New Year. New Blogging Platform: This Blog Has Moved!!

For the past few months I have been blogging on https://thehistoryhag.blogspot.com/ and needless to say, it’s been a technological struggle. At least for me. So, what’s a poor hag to do? If only there was a platform that I was already using on a daily basis and was very familiar with? Oh wait! There is!

 

And so dear readers I have decided to leave my original platform and use facebook instead. I’m confident that this is the right decision. More importantly, I hope it makes it easier for you all to read, see, SHARE, use (remember to site me), and comment on my posts.

 

 I will be moving over all the posts from the old page, oldest to most recent. Once that is done we can continue on our “water laden” mid-19th century laundry journey.After that, we will move on to more historical topics and I hope a few historically related videos posts as well as live streaming events.

 

I’m looking forward to returning to our regularly scheduled programing and to put all of these technical difficulties far, far behind us.

 

To my new blog page please follow the following link

 

https://www.facebook.com/thehistoryhag/ 

Getting It Done: 19th Century Laundry Equipment

 

1844 Patent for a washing machine
That never really caught on

Throughout the years there have been, literally, hundreds of different inventions created specifically to help with the "laundry problem." Some of these innovations never caught on and others have. Maybe it was because the object was too expensive, hard to ship, did not work, or perhaps the general population was not aware of it.

Let's face it, before social media, word traveled slowly. By the time a person in California heard about a new product being produced in Maine there was a good chance, by the time they got around to purchasing it, production of the object may have stopped.

So what's a poor laundress to do with all the wash? Or more specifically what equipment would she have had to do it with?

Masonry Stove

To start, a large copper or iron pot for boiling water would have been very handy. Copper was preferred over iron because its lighter and has less reactive properties that cause stains in clothing. This "boiling pot" tended to be heated over an open fire, on a hearth, or over even on a masonry stove.

The masonry stove, a short rectangular stove made primarily of brick, was used for heating water. Not everyone had one. Those who did, tended to keep it in a separate part of the house or in an outbuildings such as a wash house or summer kitchen. Typically it had a hole or holes cut into the top of it for the pot(s) to sit in.

Galvanized buckets and tubs were not commonly found stateside until after the American Civil War. Until after the war, bucks been made from wood, tin, canvas, or copper were used. Ideally they would not of had any metal loops or nails because they could stain or rip clothing. When it was time to do the laundry, the tubs often were set on a laundry bench to help make it a little easier on the backs of those who were doing the wash.



Laundry bat in action

Although the washboard, a tool used to scrub out stubborn stains, was invented in the 1700's it was not patented until the 1830's. This doesn't mean that variations were not around. During the mid-19th century they would have been made from wood and were used when the garment needed a stain scrubbed out. Because it tended to be rough on clothing and the hands of the person doing the scrubbing other tools, such as a stiff brush, often were used before resorting to the washboard.

The laundry bat or board has been around for centuries and was used to beat or agitate the clothing. It is most often depicted in drawings and paintings prior to the 1860's and did not tear up the hands of the washer as much.

 Victorian Working Women
by Rejlander, 1854 - 1856

Another tool sometimes used to agitate clothing was the laundry dolly. It was used to stir or keep the clothing moving around in the boiling process which is said to help get clothing cleaner. A laundry stick or laundry fork could also be used to do the same thing although a laundry stick can be used to lift the very hot laundry from the boiling water. This is a very handy tool in deed!

A cotton wash line was recommended for hanging the clothing on and wooden "line pegs" to keep the laundry in place on the line. Wooden drying racks could also be used to dry clothing if space was at a premium. They could be free standing or made they hung from the ceiling of a room usually above a hearth or stove.

Ironing boards of yester year did not fold as they do today. They came in different lengths, shapes, thicknesses and each had a specific job. The boards would have been covered with a cloth made from either wool or flannel to protect the clothing.


Ad from 1863-64 newspaper. Note the cost

So much can be said about irons and more will in a later post but for now know this; like ironing boards, there are many different types and each are used for a specific job. Irons prior to about the 1870's would have been cast as a whole piece.

