Early American Wooden Ware & Other Kitchen Utensils

By Mary Earle Gould

An authoritative and comprehensive history of wooden ware, including old New England kitchens, pantry tools, bowls, plates, mortars, buckets, tubs, the early uses of paint, means of identification, and much more.

“It would be hard to say how and where the material for this book was gathered. From my childhood I have been interested in early manners, customs, and sayings, and have retained as I have learned. It was natural, then, that wherever I went as a collector I questioned and listened, and no chance remarks slipped by unheeded. A notebook went with me and I began to keep a diary of the happenings of the days….

“With many happy memories of places I have visited, of acquaintances I have made, of hospitality shown me by those of an older generation and of interesting correspondence with all parts of the United States, I have written my book.

“This enlarged edition has been made possible by more research work and by helpful correspondence from those interested in recording this early history. A few more pieces of wooden ware have come to the museum which now numbers over 1,000 pieces, including the iron fireplace utensils.”—Mary Earle Gould

• Language: English
• Publisher: Papamoa Press
• Release date: Dec 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781789125535

Mary Earle Gould

Mary Earle Gould (1885-1972) was a prolific writer on the subject of antiques, material culture, and early social customs. Born in July 1885, the daughter of John W. Gould and Nellie M. Morrisson Gould, she graduated from Wheaton Seminary (now Wheaton College) in Norton, Massachusetts in 1906 with a degree in music, and initially pursued a career as a performer, lecturer, and piano instructor. In the 1930s, she developed an interest in antiques and, over the next 40 years, assembled a collection of more than 1,200 pieces of tin ware, wooden ware, and iron ware, which she displayed in her Worcester, Massachusetts home. In 1967, Gould donated her collection to Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts. Gould began writing about antiques and collecting in 1934 in articles that appeared in the New York Sun, and became a regular contributor to a variety of newspapers and magazines, including Antiques, Hobbies, The Spinning Wheel, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Worcester Telegram-Gazette. Her first book, Early American Wooden Ware, was published in 1942; three other books, The Early American House (1949), Antique Tin & Tole Ware (1958), and When We Were Young (1969), followed. She passed away in 1972 and is buried in Hope Cemetery in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Text originally published in 1962 under the same title.

© Papamoa Press 2018, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

EARLY AMERICAN WOODEN WARE & OTHER KITCHEN UTENSILS

BY

MARY EARLE GOULD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

DEDICATION 4

ILLUSTRATIONS 6

FOREWORD 11

CHAPTER ONE—Earmarks on Wooden Ware 17

COMPARING THE NEW AND THE OLD 17

SOME OF THE EARMARKS 18

CHAPTER TWO—Wood—What the Early Settlers Found and How They Learned to Use It to the Best Advantage 23

THE EARLY FORESTS 23

STRUCTURE OF TREE 24

GROWTH OF TREE 24

METHODS OF CUTTING TIMBER 25

WOODS FOUND IN EARLY FORESTS 25

THE CUTTING OF TREES 30

THE COOPER 31

COMPARATIVE WEIGHTS OF WOODS PER CUBIC FOOT 31

CHAPTER THREE—Tools for Making Early Wooden Ware 33

THE INDIANS’ TOOLS 33

THE COOPERS’ TOOLS 33

THE LATHE 34

SPRING POLE LATHE 34

MANDREL LATHE 35

NAILS 35

CHAPTER FOUR—Old New England Kitchens—How Our Ancestors Lived and Labored 38

FIRST BRICKYARD 39

FIREPLACES 39

COOKING 39

TIN UTENSILS 41

DUTCH OVEN 42

ROASTING 42

OVEN IN CHIMNEY 44

SIDE OVENS 45

CHANGE IN BAKE OVENS 46

WOODEN PANELLING 46

SMOKE OVENS 46

CONTENTS OF KITCHENS 48

EATING CUSTOMS 48

EATING UTENSILS 49

SALT BOWLS 51

THE NOGGIN AND THE TANKARD 52

OTHER UTENSILS 53

THE PANTRY 54

THE BUTT’RY 55

THE MILK ROOM 56

THE PINE CUPBOARD 56

THE SHED CHAMBER AND THE ATTIC 56

CHAPTER FIVE—Pantry Tools and Labor-Saving Devices—Products of the Handy Man with an Inventive Mind 58

