|
Post by mary on Mar 7, 2003 17:30:24 GMT -5
Good sir-- While our search into existing accounts of the lead region is not complete, we thus far have not run across references similar to those that you have found. We do have references to running bullets at Fort Jackson in Mineral Point... and these mentions cover the use of local lead rather than pewter. My husband tells me that pewter is an alloy--or mixture-- of tin mixed with a small proportion of another metal. Generally the metal was lead but sometimes copper, antimony, or bismuth was used. For the pewter to be of any use as bullets, he believes the utensils and plates would almost have to be the tin/lead alloy. I am informed that the amount of lead in pewter varied from say colonial times (a higher percentage use of lead) to early Republic, when the amount of lead used in pewter apparently fell. I recall being told that so-called "pewter" spoons and so forth made during the POST-colonial period would be perfectly safe to use today, as the chances of lead being used in the alloy was small-- HOWEVER I have no way of verifying this statement! Rest assured, I don't think that assuming such utensils are safe for use is a wise practice!! We will continue to look! Kind regards, Mary.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Jun 4, 2003 14:30:27 GMT -5
From James H. Eckles' narrative of the Hall sisters' abduction, we read:
I wonder... does this account speak of literally of a pocket "handkerchief," or was the cloth perhaps her pellerine?
Mary.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Oct 30, 2002 12:58:36 GMT -5
Many folks have held that a lady always wore her cap and pelerine during waking hours. Indeed, there are portraits, accounts, and paintings that seem to support this assertion. Likewise, there is evidence that paintings by Mary Ellen Best and William Sidney Mount which suggest alternatives to the "always" idea. Consider Mount's 1831 painting entitled "Dancing on the Barn Floor." Note that the young woman is without either cap or pellerine. If this painting was in color, you might see a red cloth worn across the chest of the young man. Might this be the young woman's pelerine? And what is the matronly woman pictured in the rear of the scene up to? Mary. cgfa.sunsite.dk/mount/p-mount6.htm
|
|
|
Post by mary on Oct 30, 2002 10:12:57 GMT -5
I am pleased to come onto the Black Hawk War Discussion Board, and would like to welcome you to a new discussion board dedicated to primarily to women's issues of the 1820s and 1830s--- clothing, household material culture, children and children's issues, foodways, social customs, regional and family practices and observances, and the like. Please feel free to open discussions on a variety of societal and social topics of interest within this particular time period. I look forward to your thoughts, questions, issues, observations, research projects and findings, opinions, and thoughts! Welcome! Mary.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 1, 2002 13:39:02 GMT -5
Thanks for your kind words! We hope to share information in the same manner as found in the rest of the board. As difficult as it can be to find information on the BHW, it is even more difficult to get correct information on women's issues! I look forward to future discussions! We'll miss you this weekend Mary
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 1, 2002 13:43:42 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this great snapshot of the time and area!
Do you have a sense of how close this store may have been to the fort?
