were skilled workers, carpenters, stone masons, fishermen, & boat builders.  Enslaved women mostly worked indoors as domestic labor, whereas men spent most of their day outdoors bringing goods to & fro from the docks, & doing other skilled & unskilled jobs throughout the city.

In 1712, Manhattan's population was about 6,000 living in an area twenty blocks long by 10 blocks wide; over 15% of those inhabitants were enslaved Africans. Within this small area, slaves lived with their masters & worked along side white servants & other slaves.  These slaves lived & worked next to free & indentured whites, & some intermarried when they got their freedom.

The stage was set for an uprising. First, the city had a large population of black slaves -- the result of many years of trade with the West Indies. Secondly, communication & meeting among enslaved persons was relatively easy, since the New York City's inhabitants lived in a small area on the southern tip of Manhattan. Thirdly, living in such a densely populated area also meant that slaves worked in close proximity to free men.

No one knows for certain what caused the revolt that happened the night of April 6, 1712, but this much is known: More than 20 armed Africans, perhaps both men & women, set fire to a building. Perhaps after meeting in a tavern, blacks gathered in an orchard on Maiden Lane on the night of April 6, 1712. It was midnight. Armed with guns, hatchets, & swords, the men set fire to a building in the middle of town. The fire spread. While white colonists gathered to extinguish the blaze, the slaves attacked, then ran off. At least nine whites had been shot, stabbed, or beaten to death; another eight were wounded.

Militia units from Westchester & the fort in lower New York put down the insurrection. Seventy slaves & free blacks were jailed.  Forty-three slaves were tried in the Court of Quarter Sessions. Eighteen were acquitted & 25 convicted, resulting in 20 being hanged & three burned at the stake.

The details of this revolt are provided by Robert Hunter, who was the governor of New York & New Jersey from 1710 to 1719. In a letter to the Lords of Trade in London written three months after the insurrection, Gov. Hunter describes the slave revolt.

A Letter from Governor Robert Hunter (1664-1734), June 23, 1712: I must now give your Lordships an account of a bloody conspiracy of some of the slaves of this place, to destroy as many of the inhabitants as they could....when they had resolved to revenge themselves, for some hard usage they apprehended to have received from their masters (for I can find no other cause) they agreed to meet in the orchard of Mr. Crook in the middle of the town, some provided with fire arms, some with swords & others with knives & hatchets. This was the sixth day of April, the time of the meeting was about twelve or one clock in the night, when about three & twenty of them were got together. One...slave to one Vantilburgh set fire to [a shed] of his masters, & then repairing to his place where the rest were, they all sallyed out together with their arms & marched to the fire. By this time, the noise of the fire spreading through the town, the people began to flock to it. Upon the approach of several, the slaves fired & killed them. The noise of the guns gave the alarm, & some escaping, their shot soon published the cause of the fire, which was the reason that nine Christians were killed, & about five or six wounded. Upon the first notice, which was very against them, but the slaves made their retreat into the woods, by the favour of the night. Having ordered the day following, the militia of this town & the country of West Chester to drive [to] the Island, & by this means & strict searches in the town, we found all that put the design in execution, six of these having first laid violent hands upon themselves [committed suicide], the rest were forthwith brought to their tryal before ye Justices of this place...In that court were twenty seven condemned, whereof twenty one were executed, one being a woman with a child, her execution by than means suspended. Some were burnt, others hanged, one broke on the wheel, & one hung alive in chains in the town, so that there has been the most exemplary punishment inflicted that could be possibily thought of.
(E. B. Callaghan, ed. (1885) Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Vol. V, p.341-345)

Governor Robert Hunter (1664-1734)

Within months of the revolt, the General Assembly passed a law allowing slave masters to punish slaves at their discretion & effectively made impossible the freeing of slaves.  White New Yorkers had been apprehensive before the revolt of April 6; now they were spurred into action. No longer could more than three black slaves meet. A master could punish his slaves as he saw fit (even for no reason at all), as long as the slave did not lose his or her life or limb. Any slave handling a firearm would receive twenty lashes. Anyone caught gambling would be whipped in public. Involvement in a conspiracy to kill would result in execution, as would a rape. There was even a law that discouraged masters from freeing a slave: The master could free a slave, but only after posting a bond of 200 [pounds]. This money would be paid to the freed slave if that slave couldn't support himself or herself.

