Richmond History: Richmond Christmases of long ago
by Joy Lewis –
What was Christmas like in Richmond a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Traditions and celebrations here about have changed much in the past two centuries.
Many of Richmond’s earliest settlers came from New England, where Christmas was not a holiday to be marked with celebration: it was a religious commemoration, with emphasis on the Advent of Christ (the four weeks preceding December 25) and little attention given to marking the day with the “old” customs of misrule and disorder. It was not a time of gift-giving or merry-making.
Christmas trees were unknown in America. Santa Claus (the Dutchman’s beloved St. Nicholas) had yet to become a main stream image. The custom of a choir going door to door serenading the household was not a common practice, though carols were sung at church services and in private homes. Many beloved Christmas hymns were current in the early nineteenth century: “Joy to the World”; “The First Noel”; “Angels From the Realm of Glory”; “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.
In 1816, Christmas fell on a Wednesday; in Richmond the day was marked simply in each home, with reverence for the spiritual meaning of the day. Many families enjoyed a special feast at their noontime meal. Some of them, if they lived near one of the two churches in town, attended the worship service. Personal, written memories of the time are scarce, but the two selections included here have been gleaned from the writings of John Nicholas Norton and William Henry Shelton, both of whom grew up in the Allen’s Hill area of Richmond.
Christmas in Richmond
Two Hundred Years Ago
Christmas Dinner
“The forenoon was long before the two o’clock dinner, and the children’s wait was aggravated by the tantalizing odors that escaped from the door of the oven.”
“The elders were in the parlor, some [were reading], while others were grouped in front of a Franklin stove…blazing with hickory wood…The grandchildren in their growing impatience were rambling over the house and cracking hickory-nuts by stealth, and pilfering gingersnaps from the barrel in the wood-house chamber, and watching the oven and the clock.”
“[For dinner we had] chicken pie and mince pie and pumpkin pie, with a few deviations, such as vegetables and pickled peaches and cheese and nuts and coffee. The chicken pie was a creation of the day before, ready for the brick oven, which was blazing with dry wood in the early morning…Then the coals and ashes were raked off and the big pie, in an unusual milk-pan, reserved from year to year for that service, was placed in the mouth of the oven and shoved back with the broad oven shovel to the centre of the brick floor, and the sheet-iron door was closed.”
“There were mashed potatoes and boiled onions, buttered and peppered and salted, in separate dishes, and each big blue dinner-plate got a [generous helping], and a pickled peach stung with cloves.”
“The mince pie, prepared with boiled cider and stuffed with citron and raisins, had been waiting for a month in the cold cupboard of the unused parlor, and when it was warmed for dinner the rich crust flaked off like flakes of isinglass.”
Church Service
“The afternoon of the twenty-fourth of December came. The sleighing was in prime order, and the country people for miles around were taking their early suppers, and preparing to set out for the church…By half-past six the building is crowded to its utmost capacity… The noble service begins. The great congregation rises, as the minister’s voice is heard uttering the sublime words: ‘The Lord is in His holy temple.’”
“[The] illumination was a service which is often celebrated in Episcopal churches on Christmas Eve, and is so called on account of the number of lights on the occasion. The country around [Allen’s Hill] abounded in evergreens, and the young people were very happy in dressing the church for Christmas. [The minister] thought that the service the night before was calculated to detract somewhat from the interest of the festival itself, but as it brought many persons into the service who never attended at any other time, he was disposed to gratify the general desire for celebrating Christmas Eve.”
“Great taste had been shown in dressing the church. The choir had practiced some appropriate pieces… The illumination was produced by a great number of candles, which were set in wooden bars put across the windows, one above another, each window containing thirty or forty candles… [When they were all lit, it was] almost like magic. Is it not beautiful? How the hundreds of candles set off the evergreens to the best advantage!”
The memories documented here, describing Christmas celebrations in Rich
mond in the early years of the twentieth century, have been compiled from oral histories collected by past historian Peggy Treble. Contributors include Richmond residents Caroline Affolter, Burton Deuel, Janette Goyette, Caroline Green, Leonard Hamilton, Leta Hayward, Thelma Huff, Bertha Norsen, Gertrude Reed, Ruth Shetler, Genevieve Wesley, and Herman Wood.
Christmas in Richmond
One Hundred Years Ago
The Tree
“We’d go out in the woods and get a tree, two or three days before Christmas…My mother bought decorations… balls and tinsel that Mother put all around the tree.”
“We had candles on the tree which were only lit on Christmas Eve. Dad had a pail of water with a big mop in it back of the tree, in case anything happened…He never left the room as long as the candles were lit.”
“We went to the woods for a Christmas tree…That was quite a treat and I always had fun… It was decorated with tinsel and homemade ornaments. We didn’t have any lights on the tree.”
“We always had a tree at home. We generally made popcorn, ran a thread through it and wrapped it all around the tree. It had a star on top and candles. The candle holder was pinched onto the branch and the candles were only lit when we were right there in the room.”
