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Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold, Maggie Arnold
I have written a story about my great-great-grandmother, Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold before. This story will not be a rewrite of that story but more details of something mentioned in that story. Both research and imagination are utilized in the making of this story.
Nancy Jane had had three children with her first husband George Moore and was widowed by 1900. Sometime around 1904, she married Nathan Arnold, a widower with six children of his own. Nathan and Nancy Jane then had three children together. Nathan died from tuberculosis in 1914. Their twelve-year-old daughter Maggie Arnold would die the following year of the same disease.
In 1920, the family rented land on Station Camp Road in Estill County, Kentucky. They likely raised a garden which provided not only fresh produce, but enough produce to preserve for the times when the garden was not producing. The family may have had chickens, a cow, and perhaps, a hog to further provide for their needs. They worked hard to be as self-sustaining as possible.
Still, there were some things that the family could not raise or grow for themselves. Cash was needed for the things that they could not raise or barter for.
It is likely for this reason that Nancy Jane is listed as a laundress on the 1920 census. This story is meant to provide a little more info on what being a laundress entailed.
Nancy Jane had had three children with her first husband George Moore and was widowed by 1900. Sometime around 1904, she married Nathan Arnold, a widower with six children of his own. Nathan and Nancy Jane then had three children together. Nathan died from tuberculosis in 1914. Their twelve-year-old daughter Maggie Arnold would die the following year of the same disease.
In 1920, the family rented land on Station Camp Road in Estill County, Kentucky. They likely raised a garden which provided not only fresh produce, but enough produce to preserve for the times when the garden was not producing. The family may have had chickens, a cow, and perhaps, a hog to further provide for their needs. They worked hard to be as self-sustaining as possible.
Still, there were some things that the family could not raise or grow for themselves. Cash was needed for the things that they could not raise or barter for.
It is likely for this reason that Nancy Jane is listed as a laundress on the 1920 census. This story is meant to provide a little more info on what being a laundress entailed.
Doing laundry back in the days of Nancy Jane was nothing like it is today. We have electricity, indoor plumbing, and water heaters in our homes. Electric washers and dryers enable us to wash and dry clothes in climate-controlled comfort with ease. We buy laundry detergent and fabric softeners from the market. Permanent press fabrics make ironing a rare necessity. When it is necessary, we have electric irons which stay hot and are much lighter. We even have closets just for the purpose of holding our clothes. Nancy Jane knew none of these luxuries.
She Works Hard For Her Money
The seasons had changed and the days had been gradually getting a bit longer and warmer. During the cooler times, hogs had been slaughtered, the sausage ground, shaped into balls, fried, covered in the rendered fat and sealed in jars. Hams, shoulders, side meat… had been salted down in the smokehouse.
Fat trimmings had been stirred and rendered down for hours outside over a fire. Finally, the fat had become liquid and any water had boiled off. This left the melted fat and the solids that remained after the rendering. The mixture was carefully strained, resulting in melted lard and the separated delicious cracklings which were enjoyed by all. As the lard cooled, it became a solid resembling white butter.
PD; lard
Some of this rendered lard would be added, as needed, to the carefully strained household cooking grease that Nancy Jane had been collecting to form one of the main ingredients for soap making, fat.
It was time for Nancy Jane to make the other main ingredient for lye soap, lye. Lye soap was used by the family for all cleaning; bathing, dishwashing, floor scrubbing, washing clothes…
Nancy Jane not only did the family’s laundry but took in the washing of other families. She could barter these laundry services with her neighbors for items her family needed or for services the other families could provide, like plowing her garden with their mule, repairing a chicken house, wood for the cookstove...
The family couldn’t raise some items and had to purchase them; flour, coffee, sugar… If they couldn’t barter with the store for these items, Nancy Jane needed cash. Washing the clothes of others could bring in a little money for these times also.
Nancy Jane knew how to use what was readily available to make what she required. To this end, the hardwood ashes from the family’s cookstove were collected and placed in a wooden ash barrel. This barrel had a hole near the bottom of the side which had been made with an auger. A carefully sized bung was fashioned and used to temporarily plug the hole. The barrel was placed upon an elevated stable surface.
Nancy Jane had placed a layer of sticks in the bottom of the ash barrel to just above the top of the bung hole. Next, she had placed a four-to-five-inch layer of straw on top of this bottom layer. Finally, she added the ashes that the family had collected from the cookstove.
When the ashes nearly filled the barrel, Nancy Jane drew water from the rain barrel and then poured it over the ashes. The water was allowed to completely seep down through the ashes. The ash layer was agitated to hasten the water seeping into the ash. This was done carefully so as to not disturb the bottom two layers. Water was added until the ashes were completely saturated. Nancy Jane then covered the barrel, placed a wooden container under the corked hole, and the mixture was allowed to soak for a few days.
