Beds and bed "clothes" are items frequently found in wills written in the 1800's.

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On Nov 19, 2012, at 7:22 PM, Pat Grogan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I remember my grandmother telling me that when she married at age 21 she had made 21 quilts to take with her into the marriage. She was very proud of that.
> 
> Pat
> 
> 
>> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 10:11  AM, Carolyn Bruce <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> Quantities of  blankets, quilts, and coverlids (a.k.a. counterpanes or
>>> "countypins")  were necessary in homes in which there was no central
>> heat...
>>> and if  the fire went out, no heat at all. Most homes were of wood and 
>>> had
>>> no  insulating materials. In addition, kinfolks might come to stay 
>>> awhile,
>>> often around the holidays... maybe with numerous children, which would
>>> require providing pallets or some form of bedding to be able to sleep
>>> everyone comfortably. Straw or corn shucks would be stuffed into  "straw
>>> ticks" which made rudimentary mattresses that were laid on the  floor to
>>> accommodate visitors, especially young un's.
>>> 
>>> My mother told of growing up in a house with all her brothers and
>> sisters
>>> (there were ten) at home at one time, sharing beds among them,  two or
>> three
>>> in a bed. There were two upstairs bedrooms, one for the  boys and one for
>>> the girls... but come fall of the year, teachers  often boarded at their
>>> house, and the boys were pushed out into an  attic space. Cold wouldn't
>> even
>>> come close to describing the  conditions. At times it was truly freezing
>> in
>>> the bedrooms and they  would have to break ice on top of the water in the
>>> wash bowl and ewer  to wash their faces when they arose.
>>> 
>>> In the time frame of your  "wagoner", it was even colder than in the 20th
>>> century, at least in  the U.S. and Europe. Around 1700, it was so cold in
>>> the area known as  Alsace-Lorraine, it is said that birds froze in flight
>>> and fell from  the sky. Heavy snows fell in most of Europe, and canals 
>>> and
>>> streams  froze. Remember Hans Brinker, the poor boy (and his sister) who
>>> competed in the traditional speed-skating race from one town to the next
>> on
>>> the frozen canal? And all those snowy Currier and Ives prints from  that
>>> period? That was during a centuries-long dip in temperatures that 
>>> started
>>> in the early 1300s and ended about the mid-1800s... called the  "Little
>> Ice
>>> Age". So your wagoner would have been most appreciative of  having a 
>>> large
>>> stockpile of warm blankets and other bedcovers, as  would most of his
>>> neighbors.
>>> 
>>> Thank goodness for  central heat.
>>> 
>>> Carolyn
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Carolyn HALE  BRUCE
>>> Virginia Beach, VA
>>> 
>>> 
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