Enjoy the holidays

Hi all,

There will not be any new posts until the middle of January. Christmas will be spent with family and then the first week of the new year we'll be attending our granddaughter's wedding in Kansas City, MO.

Have a blessed Christmas season and remember Jesus is the Reason for the season. It is only commercial if you allow it to be in your own home and heart.

In His grip,
Lynn

Merry Christmas

Roast Goose

Over the years we've seen the movies and televisions shows of older times and a Christmas Goose was often on the menu. Below is a recipe from Miss Leslie's New Cook Book © 1857 by Eliza Leslie  on how to prepare Roast Goose.

ROAST GOOSE.—A goose for roasting should be young, tender, and fat; so tender, that the skin can easily be torn by a pin; the bill and legs smooth and of a light yellow color, and the toes breaking when bent under. If the skin is thick and tough, and the bill and legs a dark reddish yellow, rough and hairy, do not buy the goose. It is old, and no cooking can make it eatable. A goose, from its profusion of feathers, looks like a large bird when walking about; but when plucked and prepared for the spit, it will be found very deceptive. It is much more hollow than a turkey; and, except the breast, there is but little eating on it. In large families it is usual to have a pair of roast geese, one not being sufficient. Geese are not good except for roasting, or in a pie.
In preparing a goose for cooking, save the giblets for the gravy. After the goose has been drawn, singed well, washed and wiped, inside and out; trussed so as to look round and short; make a quantity of stuffing, (as its hollow body will require a great deal.) For this purpose, parboil two good sized onions, and a large bunch of green sage. Mince both the sage and onions, seasoning them with a small salt-spoon of salt, half as much black pepper, and still less cayenne. Add a hard-boiled egg finely minced (yolk and white;) the chopped egg giving a nice smoothness to the sage and onion. •If your gooseis large, take two chopped eggs.
To make the stuffing very mild, fif preferred so,) add a handful of finely grated bread-cruru Ds ; or two or three fine juicy chopped apples. Fill the body and craw with this stuffing, and secure it with a needle and thread from falling out. Set the goose before a clear, steady fire—having a little warm water in the dripping-pan to baste it till the gravy begins to fall. Keep it well basted all the time it is roasting. It must be thoroughly done all through. * Ro;ist it according to its size, from an hour and a half to two hours or more.
Boil the giblets in a sauce-pan by themselves, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, and having among them a bit of butter dredged with flour. When done, remove the neck, and retain the heart, liver, and gizzard, cut into pieces, and served in the gravy, which should be well skimmed. Also, skim carefully the fat off the gravy in the bottom of the dripping-pan. Put the two gravies together, and serve them up in a gravy tureen. To eat with the goose, have plenty of apple-sauce, made of fine juicy apples, stewed very dry, well sweetened, and flavored with the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon; or with some rose-water and nutmeg stirred in after the sauce is taken from the fire. Rose-water evaporates in cooking, and should never boi i or be kept on the fire. A bain marie, or double kettle, is excellent for stewing fruit; putting the fruit inside, and the water outside.

For a family dinner a goose is very good stuffed with well-boiled potatos, mashed smooth, with plenty of fresh butter or gravy. Sweet potatos' make an excellent stuffing. So do boiled chestnuts, mashed with butter or gravy.

Christmas & New Year's Dinners

In Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt-book ©1850 Eliza Leslie gives this list of Christmas & New Year's Dinners. Now in my family we have always had large holiday dinners but nothing compares to this list.

Boiled turkey with oyster sauce; two roast geese with apple sauce; roasted ham; chicken pie; stewed beets; cold-slaw; turnips; salsify; winter-squash--Plum pudding; mince pie; lemon custards; cranberry pie.

Roast turkey with cranberry sauce; boiled fowls with celery sauce; boiled ham; goose pie; turnips; winter-squash; salsify; cold-slaw; beets--Mince pudding boiled; lemon pudding baked; pumpkin pudding.

Mock turtle soup; roast turkey with cranberry sauce; boiled turkey with celery sauce; roasted ham; smoked tongue; chicken curry; oyster pie; beets; cold-slaw; winter-squash; salsify; fried-celery--Plum pudding; mince pie; calve's-feet jelly; blanc-mange.

I'm not sure about you but several of the items above through me, below are some recipes for some of those items:

FRENCH OYSTER PIE.—Having buttered the inside of a deep dish, line it with puff-paste rolled out rather thick, and prepare another sheet of paste for the lid. Put a clean towel into the dish (folded so as to support the lid) and then put on the lid; set it into the oven, and bake the paste well. When done, remove the lid, and take out the folded towel. While the paste is baking, prepare the oysters. Having picked off carefully any bits of shell that may be found about them, lay them in a seive and drain off the liquor into a pan. Put the oysters into a skillet or stew-pan, with barely enough of the liquor to keep them from burning. Season them with whole pepper; blades of mace; some grated nutmeg ; and some grated lemon-peel, (the yellow rind only,) and a little finely minced celery. Then add a large portion of fresh butter, divided into bits, and very slightly dredged with flour. Let the oysters simmer over the fire, but do not allow them to come to a boil, as that will shrivel them. Next beat the yolks only, of three, four, or five eggs, (in proportion to the size of the pie,) and stir the beaten egg into the stew a few minutes before you take it from the fire. Keep it warm till the paste is baked. Then carefully remove the lid of the pie; and replace it, after you have filled the dish with the oysters and gravy.
The lid of the pie may be ornamented with a wreath of leaves cut out of paste, and put on before baking. In the centre, place a paste-knot or flower.
Oyster pies are generally eaten warm; but they are very good cold.
Veggie Garden Tips gives us a good description of what salsify is as well as how to grow and store it.

From "The French Cook" ©1829 by Louis Eustache Ude I found this recipe for Oyster Sauce.

625. Oyster Sauce. (See No. 99, page 41.)
If you should be in a hurry, mark in a stewpan, a good lump of butter, a spoonful or two of flour, moisten with the liquor of the oysters, and put the sauce on the fire, but do not let it boil. When it is thick, throw in the oysters, with a spoonful of essence of anchovies, a little cavice, a spoonful of thick cream, and serve up.

Rosemary

Recently I watched a television program concerning improving health for the over 40. One item really stood out to me and that was the herb Rosemary. Apparently it helps improve memory. So I decided to do a quick search about the use of Rosemary in the 19th century. There are many poems written that mentioned rosemary. Here are a couple of my finds.

Below is an excerpt from The Antiquary. Vol. 3 pg. 209 ©1873
Rosemary was also considered influential in making love,* was worn at weddings, and sometimes hung before the doors of houses as a charm against the plague and evil spirits, and used as a token of remembrance. Many of our poets allude to this herb in their works.


Below is a lengthy excerpt but there are many key points, this comes from The House and farm accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Vol. 46 Pg 943 ©1858


Rosemary. (Rosmarinum Coronarium.) Ger. describes and figures this, the golden rosemary, named coronal because women have been accustomed to make crowns and garlands thereof; the Ros sylvestre or wild, and the poet's rosemary or garderobe; so named because the people of Grenada, Montpellier, and Valencia use it in their presses and wardrobes. Rosemary groweth in France, Spain, and other hot countries; there is such plenty in Langucdoc that the inhabitants burn scarcely any other fuel; they make hedges of it in the gardens of Italy and England. Wild rosemary groweth in Lancashire in divers places, especially in a field called Little Reede, amongst the hurtleherries, near unto a small village called Maudsley [in the parish of Croston, eight miles south-west from Chorley] there found by a learned gentleman, often remembered in our history, and that worthily, Master Thomas Hesketh. Rosemary is spice in the German kitchens and other cold countries. The flowers made up into plates with sugar, after the manner of sugar-roset, and eaten, comforteth the heart, &c. The people of Marchia use to put it into their drink, the sooner to make their clients drunk; and also into chests and presses among clothes, to preserve them from moths or other vermin. (Ger.) It is not properly called rosemary, but ros marinus, as it were dew of the sea, for commonly it growith in places by the sea side. The floure of rosemaryis called anthos, and of it an electuary is named dianthos. The herb is called libramondos, or dendrolibanos;some call it liantis, others ycterycon, and others lerim. When rosemary is found in recipes, it is the floure, and if ye find libramondos or dendrolibanos, it is the leaves. (Grete Herball, 1516, which gives recipes ofrosemary for the heart, weakness of brain, throat as a gargarism, stomach, &c.) The oil, essence, or quintessence of rosemary is not much used in medicine, but very much by perfumers, to aromatise their liquors, wash-balls, &c. Some esteem it very greatly for the cure of wounds, as a specific balsam, which has given occasion to some strollers and mountebanks to make it a mighty commodity, when what they sell for it is nothing but oil of turpentine and pitch melted together and coloured with orcanet [alkanet]. The next merchandise we sell that comes from rosemary is " the Queen of Hungary's water," which has made such noise in the world for many years together, and is pretended to be a secret delivered by a hermit to a certain queen of Hungary. The great virtues of this water must be owing to the spirit of wine and rosemary flowers, from which two things only it is made ; but there are a thousand cheats imposed upon the world by those who pretend to have the true recipe; and these people generally spoil this medicine by making it of the worst materials and in coarse vessels. You have it described at large, and the best methods of preparing it, by Mr. Verni, master apothecary of Montpellier, in his " Pharmacopeia, or treatise of Distilled Waters," p. 829; and by Mr. Charas, in his " Chymical Pharmacopeia," p. 632. [Recipes for Hungary or rosemary water abound in the old books. Mark,gives one and says that a bath of this decoction is called the Bath of Life ; it maketh a woman look young, and hath all the virtues of balm, cleansing away the spots of the face and comforting the heart. Rosemary enters largely into some of his recipes for "aqua composita." Price makes Hungary water of rosemary flowers and spirit of sack. C. C. Die. uses 4 lb. of the former, and 3 quarts of well rectified wine, for " the Queen of Hungary's water."] We likewise sell the dried flowers, seed, and salt of rosemary ; we have likewise a liquid conserve of the flowers; besides which they bring us from Languedoc and Provence, oil of spike, which is made of the flowers of rosemary and the small leaves of a plant — the spike, male lavender, or bastard nard. This oil of spike or rosemary is proper for painters, farriers, and others, besides its use in physic. (Pomet.) The plant was considered a symbol of remembrance, and was so used at weddings and funerals. Shakspere uses it repeatedly. In Hamlet poor Ophelia says, " There's rosemary; that's for remembrance." In the Winter's Tale,rosemary and rue are beautifully put together, rue for grace, and rosemary for remembrance. Rosemary was stuck around the coffin of the dead, not only from its fragrance and funereal character, but perhaps also for some antiseptic qualities it was supposed to possess. So in Rom. and Jul. : —
Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse.
At weddings, it was usual to dip the rosemary in the cup and drink to the health of the new married couple. Sometimes it garnished meats, as in a play of Beaumont and Fletcher, " a good piece of beef stuck with rosemary." The custom of carrying it at funerals is noticed as late as the time of Gray in his " Pastoral Dirge." In an old play, direction is given that the mourners have

A sprig of rosemary, dipp'd in common water,
To smell at as they walk along the street.
 Instances of the popular favour of this " herb of remembrance," might be greatly multiplied. (See Nares, Brand, &c.) In the Accounts, in Decemher 1608 at Islington, some rosemary was bought for 1 1/2 d. In November 1617, amongst spices and confectionary bought of Mr. Thomas Lever, confectioner, London, was one lb. rosemary comfits, 18d.

