Richardson, John

John Richardson first appeared in the Mason family manuscript account book in the Hugh Douglas estate account on 29 November 1816. At this time, John Richardson was a very common name across the United States. There were at least three men of the same name living in Loudoun County at the time of the 1810 federal census. While it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which John Richardson is listed in the account book, it appears that the Masons were doing business with a John Richardson who was involved in the shoemaking trade.  

Richardson repeatedly appeared in the account of the Hugh Douglas estate “to buy leather,” “for shoema[king],” “to buy leather for Negroes,” and “to buy leather…for making Negroes Shoes.” He was likely a local shoemaker, or cordwainer, or worked for one as a journeyman. As he was cited most often in relation to “leather for Negroes,” Richardson most likely produced or helped produce low-quality winter shoes for enslaved individuals, of the type usually provided once a year by slaveholders to their bondspeople.  

By the early 1800s, the shoe trade in the United States was well-established and extensive. Though almost exclusively custom-made prior to the American Revolution, the demands of the military rapidly increased the need for mass-produced shoes. Competition was fierce among shoemakers for custom orders, ready-made shoes, and wholesale products, and there were many established shoemakers in Virginia and the District of Columbia. Because of this competition, many local shoemakers did other work, such as farming, in addition to shoemaking. Richardson may have been in this situation, as his transactions in the account book are for as little as $5 or $6 every few months at a time when “Negroes shoes, strong” sold wholesale for approximately $7.06.  

Richardson’s repeated appearances in the Mason family manuscript account book illuminate not only a strategy that poorer people utilized to make extra money during the period, but an example of the market for items designed to fill enslaved people’s needs that existed separately from those of free individuals. 

by Hayley Madl