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Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection
Winter 1970 Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 19, No. 2 Marcia Westkott
Fay McAfee Winey
Joseph M. Gray
Amos Long Jr.
Angus K. Gillespie
See next page for additional authors
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Recommended Citation Westkott, Marcia; Winey, Fay McAfee; Gray, Joseph M.; Long, Amos Jr.; Gillespie, Angus K.; Krebs, Friedrich; and Baeumer, Otto, "Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 19, No. 2" (1970). Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. 39. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/39
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Marcia Westkott, Fay McAfee Winey, Joseph M. Gray, Amos Long Jr., Angus K. Gillespie, Friedrich Krebs, and Otto Baeumer
This book is available at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/39 Kriss Kringle and the Pretzel Tree Contributors to this Issue
MR . MARCIA WESTKOTT, Philadelphia, Penn a farmer, high school teacher, and justice of the peace sylvania, is a native of Womelsdorf, Berks County, in his native Lebanon County. He has contributed to Pennsylvania, with Pennsylvania German family back Pennsylvania Folklife a long series of articles on the ground, and at present a Ph.D. student in the Depart small outbuildings of the Pennsylvania German Farm ment of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. stead. During the Fall of 1969 Amos Long traveled in H er paper on powwowing in Berks County, done in Germany and Switzerland surveying folk architectural 1967, and based on interviews, is an interesting fol patterns as background for his forthcoming book on lowup to Betty Snell enburg's "Four Interviews with Pennsylvania German rural architecture. Powwowers," Pennsylvania Folklile, Volume XVIII ANGUS K. GILLESPIE, Philadelphia, teaches history Number 4 (Summer 1969 ), 40-45. at the Episcopal Academy at Overbrook, Pennsylvania. MRS. FAY McAFEE WI EY, Middleburg, Snyder He is at present studying for his Ph.D. degree in the American Civilization Department at the University of County, Pennsylvania, is a housewife who has contrib uted to Pennsylvania Folklife the article on "Huckle Pennsylvania. Tombstone art, the subject of his article in this issue, is a valuable index of culture; it will be berry Picking on Shade Mountain," Volume XVII interesting for readers to compare this treatment of the Number 4 (Summer 1967 ) . Her article in this issue subject with Phil Jack's study of Western Pennsylvania deals with the curious rural custom of masking on tombstone motifs, in Pennsylvania Folklife, Volume New Year's Day, related to Christmas "Belsnickling" XVII, Number 3 (Spring 1968). and to present-day Halloweening customs. For the background of the "Belsnickel" figure and its relation DR. FRIEDRICH KREBS, Speyer, West Germany, to Philadelphia's current Mummers' Parade, see Al is on the staff of the Palatine State Archives in Speyer, fred L. Shoemaker, Christmas in Pennsylvania: A Folk and the author of a distingui hed series of articles on Cultural Ap/Jroach ( Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Penn 18th Century emigration to America, the majority of sylvania Folklife Society, 1959) . which have appeared in English translation in The Pennsylvania Dutchman and it successor, Pennsylvania JOSEPH M. GRAY, Grove City, Pennsylvania, is a Folklife. His most recent contribution was "Eighteenth student at Grove City College in Western Pennsylvania. Century Emigrants to America from the Duchy of His paper on the Sweetheart Tree was produced for Zweibri.icken and the Germersheim District," Penn the folklore classes of Dr. Hilda A. Kring of Grove sylvania Folklife, Volume XVIII Number 3 (Spring City College. For comparative purposes, see the article 1969 ), 44-48. on Aspen Doodlings in Utah by Dr. Jan Brunvand, in Austin Fife, Forms upon the Frontier (Logan, Utah: OTTO BAEUMER, Freudenberg, Westphalia, Ger Utah State University, 1969), a paper read at the many, was a local historian whose article, "Auswanderer Western Folklife Conference at Utah State University des Kirchspiels Freudenberg," from Heimatland: Bei in July, 1968. lage zur Sieaener Z eitung, Zweiter Jahrgang, Nr. 10, 1927, 148-149, appears in English tran lation in this AMOS LONG, JR., Annville R.D., Pennsylvania, IS issue. WINTER 1969-70, Vol. XIX, No.2
EDITOR: Dr. Don Yoder
EOITORIAL CO~[M I TTEE: Dr. Mac E. Barrick Contents LeRoy Gensler Dr. Henry Glassie Dr. John A. Hostetler 2 Powwowing in Berks County David J. Hufford MARCIA WESTKOTT Dr. Phil Jack Dr. Hilda A. Kring 10 Belsnickling in Paxtonville Dr. Maurice A. Mook FAY McAFEE WINEY Dr. Earl F. Robacker Dr. Alta Schrock 14 The Folk Tradition of the Sweetheart Tree J OSEPH M. GRAY SUBSCRIPTION R ATES: $4.00 a year in the United Srates and Canada. Single copies $1. 50. 18 Pigpens and Piglore in Rural Pennsylvania AMOS LONG, JR.
MSS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: 34 Gravestones and Ostentation: The EditOr will be glad to consider A Study of Five Delaware County Cemeteries MSS and photOgraphs sent with a ANGUS K. GILLESPIE view to publication. When unsuit able, and if accompanied by return postage, every care will be exer 44 Notes on Eighteenth-Century Emigration to the British Colonies cised tOward their return, although FRIEDRICH KREBS no responsibility for their safety is assumed. 46 A Siegerland Emigrant List of 1738 OTTO BAEUMER PEN S YL VANIA FOLKLIFE, Winter 1969-70, Vo1.l 9, No.2, pub lished quarterly by the Pennsyl 47 Local Place Names: vania Folklife Society, Inc., lan Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 14 caster, Pennsylvania. Subscriptions and business correspondence: Box Contributors to this Issue 1053, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Edi (Inside Front Cover) tOrial correspondence: Dr. Don Yoder, College Hall , Box 36, Uni versity of Pennsylvania, Philadel phia, Pennsylvania 19104. Contents COVER: copyrighted. The engraving of the fir -cone Santa Claus (K1·iss Kringle) Entered as second class matter w ith his Christmas Tree decorated w ith pretzels appeared in at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Godey's Lady's Book for December, 1868. POWWOWING In Berks County
By MARCIA WESTKOTT
A DESCRIPTION OF POWWOWING cl aim to be practitioners of God's healing power, in termedia ri es through which God cures the faithful. Powwowing, the Pennsylvania Dutch form of faith Therefore a person must believe, not only in God, but healing, is the "secret use of incantation or charm, ac also in the abili ty of the powwower to be assured of a companied by appropriate movements'" of the body In cure. an attempt to cure certain diseases. The charms which the powwowers use, if not di The Pennsylvania Dutch term for powwowing I S rectl y from the Bible, contain Christian references, Braucherei' (from the German brauchen: to use) .' particularly to Jesus or M ary. And each charm con The custom is part of the tradition which German cludes with "the three highest names'" of Father, Son immigrants from the Rhineland and Switzerland and H oly Ghost. Furthermore, if a powwower is to brought with them in the 17th and 18th Centuries when help a patient, i.e., stop his bleeding from a distance, they settled in Pennsylvania and in other areas of he must have the patient's full name as he was bap what is now the eastern United States and Canada.' tized. The word "powwow," however, is of Algonquin ori Powwowing is usuall y learned through the means of gin, meaning "a ceremony, esp. of conjuration, marked oral transmission, generally imparted through alter by noise and feasting, and performed for cure of di nating sexes : from woman to man and from man to seases, success in war, etc.''' woman. H owever, some practitioners also refer to The term "powaw" was used among the colonists in books containing charms and recipes such as John reference to Indian medicine m en. Cotton M ather in George Hohman's L ong L ost Friend, published in 1699 referred to the skills of Indian powaws who cured R eading in 1820: Egyptian Secrets attributed to Al people who had been bewitched. M ather himself, a bertus M agnus, and the Sixth and Seventh Books of devout Christian, believed in the efficacy of their prac M oses. (Although generally considered a source for tices" H exerei, the Moses books contain a few powwow H owever, the Pennsylvania Dutch methods of faith charms.) • healing were not at all derived from or influenced by This tradition of handing down the techniques and the Indian practices and techniques. The Dutch mere charms from generation to generation accounts, in ly adapted a popular term to a long-established cus part, for its survival. Other contributing factors have tom. Although they too consulted powwowers or pow been the remoteness of farms where the distance to wow doctors to exorcise evil (hex ) which had been .a doctor is great, and the belief that the curative pow placed upon them by witches, they also sought the ers of medicine are limited and that there is some mys powwower's aid for curing a variety of purely physical tical force beyond its capability." diseases. It is possible that these factors have contributed to In reading M ather's account, one sees a similarity the survival of powwowing in Berks County. H owever, between the practices of the Indian powaw and the they do not appear to have been sufficient in m ain Pennsylvania Dutch powwower. H owever, the pow taining powwowing as a vital tradition. Although wowing of the Dutch is steeped in Christian tradition m any Berks Countians admit to having heard of a as well as primitive belief. Officiall y outlawed by the particular powwower, most agree that the practice has organized church, powwowing, nevertheless, attributes declined considerably in the last fifty years. its power to the Christian God. Powwowers, then, The author has attempted to answer the question, 'Emma G . White, " Folk M edi cine Among the Pennsylvania To what extent is powwowing in Berks County a fad Germa ns," Journal of A merican Folklore, X ( 1897 ), 78. ing tradition? H owever, the study itself has imposed 'Richard H . Shaner, "L iving O ccult Practices in Dutch Pennsylvani a," Pennsylvania Folklife , XII: 3, (Fall 1961 ), 62. several restrictions to reaching any defi nitive answer. 'D on Yoder, T wenty Questio ns on Powwowing, from the First, the practice of powwowing is not normatively Fourteenth Annual Pennsylvani a Dutch Folk Fes tival, K utz town, Pennsylvani a, 196 3, p . 3. ' Yoder, p . 8. 'J bid., p . 3. 8John George H ohman, Pow-wows or, The L ong-Los t Friend ' W ebster's New Collegiate D ic tio nary, G & C M erria m Co., (H ackensack, .J. ; W ehman Bros., n.d .). Springfi eld, M assachusetts, 1961 , p . 66 2. ' Yoder, p . 4. 'Cotton M a ther, Decennium L uctuosum, 16 99, in A m erica lOThomas R . Brendle and Claude W . Unger, Folk M edicine Begins, Richard D orson, editor, Greenwich, Connecti cut: of the Pennsylvania Germans : The N on-Occ ult Cures, Penn Fawcett Premier Books, 1966, pp. 28 3-284. sy lva ni a G erma n Society, V ol. 45, Norristown, 1935.
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The Himmelsbrief was ~er ·am accepted by Berks residents. As a result, the au thor was Finall y, there was a limitation in procuring all per able to interview only three of the eight powwowers tinent information from all of the powwowers who that she had located in the county. The possibility that were interviewed. The second was willing to divulge others may practice powwowing, combined with the very little about the content of his charms, his pro relatively few who would submit to an interview, limits cedures, or the number of people he has cured. (H ow any conclusion about powwowing in all of Berks Coun ever, his freely dis ussing his a ttitudes toward pow ty. wowing helped to compensate for this restriction ) . The Furthermore, women powwowers would not reveal third informant was accustomed to speaking in Penn their techniques to another woman. The author was sylvania Dutch. Although the author's mother was pre fortunate in being able to interview two members of sent as a translator, the powwower nevertheless felt the same chain of transmi ssion. The intervening mem uncomfortable and might have given more infor ber of th chain , a woman, would not spea k with the ma tion, had we been able to communicate more easil y. author, b cause custom had restricted her to divulge In the following accounts of the interviews with the th is inform ation to men onl y. A much more accura te three Berks ounty powwowers, the a uthor has pro tudy of cha ng could ha ve been developed had the tected the identity of the informa nts by substituting the author been abl e to record her influence. letters A, B, and C for their names. 3 INTERVIEWS WITH THREE POWWOWERS Powwower A times, and finally when he shouts " I throw it away," he flings his hand out to the sid e as if he were physicall y ' '''hen Powwower A says, """hen I help somebody, throwing the disease away. I feel li ke I'm floating on a cloud!" he looks as though Mr. A then repeats the above procedure two more hc really means it. Round, ebullient and loquacious, times a t fifteen minute intervals. Then the patient re " Wi ndy Mr. A." (as one of his friends call s him) turns the nex t week, on the same day as close to the made powwowing sound like a lively art rather than same time as possible, when the entire process is re a fading tradition. For two hours in the living room enacted. The patient returns the following week for of his home in rural Berks County, Mr. A rcvealed to the third and fin al session. "Then if it doesn't help, us his cures, technique, successes, failures, and most then nothin'." importantly, the intense satisfaction that he derives Each session is exhausting, not only because the pow from powwowing. wower is so intently involved with the meaning of his "When I get through with a person it does something gestures and words, but also because often the p atient' to me." H e cured a man for "arthur-itis" who couldn't p ain is transferred to him. H e does not try to accomp find himself no more and when he left here, the second lish this, but very often the pain is so powerful that he time he was here he went out a nd dug in the garden." receives it in the sam e area that the p atient had it. H e helped a woman who hadn't slept for six months. However, when he feels it, he knows the p atient is When she left here and got in the car, she was asleep cured. Then he leaves the room to powwow for him before they reached the highway." Another woma n of self to remove the pain. eighty-eight had "arthur-itis so bad she couldn't close "When you do it for yourself, after you say it three her hand." After having seen Mr. A one evening, she times, the third time you say your name. H ere again was ironing the next morning. These successes and he makes the gesture as if he were wrenching the others helped to make him regard powwowing as his pain from his own head and flinging it to the side. Al most important work. though m any diseases have their special chants, he H e docs have other occupations. During the day he also has a "general one" which he uses for others works in a shop in a nearby town. In the evenings a nd which do not have sp ecific cures, or along with spe on weekends, when he isn't powwowing, he tends his cial chants. " When you do the general one, you have own shop in the rear of his home. to take the Good Book." H e placed his right hand "In no way do I believe in anything of the hex. That on top of the Bible and repeated: has nothing to do with powwowing. Because powwow D ies Wasser und dies F eueT mg IS more or less faith-healing. You have to beli eve." Dies JV asser und dies Feuer Now this here powwowing business, it is D ies W asser und dies Feuer through God. You don't heal to my way of D ies ist ein gToss e D inge thinking. You don't do the healing, the M a n I n dies gTosses ge heilige land above does the healing. But it is through you, UnseT shoene FTau Maria. through you asking, what you ask, a nd thc This water and this fire, things that yo u ask for and the way you ask it This water and this fire, - through Him. Tha t's faith healing. And this This water and this fire, is what powwowing is. Most of the old folks This is a big thing, used to know about powwowing, but today they In this big holy land are ashamed. Our pretty lady, M aria. Mr. A's procedure for healing is contained in sets "When you get down to our pretty lady M a ri a - of threes. H e repeats the chants three times with no that's when you get rid of the pain and you throw it interruption. For insta nce, in curing a headache he away." would say: H e told me that he could cure everything except V on deine K opf, cancer. " I can take away the pain, but it will come Z u m eine Hand, back again in twenty-four hours. " Among his other I n Goltes Hand. achievements are stopping blood ("but only when the From your head person is there" ), curing erysipelas ("when it comes T o my hand, together at the top of your head, that's the end of In God's ha nd. yo u" ), livergrown, fever, backaches, sinus a nd warts. After repeating this cha nt three times he says,"1n "You can buy a wart from somebody. You take a the name of the Father, Son and H oly Ghost. Amen," penny, spit on it, rub the wart, and give it to some and then "I throw it away." When he says the words one. And he will get it at the same spot where you "from your head," he puts his hand on the forehead had it." H e gave the remedies for the arn e pot where of his patient. And when he says, "to my hand," he you had it." H e gave the remedies for the foll owing draws his hand toward himself. H e doc this all three di seases: 4 Gallstones Now her daughter had cataracts. And I told "Let's say your mother had a gall stone attack. Then her what to do for her daughter and for her you start at the mouth- 'In the name of the Father' self and I said 'you mustn't sit and pity your- self!' stay on the body a nd throw out the fcet, and the Son, Powwow Pro ce dure and you come acro s here and throw it out th is way. There are certain rules of procedure whic h Po\\,- And the last time you go down to yo ur fcet. 'H oly wower A observes . "You're in a room. You mustn't Ghost.' Tow you repeat tha t three times every five let anyone stand up. Don't let anyone walk in back minutes. ow you don't nced to know the name, only of you while you're powwowing. " H e p rovided the for when you do it to you r elf. I would know when reasoning: "If somebody stands in the room, they she gets rid of it because I would fee l it." might take your strength away from you . This takes As he said the words, he made the sign of the cross a lot of strength." in front of my mother. Wi th "} n the name of the Another procedural rule is, "' '''hen you powwow Father" he drew a line with his hand from her chin for somebody never take anything out of the hand or to her feet. "And the Son," he swung an arc around you'll burn at the stake." Violating this rule has less from right to left, from her chin across her waist. "And ecclesiastical consequences than burning at the stake, the H oly Ghost," he drew the imaginary line again in but he never mentioned the earthly punishment of front of her, from chin to toe. arrest for practicing medicine without a license. H e Sore Feet thought of it in ternlS of his religious duty. "Almighty D ei Fuss und God doesn't take money out of your hand!" Never M ei Fuss theless he did not ignore the very practical side of sind gleich reinbursement. Your foot and They can lay it on the table or on the Good My foot Book. In some cases you got to have the book, are alike in others you don't. They can lay it on the book "three times then, 'In the name of the Father, Son, but don't you touch it until they leave the prem H oly Ghost;' - you throw it away." Ises. A Cut H ave you ever quoted a price? I asked him. "All I did was go like this, 'In the name of the Father, No, never. If someone wants to give me some the Son, the H oly Ghost,' like the cross over the ha nd, thing, naturall y if they leave me something three times." H e stroked the imaginary cut three somewhere I'm not going to walk after them times for the Fa ther, Son, and H oly Ghost, in one di and give it back to them. But I have had people rection. Then he repeated the words stroking the cut who give fifty dollars. three times in lines that were p erpendicul ar to the H e added that he has helped about thirty to forty first three. The third time he repeated the word , he peopl e a year in the two years that he has been prac stroked the cut in the same direction a~ the first time. ticing. H exerei I got interested in it because my wife had "I don't go for this witchcraft business." H e is con erysipelas and the doctor couldn't cure her. She vinced that anyone who believes that he is fer hexed was taking five different pills. he had so much is reall y mentally ill. His perception in these cases and pain the sk in was coming off her face. I got old his treatment of them reveal modern psychological [Powwower X] to cure her. H e's the onc who solutions to old fears. As a resul t of his success in th is taught the woman who taught me. area, he has had many requests to help people who are The "woman" he is referring to had become inter emotionall y disturbed. H is advice is usuall y home-spun ested in powwowing earlier (about four years ago) common sense. when her husband, who had been in a severe accident, I had a young woman come in, she was a was in the ho pital bl eeding to dea th. She enlisted the Catholic, I don't care if they are Catholic, Prot aid of a powwower, a man, who was able to save her estant, or what. She was good, she went to husband's life, by "stopping the blood" from his home. church every Sunday. She figures because she She then learned how to powwow from Powwower X goes to church, every Sunday, because she gives and from reading Egyptian S ecrets. Then she taught to church, because she believes, that nothing can Powwower A. happen to her. Thing were ha ppening to her ; Unusuall y enough, Powwower A admits his failures he was having tough lu ck, and she thought she as well as his successes, but, he says, "You can't help houldn't have it. She was a sick woman. T hat's someone if they want to die." In this re pect he is ri ght. So when she came in I talked to her, and most realistic about his "business of powwowing. " " I powwowed for her nerves. Then I told her how never let this thing get out of reach. I know wha t I to take care of herself. can do. I know what I ask; the Almighty has always This is what happens. See when I get that helped me. I never tried to learn omething different." p ain from someone I leave the room a nd I It is this acute awareness of his limita tions, combined take it off my elf. with an honest concern for people, and a vibra nt en- 5 thusiasm for what he is doing that makes a convcr 2. Acts 28, 8-9: And it came to pass, that the sation with this practitioner most invigorating. And father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a when he says, "I have helped so many pcople," he is bloody flux to whom Paul entered in, and probably right. prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. Powwower B So when this was done, others also, which " I'm the Miracle Man of [ ] !" boasted had diseases in the island, came, and were Powwower B. Otherwise a reticent and cautious in healed. dividual, the sixty-four year old practitioner took 3. Ezekiel 16 :6-to stop blood : And when I great pride in his reputation as a famous faith-healer. passed thee, and saw thee poIlu ted in thine H e told me he had m any clients in Berks County, not own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast only in the country around his home, but also in R ead in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when ing itself. thou wast in thy blood, Live. "I'm well known in Lancaster County too. " In fact, However, he knows another charm for stopping he told me that five