Magic

Magic and performances of Magic increased in popularity during the 19th century. Ending the century with the works of Harry Houdini. In 1877 Professor Hoffman wrote a treatise on "Modern Magic: A practical treatise on the art of conjuring." For some unknown reason (to me) Spiritualism developed with and along with magicians, as in the case of Harry Houdini. Perhaps it had something to do with a magician's ability to suspend himself/herself in the air.

In adding secondary characters to our novels Magicians, slight of hand artists could be used in a positive entertaining way or as notorious characters who come to town and try to steal the heart of our hero or heroine.

Below is an excerpt from "Modern Magic: A practical treatise on the art of conjuring."


THE MAGIC WAND.
This is a light rod of twelve to fifteen inches in length, and about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. It may be of any material, and decorated in any manner which the fancy of the owner may dietate. To the uninitiated its use may appear a mere affectation, but such is by no means the case. Apart from the prestige derived from the traditional properties of the wand, and its use by the wizards of all ages, it affords a plausible pretext for many necessary movements, which would otherwise appear awkward and unnatural, and would thereby arouse the vigilance of the audience at possibly the most critical period of the trick. Thus, if the performer desires to hold anything concealed in his hand, by holding the wand in the same hand he is able to keep it closed without exciting suspicion. If it is necessary, as frequently happens, to turn his back upon the audience for an instant, the momentary turn to the table, in order to take up or lay down the wand, affords the required opportunity. We most strongly advise the would-be magician to cultivate from the outset the habitual use of the wand. Even where its employment is not absolutely necessary for the purpose of the trick, its use is in strict accordance with the character he professes to fill, and the dainty touch of the wand, for the supposed purpose of operating a magical transformation, assists materially in leading the audience to believe that such transformation did actually take place at that particular moment, instead of having been (as is really the case) secretly effected at an earlier period.

Seed Vitality

This comes from Houghtaling's Handbook of Useful Information ©1887
Number of Years Seeds Retain their Vitality
Vegetables . . . . . . . . .Years
Cucumber . . . . . . . . . 8 to 10
Melon . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 to 10
Pumpkin . . . . . . . . . . .8 to 10
Squash . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 to 10
Broccoli . . . . . . . . . . . 5 to 6
Cauliflower . . . . . . . . . 5 to 6
Artichoke . . . . . . . . . . .5 to 6
Endive . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 to 6
Pea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 to 6
Radish . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 to 5
Beets . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 to 4
Cress . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 to 4
Lettuce . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 to 4
Mustard . . . . . . . . . . . .3 to 4
Okra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 to 4
Rhubarb . . . . . . . . . . . .3 to 4
Spinach . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 to 4
Turnip . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 to 6
Asparagus . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Carrots . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Celery . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 to 3
Corn (on cob) . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Leek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 to 3
Onion . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Parsley . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Parsnip . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 to 3
Tomato . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to 3
Egg Plant . . . . . . . . . . . 1 to 2
Herbs
Anise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 to 4
Caraway . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Summer Savory . . . . . . .1 to 2
Sage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 to 3

Warm Springs Toll Bridge North Carolina 1879

Below you'll find the actual writing of the portion of the act of the North Carolina General Assembly allowing the Warm Springs Toll Bridge Company to charge for tolls across the bridge. As an author I'm always looking for the actual costs of items or services during the time period I'm writing.

Sec. 5. That the company shall be entitled to receive Rates of ton. the following toll, to-wit: Six-horse wagons seventy-five cents, four-horse wagons fifty cents, three-horse wagons forty cents, two horse wagons twenty-five cents, one horse wagon fifteen cents, man and horse ten cents, loose horses and mules five cents each, cattle, sheep and hogs two and one-half cents each, pleasure carriages four horse one dollar, two horse fifty cents, horse and buggy twenty-five cents.

Ratified the 5th day of March, A. D. 1879.

Louisiana Purchase Significant Dates

Treaty was signed April 30, 1803
Jun 20th Jefferson wrote a letter to Lewis to "explore the Missouri River...
Announced to the American people on July 4th by Thomas Jefferson.
Ratified by the Senate Oct. 20th
Oct. 31 Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue
New Orleans was turned over by France on Dec. 20th
March 10, 1804 formal ceremony for the transfer of ownership was held in St. Louis
Oct. 1, 1804 the territory was organized as "Territory of Orleans"

Improvements in Canning Meat 1825

In 1825 Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett filed for a patent for improving the canning of meat. Below is an excerpt from an account written by the Maryland Bureaus of Industrial Statistics that gives an overview of the canning industry. This industry helped change American's daily lives.


Canning And Packing Industries.
OYSTERS, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
According to the best posted authorities on the canning industry in America, the present method of packing oysters, fruits and vegetables was commenced in the United States in the early part of the last century. Mr. E. S. Judge, of The Trade, says in an article written some time since, that the first patent for a tin can for hermetically sealing food was granted to Peter Durand in England in 1810, the patent covering the use of glass, pottery and other material, as well as tin. Ezra Daggett brought the secret of this patent to America between 1815 and 1818, and engaged in the business in New York City in company with Thomas Kensett,and some of the cans used in 1822 are still in possession of the family. Salmon and lobsters were among some of the first goods packed, and oysters were also preserved at that time. In 1825 a patent was granted in this country to Ezra Daggett and Thomas Kensett for an improvement in the art of preserving. Charles Mitchell arrived in Boston from Scotland a little later, about 1820, and entered the employment of the firm of William Underwood & Company to "hermetically seal food." Work in this business was begun in Maryland early in the forties. William Numsen & Sons began work in this business in Baltimore in 1847, and in 1849 they were packing cove oysters. Tomatoes, peaches, pears and other fruits and vegetables were being packed about this time. The widow of Thomas Kensett first sold the secret to Holt & Maltby and others, and from this grew the cove oyster packing business of Maryland. Cove oysters were from coves famous for the size and quality of their oysters, which were located on the west side of the Chesapeake bay, above the Potomac river. Originally all the labor was done by hand, and while this system, to some extent, restricted the output, it proved beneficial in distributing money among the masses, though the price of the product was thereby kept high. Previous to 1850 the cans were made by hand, usually by cutting out the tin blanks with shears, and originally the opening was covered on the flat top by a flat, circular piece of tin, soldered down. Subsequently, machinery took the place of hand labor in the making of cans, and as early as 1849 the "Pendulum" press for making can tops was introduced in Newark, N. J. Lewis McMurray, of Baltimore, was one of the famous firms that grew to be historic in the packing industry in this country. Nathan Winslow, of Portland, is said to have been the first who, commercially, canned sugar corn. The packing of fruits and vegetables grew and extended to California very rapidly, until the industry has grown to such immense proportions that it has become important to every State in the Union, and every farmer in the States. Probably, the greatest development of canneries in Maryland occurred between 1877 and 1885, there being in Harford county, Maryland, alone, at that time, over four hundred.

Average Annual Rainfall in the United States 1886

This comes from Houghtaling's Handbook of Useful Information ©1887

Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Inches
Neah Bay, Wash. Ter.. . . . . . . . . . . 123
Sitka, Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Ft. Haskins, Oregon. . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Mt. Vernon, Alabama. . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Baton Rouge, LA . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Meadow Valley, CA. . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Ft. Tonson, Indiana Ter.. . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ft. Myers, FL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Washington, Arkansas. . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Huntsville, Alabama . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Natchez, Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
New Orleans, Louisianna. . . . . . . . . . 51
Savannah, GA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Springdale, Kentucky. . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Fortress Monroe, Va. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Memphis, Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Newark, New Jersey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Boston, MA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Brunswick, Maine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Cincinnati, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
New Haven, Connecticut . . . . . . . . . . .44
Philadelphia, PA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Charleston, S.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
New York City, N.Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Gaston, N. Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Richmond, Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Marietta, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
St. Louis, Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Muscatine, Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Baltimore, Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
New Bedford, MA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Providence, Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Ft. Smith, Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Hanover, New Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Ft. Vancouver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Cleveland, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
PIttsburgh, PA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Washington, D. C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
White Sulphur Springs, Va. . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Ft. Gibson, Indian Ter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Key West, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Peoria, Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Burlington, Vermont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Buffalo, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ft. Brown, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Detroit, Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Milwaukee, Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Penn Yan, New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Ft. Kearney. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Ft. Snelling, Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Salt Lake City, Utah Ter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Mackinac, Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
San Francisco, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Dallas, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Sacramento, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Ft. Massachusetts, Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Ft. Marcy, New Mexico Ter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Ft. Randall, Dakota Ter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Ft. Defiance, Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Ft. Craig, New Mexico Ter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
San Diego, California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Ft. Colville, Washington Ter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Ft. Bliss, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Ft. Bridger, Utah Ter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Ft. Garland, Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Death of Abraham Lincoln

While researching a post that will come up in December for Christmas I came across a Rev. J. E. Rankin, D.D. He delivered a sermon Moses & Joshua (A Discourse on the death of Abraham Lincoln) at Winthrop Church, Charlestown, Ma. while serving as the pastor. The sermon was delivered at noon on Wednesday, Apr. 19, 1865. You can find this sermon at The Martyred President website. On this website you'll find approximately 59 sermons. Sermons often reflect and encourage people in the where do we go from here phase that happens with the death of a relative or in this case the death of the leader of the United States.

