Indentured or Redemptioner: White Slavery in the Colonies©

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indentured servant; redemptioner, Pennsylvania Dutch

My topic today with regard to Pennsylvania Dutch history, is the enslavement of white adults and children as a method of paying for passage to America. It is meant only as a brief glimpse into the lives of hard-working individuals who appreciated an opportunity to change their destiny in a new world.

The terms indentured and redemptioner refer to white Europeans who bound themselves to someone in return for payment of their passage to America. The difference in the two is that indentures were negotiated and approved by a magistrate or other official prior to the passage while a redemptioner sailed first and had to reach an agreement as to the terms of servitude upon reaching their destination and before they were allowed to leave the ship. Redemptioners had little to no ability to negotiate the terms of service.

Indentured servants were not paid a salary and could not travel or marry without the consent of their master. They ate what was provided, however coarse it might be, and worked whatever hours were demanded of them.

“About 1720, German immigrants began coming to Philadelphia in great numbers by the way of Rotterdam and other Dutch seaports. Some of them had money enough to pay their passage, but very many of them, when they landed at Philadelphia, found themselves indebted to the master of the ship, or, more often, absolutely penniless in a strange land. They sold their services to the first person who would pay their debts and provide them with food and shelter.

Men made a regular business of going to Philadelphia and buying the services of these German laborers, whom they took into the interior to sell to farmers. Often families were obliged to separate, the parents going in one direction and the children in another; sometimes they would never see each other again.”

Landlords in Europe could sell impoverished tenants into servitude to men who made their living trafficking in human cargo with the intent of reselling the individuals upon arrival in America. Such “entrepreneurs” who profited from the misfortune of those less fortunate were referred to as, “Soul-sellers”.

Various accounts published just after the turn of the 20th century state that children were often bound out to pay for their passage as well as that of their parents. They could be bound out as small children and sometimes served their masters until they turned 21.

A high percentage of the Palatines who came over did so as redemptioners due to the harsh circumstances in their native land, especially Mennonites who had suffered from religious persecution, but after, “ten or a dozen”, years many were prosperous farmers and property owners. “They settled in the central and southern parts of Pennsylvania…”, and thus began the legacy of the Pennsylvania-Dutch.

Germans from the Rhine provinces and the Swiss who came prior to 1717-20 were usually able to pay their own passage and make a meager start at life, but those who came afterward often came as redemptioners after being impoverished by wars and decades of conflict.

“In 1722, the Palatine servants were disposed of at £10 each, for five years of servitude.” Benjamin Franklin noted in 1759 that, “the labor of the plantations is performed chiefly by indentured servants, brought from Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany; because of the high price it bears, it cannot be performed any other way”.

Conditions varied but were generally poor for, “…non-English-speaking individuals and families…whose time was not their own during the years of their involuntary servitude”.

Failure to fulfill the terms of a contract or running away before the contract expired were met with punishment yet the papers are filled with run-away ads and the offer of reward for information leading to the return of such a servant.

Many of the redemptioners were farmers whose skills propelled Pennsylvania to the forefront of the American agricultural movement, but as the following advertisement will demonstrate, tradesmen also sought their fortune in the colonies.

“Just arrived from London, in the ship “Borden”, William Harbert, Commander, a parcel of young likely men-servants, consisting of Husbandmen, Joyners, Shoemakers, Weavers, Smiths, Brick-makers, Bricklayers, Sawyers, Taylers [sic], stay-makers, Butchers, Chair-makers, and several other trades, and are to be sold very reasonable either for ready money, wheat Bread, or Flour, by Edward Hoone, in Philadelphia”. – The American Weekly Mercury, Nov. 7, 1728.

On Jan. 18, 1774, notice was published in the Pennsylvania Staatsbote saying, “There are still 50 or 60 German persons newly arrived from Germany. They can be found with the widow Kriderin, at the sign of the Golden Swan. Among them are two Schoolmasters, Mechanics, Farmers, also young children as well as boys and girls.”

