Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 133, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1913 — FIRST COLONISTS HAD FEW LUXURIES [ARTICLE]

FIRST COLONISTS HAD FEW LUXURIES

EARLY Yankees brought over scant supplies of household furnishings. They came in small ships, wdhich provided scarcely enough room for their provisions, clothing, ammunition and other absolute necessities of life. Fortunately, says the Boston Globe, they found in the new country a number of things which served them well in everyday housekeeping. x The first settlers of Plymouth built rude huts for their first homes. The people who came over with Winthrop in June, 1630, “either built huts with bark and branches of trees or erected tents of cloth till they could provide themselves with better shelter.” So Hawthorne relates. Some settlers dug little caves in the hillsides and roofed them over with branches of trees. Many settlers made log cabins, but. they lacked tools for furniture making. The kitchen was the chief room in these early homes. It served as a place for cooking, eating, sleeping and was often used as a workshop. The fireplace was one of the important furnishings of the kitchen. Stoves were unknown. First fireplaces were of green logs covered with clay, and fresh roots weer used for andiron making. Jenks established his iron works In Saugus in 1643 and made kitchen ware of iron. Meats were roasted on a spit of green wood or were hung in the fire from green hick* ory switches. Furnishings of Early Kitchens. Early settlers commonly ate their meals in the kitchen, as did New Englanders for several generations. Some settlers brought tables with them from England. Others made tables of boards from packing cases coming in 'from England. Food was served on wooden trays. Trenches, or wooden trays, were used even at Harvard osllege. Crockery