Berlin, Ira & Harris, Leslie (2005), Slavery in New York, New York: New Press, ISBN 1-56584-997-3.
Horton, James & Horton, Lois (2005), Slavery and the Making of America, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517903-X.
Katz, William Loren (1997), Black Legacy, A History of New York's African Americans, New York: Atheneum, ISBN 0-689-31913-4.

Portrait of 18C American Woman

1752-54 Jeremiah Theus 1716-1774 Mrs John Dart Met

Portrait of 18C American Woman

1749-52 John Wollaston 1733-1767 Portrait of a Woman Art Insti of Chicago

Portrait of 18C American Woman

Mrs. Elizabeth Boehler. Johann Valentin Haidt (1700-1780) Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Moravian women, whose chief duty was to their community & God, not to their family, husband, or self, worked jobs benefiting the larger community. They were freed from traditional familial duties.

The Moravians 1st came to British America during the colonial period. In 1735 they were part of General Oglethorpe’s philanthropic venture in Georgia. Their attempt to establish a community in Savannah did not succeed, but they did have a profound impact on the young John Wesley who had gone to Georgia during a personal spiritual crisis. Wesley was impressed that the Moravians remained calm during a storm that was panicking experienced sailors. He was amazed at people who did not fear death, & back in London he worshiped with Moravians writing that his “heart was strangely warmed.”

After the failure of the Georgia mission, the Moravians established a permanent presence in Pennsylvania in 1741, settling on the estate of evangalist George Whitefield. Moravian settlers purchased 500 acres to establish the settlement of Bethlehem in 1741. Soon they bought the 5,000 acres of the Barony of Nazareth from Whitefield’s manager, & the 2 communities of Bethlehem & Nazareth became closely linked in their agricultural & industrial economy.  Other settlement congregations were established in Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Maryland. They built the Pennsylvania communities of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Lititz, & Hope. They also established congregations in Philadelphia & on Staten Island in New York. All were considered frontier centers for the spread of the gospel, particularly in mission to the Native Americans. Bethlehem was the center of Moravian activity in colonial America.

Bishop Augustus Spangenberg led a party to survey a 100,000 acre tract of land in North Carolina, which came to be known as Wachau after an Austrian estate of Count Zinzendorf. The name, later anglicized to Wachovia, became the center of growth for the church in that region. Bethabara, Bethania & Salem (now Winston-Salem) were the 1st Moravian settlements in North Carolina. In 1857 the 2 American provinces, North & South, became largely independent & set about expansion. Bethlehem in Pennsylvania & Winston-Salem in North Carolina became the headquarters of the two provinces (North & South).

The facet of Moravian life that bound the community together like no other was their dedication to missionary work; the Moravians were the most active Protestant missionaries of the 18C, sending community members to the West Indies, South America, & as far as South Africa. By 1760, the Moravians had sent out 226 missionaries & baptized more than 3,000 converts, including American Natives. In North America the key undertaking for Moravian missionaries was to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. The Moravians viewed the natives as heathens in need of spiritual enlightenment & guidance.

One feature of Moravian community life was the Choir System. People
were separated into “choirs,” or groups, based on their age, gender, & marital status. It was believed that individuals of like age & gender were best prepared & able to encourage each other’s religious growth. Members of the same choir ate, worked, worshiped, slept in dormitories, & attended school together. This communal living arrangement was intended to strengthen the unity of the society as members had to rely on choir-mates for support rather than their siblings or parents. The names of the choirs reflected the sex, age & marital status of those in the choir, such as the “Older Boys’ Choir,” ages 12-19 or the “Single Sister’s Choir,” age 19 until marriage.

All work performed by the Moravians during the pre-Revolutionary War years operated under a system known as the “General Economy,” in which all goods or money produced was considered the property of the community, not the individual. Under this system there was no private wealth or housing, nor any privately owned businesses. Every member’s contribution was collectively pooled & in exchange, necessities such as food, shelter & clothing were provided.

