A Bit About Meals

Meals in the 19th Century were a bit different from what you are used to today. To begin with, people ate those meals at different times than you do.

Source: History magazine: "What Time is Dinner?" Oct/Nov 2001

By beginning of the century, the upper class was rising from bed around ten a.m. or noon, and then eating breakfast at an hour when their grandparents had eaten dinner. They ate their dinner at perhaps five or six p.m. Then came supper, sometime between nine p.m. and two a.m.! The rich, famous and fashionable did not go to bed until dawn. 

Some upper-class individuals did get up earlier, children for instance and sometimes their mothers. Ladies, tired of the long wait until dinner, had established luncheon as a regular meal by about 1810. It was a light meal, of dainty sandwiches and cakes, held at noon or one (or even later), but always between breakfast and dinner. And it was definitely a ladies' meal; when the Prince of Wales established a habit of lunching with ladies, he was ridiculed for his effeminate ways, as well as his large appetite. Real men didn't do lunch, at least not until the Victorian era.

It was not exactly what we would consider an effeminate meal, however. There are records of society ladies taking luncheon at inns in this period, drinking cider, ale and beer with their lunch, something we don't normally think of "ladies" as doing. 

Since the middle classes were still eating dinner in midday for the most part, they had no room for luncheon in their day. But that was changing. By the 1800's, the development of factories -- and then trains and streetcars -- shifted things around. People began to work further from home, and the midday meal had to become something light, whatever they could carry to work. The main meal, still usually called dinner, was pushed to the evening hours after work, when they could get home for a full meal.

So, many people in the middle and lower class began to eat dinner in the evening as the nobles and gentry did. But they did so due to the demands of the workplace, not because they were up all night at parties. And many of them retained the traditional dinner hour of noon or one on Sundays, when they were home from work. Many people still do today.

All these changes occurred first in London and took years to affect even the upper classes in the country. The further away from London one went, the greater difference there was in meal times, with rural Scotland lagging far behind, still eating dinner in the early afternoon at the end of the 1700s, when Londoners were beginning to dine at six or later. The situation paralleled that in France, where even Parisians had eaten dîner by four p.m. in the 1700s, but at five or six in the early 1800s, with souper at one or two in the morning. The rural populace, however, long persisted in eating dîner at midday and souper in early evening.

Indoor gas or oil lighting also came to many homes in the 1800s. so it was getting easier and easier to stay up in the evening. By the 1840s, dinner had been pushed back to as late as eight or nine for the wealthy, with many of them spending days shopping or working in a city, then spending hours taking the trains to their homes, that were now being built in distant suburbs. People once again grew hungry in the long interval that was now eight hours between new lunch and late dinner. And women once again led the way in mealtime inventiveness. Tea with biscuits and pastries had been popular since the 1700s as a refreshment to serve visitors. Now ladies began taking tea and snacks of light sandwiches and cakes around four or five in the afternoon, regardless of whether or not they had visitors. At first they had this snack in relative privacy, in their boudoir or private sitting room. But by the 1840s they had established afternoon tea as a regular meal in drawing rooms and parlors all over Britain.

The middle and lower classes in Britain were quick to adopt this new meal when they could. Tea came to fill the same role that had once been met by lunch, filling in long hours before a late dinner. But it never caught on in the US. In fact many of the older customs of eating persisted in the US, to the confusion of many visitors.

North Americans stayed on their farms longer too, not moving to cities and taking part in the Industrial Revolution as early as had the English. So the US retained the old mealtimes longer. In the early 1800s, upper-class Bostonians were still eating breakfast at nine a.m., dinner at two p.m., and supper at eight, earlier hours than their counterparts in London. Their two o'clock dinner was the time for entertaining guests, and showing off the silverware and fancy foods. Their supper was light and simple, for family and the most intimate friends. Luncheon as a regular daily meal only developed in the US in the 1900s.

A sample bill of fare for middle-class home meals: 1853

Source: "
Cookery As It Should Be: A New Manual of the Dining Room and Kitchen, by A Practical Housekeeper and Pupil of Mrs. Goodfellow [Philadelphia: Willis P. Hazard] 1853 (p. 310)

In the days before home freezers and rapid transit, suggested family menus were grouped by season and presented for each day. Breakfast would have been served between 8-9AM. Dinner would have been the main meal of the day, served sometime between noon and three. Tea would have been a light meal (at that time this meal was often called supper) before retiring.

Bill of Fare - Winter:

Monday.
Breakfast - Corn bread, cold bread, stew, boiled eggs.
Dinner - Soup, cold joint, calves' head, vegetables.
Dessert - Puddings, &c.
Tea. Cold bread, milk toast, stewed fruit.

Tuesday.
Breakfast - Hot cakes, cold bread, sausages, fried potatoes.
Dinner - Soup, roast turkey, cranberry sauce, boiled ham, vegetables.
Dessert - Pie &c.
Tea. Corn bread, cold bread, stewed oysters.