You may have noticed one item missing from this list. It is not a mistake. I have left off the laundry
wringer on purpose. It was not widely used until after the civil war and wringing laundry out by hand would have been a more common practice. More on the "Clothes Washer with Wringer Rollers" later on.

 

To Wash or Not To Wash

From June 1876 Punch The London Charivari

On washday everything that was soiled had to be washed. Laundry included bedding, nappies, sanitary rags, handkerchiefs, washcloths, napkins and anything else that need cleaned. This meant that hundreds of pieces of laundry might get cleaned in a single week.
Unlike today, washday tended to focus primarily on the clothing that was in direct contact with the skin. This underclothing, especially in the summer months, would become noticeably dirty and smelly. Washing was done more often in the summer then in the winter. According to Virginia Mescher, Author of Laundry and Cleaning Practices in the mid-19^th century:

“Washing clothes was done less frequently than it is done today. The many layers of clothing protected the outermost layers of clothing, and only the ones nearest the skin were changed frequently…It became a status symbol to do large, infrequent washings, since it proclaimed the family could afford a large wardrobe.”

For the most part underclothes were made of material that could be easily boiled and cleaned. A clean item of clothing will last much longer than one that is solid. Underclothes are what protected the outer clothing from the body’s harmful bacteria.

This is not to go to say that outerwear never was washed. It was washed when it needed washed. Advice books of the day strongly advised spot cleaning over washing the entire garment. Washing was hard on the clothes and it took more time and attention.
For example when a dress was to be washed all of the trimmings, such as the hooks & eyes, lace, and sometimes even buttons were taken off so as not to cause rust to the fabric or damage notions themselves. The lace and other trimming would be washed separately before being sewn back on.  One advantage of all this was that at this was a good for an old dress to be updated or repurposed into another garment.

By now it should be plain to see why the majority of those who did the wash preferred spot cleaning and other treatment methods if they could get away with it. It should also be painfully obvious why aprons are important.

A Laundress at the Pump

          Catherine Beecher suggested that as soon as a household’s budget would allow it laundry should be sent out of the home. Others suggested that laundry be done in the home because of the disease that were thought to be spread by public laundries.

           However if the budget would not allow it she suggested it be done by multiple people. Obviously the more hands that were involved the faster the work could be done. Undoubtedly other family members pitched in with carrying the water, hanging the linens, and ironing.

          
             Still this must not have been enough. Throughout the mid-19th century many women, men, and children where commonly employed as laundry workers or laundresses. They either worked in large city laundries, with women making up majority of the labors, or independently. Even families who were not finically stable could afford a laundress as a general day labor as many worked on the barter system rather then be paid in coin.

A laundress or hired woman who “came in” to their employers’ homes tended to be the poorest of the poor. They could not afford any equipment of their own and come around on laundry day to help with the wash. More common was the laundress who did the wash from her own home because it allowed for more freedom and less supervision from the mistress of the house.

 

SOURCES USED

Photographs used are either my own or belong to the public domain.

A full list of sources will be listed after the "Laundry Series" is complete

  

Laundry: Wash Day Woes

Laundry Hanging to Dry

There are few people I know who actually enjoy doing the laundry. Sure they may not mind doing parts of the process but I have yet to encounter one person who just lives for sorting, washing, folding, and putting away their family’s laundry. My own husband would rather scrub toilets and pull weeds then sort socks and put away folded clothes. He hates it with all his being because “It’s just a never ending cycle and it takes to long.”

Looking back to the mid-1800’s we see that attitudes towards laundry were very much the same as they are today but more for different reasons.

Catherine Beecher, author of several 19^th century domestic manuals, called washday “The American housekeeper’s hardest problem.” She even went as far as to personally advocate, though unsuccessfully, for its removal from the household routine.  Some of the general complaints associated with laundry included but were not limited to tender hands, aching backs, stiff necks, burns, emotional and physical exhaustion.