Mary
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 4, 2002 9:46:53 GMT -5
This weekend we had a wonderful opportunity to do first person at Lincoln's New Salem. Among the many living history presentations present were some folks playing period appropriate instruments. The wonderful folks there were more than happy to share their love of music. They generously taught my daughter Rachel how to play the dulcimer. I am aware that this instrument is typical of the upland Southerners, of Scots/Irish descent, who inhabited the lead region. Can anyone share period music sources, preferably those available on line? Mary
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 12, 2002 11:56:08 GMT -5
A sampling of original children's clothing from the period may be found at www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/collections/online/voyager.cfmThis source only lists a few of the many original clothing items in the collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society. I would like to thank Nick Hoffmann for passing on this resource! Mary.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 18, 2002 21:11:37 GMT -5
The mountain dulcimer, as we know it today, has been known historically under a variety of names. It has been referred to as the Appalachian dulcimer, lap dulcimer, Kentucky dulcimer, as well as local variant names such as the hog fiddle, music box and the harmony box. Many believe that the dulcimer is a modern phenomonen truely reflective of only the twentieth century. Serious research on the dulcimer has been done only since the late 1950's. Research by Dr. Lucy Long, a professor in North Carolina, suggests that the dulcimer was more widely used than originally thought. Her work is my source for this post. Ralph Lee Smith and L. Alan Smith documented the origins of the dulcimer and the organological development of the dulcimer is divided into 3 periods. They are the transitional period (1700 to mid 1800's), pre-revival or traditional (mid-1800's to 1940) and contemporary. In the transitional period, the dulcimer was developed in the Shenandoah River Valley of SW Penn. and western VA., blending the British, Ulster Scot and lowland Scot music traditions. Dulcimers are easily constructed by hand and generally appear to be made by isolated individuals, although several pockets of family tradition arose in N. Carolina and Va. The settlement school and the crafts movement brought the dulcimer to the attention of those outside of the Appalachians. Traditional playing methods probably varied, using adaptations from bowing with a fiddle and strumming from banjo or guitar. It is usually placed in the player's lap and strummed with fingers, plectrum or feather quill held in the right hand. The traditional repetoire of the dulcimer includes the full range found in the mountains, dance tunes, traditional British balladry, minstrel show tunes and gospel. One should carefully note the dates of specific ballads and minstrel show tunes for the period they are trying to represent. Additional information and a complete bibliography can found at www.bearmeadow.com/smi.histof.htm. See dulcimer. Milo Quaife,who wrote A Woman's Story of Pioneer Illinois The society described by Mrs. Tillson was predominantly southern in origin and sentiment. In 1818, with a population of 35,000 "4 persons out of every 6 were of southern stock, one was of foreign origin and 1 of northern (New England or Middle Atlantic) antecedents." Based on this information, we suspect that inhabitants of the mining region MAY have had modest amusements or musical instruments... easily transported or at least easily and inexpensively made. This may include the mountain dulcimer. Such modest amusements certainly would have increased with the arrival of families to the area.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Nov 4, 2002 13:10:03 GMT -5
Marge-
Could you please elaborate on your message regarding the violins.
Thanks! Mary
|
|
|
Post by mary on Dec 2, 2002 18:39:44 GMT -5
It is interesting to note that our modern perception is that Christmas was not celebrated nationally until after the Civil War. Certainly, the celebration of this holiday occurred earlier, but often depended on your background, religion and experiences. I found it fascinating that the terms Bob mentioned in his post do reflect a much earlier celebration of this holiday, but in terms we are not used to using. An example of this was the popular English celebration of 'wassailing'. I, up to recently, thought of it as a sharing of the ' holiday spirit' with friends and neighbors. It is in fact, more of a trick or treat activity that young men in particular played on their betters, and employer. I encourage anyone interested in learning more to do so as we begin to celebrate this blessed holiday season.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Dec 1, 2002 12:02:51 GMT -5
Yes... Chapter 11 of Mrs. Kinzie's Wau-bun reads:
The arrival of Christmas and New Year's brought us our Indian friends again. They had learned something of the observation of these holidays from their French neighbors, and I had been forewarned that I should see the squaws kissing every white man they met. Although not crediting this to its full extent, I could readily believe that they would each expect a present, as a "compliment of the season," so I duly prepared myself with a supply of beads, ribbons, combs, and other trinkets. Knowing them to be fond of dainties, I had also a quantity of crullers and doughnuts made ready the day before, as a treat to them.
To my great surprise and annoyance, only a moderate share of the cakes, the frying of which had been entrusted to Louisa, were brought up to be placed in the "Davis."
"Where are the rest of the cakes, Louisa?"
"That great fellow, Hancock, came in with the fatigue party to fill the water-barrels, and while I had just stepped into the store-room to get some more flour, he carried off all I had got cooked."
And Louisa made a face and whined, as if she had not herself treated every soldier who had set his foot in the premises.
