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Have you ever thought about what life would be like without all of the sounds that we take for granted?  Phones, cars, television, planes, air conditioning, and motors all make a peculiar noise.   Are there days when just the sirens of rescue units stress you out?   

Do you sometimes feel that you would enjoy spending just one day outside in warm sunshine listening to the sounds of gurgling streams and birds chirping in the trees?

What about the smells around about you? Have you ever thought about the odors that you take for granted because they are part of your life and so familiar to you? Do you know that they are very different than the ones our grandparents experienced? Homemade bread and wood burning in the stove were part of their daily life.  Have  you ever smelled soil rich with forest loam right after a warm spring rain?

Once, I asked my grandfather what he missed most in his life that his grandparents had taken for granted as being part of their own.  He never hesitated an instant before he replied.  Lumber was the single word he uttered with such emotion that it startled me. 

Seeing my reaction, he went on to explain that his grandfather had a true understanding of the forest which he had  never been able to share because his  father never saw the value in his learning about any of it. It had become possible in his own father's lifetime to go to a sawmill and order whatever kind of lumber needed to build a house or to lay a floor.  His grandfather had gained his knowledge of timber from working with past generations of his family. 

My grandfather went onto say that  his grandfather could tell the board feet in any tree from simply looking at it as it stood in the forest. To know the quality and usable board feet of lumber in a tree before it was cut was a skill that my grandfather was sorry that he had never had the opportunity to learn.  It was a skill that he was unable to pass down to members of his own family.

A drastic new way of life emerged during my grandfather's lifetime.  As a young man he traveled by horseback and yet, before his death he sat in his own home and watched a man land upon the moon.  Within his lifetime the telegraph was replaced by telephones, radios and television. He remembered a time when all consumed food was produced at home.  Electricity and indoor plumbing were marvelous inventions that had became part of his own life which his own grandparents would never have believed possible. 

Indeed much has changed in just the past few generations.  Have you ever given thought as to what some of these changes may have made in the life of your own family?

I do hope that you will join me as we travel back in time to the days of not so long ago and explore all facets of life as it was lived by our families. 

                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                             Billie Jo 

                                                                      
pages

Emigration - Immigration

Arrival at Jamestown

The word, emigration, is defined by the Library of Congress as, the act of leaving one’s country to live somewhere else.  It may also be defined as, the act of moving from one country to another with the intent of not returning.

Emigration is to be distinguished from the word, expatriation, which means, the abandonment of one’s country and the renunciation of one’s citizenship in that country.

 In many instances expatriation is a result or the consequences of emigration because emigration denotes the removal of a person and that person’s property to another country.  Sometimes, emigration is  used in reference to the removal of a person from one section to another section of the same country.

 Immigrant is normally defined as the person who emigrates or enters another country with the intent of becoming a permanent resident of that nation.
  

Jamestown Island - May 2007 - 400th Anniversary 

 The U.S. Federal Government did not require captains or masters of vessels to present a passenger list to U.S. officials before January 1, 1820.  The lists that remain for the period before 1820 are varied in content. They range from lists that contain names only to those citing a person's full name, age, and country of origin.
There were approximately 650,000 individuals of all nationalities who arrived in America prior to 1820.  They were predominately English and Welsh with smaller numbers of German, Irish, Scotch-Irish, Dutch, French, Spanish, African, and other nationalities. These folk [immigrants] tended to settle in the eastern, middle-Atlantic, and southern states.

There were over ten million immigrants that arrived from northern Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia between 1820 and 1880. Starting in the 1840’s and 1850’s there was a large increase in the number of immigrants from both Germany and Ireland.  Some of these folk settled in large eastern and mid-western cities, but most migrated to the mid-west and western parts of our nation.

More than twenty-five million immigrants, mainly from southern and eastern Europe came to America during the period between 1880 and 1920. Many of these individuals came from Germany, Italy, Ireland, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and England. Many of these folk settled in the larger cities, including New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Castle Garden [now Castle Clinton] was America's first immigrant receiving center.  From the 1^st of August 1855 it welcomed more than eight million immigrants that arrived in the state of New York before it was closed on the 18^th of April 1890. Castle Garden was succeeded by Ellis Island in 1892.

Ellis Island 1905

Ellis Island opened in 1892 as a federal immigration station, a great change was taking place in immigration to the United States. Immigrants poured in from southern and eastern Europe as arrivals from northern and western Europe–Germany, Ireland, Britain and the Scandinavian countries–slowed. Jews escaping from political and economic oppression in czarist Russia and Eastern Europe [in 1910 some 484,000 arrived] and Italians escaping poverty in their country. There were also Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Serbs, Slovaks and Greeks, along with non-Europeans from Syria, Turkey and Armenia who all left their homes in the Old World due to war, drought, famine and religious persecution.  All hoped for greater opportunity in the New World. One such person was the composer, Irving Berlin who arrived in 1893.  We all remember at least a few of the many songs that  Irving Berlin contributed to our nation's musical heritage  including: God Bless America, Easter Parade and White Christmas. 

Ellis Island officially closed in 1954.  It has been estimated that forty per cent of all current citizens of the United States can trace at least one ancestor who arrived in America via Ellis Island. Ellis Island opened to the public in 1976. Now, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in the restored Main Arrivals Hall may be toured and folk may trace their ancestors through millions of immigrant arrival records made available to the public in 2001.

Custom Passengers Lists were kept by the Customs Department from 1820 - 1902.  The Immigration and Naturalization Service started keeping records in 1883.  These records are  referred to as Immigration Passenger Lists.

Early Pistols

Part One

European handguns played a major role in the settling of America.  From the early 1400’s through the early 1800’s, the mechanism for firing muzzle-loading guns was limited to two major types: the first depended upon a lighted wick or “match”; the second upon the Stone Aged principle that one could create fire by striking a piece of iron with a piece of flint.

                       

The matchlock musket was the earliest firearm brought to the New World in the 1520’s by Spanish soldiers who waded ashore on the Atlantic coast.  This was a bulky weapon which was used on European battle fields. It required a forked brace to support it.  When a “musketeer” pulled the trigger, it brought a lighted wick into contact with a pan of priming powder which in turn ignited the powder in the barrel.  In 1540, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and his men used this weapon as he searched the American southwest for the Seven Cities of Cibola.

Henry Hudson in 1609 suffered one of his worst encounters with Native Americans as he explored the banks of the river which was to bear his name.  Confronted with hostiles, he ordered his troops to set up their matchlock muskets in order to frighten the Indians with the noise and smoke that they made when fired and to then wait for the assault.  The natives looked skyward at the approaching rain clouds and they also waited.  Once the downpour of rain began they attacked.  Because the English muskets failed to fire in the rain, Hudson suffered heavy casualties. 

                          

Due to the ineffectiveness of the matchlock musket on the battlefield, European gunsmiths were encouraged to make better weapons.  In the 16^th Century, gunsmiths developed the wheel-lock ignition mechanism.  This resembled a modern day cigarette lighter in that it incorporated  a spring which was set in motion by the gun’s trigger to turn a rough metal wheel against a piece of flint.  This action created a series of sparks that ignited the priming powder and fired the gun. 

Wheel-lock technology made the first functional pistol possible.  It is believed that the word pistol was derived from the 16^th Century French word ”pistole” meaning “pipe.”  A large  number of early wheel-lock handguns made their way to the early English settlements because their ignition mechanism was far superior to the matchlock.  In 1586, Governor Ralph Lane of Roanoke Island, in a journal entry, cited several wheel-lock pistols in the Roanoke garrison.

Jamestown colonists possessed what historians have considered to be an ample supply of wheel locks, based upon the number of rusty parts archaeologists have discovered there.  Several accounts note that Captain John Smith wielded pistols against the Powhatans.  Martial laws in Virginia in 1611 required that all targeteers [shield bearing foot soldiers] carry pistols in addition to swords. A 1625 military census in Virginia tallied fifty-five pistols among the colony’s armament.

It has been debated as to whether many such guns made their way to the colonies because they were expensive weapons and the colonists were poor in comparison to their European counterparts.  One thing should be recognized and thoughtfully considered; people tend to acquire the best weapons they possibly can afford when their very lives depend upon them.  This fact has always been true for all peoples in all times.  A quality weapon is an important item to have in one’s possession when one’s very life may depend upon its dependability.  Without life, other commodities are useless and most colonial settlers understood this fact.

Dutch gunsmiths in the 1550’s introduced flintlock technology by attaching a piece of flint to a spring loaded cock that struck a metal plate over the pan and ignited the priming powder. This weapon was originally called a snaphaunce meaning snapping cock.  This technology was more efficient in its simplicity than the wheel lock and it was also cheaper to manufacture. German gunsmiths continued to produce the wheel-lock pistol for about another hundred years refusing to change. 

Other European gunsmiths developed enhancements to the new flintlock technology which shortened the reign of the snaphaunce resulting in fewer of them being produced and finding their way to what was to become known as the American colonies. 

About 1610, English gunsmiths streamlined the firing mechanism by the priming pan and the steel striking surface to develop the English lock.  This weapon was named “fizzen” meaning into a single piece. This gun did not need a separate mechanism to slide the cover from the pan. The powder was exposed instantly when the hammer struck the frizzen. This gun could no longer be carried in the cocked position without the danger of accidental discharge.  Gunsmiths added a small latch called a “dog lock” to secure the hammer in either a cocked or half-cocked position. John Thompson, a Pilgrim, arrived in Massachusetts in 1622 with one of these dog-locked weapons which is in the collection at Plymouth.  Within twenty-five years, this weapon was the most common firearm in the colonies. 

In France, about 1615, the last stage of flintlock development occurred resulting in the “true flintlock.” This form improved the way the dog lock’s internal latch, or “sear,” interfaced with the tumbler which controlled the hammer’s mainspring. By the 1660’s this weapon had been introduced to all of the American colonies.  Because the firing mechanism was refined, the gun operated by loading the flintlock by half-cocking the hammer and pouring a measure of gunpowder down the barrel. Then a lead ball was wrapped in a small piece of cloth or paper and rammed down the barrel until it reached the gunpowder.  Then a small amount of gunpowder was put into the priming pan.  The frizzen was snapped into place covering the pan.  Finally the hammer was cocked, aimed and fired when one pulled the trigger. 

A vast number of the “true flintlocks” in the form of both pistols and muskets found their way to the American colonies as both France and Britain transported their well-equipped armies across the Atlantic to do battle for dominance of the North American continent in first King William’s War [1689-1697], then Queen Ann’s War [1702-1713], King George’s War [1640-1748] and finally in the French and Indian War [1755-1763].  Britain won control by the end of the French and Indian War and set into motion conditions which would lead to the eruption of the American Revolution twelve years later.

As manufacturing techniques progressed, standardization became a normal part of the process which resulted in the barrels of British military pistols usually being fourteen inches long, .66 caliber with wooden ramrods and brass mountings. By 1720 pistols had twelve-inch barrels and were .60 caliber with an ornamental raised band at the breech and brass-capped ramrods.  By 1760 the barrel was standardized at nine inches, the caliber increased to .69 while the grip grew shorter and thicker.  About this same time, the “box-lock” moved into prominence with the firing mechanism located more to the center of the pistol and the pan sitting directly on top of the barrel.

Due to the fact that England desired to keep its own firearms exports secure, there was a shortage of gunsmiths resulting in it being several years before these weapons were made in the colonies. 

At the height of the American Revolution, French pistols became dominant because large quantities were imported and used by the Continental Army and state militias.  Until 1763, the French Royal manufactories had no standard pistol.  It then began producing two versions, one with iron mountings for the cavalry and one with brass mountings for the navy.  Both models were .67 caliber with round nine inch barrels.  The walnut stocks had a slight swell at the butt.  The ramrod was iron.

In 1777, the French began manufacturing a second standardized pistol with a .67 caliber, with a seven and one half inch barrel which tapered toward the muzzle.  The butt dropped sharply and was covered with a brass butt cap.  It had no fore stock under the barrel which gave the pistol a sleeker profile.  This weapon became the prototype for the first pistols made under contract to the new United States government after the Revolution.

A few German flintlock pistols came to the colonies with officers of the Hessian regiments which supported British troops.  These weapons were normally brass mounted and had a larger .75 caliber round barrel. 

Some few Europeans gunsmiths did migrate to the colonies but when they found themselves restricted to cleaning and repairing, they frequently left the trade for more lucrative positions.  Early Virginia census records reveal that there were only eighteen gunsmiths in a one hundred fifty year period who served approximately one half million colonists. 

Pennsylvania was the exception.  A concentration of German and French gunsmiths had chosen to locate in Lancaster County. They played the leading role in developing the famed American “flintlock.”  These gunsmiths were European immigrants who had left their homeland for religious reasons. Many were guild-trained or descendants of guild-trained gunsmiths. They knew exactly what they were doing, but seldom is a name found on the barrels of these guns.  This is due to the fact that these gunsmiths faced retaliation as England did not look upon American made guns with favor.

The heyday of the American flintlock which is often called the Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle is from 1781-1814.  This weapon has a distinctive curved stock usually made of curly maple or cherry. European designs such as a lion or dog's face on the butt cap lost favor and were replaced by a plain or engraved surface.  They frequently used rolled brass which had become available during this period for the pistol's side plates and fashioned fully octagonal, rifled barrels engraved with the maker's name.  This lighter, more graceful weapon was noted for its beauty and exceptional performance.

The American military pistol became standardized in appearance and manufacture from 1814-1825.  It became less expensive and more popular resulting in the Pennsylvania or Kentucky pistol becoming more obsolete. The few that were made during this period were for gentlemen and officers. Normally they are either very plain or highly inlaid and engraved.

With the need to arm its new military, Congress in 1798 contacted for the mass production of firearms by awarding the contract for U.S. military pistols to Simeon North of Middletown, Connecticut.  Eli Whitney received a similar contract to produce muskets at New Haven which was about twenty miles up the road from Simeon North who borrowed the use of interchangeable parts from European clockmakers. 

The adoption in 1805 of the percussion-cap ignition mechanism which had been invented by a Scottish clergyman named John Forsyth, ended the era of the flintlock.

At this time, the smooth-bore musket evolved into two very distinct firearms.

1. With the addition of rifling and a two piece sighting system for accurate shooting at long distances it evolved into a rifle.

2.  With a smooth-bore and choke-bore with the addition of a single front bead sight it evolved into a shotgun for short range point ability.

During the transition period between smooth bore Muskets and the addition of rifling to the bore of muskets, these firearms were  commonly referred to as "Rifled Muskets."  Standard military nomenclature of the 1820-1860 period referred to Springfields, Enfields, etc. as "Rifled Muskets."

Homes

Have you ever given thought to what homes were like in the colonies?  Do you have any idea what furnishings they contained?  Were they similar in all colonies or was each colony vastly different?

In evaluating the life style of our ancestors, there are several things which must be considered.  From the 1600’s until the early 1800’s, most housing was just a first generational shelter as folk made their way inland from the Atlantic Ocean.  Slowly they built towns and villages before they moved into more remote wilderness areas.

The overwhelming majority were self-sufficient which resulted in most of America living in villages composed of small, crude dwellings or in remote wooded areas.  Winter severely limited their life style as it dictated they be confined to a single living area dominated by a fireplace.  Their activities, indeed their entire family’s existence – domestic, economic, and bodily functions – were all primarily limited to this one space. 

