Page 61 - Foy

The men and women of Baltimore County were hardworking, energetic, and

materialistic. They had to be for they had abandoned the security of their homeland
in an effort to gain land, a say in working government, and the chance to become
wealthy. In the new world life required many hours of labor.

Fields had to be cleared and shelters had to be erected. The plantations of colonial
times were not the extensively developed land holdings of the later eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries but only small clearings in the wilderness; generally no more
than ten acres. The houses usually had only one room that was far from elegant.

Most activity took place outside the dwelling during the summer with tables and
benches for eating placed under the nearest shade tree. In winter, activity was
confined to the cramped quarters inside the house where the windows were boarded
up and the fireplace was the main source of heat and light.

Hunting and trapping were the only duties that broke up the monotony of endless
hours of farm chores. Social life was an occasional visit to Old Baltimore, or a walk
to the nearest neighbor. For entertainment crude games such as cock fighting, eye
gouging, and wrestling seemed to be the most popular. It was not a life of elegance
or ease, but a life of simple self-sufficiency.

A farmer (or planter, as they were then called) worked hard to enlarge his holdings.
Generally an additional thirty or forty acres of land might be cleared during a settler’s
lifetime. Tobacco being the major crop, a barn to cure the crop was required; a
smokehouse and a spring house to store meat and milk was also a requirement.
Apples, pressed into cider (which usually was hardened) was the principal drink.

While the hopes and dreams of the people coming to the new world were riches and
sumptuous living, a review of the probate records of the times gives us a real look at
the lifestyle of early Baltimore County residents. Upon the death of a citizen, the law
required an inventory of all personal property. All items were enumerated and an
appraisal value affixed in each inventory. A copy of this inventory was maintained
in each county.

The bulk of the estates inventoried during a twenty year period, 1690-1710, reveal the
small farmer was the dominant member of society. Few frills or luxuries are found

Ch. 5 Pg. 5