To have a place for the Rev. Stöver to live, the German Lutheran church purchased a farm from William Carpenter for twenty pounds. It appears there was no house on the farm, since one was later built for Stöver. This was the house for which the church paid John Huffman nine days of carpentry labor. Nine days does not seem like a long time to build a house, but it probably only consisted of the major framing.
The farm purchased from William Carpenter was 193 acres. When he took his original patent, he paid five shillings for every fifty acres, or about one pound in total. He also had to pay the surveyor and filing fees. Land could appreciate quite nicely in price, especially if some of the land had been cleared. The cost of original land was modest and was a good buy in comparison to some other things that were purchased.
When George Scheible went to Pennsylvania for Stöver’s ordination, he was paid 17 shillings in expense money. Considering that the one-way trip was about 200 miles, perhaps a bit more, it seems like economical travel, being about seven days wages for a carpenter. Stöver perhaps ate a bit better than Scheible, for his expenses were 29 shillings. Rev. Schultz in Pennsylvania received 23 shillings for performing the ordination.
One of the customs was that a sale was sealed with drinks. When a church was buying the land, it appears that every member had to have a drink. William Carpenter’s wife was paid eighteen shillings and six pence for drink to close the deal.
The church paid two pounds and fifteen shillings to have a “kitchen and henn house” built on the Minister’s plantation. This seems like a good bargain. Perhaps Michael Cook was being kind, but he received only two shillings and six pence for a table for the minister’s home. In general, for things which members of the congregation could make, the price seems low. In this category were items of wood and the wine and brandy. Things purchased from the outside were more expensive, such as paper and postage. A gift of linen to the minister was valued at nineteen shillings but we are not told how big the piece was.
The sawing of the planks for the minister’s house cost six pounds and five shillings. This may have represented quite a bit of labor, and was probably done by a pit saw; it is not clear just how much lumber was sawn. Four pounds were paid out for moving the minister’s goods (apparently this was from North Carolina).
It is clear that wages were low and it was difficult to save money if one were buying items. There was a need to do as much as possible for one's self to provide for the necessities of living if one were to build a good estate.
(11 Dec 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.