The first electric telegram was sent by Samuel F. B. Morse on May 24, 1844. Note that this isn't the only telegraph system, others came prior to the Morse telegram. It was 1838 when Morse first successfully tested his device. Alfred Vail, Morse's assistant, developed the Morse code.
In 1843 Congress funded Morse's experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. On May 24th 1844 sending the message "What hath God wrought" from Numbers 23:23
If you'd like to read more on telegraph history Click Here This web page has several links to various articles.
Showing posts with label 1843. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1843. Show all posts
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Greek Revival
During the 19th century there were other architectural designs besides Victorian, and yet most of us tend to think only of the Victorian. The Greek Revival dominated american architecture during the period 1818-1850.
The Orwell Congregational church in Vermont was Greek Revival built in 1843. Here's a link to pictures of the church. Link
Here's the link to Google images with Greek Revival architecture.
Link
The Orwell Congregational church in Vermont was Greek Revival built in 1843. Here's a link to pictures of the church. Link
Here's the link to Google images with Greek Revival architecture.
Link
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Planting in April
The excerpt below comes from the first Farmer's Almanac in a combined package of year 1841-1844. And since many are now thinking of gardening I thought it might be interesting to look at what is on a Farmer's schedule for the month of April.
Farmer’s Calendar – April
Spring corn sowing should be now finished; let all remaining turnips be cleared from the land. The practice of keeping back turnips for late feed being at the expense of the succeeding corn crop, should be avoided; all plants which are suffered to run towards seed are, in that stage, great exhausters of the soil. The substitutes are rye, winter barley, and the mixed grasses. Lucern is well sown this month; it delights in a rich deep soil; contains sulphate of lime; gypsum, therefore, on most soils, makes it grow luxuriantly. Livestock prefer gypsumed lucern to any other. It is best sown in drills; by this means it may be easily kept clean by the hoe, and if the farmer takes the precaution to previously trench or subsoil the ground, it may be made to produce four or five good crops per annum or inferior dry land; the value of this grass in many parts of the country is unknown. If the farmer has procured any sprat or five-fingers, or any other oily fish, or animal manures, in the previous months, and mixed them with the earth, he may now be getting out the compost for his Swede turnips. In moist seasons all such oily manures produce very large crops. Cut and lay hedges, and roll and bush harrow grass land. All this work should be finished early in the month, to avoid the bleeding of the wood. Stone, pick, and clean meadows. Cubic petre and saltpeter may be advantageously employed this and the succeeding month, as a top-dressing for wheat, oats, barley (from say the 10th of April to the middle of May), and grass. Hand how your wheat, beans, and peas; it not only destroys weeds, but it facilitates the access of the gases and aquesous vapour of the atmosphere to the roots of the crop. Keep also the horse-hoe at work. Early fat lambs may now be selling off. If properly kept, good Down lambs, at thirteen weeks, will weigh five stone; but beware of any shortness of their keep, for they will never recover a check of this kind. Sell off the porkers; after warm weather commences, the sale of them is no longer certain. Sow carrots and parsnips, and subsoil the land on which you grow them. It does best when sown in fine powder (1 ½ cwt. per acre). on a moist morning. It increases both the produce of grain and of straw. It restores the colour of sickly-looking corn.
And the article goes on with stats from various farmers and the different soils and nutrients.
Farmer’s Calendar – April
Spring corn sowing should be now finished; let all remaining turnips be cleared from the land. The practice of keeping back turnips for late feed being at the expense of the succeeding corn crop, should be avoided; all plants which are suffered to run towards seed are, in that stage, great exhausters of the soil. The substitutes are rye, winter barley, and the mixed grasses. Lucern is well sown this month; it delights in a rich deep soil; contains sulphate of lime; gypsum, therefore, on most soils, makes it grow luxuriantly. Livestock prefer gypsumed lucern to any other. It is best sown in drills; by this means it may be easily kept clean by the hoe, and if the farmer takes the precaution to previously trench or subsoil the ground, it may be made to produce four or five good crops per annum or inferior dry land; the value of this grass in many parts of the country is unknown. If the farmer has procured any sprat or five-fingers, or any other oily fish, or animal manures, in the previous months, and mixed them with the earth, he may now be getting out the compost for his Swede turnips. In moist seasons all such oily manures produce very large crops. Cut and lay hedges, and roll and bush harrow grass land. All this work should be finished early in the month, to avoid the bleeding of the wood. Stone, pick, and clean meadows. Cubic petre and saltpeter may be advantageously employed this and the succeeding month, as a top-dressing for wheat, oats, barley (from say the 10th of April to the middle of May), and grass. Hand how your wheat, beans, and peas; it not only destroys weeds, but it facilitates the access of the gases and aquesous vapour of the atmosphere to the roots of the crop. Keep also the horse-hoe at work. Early fat lambs may now be selling off. If properly kept, good Down lambs, at thirteen weeks, will weigh five stone; but beware of any shortness of their keep, for they will never recover a check of this kind. Sell off the porkers; after warm weather commences, the sale of them is no longer certain. Sow carrots and parsnips, and subsoil the land on which you grow them. It does best when sown in fine powder (1 ½ cwt. per acre). on a moist morning. It increases both the produce of grain and of straw. It restores the colour of sickly-looking corn.
