A Cup of Christmas Cheer - Winner of Blog Hop Announced!

A Cup of Christmas Cheer, Volumes One Tales of Faith and Family for the Holidays and Volume Two Takes of Joy and Wonder for the Holidays, from Guideposts Books

Susan Fletcher is the winner of the A Cup of Christmas Cheer Blog Hop.  We had over 20 readers who commented on EVERY blog: Carrie Fancett Pagels', Carla Olson Gade's, Ashley Clark's, Anita Mae Warren's, Julie Carobini's, and Johnnie Alexander Donley's.

Congratulations SUSAN from all of us!  THANK YOU to all the wonderful readers who stopped by the blogs.

And we have WONDERFUL NEWS!!!  Guidepost Books sold out of the first run (reported to be 28,000 copies!) and has done ANOTHER print run already even though they were only released this month!  Praise the Lord and may these stories bring encouragement and inspiration to the readers.  Copies are available for order only through the Guideposts Books' website. Click here to order.

Susan will receive, as part of her gifts, this antique reproduction colonial tea set from the Yorktown Victory Center in Virginia!
She'll also be receiving several gift cards, special cocoa packets, tea, and the A Cup of Christmas Cheer book set!!!

Carrie and Carla, both members of Colonial Quills blog both have their stories in Volume One of the hardcover book set.

Once again, congratulations to SUSAN FLETCHER and THANK you to those who came by all the blogs!

Colonial Roots Cross Cultures

by Dina Sleiman

My newest novel, Dance from Deep Within, is not Colonial...or even Federalist. So you might wonder why I'm here today. This contemporary style book takes a look at the lives of three young women today: a veiled Muslim, a bi-racial hippie chick of the post modern persuasion, and a blond ballerina. Not exactly the classic colonial subject matter.

But isn't that so typical of America. Even in colonial days we were a melting pot of religions and ethnicities. At some point each of our families began as strangers in a strange land. With Thanksgiving coming, we can't help but remember how the Pilgrims drew from the strengths of the Native Americans to survive in this strange new land.

Gina Welborn, Dina Sleiman, C.J. Chase, Deb Marvin, and Carrie Pagels in Williamsburg

Diversity is a hallmark of American culture. Yet when we think of Colonial Days it is easy to focus on the white, Anglo-Saxon side of the story. Last year when I visited Jamestown with my son's class, they presented a very different portrait. A picture that included American Indians and African slaves as very important parts of the Early-American tapestry. The Europeans never would have survived here on their own. If any of you read my last novel, Love in Three-Quarter Time, you got a glimpse at how these groups all worked together in 1817 Virginia.

But in my new novel, it is Layla Al-Rai, the Muslim-American character, who is still in many ways a stranger in a strange land. Although she was born in America and holds an American passport, she has spent most of her life in a little Muslim bubble in the area of Detroit. She is much more connected to her Lebanese roots and history than to her American roots. Yet she longs to discover the land of her birth and typical American culture.

Part of Layla's journey in the story is learning about the individuality and freedom that are as much a part of the American culture as diversity. Her love interest Mo, a recent convert to Christianity, whisks her away to visit Colonial Williamsburg. There she takes off her veil and lets the breeze flow free through her hair for the first time in many years. Walking its streets alongside horses, carriages, and workers in historical garb, she begins to truly contemplate her American roots. She recalls a novel she read as a child about a young girl, Constance Chambers (roughly inspired by the American Girl novel Felicity), who walked those same streets. She had admired Constance's spirit and her willingness to stand up for a mistreated slave. Suddenly Layla gets it. She wants that sort individuality in her own life. She wants her own relationship with God, not just the religion her parents have dictated. And she wants to stand up for women who are being oppressed by radical Islam.

She wants to experience freedom in the truest sense.

In that moment, a waving flag of red, white, and blue comes to represent everything she is searching for. And later in the story Layla gets to enjoy her first real Thanksgiving among a colorful cast of multi-ethnic characters. It really doesn't get any more American than that.

