Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/161

 The framed house which Sandys was anxious for the planters to substitute for the log cabin was gradually introduced as the population increased. When Abraham Piersey died in 1632, he was the wealthiest resident of the Colony. In his will, he directed that his body should be interred in the garden in which his new framed house had been erected. This house was perhaps designed as his own residence. William Fitzhugh, a man of large means, occupied a dwelling into the construction of which it is probable that not a brick entered, with the exception of the chimneys and possibly the foundation. When Nicholas Hayward decided to establish one of his children in Virginia, he received a letter from Fitzhugh giving valuable information as to the course pursued by many of the planters in building. According to this writer, the most judicious plan to follow was to import carpenters and bricklayers from England who were bound by indenture to serve for a period of four or five years. In this length of time, they would be able to raise a substantial house without constructing the walls of brick, and also, by the performance of other tasks, to earn sufficient to meet the cost of the planks and nails and the additional materials, as well as to make good the outlay for their own food and clothing. Fitzhugh strongly advised against a large dwelling, and was doubtful even as to the wisdom of building an English framed house of the ordinary size, the charges for skilled labor being excessively dear, although there