In 18th-century Cape May, knitting was more than a household skill. Women and girls produced woolen mittens for trade, supplying merchants and markets as far away as Philadelphia. Their work became part of a substantial local industry, documented in merchant accounts, household records, and even a story told by Benjamin Franklin.
Cape May County, established in 1692 in the province of West Jersey, became part of the unified British colony of New Jersey in 1702. Although the region is often remembered for its maritime activities, including whaling, fishing, and the timber trade, surviving historical records reveal another important part of its economy: the commercial production of hand-knitted woolen goods.
In a letter to Benjamin Vaughan dated July 26, 1784, Benjamin Franklin recalled an incident involving his wife, Deborah, a boatman, and a fashionable cap.
A boatman who traveled between Cape May and Philadelphia had performed a small service for Franklin and refused payment. As a gesture of appreciation, Deborah sent the man's daughter a fashionable new cap. When the young woman wore her cap to a local meeting, it attracted considerable attention. Other girls in the community wanted similar caps from Philadelphia.
According to Franklin, the desire for fashionable caps and ribbons encouraged local girls to knit worsted wool mittens for sale in Philadelphia. The money they earned allowed them to purchase the fashionable accessories they admired. Franklin used the story to illustrate an economic argument: the desire for fashionable goods could encourage productive work and benefit others through trade.
Other historical records reveal that knitting was also an established commercial activity in Cape May, extending well beyond this single anecdote.
In 1757, Cape May merchant Jacob Spicer Jr. faced a familiar household problem: his family needed clothing, and he had to determine how to pay for it.
Spicer, a prominent merchant and member of the New Jersey Assembly, kept detailed records of his business and household affairs. His accounts offer a remarkable glimpse into the relationship between knitted goods and the everyday expenses of a colonial family.
In 1756, Spicer had advertised his willingness to accept locally produced goods in exchange for merchandise. Among the items he specifically sought were mittens. He announced that “a large quantity of mittens will be taken.” The following year, Spicer calculated that his family would need approximately £14 13s. 4d. (14 pounds, 13 shillings, and 4 pence) to purchase materials for their clothing. His list included leather for his sons' breeches, a waistcoat for Elisha, a coat and waistcoat for Jack, fabrics for the girls' gowns and petticoats, and a quilt for Judith.
How could the family obtain the money needed for these purchases?
Spicer's calculations provided an answer: the production of knitted mittens. He planned to produce 220 pairs of mittens, valued at 16 pence per pair, which would amount to the money required for the family's clothing expenses. He estimated that the work would require 44 pounds of wool and calculated the spinning and knitting labor needed.
In 1758, Spicer prepared a broader estimate of Cape May County's economic resources and consumption. His statement listed the annual value of several local products and activities, including livestock at £1,200, oysters at £600, white cedar lumber at £500, and the mitten trade at £500.
The figures were estimates, but they show that Spicer regarded mitten-making as an economically significant activity within the county.
We know about Spicer's 1756 advertisement and his 1758 economic estimates through Maurice Beesley (1804–1882), a Cape May physician and local historian. In 1857, Beesley published a book titled Sketch of the Early History of Cape May County, in which he reproduced these and other historical records. His work appeared as part of a New Jersey geological report and was also issued separately. Digitized copies are available today through the New Jersey Archive and the Internet Archive.
The 1757 household calculations were preserved in a different publication. In 1848, Beesley supplied extracts from Spicer's diary to the New Jersey Historical Society, which published them in its Proceedings. This was the society's historical publication, not Spicer's original handwritten diary.
Some of Spicer's original papers still survive in the New Jersey Historical Society's collections, including a diary from 1755–1756 and copies of extracts from later diaries. When Beesley reproduced Spicer's 1758 economic estimates in his 1857 book, he described the mitten trade as a valuable contribution of the county's female industry.
Spicer was not the only Cape May merchant whose records reveal the importance of knitted mittens.
James Cochran maintained a merchant ledger covering the years 1761–1776. His accounts document how local residents purchased merchandise, accumulated debts, and settled their obligations. Historian J. P. Hand examined this ledger and found approximately 262 customer accounts. Of these, 123 included payments made at least partly in mittens. According to Hand, more than 100 of the 262 account holders were women.
Customers used mittens to settle accounts for merchandise that included imported fabrics, ribbons, combs, silk handkerchiefs, and everyday household necessities. Rather than relying exclusively on cash, many Cape May residents participated in a system of barter and credit, using locally produced goods to pay merchants. A woman who knitted mittens could exchange the products of her labor for goods that might otherwise have required cash.
How substantial had Cape May's knitting industry become by the eve of the American Revolution?
One of the most remarkable records comes from 1775. Aaron Leaming Jr., a Cape May landowner, legislator, and diarist, recorded information supplied by a merchant identified as Mr. Holmes. According to Leaming's diary, Holmes handled approximately 350 dozen pairs of mittens annually. Holmes estimated that this represented roughly half the mittens produced in the county.