Newspapers contained notices of masters who wanted to re-sell a servant such as this one published in The Pennsylvania Messenger. “A young girl and maid servant, strong and healthy; no fault. She is not qualified for the service now demanded. Five years to serve”.

Another ad from the Pittsburgh Gazette notified the public of an opportunity to obtain for ready money, “A German woman servant. She has near three years to serve, is well qualified for all household work; would recommend her to her own country people particularly, as her present master has found great inconvenience from his not being acquainted with their manners, customs, and language…”. Was this a mother being sold away from her children or husband? We’ll never know because familial relationships were of no concern to those negotiating such sales and certainly wouldn’t have been publicized.

Another form of servitude was apprenticeship where a youth or adult bound themselves to someone in exchange for learning a trade. Apprentices were servants and could be punished and returned if they decided to leave prior to the date specified in their contract and they could be sold if their master so chose.

Upon completion of an apprenticeship, individuals might expect to be supplied with a new set of clothing, shoes, and perhaps enough simple tools with which to eke out a living. In some ads, it was stipulated that the servant was to be taught to read and write before setting out on his own. Unless specified in the contract, indentured servants and redemptioners had no such expectations.

Names of the thousands of individual servants are so poorly documented it would be extremely difficult to know if an ancestor who came to America did so under these circumstances, however, for those like Martin whose early 18th century immigrant ancestral lines all converge in the Palatinate and Switzerland chances are pretty high that someone did. By the late 18th century, prosperous Pennsylvanians who knew their parents or grandparents had been indentured proudly acknowledged their descent from hard-working people who not only improved their own circumstances, but also contributed to the prosperity of the state. ©

Fanning, John Watson. “Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in Olden Time.” 1830.
The Advocate: America’s Jewish Journal. Vol. 47. April 18, 1914.
Channing, Edward. Elements of United States History. 1763
An Account of the Manners of the German Inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
Swank, James Moore. Progressive Pennsylvania. 1908. Philadelphia.

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The Early Pennsylvania German Home

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Pennsylvania Dutch heritage

Welcome, Gentle Reader, today I’m sharing another look at the lives of the early Pennsylvania Dutch as part of my immersion into the lives and culture of Martin’s ancestors. I am enjoying learning about them and Martin says they’re my family too because I found them. That generosity is one of the reasons I love him.

Rev. F. J. F. Schantz, DD of Myerstown, PA wrote a book titled as above, published in 1900, in which he outlined the wants and needs of Pennsylvania’s earliest Germanic settlers. Naturally their first concern was shelter and those shelters were commonly made of logs with the cracks filled with a mixture of clay and grass or of stone. “Windows were of small dimensions. Doors were often of two parts, an upper and a lower, hung or fastened separately. The interior was frequently only one room, with hearth and chimney, with the floor of stone or hardened clay”. Stairs or a ladder led to the attic for sleeping quarters and storage.

“The pioneer’s house was not complete without the large fireplace, often in the center of the building and very often on one of the sides of the house, with hearth and chimney erected outside of the building, yet joining the same…

It was not difficult to make an inventory of the contents of the dwelling-house. The large hall had but little furniture besides a long, wooden chest, and a few benches or chairs. The best room of the house on one side of the hall contained a table, benches, and later chairs, a desk with drawers, and the utensils used on the special hearth in heating the room. In the rear of the best room was the kammer (bed-room) with its bed of plain make, also the trundle-bed for younger children and the cradle for the youngest, a bench or a few chairs and the chest of drawers. The room on the other side of the hall was often not divided, but when divided the front room was called the living-room (die Wohnstube), with table and benches or plain chairs, with closet for queensware and the storage of promiscuous parcels, with the spinning-wheel, with a clock as soon as the family could afford one, and with shelving for the books brought from the fatherland or secured in this country.

The kitchen contained the large hearth, often very large, with rods fastened to a beam [lug pole] and later an iron bar, from which hung chains to hold large kettles and pots used in the preparation of food; the tripod also on the hearth, to hold kettles and pans used daily by the faithful housewife; the large dining-table, with benches on two long sides and short benches or chairs at each end; another large table for the use of those who prepared meals for the family; extensive shelving for holding tin and other ware; benches for water-buckets and other vessels and the long and deep mantel-shelf above the hearth, on which many articles were placed. The second story of the house contained the bedrooms and often a storage-room. The bedrooms were furnished with beds, tables, large chests, and wooden pegs on the partitions. The attic was of great service for the storage of articles of the mechanism of man and the preservation of fruits of the field, the garden, the orchard and the forest.”

