John Moses Vest (1650 – 1735) and Francis Chapman (1598 – 1656) came to the new colonies to start a new life as we have discussed in earlier blogs. The early colonist came to start a new life and search for gold but only found that the key to the new life was farming.
The group that came from England and Germany brought only small tools and livestock. The small tools would be an ax, shovel, chisel, hammer, other tools that were poorly built and the farmers would need to repair frequently. The livestock would include sheep, goats, chickens, horses and cows.
Upon landing at the site, the first priority for the people was shelter. The groups would either pitch a tent or live on the vessel until a crude one room home could be built. Shaping the wood would take time and once the logs were ready the people would build the small home quickly. After two months in a ship, having one room shelter had to feel like luxury.
Unless the colonists were lucky enough to secure an old Native American camp site, the fields were covered in trees and rocks. The land had to be cleared and crops had to be planted. To clear the land of tress with the crude axes was very difficult and the Colonists had worked long days clearing the fields. They were taught by the Native Americans that if a person would cut a groove around the bottom of the tree all the way around the tree, the tree would die. After the tree died over the course of time, one could cut it down easier or burn the tree to the ground. Removing rocks and stumps were another challenge that the farmer had to contend with.
Clearing a site would take a great deal of time and was estimated at an acre every year. Since there was little help to hire due to the minimum number of colonist that were available, the work was tedious, back breaking and presented a challenge clearing the area. Plowing a field was always done by using hand tools to poke holes and cover the soil. Planting would take a great deal of time and help was needed.
The families would have as many children as possible to help tend the farm and these families would as large as ten on occasion. My ancestors, the Vest family would come to the colony with Moses Vest (7th Great Grand Father) and his son, John Valentine Vest (6th Great Grand Father) would have many children
- John Daniel Vest (1705 to 1765) (5th Great Grand Father)
- George Vest (1713 to 1745)
- Elizabeth Ann Vest (1715 to 1775)
- Valentine Vest (1717 to 1759)
- Phillip Vest (1722 to 1816)
The farming would quickly plant corn as taught to the settlers by the Native Americans. Corn would be more plentiful in food amount than barley or wheat and the entire corn stalk and cob would be consumed by either the farmer or the animals. Nothing went to waste and the farmer would learn other ways to produce symbiotic plants within the corn crops. Beans and pumpkins would be planted after the stalks were above the surface and these three plants worked together to produced badly needed food for the families of Virginia.
To keep the animals as bay and out of the crops, crude fences would be built. The early fences would be split rails with a hole bored through on the ends to stack and lock the rails in place. In the areas where there more rocks and stones, complete and partial fences built as stone works would line the property and keep the livestock penned. The stone fences would be found more in the north part of the Virginia colony and wood fences would be prominent.
Last, the farmer would start to build a new home with more rooms. A kitchen would be added and a bedroom or a keeping room would be added to provide more room for the expanding family. Overtime, the home in the fields would take over for the family and the one room in the settlement would go to another family or part of their extended family.
For more information about the Early Colonial Life, please read the reference book where I found the information written. Select the image and you can go to Amazon to order the book if you would like to have additional reading about the subject.
Originally posted 2018-03-03 22:10:44.