Williamsburg Silversmiths

Patrick Beech, jeweler and silversmith

PATRICK BEECH, At the BRICK SHOP, opposite store of Mr. Turner. WILLIAMSBURG,

BEGS to leave to inform the public that he makes and sells all sorts of GOLD, SILVER, and JEWELRY WORK, after the newest fashions, and at the lowest prices, for ready money only. Those who are pleased to favor him with their commands may depend upon having their work done in the neatest manner, and on the shortest notice; and their favors will be most gratefully acknowledged... He gives the highest prices for old GOLD, SILVER, or LACE, either in cash or exchange... Commissions from the country will be carefully observed, and punctually answered.

Interestingly, it was a Williamsburg silversmith of a generation earlier who established a high watermark of colonial newspaper advertising. After a preliminary notice, the Virginia Gazette appeared on August 19, 1737, with its entire back page occupied by the announcement of a lottery to be held by Alexander Kerr, jeweler and silversmith of Williamsburg. As if this extravagance on the part of a Scotsman like Kerr was not startling enough, the same full-page notice appeared again two weeks later.

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THOMAS HEMING



A typical trade card for a London goldsmith or shop bill. This one is reproduced from The London Goldsmiths, 1200-1800: A Record of the Names and Addresses of the Craftsmen, their Shop-Signs and Trade Cards, by Sir Ambrose Heal. As one may note, a great deal of work and imagination went into the preparation of the trading card of Heming. William Hogarth, the eminent English artist who served six years as an apprentice to a London silversmith, is known to have engraved two or three goldsmith trade cards of simpler design.

Kerr proposed to sell 400 tickets at one pistole each and give 80 prizes worth, at common saleable Prices, a total of 400 pistoles. (A pistole was the old quarter-doubloon of Spain, or a similar gold coin, worth about four dollars.) The top prize in the lottery, a combination of a diamond ring, an amethyst pin, a heavily jeweled pendant, and an ornamented gold box, was to be worth 62 pistoles; the other prizes ranged down to 40 valued at two pistoles each. The list included rings, earrings, snuff boxes, toothpick cases, spoons, tongs, gold buttons, buckles, and boxes of various sorts.

After two postponements, probably in order to sell every last ticket, the drawing took place at the Capitol. This doubtless meant on the steps or portico or in the yard, rather than within the building itself. The outcome was recorded in a single sentence in the Gazette: Yesterday lottery of Jewels and Plate of Mr. Kerr was drawn, and the highest Prize came up in Favor of Mrs. Dawson.

The long list of the prizes of Mr. Kerr and the items listed for sale in advertisements of other eighteenth-century Williamsburg silversmiths reveal that the articles these smiths made in their shops, like the ones they imported, were of great variety but mostly of small size. Besides the silver buckles, sugar tongs, teaspoons, toothpick cases, and snuff boxes of the lottery list, other silversmiths advertised thimbles, soup and punch ladles, salt casters or shakers, watch chains, cream buckets or piggins, and plated as well as solid silver spurs. Among these, the soup ladles were the largest items.

James Craig of the Golden Ball, who made a pair of earrings for the beloved stepdaughter of George Washington, Patsy Custis, was primarily a jeweler rather than a Silversmith. James Geddy, Jr., combined the cleaning and repairing of watches and clocks with silver- and goldsmithing. James Craig advertised as a jeweler during his first two decades in Williamsburg. Then when he branched into silver work he asked to be addressed as Goldsmith in Williamsburg and named his shop The Golden Ball. By combining several vocations, some if not all of the Williamsburg silversmiths seem to have made at least a respectable living. In addition to those whose names have already appeared in this account, three others deserve mention.

John and William Rowsay, brothers and partners in a Williamsburg shop, sold not only plate and precious stones, but a wide assortment of general merchandise, to wit:



Just imported and to be sold by the subscribers in Williamsburg, A NEAT assortment of cutlery, pinchbeck shoe, and stock buckles, plated do. watch chains seals and keys, paper snuff-boxes, playing cards, pins and needles, ivory combs, linen, muslins, cap lace, corded dimity, ginghams, calicoes, silk and thread flockings, bohea tea, &c. Also a few hogsheads of good RUM, by the hogshead or quarter cask. JOHN & WILLIAM ROWSAY.