years ago his practice was so ex blood, "especiall y when the person who is bleeding is tensive that he did nothing but powwowing and was far away. " H e walks around in a circle repeating this able to annex an office to his house. But "that was my three times at four minute intervals: downfall," for, he said, his clients thought that he was Jesus Christ, thou dearest blood, making too much money and cut down on the amount that stoppeth the pain of money they gave him. "You m ayn't charge any that stoppeth the blood, thing," he explained. As a result, he had to go back to In this help (name) work at the factory in order to supplement his income. God the Father Powwower B was cautious as well as he was proud. God the Son Afraid that I might give information about him to God the H oly Ghost, Amen. the A.M.A. ("They're out to get me!" ), he would not "But I must have the person's first name, as they all ow me to tape our conversation. Furthermore, he were baptized." revealed no procedural secrets. "I took an oath when H e said he can cure everything except H exerei. I learned, not to tcll unless the person was learning. " Speci fi call y, he has cured colds, fever, "the grip," sore H e himself is a member of an all m ale powwow throat, warts, cancer, shingles, erysipelas, "gang-gar chain. "I learned from a man in Lebanon who learned ene," scurvy, and is most famous for stopping blood. from a man." And he is currentl y teaching a young Some of the chants for these diseases he repeats in Eng boy, but " I could teach a woman too; it doesn't lish, others in Pennsylvania Dutch. matter.'" Both of his grandfathers and his father pow But he revealed neither their contents nor the names wowed, but they used "coals and strings. I don't know of the people he had cured. "I must be careful," he how. I never lea rned from them." said. And he was, as he looked both ways when he H e uses no devices when he practices powwow. ("I stepped ou tside. say 'powwow' for the old people; but it reall y is faith healing. You know, that's the modern term." ) . H e re Powwower C peats the words and gestures whi ch he had learned In his eighties, Powwower C is the oldest living from his mentor and had committed to memory. "But member of an active chain of powwowers in Berks words are not all of it, you must be strong. If I wasn't County. H e li ves with one of his children. H e spends strong, I would get it (the disease) ." most of his time here since his retirement over twenty "I am God's servant. I get the power from Him. years ago from the [ ] Company in Reading. H e does the healing. " But he emphasized that he does Each day is highlighted by the mile trek to the local not use God's power for evil purposes, although some H otel to buy a few beers. people want him to perform H exerei (witchcraft ) . In broken English and Pennsylvania Dutch inter "People are not satisfied; they want you to take it spersed with juicy chomps on chewing tobacco, he off and put it on somebody else." But, he added, "I told us his repertory of powwowing chants, his pro won't hurt people; I help them. I'm a faithful mem- cedures for using them and some examples or "proofs" ber of [ ] C hurch." of his healing powers. H e was most anxious to give The Bible is the source of Powwowers B's inspir me this information, lamenting the fact that very few ation and power, particularly "the one the minister young people today bother to learn about powwowing. always says at the end of the seremon about 'The Lord "The old fo lks all had it. I must give it away because Bless thee and keep thee.''' (Numbers 6:24-26). H e I'm getting too old." referred also to the fo llowing verses: As we sat around the kitchen table in his home, he 1. Thessalonians II (where Paul writes in told us that in the sixty years that he has been prac verse 11 ) : Wherefore also we pray always for ti cing, he has established the reputation as the best you, that our God would count you worthy of powwower in the area. "When there's an accident this calling, a nd fulfi ll all the work of faith with around here, they always come for me." As a young power. boy he learned to powwow from his mother. His father 6 'I1!fS~,*,,±~~~~-""~~~-~~ 'L''''~ __~...::-'''~~ ~~' ~, /-:;5 ~" "", • ~ e>:'~~'}(;g ~ e:P,i';g, 0'!f" ~I!K'~ e<:l ,c <'2'it I!K';(--'!. ~ '!19 '" 77,' ~ k"l r> »: ~~~ """"",, ~i-"-=~ ' > i ,= ' ! """-"= • ~ " "lf ~ t ~ - ,. ~ f f ~,1 ~ ..1 ' ~r' r,.,m'll ~l f r1 ~iJ • ii, ~ l It was 7;;r:tft.'J: -:~;. grJ!d/Jj~ .l ~, t ;,':!crs,a1:d :-..;:/ ''J God!hr""gh d"sPisd:, ';;, /'-011. t:im wi:: '; t 1 ar: A:;gc.7; to ;;im, 7,(,':!O 'i.~':' .'! par:' 1 i ~ '1 t ~hl THE LORD. 1/ +. An English "Himmelsbrief" or J, ~'r \\,ho<,"" "o,k, on Sond.y. I, cu",," '1'1""'(0"'. 1'00. ,hlld"n. hon" ("hee and mo'h". then lOO 'I l r. 1 command you tl13t. you do not. wor\.; on SUlllilw, will farc well on earth. \ \ '110 that •.J ,~'~' dny (nl\m~ly, Sunday,) you shnll keep 1101,\' if .VIlU W ho dOe~ not bclij)\·c this, he I!halJ die IUhl be ' I ;~'~v'd i -. in 1964. do not do that, I will SCiut war, fJunine, I*"t~ and f p puniolhed in hell. and I myself will on the I:u.t dny I" ~~ death among you, and punish YOli with lUaoy ta·oubles. ~ ~ t y ,;,~, r., .\1 ",. J ,o",mon,1 yoo ••""y one. wh",,"e' he n"y ue. ~n;~;:: ~!,e, )0"' ,I,,,. when you will hn« to ,I:I ;~'~__' ~ • young or old, slIlnll nnd grent, thnt you d., not work t .. lnte on Saturday, but you shnll regret your SiM, And that. IIlnn who e3rri~ thilS letter with him, i ~ that they may be forgiven you. Do not de~iro silver nnd keepli it in his house, no thunuer will do him ,! '~-Jnnd gold; do uot canoy on scnhualitics and desire,>; any hnrm, and he will ue safe from nre and water, '::t "1 ~ do think that I ha\·e made you and ean delltroy YOIi. and he thnt publishes it. to mnnkillll, will rl'CCi\'c 1 ),~~ t" ~ , Do not rejoico whell your neighbor ilS poor, f!;lel hi, rew;lrd :and n joyful depnrture from this world. 1.-.. f ..;a. ~ morco\'er sorry with him, then yon will iare well I: fi'o, J : ~ ~ r ;1 00 keep my command which I have sent you through ~~ r ~r !~{ my Angel. II the true God from the heavenly throne l the ' I ~ r HI Son of God and Mary, Amen, l ~ I .J ~, I THIS HAS OCCURRED A.T }[AGDCB URG, I N THE YEAR J783. ~ -: J,. -, ). 1 ~ 1 Jr';' ~_.£o=_~_ _ --'=:"':':: ' - .. ,- ; . ,~ =--' ~ :J t$J.~ ~ ~jl w::"( _0 Y')~ ~I< _.h ;.g, ..<,;" ~ 0:':..0 .,... :,;~~ ..:W:.:\o~~ ;ar.W~'~"". ~~~ ~ f': ·:Jr.r-7~p-.~.'--:r-1;~~~r-'~-'~~~r"'~;-~;r-~~1.\!!iJ~ ~~';;;r' --w\j.l.. ~ ). •• ;:,1 couldn't teach him because, he said, the knowledge trouble finding it, explaining that his eyesight was not could be transmitted only from man to woman and very good, The passage which he selected ( umbers woman to man, because "that's th e way it's go tta be, 7: 1) did not seem appropriate to the idea of healing: yes indeed." "And it came to pass on the day that Moses H e has taught four women: his two daughters whcn had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anoin they were young girls (only one now practices ) ; the ted it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments woman who taught Powwower A ; and "a young wom thereof, and had anointed them, and sancti an from All entown," his current student. Although fi ed them," he believes that he has helped many people and can I read the passage aloud and asked him if it was continue to help others, he feels that teaching other the one he meant H e confirmed that it was and ex people how to powwow is now his most important job. plained that he always read it to himself before he "Now I'm gettin' too much of it. I gotta quit on it. began the healing or after his patients left, "Read it Somehow, I gotta give it away." to yourself, understand, not to the people, But don't Whenever he is curing a patient, he uses his "little forget Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" Bible," a King j ames version, in English, "Lay your This passage did not make sense to me until I had hand on the Bible whenever you are curing." The returned home and checked the passage which Pow words of his chants are not from the Bible; he learned wower B had quoted as one which gave him inspir them from his mother. R ather, the Bible gives him ation. "The one the minister always says at the end his inspiration and power for healing, H e pointed to of the sermon about the Lord bless thee and keep thee, " one verse which he said gave him this power, H e had This passage came from the first three of the last four 7 verses of Numbers, Chapter 6: To stop blood The Lord bless thce, and keep thcc; the Lord make M y heart and your heart's ali ke hi face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; M y heart and yo ur heart's alike the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give M y heart and your heart's ali ke th c peace. Father, Son, and H oly Ghost. Amen. It seems possible that Powwower C, who had diffi H e expl ained that he could stop someone's bleeding culty both hearing and seeing, became confused and "far away like in H amburg or in Kutztown. But you pointed to the wrong verse and that instead of poin t would have to have the perso n's whole name. You ing to the end of Chapter 6, he pointed to the be say the words and then their name and then Father, ginning of Chapter 7. Or that at some point in the Son, and H oly Ghost." transmission of technique to him, the verses had be "Coul d you stop the bleeding if the perso n were come confused. The fact that he said that he repeated in Philadelphia?" it after thc patient left his house wou ld serve to give " Oh nay, not that far!" credence to the possibility of confu sion. T oma-goiter H e made it cl ear from the beginning that his pow "You hold it, maybe for a second or so and only ers werc good, "from God," and that he had nothing 'Father, Son, and H oly Ghost, Amen' and that goiter to do with H exerei. H e did admit though that he starts to go, yes, indeed - there was many I took could cure someo ne who had bcen fer-hexed. In fact, away." he said he could cure just about any illness except a Warts broken bone (he could eurc only the pain from the " Oh, that I take away. Well now I tell ya (he put break) or "nerve problems like a headache - that's his forefin ger in his mouth, drew it out and described no good." half circles around an area on the back of my hand, When he cures a patient, he "takes away" the di which he pretended had a wart, in a motion like this: sease but does not contract it himself; nor docs he (~~~) "this way around, back way around, and the transmit it to some other object. H e powwows for a other way around, Father, Son, and H oly ' Ghost, patient on three separate days with one week inter Amen. Then they go. In a couple of days they are vals between each session. Although he said that it gone." is important fo r him to see a patient on the same day "Do yo u remove them as the moon is decreasing?" of the week, "It does not matter if it is not at the same "No moon business . U se your spit from your time of the day." Each session consists of his repeat mouth." ina the words of the chants three times (in Pennsyl- b Shingles vani a Dutch ) and concluding with "Father, Son and "Say Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and touch the H oly Ghost, Amen" (in English ) . H e charges no fee part that has it." for his services but explained that the payment in Gallstones money makes the healing more effi cacious. "They For this he makes the sign of the cross over the have to give ya a little bit, something to throw that body three times . Each time he says "Father, Son, away from them. . They gotta lay it down some and Holy Ghost" and then Amen after the third time. place and yo u don't touch it until they're gone." "But when they get too big then they gotta go to the H e had only a few specific chants for specific di hospital." seases, but he said that the following "main one" I nsomnia could be used for all: "Now lay down and sleep, Father, Son, and H oly Die Wasser und dis Feuer Ghost, Amen - three times." Die Wasser und dis Feuer Livergrown Die Wasser und dis Feuer H e said that he used herbs for this one. Livergrown Die ist eine grosse Dinge is "when your liver gets bigger every day." H e uses J n dies grosses ae heilige L and "Nobluck wasser" (he didn't know the English word Unser younge fra u Maria for N obluck, * but he said it was a wild root that "gets Father, S on, and H oly Ghost. Amen. a little head on it" ) . "Put nobluck in a spoonful of hot This water and this fire water and take a little at a time, every couple of days." This water and this fire H e didn't know any more special chants. H e said This water and this fire that a powwower could use "anything you think on, This is a big thing understand, that you would like to use, but that Fa In this big holy land ther, Son, and H oly Ghost you gotta keep." Our you ng lady M aria Father, Son, and H oly Ghost. Amen. CONCLUSIONS Although he claimed to cure almost anything, Powwowers A, B, and C all agreed that the number through the course of the hour-long conversation he of people who powwow or who use the services of a mentioned specifi call y twelve diseases which hc has powwow doctor has decreased. Powwower A ex cu red and, in some instanc s, he gave his appropriate pl ained th at the reason was that people a rc now bc- chants, but in English : *German Knoblouch, "garlic". 8 coming ashamed of powwowing, an indication of words which Powwower C used thc most were "Father, changing cultural patterns. Powwowcr B attributed Son, and Holy Ghost," sometimes with other words, the decline to the pressures of the law and the medi but usually alone. His only gesture was making the cal profession. Since he practices closer to urban sign of the cross three times over thc diseased arca. areas, he might feel this threat more than the others. Powwowcr A, on the other hand, used spccific chants Powwower C, lamenting the young peopl e's disin ter for each discasc and varied his gestures accordingly. est in powwowing, implied the necessary prerequisite H e also had specifi c rules of procedure, including re for any tradition to survive : people who will learn moving warts as the moon is waning. In addition, and transmit it. None felt that the church had cen Powwower A developed a modcrn " bedside man ncr" surcd powwowing. In fact POw\oVower A mentioned in his relationship with his pati ents, understanding that his pastor had requested him to powwow for his their fears and calming their anxieti es. Powwower B daughter. Nevertheless, the consensus was that the tra represents the ultimate in sophistication. His term, dition wa fading. faith hcaling, his annex ing an office with a waiting H owever, there are indications that powwowing is room, and his keen sense of competition and profes not sounding its death knell. In the first place, for sionalism all refl ect his yielding to the influcnce of those who practice it, powwowing is still a thriving the co ntempora ry urban culture. and exciting activity. All three claimed an ex tensive The tradition of powwowing has decl ined in terms clientele and projected the satisfaction and pleasure of the numbers who practice it or use the services of they derived from healing. The latter was particularly the practitioner. However, it leads a vi gorous ex istence true of Powwower A, who was almost evangelistic in among certain people. The question which these con his enthusiasm. Furthermore, the tradition is still in clusions raise is, why has it persistcd among certain the proccss of transmission: Powwower A learned two people? years ago; Powwower C is teaching a woman from In the first chapter, the author cited three reasons All entown ; and Powwower B is teaching a yo ung boy for the existence of powwowing: the remoteness of from Reading. The transmission is primarily oral. All farms, the habit of tradition, and the belief that there threc practitioners, when they leam cd, were not pcr was some mystical power beyond the control of the mitted to write anything. As Powwower A ex plained, medical doctor. The first reason has been omitted with " Was du schreibst, sc hreibst dich satt)) (What you the increasing accessibility of modern medicine. The write, you write your self fast) . or did any of them second reason has also been greatly reduced with the use The L ong L ost Friend or Egyptian S ecrets, al scarcity of people willing to learn and practice the though they knew of those who did. This wou ld scrve tradition. The third reason, however, still offers an to substantiate thc supposi ti on that powwowing is still explanation for the persistence of powwowing. in oral tradition. The majority of patients cited by all three infor The most interesting indication that powwowing is mants had visited medical doctors before they had not becoming extinct is that it is adapting to the times. m ade arrangements to be powwowed. R eceiving no Now that coal stoves are no longer used by most immediate relief from the medical services they re people, powwowers today do not claim as their grand ceived, they turned instead to "higher po\oVers" for fathers did that the disease can be transferred to hot a cure. The fact that medical science has not per coals. With the increasing skepticism and disdain for fected its methods to cure every disease, combined the idea of hex, today's powwowers do not emphas ize with the belief of certain people that God ultimately is that they can cure H exerei. All three infonnants pre the source of all help, continues to reinforce the need faced our discussions with their stands against hexerei. for faith healing. Powwower C said that he did not practice it, but that he could cure someone who had been hexed. BIBLIOGRAPHY Powwower B ncithcr believed in H exerei, nor pre Thomas R . Brendle and Claude W. Unger, Folk M edicine tended to cure people who claimed to be hexed. Pow of the Pennsylvania Germans: The N on-Occult Cures (Norris town, Pen nsylvania, 1935 ) , The Pen nsylvania German Society, wower A did not practi ce the bl ack art either, but con Volume XLV. sidered those who thought they were hcxed, mentall y Paul Frazier, " Some Lore of H ex ing and Powwowing," Midwest Folklore, II ( 1952), 101-107. ill. H e treated them as he treated other patients who W. J. H offman, " Folk Medicine of the Pennsylvania Ger came to him with emotional problems: with a few mans," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, XXVI (1889), 329-353. chants and some common-sense advicc. This para ll el J ohn George H ohman, Pow-wows or, The L ong L ost Friend development in folk medicine to psychiatry in the or (Hackensack, New J ersey: Wehman Brothers, n.d .). Cotton M ather, Selection from D ecennium Luctuosum, 1699, ganized medical profession is, in itself, an adaptation in Richard M . D orson, editor, America Begins (Greenwich, to contemporary. needs. Connecticut: Fawce tt Prem ier Books, 1966 ), pp. 283-284. Richard H . Sha ner, " Living 0 cult Practi ces in Dutch A final indication of ability of powwowing to changc Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Folklife, XII : 3 (Fall 196 1), with the times is the incrcasc in compl exity and sp - 62-63. Emma G. White, " Folk M edicine Among the Pennsylvania cialization of the chants and t chniques. Thc con Germans," J ournal of A merican Folklore, X (I 897 ), 78-80. trast between the relativc simplicity of thc old and D on Yoder, " Twenty Questions on Powwowing, Pennsylva nia Folklife, XVII: 4 (Summer 1967 ). the complexity of the new is most sharply drawn in D on Yoder, " Witch T ales from Adams County," Pennsylva the chain of Powwower C and Powwower A. The nia Folklife, XII:4 (Summer 1962),29-37. 9 In Paxtonville By FAY McAFEE WINEY New Year's D ay or Bel-Schnickel Day in Paxtonville, a small vi ll agc in Central Pennsylvania, was celebrated every year and this dcspite sub-zero temperatures, fall ing snow or deep drifted snow. It was also known as "Fan-tas-tic" D ay, and the reason for celebrating had its roots partly in fear and superstition of the Bel Schnickel and partly for a day to just relax and enjoy oneself. On this day the station agent was angry the whole day through and bitterly complained about the numbcr of people gathered there. Some spent the cntire day in the railroad station, lcaving it for only a few minutes when the trains stopped, to run out to greet passengers or mainly to just "show off." Others would leave and come back again a half dozen or m ore times during the day. They occupied the seats, stood or loungcd .against the walls and also sat on the fl oor. H e threat ened to have them thrown out but the din and merry making were too much to cope with. Other than scaring Belsnickel with switch and bag for nuts and some of the young r children who ran out of the sta candies as depicted by Ralph D. Dunkelb erger. tion, thus reli eving some of the congestion, he could accomplish nothing. The reason for the anger and apprehension of the children. She and several ladies would lock themselves station agent was that these people were not potential in her bedroom a few days before J anuary 1, to plan passengers, except for a few who would board the train and sew the costumes th y would wear on N ew Year's for the next town, then return on the train a few hours D ay. ometimes Godey's Ladies' Fashions were not later to continue to harass him. gaudier nor more fashionabl e than the e. M y mother New Year's D ay was perhaps the onl y day in a whole seemed to prefer m ale attire. One year she might wear year when the writer's mother completcly ignored her her hu band's overa lls, a plaid shirt, and his button 10 shoes. The next year she might be a clown, or a dude, not be late for work unless some real emergency caused with spats, waist coat, straw hat, etc. It seemed to be the trains to be late. The regular passengers must have a release from the long, drab colored calico dresses she sighed with relief when the "fan-tas-tics" got off at the wore everyday except on Sundays. next stop where they visited taverns, the station, or When J anuary 1 finally arrived, Mother helped her loitered around the streets making merry but actually children to "dress up" or put on costumes and masks doing nothing of a mean or malicious nature. They re and literally chased them out of the house. When the turned to Paxtonville on the nex t train to the further children were out of sight to go from one house to annoyance of the station agent. another, Mother and her friends also "dressed up" and On one of these New Year's celebrations the writer disappeared for the entire day. They went directly to had not seen or recognized her mother that entire day. the station where the whole town seemed to be as But later that evening when she had joined the group sembled. in the station, she became attracted to a man sitting The main pastime in the station was to try to guess on a bench when she saw him cross his legs and begin who the masked and costumed persons might be. to swing his foot back and forth. M y mother always Sometimes bedlam ensued as people tried to tear masks crossed her legs and swung her foot when seated. off the faces of other people or loosen their clothing so Above the din the writer pointed to the man and called as to reveal some familiar feature or gesture and thus out, "That is not a man, that's my mom." She was recognize the "fan-tas-tic." very angry but controll ed herself ; needless to say the The children spent most of the day going from door mischief was done and others began to recognize her. to door and were seldom refused admission, as all the That night when mother was helping her brood to re good neighbors did not "dress up" and join the station turn to normal, the writer got one of the worst tongue groups. They made a great to-do as to guessing who the lashings of her young life. little costumed figures might be and always gave them Another diversion from just staying in the station something to eat. Perhaps a few cookies, or a piece was that a group of young people who were "dressed of cake; an apple and nuts; but best of all a big slice up" wanted to go to Beavertown