PACKWOOD CABIN SI1E REVISI'IED
Lynne S. Renau
Filson Club
Louisville, Kentucky
ABSTRACT
It is a commonly held belief that those who l i ved on the frontier and in
rural areas in the first half of the 19th century were self-sufficient,
relying almost totally on the natural environment for material from which
to fashion crude cabins, homespun clothing, and earthenware. The role of
the historic archaeologist has been vital in changing that perception as
the recovery of fragments of material culture from rural homesites has
demonstrated the enormous diversity of possessions which could be
acquired by a family through trade routes that were extensions of
economic patterns firmly established by the time of the American
Revolution. In his paper "The Packwood Site a Plow Disturbed Historic
Structure", Gary D. Ellis (1984) described the excavation of an early
19th century structure in Bartholomew County, Indiana, that exhibited
unusual
characteristics which were inconsistent with expedient
interaction with the environment. This paper suggests that a portion of
the site was utilized for the production of indigo dye, an interpretation
based on analysis of an unusual feature (previously described as a
privy), the ceramic diversity, and the potential for product flow created
by the river and surrounding economic development.
In his paper "The Packwood Site : A Plow Disturbed Historic Structure" presented
at the Symposium on Ohio Valley Urban and Historic Archaeology in March 1984, author
Gary Ellis (1984) described the excavation of a cabin site located in Bartholomew
County, Sandcreek Township, approximately one mile (ca. 1.61 km.) north of Azalia,
Indiana. The structure was built into a sandy terrace overlooking the White River
which flowed several hundred yards to the southwest of the cabin. At this site the
remains of three features were excavated:
( 1) a cellar of dressed limestone blocks
approximately 14.75 ft. (4.40 m.) by 11.48 ft. (3.50 m.); (2) a privy - so called 2
4.92 ft. square (0.46 m ) and 14.10 in. (35.81 em.) deep with a sloping side, located
9.84 ft. (3.00 m.) uphill and north of the north facing cabin/cellar foundation wall;
and (3) a single large external garbage pit located at the northeast corner of the
foundation line.
The occupants of this site were known to be the David Newsom family, Scots-Irish
immigrants from Wayne County, North Carolina, and Quakers by faith. They moved to
Sandcreek Township in 1819 and into the Packwood tract in 1823. The length of time
they inhabited the structure is not given (or known).
It is described as a
"relatively short occupation".
Included in data considerations is the following:
"The lack of any collapsed superstructure, flooring, studs, or logs would suggest the
original superstructure was removed prior to chimney collapse. This seems consistent
with the Newsom family obsession with moving their cabins every few years during the
1820s and 30s" (Ellis 1984:93-94).
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Later discussions with Mr. Ellis concerning the Newsoms elicited confirmation of
the fact that they were upright, hard working, God-fearing people who had prospered by
the second half of the 19th century, buying land, raising purebred hogs, and generally
acquitting themselves honorably.
They were, in other words, good examples of
Scots-Irish farmers, who planned their lives with some care and forethought. Lacking
was any indication of familial aberration or "pecularities" which might explain their
obsession with moving or their inability to plan for waste disposal, two symptoms
which we associate today with schizophrenia, or a substantial diminuation of the
ability to deal with reality. If we assume that they were not, to use the vernacular,
"crazy", then we need to consider other possibilities which would explain both the
site layout and their use of it as part of an orderly process.
One piece of the ceramic assemblage was of particular interest to me, because of
its size ( 9 in. [22.86 em. ]) with an oval mouth/ rim 7. 05 in. ( 17. 91 em.) diameter,
recovery from the "privy" containment area, and the description of its condition.
"The lead glazing has been removed from nearly all of the exterior surface and from a
large portion of the bottom half of the interior.
The crock also contained a
significant amount of ash/lime-like deposit on its interior surface.
Where this
compound is present the lead glazing has been removed" (letter to author from Gary D.
Ellis, 15 March 1985).
Not mentioned in the original paper was the recovery of
another large crock near the hearth area (unit 74S-118E) of the cellar. "Both its
exterior and interior surfaces show evidence for chemical scarring. The mouth/rim of
both pieces was oval and a 7.05 in. (17.91 em.) lip diameter" (ibid.). While some 3
in. (7 .62 em.)
taller than the one above, it also had an oval mouth 7 .OS in.
diameter.
Several other redware vessel fragments which " ••• show evidence of glaze
reiOOval by chemical action" were described.
"Note that the glaze has not simply
popped off, such as might be evident from heating and expansion over time, but rather
it looks like something has dissolved the glaze and scoured it off" (ibid.).
The unusual social history, the placement of the house and the privy, the
description of the first vessel, and the disclosure of other fragments in like
condition as well as the recovery of an unspecified number of 1 1/4 in. (3.18 em.)
pins led me to suggest the possibility that the site had once functioned as an indigo
dye site. This paper is an explanation of the processes which led me to that theory.
Indigo, unlike most natural dyes, cannot be extracted from plant matter by
submersion in boiling water. Indigo comes from the indigo plant, a member of the pea
family which was obtainable until the early 1700s - chiefly in India.
Indigo is
merely the Spanish form of the word "India". In the early 1740s, Elizabeth Lucas
Pickney (1722-1793), the teenage daughter of a colonial South Carolina planter,
developed and successfully grew indigo plants for the first time in America. She was
able to imitate the heretofore closely guarded secret for processing the plant - which
is grown from seed planted in April. From mid-July to late-August, the stalks have to
be cut at exactly the right time without damaging the delicate blooms. The cut stalks
of leaves and blooms are soaked in water until fermented . Then the liquid is drawn
off and beaten with paddles until it thickens and settles. The liquid is strained off
and the sediment carefully dried and molded into cakes which are a deep blue color.
