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Miniature Models – Dressing Children in the 17th Century

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As the school year quickly shifts into high-gear and stores advertise their latest sales on backpacks and sneakers, the staff at Pennsbury can’t help but notice the differences between modern life and childhood back in the 17th Century.  We spent the summer posting on children’s daily lives and education, so maybe it’s time to feature what they’d be wearing! 

Pieter de Hooch - A Women with a Baby in Her Lap, and a Small Child (Detail) -1658

“Dress to impress”  is surely a phrase we’re common with this day in age, but not something you would necessarily abide by in William Penn’s time. In 17th-century England and the colonies thereof, clothing was expensive. With the majority of the common folk working solely to survive, the average household could not afford to pay as much attention to fashion as their modern counterparts. 

What was purchased and worn had to be durable enough to endure the work they’d be doing – silk brocade mantua gowns and embroidered coats were not going to cut it!  The secondhand clothing found in the markets of the day actually became a great source among the working class for affordable and up-to-date options for dress.

A portrait of a commonly dressed mother with her child. Adriaen Jansz van Ostade - "Mother Holding her Child in a Doorway" -1667

However, this lack of emphasis on fleeting fashion does not diminish its true importance of clothing. “What people wore defined their social position and every colonial government tried with sumptuary legislation to keep class lines clear.” In 1619 in Massachusetts, legislation was passed “against excess apparel” among plain people . The court ordered that offenders be fined by local priests. Nevertheless, the lines blurred in many cases and it became sometimes difficult for guests in well-to-do families’ households to distinguish between the lady of the house and her servant!

Children of the time followed the same standards as their parents. “Dressed as miniature adults from the time they could walk,” children always knew their families’ status in society and were direct representations of such status. “Wives of the well-to-do imposed standards of proper dress on the children” and likewise, if you were from the country and a farmer’s child, the same aprons, straw hats, and patterns your mother wore would also be your attire. 

A prime example of a miniature adult of the upper classes. Gerard Terborch -"Helena van der Schalcke as a Child" - 1644

In the 17th Century, what you wore was much more telling of who you were then in our modern society.  In our world, many people can afford even the cheapest imitations of the season’s latest fashions, and children of all families are often dressed up like dolls!  But for the Penn Family, their clothing would have reflected their social position and their Quaker beliefs.

Although a man of power and money, William and his family would have dressed in the best fabrics and highest-quality materials, but their religion would have demanded the fashionable embellishment and frills be left off.  This was sure to define the family in a rather unique way, in comparison to their Protestant and Anglican English counterparts of equal social rank. 

Written by Mary Barbagallo

 

Further Reading: 

Everyday Life in Early America, David Freeman Hawke, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. 1988,  New York, NY.

The Criers and Hawkers of London: Engraving and Drawings by Marcellus Laroon, Standford University Press, Standford, CA,1990.

Learning Your ABC’s and 123’s – A 17th-Century Education

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“Education is the stamp Parents give their Children”

– William Pen

When we think of standards in education today, it is safe to say it has come a long way since our colonial forbearers. We talked last month about the realities of colonial childhood, particularly for Quakers.  Because of their responsibilites to their family, general education in the 17th century was erratic. 

Without buildings dedicated for teaching, communities had to organize financing for the construction of school houses, funding teachers’ salaries, and getting parents to agree to let their children spend the day in a schoolroom instead of helping at home.   This last condition was sometimes impossible for poorer families, who needed their children’s help to survive. 

Gerard Terborch, "The Reading Lesson," mid-late 17th century

As a result, families often chose to become their own center of education. So if a child was to learn to read,  write, or calculate, someone in the family had to teach them.  This also meant time away from chores, but these skills would be necessary if a son (especially the one to receive the family inheritance) were to manage the family’s business and participate in public affairs. 

One of the few existing hornbooks today. This particular one is owned by a family in Long Island.

The common way for the children to learn to read and spell was through the use of a hornbook. Named literally for the materials that made it, a hornbook was a thin piece of wood backing topped by a piece of printed, then covered with a layer of horn.  The horn was thin enough to let the paper be seen for reading, and all was held together by strips of metal around the edges. The book had a small handle with a hole for string so the book could be carried, either around the neck or over the shoulder. The printed page would include an alphabet with large and small letters, along with simple syllables and the Lord’s Prayer. The backs of the books were often decorated with a design. Used nearly every day, they were often used until worn out, meaning few 17th-century hornbooks exist today. 

