Georgia J.

All About Daily Colonial Life

Food

Food was very hard to get in the colonies. There were no grocery stores or restaurants in colonial times. Because of this, the colonists had no choice but to hunt and grow their own food. Most of the colonists were rich men and women that were used to having a good amount of food and a warm house. They had absolutely no knowledge on skills for survival. Thankfully, the American Indians (Native Americans) taught the colonists their ways of survival. Researchers theorize that most colonists may never have survived without the help of the American Indians. Eventually, the colonists learned how to hunt and feed for themselves. They grew mainly corn, beans, and squash. They also used bows and arrows to hunt in the forest for meat. They fished as well. The settlers also had to prepare all of their meals and preserve some of the food that they had gathered. Usually the women did this work. They had to churn butter, skin meat, shuck corn, and salt fish and other meats. In colonial times, there were no stoves. Food was cooked in a big pot over a fire. The colonists ate on trenchers instead of plates. A trencher was a long wooden board. If you siblings, you There were also never many eating utensils. Most families just reached into a big pot and took out what the wanted to eat! Once in awhile, a family would have soup spoons or a knife.

Clothes

A typical outfit for a man would start with underwear, although it was not what underwear is today. Men wore long sleeved undershirts that went down to their knees! Then, over there undershirts, they wore shirts. Over their undershirts were waistcoats. A waistcoat was a tight fitting vest. On top of there waistcoats, they wore coats. If they wanted to be fashionable, they could also wear a long, white strips of linen that was wrapped around their neck several times and then tied in the front. This was called a cravat. Also, it was very popular for men to wear wigs. Women and children wore many different things from men. Woman and children did not wear shirts, but instead they wore shifts. Shifts were long dresses that dangled just past your knees. Children and woman wore stays over their shifts. Stays were made of stiff pieces of whalebones, reeds, metal, or wood. The tightly woven cloth forced women to stand up straight. They were also designed to make it hard to bend over or play. Boys wore stays until they were about six years old. Girls wore them all their lives. They even had to sleep in them. Then, over their stays, girls and women wore several light skirts. These skirts were called petticoats. Women’s gowns always had long sleeves and skirts, even in the summer. This was because the colonists considered elbows, knees, and ankles ugly. Over their gowns they had to wear an apron. Women also had to wear their hair in a bonnet at all times. Colonial Americans wore a lot of clothes!

Jobs

There were many jobs in colonial times. There were not any computers or machines so everything had to be done by hand. One job was called the blacksmith. The blacksmith was incharge of making all of the iron pots and pans. He was also incharge of making iron shoes for horses. The blacksmith was also the dentist! He only had one cure for a toothache. He pulled out the tooth that hurt!

One other job was the silversmith. The silversmith was incharge of making table silverware.He mad silver plates and silver cups, silver bowls and silver mugs.

Another job was the hatter. He made hats for men, women, and children. He also fixed old or worn out hats. He was very important since almost everyone wore hats in colonial times.

The tanner was incharge of converting raw animal hides into leather. The tanner made leather shoes, breeches, and many other things out of leather. Leather was one of the colonists’ natural resources so the tanner was always busy.

There was also the apothecary. The apothecary was like today’s pharmacist. The apothecary made medicines and remedies to cure many diseases and illnesses.

Then there was the cobbler. The cobbler made shoes. Big shoes and small shoes. Shoes for women and shoes for men. The cobbler also repaired old shoes.

Another job was the cooper. The cooper made a variety of containers such as barrels and buckets. These were used to store things like sugar, flour, gunpowder, salted meat, pickled vegetables, and many other items. These are just SOME of the

many jobs in colonial times.

School

School was very different from school now. The school you went to depended on what colony you lived in. Most New England colonists were puritans. The puritans made sure that the children learned to read and write. This was because the puritans wanted to make sure everyone could read the bible.

In the middle colonies, schools were set up differently. Unlike the New England Colonies, the middle colonies were made up of many different religions. Because all the schools were based on religion, each religion formed its own school.

In the southern colonies, the rurality made it difficult to build schools. Towns and plantations could easily be miles apart. At first, only wealthy families were able to send their children to school. Eventually, however, they did set up a school system. They called the schools old field schools because they had been built in old fields that were presently unused.

The schoolhouse had may school rules. If you didn’t know what your lesson was, you were called a dunce. You had to sit on the dunce stool and wear a dunce cap.If you were caught biting your nails, you would have to wear a card around your neck that said bite finger baby. If you whispered in class, you would have to wear whispering sticks in your mouth!

Work

In colonial times, everyone had to work. Women sewed and weaved cloth, cooked meals for their families, and cleaned the house. They also did the difficult job of making soap so the dishes would be clean. Men chopped wood, planted and harvested crops, and fished and hunted to provide meat for their families. Children had to work too. They had many chores. They had to get wood for the fire so that the house would stay warm. The fire was the only thing that would heat the house. They also used the fire for all cooking. The fire had an important role in survival and warmth. If a child lived on a farm, they had to take care of the farm animals. This meant that they had to milk the cow, collect eggs, and feed and groom all the animals. They also had to plant and harvest crops with their parents. On Sundays, however, it was a sin to work. Everyone had to pay attention in the meeting house. In the meeting house, everyone had to focus on their religious studies.

Glossary

Trencher: a wooden board that people ate food on.

Waistcoat: a tight vest that men wore over their shirts.

Cravat: A long, white piece of linen that was worn by men around their necks as accessories.

Shift:

Stay:

Bonnet:

Blacksmith:

Silversmith:

Hatter:

Tanner:

Apothecary:

Cobbler:

Cooper:

Dunce:

Whispering Sticks:

Meeting House: