Our previous post looked at the slimy and scaly visitors of Drumyngham. No, not door-to-door salesmen and NO, I don’t mean politicians!! Snakes, fish, toads, frogs, snails, earthworms, salamanders, and all their friends! That’s what I am talking about. Actually, in the past few posts, we’ve done a pretty good job of looking at a lot of the Fauna of Drumyngham. With this post we turn our attention to the Flora part. As Lady Bird Johnson used to say, “Plan and plant for beauty!”
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| A cartoon by one of my favorite cartoonists, Will Henry |
Of course, as we shall see below, although SOME of our interactions with plants was for beauty, most of the Drums’ dealings with plants was for food and medicine. See the post It Takes a Village Part 2 - Village Remedies for some info along those lines. However, as usual, although we do know some information about “our” relationship with plants, we could ALWAYS use more!!
And even what we “know”, we aren’t sure we KNOW! In the post Mouth of Evil, I describe a hike life-long Drums resident Pete Medvecky and I made on April 9, 2018, south along the WB&H Railbed from the junction of the Little Nescopeck Creek and South Old Turnpike Road in Fritzingertown to the Jeddo Mine Tunnel opening near Kis-Lyn. Our return trip took us to the point along the Little Nescopeck where the clean water meets the dirty. I knew that George Drum’s son, Philip (1787-1858), once owned a house near that point so we searched that out as well. All we could find of that house was a hole where the foundation once was located.
However, all around that foundation hole were tulips and daffodils and other bulb flowers. Behind them were stands of lilacs. The assumption we want to jump to is that these are the “ancestors” of the plants Philip and Mary planted when they lived in the house 200 years ago. They could be, or were they planted by someone else who lived there later?
Plants and people have been interacting with each other since the beginning of time. Humans used plants for food, built lodging out of them, made clothing from them, wrote letters on them, smoked them, made them into tea and other beverages; it is quite clear plants are and always have been extremely important to human existence. Yet, we take plants so much for granted they sometimes are not even in our second thoughts!
Many people are familiar with images left by various tribes of people around the world; pictographs and cave paintings and so forth. We assume these images are of the things that those peoples found important in their lives. Yet, plants are rarely included in these images. Plant sketches have occasionally been found; one example being a few Paleolithic sketches of plants on horn; but the vast majority of such paintings and images found around the world are of animals, or people, making it clear that people took the plants around them mostly for granted.[1]
As we watch the Amazon Rainforest be cut down today, a
present reflection of our own actions here in Drums[2]
and across this country in the 1800’s, we realize we STILL are taking the
plants that grow around us for granted. Perhaps “for granted” is the wrong
term. It is almost as if plants are part of ourselves, our very existence.
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| This lamp was one of Philip’s 2020 Christmas presents. |
By the way, in addition to Philip, we know his son,
George, was a carpenter, as was Nathan A., his grandson. Nathan’s son Elmer and
grandson, Harry, also dabbled in carpentry. Milton (Jacob, Philip+wife1,
George, Jacob, Philip) is the only other Drum-Family-Tree member that I
am aware of who was at some point “officially” known as a “carpenter”. Milton
(1841-1908), of course, later became a “Bottler”.
My mom was not a carpenter, or a bottler for that matter, but she was superstitious and collected Four-Leaf Clovers whenever possible. They bring Good Luck, you know, or so Mom would often tell us. I don’t think a Four-Leaf Clover ever got past her! No, I’m not kidding. Here is her collection. Note that she even recorded the numbers of clovers she found each year! I don’t know the total. I suppose I could count them but they are quite fragile, as you can well imagine. I should tally up the numbers in her record. If you think I’m going to do that, well, GOOD LUCK!
Now, she wasn’t the only clover collector in the family
tree. I collected a few myself. They are in my Bible. Seems to me like a good
place to keep them.
Just to prove my point, not that it really needs to be
proved, here is another clover-collector example, not from our tree, however.
While Phyllis and I were living in Massachusetts, I came across a book entitled
First Book on Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygene, for Grammar Schools and
Families, by Calvin Cutter, M. D. It was published in 1850. Can you imagine
that book being used in grammar schools today? But I digress.
Continuing with the clover-theme, luck from clovers can come from various places. I suppose most families have items they treasure, and those treasures get passed down from parents to children. In our present collection is one such treasure. It is a small milk-glass salad plate that appears to be decorated with four-leaf clovers (although they could be flowers, but if so, why are they green?). This plate came into the collection via my mom.
