Once upon a time, farmers had to grow hemp

I've been at this exploration for a year now, having started a week after New Year's 2021. The journey has led me places I never thought I'd go or even knew about, and I intend to post a reflection piece next week about midweek.

Today, I'm going to switch back to my side of the family, going back to the most profitable of the branches, that of Orpha Morse, my grandmother 12 generations back. One of her ancestors, Elizabeth Jasper, married into the Morse branch. The entry for her father, Lancelot Jasper, contains a link to his will, which follows:

"17 February, 1616 [1]

"To William, my son, and Francis [sic] his wife, for their lives, the tenement wherein I dwell, which I purchased of Gregorye Fysher, with the hemp land and crofy [2] thereto belonging, on condition that they pay to Rose, my wife, for life, 40s a year, quarterly; [3] otherwise my son Henrie is to enter thereon. 

"If William and Frances pay the annuity, then the tenement shall, after their decease, be equally divided among the children of my said son William and Frances, his wife, viz., Nathaniell, Jonathan, Joseph, Jerymie, Elizabeth, Bridgett, and Marye. 

"To my son Nathaniell Jasper and his heirs £5 6s 8d, payable by my son William within one year of the death of my wife Rose. 

"To my son William and his heirs 1 acre of land which I purchased of Elizabeth Sheppard, [4] he to plough and sow it with hempseed diring [sic] the life of my wife Rose, and the hemp to be equally divided between himself and my wife Rose. 

"My son William is to pay Annes Morse, my daughter, £3 within two years of the decease of my wife Rose, and to Elizabeth Morse, my daughter £3 within three years of the decease of my wife Rose. 

"To my son Jeremye and his heirs, if it please God he overlive me, a piece of land (2 acres) which I purchased of Edmond Fowle, he paying to Rose, my wife, 13s 4d a year for her life. My son Jeremye shall pay to my son Daniell Jasper £5 within one whole year of the decease of Rose, my wife, and to my son John Jasper £5 within two years of the decease of said Rose. If Jeremy die before his mother, "wch God defende" and "before he hath taken yt upp" then my son Henrie Jasper shall have the two acres, paying to his mother her annuity and to his two brethren, Daniell and John, the portions last-named; and in default of payment Daniel and John are to enter on the land. 

"My wife Rose shall have those rooms and fruit trees which I have reserved and which are now in my tenure out of the before-bequeathed premises, with ingress and egress and to the fire, for life. To my wife Rose on bed complete, as it standeth in my chamber, with one cupboard, a cupboard table, two coffers, a chest, a kettle, a little brass pot, a warming pan, two ale firkins, one mortar with the pestle, and a candlestick.

Executor: my son William

Witnesses: Robert Debenham, Edmond Fowle, Robert Fysher"

I was struck by the reference to hemp, which causes some controversy nowadays, though less so in recent years, because of its relationship to marijuana. Lancelot lived in the village of Redgrave in Suffolk County, England, and at one point in England, the law dictated that farms of 60 acres or larger had to grow a quarter of an acre of hemp or flax per 60 acres. [5] Hemp was often the preferred crop because it lasted longer and was especially useful for making rope, sackcloth and sailcloth. It could be used to produce a type of linen suitable for clothing. 

In Suffolk County, where Lancelot lived, farmers mostly grew hemp instead of flax, possibly because the climate and soil seemed more suitable for hemp and because hemp required less work. At the end of the 1500s, the wool trade began to decline because of falling demand in Europe, export restrictions, and the threat of war with Spain. Hemp became the crop of choice for the area.

For smaller farms, hemp may have been a kind of garden crop, with a portion of land next to the house being given over to growing the crop. Hemp growing caught on in other countries, and eventually production in the UK began to decline as foreign imports became cheaper. In 1928, the UK banned the production of hemp because it is a type of cannabis.

With the separation of CBD from the other components of cannabis, growing hemp has become legal again in the UK, with serious restrictions, as it is here in the states.

[1] His death is listed in the genealogy as  Feb. 22, 1616

[2] This may relate to the word "croft," used in Scotland to refer to the land, often a tenant farm, attached to a house.

[3] A shilling was worth 1/20 of a pound. So, two pounds? Figuring the value of a pound today is difficult. One site I looked at, measuringworth.com gives values based on different criteria. As a level of income, a pound in 1616 would be worth about £62,720 in 2020, according to that site. Purchasing power would be far less. 

[4] This would be his sister-in-law.

[5] At least some of the American colonies initially required farmers to set apart lands to grow hemp on. Hemp production continued to be an important part of the American agrarian economy until the early 1900s, when the government began to regulate it. The development of artificial fibers may have been the nail in the coffin. 

Image: cannabis sativa, the hemp plant.