Simply Southern

Elizabeth Payne | 27 | Part time housewife | Full time God worshipper

[justanothercolonist]

Who Do They Think They Are?!

The nerve of that negro! This just makes me so infuriated. You bring this “thing” into your lovely home, give him work, and a place to sleep and this is how he repays you? Bless your husband’s soul for being so gentle, if it were me I would have had him whipped 50 times over! Elizabeth, I must inform you, that your attempts to educate these negroes may be in vain. I tried that once so she could help around my workshop and it when horribly! I just wish I was there to witness this righteous action, and I had the chance to inflict some pain with my best sword. How dare that “negro” ruin your husband’s shirt with his filthy blood! I recommend some hot water and scrubbing with a brush to lift the stain, god knows how  many times blood has gotten on my apron… I hope you get a good replacement soon Elizabeth and good luck with your future posts, I will be reading!

Best Regards,

This is Peter Marquette signing off. 

[newyorker-xoxo]

New Neighbors

I was strolling around the block the other day when I saw that the manor a little ways down the road was being occupied by a new family. I saw them outside sorting through their things. They spoke English but their accents told me they weren’t British. I went up to them and greeted them and found out they were from France! How exciting? So I invited them over to our manor for some tea and had a nice little conversation with them. Charles was at work so it was just the kids and me. They had 5 children, some of them were around the same age as mine, so they were all outside playing. Apparently they’ve heard so much about the equality and opportunity here in New York and they decided to move over here. The commerce and business has been drawing over so many new people. I think it’s great how diverse we are over here in NYC. Me and my besties were at the market the other day and we saw a bunch of Dutch people hanging around some Germans. I’ve heard that in some other colonies, they don’t even allow immigrants from places like Germany or France. My friend Abigail doesn’t approve of the diversity here in New York. When Germans moved in next door to her, she packed up all of her things and moved down the block. I think shes ridiculous but whatever. Hates gonna hate. But now I have new French neighbors which I think is really cool. Oh and I also got these super cute shoes so overall, it was a pretty good day. 

[justanothercolonist]

I find that so fascinating Eliza! I am not too familiar with your expression “strolling around the block” because where I live, we just have a lot of open land and field to roam. But that must be exciting to actually have neighbors. Here in Virginia, the plantations are so large and far apart that I don’t consider myself even having neighbors. I rarely see new faces passing by. I have to ride a horse all the way over to my friends’ residencies. I wish I could meet some French people. It must be fun to meet new people and have teatime with them. Your experiences are so foreign to me; they are like a fantasy and I really love reading your posts.

As much as I love Virginia, I am thinking about visiting or even moving up to New York. The diversity and equality opportunities you talk about seem very interesting, especially since life is very set in stone here in Virginia. But by equal opportunities, do you mean for you and you slaves? (I don’t think I’d be too ready for that, since they are pretty much lower than scum...) Or do you mean equal education, because it would be great to have a school established so I don’t have to pay too much for my sons’ and daughters’ individual schooling. Anyways, I don’t think I quite fit in with most people here in Virginia, who I feel like would agree with your friend Abigail more. But I can’t really voice my opinion too much since my husband is in command of everything. Whatever, a girl can dream. I hope you have a great time meeting new people and wearing your shoes! 

[justanothercolonist]

The Little Things

It’s a rather exciting life I live, if I do say so myself. Today, I woke up at the crack of dawn to use the toilet. Unfortunately, it’s located outside and it was quite chilly this morning. Then I got dressed in my favorite clothing style - layers! My attire is modest and wonderful, just the way God intended! Anyways, I started my day by making the fire to warm our house. And then I got the children up and dressed. I cooked the whole family a nice meal for breakfast and then I got to work. I spent the entire day sewing, spinning, and weaving clothes. I made some beautiful shifts for the children to wear. I’m positively sure they will love it.

The absolute highlight of my day was hearing the great news that my dear friend Anna is pregnant! Her husband John rode all the way over here on his beautiful horse to deliver the news. He wanted to tell my husband first, but alas he was somewhere on this large plantation and couldn’t easily be found. So John came to the house and found me. I am so excited for him and I wished him the best. And now that Anna is pregnant, she is going to get a midwife of her own. In the meantime, I decided to start working on some baby clothes to give them when the baby is born. I’m quite excited for them! I might as well anyways, since I make clothes all day, everyday.

