A GIFT TO GRACE YOUR TABLE

So says the large envelope dated December 1955 and addressed to Mr Harold Morgan of Hampton Village (no street address required) from Kaye's Auto and Electric. Inside is a large "Season's Greetings" Christmas card from Kaye's Auto-Electric, Dealer for Mercury, Meteor, Lincoln, Frontenac, and English Built Ford Products. Lift that and you find a set of paper Christmas placements, 4 each of 4 .different designs. I found it interesting that the message is "season's Greetings" not "Merry Christmas". A man ahead of his time?

According to David Keirstead's "Reflections, The Story of Hampton", the Kaye's garage was built by Whit Scovil, opening in the spring of 1948. For a few months it was run by Harold Piers, but was soon taken over by Eldon Kaye in November of that same year. I don't know when it closed, perhaps one of our readers can enlighten us, but it was till in operation when David's book was written in 1982. It was located on the present site of Spuds N Things.

CHRISTMAS 1897

The Flewwelling Mill complex was the economic backbone of Hampton during the late 19th century. First established in 1862 by brothers Gilford and George Flewwelling, together with partners Gilbert White and Samuel White, by 1893 it employed 150. Gilbert Flewwelling died in 1897 at the age of 62. That December his "fellow workmen" were given a souvenir card with his portrait in remembrance of him.

Interestingly, the first Christmas Card was the brain-child of a British civil servant, Sir Henry Cole, who had helped set up the Penny Post three years earlier and was looking for ways to have more people use the service.

PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS IN 1912

While working in the vault earlier this week I happened upon a 1912 Christmas catalogue from E Harmer, Ltd of Norton. Information from Lillas Reid's book "The Road to Norton" is that this store was built about 1897 by James Price. In 1912 you could buy 4 lbs of Mixed Candy for 25 cts, Rolled Oats were 7 lbs for 25cts and Black Pepper was 25c per lb. Fancy Barbados Molasses was marked down from .45 per gal to .43 (or you could buy it by the barrel for .40 gal). You could get fruits such as grapes, oranges, apples and lemons or nuts such as walnuts, peanuts, filberts and almonds. Seasonal items included men's Christmas braces for 50c to 75c, ladies embroidered linen collars for 15c, 20c, and 25c each. Mr Harmer pointed out that it was no longer necessary for people to send their money to Toronto as E Harmer, Ltd could "sell you your goods as low as you can buy them anywhere in Canada."

Happy Christmas shopping!

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS?

The Kings County Museum has a small collection of coins, one of which is this 1864 New Brunswick  penny.

In 1860 New Brunswick officially switched from the British pound to the New Brunswick dollar as the currency of the province. It replaced the pound at a rate of 4 dollars = 1 pound (5 shillings = 1 dollar) and was equal to the "Canadian" dollar in use in Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec). The New Brunswick dollar was replaced by the Canadian dollar at par when New Brunswick entered the Canadian Confederation in 1867.

The coins were only produced from 1861 until 1864 in ½ penny, 1 penny, 5, 10 and 20 cent. The 1/2 penny and 1 penny were cast in bronze while the rest were made of silver. Although the last coins were cast in 1864 they continued in circulation until the early 20th century.

If like me you are curious about language and where the "penny for your thoughts" phrase comes from, you can check out this link: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/05/23/penny-for-your-thoughts/

FARMS FOR SALE!

I recently found three Burley's Farm Catalogues from early 20th century St John. These were real estate listings of farms for sale in the area.

The first three photos are from the 1919 issue and included for sale a 300 acre farm located in Hampton. With the photo and the description I was curious if anyone might know the location and whether it is still standing today. It is described as being in Hampton, with the Hammond River flowing through the farm with a 7 roomed house, stone foundation and frost proof cellar. In addition to the home there were three barns, a woodshed, hog house, and sheep house. The school was one and a half miles away, the post office a half mile, two miles to the store or the railway station. Taxes were $8.00. The price was $2650, with $1500 down and 6% interest.

