Chimney Sweep - United States

United States

The history of sweeping in the United States varies little from that in the United Kingdom. Differences arise from the nature of housing and the political pressures. Early settler houses were built close together out of wood, so when one burnt it spread quickly to neighbouring properties. This caused the authorities to regulate the design of flues. From an early date, fire wardens and inspectors were appointed

Sweeping of the wide flues of these low buildings was often done by the householder himself, using a ladder to pass a wide brush down the chimney. In a narrow flue, a bag of bricks and brushwood would be dropped down the chimney. But in longer flues climbing boys were used, complete with the UK tradition of coersion and persuasion using burning straw and pins in the feet and the buttocks. Sweeping was not a popular trade. During the eighteenth century the employment of Negro men and boys spread from the south to the north. Negro sweeps were not popular, and were thought to be inefficient and their shoddy work responsible for many fires. It was claimed that there were fewer fires in London where chimneys were swept by white boys than in New York. As in the UK, Smart's sweeping machine was available in the US shortly after 1803, but few were used. Unlike the UK, there were no societies formed to advocate the climbing boys' lot. The one novel produced in the states in 1854, championed the cause of 'Tit', a London climbing boy, contrasting his fate with the good conditions experienced by a Negro slave, 'Tat'. Descriptions gleaned of the boys' working conditions differ in one respect: the masters hired the sweep boys "from their owners".