April Fool's Day

Yes, it was practiced during the 19th century. Below you will find an excerpt from American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, Vol. 2 ©1836 from Google Books. There are other sources but in this one you get a feel for how it was looked upon by the author.

APRIL FOOLS.
It is a curious fact, that the custom of making April Fools prevails in the most widely separated regions of the globe, and that, everywhere, its origin is hidden in remote antiquity. The Hindoos on the Ganges practise it; in all the European countries it exists, in one shape or another ; the French make what they call April Fish; and, in America, it is one of the few mirthful customs which our fathers brought from merry Old England. When once such a fashion was established, we should suppose that human nature might be pretty safely trusted to keep it up. It is desirable to have the privilege of saying, on one day in the year— what we perhaps think, every day—that our acquaintances are fools. But the false refinement of the present age has occasioned the rites of the holyday to fall somewhat into desuetude. It is not unreasonable to conjecture, that this child's play, as it has now become, was, when originally instituted, a vehicle of the strongest satire which mankind could wreak upon itself. The people of antiquity, we may imagine, used to watch each other's conduct throughout the year, and assemble on All Fools' Day, to pass judgment on what they had observed. Whoever, in any respect, had gone astray from reason and common sense, the community were licensed to point the finger, and laugh at him for an April Fool. How many, we wonder, whether smooth-chinned or gray-bearded, would be found so wise in great and little matters, as to escape the pointed finger and the laugh.

Lost Horse

In the Jan. 5, 1836 in Rutland, Vermont's newspaper "The Rutland Herald" I stumbled across two notices of where folks had found horses. In the first the gentleman found one stray that came into his property. In the other the poster found three horses that came into his property. Each were asking the owners to identity their horses and pay for the damages that came from these horses entering their properties. I found this interesting because of the request that the owner pay for the damages. We've all heard of the value of a horse and even death by hanging for stealing a horse in some places. But the owner being responsible for damages their livestock has done...well that just gets the creative juices flowing, doesn't it?

Carrot Pie

I stumbled on this recipe in The New England Economical Housekeeper ©1845.

Carrot Pie
A very good pie may be made of carrots in the same way that you make pumpkin pies.

Yes, that's all they had for the recipe. So, I decided to hunt down a few more.

Carrot Pie. from The American Housewife and Kitchen Directory ©1869
Scrape the skin off from the carrots, boil them soft, and strain them through a sieve. To a pint of the strained pulp put three pints of milk, six beaten eggs, two table-spoonsfu of melted butter, the juice of half a lemon, and the grated rind of a whole one. Sweeten it to your taste, and bake it in deep pie plates without an upper crust.

The New England Cook Book's recipe is similar but slightly different. Original publication 1836
Scrape three good sized carrots, boil them till very tender. Then rub them through a sieve, and mix them with a quart of milk, four beaten eggs, a piece of butter of the size of half an egg, a table spoonful of lemon juice, and the grated peel of half of a one. Sweeten it to your taste. Bake it in deep pie plates with an under crust and rim.

I could find recipes from other sources but they were all similar to the ones above.

Astronomy from Literary Gazette 1830

Celestial Phenomena from 1830 to 1836
To stimulate recent subscribers to the Literary Gazette to commence with the year the study of astronomy, a brief sketch is subjoined of the aost remarkable phenomena that will occur mm 1830 to 1836, inclusive. Some of these are connected with questions and predictions to the solution and fulfilment of which philosophers are looking forward with considerable interest; more particularly to the return of the three comets, whose periods are supposed to be kaown with some degree of certainty; namely, lbs cnmets of Encke, Biela, and Halley.

1830—Four visible occultations of Aldebarsn, one of which will be attended with singular circumstances connected with terrestrial position—to one part of the British Isles it will prove only an appulse of the star, and to another part an occultation. A total eclipse of the moon, the duration of which will be almost the longest possible, as the centre of the moon will pass very near the centre of the earth's shadow: about the middle of the eclipse the saoon will be in conjunction with a star in Aquarius, which conjunction will, in some places be an occultation. An occultation of Venus by the moon.

1831 An eclipse of the moon. Mars will pass over a star in Taurus. An occultation of Japiter by the moon. Mercury eclipsed by the san. An occultation of Saturn by the moon.

1832—This year will be remarkably replete with interesting phenomena. The comet of Eacke will return in the spring, and the comet «f Biela in the autumn of the year. A transit rf Mercury across the sun's disc. An eclipse rf the sun. An occultation of Saturn by the 2UOB. Three of the satellites of Jupiter sizxltaneou&ly eclipsed.

1833 An eclipse of the sun.

1834 and 1835—The comet of Halley will ae expected; it last passed its perihelion on the -3th of March, 1759: it is calculated to reach iie same point again 16th of March, 1835. A Sanaa t of Mercury across the sun's disc.

