Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/432

 1653, John Williams acquired two hundred acres in Northampton County. Charles Parker was still more prosperous; at his death, he devised not only several extensive tracts of land, but also a water-mill.

The trade of a cooper was far more profitable, the field offered for the exercise of skill being a wider one. In the account which has been given of the agricultural development of the Colony from decade to decade, the importance of this calling appears clearly from the number of regulations adopted by the General Assembly for its government. There were few more important articles connected with the economy of the plantation than the hogsheads in which the tobacco, when cured, was stored for shipment. It was the business of the cooper to manufacture these receptacles, an occupation in which a handsome remuneration was assured owing to the abundance of the work; it is not surprising, therefore, to discover that this class of tradesmen were in possession of considerable tracts of real estate and owned many kinds of personalty. Numerous patents to public lands were obtained by them. In 1657 alone, two were issued, aggregating seven hundred and fifty acres. In the following year, William Strowder, a cooper, obtained a patent to five hundred acres, and in the course of the same year, Richard White, also a cooper, was one of three persons who acquired a grant to a thousand on the basis of the transportation of twenty servants. Additional instances derived from the same source might be offered.

In 1667, Edward Palmer, a cooper, is found in possession of a plantation in York. About the same time, John Dangerfield, who belonged to the same calling, disposed of