In areas from the Chesapeake Bay northward, the winter temperatures were harsher than the colonists had experienced in England. This resulted in families burrowing deeper into their shelters for protection against the bitter winds and the deep snowdrifts.  In many cases, a shelter was divided and shared with any livestock the family was fortunate enough to own.  The fireplace ensured the survival of all.  Edmund Morgan, the eminent historian, stated that heading into the 18^th Century, a few affluent colonists built homes of brick, “but everyone else still lived in the rotting wooden affairs that lay about the landscape like so many landlocked ships.  A heavy downpour would knock them down or fire devour them in an instant.  But no matter – sift the ashes for nails and put up more – wood was cheap.”  Jack Larkin in The Reshaping of Everyday Life: 1790-1840 wrote, “Many homes were genuinely squalid, starkly reflective of the world of scarcity in which their owners lived.”

It is known from the works of various historians that on an average there were five to seven people living in this small space.  The fireplace kept these folk alive by providing hot meals, warmth from the outside elements and about fourteen hours of firelight each day which enabled them to conduct their various activities.  Keeping the fire stoked was a life-or-death necessity as wind chill factors often plunged to below zero.  Normally a dozen cords of wood were used over the winter.  This wood had to be accessible which resulted in it also being stacked in the interior living space during periods of heavy snowfall.  Families spread straw over their dirt or rough plank floors to help insulate against the cold and to sop up the inevitable messes. Additional layers of straw were added to replace that which had broken down into layers of dust. 

                       

Slops, the time honored term for human and animal wastes, inedible food and other garbage, piled up as snowdrifts blocked paths to privies.  Washing clothes was confined to small batches which could be hung on poles near the fire to dry.  Bathing, which was considered a health hazard by most people, was postponed until warm weather.  Winter confinement, despite the best efforts of all members of a household, was a time of prolonged darkness, ashes, soot, vermin, stink and mounting filth.

With the appearance of spring, men readied their fields for planting, gathered syrup for making sugar, and sheared their sheep.  Women raked the dirty stinking straw from their homes and scrubbed everything in sight.  “Spring cleaning” was more than an event, it was a necessary ritual.  Regardless of how hard a woman worked, cleaning never ended as dust and bugs flew in the open doorway and windows. 

Eventually, as the economy expanded and the early settlers were replaced by new waves of immigrants, people were able to turn their attention to a better quality of life which brought an added sense of orderliness to their homes and gardens. 

May Day

The tradition of celebrating May Day by singing and dancing around a maypole which is tied with colorful ribbons or streamers survive in America as part of the English tradition.  Weaving in and out while holding ribbons to  entwine the Maypole, the choosing of a May Queen and  hanging May baskets filled with flowers on the doorknob or steps of neighbors homes are all leftover bits of old European traditions whose origins date back beyond the birth of Christ.

An ancient rite performed throughout the world on this day was the setting of a new fire which was thought to lend its life to the springtime sun. In early Irish lore a number of significant events took place on Beltane [Beltine, Beltaine, Belltaine], which long remained the focus of folk traditions and tales in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.  For the Druids of the British Isles, this was the second most important holiday of the year.  Other pre-Christian Celtic peoples, divided the year into two main seasons as did the Irish. The beginning of the year [winter] which was known as Samhain meaning “death” by the Irish.  It fell on November 1^st.  Midyear [summer] was known as Beltaine and by Cétamain which means “life” in Scotland and also in parts of Ireland.

  

These two days were believed to be critical periods because the bounds between the supernatural and human worlds were temporarily erased.  Everyone knew that on May Eve, witches and fairies roamed freely making it necessary for measures to be taken against their enchantments.

