Keeping the Flock, A Tradition!

Sweet Shepherdess!

Shepherdess Poppy with her cosset sheep.

The keeping of the flock has been a tradition in my family through the generations, documented back to at least the 1500s, and undoubtedly beyond. Along with their sheep raising, many in my family had equipment for industrious home spinning and weaving.

Jasper Riddlesdale, my 13th great grandfather, of Boxford, Suffolk, England had sheep on his farm that he mentioned in his will dated 1552.

 

One of my Scottish ancestors in Connecticut:

One of the things listed in the inventory was a cosset sheep.

A cosset was a motherless or rejected lamb hand fed by people; a pet sheep.

 

In a genealogy published in Boston in 1874, Ebenezer Weaver Peirce b. 1822, who was likely related to several of our ancestral families, wrote this story of his cosset sheep:

"The writer of this genealogy, when a small boy, was made happy as the recipient of a present from his father; that acceptable gift being a cosset sheep, that like "Mary's lamb" followed, if allowed, wherever I went, in doors and out, and even up and down stairs. That sheep I loved almost as I loved my own life, and was made to feel exceedingly wretched by an injury that it received, being hooked by an ox so as to tear the skin in a manner shocking to behold. Mrs. Howland happened to call at my father's, and witnessing my grief and sorrow desired to see the sheep; and on examining the injuries, pronounced them curable, and then sewed up the wound and dressed it so nicely that it healed ere long. I never thought of that woman afterwards but with feelings of gratitude for the wound she also healed in my lacerated young heart."

Rose Hips hanging from the mantel and an old English shepherd's staff alongside.

Me hugging a sweet little lamb!

How I have always loved little lambs!

 

The first Tasha Tudor illustrations I saw was when I was a child  after the above photograph was taken and the illustrations were in were in "Childcraft Poems of Early Childhood". One of the poems was "Mary's Lamb" where Tasha illustrated an old fashioned schoolhouse with the children working on their slates at their desks when Mary's little lamb appears and tries to enter the schoolhouse. The last illustration shows Mary tenderly giving her lamb a hug!

Tasha Tudor's 1946 book "Linsey Woolsey" is about a cosset lamb named Linsey Woolsey who was bottle raised and preferred the company of people.

 

 

Poppy spinning by the fireplace.

 

 

We acquired the brass range from a kind gentleman in England who said his Gran played with the range when she was child.

 

 

 

Hope with a trug full of apples.

 

 

Poppy and Hope with a trug of apples. Poppy is rolling out a crust.

 

 

The dolls and critters at Corgyncombe enjoy old fashioned entertainment.

Punch and Judy and their lookalike baby! Also a smaller punch sits in front.

Poppy and Hope, each with their little dolls, enjoy the Punch and Judy show!

 

In "Take Joy!: The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book", Tasha illustrated a story "Christmas in London" from "Little Dog Toby" written by Rachel Field. Toby performed with a Punch and Judy show. We love Tasha's illustrations of little dog Toby!

 

 

Little Punch is intrigued with Hope's little Queen Anne doll!

Merry Christmas!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

 

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2023 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

 

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2023/12/keeping-flock-tradition.html
copyright © 2023 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitty, Block Island, Mystic Seaport, Pirates and Roses!

Celebrating Tasha Tudor's 100th Birthday Year!

Hitty Hannah Austin Rose was named after my 5th great grandmother Hannah Austin Rose, wife of James Rose, who lived on Block Island, Rhode Island. The Rose family of Block Island descended from Tormut Rose from Scotland, said to have come to New England as a Prisoner of War after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
Hitty Hannah Austin Rose is inhaling the beautiful scent of the David Austin rose selected as Corgyncombe's choice for adding to our cottage garden this past year.

 

Click Here for Lovely Music

The gravestone on Block Island of my 5th great grandmother Hannah Austin Rose, wife of James Rose.

In Memory of

Hannah wife of Mr.

James Rose,

who departed this Life

December 1st 1791 in the

60th year of her Age.

She was a Kind wife, a tender

Parent, and beloved by all her

Aquaintance.

The Corgyncombe Courant thanks their dear friends for the use of the above photograph.

The Block Island North Lighthouse.
The Corgyncombe Courant thanks their dear friends for the use of the above photograph.

Hitty Hannah Austin Rose wanted to see an old tall ship like in Rachel Field's book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years". In the book, Hitty accompanies Phoebe Preble and her family on a whaling expedition. Phoebe's father was Captain of the whaling ship they sailed on.

At Mystic Seaport in Connecticut her dream came true as she went aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the last surviving American whaling ship.  The Charles W. Morgan was built in 1841 and first launched from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

The Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport.
Hitty was thrilled!

