Blacksmithing in Colonial America

Virginia’s first blacksmiths arrived from England in 1607. At that early point in her imperial presence in North America, Britain realized the importance of blacksmiths to the maintenance and growth of her colonies. Men who produced horseshoes, firelocks, nails, fixtures, and the ironwork for conveyances were crucial for settlement in Virginia’s wilderness. The services provided by a blacksmith were also necessary to the economic success of a colony. Tools could not easily be replaced, so a skilled blacksmith was needed to keep them in a state of good repair.

A blacksmith’s place of business - a forge - operated at Smithfield because plantations on Virginia’s frontier did not have the convenience of nearby markets. The multitude of free, indentured, and slaves lived at a plantation that was settled on the edge of the civilized world (as they regarded it). When Col. William Preston needed labor on his plantation, he supplied the need by furnishing an enslaved person or an indentured servant. One of Smithfield’s first blacksmiths was Heinrich Linkost (later known as Henry Linkous). Germany was not a unified nation, but rather a collection of autonomous kingdoms and principalities in the late eighteenth century. One of these principalities was Brunswick and its king was paid to furnish soldiers to the British Army.

Private Heinrich Linkost was one of these soldiers-for-hire, although it is quite likely that he was forced to make himself available for hire by the sovereign of Brunswick. Linkost became a prisoner-of-war to Patriot authorities following British Gen. John Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga in 1777. The British and Germanic “Convention Prisoners” were marched from upstate New York to Charlottesville, Virginia where they were kept in barracks. As a “Convention Prisoner”, Linkost was offered the chance to be freed and receive American citizenship. He would soon marry, start a family, and accept an invitation by Col. William Preston to come to Smithfield. At Preston’s plantation, he practiced his trade as a blacksmith. The newly minted citizen may have been bound to an indenture as Preston was in the habit of engaging labor he needed from tradesmen through those means. Linkost’s descendants are widespread throughout the New River Valley region today.

Blacksmiths needed assistance as they were likely quite busy in their useful occupation. Therefore, blacksmiths often took indentured servants and apprentices. A blacksmith’s apprentice served a minimum of three years for the tradesman to whom he was apprenticed. Some boys were bound apprentices as early as they age of eight. In addition to teaching the trade, master craftsmen generally agreed to teach the apprentice to read and write.

The art of the blacksmith would be an indispensable skill in an agricultural and frontier community like Virginia during the colonial period. A traveler named William Barker remarked that Virginia was one of the best countries he ever saw for all sorts of tradesmen and blacksmiths could earn seven shillings and six pence a day.

Another known blacksmith who likely plied his trade at Smithfield was an enslaved man named William Poindexter. Poindexter came to Smithfield in the years leading up to the Civil War. Following emancipation, Poindexter remained in Montgomery County and served as a deacon at a local church.