1836 A considerable solar eclipse.

end of quote

Note they didn't put in the 1833 Leonoids meteor storm. Coined "The Night It Rained Fire."

Wind Gale or Sun Dog

I ran across this interesting term while reading "Narrative of a Whaling Voyage Round the globe, from the year 1833 to 1836 by Frederick Bennett ©1840 The observation below was dated Nov. 6, 1833 off the coast of the Portuguese Island Madeira.

While thus detained, we noticed the phenomenon named by nautical men a " wind-gall," (query, "wind-gale?") or "sun-dog;"—abroad and perpendicular streak of iridescent colours, placed opposite the sun, and extending from a dark cloud to the verge of the horizon. It may be considered to be a fragment of a rainbow ; though its colours are much less delicate and diversified than those of the ordinary meteor of that name, and chiefly consist of a lurid-red, or copper-colour, and a bright olive-green, dividing the column vertically and in nearly equal proportions. Sailors consider its appearance a precursor of foul weather; nor had we, in this instance, any reason to doubt the correctness of their conclusion; since the succeeding night brought a heavy gale of wind, attended with thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain; and the presence of an ignis fatuus * on the summit of each mast-head, gleaming with its peculiar sickly and supernatural light.

* These mysterious meteors, so frequently observed during a thunder-storm at sea, have invariably a globular form, are about the size of a tennis-ball, and emit a paleblue light. They occasionally appear to pass rapidly from one part of the ship to another, or to drop from the mast-head to the yards beneath, remaining stationary on each for a few moments. Many names have been given to them. When one only is visible it is called Corpo Santo, or St. Helena; -when two, Castor and Pollux; and more, Tyndaridae, or St. Elmo's fire. It is probable that their origin is to be found in the effects of evaporation ; for, however much the atmosphere may have been surcharged with electricity, during tempests at sea, I have never observed them but as attendants upon rain.

I added this link Sun dog where you can see a picture of this as well.

Underground Railroad Churches

Hi all,

The Underground railroad was made up of houses and churches where slaves could find a place to hide and continue on their way to freedom. Here's a link to one such church in Detroit Michigan. Second Baptist Church

I've dealt with the subject of slavery in some of my historical books. When researching Lizzy's Hope, I read all I could find, at the time, from former slaves that was written during that time period. It was quite an eye opening experience. To understand how they thought of themselves and not what we've been taught today. It bode well to my characters and I received quite a few compliments from African Americans who read the book. If you're writing during this time period or about this subject, I'd encourage you to read as many books as possible by black authors during that time period.

Statehood of States in the United States

When the 19th century began there were 16 states to the union by the end of the century there were 45.

In the columns below you'll see the number in which the state joined the union, the state and then the date.

17 Ohio Mar. 1, 1803
18 Louisiana Apr. 30, 1812
19 Indiana Dec. 11, 1816
20 Mississippi Dec. 10, 1817
21 Illinois Dec. 3, 1818
22 Alabama Dec. 14, 1819
23 Maine Mar. 15, 1820
24 Missouri Aug. 10, 1821
25 Arkansas Jun 15, 1836
26 Michigan Jan. 26, 1837
27 Florida Mar. 3, 1845
28 Texas Dec. 29, 1845
29 Iowa Dec. 28, 1846
30 Wisconsin May 29, 1848
31 California Sep. 9, 1850
32 Minnesota May 11, 1858
33 Oregon Feb. 14, 1859
34 Kansas Jan. 29, 1861
35 West Virginia Jun. 20, 1863
36 Nevada Oct. 31, 1864
37 Nebraska Mar. 1. 1867
38 Colorado Aug. 1, 1876
39 North Dakota Nov. 2, 1889
40 South Dakota Nov. 2, 1889
41 Montana Nov. 8, 1889
42 Washington Nov. 11, 1889
43 Idaho Jul. 3, 1890
44 Wyoming Jul. 10, 1890
45 Utah Jan. 4, 1896

Steak some recipes and other tidbits

There's nothing quite like a good steak, unless you're a vegetarian and steak doesn't cut it for you. Most folks have their own way of cooking steak. Below are some recipes from various sources about cooking steak during the 19th century. I love this tidbit quote that comes from the first recipe "It is better to have the gentleman of the house wait for his steak than have the steak wait for the gentleman—be snubbed for having a thing good rather than have it poor."

