Occupations in the Colonies
Just like society today, we have occupations, or like the hip kids say, jobs. And we have weird perks about our jobs like getting up at five in the morning to fill up the coffee pot before everyone else gets there, but the perks in the colonial times were a lot weirder than ours. I think we should just be thankful for the jobs we have!
Let’s start with the weirdest one first! Most people think men go to the barber just to cut their hair or shave their face, but in colonial times women went there too, but not for the same reason. Everyone went to the barber shop to do a practice called bloodletting. Bloodletting was a medical practice that people used to do thinking that losing a little blood would clean out the toxins. As we know today, the only way to clean out toxins is using natural herbs and spices. The barber’s duty was to perform the bloodletting procedure, and that’s why there are red and white stripes on the barber pole. Red stands for the blood and white stands for the bandages.
Back in the day, the people who made your kitchen cabinets also made your clock cases. A clock case is the outer wooden or ceramic part of the clock. So instead of the cabinet maker, the occupation should be called the furniture crafter! With that hard earned money, the furniture crafter went to the famers market and got some ground cornmeal for his special family recipe. On the way home, he thought to himself, “Who grinds up this corn? I never met him!” Well I have an answer for you Mr. Furniture Crafter! The farmer sends his corn and wheat to the miller to grind it up into cornmeal and flour! Now your homemade bread is extra delicious knowing where it came from!
In colonial times, there was something odd about the shoes that people wore. There was no difference between the left or right foot (there was no foot curves in the shoe)! That has to be uncomfortable! On the line of shoes, the tanner helps in the shoe making process. You might be thinking, “But tanners are supposed to give people golden brown skin!” Wrong! Back then a tanner was someone who worked with leather and sheet metal provided by the black and silver smiths. This is totally off topic but, did you know that revolutionary war figure Paul Revere was a silver smith? I didn’t know either! Anyways, back on track. Tanners also made saddles, mugs, some clothing items besides shoes, and buckets. Tanners had quite the busy schedule.
Those were only some of the occupations in the colonial times. Those were just the interesting ones. If you want to learn more about American history, sign up for Ron Paul Curriculum so you can have the full learning experience. Links are in my previous essays.