For those of you writing during this time period you might find some helpful insights to what the "people" were feeling at this great time of mourning.

Broad or Windsor Beans

In 1863 Isabella Mary Beeton published "The Book of Household Management." And in her vegetable section of the recipes, I stumbled across a bean I'd never heard of, the Broad or Windsor Bean. So naturally I had to research what this bean was. Today it is more commonly called the Fava Bean. Victory Seeds has a simple overview of the history of the Fava Beans.

In Ms. Beeton's book her recipe is:

BOILED BROAD OR WINDSOR BEANS.
1092. Ingredients.—To each 1/2 gallon of water, allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; beans.
Mode.—This is a favourite vegetable with many persons, but to be nice, should be young and freshly gathered. After shelling the beans, put them into boiling water, salted in the above proportion, and let them boil rapidly until tender. Drain them well in a colander; dish, nnd serve with them separately a tureen of parsley and butter. Boiled bacon should always accompany this vegetable, but the beans should be cooked separately. It is usually served with the beans laid round, and the parsley and butter in a tureen. Beans also make an excellent garnish to a ham, and when used for this purpose, if very old, should have their skins removed. 
Time.—Very young beans, 15 minutes; when of a moderate size, 20 to 25 minutes, or longer.
Average cost, unshelled, 6d. per peck.
Sufficient.—Allow one peck for 6 or 7 persons.
Seasonable in July and August.
Nutritive Properties of the Bean.—The produce of beans in meal is, like that of peas, more in proportion to the grain than in any of the cereal grasses. A bushel of beans is supposed to yield fourteen pounds more of flour than a bushel of oats; and a bushel of peas eighteen pounds more, or, according to some, twenty pounds. A thousand parts of bean flour were found by Sir H. Davy to yield 570 parts of nutritive matter, of which 420 were mucilage or starch, 103 gluten, and 41 extract, or matter rendered insoluble during the process.

In "The Art of Preserving all kinds of animal and vegetable substances for Several Years" by M. Appert ©1811

Windsor Beans. - (Petiles Jives de marais.)
Neither the feverole (the small dried bean) nor the julienne, which re~ sembles it, are fit to be preserved. I make use of the genuine Windsor, or broad bean, which is of the thickness and breadth of the thumb, when ripe. I gather it very small, about the size of the the end of the little finger, in order to preserve it with its skin. As the skin becomes brown when in contact with the air, I take the precaution of putting the beans in bottles as soon as shelled. When the bottles are full, the beans having been shaken down gently on the stool, and in that way the vacancies in the bottle having been filled up ; I add to each bottle a little bunch of savory ; I cork them quickly in order to give them one hour's boiling in the water-bath. When this vegetable has been quickly gathered, prepared and preserved, it has a white, greenish colour: on the contrary, when the operation has been tardy, it becomes brown and hard.

Peeled Windsor Beans.
(Feves de marais devotees.)
In order to preserve Windsor beans Stripped of their skins, I gather them larger, about half an inch long at the utmost. I take off the skin, bottle them with a small bunch of savory, &c. and I put them in the waterbath, which is made to boil an hour and half.

In the American Gardener's Calendar; adapted to the climates and season of the by Bernard M'Mahon © 1806 you'll find this:

Planting the large Windsor Beans, and other varieties of the same species.
As early in this month as possible, plant a full crop of Windsor beans, and also of any of the other varieties which you esteem ; the Mazagan and Lisbon are the earliest, the white-blossom bean is very delicious, and boils much greener than any other kind ; but the green Genoa, bears the heat of our climates better than either of the others, and therefore is the most suitable for late crops. The long-podded bean is very good, and bears well; but the Windsor, Sandwich, Toker, and broad Spanish kinds, on account of their great size and sweetness, are more esteemed for blanching than any other. The dwarf-cluster bean is a great bearer, never grows above a foot or fourteen inches high, and may be planted in rows either in beds or borders, the rows to be about two feet asunder ; and as this kind branches out considerably from the root, the beans must be planted in single rows, and six inches distant from one another.
I have again to remark, that it is from the early planted of those kinds, that much produce may be expected ; for when overtaken by the summer heat, whilst in blossom, these drop off prematurery; consequently, the crops are poor and scanty.
Continue planting these kinds once every ten days, till the end of this month or beginning of next; and as the early crops advance, draw some earth up to their stems, as directed for peas.
When beans are desired at as early a period as possible, you may force some of the early Mazagan kind, in any of your forcing departments, observing, when the plants are in full blossom, to nip off their tops, which will cause their fruit to set and ripen sooner, than if left to take their natural course.

Or you may, about the beginning of the month, plant a quantity of them close together in a hot-bed, to be defended with a frame and glasses, or with mats, &c. and when thus forwarded for two or three weeks, plant them into the open ground; observing to give them plenty of air whilst in the hot-bed, and when they have one or two inches growth therein, to plant them into some warm border, in rows two feet and a half, or a yard asunder.
For further particulars, and the method of planting all the kinds, see February, page 127.

Which means the Windsor Bean was a part of the American diet for most of the 19th century. It even continued into the 20th til present day. Below is an excerpt from  The Report of Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California ©1898 I found mention of the Windsor beans.
Mrs. Wenonah Stevens Abbott, Oak, Shasta County— Windsor Beans nearly all germinated. Heavy rains during blooming period probably lessened the amount of bearing, but those which we tried proved very good.

Velocipede

Velocipede was a term French inventor Nicéphore Niépce used to describe his version of the Dandy Horse also known as Laufmaschine (German for Running Machine). The year was 1818. The Dandy horse was built in 1817. Today the term is used to describe most of the early forms of bicycles.


These first Dandy Horses and Velocipedes were moved along with the rider walking on the ground. The effort gave the walker further distance with his steps. The first pedaled bikes were invented nearly 40 years later.

Google books also offers a book about the history of Velocipede This book was printed in 1869

And for some additional info and images check out Wikipedia.

Panic of 1819

The Panic of 1819 was the first major economic crisis in America and it was called a depression. The cotton market prices failed and banks called in loans. It lasted for 2 years. Below you will find some excerpts from books found at google that will give you a basic idea of what was going on during the time of this economic crisis of the United States.

The circumstances of why the panic of 1819 occur was summarized in "What are the facts? Protection and reciprocity illustrated by Henry F. Clark ©1892 says:


The war with Great Britain (1812-1815) continued an extreme protection as to England (See Query 24), and the increased tariff rate of that war period provided protection as to other countries. During these nine years, home industries were greatly stimulated. The close of the war and the reduction of the tariff removed the protection, and there followed one of the most disastrous panics which the country has suffered.

With an eye for an overview of the history of America, "the American Nation, a History: Rise of the New West, 1819-1829 by Frederick Jackson Turner © 1906
Wrote this about the Politics of presidents at the time.

CHAPTER XVI
PRESIDENT ADAMS AND THE OPPOSITION (1825-1827)
FOR eight years President Monroe had administered the executive department of the federal government—years that have been called the "Era of Good Feeling." The reader who has followed the evidences of factional controversy among the rival presidential candidates in the cabinet, and noted the wide-spread distress following the panic of 1819, the growing sectional jealousies, the first skirmishes in the slavery struggle, and the clamor of a democracy eager to assert its control and profoundly distrustful of the reigning political powers, will question the reality of this good feeling. On the other hand, in spite of temporary reverses, the nation as a whole was bounding with vigor in these years of peace after war; and if in truth party was not dead, and a golden age had not yet been given to the American people, at least the heat of formal party contest had been for a time allayed. The bitterness of political warfare in the four years which we are next to consider might well make the administration of the last of the Virginia dynasty seem peaceful and happy by contrast.

And with regard to one state it was reported in "History of Kentucky" Vol. 2 ©1922

Kentucky was fast becoming the storm center of a world-wide mone-1 tary and business disturbance, thePanic of 1819. For various reasons, many of which were not peculiar to this panic but rather common to all, world conditions were out of joint; but it seemed that in Kentucky there had been causes of a local nature almost sufficient to produce a panic. The prices of everything offered for sale came down almost to the vanishing point when compared to the high levels of a few years previously. It was reported in 1820 corn was selling in some parts of the state for 10 cents a bushel and wheat at 20 cents.38 A traveller stated that land around Lexington and Frankfort was selling for only one-sixth as much as it was bringing a few years earlier.30 The Kentucky Gazette said, "The price of property is exceedingly depressed. Real estate will not sell for one-fourth of its value." An example of the hard times resulting in forced sales was the case of a factory near Lexington costing $150,000 which with other valuable buildings and about one hundred acres of land was sold for $21,000—and on credit at that.40 A writer to the Kentucky Gazette gave this further dismal picture of the times: "Slaves which sold some time ago, could command the most ready money, have fallen to an inadequate value. A slave which hires for $80 or $100 per annum, may be purchased for $300 or $400. A house and lot on Limestone Street, for which $15,000 had been offered some time past, sold under the officer's hammer, for $1,300. A house and lot, which I am informed was bought for $10,000, after $6,000 had been paid by the purchaser, was sold under a mortgage for $1,500, leaving the original purchaser (besides his advances) $3,500 in debt. A number of sales, which excited at the same time astonishment and pity, have occurred in this town. Comparisons of local sufferings should not be indulged in, but I am told that Lexington is less afflicted than almost any part of the state." 41

