Diary | evelinaames

June 24, 1852

Modern image of Mount Hope Cemetery, Boston

1852 Thursday

June 24th Carried Mrs Patterson to Bridgewater.

Helen & Susan went with me. Dined at Mr

Burrells, Orinthias boarding place got there about

twelve left there about two & went to Dr Washburns

He filed my eyetooth to make it even with the

others Went into the cemetery and in Orinthias school

a short time & home by Alsons stoped with Lavinia a

few moments. Alsons wife had gone to Boston

With her niece, Helen, and daughter, Susie, Evelina drove Mrs. Patterson to her home in Bridgewater. This was the last appearance of Mrs. Patterson in the diary, so we may assume that she didn’t work at the Ames residence any more this year. Most likely, she had been hired for spring-cleaning only, yet her brief tenure with the Ameses had a lasting impact. She was efficient enough to make Evelina dissatisfied or otherwise unhappy with the work of her regular servant, Jane McHanna, the result of which was the latter’s dismissal.

While in Bridgewater, Evelina accomplished various errands, the most pleasant of which was probably dinner at Orinthia’s “boarding place.” The least pleasant had to be the appointment with Dr. Washburn, where the dentist filed down one of her canine teeth “to make it even with the others.”

Evelina went into the local cemetery, too, perhaps to visit a specific grave. Interesting to note that on this exact same day in the Boston area, another cemetery was receiving attention. In Roslindale, Mount Hope Cemetery – a new, rural-type graveyard in the mold of Mount Auburn – was dedicated.

On the way home, Evelina stopped at the family farm and had a quick chat with her niece Lavinia.

June 23, 1852

Advertisement for cook stove, June 1852*

Wednesday June 23d Work again weeding the garden

untill nine or ten and then about house

attending to the new stove that was put up

last night Passed the afternoon at Mr

Howard Lothrops with Mrs Witherell, S Ames

& Helen. Got 4lbs of butter of Mrs Harvey &

Eggs of Mrs Howard & Pratt

Evelina had a new, cast-iron stove, a high-tech appliance in the new, industrial age. Cast iron was “the wonder material of the 19th century and led to a prolific industry in making stoves for cooking as well as heating. Cast iron could take the repeated temperature swings of hot and cold, and it was an ideal medium for casting into complex, prefabricated parts, as well as for decorative surface ornament.”** Coal and iron mines were kept busy providing the raw material as middle-class households bought cook stoves for their transformed kitchens.

The new stoves had various brand names, naturally; one model was even named for everyone’s favorite opera star: the Jenny Lind Double Oven Stove. The dominant design for cookstoves was called “step-top,” which allowed two separate levels for cooking on. The choice of cooking surface facilitated the preparation of several dishes. Evelina could be confident that her kitchen was state-of-the-art, whatever her father-in-law had to say about it.

Evelina may even have talked about her new stove as she was out and about this afternoon, picking up butter and eggs, and visiting with her two sisters-in-law at the elder Lothrops’ home.

*Advertisement from Charleston, Illinois newspaper,

** http://www.oldhouseonline.com/history-of-the-kitchen-stove

June 22, 1852

1852

Tuesday June 22d Worked in the garden again this

morning untill about ten. My garden

takes up quite too much of my time. This afternoon

carried my work into Olivers. Sewed the skirt

on to my brown muslin and worked some on the waist

of my purple cambric dress Catharine here again

to day but it is of no use for me to have her. Have had

a very heavy shower with thunder & lightning

Evelina complained that gardening “takes up quite too much” of her time, but she did seem to love it. It and sewing were her especial interests. From the two occupations, we can derive the fact that she loved many colors. She didn’t just choose one or two colors, she chose all of them. In her garden we see blossoms of pink, purple, red and yellow in many shades and sizes. In her wardrobe, too, the spectrum is broad. On this day she worked on both a brown muslin and a purple cambric dress. Just recently, she had finished a green gingham dress, and before that there was a black silk. She had sewn pink aprons, blue silks and plaid skirts, and many of her outfits had bonnets or ribbons to match. Her taste was all-encompassing, it would seem. Did her color selection reflect the styles of the day, or her personal preferences, or both?

While the colorful garden was apparently thriving under Evelina’s careful attention, her sewing projects were not. The new servant, Catharine Middleton, who had been hired primarily to assist with sewing, was not working out. She was “of no use.”

Old Oliver, the family weatherman, was unusually chatty about today’s weather. He was excited about the rain, but feared it had come too late for certain patches of hay. He wrote: “it was fair this forenoon + cloudy in the afternoon the wind was very high all day from the South west + towards night + in the evening there was a shower of nearly half an inch, but the grass on gravely land is to far gone to be helpt.”

