A Cooper's Inventory

Joseph Dyer (1719-1780), son of Lydia Dyer, made his living as a cooper in Boston's North End. As a craftsman who worked in the city's rough-and-tumble waterfront district, he is just the sort of man we think of when we picture an ordinary Bostonian of the Revolutionary era.

When he died in 1780, Dyer was a relatively prosperous craftsman, but still someone who worked with his hands. The inventory from his probate records shows that he was able to accumulate many small luxuries over his lifetime. It is important to keep in mind that 18th-century probate records often show people at their most prosperous, after they have spent a lifetime gathering objects and resources, so we shouldn't assume that all coopers had such extensive household goods. Still, it is helpful to remember that the craftsmen of Boston were able to maintain an impressive (by 18th-c standards) standard of living, even after the economic difficulties of the 1760-1780 period.

The contents of Joseph Dyer's house in 1780:

The Will of Lydia Dyer

Whenever I am doing archival research, I am always delighted to find a will. Wills are some of the most illuminating documents left by ordinary people, not only because they provide details about the deceased's material life, but because they often expose the dynamics of family relationships. In the absence of confessional diaries or soul-baring letters, it can be difficult to recover hard evidence about private relationships, but wills can offer excellent clues.

One of my favorite wills was written by Pete's great(x7)-grandfather, Benjamin Weaver (1690-1754) of Newport. In it, he left most of his goods (and slaves) to his wife, Hannah Coggeshall Weaver, including a horse, which he stipulated was,

to be kept by my son Thomas in same manner as he keeps such creatures of his own, and to be brought to the door for [Hannah's] convenience whenever she sees cause, without grumbling.

Recently, I have been researching the genealogy of Lydia Dyer, the elderly Boston refugee whose gravestone proclaims that she died while attempting "to escape ye abuce of ye Ministerial Troops sent by GEORGE ye 3d to subject North-America to Slavery." On Friday, I visited the Massachusetts State Archives to read her will. As I hoped, the will and its accompanying probate records gave me a great window into the Dyer family dynamics on the eve of the Revolution.