If his assessment was accurate, Cape May's annual production would have amounted to approximately 700 dozen, or 8,400 pairs of mittens. The estimate did not include other knitted goods such as stockings and caps or mittens produced for household use. Although the figure was an estimate rather than an exact production count, it suggests that mitten-making had developed into a considerable local industry. Hundreds of dozens of pairs were moving through commercial channels in a county that also depended upon agriculture, fishing, and maritime trade.
Cape May's position along Delaware Bay connected its agricultural and maritime economy to Philadelphia. Small sailing vessels transported locally produced goods to larger markets, including oysters, timber, agricultural products, and knitted clothing. The mitten trade formed part of this commercial network.
By the 1790s, Philadelphia newspaper advertisements identified mittens by their Cape May origin. Advertisements cited in J. P. Hand's research appeared in newspapers including the Independent Gazetteer, Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, and the Federal Gazette between 1790 and 1794. The use of the name “Cape May mittens” suggests that the place of manufacture had become a recognizable selling point.
Behind the thousands of mittens traded through Cape May were the hands of women and girls whose names rarely appear in the surviving historical records. Their work helped clothe their families, settle merchants' accounts, and supply markets beyond their communities. From Franklin's fashionable cap to Spicer's household calculations and Cochran's merchant ledger, the history of Cape May knitting reveals how an ordinary article of winter clothing became part of a regional commercial economy.
Although we have not identified a surviving pair of mittens that can be securely attributed to the Cape May trade, the documentary evidence provides a remarkable account of the people who made them and the role their work played in colonial life. Today, Bethlehem Trading Post continues to offer traditional hand-knitted wool mittens in several styles, along with gloves, for historical reenactment and everyday cold-weather wear.
The following resources include original historical accounts, published transcriptions of colonial documents, surviving manuscript collections, and historical studies. Each entry explains what the source contains and where to find the information discussed in this article.
Primary historical source — published transcription
Franklin recounts Deborah's gift of a fashionable cap and the subsequent conversation about Cape May girls knitting worsted wool mittens for sale in Philadelphia. The passage appears in the essay commonly titled On Luxury, Idleness, and Industry.
19th-century historical book preserving colonial records
Maurice Beesley, a Cape May physician and local historian, published this account in 1857. His book preserves several records relating to Cape May's mitten trade, including:
Page 186: Jacob Spicer Jr.'s 1756 merchant advertisement accepting mittens in exchange for merchandise.
Page 192: Spicer's 1758 economic assessment, estimating the county's mitten trade at £500 annually.
The complete book is available through the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/sketchofearlyhis00beesl
Direct links to the relevant pages in the New Jersey State Library's digitized edition:
1756 advertisement — page 186:
https://dspace.njstatelib.org/bitstreams/afff2802-0abf-4b18-a444-90ff82a17834/download#page=168
1758 economic estimates — page 192:
https://dspace.njstatelib.org/bitstreams/afff2802-0abf-4b18-a444-90ff82a17834/download#page=175
Historical society publication containing extracts from an 18th-century diary
In 1848, the New Jersey Historical Society published extracts from Jacob Spicer's diary, provided by Maurice Beesley.
Pages 103–104 contain Spicer's 1757 calculations concerning the production of 220 pairs of mittens to finance his family's clothing purchases, including the quantities of wool and labor required.
The digitized volume contains a printed transcription of the diary extracts, not photographs of Spicer's original handwritten pages.
Archival collection of original historical documents and later copies
The collection contains surviving papers associated with Jacob Spicer, including an original diary covering 1755–1756, handwritten and typed copies of extracts from later diary material, correspondence, and other records.
The catalog does not clearly establish whether the original handwritten entry containing his 1757 mitten calculations survives.
This link leads to the archival catalog describing the collection, rather than digitized images of the manuscripts.
Original 18th-century manuscript collection
Aaron Leaming Jr.'s diary for 1775 records information supplied by a Cape May merchant concerning the annual mitten trade.
According to the account, the merchant handled approximately 350 dozen pairs of mittens annually, estimated to represent about half the county's production.
The diary is cataloged in Collection 359, Book 3 (1775).
The following link leads to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's manuscript collection guide rather than a digitized copy of the diary.
https://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/0300.htm
Historical study based on colonial records
A detailed study bringing together Franklin's letter, colonial diaries, merchant accounts, newspaper advertisements, and later records of Cape May knitting.
Hand examines James Cochran's merchant ledger (1761–1776), reporting approximately 262 customer accounts, more than 100 held by women. Of these accounts, 123 included payments made at least partly in mittens.
The study also discusses Philadelphia newspaper advertisements published between 1790 and 1794 that identify Cape May mittens as a commercial product.
To locate the newspaper references: Open the document and search for the phrase "Multiple contemporary newspaper advertisements." The discussion appears after the material concerning Aaron Leaming's 1775 diary. The newspaper titles and publication dates are listed in footnote 14.
The study identifies these original records, but the link does not provide digitized images of Cochran's complete ledger or the individual newspaper advertisements.
https://studylib.net/doc/7705630/the_cape_may_mitten_trade-6.1-mb