James Geddy, Jr., customarily advertised as a goldsmith, but this conceit seems not to have impressed the legal profession in Williamsburg. Deeds and documents drawn up by more prosaic hands refer to him twice as a silversmith and once as a jeweler.

John Brodnax was the first to follow the craft in Williamsburg. The son of a London goldsmith, he originally settled in Henrico County near what is now Richmond. The date of his arrival is unknown, but about 1694 he moved to a forest crossroads seven miles from Jamestown called Middle Plantation. Five years later this became the capital city of the colony and was renamed Williamsburg. In 1711 Brodnax was appointed Keeper of the Capitol and public Gaol at a salary of PDS 30 a year, later raised to PDS 40.

Brodnax died in 1719 leaving an estate of PDS 1,000, a very considerable amount in those days, including nearly PDS 200 worth of old gold and silver and close to PDS 300 of finished work. Whether he acquired this estate through silversmithing alone cannot be determined now. It seems highly unlikely in view of the limited economy of that time and place and the experience of others in the craft at a later and more opulent period. He may well have gained his wealth by inheritance, by the sale of his backcountry lands to William Byrd in 1711, or possibly, as so many others did, from the sale of tobacco produced on those acres.

Anthony Singleton was born in Williamsburg in 1750, possibly served as an apprentice to James Craig, and opened his own jewelry and goldsmith shop in 1771 opposite the Raleigh Tavern. Little is known today about the career of Mr. Singleton as a craftsman in silver. After making his mark as a captain of the artillery in the Revolution, he moved to Richmond and married Lucy Harrison Randolph, daughter of Benjamin Harrison the Signer, sister of William Henry Harrison the President, and widow of Peyton Randolph of Wilton.

Although Singleton held a number of public and private offices of trust and responsibility, and by virtue of his marriage had gained membership in the aristocracy of Virginia, he most solemnly enjoined in his will that his sons be brought up to some mechanical profession.

William Waddill announced in 1767 his intention to open a shop next door below the Old Printing Office in Williamsburg. He called himself a Goldsmith and Engraver and offered to buy up old gold and silver and rework it in any taste the owner chooses.

Whether he did open a business as intended is not known, but a few years later he was a jeweler and engraver, and perhaps a partner n the shop of James Geddy, Jr. Since Geddy married Elizabeth Waddill and named one of his sons William Waddill Geddy, the two men were presumably brothers-in-law. Waddill followed Geddy by a few 9 years in leaving Williamsburg to find greener pastures in the growing cities of Richmond and Petersburg.

The known work of William Waddill illustrates how very slight the amount of surviving silver can be ascribed with any certainty to Williamsburg smiths. He engraved plates for the printing of paper currency in Virginia, and he made a silver nameplate and handles for the coffin of Governor Botetourt, whose remains lie buried beneath the chapel floor at the College of William and Mary. The coffin plate, purloined by Union soldiers during the Civil War, has since been returned to the college, which has loaned it to Colonial Williamsburg for display at the restored house and shop of James Geddy.

James Geddy. Also on display, there are several articles of silver that can now be attributed to the hand of Geddy himself. One is a small saucepan or pot-like cup, with a straight silver handle added at a later time; the others are spoons. The saucepan and three of the spoons bear the IG (marks of the maker) of James Geddy, Jr., the I being the eighteenth-century equivalent of J, at least in certain situations.

The saucepan is believed to have once been the property of Colonel William Preston, a burgess from Augusta County for a time before the Revolution. Preston is known to have purchased other articles from Geddy, and this particular piece of hollowware has come down through his descendants. One of the teaspoons marked IG was found as long ago as 1930 at the site of the Palace kitchen, but its attribution to Geddy remained uncertain for nearly forty years. Then, in 1968, five more silver spoons were unearthed in the yard behind the Geddy house, two of them having the identical mark of the maker. Another of the excavated group, a tablespoon, lacks any mark to show the maker but does have the initials IGE engraved on the handle, almost certainly those of James Geddy and his wife Elizabeth.

So strong was this preference for wares imported from London that it persisted through the various nonimportation associations and buy-American movements. In Williamsburg, curiously enough, the leading silversmiths seem to have been less enthusiastic associators than were tradesmen elsewhere. Certainly less enthusiastic than such leaders of the planter group as George Washington.