about five miles to of home-made bread spread with home-made apple the west of Paxtonville. They begged a friend whose butter. Also some of the farmers' wives would give a father had a team and wagons to take them to the "hunk" or piece of dried beef which could be sucked town. She was afraid her father would discover the or chewed on throughout the whole day. This piece of team was missing and punish her when she returned. beef was not thrown away when one tired of chewing The group however planned how they could get in the it but was tied in the corner of a handkerchief and barn unseen. The young woman hitched the team to tucked in a convenient pocket for further consumption. the sp ring wagon and then another "dress ing up" act If mothers had not packed a lunch of some so rt this took place as they decorated the wheels with twigs and handout was quite often the only food the children had artificial flowers. They draped the wagon with bun all day as their mothers would not go home at the ting and put costumes on the horses. The owner of the noon or evening hours to cook, and fathers were usually team saw it later in the evening but didn't recognize working or roaming about the streets also. it as his own. Later that night they returned, took off This going from door to door on New Year's D ay in the decorations, "undressed" the horses, and the father Paxtonville was somewhat like the "Trick or Treat" never knew what had taken place until years later as practiced in near-by towns on "Hollow'eve," October when the event was remembered and tol d. 31. The writer did not know that H allowe'en was cele There was no organized parade on this day as it was brated in that way until her fi ance took her to his ushered in at midnight by the firing of pistols and ri home onl y three miles distant and the small costumed fl es and the ringing of the church and school bells. children came in and asked for a "trick or treat." Horse back riders dressed in gay costumes, their horses Some of the "fan-tas-tics" lounging around and in also decorated colorfully, carriages or sleighs gay the station would buy a ticket for a nearby town. They with bunting and crowded to capacity with "fan-tas caused enough disturbance on the train to provoke the tics," children and adults walking, running, even sled conductor and engineer to threaten to stop the train ding, in costumes of every conceivable de cription, and make them get off before their destination was made a colorful spectacle all day long. reached. They never actuall y carried out their threat When New Year's D ay fell on a weekday children as these trains were on scheduled "runs" and dared had to go to school. The riders on horseback would not be late. There was passenger service every few ride up to the windows of the school and it seemed hours on this particular line. The "run" was between to the frightened children that they would break in the towns of Sunbury and Lewistown, Pennsylvania, a and trampl them. T he e riders also waited until re distance of about 50 miles. The passengers were mostly cess time when the children would be skating or push men who worked in Lewistown at the Standard Steel ing sleds on a large pond or dam directly across the Works and in the sand mines in that sa me vicinity. street from the school which some years froze over Therefore there could be no stopping of a train no many inches thick. They would ride on the ice and it matter how great the annoyance, as these men must was a credit to their superb handling of their hor 11 that no children were hurt as they ran in panic around the pond screaming with terror. The expression, "You'd better be good or the 'Bel Schnickel' will come and get you on New Year's D ay" was a favorite of the writer's great-grandmother who would often say it, especially during the Christmas holidays, hoping to scare the children so that they would be "good" and thus make the preparations for the season somewhat easier. It seems that the Bel-Schnickel and Santa Claus were one and the same in certain Dutch communities. H e would bring gifts on Christmas Eve. If these gifts were not appreciated and the people, children especia ll y, were "not good" during the holiday season the Bel Schnickel would come on New Year's D ay and pun ish them. The people therefore "dressed up" or wore costumes and masks and became "fan-tas-tics" for the entire day so that if the "Bel-Schnickel" saw them he wouldn't recognize them and they would escape being punished. The adults who "dressed up" on this day of course no longer believed in the Bel-Schnickel as it was actually a part of childhood and like belief in Santa Claus is lost in early childhood, so belief in and fear of the Bel-Schnickel was lost in early childhood. Belsnickel Christmas cooky cutter from the Geesey Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art. This custom of celebrating New Year's D ay and fear of the "Bel-Schnickel gradually gave way to the "Trick or Treat" of H allow'een which became the onl y day other convenient places. Rosin was then drawn along in the year when masks and costumes were and are this which usually consisted of Aunt Lydia's thread still worn, but only after dark unless the churches or and the eerie sound caused the householders to ex schools hold a masquerade party for the children. claim impatiently as they were well aware of what Not every town had a High School and those who was causing it. wished to further their education had to commute to These harmless but annoying acts did not greatly the larger towns. This association with others brought distress anyone but the meaner acts performed late about like interests and diversions thus changing the at night and in the earl y morning hours were dreaded old customs based in part on fear and superstition and by most of the residents who expected them every yea r because of having celebrated in this way even when but sometimes even then were not prepared for the the writer's mother was a little girl. downright meanness displayed. Before this change occurred, however, H aIlow'een The favorite past-time of Hallow'eeners was to re as well as N ew Year's D ay was always celebrated in move the "privies" or out-door toilets which were used Paxtonville but the celebration was different in one or at that time by most residents, to another location. This more respects from that of the neighboring towns. location quite often was on top of front porch roofs Whereas in nearby towns some acts of maliciousness or sometimes on the roof of a chicken house or other took place, they celebrated m ostly by the "Trick or outbuilding, cow shed, smokehouse, barn, etc., a mile Treat" groups in costumes or by attending elaborate or two away. Sometimes these "privies" were simply m asquerade parties. M eanwhile in Paxtonville there turned up-side down on the original foundation. Quite were few if any costumed people but acts of downright often a few days elapsed before the building would be m alicious and nasty nature were perpetrated. located. At dusk children in groups carried a "toot" (paper As the writer stated before, no costumes were worn bag) or salt or sugar bag full of husked, dried field in Paxtonville on this night as in other nearby towns, corn. This was actually taken from farmers' fields pos and if some one was caught in the act of doing some sibly a week or two before Hallow'een and dried, then real harm, unless the culprit ran very fast he was recog shelled to throw at window panes or doors of homes. nized, caught and whipped or led by the ear to his The object was to try to scare the occupant within. parents from whom payment for damages was deman This usually occurred, as persons inside did not know ded. These were real and costly sometimes as the con when the corn would be thrown and the noise of the tents of a smokehouse (hams, bacon, or other pieces grains against the panes or door made one involun of meat) were taken out and strung on trees or other tarily jerk and become irritable because of it. peoples' clothes lines . It might also be that the smoke Children also with the help of older persons rigged house itself was taken away. Sometimes hogs were tic-tac-toes to spoutings, door knobs, window sills and butchered earlier than the traditional Thanksgiving 12 D ay butchering and the meat would be in the p rocess or had not been applied at the right moment one can of being "smoked," a preservative or cure for the meat. easily imagine the grave consequences that could have The meat was rarely if ever actually spoi led so that it taken place. could not be used, but the curing process was inter H ad the writer's parents known what she and her fered with and had the meat not been found within brothers were actually doing they would have been a day or so, and the smoking of it continued, spoilage punished rather severely as they were always warned could have occurred and ometimes did, which meant not to destroy anything or to annoy any residen t un quite a large payment settlement from the parents. duly. When their parents heard about the escapades M eat was not the only item taken, as farmers invari the next day, they naturally could not think their own ably discovered to their annoyance the next morning. children had been involved and since the teenagers They would find their plows, harrows, hay stacks and adults who had done these things were usuall y (parts of them), spring wagons or other objects of like in gangs of 15 to 20 perso ns no one "snitched" on the nature removed from their barns and they would have other. All were guilty and took care of each other if to go in search of them. The schoolmaster sometimes suspicion was aroused against any particular person. found he could not enter the schoolroom as these ob The sad part about these deeds was that they were jects sometimes were piled on the roof and against the usually perpetrated against the elderly who were door of the schoolhouse to the delight of the children. known as "cranky" or against several "old maids" liv He would have to notify the farmers and quite often ing alone; also against the people living in the nicer, he asked the older, bigger boys, some who might actu bigger homes, and against the farmers who h ad the ally have helped to put them there to at least get meat (smoked or cured) to last through the winter; them off the porch and into the school yard so that who had all the dried and canned vegetables they lessons could be conducted. would need during the winter; and whose ground cel Many malicious acts were deliberately perpetrated lars were fill ed with apples (some also taken by and carried out all in the same evening. Besides the H allow'eeners if these cell ars would prove accessible above mentioned, one that caused some residents to when entry was tried ) to enjoy on a cold winter night. have to clean and wash their rugs or floors was the The malicious acts against these people mostly, throwing of sticks dipped in manure into a house. One might have been a form of subconscious rebellion of the H allow'eeners would knock on a door and when against the class of people "who had," as opposed to it was opened others would be standing with the sticks those who "might not have had". dipped into cow or pig manure preferably and throw eedl ess to say when thc fear of the Bel-Schnickel them in on the usually clean parlor floor. Another act and the maliciousness of H allow'een merged into one in this same manner was the propping of very muddy evening when children especially, although adults also corn stalks or shocks against a door and when the "dress up" and go forth on "Trick or Treat," O ctober knock was a nswered the muddy end of the corn stalk 31, the people of Paxtonville welcomed this with feel invariably fell in on the rug. ings of immense relief. From one nasty deed to another the H allow'eeners T oday if you were to ask the young people what went and the writer participated In most of them as "Bells-nickel" or "Bel-Schnickel" means they would she and other girls had brothers in these gangs and not know, nor could they believe that October 31, did as they were told. fifty or more years ago, was celebrated in as m alicious When automobiles came into use, if they were and nasty a way as the writer remembers and older parked in front of a home, the tires would be removed, perso ns tell these stories, the crank thrown in a ditch, the steering wheel wired Lest the reader judge too harshly the H allow'een with gadgets of all kinds and large stones were piled gangs and their misdeeds of a half century ago the from one end to the other on the running board of the writer would like through comparison to defend them. car. When the owner wanted to use it the next day it There was no known rape, no murder, no real theft, would take him hours before he could get it in running as objects taken were nearl y always "gotten" by the order. When the automobil e became speedier a nd owner the next day or only a few days later. There was many more were on the highways, a favorite H allo little breakage of or to these objects. To the credit of w'een act was to place old tires across the highway or a the adults who were actually the ring-leaders there harrow or part of a high haystack and set one or more was li ttle or no drunken ness on that night which in it of these across the highway. The culprits then hid them self speaks rather well of that era. Except for the meat selves back of the tombstones in the nearby ceme and tha t was not all ruined, a nd, parts of hay stacks tery and watched to see what would happen. H ow the spoi led, the payment of damages as quoted earlier gang figured no one would be hurt or any damage oc seemed to satisfy the residents who suffered these in cur the writer often wonders even to this day. Auto convemences. mobiles traveling at higher speeds than usual because T oday, rape, theft, murder, drunk nness, L.S.D., etc., the drivers were celebrating also wo uld come upon occur every night in a year as compared to tha t one these obstructions and see them in time to apply their night of H allow'een and one day of New Year's ccle brakes. If however, the brakes would not have held bration. 13 By JOSEPH M. GRAY The art of carving initials into a tree is not an ex of the tree, serving as a memorial to their relationship. clusively modern custom. One of the earliest men The college community p rovided ample material tions of this custom was made by Chaucer in his T roi with which to analyze Sweetheart Tree. By definition Ius and Cressida: the paper is a "local project''' because collection of There are not three am ong us here who do all types of data came from m embers of Grove City Alike in love or say alike in all, College. The research findings are presented using Y et all is said or shall be. What serves you "analysis written from the obj ective frame of refer M ay only lead another to a fall. ence with onl y occasional quotations from the inter Some carve a tree, some chisel at a wall, view data,''' as sugge ted by K enneth Goldstein. The A s fancy suits them ,· but as I began college library was used for research and photographs I shall pursue my author, if I can.' were taken of Grove City College Sweetheart Trees. And yet, the act is as modern as 1965 when the popu Althou gh this is a local project, it has a much wider lar song, "The Sweetheart Tree," was nominated for scope to it. The nature of the college draws its stu an academy awa rd. dents from a several hundred mile radius and thus They say there's a tree in the forest, a local p roject, interviewing at a coll ege, results in A tree that will give JIOU a sign,· a broader survcy p roject which samples the folkl ore Com e along with m e, to the Sweetheart T ree, repertory of one or more different areas. Come and carve your nam e next to mine. After the situation had been analyzed and the m a They say if you kiss the right sweetheart, terials relevant to the solution had been decided upon, The one you've been waiting for,· by professional folklori sts on this particular subject, Big blossoms of white will burst into sight some information on the symboli c meaning of trees And your love will be true evermore.' was found ; a hypothesis was, therefore, drawn from Due to this long-lived universality, the custom be this information plus the fi eld interviews. came a topic for analytical research. The purpose of The basic source for data collection was the fi eld this paper is to examine this folk tradition as it is intcrvi w of 20 subjects who are working at or at known by the people in an area in the eastern United tending Grove City College. The interviewing was States, specificall y Grove City, Pennsylvania. The done so as to obtain an expressive answer to all six paper is limited to the study of the folkl ore of m ark points necessary in a research paper on folklore : what, ing trees in such a way that two sets of initials, the boy's and the girl's, are left visibly scarred in the bark York: T he East Hill Music Co., I nc., 1965) . 'K enneth Goldstein, A Guide for Field Workers in Folklore 'Theodore Morrison (cd. ), The Portable Chaucer (Cam ( H atboro, Pennsylvani a : Folklore Associates, Inc., 1964), p . bridge, Massachusetts : T he V iking Press, 1949 ), p. 400. 25. '''The Sweetheart Tree," L yrics by J ohnny M ercer (New ' I bid., p. 123. 14 Sweetheart Trees on the Grove City College Campus. when, where, who, why, and how: The eight ques of the tree stems from "a hardly-conscious survival tions asked of those interviewed were: of the custom of looking to the vegetable world, and 1. At what age did you first become aware of principally the tree as most imposing creation, as a Sweetheart Trees? typification of life.''' Such a statement provides a kind 2. How was the knowledge of Sweetheart Trees of unconscious motive for a boy and girl to want their transmitted to you? markings on such a signifi cant item as a tree. How 3. Were there many Sweetheart Trees in your ever, from interviews, the discovery was made that the area? Was there a main one? Where were act was done because the tree was simply there and they located? others had done it before. 4. Did you and your sweetheart ever carve Trees also symbolize "creation, fertility, love, or your set of initials on the Sweetheart Tree? ganic unity, and phallus.''' This erotic theme and How old were you when you did this? quality of trees would be recognized by Freud's dis 5. In what manner were the initials etched in ciples as the explanation why two sweethearts would to the tree? the tools used? other symbols choose the tree as an object upon which to express used? What other markings did you see? their love. Every person interviewed was to some extent 6. T o you what was the significance of this act? romantically involved when their initials appeared on 7. Did the Sweetheart Tree have a meaning to a Sweetheart Tree. No one interviewed ever mentioned your associates? Was it ever used as a joke an erotic symbolic quality of this type, bu t the basic by people who didn't like each other? drives of sex are behind the total rela ti onship. The 8. H ave you been or will you be an oral car phallus nature of the tree is understood in the general rier of this tradition? shape and strong rugged character of the trees. J n To most people a tree is a thing of beauty that in the act of carving, the boy does the etching while the spires awe, but to the folklorist the symbolic signifi girl watches.' The reason is that carving is hard work, cance of trees is much greater. A tree "symbolized im boys are more li kely to carry the necessary tools, and mortal life, wisdom, knowledge, and the universe. "· boys usually initiate a relationshp and it would be Such a statement doesn't surprise us because of our socially incorrect of the girl to make the symbol. Using familiarity with the Biblical text of Adam a nd Eve the erotic symbolism, it would not be correct for the and the role of the Tree of Life in that tale. The very girl to be "forward." nature of a tree suggests life as one's own "family 'I bid., p. 28 I. tree." Probing further Whittick tells us that our use 'Gertrude J ones, Dictionary of M ythology, Folklore, and Symbolism (New York: The Scarecr w Press, Inc., 1961 ), p. ' Ibid., p. lOS . 1584. ·Arnold Whiltick, S ymbolic Signs and their Meaning (New "Interview with Cindy H art, senior, Grove City College, ton, M assa chuse tts: Cha rl es T . Branford Co., 1960), p. 275. Nove mber 12, 1968. 15 D eer head can Jed ill aspen bark. For co m parative materials 0 11 tree carvings in the Uilited States, see Jrln Harold Bnmvalld and John C. A bramson, "A spen Tree D ood lings i1l the lV asatch M Oltl1taills: A Preli1ll inary Survey of T rad i ti011al Tree Carviugs," ill Austin and Alta Fife and H ellr), Glassie, Editors, Forms upon The Frontier: Folklife and Folk Arts in the United States (Logan, Utah: Utah State Uni versity Press, 1969), pp.89-102. Another symboli c meaning of trees is that they sug Duck" c"D mic books also at about age ten. " A third" gest life. Evergreens live throughout the year, but they discovered Sweetheart Trees on a televi ion program, m ake unsuitabl e Sweetheart Trees becau se of their "The R eal M cCoys," and through "Archi e" comic thick branch structure which reaches to the ground. books. Trees which live and die also suggest life. These Question number three tried to locate the proximity seasonal trees bud in the Spring at the time when a ll of trees in the a rea of the interviewee. From the data p assions are re-emerging. In this seasonal context love gathered there can be no conclusive evidence as to and Sweetheart Trees are closely related ; love and where the trees are usually located. In rural areas the life are renewed in the Spring in the forest. trees were sca ttered throughout the woods; in small The fi eld interview provided the actual recording towns they were along side streets. Still in other areas of the folklore of Sweetheart Trees. The answers to the trees were in the woods at special picnic places the eight questions show the customs, and like all made popular by local people. Some were found in folklore, the variations upon the custom. It cannot be parks, especially in large city and suburban areas. Des stated that there is a set procedure for the act or that pite the fact that people become aware of trees in there ever is a "pure" Sweetheart Tree tha t does not grade school, only one had noticed a tree near a school contain single initials or other m arks other than love. playground. The only conclusion that m ay be drawn The first question was asked in order to discover is that where there are trees and lovers, there is bound when people first became aware of this folk custom. to be a Sweetheart Tree. H ere on Grove City campu , The average age was nine with ranges from fiv e'o to for example, one such tree is. located along the pa th seven teen.l1 that serves as a shortcut to town and also as a strolling Logicall y, the second que tion was to determine how a rea for lovers. the knowl edge of the Tree was transmitted to each In question four the age at which people m arked person. In all but three cases the knowledge of them their trees was the subject. Ages varied greatl y. The came from observing local Sweetheart Trees. The folk average was between fourteen and eighteen years of tradition was not orall y transmitted. M a ny of those age. The number of times which people had done it interviewed remembered ta lking t their friends about varied greatly also - some only once in their life, some the trees, but they were already aware of the trees. as many as six times with six different people. The other three noticed them through visual means The heart of the folklore inquest is the fifth question, also. One subject" had read about characters carving for it is here that one discovers wh at is actua ll y done their initials in trees in love stories that she had read to a tree a nd how it is done. The basic tool used by abou t age ten. Another first got the idea from "Donald the majority of tho e interviewed was the penknife. This item is standard equipment on most any man IO I nterview with Ethel Sharkey, se nior, Grove C ity College, from grade school to pipecl eaning age inclusively. The November 12, 1968. " I nterview wi th Peggy H ein e, senior, November 12 , 1968. " Interview wi th Allen Ruckel, sen ior, November 12, 1968. " I nterview with K aren Anthony, senior, November 12 1968. " Interview with Ethel Sha rk ey, November 12, 1968. 