History Unlocked – November 2017, Food and Plenty of the Lenni Lenape
Food and Plenty of the Lenni Lenape By: Karen Dingle Kendus, Concord Township Historical Society Ahh, Fall. School and club sports have been well under way since the last pieces of summer. School is in full swing, complete with midterms and homework. And Halloween, along with all the sugar addictions and stomachaches, has finally passed us. Most of us have slid comfortably into our busy routines, and are looking forward to some vacation and family time, right around the corner. As the days grow shorter, adults everywhere are mobilizing Grandma’s famous recipes for the feasts of modern Thanksgiving. As a lover of history, my mind invariably goes to those who came before us, and what they were thankful for. More than that, what did they eat and how did they prepare for the coming darkness and cold. After all, Thanksgiving is a final breath of plenty before we are thrust into the cold harsh winter months. We are no longer filling our pantries with foods that will keep us throughout the winter, or making sure we chop enough wood to keep us warm through the spring thaw. Modern conveniences have contributed to our ability to have our cake and eat it too. As a matter of fact, my main goal at this time of year is to make sure I don’t spend all my money on Christmas presents, thereby retaining enough money to buy food at the grocery store in the coming cold and dark months. So it is no wonder that I find fascination in how the original inhabitants of Concord Township managed to survive on just what the land could give them. Concord Township was home to the Lenni Lenape or Delaware tribes. The Lenape consisted of three tribes, (or two, based on more recent research claiming that one tribe has a dialect so disparate, they cannot really be considered Lenape) based on the languages spoken in each group. Their land included all of what is now New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, southeastern New York State, northern Delaware and a small section of southeastern Connecticut. Those living in what is today Concord Township spoke the Unami dialect, separating them slightly from those living north of Philadelphia. Most Lenape lived in small bands of 25 to 50 people, while only a few lived in large villages of 200-300 inhabitants. The Lenape had three clans: Wolf, Turtle and Turkey. Descendants traced their linage through their mothers. Sons had to marry a woman from another clan, and any children from that union would belong to the mother’s clan. Tightknit communities such as these believed in sharing food, much like Thanksgiving today. The most important planted crops were corn (“maize”), beans and squash, known as “The Three Sisters.” Corn on the cob was boiled, baked, or fried in bear grease. To make tortillas, women of the tribe would remove the kernels from the cob, ground them into a paste, and then shape them into patties. The patties were then wrapped in leaves to be baked or boiled. Corn also went into soup, bread, or pudding. Beans were boiled or fried. Some went into soups. Many were added to meat dishes. Squash could be boiled or baked whole. Soups included an array of wild herbs for flavoring. Meat dishes included greens. Berries were plentiful in this area of Pennsylvania, and while eaten by themselves, they were also sometimes added to breads and puddings. Men and boys hunted while the women tended to their gardens. Pennsylvania had an array of wildlife including deer, bear, and rabbit. Animals were used for their meat, skins, and sinew. Bear fat was melted, purified, and stored in skin bags to be used for cooking later. Birds were also hunted, along with their eggs. Feathers were used for making colorful robes and mantles. In some areas, especially closer to the Delaware River, fishing was an option, and fish were also part of the diets of the Lenape. It is difficult to imagine, but much of this food was useless if not properly processed and stored. There were no refrigerators or freezers. While storing excess for the winter months was crucial, there were also cases, in which the overabundance of produce had to be prepared and stored so the produce did not spoil. So the Lenape used preservation methods for conservation. Women tied ears of corn in bundles, and hung them from the ceilings of the houses to dry. Corn kernels and beans were stored in skin or woven bags. Pumpkins and other squash were cut into rings and hung up to dry in the sun. For winter storage, some women dug deep wide holes in the earth and lined them with mats or grasses to keep out mice and dirt. They would then store dried meat, dried fish, nuts, and other dried edibles. Nuts were collected in October and November. Fish and meat could be dried, either in the sun or smoked over a fire. Dried meat could last a long time. When it was time to cook these preserved items, the dried vegetables and squash could be soaked in water until soft enough to eat, and the meat and fish could be eaten alone or added to stews and soups. While historians are skeptical that today’s Thanksgiving was the same as that which was celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621, it is true that many of us still use November and Thanksgiving as a time for reflection and thanks. As the 2017 harvest draws to a close and family members from all over the country converge on family homes for quality time together, may you and yours be healthy and happy in the days to come! References Unknown Author. 2013. “Foods Eaten By the Lenape Indians.” Official Web Site of the Delaware Tribe of Indians. <http://delawaretribe.org/blog/2013/06/27/foods-eaten-by-the-lenape-indians/>. Accessed: October 23, 2017. Unknown Author. 2014. “Who Were the Lenape?” Lenape Lifeways. <http://www.lenapelifeways.org/lenape1.htm>. Accessed: October 23, 2017. Unknown Author. 2017. “Native Americans: Introduction to the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians.” Penn Treaty
History Unlocked – October 2017, Halloween!
