Annie Lash Jester

Annie Lash Jester was a Virginia historian and genealogist whose research focused on colonial families, records, and daily life in the early Chesapeake. Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century was published in 1957 by the Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation as number seventeen in its historical booklet series. The study examines settlement through households, food, clothing, furnishings, labor, travel, and the gradual development of more stable communities. Jester gives particular attention to the practical work that made colonization sustainable, including the responsibilities carried within family homes. Her membership in the Virginia Historical Society and experience with genealogical sources supported a documentary approach grounded in inventories, public records, and named residents. Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century complements political histories by concentrating on material conditions and ordinary routines. Its concise chapters and illustrations turn dispersed evidence into a readable account of how Virginia households changed between the first settlements and the end of the century.