METHODS OF PREPARING APPLES 58

SHAKER APPLE PRODUCTS 60

APPLES FOR EATING AND FOR DRINK 61

PIES AND COOKIES 64

FROM CORN TO HASTY PUDDING 66

SHELLING CORN 67

THE INDIANS’ SAMP 69

BREAD 70

BAKING BREAD 72

BUTTER MAKING 73

BUTTER MOLDS AND BUTTER PRINTS 77

CHEESE MAKING 79

CHEESE DRAINERS 80

CHEESE PRESSES 82

THE SAP INDUSTRY 84

THE SAUSAGE GUN 85

THE MAKING OF SOFT SOAP 86

DISH DRAINER 87

WASHING CLOTHES 87

WASHING MACHINES 90

SMOOTHING BOARDS 90

SOAP DISH 92

CLOTHESPINS 92

CLOTHESLINE FRAMES 93

A BRIDE’S DOWRY 93

SPATULAS, STIRRERS AND MASHERS, MEAT POUNDERS 93

SCOOPS, SPOONS, STRAINERS 96

OTHER PANTRY EQUIPMENT 99

CHAPTER SIX—Bowls, Plates, Mortars and Pestles—Production of Hand Labor and of the Early Lathes 112

BOWLS MADE FROM THE BURL 112

INDIANS’ BOWLS 113

COLONISTS’ BOWLS 115

DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOWLS 115

WOODEN BOWLS OTHER THAN BURL 118

TRENCHERS, PLATES AND PLATTERS 122

MORTARS AND PESTLES 124

GRAIN MORTARS 124

CORN MORTARS 125

FAMILY MORTARS 125

CHAPTER SEVEN—Common Wooden Boxes that Graced the Pantry Shelves—Condiments from Foreign Shores 132

MAKING BOXES ON MOLDS 132

BUTTER BOXES 135

CHEESE BOXES 137

THE HERB BOX 138

BOXES FOR SUGAR AND MEALS 141

SALT BOXES 142

SOURCES OF SALT 142

SPICE BOXES 144

PILL BOXES 147

HINGHAM’S COOPERING INDUSTRIES 149

CHAPTER EIGHT—Buckets, Tubs and Kegs—The White Cooper Always Found Trade Brisk 150

THE GREASE BUCKET 150

THE SUGAR BUCKET 151

WATER BUCKETS 154

PIGGINS 155

SAP BUCKETS 156

SAP CARRIERS 157

WELL BUCKETS 158

BUTTER CHURNS 159

TANKARDS 162

KEGS 164

RUM KEGS 164

SWIGLERS 167

OYSTER KEGS 167

CANTEENS 167

TUBS AND KEELERS 168

SUGAR TUBS 171

ODD TUBS 174

CHAPTER NINE—Sieves—From the Tiny Sieve for Medicine Powders to the Large Charcoal Sieve 178