And the article goes on with stats from various farmers and the different soils and nutrients.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Whale Oil
I grew up on Martha's Vineyard which was a huge whaling port during the 19th Century and Whale oil was what drove them to the open seas. Below are some tidbits about whale oil that some of you may not have known. The primary use of the whale oil was for lamps but it had other uses as well.
Whale-oil prepared by the method just described, is of a pale honey-yellow colour; but sometimes, when the blubber from which it is procured happens to be of the red kind, the oil appears of a reddish-brown colour. When first extracted, it is commonly thick, but after standing some time, a mucilaginous substance subsides, and it becomes tolerably limpid and transparent. Its smell is somewhat offensive, especially when it is long kept. It consists of oil, properly so called, a small portion of spermaceti, and a little gelatin. At the temperature of 40°, the latter substances become partially concrete, and make the oil obscure, and at the temperature of 82°, render it thick with flaky crystals. It is sold by the ton of 252 gallons, wine-measure. A gallon of oil, by measure, weighs 7 lb. 10 oz.
Source: The Whale Fishery ©1820
Using Whale Oil Soap to help protect fruit trees:
The manner in which Capt. Randall uses the whale oil soap, and which we consider the most important part of his communication, is as follows:—eight to ten pounds of whale oil soap are put into a common pail, to which a sufficient quantity of warm water is added, so that when well mixed together, the whole is about the consistence of good'thick paint. With this pail of soap, thinned in this manner, the man having a small tin pail, or bag, or pocket, filled with fine sand, tied round bis waist, with a coarse crash cloth, and a paint brush, is ready for operations. He first wets his cloth with soap, then scatters on some dry sand, and gives the trunk and branches a good rubbing; nfter which, with a hand brush, he puts on a coat of the soap, prepared as above, equal to a thick coat of paint. The time selected for the operation is just at the termination of a storm of rain, when the moss, or any roughness on the bark, will yield more readily to rubbing.
Source: Magazine of Horticulture ©1842
Increasing Consumption of'Whale-oil.—It appears worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the large consumption of coal fur gas, which has in a great degree superseded the use of oil for street-lighting, the aggregate consumption of whale-oil has very materially increased. This fact is of course referable to the fashion now become very general of burning table-lamps in the *ace of candles in our dwellings; but it must excite surprise in the mind of every one when first made acquainted with the fact, that during this time the use of candles in dwellings, and especially of wax-candles, has also increased in a greater proportion than the population. It has been suggested, and with much apparent reason, that this increase may be consequent upon the greater brilliancy of the streets since they have been lighted with gas, since we have thus been made dissatisfied with the quantum of light previously thought sufficient within our houses. Certain it is, that our apartmcnU are much more brilliantly lighted now than they were before the introduction of coal-gas, whether that invention be chargeable with the increase or not.—Porter's Progress of the Nation,
Source: The Penny Magazine ©1843
Whale-oil prepared by the method just described, is of a pale honey-yellow colour; but sometimes, when the blubber from which it is procured happens to be of the red kind, the oil appears of a reddish-brown colour. When first extracted, it is commonly thick, but after standing some time, a mucilaginous substance subsides, and it becomes tolerably limpid and transparent. Its smell is somewhat offensive, especially when it is long kept. It consists of oil, properly so called, a small portion of spermaceti, and a little gelatin. At the temperature of 40°, the latter substances become partially concrete, and make the oil obscure, and at the temperature of 82°, render it thick with flaky crystals. It is sold by the ton of 252 gallons, wine-measure. A gallon of oil, by measure, weighs 7 lb. 10 oz.
