contract. When he had been in the Colony many years, he was exempted from such a deduction. In payment for services extending over a period of twelve months, Stephen Tarleton of York, in 1666, delivered to Edward Jenkins one suit of broadcloth and one of kersey, two shirts, a hat, one pair of shoes, and two pairs of stockings.[1]
In 1680, the wages of a hired laborer did not in Virginia differ substantially in amount from the wages of a servant engaged in the same character of work in England. Fitzhugh, writing about this time to his agent in London, requests him to send him a trained housekeeper, offering to pay her passage money; to allow her three pounds sterling by the year; and to furnish her with food without charge. He considered that this would be highly acceptable, as the remuneration, he said, would be equal to that which was received by the same class of domestics in the mother country.[2]
In a contract between Mrs. Weldon of York and Isabel Nicholas in 1684, the former promised to pay the latter for domestic service, to be prolonged over a period of one year, fifty-five shillings, a new apron being given as an earnest of the bargain.[3] So high were the average wages at this time that it was thought in some instances that no profit was to be derived from hired labor.[4] How great wages were in cases probably not considered extraordinary, may be seen in the agreement between Josephine Chowne and John Corbett of Elizabeth City County in 1697, by the terms of which Mrs. Chowne was to receive remuneration for her work during a period of two months and a half, at
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1604-1672, p. 106, Va. State Library. The service was sometimes in compensation for a wilful act. See Ibid., 1684-1687, p. 58.
- ↑ Letters of William Fitzhugh, July 1, 1680.
- ↑ Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 59, Va. State Library.
- ↑ Records of Henrico County, vol. 1677-1692, p. 250, Va. State Library.