Wednesday.
Breakfast - Hot bread, cold bread, chops, omelet.
 Dinner - Boiled mutton, stewed liver, vegetables.
 Dessert - Pudding, &c.
Tea. Hot light bread, cold bread, fish, stewed fruit.

Thursday.
 Breakfast - Hot cakes, cold bread, sausages, fried potatoes.
 Dinner - Soup, poultry, cutlets, vegetables.
Dessert - Custards and stewed fruit.
Tea. Corn bread, cold bread, frizzled beef, stewed fruits, or soused calves' feet.

Friday.
 Breakfast - Hot bread, cold bread, chops, omelet.
Dinner - Soup, fish, roast mutton and currant jelly, vegetables.
 Dessert - Pudding, &c.
Tea. Hot light bread, cold bread, stewed fruit.

Saturday.
Breakfast - Hot bread, a nice hash, fried potatoes.
 Dinner - Soup, roast veal, steaks, oyster pie, vegetables.
Dessert - Custards.
Tea. Corn bread, cold bread, stewed oysters.

Sunday.
 Breakfast - Cold bread, croquets, omelet.
Dinner - Roast pig, apple sauce, steaks, vegetables.
 Dessert - Pie, jelly.
Tea. Cold bread, stewed fruit, light cake

SOUPS

pepper pot, pea, clam (broth and with cream), oyster, beef, veal or mutton broth (with vegetables)

BREADS

corn bread, potato bread, muffins (wheat, fruit), rusk, sally lunn

MEAT, FOWL & FISH

roasts (beef, mutton, pork), ham, turkey, venison, goose, duck, cod, halibut, shad, mackerel

MADE DISHES

meat & vegetables pies, stew, hash, veal cutlets, rare bit, beef alamode

VEGETABLES (Note: some of these would have been difficult to obtain in the early parts of the century, but by the middle 1800's, they would have been fairly common):

succotash, boiled onions (with cream sauce), spinach (with hard boiled egg slices on top), potatoes (boiled, fricasseed), corn pudding, peas (with butter), boiled cauliflower, stewed carrots.

DESSERT

fruit pies, cheesecake, puddings (these were the steamed British type, as in plum pudding), custards & creams (lemon, orange), spice cakes, sugar cookies, ice cream. NO CHOCOLATE.

BEVERAGES

hot chocolate, coffee, tea, fruit wines and cordials, ale, shrub, Madeira, rum.

Fashion in the 19th Century

Sources:

Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914, Abrams, 1996.

Bigelow, Marybelle S.: Fashion In History. Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing Company, 1979.

Laver, James: Costume and Fashion: A Concise History. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2002.

McCutcheon Marc: Everyday Life in the 1800's, Writer's Digest Books, 1993.

Payne, Blanche: History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century, Harper & Row, 1965.

Tozer, Jane, and Sarah Levitt: Fabric of Society: A Century of People and Their Clothes 1770–1870, Laura Ashley Ltd., 1983.

            A detailed description of 19th Century fashion requires far more than a short blog, but here is a general overview of the period. Before the middle of the century, most clothing was made at home, either by the wearer or a family member. 75 percent of all clothing in America was homemade at the beginning of the century. Wealthier people could afford the services of a tailor. By the middle of the period, the technical advances and the capability for mass manufacturing were making fashionable dress available to a rapidly expanding middle class. The invention of the sewing machine and the development of the ready-to-wear trade revolutionized the fashion industry.

            Since the beginning of the century, fashionable women looked to Paris for their styles, and men to London.  Styles were set in these world fashion plates. The exaggerated structure of certain dress elements was part of an effort by designers to emphasize whatever overall silhouette was popular at the moment. The hat was also incorporated into the overall design.

            Until about 1820, women's fashions were supposedly based upon the classical dress of ancient Greece. Ladies wore loose, draped, high-waisted gowns in light colors. The trend also embraced such items as neck ruffs and jeweled headbands worn across the forehead.

            Innovations in textiles also introduced new dress fabrics around this time. Rich colors such as Turkey Red were still found, but delicate floral prints on light backgrounds were increasingly popular. More precise printing eliminated the need for dark outlines on printed designs, and new green dyes appeared in patterns of grasses, ferns, and unusual florals. Combinations of florals and stripes became fashionable by the end of the decade.

            From 1800 to around 1815, men's hairstyles often featured a small tail at the back, perhaps as a holdover from the 1700's. Professional men continued to wear wigs, although the fashion was quickly dying out. A prominent style throughout the period was modeled after the busts of Roman emperors: clipped in back, with ringlets or loose curls on top, sometimes allowing locks to fall over the forehead. Women's hairstyles featured short curls waved on the forehead, with the back hair worn in a simple knot. Top knots were also worn, and hair was often ornamented with combs, fillets, tiaras, or coronets.

