Bedding, Bedsteads & Beyond

Erin Fisher I dont know how many people come to the Peter Wentz farmstead with the anticipation that they are going to learn all they ever wanted to know about Colonial American beds but these pages will certainly satisfy their curiosity. For example you may be interested to know that by the late eighteenthcentury, the neoclassical influence yielded Federal beds which had reeded or fluted posts at the footboard, or straight tapered legs, often accompanied by painted cornices or canopies. Late neoclassical or Empire beds of the mid-eighteenth century can be characterized by heavy matched head-and foot- boards, or by scrolled sleigh beds. Throughout the centuries, plain pencil post beds were made, and are almost impossible to date (The Long and Short of It 30). However the average audience may be lost at the term neoclassical and so surely the most difficult job of any tour guide is to present all the facts and dates and anecdotes in ways that are interesting to their audience. For example, did you know that for each pound of feathers that went into a feather bed up to three geese had to be plucked? The bedding and bedsteads that a family owns are fascinating because they can actually tell a great deal about the family, everything from their social standing to their physical standing. Jacob Clemens was a Pennsylvania German of Lower Salford Township and he was very likely the deacon of the Salford Mennonite Congregation. His heritage, dwelling, and wealth make his family comparable to that of the Wentz family and since there is little record of what the Wentz had in terms of bedding we will use records left by the Clemens family instead. The following is a summary of the bedding that Jacob gave to each of his nine daughters as part of their dowries. Some dowry entries seem incomplete or jumbled but it seems that Clemens consistently gave each daughter enough bedding for one bed upon her marriage which ranged from 1749 to 1778. A bedstead was regularly given as well as bed curtains, between 11 and 14 yards, made of shalloon, striped goods, or unspecified material. Feathers to fill a bed were given to each daughter and while most daughters received around 30 pounds of feathers (thats around 90 geese) the last 2 daughters were given 18 and 14 pounds. It is unclear whether this is a result of reverse favoritism or a different sized bed or another unknown reason. Each dowry contained 3 or 4 bed sheets though one daughter, Catharina, seems to have received 6 sheets. Most of the sheets were made of3 yards of material and each girl was given a combination of linen or half-linen and tow or half-tow. Bed cases in their dowries were made from either half-linen or checkered cloth and the daughters seemed to get two bed cases each, except for Catharina who again received more bed cases. Of Clemens nine daughters only the dowries of the last four mention chaff bags. Of these daughters, each was given one or two chaff bags made of 6-7 yards of tow cloth. Most of their dowries contained one or two bed ticks of varying materials: half-linen, drillings, fustian, and half-wool. No daughter seemed to be favored here but one daughters bed tick was specified as an English bed tick. Unlike most of the other bedding pieces, pillows did not seem to have any pattern in the dowries. While a few daughters consistently received 2 pillows and 4 pillow cases, the sizes varied from small to large to long and the cloth included checkered, half-wool, fustian, tow and half-tow. Likewise bolsters varied in

the Clemens dowries though the average seemed to be two bolster cases of checkered cloth and one bolster tick of half tow or line cloth. In the account book that records the dowries of the Clemens family still other materials and cloth are indicated as being for a bed though not for any specific piece of the bedding. These entries included all of the above mentioned types of cloth in 1 to 6 yard sections. Most studies that pertain to bedding items such as those above focus on the textiles that surround them, rather than the bed itself, primarily because of the inherent value of the textiles. A fully dressed high post bedstead was usually the most expensive item on a household inventory from the early seventeenth-century through the 1820s, with the expense concentrated in the curtains, bedding and mattress rather than the wooden frame (18). If the Clemens family is accurately comparable to the Wentz family then the items in the Clemens dowries can be used to further illustrate the wealth and prestige of Peter Wentz and his family. The Clemens dowries list two types of Colonial bedsteads: high-posted and low-posted. Highposted bedsteads had posts hung with draped fabric to enclose the structure (also called bed curtains or bed furniture) while low-posted bedsteads had a bed over which curtains could be suspended from the ceiling (29). These four-posted beds were considered the most fashionable and impressive because the taller a bed was, the more fabric it would require to enclose it, and the greater its expense. The greater expense it seems, the higher the ranking on many social scales (32). For the Wentz family to have three high-posted bedsteads on display today shows them to be securely in the top-tier of society in Worcester. However the wooden frame, or the lowly mattress, is exactly what concerns the rest of these pages. Research by anthropometric historians show us that bedsteads can tell us much about the family that slept in them. It is a common myth, and one of the first questions asked on tours, that our early American ancestors had smaller furniture than we presently do because they were shorter. In fact, American born colonists grew taller with each generation and achieved near-modern standards of height by the mid-eighteenth century, long before their European or African counterparts who shared most of the same genes (2). Was this growth spurt a result of the different environment or was it simply because those that survived in the New World were the best that the Old World had to offer? A nutritional diet for a growing child of course influences their growth and America did offer families appropriate foods, income sufficient to procure such foods, or land capable of producing enough foods to successfully feed the Family There was an abundance of quality land [in America] from which to choose, giving settlers a better opportunity for productive plots and requiring less physical strain to tend to the land, as well as abundance of game and open space (4-5). The open fields and small towns were a far cry from the high population density in much of Europe and so diseases and plagues did not ravage families in America or curb the growth of as many American children as they did in Europe. Another difference between Europe and America is that in America the socioeconomic divide between colonials was less distinct, which may have aided in the overall height of the population because it meant everyone had about the same diet and physical exertion (6).

