_Christenings--Marriages--Funerals_
In early American history the use of liquor by an infant seems to
have been nearly coincident with its entrance into life. A family
receipt called _Caudle_ has been handed down through the family of
Mrs. Johannes de Peyster, and calls for "three gallons of water,
seven pounds of sugar, oatmeal by the pound, spice, raisins and
lemons by the quart and two gallons of the very best Madeira wine."
This was especially served at the baptism of a child, and partaken
of extensively by the women. In early times the Puritan women drank
cider and Madeira mixed with water, and much scandal was given by
the readiness with which the merry wives of Philadelphia joined in
their husbands' comfortable potations. The eighteenth century was
the drinking era, and our colony followed in no halting measure the
jovial fashions of the day. In 1733 the Pennsylvania _Gazette_ laments
that Philadelphia women, "otherwise discreet," instead of contenting
themselves with one good draught of beer in the morning take "two or
three drams by which their appetite for wholesome food is destroyed."
Women kept ordinaries and taverns from early days. Widows abounded,
for the life of the male colonist was hard, exposure was great, and
many died in middle age. War also had many victims. Tavern-keeping
was the resort of widows of small means then. Many licenses were
granted to them to keep victualling houses, to draw wine, and make
and sell beer. In 1684 the wife of one Nicholas Howard was licensed
"to entertain lodgers in the absence of her husband"; while other
women were permitted to sell food and drink but could not entertain
lodgers because their husbands were absent from home, thus drawing
nice distinctions. A Salem dame in 1645 could keep an ordinary if she
provided "a godly man" to manage her business.
Wedding festivities seemed to have caused about the same amount of
liquor drinking throughout the country. In the new land weddings
and births were joyful events. The colonists broke with the home
traditions and insisted on being married at home rather than at church.
As civilization advanced and habits grew more luxurious the marriage
festivities grew more elaborate and became affairs of serious expense.
Scharf, in his _Chronicles of Baltimore_, says the house would be
filled with company to dine; the same company would stay to supper. For
two days punch was dealt out in profusion. The gentlemen saw the groom
on the first floor, and then ascended to the second floor where they
saw the bride; there every gentleman, even to one hundred a day, kissed
her. Weddings in old Philadelphia were very expensive and harassing to
the wedded. The bride's home was filled with company to dine, the same
guests usually stayed to tea, while for two days punch was served in
great profusion. Kissing the bride and drinking punch seem to have been
the leading features of these entertainments.
A custom prevailed in southern Pennsylvania of barring the progress of
the coach of the newly married pair by ropes and other obstacles, which
were not removed until the groom paid toll in the form of a bottle of
wine, or of drinks to his persecutors.
The famous Schuyler wedding cake had, among other ingredients, twelve
dozen eggs, forty-eight pounds of raisins, twenty-four pounds of
currants, four quarts of brandy, a quart of rum. This was mixed in a
wash tub.
From the earliest period funerals seem to have caused more expense and
drunkenness than weddings. In Sewell's _Diary_ of the date of August
2, 1725, he says of the funeral of Mrs. Catherine Winthrop: "Had good
birth-cake, good wine, Burgundy and Canary, good Beer, oranges and
pears." The Puritan funerals were accompanied with so much drinking
that a law had to be passed to check the extravagance. In Massachusetts
one funeral cost six hundred pounds. Parker, in his history of
Londonderry, says:
"Their funeral observances were of a character in some respects
peculiar. When death entered their community and one of their members
was removed, there was at once a cessation of all labor in the
neighborhood. The people gathered together at the house of mourning,
observed a custom which they had brought with them from Ireland, called
a 'wake' or watching with the dead, from night to night until the
interment. These night scenes often exhibited a mixture of seriousness
and of humor which appear incompatible. The Scriptures would be read,
prayer offered, and words of counsel and consolation administered;
but ere long, according to established usage, the glass with its
exhilarating beverage, must circulate freely. Although funeral sermons
were seldom if ever delivered on the occasion, yet there would be
usually as large a congregation as assembled on the Sabbath. Previous
to the prayer, spirit was handed round, not only to the mourners and
bearers, but to the whole assembly. Again after prayer, and before the
coffin was removed, the same was done. Nearly all would follow the body
to the grave, and at their return the comforting draught was again
administered, and ample entertainment provided. Many a family became
embarrassed in consequence of the heavy expenses incurred, not so much
by the sickness which preceded the death of one of its members, as by
the funeral services as then observed, and which, as they supposed,
respect for the dead required."
In New York state before a burial took place a number of persons,
usually friends of the dead, watched the body throughout the night,
liberally supplied with various bodily comforts, such as abundant
strong drink, plentiful tobacco and pipes, and newly-made cakes.
