History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 48

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ing of the same, moved that he pay the charges of the Court and to make his address to the Governor."

The court records afford several instances of the violation by and punishment of indentured servants under the act of 1700 for marrying without the con- sent of the masters having been had thereto; but I will refer only to one interesting case, which was heard Feb. 26, 1633-34. Job Harvey, by petition, in- formed the court that Joseph Fisher, his servant, had married Mary Jones, a free woman, without his con- sent, and asked that the offenders may be dealt with according to law. "Therefore it is considered by the Court whereby adjudged that the said Joseph Fisher for his said Offence Serve his sd Master or his Assigns one year after the Expiration of his former Servitude and that the sd Mary Jones (or by what other name she may be now called) pay the sd Job Harvey for her said offence the sum of Six pounds or serve the said Job Harvey or assigned one year in Lieu thereof."

Dr. Smith states that at a meeting of Friends at Haverford, in 1699, it was ordered, in respect to courtship in the future, " that all young men among Friends make known their intentions to their parents or guardians before they acquaint the young woman's relations, and to make it known to the woman's parents or guardians, before they speak to them, and if they do otherwise, that they shall condemn the same before they proceed any further." This restric- tion, at this time, was general in the society. The records of Friends' meeting in those early days is largely composed of matters appertaining to mar- riages among the members, and in faded ink is noted these matters which, to the then living, was the most momentous step in life. In the minutes of Chester Meeting, under date of Sixth month 27, 1705, is re- corded the wise act of a young woman, who learned before, not after the ceremony was performed, that there was wanting on her part that true affection without which marriage life is utterly miserable. In the case alluded to, Thomas Martin and Jane Hent had passed meeting, but for some reason the ceremony had not followed this approval, and the woman's meeting, where matters of that kind would more likely be talked about, briefly informs us "the above sd marriage not being accomplished, two wo- men Friends, viz .: Alice Simcock and Rebecca Fau- cett spoak to Jane Hent to know the Reason thereof and her answer was that shee could not Love him well enough to bee her Husband. She also said that shee was very sorry that shee had proceeded so far with him."

In the early part of the last century the wedding- day was held as a festival, and William Moraley in- forms us that, about 1735, among the Pennsylvania colonists, "Their marriages are very chargeable, many times Wife's Fortunes being expended at the Celebration of the Nuptials." At that time the bride

going to church, or after the ceremony to her future home, wore a long black hood over her head instead of a bonnet. Two yards of rich paduasoy, Watson tells us, was required to make this hood, and it was the custom to loan this article of apparel, so that one hood covered the heads of many brides before it was discarded as too shabby for further use. Towards the middle of the last century marriages were usually cel- ebrated about noon, and generally at the house of the bride's parents. The utmost good feeling prevailed, and the cheer made up in its abundance whatever it might lack, according to our modern notions, in va- riety or display of the confectioner's skill. About the beginning of this century it may be questioned whether any person then residing within this county of Delaware had ever tasted ice cream, but the wed- ding dinner was something to gladden the eyes of a hungry man, while punch was dealt out in profusion. In addition to the feast at home, it was the custom to send out cakes, meats, and punch to everybody in the neighborhood, rich or poor alike, whether visitor or not of the family. In the evening usually the bride and groom were escorted to their home by a long pro- cession of old-fashioned chairs or gigs containing their friends or relatives, and, if the family permitted such vanities as dancing, after the supper had been cleared away an old negro, who played by ear on a sharp, rasping violin, would strike up the music of some contra (country) dance or jig, keeping time to the air with his feet, the beat of which on the bare floor could be heard above the squeaking sounds of his fiddle. When the company formed in two long rows and the smiling musician played "Sir Roger de Coverley," or, as we of this generation term it, the "Virginia Reel," each couple at the head of the line knew it was their turn to begin by a signal from the dusky Orpheus, which consisted of a profound bow, accompanying the motion by an emphatic stamp on . the floor. The gentlemen, in their pumps, would then exhibit some extraordinary figures, interspersing the merriment with the double-shuffle or cutting the pigeon-wing, while the smiling girls would bounce about on the tips of their toes very much as they do in this year of grace, 1884. Sometimes, when a few of the more ambitious young people, who had visited the city, desired to astonish the native's, they would go through the mazy movement of the minuet to the astonishment of the rustics. Many games of forfeit filled in the hours, while the elders would have a rubber at whist with something depending on the result to add zest to play, or try their fortune at high- low-Jack and the game. About nine o'clock, or ten at the latest, the bride would be spirited away by her maids, and shortly after the groomsmen would con- duct the newly-made husband to his wife. At a later hour the company would ascend to the bridal cham- ber, taking with them refreshments to the married couple, generally in the form of liquor. Then one of the bride's stockings would be thrown across the bed

1 History of Delaware County, p. 198.

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among the guests, and the person that it struck, it was believed, would be the next one of the company to be married. After good wishes for the future welfare of the wedded pair, and a kiss to the bride by every man present, the assembly would depart to their respective homes.

