Joseph Fossett

How this work helped shape America

Born enslaved in Richmond, Virginia, in 1780, Joseph Fossett developed specialized ironworking skills within the industrial operations at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. As a teenager, Fossett worked in the Mulberry Row nailery, where enslaved boys manufactured nails from iron rod, and by age twenty he had become a foreman of the nailmakers. After additional training in blacksmithing, Fossett became Monticello's head blacksmith in 1807 and managed the shop for approximately two decades. He shoed horses, fitted iron tires to wagon wheels, sharpened agricultural implements, produced tools and chains and performed metalwork for customers beyond Monticello. After becoming free in 1827, Fossett continued working independently as a blacksmith and eventually operated his own forge in Charlottesville. His career documents the skilled Black American labor that supported nail production, agricultural equipment, transportation and metalworking in the early American economy.