Marie Minier, a Single Sister in the Bethlehem community, praised the General
Economy in 1750 stating that, “For 12 years now I have enjoyed the care [of the General Economy] & eaten from one bread & been clothed, all of which to this hour has been great and of importance to me. I . . . accept things the way the Brethren do things, for it is a wonder to me daily that He has maintained so large a community, & we cannot say that we have ever gone without.” For single women like Marie Minier, the General Economy system afforded them relative security & independence; single women who chose not to marry did not need to rely on a father or brother for financial support, nor worry about becoming a financial burden. In other parts of 18C British America women who did not marry usually would have been socially & economically excluded, dependent on their fathers or male family members.

Yet by the 1760s, the system of communal property began to wear on the younger generations of ambitious Moravians who saw that in other communities hard work was rewarded with personal financial gain. In 1762, the General Economy was abolished in favor of self-owned & operated small businesses & private family homes.

To learn about the lives of 18C Moravian women see:

Faull, Katharine. Moravian Women's Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Smaby, Beverly Prior. "Female Piety Among 18th-Century Moravians." Pennsylvania History 64 (1997): 151-167.

Wachovia Historical Society, Winston-Salem, North Carolina & Old Salem, Inc., Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1750 Johann Valentine Haidt (1700-1780). Women portrayed as separate but sharing power at the Moravian Synod at Herrnhut.& "Forming the Single Sisters' Choir in Bethlehem." The Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society 28 (1994): 1-14

Sommer, Elisabeth W. Serving Two Masters: Moravian Brethren in Germany & North Carolina, 1727-1801. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2000.

Vogt, Peter. "A Voice for Themselves: Women as Participants in Congregational Discourse in the 18th-Century Moravian Movement." In Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity, edited by Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker, 227-247. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

George Washington Seeks Greenhouse Advice From Magaret Carroll in Maryland

1790s Christian Gullager (1759-1826). George Washington (1732-1799).

One of the most intriguing greenhouse stories involves Virginian George Washington & Margaret Tilghman Carroll  of Maryland.

In her 1770 description of the gardens Charles Carroll the Barrister's home called Mount Clare in Baltimore, Maryland, visiting Virginia widow Mary Ambler mentioned, "there is a Green House with a good many Orange & Lemon Trees just ready to bear." Widow & mother Mary Ambler had traveled to Baltimore from Belvoir in Fauquier County, Virginia, with her 2 children to be innoculated against smallpox.

At Mount Clare, as in many 18th century households, the wife supervised the greenhouse activities, while the husband oversaw the design of the gardens and grounds. Margaret Tilghman Carroll (1743-1817) was renowned for her orange & lemon trees. After her husband Charles Carroll (1723-1783) died in 1783, she devoted much of her time to growing plants in her greenhouse.
1765 John Hesselius (1728-1778). Margaret Tilghman Carroll Mrs Charles Carroll the Barrister.

In addition to her greenhouse, Margaret Carroll also had a 39' by 24' brick structure at Mount Clare, which she called a Stove House, with an intricate hot air heating system for growing plants, such as pineapples, indoors yearound.

Her reputation & skill as a horticulturalist had impressed George Washington (1732-1799) who wrote a letter to her cousin Col. Tench Tilghman in August of 1784,  "I shall essay the finishing of my greenhouse this fall, but find that neither myself, nor any person about me is so well skilled in the internal constructions as to proceed without a probability at least of running into errors. Shall I for this reason, ask the favor of you to give me a short description of the Green-house at Mrs. Carrolls? I am persuaded, now that I planned mine on too contracted a scale. My house is (of Brick) 40 feet by 24, in the outer dimensions."

It is believed that Washington built his greenhouse copying Margaret Carrolls' building, which no longer exists. And in April the following spring Washington noted in his diary, "Planted and sowed in boxes placed in front of the Green House."

Greenhouse at Mount Vernon

In 1788, Lt. John Enys (1757-1818) stopped at Mount Vernon noting that, "The front by which we entered had a Gras plot before it with a road round it for Carriages planted on each side with a number of different kinds of Trees among the rest some Weeping Willows which seem to flourish very well. One the one side of this stands the Garden, green house &c." Enys had come to America during the Revolution and recorded his notes after he returned to England and retired from the British army.