The first mentioned of Beltane was in a glossary attributed to Cormac, Bishop of Cashel and King of Munster, who was killed in 908. Cormac describes how on Beltane, cattle were driven between two bonfires as a magical means of protecting them from disease before they were led into open summer pastures.  This custom was still observed in Ireland during the 19th century. Other festivities enjoyed during this celebration included Maypole dances and the cutting of green boughs and flowers.

Cormac derived the word Beltaine from the Old Irish word tene meaning “fire” and the name of the god, Bel or Bil.  A number of 20^th century scholars have maintained modified versions of this etymology despite linguistic difficulties by linking the first element of the word with the Gaulish god Belenos which the Irish call Belenus.

Cattle were driven through the fire to purify them. Men, with their sweethearts, passed through the smoke for good luck. The word ‘Beltane’ is derived from the Irish Gaelic ‘Bealtaine’ or the Scottish Gaelic ‘Bealtuinn’, meaning ‘Bel-fire’, the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Ba’al. Bonfires [bone fires—from human sacrifice] were lit, and leaping the fire was a custom thought to encourage the crops to grow as high as the leaper could leap or jump the fire. These fires, also called “balefires” or “need-fires” were thought to have healing properties.

When the Romans came to occupy the British Isles, the beginning of May became a very popular feast time for them. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers. A five day celebration, called the Floralia, was held in her honor. The five day festival started on April 28^th  and end on May 2^nd. Gradually the rituals of Floralia were added to those of the Beltane. Many of today's May Day customs bear a stark similarity to those combined traditions.

Maypoles were of all sizes which led to villages competing with one another to produce the tallest Maypole. Much merrymaking accompanied the bringing in of the Maypole from the woods.  The Maypole was usually set up for just the one day in smaller towns, but in London and larger towns, they were erected as a permanent fixture.

The Puritans discouraged May Day celebrations.  It was revived when they lost power in England, but the celebration did not have the same dedicated following as before.  Eventually it came to be regarded as more of a day of joy and merriment for young people rather than as a day of observing the ancient customs.

Attempts to do away with the practices which were obviously of pagan origins were brought about by the Reformation.  Although they basically succeeded, the Maypole with many of the other traditions still survives. In France, the name merely changed.  In Perigord and elsewhere, the May Tree became the "Tree of Liberty" and was the symbol of the French Revolution. Despite the new nomenclature, the peasants treated the tree in the same traditional spirit. And they would dance around it the same way as their forefathers had always done.

The tradition of celebrating May Day by singing and dancing around a maypole which is tied with colorful ribbons or streamers survived in America as part of the English tradition.  Weaving in and out while holding ribbons to  entwine the Maypole, the choosing of a May Queen and  hanging May baskets filled with flowers on the doorknob or steps of neighbors homes are all leftover bits of old European traditions.

 In the Shenandoah Valley, “Freckle Washing” was commonly celebrated on the first day of May.  To work it had to be performed in the following manner, one must arise before sunrise and not speak to anyone.  If you slept upstairs it was necessary to walk down the steps backwards before going to wash your freckles in the stump of a tree in which rain water had been trapped. If stump water was not to be found, one could place their hands on the dew dampened grass and moisten the freckles  by rubbing dampened hands  over the face or wherever the freckles were located.  The rest of the moisture must be removed by wiping it on a part of the body where the freckles would not show publicly.  It was then important to say, “The first morning in May, I wash my freckles away.  Where I put them I want them to stay.” as one rubbed the dew onto their body.  For this ritual to be successful, it had to be repeated three years in a row on the first day of May. 

It was also believed that if one looked over their shoulder into a well or spring with a mirror they would see their future spouse.  Your casket was said to appear if you were to remain unmarried.

Just in case one was interrupted during the three consecutive years of the May Day treatment or for whatever reason the above treatment did not work, there is a very old recipe with which to solve the problem. 

To Remove Freckles, Tan, Pimples, Etc.

To two gallons of strong lye soap suds add one pint of pure alcohol and four ounces of rosemary.  Mix together well. Apply mixture with a linen cloth twice a day until the object is affected.