This was due to the high number of children in a family. The average number was about seven to ten. Some far exceeded that; others barely managed having two or three. .
In the early colonial families, every member had a different job. The head of the family was mostly the father. He presided over family prayers and worked on the family farm. Mothers usually raised the children, acted as midwives to other women in town, and tended to household chores. Up until about the age eight, boys and girls wore the same thing. They only wore wool or linen dresses. After a boy reached the age of eight or nine, he would begin to help out with the father's job, which was farming, and a dress would not suit the job very well. Girls usually wore their hair long, but always pulled tightly back and up under a bonnet or hat. The reason for this was that social and religious custom did not approve or look kindly upon women or girls being in public with an uncovered head. The women were given a workload since their early days. For example, while boys were off with their fathers, girls would stay home with their mothers, mostly helping out with the cooking, sewing and laundering. Some daughters, however, went in to the services of families in the neighborhood, and were apprenticed to a certain skill, such as lace making or cleaning. .
Appearance was one of the largest changes in The United States. Each of the different colonies talked, walked and had different kinds of manners. During the 19th century people lived in a very dirty and smelly world. Human waste was a big issue because no one would clean up the outhouses or chamber pots. Their were flees and insects everywhere. Children's heads and all of the beds would be filled with bugs. Finally people began to realize that bathing was a necessity. People began bathing regularly and in a more private area (Larkin 157) . .
The way people dressed and wore their hair changed throughout the years.