A work bench which could accommodate five workmen, allowing each to take advantage of daylight. The latticed floor caught filings and bits of metal which were salvaged and subsequently refined. DIDEROT.
The shop of a London clock and watchmaker. The large octangular faced clock hanging on the wall is typical of the kind that would have been found in public places. It was later called the Parliament clock. One may be seen at the Golden Ball. UNIVERSAL MAGAZINE.
The traditions of apprenticeship, however, survived the ocean crossing somewhat better than the legal sanctions. Law or no law, the required seven-year minimum for apprenticeship in England was also customary in America. This seems to have been especially true of such highly skilled crafts as silversmithing, although wide variations appeared in the practice of other crafts.
Let’s assume that young John Goodkin of Williamsburg, age 13, must be apprenticed out to learn a trade. Apprenticeship will provide the boy with an assured future livelihood, and at the same time relieve his father of the burden of supporting him. The master craftsman who accepts young Johnny as apprentice will not only teach him the trade but also provide him with board, lodging, clothing, and an occasional shilling (but no wages) for the full period of his apprenticeship. He will also teach Johnny, or see that he learns, a smattering of the three R’s. In return the master will gain the services of—he hopes—a willing and receptive helper for seven years at minimum cost to himself.
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 his said Master’s Goods nor lend them unlawfully to any. He shall not committ 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 Master’s Service, 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’s 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 father’s own decision is made for him by whatever openings for apprentices exist at the moment.
In Johnny’s case the decision is easily reached: Mrs. Goodkin’s cousin is a silversmith in Williamsburg and agrees to accept the boy as 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 a member of the city’s Common Council. That honor was bestowed on James Geddy, Jr., in 1767.