A Pressing Engagement

Last Saturday my DAR chapter had a wonderful program given by one of our own chapter members.  She brought to the meeting a small portion of her antique pressing iron collection.  She had been all over the world in her earlier traveling days and always seemed to find an iron where ever she went!

I am here to tell you that our female ancestors were not wussies.  Those irons weigh on average 5 to 9 pounds each.  Can you imagine what it must have been like for them?

For most households, one entire day (usually Monday) was devoted just to do the washing.  Water was heated in large copper pots and clothes were boiled.  Those heavily stained were rubbed with soap and scrubbed on a washboard.  After rinsing the clothes in yet another large pot of boiling water, they were fed through a hand cranked wringer then either spread on bushes or hung on a line to dry.

Although wash wringers had become common in middle class households, they were relatively easy to manufacture, and competition was stiff. The much-advertised Universal Clothes Wringer, marketed by Julius Ives & Company in New York City, outsold the one manufactured by Gunn, Amidon & Co. nearly two-to-one.   Gunn, Amison & Co. came up with a new and improved version.  Some advertising genius had the idea to place "odes to the new wringer" in newspapers all over the country.  Here are a few examples:

"Lady, fair lady, O pray have you seen 
Gunn, Amidon Co.’s Wringing Machine? 
For beauty, utility, elegance, blend 
In this gem of perfection your helper and friend."

"The rich and the poor, may every one try it, 
For the pitiful sum of eight-fifty will buy it, 
When you’ve used it yourself for many long years, 
You can leave it your daughters, the charming young dears."

Anyway, back to irons.  Like the washing, an entire day (usually Tuesday) was also devoted to ironing.  Most households used heavy flat irons, forged by the local blacksmith.  Also referred to  as "sad" irons, these flat irons are often  shaped like a triangular to make it easier to iron around buttons. These were heated on an open fire or a stove, and the metal handles had to be grasped with a thick potholder.

In 1870, a woman by the name of Mary Florence Potts, in Ottumwa, Iowa, was awarded a patent for a sad iron with that came to a point on both ends, which allowed women to iron in either direction.

Just a year later, she introduced the biggest change ever in the history of ironing:  a sad iron with a detachable, wooden handle. They were sold in sets of three irons and one handle, the idea being that two irons could be heating on the stove while one was in use.  

Here are a few books that I enjoyed to learn more about this subject:

Feminine Ingenuity: How Women Inventors Changed America
 By Anne Macdonald

Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office
 By Ellen Lupton

The Mrs. Potts' Sad Iron Collector's Guide
By Eric Marshall 

DNA and National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

DAR Begins Accepting DNA Evidence 

and 

Launches New Online DNA Genealogy Class

Which is Open to the Public

Although no single DNA test can point to a specific ancestor, advances in the science and interpretation of DNA testing have placed the DAR in a position to begin accepting DNA evidence in a limited manner within the context of traditional genealogical evidence. 

Many advances have been made in the testing and interpretation of DNA results for use as evidence in genealogical research, but the information is still very complex. With the new DAR policy, DNA test results can be used for evidence of lineage for DAR applications or supplemental applications, but specific criteria must be met. To help navigate how individuals can use DNA as a piece of evidence for a DAR application, the DAR is launching an online genealogy class “DNA and DAR.”

The “DNA and DAR” online course will provide an introduction to the basics of DNA and applying DNA to genealogical research along with the impact of DNA on the process of documenting a DAR application. The course will cover other topics such as guidelines for using DNA for DAR applications; case studies for determining whether DNA evidence is an appropriate avenue of research for a particular application and the steps you would take to take the test and how to interpret the results; along with specific instructions for submitting the application with the DNA report. The “DNA and DAR” online course is open for anyone to participate and costs $100. For more information and to enroll, visit the  DAR Genealogical Education Program website.

DAR begins accepting Y-DNA evidence, effective January 1, 2014, in support of new member applications and supplemental applications. DNA evidence submitted along with other documentation will be considered along with all of the other source documentation provided to prove heritage. Y-DNA will not be considered as stand-alone proof of linage because, while it can be used as a tool to point to a family, it cannot be used as absolute proof for an individual. For those applicants wishing to submit DNA evidence as proof of lineage along with their other traditional proof documentation, they must submit Y-DNA test results from at least two test subjects following criteria outlined in the guidelines and test requirements for Using DNA Evidence for DAR Applications.

Identifying the specific types of situations in which DNA can be accepted by the DAR, as well as the testing and reporting methods for the surrogate Y-DNA test subjects, are outlined in documents that can be found HERE

Additional information for members and the public to help them learn about this new policy for the DAR application process, including communications, educational materials, guidelines and procedures, can be found HERE

Women of the DAR Come in All Shapes and Sizes

As you know, I am a proud member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.  For the next two years I am will serve as regent for the El Toyon Chapter here in Stockton.