            During the early Victorian decades, voluminous skirts held up with crinolines, and then hoop skirts, were the focal point of the female silhouette. The waistline was tighter and at a more natural level. To enhance the style without distracting from it, hats were modest in size and design, straw and fabric bonnets being the popular choice. The bonnets grew larger until the 1830s, when the face of a woman wearing a poke bonnet could only be seen directly from the front. They had rounded brims, echoing the rounded form of the bell-shaped hoop skirts.

            1830's fashion was characterized by an emphasis on breadth, initially at the shoulder and later in the hips, in contrast to the narrower silhouettes that had predominated between 1800 and the 1820s. Heavy stiff fabrics such as brocades came back into style, and many 18th-century gowns were brought down from attics and cut up into new garments.

            Overall, both men's and women's fashion emphasized width at the shoulder above a tiny waist. Men's coats were padded in the shoulders and across the chest, while women's shoulders sloped to larger sleeves than were worn in any period before or sense. These were accompanied by elaborate hairstyles and large hats.

            From around 1815 to the 1840's, men's hair continued the Roman emperor look, with short back hair and loose curls in front. Luxuriant, full hair was often brushed forward or parted slightly to one side. Small moustaches and sideburns appeared, but many men were still clean-shaven. Women's hairstyles featured smooth hair over the forehead, frequently parted in the middle, with ringlets, puffs, or loops at the sides fashionable until about 1820. Hair was pilled progressively higher in the back from then on, culminating in a style termed "a la giraffe." Curls and ringlets remained popular throughout this period.

            Bonnets with wide semicircular brims framed the fashionable woman's face for street wear, and were heavily decorated with trim, ribbons, and feathers. Married women wore a linen or cotton cap for daywear, trimmed with lace, ribbon, and frills, and tied under the chin. The cap was worn alone indoors and under the bonnet for street wear. For evening wear, hair ornaments including combs, ribbons, flowers, and jewels were worn. Other fashion choices even included a turban!

            In the 1840's and 1850's women's gowns developed narrow and sloping shoulders, low and pointed waists, and bell-shaped skirts. Corsets, an ankle-length chemise-like skirt, and layers of flounced petticoats were worn under the gowns.  Sleeves were narrower and fullness dropped from just below the shoulder at the beginning of the decade to the lower arm, leading toward the flared pagoda sleeves of the 1850's and 1869's.

            Evening gowns were worn off the shoulder and featured wide flounces that reached to the elbow, often of lace. They were worn with sheer shawls and opera-length gloves. Another accessory was a small bag. At home, bags were often white satin and embroidered or painted. Outdoor bags were often green or white and tasseled. Some women carried crocheted linen bags. Shoes were made from the same materials as handbags. There were slippers of crocheted linen and bright colored brocade satin slippers that tied around the ankle with silk ribbon.

            Men wore tight-fitting, calf length frock coats and a vest or waistcoat. The lowered waistline took on a decided point at the front waist, which was accompanied by a full rounded chest. For more formal occasions, a cutaway morning coat was worn with light trousers during the daytime, and a dark tail coat and trousers was worn in the evening. The shirts were made of linen or cotton with low collars, occasionally turned down, and worn with wide cravats or neck ties. Trousers had fly fronts, and breeches were used for formal functions and when horseback riding. Men wore top hats with wide brims in sunny weather. During the 1850's men started wearing shirts with high upstanding or turnover collars and four-in-hand neckties tied in a bow, or tied in a knot with the pointed ends sticking out like "wings". The upper-class continued to wear top hats, and bowler hats were worn by the working class.

            From 1840 to about 1865, men wore full, curly hair in a crest. Hair could be brushed back, or brushed forward to form a curving front lock or cowlick. Side and middle parts were common. Unruly hair was oiled down and made to shine with perfumed macassar oil (rural or backwoodsmen often used animal grease for this purpose). Sideburns became progressively longer and bushier from the 1840's through the 1860's. Full beards and clipped chin beards without moustaches were in vogue, as were spade beards and Imperials with or without moustaches. Women's styles featured smaller topknots moved to the back of the head. Large coils of hair were draped at the nape of the neck, sometimes held back by black or colored silk nets, which were popular from the 1850's on. The front of the hair was often parted in the middle and pulled smooth over the temples, while puffs, ringlets, or coils were worn over the ears. Women's hair was frequently ornamented with jeweled bands, combs, flowers, foliage, and strings of pearls.

            In the 1860's women's skirts became flatter at the front and projected out more behind the woman. Day dresses had wide pagoda sleeves and high necklines with lace or tatted collars. Evening dresses had low necklines and short sleeves, and were worn with short gloves or fingerless lace or crocheted mitts. Uncorsetted tea gowns were introduced for informal entertaining at home, and grew steadily in popularity.

