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Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 14 Volume IV, Issue III May 15, 2001 Clothing of Early Days Note: This information was taken from Chapter 13 of LaVerna Burnett Newey’s book, “Remember My Valley.” While the fathers were lumbering, farming, and building, the mothers in addition to their other chores, were washing the wool of the sheared sheep with their home-made soap and water packed form streams and heated over the fires. They washed the wool twice and rinsed it in cold water. If washed too much, the oil would be washed out and the wool couldn’t be spun. When the wool was white and fluffy, it was spread out on the willow trees over fences, or even on the low roofs of buildings to dry in the warm sun. How fresh and fluffy it felt to the children’s hands as they gathered it in for Mother to cord. Before the pioneers could buy storebought dye, they searched the hills for the right type of plants, roots, and blossoms and berries. They then boiled them in iron pots, sometimes using vinegar and salt to set the dye, and the mixture was strained before the wool was added. Though some people dyed the wool before spinning [it] into skeins, others spun it into skeins for easy dyeing. The skeins were simply hung suspended by sticks into hot dye and turned and dipped frequently until they were the desired shade. Carding is the process of breaking up the wool and preparing it to be spun. They used two sets of cards: the breaking card would begin separating fibers, and the other combed the wool into rolls for spinning. When the wool was combed and was soft and silky, the actual process of making the rolls began. When the rolls were finished they were attached one at a time to a spindle wheel with each one fastened to the tail end of the last one. The wheel was turned and when the thread was three feet long it was attached to the bobbin. Every member, young and old, became an expert at it. As the wrists flexed with the two (approximately) 4 by 8-inch pieces of wood, the cording site glistened with the pointed ends of tiny nails. These acted like little jaws that took the knots out of the wool and made it ready for spinning into thread. This was a good way for the family to spend their evenings as they sat in front of the flickering fireplace, or if the nights were warm, they sat out in the yard near the hollyhocks. Usually it was the specific privilege of the mothers and bigger sisters to spin the wool. The mother sat at the spinning wheel and with her left hand, attached a large clump of corded wool, and her right hand moving methodically from end to end, thinning and shaping the wool, to the prepared size of the yarn, while her foot kept the pedal going at proper speed. Perhaps as she spun, she WE IMPORT CARS $10OFF Complete Brake Service Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly higher. Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. 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Mag wheels might be slightly higher. Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Expires 6/15/01 Most Vehicles. Mag wheels might be slightly higher.Not valid with any other special. Participating stores only. Expires 6/15/01 BRAND TIRES No Carry Outs. Pricing Exludes Mount and Balance. hummed a tune or told a story to the little ones seated near her on the luxurious rag carpet with its fresh straw ticking underneath. The weaving of thread into cloth was a job for experts. There were some of those who had learned this trade in the “old country” and were now ready to use that talent in helping build up their “new land.” One of these families was the John H. Moyes family who came to America in 1863 and lived for a while with relatives, the David Eccles family in Eden. The Peter Danielson family wanted to know if flax could be grown in this strange country so after sending to their native country for seed, they planted it in the bottoms, tended it carefully, and it grew. Elatedly they wove it into linen and the entire town marveled that if could be done. But the excitement over it was short-lived, for the short growing season prohibited the next year’s seed to form, and flax plants died. The Edgar Allen family cherish a large piece of real linen cloth, grown and woven in the town of Huntsville by their Danielson ancestors in early days. Marinda Allen Ingles: born in 1[8]57 and a native of Huntsville recorded the following: “Numerous things which are today necessities, we considered luxuries in my youth. We used to get a pair of shoemaker’s shoes to wear in the winter, but in the summer we could wear them only on Sunday. We would have to save them to be half-soled for the next winter because we could not afford new ones. “I remember I used to wear dresses of blue denim, the type of material overalls are made of. When I got a new calico dress, didn’t I think I was smart! “I recall once in my youth when all the boys and girls were going to a dance. I vowed I would have a pair of hoops for my skirt, even if I had to go without shoes the next winter. “Well, my father, after much coaxing, bought me a pair and everything went well until that evening when we were on our way to the dance. Something went wrong with the bridle on the horse, and Father called back to my young man to get out of the wagon and fix it. Then it happened. “The poor fellow caught his foot in my hoops and fell out of the wagon on his head. The girls tried to get me to go back home and fix my skirt, but I refused. I was dead set on going to the dance. “Well, when we arrived at the party, all the girls formed a circle around me and I tugged and pulled at my hoops until I got them straightened. Alot of good it did me, though. My escort was suffering with such a headache from his little tumble that he didn’t feel much like dancing with me.” James Ririe wrote in his autobiography that his wife Ann took her nightgown to make a white shirt for him so he could attend his church meetings. William Burnett recalled, in his autobiography, of buying a new pair of shoes before crossing the plains, but he got them wet the first day out, so he had to throw them away. He came barefoot the rest of the way. Sometimes he walked on the tips of his toes because of the bruises on his heels. Later, after he arrived and was married, his wife Sara Jane Wild Burnett, bought a pair of store shoes, but they were too big, so she put them on when she went into Ogden and then carried them and went barefoot after she left. The late John Fuller of Eden said, “I never owned a pair of shoes when I was a kid. In the summer I always went barefoot. The calluses on the bottoms of my feet served as shoes. In the winter we wrapped our feet in rags or sacks to keep them warm.” CLOTHING cont. on page 15 |