So if you'd like to explore your American roots through new eyes over this holiday season, check out Dance from Deep Within. And be sure to come back next week for the tea party when we will be celebrating this book at Williamsburg's Shield Tavern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite her conservative Muslim heritage, Layla Al-Rai longs for a chance to earn her degree in engineering and perhaps even...dare she dream...to choose her own husband. But young women from her background rarely enjoy such freedoms. When she finally talks her parents into letting her attend college, she is drawn to fellow twenty-something students, Allie and Rain, over a class project. Allie, the blonde ballerina, faces her own struggles as she deals with an ex-fiancé and a church she had hoped to leave behind. Rain, the bi-racial hippie chick, longs for something to believe in, but her questioning could cost her the love of her life. When Layla s childhood sweetheart reenters her world, it seems her dreams might become real. Until everything falls apart. When she meets truth face to face, will she find the courage to accept it even if it requires the ultimate sacrifice? Order here

Colonial American Bakers

 

Boulangerie from Diderot's Encyclopedia, 1752

 

As good a test of flour as can be had at sight, is to take up a handful and squeeze it tight; if good, when the hand is unclasped, the lines on the palm of the hand will be plainly defined on the ball of flour. Throw a little lump of dried flour against a smooth surface, if it falls like powder, it is bad. (a description of how a Colonial American woman could test the freshness of the flour to use for baking)
  
        As with most trades, baking in Colonial America was patterned after English bakeshops or bakehouses. But it was not until the emergence of cities and towns that professional bakers became firmly established in America. As towns grew in size and number and as the frontier expanded westward, commercial bakeries multiplied accordingly. Within a few decades of the founding of Jamestown, Plymouth, and New York, several commercial bakeries were started in the colonies, as early as 1640 in Plymouth and 1645 in New York. Other early settlements were supporting professional bakers by the end of the century. Growth was slow, though. For example, in 1776, New York bakeries numbered only twelve compared to seven for the year 1700.   
        Bakehouses were usually low, square buildings with windows looking straight out to a river. Bakers worked long, hard hours for comparatively small profits. Work in a country bakery usually started at 5 a.m. with the firing of the oven.

An oven, which stood nearly opposite the entrance, had an iron door that opened to a deep and low cavern paved with flat stones. The oven was heated by burning bundles (faggots) of dried evergreen bushes (furze) or thorns and gorse. When the fuel burned itself out, the baker would rake out the embers and ashes into a trough or recess at the side of the oven (this was called douting). The oven was now ready to receive a batch of loaves
        After heating the oven, the next job was to make up the dough to add to the sponge, which had been left overnight to ferment. As for kneading, lumps of dough were torn off and flung upon the scales, and it was surprising how frequently an experienced man could remove exactly the amount to make a loaf.
       

Loaves were made in two sizes, and in early times were not baked in tins. Dough rested for about 30 minutes, during which time rusk biscuits were made and there was a tea break. Using long-handled wooden spades known as peels, the loaves were put in the baking chamber to bake for one hour. After the first batch was cooked and removed, the baker would stoke up the oven again and make it ready for more bread, buns, or doughcakes.
        When the day’s baking was done, preparations were made for the evening work—gathering the flour and dissolving yeast in warm water to make the sponge.
        Because bakehouses were warm, in the wintertime they became places for people to gather and socialize or places for travelers to stop and get relief from inclement weather.
        In my home state of South Carolina, rice was the colony's great staple and it was served with meats and shellfish and used to make breads, biscuits, flour, puddings, and cakes. Corn served all classes to make Johnny cakes as well as hominy. Wheat was grown by some of the Germans in the interior, but better grades were imported from Pennsylvania and New York. Lowcountry dwellers grew and enjoyed a variety of fruits: oranges, peaches, citrons, pomegranates, lemons, pears, apples, figs, melons, nectarines, and apricots, as well as an array of berries, which were baked into muffins and breads.
    Here's a recipe for the popular Benne Seed Cookies baked in colonial times in South Carolina.

     Benne or sesame seeds were brought from Africa to our South by slaves. As they hoed the cotton, they dropped the seeds at each end of the rows, making a border of benne plants. Also, the seeds were scattered over doorsteps to bring good luck. The seeds were roasted and used extensively in desserts and candies.
Benne Seed Cookies
3/4 cups butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup benne or sesame seeds, toasted
Cream butter until soft and pliable. Gradually beat in sugar until mixture is soft and fluffy. Beat in egg until mixture is smooth. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together; stir into creamed batter. Add vanilla and benne seeds; stir until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter far apart on buttered cookie sheet; bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Susan F. Craft

I am a historical fiction writer with a novel, The Chamomile, released in November 2011. The Chamomile won the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Okra Pick Award. I'm represented by Hartline Literary Agency

The Irish, The Scots and the Scotch-Irish

Throughout the 1600s, the English government encouraged the move of lowland Scots, Welsh and the northern English–Protestants all—to “Ulster Plantation” in the north of Ireland, in the hopes of some influence and balance over the independent, Catholic Irish. In Scotland, Highlanders and Lowland Scots were also leery of each other, separated by many cultural ideas as well as religion over multiple centuries. Indeed, all British history is spattered with the blood of religious animosity—quite obvious in the Tudor period.
 