Once the home was finished, the family concentrated on building a barn, spring-house, wood-house and the large bake-oven and smoke-house. The latter two were often under the same roof.

“The early settler knew nothing of coal, coal-oil and burning gas. He had no matches, but used flint, steel and punk instead, or the sunglass on days when the sun shone brightly…” The fire produced light as well as heat, and at night was carefully covered over with ashes or a cover so that in the morning there would be enough coals to produce fire without resorting to such methods.

“Tablecloths were not always used. The first dishes were pewter and later of domestic earthen ware and pottery. Platters, plates, bowls and other vessels held the prepared food. Individual plates, cups and saucers, knives and forks were not wanting…”.

Unless they’ve visited an 18th century living history village, most Americans cannot envision a home like the one described in this post, but there may just come a time when we have to return to those ways. How will you fare if your electric appliances don’t work, store-shelves are bare, and fast food is but a distant memory?

Changes in Cherokee Attire into the 19th Century

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Cherokee women

Cherokee woman and child dressed for the photographer.

Cherokee woman and child in everyday attire.

Older Cherokee women, notice the sturdy leather shoes.

Cherokee woman, 1900

Cherokee woman, 1888.

Photographs recorded the changes in Cherokee clothing as the 19th century progressed, leaving little guesswork as to what that clothing looked like. By the mid to late 18th century, most Cherokees dressed little different than their European neighbors.

Ladies’ dresses from the mid-19th century were usually of cotton, wool, linsey woolsey, etc. (natural fibers) with the shoulder seam dropped 2 or 3 inches off the shoulder and was placed a little toward the back rather than from neck to sleeve edge running exactly across the top of the shoulder, buttoned up the front or fastened with hooks and eyes, long sleeves (with or without cuffs) and usually about ankle length. The dresses usually had a white collar, and slightly less often white cuffs.

By the late 19th century the shoulder seam was placed at the shoulder instead of dropped off the shoulder, and the seam from neck to sleeve edge was across the top of the shoulder instead of slightly toward the back, but otherwise working (everyday) attire changed little otherwise.

Aprons, shawls, etc. were pretty similar to those of white women in the area. They may have retained their native jewelry, opted for broaches and other items common in white culture, or even a combination of the two.

The so-called “Tear dress” was not found in any primary sources and is not authentic to the 18th or 19th century.

18th Century Cherokee Attire

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Cherokee

This piece is another in a short series of posts on period clothing, this one focuses on the clothing of the Cherokee nation from the middle of the 18th century. Spelling and punctuation has not been changed from the original. Part two of this article will discuss Cherokee attire in the 19th century.

Cherokee women’s wrap skirts were documented by Adair and would have been worn with a trade shirt (white or checked), chemise, bedgown or other jacket. The wrap skirts were most often red or blue. Ball and cone silver earrings and trade beads with center seam moccasins round out the dress.

“The women, since the time we first traded with them, wrap a fathom of the half breadth of Stroud Cloth* round their waist and tie it with a leathern belt, which is commenly covered with brass runners or buckles: but this sort of loose petticoat, reaches only to their hams, in order to shew their exquisitely fine proportioned limbs.” – Adair.

Swanton also described what was probably a wrap skirt: “The women wore a short skirt extended from the waist almost to the knees.”

“the women wearing a deer skinne verye excellentlye dressed, hanging down from their navel unto the mid thighs, which also covereth their hynder parts”. (Hariot)

Again, we refer to Adair: “The women’s dress consists only in a broad softened skin, or several small skins sewed together, which they wrap & tye round their waist, reaching a little below their knees”.