Average Annual Temperature in United States 1887

Place of               Average
Observation      Temperature
Tucson, Arizona . . . . 69
Jacksonville, FL. . . . 69
New Orleans, LA. . . 69
Austin, Tx . . . . . . . .67
Mobile, Al . . . . . . . .66
Jackson, Mississippi. .64
Little Rock, AR . . . . 63
Columbia, S.C. . . . . .62
Ft. Gibson, Indian Ter  60
Raleigh, N.C.  . . . . .59
Atlantia, GA . . . . . .58
Nashville, Tn. . . . . .58
Richmond, VA . . . . 57
Louisville, Ky. . . . . 56
San Francisco, CA . . 55
Washington, D.C. . . .55
St. Louis, Missouri . . 55
Baltimore, Maryland . 54
Harrisburg, PA . . . . . 54
Wilmington, De. . . . .53
Trenton, NJ . . . . . . . 53
Columbus, OH . . . . .53
Portland, Or . . . . . . .53
Ft. Boise, Idaho. . . . .52
Salt Lake City, Ut . . .52
Romney, W.V. . . . . .52
Indianapolis, IN . . . . 51
Leavenworth, KS . . . 51
Santa Fe, N.M. Ter. . .51
Sterlacoom, W. Ter. . .51
Hartford, CT. . . . . . . 50
Springfield, IL. . . . . . 50
Camp Scott, NV. . . . .50
Des Moines, IA. . . . . 49
Omaha, NE . . . . . . . .49
Denver, CO. . . . . . . . 48
Boston, MA. . . . . . . . 48
Albany, NY. . . . . . . . 48
Providence, RI . . . . . .48
Detroit, MI. . . . . . . . . 47
Ft. Randall, Dakota Ter. .47
Sitka, Alaska . . . . . . . 46
Concord, NH . . . . . . . 46
Augusta, Me . . . . . . . .45
Madison, Wisconsin . . 45
Helena, Montana Ter . . 43
Montpelier, Vermont. . . 43
St. Paul, Minnesota . . . .42

Indian Medicine

The information below comes from the second printing of The Indian Household Medicine guide ©1883 by J. I. Lighthall

Hydrastis Canadensis.
Golden Seal. Orange Root. Yellow Root. These are the various names that are ascribed to this plant by botanists, by medical men, and by those who are familiar with the plant or herb. Itis generally known by the name of Yellow Root. The fruit it bears is similar to that of a raspberry. The root is the part that possesses the medicinal properties. It is used by the Indians in coloring their garments. It colors them a bright yellow. Yellow Root, when in combination with indigo, will color goods a fine green. This root is one of the Indian's favorite remedies; and medical men of the present age recognize it as one of the standard remedies for many pathological conditions or diseases of the human body. Too much cannot be said of this valuable agent, that has been veiled in darkness to the medical world so long. I consider it one of the kings of diseases of the mucous membrane. It is unsurpassed by any known remedy. Many medical powers and properties have been claimed^for this root, but at present its true therapeutical or medical properties are well understood. Medical properties and uses.—It is admitted by all to be a fine tonic. It acts very gently on the liver, and as an alterative on the mucous membrane. It is a fine remedy*in|the treatment of dyspepsia and many other affections requiring a tonic treatment. It is a diuretic. When taken, it can, in a few hours, be smelled in the urine. It is a good blood purifier. To snuff the powder in small quantities in a great many cases will cure catarrh. Many a bad case of chronic diarrhoea is said to have been cured by chewing the root as one would chew tobacco. It is splendid to take the powder and sprinkle in on an old cancer sore or ulcer. Take the powder and mix with water; this makes a fine gargle for a chronic sore throat, diptheria, or any ulceration of the mucous membrane. It should be gargled some five or six times a day. The fluid extract, diluted one-half with water, and injected four times, is a certain cure for gonorrhoea. It is unparalleled as an appetizer. The way it should be prepared so as to constitute a bitters for the stomach and general system, is to take the root and cut it up fine and put in a quart bottle till it is half full, add one pint of alcohol or good whisky, and as much water, let it stand fourteen days, shake well once every day, and at the end of the fourteenth day you have a pure tincture ready for use. The dose is a tablespoonful or a common swallow before each meal. Crushed sarsaparilla, gentian root, and anise seed, will prove a great addition to it, acting as a blood purifier, appetizer, tonic and alterative. If everybody, when first feeling bad, would commence taking this, they would seldom be obliged to suffer with fevers and bilious attacks. The Indian holds this as sacred to the welfare of his body as the farmer does paint for the protection and preservation of his house. A watery solution of the powder has been known to cure, by injections, many cases of whites and womb troubles. It is something that is worthy of a place in every doctor's office and citizen's house.

Scarlet Fever

Household Medicine, Surgery, Sick-room Management and Diet for Invalids ©1854


Scarlatina is popularly supposed to be a different disease from scarlet fever. This is an error, scarlet fever being merely the technical name of scarlatina. The most severe and the mildest cases are termed by medical men, indifferently, scarlatina, or scarlet fever.
Scarlet fever is comparatively unfrequent after childhood; the cause of this appears to be, not that adults, as such, are insusceptible to the disease, hut that the majority of persons have been affected by it in childhood.
Like most of the other specific diseases, scarlet fever varies greatly in severity,—sometimes it is a disease so malignant as to kill in a few hours, at other times its symptoms are so mild that the patient is almost unconscious that he is ill.
The first symptom of scarlatina in an adult is usually considerable stiffness and soreness of the throat; this is quickly followed by shivering or chilliness, heat of skin, headache, thirst, and frequent pulse. In children these latter symptoms ordinarily precede complaints of sore throat. Among the symptoms less constantly present on the first day of disease are vomiting, and, in children, convulsions.
The rash from which the disease derives its name appears on the second day of illness—i.e.,supposing the child to have sickened on Monday, the rash may be looked for on Tuesday. The rash breaks out first on the throat and chest, it then affects the face and trunk, and extends in two or three days to the legs and arms. When first visible it consists of minute scarlet points; these soon grow so numerous as to unite and tint the skin generally of a scarlet hue. The colour is sometimes as vivid as that of the shell of the boiled lobster; at others, it is only a faint scarlet blush. AVhen the rash is fully out, the face is a good deal swollen, the skin is very hot, the pulse is very rapid; the patient's mind may wander at night; the tongue is intensely red or white, with red points projecting through it, and the throat red and swollen ; there is often, too, at this time, more or less swelling externally, about the angle of the lower jaw on either side. On looking down the throat ulceration of tho tonsils is sometimes visible, but more commonly what at the first moment appears to be an ulcer, is only a patch of adherent secretion. The rash of scarlet fever attains its maximum extent and intensity on about the fifth day.
From this date all the symptoms of the disease quickly subside, and in three or four days may altogether disappear. On or about the fifteenth day—sometimes, however, at a much earlier period—the skin begins to desquamate in small bran-like scales from the surface generally, but from the hands and feet the separation of the cuticle takes place in large flakes.
In a considerable proportion of cases, a fortnight or three weeks after the rash has faded the face is observed to be fuller than natural; and if the feet be examined thoy are found to be swollen; the patient has scarlatinal dropsy; the urine is at the same time small in quantity and of dark colour. Under these circumstances he may be suddenly seized with convulsions.
There are no remedies which can directly cure a ease of scarlet fever. The room in which the patient lies should be carefully kept cool, and freely ventilated ; his bed should be very lightly covered, and all his flannel clothing removed. Cold sponging of the whole surface, when the skin is very hot and the patient does not feel chilly after, affords considerable relief. The bowels should be kept moderately lax. No other medicines are needed in mild cases. In severe cases the treatment varies according to the intensity of the disease. Sometimes danger is occasioned by the occurrence of local inflammation, and at others by extreme debility. In the latter case brandy and ammonia may be demanded; in the former, blood-letting may be required. During the period of desquamation great care must be taken that there be no exposure to cold, as such exposure is generally supposed to favour the occurrence of dropsy. Warm baths are, during convalescence, of considerable advantage; and, should dropsy supervene, confinement to a warm room is essential for recovery.

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.

Treatment of Corns

This tidbit comes from "The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book  ©1845

* Soak the feet in warm soap-suds, till the outer surface of the corn is quite soft; then wipe dry, and apply caustic all over the corn; it will soon be dry; let them remain for several days till you can remove the black skin without difficulty; then apply more caustic, and so continue till there is no corn left.
Use a salve made of equal parts of roasted onions and soft soap; apply it hot. Or apply a sponge wet with a solution of pearlash.
* Wild turnip scraped and bound upon the corn, after the corn has been cut and made tender, will cure it in a short time.
Take a small piece of flannel which has not been washed, wrap or sew it round the corn and toe. One thickness will be sufficient. Wet the flannel where the corn is, night and morning, with fine sweet oil. Renew the flannel weekly, and at the same time pare the corn, which will very soon disappear.

Louisville Slugger

We've all heard about the bat but were you aware that it was created in the 19th century? John A. "Bud" Hillerich was 17 when legend has it, that he watched a game in Louisville. Pete Browning was in a hitting slump and broke his bat. "Bud" invited Browning to his father's woodworking shop where he crafted a new bat per Browning's instructions. Browning got three hits the next day with this new bat. The year was 1884. Baseball was 8 years old as a professional sport.

Today you can visit the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in downtown Louisville.

Winners of the League Base-Ball Championship

From Houghtaling's Handbook ©1887

Winners of the League Base-Ball Championship
The following were the winners of the championship of the National Base-Ball League for the years named below:
1886 - Chicago Club. . . Won 90 games, and lost 34 games
1885 - Chicago Club . . . Won 87 games and lost 25 games
1884 - Providence Club . . . Won 84 games and lost 28 games
1883 - Boston Club . . . Won 63 games and lost 35 games
1882 - Chicago Club . . . Won 55 games and lost 29 games
1881 - Chicago Club . . . Won 56 games and lost 28 games
1880 - Chicago Club . . . Won 67 games and lost 17 games
1879 - Providence Club . . . Won 59 games and lost 25 games
1878 - Boston Club . . . Won 41 games and lost 19 games
1877 - Boston Club . . . Won 31 games and lost 17 games
1876 - Chicago Club . . . Won 52 games and lost 14 games
(end quote)

1876 was the first year of the National League of Professional Baseball. It organized with 8 teams. The Boston Red Stockings (also called the Boston Red Caps), Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Red Legs (also called the Cincinnati Red Stockings), Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, Philadelphia Athletics, Brooklyn Mutuals (also called the New York Mutuals) & St. Louis Browns (also called the St. Louis Brown Stockings). There were 70 games for the season starting April 22nd and ending Oct. 21st.

For more information about this first year of professional baseball check out The Baseball Almanac

Lady's Derby Soap

I've searched to find out who Lady Derby is but as of this date, I have not found any information about her. I did however find out that the soap was also called Almond Soap. The earliest use of this recipe I've found is the one below. I did however find many Lords and Ladys of Derby in England over the years. To which Lady this recipe comes from, is unknown to me at the moment.

