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Genealogy - It's About Underwear and Laundry
Underwear - it started with my Grandmother. She had this thing about underwear. First, it had to be pretty. Ladies did not wear unattractive underwear. Second, if it was white, it had to be WHITE. For her whole life, her white undies were boiled on the stove with hot water and bleach and then washed by hand. Believe me, they were white. For many years I lived several states away from her. Every Christmas, I would get a box of home baked goodies and presents for everyone. But, I knew that also tucked in that box would be several sets of pretty underwear. I asked her once if she'd always been so particular about underwear. She said that when she was very little, her Grandmother had taught her about underwear. She told her that a married woman should never let her husband see her in any underclothes that were not "pretty". To this day, I can't wear women's jockeys or other comfortable looking undies because they are not "pretty". Why is this interesting? Because I am still somewhat amazed that my own feelings about underwear came from a woman who was born in 1836!
Laundry - when I was a young girl we went to visit my Grandfather's sisters. The ladies decided to take a little drive and I tagged along. We passed a house where laundry was hanging in the back yard. All of the women started talking about how horrible that line of laundry looked. The woman who hung it obviously had no pride in her work because the "wash was not pretty". I found this to be a very curious conversation. After we got home, I asked my mother what a pretty wash was. She told me to wait until the next time she did laundry and I'd see. On the next laundry day, I watched my mother hang clothes. The clothes were sorted by colors and sizes and hung in an attractive pattern. You don't see laundry out hanging much these days. However, since that day, if I do see it, I'll note whether it is a pretty wash or not. Early in my married life, I hung laundry out. You can bet it was a pretty wash! The second thing about laundry. My mother also thought the washer and later on the dryer had to be kept clean. She had this habit that kept hers spotless. Every time she washed washcloths, she'd get one wet and soapy while the water ran in the washer and clean the outsides and inside the lids and around the rims. It's a habit I've adopted all my life. It's surprising to me how many people have immaculate homes, but if they open their washing machine and the inside top is dirty....there my mind goes.
The point of these 2 little stories is that for me, genealogy isn't just about tracking down names. These ancestors of mine had pride in their everyday chores. I didn't know my great-great-great grandmother, but I know she shaped my life. Who shaped hers? I wonder what other things I do in my daily life that came from an ancestor that lived generations ago. We are very much part of our past and that is what I'm exploring.
Speaking of laundry, my cousin Annie Daberko sent me this:
Advice To A 1912 Bride
Years ago a Kentucky grandmother gave a bride the following recipe for washing clothes:
1. Bilt fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. 2. Set tubs so smoke won't blown in eyes if wind is pert. 3. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in bilin water. 4. Sort things, make 3 piles. 1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags. 5. To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with bilin water. 6. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and then bile. Rub colored, don't bile, just rinch and starch. 7. Take things out of kettle with broomstick handle, then rinch and starch. 8. Hang old rags on fence. 9. Spread tea towels on grass. 10. Pore rinch water in flawer bed. 11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. 12. Turn tubs upside down. 13. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell, and count your blessings.
And, I bet she hung a pretty wash! |