william rogers and yorktown-1
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Benjamin Bakkum
William Rogers and Yorktown: Independence from the Virginia
Planter Culture, 1710-1740
Though it seems a truism to state that the rich were getting richer, the poor poorer, that
is exactly what was occurring in early eighteenth century Virginia, claims T. H. Breen in
Tobacco Culture.1 Indeed, Breen uses compelling evidence to support his argument concerning
the growth of an elite and solely planter class, but he also glosses over a story that adds
complexity to the image of the Virginian economy. William Rogers has been believed to have
lived in the London area before immigrating to Yorktown around 1710.2He arrived at a time
York County and the remainders of the peninsula surrounded by the James and York rivers were
building a reputation for high quality tobacco exports.3Rogers, however, did not intend to plant
the staple on the plots he purchased within Yorktown, but instead ventured to become a potter
and from there achieved prominence within the community.4 Yorktowns businessman, having
little of the wealth Breen thought necessary to become richer, still profited greatly and took part
in the governing of the town, illustrating that the proverbial American dream in the early 1700s
could be economically, socially, and politically independent from the tobacco culture.
It should be noted that many scholars have joined Breen in already analyzing the social
and economic state of colonial Virginia and Rogers has been the topic of articles before as well.
The insight of the more general and prolific Virginia history scholars, however, does not
1T. H. Breen, Tobacco Culture: the Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of
Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), 35.2 Yorktowns Poor Potter: A Man Wise Beyond Discretion, Martha
McCartney and Edward Ayres, accessed November 15, 2010
http://www.chipstone.org/publications/CIA/2004/mccartney/mccartneyindex.html3Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom (New York: W. W. Norton and
Company, Inc., 1975): 415.4Yorktowns Poor Potter.
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typically delve deeper than the major role of tobacco. 5 Specific pieces on Rogers, contrastingly,
fail to strongly relate the man to the culture and business environment around him, and instead
describe his style of pottery and appearances in historical papers.6 As Breen recounts, The great
Tidewater planters dominated Virginia society, and though his assertion has been proven
correct, historians have generally accepted that no exceptions to this rule e
mentioning.7This article therefore serves to bridge the gap between the broad narratives of
Virginia in the early to mid-1700s and the specific accounts of William Rogers life.
Rogers did not hesitate to fashion himself into a tycoon upon arriving in Yorktown. He
bought lots 51 and 55 in May of 1711 and before that had already imported an African slave .8
Within a year he had paid off the land and constructed his pottery factory and a home. 9 Easily it
seems, a man new to the region could buy property within its towns and work as an entrepreneur.
He capitalized on the need of the ordinaries of jugs and other earthenware by building the pottery
workplace.10 Earthen items useful to the ships docked in the York as they loaded hogsheads of
tobacco must have also been a major source of revenue for Rogers. He profited from the tobacco
trade by selling to its merchants, sailors, and laborers. The shipping created economic hubs along
5Virginius Dabney in his exhaustive account of Virginias history, Virginia: The New Dominion
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1983), only thoroughly cites the economicinfluence of tobacco in the early 18th century. Rhys Isaac in his popularThe Transformation of
Virginia,1740-1790 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999) also only references
the economic strengths of the planters, focusing on the religious and political shifts in the colonyrather than the changing landscape of manufacturing and commerce.6Norman F. Barka, Edward Ayres, and Christine Sheridan, The Poor Potter of Yorktown: A
Study of a Colonial Pottery Factory; Colonial National Historical Park, 3 vols. (Denver: U.S.Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1984). Ivor Noel Hume, Here Lies Virginia:
An Archaeologists View of Colonial Life and History (Charlottesville: University of Virginia
Press, 1994).7Breen, Tobacco Culture, 35.8York County Deeds, Orders, Wills 14 (17091716): pp. 82, 123.9Ibid, 123.10Yorktowns Poor Potter.
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the rivers emptying into the Chesapeake.11 Rogers placed himself perfectly to take advantage of
that fact. While many immigrants travelled further into the interior of Virginia in order to stake
claims and begin planting themselves, Rogers settled in the already developed east and filled the
need of taverns and ships for cups, plates, and containers. Whereas the small tobacco operations
had their financial potential squelched by the entrenched elite in the Tidewater, he cleverly
benefitted from their use of the shippers.
