Materials Listed in Accounts with Hunter and Dick, Fredericksburg
Alphabetical Summary of Materials listed in Ledger G in Mercer's
accounts with William Hunter and Charles Dick, merchants of
Fredericksburg. Definitions are based on information in _A New Oxford
Dictionary_, Webster's _New International Dictionary_ (second edition,
unabridged), _Every Day Life in the Massachusetts_ Bay Colony, by George
F. Dow (Boston, 1935), and a series of articles by Hazel E. Cummin in
_Antiques_: vol. 38, pp. 23-25, 111-112; vol. 39, pp. 182-184; vol. 40,
pp. 153-154, 309-312.
ALLAPINE: A mixed stuff of wool and silk, or mohair and cotton.
BOMBAYS: Raw cotton.
BOMBAZINE: A twilled or corded dress material of silk and worsted,
sometimes also of cotton and worsted, or of worsted alone. In
black, used for mourning.
BROADCLOTH: A fine, smooth woolen cloth of double width.
BUCKRAM: A kind of coarse linen or cotton fabric, stiffened with
gum or paste. Murray quotes Berkeley, _Alicphr_ ... (1832), "One of
our ladies ... stiffened with hoops and whalebone and buckram."
CALAMANCO: A light-weight material of wool or mohair and wool,
sometimes figured or striped, sometimes dyed in clear, bright
colors, and calendered to a silky gloss to resemble satin.
CALICO: Murray defers to Chambers' _Cyclopaedia_ definition (1753):
"An Indian stuff made of cotton, sometimes stained with gay and
beautiful colours ... Calicoes are of divers kinds, plain, printed,
painted, stain'd, dyed, chints, muslins, and the like." It is not
to be confused with the modern material of the same name.
CAMBRIC: A fine white linen or cotton fabric, much used for
handkerchiefs and shirts, originally made at Cambray in Flanders.
CAMLET: A class of fine-grained material of worsted or mohair and
silk, sometimes figured, sometimes "watered." _Moreen_ is one of
its subtypes.
CHECK: Any checked, woven or printed, material.
DUFFEL: A woven cloth with a thick nap, synonymous with _shag_.
Made originally at Duffel, near Antwerp. In a passage quoted by
Murray, Defoe (_A Tour of Great Britain_) mentions its manufacture
at Witney, "a Yard and three quarters wide, which are carried to
New England and Virginia."
FRIEZE: A coarse woolen cloth with a nap on one side.
GARLIX: Linen made in Gorlitz, Silesia, in several shades of
blue-white and brown.
HOLLAND: A linen material, sometimes glazed, first made in Holland.
KERSEY (often spelled "Cresoy" by Mercer): A coarse, long-fiber
woolen cloth, usually ribbed, used for stockings, caps, etc.
SHALLOON: A closely woven woolen material used for linings.
PRUNELLA: A stout, smooth material, used for clergymen's gowns, and
later for the uppers of women's shoes.
TAMMY: A plain-woven worsted material, with open weave. Used plain,
it served for flour bolts, soup and milk strainers, and sieves.
Dyed and glazed, and sometimes quilted, it was used for curtains,
petticoat linings, and coverlets.
TARTAN: Woolen cloth woven in Scotch plaids.
In addition to these fabrics, there are listed "China Taffety,"
"Silv^r Vellum," "worsted," "Pomerania Linnen," "Russia Bedtick,"
"Irish linnen," "1 yd. India Persian," "worsted Damask," "Mechlin lace"
(a costly Belgian pillow lace, of which Mercer purchased nine yards of
"No. 3" at five shillings, and eight yards of "N^o 4" at six
shillings), "sprig Linnen," and "6 silk laces at 4-1/2."
For trimming and finishing, one finds white thread, black thread, nun's
thread, brown thread, blue thread, red thread, colored thread (all
bought by the pound), gingham and hair buttons, "gold gimp ribband,"
"pair Womens buckles," fringe, coat buttons, vest buttons, scarlet
buttons, silver coat buttons, shirt buttons, "mettle" vest buttons,
"fine" shirt buttons, "course" shirt buttons, "Card sleeve buttons,"
silver sleeve buttons, and cording. There were several purchases of
haircloth, used principally in stiffening lapels and other parts of
men's clothing, but used also for towels, tents, and for drying malt and
hops.