Anthony Singleton was born in Williamsburg in 1750, possibly served as apprentice to James Craig, and opened his own jewelry and goldsmith shop in 1771 opposite the Raleigh Tavern. Little is known today about Singleton’s career as a craftsman in silver. After making his mark as a captain of 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 Virginia’s aristocracy, 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 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—in 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 years in leaving Williamsburg to find greener pastures in the growing cities of Richmond and Petersburg.

SURVIVING WORK OF WILLIAMSBURG SILVERSMITHS

William Waddill’s known work illustrates how very slight is the amount of surviving silver that 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.

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 “I·G” maker’s mark 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 “I·G” 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 Geddy’s house, two of them having the identical maker’s mark. 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.

The teaspoon found at the Palace site is also engraved on the handle in the same fashion but with the initials CAA. Christopher Ayscough was gardener at the Palace in the time of Governor Fauquier; his wife, Anne, was the governor’s housekeeper. Fauquier thought so highly of Mrs. Ayscough’s stewardship that he bequeathed her £250 sterling, a very generous sum. Possibly the silver teaspoon found beneath the brick floor of Anne Ayscough’s kitchen was also a gift from the governor to her and her husband. How it got under the floor can only be guessed at.

St. Paul’s Church in Edenton, North Carolina, possesses a silver chalice and paten bearing the inscription: “The Gift of Colonell Edward Mosely for the use [of] the Church in Edenton in the Year 1725.” They show the initials AK and are of American make. George Barton Cutten, author of The Silversmiths of Virginia, does not hesitate, therefore, in ascribing them to Alexander Kerr of Williamsburg.