Halloween! By: Karen Dingle Kendus, Concord Township Historical Society I have always loved Halloween. Since I was born early Halloween morning, my parents always made sure we did Halloween completely. Our old farmhouse was decked out in decorations, and my creative parents would make a different costume every year. And they would dress up too. Halloween was not just for children in our house. Every birthday party was a costume party, and everyone dressed up. My parents skinned grapes for “eyeballs” and boiled spaghetti for “entrails.” As I got older, and trick or treating was no longer appropriate, my best friend’s parents held their annual Halloween party for children and parents alike. Halloween has always been a secular holiday in our house and with our friends. Most Americans, by now, have few religious or superstitious ties to Halloween. Origins of the American celebration extend back at least 2000 years to what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, where the Celtic people lived. The Celts celebrated Samhain, which marked the end of summer and harvest, and then beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. They dressed in animal heads and skins and burned crops and animals at the town bonfire as a sacrifice to Celtic deities. Druids, (Celtic priests), used the thin space between living and dead to make predictions of future events, which the Celtic people relied on. At the end of the celebration, the townsfolk would relight their hearth fires with the fire of the blessed bonfire to protect them in the coming winter months. Religion, as we know it, did not enter the realm of Halloween until the Romans conquered Celtic lands around 43 AD. The Romans brought two of their own festivals with them. The first, Feralia, was celebrated in late October and commemorated the passing of the dead. The second, Pomona, was to celebrate the goddess of fruit and trees. Goddess Pomona’s symbol was the apple, and historians believe this might have been the origin of “bobbing” for apples, which is a pastime Americans have today. The two Roman festivals combined with Samhain, but many of the activities remained the same, including the bonfire. Sometime between 731 and 71 AD, Pope Gregory III All Martyrs Day from May 13th to November 1st and added all saints (not just martyrs) to the day, creating All Saints’ Day. Historians believe this was an attempt to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related but church- sanctioned holiday. Halloween in the New England colonies were not widely celebrated because of the rigid Protestant belief system, but elements of Halloween were popular in Maryland and more southern colonies. In locations where Halloween traditions took hold, many were combined with Native American customs, celebrating the harvest and sharing stories of the dead. Colonial Halloween celebrations also featured the telling of ghost stories and making mischief. Halloween did not take hold across the country until after an influx of immigrants around the mid-19th century, especially from Ireland. They popularized the celebration of Halloween and American started to dress up and go house to house asking for food or money. By the mid-20th century, town leaders promoted Halloween has a children’s holiday, and families across town handed out candy to prevent mischief by the neighborhood children. Trick or treating, as we know it today, was born. Today, Americans spend $6 billion annually on Halloween costumes, candy, food, and festivities. Halloween this year falls on a Tuesday, but Concord Township has a Harvest Festival and Halloween parade scheduled for Saturday, October 28th at the Park and Recreation Building, 40 Bethel Road. In good old Halloween tradition, come out and enjoy the community festivities, harvest celebrations, and costumes! References The History Channel. 2017. Bet You Didn’t Know: Halloween; http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween, Accessed: 8/28/2017.
