Abstract
In the first part of this column, we examined the activities of women living in the Delaware village of Kuskusky (present-day New Castle, Lawrence County) who had dealings with the Pittsburgh trading firm of Devereux Smith and Ephraim Douglass. In Pittsburgh, another group of women worked tirelessly to bolster the firm’s business, often contributing to their own household incomes in the process. Among the principal goods shipped to Pittsburgh were thousands of yards of woolen, linen, and cotton textiles, including printed cotton calicoes from India. Arriving in bolts or pieces—a January 1775 shipment listed four pieces of “dark ground Callico” at 18 yards per piece—the fabric was given to the women to be made into ruffled linen, plain linen, or calico shirts like the one purchased by Captain Pipe’s wife at Kuskusky.