From "Free Printable Maps.com"  here is today's United Kingdom.

Starting around 1718, large scale numbers of Scotch-Irish left northern Ireland for the new world. (At this time, they referred to themselves as Irish, but the term changed to Scotch-Irish when, a century later Catholic Irish Immigration began to surge, heightened during the famous Potato Famine in the 1840s.)  The Scotch-Irish Protestants settled well in North America, flourishing in their new freedoms and kept the traditions of strong work ethic and education. But few welcomed their Catholic peers from Scotland and Ireland with open arms. The Irish were one of the most poorly treated immigrant groups ‘welcomed’ to the new world, due in part to the earlier establishment of their Protestant countrymen.

Back home in 18th century Scotland, the north still held to its ways of clan society and the wearing of kilts until these practices were made illegal after the failed Jacobite Rebellion (the hope of putting a Catholic King back on the throne and disposing of the Protestant one) in 1745. Tartan was banned and families were forced off their own land, branded traitors to the English King. It wasn’t until 1782, almost 40 years later, that King George reinstated the right for Highlanders to wear Tartan—no doubt, a purely political move.   

Ironically, all Scots regiments serving in the British Army were outfitted in kilts throughout this time.

The Scotch Irish in America comprised 40% of the Continental Army. Not surprising, when their immigration numbers are estimated at 25-40,000 in the 18^th century. Most welcomed the chance to fight against Britain, or more specifically the English King. Even so, many leaned toward the Tory side and moved to a more loyal Canada.

Around the turn of the 19th century, the continued policy of ‘The Scottish Clearances’ included both northern Catholics and lowland Protestants and flamed a surprising new alignment of nationalism between the two based on little more than hatred of the English.

Those early 19^th century abuses sent a huge number of Gaelic speaking Catholics to the Cape Breton area of Nova Scotia, mid-Atlantic America, and North Carolina in particular. Many settled north of Lake Ontario and made up the Glengarry district whose men formed one of the toughest British regiments to fight in the War of 1812.

Many North Americans don’t understand the significant influence of these two Celtic countries on our histories, or the unsettled religious history. An estimated 27 million Americans are descendants of those Protestant Scotch-Irish alone! Thankfully, the "new world" eventually allowed old animosities to fade enough that Catholics and Protestants today prefer to celebrate a combined Celtic heritage.

The Scotland of today is more united under the ideal of the independent Scot--represented by the Highlander, the wearing of Tartans, the kilt, and renewed interest in the Gaelic language, and as always, their hesitance to be ruled from beyond their border. (Ironically, it was Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's love of the land and its wild history that prompted a resurgence in the use of the kilt and tartan!)

In Northern Ireland (remember it is part of the United Kingdom and not the same as the country of Ireland!) those referred to in North America as the Scotch-Irish are called Ulster Irish, or more loosely, ‘the Orange’. Unfortunately, the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland became synonymous with the animosity between Catholics and Protestants. Those same Scotch-Irish and Irish who left for the new world found its ‘melting-pot’ mindset brought them more easily to reconciliation.

So that's just a wee bit of the Celtic history shared by many of us in the 'new world. I hope you've enjoyed it or learned something new. What's your tie to this particular emigration? If none, what surprises you most about their history?

For myself, I have yet to find any ancestry outside of Great Britain. It's not a big place geographically but bursts with fascinating history.

The 18th Century Gristmill, by Amber Perry

Dexter's Gristmill, Sandwich, MA

Another view of the mill

Good morning! It's me, the "Sandwich" lady, again. I'm thrilled about today's post! How many of you have visited an historic gristmill? What did you think of it? This was my first experience, and needless to say I was riveted. (But anything historic tends to do that to me. *wink*)
Most gristmills are so picturesque you'd think you are looking at something out of a Thomas Kinkade painting. You can find 18th century gristmills throughout several states in the east, but not all of them still work. This one does work, however, and it is fabulous!

Outer wheel

While on my "research" tour of Sandwich, MA last spring, I had the privilege of getting a personal tour of Dexter's Gristmill--one of the last still-working 18th century gristmills in the country. It was restored in the 1960's, and is in excellent condition for its age--considering it originally "started operating" in 1654! Yes, you read that right. That's over 350 years ago. Amazing, isn't it?

Not only that, you can order organic cornmeal ground from this mill every fall. But you have to hurry, because from what I understand supplies are limited. (Contact the Sandwich Chamber for more information.)

So, the pictures are lovely from the outside, but what about the inside? How did it work?

The inside! At the top, you can see the large granite millstone.