To Cook a Steak.
The choice of cut varies with the taste of a family—porterhouse, tenderloin, round or rump; the two latter require more beating with the steak beater to break the tougher fiber. Break somewhat the fiber of the meat by beating with the steak-beater; lay the gridiron over bright but not too hot coals; place the steak on it, turn in two minutes, then again in two minutes. Take up the steak and press it into some soft butter on a warm platter; turn and press the other side; now lay again on the gridiron and finish by turning once or twice. A folding gridiron expedites and simplifies the cooking of steak. When sufficiently cooked place the steak on a warm platter on which is some soft butter, considerable salt and a dash of pepper; turn and press. Serve instantly. It is better to have the gentleman of the house wait for his steak than have the steak wait for the gentleman—be snubbed for having a thing good rather than have it poor. We decline to give a receipt for frying steak.
Source: The Home Messenger Book of Tested Receipts ©1878

To Cook a Beefsteak— Put a frying-pan over the stove till it becomes quite hot. Have your steak well pounded or mangled, — a sirloin steak is very good for this purpose, — lay it on the hot, dry pan and cover it instantly as tightly as possible. When the meat touches the heated pan it will seethe and adhere to it, but in a few seconds it will become loosened and juicy; turn the steak every half-minute, but be careful to do it as quickly as possible, so that it may not be long uncovered. When nearly done, sprinkle on pepper and salt, lay a small piece of butter on the steak, and add a table-spoonful of strong coffee. This makes a delicious broiled steak. Or, if you wish much gravy, shake a little flour over the steak when just done, and pour in three or four table-spoonfuls of cream, let it just boil up, under cover, and when the meat is done, take the pan from the fire, remove the meat, stir in quickly the well-beaten yelk of an egg, and serve hot. If cream is used, omit the coffee. Mutton or ham may be cooked in the same way, only they should be over the fire longer than beef.
Rump Steak, with Oyster Sauce. — Broil the steak nicely ; put four even table-spoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan, add pepper and salt to your taste ; shake in a table-spoonful of flour, and add the juice of half a lemon ; when it begins to boil up, put in as many oysters as can be used in this preparation ; let them heat through and just boil up once, taking care to shake the pan and keep its contents stirring all the time it is over the fire. When the oysters are done,—a pint to one steak is about the right quantity, —- pour all over the steak, and serve.
A French BroiL— Select a spider or saucepan with a smooth, clean bottom, set it over the range or stove till really hot, then lay on a good tenderloin or sirloin steak ; keep the spider very hot, and turn the steak as often as every two minutes, — no longer ; when half done, sprinkle over salt and pepper to suit the taste of those who are to eat it ; continue to turn the steak often till sufliciently done ; just as you are ready to take up and dish the steak, dust a little flour over it, spread on a table-spoonful of butter, or, if a large steak, 8. little more; turn it over, dust on more flour, and spread on the butter as on the first side; turn again, set the saucepan back from the hot fire, take the steak on to the platter, and set in a heater or oven to keep hot, but not to cook any more ; shake more flour into the butter in the saucepan, set again over the fire, and as soon as the butter bubbles up through the flour, rub it smooth with a spoon and pour in a few spoonfuls of boiling water ; stir constantly, and as soon as it thickens, pour over the steak, and serve hot.
Source: Motherly Talks with Young Housekeepers ©1873

This little tidbit is interesting:
If, friendly Reader, you wish to entertain your mouth with a Superlative Beef-Steak, you must have the inside of the Sirloin cut into Steaks. The next best steaks are those cut from the middle of a Rump, that has been killed at least four days in moderate weather, much longer in cold weather,—when they can be cut about six inches long, four inches wide, and half an inch thick: do not beat them, which vulgar trick breaks the cells in which the Gravy of the meat is contained, and it becomes dry and tasteless.
Source: Cook's Oracle ©1836

Beef Steak.
The tender loin is the best piece for broiling—a steak from the round or shoulder clod is good and comes cheaper. If the beef is not very tender, it should be laid on a board and pounded, before broiling or frying it. Wash it in cold water, then lay it on a gridiron, place it on a hot bed of coals, and broil it as quick as possible without burning it. If broiled slow, it will not be good. It takes from fifteen to twenty minutes to broil a steak. For seven or eight pounds of beef, cut up about a quarter of a pound of butter. Heat the platter very hot that the steak is to be put on, lay the butter on it, take up the steak, salt and pepper it on both sides. Beef steak to be good, should be eaten as soon as cooked. A few slices of salt pork broiled with the steak makes a rich gravy with a very little butter. There should always be a trough to catch the juices of the meat when broiled. The same pieces that are good broiled are good for frying. Fry a few slices of salt pork, brown, then take them up and put in the beef. When brown on both sides, take it up, take the pan off from the fire, to let the fat cool; when cool, turn in half a tea cup of water, mix a couple of tea spoonsful of flour with a little water, stir it into the fat, put the pan back on the fire, stir it till it boils up, then turn it over the beef.
Source: The American Housewife ©1841