            Skirts were now assembled of shaped panels, since gathering a straight length of fabric could not provide the width required at the hem without unwanted bulk at the waist. Heavy silks in solid colors became fashionable for both day and evening wear, and a skirt might be made with two different bodices, one long-sleeved and high necked for afternoon wear and one short-sleeved and low-necked for evening

            Men started wearing wider neckties that were tied in a bow or looped into a loose knot and fastened with a stickpin. Frock coats were shortened to knee-length and were worn for business, while the mid-thigh length sack coat slowly displaced the frock coat for less-formal occasions. The three piece "ditto suit" of sack coat, waistcoat, and trousers in the same fabric emerged as a novelty. Top hats briefly became the very tall "stovepipe" shape, but a variety of other hat shapes were popular.

            From 1865 to 1890, men's hairstyles included side and middle parts with shorter hair than in the previous period. The parts extended all the way from the front of the head to the nape of the neck during the 18790's, but only to the crown during the 1880's. Pompadours were worn by some men. Muttonchops and beards under the chin came into vogue. Moustaches were frequently worn with beards during the 1880's, but a long, drooping moustache without a beard was also popular at this time. Clean-shaven faces didn't start a comeback until around 1889. Women's styles included a bun or chignon moved up on the head, with front hair carried back without parts. In the 1870s, hair in the back was allowed to cascade down long and full, sometimes in ringlets or huge loops. Pompadours were worn at the end of the 1880's. Hair ornaments were popular throughout the period.

            In 1865, hat-maker John B. Stetson invented the Boss of the Plains hat. It gained immediate success among American cowboys and settlers, due to its practicality. It had a vaguely round ribbon-lined crown and a wide brim, originally straight but soon becoming stylized into the iconic rim of the typical cowboy hat. Its dense felt could be rugged enough to carry water.

            The fashionable silhouette changed once again as the Victorian era drew to a close. The shape was essentially an inverted triangle, with a wide-brimmed hat on top, a full upper body with puffed sleeves, no bustle, and a skirt that narrowed at the ankles. The enormous wide-brimmed hats were covered with elaborate creations of silk flowers, ribbons, and above all, exotic plumes; hats sometimes included entire exotic birds that had been stuffed.

            In the 1870s, the stylish female discarded the hoop skirt for a slimmer style. The dresses were extremely tight around the corseted torso and the waist and upper legs. The crinoline was replaced by elaborately draped overskirts held in place by a bustle in the rear -- even for "seaside dresses" or bathing suits. To emphasize the volume in the bustle, women's hats shrank in size. Small hats were perched towards the front of the head, over the forehead. To complement the small hat, women wore their hair in elaborate curls.

            Morning dresses had high necklines that were either closed, squared, or V-shaped, with narrow sleeves. Women often draped overskirts to produce an apron-like effect from the front. Evening gowns had low necklines and were worn with short or mid-length gloves. Other characteristic fashions included a velvet ribbon tied high around the neck and trailing behind for evening.

            Three-piece suits grew in popularity among men, along with patterned fabrics for shirts. Neckties were the four-in-hand and, later, the Ascot ties. A narrow ribbon tie was an alternative for tropical climates, especially in the Americas. Both frock coats and sack coats became shorter. Top hats remained a requirement for upper class formal wear; bowlers and soft felt hats in a variety of shapes were worn for more causal occasions. Flat straw boaters were worn when boating. Formal evening dress remained a dark tail coat and trousers, but the coat was now fastened lower on the chest and had wider lapels. A new fashion was a dark rather than white waistcoat, worn with a white bow tie and a shirt with the new winged collar.

            In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis began to sell the original copper-riveted blue jeans in San Francisco. These were only popular with the local miners, who needed strong clothing with durable pockets.

            In the 1880's, the long lean line of women's fashion was replaced by a full, curvy silhouette with gradually widening shoulders. Emphasis remained on the back of the skirt, with fullness gradually rising from behind the knees to just below the waist. Stylish waists were low and tiny below a full, low bust supported by a corset. In 1881, the Rational Dress Society was founded in reaction to the extremes of corsetry.

            Skirts were looped, draped, or tied up in various ways and worn over matching or contrasting underskirts. Evening gowns were sleeveless and low-necked (except for matrons), and worn with long gloves of fine kid, leather, or suede. Choker necklaces and jeweled collars were fashionable, as were high, banded collars. Women's riding habits had a matching jacket and skirt (without a bustle), a high-collared shirt or chemisette, and a top hat with a veil. Hunting costumes had draped ankle-length skirts worn with boots or gaiters. Clothing worn when out walking had a long jacket and skirt, worn with the bustle, and a small hat or bonnet. Travelers wore long coats like dusters.

            Formal evening dress among men remained a dark tail coat and trousers with a dark waistcoat, a white bow tie, and a shirt with a winged collar. In mid-decade, the dinner jacket or tuxedo, was used in more relaxed formal occasions. The Norfolk jacket and tweed or woolen breeches were used for rugged outdoor pursuits such as shooting. Knee-length topcoats, often with contrasting velvet or fur collars, and calf-length overcoats were worn in winter. Men's shoes had higher heels and a narrow toe.