At an early hour the next morning I had quite a levee of the Ho-tshung-rah matrons. They seated themselves in a circle on the floor, and I was sorry to observe that the application of a little soap and water to their blankets had formed no part of their holiday preparations. There being no one to interpret, I thought I would begin the conversation in away intelligible to themselves, so I brought out of the sideboard a china dish, filled with the nice brown crullers, over which I had grated, according to custom, a goodly quantity of white sugar. I handed it to the first of the circle. She took the dish from my hand, and deliberately pouring all the cakes into the corner of her blanket, returned it to me empty. "She must be a most voracious person," thought I, "but I will manage better the next time." I refilled the dish, and approached the next one, taking care to keep a fast hold of it as I offered the contents, of which I supposed she would modestly take one. Not so, however. She scooped out the whole with her two hands, and, like the former, bestowed them in her blanket. My sense of politeness revolted at handing them out one by one, as we do to children, so I sat down to deliberate what was to be done, for evidently the supply would not long answer such an ample demand, and there would be more visitors anon.
While I was thus perplexed those who had received the cakes commenced a distribution, and the whole number was equitably divided among the company. But I observed they did not eat them. They passed their fingers over the grated sugar, looked in each other's faces, and muttered in low tones -- there was evidently something they did not understand. Presently one more adventurous than the rest wet her fingers, and taking up a few grains of the sugar put it cautiously to her mouth.
"Tah-nee-zhoo-rah!" (Sugar!) was her delighted exclamation, and they all broke out into a hearty laugh; it is needless to say that the cakes disappeared with all the celerity they deemed compatible with good-breeding. Never having seen any sugar but the brown or yellow maple, they had supposed the white substance to be salt, and for that reason had hesitated to taste it.
I learned that Juliette Kinzie was a well-bred Connecticut Yankee. Some of my sources are telling me that Christmas was less observed in New England than a kind of "Thanksgiving" holiday, usually "celebrated" in December. The Indians mentioned in Mrs. Kinzie's account appear to have learned of the traditions from their French Catholic neighbors.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Dec 13, 2002 10:25:35 GMT -5
Mr. Thomas Ford, in History of Illinois, p. 94 offers the following regarding an apparent transition in women's fashion:
The female sex had made a still greater progress in dress[after 1830]. The old sort of cotton or woolen frocks, spun, wove and made with their own fair hands and striped and cross-barred with blue dye and turkey red had given place to gowns of silk and calico. The feet, before in a state of nudity, now charmed in shoes of calfskin or slippers of kid; and the head formerly unbonnetted but covered with a cotton handkerchief now displayed the charms of the female face under many forms of bonnets of straw, silk or leghorn. The young ladies instead of walking a mile or two to church on Sunday, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands to within a hundred yards of the place of worship as formerly, now came forth arrayed complete in all the pride of dress, mounted on fine horses, and attended by their male admirers.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Oct 31, 2002 10:33:55 GMT -5
Click on this link for original clothing preserved in several museums... kverschoor0.tripod.com/clothes/clothes.htmAlso scroll to the bottom of the page for fashion plates, and 1830's embroidery patterns. As is so often the case, our ancestors saved and preserved their finest clothing, while their everyday work clothes were worn, patched, repaired, and worn again until used up. Please don't think that the clothing represented in the fashion plates or museums substantially represents the day-to-day clothing worn by women as they perfomed their daily chores. Particularly in the Lead Region! The professional commentary and original fashions in both artifact and artisitc rendition must be compared with the accounts, diaries, letters, and journals of the women who actually lived and worked on the western frontier--particularly Illinois and the Michigan Territory. In my opinion, where conflict exists between the highest of fashion represented in museums and plates, and the recollections of dress worn by pioneering women, the writings of the original women should take precident. For example, if the original is fine silk... but say Juliet Kinzie (just for an example) says she wore cotton at the Fort Winnebago agency, then this writing should be weighted accordingly... and guide our impressions. Your thoughts? Mary.
|
|
|
Post by mary on Oct 31, 2002 10:08:53 GMT -5
|
|