Source: The Whale Fishery ©1820
Using Whale Oil Soap to help protect fruit trees:
The manner in which Capt. Randall uses the whale oil soap, and which we consider the most important part of his communication, is as follows:—eight to ten pounds of whale oil soap are put into a common pail, to which a sufficient quantity of warm water is added, so that when well mixed together, the whole is about the consistence of good'thick paint. With this pail of soap, thinned in this manner, the man having a small tin pail, or bag, or pocket, filled with fine sand, tied round bis waist, with a coarse crash cloth, and a paint brush, is ready for operations. He first wets his cloth with soap, then scatters on some dry sand, and gives the trunk and branches a good rubbing; nfter which, with a hand brush, he puts on a coat of the soap, prepared as above, equal to a thick coat of paint. The time selected for the operation is just at the termination of a storm of rain, when the moss, or any roughness on the bark, will yield more readily to rubbing.
Source: Magazine of Horticulture ©1842
Increasing Consumption of'Whale-oil.—It appears worthy of remark, that notwithstanding the large consumption of coal fur gas, which has in a great degree superseded the use of oil for street-lighting, the aggregate consumption of whale-oil has very materially increased. This fact is of course referable to the fashion now become very general of burning table-lamps in the *ace of candles in our dwellings; but it must excite surprise in the mind of every one when first made acquainted with the fact, that during this time the use of candles in dwellings, and especially of wax-candles, has also increased in a greater proportion than the population. It has been suggested, and with much apparent reason, that this increase may be consequent upon the greater brilliancy of the streets since they have been lighted with gas, since we have thus been made dissatisfied with the quantum of light previously thought sufficient within our houses. Certain it is, that our apartmcnU are much more brilliantly lighted now than they were before the introduction of coal-gas, whether that invention be chargeable with the increase or not.—Porter's Progress of the Nation,
Source: The Penny Magazine ©1843
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
A Christmas Carol
The classic "A Christmas Carol" has been rewritten, played and put into film more times than I can count. Dickens did a fine job on this classic. And it only seems fitting that we would include it in our tidbits about 19th Century Christmas Tidbits. It was first published in 1843. The link below to Google books is a copy printed in 1858. Here is a picture of the first publication that can be found in wikipedia.
An interesting tidbit about A Christmas Carol is that it was a novella. I love writing novellas and have often been told how amazed my readers are about the amount of story that is included in the novella. A novella challenges an author to tightly write their stories.
A Christmas Carol
Here is a page with illustrations for
A Christmas Carol in 1933.
So how are you going to enjoy A Christmas Carol this holiday season? Better yet, how are your characters going to enjoy it?
An interesting tidbit about A Christmas Carol is that it was a novella. I love writing novellas and have often been told how amazed my readers are about the amount of story that is included in the novella. A novella challenges an author to tightly write their stories.
A Christmas Carol
Here is a page with illustrations for
A Christmas Carol in 1933.
So how are you going to enjoy A Christmas Carol this holiday season? Better yet, how are your characters going to enjoy it?
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
1843 Fashions
I realize this is much earlier in the century than a lot of people are writing in but it's always fun to see what was in style from various years.
Ladies or Women's Fashions
Women & Children
Cloaks & Coats
Everyday
Children
Ladies or Women's Fashions
Women & Children
Cloaks & Coats
Everyday
Children
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Quarries
Quarries were a large part of the industry during the 19th Century, as cities were being made, quarried rock was needed. Paul and I lived in Tuckahoe, NY for several years. Most of Tuckahoe had been a quarry that supplied many of the NYC buildings with their marble. Can you image your characters working in or using a quarry?
Below you'll find a brief description about a quarry then some tidbits about quarries.
QUARRY, an excavation in the ground from whence are extracted marble, stone, or chalk, for the purposes chiefly of sculpture and architecture. The name appears to have been applied to such excavations from the circumstance that the materials obtained from them are there quadrated or formed into rectangular blocks.
This information gives one a brief look into the variety of quarries as well as some info on the various stones.
MAP
Explanatory Notes
The map which accompanies this report on building stone is on a scale of fifteen miles to an inch. In the absence of colors, exhibiting the geological formations and their limits, it is impossible to show the quarries of the various geological horizons, as the Potsdam sandstones, Trenton limestones, Lower Helderberg limestones, etc. The number of quarries in some of the quarry districts is so great, and they are so close,, that they cannot be indicated by appropriate signs on a map of this scale. Hence, in some cases, the localities alone are given. Thus West Hurley and Phoenicia, in Ulster county, stand for groups of openings in the blue-stone territory of the Hudson river; Reservation, near Syracuse, for the Onondaga gray limestone quarries; Medina, for the quarries in that vicinity, etc. The quarry localities are distinguished by red lines drawn under their names.
