Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Starch
Robert Crawford sold Colden four-and-one-half pounds of Starch on this day, 250 years-ago.
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| September 4, 1768 Entry in Colden DayBook for Robert Crawford. Courtesy of New-York Historical Society. |
There may have been some confusion in the dating of the purchases designated for Sunday the 4th. Normally the store was closed on Sunday. The Day Book records no sales on the following Monday through Wednesday which is very unusual. My guess is that in cleaning up the book a few weeks after the fact, Colden filled in dates at the top of the page to the best of his recollection and erred for these few pages.
There will be no blog for September 5th, 6th, and 7th.
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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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This entry for starch is the only purchase or sale of starch mentioned in the DayBook. The entry is fairly legible and it is believed that the transcription is correct.
Webster defined Starch in his 1828 dictionary as "A substance used to stiffen linen and other cloth. It is the fecula of flour, or a substance that subsides from water mixed with wheat flour. It is sometimes made from potatoes."
It is interesting that Webster gives the principle use of starch as a fabric stiffener and does not mention the many other uses of starch. Even back in the 1700's the fashion tastes favored the look of stiff fabrics.
The surname of Crawford appeared seventy-one times in the DayBook. In fact there were two "Robert Crawfords" in the DayBook differentiated by their respective neighborhoods: 'of Wallkill [neighborhood of Goodwill Church]' and 'of Little Britain.'
The concentration of of Crawfords in the northernwest section of Montgomery led to the naming of the new town of Crawford in 1823. More on this family in a future blog.
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