Burials .- Death is surer even than taxes, hence it is to be expected that early in our county annals we should learn of provisions being made to inter the dead. As far back as 1746, Campavius records that at the Swedish graveyard at Tinicum " the first corpse that was buried was Andrew Hansan's daughter, Cath- erine, and she was buried on the 28th of October, which was Simon's and Jude's day."

In the Duke of York's laws it is stated that the pri- vate burial of servants and others had occasioned much scandal, that by such a custom it could not be ascertained if death had resulted from natural causes or violence, "for remedy whereof, and for the greater decency of burials," it was provided that a public burial-place should be set apart and fenced in each parish, and before any corpse should be buried three or four of the neighbors should be called in, one of whom must be an overseer of the poor, whose duty it was to view the body, and if there were not suspicious circumstances, "yet according to the decent custom of Christendom they may accompany it to the grave." The burial of a free person or an indentured slave in any localities other than the public graveyard was in- terdicted by law, unless in their lifetime the deceased had signified their desire of being interred elsewhere.

Funerals in the early days were as extravagantly costly, the circumstances of the people considered, as at the present day ; not in the undertaker's bill or car- riages used, for the corpse was borne to the place of interment, we are told by William Worrall, during the greater part of the last century on men's shoul- ders, the coffin being swung on poles, so that the funeral procession, generally walking, might wind along the pathways with more ease, for they often fol- lowed the footpaths over the fields to the place of sepulture, but in the feasts given to those who at- tended the ceremonies. The poles spoken of by Mr. Worrall must have been the primitive bier, which are alluded to in the records of Chester meeting, under date of Seventh month 30, 1706, in which "it is agreed at this meeting that a decent bear bee Keept att every Grave Yard, and that every preparative (meeting) within the limits of this meeting do get one made speedily."

As soon as a death occurred in a family the neigh- bors came in and made arrangements for the funeral, scouring the brass-work until it shone like new coin, for the old furniture was decorated with many brass ornaments, scrubbing the uncarpeted floors, dusting, baking, and cooking, until the house of mourning was fairly put to rights and the repast prepared for the funeral day. Warners were started out on horseback to ask persons to be present at the burial services,

who on riding to the door of the dwelling would an- nounce in monotonous tones, "Thyself and family are respectfully invited to attend the funeral of Thomas Smith, Fourth day next at two o'clock," while others would make frequent visits to the cross-road store to lay in groceries and other necessary articles needed for the table. Others of the neighbors would take their place as watchers over the hody, which, stretched ou a cooling board with a sheet over it, was never left alone. At night lighted candles were placed in the room, and refreshments provided for those who were sitting up with the corpse. The pictures and looking- glasses in the room where the body lay were covered with white muslin, so that the dead figure would not be reflected therein.

After the body was interred, in the case of the death of a man of means, all the company would re- turn to the house and the will would be read. The disposition of his estate by the deceased would afford a topic of conversation in the neighborhood for a week at least.

The following is a bill for funeral services of one John Middleton, of Delaware County, Pa., in 1719. The original copy is in the possession of Taylor Thompson, undertaker in New Garden township, Chester Co. It is as follows, verbatim :

" An account of John Middleton's funerell charge is Cr. 10 1719 to 61/2 gallons of wine at 6s-6d per gal. £02 028. 3d.

to 3 galons of rum at 4× 6d per galon. 00 13 6

to quar. of a hundred suger an spice. 00 15 0

to flowar. 00 12 0

to a barroll sider ..

00 12 0

to butter and ches.

00 16 0

to a holand sheet.

01 00 6

to the cofing and diging the grafe.

OJ 19

7 10 9

"5 mo 1 1719 paid to the doctor gandr wil for £00 16 6."

