Janet Peet
born August 1790, Scotland
married 1822, Craftsbury, Vermont
died 11 October 1896, Northwood, Ohio
Children: Robert Hamilton Trumbull 1825, Mary Johnson Trumbull 1829, Anna Margaret Trumbull 1835; James Augustus Trumbull 1838; Catherine Trumbull 1845
What was going on in the cabin while the two men were working in the field? If it was wash day, Janet and the older daughter Annie filled the large iron kettle hanging on a crane over a fire near the bank of the creek which supplied the water for the washing. The proper amount of home-made soap was added and the white clothes were put into the kettle to boil. The fire would be replenished now and then until the clothes would be judged sufficiently cleaned and bleached; then they would be lifted into a tub of cold water with the aid of a stick, thoroughly rinsed to remove all traces of soap, the water wrung out of each piece by hand spread on clean grass to dry, or on a line, if one was available. The soapy hot water was transferred from the kettle to another tub and cooled sufficiently before the colored clothes were immersed. If Janet was fortunate, she had a washboard over which she bent and rubbed solid portions of the clothing vigorously on the corrugated surface of the board. The girls’ petticoats and dresses were stiffly starched before being hung on the line to dry. The washing took all the morning horus, but finally the tubs could be emptied and hung on the nails on the back of the cabin.
The men would be coming at noon for their dinner no matter how busy the women were but Janet had prepared for this with a kettle of soup cooking slowly over the kitchen fire. Small Katie had been responsible for letting Annie know when the fire need replenishing.
The term “soft soap” had a far different connotation for Janet than it has for her descendents today. She made the stuff. At the corner of the cabin not far from the kitchen door was a device called the ash hopper. It was several feet in height, v-shaped at the bottom, and it stood over a small through, one end of which was placed over the edge of a crock or a wooden bucket. Ashes carried from the fireplace were put into the hopper and the rain or water dripping from the eaves, percolated through the ashes form a liquid leach or lye that ran into the receptacle at the end of the trough.
Janet had been saving every drop of grease from the pork she had been cooking, in fact every bit of fat, no matter its source was carefully saved until a sufficient amount had been collected to begin the soap-making process. All residue was carefully removed from the grease by straining it. The lyewater was also strained and then added to the grease in sufficient proportions until soap was formed. The product was a viscous material that made rich suds and removed soil from clothing very effectively. Every thrifty housewife made her own laundry soap.
Janet did not have a sewing machine and every piece of clothing was made by hand with find neat stitches. This work had to be done during the daylight hours to save her eyesight, as well as the tallow candles; for when the supply of candles diminished, the tedious and difficult job of making a new supply had to be performed. Every household had its candle-molds and good neighbors were willing to lend theirs if an extra supply was in the making.
Janet had to bake break frequently enough, at least twice a week, in order to keep a fresh supply of yeast. Each time she made the bread she had to reserve a part of the batter and put it away in a cool place for the next baking. If the reserved portion lost its potency, as sometimes happened, one had to borrow a “starter” from a generous neighbor. Let’s hope Janet had a brick over at one side of the fireplace, but it is more likely she baked her bread over the coals or on the hot bricks directly in front of the fire. Another staple food was cornmeal mush boiled in a large iron pot swung by a crane over the fire. A bowl of mush and milk was a comforting supper, when the evening chores were finished and the family gathered around the fire on snowy evenings. If enough of the mush was left, it would be put into a pan or dish to cool. The next day it could be cut into half inch slices and fried brown on both sides to be served with ham and gravy or with maple syrup. Either way it would be nourishing and delicious.