This water slowly seeped through the ashes, leaching the potassium hydroxide out of them. The resulting liquid would be very caustic and had to be handled with care to prevent injury.
After soaking the ashes, the bung would have been very carefully removed so the lye liquid could drain into wooden containers. Nancy Jane never used aluminum buckets, pans, or utensils when working with the liquid lye or potash. The caustic solution would dissolve aluminum.
After she had collected all of the liquid that had seeped from the barrel, Nancy jane checked the strength of the lye to make sure it was the proper strength for soap making. She did this by carefully placing a fresh egg into the bucket of lye. It was the proper strength when the egg would float near the surface with only an area the diameter of a quarter remaining unsubmerged.
If the solution was too weak, Nancy Jane would put the solution into an iron kettle over a fire outside and boil it to reduce the solution, thus increasing the strength. The solution would be allowed to cool and retested until the egg floated just right.
PD; reducing the lye solution
PD: when an egg placed in the lye floats, exposing only a quarter size area of the egg, it is ready
This lye solution was very caustic and Nancy Jane handled it with extreme care. She kept it stored in a safe place away from her children and others who might otherwise have accidentally come into contact with it. She worked with it outdoors so fumes would not be harmful. Nancy Jane used the lye to make soap, but it could also be used to make hominy .
With the lye making process complete, and the fat ready and waiting, Nancy Jane was ready to begin the soap-making process.
Nancy Jane heated the lard and carefully strained cooking grease until it was a liquid in a large iron kettle that hung outside over a fire. She and her 13-year-old daughter Rachel and her ten-year old son Andy had collected enough firewood to keep the fire under the kettle going. The family was always collecting branches that had fallen around their little farm to be used for lard rendering, lye reducing, soap making, laundry, canning… Wood for fires was always in demand and the family continuously gathered it for these purposes.
Nancy Jane carefully poured the warmed potash solution into the melted fat, stirring with a wooden paddle as she did so. She would adjust the amount of lye and the amount of fat, depending upon how much soap she was making.
With the lye making process complete, and the fat ready and waiting, Nancy Jane was ready to begin the soap-making process.
Nancy Jane heated the lard and carefully strained cooking grease until it was a liquid in a large iron kettle that hung outside over a fire. She and her 13-year-old daughter Rachel and her ten-year old son Andy had collected enough firewood to keep the fire under the kettle going. The family was always collecting branches that had fallen around their little farm to be used for lard rendering, lye reducing, soap making, laundry, canning… Wood for fires was always in demand and the family continuously gathered it for these purposes.
Nancy Jane carefully poured the warmed potash solution into the melted fat, stirring with a wooden paddle as she did so. She would adjust the amount of lye and the amount of fat, depending upon how much soap she was making.
PD; lye soap-making
Nancy Jane continued to stir the mixture. It would gradually become a mush looking substance. When she could lift the paddle and trace a visible design on the top of the emulsified liquid, the soap was ready to be molded. Nancy Jane would have to stir for an hour or more before the soap reached this point.
After the soap had reached the trace stage, sometimes, Nancy Jane just left the soap in the bottom of the pot she had made it in to cool. Other times, she carefully ladled the soap into shallow wooden boxes which had been prepared by rubbing the insides down with lard. This made it easier to remove the soap after it had set. She thumped the molds down on the table to level the soap in the molds. Then she covered them and let them sit for a day or two.
After this, the soap was removed from the molds and Nancy Jane cut the soap into bar shapes for later use. When all of the soap in the molds was cut into bars, the bars would be set up on a shelf in an airy dark corner to cure. This curing allowed the bars to harden and took about four to six weeks. It was ready to use after this curing period.
The lard had been rendered, cooking fat collected and strained, the lye had been made from wood ashes, and the soap had been made and cured. Now, it was time to do the hard part, the warsh.
Doing the laundry for a single family was not an easy task back in the day. The laundry would have been an all-day affair. Nancy Jane was doing the family’s laundry as well as the laundry of other families. It would likely take her several days, depending upon the amount of laundry that had come in at any given time.
Laundry Day
Nancy Jane and her children, Rachel and Andy, woke up early as usual. It was a chilly, but sunny day and doing the laundry was on the chore list for the day. The laundry would be an all-day affair.
Nancy Jane Moore Moore Arnold on the right of photo
The family’s own laundry had to be done but today Nancy Jane was working on the Dixon family’s wash. Most of Nancy Jane’s neighbors were in a similar boat to her own family. No one had an abundance of money or extra clothing. One good thing about not having many clothes was that there were fewer clothes to wash. Of course, Nancy Jane washed for a few families so the task was even more onerous.