16 Sweetheart Trees on the Grove City College Campus. fingernail fil e, broken glass, a railroad spike, a paring in jest or for maligning other people. Those who wished knife, and even the flame from a carbide lantern" have to joke with someone by placing initials of someone also been used. with another person usuall y just chalked them on the As to what form the initials were carved and the sym sidewalk or a wall. The jest was usually not serious bols which accompanied the basic initials, there is enough to involve the person in the extra effort of general uniformity. About all the initials were placed actually carving into a tree. Also trees were not as cen one set above the other. The plus sign (+ ) was used trally located to be as effective for a joke - a more by all but three people. Only fifty percent of those likely place would be the playground, a desk, a fence, interviewed bothered to carve a heart around the in a wall, etc. Therefore, the Sweetheart Tree was still itials, and even fewer put an arrow through the heart. "special. " This is due to the great amount of effort which such As was stated earlier the tradition of Sweetheart carving involves . The heart and arrow are traditional Trees is transmitted visually by seeing the trees or read symbols of love in America and become known in the ing about them. For this reason only a few people first grade through the celebration of Saint Valentine's interviewed said that they would be an oral carrier D ay. It is no mystery then that this symbol is familiar of this tradition. All, of course, if asked about such to children by the time they discover Sweetheart Trees. trees would tell what they knew of the tradition. But The determining factor as to whether or not the heart the eighth question was posed to determine if they and/ or arrow goes into a tree is the energy of the boy would voluntarily tell younger people about the tradi on that eventful day and the keenness of his knife. tion. Only a few had already told the custom, but all This folk custom is indeed simple and avail able said that when a person asked about Sweetheart Trees to all, whereas some of the other folk customs require then they would tell them the custom. special skills, such as singing ballads or telling tales. One may conclude that the Sweetheart Tree is almost In order to add to or create a Sweetheart Tree, one universally recognized as a symbol of romance and an needs only a tree, a sweetheart, and something sharp. act of declaring it. It is at least to the people of the No mental or phys ical skill is needed above the ability eastern United States where the preceding survey was to print. made. Other sources, literary and other, such as Chau The significance of the act may be summed up as a cer's work, the movie theme, and television programs, romantic lark. Those answering question number six have contributed to making the custom internationally said that they were "going steady" at the time or were famous. Whether or not the custom will continue and school chums, but the act was not as significant as a be passed on as a folk tradition can only be speculated high school ring or coll ege pin. upon. Certainly, it will endure for the lifetim of tho e The social significance of the tree is less precise. All trees which bear the markings at this time. Probably, agreed that the tree was "special" and usuall y not used it will pass from existence only when a substitute l S " I ntervie w with William Craig, employee of Grove C ity discovered which affords an opportunity for lovers to College, ovembcr 12, 1968. di splay their feelings. 17 Pigsty and Chick en house located 011 t h e Melvil1 B rubaker farm st ead, Myer s t OWl1, P enl1syl vania. Pigs ready for the al1l1ual fat tel1il1g raised 011 the author' s farm. Early stone pig st)1 with attached corn crib 011 the farm of J. H emy M eyer, Anl1ville, Pe1111.SyZvania. 18 PIGPENS and PIGLORE In Rural Pennsylvania By AMOS LONG, JR. Pigs, or Sei in the dialect of the Pennsylvania Dutch, counts given by early writers reveal that some pigs be ranked next to cattle among the livestock kept on the came 0 wild and ferocious that they had to be hunted pioneer farm and homestead in Pennsylvani a. and shot like other wild beasts of the forest. In some Like fowl in the early settlements, most pigs were places they rivaled deer as a source of wild meat for without housing and were allowed to range at will, the colonists. sometimes in large numbers for long periods of time; Pigs roamed the fi eld and fores t for more than a consequently many regressed to a wild state resem century and it was not until about 1850 that they were bling the wild boar type of Europe from which they generall y confined. Not onl y did they roam the wilder originated. They were lean, swift, fi erce, with a nar ness; but many ran at large in towns and villages. Al row, medium body, long snout and legs, arched back, though they scavenged the refuse that was thrown in large bones, long rough hair, and were good subsoilers. to the streets, they soon became very objectionabl e. Although they could outrun and outfight most of their In most of the towns where pigs were allowed to roam, forest enemies, they did fall prey to some of the larger it became unlawful for them to be without yokes about animals, particularly the bear which had a fondness their necks and without rings in their snouts. This was for pork and to wild dogs which proved a menace. Ac- supposed to help control them by preventing them Photography by Amos Long, Jr. larly frame pigsty at ached to brick end 'arn on John M . Alt lOUSe'S farm, Myers own. 19 Frame pigsty (left) on the author's farm after snowstorm in 1967. Sow and pigs (below) in outdoor enclosures in front of pigsty. from rooting and turning up the ground. Earli er rc cords info rm us that pigs without yokes and rings could be killed by anyo ne. I t was not uncommon for large droves of pigs to stray many miles during the day and return before nightfall , particul a rl y if their scavenging was supple mented with corn or other grains. M any pigs were allowed to roam in the woods year around, summer and winter. During the latter part of November, with the approaching butchering season, farmers would form large hunting parties in search of wild pigs which were pursued and shot. Earlier writers tell us that even though the pigs seemed fat, their fl esh was not firm. This was largely the result of feeding on fruits; particul arl y apples, peaches and mas t, chiefl y acorns and chestnuts. Gab ri el Thomas' in his book tells of pigs, about a year old, that weighed two hundred pounds with a sweet lus cious fl esh. Luther Kleinfelter, a farmer in Lebanon County, who prefers to allow his breeding so ws to roam year around in a fenced, wooded a rea, contends that they do better for him when on their own. H e m aintains that a year in which there is a good acorn yield is also a good year for growing pigs. H e supplies additional supplements to his pigs once a day with good results. Pigs roaming the forest m ade it easy to shoot and steal them. Stealing pigs was a source of much b a ~ feeling between neighbors and the Indians. There were numerous complaints from the settlers against many I ndians who had acquired a taste for pork, preferring it to veniso n, for raiding and destroying their pigs. was to be burned on them when young and recorded With the passage of time, the farmers were supposed by the county court. This request was generally ig to brand their pigs with an identify ing m ark which nored or accomplished with great difficulty. Some 'Gabriel T homas, An H istorical and Geographical A ccount farmers attempted to herd their pigs in late autumn of the Pr ovince and Country of Pensilvania and of W est N ew Jersey in America, London, 1698, pp. 2 1-22. and fatten them on corn. This proved difficult and fre- 20 Old - time farm butchering scene drawn by Walter W. Calvert, Farm Journal Magazine_ quently impossible to distinguish their own from others fatter the pig, the better ; but markets today demand unless they were branded. the leaner breeds. The body of the fat pig is compact, Strict legal measures were instituted to reduce thiev deep, broad and low, with short back and deep, fat ery but often were of little avail. One su ch law enacted sides; the neck is short and thick, head small, hams in 1672 read: "That formuch as many and great Com and shoulders large. The bacon type, produced for its plaints have been made against Hogg Stealers, . fin e, lean cuts of bacon, has longer legs, long neck, It is Ordered that the perso n soe offending and con coarse head, narrow back and deep sides. In more re victed for the Same, shall for the first Offence besides cent years it has been found by farmers and hog pro a fin e to be imposed by the Court receive the Corpor ducers alike that a cross between two purebreeds gives all punishment of haveing one of his Ears cutt off to pigs that make the most economical gains. Beginning bee an Example to all others, and for the next receive with the 20th Century, pig production and breeding some more severe punishment, as the Court shall di continued to improve and was promoted by the organ rect or Judge meet.'" "The barbarous punishment of ization of numerous community, cooperative breeders the law of 1672 (ear cropping) was repealed by associations. William Penn who provided for the third offence, An address by William Tilghman printed in the the punishment was to be twenty-nine lashes and ban Pottsvill Miners' Journal of April 23, 1825 reads: "We ishment from the colony.'" have in Pennsylvania good horses but in the best breeds Improvement was m ade in the breeding of pigs of cattle, hogs and sheep we are defective." Since then about the beginning of the 19th Century. After thc America has produced a number of good breeds of middle of the ce ntury, the wood hog or razorback still pigs. Some of the earlier breeds developed, such as persisted in the backwoods but most pigs were grades the Woburn, are now extinct. The Chester White, still of improved breeds. This was accomplished through a popul ar breed, was developed in Chester County, crossbreeding and imported boars were bred to native Pennsylvania. English breeds were imported in large sows. Through selection, breeding, feeding and im numbers. Among them was the Berkshire breed which proved management, the pigs attain ed a larger size, became very popular and still is a leading producer. shorter legs, small er bones, earli er maturity, and be Others including the Suffolk, Duchess, and Essex were came more docile, res ulting 1D more economi cal pork used to upgrade native sows. The Poland-China, Du production. roc-Jersey, H ampshire, Yorkshire and Tamworth are Pigs today are classified as lard or fat type and among the more popular breeds today. bacon or lean type. During earlier years the larger and The fecundity of the sows seemingly has no limits. 'Duke of York's L aws, / 676-1682, and L aws of the Province An average litter consists of eight to twelve pigs, de of Pennsylvania. 1682-1700, Harrisburg, 1879, p . 73. 'Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher, Pennsylvania Agriculture and pending on age, size, breed, feeding and m anagement Country Life 1640-1840, H arrisburg, 1950, p. 188. of the sow. M any had fewer than eight, somc more 21 than twelve. There are records which show that earl y of pigs. As pig production became more speciali zed in thc history of pig production, some sows farrowed ma ny of them were fattened in dry lots, however green a many as twenty pigs. The gestation period for a forage crops such as clover, rape, and alfalfa supple sow is about one hundred twelve days or thr e months, mented with grain gave faster and cheaper gair'ls. The three weeks and three days. Young sows may farrow life of a pig was conveniently divided into four feed a few days sooner and older sow will frequently go a ing periods of six to eight weeks each. 1. The milk f w days over. It has b ~e n a general pra ti e for farm period in whi h a large part of growth was from the er to allow their sows t produce two litters of young mother's milk with some sloppy feed added. 2. The a year when properly managed. With the severe win wet mash period when feed was given mostly in wet ters in Pennsylvania, most farm rs find it b st to have form with plenty of skim milk with sliced roots or thei r sows farrow in Ma rch or April and again in Sep clover. 3. The pasture period in which clovers and tember or October. grasses produce the greatest growth with a little wet After pig were generall y confin d, some were sti ll mash at first and dry grains, mostly corn, toward las t. all owed to roam the fi Ids and forests in search of a 4. The corn period or fattening stage in which sliced precarious li ving on root , herbage, and grains in roots were fed in addition to the large amounts of stubble fields, faring sumptuously on ma t and dropped corn. apple and peaches during the late summer and au Years ago there was a popular belief that cooking tumn of the year. As the supply of mast, fl es hy roots and steaming feed in reased its digestibility and its and fruits diminished, mor of th pigs were confined feeding valu e. In more recent years it has been found and sheltered within the barnyard area. They were that digestibility m ay be decreased by cooking in the fed on potato s, beets, squash, apples, p aches, other case of many feeds. Th re are some feeds such as po vegetables and fruits and Indian corn. Wh n avail tatoes and beans which are rendered more palatable able, dairy wastes, kitchcn scraps, legumes and other by cooking and which may help to stimulate appetite. grains w re fed in large quantities as a supplemental Pigs on the farm and in backyards were usuall y slop feed and to help fatten the pigs for slaughter. It was fed from table and kitchen wastes which were supple a common practice to keep one pig for every four or mented with boiled potatoes and shell s during the fiv e cows on the farm. winter months. It was cornmon to see a swill barrel, Pigs imported from Europe were not as well suited sei tass, near to where the pigs were housed. The swill , to the use of Indian or field corn as they were to the soaked or fermented feeds, was usually kept in a large grains of their native country although corn b came wooden barrel covered with a lid to help keep out the universal fattening feed for pigs. The area in some of the fli es and other insects and to retain the outhea tern P nn ylva ni a, Lancaster, B rks, Lebanon, odor or stench from within. In addition to the kit hen York, Cumberl and and Frank lin, the important corn and garden wastes, skimmed milk wastes were poured produ ing countries, also led in the early produ tion into the barrel. The results from wet or dry feeding have been found to be abou t th same. There is I ss tend ncy to waste feed when it is given wet, e peciall y when m any pigs feed at the sam trough. Normall y there is no advan tage to b gained from dry feeding. It is important that troughs be arran d 0 a to prevent crowding whi h will tend to lessen waste. It has been found that the gain from grinding corn is comparatively small. Grind ing of small grains is much m ore effective than it is with corn. When possible pigs should be provided with an abundance of fres h water, green pasture and minerals. In the days before commercial minerals m any "old timers" who raised pigs supplied them with a mixture of charcoal, wood ashes, common salt, su lphur, salt peter and air-slaked lime to upply the minerals they ne ded. Those pigs not confined to a building supplied their own min ral needs from the oil and vegetation. Today br ding sows are fed twice a day, morning and evening, Farmers grind oat, barley, rye, wheat, middlings, or whatev r is avail able with corn and add a upplement containing mineral , meat scraps and ad Two altd one-half story frame pigpen locat ed 012 the ditional proteins at the rate of 300 to 400 pounds p r Milton Smith homestead, Richland, Pennsylvania. ton of mixture. This is fed wet or dry at the rate of two to four pounds at a h f ding for each mature pig 22 Combination masonry and frame pigsty on the old Schaeffer farmstead, now the property of His toric Schaeff erstown, Inc. An unusual pigsty ar rangement, being at tached to the front of the forebay of a bank bam on the farm of Victor Leh man, Marion, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. depending on size, condition and weather with a buc ketful or more water. Feeder pigs being prepared for market are placed on self-feeders and waterers and are allowed to consume as much feed as possible. Many farmers who fatten steers place feeder pigs in the same stable and allow them to work over the droppings of the steers and fatten upon undigested grain in the manure. Some farmers who lived near to breweries or distilleries obtained barley, corn and rye by-products of beer and whisky-making, to fatten their pigs. Sometimes shoats were brought to the brewery or distillery for confinement and feeding until they were fattened. Others fattened thei r stock on garbage or the offal of slaughter houses when available. With the ad vent of creameries, pigs were kept there and raised on milk wastes. Since saltpork and pork in its various forms have been a staple foo d from the time of the pioneer settlers, pigs were raised to supply the needs of the farm family and any surplus was sold to neighbors or bar sponsibility to feed the pigs, as it was the woman's tered at the country store for household needs. For chore in many families, he would say, " Du gebsht sella slaughtering a pig of four hundred pounds or larger sei may fooder, si woxa net wie si setta.n (You give was preferred; consequently many farmers kept their those pigs more feed, they are not growing the way butcher pigs for more than one winter. It was a com they should.) H e was determined to be among those mon practice for those in the towns and villages who who had the nicest and largest pigs. Often Grandma raised pigs to visit among neighbors to note the gains wou ld say, " Wo iss da pap widder?n (''''here is Pop and progress being made and to determine who had again?) The reply would be, " Draus im sei schtall mit the fastest growing and largest pigs. Giant size was con de sein (Out in the pigsty with the pigs ). H e eemed sidered a mark of superiority. to find a spiritual delight in the pigsty with the pigs. The writer recall s being told how his grandfather Pigs which were exhibited at livestock shows and wou ld compare his pigs with those in the neighbor county fairs were often kept [or several years until they hood nearly every weekend to determine the progress attained a mammoth size. "In 1812 one such animal they were making. Since it was my grandmother's re- was slaughtered when four years and ten months old ; 23 Side-frontal view of early stone pigsty (left) with beautifully pt'oportioned brick-m'ch ed entrances, and side view (below), located on the Ulysses Mays Farm, south of Lebanon, Pennsyl vania. it weighed 834 pounds, dressed.'" In 1869 the L y coming Gazette and Bulletin reported a hog killed weighing 614 pounds. " In 1924 a Poland-China bar row was exhibited which weighed 1,2 02 pounds on foot when twenty-eight months old.'" Although it was impractical to keep pigs this size, thcy were to be found. :Most farmers and producers soon became aware that yo unger stock could be fat tened much more economicall y. The trend of m arket demand in cc 1900 has been toward small er pigs. T od ay most a rc slaughtered at six to eight months and Bucks County, reads, " ... ein steinernen Schwein weighing 185 to 225 pounds. Small er pigs 140 to 175 stall" (. . a stone pigsty ) . Although the pigs ty in pounds top the market at five to six months. some form was found on many early farmsteads, those "H ardl y anything connec ted with thc farm has of masonry construction were rare. For many years changed as much in the last fiftcen years as the pig pigs were housed in the bam separately or in the stable. Some years ago fully half the pig stabl es were stables along with the other animals. little more than an open roof with a rail pen at one The story is told of two redemptioners in York Coun end. ." The statement above appearcd in the ty who built a house to pay for their passage. When R eading W eekly Eagle on M arch 13, 1897. the house was completed their m aster told them that It is evident from the following advertisem ents that they must build a pigsty yet and only then would they be free. They had to comply but with a great deal of the pigsty (sei-schtaU ) became a permanent building on some farmsteads at an earl y date. In the Friedens dissatisfaction. They did complete the work but before they left one of the redemptioners said that their mas Bothe, Allentown, November 23, 1815, an advertise ter should never have any lu ck raising pigs. Strange as ment of a public sale of property in N ew Britain it may seem, tradition has it that never a pig was raised T ownship, Bucks County, reads in part, " . . . ein in that pigs ty. steinernes M ilchhaus iiber einer niefehlenden Wasser M ost of the earl y pig shelters were simple, inex queUe, und ein steinernen S chweins-stall" (a stone pensively constructed. They consisted of an open roof milkhouse over a never-failing spring and a stone pig- of thatch or rough lumber or a lean-to shelter set up ty) A portion of another earl y advertisement concern against the barn to provide shade from the hot sun in ing the sale of a property in Durham T ownship in summer and to protect against snow and freezing rain 'Fletcher, ibid., p. 190. in winter. M ost of them were improvi ed a nd of a ' Stevenson Whi tcomb Fletcher, Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country L ife 1840-1940, H a rrisburg, 1955, p . 263. temporary nature. 