            In the 1890's, women's fashion became simpler and less extravagant; both bustles and crinoline fell out of use and dresses were not as tight as before. The overall silhouette was long, lean, and athletic. Corsets were still used but became slightly longer, giving women a slight S-curve silhouette. Skirts took on a trumpet shape, fitting closely over the hip with a wasp-waist cut and flaring just above the knee. High necks and puffed sleeves became popular. Sportswear for women, such as bicycling dresses, tennis dresses, and swimwear became popular.

            The men's blazer was introduced, and was worn for sports, sailing, and other casual activities. The three piece "ditto suit" of sack coat with matching waistcoat and trousers continued as an alternative to the contrasting frock coat, waistcoat and trouser combination. Full-length trousers were worn for most occasions; tweed or woolen breeches were worn for hunting and other outdoor pursuits. Shirt collars were turned over or pressed into "wings," and dress shirts had stiff fronts, sometimes decorated with shirt studs and buttoned up the back. The necktie was usually the four-in-hand or Ascot tie. Shoes had higher heels and a narrow toe.

            From 1890 to 1900, men's hairstyles were parted in the middle or slightly left of center. The clean-shaven look was in vogue, as were little moustaches waxed and turned up at the ends. Older men wore drooping "walrus" moustaches. Some sideburns, muttonchops, and pointed chin beards could still be seen. Women's hairstyles featured a "psyche knot" - hair pulled back from the forehead and knotted on the top. Small coiffures, pompadours, and French twists were also worn. Hair ornaments remained popular.

Saloon Fare

Source: Saloons of the Old West, Richard Erdoes [Alfred A. Knopf: New York] 1979 (p. 110-114)

            Think there's no such thing as a free lunch? You'd be wrong. Salty snacks, fancy European preserved meats & other gustatory enticements featured regularly in 19th American saloons -- free (up to a point).

            Why? Because hungry men need food and thirsty men drink. Simple as that. A man chose a saloon for what was offered in addition to the alcohol. Some saloons provided hard-to-find newspapers for their patrons. Most served some sort of free, or nearly free, meal.

            What was served?
 "After Prohibition had killed the saloons, old timers waxed lyrical describing the free lunches of the grand old palaces, or rather the gourmet buffet dinners of tiny, savoury meatballs, French Gruyere cheese, hickory-cured ham, and other dainties." Narrow, twenty-foot-long tables in these establishments would be covered with "spotless white linen and plates of delicacies to please the most discerning tastes."

            The more plain saloon would serve cold cuts, or yellow cheese; beans, stalks of celery -- whatever was easy to procure and inexpensive to serve. Above all, the free lunch featured salted food: pretzels, rye bread, smoked herring, salted peanuts, potato chips, and dill pickles. The theory behind all this, and it was a good theory, was that a couple of shot glasses or steins produced appetite -- and the salty goodies, in turn, produced a mighty thirst. The chain-reaction process of drinking and nibbling, nibbling and drinking could to on for hours, during which the customers spent a lot on booze.  

            Free lunches varied, of course. If the barkeep was German, there might be slices of blutwurst, zervelatwurst, and landjaegers to tempt the patrons. Italian saloon owners might serve calzone and pepperoni, though seldom west of the Mississippi. Two places in Chicago gave away thick, creamy pies to old customers. In the Southwest the faithful helped themselves from a bowl of chili con carne, or nibbled on nachos -- small, salty squares of crisp tortillas covered with frijoles and melted cheese...

            Some bars had their daily free lunch specialties -- franks on Monday, roast beef on Saturday, baked fish on Friday, and so on. And some saloons were more generous than others. Many advertised, 'A fried oyster, a clam, or a hard-boiled egg with every drink'

            The word "lunch" should not be take literally. It blended imperceptibly into free breakfast and free dinner. The same salted goods waited patiently on their fly-speckled plates morning, noon, and night. But the free lunch posed problems for many bartenders. The institution rested on the honor system. Supposedly no creature walking on two legs would be so low as to approach the free lunch table without having first consumed, and paid for, at least two drinks. "But there were many human skunks -- sad to say, great numbers of them -- who were not honorable."

            Teddy Blue, a Montana cowboy during the 1880s when the cattle trade flourished, wrote: 'talking about food, do you know what was the first thing a cowpuncher ordered to eat when he got to town? Oysters and celery. And eggs. Those things were what he didn't get and what he was crazy for.'

