Between the Lines: Family History and Quirky Stories From Our Forgotten Past

  A h, summer and small boys! The “small boy” was a Victorian invention, a creation of an industrialized, urbanized America in which a rising middle-class meant large numbers of children had the luxury of not working, and rural pastimes were idealized. He was a carefree, innocent yet somewhat mischievous child who loved nature and enjoyed wide-open days of  “free range” leisure time with very little adult supervision.      The small boy was a favorite of the Coffeyville, Kansas newspaper editors who commented year-round on the activities of this creature.       “The small boy can now take the padding out of the seat of his breeches as school is out, and he is monarch of the fish ponds and marbles.” – 1882. “The small boy comes home with his hair wet and uncombed, yet declares he hasn’t been swimming.” – June 1885. “Hunting young mockingbirds is a favorite pastime with the small boy.” –June 1887. “The small boy has already ...

       This portrait of Edward C. "Eddy" Barbour appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette in 1908. To succeed in business, it doesn’t hurt to have a wealthy and supportive father-in-law. Eddy Barbour had that. Septimus S. Woodward was said to be the richest man in Carlinville, Illinois. He had been in business for twenty years when he formed a new corporation with his son and son-in-law in December 1888. The S.S. Woodward Hardware Company had capital stock of $15,000 for general hardware, tinware, stove, and agricultural implements. The state of Illinois issued a license to incorporate to S.S. Woodward, Charles Woodward and E.C. Barbour. It was a time when every town had a hardware or hardware and general merchandise store downtown, laden with items everyone needed.      As professional organizations grew, the new generation, represented by Eddy and Charles, formed state hardware dealer associations and joined the National Retail Hardware As...

 Note: This is an accompanying story to one published June 2023, Must-Have Wedding Gifts of the 1870s and '80s." Today when we marry, we safely assume our spouse will be alive in five years – and in 10 or 15 years. Maybe because this was not a given for our ancestors in the 1870s and ‘80s, wedding anniversary parties of those early milestone years were popular in many circles. Today, even if we threw a party for our fifth or tenth or 15th wedding anniversary, we would not expect the guests to bring presents. But beginning in the 1870s, Victorians did. The newspapers made note of the gifts.      “Gifts were numerous and appropriate.”       “The wedding gifts were numerous and costly and bore generous evidence of the popularity of the newly-married couple.”      “Many elegant, costly and useful gifts added their attestation to the spoken words of the earnest esteem of the donors.”    ...