Great TOM! Luv it
Doug

On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 12:19 PM, Tom Foster <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Carolyn,
> You probably heard the old joke where the comic says, "We were so poor, I
> slept in the same bed with two of my brothers. When it got cold, my mother
> would throw on another brother."
> :)
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carolyn Bruce" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 10:11 AM
> Subject: About bedcovers... was inventory
>
>
>
>  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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>
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-- 
Douglas Burnett
Satellite Beach
FL
As a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), the
National Genealogical Society (NGS), the Florida State Genealogical
Society(FSGS) and the Virginia Genealogical  Society(VGS), I support and
adhere to the APG's Code of Ethics.

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