Children of the Chesapeake Colonies – Brittany Cowan

During the first years of colonization of Jonestown, primarily men were sent to the New World by the Virginia Company.  No women and no children, just men. However, women and children did eventually come to the New World which called for the need of children to learn to read and write. Additionally, children needed to learn appropriate manners and disposition, and it was crucial for the children of the colonies to learn respect for their elders.

Schools in the Chesapeake Colonies were generally one large class room with one teacher teaching all the children (Salford Hill).  It was not surprising for the Schoolmaster or principle to be paid by the parents of the colonies children with corn.  The school day for girls did not last as long as the school day for boys.  The adults of the colony thought it was not needed or important for the young women to have a good education since they would be in the home, cooking, cleaning and caring for children.  Each child had only one schoolbook and the main focus was on handwriting. The spelling and sentence structure had little meaning what was most important and valued was that the penmanship be clear, clean, nice and neat (Salford Hill).

The children of the colony were expected to behave and act in a certain way.  They had many rules and boundaries, and were quickly punished if they broke or crossed any of those boundaries. In the 1600’s the children had a great deal of expectations to life up to.  An example would be how children were expected to act at the dinner table.  Children were not to speak aloud unless spoken to, were expected to eat all their food, and clean up after themselves.  The children were not allowed to sing or hum, nor make any sounds with their mouth, lips, or tongue. The children were expected to always show respect for their parents using “Yes Sir” and “Yes Ma’am” (Salford Hill).

In the early days of Chesapeake this is what most of the chldren's workbooks looked like.

 

Adults in the Seventeenth Century often used pictures of animals to help their children learn how to read and write.

Resources

Salford Hill, "Children of the Chesapeake Colonies in the 17th Century" http://library.thinkquest.org/J002611F/ (accessed November 7, 2010)

Conclusion – Brooke Norton and Damita Ware

By the early 1700’s and after frequent battles with the Native Americans, the Chesapeake colonist made their fortunes through the growing and trading of tobacco.  Tobacco was the primary reason for the survival of the Chesapeake colony.  Along with the battles, the colonists died from starvation and disease those who survived learned how to farm and trade tobacco.    The colonists were able to use indentured servants for some time to cultivate their tobacco and harvest the fields before importing slaves to the colony to work in the tobacco plantations.  While some may believe that the way the colony grew in population by trading tobacco for women to serve them and later marry and have children was immoral,  others may argue that it was an intelligent way of increasing their population.  Unfortunately one of the most unforgettable parts of history the Chesapeake colony gave to American people today is the beginning of slavery, out of need for inexpensive controlled labor to work in the tobacco plantations.  It took the country years to overcome this lifestyle and way of living.  Arguably, the most valuable event in history that the Chesapeake colony did for the future of America was the start of their government.  The colonists decided with the different classes of people, laws needed to put into place for governing.  The Virginia colonist in 1619 created the House of Burgesses, which has some basis for how the countries forefathers based the constitution on.   Each part of history has an impact and meaning to the future of the country and its people.

Contributors

The Chesapeake Group Members and Blog Contributors

Group Leader – Brooke Norton

Assistant Group Leader – Ingrid Grant

Technical Expert – Damita Ware

Research and Editing – Christin Bechtel

Research – Brittany Cowan, Rebecca Eger, Glenda McCoy, Shannen Rimando, and Diana Silva