Children -- United States; United States -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
Edward Bendall's children were named Truegrace, Reform, Hoped for,
More mercy, and Restore. Richard Gridley's offspring were Return,
Believe, and Tremble.
With the exception of Puritanical names, double Christian names were
very rare until after the Revolution, as may be seen by examining
any document with many signatures; such, for instance, as the
Declaration of Independence, or the lists of officers and men in the
Continental Army. Return Jonathan Meigs was a notable exception.
There exists in New England a tradition of "groaning-cakes" being
made and baked at the birth of a child, to give to visitors. I have
found no record of it. The Frenchman, Misson, in his _Travels in
England_, says, "At the birth of their children they (visitors)
drink a glass of wine and eat a bit of a certain cake, which is
seldom made but upon these occasions." Anna Green Winslow, a Boston
schoolgirl, tells of making what she calls "a setting up visit"
to a relative who had a baby about four weeks old. She wore her
best and most formal attire and says, "It cost me a pistareen to
Nurse Eaton for two cakes which I took care to eat before I paid
for them." There certainly was a custom of giving money, clothing,
or petty trinkets to the nurse at such visits. Judge Sewall
frequently writes of these "vails" which he made at the house of his
friends. He writes in one case of brewing "groaning-beer," and in
his household were held two New England amphidromia. The midwife,
nurses, and all the neighboring women who had helped with work or
advice during the early days of the child's life were bidden to a
dinner. One Sewall baby was scarcely two weeks old when seventeen
women dined at the Judge's house, on boiled pork, beef, and fowls;
roast beef and turkey; pies and tarts. At another time "minc'd Pyes
and cheese" were added. Judge Winthrop's sister, Madam Downing,
furnished sack and claret also. A survival of this custom lasted
till this century in the drinking of caudle by the bedside of the
mother.
A pincushion was for many years and indeed is still in some parts of
New England a highly conventional gift to a mother with a young babe.
_Poor Robin's Almanack_ for the year 1676 says:--
"Pincushions and such other knacks
A childbed woman always lacks."
[Illustration: pincushion]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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