SIEVES OF HAIR 178

LOOM FOR MAKING SIEVE MATS 178

SHAKER SIEVES 180

SIEVES OF SILK AND OF WIRE 181

DOUBLE-COVERED SIEVES 182

WINNOWING SIEVES OF SPLINT 182

CHARCOAL SIEVES OF SPLINT 184

CHAPTER TEN—Splint Found in the Early Wooden Ware—How Obtained and How Used 186

INDIANS’ SPLINT 186

WEAVING SPLINT 187

OX MUZZLE 189

VINEGAR FUNNEL 189

CLAM BASKET 189

APPLE-DRYING BASKETS 190

CHARCOAL SIEVE 191

WINNOWING BASKETS 192

SHAKERS’ SPLINT 195

CHAPTER ELEVEN—The Beginning of Paint 196

CHAPTER TWELVE—The Lyctus Powder-Post Beetle—What It Is and How to Check It 200

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 206

DEDICATION

In the years following the first appearance of EARLY AMERICAN WOODEN WARE many of my friends who helped me have passed away. From them I had both inspiration and assistance. It is fitting, therefore, that this new edition be dedicated to the memory of Clara Endicott Sears, William Sumner Appleton, George Francis Dow, Charles Messer Stow, Lewis N. Wiggins, William B. Sprague, Frank K. Swain, my great-grandmother Mrs. Worth, and Hugh Thatcher, the Cooper, from England. And to these loyal helpers I must add the name of my mother, Mrs. John W. Gould (1855-1959) who was my greatest inspiration and critic—who tolerated my mistakes and gave me faith in myself.

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Wooden Ware Room...part of the author’s private museum

PLATE

1 200-year-old Elm Tree in Old Deerfield, Mass.

2 First box of collection and small oval box, 1

3 Beginning of the Museum, 3

4 Corner in hallway, showing box collection, 4

5 Three fine tankards, 5

5a Tall, slender mortar, 8

6 Dipper, Indian eating scoop and wall box, 13

7 Water buckets and wooden funnel, 14

8 Winnowing sieves, 15

9a Tankard, strainer and grater, pie peel, and two graters constructed from a tin lantern, 16