These watchers were not wholly gloomy nor did the midnight hours lag
unsolaced. A Dutch funeral was costly, the expenditure for gloves,
scarfs, and rings was augmented in New York by the gift of a bottle of
wine and a linen scarf. At the funeral of Louis Wingard, in Albany, the
attendance was large, and many friends returned to the house and made
a night of it. These sober Albany citizens drank a pipe of wine, and
smoked much tobacco. They broke hundreds of pipes and all the decanters
in the house, and wound up by burning all their funeral scarfs in a
heap in the fireplace. At Albany the expense reached the climax. The
obsequies of the first wife of Stephen Van Renssalaer cost $20,000; two
thousand linen scarfs were given and all the tenants were entertained
several days.
On Long Island a young man of good family began his youth by laying
aside money in gold coin for his funeral, and a superior stock of wine
was also stored for the same occasion. In Albany a cask of choice
Madeira was bought for the wedding and used in part; the remainder
was saved for the funeral of the bridegroom. Up the Hudson were the
vast manors of the Beekmans, Livingstons, Van Renssalaers, Schuylers,
and Johnsons, where these patroons lived among and ruled over their
tenantry like the feudal lords of old England. When a member of the Van
Renssalaer family died, the tenants, sometimes amounting to several
thousand, says Bishop Kip, came down to Albany to pay their respects
to his memory, and to drink to the peace of his soul in good ale from
his generous cellars. At the burial of Philip Livingston, in New York,
services were performed at both his house and at the manor house. The
funeral is thus described in a journal of the day: "In the City the
lower rooms of most of the houses in Broadstreet, where he resided,
were thrown open to receive visitors. A pipe of wine was spiced for
the occasion, and to each of the eight bearers, with a pair of gloves,
mourning ring, scarf and handkerchief, a monkey spoon was given. At
the manor these ceremonies were all repeated, another pipe of wine
was spiced, and besides the same presents to the bearers, a pair of
black gloves and a handkerchief were given to each of the tenants. The
whole expense was said to be five hundred pounds." At funerals in old
New York it was customary to serve hot wine in winter and sangaree in
summer. Burnt wine was sometimes served in silver tankards. Death among
the Dutch involved much besides mourning. "Bring me a Barrel of Cutt
Tobacco, some long pipes, I am out also six silver Tankards. Bottles,
Glasses, Decanters we have enough. You must bring Cinnamon and Burnt
wine, for we have none," writes Will Livingston, in 1756, on the death
of his mother.
Here is the funeral bill of Peter Jacobs Marinus, one of the most
prominent of old time New York merchants, who died in the latter part
of the seventeenth century:
£ s. d.
To 29 galls of Wyne at 6s. 9d. per gallon, 9 15 9
" 19 pairs of gloves at 2s. 3d. 2 4 3
For bottles and glass broke, paid 3 7
Paid 2 women each 2 days attendance 15
Paid a suit of mourning for ye negro woman freed
by ye testator, and making 3 4 7
Paid for 800 cookies & 1-1/2 gross of pipes,
at 3s. 3d. 6 7 7
Paid for Speys [spice] for ye burnte wyne and
sugar, 1 1
Paid to the sexton and bell ringer for making ye
grave and ringing ye bell, 2 2 0
Paid for ye coffin, 4
Paid for gold and making 14 mourning rings, 2 16
Paid for 3 yards beaver stuff at 7s. 6d. buttons,
and making it for a suit of mourning, 1 14 6
Paid for 1/2 vat of single Beer, 7 6
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Whole amount of funeral charges is 31 6 8
It should be noted that one of the perquisites of the doctor's office
was the sale of spices, and on the occasion of funerals they did a
thriving business.
In 1764 a reform movement swept through the northern colonies and
stopped this extravagance at funerals, so that when Judge Clark died
in New Jersey, in 1765, there was no drinking at his funeral. Previous
to this time it was not unusual for testators to direct that no liquor
should be distributed at their funeral, just as today the request is
made in regard to funerals that no flowers be sent.
That the funeral of President Lincoln cost the city of Chicago over
eight hundred dollars for the "mourners" was revealed lately in an old
whisky and wine bill discovered by City Clerk John R. McCabe. The bill
is headed:
Report of Comptroller of amount paid for wine and whisky furnished
members of the legislature and the "mourners" at the obsequies of the
late president, accepted and filed August 7, 1865.
48 bottles of wine $216.00
12 bottles whisky 30.00
Wine for Congressional Committee 199.00
Wine & Whisky extras, Supervisors
room, 24.00
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$469.00