Washington, whose preference for British goods was as strong as anyone, nevertheless sponsored the nonimportation agreement adopted at the Raleigh Tavern in May 1769. James Geddy, Jr., in a newspaper advertisement of that September, declared that he had now on hand a neat assortment of country-made GOLD and SILVER WORK, which he will sell at the lowest rates for cash or exchange for old gold or silver. As he has not imported any jewelry this season, he flatters himself he will meet with encouragement, especially from those Ladies and Gentlemen who are friends to the association.

Geddy, however, did not subscribe himself as a member of the Association until July of 1770, and only three months later he ventured to advertise, along with country-made wares, a small, but neat assortment, of imported JEWELRY (ordered before the association took place).

THE GEDDY SHOP AND THE GOLDEN BALL TODAY

Two reconstructed silversmithing shops in Williamsburg once more stand in the same spots occupied by similar establishments in the eighteenth century. Both are operating craft shops where skilled workers in costume produce articles of gold and silver using methods and tools like those employed by James Craig, James Geddy, Jr., and other Williamsburg silversmiths two centuries ago. For reasons important to twentieth-century visitors, a partial division of functions has been established: The making of jewelry and smaller silver items and engraving are emphasized at the Golden Ball; the casting of silver (done at the Geddy Foundry along with founding in other metals) and the making of larger pieces, particularly hollow ware, are more prominent at the Geddy Shop.

The original structure at the site of the Golden Ball, possibly built in 1724, remained standing until 1907, undergoing repairs and alterations from time to time. Craig had his shop in the western portion for a period before 1765, renting the space from James Carter, the surgeon. In that year he bought the western fifteen feet of the house and lot, and the next year acquired the rest of it.

After the death of James Craig, the building served its succeeding owners as a residence. The recollections of several old inhabitants of Williamsburg, a faded photograph, deeds, tax records, insurance policies, and excavated colonial brick foundations have all provided clues in reconstructing the building to its original outward appearance and inward room arrangement.

As for the shop itself, it has been designed and equipped, insofar as careful research and discerning imagination can make it as it might have been in the day of James Craig. Lacking any descriptive material on the contents of the Golden Ball, the architects and curators have had to draw on other sources. The forge, for example, was designed and built in the image of forges described by Benvenuto Cellini and pictured in the Diderot Encyclopedia. Some of the wall cabinets were made in imitation of those on display in European craft museums.

Much the same may be said of the Geddy Shop. Whereas the two-story, ell-shaped house dates to about 1750, the two shops of one and a half stories extending to the east of the house are reconstructed on original foundations still in the ground. James Geddy, Jr., probably worked on the premises before 1760, when he bought the house and lot from his mother. He rented out the easternmost shop but continued to practice silversmithing, presumably in the middle shop until 1777 when he moved away and sold the property.

Since no records survive as to the interior arrangement 33or contents of the shop, the architects and curators have again had to use their best judgment and the most appropriate precedents and parallels in designing and furnishing the shop. While none of the silversmithing tools now used in either of the two shops are those of James Craig or James Geddy, Jr., some of them may have belonged to an English silversmith of the eighteenth century by the name of George Wickes. One particular tool, a square stake or anvil, displayed in the Geddy Shop, once belonged to Paul Revere. It was given to Colonial Williamsburg by Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, whose outstanding collection of American silver of the husband is housed at Yale University.



The advertisement appeared in the VIRGINIA GAZETTE on July 14, 1774.

JAMES CRAIG, AT THE GOLDEN BALL, WILLIAMSBURG,

BEGS leave to inform the public that he has just got an eminent hand in the WATCH AND CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain, and will be obliged to those who favor him with their commands. He makes and repairs REPEATING, HORIZONTAL, and STOP WATCHES, in the neatest and best manner. JEWELRY, GOLD, and SILVERWORK, as usual, are made at the above shop, for READY MONEY only.

James Geddy repaired watches, advertising that he still continues to clean and repair Watches, and repairs his own work that fails in a reasonable time, without any expense to the purchaser. Rough castings in brass for spandrels to decorate the faces of clocks and many fragments of watch crystals have been found in the course of archaeological excavation of the Geddy property. On several occasions, James Craig advertised that his customers could have All Kinds of CLOCKS and WATCHES cleaned and repaired in his shop, and twice announced that he had just got an eminent Hand, in the WATCH and CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular Apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain.