The second and third farm listings (photos 4 and 5) are from the 1928 edition. The first is described as 1 mile from the county seat (which would be Hampton) and 2 miles to the Consolidated School . The school had van service for the students, hydro electric was available. For $4000 you could have this 250 acre farm.

And the final listing (also from 1928) is described as being on 4 acres in a pretty village, with frontage on 3 streets, lots of elm trees, and with the Kennebecasis just a 1/4 mile to the west. The house is a "fine, double house, electric lighted and furnace heated . . . hot and cold running water" and just 1/2 mile to the consolidated school. All yours for $6000.

Anyone recognize their house?

Cool Music Box!

We received an amazing musical artefact recently from the family of Earle and Hazel Armstrong of Barnesville. Earle had acquired this Concert Roller Organ from his cousin Robert Floyd in the late 1930’s or early 40’s. Robert needed a battery for his car, and Earle had always admired the Roller Organ, so in exchange for the money for a new battery Robert sold the organ to his cousin.

The copyright for the Gem Concert Roller Organ was July 14, 1885, but ours was not manufactured until June 3, 1903 by the Autophone Company of Ithaca, New York.  These hand-cranked roller organs were affordable and could be played by anyone, with a sound similar to that of parlour organs of the time.  

Roller Organs operated by placing a music roller (cob) into the mechanism and cranking the handle. The songs are encoded onto the wooden cobs (so-called because of their resemblance to corn cobs) using metal pins and staples. Pins are used for short notes, and staples of varying lengths for longer notes. This donation includes 39 cobs of popular music and hymns. Some examples are My Old Kentucky Home, Bring Back my Bonnie to Me, Abide With Me, Onward Christian Soldiers and Old Folks at Home. If you want to see a similar one in operation there are several on youtube, such as at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKPqDGmA9w

In the words of Confucius “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” Roller Organs like this one brought music (and pleasure) to many homes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  

A Lovely Day for a Drive?

For the car buffs, one of the cool artifacts in our collection is a New Brunswick license plate # 1221, This was registered to W. F. Lutz, Sussex, N. B. on a Ford Touring, 22.5 horsepower, gasoline engine, green touring car with top and windshield. Serial # 5992, registered May 20, 1913. New Brunswick started requiring car owners to register their vehicles in 1906, but until 1911 they had to provide their own licence plates for display so this would be one of the earlier provincially issued plates. For those with an interest in old plates, there are a number of online resources which you may enjoy such as http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/world/CN_NEWB.html

A-tisket a-tasket

A green and yellow basket

Well, actually, more a little wooden box, but it is about the size of a basket. I have often looked at this piece and admired it. Made of softwood, it is very light, and with the removable handled top it would be ideal for storing many things but particularly something you might want to take along with you. Perhaps it was used for picnics, or to carry light tools or take along toys or crafts for the children when you went out. The top is held in place by one of the protruding wooden pieces that rotates to allow the top to slide out of the slot around the piece at the opposite end (took me a while to figure out how to get it open!). Both the box and the cover are decorated with punched designs of fans and zig-zags. It is one of the pieces in our collection for which we have no history, having been catalogued in 1975 as being of unknown source. If anyone should have information on it we would love to know more.

TIP OF THE HAT TO YOU

We have some amazing textiles at the Museum. At the moment only a few are on display, such as this amazing black and gold beaded cape. It is designed in a three layer arrangement from the neck down, each having its own beaded border and tied at the neck with ribbon and two hooks. Beside it is a top hat, plus the hat box in which it would have been stored. During the 19th century the top hat became symbolic of urban respectability and was widely adopted when Prince Albert began wearing them in 1850. 

It is easy to forget that in earlier times there was considerable wealth in Kings County and such lovely items were worn by local ladies and gentleman during the 19th and early 20th century.