Rogers also keyed into the heart of colonial life in the Tidewaterits taverns. Names
such as the Byrd familys Westover, Carters Sabine Hall, and Washingtons Mount Vernon
have engrained themselves in the lore of Virginia history as the great estates of the planters. The
Rose and Crown in Hampton, Rising Sun in Fredericksburg, and Raleigh in Williamsburg,
however, certainly hold just as much historical significance as taverns.12 Yorktown was not
without one of these social and cultural icons. Merchants Thomas Nelson and Joseph Walker
bought a lot in 1719 on which the Swan Tavern would be constructed at some point in the next
several years.13 The Swan, which accommodated seamen in its six beds upstairs as well as
housed gaming (typically cards or backgammon), served as the preeminent meeting place in the
town.14 Its rates were sanctioned by the York County Court, signifying its importance to the
community.15 In these mandated rates the first historical reference to Rogers appears as Rogers
best Virg aile, selling for sixpence a quart.16 This entry, by revealing that Rogers operated a
brewery as well as a pottery, illustrates his business sense and commercial goal: build a
conglomerate based on the demands of a port town. As Edward Riley writes in his article11Edward M. Riley, The Ordinaries of Yorktown. William and Mary Quarterly 23 (1943): 8.
12Mary Newton Stanard, Virginia: Its People and Customs (New York: Kessinger Publishing,
2006): 151.13Riley, The Ordinaries of Yorktown, 20.
14Hume, Here Lies Virginia, 154.
15Ibid, 154.
16Ibid, 155.
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appearing in the William and Mary Quarterly, The Ordinaries of Yorktown, At the sign of the
Swan seamen, tobacco traders, merchants, and all of the varied classes of eighteenth century
Virginia find rest and refreshment.17 To hear of business, court proceedings, and the news of the
town, citizens of Yorktown meted at the Swan. There, Rogers smartly began a branch of his
small business empire, and there he started his rise to aristocracy on the back of a town rather
than tobacco.
The business plan quickly proved fruitful, and by 1716 he traded under the title William
Rogers & Company.18 Yorktown not only allowed Rogers to make money off of the shipping of
other merchants, but to become one himself. The slave trade factored into his dealings
considerably. In the mid-1720s he bought several slaves between the ages of nine and fourteen,
gave them English names, and put them to work in his home and the pottery factory. 19 An
acquaintance of Rogers, William Dalton, who lived in nearby Gloucester, owned a slave ship
which may have transported Rogers, but definitely other slaves from Bristol to Virginia and
Pennsylvania.20 These men were able to enter the slave market and be successful in it regardless
of the major ship captains and London merchants who discouraged competition. It can therefore
be inferred that substantial profits in Virginia not only belonged to the planter elite but also to
newcomers who had the business sense and capital to trade slaves as well as products such as
earthenware.
Rogers wealth only continued to grow as his wares began to be sold outside of
Yorktown and as he diversified his business among several trades. Then publisher of the Virginia
Gazette, William Parks took with him shipments of Rogers earthenware to Maryland around
17Riley, The Ordinaries of Yorktown, 20.
18York County Orders, Wills, and Inventories 16 (17201729): 25, 59, 248, 280.
19Ibid, 280.
20Yorktowns Poor Potter.
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1735.21 Even in small-town colonial Virginia business owners had the capacity to expand into
other markets outside of the Old Dominion. Rogers himself can be traced to owning the Susanna,
a 150-ton ship, an impressive piece of property for an immigrant who arrived with few
possessions.22 Furthermore, the inventory of his estate illustrates his accrued wealth as portrayed
by a number of slaves, silver, and physical capital. The inventory lists in his ownership and in
all probability, a reflection of his brewing activitiesa copper cistern, a cold still, a worm still,
some casks, beer tubs, hops, and 240 quart bottles.23Subsequently, it appears that unlike the
planters who were bound by the onerous task of managing their crops, Rogers could diversify the
businesses he ran, consistently profiting from the operations of his pottery factory and brewery.
This situation likewise propelled him to a comfortable position in society, garnering him the
luxurious items listed in his will and inventory of the estate.
Rogers also made a point of being independent in the social sphere from the planter
culture within the Tidewater, though here too he seems to have secured for himself a happy
existence. He avoided attending church and consequently received fines for skimping on such a
legal obligation.24The social tradition of the planter culture lay in church going, and the planters
in many cases were as religious as their puritan counterparts in the north.25 Accordingly, Rogers
insubordination reveals distaste for the mainstream social structure of the aristocratic, but he was
not a lonely man. His will lists four children born by his wife, Theodosia.26Rogers business
exploits assuredly would have allowed for a decent lifestyle, and the will stipulates that family
members received his slaves. Unlike settlers in the west, little danger existed of Indian attack by21Yorktowns Poor Potter.
22Ibid.
23Ibid.
24Ibid.
25Louis B. Wright, The First Gentlemen of Virginia: Intellectual Qualities of the Early Colonial
Ruling Class, (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1964): 68.26York County Wills and Inventories 18 (17321740), pp. 537-540.
