Nina Postupack, County Clerk

Exhibit - Duty & Disaster

Precept and Grand Jury List, Court of General Sessions, 1747

This document has two parts. The top part, called a precept, orders the sheriff to assemble a list of "twenty four honest and lawful men" to serve as grand jurors in the Court of General Sessions. The bottom part, endorsed by the Sheriff, lists the names, residences and occupations of the group called to jury duty. The most common occupation is farmer. Other occupations reveal the craft-based occupations of the colonial economy, including Bruer (brewer), wever (weaver), black smith, millar (miller), joynor (joiner), and schipper (shipper).

Transcription:

Ulster County Ss George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France And Ireland King Defender of the faith To our Sherif of our Said County of Ulster Greetings we Command You that You Cause to Come before our Justices assigned th keep our peace in the Said County at Kingston in our Said County on the third Tuesday in September next twenty four honest And Lawfull men of the Said County to hear and Do those things which on our behalf Shall then and there be injoyned them, And have you then and there this precept Wittness Abraham Gaasbeek Chambers Esquire At Kingston aforesaid the Seventh day of May in the Twentyeth Year of our Reign Anno Domini 1747 - P: Cur John Crook Clerk of the peace

  • 1 a Wessel Brodhead of marble farmer, Foreman. Sworn
  • 2 a Evert winkope of kingston Bruer - Sworn
  • 3 a Dirrick Schepmoes of kingston wever Sworn
  • 4 a Jacob van wagene of kingston farmer Sworn
  • 5 a Eisaac van wagene of kingston farmer Sworn
  • 6 a Nicolaes Louis of marble black smith - Sworn
  • 7 a Nicolaes De mire of kingston farmer - Sworn
  • Leonerd hardenbergh of marble millar
  • 8 a Benjamon Schoonmaker of rochester farmer Sworn
  • 9 a Jacobus quick of rochester miller Sworn
  • 10 a John Tunisse Oosterhout of rochester farmer
  • # a Philiph Dubois of rochester farmer, Discharged by a Court
  • 11 a Simon Jacob vanwagene of rochester farmer Sworn
  • 12 a frederick Schoonmaker of marble farmer Sworn
  • Withelmus(?) hoghteling Junior of kingston farmer
  • 13 a David Borhans of kingston farmer Sworn
  • 14 a Robart Mc Ginnes of marble Joynor Sworn
  • 15 a Tobias winkope of kingston farmer Sworn
  • 16 a Thomas Beekman of kingston Joynor Sworn
  • 17 a Charles Brodhead of kingston miller Sworn
  • Petrus Smedes of kingston millar
  • Evert Bogardus of kingston Schipper
  • 18 a Aldert hamise rosa of hurley farmer Sworn
  • Johannis Dubois Junor of hurley farmer Sworn
  • Abraham Low Junr. Sheriff

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Note:

"Even though artisans could expect to prosper in the colonies, they did not all enjoy the same standard of living. The success of a craftsman was determined by a number of factors, including his age, luck, skill, business sense, choice of a mate, health, and his place in the craft hierarchy....

Colonial American society had a definite hierarchy. Apprentices were on the same social level as slaves and servants. The crafts as a whole were in the middle of society, between the very poor (hired servants, unskilled laborers) and the elite (wealthy merchants); but within the crafts there was also a hierarchy, determined by the level of skill and the cost of raw materials of the craft....

Colonial artisans prospered largely because their products were less expensive - imported goods carried a markup of 100 to 300 percent - and artisans came to make up 30 percent of the population in colonial cities in the 1750s.

...New York was also a colony with a heavy import and export trade and a growing population, and crafts developed to serve the needs of the burgeoning shipping business, as well as those of the growing population.

....Artisans from England and Europe arrived to fill the demand, despite the efforts of the English government to restrict the emigration of craftsmen. England did not want manufacturing to take place in the colonies; they were to remain agricultural, export raw materials and import manufactured goods....artisans were discouraged from emigrating."

From Janet Wells Greene et al., From Forge to Fast Food: A History of Child Labor in New York State, Volume I: Colonial Times through the Civil War (Troy, NY: Council for Citizenship Education, Russell Sage College, for the New York Labor Legacy Project, 1995).

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