SPOILER ALERT: Next season we hope to exhibit a wider selection from our textile collection.

Sewing Egg/Darning Egg or Flea Trap?

This cool little carved egg is beautifully designed and unscrews in the middle. It is perforated with numerous small holes which are part of the design work. There are two possibilities as to what it was used for, and perhaps both are correct. It can be inserted into the toe of a sock to allow for darning or under your article of clothing to repair a tear. Alternatively, since it is hollow and unscrews, it may have been used by ladies as a flea trap. A little drop of blood mixed with honey or beeswax would be baited in the egg and then hung around the neck under the clothing or placed in the bed. The fleas would be attracted, climb in and become trapped in the sticky honey or wax.

Regardless this is a beautifully designed little item that was carved from a coquilla nut . . . an example of the beautiful work done for something that was a simple work-a-day item during Victorian times.

If you want to learn more, here is a great article on coqilla nuts:
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-coquilla-nut-a-handy-19th-century-ornamental-material/

We May Not Want to Admit It, but it will soon be Autumn in Hampton!

Did you know Hampton has it's own tartan? It was created in 1961 by The Hampton Weavers, a group organized in 1956. It is called Autumn in Hampton and is made up of the colours of the fall hillsides . . . brown, gold, white, green and orange. Through the hard work of Hampton's David Keirstead, whose mother was one of the members of the Hampton Weavers group, we have several items that were "reproduced" using the Autumn in Hampton recipe. The colours vary slightly from the original, but are lovely regardless.

It's the Details that Make the Difference

It's the Details that Make the Difference

This doesn't look like much . . .  just a wooden box about 11" by 6" in size.

But when you lift off the lid, you see this:

Variously known as a butter press, butter mold, butter stamp or butter print, these little wooden boxes transformed your block of butter into a work of art for presentation on your table. The "box" portion is open on both top and bottom and would be filled with butter, then "pressed" with the top, transferring the design to the top of the butter. This particular press has 8 separately carved panels held in place by brass screws: blackberry, pear, raspberry, sheaf of wheat, apples, strawberry, grapes and a leaf. Such care to even the smallest details of life!

Snowballs in May

While some days it has felt like we could still be making snowballs, these snowballs are quilted. This is one of the quilts we are featuring in this year's exhibit, celebrating Canada's 150th with the newly restored and returned Confederation Quilt. One online source stated the snowball pattern is an Amish quilt block pattern. For sure it is a pattern that fools the eye by creating an optical illusion. From a distance, a snowball block looks like a round circle, but it is actually an octagon, an eight-sided figure.Our snowball quilt is made up of 11,396 pieces, all hand-stitched into a full sized quilt by Minnie Main (Frost) Northrup, and was completed by the time she was 11 years old. Yes, eleven. She had started it as a doll bed quilt, but was encouraged to finish it as a full sized quilt. The final photo shows my hand to give a sense of the scale of the pieces used to create the blocks.

Nothing Like a Pair of Home Made Socks . . . or is there

This cool contraption caught my eye this week. The Auto Knitter Hosiery Co. Ltd. was located at 1870 Davenport Road, Toronto, Ontario. During the early 1900’s it shipped knitting machines throughout Canada. It was a way for people to discretely earn a wage cheque by producing socks and other knitted goods at home and sending them to Toronto. Prior to WW1 socks were normally handknit by family members, but the need for multiple changes of socks for the soldiers in the trenches to prevent ‘trench foot’ led to mechanization of this skill. A good hand knitter could complete a pair of socks in a week, but an experienced operator of a circular sock knitting machine could see a pair completed in less than an hour! It is complete including the shipping case, and was shipped to Mrs A Ralph Spragg of Saint John and donated to the museum by her daughter E M Dearman. 

What is That?!

