- Council
- --person chosen by the king to
advise and assist in the governing the colony.
- Preacher
- --person responsible for the spiritual health of
the colony.
He conducted services and performed religious rites for settlers.
- Gentleman
- --a man of the upper- or elite class who was
entitled to
bear arms (that is, swords or firearms). The gentlemen settlers
were all men who could afford and bought shares in the Virginia Company
while still in London. A gentleman hired laborers to work for him so
that he could pursue a life of leisure.
- Carpenter
- --craftsman who built furniture, tools, farm
implements,
wagons, and houses. The carpenter also took care of the wooden hull of a
ship and repaired damage. The carpenter's skills were crucial
because the primary route for transportation in the colony was by
water.
- Blacksmith
- --fashioned iron tools for farming and
building in a hot forge.
- Sailor (Sailer)
- --knew workings of ship and had
navigational skills. Sailors were important to the Jamestown settlement
even after they arrived because the major form of transportation was
still by water up and down the James river.
- Barber
- --not only trimmed beards and hair but performed
or assisted surgeries and dental operations.
- Bricklayer
- --craftsman who made and arranged bricks
for buildings.
- Mason
- --a builder and worker in stone; cut stone to fit
buildings.
- Tailor (Taylor/Tailers)
- --made clothes from cloth
material and leather for gentlemen of fashion.
- Laborer (Labourers)
- --worked to grow whatever their
gentleman masters
wanted, generally corn or tobacco; worked building houses and
other essential tasks.
- Fueller
- --person who supplied wood for fires. Wood
was the major fuel source in the colony and was burned for heat,
light, cooking, forging, and probably defense.
- Refiner
- --(probably) person who refined gold.
The refiner would take gold in its rough natural state, remove any rocks or
other debris, and mold it into a pure form.
The Virginia Company thought they would find gold in the New World
because the Spaniards had found it there. But there was no gold to be
found in Virginia, so the Jamestown refiner would not have been very
busy!
- Gunner
- --an officer under the Crown, responsible for
artillery and ammunition.
- Apothecary
- --person who kept a store or shop of
non-perishable items like spices,
drugs, preserved fruits and vegetables. Apothecaries were like
pharmacists because they make powders, syrups, tinctures, and pills to
medicate illness or prevent it.
- Surgeon
- --medical man, often on a ship, who practiced
healing by manual
operation. Surgeons treated wounds, fractures, deformities, disorders
through surgery.
- Cooper (Couper)
- --craftsman who made and repaired wooden
vessels of storage such
as casks, buckets, tubs, and barrels. Coopers made barrels to store
a variety of foodstuffs, water, wine, and other
goods as well. The cooper's task was a difficult art which is passed
down from master to apprentice.
- Tobacco-Pipe-maker
- --artisan who made pipes for the
smoking of tobacco.
- Tradesman
- --person who went into the interior of the
colony to trade
British items for Indian furs and goods, often food. For many years,
Jamestown survived solely on the food Indians gave or traded with them.
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