“The patterns of clothing were simple, the women wearing short skirts and shoulder mantles, and the men, breech clouts and sleeveless shirts. Both sexes wore moccasins that were made like short boots and reached halfway up the leg. While they were on hunting trips in the forest and in cold weather, men wore leather leggings like loose trouser legs.” (Lewis & Kneberg)

“They have now learned to sew, and the men as well as women, excepting shirts, make all their own cloths; the women, likewise make very pretty belts, and collars of beads and wampum, also belts and garters of worsted.” (1761), (Timberlake)

“Most of the garments … were made of the skins of animals, though some were woven from threads of vegetable and animal origin, some were of feathers… Deer hide was a major basis for clothing of all kinds and deer sinew was utilized as thread throughout the entire Southeast…. Bison robes are noted particularly among the Caddo, the Cherokee, and the Natchez..”. (Swanton)

In 1797, Louis Philippe wrote of his visit to the Cherokees: “Cherokee clothing is made with European cloth and goods. The rich among them wear ample dressing gowns in bright prints or similar cloth. Some wear hats, but the majority keep the native haircut…. Their clothing is so varied that an exact description is impossible. Most wear a woolen blanket over the left shoulder and beneath the right, so as to leave the right arm entirely free. They all wear a shirt or tunic which is, I am told, washed fairly often. They bathe fairly often. Trousers, breeches, or underpants are unknown to them. They have only the little square of cloth, and the shirt or tunic is belted in and hides it altogether”.

“Some are turned out with notable elegance, and I saw one among many…. whose outfit consisted of silk fichus and a light green cape or length of cloth, which hung with classic elegance and charm.” (Louis Philippe)

The following is the full description from William Bartram’s travels:
“The youth of both sexes are fond of decorating themselves with external ornaments. The men shave their head, leaving only a narrow crest or comb, beginning at the crown of the head, where it is about two inches broad and about the same height, and stands frizzed upright, but this crest tending backwards, gradually widens, covering the hinder part of the head and back of the neck: the lank hair behind is ornamented with pendant silver quills, and then jointed or articulated silver plates; and usually the middle fafcicle of hair, being by far the longest, is wrapped in a large quill of silver, or the joint of a small reed, curiously sculptured and painted, the hair continuing through it terminates in a tail or tassel.

Their ears are lacerated, separating the border or cartilaginous limb, which at first is bound round very close and tight with leather strings or thongs, and anointed with fresh bear’s oil, until healed: a piece of lead being fastened to it, by its weight extends this cartilage an incredible length, which afterwards being craped, or bound round in brass or silver wire, extends semicircularly like a bow or crescent; and it is then very elastic, even so as to spring and bound about with the least motion or flexure of the body: this is decorated with soft white plumes of heron feathers.

A very curious diadem or band, about four inches broad, and ingeniously wrought or woven, and curiously decorated with stones, beads, wampum, porcupine quills, &c., encircles their temples; the front peak of it being embellished with a high waving plume, of crane or heron feathers.

The clothing of their body is very simple and frugal. Sometimes a ruffled shirt of fine linen, next the skin, and a flap, which covers their lower parts; this garment somewhat resembles the ancient Roman breeches, or the kilt of the Highlanders; it usually consists of a piece of blue cloth, about eighteen inches wide; this they pass between their thighs, and both ends being taken up and drawn through a belt round their waist, the ends fall down, one before, and the other behind, not quite to the knee; this flap is usually plaited and indented at the ends, and ornamented with beads, tinsel lace, &c.

The leg is furnished with cloth boots; they reach from the ancle to the calf, and are ornamented with lace, beads, silver bells, &c.

The stillepica or moccasin defends and adorns the feet; it seems to be an imitation of the ancient buskin or sandal, very ingeniously made of deer skins, dressed very soft, and curiously ornamented according to fancy.

Beside this attire, they have a large mantle of the finest cloth they are able to purchase, always either of a scarlet or blue colour; this mantle is fancifully decorated with rich lace or fringe round the border, and often with little round silver or brass bells. Some have a short cloak, just large enough to cover the shoulders and breast; this is most ingeniously constructed, of feathers, woven or placed in a natural imbricated manner, usually of the scarlet feathers of the flamingo, or others of the gayest colour.