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the 1720s in Yorktown, giving Rogers time to focus on his work and family instead of attending
to defense. Rogers also differed from the wealthy elite, however, in that he did not isolate
himself on massive estates which began to be built in the 1720s and 30s, spread out along the
eastern portion of the colony.27 The life of a port town must have staved off the boredom for
Rogers and his family which those on plantations often experienced. Rogers subsequently can be
thought to have prospered not only in a financial sense, but in social terms, having a loving
family and a community whose respect he would go on to win.
Social obligations did not stop Rogers from playing a role in the governing of Yorktown,
representing that not all important positions were connected to the tobacco planters. During the
1710s he often served as an agent of York Countys court justices. 28 In this capacity he held
responsibility for auditing business accounts, appraising descendants estates, and serving as a
juror.29Of more significance, however, serves Rogers being named the official surveyor of
Yorktowns landings, streets, and causeways.30 Seemingly he quickly gained the admiration of
the townspeople after arriving around 1710 to so speedily be appointed to these political seats
within Yorktown. This fast climb to a respectable status and notoriety without being related to an
old planter or already having a huge estate provides evidence that the tobacco culture did not as
strongly dominate as some scholars have thought.
Interestingly, shards of pottery were found within in the old main street of Yorktown.
Rogers effectively used the waste from pottery as chief proprietor of the roads in the town. This
practice may have been derived from the English technique of using pottery refuse in drainage
channels and roads.31 Regardless, to be as involved in the operations of the town, specifically the
27Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia,1740-1790, 36.
28Yorktowns Poor Potter.
29Ibid.
30Ibid.
31Hume, Here Lies Virginia, 222.
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planning and construction of its transportation routes, surely gives a sign Rogers business
venture lead to further responsibilities in Yorktown.
Rogers political impact extended beyond Yorktown as well, figuring in
relationship between the Virginia colony and London at times even. Lt. Governor William
Gooch, one of the most distinguished Virginians during the 1730s and 1740s, made several
remarkable comments about Rogers. Writing to the English Board of Trade, Gooch referenced
Yorktowns poor potter in 1732 when discussing the meager manufacturing status of the
colony.32 Goochs intentions are not entirely apparent, but he may have been trying to downplay
the amount of manufacturing going on in the colony. Another plausible theory, however, lies in
Gooch demeaning someone outside of the typical planter upper echelons gaining the wealth of an
aristocrat. Himself an elite, Gooch may have thought poorly of a break from the status quo in
Virginia.
Making sense of Rogers place in the unclear motives of the language necessitates
examining the political climate during Goochs administration. The Lt. Governor found himself
well liked by Virginians after arriving in Williamsburg in 1729.33Legislators there loved his
even-tempered and reasonable approach to governing.34 Gooch emboldened the Burgesses to be
more politically independent.35 Consequently, the confident representatives along with Gooch
soon pitted themselves against the powerful English merchants who filled the political vacuum
during the British Empires period of salutary neglect of its American colonies.36The tobacco
merchants fixed prices, demanded onerous inspections, and induced high amounts planter debt.37
32Ibid, 222.
33Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia Vol. II: Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution,
1710-1763 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960): 502.34Ibid, 502.
35Ibid, 503.
36Ibid, 503.
37Breen, Tobacco Culture, 120.
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The crown approved Goochs Tobacco Act which cracked down on the fraud diminishing the
revenue of Virginians involved in its trade.38 Shortly after, however, it became clear the
merchants held little intention of obeying the act.39 Thusly tensions grew between the economic
minded colonists and the English traders.
This friction had implications for craftsmen and manufacturers in addition to tobacco
planters. The connections between the merchants and English industrialists were strong, and both
groups thought it imperative that Virginia remain purely agricultural. Using the Board of Trade
in London, the enterprising English shackled the colony to the sole production of raw materials,
barring all competition against the mother countrys manufacturing.40
Gooch, made to report the
economic conditions to a watchful London, wrote to his clerical brother, the Board of Trade
sent me so many queries to answer, that I have been obliged to write almost a history of this part
of the world.41 In these answers Gooch mentioned Rogers though he resented the pressure from
the English, himself possessing a stake in an industrial ironworks. 42 This role Rogers played in
the papers of a Virginia governor illustrates the significance of his success achieved without
planting. Not only did the colonial culture promote tobacco as the only route to aristocratic
status, but the English conspired against any who broke this mold.
Ultimately, the notion that Gooch intentionally distorted the facts of Virginias industrial
growth when he claimed Rogers to be poor for the sake of appearances holds the most
credibility. England, ever worried that the colonies would begin interfering with the market for
manufactured goods on the mainland, wished for the colony to remain a planter society without
38Morton, Colonial Virginia Vol. II, 512.