Quakers used the hornbook and some of the other practices of  traditional 17th-century education; however, the main ideas behind their educational practices were based in their religious beliefs.  They tried to control the children’s environment, preserving their faith and promoting certain behaviors including dress, speech, and silence.  This led Quakers to believe that education was a foundational tool for spreading their practices, and opened their own institutions separate  from the Protestant or Angelican schools.

A young man learns the skills of being a Joyner, a 17th-century woodworker.

Because of their isolation and irregular practices, Quaker education did not prepare children (mainly boys) for college.  Classic topics (Latin and Greek) were often not included in their education. Moreover, Quakers were also “free in their criticisms of traditional schools.” Even Penn noted the issues with English schools, saying “We are in Pain to make them Scholars, but not Men! To talk, rather than know.” Nonetheless, both Penn and other Friends wanted “classical learning with the study of useful knowledge”. This practical knowledge meant being able to” read, write, and cipher” while gaining “a fuller appreciation of the Creator”. William Penn also made his sentiments on education known through letters to his wife, which can be viewed in a previous post entitled, Stay in School.

Classical and practical education also came in the form of apprenticeships. Apprenticeships were seen as privileges that provided an education which ensured a child’s livelihood later on. On the other hand, becoming an apprentice could be a traumatic experience, seeing as many children (again, boys) would start young (usually around 12 years old) and leave their families to live with their master. This strict frame for growing up was backed by the Proverb 22:6, a popular verse amongst Friends: “Train up a Child in the way he should go, and when he is Old he will not depart from it.”

Realistically though, we know better than to think all children listen to their parents! For Penn this proved true and it’s safe to say that his children didn’t quite follow his religious and education views through and through. 

 Mary Barbagallo, Intern

 

 Sources:

Child Life in Colonial Days, Alice Morse Earle,Corner House Publishers, 1989, Williamstown, MA.

Everyday Life in Early America, David Freeman Hawke, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. 1988, New York, NY.

The Quaker Family in Colonial America, J. William Frost, St. Martin’s Press, Inc. 1973, New York, NY.

William’s World: Make Your Mark

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“One drop of ink makes thousands, perhaps millions think…” – Lord Byron

Although from different centuries, Lord Byron and William Penn shared a common tie: the fervent use of the quill pen and inkwell. As kids and adults prepare for another school year to begin, it’s interesting to look back on the technology of our ancestors. 

No BIC ballpoint to be had at the time, the quill was the predecessor of modern day pens and became the universal tool for placing one’s thoughts to paper! Resultantly, in the 17th Century, the quill and ink maintained a strong hold, especially among the educated. As the primary resource for composition, the quill (so named after the Latin word “penna”, meaning feather) and ink were staples not only in Europe, but the colonies too.

"Man Writing a Letter" by Gabriel Metsu, 1662-65

As governor, an academic and religious leader, William Penn was truly a man of writing.  Composing books, letters, official documents and more, his quill was so much a part of him that the Lenape referred to Penn as Brother Odus (“odus” being the Lenape word for feather). Nevertheless, the expectations for a quality quill pen were not as light as the feathers they were made of.

There is a fair bit of literature dedicated to documenting specifications for making, maintaining, and using quill pens. For making quill pens, it is noted that the flight feathers from geese made for the best pens and, depending upon which hand you wrote with, this could dictate your preference for which side the feather was taken from (left or right wing). Furthermore, the preparation and formation of the quills was truly treated as an art form. Letting the quills thoroughly harden, the outer layer of skin could be removed through a process known as “dutching”, the baking of the quill in hot sand. They would then be cleaned and cut. The process of forming the nib of the quill was also precise. You had to ensure you had a sharp penknife, patience, and good technique. The development of the shaft along with the carving of the tip by the quill maker resulted in no two quills being alike. For maintain a quill it was recommended that you “keep your pen-nib always wet. Keep tip in water. Don’t let ink residue dry on it – it clogs the nub.” As for using the quill, it is recommended to use a light touch and a slanted hand, although some require more pressure.