They have large silver crescents, or gorgets, which being suspended by a ribband round the neck, lie upon the breast; and the arms are ornamented with silver bands, or bracelets, and silver and gold chains, &c. a collar invests the neck.

The head, neck, and breast, are painted with vermillion, and some of the warriors have the skin of the breast and muscular parts of the body, very curiously inscribed or adorned with hieroglyphick scrolls, flowers, figures of animals, stars, crescents, and the sun in the centre of the breast. This painting of the flesh, I understand, is performed in their youth, by pricking the skin with a needle, until the blood starts, and rubbing in a blueish tinct, which is as permanent as their life. The shirt hangs loose about the waist, like a frock, or split down before, resembling a gown, and is sometimes wrapped close, and the waist encircled by a curious belt or sash.

The dress of the females is somewhat different from that of the men; their flap or petticoat is made after a different manner, is larger and longer reaching almost to the middle of the leg, and is put on differently; they have no shirt or shift, but a little short waistcoat, usually made of calico, printed linen, or fine cloth, decorated with lace, beads, &c. They never wear boots or stockings, but their buskins reach to the middle of the leg. They never cut their hair, but plait it in wreaths, which are turned up, and fastened on the crown, with a silver broach, forming a wreathed top-knot, decorated with an incredible quantity of silk ribbands, of various colours, which stream down on every side, almost to the ground. They never paint, except those of a particular class, when disposed to grant certain favours to the other sex.

But these decorations are only to be considered as indulgencies on particular occasions, and the privilege of youth; as at weddings, festivals, dances, &c., or when the men assemble to act the war farce, on the evening immediately preceding their march on a hostile expedition: for usually they are almost naked, contenting themselves with the flap and sometimes a shirt, boots and moccasins. The mantle is seldom worn by the men, except at night, in the winter season, when extremely cold; and by the women at dances, when it serves the purpose of a veil; and the females always wear the jacket, flap, and buskin, even children as soon or before they can walk; whereas the male youth go perfectly naked until they are twelve or fifteen years of age.

The junior priests or students constantly wear the mantle or robe, which is white; and they have a great owl skin cased and stuffed very ingeniously, so well, executed, as almost to represent the living bird, having large sparkling glass beads, or buttons, fixed in the head for eyes: this ensign of wisdom and divination, they wear sometimes as a crest on the top of the head, at other times the image sits on the arm, or is borne on the hand. These bachelors are also distinguishable from the other people, by their taciturnity, grave and solemn countenance, dignified step, and singing to themselves songs or hymns, in a low sweet voice, as they stroll about the towns. “ – Bartram, William. Travels Through North and South Carolina: Georgia East and West Florida. 1792. London.

Early Kitchen Towels

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early kitchen towels, tea towels

Let me preface this post by saying, this piece is not meant to be a full treatise on early kitchen towels, but merely a brief overview of what was found in early kitchens. Anyone who has useful information to add to it is certainly welcome to comment.

Hemp cloth dates from antiquity, and it was used so extensively in utilitarian items that Colonial Americans were mandated to grow it for use in making sails, rope, canvas, etc. It was durable and rot resistant and it was not a far stretch for someone to use it for absorbent cloths or towels.

By the 18th century kitchen towels were becoming a feature on better tables, replacing the rags of previous centuries. They were made of linen, cotton, and hemp and were soft and absorbent, no ma’am, no terry cloth numbers in those kitchens. The Radical Tea Towel Company’s website says fine ladies were more likely to use their towels to dry china than trust the delicate pieces to the hands of a servant. I can neither confirm nor deny the statement.

Early towels were sometimes embroidered creating nuances of color and domesticity to enliven the otherwise rather dull kitchens. Such embellished towels were not necessarily meant for heavy use or to clean up dirty messes. They were more likely used to cover food, or wrapped around a teapot to retain the heat. The better towels were regularly carefully washed, hung to dry and kept out of the sunlight to prevent the colors in the embroidery from fading.

