Bourlier Harnessmaker’s shop, in which workers (left to right) are cutting leather into straps with a round knife (fig. 6); waxing thread (background); sewing a piece of leather held in the clamp or “clam” held slanted between the legs; and using an awl to pierce a hole in a strap, also held in a clam (fig. 3 and fig. 4). Diderot.
But the making and mending of horse furniture—saddles, bridles, and harness—was Craig’s specialty. In a colony where everyone rode constantly, saddlery was a vital craft. And where horses, oxen, and human beings hauled, lifted, and carried every burden, harnessmaking was no less important.
The account books show that Alexander Craig valued his labor and sold his products at a good price. He charged Humphrey Hill £7 for “a Harness for a Shaft Chair” and Thomas Atkinson £5 for “a Harness for a Single Horse.” He billed Colonel William Byrd III £25 for harness for six coach horses, and Colonel Benjamin Harrison £16 to make harness for “four Charriot Horses.” For making a side saddle with cover and studded trappings for Robert Hutchins, a tailor of the town of Blandford some 40 miles away, Craig charged £6, 10 shillings.
Some idea, albeit only an approximate one, of the purchasing power of those sums may be gained by comparing them with prices for house furnishings at about the same time. Colonel Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, for instance, bought eight mahogany dining chairs, upholstered and trimmed with brass nails, for £16 from Williamsburg cabinetmaker Benjamin Bucktrout. Four “Elbow Chares” bought at the same time cost him £11. A desk and bookcase—now called a secretary—brought £16.
THE SADDLE AND HARNESS SHOP
Elkanah Deane, carriagemaker of New York, removed his business from that city to the little metropolis of Williamsburg shortly before the Revolution. Both in New York and in the capital of the Virginia colony he enjoyed the patronage of His Lordship Governor Dunmore. Deane’s house in Williamsburg looked out upon the same green as did the Governor’s Palace, along with the mansions of the wealthy Robert Carter and the learned George Wythe.
This was heady company for “an Hibernian Cottager,” as one rival coachmaker called him, and perhaps Deane deserved the label of “Palace Street puffer” conferred on him by the same fellow citizen. Be that as it may, the carriagemaker advertised that he also made, repaired, and sold harness, although the actual work was probably done by another craftsman in his shop.
Perhaps this was Edward Roberts, who gave notice in 1775 that he “continues to carry on the business of Saddling, Cap and Harness making, at the late Mr. Elkanah Deane’s shop.” The shop, it is to be presumed, was primarily devoted to the varied specialties that were needed in the manufacture of wheeled vehicles, of which blacksmithing was one of the more vital. Deane’s forge, to the rear of his property, is a favorite attraction in restored Williamsburg, especially for children.