At a time with no electricity or running water, even a basic hand-washing took an amazing amount of effort and precious time.  For just one load of laundry to be washed, one boiling and one rinse, it took nearly fifty gallons of water. That much water weighs around four hundred pounds. That's the same weight as a piano or a motorcycle! This water had to be transported, in all manners of weather, to the wash area from a well, pump, or creek. Often it was hauled in buckets that could weight well over forty pounds when full. 

On a side note I can personally attest to the utter misery of hauling water in the cold. I remember spilling it down the front of my dress on my first of about ten  trips out to the pump.  The weather was frigid and by the time I  done I was soaked clear through and couldn't feel my thighs.  Talk about living history...

19th Century Wood Cut



Hauling water to start the wash was only the first part of the day. Once the first load had been boiled the wet clothes had to be wrung out. Prior to the civil war wringers were in production in the Unites States however most women were still wringing laundry out by hand until well after the war had ended. Wringing clothing out caused sore wrists, rough hands, and blisters from the chemicals that were used in the process. 

After that the still damp laundry was then lugged outside, individually picked up and hung to dry up on a line or laid out on bushes to dry. If the weather was damp or cold the clothing would be hung inside though not all the time. Once it was dry, the laundry was taken down and ironed. Ironing typically occurred the day after washday and took up majority of the day.

Ironing was not an optional finishing touch. It was necessary to iron your clothing in order for them to be considered clean. Heavier irons that weighted eight or ten pounds made work go much faster but were harder on the person who was doing the work.

 

To better understand what a typical laundry day was like, it is important to understand that on wash day, every other household chore suffered.  Meals on washdays were whatever was easiest to prepare. It might be reheated stew from the night before or some other simple dish. All other household tasks were put on the back burner and “a good husband would eat a cold dinner on washday and not grumble.”  A few lines from a cartoon by the famous British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson might just say it best: 
"Ah! My Old Friend I wish you had called at some more convenient time but this is washing day- I have nothing to give you but cold Fish, cold Tripe & cold potatoes- you smell soap suds a mile!"

One of the biggest misconceptions I have run into with laundry is this idea of it being 100% the woman’s job. That men would never be caught doing "women's work." This isn’t entirely so. We know from journals and letters that although women primarily did do the wash men helped when they were needed. It was not at all uncommon for a man to haul water and cut additional wood to help feed the fires on washday.  There are accounts of men doing the laundry themselves in a wide variety of situations.

Many of the surviving accounts come to us from journals and letter written during the American Civil War. Captain James Love, who was serving with the 8^th Kansas Infantry at the time, wrote in a letter to his finance Molly about how they had stopped to rest after several days of marching. While stopped in Murfeesboro, Tennessee on September 2, 1862 he briefly mentioned in the letter that all the men washed their clothes while they were there because they had a review and “looked very fierce after our trip.”

Another solider who served with the 12^th Indiana Volunteers, Charles F. Nelson, recorded in his diary that on April 6, 1863 “This morning still cool but pleasant. Done my washing. Received a letter.”

No matter who did the laundry one thing was sure. Laundry took up the majority of the day. However, the topic of "what day" laundry was done on can still be a of heated debate.

Most of us are familiar with the rhyme made popular by Little House in the Big Woods.

"Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday, Mend on Wednesday, Churn on Thursday, Clean on Friday, Bake on Saturday, Rest on Sunday." This described Mrs. Ingalls' weekly work schedule and who's to say it's not true but was it true for every "pioneer" or "1800's family" as some would have you believe.

My next blog post will go more into the particulars of doing the wash but just know one of the first things that most domestic advice books recommend that you do with your laundry before you actually wash it is to soak it for 12 to 24 hours.

Now, some claimed that it was best for families to change their clothes on Sunday so their dirty clothes from the week could be soaked before the dirt had time to set into the fabric. Others suggested that Tuesday night might make a better day to start laundry. That way, Sunday could be saved as a true day of rest. Still not everyone rested on Sunday.

One independent California woman recalled that her mother “said she’d wash on the day she wanted to, so she did!” I have found that those in more settled regions tended to start their laundry on Monday or Tuesday- but not everybody.

It really just depended on what worked for the individual.