In cabinets of rooms adjoining both shops, the visitor may examine a collection of silver, cutlery, jewelry, and similar articles made in England and in the colonies during the eighteenth century. Of particular interest are the black enameled mourning rings so popular at that time. It was the custom for a man of wealth to provide in his will for the purchase of rings to be worn by members of his family and close friends. All Williamsburg silversmiths and jewelers advertised that they made mourning rings on the shortest Notice.

The contemporary silversmiths at the Geddy Shop and the Golden Ball do not make mourning rings, there is not much call for them these days. They do, however, make and sell a number of other articles of silver of true eighteenth-century design. For obvious reasons, their supply of raw material comes from commercial refineries rather than from melted coins or plates. But they cast the silver, forge it, raise, seam, and solder it, and decorate the finished products just as did their predecessors.

Above all, the silversmiths of today and their co-workers still hammer the lustrous metal with the same love of beauty that a sculptor might have. Indeed, the hammer is the most useful for the silversmith and in many ways his most delicate tool. With it, he can produce effects in the metal that cannot be achieved in any other way. In fact, a fine silversmith must be able to wield a hammer much as an artist uses his brush as if it were a natural extension of his arm.

Apprentices

The terms of apprenticeship were sufficiently standardized and frequently enough resorted to that printed forms were customarily used, with blank spaces for names and dates to be inserted. One copied by hand in the York County Deed book of 1762 reads as follows:

This Indenture Witnesseth that John Webb an Orphan hath put himself ... apprentice to William Phillips of Williamsburg Bricklayer to learn his Art, Trade, and Mystery; and ... to serve the said William Phillips from the day of the date hereof for ... five Years next ensuing during all which Term, the said Apprentice, his said Master faithfully shall serve, his Secrets keep, his lawful commands at all Times readily obey; He shall do no damage to his said Master, nor see it to be done by others, without giving Notice thereof to his said Master. He shall not waste the goods of his said Master nor lend them unlawfully to any. He shall not commit Fornication, nor contract Matrimony within the said Term. At Cards, Dice, or any other unlawful Game, he shall not play whereby his said Master may have damage. With his own Goods, nor the Goods of others without Licence from his Master, he shall not buy nor sell. He shall not absent himself day or night from his said service of the Master, without his Leave, nor haunt Alehouses, Taverns, or Play Houses, but in all Things behave himself as a faithful Apprentice ought to do during the said Term. And the said Master shall use the utmost of his Endeavours to teach, or cause to be taught or instructed the said Apprentice in the Trade or Mystery of a Bricklayer and procure or provide for him sufficient Meat Drink; Cloaths, Washing and Lodging fitting for an Apprentice....

Johnny Goodkin of Williamsburg may himself want to be an explorer and trapper in Virginia and its endless western territories. Or, like young Ben Franklin, he may want to go to sea. But it is his father who makes the decision. And more often than not the decision of the father is made for him by whatever openings for apprentices exist at the moment.

In the case of Johnny, the decision is easily reached: The cousin of Mrs. Goodkin is a silversmith in Williamsburg and agrees to accept the boy as an apprentice. Thus Johnny can look forward to a thoroughly respectable career. He may never rise to the social heights attained by Anthony Singleton; in fact, he is unlikely to. But he may make himself so well respected by his fellow citizens as to be chosen by them to be a member of the City Common Council. That honor was bestowed on James Geddy, Jr., in 1767.

As an apprentice to a silversmith, what will Johnny do? Probably he will arise very early in the morning and do household chores like any son of the family. One of his duties in the shop will doubtless be to light the fire in the forge. If necessary he will replenish the supply of charcoal, perhaps by fetching a sack from a bakery. The baker produces charcoal as an incidental by-product in the course of heating his ovens.

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Source: The Silversmith in 18th Century Williamsburg by Thomas K. Ford, published by Colonial Williamsburg MCMLXXX

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Comments from VirginiaPioneers.net

Patrick Beech. Advertised himself as a silversmith and jeweler on one occasion in 1774. Nothing more is known of him.

