Tobacco was shipped in what was called a Hogshead, which was a very  
large barrel, 4' high and 30" wide at the top, and a full hogshead  
weighed about 1,000 pounds. The value changed at different times but  
it was reckoned as a hogshead, half a hogshead, etc. It may seem like  
a lot of tobacco to us today, but it wasn't really, if you had   
tobacco farm, you grew a large amount of tobacco. In early days  
things were paid for-- fines, debts, buying land, etc.-- almost  
always in tobacco rather than English units of money.

Nancy

-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.

--Daniel Boone



On Nov 8, 2008, at 11:16 AM, J Armstrong wrote:

>
> Just as a side note, you'd probably need to know what condition the  
> tobacco
> was in when weighed.  Green on the stalk? Dried, on the stalk?  
> Dried and
> stripped from the stalk? I'm guessing the last condition, as being  
> the more
> likely form that could be easily stored and shipped.  Or perhaps  
> the  standard cask
> or barrel held a particular amount of tobacco, so that a fine of   
> 720 pounds
> would be an amount that was instantly recognized, like a gallon of   
> milk.
>
> Janice
>
>
>
> I would  like to know how many pounds of tobacco an average planter in
> Virginia in the  late 1600's or early 1700's could harvest.  I  
> guess I'm just trying
> to  get some sort of frame of reference as to how much money we are  
> talking
> about  when I'm reading about early lawsuits.  For instance, I have  
> an ancestor
>  who was ordered after losing a lawsuit in Westmoreland Co, VA, in  
> 1703 to
> pay  720 pounds of tobacco.  To me this seems like a lot of  
> tobacco.   However,
> in reading through early court records, I'm seeing a lot of orders   
> for
> 400-700 pounds of tobacco.  So, I'm just trying to find some frame  
> of  reference to
> understand how much money we are talking about.  Any  help?
>
> Cindy Cornwell  McCachern
>
>
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