History Unlocked – September 2017, Early Education in PA
The Early Education of Pennsylvania By: Karen Dingle Kendus, Concord Township Historical Society My mother became a teacher as a second career, after I was already a teenager. She is going into her 15th year and could not be happier with her career choice. She takes each new technology in stride, and learns it completely. Her living room has been covered in textbooks, teacher books, activity manuals, and lab experiments for the past month while she was prepping her lesson plans and writing curriculum. My mother is a biology teacher, but that was not an original offering of early colonial schools in Pennsylvania. As a matter of fact, there are very few similarities between today’s public education and William Penn’s idea of education when he acquired Pennsylvania. Obvious differences are the technology involved. Students now are submitting their work through Google Docs and researching reports on their smart devices. However, even the subject matter, duration of the school day, and the fact that education was not free separates early schools from current education. William Penn did not know if pursuit of knowledge was worthwhile, but he felt strongly enough about education to give the governor power to erect and order all public schools for the teaching of reading, writing, religion and arithmetic in his Two Frames of Government (1682-1683). This first call for public education met resistance by other sectarian groups who worried that the Society of Friends, who controlled the Assembly, would use the schools to propagate the Quaker faith. As a compromise, a law was passed that allowed all religious societies, assemblies, and congregations of Protestant faith to erect schools. Quaker schools did not progress very rapidly until 1778 when the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings created an Education Committee. With help from the Education Committee, by 1782, the Society of Friends established subscription schools. Subscription schools required that one person in the community donate land for a schoolhouse if enough neighbors were willing to contribute funds for the construction. The Subscription collected would apply to the master’s salary and go toward the tuition of poor Friends children. Original subscribers and any subsequent donors would have the use of the school for the education of their children and their children’s children. While this was considered “public education,” these schools were only open to those who could afford to pay the fee. Additional subscription schools were built by nondenominational groups as well. The curriculum for early schools consisted mostly of religion and spelling. The earliest textbook was most likely the hornbook, which had the alphabet and the Lord’s Prayer in it. If arithmetic, called cyphering or “casting accounts,” was offered, it was only taught by the master and through oral lessons. Paper was too scarce to use for arithmetic. Spellers came into wider use in the early 18th century. Noah Webster’s American Spelling Book was a standard text after the Revolution. John Comly’s Speller was also popular in this area probably because he taught at the Westtown School. Grammar became part of the curriculum at the end of the 18th century but was not universally taught, as it was not seen as useful. Schoolhouses in southeastern Pennsylvania were architecturally distinct. The early schoolhouses were built in an octagonal shape, with the idea that they were easier to heat. In practical terms, the schoolhouses offered more space for blackboards and exhibits, areas for separate study, and had an acoustic design that lessened noise. Teachers appreciated the practical uses of octagonal schoolhouses. Of all the issues facing the Education Committee, one of the most difficult was the lack of qualified instructors. Unfortunately, society did not have a positive view of teachers. They were seen as being of low quality and incapable of doing anything else. And society’s view of teachers was not the only deterrent. Teachers had low salaries, taught large classes for short sessions, and teaching was not a fulfilling profession. All this being said, if one had the money for a tutor or to attend one of the few quality schools, a worthwhile education was possible. In 1764, one could take English, history, Roman history, poetry, Latin and English grammar, and Bible and geography at the Union School (near Chadds Ford). These and the subscription schools were students’ only options until 1834 when Pennsylvania passed a law mandating a system of public education. As the 2017-2018 school year begins, it is worthwhile to see how far we have come. Teachers have become an integral part of society and are well-respected as scholars. Students attend school for the better part of a day, for most of the year. It took many years for society to value education and it remains free for all, as well as compulsory, today. Enjoy the new beginnings! References Ashmead, Henry Graham. 1884. History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co. pp. 488. Case, Robert P. 1983. Prosperity and Progress: Concord Township Pennsylvania, 1683-1983. Chester, Pa.: John Spencer, Inc. pp. 66-68.