John Brodnax (or Broadnax, 1668-1719). He left a Last Will and Testament in York County dated 1719. He practiced his silversmith craft in Williamsburg, from about 1694 until his death.

John Bryan. Mentioned in several legal documents of the 1740s as a silversmith in Williamsburg. The Last Will and Testament of John Bryan, dated 1740 in York County.

John Coke (1704-1767). His Last Will and Testament dated 1767 in York County. Worked at silversmithing in Williamsburg from about 1724 until his death, and also, after 1755, kept a tavern in the present Coke-Garrett House near the Capitol.

Samuel Coke (died in 1773). Son of John Coke; jeweler and possibly a silversmith in the shop of his father and later for himself.

James Craig (died 1794, the date of his Last Will and Testament in York County). Arrived from London about 1745 as a jeweler; added silversmithing and was established at the Golden Ball by 1765.

Jacob Flournoy (born 1663). Came to Williamsburg about 1700 from Switzerland, where his families were watchmakers and jewelers; referred to as a goldsmith in a deed of 1712.

James Galt (1741-1800). Born in Williamsburg, where his father was a silversmith; had his own shop in Richmond and later in Williamsburg; became the first superintendent of the hospital for the insane in the latter place; brother of John Minson Galt, the physician, and son of:

Samuel Galt (c. 1700-1761). A watchmaker who also did gold and silver work in Williamsburg from about 1750 until his death; keeper of the Public Gaol, 1759-1760.

James Geddy, Jr. (1731-1807). Geddy was a most accomplished silversmith in Williamsburg until, about 1778, he moved to Dinwiddie and thence to Petersburg. The Last Will and Testament of James Geddy, Sr. is dated 1744 in York County.

Alexander Kerr (died 1738). Arrived in Williamsburg in 1717. Jeweler and silversmith in Williamsburg for several years before his death.

Blovet Pasteur. Apparently born and died in Williamsburg, dates not known; a silversmith there from 1759 to 1790. The Last Will and Testament of Martha Pasteur was recorded on 19 May 1746 wherein she named her young son, William (a guardian named for him). Daughters; Martha and Ann. (Wills, Deeds, Orders 1745-1759, Book 20). The Williamsburg Gazette features an article on 19 August 1775 as follows:

" WILLIAMSBURG, August 19, 1775.

The Subscriber begs to Leave to inform the Public, that she intends to open a DANCING SCHOOL on Friday next, for young Ladies; she, therefore, hopes the Gentlemen and Ladies will be kind enough in sending their Daughters. She flatters herself she shall be able to give entire Satisfaction, as no Care or Pains on her part will be wanting. Her Days for teaching are Fridays and Saturdays, every Week; the price is the 20s. Entrance, and 4#. a Year. The School will be kept at the store of Mr. Blovet Pasteur. SARAH HALLAM.

Blovet Pasteur is listed as being one of the children of the French couple, John James (Jean) and Martha Pasteur on WIkitree Jean Pasteur was listed among the French, Swiss, Genevese, German and Flemish Protestants who embarked on the ship passenger list to go to the Virginia Colony of" The Nassau, and received a permit to depart Kensington, England, for Virginia, on January 18, 1701, Capt. Tregian. It arrived on March 5, 1701, and went up the York River."

Note: Sarah Hallam joined the Hallam family acting company by marrying young Lewis Hallam. By 1775 she was thirty-five years old, had two young sons, and was separated from her husband. She taught dancing to the children of tradesmen and gentlemen at Mr. Pasteur on Nicholson Street.

James Patterson (died in 1773). A watchmaker who probably arrived in Williamsburg about 1760, and by 1771 was also making jewelry and silver.

William Rowsay was an apprentice to James Craig in 1771. In 1774, he combined his jewelry and silver work with that of his brother (John)in the general merchandise business.

Anthony Singleton (1750-1795). Opened a jewelry and silversmith shop in Williamsburg in 1771; moved to Richmond probably in 1787.

William Waddill. Engraver and silversmith; worked at one time in the shop of James Geddy, Jr., who is presumed to have been his brother-in-law; moved to Richmond about 1782. Afterwards, he removed to Petersburg where his Last Will and Testament was filed in Chesterfield County 1754.