Greenhouse at Mount Vernon

Early in 1789, Congregational clergyman & geographer Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) was also impressed with Washinton's garden & described Mount Vernon in his American Geography, "the green-house, school-house, offices and servants halls, when seen from the land side, bears a resemblance to a rural village --especially as the lands in that side are laid out somewhat in the form of English gardens, in meadows and grass grounds, ornamented with little copcies, circular clumps and single trees."
Greenhouse at Mount Vernon

Wishing to make a present of some of her prized greenhouse specimens to George Washington, including one grafted tree that produced both lemons and oranges, on 29 October 1789, Margaret Carroll sent by boat 20 pots of lemon & orange trees plus 5 boxes of assorted other greenhouse plants to Washington at the harbor in Alexandria.

Apparently Margaret Carroll had spoken about the financial possibilities of erecting greenhouses & stovehouses to George Washington; because the gift of Mount Clare's mistress was in response to a letter that Washington had sent her from New York, on September 16th 1789.

"Madam,
A Person having been lately sent to me from Europe in the capacity of a Gardner, who professes a knowledge in the culture of rare plants and care of a Green-House, I am desirous to profit of the very obliging offer you were pleased some time ago to make me.

"In availing myself of your goodness I am far from desiring that it should induce any inconvenience to yourself—but, reconciling your disposition to oblige, with your convenience, I shall be happy to receive such aids as you can well spare, and as will not impair your collection.

"Trusting that this will be the rule of your bounty, I have requested General Williams to give you notice, when an opportunity offers to transport the trees or plants in the freshest state to Mount Vernon, and to pay any expence which may be incurred in fitting them for transportation, and to receive them from your Gardner for that purpose.

"I have the honor to be, most respectfully, Madam, Your obliged and obedient Servant,
G. Washington"
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827). Margaret Tilghman (Mrs Charles Carroll the Barrister) This painting depicts Margaret Carroll standing next to the closed or lidded Lidded Campana Urn on a Classical Pedestal which stood on the grounds at Mount Clare in Baltimore.

Several years later, in 1792, French visitor Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville (1754-1793) wrote, "I hastened to arrive at Mount Vernon...after having passed over two hills, you discover a country house of an elegant and majestic simplicity. It is preceded by grass-plats; on the one side of the avenue are the stables, on the other the green-house, and houses of a number of negro mechanics." Brissot was a vocal supporter of the 1789 French Revolution.

This flurry of activity around the greenhouses of Margaret Carroll and George Washington was not new in America. The possibilites of growing tender plants in greenhouses had fascinated Americans since the 1st half of the century in colonial America.

Artist John Hesselius (1728-1778) was one of the major American-born artists working in the Middle Colonies and the South in the third quarter of the 18C. The son of Gustavus Hesselius (1682-1755), a Swedish portrait painter who came to America in 1711.  His father was Gustavus Hesselius painted mostly in Maryland & Pennsylvania. John was probably born in Philadelphia. His earliest signed work is dated 1750.  It seems likely that Gustavus Hesselius was John Hesselius’s first instructor. John Hesselius also studied with Robert Feke & his early portraits are stylistically more similar to Feke’s. Hesselius latest signed work dates to 1777.

During his career, Hesselius traveled extensively in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, & possibly in New Jersey. His work seems to have been confined to portraits. All known examples are in oil on canvas, & there is little reason to suspect that he deviated from this practice. He worked exclusively in the late English Baroque & English Rococo traditions of painting, & his style shows the influence of Robert Feke & John Wollaston more strongly than that of his father.

Hesselius married Mary Young Woodward, the widow of Henry Woodward, in 1763, & after that date his energies were divided between his art & the management of his plantation near Annapolis, Maryland. He was also active in the religious affairs of St. Anne’s Parish in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. His interests appear to have been many, & as an artist & landowner he associated with most of the leading citizens of the colony. Hesselius contributed to American painting, & he extended & modified the English tradition of painting in the Colonies.

Portrait of 18C American Woman

1752 John Wollaston 1733-1767 Mrs Philip Livingston pvt