Home Life in Colonial Days | Page 5

wealthy planters in the middle
of the eighteenth century has been preserved for us at Mount Vernon,
the home of George Washington.

Mount Vernon was not so fine nor so costly a house as many others
built earlier in the century, such as Lower Brandon--two centuries and a
half old--and Upper Brandon, the homes of the Harrisons; Westover,
the home of the Byrds; Shirley, built in 1650, the home of the Carters;
Sabin Hall, another Carter home, is still standing on the Rappahannock
with its various and many quarters and outbuildings, and is a splendid
example of colonial architecture.
As the traveller came north from Virginia through Pennsylvania, "the
Jerseys," and Delaware, the negro cabins and detached kitchen
disappeared, and many of the houses were of stone and mortar. A clay
oven stood by each house. In the cities stone and brick were much used,
and by 1700 nearly all Philadelphia houses had balconies running the
entire length of the second story. The stoop before the door was
universal.
For half a century nearly all New England houses were cottages. Many
had thatched roofs. Seaside towns set aside for public use certain reedy
lots between salt-marsh and low-water mark, where thatch could be
freely cut. The catted chimneys were of logs plastered with clay, or
platted, that is, made of reeds and mortar; and as wood and hay were
stacked in the streets, all the early towns suffered much from fires, and
soon laws were passed forbidding the building of these unsafe
chimneys; as brick was imported and made, and stone was quarried,
there was certainly no need to use such danger-filled materials.
Fire-wardens were appointed who peered around in all the kitchens,
hunting for what they called foul chimney hearts, and they ordered
flag-roofs and wooden chimneys to be removed, and replaced with
stone or brick ones. In Boston every housekeeper had to own a
fire-ladder; and ladders and buckets were kept in the church. Salem
kept its "fire-buckets and hook'd poles" in the town-house. Soon in all
towns each family owned fire-buckets made of heavy leather and
marked with the owner's name or initials. The entire town constituted
the fire company, and the method of using the fire-buckets was this. As
soon as an alarm of fire was given by shouts or bell-ringing, every one
ran at once towards the scene of the fire. All who owned buckets
carried them, and if any person was delayed even for a few minutes, he

flung his fire-buckets from the window into the street, where some one
in the running crowd seized them and carried them on. On reaching the
fire, a double line called lanes of persons was made from the fire to the
river or pond, or a well. A very good representation of these lanes is
given in this fireman's certificate of the year 1800.
The buckets, filled with water, were passed from hand to hand, up one
line of persons to the fire, while the empty ones went down the other
line. Boys were stationed on the dry lane. Thus a constant supply of
water was carried to the fire. If any person attempted to pass through
the line, or hinder the work, he promptly got a bucketful or two of
water poured over him. When the fire was over, the fire-warden took
charge of the buckets; some hours later the owners appeared, each
picked out his own buckets from the pile, carried them home, and hung
them up by the front door, ready to be seized again for use at the next
alarm of fire.
Many of these old fire-buckets are still preserved, and deservedly are
cherished heirlooms, for they represent the dignity and importance due
a house-holding ancestor. They were a valued possession at the time of
their use, and a costly one, being, made of the best leather. They were
often painted not only with the name of the owner, but with family
mottoes, crests, or appropriate inscriptions, sometimes in Latin. The
leather hand-buckets of the Donnison family of Boston are here shown;
those of the Quincy family bear the legend Impavadi Flammarium;
those of the Oliver family, Friend and Public. In these fire-buckets
were often kept, tightly rolled, strong canvas bags, in which valuables
could be thrust and carried from the burning building.
The first fire-engine made in this country was for the town of Boston,
and was made about 1650 by Joseph Jencks, the famous old
iron-worker in Lynn. It was doubtless very simple in shape, as were its
successors until well into this century. The first fire-engine used in
Brooklyn, New York, is here shown. It was made in 1785 by Jacob
Boome. Relays of men at both handles worked the clumsy pump. The
water supply for this engine was still only through