Below is from The New Families Receipts book ©1810

To make Lady Derby's Soap.
Two ounces of bitter almonds blanched, one ounce and a quarter of tincture of benjamin, one pound of good plain white soap, and one piece of camphire the size of a walnut. The almonds and camphire are to be beaten in a mortar until they are completely mixed; then work up with them the tincture of benjamin. The mixture being perfectly made, work the soap into it in the same manner. If the smell is too powerful of the camphire and tincture of benjamin, melt the soap by the fire, and the perfume will go off. This soap has been tried by many persons of distinction, is excellent in its qualities for cleansing the skin, and will be found greatly to assist the complexion, the ingredients being perfectly safe, and free from those jjernicious properties that are mostly incorporated with other soap.

Substitute for Brewer's Yeast

Forgive me for posting another interesting tidbit from The New Family Reciepts ©1810, there are so many interesting pieces of information.


Substitute for Brewers Yeast.
Take a small tea cup, or wine glass full of -split peas, pour on it a pint of boiling water, and set the whole in a vessel all night on the hearth, or any other warm place ; the water will have a troth on its top the next morning, which will be good yeast. The colder the place the longer it will be forming.

Rules for Fly Fishing

The New Family Receipts ©1810 has this to say about fly fishing.


Rules for Fly Fishing.
A fishing fly is a bait used in angling for various kinds of fish. Thefly iseither natural or artificial. The chief of the natural flies are the *' stone fly," found under hollow stones at the sides of rivers, between April and July; it is brown, with yellow streaks, and has large wings. The " green-drake,'' found among stones by river sides i it has a yellow body ribbed with green; it is long and slender, with wings like a butterfly, and is common in the spring. The "' oak fly," found on the body of an oak or ash, is of a brown colour, and common during the summer months. Hie "palmer fly or worm," found on the leaves of plants, when it assumes the fly state from that of the caterpillar; it is much used in trout fishing. The " ant fly," found on ant hills from June to September. The •* May fly," is to be found playing at the river side, especially before rain. And the " black fly," which is to be found upon every hawthorn after the buds are off. There are two ways to fish with natural flies, either on the surface of the water, or a little underneath it. In angling for roach, dace, &c. the fly should be allowed to glide down the stream to the fish, but in very still water the bait may be drawn by the fish, which will make him eagerly pursue it.
There are many sorts of artificial flies to be had at the shops ; they are made in imitation of natural flies, and the rules for using them are as follow: Keep as far from the water's edge as may be, and fish down the stream with the sun at your back) the line must not touch the water. In clear river* the angler must use small flies with slender wings, but in muddy waters a larger fly may be used. After rain, when the waters are muddy, an orangecoloured fly may be used with advantage; in a clear day the fly must be light coloured, and in dark water the fly must be dark. The line should in general be twice as long as the rod ; but, after all, much will depend upon a quick eye and active hand. Flies made for catching salmon must have their wings standing one behind the other. Thii fish is said to be attracted by the gaudiest colours that can be obtained ; the wings and tail should be long and spreading.

Birch Tree Wine

Below is another entry from The New Family Receipts book ©1810. Personally Birch Tree Wine was something I'd never heard of before. For more information about Birch Sap Wine check out this from The Winemaking Home Page and you can always google it and find out more information.


To make Birch-tree Wine.
The vernal sap of the birch tree is made into wine. In the beginning of March, while the sap is rising, holes must be bored in the body of the tree, and fassets, made of elder, placed in them, to convey away the liquid. If the tree be large it may be tapped in several places at a time, and thus, according to the number of trees, the quantity of liquid is obtained. The sap is to be boiled with sugar, in the proportion of four pounds to a gallon, and treated in the same manner as other made wines.

One great advantage attaching to the birch is, that it will grow on almost any barren ground.

Rules for Milking Cows

Below comes from  The New Family Receipts Book ©1810


Rules for Milking Cows.
Cows should be milked three times a day, if fully fed, throughout the summer; and great caution should be exercised by the persons employed, to draw the milk from them completely, not only to increase the quantity of produce, but to preserve its quality. Any portion which may be left in the udder seems gradually to be absorbed into the system, and no more is formed than enough to supply the loss of what is taken away ; and, by the continuance of the same mode, a yet farther diminution of the secretion takes place, until at length scarcely any is produced. This last mode of milking is always practised when it is intended that a cow should be rendered dry.

Stereotype Printing

I ran across this printing process while researching the Philadelphia Bible Society and them being the first to print a stereotype Bible in the United States in 1812. This process was already being used in England and Europe and very sparingly in the United States but not with regard to Bibles. Here is a link that tells a little about the Philadelphia Bible Society and their printing of the 1812 Bible. That link also has a few pictures of the 1812 Bible.

Wikipedia says that it is a solid plate cast in papier-mache or plaster. In other words you're making a copy of the plate to print with, then recast when your printing plates wear out. Britannica online gives a little more insight to the process. Saying that these plates were stronger than a composed plate.

This printing process is still in use today but quickly falling by the wayside with more modern processes.

Another informative site is from Old and Sold entitled The Plaster of Paris Process.

The Philadelphia Bible Society

The Philadelphia Bible Society was established in 1808. This society still exists today. Their purpose was/is scripture distribution. In their 1809 report they stated they purchased 300 English Bible, 300 English New Testaments and 300 German New Testaments and their stock was quickly exhausted. So the managers ordered 1000 English Bibles, 200 German New Testaments. 

This information tells me a couple things. One, the need was great in the city of Philadelphia. Two, that German immigrants made up a significant amount of the overall community. 

Later on they also directed cheaper New Testaments be made in German and ordered another 300 copies. Then they ordered 100 French, 100 Welch and 50 Gaelic Bibles and 50 English New Testaments in large type. At the time of this report they were expecting this shipment soon.

At this point they distributed to the area of Philadelphia but saw the need to help missionary work as well. So they sent some to Muskingum to be distributed among the Indians and poor white inhabitants.

Their second report notes that 1514 English Bibles, 387 English New Testament Bibles 54 German Bibles, 196 German New Testaments, 45 French New Testaments, 1 Welsh Bible and 1 Gaelic Bible had been distributed. And again they cited bibles given to missionaries or other clergymen in different states to distribute.

They also mentioned in their report their purpose was not to "preoccupy a field which could be better cultivated by other labourers." and reported a list of other societies who also distributed scriptures:

The Massachusetts Bible Society, The Young Men's Bible Society of Ncw-York. The New-Jersey Bible Society, The New-York Bible Society, The New-Hampshire Bible Society, The Connecticut Bible Society.

In 1812 they printed 1250 copies of the bible, they hired Philadelphia printer William Fry. This became the first stereotyped Bible printed in America. Tomorrow's post will be about stereotype printing.

Louisiana Territory

is purchased in 1803 from France for $15 million. That purchase doubled the size of the United States if not more than doubled, especially if you include the two Canadian provinces (Alberta & Saskatchewan).

Wikipedia has a brief overview.

ON page 273 in The American Register ©1809 There are excerpts from Mr. PIke's Journal. About his travels up the Mississippi River.

In the same year, 1809 another journal was published. The Travels of Capts. Lewis & Clarke

Both of these sources give a good account of the area near the time of the purchase.

Most Northern Point Reached by Arctic Explorers

From Houghtalings Handbook of Useful Information ©1887

The following table shows the furthest points of north latitude reached by Arctic explorers, up to and including the Greely expedition:
Year..........Explorer.........................................No. Latitude
1607 .........Hudson..........................................80d 23m 00s
1773 .........Phipps (Lord Musgrove) .................80d 48m 00s
1806 .........Scoresby ........................................81d 12m 42s
1827 .........Parry .............................................82d 45m 30s
1874 .........Meyer (on land) .............................82d 09m 00s
1875 .........Markham (Nare's expedition) ..........83d 20m 26s
1876 .........Payer .............................................83d 07m 00s
1884 .........Lockwood (Greely's party) ..............83d 24m 00s

The distance from the farthest point of polar discovery to the pole itself is 6 deg. 46 min., or, in round numbers, 460 miles. It is thirty miles less than from Chicago to Omaha, by the lines of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway, over which the traveler rides in twenty hours. But this polar radius, though only 460 miles in extent, is covered by ice gorges and precipices of incredible difficulty; and frost is so severe that no instrument of human invention can measure its intensity, and it blisters the skin like extreme heat.

The greatest progress that has ever been made across these wilderness of storm, of fury and desolation, was at the rate of five or six miles in a day, the explorers often necessarily resting as many days as they had before travelled miles in a single day, debarred by the obstacles that they encountered.

Drayman 1870

Another occupation I found in the 1870 censuses was that of a Drayman, fortunately there is a well defined meaning for this occupation. In writing I would have simply called him the wagon driver but I love the term. Here's a link to Wikipedia for a short definition of the term.

Watermaker 1870

While going over some 1870 censuses I came across a man who was born in Russia living in America who's occupation was listed as Watermaker. This occupation intrigued me. I do know that there were some people who converted sea water into fresh water and since the census was of a seacoast town that might have been his job as a watermaker. However, it has me searching the internet for other possible meanings.

The second alternative I came up with was a soda-water maker. Either of these are possible but I wonder if there are any other meanings for this occupation.

He's not Native America so we can think in terms of a rain maker.

I'm interested if anyone who reads this blog has ever run across this occupation, post a comment and let me know what you think.

1859 Menu for an Elegant Dinner

I stumbled on this menu from The Peterson Magazine Vol. 35-36, ©1859. It was a ladies magazine of all the latest outfits and social graces of that time period. Below is an elaborate menu for an important affair.


BILL OF FARE
FOR A LARGE AND ELEGANTLY APPOINTED DINNER.
Upon the table should be placed a soup, and large sized dinner-plate for each guest, together with knife and fork, napkin, (handsomely folded.) a wine, champaign, hock, and finger-^lass, and a goblet for water. A pyramid of flowers should occupy the centre of the table. Extra plates, glasses, dishes of ice, broken in pieces, Ac, Ac, should be placed upon a side-table, reudy for use. The courses are to be served in order.
First Course.
Green Turtle Soup. 
Sherry. Madeira. 

Second Course.
Salmon, boiled. Holland Sauce. New Potatoes.
Haut Sauterne Chateau T.

