The rest of the time they tended the fields, took care of their livestock, chopped wood, fixed fences, and repaired the house.
They relied heavily on their faith and spent much time in prayer.
The last half of the 19th century was marked by the Puerto Rican struggle for sovereignty. They had to work hard all year long just to survive. A census conducted in revealed a population ofColonial Life In America - The Hardships The settlers did not know how to live in the rugged wilderness and had no experience in preparing for the harsh, bitter cold winters.
Congress established Puerto Rico's status as an unincorporated territory.
Women worked in complementary occupations: domestic service, child care, gardening, and household production, either for home use or for trade. In addition to Dutch textiles, French silks for dresses and Indian tea were prohibitively expensive because imported goods from anywhere other than England were limited by the Crown, even for wealthy families.
Later came the adventurous explorers and those sent by European Nations to begin business ventures in this uncharted new land. For slave children, not surprisingly, the outlook was even grimmer.
During the spring they would be tilling and planting the fields. Today we might find it hard to believe that like modern generations, the colonists dealt with premarital sex, pregnancy, and blended families, along with some hardships short lifespans, dying children that we might have a hard time understanding.