Fresh and Fashionable Goods

Here's one for our friends @NoahWebHouse Noah Webster's introduction of standardized spelling came too late for the writers of these daybooks, but they were certainly popular for shoppers. The volumes listed here are likely parts of A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, a three-volume compendium. According to the Noah Webster House, "For over 100 years, Webster’s book taught children to read, spell and pronounce words. It was the most popular American book of its time, selling nearly 100 million copies."

These 1793 entries show that Bateman S. Dickinson (A 1791 newspaper advertisement for his book-binding business lists his name as Bateman S. Dickerson.) was employed to bind daybooks for the Boardmans and account books for others. For the daybooks, the paper came from Daniel Boardman on 13 Jun 1793. The same day, it was delivered to Dickinson, or Dickerson. It seems that six quires of paper were used for each book.

A few months later on 19 Sept 1793 Joseph Peet was charged for six quires of paper to make an account book.

Here's another letter written by Sarah Hall Benham Boardman to her sister-in-law Cornelia. This one is dated October 18, 1857 from New York where it seems Sarah came to visit, do some shopping, and attend a religious conference. What must have been an improvement over earlier trips is that she was planning to return home via train.

She tells Cornelia that Mary's hat arrived, and said "It is nicely made, the only objection is, I fear it fleeces to much to suit her but it is in the fashion, that is going to be worn, no doubt, this winter." Some things never change- it doesn't matter if you like it, just if it's in fashion!

Exhibit research for a show on the Ohio Western Reserve brings me back to the Boardman papers. I'm working to describe the correspondence of members of the family who managed land interests in Ohio, Henry Mason Boardman and his wife, Sarah Hall Benham Boardman.

This letter, written by Sarah to her sister-in-law Cornelia Boardman, concerns their son Elijah George Boardman who was apparently engaging in some less than acceptable behavior back in Connecticut where he was a student at Yale College in 1848. She writes, "What you say with regards to his conduct shocks me. I had never supposed but what that was good, he certainly stood fair at College Point- and I thought he was a conscientious good boy and there was not much danger of his being led astray." She goes on to encourage Cornelia to persuade him to join the temperance society, and later notes, "This letter my dear sister is intended for yours eyes alone, I venture to say some things to you that I would to no one else"

In this missive to her sister Caroline, Cornelia describes a visit to Eliza Schroeder Albert in Baltimore, MD. Eliza is the sister of Caroline’s husband, John Frederick Schroeder. She writes, “The girls are very well, & very happy_ & it is a great pleasure to Eliza to have them here_ poor thing, she has little pleasure, it is indeed a severe bondage, constant confinement_ Mr. Albert says very little, never goes in the parlor, & she has to stay in the breakfast room and read to him_ Never goes out except in the morning when he is out, & we are in the parlor. In the eve, she cannot be with us_ It is a great mistake on her part to indulge him so but she will not I fear alter it now, he gets vexed so easily_ & blames her for every thing_ even if she does not make up the fire, when he is laying down in the breakfast room, he was vexed that she stayed in the parlor a few moments after he said the fire went down, & he got cold_ A man with $80,000 a year, expects his wife to make fires, if he had me in her place he would soon learn the difference. Do not show this to Mr. S. or tell him, as perhaps Eliza would not like it.” 

We will get to that in a minute. First, the funeral. The condition of this letter is obviously poor. The middle section is incredibly difficult to read, but I made out as much as I could. Cornelia writes her sister Cornelia that their uncle William Whiting (brother to their mother Mary Anna Whiting Boardman) has died. William moved to New Milford a few years earlier following the death of his wife, while much of the Whiting family remained in Great Barrington. Cornelia describes the difficulty of making decisions and how no one could come to assist her. She wrote, 

“...every care & discretion rested upon me it was so new a situation for me to have such care that I did not know how to get along_I hoped all the time each day that Wm [their brother William W. Boardman] would come, but after he got to New Haven he was too much unwell & could not come at all, that made me feel much worse, I sent up for one of them to come from Barrington, & fortunately I did, or Emma [their cousin and niece to William Whiting] & I should have been obliged to go alone with the remains of Uncle Wm ” 

Cornelia also provided a detailed description of the coffin, “Frederick Boardman went to Bridgeport & brought up a very handsome coffin & box, the coffin was lined with white satin, with a handsome silver plate with his full name, date of his death, & age on it. The whole cost $26″ A quick check of an inflation calendar shows that to be about $868.49 today, though I am doubtful it would buy the same.

After giving details about the funerals, then providing financial receipts for William’s estate and their mother’s, Cornelia turned to the subject of Frederick Whiting’s upcoming nuptials, writing, 

“Cousin Fred Whiting is to be married to Miss Maria Hills of Barrington (formerly Hillsdale) in a few weeks, will bring his bride here & pay you a visit in New York they say she is very smart, a fine girl, quite a fortune, & plays well on the piano, Fred deserves a good wife, & I hope will find her such “ 

Fred was the son of their cousin Theodore Whiting. 