Third Course.
Sweetbreads.—Fillet of Beef with Mushrooms.
Lamb Cutlets. Green Peas. Tomatoes.
Mashed Potatoes.
Ltebfrauinilch.

Fourth Course,
Soft Shell Crab*. Turtle Steak with Olives. Woed-cock.
Fried Potatoes. Roast Potatoes.
Moet.—Fleur de Sillery.

Patisserie.
Meruigues, with Cream. Wafers. Macaroons. Vanilla Ice Cream.
Harliquin Ice Cream. Strawberries and Cream.
Strawberries with Wine and Sugar. Cream Cakes.
Biscuit Glace. Roman Punch. Charlotte Russe.
Old Burgundy. Port.

Dessert.
Oranges. Bananas. Pine Apple. Cherries
Almonds. Raisins. English Walnuts.

Strong Coffee.
Old Nectar Cognac. Maraschino.
Annisette. Curacao

Hennepin Avenue Bridge

In Wikipedia you find a tidbit about the Henepin Avenue Bridge including a picture of the bridge ten years after it was built.

The year the bridge was completed was 1855, it was originally a toll bridge and was one of the first, if not the first bridge, to cross the Mississippi River. Later in the century railroad tracks were included with the bridge.

Another brief article about this bridge can be found Father Louis Hennepin Suspension Bridge on MNopedia.

Tin Kitchen, Tin Baker or Reflecting Oven

Below is an excerpt from The Journal of the Franklin Institute ©1833 about a Tin Kitchen Patent. In the List of Patents for Inventions and designs, issued by the United States, ©1847 we find the patent was given on June 14, 1832.

For an improvement in the Tin Kitchen; George Richardson, South Reading, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, June 14.
This, we are informed, is made like the ordinary tin kitchen, excepting that it is nearly of a square form, with the sides, bottom and back, in entire pieces, to exclude the external airj there, however, is to be a close fitting lid on the top, or in the back, notwithstanding its entire unity. A shelf, or shelves, may be placed on ledges within, or there may be a spit crossing it in the usual way. The tin case, and also the separate peices, are to be so formed and placed as to reflect the heat where it is most wanted.
In what part the claim to a patent resides, we are not informed.

In another source we find in History of Jay, Franklin County, Maine, by Benjamin F. Lawrence ©1912:
The Thanksgiving turkey was suspended by a string from the mantel-piece before the fire, with a dripping-pan on the hearth underneath. Later on came the tin-baker and tin-kitchen, which greatly facilitated the means of cooking and aided the housewife in household duties. And at a still later day earthenware and crockery-ware displaced the wooden vessels, the wooden bowls and spoons of the early settlers and even the pewter platters, spoons and mugs of the better class were put aside as relics by the use of more modern dishes.

And for some further definition we find in The Journal of Home economics, Vol. 12 ©1920 this definition:
The tin kitchen was a light utensil—of tin, as the name indicates; closed on all sides but that facing the fire; the top being curved or slanted downward and the bottom curved or slanted reversely. Whatever was to be baked was placed on a shallow pan supported within the tinkitchen, and thus received direct heat from the hearth fire and reflected heat from the utensil. The collapsible aluminum reflector used today by campers is derived from the old-fashioned tin kitchen and works on exactly the same principles.

Stove Patents 1847

Many of us wonder what kinds of stoves our 19th century forefathers had. Below is a very limited list from "List of Patents of Inventions and designs, issued by the United States" © 1847 There are over ten pages in the publication and below is two of the pages.

Stove Cooking, combining an elevated oven with.... Lathrop S. Bacon, Le Roy, NY, Jan 23 1846
Stove, cooking, construction...Philip Wilcox, Springfield, MA Sept. 13, 1838
Stove, cooking, correcting bad smell...Eliphalet Nott, Schenectady, NY Jan 7, 1835
Stove, cooking, cylindrical, sheet iron &c...Emma Steinhauer, Philadelphia, PA, Feb. 3, 1831
Stove, cooking, or digestive furnace...Henry L. Bidwell, Berlin, CT, Mar 8 1833
Stove, cooking, domestic.... Jos. R. Page, Philadelphia, PA, Mar 24, 1827
Stove, cooking, double furnace.. .Josiah Richards, Claremont, NH, Aug. 5, 1829
Stove, cook, double oven......R. D. Granger, Albany, NY, Mar 7 1846
Stoves, cooking, with double fireplaces...Reuben Jackson, Zanesville, Oh, Mar 19, 1840
Stoves,cooking, draught arranging...John L. Lathrop, Provincetown, MA, Dec 31, 1839
Stoves, conking, draught, &c., in...Horace Strickland, Bradford, Vt, June 27, 1840
Stove, cooking, drum...Andrew Sherwood, NY, April 25, 1841
Stoves, cookmg, with elevated ovens.... John P. Williston, and Willard A. Arnold, Northampton, MA, Nov. 16, 1839
Stoves, cooking, with elevated ovens...Lester Tilden Barre, VT., July 18, 1840
Stoves, cooking, elevated ovens with...Moses Bartholomew, Vershire, VT. July 2, 1842
Stoves, cooking, family...Joseph Tully, Frederick County, VA, May 17, 1814
Stoves, cooking, and fire-place...Edward Potter...Providence, RI, May 8, 1832
Stoves, cooking, and fire-place... Joshua Douglass, South Durham, Me., Nov. 14, 1835
Stoves, cooking, and fire-place, double...Thomas McCarty, Elmira, NY, Jan. 23, 1833
Stoves, cooking, and fire-place, and oven...John Rice, Hartland, VT, Dec. 6, 1817
Stoves, cooking, flat.....Joel Raithbone, Albany, NY, Mar 6, 1835
Stoves, cooking, and Franklin...James Wilson, NY, Mar 13, 1824
Stoves, cooking, and Franklin...Thomas Wentworth, Oswego, NY, May 18, 1825
Stoves, cooking, and Franklin...George Richards, Providence RI, Sept. 9, 1829
Stoves, cooking, and Franklin...Isaac McNavy, Stafford, CT, Mar. 24, 1835
Stoves, cooking, and Franklin, reflecting...Samuel W. Phelps, Cincinnati, OH, July 16, 1834
Stoves, cooking, Franklin...Abner R. Ring, Parma, N. Y, Dec. 12, 1839
Stoves, cooking, Franklin , Joel Houghton I Ogden, N Y, May 12, 1840
Stoves, cooking, Franklin Reuben Houghton, Clarkson, N. Y, Aug. 25, 1840
Stove, cooking, and galley...Benjamin Spratley, Portsmouth, Va, Sept. 25, 1837
Stove, cooking, and galley...James Baron, Philadelphia, Pa, Oct. 6, 1837
Stove, cooking, heat ...Jonathan G.Hathaway, Painesvilte, OH., Dec 7, 1837
Stove, cooking, heat to...Stephen J. Gold and Job S. Gold, NY city, June 20, 1838
Stove, cooking, heating...William B. Kimball, Petersborough.N.H. July 19, 1837
Stove, cooking, heating...Rufus S. Payne, W.Springfield, MA, July 31, 1837
Stove, cooking, heating...Philip Wilcox, Springfield, Ma, Sept 12, 1837
Stove, cooking, heating buildings...Washington Auld and James Cox, Philadelphia, PA, May 30, 1837
Stoves, cooking and heating...Alexander F. Bean, Woodstock, VT., July 8, 1841
Stoves, cooking, heating, and illuminating...Andrew Walker Jr., Unity, NH, June 27, 1842
Stoves, cooking and heating...Laommi Bailey, Boston, MA., Mar 26, 1844
Stoves, cooking, improvement in...Conrad Samuel, and George J, Somerset, PA, Dec. 3 1846,
Stove, cooking, kitchen...Andrew Sherwood, NY, April 25, 1811
Stove, cooking, kitchen...John Spencer, Albany, NY, Feb. 2, 1812
wove, conkmg, kitchen, portable...James Truman, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 3, 1811
Stove, cooking, and oven...John R. Smith, New Haven, CT, Mar. 10, 1838
Stove, cooking, and parlor...Nicholas Smith, New Hampton, NH, Oct. 27, 1836
Stove, cooking, plain, plate or box...Eliphalet Nott, Schenectady, NY, Apr. 22, 1835
Stove, cooking, portable...Stephen J. Gold, Cornwall, CT, Aug. 29, 1832
Stove, cooking, portable...Thomas Whitson and Gustavus E. Haynes, Roxbury, MA, Nov. 19, 1834
Stove, cooking, portable...John Igget, Albany, NH Jan 16, 1835
Stove, cooking, premium, railway, Peregrine Williamson, Philadelphia, PA, Feb 16, 1829
Stove, cooking, preventing waste of heat...Eliphalet Nott, Schenectady, NY, Jan. 9, 1834
Stove, cooking, railway...Isaac B. Bucklin, West Troy, NY., July 9, 1838
Stove, cooking, railway...Anson Atwood, Troy, NY, April 10, 1839
Stove, cooking, railway... R.P. Butrick, Lockport, NY, Sept. 18, 1841
Stove, cooking, railway...Chollar Jones & Low, assignees of Chollar & Parmelee, West Troy, NY, July 11, 1844

The list continues and there is more to explore. I'd like to repost this list at another date, when I've had a chance to compile the information in a more useable format.

Clipper Ships, The Flying Cloud

In 1853 the "Flying Cloud" sailed 14,000 miles from NY to San Francisco in 89 days and 8 hours. The ship was built by Donald McKay and launched in 1851.

You can see a picture and some information about the Flying Cloud at Wikispaces

Another ship Donald McKay built was "The Great Republic." Below is an article from a Naval Journal published in 1854.

THE GREAT REPUBLIC.
This largest ship in the world, this wonderful piece of naval architecture, which has just made its appearance in our harbor, was designed, built, and is owned by Donald McKay, Esq., of Boston. The discovery of California gold, and the rush of emigrants to that land, and the consequent urgent demands for supplies, have called to existence fleets of clipper ships, eight of which, had been built by Mr. McKay, before he designed the Great Republic.