Our chapter has a monthly newsletter and I am obligated to contribute something.  A friend recently asked me "What kind of woman joins the DAR?"  After 4 hours of intense research (intense = no distraction by shiny things) I can tell you that currently over 170,000 women are members of DAR.  If you go back to the beginning in 1890 over 890,000 women have become members. 

I can also tell you that the women of DAR come in all sizes, shapes and colors.  They are doctors, lawyers, astronauts, teachers, housewives, single parents, suffragist leaders, pilots, artists and even an admiral of the US Navy.

Political Heavy Hitters:  Janet Reno, Sandra Day O'Connor, Elizabeth Dole

Several actresses:  Bo Derek, Lillian Gish, Ginger Rogers, Dina Merrill and Virginia Mayo

Eleven First Ladies :  Barbara Pierce Bush, Laura Welch Bush, Roslyn Smith Carter, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower, Julia Dent Grant, Florence Kling Harding, Caroline Scott Harrison, Nancy Davis Reagan, Edith Carow Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.

And then there is

 Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump Stratton Magri

Better known as Mrs. Tom Thumb.  

Now tell me true people - is this a "Shiny Thing" or what!!!  So for the better part of four hours I sat at the computer - clickty clack, clickty clack went my keyboard.

This woman had the most interesting and exciting life.  She was born in 1841 to James Sullivan Bump and Huldah Pierce Warren at Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.  She came from a long-established and well-respected New England family that descends from five passengers of the Mayflower:  John Billington, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Stephen Hopkins and Richard Warren.    Lavinia's parents are of normal size as all her siblings with the exception of her younger sister Minnie.  Minnie who also had a form of proportionate dwarfism.

At the age of 16 she became a school teacher.  A few years later, she made a career change.  She left Massachusetts and went to Mississippi to work as a a miniature dancing chanteuse on her cousin's showboat.  P.T. Barnum, who was managing Tom Thumb at the time,  learned of Lavinia and brought her into his show.  Tom's real name was Charles Sherwood Stratton.

It must have been love at first sight, because just one week later, Tom Thumb and Livinia were married on 10 February 1863  in an elaborate ceremony at Grace Episcopal Church in New York City.  Her sister Minnie was her maid of honor.  P.T. Barnum, ever the show-man, didn't charge admission to the wedding.  He did however charge $75 a person to the first 5000 people who wanted to attend the reception at the Metropolitan Hotel. It was a sold out event.  They went to Europe for their honeymoon and one of the first stops was to England to call on Queen Victoria.

Twenty years later, on 15 July 1883, Tom suffered a stroke and died at the age of 45.  In 1885, Lavinia remarried to Count Primo Magri, an Italian dwarf and they operated a famous roadside stand in Middleborough, Massachusetts.  Lavinia died 25 November 1919 at the age of 78 and is buried next to her first husband Tom Thumb with a  grave stone that reads simply, "His Wife."

I wasn't able to find the date that Lavinia joined the DAR nor which chapter she belonged to, but I was able to find her DAR membership number - 43670 - and her  patriot ancestor.  Through her maternal line, Lavinia descends from Sylvanus Warren who served as a Sergeant in the Massachusetts Militia.

Photos courtesy of University of Washington Library Special Collections and Wikimedia Commons

I Love A Parade!

Especially when I get to be in it! Today the El Toyon Chapter, NSDAR participated in the 4th of July Parade here in Stockton, California. It was only a balmy 97 degrees today - perfect parade weather.

There was a huge turnout and the crowd cheered as each of the almost 100 entries passed them by. I am the one in the blue hat in the photos below.  Later back at Camp Fenley,  ribs, potato salad and watermelon for 30 friends and family.  A Most Excellent Day!

Family Bible Digitization Project

The California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution (CSSDAR) State Regent’s Genealogical Bible Records Project is a statewide effort to Preserve Our Past – Our Gift to the Future.

We are looking for pre-World War II Bibles that contain family records. Neither you, nor the family described in the Bible records, need to be from, nor presently living in, California. You do not need to have the actual Bible in your possession, but you must be able to provide scanned, digitized or photocopied prints of the Bible's title page, copyright page, and genealogical record pages in the order they appear in the original Bible.

Here is an opportunity to have those records photocopied, indexed, and submitted to the National Society’s genealogy library in Washington, DC.

After the pages in your family bible have been photocopied or scanned we will make a transcription of each page which will be included with the images. Compiled volumes will be bound for presentation to designated California libraries. An unbound copy of each volume will be sent to the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. to be digitized and made available to researchers. An Information Release Form must also be signed.

As an extra bonus, if you have a clear photograph or image of the original owners of the family Bible or photographs of members of their immediate family then these will be included with the rest of the information. Please contact me if you would like more information or have a pre World War II bible. sherifenley@gmail.com

If you live around the central coastal area of California, my DAR sister - Elizabeth O'Neal from Little Bytes of Life can make sure your family bible is included in the project. Her chapter is also participating in the great project.

Heck, you can contact any California member of DAR to be included in this project!