39 Ibid, 512. 40Ibid, 528.
41Hume, Here Lies Virginia, 222.
42Morton, Colonial Virginia Vol. II, 528.
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hardly any industry at all.43 Gooch, however, had sympathy for the struggling Virginian
businessmen.44By downplaying the non-tobacco economic development going on in the colony,
he tempered the fears in England of the colonies becoming financially injurious. Gooch
subsequently protected movements within Virginia to achieve a more diversified economy. His
degrading Rogers as a poor potter indicates how the business of a non-planter could exacerbate
the colonys relationship with the motherland. It was not the planter elite who would discourage
alternate forms of commerce from planting, but an England scared of an end to mercantilist
profits. Yet more than anything, the life of Rogers shows that even under these constraints the
Virginian economy could be multifaceted.
The deliberate withholding of the true nature of the poor potter in Yorktown by Gooch
becomes further apparent in the inventory of Rogers estate. Unless Gooch himself had been
woefully unaware of the aristocratic trappings of Rogers life on the York River, he completely
ignored Rogers 29 slaves and the fifty-two pictures decorating his home at death.45 Rogers
additionally owned silver serving vessels and numerous fine furnishings as well as the Susanna
in the mid-1730s.46 Rogers wealth rivaled that of the planters. The inventory also catalogues
multiple kilns, a mill, and dozens of items used in an obviously robust pottery trade.47 When later
in 1739 Gooch again assured the English Board of Trade, The same poor potters work is still
continued at Yorktown without any great improvement or advantage to the owner or any injury
to the trade of Great Britain, he must have known his statements were blatant stretches of the
truth.48
Simply in his language, explicitly claiming no profit had occurred
43Ibid, 528.
44 Yorktowns Poor Potter.45Hume, Here Lies Virginia, 224.
46Yorktowns Poor Potter.
47Hume, Here Lies Virginia, 224.
48Ibid, 222.
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manufacturing of earthenware, his aims become clear. Gooch wanted no evidence of industrial
growth in Virginia leaked to London. Rogers, comfortably situated in his considerable estate and
affluent lifestyle, had proven that competition with the importation of English manufactures
could be possible in colonial Virginia. His small non-agricultural conglomerate seemed only
poised to grow.
By the time Rogers died in either 1740 or 1741, he had spent almost three decades
successfully building up his businesses.49 Gooch again took the precaution of allaying English
fears by sending news that the manufacturer had died and that the business of making potts and
pans is of little advantage to his Family and as little Damage to our Trade of our Mother
Country. In such a statement can be seen the potters legacy. His audacity to become
aristocratic outside of the planter elite favored by the English and their manufacturers put
political pressure on even the Lt. Governor. Rogers independent thinking not only reveals the
ability for profitable business to be built outside of the tobacco trade, but it also sheds light on
the colonys relationship with London, giving clues to the political strains which precipitated the
revolution. In Yorktown Rogers forged a different dimension to the economics of Virginia,
muddying the image created by historians that a refined, entrepreneurial, and self-made colonist
could have only been a planter.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
York County Deeds, Orders, Wills 18 (17321740). From the Library of Virginia, County and City
Records.
York County Deeds, Orders, Wills 14 (17091716). From the Library of Virginia, County and City
Records.
49Ibid, 222.
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Secondary Sources
Breen, T. H. Tobacco Culture: the Mentality of the Great Tidewater Planters on the Eve of Revolution.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
C. Malcolm Watkins and Ivor Nol Hume, The Poor Potter of Yorktown. Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1967.
Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom. New York: W. W. Norton and Company,
Inc., 1975
Louis B. Wright, The First Gentlemen of Virginia: Intellectual Qualities of the Early Colonial Ruling
Class. Los Angeles: Adcraft Press, 1940.
Chipstone. Yorktowns Poor Potter: A Man Wise Beyond Discretion, Marth
McCartney and Edward Ayres. Accessed November 15, 2010
http://www.chipstone.org/publications/CIA/2004/mccartney/mccartneyindex.html.
Nol, Hume Ivor. Here Lies Virginia; an Archaeologist's View of Colonial Life and History. New York:Knopf, 1963.
Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1982.
Richard L. Morton, Colonial Virginia Vol. II: Westward Expansion and Prelude to Revolution, 1710-
1763. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960.
Riley, Edward M. "Suburban Development of Yorktown, Virginia, during the Colonial Period." Virginia
Magazine of History and Biography 60.4 (1952).
Riley, Edward M. "The Ordinaries of Colonial Yorktown." The William and Mary Quarterly 23.1 (1943).
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