We know this because written on the plate’s back is “C. S. x-mas, 1909”. Obviously, this was a Christmas present from my mom’s grandfather, Charles Shearer, probably to his wife, presented in 1909. Also, Mom said so.
Speaking of Christmas presents, one Christmas my mom sent me a small present with a note saying one of the women in the church (St. Johns U.C.C.) had made it. Mom said the idea was to keep a long-held tradition alive. When I opened the present, inside I found what Mom called a “Wheat Dolly”.
Bathroom, however, brings to mind the pitcher and basin set that now sits in our living room. It appears to be decorated NOT with a clover but with a flower of some sort, perhaps a Zinnia. Of course, this set is yet another of the treasures passed down to us today by the folks who’ve gone before.
It once sat in the living room of my dad’s childhood home
in Fritzingertown in the 1930’s. My dad brought it with him in 1954 when my mom
and dad first moved into the newly built Drumyngham. My mom told me it was my
bath tub the day they brought me home from St. Joseph’s Hospital, that October
day in 1957. Its history, however, goes back a bit further than 1957, or 1954,
or even the 1930’s. Apparently, it once was part of the lodging room set up that
would welcome a guest of the Drums Hotel into his or her lodging room. That means
it probably was new in the 1870’s, give or take a decade or two. Or so I was
told and you never argue with your parents.
Many examples can be found in what my dad called his
workshop in the garage. The workshop consisted of a workbench he built (out of
wood) along the back wall of his garage, tool chests (his was metal, but his
father’s, his grandfather’s, and my mom’s father’s [Elton Shearer] were all also
made of wood), and wood shelves piled with jars, cans, and boxes full of nails,
bolts, clamps, hinges, wire, locks, screws, and so forth and so on. I mean
great quantities of this stuff!
Of course, the tool chests held saws and chisels and drills and other WOODworking tools and now that I think of it, most of the contents of the jars and boxes were things like nails, screws, drill-bits, and so forth which one needed to work with wood. I may write a post later about these chests’ contents and all this “dust”.
Interesting side note about the Battleship Coffee can. According to the Battleship Coffee website, here is Battleship Coffee’s story of how coffee came to be called “joe”. By the way, their version is supported by https://qz.com/88453/why-coffee-is-called-joe/.
Woodrow Wilson was our 28th President. World War 1 was fought while he was president. His Secretary of the Navy was Josephus Daniels. Daniels was a teetotaler. He felt drinking alcohol had no place anywhere but especially not on a Navy ship. So, he banned it. Word was that the strongest drink you could get on a Navy ship under Daniels was a strong cup of black coffee. Coffee had sometimes been called “joe” in the past because of the Stephan Foster folk song, “Old Black Joe”. Other than the word “black”, I don’t know what that song has to do with coffee but there you have it. So, when Daniels banned alcohol drinking on ship, sailors began to take great pleasure in asking for “a cup of Josephus Daniels” or “Joe Daniels” (a play on the whiskey name “Jack Daniels”), eventually shortened to just “joe”! As a secondary side note, Daniels’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The rest, as they say, is history. However, it is not DRUMS’ history so, finish your coffee, and let’s get back to Drums.
This coffee tin, of course, confirms we Drums drank coffee (ok, sort of does, although I concede there could be any one of many ways that we acquired that coffee tin). The nails and such in the “shop” area of the garage are also stored in more “modern” coffee tins/containers so that’s more circumstantial evidence we Drums drank coffee AFTER the second world war. At least I know my dad drank coffee and I know that I do too.
I think the three coffee grinders we have help confirm us as coffee drinkers BEFORE WW2 as well, although, again, still rather circumstantial, for sure.
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| The Drum brothers, Stephen and Josiah(Abraham, George, Jacob, Philip), got their new 1876 Centennial Coffee Grinder for their Drums Corner store, J&S Drum Dry Goods. The wall mounted grinder is, as described on the grinder, a “Canister Coffee Mill manufactured by Wilmot Castle Company, Rochester, NY, patented June 9, 1891”. The box grinder in the middle is probably the youngest, although I don’t have much more information on it other than it “came from the Fritzingertown house” (Elmer and Ella’s house) as did the canister grinder. No word on when either of them were acquired. |
Many of “us”, of course, were farmers, or, at least, gardeners, if for no other reason than simple survival. One wonders if Progenitor Philip gardened in Germany. We assume, like most homesteaders, Jacob had a garden near his cabin. George is listed in the 1810 census as a farmer. His sons George and Jacob were known as farmers, with George listed as such in the 1870 census. Abraham’s son George was a farmer. Philip’s son John was also listed as a farmer in the 1870 census. We know Nathan A. had a garden as did his son, Elmer, and his son, Harry.