In similarity to the creation of quills, the manufacturing of ink varied as well.  No two were perfectly alike, as there was usually a variation in ingredients and process. Produced from varied plant, animal, and mineral extracts; a common recipe (often produced by farmers as an additional source of income) consisted of oak galls (growths on oak leaves caused by insects), copperas (a naturally occurring, greenish, crystalline, hydrated ferrous sulfate, used in manufacturing of fertilizers and inks and water purification), and water. High in tannin and often also used for dying fabrics and tanning the ink was poisonous, but very permanent. As a result, it held up well over the years and has allowed us to examine documents and make numerous discoveries from writings made centuries ago. These discoveries include accounts of William Penn’s purchases of ink, amongst various other goods; it allows us to examine the development of handwriting and penmanship over time, as well as allowing us to examine ever changing grammar. So, the next time you pick up your quill and inkwell (or maybe just your ballpoint pen), think of the immense “mark” you can make! 

 

 

 By Mary Barbagallo, Intern

 

Further Reading:

Nickell, Joe. Pen, Ink & Evidence: A Study of Writing and Writing Materials for the Penman, Collector, and Document Detective. Lexington,KY, U.P. of Kentucky, 1990

BBC Video Series – Tales from the Green Valley

A Secretary Hand ABC Book by Alf Ison

Richard F. Gray, quill maker – Historic America Quill & Document Co.

 

17th Century Child-Rearing: It’s A Hard-Knock Life

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Here at Pennsbury Manor we just finished our annual Colonial Summer Camp, and boy did they have fun!

This summer camp features a number of activities that were common to the colonial period and gave our campers a feel of just what is was really like to live nearly 300 years ago. At the end of the week, the campers get to give their friends and family guided tours dressed in period clothing. In conjunction with the camp it only seems appropriate to elaborate on children’s lives.  Expectations and philosophies on how to raise a colonial child from our views today.

A young boy gets water from the cistern to fill the kettles for doing laundry.

Child rearing throughout the 17th Century rooted itself in rather different soil than it does today. Growing up in 17th Century England or Colonial America, it sure wasn’t all fun and games. This is the case unless of course you were born into an elite family and then perhaps the rules could change, however; most were not this privileged.

Children in colonial families were numerous and averaged between seven to ten in each household. The number of children at home varied, however, for a variety of reasons. The most common of these being (sadly) early death; roughly half of the off-spring would not reach maturity.  They were also apprenticed out, or having started a family of their own. For William Penn, the first and last of these were the cause of his small family in home, particularly while in Pennsylvania.  Nevertheless, before the children left the house, they were instilled with fundamental morals and an understanding of one’s actions. “Colonial children were initiated into the adult world early, but not in a hasty or harsh manner.”  When a Quaker child reached the age of reason, they were thought to understand that they were sinners and capable of sinning.  This age was typically between 4 and 8, usually being marked by the start of school; for boys, this was also the age where they stopped wearing petticoats.  Parents were advised to “govern, counsel, and correct as soon as they could understand what they were being corrected for and knew what they should say and do.”  This varied with the belief of other religions, such as Catholicism, which deems the child born with original sin and not innocent until it was removed with the sacrament of Baptism.  Furthermore, the Quaker hand in the raising of children was sufficiently stricter than in other religions. Parents were conscientious to lead by example, especially to be “…careful of actions in the presence of children, for they have very quick eyes and ears.”

A colonial mother and her children on the estate.

What may seem harsh about some of these practices is in reality a matter of practicality and necessity. All members of the family had their own role to play.  Their contribution preserved the family’s welfare.  The entire family would work together, educate each other, and keep food on the table.  Young children were given chores to suit their strength and ability, not just out of need and to teach discipline, but to keep them from underfoot.  Nonetheless, it is also fair to note that the trust placed in young children early on would likely horrify modern parents. For example, colonial parents left unsupervised 8 year olds with guns, carrying large pals to retrieve water from rivers/wells, and facing wild animals to defend a heard of sheep. 

Still, we must remember that these factors do not lessen the affection colonial parents had for their children. Surely the most important lessons to be learned were to be “loved but not pampered” and to be shown “tenderness but not softness”. We have enough remnants of their world to know of  the“great love” and  “nurtur[ing]” nature of parents, and the surprise toy or whistle from a father when he returned from town. Resultantly, not only did 17th century children learn practical lessons, but so too did they learn of love and compassion in these small, thoughtful gestures.