Many small and comparatively unimportant quarries, which are worked occasionally for private use or at long intervals only, are not given on the map — nor referred to in the report. Stone for building can be quarried at so many points that a geological map, with the rock outcrops shown by appropriate colors and signs, is necessary to exhibit the natural resources of the State in stone for constructive work.
The map shows the geographical distribution of the important groups of quarries, and their location with reference to the cities and markets of the State, and the lines of canals and railroads and natural waterways, whereby they are reached.
It may be noted here that the development of openings has been along these lines of communication, and near the cities, as for example, along the Hudson-Champlain and Mohawk valleys, and the Erie canal.
Source: Bulletin of the New York State Museum, Issues 7-10 ©1889
Another tidbit gives some information on what the purpose of the stones were for.
Red and Grey Conglomerate.
This rock is found in almost every part of the sandstone region, and many quarries of it have been opened for the purpose of supplying fire-stone for the hearths of iron furnaces. This stone is shipped to various parts of the country for this purpose, and no stone is known superior to it for durability.
Isaac Van Houten’s quarry is one and one-fourth of a mile north of the New city. This quarry is the first that was worked for obtaining furnace hearths, and was opened about fifty years ago. It has not been worked during the last thirty years, until 1838. Mr. Joseph Bird has reopened it, and pays Mr. Van Houten ten dollars rent for every set of furnace hearths he quarries.‘ The quarry is two and a half miles from the landing; and a set of stones for afurnace hearth delivered there, is worth one hundred dollars. One stratum only is quarried for this purpose, and that is three feet thick. Another stratum above might be used, but it is stated to be too tender. This, and most of the quarries of sandstone, were examined by Prof. Cassels. The stone is very porous, and filled with rounded quartz pebbles. It is tender when first quarried, but becomes harder by exposure to the weather. The furnace men prefer that the stones should “season ” one year before they are put into the furnace.
Another quarry, owned by Mr. Cornelius Depew, is about half a mile north of Van Houten’s. Here the stone is grey at the surface, but red two feet below, so that the blocks contain both colors. The stone is stronger, finer grained, and not so tender as Van Houten’s, but in other respects similar. One stratum only is worked at this quarry. The grandson of Mr. Depew works this quarry, and pays fifteen dollars rent per set of blocks for a hearth. The hearths in the Greenwood, Woodbury, and Coldspring furnaces, in 1838, were from this quarry.
Blauvelt’s quarry, three miles northwest of the New city, was worked in 1838 by Isaac Springstein. It is opened near the summit of the hill. The face exposed is about twenty feet high. The uppermost layer is five feet thick. The stone is soft and friable, and is used for furnace hearths, glass works, and for jambs. The proprietor receives thirteen dollars and twenty cents per set.
Another quarry has been opened three miles north of the New city, by Richard Coe. It is the coarse grey sandstone, and near the junction of the trap and sandstone.
Another quarry, one-fourth of a mile west of Coe's quarry, has been opened by Levi Smith. This stone is also the grey sandstone, from near its junction with the trap rock. A locality was observed on the shore two or two and a half miles below Haverstraw, where the conglomerate looks like a good fire-stone. The stratum is four or five feet thick.
Source: Geology of New-York: Comprising the geology of the first geological district ©1843
Tidbit about Quarry Workers
DISTRIBUTION OF QUARRY WORKERS, BY STATES, ACCORDING
TO LENGTH OF SHIFT
Most quarries in the United States operate 10 hours a day, as may be seen from the figures presented in Table 40. More than onethird of the plants and more than one-third of the pit workers are included in the 10-hour group. Next in numerical importance are the 8-hour plants and men, although the numbers fall considerably short of the 10-hour class. Only slightly less than the 8-hour group are the number of 9-hour quarries and the number of men employed at those quarries.
Among the States having the largest number of quarry employees the records show that the 8-hour men were the predominant group in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia; the 9-hour day prevailed in Connecticut, Missouri, and Vermont; while the 10hour men were the largest class in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Source: Bulletin, Issues 335-343 ©1831
Below you'll find a brief description about a quarry then some tidbits about quarries.
QUARRY, an excavation in the ground from whence are extracted marble, stone, or chalk, for the purposes chiefly of sculpture and architecture. The name appears to have been applied to such excavations from the circumstance that the materials obtained from them are there quadrated or formed into rectangular blocks.
This information gives one a brief look into the variety of quarries as well as some info on the various stones.