One of Janet’s finest exhibitions of culinary art occurred after the hogs had been butchered in early winter and the lard had been rendered. Several pounds of the fresh lard would be put into the iron pot and swung over the fire to melt and become intensely hot. While this action was taking place Janet was making a sweet dough, rolling it flat on her breadboard and cutting it into circles with a cutter which also took out a small circular portion in the middle. When she had cut all the circular pieces possible from the sheet of dough, she gathered up all the extra odd-shaped pieces, rerolled them into a rectangular shape, but them into half inch strips which she folded double and then twisted. While Janet was busy with the dough, daughter Annie was testing the hot fat with pieces of bread. When they browned quickly the temperature was right for the crullers which were dropped carefully into the hot fat to prevent the fat from splashing into the fire. The round pieces had to be turned over by themselves, an action that fascinated small Katie watching at a safe distance. As soon as the crullers were removed from the fat, they were drained on a layer of cheesecloth and while still warm, sprinkled with sugar.
With a glass of milk and a plate of crullers in front of him, young Jimmie felt repaid for all the loads of wood he had carried into the house even for the times when his own chores had been interrupted by the call from the house, “Woodbox’s empty!”
Another household task and a very important one was keeping the beds in good shape. After the wheat or oats had been threshed, the straw mattresses were taken from the beds, emptied of the old straw and filled to the fullest extent possible with the fresh straw. The straw had to be distributed evenly throughout the mattress to eliminate humps and hollows. The vent in the mattress had to be carefully resown. The newly filled mattress was heavy and difficult to handle for the womenfolk. Jimmie and his father gladly lent a hand for this job since one of the mattresses had to be boosted into the loft for Jimmie’s bed.
Most families had one or two feather mattresses, sometimes one for each bed, and when these were placed on top of the well-filled straw mattress, one never fell into his bed; he literally climbed in. If a farmer didn’t raise any grain, he had to purchase straw for his mattresses or fill them with corn husks which were not so comfortable as those filled with straw and they were noisy as the occupant twisted and turned in his bed, trying to find a comfortable spot. Ropes were frequently the base on which the mattress rested. Bed-making was no easy process. The sheets were never long enough or wide enough to tuck in around the edges of these ungainly mattresses and so every day the bed had to be made from scratch; the hollows eliminated by redistributing the straw and the feathers pushed, pummeled, and shaken into place before the bedclothes were put back on. In the winter this work was done in near zero temperature, for few log cabins had heat in the bedrooms.
One would wonder where Janet found the time to keep her family supplied with the woolen stockings, socks, mufflers, caps and hoods so necessary to combat the winter temperatures, but she was evidently able to add these duties to her busy schedule as well as teach her daughters to sew and knit. The Trumbull women faced deprivation and hard work with courage, determination, and cheerfulness.
The highlight of the week occurred with the advent of the Sabbath when the family could gather with friends and neighbors who formed the Nilani Congregation. They all met together in a white clapboard church in Northwood. The building was filled with families sitting together on the hard uncushioned seats of the straight-backed pews. From the pulpit, standing on an elevated platform facing the pews, the minister could look over his congregation and spot the vacant seats.
The service lasted for two hours in the morning with an hour’s break for refreshment and then resumed for two hours in the afternoon. A cold lunch, packed the night before, was consumed by each family sitting outside under the trees if the weather permitted. As the people visited quietly, the children gathered at the wall of a neighbor nearby for a drink before marching back to the family pew when the church bell was tapped to announce the service was about to be resumed.
The tunes were started and the music directed by a precentor who stood in front of the congregation as he led the music. Only the Psalms were used in praise to God and everyone sang since this was his opportunity to participate in the service.
When James had attended church in Craftsbury, few Psalm books had been available, except for the precentor who would read a line or two of the selection and then lead the congregation in singing what he had read. This method was followed until the entire Psalm or the designated portion of it had been sung. Even when more books were provided, this custom still prevailed. In fact, it was one of James’ nephews who advocated singing the entire selection with-interruption. His suggestion was gradually adopted but not without some opposition.
The sermons were scholarly and deep, dealing with the great doctrines of the Bible: Sin, Salvation, Predestination, Justification, Sanctification, Redemption. The members read and studied their Bibles daily, entire families gathering together for morning and evening worship, with praise, Bible reading and long prayers. The Westminster Catechism was studied by old and young and recited around the fire on Sabbath evening. Some of the older people could not only repeat all the answers correctly but could also ask the one hundred and seven questions consecutively from memory.