            In Wyatt Earp's and Doc Holliday's Tombstone, the Occidental Saloon served a Sunday dinner to tickle "Doc's" fashionable palate:

Soups

Chicken Giblet and Consumme, with Egg

Fish

Columbia River Salmon, au Beurre Noir

Relieves

Filet a Boeuf, a la Financier

Leg of Lamb, Sauce, Oysters

Cold Meats

Loin of Beef, Loin of Ham, Loin of Pork, Westphalia Ham, Corned Beef, Imported Lunches

Boiled Meats

Leg of Mutton, Ribs of Beef, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Russian River Bacon

Entrees

Pinons a Poulett, aux Champignons

Cream Fricasse of Chicken, Asparagus Points,br> Lapine Domestique, a la Matire d'Hote

Casserole d'Ritz aux Oeufs, a la Chinoise

Ducks of Mutton, Braze, with Chipoluta Ragout

California Fresh Peach, a la Conde

Roasts

Loin of Beef, Loin of Mutton, Leg of Pork

Apple Sauce, Suckling Pig, with Jelly, Chicken Stuffed Veal

Pastry

Peach, Apple, Plum, and Custard Pies

English Plum Pudding, Hard Sauce, Lemon Flavor

And we will have it or perish.
This dinner will be served for 50 cents.

            "In 1865, a Chicago restaurateur was still able to offer wild boar's steak, boned wild turkey, patties of quail, aged bear's paws in burgundy sauce, ragout de coon, and squirrel pie. While frontiersmen heartily approved of this fare, foreigners often complained that, in the absence of ice, the meat generally was in an advanced stage of decomposition, its taste disguised with hot sauces and pepper. Customers suffered...Englishmen and Frenchmen bemoaned the lack of fresh food. Coffee, to the foreigners' disgust, was often a brew made of brown bread, acorns, dandelion roots, barley, and snuff...From 1860 on, food in the out-of-the-way places became somewhat standardized. For breakfast a tin cup and plate were filled with coffee, "sowbelly," bread, and syrup. Lunch, and dinner again, consisted of bread and steak, the steaks being generally overcooked and hard as stone...Lamb fries and Rocky Mountain oysters...slightly shirred in the pan, or roasted in the ashes of a campfire until they "popped," were considered a delicacy. Rattlesnake meat was fancied by some and said to taste like the white meat of chicken. Dried, pale beans known as Arizona strawberries were the only vegetable besides corn and squash in certain areas of the Southwest...Some people said that western saloon food was confined to the "Basic Four B's'--sourdough biscuits, beans, beef, and bacon ("overland trout" in cowboyese). Wild onions were sometimes served as a side dish "against scurvy." The chief complaint of travelers was the scarcity of vegetables...Coffee was the universal drink..."

from "The Restaurants of San Francisco," Charles S. Greene, Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, December 1892 (p. 8+):

            "The cheapest places for men are supposed to be the so-called free lunches, though this is probably a mistake; for these free lunches are attached to bars, and it is expected that their guests shall patronize the bar sufficiently to pay all favors they get in the way of free food. In the cheapest of these places a glass of beer at five cents entitles a man to help himself to sundry pretzels, crackers, bits of cheese and sausage, and a salt pickle or a radish: a repast intended to provoke thirst rather than to satisfy hunger.

            A few places give crab salad, also bouillon or clam chowder. In most of the 'bit' saloons, the fifteen cents paid for a single drink or the twenty-five cents, 'two bits.' paid if you had a companion, gives free access to a counter supplied with a considerable display of eatables in addition to those mentioned. Cold roast beef, corned beef, sardines, olives, sandwiches of various kinds, bread and butter, clams, clam-juice, bouillon, and similar viands. To these you help yourself, and eat standing.

            At the various hotel bars and saloons of pretension a drink is 25 cents, and at these a regular meal is served to patrons sitting at tables; soup, fish, entree, roast, and dessert. But the trail of the serpent of all over these places. They do much to promote drinking habits. True, the drink ordered may be only one glass of lemonade, mineral water, or ginger ale, strictly non-alcoholic, and not even the barkeepers will sneer at you, unless he suspects you of doing it as a regular thing. Nevertheless the tendency is not to be content with such simple drinks, and that best there is the patronage and countenance given an unholy business."

The General Store

Today's stores offer a great variety of merchandise for the convenience of their customers, but in the 1800's, merchants simply sold the items they could obtain and resell. These general stores, mercantiles, or emporiums, served rural populations of small towns and villages, and the farmers and ranchers in the surrounding areas. They offered a place where people could find food and necessities that would have otherwise been difficult to obtain.

In addition to merchandise, a general store offered a meeting place for isolated people to socialize and do business. Many stores also doubled as a post office.

During the first part of the century, these stores stocked necessities, but as the economy prospered after the Civil War, more and more luxury items found their way onto the shelves. The storekeepers purchased merchandise from "drummers" (salesmen) who represented large wholesale houses and manufacturers located in larger cities and seaside ports.

At first, only locally produced perishable goods were sold in the general store; but with the expansion of the railroads, the advent of mass production, and technological advances such as the refrigerated boxcar, the local shopkeeper could display goods from all over the country.