June 21, 1852

1852 Monday June 21st Mrs Patterson & Hannah washed and

I worked in the garden untill about ten

and was about house until two or three

Oclock Catharine Middleton here sewing

Father has given me another jawing about

my leaving some old coats on the grass

Here in the early 21st century, a dictionary of slang defines “jawing” as being saucy or speaking disrespectfully. Not so in the 1850s, when “jawing” was slang for moralizing, or giving a lecture. “Father Ames,” as he was known to the Ames wives, gave Evelina “another jawing” today, this time about her “leaving some old coats” outside on the lawn. She or Mrs. Patterson or Hannah Murphy must have washed the items and left them out to dry in the sunshine without hanging them on a line. Perhaps the women had run out of clothespins. But Old Oliver would have been concerned about possible damage to the grass, which was already vulnerable due to drought. Or perhaps he was just cross.

Old Oliver described this Monday as “a fair warm day wind south west.” What he didn’t mention was that it was summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The earth in its orbit tilted its northern hemisphere closest to the sun at around 7:30 in the morning. If Oliver knew it, he didn’t care, or just didn’t record it. He was watching the ground and planning to cut the hay.

June 20, 1852

Sunday June 20th Have been to meeting all day Mother

went this afternoon and returned home Mr Sanger

of Dover preached Since meeting have been to

Alsons with Edwin & wife & Oakes Angier.

Called at Mr Pools Was treated with strawberries

& ice cream at Alsons and with lemonade

at Mr Pools Frank went to a sing at Cohassett

Father gave me quite a lecture on cooking stoves

says we have had a dozen and we have had four

No Mr. Whitwell at church today. Instead, Rev. Ralph Sanger of the First Church of Dover led the service. Dr. Sanger was an older minister in the area, having graduated from Harvard in 1808, a year before Evelina was born. He had spent his entire ministerial life in Dover where he was well regarded. He also served several terms in the Massachusetts Legislature and was the chaplain for the Massachusetts State Senate.

After church came an afternoon of sweet sensations. Strawberries, ice cream and lemonade were served at two different homes where Evelina, Oakes Angier, and the young Gilmore couple called. The fresh fruit was a seasonal treat, and the ice cream and lemonade no doubt delightful as well.

Not all was sweet at home, however. Old Oliver got cross with his daughter-in-law and gave Evelina “quite a lecture” about her cooking stove. She was about to get a new one in her kitchen, certainly with her husband’s approval, but her father-in-law had no patience for it. He didn’t see the need to update the kitchen equipment. We might remember that Oliver had grown up watching his own mother cook over a hearth, a style of cooking that had served for generations. And here was his daughter-in-law planning to install another stove under his roof.

Even the little bit of rain that fell around sunrise didn’t cheer Old Oliver up.

June 19, 1852

A “Visite”

Sat June 19th Have been weeding in the garden and

transplanting Spent the afternoon in

Olivers with Mother Mrs Witherell & Augusta

were there awhile Finished Susans visite

quite late in the evening It has not been

much of a job to make if I could have sat

down steady

Evelina worked in her garden today, weeding and moving some of her plants around. After midday dinner, she and her mother, who was visiting, “spent the afternoon” next door “in Olivers,” meaning at Sarah Lothrop Ames’s. In citing Oliver rather than Sarah as the owner of the house, Evelina was only following the norm of the time, whose patriarchal laws prevented women from owning property. Sarah and Evelina lived in homes that belonged solely to the males in the family.

Old Oliver, Ames patriarch above all the rest, reported that “this was a fair day wind southerly + quite warm we have bought two yoke of cattle this weeke one yoke of N Warrin of Stoughton, 6 years old for $110 and one yoke of Thomas Ames 9 or 10 years old for $100.” He was probably buying cattle to help with the approaching hay harvest.

Once indoors, perhaps even after others had gone to bed, Evelina finished a mantle for her daughter Susie. Also known as a visite or paletot or pardessus, a mantel (or mantilla, as Evelina labeled it the previous day) was a three-quarter length cloak with pagoda or cape-like sleeves. It was often adorned with lace, ruching, and especially fringe, which was very big about this time. Many visites were unlined, which no doubt simplified the process of making them. That may be why Evelina thought the garment had “not been much of a job.”

June 18, 1852

June 18 Friday Have to be around with the new girl

to show her which hinders a great deal about

my sewing Mrs Holmes & Richardson came this morning

to get some plants and I worked a long while

in the garden and did not sew but very little

before dinner Abby & Miss Gurney passed

the afternoon here and carried home plants

It’s hard to tell if Hannah Murphy or Catharine Middleton, both new to the household, is “the new girl” whom Evelina accuses of hindering her sewing. After firing Jane McHanna, Evelina had to train someone new, a process for which she evidently had limited patience. She would have preferred to be working on her own projects; such was one consequence of letting Jane go.

