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Read Ebook: The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg An Account of His Barbering Hair-dressing & Peruke-Making Services & Some Remarks on Wigs of Various Styles. by Bullock Thomas K Tonkin Maurice B Townsend Raymond R Contributor Ford Thomas K Editor
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Ebook has 64 lines and 13047 words, and 2 pages
"He will charge nothing for the Boxes nor Freight: And, if the Wigs do not please at Sight, the Gentlemen are not bound to take them.
"Each Gentleman's Name shall be mark'd upon the Wigs; and along with each Box there will be sent an Invoice of the Whole, distinguishing the several Commissions, and including Insurance.
THOMAS CLENDINNING.
Charlton's account book shows that shaving and dressing also came at different prices according to the services given. The charge for a year usually amounted to two pounds three shillings. It might, however, be as little as the one pound five shillings that Peter Pelham twice incurred or as much as the four pounds that Speaker Randolph paid. Pelham, organist at Bruton Parish Church and keeper of the colony's gaol, found time in a busy life to father a family of sixteen children but never got around to paying his little debt to the barber. The account book shows it, along with 13 years' accrued interest, still unpaid in 1784.
Besides the 60 brown dress bobs he made in 1770--seemingly a typical year for him--Charlton sold 20 brown dress queue wigs, three grizzle bobs, one each of three other styles, made curls or dressed ladies' hair on 28 occasions, and had 42 annual customers for shaving and dressing. During the court or Assembly sessions many additional patrons demanded these last services. All of his 1770 business should have brought Charlton well over ?300 in 1771, when most payments would have been made. Actually he received roughly ?260 in that year, with the balance probably dribbling in over the next decade--or in some cases never paid.
The difficulties of debt collection were among the reasons why so many colonial Virginia craftsmen sought to augment their income by branching into some other activity. Williamsburg wigmakers favored innkeeping as their second occupation. No fewer than five operated ordinaries or provided lodgings, and one of them, Robert Lyon, moved on to become a merchant. David Cunningham served as the town constable for several years, and Alexander Finnie, of course, left the wig trade entirely to become host of the Raleigh Tavern.
In addition to wigmaking, shaving, and hairdressing, Andrew Anderson practiced dentistry and phlebotomy . But these were traditional phases of the barbering craft, not extra occupations--albeit only Anderson among Williamsburg barbers practiced them so far as we know.
Charlton at one time took a flier in real estate along with John Stretch, bookbinder and bookkeeper in William Hunter's printing office. The partners bought the playhouse and lot from Lewis Hallam, proprietor of the Company of Comedians recently from London. The evidence is inconclusive, but suggests that the venture was not a glittering success.
From time to time Charlton recorded the sale of such items as a "Ferkin of butter," a gross of bottles , "eight pounds Chooklate," stockings, "five Hundred Limes," a piece of linen, three dozen strong beer, one "cheas," and part of a lottery ticket. However intriguing these entries may be, they are too infrequent and irregular to support a conclusion that the barber was running a retail store on the side. When so much business was done by barter, any craftsman might have incongruous articles to sell.
Like the Silversmith James Geddy, Jr., and other craftsmen of Williamsburg, Charlton once served on the city's common council. This position carried no compensation, but election to it showed that a man's neighbors trusted and respected him.
The tradition of the humble artisan whose industry and integrity earned him the esteem of his fellow citizens ran strong in colonial America. Unfortunately for the wigmakers, however, no bulwark could withstand the ebb tide of fashion. George Lafong, whose Williamsburg wig shop rivaled Charlton's in the early 1770s, ended as a beggar in 1796. Someone, it seems, must pay the price for every forward step in the march of progress. Were it not so, all of us might still be wearing wigs today.
Transcriber's Notes
--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.
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