McKinnis House Located outside of Findlay, Ohio

For example: I worked as a Living History Coordinator for an 1847 homestead in Northwest Ohio. We portrayed the Scotch-Irish McKinnis family who originally built the house. Now in that particular circumstance we did our soaking on Sunday. How did I come to that conclusion?

The family belonged to and were very active in the local Presbyterian Church. In the early to mid19th century the particular church they belonged to had very strict policies against working or doing any business that could wait on a Sunday. Exceptions to the rule where made for feeding livestock, light cooking, and on rare occasions tending to the harvest. The day was to be a day of rest.

It is well documented in the county where the house is that in the early to mid-1840’s members of the church were heavily fined and even temporarily excommunicated for working or engaging in trade on Sundays. Laundry is not considered a light chore by any means.

In other words beware the so called "one size fits all" impressions and don't be afraid to question what you've been told. The answers you find might surprise you!

SOURCES USED

Photographs used are either my own or belong to the public domain.

A full list of sources will be listed after the "Laundry Series" is complete but I will provide a list upon request.

 

Laundry: The Final Frontier

As a living historian, I get more then my fair share of questions about what life was like “back in the olden days.” The vast majority of the questions I get have to do with everyday life, the most frequent being “Are you hot in that?”

A more constructive question I’m often ask is usually along the lines of “How do you clean your clothes and how often?”  When I first started to portray life in the mid 1800’s I would have replied with something like “Well with strong lye soap and a scrub board of course!”

And why would that not be true? I had seen that very thing portrayed over and over again. In movies and at local museums we’ve all seen it done.  Heck, I even did the laundry like the ladies did way back then! My local museum said that it took most of the day to do but was pretty simple. All you needed was water, a scrub board, a wringer, soap, and in no time you would be washing the wash like a real pioneer lady!

But things changed once I stopped regurgitated what I had been told and started asking questions about what I was doing.

For example, I noticed that using the scrub board “properly” on every item was extremely time consuming, used a lot of soap, and was particularity hard on the clothing. Holes quickly developed, notions were lost, and in no time my knuckles quickly went raw. Combine this with the “strong lye soap” and I was miserable!

The experience, though painful, caused me to ask questions. Did they really scrub every garment? Did laundry soap have to be lye soap? Where did they hang laundry in the winter?

Luckily dear reader, these questions led to research and to some answers that threw everything I thought I knew right out the window.

My next few blog posts will be all about the laundry. The who, what, where, when, and how’s of mid-19^th century laundry practices. We will explore equipment, stain removal, and how to put present a laundry impression that is simple yet true to the period.   

If your planning on following this blog for the next few months remember that it's important to keep an open mind. You may not agree with everything I found but maybe that will inspire you to go on your own adventure.

Remember, research is a lot like going to see the physiologist. Unless you are willing to accept and make positive changes then there is really no point in doing it.

Historical Coops and My Reality

 

From The People's Practical Poultry Book
William M. Lewis
1871

When my husband moved us out into the country I told him I wanted chickens. I raised poultry as a child so I knew what I was getting into and what they would need. He on the other hand…
But before we could even think about purchasing the birds we needed to figure out where we would keep them.
Well right away I had visions of a historically accurate coop and dove into hours of research. There really is a lot out there about chicken coops or pens-especially in the later part of the 19th century.
One of my favorite resources for this topic is The People's Practical Poultry Book; A work on the breeds, breeding, rearing, and general management of poultry. It was written in 1871 by William Lewis a man who really knew his poultry.

Lewis described in detail over a dozen different coops in his book all with their own particular advantages. The barrel and close coops are good for someone who has little means as they don't require much work to put together. Where as the Rhode Island  and Virginia Poultry Houses are for those who would rather have more of a permitted structure for their flock.

He seemed to favor coops that were movable, rat proof, and economical. I found it interesting that Lewis recommended that coops should be made without a floor so that they could me moved from place to place. Not having a floor was a benefit because it saved on costs for the floor, food, and help to keep bugs down. It also allowed the chickens to dust themselves more in the dirt which "help to keep off the vermin."  Apparently this idea of Chicken Farming, by moving the coop every few days, is not a new one!