What was a general store like in the 19th Century? Certainly not anything approaching the modern grocery or department store. Most stores had at least one large display window, but inside they were still dark and gloomy -- and depending on their geographical location, probably damp and humid to boot. Most were crowded with shelving along every wall. The floors were also crammed with boxes, barrels, crates, and tables holding goods.

The front counter held display cases for smaller items, as well as needed machinery such as a coffee grinder, scales for weighing merchandise, and a cash register. Surplus merchandise was stored in the cellar or basement, or possibly on the second floor (if that was not the living quarters of the grocer's family).

Most of the items to be found in a general store would be familiar to us today. Food and consumables included coffee beans, spices, baking powder, oatmeal, flour, sugar, tropical fruit, hard candy, eggs, milk, butter, fruit and vegetables, honey and molasses, crackers, cheese, syrup and dried beans, cigars and tobacco.

The apothecary section of the store, as in a modern grocery or department store, was well represented with a large number of patent medicines, remedies, soaps and toiletries and elixirs. The major difference between many of these items and modern ones is that none of them were tested to see if they actually worked! Most patent remedies of the era were alcohol based, which explained their popularity in many cases.

The dry goods section of the store included bolts of cloth, pins and needles, thread, ribbon, silk, buttons, collars, undergarments, suspenders, dungarees, hats and shoes. Essential items such as rifles, pistols, ammunition, lanterns, lamps, rope, crockery, pots and pans, cooking utensils and dishes, farm and milking equipment and sometimes even coffins could be found inside a general mercantile!

The average store would have been considered none too clean from modern standards. The roads outside were unpaved and unwashed; the dirt tracked in by customers would have included animal waste (and possibly human if someone had emptied their chamber pot into one of the streets). The cast iron stove heating the store during cold weather produced soot which settled over much of the merchandise. And it was not unheard of to discover rodents foraging about inside the store.

When money was scarce, the shopkeeper might extend credit to a regular customer, or accept payment in kind (bartering).

Here are a couple of price lists I located online, detailing the actual cost of some of the staples a family might need.

San Antonio, Texas,1853


Pork, 11 cents/lb


Bacon, 12 1/2-15 cents/lb


Salt beef, 8 1/2-9 cents/lb


Fresh beef, 4 1/2-5 cents/lb


Flour, 4 /14 cents (superfine)-5 cents (extra fine)/lb


Hard bread, 9-10 cents/lb


Beans, 10 1/2cents/quart


Rice, 8-10 cents/lb


Coffee, 12 1/2 (Rio) to 18 (Java) cents/lb


Sugar, 7 1/2-8 cents for "Louisiana brown"/lb


Vinegar, 6 1/4 cents/quart"


Source: The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, October 1947

Madison, Wisconsin,1861


Grains "
During the last week bushels of little wheat has come in and prices have ranged a cent or two lower They are now quoted at 63@65 cents. In our next we expect to be able to quote higher prices, as the foreign demand is disclosing an urgentness that must have a stimulating effect on the American grain markets."

Wheat, 63-65 cents (per cwt, 100 pounds)


Rye, 40-45 cents


Oats, 16-20 cents


Barley, 40-45 cents

Indian corn, shelled, 30-35 cents


Indian corn in cobb, 20-25 cents


Flour and meal (per cwt, 100 pounds)


Wheat flour, 2.25-2.50


Rye flour, 2.25


Corn meal, 1.50-2.00


Bran & shorts, 60 cents


Family markets


Eggs, 16-18 cents/dozen


Butter, 16-18 cents/lb


Green apples, 2.00-3.25/barrel


Potatoes, 18-23 cents/bush(el)


Lard, 12 cents/lb


Common salt, 2.20/bbl (bushel barrel)

Hams, 12-14 cents/lb

Cheese, 12-14 cents/lb


Codfish, 5-6 cents/lb


Whitefish, 3.20/half barrel


Table salt, 20-25 cents/sack


Brown sugar, 7-9 cents/lb


White sugar, 10-14 cents/lb


Coffee, 15-20 cents/lb


Tea, 50-75 cents/lb

Molasses, 40-50 cents/gallon


Vinegar (cider), 25 cents/gallon

Dried apples, 9 cents/lb

Dried peaches, 20 cents/lb

Cranberries, 12 cents/quart


Hubbard squash, 1.00/cwt

Raisins, 12-20 cents/lb


Honey, 25 cents/lb


Lemons, 2-3 cents/each


Sweet potatoes, 2.00/bushel


Squashes, 2-3 cents/each


Lake Michigan trout, 8 cents/lb


Currants, 12 cents/lb


Meat (per cwt, 100 pounds)


Lambs, 2-2.35/cwt


Beef, 2.50-3.00/cwt (live weight)

Hobs, 5.50-6.00/cwt


Veal calves, six weeks old, 3.00/cwt


Source: Weekly Wisconsin Patriot, February 9, 1861

Old Newspapers: Thoughts and Gleanings

Old newspapers are gold-mines of information for the writer and history buff. You can find copies of many popular newspapers and magazines from the 19th century online now, and most will allow you unlimited browsing for only a small yearly fee. Larger newspapers such as the New York Times require a subscription, which may or may not be worth the expense to you. Your local library may also have browsing access to some of these online morgues, so it's worth a trip down to check.