It was laundry day, but the other routine daily tasks still had to be done. Andy grabbed an empty basket and a bucket holding some cooking and table scraps from the day before. He then walked up to the henhouse and scattered the scraps around for the chickens to eat, supplementing the diet provided by their foraging for insects and plants.
As the chickens scratched around for the scraps, Andy went into the henhouse and collected the eggs from the nesting boxes. He placed them into the basket, picked the scrap bucket up, and returned to the house. There he wiped off any feathers and obvious dirt from the eggs and placed them into a bowl on the Hoosier cabinet next to the water bucket with its dipper.
While Andy had taken care of the chickens, Rachel was taking care of their milk cow. She had taken a rag, a small bucket of warm water, and a milk bucket to the barn. She placed some hay into a trough and then led the cow that had been waiting outside the barn into the stall. As the cow munched on the hay, Rachel pulled a short stool over and sat beside the cow.
Rachel swished the rag around in the warm water and used it to wash off the cow’s teats. After she had wiped the udder down, Rachel began milking. The swish, swish of the milk going into the bucket provided a soothing rhythm as she leaned her head against the cow’s side. After she finished milking and the cow had finished her hay, Rachel put the stool back against the side of the stall and led the cow back outside.
She wrung out the cleaning rag and after flinging the wash water toward the edge of the barnyard, she draped the rag over the side of the wash bucket. She carried it and the bucket of warm milk back to the house.
When she entered the house, Rachel was greeted by the delicious aroma of fried sausage and biscuits baking in the woodstove. Nancy Jane had cooked a breakfast of sausage, sausage gravy, biscuits, eggs, and fried apples while the kids had taken care of their chores. She had made extra biscuits, sausage and apples so they could have them for their dinner break.
Nancy Jane had also prepared another bucket covered with cheesecloth for Rachel’s return with the milk. Rachel carefully poured the fresh milk over the cheesecloth. This strained out any stray matter that may have gotten into the milk. This bucket of strained milk would remain on the counter. The cream would be allowed to rise to the top and the family could use it later to make butter and buttermilk.
Andy had set the table and had placed a glass of milk beside his and Rachel’s plates. A cup and saucer with a splash of milk in it sat next to Nancy Jane’s plate.
Rachel washed her hands in the wash pan and then began helping her mother get the breakfast on the table. After everything was on the table and Nancy Jane had poured good strong coffee into her cup, they all sat down to enjoy a meal that family members had enjoyed for generations. This hearty breakfast would provide the energy necessary for a long day of work.
After breakfast, the leftover sausages, biscuits, and apples were covered with tea towels and left on the table for dinner.
Rachel began the task of washing the dishes. This required drawing water, heating it, transferring it to the wash pan that soap had been shaved into, and then scrubbing the dishes clean. Then the dishes had to be rinsed, dried, and put up.
It was still early in the day and Nancy Jane had gone outside after breakfast and started a fire under the wash tub. This tub had been filled with water from the rain barrel and Nancy Jane had shaved a bar of soap into it. Another tub had been filled with rinse water. Still another was filled with rinse water into which a homemade starch made from a slurry of some flour carefully mixed into water had been added. This starching step would make it easier to iron the clothing and keep them somewhat wrinkle free. It also aided in keeping the clothing a bit cleaner, making future washing a little easier.
Andy had helped his mom carry out metal tubs of sorted clothes and sat them handy to the washtub but a safe distance from the fire. Nancy Jane first placed whites into the washtub. She used a stout stick called a battling stick to battle, or agitate the clothes. After they had boiled for several minutes, she used the battling stick to pull the whites out. Item by item, she would inspect each item to see if they were clean. If not, she would place each item onto the washboard, rub a bar of soap over the soiled spots, and scrub the remaining soil out. Andy kept an eye on the tubs and added more firewood or more water to each as needed.
Rachel had finished cleaning up after breakfast and had come out to help. As Nancy Jane finished washing, Rachel placed the clothing first into the rinse water, stirring them around with a stick to remove any soap. She then removed them from the rinse water and put them into the starch tub. Andy removed the items from this tub and used his manly muscles to wring out excess water. After wringing them out, he placed the clothes into an empty wash tub. When the tub was full, the family would wipe down the clotheslines strung across the yard with a damp rag and then shake out the clean wet items and clip them to the lines with clothespins. A wooden prop would be placed along the line to keep the clothes up off of the ground. The wash tubs would be flipped upside down on the grass so they wouldn’t be wet when the dry, clean clothes were placed back inside.