Hitty Hannah Austin Rose at the helm of the Charles W. Morgan.
It was a beautiful moment for Hitty as she felt almost as if she had returned to her ship.
All the memories of Hitty's adventures on the whaler came to her mind!
Here you can see the serene expression of awe and emotion in Hitty's face as she gazes up at the sails.

Looking up at the sails of the Charles W. Morgan.

As we explored the ship, it felt like Hitty was showing us around!

Coming up from below deck on the Charles W. Morgan; the loveliest blue sky!

 One of the Captains who sailed on the Charles W. Morgan was Capt. John Tinkham.
Captain Tinkham was a distant cousin of ours through our Tinkham family and we also share ancestor Peter Brown, a Mayflower passenger.
Capt. Tinkham had this special cabin made on deck for his wife as Mrs. Clara Tinkham suffered from seasickness.

Tillie Tinkham, the seamstress mouse at Corgyncombe, made herself comfortable in the bed in Mrs. Tinkham's cabin on board the Charles W. Morgan. She was quite taken by the delightful quilt that looks to have pieced "sails", on Mrs. Tinkham's bed.

In Rachel Field's book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years", the ship that Hitty sailed on with the Prebles was first called the "Diana" and later called the "Diana Kate".
Above, Hitty looks out at Tasha Tudor's illustration of the "Diana" in the book "Wings from the Wind". One can see the name "Diana" on the ship.

The Whale Oil Lamps exhibit at Old Sturbridge Village.

The silent film "Down to the Sea in Ships" was released in 1923. The Charles W. Morgan was one of the ships used in the movie.
One thinks that perhaps Rachel Field could have seen this movie and been inspired by various things featured; the whaling ship and the detailed whaling adventure, the Quaker families, and dolls dressed as Quakers belonging to Patience Morgan the Quakeress. In the movie Clara Bow plays saucy Dot Morgan, who rebels against her strict grandfather and stows away on the whaling ship, disguised as a boy. Dot's friend Jimmie is the cabin boy on the ship.

In the early 1800s my third great grand uncle Nathan Herrington was a cabin boy on a ship that sailed out of New London, Connecticut.

In Rachel Field's book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years", published in 1929, Hitty goes on a whaling ship with Phoebe Preble and her family and later in the book Hitty dons Quaker dress and lives with a Quaker girl named Clarissa.

Hitty Rachel, who insists on being called Hitty Content when in Quaker dress, at the Quaker Meetinghouse (originally in Bolton, Massachusetts) at Old Sturbridge Village.

Some of my Quaker ancestors were from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, which is very close to New Bedford, Massachusetts.

The New Shoreham Life-Saving Station was built on Block Island and moved to Mystic Seaport.
New Shoreham is another name for Block Island.

Captain Kidd from Scotland, was said to be a pirate.
In the Tasha Tudor illustration of Captain Kidd in "Wings from the Wind", we see a little boy and his corgi peeking apprehensively out from behind the barrel. Hitty had an urge to run into a comforting pocket to make a hasty retreat from Captain Kidd!
Captain Kidd was said to have stopped at Block Island and was rumored to have given Mercy (Sands) Raymond an apron full of gold in payment for room and board for himself and a woman he referred to as his wife.

As Hitty gazed into the looking glass, with its sailing motif, recollections of Hitty's time aboard the "Diana Kate" with Captain Preble and his family came to her mind. The looking glass is a reproduction of an old one from the Bixby house at Old Sturbridge Village.

The Bixby house at Old Sturbridge Village. Emerson and Laura (Doane) Bixby lived in the house in the 1800s. Laura was a distant cousin of ours through our Doane family who in early New England were from Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

Hitty Hannah Austin Rose's reflection in the looking glass at the Bixby house.

This old box decorated with a boat on exhibit at Old Sturbridge Village caught Hitty's eye.

Nanny Nettie-Kin readies tea for the girls.
Behind Nanny is a lovely old Victorian tea cozy.

Hitty Hannah Austin Rose and Hitty Sue have tea using Nanny Nettie-Kin's favorite Rose teapot and discuss roses, museums, genealogy, pirates and the sea!

Both Mystic Seaport and Old Sturbridge Village are wonderful museums with outstanding exhibits!

We have many, many more photographs of both museums that we hope to feature on the Corgyncombe Courant in the future.

Happy New Year to our Dear Readers!

 

 

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
 
Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.
 
Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2015 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2015/12/hitty-block-island-mystic-seaport.html
copyright © 2015 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitty Rachel in Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge, Massachusetts!

Celebrating Old New England Kindred Families!

Hitty Rachel stands in front of Norman Rockwell's "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas".  Across the street, the Christmas tree lights up the window of what was Norman Rockwell's studio in the 1950s. Hitty feels pleased to have found snow in Stockbridge this year!