The plus side was that Evelina had the opportunity to establish expectations and guidelines for the new servants. If she would take the time to train them, she might get excellent help around the house. She certainly hoped that the new girls would work out better than Jane had.

If the continued hot weather didn’t help her mood, at least it didn’t keep Evelina out of her flower beds. Her garden had seemed neglected of late, but the plants were growing just fine and she had many to give away. Her niece Abby Torrey and a friend, Miss Gurney, visited for a few hours and went home with a few flowers, as did Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Richardson earlier in the day.

June 17, 1852

June 17th Thursday Have cut Susan a mantilla this

morning and basted it ready to make and

have been mending some. Mother is at Mr

Torreys to day staid there last night It

is rather cooler to day and this afternoon

had a fine shower Catharine Middleton

here but she is not worth much to sew

A new servant, Catharine Middleton, was proving a disappointment to Evelina. Catharine’s sewing skills were “not worth much;” Evelina wanted someone with more ability. Evelina was hard to satisfy in the sewing arena. She was so very good at it herself that most young women of average ability would have fallen short, unable to survive the scrutiny of a woman famous for her buttonholes.

Outside the busy house, construction ran apace. Men moved stones for the new Long Shop across the street, and even closer to home, “Mr Arnold finishd sleighting the cariage hous to day.”* This new building would soon be ready to house the three or so carriages belonging to Ames family members.

The best news of all was the lowered temperature and arrival of a little rain “towards night when we had a shower of about a quarter of an inch .”* Every drop of water was needed.

June 16, 1852

Calamanco fabric

June 16th Wednesday The hottest day we have had

Julia has been here again to day have

finished Susans brilliant dress and cut

my muslin & purple cambric print and altered

the waist to green gingham and now they are

to finish when will they be done Mother has

gone to Augustus. Catharine Middleton came

about nine or ten to sew for me

gentleman from New York to dine

The mercury rose to 96 degrees, and the women stayed inside out of the heat. Even out of direct sunlight, however, the indoor air had to be stifling, so the women are to be admired for working with layers of fabric in their laps as they sewed. The ladies weren’t nearly as warm, however, as the men outside on the building lot, moving stones, or the men making shovels inside the factory. Everyone baked.

A new servant, Catherine Middleton, arrived to help with the sewing and, as she had been for the past few days, dressmaker Julia Mahoney was present to help Evelina. The women worked on several projects, including a “brilliant” dress for young Susie Ames. Brilliant was a pretty, shiny cloth, recognizable for its glazed and, often, patterned surface. It was a fabric that had been especially popular in the 18th century, but still had its admirers in the 19th.

Known by other names, including calamanco, the cloth originated in Norwich, England, a center for textiles. Its origins make us wonder if the cloth Evelina was using had been made locally, in Lowell, Mass., say, or Rhode Island, or had been imported.

June 15, 1852

Recent image of Long Shop

June 15th Tuesday Julia here and I have been sewing

some but have not had much time […] I

t’s very hot weather mother spent the

day at Edwins I called there awhile and

ripped my green gingham dress to have

it made over. had quite a heavy shower

this morning which was needed very much

Everyone agreed that this day was “verry warm” and that rain was needed.* Evelina, looking up from her sewing, reported that they had “quite a heavy shower.” Her father-in-law, however, described the rain as “a small shower in the forenoon about an eighth of an inch.” Her glass was half-full, his was half-empty when it came to considering the benefit bestowed by this particular rainfall.

Such quick rain wouldn’t have been enough to interfere with the building of the new stone shops at the factory. Workers had begun to arrive on Saturday and, surely, some initial construction was already underway. Old Oliver would have made sure of that. This first building on the new site, which was much closer to where the Ames family lived, was dubbed the Long Shop.

Industrial historian Greg Galer describes the Long Shop as “a simple, narrow, gable-roofed, two story building 525 feet long and 35 feet wide with a 60 by 50 foot ell and an additional 30 by 10 foot engine house. “** This sturdy, less flammable facility would be up and running by the end of the year, and soon include a 60 hp steam engine.

Residents of North Easton today know the Long Shop as one of several shovel factory buildings repurposed for residential use. Along with others, Mr. Galer was instrumental in the successful effort to preserve the historic character of the Long Shop as the site was developed.

* Oliver Ames, Journal, Stonehill College Archives, Arnold Tofias Collection

** Gregory Galer, Forging Ahead, 2002, p. 150

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