They were the Flying Cloud, Flying Fish, Sovereign of the Seas, Bald Eagle, Empress of the Sea, Staghound, Westward Ho, and Staffordshire. The Flying Cloud he built on his own account. She was 1,700 tons register; made the quickest passage from New York to San •Francisco on record, in 98 days, ran in 24 consecutive hours, 374 geographical miles. Not satisfied with this triumph, he determined to build a larger clipper that would outsail the Flying Cloud. He next designed the Sovereign of the Seas, a ship of 2,400 tons, " then the largest, longest and sharpest merchant ship in the world." She was so large, and the plan of her seemed so dubious and Utopian, that no merchant would invest in her. " Mr. McKay embarked all he was worth in her," turned merchant and freighted her himself She did out-sail the Flying Cloud.— Although her passage to San Francisco was longer, " she sailed in 24 consecutive hours, 430 geographical miles, 56 miles more than the greatest run of the Flying Cloud, and in ten consecutive days she ran 3,144 miles." " In eleven months her gross earnings amounted to $200,000," when he sold her on his own terms.

In these enterprises, " experience had shown, that the passage to California had been lengthened by ths tremendous westerly gales in the vicinity ofs Cape Horn, and that to combat them successfully, vessels of a still larger size and power were necessary.

He accordingly designed the Great Republic, a ship of 4,000 tons register, and full 6,000 tons storage capacity" ; has built her and will sail her on his own account.
" She is 325 feet long 53 feet wideand her whole depth is 39 feet." Shehas four decks, is 8 feet between decks, except between her spar and upper decks which is 7 feet. She has four masts, the aft one is called the spanker mast. From her keel to the main truck is 250 feet. Few of the thousands who have visited her have left with 'any adequate idea of her enormous size.

A house 25 feet front, 50 feet deepand four stories high is as large a tenement as often meets the eye, in this city; a block of 13 such houses is a longer hloc than is often met with, and yet the hull of this monster ship occupies more space than a whole block of such dwellings. A 300 ton ship used to be considered a large craft; yet this ship -will carry as much freight, and consequently displace as much water as a fleet of twenty such vessels.

Our forests could not furnish trees of sufficient size and length, to make her fore, or main, or mizen masts.— " They are built of hard pine, doweled and bolted together, and hooped over all with iron." Her foremast is 44 inches in diameter and 130 feet long, mainmast 44 inches, and 131 feet, mizen, 40 inches and 122 feet. Her main yard is 28 inches in diameter and 120 feet long, is spliced in the middle, being formed of two of the longest pine trees. There has been used in her construction,
Of hard pine 1,5QO,000 feet.
Of white oak, 2,056 tons.
Of iron, 336 1-2 tons.
Of copper, exclusive of sheathing, 56 tons.
Canvas in a suit of sails, 15,653 yirds.
Days' work on her hull 50,000. Her crew is to consist of 100 men and 40 boys.
Notwithstanding her great size, she is one of the most beautiful models afloat. Her Figure-head is the head and beak of the Eagle. Her stern is ornamented with a spread eagle measuring Thirty-six feet from tip to tip of its wings.

Under her spar deck, in the stern and richly ornamented, is the spacious ladies' cabin with three large state rooms on either side, forward of this, the main cabin and eight state rooms; still forward, stewards' rooms, officers' rooms, hospital, and rooms for the boys; a good arrangement to keep the boys from the forecastle and under the eye of the officers. She has also, we are happy to see, a fine spacious and airy forecastle, the men are to be lodged in hammocks, like a ship of war. She has three houses on the spar deck, in one of which is a steam engine of 15 horse power, to do the hard work of the ship, such as pumping, working the flre engine, hoisting topsails, taking in and discharging cargo. With it also is connected a distilery, not of ardent spirit* but of sea water into good fresh water ; no doubt she will be a temperance ship. The engine can be shipped into a huge long boat constructed as a propeller, to be used in calm latitudes for towing the ship. An admirable Yankee contrivance, truly, to help Jack out of the doldrums.— We suppose too it can be used as a lighter to load and unload in ports where there are no wharves.

In one of the houses is a library for the men containing over one thousand volumes of profitable books, and connected with it a teacher tor the boys.

In the construction and arrangement of this noble ship there is evidently an eye to the comfort and improvement of the men, which we are most happy to note and commend.— She is to be commanded by Capt. L. McKay, a brother, we believe, of thebuilder. We bespeak for her a good crew who shall look well to the interests and honor of the Great Republic.

Currency Act of 1870

After the Civil War during the Reconstruction period there was need to unify the currency. Below is an excerpt from The Political History of the United States of America during the Reconstruction Period ©1871 that details the Currency Act of 1870 and those who voted for or against it. Also, if you aren't looking for detailed information Wikipedia has a short paragraph describing the Act.

BANKING AND CURRENCY.
AN ACT to provide for the redemption of the three per centum temporary loan certificates, and for an increase of national bank notes.
Beit enacted, dec, That $54,000,000, iu notes for circulation may be issued to national banking associations in addition to the $300,000,000 authorized by the 22d section of the "Act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864; and the amount of notes so provided shall be furnished to banking associations organized or to be organized in those States and Territories having less than their proportion under the apportionment contemplated by the provisions of the " Act to amend an act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved March 3, 1865, and the bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States to secure the additional circulating notes herein authorized shall be of any description of bonds of the United States bearing interest in coin; but a new apportionment of the increased circulation herein provided for shall be made as soon as practicable, based upon the census of 1870: Provided, That if applications for the circulation herein authorized shall not be made within one year after the passage of this act, by banking associations organized or to be organized in States having less than their proportion, it shall be lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency to issue such circulation to banking associations applying for the same in other States or Territories having less than their proportion, giving the preference to such as have the greatest deficiency: And Provided further. That no banking association hereafter organized shall have a circulation in excess of $500,000.

Sec. 2. That at the end of each month after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of circulating notes issued, under the provisions of the preceding section, to national banking associations during the previous month; whereupon the Secretary ol the Treasury shall redeem and cancel an amount of the three per centum temporary loan certificates issued under the acts of March 2, 1867, and July 25, 1868, not less than the amount of circulating notes so reported, and may, if necessary, in order to procure the presentation of such temporary loan certificates for redemption, give notice to the holders thereof, by publication or otherwise, that certain of said certificates (which shall be designated by number, date, and amount) shall cease to bear interest from and after a day to be designated in such notice, and that the certificates so designated shall no longer be available as any portion of the lawful money reserve in possession of any national banking association, and after the day designated in such notice no interest shall be paid on such certificates, and they shall not thereafter be counted as a part of the reserve of any banking association,

Sec. 3. That upon the deposit of any United States bonds, bearing interest payable in gold, with the Treasurer of the United States, in the manner prescribed in the 19th and 20th sections of the national currency act, it shall bo lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency to issue to the association making the same circulating notes of different denominations not less than $5, not exceeding in amount eighty per cent, of the par value of the bonds deposited, which notes shall bear upon their face the promise of the association to which they are issued to pay them upon presentation at the office of the association, in gold coin of the United States, and shall be redeemable upon such presentation in such coin: Provided, That no banking association organized under this section shall have a circulation in excess of $1,000,000.

Sec. 4. That every national banking association formed under the provisions of the preceding section of this act shall at all times keep on hand not less than twenty-five per cent, of its outstanding circulation in gold or silver coin of the United States, and shall receive at par in the payment of debts the gold notes of every other such banking association which at the time of such payments shall be redeeming its circulating notes in gold or silver coin of the United States.

Seo. 5. That every association organized for the purpose of issuing gold notes as provided in this act shall be subject to all the requirements and provisions of the national currency act, except the first clause of section 22, which limits the circulation of national banking associations to $300,000,000; the first clause of section 32, which, taken in connection with the preceding section, would require national banking associations organized in the city of San Francisco to redeem their circulating notes at par in the city of New York; and the last clause of section 32, which requires every national banking association to receive in payment of debts the notes of every other national banking association at par: Provided, That in applying the provisions and requirements of said act to the banking associations herein provided for the terms "lawful money "and "lawfulmoney of theUnitedStates," shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States.

Sec. 6. That to secure a more equitable distribution of the national banking currency, there may be issued circulating notes to banking associations organized in States and Territories having less than their proportion, as herein set forth; ana the amount of circulation in this section authorized shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, as it may be required for this purpose, be withdrawn, as herein provided, from banking associations organized in States having a circulation exceeding that provided for by the act entitled " An act to amend an act entitled ' An act to provide for a national banking currency secured by pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof,' " approved March 3,1865, but the amount so withdrawn shall not exceed $25,000,000. The Comptroller of the Currency shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, make a statement showing the amount of circulation in each State and Territory, and the amount to he retired by each banking association in accordance with this section, and shall, when such redistribution of circulation is lequired, mako a requisition for such amount upon such banks, commencing with the bank" having a circulation exceeding $1,000,000 in States having an excess of circulation, and withdrawing their circulation in excess of $1,000,000, and then proceeding pro rata with other banks having a circulation exceeding $300,000 in States having the largest excess of circulation, and reducing the circulation of such banks in States having the greatest proportion in excess, leaving undisturbed the banks in States having a smaller proportion, until those in greater excess have been reduced to the same grade, and continuing thus to make the reduction provided for by this act until the full amount of $25,000,000 herein provided for shall be withdrawn; and the circulation so withdrawn shall be distributed among the States and Territories having less than their proportion, Boas to equalize the same; and it snail be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, forthwith to make a requisition for the amount thereof upon the banks above indicated as herein prescribed; and upon failure of such associations, or any of them, to return the amount so required within one year, it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to sell at public auction, having given twenty days' notice thereof in one ' daily newspaper printed in Washington and one in New York city, an amount of bonds deposited by said association, as security for said circulation, equal to the circulation to be withdrawn from said association and not returned in compliance with such requisition; and the Comptroller of the Currency shall with the proceeds redeem so many of the notes of said banking association as they come into the treasury as will equal the amount required and not so returned, and shall pay the balance, if any, to such banking association: Provided, That no circulation shall be withdrawn under the provisions of this section until after the $54,000,000 granted in the first section shall have been taken up.

Sec 7. That after the expiration of six months from the passage of this act any banking association located in any State having more than its proportion of circulation may be removed to any State having less than its proportion of circulation, under such rules and regulations as the Comptroller of the Currency, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may require: Provided, That the amount of the issue ot said banks shall not be deducted from tbe amount of new issue provided for in this act. Approved July 13, 1870.

