Carpets, 1 large & 1 small." ■' Such transatlantic 

 shopping was accompanied by both delights and dis- 

 appointments as revealed in feelings expressed by 

 Thomas Nelson, Jr., of \*irginia, in a letter dated 

 August 7, 1773, addressed to Messrs. John Norton 

 and Son, in London. 



Gentlemen. Capt. Robertson delivered your Letter of 

 the 29th May enclosing a Bill of Loading for the floor 

 Cloth and Anchovies. The Cloth is injur'd by being 

 role'd before the paint was dry; the Anchovies are very 

 fine, for which Mrs. Nelson returns you her particular 

 thanks."' 



Foresight, clearly, was needed when shopping by 

 mail. Both Charles Carroll, barrister, and his wife 

 were well aware of this. Their order for floorcloths 

 was accompanied by the following packing suggestions 

 in a letter written by the barrister on February 24, 

 1767, and addressed to Mr. William Anderson, a 

 London merchant. "My wife would have some slight 

 woolen Rolled up with the floor CUoths to Prevent 

 their Rubbing so as to be Defaced by Getting the 

 Paint off, if any Danger without it." In addition to 

 taking this precautionary measure, Carroll sent explic- 

 it directions with his order for floorcloths about what 

 he desired in durability as well as dimensions: 



2 Good Painted floor Cloths, one of them to be 18 feet 

 Long by 16 feet wide the other 16 feet wide by 12 feet 

 Long, both made of the best and strongest Duck and 

 Painted so as to bear mopping over with a wet inop and 

 Put up Dry and so as not to be Cracked or to have the 

 Paint Rubbed of[f]." 



Most of the floorcloths made in this country were 

 the work of professionals who combined the business 

 of carpet painting with that of coach, house, and sign 

 painting, and the sale of paints and supplies. L'p- 

 holsterers and paperhangers also manufactured and 

 sold floorcloths. Indentured apprentices were em- 

 ployed in this craft as is shown in a notice that 



^* Letter to Mr. John Norton, London, from Martha 

 Jacquelin, York, Va., Aug. 14, 1769. In John Norton and Sons, 

 Merchants of London and Virginia, Being the Papers from Their 

 Counting House for the Years 7750 to 1795, edit. Frances Norton 

 Mason (Richmond: The Dictz Press, 1937), p. 103. 



-5 Letter to Messrs. John Norton and Son, London, from 

 Thomas Nelson, Jr., Virginia, Aug. 7, 1773. Ibid., pp. 348-49. 



-'■' Letter from and enclosed invoice of goods ordered by 

 Charles Carroll, barrister. Annapolis, to Mr. William Anderson, 

 London, Feb. 24 and Mar. 26, 1767. Li "Letters of Charles 

 Carroll, Barrister," op. cit. (footnote 14), (March 1942), vol. 

 37, pp. 60-61. 



appeared in the Annapolis Maryland Gazette of June 

 26, 1760: "Run away from the Subscriber, a convict 

 servant man named John Winters, a very compleat 

 House Painter; he can imitate marble or mahogany 

 very exactly, and can paint Floor Cloths as neat as 

 any imported from Britain." 



A young man "compleatly bred to the different 

 Branches of Painting and Gilding" was engaged by 

 the proprietor of a paint shop in "Baltimore-Town," 

 according to an advertisement in the Aiaryland Gazette 

 of August 2, 1 764. Whether he was also an inden- 

 tured servant is uncertain. In any case, by securing 

 the young painter the paint-shop proprietor was able 

 to offer for sale "all Sorts of painted Oil Cloths for 

 Rooms Passages, and Stairs, of various Sizes and 

 Patterns." The manufacture and sale of floorcloths 

 in Boston was carried on in conjunction with the sale 

 of paints and related items. In the Boston Xews- 

 Lctter of 1 767, competing craftsmen John Gore and 

 Thomas Craft, Jr., advertised on May 7 and 21, 

 respectively, the one offering a variety of paints and 

 supplies at his shop at the "Sign of the PAINTER'S- 

 ARMS" as well as "Coach & Carpet Painting done 

 in the best and cheapest Manner" while the other at 

 his shop near the "Liberty Tree" was offering 

 "Painter's Oyl and Colours, also Carpet and all 

 Sorts of Painting." By a notice on October 13, 1768, 

 in the same newspaper, John Gore reminded Bosto- 

 nians that they could have "Coach and carpet painting 

 done in the best and Cheapest manner" at his shop or, 

 as his advertisement on December 21 of the following 

 year stated, "in the best and neatest Manner." In 

 the same advertisement Mr. Gore announced that he 

 had soine Wilton carpets for sale, an indication of the 

 growing interest and business in underfoot furnishings 

 in the colonies. George Killcup, Jr., also used the 

 Boston News-Letter to call attention to his floorcloths 

 with an advertiseinent on March 1 7, 1 768, informing 

 "the Gentlemen and Ladies in Town and Country, 

 That he Paints Carpets & other Articles, and Papers 

 Rooms in the neatest Manner." 



In Charleston, South Carolina, as in the other large 

 coastal ports, houseowners and hoinemakers were 

 encouraged to patronize local artisans when purchas- 

 ing floorcloths. On May 10, 1768, the following 

 advertisement appeared in the Charleston South 

 Carolina Gazette and Country Journal: 



WAYNE & RUGER, Painters & Glaziers, Take this 

 Method of informing the Public, that they have opened 

 a Shop on the Bay . . . where they carry on the House 

 and Ship-Painting Business, in all its Branches; .Signs 



12 



BULLETIN 250: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