The Corn Crib

However the most impressive of directions for a chicken coop can be found on page 116. The Octagon Poultry House is just what is sounds like. It is a chicken coop that is built to be in the shape of an octagon and can house up to thirty birds. The building is ten feet wide by six feet tall and sit on legs that raise it about a foot in the air. The picture in the book (above) shows that their are several windows to help with ventilation and even a weathervane on the top. Talk about classy!

Alas I would have no such Octagon Poultry Mansion!

Before & After

Our old farm house sits on two acres and has an even older barn. Attached to barn is a rickety old corn crib. Some time ago, someone decided to make park of it a tool shed. They closed up one end, added a door, and lined the entire inside with wood.

This was to be the coop. It took a while to clean out but once it was it really was not too terribly far off from what was recommended in the 1871 publication. In Lewis's instructions for a "Rhode Island Poultry House" he says that " The house may be built of pine boards, or may be clapboarded and plastered with lime; in either case it should have a good plank floor."

The Run

 

One of the things we decided early on was that the hens would have an enclosed outdoor area to run around in rather then free-ranging on the property. At the moment we do not have a rooster to protect them and we have a problem with predators-mainly raccoons.

Lewis says "We find in the Practical Poultry Keeper what is termed therein a wire-covered run for chickens, and is deemed by the author a sensible way to keep young chicks from being destroyed by cats or rats." We took this advice and made an enclosed run for our hens to be out in. Also realizing that it is probably nor going to keep a raccoon out at night, we shut the door to the inside of their coop once the sun goes down.

The top of the run is covered to provide shade and there is plenty of grass and dirt for them to dig around in. My husband also chose to put a door on fence so we can easily get in and out of the run. Needless to say I am still pretty impressed by how good it looks.

If your not careful a few raccoons
can wipe out an entire flock. So it's
important to wither keep them out
or get rid of them completely.
Two in one trap! Told you
we had a raccoon problem.

One thing that we did that was not recommended is that we decided to cover the original wood planking so as to protect it from the chicken manure and any moisture. Originally, I wanted to cover the floor with tar paper and tack it down. However my father owns a flooring store and had a small piece of laminate flooring that he let us have for the floor. It works very well. After we got the laminate installed, I put down some cedar chips and straw for the bedding.

Our Girls and their Coop

Since we first got our “girls” a few weeks ago, we have also added a sliding door on to the small opening that goes out into the chicken run. With this we are able to shut the coop up at night without having to enter it. We also added a  simple wire screen door on the outside to allow for greater circulation during the hot summer days.

I think our pullets, female chickens under a year old, are happy with the arrangement and although our set up is not 100% historically accurate we did what many of our ancestors would have done. We made do with what we had and it works for us.

Resources Used:
All pictures are my own or where available under Public Domain

 

Our Feathered Friends: Chicken Breeds 1800-1900

If you’re looking to start a 100% historically accurate flock of your own, one that focuses on several diverse breeds from a certain time period, you might be disappointed. Up until the latter half of the 19^th century, the average household flock would have been fairly deluded.

This is because purebred birds would have more likely of been found in or near ports cities. When the birds were taken or traded further inland, the more diluted the breed become as the birds gradually mix with other chickens. This was unless of course there was more of an effort to keep the breed pure that is.

More affluent farmers, those who had the means, or those with an interests in birds (mainly cockfighting) would have been more likely to keep and refine a certain breed of fowl for one reason or another. Still, this does not mean that farmers of lesser means would never have had a pure bred chicken as chickens were often used in trade. The purest chickens of the time would have been game birds, especially in the south though many of these breeds have been lost to time.
It’s also important to keep in mind that those who raised chickens did so for more for the eggs and not necessarily for just the meat. Yes, cockerels, male chickens under a year old, were generally fattened up and eaten when they were hatched but breeding came from the desire for bigger eggs not for bigger “monster” chickens.

