Society Saturday - Grandma's Aprons

Our recent Branch meeting of NSSDP featured a woman who had an apron collection.

She brought several of the aprons with her and told of the uses of each.

There was the everyday apron - used for wiping hands when cooking, held as a potholder to pull pans from the oven, could dry the tears and wipe the noses of her children.

Some aprons would cover the bodice as well as the skirt - these would be used for dirtier jobs, like deep housecleaning or gardening.

There was a fancy serving apron - this was never used when cooking, but was donned right before company rang the doorbell.

There was a holiday apron - usually with a Christmas design - that  would only appear in December.

Of course, there were a few aprons that were traditionally worn by men - these included a utility apron that would hold tools and other hardware, and of course, the barbecue apron that was worn when grilling.

Do you have any aprons that tell a story?

Society Saturday - Fashions of the Pilgrims

At our recent meeting of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, we learned about the various fashions that our ancestors might have worn.  A common belief is that the Pilgrims and Puritans wore black or gray without any adornments.  Speaker B.A. Church explained that this wasn't necessarily the case.

She gave us the historical background of the clothing worn during the early 1600's.  Prior to 1649, Charles I was on the throne.  His followers were known as Cavaliers or Royalists.  Men wore collars made of handmade lace and doublets (jackets) with slashes on the sleeves to show off the undersleeves.  There was a lot of embroidery on their clothing, often with silk or silver-gilt thread.  They would wear the long curled wigs and a big hat with ostrich feathers.

Women would wear poofy sleeves and real pearl necklaces.  Their dress bodices were long-waisted to enhance their tiny waists (often 15" due to corsets).  They wore a farthingale of wicker or whalebone to widen their skirts.

Puritan dress vs Royalist dress

After Oliver Cromwell overthrew the throne, he promoted a much more sedate version of dress.  This is closer to what we think of the Puritans wearing.  They discouraged Frippery on the clothing.  There was no embroidery or other embelishment, collars were made of plain linen.  It was decreed that colors should be subdued.  There was no jewelry, or buckles.  In fact, one could be fined for wearing ribbon or lace, or even dressing above one's station in life.

In 1660, Charles II regained the throne and fancier fashion returned to England.  Clothing in the colonies remained more subdued, however, because fancier cloths had to be imported, and people were occupied with making a life in the harsh colonies leaving little time for embellishing clothing.

www.homestead.com/illinoispilgrims

Society Saturday - Lincoln Highway

Kay Shelton, a speaker with the Illinois Humanities Council spoke to our Branch of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims about the Lincoln Highway.

from commons.wikimedia.org

The Lincoln Highway was the brainchild of Carl Fisher (also the founder of the Indy 500 race).  He envisioned a highway from New York City to San Francisco and called it the Coast to Coast Rock Highway.  His idea didn't take off until 1913 when Henry Joy changed the name to Lincoln Highway.

This "highway" essentially connected existing roads, which were largely dirt.  Henry Ford was approached to invest, however he wasn't interested because the Model T could travel in mud while some of its competitors couldn't.

Over time, the roads were improved, sharp turns were straighened and some sections were rerouted.
Along the way, several attractions popped up, along with businesses that catered to travelers.  Miss Shelton showed examples of some attractions in Illinois.

The Lincoln Highway can still be travelled today and can be identified by the red white and blue signs marking the route.

https://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/

Society Saturday - Illinois Regional Archives

The Illinois Branch of Sons and Daughters of Pilgrims met for lunch recently.  Our guest speaker was Jayne Cates, an officer of Illinois State Genealogical Society.  She spoke on the IRAD system.

IRAD is the Illinois Regional Archives Depository System.  This consists of 7 repositories throughout the state with holding from local and county governments.  Most of northern Illinois is served by the branch at Northern Illinois University.

Jayne told of the various types of local records that might be found in these repositories, as well as the procedure for visiting them.

After her program, a memorial service was conducted by Elder June Chapek for our deceased members.

www.cyberdriveillinois.com

Society Saturday - The Merci Train

The Illinois Branch of the National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims met recently for lunch.  NSSDP is an organization for men and women who can trace their ancestry to a "Pilgrim".  Pilgrim is defined as someone who immigrated to this country before 1700 - anywhere now within the 48 continental states.

Along with regular business, we welcomed two new members to our Branch (aka chapter).

Branch Governor Jane Schleinzer welcomes new members Sunny Hayes and Elly Rabin

After lunch we had an informative program about the Merci Train by Lorna Wright.  After World War II, citizens across the U.S. sent care packages to France - these items filled 700 boxcars ($40 million worth)
of the Friendship Train.  As a thank you ("Merci") the French sent back 49 boxcars filled with sentimental items.  One boxcar went to each state (48 at that time in 1949) and one to the District of Columbia.  Several of the boxcars are still in existence along with some of the items.  It was interesting to learn about this topic that was new to many of us.

Photo from Library of Congress ( LOT 5899)

http://illinoispilgrims.homestead.com/

www.mercitrain.org

Society Saturday - I see the light!

Chicago Colony New England Women and Illinois Branch Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims recently had a joint meeting with a guest presenter.  Dan Mattausch, from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History gave a very informative presentation  on historic lighting.

We learned that the first light sources in the colonies were candles - usually made of beeswax or tallow.  Colonists used light for the task at hand, not for lighting the whole room.

Soon after, various types of oil would be used in lamps - an early oil used on the east coast was whale oil.  An advancement in oil lamps was the "Betty Lamp" which kept oil in a covered container to keep animals from eating the fuel.

The next major advancement was the Argand lamp in 1784.  The wick was replaced by a hollow wick to allow more air to burn, resulting in a longer, brighter burn.  This was initially a lamp for the elite and servants or slaves would keep it tended.  Miles improved on this by changing the burner so that it would screw in, allowing the lamp to be carried without spilling the fuel.  It also became more affordable.

Other types of oil were used as well, such as turpentine (aka "burning oil") which was much more flammable than previously used whale oil.  Lard was used by many people who lived on farms.  Kerosene was widely used until the advent of electric lighting.

It is always interesting to learn about how different our ancestors' lives were from ours!

Illinois Branch, Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims

The Illinois Branch (ie. chapter) of the National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims had our end of year meeting today.  We had a nice turnout of 21 people who enjoyed a delicious lunch at Braxton's Seafood restaurant in Oak Brook.  Our program was about Lewis & Clark's expedition and was a member participation program.
The NSSDP is a group of men and women who can trace their lineage back to an immigrant ancestor who settled within the continental U.S. before 1700 - a broader definition of Pilgrim than some might think.  The group is nice because, in addition to its co-ed membership, there are junior members (under 20) and associate members (spouses who don't have the lineage themselves).  Many of our members bring their husbands or wives to the meetings.  We were happy to have met our goal of 50 members at this meeting.  Not bad, considering our Branch is only 5 years old!
This meeting marked a change in Officers - those who had served over the past 2 years were thanked, and a new group was installed for the next term.  Congratulations to Gayle Coan, the new Branch Governor, and all the new Branch Officers.  Now it is time for this webmistress to update our webpage :-)

http://illinoispilgrims.homestead.com/