24 Rough or used lumber, nai led vertically to the crude side, through the pen door and then into a continuous framework, usually sapling poles, was used in the con gutter running the length of the building, into the struction of the shelters. The openings between the manure pit. It was important to locate the pigsty, if boards were frequently battened to make the enclosu re many pigs were housed, within an area where the as rain and wind proof as pos ible. In order to make liquid waste could drain away from the building. A the shelter warmer in the lower areas, fresh, strawy, location on high, well drained land helped to keep horse manure was banked up along the outside walls the pigs ty dry and more comfortable. M any of the to a depth of about two feet to help prevent drafts pigsties faced south or east with a passageway at the and provide more comfortabl e sleeping quarters for north or west. If the pigsty contained a dou ble row the pigs. Some of the shelters were built on runners or of pens, it was built facing south so that the yard had skids to move them temporaril y from plaee to place an easterly and westerly exposure. Regardless of lo and provide fresh and plentiful forage and clean range. cation, it was good to supply shade whenever possibl e. With a greater demand for pork in the markets and The size of the building varied with the operation. better management in its production, improved hous Most of the earlier types had a shed roof which mea ing was soon adopted. Almost every pigs ty possessed su red ten to twelve feet high in front, six to eight feet certain peculiar features to make it as practical as high in the rear, and twelve to fourteen feet wide. possible. There are certain desirable features of any The length was determined by the number of pigs to pigsty ; the most important are dryness, ventil ation, be housed. Some of the buildings which were construc light, freedom from drafts, reasonable warmth, and ted la ter were wider, with a combination shed or gable convenience. roof. These allowed for a center feed and storage aisle Some structures on the farmstead were built as a with pens on each side. Such buildings measure ten to combination pigsty and chicken-house. These contained fourteen feet high in the center, seven to nine feet high two floors, the upper to house the chickens, and the at the ends, with a width up to twenty feet. lower portion for the pigs. Some were attached to the Nearly all the early shelters for pigs were built on side of the bam. One of our picturees shows the pigsty the ground floor. As the structures became more per attached to and facing the forebay of the barn. M a ny manent, foundations were constructed of stone, some that the writer inspected had a privy attached or built containing large, inlaid, fl at stones which comprised into a comer. the floor aea. The foundation was constructed to ap The pigsty was located nearer to the barn than the proxima tely two feet above the floor surface. Thi was house because of the odor and the fli es. Some were done to protect the timber of which the wall s were located nearby or attached to the straw shed. On some built and was in no way injurious to the pigs. The farms the pigsty adjoined the manure pit and the pigs floors of later buildings were concrete. This proved were allowed to root in the manure from all the farm to be the most satisfactory materi al because it is more animals, work it up and thereby hasten its rotting. durable and easil y cleaned. Most of the floors had Others were located adj acent to the manure pit and some drop toward the lower end to provide drainage although the pigs did not have access to the pit, the a nd to help keep the fl oor dry. A layer of roofing paper pens were constructed to provide drainage to the out- or several coats of tar paint between layers of concrete, when the floor was constructed, helped to keep the floor warm a nd free from ascending soil moisture. Pigs, particul a rly sows, lying on such a floor find it warmer because it retains the heat. The material comprising the walls had an effect on the dryness a nd ventila tion insid e the building. Wood en wall s constructed in such a way as to form a com plete, dead air space within made a good wall struc ture. Some of the early frame pigsti es were built by set ting poles or rough scantlings verticall y or horizontall y as necessary and then boarding the outside with rough timber. The openings between the boards may have been ba ttened to prevent drafts. The better and more durabl e buildings were boa rded inside and outside with rough lumber which was covered on the outside with roofing paper. This formed a dead space inside the wall and a warmer stable in winter and cooler in sum mer. Over the outside surface, clapboards or m atched lumber may have been u ed. A large frame pigsty on Charles Ohlinger'S The pigsty had a door at one end, to the front or farm, Lees port, Berks County, Pennsylvania. side. Some had a door at the other end to allow for 25 convenience when bringing in feed, supplies or equip ing the pens from the feed passage. Some doors were ment if the building had much length. hinged, others were m ade to slide. Some of the pens had If the pigs were confined, it was important to pro a swinging door attached to the opening between the vide sufficient window space; usuall y one of the win inside pen and outside enclosure to allow the pig to dows was hinged at the bottom to be opened at any exit or enter as it chose. The swinging door consisted angle according to the need for fres h air. \"'hen possibl e, of a frame of hardwood boards which was hinged at it was best to have the windows located on the south the top, many of them with a piece of leather or belting; ide of the building to provide as much unlight as this prevented the space from being left open in severe pos ibl c and the least exposure to cold winds. The sun's weather. Some doors were suspended from a rail or rays have a tremendous influence in promoting and plate, the ends of which were made to move freely maintaining the health of the pigs . either way in a socket arangement between the jambs Some of the pigs ties had a loft over the pens, par of the door. ticularl y over the farrowing pens, to help keep the Inside and to the rear of most of the pigs ties was a building wanner. The loft was made by placing sapli ng feed passage, fiv e or six feet wide, for storage of feed poles, or other timber, several inches apart on support and equipment if there was no other feed or storage ing timber overhead. A heavy layer of straw was placed room provided. The partition separating the pens from on top. Wire may have been used to help prevent the the feed passage was built over the feeding troughs and straw from falling. The loft was frequently used for set in about two and one-half inches from the outer the storage of straw which helped absorb moisture and side of the trough all owing room to pour the feed. keep the pens dry. It was best to replace the straw each Sometimes there was an opening built into the partition yea r if possibl e because it has a tendency to harbor at the trough through which the feed could be poured. dust, disease, germs and vermin. The loft area, if not Some farmers had an arrangement to keep the pigs used properly, may have been a hindrance to good ven away from the trough until the feed was deposited. tilation and promoting dryness in winter. The troughs were wood, metal or concrete. \"'ooden The pens inside the building were square or rectan troughs, although used considerably during earlier gular in dimension and varied in size from five to eight feet wide and from seven to ten feet long. Farrowing pens were larger. The partitions between pens were fastened to the posts supporting the roof. The posts held the line of plates which su pported the roof rafters. Some of the pen partition walls were made of concrete which proved to be more durable and permanent but more expensive to construct. The partitions between the pens usuall y contained doors which could be opened from the top or side to allow passage for the pigs from one pen to an other. Some pigsties had doors in the partition separat- PTont-side view of ea1"ly stone pigsty (above), and sid e-Tear view (left) , on the GT eenfi eld Road farm of P aul D enlingeT, Ronks, Lancaster Count)I, P emtSylval1ia. 26 This large pigsty is located on the farm property of Homer E. Bauer, Kutztown, P ennsylvania. years, were not too practical because of rotting, leaking, The Farrowing Pens and destruction by the pigs . The wooden troughs were For farrowing it is better to have the sows in a build hollowed out of a hardwood log or were constructed ing or area apart from other pigs; especially during cold from oak, ash or hickory planks and were made to weather when the building must be closed and free adapt to the width of the pens. M etal troughs were from drafts. The air of the building where a large more practical except that they were difficult to fasten number of pigs are kept, does not agree well with little securely and keep the pigs from displ acing them. If pigs, Wutzlen in Pennsyl vani a Dutch. they were tom loose from position by the pigs, they If part of a building is used for farrowing pens, it were often broken ; particularly if the fl oor was con should be closely partitioned from the rest of the pens. crete. Concrete troughs constructed in the pen proved The farrowing pens should be no less than eight feet to be the most practical, except that after years of use square to allow more space. Some are as large as ten some had a tendency to deteriorate and crumble, large feet wide and twelve feet long to accommodate the sow ly from water which had frozen in them on cold, winter and her litter. Some farrowing pens contained a par days. tition to separate the feeding .area from the rear of the Pigs suffer from heat and enjoy wall owing in water pen where the sow and pigs rested. Often poles or and mud. Since ordinary wall ows become fi lthy and boards were laid across the top of the partition and provide a good breeding ground for disease, many covered with straw to help to m aintain a warmer tem farmers provide an outdoor enclosure for the p igs. perature. O utdoor yards attached to the pigsty are a valu able Some farrowing pens had a pole, plank, or two-inch accessory. They allow the pigs access to fresh air, su n pipe extending out about ten inches from the side wall s light and a place to exercise. The outdoor yard has a and the same distance above the fl oor. This arrange concrete floor to allow for cleaning to avoid unneces ment was to help prevent the sow from rolling over sary fi lth. Some of the earlier types were constructed off on any of her progeny and killing them. T he railing the ground, usi ng heavy planks on the fl oor. T he en keeps the sow away from the wall and gives the li ttle closure measured approximately six feet by six feet pigs a space through which to escape. T oday many with partitions separating each pen. T he partitions were sows are placed in crates after farrowing to p revent three and one-half to fo ur feet high and were con loss of young. structed with six inch oak or other hardwood boards Bedding should be used on concrete fl oors, particu about three or fou r inches apart nai led to posts, an larly over the winter wonths. Straw, hay, wood shav chored in the concrete. The front or side of the en ings, or sawdust when used freely will give little or no closure usuall y contained a gate to facilitate the chang trouble with damp fl oors. M any pork producers today ing of pigs from pen to pen and for easier removal of use a portable, wooden slat or pl atfo rm on the con rete manure. which gives even better protection. If an overl ay is 27 used it should be made 0 that it can be raised easily young pig require warmer quarters than older ones; to a ll ow cleaning and thorough disinfection. when a sow farrows in winter, there should be warmth Lime was commonl y uscd as a disi nfectant and as a and freedom from drafts. means of keeping the pens dry. At lea t once a year a V arious types of heating plants have been used with general house-cleaning was given to the pens. In many, success. Some heating units also serve as feed-cookers. the wall s, ceiling, and partitions wcre white-washed The heat from the stove or furnace aids in the circu with li me and a mixture, of crude carbolic acid to help lation of air in the building, modifying the temperature keep the buildings sanitary and free from lice and mites . and helping to keep the air and pens dry. In recent years commercial pork producers have installed heating Pigpen V entilation cables in the floor to help reduce mortali ty rates and as One of the most important a pects of the pigs ty is a result claim better feed co nversion and faster gains. its ventilation and closely associated to it is dryness. Care had to be exercised at all times to protect Good ventil ation many timcs was difficult to maintain , against diseases that were common among pigs. Chol if there were a large number of pigs houscd, without era, cold s, respiratory, digestive and sk in di seases were unduly lowering the temperature. The best remedy among the greatest causes of mortality or weight many times was to provide a large air space; or as loss. With the turn of the century, immunization by high a ceiling as possible. In some of the larger and vaccination with serums and advanced methods of more recently constructed buildings used to house pigs, treatment in addition to more sanitary measures have vent ducts arc u ed with the windows for ventilation. greatl y reduced mortality rates. In some buildings, shutters or openings in the back can be adjusted according to weather conditions. These H istoTical D ocum entation allow odors to escape and fresh air to enter. While There are many references relating to pigs and the ventilation is necessary, drafts arc extremely dangerous pigs ty in early m anuscripts and journals. Additional and have to be prevented at all times; nor is warmth references are made in wills, games, jokes, riddles, in the building to be secu red at the expense of ventila rhyme, sayings, tales and songs. Some of these are from tion. A cold pen, well ventilated and free from drafts the general knowledge of the writer, some were gath is preferable to a warm pen where the air is damp and ered from those contacted during the research and fou l, causing the pigs to suffer [rom discomfort. others are to be found in the fil es of the Pennsylva ni a During earlier years, in very cold weather, a lighted Folklife Society, in information recorded by Dr. Alfred lantern was hung in the pen for the first day after the L. Shoemaker. sow had farrowed. After the first twenty-four hours In an early publication, Dim ium EineT R eise von there is not as great a need for artificial heat for the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, nach BethabaTa, N. c., ed ited little pigs. T o use a lantern in this m anner was a dan by William J. Rinke, reprinted from German American gerous practice, even when the lantern was hung out Annals, the fo ll owing information is given: O ctober 29, of the sow's reach. Generall y the practice did not prove 1753, " . . . u. kamen zu einem H ause, da wir meist too beneficial and was the cause of numerous fires. den T ag stille legen, denn wir liesen un hier was Brodt T oday electric heating lamps are used until the newly backen u. kaufften ein Schwein, welches wir gleich born pigs have dried or as long as necessary. In recent schlachteten" (bought a pig which we soon slaughtered ). years, some of the larger buildings used to house pigs, A poem by a German traveler who compares " zu particularl y those used for fa rrowing sows and young H ause" and in America, lists copiou meat deli cacies at pigs, are being heated to assist in ventilation. Very home and here only Saufleisch (pork). T his large pigstJI of fram e construction with loft stands on the farm of Bertha M . Kline, Myerstown. 28 In a copy of an earl y auspalt, the following was then raise the tub with pig into a tree). fou nd: ". . . weiter muss der Johann H enner seinem Another pastime and amusement for the children was V ater ein hundert und fiinfzig Pfund S chweinefleisc h to try to catch some unsuspecting victim or victims in jahrlich geben und ein Buschel Salz" ( ... in addition repetitious dialogue such as the following : John H enry must give his father one hundred and fifty l ch gay in der bush. l ch aw. pounds of pork and a bushel of salt ycarly). 1 ch hock en bawm oom. 1 ch aw. Pigs were also the subject of numerous wills in l ch mach en Sei-droke rouse. l ch aw. earlier years. The will of Andrew H ershey, H empfield De Sei fressa rouse. 1 ch aw. Township, recorded in the Lancaster Court H ouse, De (I go in the woods. I too. I chop down a tree. I too. cember 9, 1754, reads: " . . . and also as much Indian I make a pig trough from it. I too. The pigs eat out of Corn that they can fatten two Hogs every year." The it. I too). will of Nicholaus Dellown, Paradise Township, recorded Rhymes concerning pigs were common: at the York Courthouse, D ecember 11 , 1800, reads : A w, bee, ab " . . . and as long as the apples are not fit for use, to M ei, schul-sack fetch apples for her Hogs." Ei-n, in Small children used to crisscross corncobs and the Siss nix m ee drin "structure" was called a sei-penn (pigpen ) . For pastime UfJ un tsu they would playfully count the spots on the pigs. The So heist mei kuh pig's tail was taken along to school and hung on the Raus un nei teacher's coat tail by the most adventurous boy in the So heesa m ei sei. room. (A, B, ab, My school bag, I-n, in, Nothing more is The difference was asked between a Dutchman and inside, Open and shut, Is the name of my cow, Out and a pig: Ein Deitscher hot die bashda im gsicht un n sau hot sie ufJ'm buckel (A Dutchman has the bristl es on in, Are the names of my pigs) . Wammer schmookt his face and a pig has them on his back). R iecht m er wie 'n sau,· The story is told of a girl who was to be hanged. The Wammer tschawt judge said she would go free provided she could give Guckt mer wie 'n sau,· a riddle that he could not solve. She gave this one and Un wammer kens duut went free. L ee bt m er wie 'n sau. Sausi, Sausi, Ungebore sausi (If we smoke we smell like a sow ; If we chew we Unich da eerd look like a sow; If we do neither we live like a sow). O vvich da eerd When entering an unheated room in very cold weath Un doch net um bode er, it was common to hear one say, "Sis so kalt do hin (Take a sow heavy with young, kill it and slit it open, wie imma Sei schtall" (It is as cold in here a in a remove unborn pig. Bury the pig in the ground in a tub, pigpen ). When someone was falsely accused another expression was, "Er hat die lets Sau am awr" (H e has the wrong pig by the ear). A not too kind expression heard occasionally was: Du shlopf)ohricher eVeT! (You slop-eared boar! ) . Some farmers and others who kept pigs during earlier years, before pigpens and enclosures, the writer has been informed, tied a pig or pigs to a post by their hind legs with a rope from four to six feet long. The rope used required a knot that prevented it from becoming too tight. The story is told of a farmer seek ing to find his pig which had escaped from such a situa tion. Venturing through the countryside, he came upon two young girls and they were questioned as follows: M ayt, hen dir en sau ever losz gisehn? Er iss sc hwatz un weiss blockich. Er drawked tsway bundel hinna noch un hut sei schwanz gottlos katz am awrsch ab g'schnit. (Girls, did you see a loose boar? H e is bl ack and white spotted. H e carries two bundles behind and his tail i cu t off awfully short). Whether or not the girls were able to help him was not told. Those of you who can read the dialect will Pigsty and storage shed on the Sharp Or enjoy the story much more than the translation because chard Farm, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. as usual, it loses much of its flavor. 29 The telling of tales was a common pastime for young used it to paint over the barn doors and sills. This is and old. One is told of a N eh-machine (sewing-ma said to seal the doors of the barns and make it impos chine) . It was so good, it was used to sew up a sei-maw si bl e for witches to enter and ferhex the cattle.''' (pig stomach). "Wann an butscher umgang kat hot mit seinere fra Another is told concerning the sister of the informant ge n im der nekscht dak di sei net Leicht dod ib erm who related the incident. She visited an uncle's home schlachte" (If a butcher cohabit with his wife, the pigs and hung her bustle on .the bedpost. The next morning, which he slaughters next day will die hard ) ." the little girl of the house peeped into the visitor's "Wann ebb er arrick bowlegged iss, watt gsaut, Seller room, ran to her mother and said, "Mam, es hankt hot sei geyocht. Adder fumma weib sm ench, Sellie hot 'n sei-mawga ufJ ierm bett-/Josc hda" (Mom, a pig die sei ge ridda wie sie glee wawr" (If a person is bow stomach is hanging on her bed post) . legged, it was said that he chased pigs; of a woman, A farmer drives up to the preacher's house and she rode on the pigs when she was small ) . brings him a pig. Sawgt da fJar ra: " Des iss avvern "The las t one out of bed on Thursday of the first schee grossi sau" (My, this is a nice big pig). Answered week of Len t was call ed Der S eignoddel (Pig Turd ) in the farmer, " Ya, du hoscht m er avver n ferdeivelt fi el his family." gresseri sa.u awkengt, wie'd mich keiert hosc ht" (Yes, "Fer n buu mache dutt m ers bett rumschdell e so ass but you hung a much bigger pig on to me when you em sei awrsch geege m sei-sc hdall gedreet ist" (To have married me) . a boy turn the bed so that buttocks face the pigsty). A reference found in the Pennsylvania Folklife So "Waar dielt in sei un fedder-fi e ciety fil es tells of a lad who came horne from school and Kummt um sei ge ld un weis net wie." reported that in school they sang a song called S ei (One who deals in pigs and poultry schwensli (pig-tails). Comes by his money without an awareness of it) . In an article entitled, "Seventy Years Ago," D. K . " H es en kind seili oder wutzli, no waxts" (Call a Noell in the York Gazette, June 30, 1895, reports the child, "Piggy" and he will grow)." following about early schools and the teacher's pigs : "McDermond was a good-natured old Irishman, but "En grexich kind lekt m er in en sei nesc ht bis es the boys of the school used to sing: warm is, no feTget em sei grexe" (Lay a grunting child McDermond's pigs are in the pen into a pig's lair to cure it of its grunting) ." A nd can't ge t out till now and then; "If a wife is older than her husband, they have good And when they're out they skelp ab out, luck raising pigs ."" And hunt up all the sourkrout. "Schmaerte leit machens bett maergets, fa ule, mittaks, It has been said that with clean straw and plenty sei, obeds" (Good housewives make the beds in the of whitewash, even a pigs ty can be made to look morning, lazy ones at noon, slatterns and pigs at attractive. night) ." Numerous superstitions and folk-beliefs have become "A person who eats anything at any time, we say associated with pigs and pigsties. that he has a sei-mawe (pig's stomach) ."" "If a pig ate beets, meat would turn red."· "If the spleen of hogs is short and thick, the winter For black teeth in pigs: Duu backaschdee ferglobba will be short.'''· oder oldey welschkon un duu si in der sei drook (Break "Wanns milz an re sau dik is, gebts en haerter winter bricks or feed old corn to pig) . The pig will break off - am federschte end, en haerter forwinter; am hinner the black teeth while chewing on it. "Farmers used to schte, en haerter nochwinter" (The thickness of the put hocha S chlange Watzla (high snakeroot) into the pancreas of a pig foretells the severity of winter ; the sei-fass (swill barrel ) to keep pigs healthy. "It is said fore part for the first half of winter and the hind part that paw-paws and tobacco are the only two greens for the second half of winter)." that pigs won't eat.'" Sometimes when pigs went off "When pigs carry straw in their mouth, it is a sign feed or became ill, it was said, "sie hen schdivvelfuuder of cold." grickt" (they got moldy or spoiled feed ) . "Wann di sei rum schpringe un hen holz im maul When the Pennsylvania German is taunted for " ... gebts ball schtaerm" (If pigs run about with pieces of slaughtering his hogs during the waxing of the moon wood in their mouths, it foretells a storm) .'. so that the meat will not shrink or become poor . . . , 'The Pennsylvana Dutchman, November 1949 p. 3. let it be noted that the observation of the influence of '"Edwin M. Fogel, Beliefs and Superstitions 0/ the Pennsyl- the moon's phases is older than recorded German vania Germans, Philadelphia, 1915, p. 354, No. 1894. " Fogel, ibid, p . 48, o. 11 5. history."· " Fogel, ibid., p. 55, o. 159. l3S' Pen nsylvaanisch Deitsc h Eck, The M orning Call Allen- "Years ago there was an old farmer who used to save town, Pennsylvani a, M ay 17, 1947. ' up the blood of cattle and hogs at butchering time and " Fogel, op. cit. , p . 372 , No. 1994. " Proceedin gs of the Pennsylvania German S ociety XLV, 28. GThe late Victor C. Dieffenbach, D er Alt Bauer, Bethel, "J ohn Baer Stoudt, " Weather Prognostications a nd Su- Pennsylvania. perstitions among the Pennsy lvania Germans" The Pennsylva- ' Y ork County Star, September 30, 1858. nia German, VI, 330. ' 'S' Pennsylvaanisc h Deitsch Eck, The M orning Call, Allen "Fogel, op. cit. , p . 230, No. 1182. town, Pennsylvania, November 25, 1950. I·Fogel, ibid., p . 235, o. 1215. 