During the 18th century there were hand towels for drying the hands and face as well as tea towels. I even found an early 19th century account of a girl using a larger towel to wrap fish in to carry them from the dock to the kitchen.

In 1836, a traveler described, “a sort of family towel”, which implies several people repeatedly used the same towel to wash face and hands, but continued his discourse with a rather pleasant description. “When clean, that is to say, when new, some of these towels are really pretty; they are sometimes showily ornamented with fringes of open lace-work, coarsely executed, but nevertheless, not inelegant in its design.”

Huckaback towels were advertised from the beginning of the 19th century into the early decades of the 20th and are still available for purchase. Huckaback was absorbent cotton or linen fabric, or a blend of cotton and linen, that was used especially for toweling. The word dates from 1690. Ladies were known to adorn the huckaback towels with initials and simple designs although some were described as a “very coarse, common towel”.

The average American woman did not have mass-produced towels or terry cloth towels before the industrial age. Even then many women recycled feed sacks or flour sacks for toweling, especially during the depression. My grandmother even had flour-sack sheets, one of which I still have. Some women chose to embroider simple designs or initials on that coarse fabric but they were probably more often just utilitarian squares or rectangles.

By 1900, ads were appearing for kitchen toweling and “kitchen crash”, “Toweling—bleached kitchen crash; a heavy red bordered, absorbent quality; sold in lengths as they come, from 2 ½ to 10 yards.” An ad in 1905 for Bleached Crash Toweling, “of linen-mixed yarn, unusually absorbent”, noted that, “many women plan upon making at least a dozen towels at home each season”, and another recommended Turkish kitchen towels for Christmas gifts. How many young ladies today would be happy to receive kitchen towels for a special occasion gift?

What did those nice linen towels look like? Some had blue, pink, or red borders, others were blue striped or pink checked. There were brown crash towels, and some in white with fancy weaves, etc. In short, they varied in color and design.

My aunt Dora had the cleanest, snow-white kitchen towels I’ve ever seen. Even when well worn they were spotless. I, on the other hand, had kids who had no qualms about taking a dish towel out to wash the car or clean mud off the four-wheeler and my drawer was usually full of clean but stained towels. Now that the kids are long gone and Martin knows how to use a rag for wiping a dip-stick, I like the idea of nice embroidered linen kitchen towels. Blissful Meals, yall, may your kitchen be filled with nice linens and your stew pot always full. ©

“The New Annual Register”, 1783.
The Radical Tea Towel Company catalog
“The Newgate Calendar”, 1825.
Smith, Robert. “The Friend”. Vol. 9. July 13, 1836.
Blackmore, M. O. “Merchants Manual of Advertising”. 1905.
Brightwell, Cecelia. “Georgie’s Present”. 1872
Merriam Webster Dictionary.
Braddon, Mary Elizabeth. “Ishmael”. 1884.

18th Century Clothing

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18th century attire, apron, bedgown

The following are a brief sampling of period paintings showing common everyday attire for women after which one might model a living history wardrobe. This might be considered a companion piece to this morning’s post on period aprons.

Run-away ads are an excellent source of what people were wearing during the 18th century and now that many of them have been compiled into book form it is easier than ever to use them to produce an accurate wardrobe.

A white run-away servant in Virginia was described in 1752 as, “wearing fine pink-colored worsted stockings and leather shoes, an old dark brown quilted petticoat, a check’d apron a strip’d Manchester Cotton bed gown, and a black beaver hat”.

In 1760 and 1769, run-away convicts in Maryland were said to be wearing gowns of chintz and striped linen respectively.

From the General Advertiser, July 30, 1772, we read of a woman who went away in a black petticoat and flowered linen bed gown and her companion who was wearing a broad blue and white striped petticoat and a bed gown of red ground with a diamond figure.

Let’s look at a few other quotes from the mid-1700’s. “Close by him sat his lady, combing her hoary locks before the same looking glass, and dressed in a short bed-gown…she was without stays, without a hoop, without ruffles, and without any linen about her neck…”. – Coventry, Francis. The History of Pompey. London. 1761.