History Unlocked – August 2017, Early Auto Laws
Early (and Absurd) Pennsylvania Automobile Laws By: Karen Dingle Kendus, Concord Township Historical Society When my husband and I started looking for a house last year, we had a list of must-haves. I needed a two car garage, a spacious kitchen, and at least two toilets (they did not have to be full bathrooms). My husband wanted a single family house, with a yard, and sufficient bedrooms so he had an office space. We thought for only a moment about location in relation to other places such as workplace, family, and friends. My husband is a mobile therapist in Chester County, and works from home unless he is seeing a client. My office is in Wilmington Delaware (or Horsham PA, or Philadelphia PA), but I spend most of my work time in a home office. Our families are settled in Delaware and Chester counties. Our friends are spread out among the same counties. When we settled in southern Chester County, we were not too concerned about distance. We only transplanted about 25 minutes west from where we were previously. Our families are still within an hour of where we live (most are 45 minutes or less drive away). Our friends are nearly the same, with only a handful further than an hour from where we settled. And we could not have done any of this without our cars. My husband and I each have a car, which seems to be rather common today. With two income households, and perhaps a number of adult children living at home (but also working outside the home), multiple cars per household is a necessity. Nearly 60 years ago, only 19% of American households had two cars. By 2014, that percentage increased to 37%. With so many people moving to the suburbs and countryside, (a trend that has existed for quite a while), and public transportation struggling to keep up, ownership of automobiles had to increase. Automobiles have not always been such a huge part of American life, however. Cities today struggle to find a way to decrease personal vehicles on city streets based purely on volume, but when vehicles were first on the scene, cities restricted them because they were a menace. The rural population was especially resistant to an increase in vehicular traffic. After the first vehicle was manufactured in 1893, continuous improvements and a competitive price allowed for a steady increase in demand. These original vehicles were loud, though, and had to share the roads with horses and carriages. There were limited rules governing how to drive these new machines, and for the traditionalists, automobiles were a menace to society. While it sounds ridiculous now, the naysayers had legitimate concerns. Traffic signals were not introduced until 1912, and the first stop sign was not introduced until 1915! That is a full four and 7 years respectively after the first Model T was sold. Early on, the number of people who died in car accidents was tenfold, and so many were injured, it was largely left unreported. On country roads, an automobile, barreling along at 20 mph, could easily spook horses with its unnatural noise. Horses would break carriages, trying to get away from the sound, according to one report. Additionally, farmers lost livestock, especially chickens, to reckless drivers. As a matter of fact, drivers paid dearly when accused of hitting livestock with his or her car. The negative sentiment toward automobiles was so strong that around 1910, a group called the Farmers Anti Automobile Society (FAAS) formed in Pennsylvania. They were troubled by the rapid increase of automobiles on the road and sought to protect their horses and livelihood in any way possible. The FAAS drafted a number of laws they wished to see ratified, and the text of these still exists as part of the historical record. To any modern person, the demands seem rather extreme. The group of farmers wanted automobiles traveling on a country road at night to send up a rocket every mile, then wait ten minutes for the road to clear (presumably, of livestock). The driver could then proceed, with caution, blowing his horn and shooting off Roman candles (a type of rocket), as before. The FAAS also wanted the driver of an automobile, who sees a team of horses approaching, to stop, pull over to one side of the road, and cover the car with a blanket or dust cover which is painted or colored to blend into the scenery, and render the machine less noticeable. The rule did not mention where one could buy such a blanket, or how much it would cost. And in the event that the horse was still too spooked to pass the automobile, the driver of the car must take the machine apart as rapidly as possible and conceal the parts in the bushes. I must admit, I would have no idea where to begin taking apart my car in the event that a horse could not bring itself to pass me. It was also recommended that a man with a red flag walk in front of an automobile to clear the way, which defeated the purpose of having an automobile in the first place. It is not clear whether these requests made it into law. While few have heard of the FAAS or their requests, there is one automobile law that exists today. While considered part of the blue laws, there is evidence that it began as a part of the anti-automobile movement. Pennsylvania dealerships are not permitted to open on Sundays. While other Sunday closure rules have been relaxed, (state stores are now open on Sundays in some locations), Pennsylvania automobile dealerships remain closed. Today, there are not many horses on the road. My husband and I only see them on our way to visit his sister in Lancaster County. And while it is not unheard of, one would be hard-pressed to find livestock crossing the road in Concord Township. I am sincerely grateful that automobiles are