The custom then was, and it was continued until the beginning of this century, when a young unmar- ried woman died, the body was borne to the grave- yard by young girls, doubtless introduced by the early Irish settlers, and a like custom prevailed at the funeral of a child. Miss Sarah Eve,1 in her journal, under date of July 12, 1773, records : "In the even- ing, B. Rush, P. Dunn, K. Vaughan, and myself car- ried Mr. Ash's child to be buried ; foolish custom for Girls to prance it through the streets without hats or bonnets." The custom of young girls acting as pall- bearers at the funeral of their female companions and young children seems to have continued in Philadel- phia during the second decade of this century, for in the diary of Miss Hannah M. Wharton, under date of Dec. 19, 1813, it is recorded : " We have had a mel- ancholy occurrence in the circle of our acquaintance since I last wrote, in the death of the accomplished and amiable Fanny Durdio. Six young ladies of her intimate acquaintance, of which I was one, were asked to be the pall-bearers. We were all dressed in white, with long white veils." Mrs. Catharine Ulrich in- forms me that she can remember, about 1825, when

1 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. v. p. 194.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the grandchild of the tenant, then occupying the old Brobson house, at the northeast corner of Third and Penn Streets, Chester, died, that four young girls, dressed in white, bore the corpse on a bier to the graveyard.

Food and Dress .- The Swedes on the Delaware River, we are told, in a letter addressed by one of themselves, in the year 1693, to John Thelin, of Got- tenberg,1 " were almost all husbandmen, and our meat and drink is after the old Swedish custom. The country is very rich and fruitful, and we send ont yearly to our neighbors on this continent and the neighboring islands bread, grain, flour, and oil. We have here, thank God, all kinds of venison, birds, and fishes. Our wives and daughters spin wool and flax, and many of them weave." The Swedish clergy- man, Rev. Eric Biork, a few years afterwards, states that there were " no poor in the conntry, bnt all pro- vide for themselves, without any cases of want."

The first English settlers give us an interesting ac- count of the sturdy race of the North which had pre- ceded them in subdning the wilderness of the Western World. Thomas Parker, under date of Feb. 10, 1683,2 writes,-

" There are Swedes and Finns who have lived here forty years, and lived an easy life through the abun- dance of commodities, but their clothes were very mean before the coming of the English, from whom they bought good ones, and they begin to show them- : selves a little proud. They are an industrious people. They employ in their buildings little or no iron. 1 They will build for you a house without any other implement than an axe. With the same implement they will cut down a tree and have it in pieces in less time than two other men would spend in sawing it, and with this implement and some wooden wedges they split it and make boards of it or anything else they please with much skill. The most of them speak English, Swedish, Finnish, or Dutch. They plant a little tobacco and a little Indian corn. The women are good housekeepers. The most of the linen they wear they spin the flax and make themselves."

In the early part of the last century among the English settlers, under ordinary circumstances, bread and milk and pie formed the breakfast meal, or often only pop-robbin, a combination of eggs and flour made to a batter and boiled in milk, appeased their wants. For dinner a bountiful dish of pork or bacon with a wheat-flour pudding or dumplings, with butter or molasses, was the bill of fare, while mush or hominy, with milk and butter and honey, sufficed for the even- ing repast. On important occasions, when venison and other wild game was in season, chocolate, which was sweetened with maple-sugar, formed the basis of the entertainment. William Worrall, of Ridley, stated that he never saw tea or coffee until about 1750, when

his father brought some tea from Philadelphia, and his aunt, who then lived with them, and had charge of the house, did not know how to use it until she had received the proper information from one of her neighbors who had been instructed in the art of tea- drawing in the city. The prudent conduct of Wor- rall's aunt was not imitated by one of her friends, residing in the vicinity, who, when she first had tea introduced into her house, boiled the leaves and served them with butter. It was at this time such a rarity that even in the houses of the wealthy the hostess would measure with scales the amount of leaf neces- sary to draw tea for the company, or as in modern days we put it, " count the noses" of her guests. Later on in the rural districts, before and after the Revolution, the daily fare consisted of salt pork or beef,-fresh meat was an occasional dainty,-rye bread, potatoes, cabbage, hominy, and turnips, while in summer-time beans and peas made their appearance on the table. The latter were eaten with the knife, no one having the patience to chase peas over a dinner plate with the wide-spreading, two-tined forks, with massive buck handles, which were then in general use.

