What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

“JEDIDIAH SNOWDEN … carries on his business of Cabinet and Windsor Chair-Making … The MILLINARY BUSINESS is carried on as usual, by ANN SNOWDEN.”

Jedidiah Snowden and Ann Snowden pursued different lines of business, but they placed a joint advertisement in the January 19, 1774, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal.  Jedidiah informed the public that he moved from Market Street to Front Street, “where he carries on his business of Cabinet and Windsor Chair-Making, and sells them at the most reasonable rates.”  For her part, Ann declared that the “MILLARY BUSINESS is carried on as usual” and she “has imported a large and general assortment of MILLINARY.”  She then listed dozens of items among her inventory, including “a genteel assortment of figured and plain ribbands,” “mens, womens, boys and girls white and coloured gloves,” “pearl, French and English white wax necklaces,” and “India, ivory, bone, and black fans.”

The Snowdens did not specify their relationship to each other in their advertisement.  Most likely they were husband and wife, though they could have been father and daughter, mother and son, brother and sister, cousins, or some other relations.  Whatever the case, Jedidiah was the head of household, so his name and information about his business came first.  Although Ann’s name ran in the same size font as Jedidiah’s name, “Cabinet and Windsor Chair-Making” appeared as a secondary headline, also in a larger font than the rest of the advertisement, while “MILLINARY BUSINESS” merely appeared in capital letters integrated into the regular copy rather than treated as another headline.  Still, Ann’s portion of the advertisement occupied the most space on the page, approximately four times as much as Jedidiah’s portion.  The Snowdens made a much larger investment in promoting Ann’s “MILLINARY BUSINESS” than Jedidiah’s “Cabinet and Windsor Chair-Making.”  Perhaps Jedidiah believed that he had established such a reputation for his work that he did not need to provide more details beyond telling readers that he had moved and sold the furniture he made “at the most reasonable rates.”  Ann, on the other hand, competed with merchants, shopkeepers, and milliners who constantly imported new wares and updated their advertisements in the several newspapers published in Philadelphia.  Demonstrating that she offered the same selection of merchandise as her competitors may have been imperative to the milliner.  Advertisements jointly placed by husbands and wives or other male and female relations rarely listed the female entrepreneur first, but no matter their format they did reveal that both advertisers contributed to the household economy through their participation in the marketplace.