So if you still want a flock just as the average farmer would have had in the early or mid-1800’s then go with a flock of crossbred game birds. But if you would like to have a flock that focuses on popular breeds of a certain era, then I say go for it! Even by raising a few chickens you would be helping to preserve a heritage breed of poultry as well as a small bit of our history. I find that pretty amazing!

Below is a quick list of some poultry breeds from 1800-1900 many of which are threatened.

Dominque 19th Century Image

Breeds 1800-1840’s

Dominque
It is believed that the Dominque was imported from what is today Haiti and is recognized as America’s first chicken breed. They were fairly common in the American colonies as early as 1750 but really took off in the 1820’s. 


Dorking
This chicken is famous for being good layers, quality meat, and five toes. They come in several varieties with the white colored Dorking being the oldest, having originated sometime before 43 A.D. The breed came to America before 1840 and were entered in their first poultry show in 1849. In 1904 they were the most popular breed in England and are known to be a fairly docile breed.

Java

The Java Chicken came to the United States sometime after 1835 but before 1850. They come in
four colors with the black having a green sheen to it. They were prized for their high quality of meat and egg production.

                                                                Plymouth Rock

Queenie, our barred Plymouth Rock pullet

There are seven different varieties of Plymouth Rock Chickens but the barred variety was the first to be developed. This breed was first exhibited in Boston, Massachusetts in 1849 and then after disappearing for a while before reappearing in 1869 in Worchester. It was a very popular breed of chicken until after World War II.



Polish Chicken 19th Century Image

 Polish
Contrary to the name the Polish chicken did not originate in Poland. It is believed that these birds were brought from Spain and then to Holland before coming to America sometime in the 1830’s. This breed was kept primarily for its egg laying and by the 1850’s they were fairly widespread.

 

Breeds 1850’s-1869

Andalusian Chicken

Andalusian
Sometime between 1850 and 1855 this breed came from England to the United States. This chicken has a distinct blue feathers and white earlobes. They are known as wonderful foragers and lay a large number of eggs.





Buttercup
Although Buttercups came to America from Sicily in 1835 it was documented as being sold in Dedham, Massachusetts in 1860 amongst neighbors when they has become more common. They are also known as the “Flowerbird” because of its coloring and the two single combs that merge in front over its beak.

Hamburg Chicken Varieties

 

Hamburg

The Hamburg is an old breed. It originated in Holland sometime before the 1300’s and were developed into the Silver Penciled and the Golden Penciled varieties. In 1785 they made their way to England and arrived in America around 1856.

 

 

Redcap

From the early 1800’s until the middle of the century, the Redcap was one of the most profitable birds on the English market. The breed was brought over before 1870 and was prized for its high egg production

Breeds 1870’s-1900

Orpington

This chicken was bred to be a good layer with good quality of meat.  It was developed in 1886 in London and showed up in a Madison Square Garden in 1895

 

Wyandotte Chickens 19th century image

Wyandotte

This breed was developed in the United States in the 1870’s and appears in 15 different varieties. They really started to take off in the 1880’s and 1890’s.

Rhode Island Red

This is one of the most well-known American breeds
of chicken. They were first developed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the 1880’s. They are famous for their large brown eggs and the fact that they can lay 200 to 300 eggs a year.

Buckeye Hen and Rooster 1910 Image

Buckeye
These birds have been developed to be cold-weather tolerant and have the distinction of being developed by a woman. Nettie Metcalf lived in Warren, Ohio in the late 1800’s and was looking to develop a bird that would be more tolerant to Ohio’s cold winters and hot summers. Her breed was introduced something in the late 1890’s and it really took off. Though often confused with the Rhode Island Red, these birds have their own characteristics and are not as aggressive.

 

Jersey Giant

Jersey Giants were developed between 1870 and 1890 by two brothers from, where else, New Jersey. The brothers wanted to develop a bird that would eventually replace the turkey and breed these birds to weigh up to 13 pounds a bird.

 

NOTE: All images used were either taken by me or belong to public domain but still please check with me before using an image just to be safe!

Sources Used

The Livestock Conservancy

Backyard Poultry Magazine

More sources available on request