Margaret McCorkall: A Brunswick Woman

Margaret McCorkall: A Brunswick Woman. . , "Janet Schaw, visiting Carolina in 1775, found there much that was not to her liking but the women she regarded with admiration." , Julia Cherry Spruill, Women's Life and Work in the Southern Colonies p.64, Margaret McCorkall owned this lot and willed it to her daughter and son-in-law. Dr. and Mrs. John Fergus. Artifacts indicate that the house was built sometime after 1760 and only briefly occupied. The home was torn down Won: much of the town burned. It may have been a victim of the hurricane of 1769 in which. according to Gov. William Tryon. "Many houses [were] blown down with the Court House of Brunswick County." Other evidence suggests that the house was never completed., The colonial housewife was an extraordinary woman. Unlike frontier women Brunswick women had access to many services and goods from around the world. They also used products from nearby plantations and local gardens., Most landed citizens in the town wen; middle to upper-middle class. The typical housewife probably had at least one house servant to help cook and watch the children. Indentured servants as well as slaves did household chores., Across the colony upper class women attended to guests and entertained with elaborate meals. One visitor. Dr. John Brickell in 1729, noted that North Carolinians were as hospitable as any people in the world and gave away more provisions to guests than were consumed by their own families. It was not uncommon for strangers as well as friends to be invited into one's house for food and lodging. Brickell wrote the the diet of the Carolinians consisted "chiefly of Beef, Mutton, Pork, Venison in Abundance. Wild and Tame Fowl, Fish of several delicious Sorts, Roots. Fruits, several kinds of Salads, Bread. Butter, Milk, Cheese Rice, Indian Corn, both of which they concoct like a Hasty Pudding..." Beverages in ordinary use were rum, brandy, malt, tea, coffee and chocolate., caption) A lady of fashion