The Kitchen Garden Beekeeping in the Wool is from Sheep! by Thomas Bennett Colonies The Ogden The kitchen garden was important by Edward Cornelius family had 16 to every colonial family. They plant- Many colonial families had bees. The sheep. It took the ed vegetables, fruits and herbs. They colonists brought bees from England wool from two tended to the garden all summer and to help pollinate fruit plants. They sheep to make into the fall. They needed a lot of veg- brought seeds, apples and other plants one piece of clothing. etables to store during the cold winter on their long journey across the Atlan- months. tic. Bees did not live in America until In the spring, the sheep would be then! Jane Ogden and her children began sheared The process of making clothes from wool takes a long time. to garden in April. They would plant Families kept bees in The wool is washed in water. Then vegetables like lettuce, spinach, radish- their garden in bee the family members picked out the es, parsnips, and turnips. The children skeps. A bee skep is a grass and bugs. It was carded with had to weed the garden every day in house made out of two brushes and form long strands. the summer. They also made sure that straw. This is where Then the wool was spun into yarn. the animals that lived on the farm did the bees live and make not eat the plants. They would have to honey. take off bugs like snails and slugs that were on the plants. Honey was used as a medicine or mixed with other herbs for different The plants that Jane and her fami- ailments. The bees also produced ly grew in the garden were used for beeswax that was used to make can- food, to dye linen or wool and to make dles. They also used it to make leather medicine. The plants that were used waterproof. Honey and beeswax were as medicine were called simples. Ex- valuable. They were used instead of amples of simples are cabbage, garlic, money to trade or barter for things the mint and thyme. family needed. Yarn is used to weave together big Colonial Air pieces to make blankets or clothing. The Ogden Animals This is done with a loom which were Freshener by Grace Collins very large! The width of the loom The Ogden family need many ani- made the same size width of the cloth. by Virgina Wiley mals to help with the farm. They had Since a loom is very big, many people Colonial people were very smelly. chickens, pigs and did not have one in their home. They almost never took baths because sheep. The Ogden Instead, the yarn is sent to a weaver. they believed sweat and dirt stopped family had a pair Flax Makes Linen them from getting sick. They also be- of oxen, an ox, Cotton is rare and lieved that water was unhealthy. They a bull and steers. expensive in colonial each had only two or three outfits and They used these animals to pull plows. times. Clothes are it wasn’t easy to keep them clean. It Plows made the land made from wool or was common to not clean laundry in ready to plant differ- linen. Wealthy people the winter, it was too cold to heat up ent vegetables and also wore silk clothing. water or the river outside was frozen. grains. They also had Linen is made from a an old red horse, a plant called flax. Flax The Ogden house smelled of smoke brown horse, and a was a very important and cooking odors. They used tallow gray baby horse. The hors- crop in Fairfield. Very early in Fair- (beef or sheep fat) to make candles. es pulled buggies for the field’s history, families were required It made the house smell like burning family to attend church to grow flax or hemp. It became very bacon! Since the Ogden House was dis- and to get around the valuable and was even used to pay gusting and smelly, they would make town. The Ogden family taxes instead of money! air fresheners called Pomander Balls. Below is the recipe, it’s easy! You can In a very long process, the inside of try it at home. the plant is removed. The soft, inner Ingredients: fiber is made into linen thread with 5 - 7 Oranges a special flax wheel (smaller than a One jar of cloves wool wheel). People did not own a lot of clothes. All types of wool or Take the orange and with the end of linen clothing, towels or blankets a clove, poke it into the orange. Con- were very valuable. tinue to poke the cloves into the or- ange until there are about 30-40 cloves This important crop was also used in it. You can make fun patterns or to export linen seed. Before the plant swirls with the flowered, it was collected to extract cloves. Then leave the seeds from the plant. The seeds it out until it were used in Ireland to grow more dries. You are flax or to makelinseed oil. The Ogden House Gazette (VOL. I. ) Tuesday, August 22 M.DCC.LXXXV . (No. 25.) September 1, 1775 DRAFT! Price: Nine Shillings FAIRFIELD: Printed and Published by Fairfield Museum and History Center www.Fairfieldhistory.org Mr. Ogden Dies The Ogden Family The Ogden’s by Abigail Brewster by David Jennings David Ogden of 1520 Bronson Road in Saltbox House David Ogden was 22 years old when by Mary Sherwood Fairfield passed away on August 21, he married Jane Sturges, who was 20 1775. He was 48 years old. We do not years old, in the year 1750. They had know how he died, but many guesses 10 children born between 1751 and can be made, such as an illness. We do 1770. Three of them died while still know that he left a will. A will is a list infants. There were four girls and three of someone’s things (such as property, boys that lived to adulthood. money, clothes, animals and furniture) with details about what hap- By 1756, Fairfield was the fourth pens to everything after their death. largest town by population, with 4,455 citizens. Farming was a way of life for Mr. Ogden wrote his will only fifteen many people in Fairfield. Eight out of Mr. and Mrs. Ogden’s house was an days before he died, so he must have ten people were farmers in Fairfield example of a unique house style in known that he was not well. Mr. Og- and the Ogden family had over 75 New England - a saltbox house. During den owned a house, a barn, animals acres of farmland to take care of. They these times salt was very valuable. It and over 75 acres of land. Inside the grew plants such as flax, that was used was used for many house was a lot of furniture things to make linen for clothes. Farmers in purposes, including such as clothing, blankets, plates, cups, Fairfield grew wheat, corn, oats and preserving meat. It forks, knives, and spoons. After his vegetables. Animals were also was kept in a wooden death, his large family still lived there important and farmers had chickens, box with a lid that and he left his house to his two oldest sheep, pigs and oxen, who helped with was hung on the wall sons. planting or working the fields. near the fireplace. The fire helped to Everything that Mr. Ogden owned keep the salt from caking into a solid equaled 1,515 pounds (about $150,000 block. U.S. dollars). He had more money than Did Slaves Help at other people in the neighborhood, so A saltbox house is named after this he was . Usually, a family the Ogden House? shape. It was different from other prosperous by Harriet Williams houses because the back of the house is in this area only had about 400 to 500 There is no evidence to show that pounds of personal items (house, barn, longer and the roof slopes down in the slaves or servants lived with the back. The sloping roof created animals, land). Ogden family. But sometimes, such additional space on the first floor. Mr. Ogden’s brother Jonathan (1735- as harvest season in the fall, extended Children could sleep here next to the 1775) lived down the street in the families, neighbors, their workers and fire or sometimes a sick room could house at 1334 Bronson Road and left slaves would all work together on each be located here. The second floor had an estate worth 1,539 pounds ($150,000 other’s property. It is possible that space for storing things like food and U.S. dollars). Sister Abigail married slaves could have worked on the blankets. This part of the house is the very wealthy John Hide of Greens Ogden farm. Farms; his estate was worth 3,988 called the garret. If a family had slaves or servants, they would sleep in this pounds ($255,000 U.S. dollars) (includ- Slavery was legal in Connecticut until part of the house, as well. ing 605 acres) at his death in 1792. 1848. Many people in Faifield owned slaves, including Mrs. Ogden’s family Building a House DID YOU KNOW? and Mr. Ogden’s brothers. 1.03 acres = 1 soccer field Mr. Ogden’s brother Jonathan owned with No Nails 1.32 acres = 1 football field 3 slaves and his sister Abigail and her by Elizabeth Banks husband had 2 slaves. In 1790, there The Ogden House was made with- were 203 slaves living in Fairfield. out nails! Instead, something called mortise and tenon joints were used. The large pieces of wood that held the house together were fit into place per- fectly, almost like Lincoln Logs. When the pieces were perfectly together, a small round hole was drilled through them and a treenail was used to “lock” the pieces of wood in place. A treenail is like a nail that is used today, except it is made out of wood instead of met- al. In the children’s bedroom, a treenail is sticking out of the wall. This is inter- esting because usually these treenails would not be seen.