Click Here for Lovely Music

The original Hitty, from Rachel Field's book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years", resides in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

The Norman Rockwell Museum is in Stockbridge and exhibits many of his wonderful paintings. In 2005 "Tasha Tudor’s Spirit of the Holidays" was on exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Norman Rockwell is a cousin of ours through both our Blashfield and Morgan families of Brimfield, Massachusetts. The Morgans and Blashfields were early New England families.

We at the Corgyncombe Courant wish our Dear Readers a Merry Christmas!

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2015/12/hitty-rachel-in-norman-rockwells.html
copyright © 2015 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitty Visits the Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village!

To Be Most Content!

Hitty looks peaceful and content at the window in the Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village. Hitty likes to be called Hitty Content when she is wearing Quaker dress, as above.

Click Here for Lovely Music

Several of our ancestors were Quaker, including my 4th great grandmother who was named Content Hoag. Content was also (through a different family line of mine) my 4th great grandfather Abram Hoag's first cousin.

Hitty Content said "Thank thee, Tillie, for making me a Quaker outfit!"

Hitty's Quaker frock with pleats about the waist of the skirt and at the shoulders of the sleeves, her fichu, and cap were made by the talented little Tillie Tinkham, seamstress mouse for the dolls at Corgyncombe.  Tillie patterned the little ruffled cap after the "Cap for a Young Member of the Society of Friends" in "The Workwoman's Guide, By A Lady, A Guide to 19th Century Decorative Arts, Fashion and Practical Crafts, 1838".

In referencing bunnies and knitted rabbit wool items from Beatrix Potter's stories and a knitting pattern, Tasha Tudor mentioned "The Workwoman's Guide". Tasha Tudor wrote to us:

"You must have read Sarah 'The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.' Remember they gave Mrs. Tittlemouse enough rabbit wool to knit several pairs of muffatees?! 'The Workwoman's Guide' has directions. Maybe you also own this invaluable work?"

We at Corgyncombe find that "The Workwoman's Guide" is indeed a most valuable guide. It contains information, patterns, and instructions relating to bonnets and caps, collars, stitches, shawls, frocks, sleeves, knitting, household items, and many other things. The book has instructions for making little stitches and "neat" and "neatly" are predominant words.

Tillie Tinkham is in agreement with Tasha Tudor: "The Workwoman's Guide" is an "invaluable work"!

The year 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of Tasha Tudor's birth in 1915!

Nanny Nettie-Kin reminds us of Tasha Tudor and we and the dolls and critters of Corgyncombe will be celebrating this, the 100th year since Tasha Tudor's birth!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

The Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village

Inside the Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village.

The women sat on one side in the Friends' Meetinghouse and the men sat on the other.

My Grandmum and Grandfather were both of early New England Quaker descent. Both of their families started out in Massachusetts, north of Boston in the Newbury area and south of Boston in the Dartmouth area. Their Quaker families, known as the Society of Friends, then settled in an area known as the Oblong.

The Oblong was a long, narrow strip of land whose ownership was disputed between Connecticut and New York. In this long, narrow strip, my Quaker families settled and lived.

"The History of Dutchess County, New York" edited by Frank Hasbrouck, published 1909, says the following: "The Oblong Patent, covering a narrow strip along the east borders of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties, was ceded to the State of New York by Connecticut, May 14, 1731."

Inside the Friends' Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village.

May apple blossoms at sunrise down near Corgi Creek.

Tasha Tudor was inspired by the movie "Friendly Persuasion" to illustrate the endpapers of "Around the Year". The endpapers of "Around the Year" show a couple riding in a horse and buggy, crossing a creek, with lovely countryside round with sheep and cows to pasture.

The Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village.

The movie "Friendly Persuasion" was about a Quaker family amidst the Civil War. The movie's introduction song is so lovely accompanying this post.

Looking down from upstairs in the Friends' Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village.

In the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" by Rachel Field, the original Hitty finds herself living with a Quaker family with a little girl named Clarissa Pryce.  After Clarissa found Hitty's name had been cross-stitched on her chemise she told her: "Thee must have been thought highly of, Hitty, to wear coral beads and thy name in cross-stitch, too." Clarissa sewed a Quaker frock, fichu and cap for Hitty and said "Now she looks like a true Friend". In the book, the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier visited the Pryce family and met Hitty. He was pleased Hitty was in Quaker dress and he wrote a poem about Hitty that appears in Rachel Field's book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years":

"These verses are in praise of thee,
Thou finger's length of modesty,
Whose tranquil brow and dress of gray
Become thee more than bright array."

The time that Hitty spends with Clarissa Pryce is our favorite part of the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years".

The Quaker Meetinghouse at Old Sturbridge Village.

We have the featured antique caps and "The Workwoman's Guide" before at the Corgyncombe Courant.

Here is a link to:

A Sampling from The Corgyncombe Old Cap Collection
"The Workwoman's Guide" at The Corgyncombe Library

Here is a link to another post featuring our Quaker ancestors at the Corgyncombe Courant:
A Carriage Ride Along Corgi Creek!
May Day Delights!