Wandering through the museum collection often has me exclaiming "What IS that?" Today's post is one of those items. When I first saw it I saw what is shown in the first photo. The second photo including the mallet started to answer the identity question, and a search in our database contributed a little more information. This is actually a church bell, mounted to a wooden base and rung with a wooden mallet. It came to us in 2004 from Gagetown, but unfortunately that is all the information recorded. Funny how the inclusion of one simple additional piece of information can make sense of a mystery.

Don't Gong Me Late for Dinner

Ahhh the dinner gong.  Used to notify the ladies and gentlemen of the house that dinner is ready.  The one in our collection is about 9" high, hung with two small chains on an oak stand.

The gong itself is metal with an Eastern Sunburst design covering the front.  There is a brass shield on the base, however, there is no inscription on it.

This one came from the home of William H. Venning Esq., the first Inspector of Fisheries for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  He was appointed around the time of Confederation and wrote his first report in 1868, so this dinner gong likely dates from the mid to late 19th century.  The mallet handle is also made of matching oak and the top is soft.  When you hit the gong, it makes a sound louder than you might expect from something this small.  The sound is different depending on where you hit the gong.



I wonder if they had different tones for different types of food?  Hmmmm....I know you wouldn't have to hit the gong twice to call me for dinner!

  

Found My Marbles

You know the old expression "lost my marbles"?  Well, I've often wondered what my marbles would look like if I ever did find them and I think that became a reality today!  There are about 104 marbles in this jar. They are all different colours, many of them multi-coloured and spotted.  They are made of a mixture of ceramic and clay, quite hard, and almost cold to touch.  

Most of them aren't quite round and have a few flaws, just as I thought my marbles would.  They range in size from about 1/2" to 1" across.  Marbles are mentioned as far back as Roman times, but these ones likely date from the late 19th century.  Clay marbles were made in Germany and the U.S. There have been some reports that clay marbles were used as ballast in ships sailing from Germany to America, then were sold.

Maybe that's why it's taken so long to find my marbles - they came from Europe!

Source:  http://www.marblecollecting.com/marble-reference/online-marble-id-guide/earthenware/

Ironing Sad or Sad Iron?

I'm always sad (or mad might be more accurate) when I iron which is why I avoid it as much as possible!  Ironing has always been a chore and historically, it fell to the women in the family.  It was a hot, difficult task as stoves in the home had to be going continuously, even in summer.  These irons had to be heated over a fire or stove but cooled very quickly when used, which meant ironing took even more time as the woman would have to wait until the iron reheated.

The iron in this picture if made of wood and metal and weighs about 5lbs.  Now it makes more sense to me why it is called a sad iron since "sad" is an old English word for "solid".

 "Taylor Forbes" is stamped into the top of the metal iron on one side and "Guelph Canada" is stamped on the other.  There is also a "C" stamped on a raised block close to the end of the handle.  The bottom of the iron is very smooth.


This design with two pointed ends was patented in 1870 by Mary Florence Potts from Iowa.  The design was a bit of a breakthrough in ironing technology because it allowed the ironer to iron both ways;  anything to make this chore easier was welcome!  In 1871 she introduced yet another evolution in irons:  ones with detachable handles which meant one iron could be on the stove heating up while the other was being used.  It may seem basic to us, but having a woman own the patent during this time period was huge.  Because it was so popular with housewives, it was widely marketed in magazines and local stores.

John and Adam Taylor and George Forbes created the Taylor Forbes company in Guelph, Ontario, in 1902.  They became one of Canada's biggest manufacturers of home hardware.  They sold the company in 1950 and within a few years it went bankrupt.

Ironing was such an important part of life that in the 19th century, They started disappearing in the 1920s as people began installing electricity in their homes, however, since many rural areas did not receive electricity until into the 1950s, many of these little sad irons were still widely in use.  Hmmmm...maybe I need to be more grateful for the easy electric iron I have to use from time to time.



Source:  museum information on the artifact and http://www.collectorsweekly.com/tools-and-hardware/sad-and-flat-irons.