30 "If a pig gets real sick and 'off' feed for some time there is li ttle to be done to save it." "Fider de sei holzkole, no bleib e si gsund" (Feed charcoal to pigs to keep them healthy) . This is a direct survival of the old Germani c heathendom." "Won de sei mouderi ch sin un doona net goot fr essa, no geuva sie shainer shtraificher seidaschpeck won sie mull geschlocht worra" (If the sows are in heat and do not eat well , they will give good meaty bacon when they are butchered ) . "Won der euver uff der lose iss un sie doot era schwontz uff die links seidt ringla, no ge bts louder glaina euuer" (If while breeding, the sow rolls her tail on the left side, she will have mainly boars). "Wammer aerets junge sei holt un schtopt uf em hem wek ge t ens defun dod" (When fetching shoats, never stop on the way home, one of them is sure to die if you Combination pigsty, chicken house, and storage lo do ) ." cated on the Paul H. Martin farm, R oute 5, Lebanon. "Reib kolel un fett uf all di sei so as si net fechte wann en fr emmi zune in der sc htall duscht" (Grease all the pigs with coal oil and fat upon putting a strange pig into "Hogs fighting among themselves foretell a storm.'''' their pen, to prevent them from fi ghting) .'" "When hogs that are out in the fields gather straw or "Wammern sau zu annere in der sem schtall dut, muss weeds and make nests, or if they come and make nests, m er si mit daerbedin schmire, no kenne si di fr emm a cold spell or heavy snow fall is to be expected.'''o net fun de a7mere kenne" (Pigs wi ll not be able to dis A farmer of White Deer V alley, Pennsylva nia, told tinguish the additional pig put into their pen if terpen "that he had a small herd of hogs feeding on the neigh tine is put on the backs of all of them)." boring mountains several months in the fall. One eve "Mer schmirt all di sei mit brandewei oder daer ning they all came into the barnyard and were seen to wammern neii zune in der sc htall dut" (Rub whiskey be gathering straw to make nests. That night a very or tar on the backs of all the pigs when putting an heavy snow fell that lasted through the winter."" additional pig into their pen) .'o "Long bristl es on hogs . . . in fall, indicate a long "Sei fechte net wammer kolel schmirt" (Pigs will not winter."" fi ght if all of them are greased with coal oil)." " En ufgenakt weibsm ench daerf ken jung seiche "Disember sei bleib e gle un grutzic h" (Pigs born in. drage, es geht dod" (If a pregnant woman carries a December will not grow large)." little pig, it will die)." "Kafte sei dut m er hinnerschich in der schtall" (New "Wammer Mittwochs wescht, gen em di sei dod" ly purchased pigs should be backed into the sty)." (Your pigs will die if you do washing on Wednesday ) ." "Wammer sei Samschdaks holt hot m er ken glik mit" "The story is told of a pig that developed quite a (If you fetch pigs on Saturday they will not thrive) .'" rupture. Treatment consisted of taking some bristles "Wanner di junge sei im L eb fun der los dut greische si wischt" (If pigs are weaned in the sign of Leo they out of the pig's tail and putting them in a hole which will squeal constantly ) ." had been bored in a tree. The hole was plugged shut " W ollebletter in der seis chtall kenkt ferdreib e seileis" and as the sap in the tree rose so the rupture would (Put mullein leaves [Verbascum thapsus] into the pig disappear. When the pig was butchered, the rupture sty to drive out lice).'6 had all but disappeared." " Sassefras ferdreibt di leis im seischtall" (Sassafras "Won m er de yunga sei obgawaint uff en Sumsht [Sassafras officinalis] wi ll drive out lice in the pigsty)." dawg, no doot die loos gly witter rulla" (If the pigs "Dubaks ribbe in der seischtell gedu ferdreib e seileis" are weaned on a Saturday, the sow will come in heat (Ribs of tobacco, placed in the pigsty, will drive out sooner ) ." lice) .'" " Wann n euuer n loos reid, so oft as er der schwans ZO Fogel, ibid. , p. 167, No. 777. rumdreet so so fi el witzlicher greecht die loos" (The " Fogel, ibid., p. 176, No. 845. '"Fogel, ibid., p. 158, No. 746. number of times the boar rolls his tail when breeding " Fogel, ibid., p. 158, No. 749. the sow will determine the size of her litter). 'O Fogel, ibid. , p. 158, No. 748. " Fogel, ibid. , p. 158, No. 747 . "Stoudt, op. cit., p. 335. " Fogel, ibid., p. 175, No. 844. "'Stoudt, ibid., p. 335. " Fogel, ibid., p. 170, No. 811. " F. G. Owens, Journal of American Folklore , IV, 122 . " Fogel, ib id., p. 17 5, No. 840. "'Stoudt, op. cit., p.330. " Fogel, ibid., p. 160, No. 757. " Fogel, op cit., p . 349, No. 1857. '"Fogel, ib id ., p. 174, o. 835. UFogel, ibid., p. 247, o. 1281. " Fogel, ibid., p. 174, o. 834. "'See also Fogel, ibid., p. 164, No. 778. '"Fogel, ib id., p. 174, No. 833. 31 "Pigstys ... become more offensive before rain."" vulgar practice, to persuade one afflicted with mumps, "Wann lose nimmi rollich waerre solle, nagelt m er to enter a pig-sty and rub the swoll en neck back and en alter kupperner bens in der drokn (Nail an old cop forth, a certain - but of course, an odd - number of per penny into the pig's trough to prevent oestruation times, on the front edge of the hog trough, which was of the sows)"o neces arily worn smooth by necks of the feeding swine. "Nagel de sei kupper in der drok, no waerre si net The custom, or practice, should perhaps be cl assed, rollich» (Copper nailed in the pig's trough will prevent rather, with the popular tricks than superstitions of the oestruation ) ." time. The application of a clean, but so re neck to a "Won en hundt mull en sei-nouuel im m oul cot hut, filthy pig trough, was among the safe remedies, if not no iss er nix may waart fer en sake tzu schmearan the infalli ble cures. " " (Once a dog had a pig's navel in its mouth, it is no "A cure for mumps is to anoint the swelling with longer good for use in oiling a saw) . fat fried out of the chine of a pig. Another is to rub "Wann en ku blutichi milich ge bt m elkt m er di the swelling against a pig's trough. If the patient i too milich daerich der jut fun re sau" (If a cow gives ill to be taken to the pigsty, then a chip taken from the bloody milk, mjlk it through the atlas bone of a pig) ." trough and carried to the house is rubbed on the swollen gland."" The Pig and Pigpen in Folk M edicine "For mumps I took a hatchet, went out to the pigsty The pig and the pigs ty were involved in the treat and cut n' schpaw aus en seidrook (chip out of a pig ment and cure of many human ills and it is not un trough ), then I rubbed the sc hpaw nine times at child's common to find some of those beliefs and practices in throat and then laid it above the door until it disap use today. peared." " M er so l net hie gee wuu sei sin wammer beesding "The m arrow from a pig's upper jawbone, melted hotn (We should not go where pigs are when we have into a lard, and applied on the outside was another a whitlow). suggested treatment for mumps." "For hives, one was to rub himself against a pig's litter where young pigs had lain, or against a pig's "Hog excrement was tied to the swollen gland. This trough. "., was used for an adult who had a very severe attack of " Wammer di heibs hot soll mer sic h ame seinescht mumps.'''' reiben (To stop hives, rub yourself on the pigs' litter ) '" " M e bettpisser fid ert m er en waerschtel fume sei n " For heibs, reib dich ame seidrokn (To stop hives, fetzel gemacht (If a child wets the bed, it should eat rub yourself against a pig's trough ) ." a little sausage made of the pudendum of a pig)." "Wann mer en kindt os der blo-hooshta hut ous em " Wann kinner grexe, nemm sie n der sei sc htall un sei-droke essa lusst, no gate der hooshta weck» (If we leeg sie pawr minudde in n sei neschtn (When children allow a child with whooping cough to eat from a pig's are not well , take them to the pigsty and lay them trough, the cough will stop). where the pig lies for several minutes). "To keep a child from getting whooping cough, a " .. . the fresh excrement of a hog was worn about strip of leather from a pig's hide was tied around his the neck for one night; for a sore throat hang the neck when asleep. This had to be done without waking scrotum of a castrated hog around the neck and leave him." it there until it falls off ..." " " Drak rime fun sei-ledder no fer blo-huschten (Wear " For diphtheria a poultice consisting of the fresh strips of leather made of pigskin to cure whooping excrement of a hog is worn about the neck for one cough) ,,6 night."" A cure for whooping cough: "Go to a saddler, say "The eye tooth of a hog was to be pulverized in a nothing to anyo ne and get a sei-ledder ri ema (strips of mortar and given in water to the patient upon the ap pigskin ) from him and put it around child's throat." pearance of cramps."'" " Who minds not how the whooping cough A home remedy to cure warts: "Lay on a warm piece Was cured by breathings fr om a trout? of meat from the carcass of a recently slaughtered hog, The mumps, b'y rubbing on a trough that is still bloody, ... lay on bacon sward and renew Rubbed sm ooth by swinish neck or snout?»" every day.'''' Concerning this practice, H . L. Fischer in his book "Wammer der haernza fun re sau grikt m er ken Olden Times, writes: " It was a common and rather zawe» (Carry with you the braintooth, probably the lower maxill ary, of a hog to p revent toothache)." " J ohn Baer Stoudt, " Weather-Prognostications and Supersti tions Among the Pennsylvania Germans," The Pennsylvania " Fisher, ibid., p . 463. German, V II ( 1906) , 33 0 . 49E. Grumbine, " Folklore and Superstitious Beliefs of Leb •o Fogel, op. cit., p. 165, No. 785. anon County," L ebanon County H istorical S ociety, III : 9 "Fogel, ibid., p. 165, No. 787. ( 1905 ), 27 8. " Fogel, ibid., p. 159, No. 755. ,oBrend le-Unger, op. cit., p. 137. "Thomas R . Brendle and Claude W. Unger, Folk M edicine " Fogel, op cit., p. 282, o. 1482. of the Pennsylvania Germans, The Pennsylvania German S oci "'Brend le-Unger, op. cit., p. 137. ety, XLV ( 19 35) , 60. " W. J. Hoffman, " Folklore of the Pennsylvania Germans," " Fogel, op. cit., p. 267, o. 1383. Journal of American Folklore, 1889, p. 29. " Fogel, ibid., p. 286, No. 15 14. " Brendle-Unge r, op. cit., p. 165. 'GFogel, ibid., p. 336, No. 1787. " Brend le-Unger, ibid., p. 64-65. "H. L. Fisher, "Olden Times" (York , 1888), p. 29. ""Fogel, op. cit. , p. 3 14, No. 1668. 32 "Mer soll der haernza fu n re sau a henke for ru'me One farmer the writer contacted said the reason his dis" (For rheumatism, wear the eyetooth of a pig ) ." pigs did not gain weight faster WaS because they ate so " Der age za fun re sau a kenkt schtof)pt gic htre" fas t they impaired their digestion. Another stated he (Suspend the eyetooth of a pig from a child's neck to didn't like pigs because of their cold, porcelain eyes. cure convulsions)." Another said he enjoyed nothing more than to note "For frozen feet, Die goll fun re sau is guut defor" the affection of the little piggies lying on a heap as (The gall of a pig is good for frozen feet ). though woven together. One farmer said there is "A cure for piles, Sei awrschloch fett gemacht m it nothing better for pigs than rattlesnakes; nor will you ungesaltzed butter" (The fat around a pig's anus mixed find snakes where there are pigs. with unsalted butter ) . "A small roasted pig was often times called Spann "Long standing wounds were known as bees-evil. For ferkel. This pig was roasted in the afternoon and served such, dock was to be taken and fried in sheep's tallow cold for the luncheon a t night. Sometimes an apple and let set until it could be put in a pig's bladder. The was put in its mouth." bl adder was to be tied shut and buried in the ground The pig's stomach with an appropriate fi lling and three days. M eanwhile the patient was to be purged. roasted is considered a delicacy among the Pennsyl Then the bl adder was to be taken out and the wound vania Dutch. Pork and sauerkraut, ham cooked with greased with the contents and again buried in the snitz and knepp or with green beans, bacon and eggs, earth. This was to be done on three consecutive days, roast pork, roast or fri ed ham and pig's feet jell y each day at the same hour. At the end the bl adder (Zitterle or so use) are just a few of the many pork was to be buried forever.'''' dishes relished and consumed in large amounts. Pork has been and still is the staple meat of many rural Customs Associated With Pigs and Pigpens people; primarily because pigs are more prolific than "On the day before Ascension D ay, the farmer's wife other meat animals, capital investment is smaller by had a custom of sweeping the house and from each comparison and the meat can be produced at a fraction room take a bit of dirt and collect it in a container. of the feed cost to produce any other kind of livestock. Next she went to the barn, the hen house, and the As long as butter and cheese were being m ade on the pigsty and picked up more dirt to add to the other. farm from the milk produced by the farmer's herd of Even from the yard a handful of soil was gathered. dairy cattle there was an ample supply of skim milk Then on Ascension D ay all the dirt was taken to the to feed his pigs. However, with the increase in the boundary line between their farm and a neighbor's and it was thrown over the fence. This was meant to keep number of cattle kept on the farm, the growing de mand for whole milk for city consumption a nd the the home place free of insects and bugs during the advent of the creamery about the turn of the century, year." farmers were somewhat handicapped because pigs " On Ash Wednesday it was customary for the Penn could not be raised as economicall y, nor was it as con sylvania Dutch farmers to ash their horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. It was believed they would then remain venient to feed them when whole milk was sold. Some free of lice for the year.'''o farmers returned the skim milk from the creameries to "On New Year's D ay, one should eat pork and not feed their pigs. fowl to have luck and good fortune throughout the nex t The rapid rise in the dairy industry resulted in the year. This is because a fowl scratches backward, that increase of commercial pork production in some a reas would mean going backward, while a pig roots forward, within the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania about then one should progress." the same time, in and near creameries, where the pigs " Wann en jingers heiert, misse di eldre lettiche were fed on skim milk and butter milk. D airy farmers gschwischdre ime seidrok danze . .." (If the yo ungest were also less inclined to keep pigs because of the member of a family gets married, the older single sanita ry conditions which had to be maintained in a nd members must dance in a pig's trough . . .). Another near dairy barns. curious custom which was once practiced ... was that Pork production on the farm began to decline also of the older sister dancing in a hog's trough in con because of heavy competition from the prairie sta tes. sequence of her younger sister marrying before her . .. Cheaper land and cheap corn made it possible in the It was considered most correct to dance in green stock- west to produce pork from one-third to one-half the . cost of what it did on local farms. This plus the fact mgs.., " En block iss alls auskoolt warre fer n sei dro ok. that after 1868 refrigeration cars were being used to Dott drinn hen sie no danse kenne wann n jingers ship dressed pork to the eastern markets resulted in keiert hett" (A pig's trough was made from a log most farmers keeping only enough pigs on the farm to which was kept for that purpose. They could dance in consume kitchen wa tes, excess mi lk, and for the family it then if younger members of the family married first ) . needs. Since corn is still the most common fattening feed, the greatest concentration of pigs has been in the '7Fogel, ibid., p. 32 7, No. 17 39. " Fogel, ibid., p . 333, No. 1769. corn-producing counties of the state. H ere pigs are "'Brendle-Unger, op. cit., p. 74. raised on a commercial scale but in most parts of the CIlThe Pennsylvania Dutchman, February 1950, p. 3. ·'Fogel, op. cit., p. 71 , No. 236. state they are produced for home use only. 33 GRA VESTONES and OSTENTATION • A Study of Five Delaware County Cemeteries By ANGUS K. GILLESPIE A compa riso n of American gravestones of the 19th of the county. It was felt that this limitation would Century with those of the 20th Century reveals a trend help at least partially to control fo r the incomes of the toward restraint in design. Although this trend has groups studied: attracted very little research attention in folklife studies, T he temporal li mits extend from the 1840's to the it has not been entirely ignored. The phenomenon was 1960's. This limitation yields a rough balance of the noted by Dr. Phil R . Jack in "A Western Pennsylvania last six decades of the 19th Century with the firs t seven Graveyard, 1787-1 967," which appeared in Pennsylvania decades of the 20th Century. D elaware County grave Folkli fe for Spring 1968.' Mann and Greene noted it in stones of the 19th Century were largely done in marble. 1963 and attributed the decl ine in ostentatiousness to Significantly enough, marble wears away much more lack of room in the cemeteries and to increase of cost severely than slate. Consequently preserva tion of marble in inscribing the stones.' Indeed the trend may be due stones erected before 1840 is generall y not as rel iable in part to these two factors, but the probl em of an as that of slate gravestones erected before 1800. H ence alyz ing and interpreting artifacts as a part of the culture the durability of marble stones was a key factor in fix ing which created them is complex and deserves further the temporal limits of this study. At the other end, data examination. The purpose of this article is to dem was recorded right up until June-July of 1967. Although onstrate the decl ine in ostentatiousness of American it would have been more symmetrical to stop at 1960, gravestones from the 19th Century to the 20th Century the study was carried up until the actual time of the in a systematic manner. The gravestones of five dif fi eld work. T he reason for this extension into the 1960's ferent religious groups will be examined and compared was that the trend toward restrai nt in design has in wi th regard to both extent and rate of change.' The creased significantly even since the 1950's. groups were arbitraril y chosen and incl ude the Baptist, Although over twenty cemeteries in Delaware County E piscopal, R oman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Quaker were tabul ated, visited, and inspected, onl y five were denomin ations. intensively treated: Four criteri a were established for T he present study began with a tabulation of existing selection of the five key graveyards: 1) Small Size. Any graveyards in D elaware County, Pennsylvania. The cemeteries with more than 1,000 grave tones were ex- choice of D elaware County was purely arbitrary. The 4A n excell ent discussion of the economic geograpby of D elawate county li es to the immediate west of the City of Phila County is given by John A. Hartis in Major Governmental, Political and Social Problems Confronting Delaware County, Pennsylvania, delphia and is a part of the Philadelphia M etropolitan Fels Insti tute of Local and State Government, University of Penn Area. As a further spatial limitation the present study sylvania (Philadelphia: By the aucilOr, 1965), p. 6. It was my read ing of H arris that convinced me of th e need to confine the was largely confi ned to the semi-rural western section present stu dy to one section of Delaware Counry. sA verified copy of the original thesis of which this anicle is lPhil R. Jack, "A Western Pennsylva nia G raveyard, 1787-1967," a condensation is on file at the Chester County Historical Sociery, Pennsylvania Folkli/e, XVlI:3 (Spring 1968) , 43-48. W es t Chester, Pennsylvania. This copy includes sampling maps, 'Thomas C. Mann and Janet G reene, Over Their Dead Bodies: data sheets, and calculation charts which are toO bul ky to include Y ankee Epitaphs and History (Brattleboro, Vermont: The Stephen here. In that copy is included a table wi th a partial listing of the Greene Press, 1962), p. 78. graveyards of D elaware Counry. I have been unable to find such 'Edwin Dethlefsen and James Deetz bri ng out this application a list in the li terature. The list given was based on several inter of material objeCts with gteat clariry in their anicle "Death's Heads, views wi th local citizens and is to the bes t of my knowledge a Cherubs, and Willow Trees: Experimental Atchaeology in Colonial complete list of the church-affil iated graveyards, though it is en Cemeteries," American Antiqltity, Vol. 31, No.4, 1966. ti rely possible that some graveyards are missing. 34 NEWTOWN --*,*\--' ' r \ e06MONT U \ ("' --, ~ , ~ \.-...------ CO NCORD (' \ BETHEL r// r Fig. i-Map of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. cluded, This requirement was adopted to keep time for the successful application of any archaeological time and cost of data acquisition within manageable limits. seriation concepts. 2) R eligious A [filiation. All' key cemeteries had to be In actual practice only the first and second criteria related with a specific sect. Furthermore, each had to could be applied rigorously and without exception. One have immediate geographic proximity to the parish graveyard is located in the Borough of Media, which church building. 3) Semi-rural Location. As previous is not truly semi-rural;' one graveyard, the oldest for ly discussed, this measure was adopted to help control its denomination in Delaware County, was founded in for homogeneity of population and income. 4 ) Contin "This refers to th e Providence Friends Meeting Cemetery, Provi uous Use Since 1840. This is an obvious requirement dence Road, Media. 