Bored or Board

 My inventory transcription is all about a board today. Are you bored with my transcription stories? Take heart at the warm hearth, for they are almost done. Just a few more tough words to (hopefully) figure out.

I was stuck on a board - nayled down, you might say. I'd read about the board in several places and it was stuck in my head. The table that our colonial ancestors sat at to dine was often called a board, for that's what it was, a long narrowish board. Unattached were two trestles, on which you placed the board, the board cloath, the napkins, perhaps some spoons, the meal trough or the trenchers and the common cup. When the board was not needed, you removed it from the trestles and placed it against the wall. You sat on the form (a long bench), or stools.

I had a phrase for which I couldn't figure out the middle word, or explain what it had to do with the first word. In context, it went like this:

2 yds serge at 5 sh stockings 3sh 108 ti steele at 16d  lether and ? boards 50sh.

Translated: 2 yards of serge (fabric) at 5 shillings; stockings, 3 shillings, 108 pounds of steele at 16 denarii (pence), and leather and ? boards 50 shillings. The total value of those items was ten pounds and seven shillings.

I tried every combination of letters I could think of for that middle word, which looked to me like balland or colland. This is a short post, but it was not a short search. I just finished reading a book written in the 1800s about furnishings in colonial homes. It was an excellent read for my purpose, and I have a better idea of what chests and tables and chairs looked like. They were much more ornate than I thought. But there was no word that could help me with my mystery word. The other thing was, most of the objects belonged in the home of a wealthier family, like the governor.

I  wondered. I pondered. I even thunk. In so doing, I remembered that in my ancestor's will, he had a great table. Why would he need a board if he had a great table? What is a great table? I checked, and in the inventory there was a table and a form. So, I am not quite sure if the table had legs attached to it or if it was a board; I will check into that. But, I wondered, why would he need a board if he had a table and a bench?

I had written "bellows?" under the word earlier, but dismissed it. I returned to bellows, and googled the word for more detail than the dictionary gave me. I looked at several sites. 

(Reminder here: look for the lock button or http: in the URL. My googling keeps my anti-virus hopping.)

Think, Peggy, think. Was it really "leather and"? Yes, I was sure of it. "Leather and bellows boards." It couldn't be anything else. 

The phrase follows lots of fabric, 5 pewter spoons, steele; it precedes more fabric, chissols, gouge, and drawing knives. I know that Francis was a blacksmith; I assume Ann used the fabric. 

What do you need to make bellows? Wood and leather and the necessary tools. Leather and bellows' wood. An apostrophe after the "s" in "bellows," a plural noun, tells me that in one of his chests full of fabric, perhaps he had the makings of a pair of bellows. Bellows for his hearth or his forge, I do not know. Perhaps enough for both - and maybe enough to sell a few; 50 shillings is a lot of wampum. 

Why it wasn't written 2 pounds and 10 shillings I don't know, but it works out in the equation. 

I do hope you weren't bored with this bellows' board story.