Elmer even had a Corn Crib so he probably considered his farming as much more than just “a garden”. A Corn Crib was a structure where one stored their field corn. Open on three sides, the Crib allowed the corn to be stored dry without molding or rotting. There were a number of reasons one did this, but mostly the purpose was to have feed for your chickens and other animals during the winter. The Corn Crib in the photo (building nearest the observer) was probably built by Elmer, probably in the early 1920’s, for his farm in Fritzingertown. When the farm was sold in 1965 (see the post John’s Keys for more on this sale), the Corn Crib and the Chicken Coop (the white building to the right of the Crib) were brought to Drumyngham. Although the Crib still stands, the Coop had to be removed in August of 2021. The Center beam had cracked and was falling in while the floor was caving in, too. So that building is now gone.
So, there does appear to be a “growing” love affair
between plants and the Drums!
Someone in the 1850’s liked them enough to acquire a beautiful book about plants and nature entitled “Rural Rambles” by a lady[3]. My guess, based on absolutely nothing more than pure hunch, is that the book belonged to Aunt Peggy (Abraham’s sister). However, the list of possibilities for the real owner is a long list. There were a lot of Drums in Drums in the 1850’s when the book was published.
Of course, we not only don’t know by whom it was acquired, we don’t know when or how this book was acquired either. It must have been acquired “used”, however. Written inside the front cover is the name “George J. James, Norristown, PA”. The 1850 census shows a four-year-old of this name living in Philadelphia, although the handwriting does not look like that of a young person (8–12-year-old). I’ll leave that all to you to ponder, perhaps an opportunity to do some of your own mental rambles, as the case may be.
Speaking of books, we cannot forget to mention Uncle Jake’s Account book, although not a “book” in the same vein as the Lady’s “Rural Rambles”. As mentioned in previous posts, in 1887-1888 Ella’s uncle Jake kept his farm accounts in a small booklet. Also included in this small booklet is a diagram of Jake’s orchard that surrounded his house.
My dad diagramed his orchard as well when he planted it at Drumyngham. I’ll share his designs when I write the post about my park (an acre of land beside our house that began as Dad’s orchard and is now what I call my park.
That there were Drums who enjoyed their plants, at least from the 1850’s on, is clear. They not only took care of their plants, they saved them. At least Mary did. While carefully paging through her big 1895 Christmas present Bible, we come upon more things than just bird feathers and four-leaf clovers pressed between the pages.
She pressed flowers in her Bible, too.
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| It is hard to know how old these specimens are or in fact what they are. I believe upper left is an Astor, next seems to be a Carnation, the best I can do on the next one is “a flower”, and the last looks like a pansy. |
It would seem that if we were not pressing plants into our Bibles, we were using them to get a few chuckles. Here is a postcard from 1910. I thought there was also one with onions but I cannot locate it. I knew where this one was because Mom glued it into her scrapbook. Well, at least I knew where it was.
As is true with most of the “Drum Dust”, it gets thicker the more recent in time we move. Clearly, “our” relationship with plants was documented very well after the turn of the century – 1800’s to 1900’s, that is. The documentation got even better when cameras came into popular use around the 1920’s.
When looking upon these photos you can almost hear someone (probably Elmer Drum) say, “Hey! I got this new camera. Ella, come outside and I’ll take your photo in front of your flowering bushes. Bring the kids, too!” Of course, it may have gone down the other way. Ella said to Elmer, “Those bushes are so beautiful! Elmer, grab your camera and make some pictures of us all in front of the bushes!” Either way, out they all went to get their picture “made” in front of the flowering shrubs.
Top left we see Ella holding two-year old Clara. Four-year-old Harry is the little boy NOT looking at the camera. I don’t know who the two young women are, or for that matter, who the dog is, but one of the women is holding a box and my bet is that the box she is holding is the box the camera is kept in when not in use!
Top right is a photo taken the same day, this one is just Ella, Clara, and Harry. At least Harry is looking at the camera this time. I’m not sure what the flowers are (Rose of Sharon?) but the photos were taken in 1927.
