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- History
- About Dr. James Ford
- About America Holton Ford
- Genealogy
- 19th Century Decorative Art
- Historic Gardens
- Life in the 19th Century
- Historic Preservation
- Dr. James Ford Historic Home
- Want to Restore Your Historic Home?
January 7, 2008
5pm-7pm.
Business After Hours.
Business After Hours.
January 1, 2008
11am-2pm
Celebrate the new year and join us for Wassail at the Dr. James Ford Historic Home.
Celebrate the new year and join us for Wassail at the Dr. James Ford Historic Home.
Life in the 19th Century
Visiting was an important part of social life in Victorian America. A calling card left near the entry to the home - often on a special table or receptacle - let people know they had been "called" on.
During the 1800s, women were the center of domestic life while men led public lives outside the family. America Holton Ford maintained order on the home front and instructed her girls in the ways of womanhood. Hours were spent learning the domestic arts in the 1800s with an emphasis on cooking, baking, preserving and sewing. In addition to learning to keep an orderly home, the Ford daughters likely enjoyed past times such as needlecrafts, arranging dried flowers, seeds, or shells in shadow box or dome displays, learning music, reading and writing.
Prior to matrimony, women in the 1800s were properly trained in language, music, needlework, painting and other domestic activities. The young ladies of the Ford home followed proper rules of courtship, in the companion of a watchful adult.
Daily meals brought families together during the 1800s - much like celebrations bring families together today. During the main meal of the day, the Ford family discussed current events.
After dinner, Dr. Ford settled near the fire with the Wabash Plain Dealer while the teenage boys read or played a popular card game like euchre. The ladies of the household would work on a needlework project or read.
Holiday Celebrations
Holiday food was a strong focal point for communities in the late 1800s as a way to identify their heritage. Meats were plentiful throughout the year during this era, but Christmas dinner was goose stuffed with sage dressing. Vegetables, canned or root cellar fresh like cabbage or beets. Cheese was also an important part of dinner - and so was dessert! Fancy cakes, seasonal pies, and puddings were all popular.
"... I have heard you much and favourably spoken of, by at least one member of my family. I write to ask you to visit our home and spend Thanksgiving day with us... I will close this informal note by again hoping you can favour us with your company and spend this time honoured "holiday" with us." Excerpt from an 1889 letter from America Holton Ford to Edwin Holton Ford's future wife, Elizabeth Neff of LaFontaine, Indiana.
Preparing daily meals, shopping, and chores were much more time-consuming in the 1870s than they are today.
Although the Fords were not farmers they grew many of their own vegetables, planted fruit trees, and harvested nuts.
Canning and preserving foods were an important part of feeding a family throughout the year. America Holton Ford, her daughters, granddaughters, and mother-in-law would have all participated in preserving food to sustain the family through the long cold winters.
There were no hot and cold handles in the house sink. Water was pumped from the well into the sink and then returned to a drain below. Hot water was heated on the stove. Food remains were discarded in a slop bucket (the 1800s garbage disposal), used as compost or thrown into the outhouse.
By the 1870s Wabash was a thriving community. Although America made soap and candles for the Ford household, she purchased many necessities from local stores.
If you didn't have a cow, milk was delivered to your door. The milkman came by in his wagon and filled up the family containers. Wooden iceboxes were early versions of refrigerators that held a block of ice until it melted and more was delivered.
Hairstyles were different for men and women during the 1800s. Men's whiskers could be high fashion. Some waxed their mustache and some had large sideburns called "mutton chops" because that's what they looked like. Women's hair grooming often included a practice that was also part art. Small containers, called hair receptacles, were used to store hair brushed from a woman's head. A talented woman could craft an elaborate work of jewelry from human hair.
Private Matters
Before indoor plumbing and the invention of flush toilets, only the wealthiest people could afford an indoor privy, or bathroom. Most people used an outhouse, which meant trudging outside even in the cold and snow to "use the facilities." To avoid this inconvenience in the middle of the night, chamber pots were used. A chamber pot is one's own personal toilet used in the privacy of a bedroom, to be emptied in the morning.
Closets and hangers were not common in the late 1800s. Instead, most clothing was stored in trunks and hung on pegs, so wrinkles were quite common. The styles of the era didn't make things much easier. Women's clothing was particularly cumbersome - multiple layers, hoops, and crimps made it difficult to prepare clothing to wear. Special irons, called crimpers, were heated on the stove and used to give cuffs perfect ridges.
Raising Children
Rules regarding the upbringing of children changed drastically during Victorian times. In the early 1800s, parents were strict, demanding children to act more like responsible young adults than carefree children. By the late 1800s, advancing technology freed time for all members of a household, playtime increased, and parents began encouraging children to enjoy childhood. The following list of "New Rules for Parents" from Harper's Roundtable Magazine was a primer for parents in the 1800s, but stands the test of time:
- Encourage your children to do well. Show them you are pleased when they do well.
- Combine firmness with gentleness. Let your children understand that you mean exactly what you say.
- Seldom threaten. Always be careful to keep your word.
- Never punish your children when you are angry. Be calm.
- Never use violent or terrifying punishments.
- Teach your children not to waste anything, to be clean and tidy, to sit quietly at meals, and to take care of and mend their clothes.
- Above all, let parents be themselves what they would wish their children to be.
Formal education during the 1800's was a privilege because schools were not widespread and children were often needed to perform household and farm work. Most rural schools were one-room buildings where children of different ages learned different skills at the same time. "The Three Rs" of Reading, Riting, and Rithmatic were considered important subjects. The ability to read the Bible would make one a better Christian, good penmanship was considered a sign of a cultured person, and knowing how to solve mathematical problems were necessary for anyone who wanted to be a farmer, store keeper, craftsperson, miller, or any number of other careers.
The most popular schoolbooks of the 1800s were the "Eclectic Readers" by William Holmes McGuffey. This set of six books began with a primer, and each volume increased in difficulty. Lessons in the readers went beyond reading and writing to include basic values such as honesty, proper manners, courage, and charity. The McGuffey Readers were first published in 1836. By the 1920s more than 122 million copies had been sold.