During the latter part of the last century silver plate was in every household, and each article had its history, as it was handed down from parents to child as heirlooms, and was often made the subject of dis- position by will. But for ordinary use pewter plat- ters, porringers, and tankards were employed, and were kept so bright that they shone like a mirror, while pewter pots filled the place of our modern glass tumblers and goblets. In many instances it was cus- tomary for the family, including the domestics and hired men, to gather around the same board, the slaves at the bottom of the table. If perchance some acquaintance came to tea, which was a popular cus- tom among the women of the wealthier class in town and country just previous to the Revolution, the party always dispersed so that the company might get home before it was time for candle-lighting, and to put their children to bed.

In 1745, Dr. Franklin invented the open stove, which he called the Alter Idem, but which is still known by his name, and it won its way almost imme- diately to popular favor. At one time all the old houses in this section of the country, whose owners were in easy circumstances, had in the parlor a Franklin stove. In the ancient stone dwelling stand- ing on the left-hand side of the Queen's Highway, about five hundred feet above where the mill, race, and quarry railway crosses the road at Leiperville, is still to be seen one of these stoves.

On the night of the battle of Brandywine, at. r writing a letter from Chester to Congress, apprising that body of the defeat of the American army, Wash- ington joined his troops, that had gathered "back of Chester," between Leiperville and Darby. Tradition states that the general sat for some time in the old house, hefore the stove, silently watching the fire that

1 Watson's Annals, vol. ii. p. 233.

2 Penna. Mag. of Hist., vol. vi. p. 324.

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burned brightly on the iron hearth, for the night was chilly and the autumnal equinox was then threaten- ing which broke so violently five days thereafter as to compel a suspension of hostilities in the pitched battle which Washington tendered to Gen. Howe near Goshen meeting-house. Perhaps that night in Rid- ley, in the firelight, the whole plan of the proposed but interrupted battle was digested and arranged in the mind of the commander-in-chief, whose mental balance no disaster conld disturb.

Less than seventy years ago the usual cooking uten- sils in a well-regulated kitchen consisted of a large iron stewing pot, a tea-kettle, Dutch oven, a frying- pan, skillet, a gridiron, and earthen dishes for baking bread and pies, while on the window-sill or on the floor was the mark which told by the sunlight the hour of noon.

The usual dress of the Swedish people on the Del- aware in early days was strongly but rudely fash- ioned of skins of animals, and their heads were cov- ered with caps of the same material, the hair clinging to the hide. Their shoes, very similar in form to the Indian moccasins, were made from the skins of ani- mals slain in the chase. The women were all com- pelled to employ the same material in making their jackets and petticoats, and the beds were covered with deer-, wolf-, and bear-skins. Many of the heads of families had the apparel they had worn at home in Europe safely packed away, which, on occasions of public festivals, were ceremoniously brought forth and donned by the owner, to the admiration of the yonng folks born in the colony.

The dress of the great body of the people previous to the Revolution,-those, I mean, who had their daily labor to do,-was very simple, many of the descendants of the first settlers clinging tenaciously to the buck- skin of the early days of the province, out of which material their breeches and jackets were made. In 1725, from the letter written from Chester township, by Robert Park to Mary Valentine, already men- tioned, we find the writer stating that "In Summer they wear nothing but a skirt and linnen drawers. Trowses, which are breeches and stockings, all in one made of Linnen; they are fine Cool wear in Sum- mer." Underclothing such as we now require was at that time seldom worn. Oznaburg, a cheap, heavy shirting, made of hemp-tow, was the material of which boys' shirts, and often those worn by men, were made, and a coarse tow-cloth was used for trousers. Shoes, which were seldom worn in sum- mer-time, were generally, in the country, made of neat leather, fastened by large brass buckles on each 9finstep, unless that was more costly than the wearer 'could afford, when shoe-strings answered instead. The men and boys from the rural districts were easily recognized on the streets in Philadelphia, because, in winter and on unusual occasions, they wore leather breeches and apron. Almost all me- chanics before the Revolution-carpenters, masons,

coopers, painters, and similar tradesmen-wore, when at work, great leather aprons, which covered the most of their breast and reached down below their knees, such as blacksmiths now use at the forge, and their ordinary apparel was yellow buckskin breeches, check shirts, and red flannel jackets. All of them wore real beaver hats, an article that then formed a part of their freedom outfit. Hired women dressed in linsey-wool- sey or worsted petticoats, and wore coarse leather shoes, of which they were particularly careful. It is often re- lated of those " good old days," when people deemed it a mark of effeminacy to ride to church, that it was not uncommon to see both men and women trudging along the highway barefooted, their shoes and stock- ings in their hands, and when they came near to their place of destination they would seat themselves by the road, put on their shoes and stockings, and adjust their apparel into proper trim to enter the church, meeting, or dwelling-honse.