A similar account of an 18th century woman’s attire described the woman as, “without stays, in a raggedy greasy bed-gown tied loosely over a raggedy greasy short, red, petticoat which gave me an opportunity of seeing the finest legs and feet I ever beheld”. – Long, Edward. The Prater. London. 1757.

The description of attire being greasy is not appealing by today’s standards, but lest we think the bed gown was the attire of only the coarsest of working women, let’s compare it to a completely opposite description.

“As soon as he was gone, she new-dressed herself in a most ravishing undress, putting on an agreeable cap tied with a rose-coloured ribband, a bed-gown of rose-coloured taffety, ornamented with white lace, and a petticoat of the same; in short, her whole dress was calculated to set her forth to the best advantage…Never did I see anything so pretty.” – de Beaumont, Elie. The history of the Marquis de Roselle, in a series of letters, Volume 1. London. 1766.

With regard to the following paintings from the era:
1. The adults wear petticoats, bedgowns, aprons, caps, and kerchiefs.
2. Petticoat, shift, neckerchief, stays or jumps that lace up the front, and a white cap with pink ribbon.
3. The Fishwife, bedgown, petticoat, shift, stays, colored apron.
4. Saying Grace – the mother wears a shift, petticoat, bedgown, cap, neckerchief, and apron.
5. The Scullery Maid, Chardin, another image of typical working attire.

18th Century Aprons from Historic Paintings

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18th century aprons

Today’s post isn’t about food, but it is an important topic when studying 18th century cooking – the lowly apron. We will be looking at utility aprons and not those beautiful sheer works of art worn by upper class women. The reader will kindly note that girls’ aprons were little different from those of their older counterparts.

1. “Market Girl” mid to late 18th century. Notice the pinner apron barely visible underneath her cloak. The cloak appears to be heavy, most likely wool.
2. Housed in the Walters Art Museum. The working woman wears a red apron which looks as if it might have a patch in the lower corner. She wears what is probably a dark petticoat and jacket underneath the apron, a white cap, and neckerchief. Cookware and vegetables are worth notice in this kitchen scene. She has a raised brick stove with tiles on the wall behind.
3. 1646, Girl Chopping Onions. Notice several pieces of kitchen ware – redware lamp on the window sill, pewter tankard, brass mortar and pestle, candlestick, etc.
4. The Chocolate Girl. She wears a white pinner apron. Note the unusual pink cap. She is probably a serving maid that does very little hard labor given her neat clean appearance. From her appearance she could easily be a family member and not a servant at all.
5. This mid-18th century painting shows the popular checked pattern in the apron fabric.
6. The Laundress, Chardin. Note the top corners of her apron are not attached to the twill tape ties.
7. “Watercress Seller” – this young lady wears a pinned bodice with a printed neckerchief underneath, a hooded cape tied at the front, possibly with twill tape, and her apron ties at the waist and is not a pinner apron. It may wrap around and tie in the front as was common, obscured by her hands in the painting.
8. “Little Begger” – the child wears clothing typical for a working class family although we would guess from the title of the painting her family has fallen on hard times, perhaps she’s been orphaned. She wears a dark blue jacket, a petticoat, and an apron. We cannot tell if she is wearing a pinner apron from this view. She has her apron hem tucked up into the waist, perhaps to avoid contact with a muddy street. She wears a neckerchief with a head covering tied underneath her chin and sturdy shoes. Perhaps the woman is her mother, perhaps not. She wears a bedgown, petticoat, well-worn indigo blue apron which is not a pinner apron and which appears to tie in front, a neckerchief, and the same warm head covering the child wears. It appears to be a square of cloth folded into a triangle and tied under the chin.

Oysters and the Pennsylvania Dutch©

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fried oysters, oyster pie, oysters

Oysters were relished by the masses and prepared in a myriad of ways during the 18th century. How did the early Pennsylvania Dutch feel about them and how did they prepare them? By examining multiple types of records, we get an idea of their presence throughout Pennsylvania and perhaps the key piece of evidence is the multitude of ways in which oysters were transported inland from the waterways and the length of time they were kept after harvest.