Well, gristmills are typically near a water source--as this one is. Thomas Dexter built this gristmill next to Shawme Pond, and constructed a small dam near the edge of it. (Pictured at the bottom.)

The dam forces the water to flow over the large outer wheel and cracks it, which moves the large wheels/gears that are inside the mill. (pictured below.) Those inner gears move the large and very heavy millstone (pictured above) which grinds the grain into flour. Pretty simple, right?

Large inner-gear that is moved by the outer wheel.

View of the small dam in front of the gristmill

Mills of this kind would often grind several different grains, even though today this one grinds only corn. Typically, the farmer would bring his grain and give it to the miller to grind, and the miller would retain his "toll" as payment for the work.









I am fascinated by this kind of historic site--I just wish I could have seen it when it was in its prime! But I am very happy that there are people interested in restoring and maintaining sites like this for myself and others to enjoy. I didn't get to see it in action, but it sounds like it is quite a production.

So have you ever visited a gristmill? If so, which one and what did you think?

THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY

The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is known for many “firsts”.

Here are just a few:

•  In 1693 ― The first American college to receive its charter from King & Queen of England under the Seal of the Privy Council, thereby making it the “Royal College of William & Mary”.
• In 1776 – The first college to establish an intercollegiate fraternity – Phi Beta Kappa.
• In 1779 ― The first college to become a university and to have an Honor System.

While plans for a college in Virginia originated in 1618, Indian uprisings postponed the project. In 1693 King William III and Queen Mary II of England chartered a “perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy and Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences” to be established in the Virginia Colony. William & Mary is the second oldest University in America; Harvard being the oldest.

While the capital of the colony of Virginia was still located at Jamestown, work began on the College Building in 1695 in what was then known as Middle Plantation. Christopher Wren, architect of many notable places in England including St. Paul’s Cathedral designed the building. It is interesting that he never traveled here to see the result of his design. The building completed in 1699 included classrooms, dining hall, library, and a chapel. That same year the capitol of the colony was moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation which was renamed Williamsburg. The College Building was the temporary seat of government until the Capitol was sufficiently completed for use at the opposite end of Duke of Gloucester Street.

The Wren Building    (front)
Statue of Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt

The Wren Building    (back)

In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, some of the William & Mary students and faculty joined various Virginia militia companies. Two years later, a College company was formed under the leadership of college President, the Rev. James Madison. Between January of 1781 and fall of the following year classes were suspended due to the invasion of the British army.

The alter in
The Wren Chapel

The Wren Building, as the College Building came to be known, is the oldest academic building that has been in continuous use in the United States. This imposing brick building burned three times—in 1705, 1859 and 1862, and each time the interior of the building was re-constructed within its original walls.

Many historical figures are buried in the crypt beneath the Wren Chapel, including Sir John Randolph, speaker of the House of Burgesses, his sons, Peyton, first president of the Continental Congress, and John “the Tory” whose body was returned from England. Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, governor of Virginia and the Right Reverend James Madison, president of the College and first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia are also interred here.

Typical W& M building

In the late 1920’s, when John D. Rockefeller, Jr. set about to restore Williamsburg to its 18th century appearance, the Wren Building was the first building to be restored.

For additional information about the Randolph family:

http://colonialquills.blogspot.com/search/label/Randolph%20Family

For additional information about William & Mary

http://www.wm.edu/about/index.php

Adventures in Historically Accurate Costuming, Part 3

Reed for boning, unbleached linen, twill tape ... ready!

So, as things turned out, I wound up in our hometown-to-be the first weekend of November and missed attending the RevWar event in Camden. Finishing out my 18th century ensemble has been put on hold for now, but I’ll talk about my experience with doing a fully boned pair of stays ...

I explained how the cardboard mockup gave me severe cramping across my lower back and hips. I’ve wondered, with my history of back issues (an injury at age 15 made chiropractic care a near necessity over the years), how much of wearing stays was the 18c way of dealing with chronic pain, since at that point they were as much about support as shape, especially among working classes. Infants and children wore specially made stays as well, because society during that era believed that developing bodies needed the support.

Inside of the stays...center is front

Determined to get a rudimentary pair of stays made, I ordered ash boning reed (essentially the same thing used for splining on caned chair seats) and a few other supplies. The wood boning is preferable to other materials because of its flexibility and breathability—using all plastic or metal poses the danger of overheating during summertime wear. For the fabric, I needed three layers: outside, interfacing, and lining. I cut the outer layer from a rough, unbleached linen, the interfacing from white linen left over from my shift, and the lining from the unbleached linen. (I should have switched the interfacing and lining.) I’d made a mockup of cheap muslin and tried it on, and found that it fit well enough I could pretty much just cut out the pieces according to the original pattern. So much for the cardboard mockup being accurate. :-)

Outside of stays

It was also recommended that I not assemble the stays as directed by the pattern (each layer as one), but by pattern piece, sewing the layers together on the boning channels before assembling them as a whole. Also, I made the stays front-lacing as well as back lacing, so I edged the front and back openings alike, following the directions for the back.