“The only things I remember having on our tree for decorations were strings of popcorn, but we did have candles. They were big and fastened to the tree, [with] little fasteners, just like spring clothespins…The candles were always red and they were set down in the holder. They were pretty against the green of the tree. The only time we could have it lighted was when my mother and father were in the room.”
“Our Christmas tree was a long needled pine that my dad and I cut in the woods. It was placed in the living room bay window. The decorations were some shiny baubles of different shapes, rope tinsel, and real candles. The candles were in little clip-on holders resembling snap clothespins. The candles were lighted just once on Christmas Eve and we let burn a short time. It was tricky to get them lighted. We were ever aware of the fire hazard and had a pail of water near-by.”
“Getting the tree is one of the biggest things I remember. It was the anticipation of going [into the woods] with Dad and seeing the tree he picked out ahead of time every year. It was always hemlock, the ones with small needles, because they lasted longer.”
“The tree, set up in the living room – or “south parlor” as it was called – was decorated with popcorn on a string and a few red and green paper things. There were no lights on the tree.”
Christmas Eve
“The afternoon of December 24 Dad went to Black’s store in Livonia to do his Christmas shopping. He was known to hide the gifts in the barn until after everyone was in bed.”
“One Christmas Eve, after we had hung up our stockings and set out cookies and milk for Santa, Mother was tucking my sister and me in, telling us to quickly go to sleep before Santa came. We heard sounds of sleigh bells outside our window…”
“Every Christmas Eve, as soon as it was dark, with great solemnity we would place a lighted candle in a front window to light the Christ Child on his way.”
“When Christmas Eve came, we had a quick supper. [We children] waited in another room, while Mother and Dad lit all the candles. Finally, they’d call, ‘We’re ready!’ Mother would play something lovely on the piano and we’d march in. We each had a table with our gifts on it and it didn’t take long to break into them!”
Stockings
“Christmas Eve the stockings were hung from the fireplace mantle…All believed in Santa Claus.”
“On the night before Christmas, we had to go to bed early. We didn’t have a fireplace, we hung our stockings on a chair. Santa Claus knew where they were!”
“You can bet your life I hung up a stocking! There’d generally be a bag of popcorn, a popcorn ball, and little things like a pencil or pen in it.”
“I believed in Santa Claus and hung up a stocking… There would be small things in our stockings and always an orange.”
“I hung my stocking on the knob of a rocking chair back. It usually had an orange, nuts, pencils, and a hair ribbon.”
“[On Christmas morning], our stockings were the last thing we’d look at. There were always nuts and oranges in them, but not too much candy.”
Treats
“We made special cookies for Christmas. We baked filled cookies. You cut out one cookie, then rolled out the dough for the next one thinner. Put one on top of the other with a tablespoon of mincemeat between and pinch around the edges. Those were delicious!”
“We always made special candy – something called sea foam. If it was white it was made with white sugar [and] we put a little peppermint flavor in it… We’d crack walnuts, hickory nuts and butternuts, pick out the nutmeats and put one big one on top of each piece of candy.”
“We [always had] chocolate fudge.”
“Pulled molasses candy was out of this world! …You boiled it on the stove and at the very last, put something in that made it foam up. It was stirred for quite a while, then poured onto a great big buttered platter. Then you buttered your hands until they were really sticky. Everyone took some of it and pulled it out a long ways and brought it back and pulled it out and brought it back. …After a while it got quite thin and you put little strips of it back on the platter. When it was cold, it was cut into little chunks.”
“We made fruitcake, but I think all we put in it was simply nuts. It was made quite a while before Christmas. I can remember my mother and neighbor [ladies] saying, ‘Now I’ve got my fruitcakes made, so that’s one thing out of the way before Christmas!’”
“We also had roast chestnuts Christmas.”
Decorations
“We always had a homemade wreath in the window and most people did. The streets of Honeoye were not decorated.”
“[Our family] used red and green tissue paper bells of various sizes to decorate the rooms and hang from the window shade pulls.”
“Our decorations were very old fashioned things. They were the most adorable little figures, but very fragile. I remember deer, cows, other animals, and a little churn. There were also shiny stars and some balls, but not many. We never had tinsel.”
Gifts
“My father was very strong on making gifts for one another at Christmas. So before the holidays, Mother would be busy making silk ties for Dad and we girls would buy pongee [plain woven silk fabric], cut out handkerchiefs, and hem stitch them.”
“Every Christmas my mother would make a dust cap for each of our grandmothers. It was made from some fine material she bought at the store. On one side she put elastic and lace all around the edges.”
“Grandma always knitted mittens, sweaters, and scarves for her grandchildren.”
“Usually before Christmas, my mother and father…would go by horse and buggy to Canandaigua to do some shopping. That would be a whole day trip.”
“Our gifts were always around under the tree. They were never wrapped…We didn’t get very many bought gifts, except clothes, oranges, and dolls. We always got a new doll every Christmas.”
“There would be clothes and books under the tree and I usually got a doll.”
“I remember getting a flat iron one time…It was just for play with my dolls. My brother got a sled.”
