One of my own ancestors, who was an elderly widower when he died, had a hogge and some pigges, and 5 horses, but not a single cow. It was noted how much Virginians loved their horses. They'd ride them everywhere, even for the shortest trip. A joke was that a Virginian would walk two miles to get his horse so he could ride it one mile. Nancy ------- I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. --Daniel Boone On Jan 7, 2007, at 6:41 AM, Sunshine49 wrote: > If you look at the wills and inventories of estates of the early > middle class and lower middle class, often they had 'hogges' and > 'pigges', a horse or two [or more], but no cattle. Pork seemed to > have been very important in the early diet, and I'm talking well into > the 18th century. But hogs were quite often left to roam a forest or > an island [there are many "Hog Islands" still in existence], to live > off the land, acorns, beech mast, etc. So if people started thinking > they could just go out and steal somebody's hogs, it could seriously > impact some settler and his family. So I guess the law had to take > such a theft quite seriously, to discourage it. > > Nancy > > ------- > I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. > > --Daniel Boone > > > > On Jan 7, 2007, at 5:06 AM, Clara Callahan wrote: > >> I am curious about two things described in this write-up: >> >> http://www.getchwood.com/punishments/curious/chapter-11.html >> >> Pouring cold water down someone's sleeve doesn't sound like much >> of a punishment when compared to branding, whipping, lopping and >> chopping. Is anyone familiar with this type of punishment in early >> Virginia? >> >> What's with the hogs? I've seen many early Virginia court >> records which involved hog stealing and the consequences. Why was >> the punishment so severe and was hog theft more of an offense than >> cow theft? If so, was it because pork could be cured and kept >> longer than beef? >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >> instructions >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html