Another mysterious letter from Cornelia to her sister Caroline. This particular snippet reads, “ Mr. Rogers, the rich man who married Harriet Ruggles, cut his throat the other day, & so ended a drunkard's life. Suppose he has left her a rich widow_ which I should like better than being a drunkards wife_ "

After some investigation, I found that Oliver Ruggles, a cousin of Elijah Boardman, lived in NY and Philadelphia. He had three children, one of whom was named Harriet. She married William E. Rogers and had three children, one of whom had the same name as her husband. Her son William married the daughter of Hamilton Fish, so while I can find information about him, I haven’t found anything about the father other than that they lived in Pennsylvania and that he was a lawyer. 

The listed birthdate for the son is April 1846, so it’s possible that his father died prior to his birth, as the letter is dated December 20, 1845. 

Remember Cornelia’s cousin Orinda? The one who married the homeopathic physician prone to exaggeration? She’s back! In this letter to her sister Caroline, Cornelia tells that Orinda came for a surprise visit as she was set to leave the following week for Europe on The Great Western. According to Wikipedia, it was “the first steamship purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic, and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1837 to 1839.” Hopefully we’ll find a letter or two from Orinda telling us how the journey went.

In this letter to her sister Caroline, Cornelia Boardman describes how William (possibly their brother) instructs dealing with ear discharge. It’s unclear whose ear discharge, but possibly their mother’s as she was known to have ear trouble. The treatment given was dependent upon the consistency of the discharge!

In a 1848 letter to her brother William Whiting Boardman, Cornelia tells of her mother’s illness and the doctor’s prescription. First, in describing her breakfast she tells William, “She took the soft part of firm oysters for her breakfast and seems very bright.” She then tells him, “The doctor has ordered a new anodyne for her, Mc Munn’s Elixer of Opium, It is so highly spoken of, I am only sorry she did not have it sooner as it has all the good qualities and none of the bad of common anodynes she took a small quantity of it last night.” It was a well known item, and readily available. The East Lyme Historical Society has an interesting article about it. Sadly, Mary Anna would die on the 24th of June 1848, a few weeks after this letter was written.

Following the news about their mother, Cornelia tells William, “The colored people had a fine celebration yesterday made quite a display & appeared very well, had a speaker from Troy.” I have had no luck figuring out what they were celebrating yet. 

Cornelia E. Boardman wrote a great deal of gossip about her cousin, her cousin’s husband, and their two daughters. Federal Vanderburgh was a well respected physician who married Esther Orinda Boardman, daughter of Cornelia’s Uncle Homer. The Vanderburgh’s daughters were apparently fond of a frivolous lifestyle of parties and balls. Following her description of their behavior, Cornelia told of a story “Dr. Van” relayed to her. “Dr. Van told dreadfull stories about Mrs. Dr. Taylor when he came back. Said there was no hope of her living hat she raised a pint of bloody matter a day from her lungs. I hoped it was one of his big stories.”

Although it sounds as if Dr. Vanderburgh was prone to exaggeration, he is credited with Mrs. Dr. Taylor’s recovery. Interestingly, several sources indicate this happened in 1837, although this letter is clearly written the following year. Dr. Taylor is credited as being the first homeopathic physician in Connecticut. The Memorial History of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 by James Hammond Trumbull, 1886 notes: “The first homeopathic physician to settle in Hartford County was Dr. Gustavus M. Taft who came to Hartford in 1842. He was not, however the first practitioner in the State, for in 1837 Dr George Taylor, of New Milford, who had been for many years an adherent of the old school, was converted to homeopathy by Dr. Frederick Vanderburgh, of New York, who, while on a visit at New Milford, restored Dr. Taylor’s wife to health when hope of her recovery had almost been abandoned.”

On January 15, 1834 Cornelia E. Boardman wrote to her mother Mary Anna Whiting Boardman from New York. She said, “William came in town the day before yesterday, & will stay till next week, he is delighted with Uncles portrait, & almost fight which shall have it, but I insist on it, it is taken for me, however as we shall neither of us have a house to put it in very soon, we won’t quarrel. He is to go to Mrs. Parsons with us tonight, & if he will only fall in love with the widow he may perhaps beat me.” 

A quick search of the Catalog of American Portraits reveals that a portrait of David Sherman Boardman, Cornelia and William’s uncle, was made in 1833 and is currently in the collection of the New Milford Historical Society.

Cornelia E. Boardman wrote this letter to her mother, Mary Anna Whiting Boardman, from New York in 1832. She was visiting her sister Caroline Boardman Schroeder just before Thanksgiving, and wrote, “Mr. Haight has been with us today at dinner, he asked me to go to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with you, go up on Wednesday and return on Friday, I should indeed have been delighted to accept his invitation particularly as my friend Lavinia was to be invited, but I do not like travelling with young gentlemen as it may cause remarks, so declined.” 

“We went Tuesday to the exhibition of print and flowers at Niblos, they were indeed bountiful, and they allowed the ladies to ‘feast their eyes and not their appetites’“ 

Having never heard of Niblos, I did a quick search. I came across an interesting podcast that describes it as a “pleasure garden.” This site indicates that Niblo’s garden hosted P.T. Barnum’s first exhibition in 1835.