9b Three porringers, 17

9c Bannock board, 33

9d Swizzle sticks, 40

10 Tin bird roaster, apple oven, and toaster, 46

11 Tin biscuit oven, 48

12 Tin roasting kitchen, 49

13 Dutch oven and tin toddy cup, 50

14 Fireplace showing oven at back, and fireplace with two side ovens, 51

15 Ovens with wooden doors, also smoke ovens, 54

16 Large trencher, and plate showing marks on pie side, 58

17 Individual eating bowls and two drinking cups, 58

18 Large Shaker eating bowl with copper handles, 59

19 Assembly of salt bowls, 60

20 Noggins, 61

21 Sugar bowls, spoon holder with spoons, and butter knife, 62

22 Syrup jug and tankard, 63

22a Candle dippers, 68

23 Apple parers, 70

24 Shaker apple-butter scoop and two-way scoops, 72

25 Cider-press rack, 74

26 Rolling pins, 76

27 Cooky rollers, 79

28 Pie crimpers and oblong gingerbread print, 81

29 Pie lifters, 82

30 Corn sheller made from trunk of tree, and three-foot pestle, 83

31 Corn sheller showing standard and trough, 84

32 Corn sheller, 85

33 Hasty pudding spoon and stirrer, 87

34 Bread trough, paddle and knife, and two bread peels, 90

35 Keeler, sour cream tub, butter worker, and butter scoop, 92

36 Butter paddles, 93

37 Palette paddles and Scotch hands, 95

38 Butter prints and molds, including rare Maltese cross mold, 96

39 Cheese drainers, 98

40 Cheese ladders and baskets, 100

41 Curd breaker, two curd knives, and a flat breaker, 101

42 Cheese press, 103

43 Sausage guns, 107

44 Dish drainer, 109

45 Scrubbing stick, 110

46 Washboards, 111

47 Dolly pin and two pounders, 112

48 Smoothing boards, 114

49 Patented washer, clothespins, and two clothesline winders, 115

50 Spatulas and stirrers, hasty pudding stick, dye stick, and soap stick, 118

51 Mashers, toddy sticks, and meat pounder, 119

52 Feather bed smoother, 120

53 Dipper made from root of tree, 121

54 Spoons for stirring, and group of scoops—soft soap, grease, Shaker apple butter, and cream scoops or skimmers, 122

55 Maple syrup stirrer, 122

56 Bowl with scraper, and three skimmers, 124

57 Chopping knives, 125

58 Graters, 126

59 Lemon squeezers, 128

60 Flour and sugar sifters, 129

61 Lard squeezers, 130

62 Spice grinder, jar or nutmegs preserved in alcohol, raisin seeder and doughnut cutter, 131

63 Funnels, 131

64 Splintered birch brooms, 132

65 Splintered birch or Indian broom, 133

65a Water holder for whetstone, 134

66 Burls, 136

67 Indian and burl bowls, 137

68 Cheese drainer, 138

69 Three eating bowls, and wash bowl, 140

70 Mortars made from burl, 141

71 Chopping bowls and wash bowl, 142

72 Bird’s-eye maple bowls, salt bowl, fruit-drying bowl, and bowl of lignum-vitae, 144

73 Wooden plates, 146

74 Large grain mortars, 147

75 Group of mortars and pestles, 148

76 Group of mortars and pestles, 151

77 Quassia cups and quassia mortar, 151

77a Two burl dippers, 152

78 Round boxes by Colonists and nest of oval boxes by Shakers, 154

79 Butter and cheese boxes, 156

80 Diagram showing two types of locked laps, 159

81 Box used in carrying butter to market, 160

82 Herb and pill boxes, and box used for jewelry, 162

83 Herb boxes, 162

84 Shaker herb tray, and Shaker box with handle, 164

85 Odd handmade boxes for meal, sugar and spices, 165

86 Handmade oval boxes showing fancy laps, handmade nails and different woods, 167

87 Large round boxes showing odd laps and handmade nails, compass for marking out box covers and bottoms, wall salt box, 169