When Nancy Jane had finished all of the whites, she let the fire under the tub die down. When the water had cooled to just warm, she put the colors in. The colors were not boiled but the water was still very warm; she repeated the other steps. After finishing the colors, Nancy Jane repeated the process with work britches and rags. After all of the laundry was washed, the fire under the wash pot was put out.
The wearying process of washing the clothes had taken several hours, but the washing was done, at least the actual washing part. The clothes were all on the line blowing gently in the breeze. Fortunately, the weather was perfect today. The early spring sun had been bright taking the chill out of the air, and the breeze should have the clothes dry before nightfall.
The family went inside for a well-deserved respite. Nancy Jane had drawn a fresh bucket of cold quenching water from the well and Andy had fetched milk from the spring house. They took turns sipping water from the dipper. Rachel poured milk for them all and Andy ran the remaining milk back out to the spring.
Then, the leftovers from breakfast were uncovered and Nancy Jane and her children pulled apart cold biscuits, topped them with sausage and delicious, chewy, fried apples. They enjoyed their “sandwiches” and cold milk in weary silence but with the satisfaction of knowing that the “hard” part of the washing was complete.
After dinner, Nancy Jane dipped a bucket of the soapy, leftover wash tub water and took it inside their small house. Rachel had swept the floors and Nancy Jane used the soapy water to scrub down the floors of the home. Next, she used more of the soapy water to scrub down the wooden boards of the porch.
While the wooden floors of their home were drying, the family went back outside. Rachel and Andy took buckets of water from the rinse tubs and poured them over the base of the hickory trees at the edge of the yard. When the tubs used to wash and rinse were all empty, they would be carried up to the porch and hung from a nail on the outer wall of their home.
While the young’uns took care of the washing tubs, Nancy Jane busied herself with taking down the clothing that was good and dry. She would collect the work britches last so their heavier material could have longer to dry. She collected a tubful and carried it into the kitchen.
Nancy Jane took out her wooden ironing board and set it up in the kitchen handy to the stove. She tossed an old quilt over the top of it and then placed two heavy metal irons on top of the hot stove. She put a couple of dippers of water into a bowl and placed the bowl at the end of the ironing board.
She would pull out an item of clothing, spread it on the board, dip her fingers into the bowl of water and then flick water all over the surface of the clothing. Next, Nancy Jane would use a towel folded many times to pick up the hot iron. If she could quickly touch a wet finger to the iron and hear a “sssssss”, the iron was good to go. She ironed the clothing item, folded it neatly, and then placed it into a tub.
PD; Doing the ironing
Nancy Jane repeated this process over and over and over again until all of the clothes had been brought in from the clothesline, all of the clothes had been ironed, all of the clothes had been neatly folded , and all of the clothes had been placed into the tub that would be picked up by their neighbor the next day.
These clothes belonged to the Dixon family from down the road. The Dixons had six young children and Comfort Dixon had been feeling poorly. James Dixon had brought by their wash for Nancy Jane to do. In return, James would be bringing over his mule to prepare Nancy Jane’s garden spot for planting.
While Nancy Jane did the ironing, Rachel had mixed up a pan of cornbread. She had poured the batter into a hot iron skillet with a bit of melted lard spread around it. She was just pulling it out of the oven as Nancy Jane finished the laundry.
Nancy Jane put her irons to the side of the stove, allowing them to cool as the stove’s fire burned out and cooled. She would put them back up later. She folded the quilt and ironing board and returned them to their place.
Andy had once again gone outside and pulled the cold milk from the spring, brought it inside, and poured a glass for each of them. They sat around the table eating hot cornbread slathered with Nancy Jane’s homemade butter. They ate more cornbread crumbled up into their milk.
After supper, they cleaned up the few dishes that had been dirtied. After cleaning the dishes, they washed themselves in a small pan of heated water before putting on their nightclothes.
The warmth of a sunny spring day had taken on the chill of a dark spring night. More coal was added to the fire grate in the main room which held two iron bedsteads and a couple of woven-bottomed, straight-backed wooden chairs.
Rachel slipped into one of the beds and Andy slipped into the other across the room. Nancy Jane pulled quilts that she had made up over Andy and put her work worn hand on his cheek as she whispered good night. She then did the same with Rachel before slipping under the covers beside her.
PD; old iron bedstead
Soon, the only sounds that could be heard was the sound of wind blowing the trees outside, the crackling of corn shucks in the bedticks as someone stirred in their sleep, the low sonorous breathing of three tired souls, and the crackles of coal popping as it burned in the grate.
Hopefully, each family member would enjoy a restful night of well-deserved sleep; for tomorrow was another day. There would be more chores and more laundry to do tomorrow.
Andy Arnold as an adult
Rachel Arnold Hunt as an adult with husband Harlan
