Standard ingredients are fat and lye. I probably still have my grandmother's 19th century recipe which she used until about 1950. Mary Moyars-Johnson (MMJ) On Jun 21, 2007, at 8:19 AM, Henry Wiencek wrote: > And now for something completely different: > > I see a reference in Jefferson's accounts in 1773 to buying soap > from a > slave. Apparently the slave was making the soap, so I am asking if > anyone > can point me to a source that would explain how 18th-century > farming folk > made their soap. Nothing to get lathered up about. > > Henry Wiencek