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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