Height measurements of American soldiers from 1755-1763 showed that they were nearly the same height as men today and so the myth of short ancestors is disproven. Why then does Colonial American furniture seem so much smaller than what we own today? Its not really. The figure below shows the dimensions of 17 Colonial beds from Pennsylvania and a total of 92 beds from all the American colonies compared with the dimensions of the modern standardized full bed. The beds from Pennsylvania are virtually equivalent to the average which is actually larger that the dimensions that Serta reports for its full beds today. It can also be noted that the Colonial beds were nearly as tall as they were long since they were seen as such a status symbol. # of beds 17 92 Average Height 71.9 in 70.21 in Average Width 55.32 in 55.81 in 53 in Average length 79.52 in 77.04 in 74 in

Mid-Atlantic, PA Total Averages Modern Standard

The actual beds on display in the Wentz Farmstead are compiled in the chart below followed by the dimensions of Sertas single and full beds that fit them the closest. As this chart shows the Wentz beds are below the Colonial Pennsylvania bed dimensions but only slightly less or equal to the modern dimensions. Now what could account for the Wentz beds being smaller than others in Pennsylvania?

Bed 1st floor bed chamber 2nd floor bed chamber Loft Modern Standard Bunk Bed/Twin/Single Washington room Childrens room east Childrens room west Modern Standard Full/Double

Length (inches) 68 76 70 5/8 74 72 76 73 74

Width (inches) 44 42 35 38 51 53 49 5/8 53

The responsibility may belong to German customs brought to the New World when the German colonists came over. It was noted in Thomas Websters Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy that German beds differ remarkably from our mode in England, because they make the upper part so high by means of many pillows placed underneath, that they rather sit than lie in bed and instead of using blankets in the winter, Germans would instead use a light feather bed, sometimes of down, added as a couvre-pieds because it was extremely comfortable in very cold countries. The custom spread to America and continued based on the number of pillows and bolsters that appear in probate

inventories, and this has led some to suggest that Americans slept propped up rather than in a prone position; this sleeping posture presumably affected bed length as it did not require as long a bed as someone who slept fully lying down (24). It is common for the width of beds in early America to be greater than beds made today because the width of the bed was determined by the number of people expected to share a bed (27). Sharing beds provided warmth and reduced the need for heating or additional bedding or blankets. Parents could likely expect to find themselves with new young bedfellows as their families grew (29). However beds were always constrained to fit in the rooms that they were destined for and most Colonial homes had smaller rooms than modern homes do today. Some may venture that George Washington, who was considered a giant for his day and age, could not have fit comfortably in the beds from that time. However the bed that Martha Washington commissioned (all beds were made to the buyers requested dimensions in the 18th century) for their home was 72 inches wide by 78 inches long (33). Though this bed was particularly wide the length is on par with the Pennsylvania average and the Colonies average length. The greater width could be a result of the Washingtons desire to follow the pattern of displaying their affluence through the amount they could put into their bed. When it comes to bedding and bedsteads, there is much continuity that can be seen. Since the mid-18 century the dimensions have remained basically the same, as has the height of the people sleeping in them. Though not mentioned, it can be assumed that womens height has also been relatively continuous in America although there are simply too few statistics of female height until the twentieth century to make any definite conclusions (16). Why people seem to think that our ancestor were shorter because their beds were shorter when in fact the Colonial beds were longer and in some cases, such as Washingtons, much wider, may simply be a result of the view of the modern observer, unaccustomed to the high proportions of bed posts (32). The only changes in beds are due to trends, occupancy, and sleeping habits; today few people have full bed curtains, more people sleep alone, and most people do not sleep sitting up. Changes in preferences and styles aside, there seems to be nothing new under the sun.
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