35 1855.' Yet even with the third and fourth criteria, four lines of type, and configuration, can be rapidly and ac out of the five graveyards mcet the tests. The grave curately recorded in the field for large numbers of stones. yards chosen are listed here in geographical sequence, Lettering, on the other hand, is very complex and time west to east, moving closer to Philadelphia, correspond consuming. The differences in lettering are often very ing roughly to decrease in the rural nature of the com subtle and hence difficult to record either accurately or munity: (1) Brandywine Baptist Cemetery in Birming rapidly. An effective study of lettering should be based ham Township; (2) St. J ohn's Episcopal Cemetery in on close inspection of a small number of stones, not Concord Township; (3) St. Thomas the Apostle Roman rapid inspection of a large number.' Catholic Cemetery in the Borough of Chester H eights; The study of materials used in gravestones was not (4) Old Middletown Pres byterian Cemetery in Middle identified as a variable in measuring degree of ostenta town T ownship; and (5) Providence Friends Meeting tiousness, Preliminary observations showed that such a Cemetery in the Borough of Media. variable was singularly uninformative. In general, the Because of the requirement that the graveyard must gravestones of the 19th Century were marble; those of have been in continuous use since 1840, some of the the 20th Century, granite. The period 1890-1910 was oldest churches in Delaware County were selected. All the transition poi nt. Granite is the more durable of the five parishes have interesting histories in their own two materials, hence the more desirable. Presumably right, quite apart from any consideration of their grave improved rail transportation throughout the country yards; however, a consideration of parish histories is and improved quarrying procedures in Vermont contrib 1 beyond the scope of this article.' uted to the changeover. • Having chosen the graveyards, it was next necessary The chief methods employed in this study consi sted to identify variables which would be reli able indices to of mapping, sampling, photography, and statistical in ostentation. As used in this study the word "ostenta ference, For every gravestone sampled its date, height, tious" will mean simply given to show, or having quali number of lines of type, and configuration number were ties intended to attract notice. It is not intended by the recorded. The sampling technique used was stratified use of this term to include the concept of pretense, or sampling, a form of systematic sampling. The proce false show of something. Furthermore, the use of the dure used was that given by Hubert M . Blalock, Jr., word "ostentatious" is not intended to imply insincerity who explains, "In systematic sampling, instead of using or bad taste. The variables chosen to measure ostenta a table of random numbers we simply go down a list tiousness had to be readil y quantifiable so as to produce taking every kth individual .. , ," " Thus if we wanted rank ordering and to show rate of change. Ideall y, such to select a sample of 100 gravestones from a cemetery variables would be simple to measure and record in of 500, we would take every fifth stone. order to minimize time and cost of data acquisition. At each of the five key cemeteries at least two photo With these qualifications in mind, the variables chosen graphs of gravestones were taken, one from the 19th were as follows: (1) H eight, measured in inches. It Century and one from the 20th. The photographs are is assumed here that, all other things being equal, a jntended to serve as illustration of the trend toward tall gravestone attracts more notice than a short one. si mplicity rather than as proof. Clearly the burden of (2 ) L ines of T ype, expressed in cardinal numbers, one, proof of the trend must be carried by the statistics, two, three, etc. I t is assumed here that, all other things since single photographs taken out of context could be being equal, a longer message is intended to attract used to "prove" nearly anything, Admittedly the grave more notice than a shorter one. (3) Configuration, also stones chosen for illustration in this article are polar expressed in cardinal numbers. Configuration refers to examples of the trend being presented. With this qual the number of component pjeces used in a given single ification the photographs are helpful for fixing ideas. grave marker. For example, a gravestone composed of As is the case with most research, problems arose in a base, an obelisk, and an orb would have a configura the fi eld which had not been anticipated in the library. tion number of three. Such a gravestone is assumed to The first and most pressing of these problems was that attract more notice than, for example, a single piece of the family monument, i. e., a single gravestone com tombstone. Other variabl es might have been added to memorating two or more people. The problem was that the list, but it was decided to limit the study to a con such stones were often larger and had more lines of sideration of three variables. Two variables which were type than stones for single individuals, but they were considered for examination, though later discarded, not really more ostentatious in the sense that their func were lettering and m aterials. tion was completely different in their commemoration A careful study of lettering used on gravestones is of an entire family. Furthermore, it is extremely dif potentially a n extremely useful index for measuring the fi cult to place an exact date on these stones, Sometimes degree of ostentation, but if is unsuitable for a statistical a family stone may be erected upon the first death study such as this which depends on a wide statistical sampling base. The three variables chosen, viz., height, DAn excellent discussion of the problems involved with a study of gravestone lettering is given by Kenneth Lindley, 0/ Graves 7This refers to St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Ceme and Epitaphs (London: Hutchinson and Co., 1965), p. 68. tery, State Route 261, Ches ter Heights. lOIbid" pp, 61-65, In this section Lindley gives a complete "The best single volume for the history of the five parishes is discussion of gravestone materials from the earliest use of wood by Charles Palmer, A History 0/ D elaware County, PennJyl'vania to the latest use of synthetic materials, (Harrisburg: National Historical Association, Inc., 1932), I, 105- " Hubert M. Blalock, Jr., Social Statistics (New York: McGraw 107,111,123,267-270, Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960), p. 397, 36 among a group of people; on other occasions the stone with a configuration of three or more often appear with may be erected upon the last death, or perhaps many such ostentatious devices as an orb, an urn, or the like. years later by a descendant. Sometimes enough clues Following this procedure we see that Presbyterian grave are present in terms of the age of the stone or the in stones with three or more stones made up 36% of the formation content of the epitaphs to make an informed total in the 19th Century, but only 7% in the 20th Cen guess at the age of a famil y monument, but often it is tury, giving a net reduction of 29 %. Similarly Catholic simply impossible. In view of the difficulties of dating percentages went from 18 % to 0%; Episcopal percent and the distortion which would be introduced in a study ages, from 12 % to 3%. The Baptist percentages are of ostentation, family gravestones were excluded from anomalous and show a rise from 2% to 5% , but it should the analysis. However, they could not be excluded from be noted that the small sample size in this case may the systematic sample without introducing bias. There have thrown off the results. The Quaker configuration fore, family monuments when they arose in the sample results are strikingly different from all other groups, were recorded as such on the da ta sheets, but they were since a ll stones of both centuries had a configuration not included in the calculations on ostentation. A val of one. This is strong artifactual evidence of the depth uable by-product of this procedure was considerable and sincerity of the Quaker testimony of simplicity insight into the frequency of family monuments by which will be discussed later. religious sect. This suggests a nother direction of re The data for lines of type on the one hand and height search along the lines of family unity as shown in grave in inches on the other are both analytically more power stones. This question has not been examined closely ful than that for configuration. The reason for this is in this study, although a rank ordering of percentages that the former two measures run over a wider scale of family stones can be presented: ( 1) Catholic 36% , than the latter. While a gravestone may have a con (2) Pres byterian 30%, (3) Episcopal 13%, (4 ) Baptist figuration number of perhaps one to four, it might have 8%, (5) Quaker 2% . a height ranging from forty-two inches to two inches Since a ny historical research is basically concerned or less. Even the lines of type may vary from perhaps with recreating the past, it is nearly certain that some twelve to two. For these reasons data for both height in information will be lost. Research in gravestones is no inches and lines of type are presented by decade rather exception. In the five graveyards studied many stones than by century. were illegible. As with the family stones, illegible stones The first graveyard under study is located at the when they arose in the sample were recorded on the Brandywine Baptist Church at Chadd's Ford in Birming data sheets, but they were not included in the calcula ham Township, which is in the extreme southwestern tions on ostentation. Except for the Quaker cemetery, end of the county. The Baptist data on lines of type illegibility was a minor problem. Quaker gravestones per decade is presented graphicall y in Fig. 2. The graph of the 19th Century were inscribed with little or no with decades makes visually clear the trend toward informa tion, undoubtedly because of Quaker belief in reduction of ostentatiousness. Note a steady decl ine in modesty and simplicity. This custom is reflected in the lines of type from 1850 to 1880, and nearly so again sample. At the other end of the spectrum, very few from 1890 to 1930. Note also the overall reduction Catholic stones were illegible si nce the Catholic grave from eight lines of type in 1840 to three lines of type yard was the most recently founded. The rank ordering in 1960. of percentages of illegibl e stones is as follows: (1) An identical procedure was followed in graphically Quaker 45 %, (2) Episcopal 12 %, (3) Baptist 11 %, representing Baptist data on height in inches per decade (4 ) Presbyterian 6%, (5) Catholic 3%. in Fig. 3. Again we note an overall reduction from The sample produced a number of stones dated prior twenty-five inches in 1840 to thirteen inches in 1960. to 1840. H ere again they were recorded on the data The photograph of a Baptist gravestone of 1858 sheets, but were not included in the calculations on os (Fig. 4 ) shows a la rge stone with thirteen lines of type. tentation. Of course, no Catholic stones were in this In addition to the relatively conventional information category, since the graveyard was founded in 1855. The of name, address, death date, and length of life, we ra nk ordering of percentage of pre-1840 stones is as fol see four lines of verse: lows: (1) Episcopal 11 %, (2 tie) Baptist 10%, (3 tie) Our father has gone to a mansion of rest Presbyteria n 10%, (4) Quaker 4 %, (5 ) Catholic 0% . From a region of sorrow and pain The next step after completing the sampling process T o the glorious land by the D eity blest was to tabulate and analyze the data. When the fiv e Where he never can suffer again. denominational groups a re ompared with respect to Such verse with its suggestion of eternal peace must configuration change, a trend toward reduced ostenta have been comforting to the survivors. In the 20th tion was revealec\. The trend is most cl early seen if we Century such hopeful sentiments are rarely carved on ignore the distinction between one stone and two stones, gravestones. The trend has been toward brevity. and instead focus on the distinction between one and The same gravestone has a pictorial and iconographic two stones versus three or more stones. Actually, this richness which was not infrequent in the 19th Century is a reasonable procedure, since many gravestones with but which is very rare in the 20th Century. The three a configuration number of two a re composed of a simp I part tympanum is topped by three geometric rosettes. slab plus a discrete base. On the other hand, gravestones The juxtaposition of these three abstract geometric con- 37 I • I I I • • I I I • • • • I I I I• I• I • • • -•I •I • -I I • • • -I I • I• I• • I •I I I I I I• I • •I •I I I I • I I • I I I • I I I I I I • I I I• •I I • -• I I • • • I I I I I I I • I 0 0 0 ,...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 I I I I I ~ •Lf) 'D CO 0.. 0 • •N C") ~ •Lf) •'D • • • CO CO CO CO CO CO 0.. 0:: 0.. 0.. 0.. 0.. 0.. • • • I I • I -I I • • • •I • I I • I I I • •I Fig. 2-Meml Lines of T ype per D ecade f01' Baptist • • • • Gravestones. • • • •I • • • • • • • o 0 0 • o 000 , Lf) • • •C") •~ •Lf) • •'D ,...... • • .. . N . -.. co co co -.. -.. .- - 0.. 0.. 0.. 0.. -.. structions here may be intended to suggest the Trinity." Fig. 3 -,iVI eall Height in Inches per Decade f01' Baptist Gravestones. In the tympanum itself we see two books representing the Scriptures. Dr. Ludwig has suggested that the signif icance is that through the Scriptures men may hope to partake in the R esu rrection." Also found in the tym- pan urn is a large central garland fl anked by two flowers on either side. Again borrowing an interpretation from " Allan L Ludwig, Graven Images: New England Stone Car ving Dr. Ludwig, we are told that the symbolism is explicit, a1? d Its Symbols, 165 0-1 815 (Middletown, Connecticut: W esleyan Universiry Press, 1966), pp. 225-232. H ere Dr. Ludwig points since the life of man is traditionally associated with out the difficulty in interpreting geometric rosettes because of their fl owers, as in J ob 14: "Man that born of a woman is abstractness and the lack of literary evidence. Responsibility for the interpretation given in this article lies with me and not with of few days, and full of trouble. H e cometh forth like Dr. Ludwig. a flower, and is cut down . ..." " '"Ibid., pp. 197-202. T he more modern Baptist gravestone of 1964 (Fig. 5) is shorter and bears a briefer inscription. The 20th Cen tu ry Baptist gravestone pictured bears no icons what soever, not even a cross. A basic and widespread grave stone design change can be seen by comparing the 19th Century Baptist gravestone (Fig. 4) with that of the 20th Century (Fig. 5). The trend has been away from a tall, fiat, and thin upright slab to a short, square, and thick resting block. The latter variety comes in two basic styles: a rectangular solid with the inscription facing straight up (Fig. 9 ) and a sort of trapezoidal solid with the inscribed side tilted back at a forty-five degree angle (Fig. 5 ) . " Ibid., pp. 142-155. Fig. 4-Baptist G"avestone of 1858. Fig. 5-Baptist Gravestone of 1964. 38 7 6--- 5 4 3 2 1 Fig. 6-Meall Lines of Type per D ecade for Episcopal Gravestones. The second graveyard under study is located at St. J ohn's Episcopal Church in Concord Township, which is the largest township of Delaware County and is located directly east of Binningham Township. The Episcopal data on lines of type per decade is presented graphicall y in Fig 6. While less persuasive than its Baptist counterpart (Fig. 2) , there is an unmistakable Fig. 7-Mean H eight in Inches per Decade for Episcopal downward trend. Except for the 1880's and the 1930's, Gravestones. there is a fairly steady decrease from the 1870's to the 1940's. The graph for height of Episcopal gravestones (Fig. 7) shows a definite downward trend. The mean A good son, an affectionate height for the 1840's was forty-two inches, while the brother, a faithfull friend mean height fo r the 1960's was fifteen inches. a studious and earnest man. A comparison of a 19th Century Episcopal gravestone H e died in the comfort of a (Fig. 8 ) with one of the 20th Century (Fig. 9) reveals holy hope. the same trends that have been previously demonstrated Dicit illi JES US for the Baptists. The older stone is upright and bears R esurget fra ter tuus. a verse inscription: St. JOHN.XI.25. The newer stone is a low rectangular solid with a com plete absence of verse or decor.ative icons, placed flush with the ground to facilita te grass mowing. . The third graveyard under study is located at St. ~('(l1 ~ t., Thomas the Apos tl e Roman Catholic Church in the . ;.\ 1 ) ~ '" ~ 1 (" ( • tl(l~J Borough of Chester H eights, which is located directly ~"*' - ~f/,.. ~, ...1_' , east of Concord T ownship. The graphs on Catholic ~'- . '}., lines of type (Fig. 10) and height in inches (Fig. 11 ) JACOB HARHtSON show the same downward trends previously presented ...... l' 'I .~ .. ,,;. -;011 of . ' '.' An interesting difference is the absence of data for the 1840's because of the fact that the church was founded ~. ~~: i~M·bt~l:/J . in 1855; nonetheless it is the oldest graveyard of its .D Ol' ;;·ipi~~ . 2)!!lf.SS(. denomina tion in the county. The mean number of , Jj. tI. . TlTly 2L! 1~C;~: .. lines of type for the 1850's was five, while for the 1960's £. '/ lI ' 11"·~:o." . "/J 0/1 1' (ion'.ate it was three (Fig. 10 ). Even more marked is the de "" 7. I j .. I' '1 . ' r 1/ , /I JIi ('1/ " .. cline in height. The mean height for the 1850's was ( '~"' :' ! ""t "" " " • (( 1') , ( ... )J fJj .· ..... forty inches, while for the 1960's it was twelve inches :::--, I'· , r:T f it fit( (· ')lIt./!I) · {. , , ~ •. 7, (I ; , ~:';"" ; (Fig. 11 ). . J ( .~ i· P II L. Fig. 8-Episcopal Gravestone of 1865. Fig. 9-Episcopal Gravestone of 1965. 39 12 ______11 ______10 ______9 ______8 _____ 7 ____ I I 6 5 I I• • •I 4 I • I I 3 I • • I •I •I I • • I 2 I •I • I I I I • • I • 1 I • I • • • C) C) C) C) C) "' C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) C) The photographic record of the Catholic graveyard "' ~ Presbyterian lines of type (Fig. 14) and height in inches ~~ (Fig. 15) is the complete absence of data for the 1930's. Interviews with both the minister'· and the cemetery .- superviso r" indicated that the cemetery was open during ,.k the 1930's and that burials did take place at that time. , --... At least three hypotheses m ay be ad vanced to explain f.( '''The Random H OMe Dictionary of the English LAnguage, The .... 0.'{ I Unabridged Edition (New York: Random House), p. 709. }. , \ ]OInterview with the Rev. Raymond Pinch, Old Middletown Road, Route 16, Media, March 22, 1968. _.~~ _ tn " Interview wi th William G. Weischedel, Old Middletown - ~mor}>"o~'-- _ Road, Route 16, Media, March 22 and 23, 1968. OUR i="ATHER WILLfAM GRANNAN. tlrEo . JULY 20.-1888 . ACED 85 YEAR S. . /, I I., II (, \ l ,, \,~. ff,. ,"',. ,,,, r"!11 (? ~'f1? f,!I Jfj7r!~'r( . P;t,-,,', 'IT fr( t.c_ I ) I I I'. J / \ N (~ \ ') ') J i .]rlll' !I.!,-,reJ,.", Fig. 12-Catholic Gravestone of 1888. Fig. 13-Catholic Gra vestone of 1955. 40 o 0 0 ' Fig. 14-Mean Lines oj Type per Decade jor Presby terian Gravestones. the lack of data for the 1930's: ( 1) Sample size is small being limited to 100 stones and one decade could be Fig. 15-Mean Heigbt in Incbes per Decade jor Pres missed; (2) The sam pIe picked up stones from the byterian Gravestones. 1930's but they were all fa mily monuments and hence excluded; (3) Gravestones have been removed from the cemetery. Possibility number three is not entirely fanci height in inches (Fig. 15 ) show the same downward ful. In 1957 a wing of office space was added on the trends previously presented. The mean number of lines southeast side of the building which extended fifty feet of type for the 1840's was nine, while for the 1960's it into the cemetery, and in 1966 a bell tower was added was three (Fig. 14), a reduction of two-thirds. The on the northwest side of the building which extended decline in height is less spectacular, but still marked. fifty-seven feet into the cemetery. In each case a court The mean height for the 1840's was forty inches, while order was obtained for the movement of the gravestones for the 1960's it was thirty inches (Fig. 15 ) . necessary for building construction, and in each case a The photographic record of the Presbyterian grave contract was made with a monument company to carry yard shows the same trend toward simplicity seen in the out the work. The stones were not re-erected but were previous three graveyards. The 19th Century stone stored. The stored gravestones are now relatively in (Fig. 16 ) is more ostentatious than the 20th Century accessible, hence no attempt was made to include them stone (Fig. 17 ) with regard to the three variables under in this sample. consideration. The Presbyterian gravestone of 1870 The absence of data on the 1930's notwithstanding, (Fig. 16 ), while not as rich in icons as many other 19th the graphs on Presbyterian lines of type (Fig. 14) and Century stones, does offer a familiar and hopeful verse representative of the time : Blessed are they that die in the L ord For though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil For thy rod and thy staff, they will comfort m e. Fig. 16- Presbyterit/n Gravestone of 1870. Fig. 17- Presbyterian Gravestone of 1960. 41 9 ______18 ______8 ______7 ______14 __---, 12 ______6 5 10 • • • • I ... 4 8 • I I • I I I 3 6 • I - I • ~ • I I • I I 2 4 • I 1 2 • • • •I •I • • • • • • • o o 0 o o 0 o o o o o 00 0 o o o 0 If) -.0 If) If) • •If) • "' The more modern Presbyterian graves tones are general is that the Quaker gravestones in fact never were os ly shorter and bear fa r briefer inscriptions. Icons, while tentatious as measured by our three variables. In other not altogether absent, are greatly simplifi ed. For ex words, the Quaker gravestones seem to serve as a sort. of ample the stone of 1960 (Fig. 17 ) is fl ush with the control group. The mean number of lines of type for ground and its sole design feature is the epitaph panel the 1840's was five; and for the 1960's it was three, a in the form of a book. small decline pa rticul arl y when compared with other The fifth and last graveyard under study is located denominational groups. The decline in height is extreme a t the Providence Friends M eeting in the Borough of ly small. The mean height fo r the 1840's was nine inches, Media, which is directly to the east of Middletown and for the 1960's it was eight inches. Township, from which it is separated by Ridley Creek. An examination of the photographic record shows M edia is the county seat of D elawa re County. Examina that there have been some style changes in Q uaker tion of graphs on Quaker gravestone lines of type (Fig. gravestones over the nearly 130 years studied, but these 18 ) and height in inches (Fig. 19 ) reveals a set of pat changes make the stones neither more nor less ostenta terns entirely unlike the previous four pairs of graphs. ti ous. The earlier stones are relati vely thin slabs from The decline in both lines of type and height is so slight twelve to twenty inches tall , about eighteen inches as to be negligible. T he reason for this lack of decline across, but only about two inches thick (Fig. 20). For this reason the inscriptions appear on the face of the stones, rather than on the top of the stones. The latter type is about eight inches thick and twenty-four inches across, a nd was found only in Quaker graveyards. The more modern Quaker gravestones have shapes which are less distinctively Quaker, but which are still very simple and plain. The Quaker grave tone of 1953 (Fig. 21 ) is of the familiar solid trapezoidal shape. It should also be mentioned that many of the Quaker gravestones (see for example Fig. 21 ) fo llow E l ... AE MYERS 11 MO. 17 1879 - 3 M O.2J953 Fig. 20- Quaker Gravestone of 1870. Fig. 21-Quaker Gravestone of 1953. 