The colony of Boston began to develop rapidly in the early 18th Century, and family life was no exception. Family life became a methodical process where each person, male and female, had a specific part that they filled to ensure the prosperity of the household. It was methods and procedures such as these that paved the way for the colonies themselves to prosper. These people must surely have known that their lives would be analyzed in the future to great extent by historians. It is interesting though that our families today don't seem to share that kind of feeling. Our lives are not as structured, and we don't write down every single thing we do. This could relate to the fact that now we have more in mail billings, expenses are not paid directly in hand, but through mail services. There is also a lot more long distance communication because of technology and the Internet. Perhaps records seemed more detailed and precise in the early 18th Century compared to now because our society these days doesn't feel our lives will be analyzed in the future by historians. Records of daily life today can be found everywhere on the Internet through various people's online journals. These may not be nearly as accurate as journals such as William Byrd, but they are journals nonetheless, and thus they do demonstrate a way of life in that they notate what is on the writer's mind. A definite clause of "your way of life" is what is on your mind. It is evident through documents such as the Balch family probates where every possession is listed with its liquid value displayed that your family's net worth was a great factor in determining your social status. This is why the government collects taxes based on our wealth; the government also in effect is the record-keeping body performing tasks such as inventory. The only time that the family ever really takes their possessions and lists them off is when so...