MAP
Explanatory Notes
The map which accompanies this report on building stone is on a scale of fifteen miles to an inch. In the absence of colors, exhibiting the geological formations and their limits, it is impossible to show the quarries of the various geological horizons, as the Potsdam sandstones, Trenton limestones, Lower Helderberg limestones, etc. The number of quarries in some of the quarry districts is so great, and they are so close,, that they cannot be indicated by appropriate signs on a map of this scale. Hence, in some cases, the localities alone are given. Thus West Hurley and Phoenicia, in Ulster county, stand for groups of openings in the blue-stone territory of the Hudson river; Reservation, near Syracuse, for the Onondaga gray limestone quarries; Medina, for the quarries in that vicinity, etc. The quarry localities are distinguished by red lines drawn under their names.
Many small and comparatively unimportant quarries, which are worked occasionally for private use or at long intervals only, are not given on the map — nor referred to in the report. Stone for building can be quarried at so many points that a geological map, with the rock outcrops shown by appropriate colors and signs, is necessary to exhibit the natural resources of the State in stone for constructive work.
The map shows the geographical distribution of the important groups of quarries, and their location with reference to the cities and markets of the State, and the lines of canals and railroads and natural waterways, whereby they are reached.
It may be noted here that the development of openings has been along these lines of communication, and near the cities, as for example, along the Hudson-Champlain and Mohawk valleys, and the Erie canal.
Source: Bulletin of the New York State Museum, Issues 7-10 ©1889
Another tidbit gives some information on what the purpose of the stones were for.
Red and Grey Conglomerate.
This rock is found in almost every part of the sandstone region, and many quarries of it have been opened for the purpose of supplying fire-stone for the hearths of iron furnaces. This stone is shipped to various parts of the country for this purpose, and no stone is known superior to it for durability.
Isaac Van Houten’s quarry is one and one-fourth of a mile north of the New city. This quarry is the first that was worked for obtaining furnace hearths, and was opened about fifty years ago. It has not been worked during the last thirty years, until 1838. Mr. Joseph Bird has reopened it, and pays Mr. Van Houten ten dollars rent for every set of furnace hearths he quarries.‘ The quarry is two and a half miles from the landing; and a set of stones for afurnace hearth delivered there, is worth one hundred dollars. One stratum only is quarried for this purpose, and that is three feet thick. Another stratum above might be used, but it is stated to be too tender. This, and most of the quarries of sandstone, were examined by Prof. Cassels. The stone is very porous, and filled with rounded quartz pebbles. It is tender when first quarried, but becomes harder by exposure to the weather. The furnace men prefer that the stones should “season ” one year before they are put into the furnace.
Another quarry, owned by Mr. Cornelius Depew, is about half a mile north of Van Houten’s. Here the stone is grey at the surface, but red two feet below, so that the blocks contain both colors. The stone is stronger, finer grained, and not so tender as Van Houten’s, but in other respects similar. One stratum only is worked at this quarry. The grandson of Mr. Depew works this quarry, and pays fifteen dollars rent per set of blocks for a hearth. The hearths in the Greenwood, Woodbury, and Coldspring furnaces, in 1838, were from this quarry.
Blauvelt’s quarry, three miles northwest of the New city, was worked in 1838 by Isaac Springstein. It is opened near the summit of the hill. The face exposed is about twenty feet high. The uppermost layer is five feet thick. The stone is soft and friable, and is used for furnace hearths, glass works, and for jambs. The proprietor receives thirteen dollars and twenty cents per set.
Another quarry has been opened three miles north of the New city, by Richard Coe. It is the coarse grey sandstone, and near the junction of the trap and sandstone.
Another quarry, one-fourth of a mile west of Coe's quarry, has been opened by Levi Smith. This stone is also the grey sandstone, from near its junction with the trap rock. A locality was observed on the shore two or two and a half miles below Haverstraw, where the conglomerate looks like a good fire-stone. The stratum is four or five feet thick.
Source: Geology of New-York: Comprising the geology of the first geological district ©1843
Tidbit about Quarry Workers
DISTRIBUTION OF QUARRY WORKERS, BY STATES, ACCORDING
TO LENGTH OF SHIFT
Most quarries in the United States operate 10 hours a day, as may be seen from the figures presented in Table 40. More than onethird of the plants and more than one-third of the pit workers are included in the 10-hour group. Next in numerical importance are the 8-hour plants and men, although the numbers fall considerably short of the 10-hour class. Only slightly less than the 8-hour group are the number of 9-hour quarries and the number of men employed at those quarries.
Among the States having the largest number of quarry employees the records show that the 8-hour men were the predominant group in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia; the 9-hour day prevailed in Connecticut, Missouri, and Vermont; while the 10hour men were the largest class in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Source: Bulletin, Issues 335-343 ©1831
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