As previously stated, about the middle of the last century wealth began to manifest itself among the inhabitants of the cities, towns, and in the country immediately under the influence of the centres of trade. The education of the people, of course, largely reflected the aristocratic tone of the mother-country, hence special privileges and offices of honor and profit came to be monopolized by a few families, who soon learned to regard themselves as better than the general public. This class dressed in a style which peculiarly marked them as of the higher order of society. Wigs, which were in use in Penn's time, continued to be worn until the disaster at Braddock's field, when the British and colonial officers, in fleeing from that fatal place, cast aside in their flight their wigs as incumbrances, and afterwards appearing in public with their natural hair, the fashion soon changed to the queue. In the days of big wigs it was no infrequent incident at the dinner-table for the large buttons on the sleeve of the servant's livery to catch in the mass of horse-hair, leaving the bare pate of the guest exposed, while the wig dangled from the servant's arm. The dress of gentlemen at that period was of varied colors. It was no uncommon sight to see a scion of the aristocratic families attend in a black velvet coat, green waistcoat embroidered with silver figures, yellow velvet breeches fastened at the knee with diamond buckles, and the legs incased in blue stockings. The calf-skin shoes were clasped with large silver buckles, studded with imitation or, in some cases, real diamonds. Fine lace neckerchief and wristbands, with a cocked hat, completed the costume, saving when a dress sword hung at the left side, the scabbard protruding between the stiffened skirts of the coat. After and during the Revolution white coats, embroidered with gold, were fashionable, but the prevailing color among all classes was indigo blue, and, as the dyer's art was indifferently under- stood, it is said that in a hasty shower the color would often wash out or be transferred to the skin of

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the wearer, and, in addition, when the rain caused the powder in the hair to trickle down the back in a pasty mass, the plight of the individual must have been extremely disagreeable. Those persons whose duty required them to be abroad in all kinds of weather used oil-cloth cloaks, and a like covering protected their hats from the wet.

The dress of society women in the olden times was as much the subject of fashion's capricious whims as it is to-day. I here propose briefly to mention a few articles of apparel worn during the last century, and notice some of the demands the mode made upon its votaries. When elaborate hair-dressing (requiring several hours to be consumed in curling, crisping, and arranging one's head) was in vogue it was no unusual circumstance for a lady to have her hair dressed forty - eight hours before a ball, and to sit dozing in a chair during the intervening nights, for it would have utterly destroyed her toilet had she lain down. Hoops were enormous during the greater part of the last century, until shortly before the Revolution ; not the light elastic skirt worn recently, but heavy clumsy affairs which had to be tilted to one side in passing through a narrow doorway. When they began to subside, calli- manco padded with wool, made into petticoat«, took their places, while over the latter were worn finely- quilted Marseilles, silk, or satin petticoats, the gown open and without a front, so that it might be dis- played. Caps were generally used, and the style which is now known as "The Martha Washington" was at that day called "The Queen's Night-cap." Stays were worn by the wealthy, as a rule; costly affairs they were, finished in quilted silk or satin. Worsted dresses, with a plain white apron reaching almost to the ground, were used for ordinary every-day life, and matrons and maids had long, large pockets strapped around their waist beneath their gowns (Lydia Locket, we remem- ber, lost her pocket), and a round pin-cushion, inclosed in a silver rim, and a pair of scissors were pendent from the girdles with silver chains. Large cloaks of red cloth were very fashionable, and for many years no bonnets for ladies were made of any other material than black silk or satin. During the early part of this century beaver bonnets were much worn, and when that addition was made to a lady's toilet, like a camel's-hair shawl of to-day, she was expected never again as long as she lived to need another best hat for winter. All women in moderate circumstances wore pattens in 1772, and as they stamped over the streets the racket of these unwieldy affairs could be noticed a long way off, and going late to church the delectable clatter they made drew eyes on the tardy comers and aroused the sleeping Christians. Women in middle life in the last century wore worsted dresses and check aprons to church, and very few females, unless the wife or daughter of a lawyer, doctor, or clergyman, or merchants in large business, thought of wearing silks, satin, or velvet. The servants wore short gowns and petticoats of coarse domestic goods,

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 48

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150