Final Vote.
In Senate, July 6, 1870. The bill, as printed above, being the report of the co.nmittee of conference last appointed, was 1 to withont a division.
Ik House, July 7, 1870.

Teas—Messrs. Allison, Ambler, Armstrong, Asper, Atwood, Ayer, Bailey, Banks, Benjamin, Bennett, Benton, Blair, Boles, Booker, Boyd, Back, Buckley, Burehard, Burdett, Roderick R. Butler, Cake, Cessna, Churchill, William T Clark,Sidney Clarke, Amasa Cobb, Coburn, Conger, Cook, Covode, Cowles, Dnrrall, Dickey, Donley, Duval, Dyer, Ferriss, Ferrv, Finkelnburg, Fisher, Garfield, Gllflllan. Harris, Hawley, Hays. Hill, Thomas L. Jones. Judd, Kelley, Knapp, Lash, Logan, Loughridge. McCarthy. McCrnry, McGrew, Mc Ken tic, Mercur, Eliakim H. Moore, Jesse H. Moore, William Moore, Morphis. Daniel J. Morrell, Myers, Negloy, O'Neill, Packard, Packer, Palmer, Peck, Poland, Porter, Prosser, Roots, Sawyer, Scofield, Lionel A. Sheldon, Porter Sheldon. John A. Smith, William J. Smith, Worthington C.Smith, William Smyth, Stevens, Stokes, Stonghton, Strickland, Taffe, Tanner, Taylor, Tillman, Tiimble, Upson, Van Horn, Cadwalader C. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Wheeler, Whitmore, Wilkinson, Willard, John T. Wilson—100.

Nats—Messrs. Adams, Archer, Amell, AxteU. Barnum, Beatty, Biggs, Bingham, Bird, George M. Brooks, Jama Brooks. Bumnton, Burr. Benjamin F. Butler, Calkin, Cleveland, Oinner. Cox, Crebs, Davis, Dickinsim, Dixon, Pox, Ela, Oelt, Haldeman, Ilamill, Hawkins. Hay, Hoar, Hooper, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Jolinsan, Julian. Kellogg, Krrr, Lawrence, Lewis, Marshall, Mayluim. McCormick, McXecly, Morgan, Mungen. XMack, Orth, Paino, roller, RamtaU, Runs, Rice, Sanford, Sargent. Schumaker, Shanks, Stocum, Joseph S. Smith, Starkweather, Stevenson, Stiles, Stone, Strong, Svrann, Sweeney, Townsend, > Twichell, Tyner, Tan Auken, Van Trump, Van Wyck, Voorhces, Ward, Welker, Williams, Winchester, Woodvmrd —77.

Finishing Schools

This topic came up on a writers email loop about finishing schools in the 19th century. I started searching in google books and discovered the term "finishing school" was used quite differently during that century. Basically, "finishing school" referred to a higher education and was often used in terms of finishing schools for boys and sometimes girls. So, I searched a little deeper and came across this excerpt from Graham's Magazine, Volume 41 by Frederick Bremer ©1852 Referencing School of Design for Women.


My thoughts involuntarily sped back across the sea to the country, to the people who preeminently among all the nations of the earth govern themselves, and to one of the Schools of Design for Women, which have lately begun to spring up there, with that fresh, vigorous growth, which all great, public, useful undertakings have in the soil of the New World. I saw the school which had been commenced fn the first instance in the shade of private life, by Mrs. Sarah Peter, an English lady, with a warm feeling of fellow-citizenship; which had been taken up by the government, and incorporated with the Franklin Institution, at Philadelphia, with an annual endowment of three thousand dollars. I saw once more the large, light halls there; saw the kind, cheerful mistress happy in her vocation, happy in the progress of her pupils, and in the flourishing condition of the school.

I saw the young girls' beaming countenances, saw how a happy consciousness had arisen within them, as if they would say, "We also have now obtained work in God's beautiful vineyard!"

I saw them drawing vine-shoots and palms, as decoration for walls and floors; saw genins here unfold its youthful wings in joyful amazement at its own powers; and patient industry gladly take her place in the service of her more ardent sister; saw in the practical direction which the spirit of the New World gives to all work, an infinite future and sphere of operation openad for women in the employment of that talent which Mother Nature has given to them for the beautifying of life—the sense of the beautiful, a feeling for the tasteful and the ornamental—a talent which has hitherto been employed merely in a circumscribed manner.

"See!" said a warm-hearted, right-minded man, Dr. E., who accompanied me through the scholars' room, " this work by Elizabeth B.! fifteen dollars have been paid for it. And this second design for a carpet, by Miss ___, this has been ordered and
twelve dollars are paid for it. This little pattern for calico-printing—see how pretty it is!—has been bought for two dollars—this for three. And these wood-cuts, are they not well done? The young girls who do these are full of orders for similar ones, and can command their own price. This lithograph is another work of Miss ____; and these lithographed groupes of flowers, ordered for a little book, are by
Miss ____, and twelve dollars are paid for each. But I must introduce you to this young girl, Miss ____. She used formerly to maintain herself by her needle; she did needlework even for my family; but it was discovered that she possessed so remarkable a talent for drawing, that after only seven months' instruction, she is secure of provision for the whole of her life, by means of art."

Dr. E. and the head mistress together, selected spcciraensofthe young girls' various works. "Take," said they, "this, and this, and this, and this, home with you to your fatherland."

This was in North America; in the country which preeminently opens a free field for the development of women. In Europe a few individual voices are raised for this object. In America it is the universal coice which says—

"He who points out a new field for the employment of female industry, ought to be regarded as one of the public benefactors. And every means by which such a field becomes accessible to woman recommends itself to society as an important agent in the civilization of the future."

Storing Oranges

I ran across this tidbit while reading Harriet Beecher Stowe's Palmetto Leaves ©1873

She was visiting Col Hart's orange grove and discovered that they packed the oranges picked four months prior(she was visiting in May) in Spanish Moss. She said they were as delicious and fresh as ones just picked.

The Homestead Strike

I came across this information while searching for Homestead information and found it to be a twist in what one would normally think of in terms of Homesteads. Homestead, Pa is a mill town that in 1892 strike that changed and hurt a lot of people including Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. You can read a summary of the strike here from PBS American Experience but you can also read a more detailed account Homestead: A complete history of the struggle of July, 1892 by Arthur Gordon Burgoyne ©1893.

Jelly Making in 1837 Part 2

CURRANT JELLY.
Set on the fire in a sugar-pan a pint of smooth clarified sugar; when it boils, put in a quart of picked red currants, in which let them boil for half an hour; be careful to skim them well, and at times add a little cold water to raise the scum; when boiled enough run the liquor through a sieve into a basin, in which you have squeezed three lemons, then put in some isinglass, and set youi jelly in a mould in ice as usual.

Or, For this purpose the ripest red currants should be taken, as the white are not so good for jelly; crush them, and press out all the juice into a glazed pan; cover it very closely, and set it in a cold place for six days; then with great care remove the thick skin which then covers the juice, and pour it into another vessel, throwing away what remains at the bottom; when the juice is perfectly clear, weigh it, and for each pound take half a pound of crushed sugar, put them on the fire together, and much scum will soon rise; this must all be taken off; let it remain on the fire for about an hour; then try it as follows: put a small quantity on a very cold plate, and if, when it cools, it becomes thick, and of proper consistence, take the pan from the fire; if that is not the case, let it remain until that is the case. Pour out the jelly whilst hot; it must be quite cold before you cover it with paper.

RED CURRANT JELLY.
Strip off the currants, put them in a jar, set the jar in a kettle of hot water, let it boil an hour: then throw the currants and juice into a fine lawn sieve, press out the juice, and to every pint of juice put a pound of double-refined sugar; put them in a preserving pan, set it over a charcoal fire, and keep stirring till it is a jelly, which you will know by taking a little out to cool; be careful to take off the the scum as it rises, and when it is jellied and very clear, pour it into glasses; when cold, cut round pieces of paper that will just cover the jelly, dipped in brandy; put white paper over the glasses, twisting round the top.

BLACK CURRANT JELLY.
Make it the same way as the red currant jelly, only with this difference, that you may use very coarse sugar.

GOOSEBERRY JAM.
Take what quantity you please of red, rough, ripe, gooseberries; take half their quantity of lump sugar; break them well, and boil them together for half an hour, or more, if necessary. Put it into pots, and cover with paper.

GRAPE JELLY.
Take out the stones, then mash the grapes with your hands, (they must be ripe) then squeeze them through a cloth to extract all the juice from them, and boil and finish the same as currant jelly. Use half a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit.

RASPBERRY JELLY.
Take two thirds of raspberries, and one third red currant; pick them, press the juice through a sieve into a pan, cover, and place in a cellar, or any other cool place for three days; at the end of that time raise the thick skin formed at the top, and pour the juice into another vessel; weigh it, and put it, with half the quantity of sugar, into a preserving pan, set it on the fire; a great deal of scum will rise at first, which must all be taken off; leave it on the fire for an hour; then pour a few drops on a cold plate, if it cools of the proper consistence for jellies, take it from the fire, and whilst hot pour it into pots. Let the jelly be quite cold before the pots are covered.

LIQUID JELLY.
Take six lemons, pare them very thin, squeeze out the juice, and put in the peel without the seeds; let it stand all night, then put in half a pound of loaf sugar, mixing it well with the juice; add one pint of boiling water, and one pint of sweet but good wine; mix all well together; then add one pint of boiling milk, boil it altogether once, then strain it through a jelly bag; it will sometimes run clear the second or third time, and sometimes requires to run through oftener.

Calf's Foot Jelly.
The day before you want the jelly, boil 2 feet in 2 1/2 quarts of water, till they are broken and the water half wasted, strain and put it by in a cool place. The next day remove all fat as well as sediment, put the jelly into a sauce pan with sugar, raisin wine, lemon juice, and peel to your taste. Let it simmer, and when the flavour is rich, add the whites of five eggs well beaten, and, also, their shells; let it boil gently for twenty minutes, but do not stir it; then pour in a tea-cupful of warm water, let it boil five minutes longer; take the saucepan off the fire; cover close, and let it stand by the side for half an hour. After this it ought to be so clear as to require only once running through the jelly bag, which must be first dipped in hot water.