“I got a dollhouse and buggy… I don’t think I ever wheeled many dolls in it. It was taken outdoors and in good weather I wheeled kittens and animals.”
“[We received] a game or two, clothes, and once in a while, something special…a doll…ice skates.”
“My favorite [thing about Christmas morning] was to open my new book, always a present from Mother.”
“[One year] I got a barn with all the animals. It wasn’t wrapped up. It was on the floor setting just under my stocking. I started playing with it right away and ignored everything else.”
“Every year we got new boots before the Christmas service [at church] that we wore the rest of the winter.”
“I got a sled one Christmas and it was a dandy!”
“One Christmas I got a locomotive with a tender on it. It had a balance wheel and it would really run a long way.”
“When I was five years old I got a rocking horse. I got in that thing and I rocked and rocked and rocked.”
Christmas Dinner
“[They] always set a lovely table with white linen, china, and sliver. [My grandmother] had a flair for making a dining room look so festive. One Christmas she roasted a piglet with an apple in the mouth and frills on the feet.”
“[We had] a special dinner of Virginia baked ham with baked pineapple slices.”
“We always had a big Christmas dinner and all the relatives came. Turkeys were expensive and not plentiful. We had ham quite often, or chicken.”
“We always had ham and scalloped pota
toes on Christmas.”
“We almost always had turkey or chicken. Mother made cookies and cake for Christmas.”
“On Christmas Day we almost always had chicken – turkey once in a while…[and] we always had damn good pie!”
“The menu could either be turkey and dressing or fresh pork loin and dressing. Aunt Florence always made her famous three layer chocolate cake with raisin nut filling and chocolate icing.”
“We had chicken and dumplings on Christmas Day…It was delicious. I loved Mom’s dumplings and I always got a [chicken] leg!”
“Mother always had scalloped oysters and roast pork.”
“The menu always featured scalloped oysters and a dessert called English Hedge. [This] was a white sheet cake topped with vanilla pudding, then real whipped cream, then either butternut or almond meats on top.”
“[At Grandmother’s] the fa
mily loved goose. It was always nice and brown and crisp, but I never liked it…Grandma used to make gooseberry pie. I didn’t like that either!”
“Dad usually had butchered hogs within the week [before Christmas]. So most Christmases…we had the whole rib cage of a hog stuffed with Mother’s homemade dressing seasoned with the herbs she had raised… We had squash and mashed potatoes…and homemade pickles and mincemeat pie and pumpkin pie.”
At School
“Fred Smith each year allowed two or three older boys to go to his woods to cut a tree for school. After our school party [my brothers and I] were allowed to take this tree home.”
“[We] strung popcorn garlands and made paper chains. There was no colored construction paper, so the strips were made with bright colored crayons.”
“We never usually had a tree at the Dennison’s Corners school. One year [we] combined and had one big Christmas party down at the Richmond Mills School because there was more room there.”
“We didn’t have a tree at school…The teacher would take a washtub and set it up in the schoolroom, stick greens all around it and put presents she’d bought for each student in the tub. On the last day of school before vacation, you took turns going over to the tub and picking out a present for someone. Then you had to call out the name and take it to the pupil.”
“I don’t remember a tree at school, but we learned poems and had little plays at Christmas time.”
“There was always a program on th
e last day before vacation began and a church service a few nights before Christmas.”
“Everyone was invited to the Christmas program. They had it in the evening and the school was lighted with lanterns. When they lit the candles on the tree, it looked real nice… We always had speakings at our programs. Each child said a piece or something. Our teacher always gave us a gift, usually a book.”
“Our school usually had some kind of Christmas party…One year Tom Flood came with his beautiful big-horned Victrola to play his records. The first we had ever heard.”
“We drew names and gave money to another teacher to buy a gift for ours. You always gave your teacher something.”
“At school we put our money together for a teacher’s present. Each child got the same thing from our teacher. [The girls got handkerchiefs.]”
“I went to the District school on Allen’s Hill where the children exchanged gifts by drawing a name and always gave and received a gift from the teacher. [One of the mothers] made our school parties lovely with popcorn balls and good cookies.”
At Church
“Our church always had “Children’s Day” Christmas celebrations, that we kids took part in [with] recitation of verses, singing, and little plays.”
“At church there were plays and we spoke pieces. I remember one year I was one of the shepherds [in the Christmas play].”
“They had a big tree at church down by the platform. After the program, all of a sudden, you’d hear bells and Santa Claus would come in saying “Ho! Ho! Ho!”…We always got a bag of candy and some little toy, given to us by the church or our Sunday school teacher.”
“The Christmas party at the Methodist Church on Allen’s Hill was an event young and old enjoyed. There was a decorated tree on the pulpit. Every child had a wrapped and name tagged gift… Children spoke pieces and someone read a shortened version of the birth of the Christ Child.”
“[When there was snow on the ground] we traveled by cutter or sleigh. [At Christmas time] the horses always had strings of bells around their bodies.”
“There was the Christmas program at the church with a big Christmas tree, the story of the Baby Jesus, music, and “Santa Claus” who distributed little boxes of candies to the children.”