Here are links to our previous posts in the series of
"Hitty's Journey and Adventures
at Old Sturbridge Village"
at the
Corgyncombe Courant:

Hitty Visits Old Sturbridge Village, Freeman Farm!

At Old Sturbridge Village Hitty Finds George Washington!

Hitty, Tasha Tudor Birthday Celebration,

and Asa Knight Store at Old Sturbridge Village!

Tasha Tudor and Old School House Remembrances!

Old Sturbridge Village School Attended by Izannah and Hitty!

Hitty Visits the Tin Shop at Old Sturbridge Village!
The Lovely Glow of Autumn, Tin and Lantern Light!

Hitty Visits the Shoemaker at Old Sturbridge Village!

Finding a Place to Rest Your Pegs!

Here is a link to:
Old Sturbridge Village


Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com


http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2015/06/hitty-visits-quaker-meetinghouse-at-old.html
copyright © 2015 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitty Visits the Shoemaker at Old Sturbridge Village!

Finding a Place to Rest Your Pegs!

At Old Sturbridge Village, Hitty was delighted to visit with the shoemaker.

Click Here for Lovely Music

The shoe shop at Old Sturbridge Village, that reminds of us Tasha Tudor's illustration in "The Real Pretend" of Kathy and her brother setting out to collect the money for the Larkin goods they sold. My daughter Sarah was the model for the illustrations of the little girl Kathy in "The Real Pretend".

Shoes on display in the shoe shop.

Several in our Moulton family were shoemakers in the early 1800s from Brimfield, Massachusetts, not far from Sturbridge.

Hitty Rachel and the shoemaker at Old Sturbridge Village.

Hitty was very interested in the wooden pegs used in making the shoes as she, too, is jointed with pegs.

The Freeman farm at Old Sturbridge Village is where Pliny Freeman and his wife Delia lived. Their daughter Delia married our second cousin John May. John May, Delia, and their children lived with Delia's parents at the Freeman Farm in the late 1830s. During this time John May worked at making shoes.

The shoemaker works at the low bench with his tools at hand.

After much walking around Hitty's pegs began to feel tired. She spied this little bed just her size!

Hitty sees that the little bed is already occupied by a little doll who is also in need of a rest. The little doll sort of resembled a Hitty but was not made of wood. Hitty Rachel loved her frock and pinafore!

Hitty found another little bed in the Salem Towne House. She thought that would be the perfect place for her to rest her pegs!

Ima resting at the Towne House garden.

Hitty and Ima were made by talented doll carver Judy Brown.

An antique doll bed on display at Old Sturbridge Village.

When Hitty saw this little doll cradle on display she thought of the book "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" by Rachel Field and how the original Hitty had her own cradle. Hitty's cradle was made by Phoebe's father Captain Preble and she enjoyed recuperating in it after her trying time in the crow's nest in the "ancestral pine" that stood alongside the Preble house.

"Look," said Hitty, "what a beautiful coach to take an old fashioned ride in!"

The Hartford & Worcester stagecoach at Old Sturbridge Village.
Hitty thought of the original Hitty riding in a coach. In "Hitty, Her First Hundred Years" by Rachel Field, the Prebles and Hitty took the stagecoach from Portland, Maine to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Salem, Massachusetts and on to Boston. The Captain was going to set sail on the ship Diana-Kate and it was decided that his family join him.

Hitty asks the driver of the stagecoach if she could see what it would be like to be in the driver's seat. The driver kindly agreed. Hitty felt that it was almost like being up in the ancestral pine as she was up so high!
Hitty took the reins for a moment but I was too startled at the thought of little Hitty driving the horses to snap a photograph!

Hitty felt like she could nearly touch the roof of the tavern!

Hitty thought a stagecoach ride can be a good way to rest your pegs!

We enjoy our Regency Ballroom CD.
Here is a link to where you can purchase one:
The Regency Ballroom CD
with Music from Jane Austen's time


Here are links to our previous posts in the series of
"Hitty's Journey and Adventures
at Old Sturbridge Village"
at the
Corgyncombe Courant:

Hitty Visits Old Sturbridge Village, Freeman Farm!

At Old Sturbridge Village Hitty Finds George Washington!

Hitty, Tasha Tudor Birthday Celebration,
and Asa Knight Store at Old Sturbridge Village!

Tasha Tudor and Old School House Remembrances!
Old Sturbridge Village School Attended by Izannah and Hitty!

Hitty Visits the Tin Shop at Old Sturbridge Village!
The Lovely Glow of Autumn, Tin and Lantern Light!


Here is a link to:
Old Sturbridge Village

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2015/05/hitty-visits-shoemaker-at-old.html
copyright © 2015 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~