There are even history buffs who collect old newspapers. You may think that a paper from hundreds of years ago would be quite rare and expensive, but there are actually millions of them that have been preserved, and only a few collectors. If you have a particular newspaper in mind, you can probably pick up a copy for as little as $25 or even less in some cases. Newspapers with articles about important historical events are the most expensive: some of those will run into the hundreds of dollars. If you just want a bit of local color, though, you could easily locate a newspaper from the right era and area.

Here are just a few of the interesting facts I've run across in my online research.

Late 18th-century newspapers regularly advertised horses, cows, hogs and other animals that were lost, found and stolen. Owners try to sell their livestock, too, by spinning irresistible pitches: "No horse in the state makes a more elegant appearance, nor held in higher esteem for his colts," the owner of 17-hand-high Eclipse says. "He is perhaps superior in strength and speed to any horse on the continent."

The Sabbath was widely observed -- and broken -- in 19th-century York County. James Hooper, 10, falls between the logs of a raft and drowns as he fishes in a swollen Kreutz Creek one Sunday. A newspaper offers no sympathy: "This is another warning to Sabbath-breakers boys."

Littering was a problem in the old days, too, and it carried a stiffer fine than today. Hanover officials in the 19th century draft one such ordinance: "That if any one person or persons, shall put or leave any kind of nauseous unwholesome Stuff longer than is absolutely necessary to remove it out, shall pay a fine at the discretion of the Burgess not to exceed sixty dollars."

A newspaper recipe to convert snow to something useful: "Take 1 pound of hard soap and dissolve over slow fire. Add six to eight pounds of clean snow. Boil ingredients for three hours or until lather shows on the surface. Add a wine glass of salt and let cool. The new soap will weigh as much as the snow originally used."

Bake sales, bazaars, rummage sales and other fund-raising events aren't new to 20th-century churches. In the 1860s, the African Methodist congregation on North Duke Street sponsors a fair starting on a Monday and continuing day and night throughout the week. The fair features the sale of some "fancy" articles and refreshments. Cost of admission: 10 cents.

"Don Pedro's baile ball, under the new title of the 'Music Saloon,' is open every night in the interest of Terpsichore. The music is kept playing to attract custom, and, if we are not mistaken in our recollection, it has a strong tendency towards a New York 'Concert Saloon.'"

The "Lost and Found" column has remained the same throughout the years. Someone traveling along the banks of the Codorus Creek happened upon a book titled "The Dying" with some surprising content inside: $400. The traveler apparently was honest because The York Gazette ran a "found" notice. The book proved to be more valuable than the money, however. Sometime later, the newspaper published a notice saying the $400 was counterfeit.

A Shrewsbury-area farmer named visited Baltimore one day with a fine team of horses and a covered wagon containing more than 1,000 pounds of flour. He left his team in the street to visit a pub, and when he came out, his team and wagon were gone. He contacted the police, who telegraphed other stations. Later that day, officers discovered the wagon. The horses were walking up the street without a driver. Nothing was lost. "The owner will doubtless profit by this piece of experience," a newspaper reported.

"We saw an interesting race the other afternoon. The man who held the lead carried a leg of mutton and the one behind a strip of inch-plank. The pursuer gained rapidly on the leg of mutton (it turned out afterwards that that was what he was chasing) and soon over-took it. The runners faced each other and without a word began the battle. It was a very comical contest. One swung the stick and the other the leg of mutton, while both were blowing furiously from the long race they had had. We laughed when the leg of mutton got in on the cheek of the other with a loud slap, and counted the first knock down. The plank finally proved too much for the sheep leg, and the battle closed with the surrender of the latter to the wielder of the former. The two men then parted apparently satisfied."

"The greatest novelty of the season. The most singular and beautiful spectacle. A grand lantern fete will be given at the Palace Gardens. When the entire spacious area of the grounds will be brilliantly lighted. All the trees will be illuminated. Thousands of beautiful lanterns and hundreds of pyrotechnic torches will be brought into requisition in rendering this the great night of the season. The citizens of New York have never yet beheld so gorgeous and wonderful a scene as will be presented on this occasion. A grand concert and superb fireworks will be added to the extraordinary attractions of the evening. Admittance, as on ordinary occasions, 25 cents."

John Walker, a Warrington Meeting gravedigger, kept detailed entries in his account book. He charges Joseph Walker 50 cents for digging a grave for his child. He receives $1.50 for digging the grave of William Morthland, who "got killed," and $2 for digging a square grave for Dr. Cook's mother-in-law. The square grave says a good bit about the mother-in-law's figure.

If you're looking for facts to spice up your story, or just browsing through the past, a newspaper is a wonderful place to start.