Lacing holes--I've hand stitched the edges of one, but not the others!

After sewing in channels and and assembling the two halves of the stays, I inserted one length of boning into each, and made holes down the front and back openings for the lacing (not cutting the fabric, but poking a fine knitting needle through, then a thicker one, and using a heavy embroidery needle to pull the twill tape through the holes for lacings). At that point, there wasn't time to finish out the stays before trying them out for my book launch party.

Pattern for pockets, and other goodies

The fit was amazing! Just enough support and shaping that I shouldn’t have to alter the dress much, if at all. And they are comfortable enough for several hours’ wear, without pain. (No photos of this part, sadly!) I did discover that I'll need to beef up the boning--two lengths per channel--for strength and rigidity. I'll also need to attach the lining before trimming the edges and attaching the binding, which I hear can be a job all its own, depending upon whether I use linen or soft leather. I'm told the soft chamois pieces sold at auto parts stores work great for this.

Pattern for cap

After the book launch party, I’d planned to continue construction on the ensemble—finishing the stays, adding a colonial ladies’ cap and possibly pockets—but all that came to a grinding halt in favor of preparations for my husband to travel to his new job and then my last-minute househunting trip out there. But I have plans to complete the ensemble, after our move.

Any questions on the process? Details you want to ask about? I’m happy to share or clarify!

White Pine Trees and the American Revolution

When it comes to precipitating causes that led to the American Revolution, most students of history focus on the taxation of tea. Rarely does one think of trees.

Pine trees became a particular thorn in the flesh for New Hampshire farmers in 1772 when a law passed by Parliament made it illegal to remove from the land “any white pine tree of the growth of twelve inches diameter.” This meant that any landowner who wanted to remove these trees for farming or building purposes was forced to leave the trees there. The Royal Navy declared them to be their own.

So why was the Navy interested in these large pines? The answer was simple: Ship masts.

The best masts to withstand the fiercest winds at full sail were “single stick” masts made from one tree. By the early 1700’s the forests of England were virtually gone, but Colonial America had a seemingly endless supply of trees. And the white pine was by far the preferred source for ship masts to supply seaworthy vessels for the growing Royal Navy.

Although the white pines were considered the property of the King of England for many decades, it was not until 1772 that the stricter law passed by Parliament became an issue. A Deputy Surveyor of the Woods, appointed by then-Governor John Wentworth, began actively enforcing the law. The surveyor, John Sherman, would mark a large arrow on trees of the 12 inch plus diameter with three strikes of an axe head, forcing farmers to leave them standing for the crown’s eventual use. Farmers ignored the law and Sherman suspected as much.

Upon inspection of several mills, large white pines were discovered and the mill owners were levied fines. They hired a lawyer to represent their cause. When the mill owners’ lawyer went to persuade the governor to drop charges, the attorney was instead persuaded to become Surveyor of the King’s Woods. Suddenly their attorney was instructing the mill owners to pay a settlement.

Most of the mill owners paid their fines in defeat. But one town, Weare, refused to pay. The leader of the mill owners, Ebenezer Mudgett, was arrested and soon released with the agreement that he would provide bail in the morning.

Instead, an incident that became known as the Pine Tree Riot occurred. A band of 30-40 men (led by Mudgett) blackened their faces with soot and assaulted the sheriff and his deputies who were lodging in a nearby inn. The mob cut off the ears of the men’s horses and shaved the animal’s tails and manes, before forcing the lawmen out of town through a jeering crowd.

Despite this brutality, the men—who were later arrested—pled guilty and were given a relatively minor fine for their acts. It is believed that the judges were sympathetic to the colonists and the excessive taxes levied in one form or another—even on their very own trees.

This Pine Tree Riot occurred over a year before the tea was thrown into Boston Harbor in December of 1773. When Revolution was declared in 1775, many New Hampshire colonists readily picked up their muskets to join in the fight for liberty from England.

For an interesting video series about the White Pine Act, check out the videos from Colony Bay Entertainment called “Courage, New Hampshire.”

Here is that link: Click here

These BEAUTIFUL photos courtesy of the KINDNESS of MaryLu Tyndall! Thank you, MaryLu!