[justanothercolonist]

A Rude Awakening

You will not believe what happened last night! It was truly horrendous. As I was lighting the candles around the house so we wouldn’t be living in the dark, I saw a shadow in the kitchen move. I crept closer and eventually saw a face in the darkness! It was a negro! He was sneaking around, stealing some of our bread! I was furious! I immediately screamed and my husband came down before the negro had the chance to run off! It was such a horrible night.

My husband justly took care of him. The negro was disciplined immediately in front of the twenty-four other slaves. That’ll show them a lesson, and surely put him in his place. This just proves that we can’t trust these mongrels. And to think, I used to want them to be educated so they could read! My husband returned to our room with a dirty, blood stained shirt. So I had to wash that out immediately. Sometimes I just have way too much work to do. But I know God is watching over me and guiding me through my struggles.

[justanothercolonist]

School Day

My children have many chores around the house. The girls must help me clean, cook, sew, tend to the slaves and animals, etc. Most girls don’t get educated, but my children deserve the best. I feel like it’s quite important to know how to read and write properly, so my girls can study the Holy Bible well. Our governess already teaches my daughters how to read and write, as well as lessons that prepare them to be great mothers and wives.

The boys help their father and learn how to run the plantation and make purchases. There aren’t many schools near us since these plantations are so far apart. My husband hired a very prestigious tutor all the way from England to educate my boys. And today was the boys first day of tutoring. They were extremely excited and it was hard to control the littlest ones who are 5, 6, and 7 years of age. But eventually I rounded them up, introduced them to their teacher, Mrs. Livingstone, and sent them off to study with her. They are growing up so quickly, it feels like they are men already :’)

[justanothercolonist]

Grateful

Our tobacco has been grown with the finest care by our worthless slaves. It’s amazing! And the best part is, there’s just so may of them! On some summer days, they work slower which angers my husband. He’d give them a good beating.

Our many indentured servants also help grow our tobacco. And so I thank the Lord for the headright system. We paid for these indentured servants to come over here, and in turn, they work for us. And we get 50 acres of land for each of them! We recently got a young boy as our servant. And when he spoke, I was pleasantly surprised to hear his French accent! He’s a hard little worker as well. I wish he had to work for us longer than 7 years because he is actually quite a diligent worker. We get servitude and more land, what more could I ask for?

[justanothercolonist]

I must say, I am such a proud owner of slaves. We have about 25 on our plantation. Here, they are working hard to gather and dry the tobacco. As you can see, it’s quite a process, but they get the job done.

[justanothercolonist]

Today my daughter Anna sketched me this drawing. It is of me helping her get ready in the morning. She’s quite stylish. Her daily outfit consists of a:

Shift (white undercoat)

Petticoat

Shortgown

Apron

Neckerchief

Cap

She’s such a cutie!

[justanothercolonist]

About Me

Hi! I’m so glad to be sharing my world with you all. It’s so boring to be sitting at home while my husband works all hours of the day. So let me introduce myself.

My name is Elizabeth Payne.

I was born and raised in the fantastic colony of Virginia. I’m the youngest of 6 daughters and I’m obviously my father’s favorite. Being daddy’s little girl has its downsides though, because I couldn’t inherit any of his land, so I had to find myself a man - and boy did I! My husband and I live on a great 600-acre plantation, where we grow the finest tobacco! Not to brag but, we sell the best tobacco in all of Virginia. And I’ve never really lived a poor life before. My father was a great planter who owned a ton of slaves, and once I reached 17, I married my lovely and powerful husband, who (unlike me) obtained much of his land from his father. He works so hard to keep everything around the plantation in check. I, on the other hand, spend my days working hard to keep my loving family going.

We live a proud Puritan life, striving everyday to please our one and only Lord. Together, we have 6 children who are mighty useful around the house. I had an 7th child but he died young, getting ill from that horrible Malaria that used to ravage our people decades ago. Poor little thing. But that’s the past. Despite that tragedy, I feel very proud of the life I live with my family. I’m sure God is very pleased with us as well. We pray daily for our savior.

Anyways, I hope that you love my life as much as I do. Stick around, I think we can have some fun! It’s up to you to decide if I’m really “just another colonist” :)