In the bottom row we see a photo of Harry and Clara under a blooming Apple Tree. I think that one is from 1932. Next to it is a photo of Harry and Clara in front of what might be Spirea. Clara is holding a kitten. I think this is a professionally taken photo by valley photographer Edward Finstermacher, maybe 1935. Next, we see a photo of a neighbor, Rina Wallace, taken in 1932. She might be holding Marigolds. On the right is a photo of sixteen-year-old Clara standing behind some Peonies. It was taken in 1941.
If you don’t have any real ones in vases, you might have
metal, plastic or glass flowers adding beauty to your home or office. Here are
some glass roses Mom had in one of the cedar chests. The yellow object is a
glass bee. Mom saved that, I’m sure, because Dad was a Beekeeper. They are on
display now in our library.
Although early people may not have drawn plants very
often, it seems we do now, a lot! Some folks have papered their walls with
images of plants. We have a shower curtain that looks like it might be in a
meadow full of wildflowers. Curtains, sheets, carpets, you name it, it has at
one time or another received the “plant” treatment!
On our Living room wall are these four images of plants.
Top center is a watercolor painting I made as a Mother’s Day gift for my mom in
1990. It depicts a Mother’s Day card laid in a patch of violets – one of Mom’s
favorite flowers; you’ll see how favorite below. Each Spring, when the violets
covered our back yard, and I was still in single digits, I’d always pick a
fistful of violets and present them, “Here Mommy, for you!!” That always
resulted in a big hug.
Below that is a smaller watercolor of just a single
violet that I painted for the front of a Mother’s Day card I gave to Mom in
1995. To the right is a print we gave Mom on yet another Mother’s Day. This one
is of yellow Lady Slippers. Usually, Lady Slippers are pink but they can come
in yellow as well. Mom called these flowers “Duck Flowers” because they do
resemble a duck floating in a pond. In fact, as a child, Mom said she would sometimes
pluck one of these flowers when she’d come upon them and float it in a pool of
water for childish enjoyment.
On the left we see three trees painted by our son, Philip. However, if you look closely at the base of the middle tree you will see a red fox poking its nose out. I liked this painting so much that Philip gave it to me for a birthday present.
BTW, this is not a photograph of our living room wall. Our wall is not lime green. These are four photos grouped together against a lime green background for your visual enjoyment and easier story telling.
Speaking of grave stones, not that I was but I couldn’t think of a better segue, not many of the Drum stones, other than Philip’s discussed above, include plants; perhaps some ivy here or there. My parents’ stone, however, does include plants.
As we shall see in the next post (#53), Mom loved flowers of all kinds, but violets were among her most favorites. When my dad died in 1986, Mom designed the stone that would mark his grave, but also her own. My brother chose the black granite and the old English font for the name but Mom added the rest. She wanted the beehive in the middle because Dad was a beekeeper. She wanted the 4-H Clovers that appear on either side of the hive because Mom and Dad were both 4-H Volunteers.
Between the birth and death years, Mom placed the Eastern Star emblem under her name and the Masons emblem under Dad’s. And, of course, she asked that Violets be included, some in each upper corner. Sorry about the lichen on the stone. I’ll have to figure a way to remove that this summer. And, yes, those are peppermint sticks leaning against the base. I took the photo on December 21 when I “decorated” the graves. I like to use Peppermint sticks or Candy Canes to decorate the graves because they are part of Christmas and I think they are whimsical and different. Ok, truth be known, I’m lazy. The candy melts away but you have to go back and retrieve wreaths and dead flowers.
Placed on gravestones, taken for granted, eaten, lived in, looked at, worn, sniffed, photographed with, or however “we” interacted with plants, “we” enjoyed them. Still do!
My goal when I began this post was to discuss the plants in and around Drumyngham, but I somehow got lost in the jungles of “our” past. In our next post, therefore, we will take that look at the plants of Drumyngham and this time the goal will BLOOM!
That is, of course, if I can keep our lawn guy from
mowing them down first.
[1]
Baker, H. G., Plants and Civilization, 2nd edition, (Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., Inc, 1970.), p. 19
[2] (Cyrus
Straw) became a Lumber Dealer in Drums and “felled the forests between
Nuremburg and Humbolt, around Honey Brook and between West Hazleton and
Conyngham.” Cyrus Straw died in 1915. See the post Interests:
Extra! Extra! Read all About It! (Newspapers) for more information
about Cyrus Straw and his location in the Drum Family Tree.
[3] A
Lady, Rural Rambles (Phila., Willis P. Hazard, 1854)
