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From: "Harriet M Chase" <>
Subject: [CHASE-L] Fw: [DAVENPORT] What "Below the Salt" means, and It's Implications to Pamunkey Davenports
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 11:50:34 -0400

I thought this to be interesting bit ole history
Harriet
----- Original Message -----
From: <>
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Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 8:53 AM
Subject: [DAVENPORT] What "Below the Salt" means, and It's Implications to
Pamunkey Davenports


: Pamunkey Davenports & Others Interested:
:
: In my introductory discussion relative to Davis Davenport's
ancestry,
: I used the term "below the salt" to describe Davis' social status compared
to
: that of Major John Waller, Davis's new neighbor in 1696. "What do you
mean
: by that?" I have been asked by a cousin.
:
: It's a succinct term from Medieval English times describing a
person
: of lower social standing. In those days, Lords of Manors and those of
their
: household, excepting cooks and others involved in food service who ate in
the
: kitchen, all persons of the household took their meals together and sat at
a
: common table, which was a "T" in design. (King Arthur's Round Table being
the
: notable exception.) The Lord of the Manor or the Master of the Household,
his
: wife, his family, and honored guests and favorites sat at the cross table,
: all others, seated according to their status in the household, were at the
: long table extending from the cross table. Salt for individual seasoning
was
: placed in one or more trenchers, depending on the length of the long
table,
: in the center of the table midway, one-third, one-fourth, one-fifth,
whatever
: needed, down. Those of highest status in the household sat closest to the
: Lord or Master and his lady at the cross table. Those of lesser status or
in
: disfavor sat down the table according to their relative status, with Pages
: and Apprentices, young nobodies on their ways to becoming somebodies,
sitting
: at the foot of table, below all the salt, but everyone at the long table
: beyond those who sat above the first salt were "below the salt." Hence,
by
: station or place at the table one social status in the household was
: identified and all knew who their "betters" were. A visitor was placed
where
: the Host determined he belonged, and woe unto anyone who "gave himself
Aires"
: and seated himself above his station.
:
: Pecking Order was possibly more crucial in Colonial Virginia than
it
: was in England, for all life in the Colony centered on one's social
status.
: You'll recall that the earliest Company of Adventurers to Virginia in 1608
: was largely composed of youthful Gentleman, who were of little use in
doing
: the work that it took to establish the Jamestown settlement because they
had
: no useful skills nor work ethic and considered themselves above common
labor.
: They were parasites on the labors of the Commoners, uncontributing mouths
to
: feed.
:
: The Social Structure was cemented into Seventeenth Century English
: life from Medieval Times. In frontier Virginia, the English did not
change,
: but scoured the streets of English cities for the homeless and
vagrants--the
: jails for debtors and petty criminals, and shipped them to Virginia to
become
: indentured servants and do the common labor. According to Governor
Berkeley
: in 1671, four out of every five shipped to the Colony in its first fifty
: years died within a year of their arrival, largely due to the harshness of
: the life and their poor physical condition on arrival. The English turned
to
: Slavery in Virginia only because Blacks had the physical strength to do
the
: work and could survive the environment. Virginia Planters did not embrace
: Slavery until the 1690s, after eighty years of failure with the dregs and
: jail birds of English cities who could not survive the labor of pushing
back
: the forest to make fields, and planting, cultivating, and harvesting the
: Tobacco that created the wealth that justified Virginia's existence.
:
: Not all who came to Virginia were Gentleman or Indentured Servants.
: Merchants, Craftsmen, Yeomen, and Younger Sons made their own way or had
it
: made for them to seek their fortunes. Whoever they were, they were
: classified by social status, not by merit or contribution to the good of
the
: Colony. An uneducated, shiftless son of a prominent English family
shipped
: to Virginia as a "Remittance Man" was of higher social regard and more
: entitled to a place "above the salt" than was a hard working, highly
skilled
: artisan, who had to sit "below the salt," possibly at the foot of the
table.
:
: The point is that in Colonial Virginia Society, social caste was
: primary, and only the brash and inconsiderate married out of their Class,
up
: or down, and did so at the peril of losing whatever status they had
obtained
: or were born to. By becoming Virginia land owners and small planters, men
of
: low stature in England could advance in both economic and social status in
: Virginia, but it was a slow, unsure process. Wealth did not guarantee
that
: one common born a place above the salt.
:
: I'll be touching on the matter of Social Status constantly as I
unfold
: what we have learned about the times of Davis Davenport, because of some
of
: our Pamunkey cousins are determined to make a Silk Purse out of a Sow's
Ear
: insofar as our ancestry is concerned. The reality of our Beginning will
be
: considered bitter medicine, by some. Bitter medicine, if needed, is
better
: administered in one, early dose where Genealogy is concerned. Delusions
of
: Grandeur contribute nothing but fiction to our effort.
:
: Every corollary family known to have been associated with the
Pamunkey
: Davenports in the first two generations after Davis was higher up the
social
: ladder than we were. Accept the premise that we started below the salt,
and
: have worked our way up, and the rest of the story will fall into place
: comfortably. We started low, but we have been upwardly mobile on these
: Shores for at least three hundred and fifty years.
:
: John Scott Davenport
: Holmdel, NJ
:
:
: ==== DAVENPORT Mailing List ====
: The Pamunkey Davenport Chronicles are available on CD.
: Visit the link below for a free preview and instructions on ordering.
: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nvjack/davnport/chronicles.htm
:
: ==============================
: To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records,
go to:
: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237
:

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• [CHASE-L] Fw: [DAVENPORT] What "Below the Salt" means, and It's Implications to Pamunkey Davenports by "Harriet M Chase" <>