Family life was important during the Middle Colonies. Each family was its own support, team, co-worker and friend. Homes were filled with generations from grandparents to aunts and uncles, cousins and the immediate family. The father was the head of household and in complete charge with his wife to be considered his “helper”, while the children worked closely with their parents to learn the chores at hand. For men their jobs entailed taking care of the livestock, farming the land, chopping wood and making or fixing tools for work. Women were responsible for all the cooking and cleaning, making soap, butter, candles and clothing but they also had to figure out how to dye clothes, spin wool and thread. Even though the work was difficult and tiresome, the community would find time for leisure and play when they would get together to build a new home for another family. At that time, once the work was complete the men would have shooting contest and foot races. The women would have a corn husking contest and quilting bees where they would sow various cloth together in order to make a quilt. As this family life is described it is relative to middle to lower class existence but even in the 17th Century there were class divisions. The wealthy would not have lived this way or worked this hard. They were merely hire women to take care of their children and to do the household chores while hired men would tend to their land and fields.
Doyle, J.A. 2005. The Middle Colonies. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books
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