Once gathered, live oysters could be packed into small barrels and stored from a week to ten days. A footnote in an 18th century English cookbook claimed that once taken out of the shell, they could be put into bottles and kept in their juice “for a little time”, by pouring olive-oil over them and corking the bottle. That conjures up images of putrid oysters slipping from the oily bottle, but perhaps it isn’t so very outlandish when one considers oysters weren’t harvested in the heat of summer and that some epicures were said to relish the flavor of stale oysters better than those freshly taken from the beds.

We have live oysters being transported, stored, and sold up to a week and a half after being taken from the oyster beds and also being kept in salted water and fed on cereal grains for perhaps longer, yet there was no indication that shucked oysters were being kept in bottles in Pennsylvania. (Comprehensive Treatise on Domestic Brewing, 1847).

The Pennsylvania summers aren’t as long as those in the South, but the temperatures can reach into the 90’s during August, so it is doubtful shucked oysters would have lasted in Pennsylvania except in winter and then in an unheated location. Luckily, the trip upriver wasn’t more than a few hours time and live oysters would have reached their destination in good order. By the mid-1800’s railroads further shortened the delivery time of fish and shellfish inland.

Philadelphia was among the cities that supported oyster houses where one could have their oysters freshly opened for a quick snack or meal. Oysters could be purchased for the home from a woman called an oyster wench or from a peddler that traveled from farm to farm. So many oysters were consumed in Pennsylvania, that by the end of the century acts were being passed to regulate the harvesting of them so as not to harvest them to extinction.

We’ve proven oysters were available throughout Pennsylvania, so now let’s consider how the Pennsylvania Dutch housewives might have prepared them. A 1935 book on Pennsylvania Dutch food contains four recipes for oysters. One instructed in how to fry them, and another was a recipe for Oyster Pie. Is oyster pie a 20th century dish, or, despite the absence of an 18th century recipe actually penned in Pennsylvania, was it prepared considerably earlier?

For the answer, we turn to our old friend, Hannah Glasse and see that she was making pies, soup, stew and sauces, etc. with them in England and given the success of her cookbooks we can be fairly certain that similar dishes would have been known throughout most of Europe. It stands to reason that upon finding a plentiful supply of oysters in America the Europeans would have made similar dishes. Blissful Meals, all.

“To Make a Muscle-Pie [Oyster].
Make a good crust, lay it all over the dish, wash your muscles clean in several waters, then put them in a deep stew-pan, cover them, and let them stew till they are open, pick them out, and see there be no crabs under the tongue; put them in a sauce-pan, with two or three blades of mace, strain liquor just enough to cover them, a good piece of butter, and a few crumbs of bread; stew them a few minutes, so fill your pie, put on the lid, and bake it half an hour. So you may make an oyster pie. Always let your fish be cold before you put on the lid, or it will spoil the crust.” – Hannah Glasse.

“Dutch Chicken Oyster Pie. Stew chicken until tender, season with quarter pound butter, salt, and pepper. Line deep pie dish with pastry crust. Pour in the stewed chicken and cover loosely with a crust, cutting in the center of this crust a hole the size of a small teacup. Prepare separately one pint of oysters, heating the liquor, thickening with a little flour and water. Season with salt, pepper, and two tablespoons of butter. When it comes to a boil, pour over the oysters. Twenty minutes before the pie is done, lift the top crust and put the oyster mixture in.” – Frederick, Justus. Pennsylvania Dutch Cookbook. 1935.

“Oyster Pot Pie, Allentown. [This pie was like the Penn. Dutch chicken pot pie with dumplings/noodles instead of being baked in a crust] 1 quart oysters, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon flour, or more, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon minced parsley, biscuit. Scald the oysters in their own liquor; when the water boils skim out the oysters and keep warm. Add to the oyster liquor a pint of water, a teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper and the parsley. Also the butter. Thicken with the flour, mixed with a little cold water. Have ready some light biscuit dough, which cut into squares and drop into the hot oyster liquor. Cover tight and cook for 20 minutes. Then stir the oysters in and serve in one dish sprinkled with paprika.” – Frederick.