Is it possible for you to access a copy of the original document, Grant?

I have worked with many 17th-century inventories and documents, and 
transcription errors are very common.  This is not surprising, given that 
many are (or were, at the time that they were copied or transcribed) in 
poor condition, as you noted.  There is also the unfortunate fact that not 
everyone who undertakes the effort of transcribing early documents is 
familiar with the items that were in common use at the time, making it 
difficult to rely absolutely upon the accuracy of transcribed sources.

I've also seen dozens of references to stilliards/stillyards in 
17th-century inventories (with more variations in spelling than I care to 
bore you with here), but I have yet to encounter an item-- traveling alone 
or in pairs-- that was known as a "shillard" and that would have had a 
place in a colonial household.  There is, of course, the chance that this 
individual possessed a true novelty, but I'm not sure that there's reason 
to believe that's the case, given the full context of the inventory.

Yet there's no way to be certain about it without first being certain that 
the transcription is accurate.  If you can get (and share...?) a copy of 
the original document, we can probably figure out if you're dealing with a 
true "mystery object" or if we're spinning our wheels over a transcription 
error.

Looking forward to solving this mystery...

:) Tasha Jones
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At 09:50 PM 8/18/2005, you wrote:
>I'm working from a transcribed copy--done by someone
>else, so I can't comment on how it appears on the
>original document, but it seems to me that it would be
>awfully easy when doing a transcription to
>mis-interpret a "T" as an "H" (STillyard to SHillard).
>Especially if the text was faded, ink was worn, the
>original author had bad handwriting, or it may have
>just been phonetically written.  That seems to be the
>case with the Periauger. You can't get much more
>phonetic than "petty auger", especially when spoken
>with an 18th century Virginia drawl.
>
>-Grant