 Written by Mary Barbagallo, Intern

Sources/Further Reading:

Everyday Life in Early America, David Freeman Hawke, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. 1988,  New York, NY.

The Quaker Family in Colonial America, J. William Frost, St. Martin’s Press, Inc. 1973, New York, NY.

Penn’s Pen: A Government of Freedom

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On Sunday we honored William Penn’s early hopes for a land of freedom.  Now we want to highlight the personal freedoms he made into law, just before sailing to his new colony in 1682:

“Persons living in this Province… shall in no ways be molested or prejudiced for their Religious Perswasion or Practice.” (Penn, Laws Agreed Upon in England, 1682)

With a law such as the separation of church and state, Penn allowed all citizens to find God in their own way, attracting many groups seeking religious tolerance.

In the late 1600’s individual freedoms were very seldom seen. Today we take privileges, such as religious freedom, acceptance of diversity, and many legal practices in our government for granted. Could you believe many of these had their beginnings as the radical ideas of William Penn?  In 1681 a Charter was given by King Charles II and granted this ambitious young Quaker a large tract of land we know as Pennsylvania. During his years in England he experienced the wrath of religious persecution and unstable political rule. As Proprietor of this new land, he was able to set forth new laws and establish a government unlike any other of its time.

Another ground-breaking act was addressing individual rights. By establishing laws in accordance with the wills of the colony’s citizens and promising a representative government, Penn allowed for a more ethical form of authority. Other advances included lessening the harsh criminal punishments of English law, holding elections by secret ballots, ensuring an open court with a right to trial, allowing all people to testify on their own behalf, and enforcing the honesty of trial witnesses under penalty of perjury. 

Excerpt image from the Charter of Pennsylvania, 1681. The image in the upper left corner is of King Charles II .

Though William Penn had no direct relation to the American Revolution, his individual beliefs and practices have impacted the manner of the birth of this nation.  Give thanks on this Independence Day for the hard-won freedoms of those who came before!

By Raymond Tarasiewicz, Intern

 

Penn’s Pen: Caretaker of a New World

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In honor of our upcoming Independence Day, we thought it fitting to share some of William Penn’s thoughts.  In the letter excerpt below, Penn had just received the Charter from King Charles II and was now contemplating the immense burden just placed on his 37-year-old shoulders:

“My Friends:

            “I wish you all happiness, here, and hereafter. These are to let you know that it hath pleased God, in his providence, to cast you within my lot and care. It is a business that, although I never undertook before, yet God hath given me an understanding of my duty, and an honest mind to do it uprightly. I hope you will not be troubled at your change and the King’s choice for you are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it…” 

A map of the Americas by Dutch Engraver Johannes de Ram, c. 1685. Notice how anything past the coastal regions of North America are completelyunmapped - they had yet to even understand how the vast promise of their new world.

In 1681, William Penn was granted a Charter to a piece of land in America “nearly the size of England”. Willing and ready to place into action his “holy experiment”, William Penn had a vision for Pennsylvania, a vision that would far exceed even the most liberal man’s expectations. Pennsylvania, so named by King Charles II in honor of Penn’s father, Sir Admiral Penn, the colony’s government’s design truly helped to form the basis of the Constitution we have come to know and abide by today.   The most prominent of ideas that passed on into the freedoms we cherish today are the ability to choose your own faith, freedom of speech, and above all life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although our Founding Fathers never had the privilege of knowing William Penn himself, having been separated through a hundred years of history, I think it is safe to say that William Penn would have been proud to see how Pennsylvania and the states that were to follow came to form the country we know today.

 “It is a clear and just thing, and my God that has given it me through many difficulties, will, I believe, bless and make it the seed of a nation. I shall have a tender care to the government that it be well laid at first.” (Wm. Penn to Robert Turner, March 1681)

By Mary Barbagallo, Intern

 

Further Reading:

Penn by Elizabeth Janet Gray, 1986, Graphics Standards, West Chester, Pa

William’s World: Ode to the Springtime Milkmaid!