88 Groups of oval and round spice boxes, 170

89 Set of eight spice boxes, 172

90 Jar of nutmegs sealed in alcohol, and large old grater, 173

91 Group of pill boxes, 174

92 Pie box, 175

93 Grease bucket, 178

94 Sugar buckets, 180

95 Drawing showing cross section of pegs on bucket handles, 181

96 Water buckets, 183

97 Piggins, 184

98 Sap bucket, sugar tub and spiles, 185

99 Funnels used in transferring sap from buckets to sap carriers or kettles, 186

100 Two sap carriers, 186

101 Shoulder yokes, 187

102 Well buckets, 188

103 Early butter churns, 189

104 Pump churns, 190

105 Churn with paddle and crank, 191

106 Water kegs, 195

107 Rundlets, or rum kegs, 195

108 Rum keg with three swiglers, also powder keg, 196

109 Rum keg and oyster keg, 196

110 Wash tubs, 198

111 Round keeler, 199

112 Keeler and gauges used in marking bottoms of boxes and tubs, 200

113 Small sugar tubs, 201

114 Sugar tub used for cakes, 201

115 Dye tub with sour cream tub, 202

116 Butter tub, paddle, and small tub used in taking butter out to the fields, 203

117 Octagon candy pail, 204

118 Complete set of letters used in stamping names on buckets, tubs and boxes; bucket used for corn kernels, 205

118a Butter tubs, 206

118b Apple-butter buckets, 206

119 Group of sieves, including unusual winnowing sieve, 208

120 Loom for weaving horsehair mats for sieves, 210

121 Flail for threshing grain, 212

122 Drawings showing manner of fastening splint in a winnowing sieve, 213

122a Hatchel for straightening hair, 215

123 Diagram of hexagon weaving in cheese baskets, 218

124 Cheese baskets, egg basket, clam basket, ox muzzle, and large funnel, examples of skilful weaving, 219

125 Cobweb apple drier, 222

126 Apple-drying basket, 223

127 Charcoal sieve of splint, 224

128 Winnowing basket of splint, and winnowing sieve, 225

129 Three other winnowing sieves, 225

130 Rare eel trap of splint, 226

130a Winnower for grain, 227

131 Little Red schoolhouse at Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Mass., 232

PLATE

A Fig. 1 Butter trough

Fig. 2 Scales for weighing butter

Fig. 3 Butter prints

В Fig. 1 Butter testers

Fig. 2 Milk stools

С Fig. 1 Smoothing sticks

Fig. 2 The first washer with suction cup

Fig. 3 Soft soap scoops

Fig. 4 A pounder for clothes

D Fig. 1 Apple parer

Fig. 2 Pennsylvania apple-butter stirrer

Fig. 3 Apple grinder

PLATE

E Fig. 1 Pig platter

Fig. 2 Bread and butter boards

Fig. 3 Pantry mortars and pestles

F Fig. 1 Pastry jiggers

Fig. 2 Toddy stirrers

G Fig. 1 Feed bags for horses

Fig. 2 Splint goose basket

Fig. 3 Feather-bed basket

H Fig. 1 Sheep yoke

Fig. 2 Sheep tattoo stamps

FOREWORD

STANDING before my museum of wooden ware, numbering nearly eight hundred pieces and including a pantry box collection, one’s first impulse is to ask how it happened. Things can happen with no deliberate intent, and this happening of mine came merely as a hobby. It came at a time when my days were full with the profession of music—teaching, playing and lecturing.

In the fall of 1932, I found an old cheese box in a shed up country. I was antiquing with a collector friend and had expressed no interest or enthusiasm for any of the so called antiques. However, this article appealed to me as a container for my rag-rug pieces. It took a second trip to buy the box as the owner was reluctant to let it go.

I had the box scraped and shellacked but fortunately left intact the owner’s name, lettered in yellow on the bottom, S. Reed, who at one time lived in the childhood home of my father. A chance second box an oval spice box, gave me the impetus to ask for boxes as I drove about and visited antique shops. Not knowing anything about such boxes I expected to be enlightened by dealers and by books in libraries. But dealers at that time knew nothing about them and cared less, considering them such common articles as to be of no account; and libraries in my own and several distant cities had no references to boxes, and not even a picture could be uncovered.

Within six months my collection numbered twenty-seven boxes and they were all different. My curiosity was aroused and I found myself studying the shapes, analyzing any odor and examining the workmanship. I drew my own conclusions as to what each box had once held. The round shape of the cheese box and of the butter box, the odors of spices and the stains of salaratus, the mark of the sugar scoop, and the size of the herb and the pill boxes—all helped me to figure out the original uses for which the boxes were made.

My inherent gift of writing urged me to pen the story of my collection. I wanted to set down my discoveries and strengthen my own deductions. I went to auctions, visited any and all shops within reasonable distance and even went into private homes when an invitation had been given.

Like any new plaything, the boxes were a keen joy to me and I wanted to show them to my friends. One day I started out in my car to see a friend, taking with me my choicest boxes. I stopped at Northampton, Massachusetts, where Wiggins Tavern has made its name both as a hotel and as a museum. While I sat at luncheon, Mr. Lewis Wiggins, in the role of host, spoke to me and, as one collector to another, I told him of my box collection. Mr. Wiggins asked to see the boxes in my car and soon we were comparing them with those of his own collection. We discussed every angle of those pantry receptacles, Mr. Wiggins expressed the desire that I write an article for his friend, Mr. Charles Messer Stow of the New York Sun. That article appeared in the Saturday antique section in the spring of 1934, the first of a group that followed. I do not recall whether or not I continued on the way to see my friend that day!

Still not satisfied with the little I knew about boxes, I wrote to Clara Endicott Sears of Harvard, Massachusetts. Miss Sears is an authority on the history of Shaker industries, having established Fruitlands, of Bronson Alcott fame. Miss Sears sent me to William Sumner Appleton of Boston, organizer of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. Visiting the museum I found Mr. Appleton, but instead of giving me information he asked me to help him classify the boxes on his shelves. At that time I met the curator, the late George Francis Dow, and discussed with him the material for an article on the pantry for Old Time New England, the monthly magazine of that society. The article appeared before the one in the New