42 the Quaker custom of enumerating the month rather together absent. Most of the best previous work on than giving its Roman name. gravestones in this country has been dorte in N ew Eng The Quaker concept of simplicity is perhaps best ex- land. Researchers there have all to some extent pointed plained in Faith and Practice, which reads in part: out changes in attitudes toward death over the 18th, The heart of Christian simplicity lies in the si ngle 19th and 20th Centuries." A lucid summary of these ness of purpose which is required by the injunction changes was given by Mann and Greene in their Fore to seek first the Kingdom of God ... By observing word: and encouraging simple tastes in apparel, furniture, The trend is easy to follow back in Yankee buildings and manner of living, we help to do burying grounds. It first appeared early in the away with rivalry and we learn to value self 19th Century when epitaphs began being written denial . . . Simplicity is closely akin to sincerity expressly to soothe the bereaved. Until then the a genuineness of life and speech in which there is carvings had warned of the inevitability of death no place for sham or artificiality." and decay and had promised mercy on Judgment The inescapable conclusion after examination of data Day only as a reward for pious exercises or the on Quaker gravestone configuration, lines of type, and revelation of God while on earth . . . Then soon height is that strong artifactual evidence of the depth after 1800 the number of admonitions and personal and sincerity of the Quaker testimony of simplicity does histories decreased: for death rendered less grim exist and has been demonstrated. and life less intense somehow made bereavement The pattern of design change seen in four out of the less painful ; there came more and more inscriptions five denominational groups studied offers a great deal about eternal peace and reunions in heaven. The of information about the times in America during which fin al development has been to omit even these the gravestones were produced. The interpretive aspects muffled cries of the heart." of this investigation may be applied to interrelated In short, there have been three major periods: ( 1 ) changes in style, religion, and social values. If we as Precautionary warnings in the 18th Century; (2) San sume for the sake of argument that the decline in os guine reassurances in the 19th Century; (3) Absence of tentation found in Delaware County from the 1840's message in the 20th Century. Therefore it is clear that to the 1960's could be demonstrated for a widespread to say there has been a change from step two to step area of the United States, as I believe could be done three adds nothing to our knowledge However a con with sufficient time and resources, then we might be tribution of the present study is to demonstrate that able to provide a model of interrelated change in many change in a systematic manner, i.e., with the use of a aspects of American culture. Such a model would be uniform sampling technique and statistics in addition particularly fruitful in explaining widely-held values to the more traditional techniques of simple observation concerning both ostentation and death." and note-taking. The shift from ostentatious gravestones to simple ones Since gravestones no longer serve the function of is almost certainly a function of changes in American carrying messages of admonition or hope and since in values regarding ostentation. More and more in America creasingly land is at a premium, one might legitimately during the last century the exhibition of costly goods ask why gravestone commemoration as a custom persists. has become passe. This change has been noted and ex The answer may lie in what Mitford has called "grief plained by several social scientists including C. Wright therapy" whereby guilt in relation to the deceased can Mills,'· John K enneth Galbraith," and Vance Pack be assuaged by a suitable funeral and an appropriate ard." Galbraith explained, "Lush expenditure could be gravestone." afforded by so many that it ceased to be useful as a The data and tentative conclusions presented above are mark of distinction."" Ostentation as a value has de based on a very limited survey. A more exhaustive study clined, and this is evident in such material remains as of the gtavestones in Pennsylvania and the other Middle gravestones. Gravestones, furthermore, have the addi Atlantic states, like the study now being conducted tional advantage of being dated, so that the decline in by Dethlefsen and D eetz in M assachusetts, would be ostentation can be traced with some precision. expected to yield a very rich source of data concerning The implications of our findings for shifts in American interrelated changes in American style, religion, popula values regarding death are somewhat more subtle and tion, and social values. The basis of such a study would elusive than those for ostentation, but they are not al- be a complete photographic sample of all cemeteries in the study area with an IBM card for each stone punched 18Faith and Practice of the Philadei-phia Y early Meeting of the for several variables. Such cards would facilitate data Religiotts Society of Friends: A Book of Christian Discipline (4th ed. rev.; Philadelphia: The Religious Society of Friends, 1965), analysis for many research areas. A study like the pres pp. 22-24. ent one sugges ts that future work on gravestones in the wProfessors Dethlefsen and Deetz use such a model with great clarity in their article on pages 506-508. Pennsylvania area would provide valuable additions to "'c. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford Uni our knowledge of American civilization. versity Press, 1956), p. 117. " John Kenneth Galbraith, The Afflttent Society (Boston: Hough " Researchers in this category include Mann and Greene Deth ton Mifflin Company, 1958), pp. 78-80. lefsen and D eetz, and ludwig, all mentioned previously. ' "'Vance Packard, The Status Seekers (New York: David McKay '"'Mann and Greene, op. cit., p. x. Co., Inc., 1959), pp. 19-20. '·Jess ica Mitford, The American Way 0/ Death (New York : "'Galbraith, op. cit., p. 79. Simon and Schuster, 1963), pp. 90-91. 43 Notes on Eighteenth-Century Emigration To the British Colonies By FRIEDRICH KREBS Tran lated and Edited by DON YODER [The following emigrant list appeared in PJiilzisc he November 19, 1702, daughter of Johannes Wolf and Familien- und Wappenkunde, XVII. Jahrgang, 1968, wife Christina. Band 6, H eft 7, 225-226, under the title of "Amerika Children, born at Gross bockenheim: (1) Johann auswanderer des 18. J ahrhunderts aus verschiedenen Caspar Frey, born September 26, 17 30, died August Kirehenbi.i chern und anderen Quell en." It comes from 29, 17 32; (2) Anna Catharina Frey, born December the res€arehes of Dr. Friedrich Krebs of the Palatine 18, 17 32; (3) Catharina PhilijJpina Frey, baptized tate Archives at Speyer-am-Rhein, whose articles on J anuary 14, 17 35; (4) M argaretha Dorothea Frey, 18th Century emigration we have published in trans born November 30, 17 37; (5) A nna M argretha Frey, lation, a long and distinguished series from the old born November 11,1739; and (6) an unnamed child, Pennsylvania Dutchman days through a ll the years of born September 21, 1742. Pennsylvania Folklife. The article appears in the special The notation in the Church R egister reads, "Left section of the journal, edited by Dr. Fritz Braun of the here for Pennsylvania without rectifying his child's H eimatstell e Pfalz, K aiserslautern, dedicated to the name" (V on hier weggezogen in Pensylvaniam ohne em igration history of th Palatine population, and en seines Kindes N ahmen zu rec tificiren) . titled in German, Mitteilungen zur Wanderungs H enrich Frey appears among the passengers on the geschichte der Pililzer. We are grateful to both Dr. Ship L ydia, and took the O ath of Allegiance at Braun and Dr. Krebs for the opportunity to share Philadelphia, September 20, 1743 (Strassburger-Hinke, these new materials with our readers. - EDITOR.] Li t 99. A-C ) . FROM THE REFORMED CHURCH REGISTER OF KRIEGSFELD FROM THE LUTHERAN CHURCH 4. Anna Margretha H ardong, born October 21 , 1725, REGISTER OF GLANMUENCHWEILER dau ghter of Johannes H ardong and wife Maria A pol 1. Johann Nickel Ohr, master tailor at N anzweil er, lonia, "to the New Land in the year 1754" (ins N eue son of H enrich Ohr of Linden, married November 23, Land anno 1754) . 1779, Maria Margretha Kiefer, born at Nanzweiler, 5. Anna Sara H elbig, born M arch 19, 1725, daughter July 22 , 1754, daughter of Andreas K iefer and wife of Andreas H elbig and wife Anna Elisabetha, "to the Elisab etha Margaretha, "went to America in the year New Land in the year 1754." 1784." 6. Johannes Maurer, born July 8, 1740, son of the Children, born at N anzweilcr and baptized at Glan pastor Friedrich Magnus Maurer and wife Maria Phil mi.inchweil er: (1) Johann Philipp Ohr, born Novem. lippina, "died September 5, 1777, in New York 111 ber 26, 1780; (2) Maria Elisabeth a hr, born M arch America" (st arb 1777 den 5. S eptember in N eyorck m 2, 1782. America ) . FROM THE REFORMED CHURCH FROM THE RECORDS OF THE REGISTER OF GROS BOCKENHEIM DISTRICT OF HEIDELBERG, 1752 2. Johann Peter Gutmann, born August J 5, 1718, so n 7. Abra ham Celli, Mennonite, farm tenant on the of the master tailor R udolph Gutmann and wife Anna R ohrhof ( HoJbestiinder auf dem R ohrhof) in the Elisabet ha, married April 14, 1741 , ( M aria) Christina parish of Bri.ihl (S hw tzingen ), on payment of 32 Eichelb erger (Euchenbnger) , born April 29, 171 3, florins for the tithe, receives permission to go to the daughter of Rudolph Eichelb erGe r. In the Church R eg New Land. ister there is among the baptisms for the time from Abraham Z ety appears among the passengers of the about M arch to July 1742 the baptismal entry for a Ship St. Andrew, and took the O ath of Allegiance at child of Johann Peter Gutmann with the foll owing nota Philadelphia, September 23, 1752 (Strassbu rger-Hinke, tion: "went away from here to Pennsy lva ni a without List 181 C ) . indicating his child's name and godparents" (von hier 8. Peter Braws, citizen of Waldwimmersbaeh, whose weg in Pensylvaniam gezogen o/m e seines K indes wife and three little sons, a daughter, and a m arried Nahmen und Taufzeugen anzuzeige n). son by the name of Andreas Brauss, have permission Peter Guthman appears among the passengers on to leave for the New Land, for which Peter Brauss the Ship R obert and Alice, and took his O ath of Al must pay 20 florins tithe and the m arried son 15 florins. legiance at Philadelphia September 30, 1743 (Strass Andreas Brauss appears among the passenge rs on the bu rger-Hinke, List 102 C ). Ship Rawley, and took the O ath of Allegiance at 3. Johann H enrich Fr ey, linenweaver, m arried No Philadelphia, O ctober 23, J 752 (Stras burger-Hinke, vember 27, 1729, Maria Margaretha W olf, baptized Li t 191 C ). 44 Kurt Freitag Grape Harvest Time at Essillgen in the Palatinate. From such agricultural viI/ages came emigrants of the 18th Century who settled in Southeastern Pennsylvania. 45 A Siegerland Emigrant List of 1 733 By OTTO BAEUMER Translated and Edited by DON YODER [The following emigrant list dates from the year 1738 present bearers knowing that relatives once left their and was located in the Siegerl and of Westphalia. It homeland and ventured into unknown distant parts. comes from the research of Otto Baumer of Freuden The memorandum, which was entered in the Burial bcrg, and appeared in the periodical H eimatland: Bei Register, reads as follows: lage zur Siegener Z eitung, Zweiter J ahrgang, Nr. 10, As information I wished to write down on these 1927, 148-149. The emigrants, who came from the pages that today, the 13th of March, 1738, there left towns of Freudenberg, Plittershagen, Boschen, and Ans for Georgia, the new island [sic] under the protection toss, in the Siegen area, are said to have gone to the of His Majesty the King of England, out of this land new British colony of Georgia, which had been opened and parish, with the knowledge and consent of the up for settlement in 1732 and had attracted the emi authorities of this our land, the following named per gration of Salzburgers and Moravians in the interim. sons, some of them householders with wife and children, However, one of the emigrants, Tillmanus Hirnschal others single male perso ns, namely: (see No. 16) had been in Pennsylvania and returned, FREUDENBERG and it is possible that some of the other families or 1. Til/manus Seelbach with his wife Anna Beata, individuals may have come to Pennsylvania or other also his so n-in-law and daughter. colonies instead of Georgia. Will readers who identify 2. Gerlach Waffenschmidt and his wife Anna Maria any of the emigrants as Pennsylvania settlers please with four children. notify the Editor. 3. H enrich Ernstorf and his wife Anna Catharin with The evidence for the prior emigration of "Tiel man three children. Hirnschael," aged 55, appears in Strassburger-Hinke, 4. H er[mann]. Bach and his wife Anna Margret h List 42 A: Ship Princess Augusta, qualified a t Phila with one child. delphia, September 16, 1736. The name is spelled 5. Joh[ann]. Friedrich Muller and his wife Anna "Thielman Hirnschall" in Lists 42 Band 42 C. Maria with one child . Further research into emigrant backgrounds will 6. H ymenaus Creutz and his wife Elisab et h. probably reveal more emigration from the Freudenberg 7. Georg W eidman, single status, H enrich W eid area in the Siegerland directly to Pennsylvania. For man's orphaned son. example, on the Ship Nancy, whose passengers took the 8. Til/manus Steinseiffer, Joh[ann]. H enrich Stein Oath of Allegiance at Philadelphia, August 31, 1750 seiffer's orphaned son. (Strassburger-Hinke, List 155 C ), there are listed one 9. Johannes H offman from Dirlenbach, Johannes following the other, as if traveling together, Johann H offman's so n. Peter Gutelius and Tilman Creutz. There is also a 10. Johann H enrich Schmidt, Christian Schmidt's Johan Thiel [mann?] Selbach listed on the Ship son. Aurora, qualified at Philadelphia, October 8, 1744 11. Johannes K lappert, son of the former village (Strassburger-Hinke, List 105 C ) . mayor in the prince's government, Joh[annes]. Klappert. From the same general area in Westphalia there had 12. Tillmany Gudelius, Christophel Gudelius' son. come to the Germanna Colony in Virginia in 171 4 the 13. H ermanus Muller, son of the vi ll age justi ce, H er families of Fishback and K emper, and later additional manus Muller. families came to the Tohickon and Lower Saucon R e PLITTER SHAG EN formed settlements in Pennsylvania. For this evidence, 14. Johannes H alm and his wife Anna Cath[a]rin which we intend to republish in a larger article on with two children. BOESCHE Westphalian Emigration to the British Colonies in the 15. Johann H enrich Schneider and his wife Maria 18th Century, see the journal Siegerland: Blatter des Catharin with two children. V ereins fur H eimatkunde und H eimatschutz im Sieger 16. Johann Georg H irnschal and his wife Anna lande samt Nachbargebieten, 10. Band, 1. Heft · (Jan Catharin with one child ; whose father, Tilmanus H irn uary-March 1928 ), 27-29. - EDITOR.] schal, had left for America two years ago and just now Emigrants fr om the Parish returned and has gone back along with the others. of Freudenberg, Siegerland A STOSS A memorandum by the Protestant Pastor Gobel in 17. H enrich Schneider and his wife A nna Margreth an old parish register of the year 17 38 gives explanation with two children. about the emigrations which were taking pl ace at that 18. Hanna SchneideT, Joh[a ll nes]. Schneider's widow, time from the Freudenberg region to Ameri ca. M any with her son Johannes Schneider and his wife, born in of the names are still to be found here, without their the H adamar country, with four children. 46 LOCAL PLACE NAMES: Foll{.-Cultural Questionnaire No. 14 The map of Pennsylvania is covered with fascinating Counties. In Schuylkill County the Sharp M ountain is place-names, some of them Indian, others European, called the Schneidbacrrick in the dialec t, the Broad and some of local American origin. Some reflect periods M ountain the Breedbaerrick. Will you write do wn for of American history, as for example, the strange-sound us all the lo cal m ountain and hill nomenclature fr om ing "Monterey" (Berks County) and "Vera Cruz" your home area? (Lehigh County), to say nothing of "Rough and 3. Names of streams, creeks, runs. Do the same for Ready" (Northumberland County) , which came in at all the streams in your vicinity. My fa vorite stream the time of the Mex ican War. Others reflect Penn names names in Eastern Pennsylvania are "Snitz Creek" sylvania's mixed ethnic heritage - "Heidelberg" and in L ebanon County and "Hanyost Creek" in Schuylkill "Bergstrasse" for the German, "Donegal" and "Fer County. managh" for the Scotch-Irish, "Bangor" and "Gwyn 4. Names of farms. I n earlier days it was the practice edd" for the Welsh. Finally, many place-names reflect to name farms. I n the colonial period each tract had a the American pioneer's talent for coining unusual name which was sometimes listed in surveys and deeds. names, some of them colorful, some of them down to L ater, some farms were given lo cal names by their earth, some of them high flown (examples: Ono, Fear owners or the neighbors. List those that you recall. not, Mudtown, Jugtown, Paddletown, Snowshoe, Port 5. Field names. I n the older rural life that most Matilda, and Mudlick, for examples). Pennsylvanians come from, even the fields on the farm However, there is a more local type of place-name which often does not appear on the standard road maps, or even on the government's topographical maps. These are the local names for roads, lanes, mountain trails, streams, hills, sma II va ll eys, coves, and o DOGWAY . EVA . SEDALIA . KERMIT . GRAPE ISLAND <) even the more local names for farms themselves and for fi elds, meadow , groves, and other economic subdivi WEST VIRGINIA PLACE NAMES sions of the farm. European linguistic and folk-cultural scholars have researched this aspect of place-name Their Origin and Meaning, Including the Nomenclature of the Streams to study widely and thoroughly, in the many monographs C which deal with what the Germans call Flurnamen. and Mountains " Some exarr.ples of this rare type of local place-name. In the Kutztown (Berks County) area oldtimers still o ~ speak of two back roads in the Kutztown-Lyons area BY HAMILL KENNY "'"2; as the Wassergass (water street or water lane) and the H exegass (witch road), and of two hills in the vicinity s.... as the Schlangebaerrick {Snake Hill ) and der Parre z Michels Baerrick (Pastor Michael's Hill ) , named for a o,. 7. colonial minister who is buried at Dryville. () We are interested in receiving from our readers lists of local place-names which they remember from their childhood home areas in Pennsylvania. We are inter ested in both the English as well as the Pennsylvania German dialect examples. 1. Names of valleys. Do you recall Dutch or English THE PLACE NAME PRESS to names for the valleys of your area, including the > small coves (the Dutch called a small rounded valley PIEDMONT . WEST VIRGI IA "~ in the m ountains a Loch or a K essel). Examples, Slim ~ ~ Valley (s hort for Slim Gut Valley, Juniata County), "~ Snake Spring Valley (Bedford County), and Pulwer o CACAPO;'lo; . MUD CUT SCHOOL . GLEN F1:::.RR1 S . PHILIPPI Q daal (Powder Valley) and Budderdaal (Butter Val ley), both in L ehigh County. American place-names research is slowly moving ahead. 2. Names of mount.ains and hills. E verybody knows One of the best of the regional treatments thus far is the Blobaerrick, the big Blue Mount'ain which forms Hamill Kenny's West Virginia Place Names (Piedmont, the northern border of L ehigh, Berks, and L ebanon W. Va., 1965). 47 had names. Sometimes rocks and trees, stone piles, 8. Names of churches. Pennsylvania German church quarries, aroves, or woodlots were named and formed es sometimes have several names - "baptized" or of boundaries or directional points on the farm. Can you fi cial names (St. John's, St. Peter's) , lo cal family be s jJecific about this for us, and if possible draw us a names (Arndt's Church, Becker's Church ), and even rough map of the layout of the farm that you are des "nicknames" (Welschkarnkaerrich, Eckk aerrich, Plow cribing in terms of its nomenclature. Church, R ed Church, Blue Church, White Church, 6. Names of villages. I n the 19th Century every etc.) . Write down the names of this sort that you re crossroads settlement had a nam e. S ome of these are m ember, giving if possible the reasons for the more colorful bits of Americana, like L eather Corner Post in curious names. L ehigh Count)I, and Five Points in L ancaster County. 9. H otel names. List for us the country tavern names List the smaller village and crossroads names that you that you recall fr om your childhood area. There were rem ember from your area. originally large country hotels on all the main roads 7. Names of post offic es. Can you give examples of and pikes, every few miles, for the convenience of small towns whic h ha ve (or had) post offi ce names drovers, wagoners, and other travelers in the 18th and w hich differed fr om the to wn's usual name? 19th Centuries. Sometim es settlem ents grew up around these taverns. E ven the tavern signs were in some cases stiLL swinging before the hotel jJo rches in the first decades of the 19th Century. I n the 18th and early 19th Cen turies country hotels had colorful names - Indian Queen, Spread Eagle, Blue Ball, Seven Stars. In other cases they were known from the name of the proprietor, or from some distinctive feature ( Y ellow H ouse in Berks County). H ow were the co untry hotels in your neighborhood named? D o you rem ember the tavern Hessisches Flurnamenbuch German folklife hcrOlusgcgcbcn signs with the names and symbols painted thereon? im Aurt~g dtr H essische n Vcrcinigulig {ur Volkskunde scholars study \'on Alfred Got:t "Plurnamen" - the 10. Pronunciation and abbreviation of local place He~ 11 very local names in names. Many local place-names, even those on the D 'e F urn amen des village, valle)! alzd printed maps, are often changed in local usage either parish. This volume Dorfs Worrstadt in Rheinhess n by pronouncing them differently from their common analyzes such names spelling, or by abbreviation. For instance, N ew Tripoli in the villa[!,e of W orrstadt in Rhein in L ehigh County is jJronounced with the accent on hessen. the «0," Manheim in Lancaster County is pronounced JAKOB BUCHER "Mannem" in the area (similar, by the way, to the dia lect pronunciation of its original, M annheim, in Ger many) . An example of abbreviation is Port Matilda in GieBen 1936 Centre County, w hich is usually referred to by area Selbst,·crl;ag def l-iusisCiltn Vtrcinigung fur Volkskundc residents simply as " Port." Will our readers jot do wn as many examples as they recall of lo cal names which are in this way abbreviated or changed in pronuncia tion. 11. Etymology of local names. I n the case of the more Place Names in Bucks County unusual local place-names from your area, w hether in Pennsylvania English or Pennsylvania German, please be specific in writing do wn for us the local reasons which are as Pennsylvania place ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED IN signed for these names. names are found in Al" HISTORICAL NARRATIVE 12. Place-name lore. Will our readers write down such volumes as for us any stories, rhymes, jokes, or other traditional George MacReyn GEORGE MacREYNOLDS lore w hich involve place-names. For example, there is aids, Place Names L,brll",," flf TIc~ BloI cls Counl)' HUl01'U.1 soc"tl"j the common Pennsylvania German rhym e, applied to in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (Doy many towns, which goes like this (apologies to Kutz lestown, Pennsyl town ) : vania, 1955). Kutztown, du armi S chtadt - Drucke Brad un des net satt! SECOND EDITION (Kutztown, you poor town - D ry bread and not enough of that! ) Publuhed Iry Send your replies to: Dr. Don Yoder The Bucks County Historical Society DOYLESTOWN, PA. College H a ll , Box 36 1955 niversity of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Penn ylvania, 19104 48 'Hue blm 'nttQlt: 'Hn unitt( lTl'itglfcbcr /()lc ~t~!~~elJ)c~tl:::9te:~~t~~tcf)t~iebf~ueir19~'fl~~t; 'Uuemcnbnung nccf)c lImuirQ 'UI. 6(c cnfoBocttf bie "rOlimulttt nQlJm J t1lunbartUd1r G5tOfcf}ff von WillJdm €Icf)cmib1 unb 7\0fa 7ttlbfllamcn J e pt""" (no, IIItrlc,U vcn Itort wmiS ~lIm 350 j4f)riscn Jul,.Udlim btr oct!l¢nvelrSfTlfr 6cIJcn ect,lI lt j ~f:f::~4~~I~~f~;::[I~~~: gi~~!;r;~: ~ !~~t bfrfcf), ~r. tnufcllm. 6r. elcscrlAnbto I t)u «)Urrn: .tin cDrfd;lnr 6u elo.bt eltgrn an bit cnro.ficf)(l.ft Cr."'!!C '" U. e . It. - Willi tmmht 60 ~n: - Theunp ber eltenfAnbrr o.m t'licbHct,tIn. Ver/ag: Vor/cino«, nUd)brudmi, 6iegen - Verlag 1(" i;eimatlittratur View of the ancient college buildings at Herborn , drawn from a photograph taken in the 1930s. Title page of Siegerland, local history periodical in which Otto Baumer's article originally appeared. The cut shows a view of the old section of the town of Siegen. Siegen in the 17th Century, showing walls and towers of what was then still essentially a medie val town. After an engraving in Sieger d, XVl: 4(Octo· W!!IH~':!:JIOl.Ib£.J.---d>s~~~lj,·:e·;r -December 1934). Herborn in the 17th Century. From Herborn came Philipp Wilhelm Otterb ein, Pietist Reformed pastor who was one of the founders of the ~:. fir st native American ~'- denomination, the United .:-~ Brethren in Christ. An invitation to become a subscriber to the Society's periodical PENN SYlVANIA FOlKlIFE, now in its twentieth year, published quarterly, in Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. Each issue appears in a colored cover, with 48 pages or more of text, and is profusely illustrated. Subjects covered include: architecture, cookery, costume, customs of the year, folk a rt and antiques, folk dancing, folk medicine, folk literature, folk religion, folk speech, home-making lore, recreation, superstitions, traditional farm and craft practices, transportation lore and numerous others. The purpose of the Pennsylvania Fol klife Society, a non-profit corpora tion, is three-fold: collecting the lore of the Dutch Country and Pennsylvania ; studying and archiving it; and making it available to the public both in this country and abroad.