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The Milkmaid, Jan Vermeer, 1657-8

I really don’t like to milk cows.  I can’t stand to churn butter.  I know this is a shocking admission from a so-called history geek, but it’s true.  So each spring I breathe a grateful sigh of relief that I can buy my milk and butter in containers at the grocery store!

I wonder how the milk-maids of Pennsbury Manor felt about these chores in the 1680s.  We don’t know their names, but we know they were here and that they were making butter:  in 1684, William Penn suggested that James Harrison’s wife, Ann, supervise the maids in the dairy;  the 1687 inventory includes churns and other butter-making equipment as well as 6 cows; there is strong evidence that a cow pen existed near the stable.  We also know, given the exhausting nature of their work, that dairy maids had to be strong and sturdy to pump away at that churn!

"The Merry Milk Maid," Marcellus Laroon, late 17th-century.

Dairy products were an important part of the diet of people in Penn’s time with butter in particular being used liberally in many recipes.  Butter was also preserved in crocks for later use, and even used as a preservative itself as it could create an airtight seal on crocks.  And of course it could be sold at market, usually by the women who made the butter.  Although buttermilk (the liquid resulting from butter production) could be turned into curds and whey for the household, “the best use of buttermilk for the able housewife is charitably to bestow it on the poor neighbours, whose wants do daily cry out for sustenance.” (Gervase Markham, The English Housewife, 1615)  Who wouldn’t want to do this after being promised that “she shall find the profit thereof in a divine place?”  Heaven for buttermilk?  What a deal!

May was the peak of butter production.  Housewives were advised to breed their cows to calve between March and April when the grass is nearly or at its richest.  The resulting milk made the best butter.  Later on in the year as the grass passed its prime (July), butter production was replaced by cheese-making – another lucrative product for households. 

engraved frontispiece of "Dictionarium Domesticum," Nathan Bailey, 1736

By 1701, the dairying equipment had disappeared from the inventory of Pennsbury Manor.  William Penn’s account books have numerous entries for purchases of butter from local young women.  Was butter not produced at Pennsbury any longer?  Or did the demands of the Penn family and guests exceed production on the site?  I am inclined to believe the latter as Penn still desired a dairy and a milk house.  Making butter was an integral chore of an estate; it would be highly unlikely that there was no dairying at all taking place.

Pennsbury will have a milking cow demonstration on April 29, and a dairying demonstration on June 17.  Both programs will take place between 1:00-4:00.  Don’t look for me to be milking or churning! 

 By Mary Ellyn Kunz, Museum Educator and Former Milkmaid

Penn’s Pen: Getting Arrested, Quaker-Style

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In November of 1667, William Penn, a freshly converted Quaker,  was arrested with18 other Quakers in County Cork, Ireland. Christopher Rye, the Mayor of Cork, was well-known for his persecution of Quakers.  In a letter to The Earl of Orrery, one of the lords justice of Ireland, Penn requests that Rye not be encouraged in his persecution. 

What is remarkable is that the 23-year old Quaker was already forming and articulating the beliefs that became such an important part of his Holy Experiment:

Religion which is at once my crime and my innocency makes me a prisoner to a mayors malice, but my own freeman, for being in the assembly of the people called Quakers there came several constables, backed with soldiers, rudely and arbitrarily requiring every man’s appearance before the mayor, and amongst many others violently haled me with them.  Upon my coming before him he charged me for being present at a riotous and tumultuary assembly…

Penn describes the scene and questions the applicability of the law upon which the Mayor made his arrests.  He then appeals to Lord Orrery:

But I presume my Lord the acquaintance you have had with other countries must needs have furnished you with this infallible observation that diversity of faith, and worships contribute not to the disturbance of any place where moral uniformity is barely requisite to preserve the peace… and conclude no way so effectual to improve advantage this country as to dispense with freedom in things relating to conscience.

An astonished Earl Orrery responded that he had already heard about the matter from Rye himself.  Orrery wrote, “I confess I was surprised and sorry to see you thus associated ” with Quakers.  Orrery forwarded the Mayor’s letter to Penn’s father the Admiral (who had at least twice previously demanded that Penn return to England immediately), and cautions Penn that “you cannot expect that I will hinder the Magistrates from doing their duty.  I hope you will follow this friendly advice…”

Looks like young adults defying their parents is nothing new!

 

Written by Mary Ellyn Kunz, Museum Educator

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