They have the smell and consistency of dried animal dung. For use, the cake must be
ground, dissolved, and mordanted in order to fix the blue colour. Wool or cotton
stuffs taken from an indigo dye pot are green. The shade changes to blue due to
56
The mordant that makes indigo dyeing successful is "sig" or more
reoxidation.
commonly, urine.
In America, indigo could be grown in southern soil not suitable for rice. Valued
at close to $1.50 per lb. (0.45 kg.), it made the fortune of many 18th century South
Carolina plantation owners. So economically important was Eliza Pickney's expertise
in the area of crop cultivation to the emerging nation (flax, hemp, and silk) that at
her funeral in Philadelphia in 1793, George Washington, at his own request, served as
a pallbearer.
Typically, indigo dyes cotton or wool fibre a deep blue which is extremely
durable.
Its application to jeans in the 19th century created the universal work
garment of the 20th century. But anyone who is familiar with the history of dyeing
will describe indigo dyeing as the first process a pioneer woman, living tn a largely
barter economy, was willing to pay someone else to do for her because of the awful
odor associated with it. Indigo does not dissolved in water: it must be chemically
changed (a process called reduction).
A useable solution is obtained through the
introduction of a strong alkaline (lye or ammonia).
The most effective ammonia
readily available to 19th century dyers was urine, specifically human male urine,
which was rendered more potent by first being allowed to ferment in a warm place such
as the kitchen hearth. Hence, indigo was described as the "best dye drug in the world
but of no effect without the power of the alkali" (Bemis 1815:71). This process of
fermentation and the addition of indigo smelled, when stirred, "sharp" and resembled
"that of stinking meat roasted". (ibid.:125). Even in an age accustomed to natural
fragrances of all varieties, indigo dyeing was difficult to accomodate in the home.
In her House Book or A Manual of Domestic Economy (1840), Mrs. Leslie passed
lightly over indigo dyeing, dwelling instead on gracious pastels. Indigo was left to
the professional dyer or weaver whose shop was large enough to include both
operations. By 1830, most Indiana counties had mills for carding, spinning, fulling,
and dyeing (Montgomery 1974:4). The industrial revolution and factory system which
contributed vast quantities of creamware and decorated whiteware to the homes of
America, including that of the Newsoms at the Packwood site, also contributed a new
group of immigrants to America, the English, Irish, and Scottish handloom weavers whom
the power looms had forced out of business. A steamrdriven machine could produce six
times as much cloth as a skilled hand loom weaver, at a fraction of the cost. These
displaced artisians would come to America, staying only briefly in big cities, then
travel westward, settling down, and buying land.
Some, by the late 1830s, were
bringing large jacquard looms with them. These looms, which were a full story and a
half tall, were the source of the usually indigo blue and white stylized design
coverlets without which, along with English "china", no 1840s middle class Indiana
home could be considered truly fashionable.
The creamy white cotton warp thread could be purchased but it was the woolen weft
which gave a coverlet its beauty. I will discuss the fibre's progress from the sheep
to blue and white coverlet using as a reference The Dyers Companion by Elijah Bemis
(1815).
Bemis himself owned a mill in Connecticut but the book was written
specifically for the small dye workshop operations which closely followed the westward
settlement. The commonly held belief that the frontier settlers were self-sufficient,
non-industrialized, and non-commerical in their pursuits is a myth that historic
archaeology does much to dispell. I believe the Packwood site to be an instance of
57
just the type of cottage industry dye site for which Bemis' book was designed.
Obviously, a knowledge of dyeing could be handed down in the family or through
apprenticeship but "how-to" books in crafts and arts were far more common and widely
circulated than legend would have us believe. For example, about a fifth of Bemis'
307-page text is devoted to indigo dye because a successful dyer had to master more
than one variation of the process to successfully work with different fibres and
weather conditions. Seasonal temperature fluctuations dictated the choice of method
as much as the fibre did.
Cloth or wool fibre was not dyeable after it was woven. It had to be milled, a
scouring process which removed the grease. For 50 yds. (45.72 m.) of cloth weighing
approximately 80 lbs. (36.29 kg.), the cleaning solution required 2 lbs. (0.91 kg.) of
pearlash (a semi-refined wood ash), 1 gal. (3.79 1.) of rain or river water, and 8
gals. (30.28 1.) of well-fermented urine. Processing required the better part of a
day for repeated soakings, boilings, and rinsings. Bemis, for obvious reasons, always
recommended that a dye site be close to a river or stream, in sandy soil, and, while
the cast iron boilers in which the work was done had to be roofed, he cautioned that
the area be open on the side " ••• that the air may pass through.
Otherwise the
volatile substance of the urine will nearly take away the breath" (Bemis 1815:271).
The scum and foam which rose to the top as the cloth was worked was skimmed off and
poured on the ground.
Especially in warm months, the stench must have been
indescribable, building up as the ground became saturated. Once cleaned, the yarn or
yardage was ready for dyeing.
Bemis described several variations of the way a dye vat was set in the ground, in
a shallow pit with a brick surround. The size of the vat determined the size of the
hole with space left on all sides in order to pack the pit with embers if necessary.
A vat could be either of iron or wooden construction (ibid . :6). The idea was to
gently warm the dye bath. The embers, when needed in cool weather, did not come in
contact with the vat. The vat itself was to be covered and the pit protected by a
roof. Maximum ventilation was vital to the well being of those doing the dyeing.
The cloth or wool was submerged in the dye, removed, aired for a time equaling
the time it had been in the dyebath, and then submerged again.
This process was
repeated until the desired colour was obtained.
Colour depth was built up by
successive dippings, not by the quantity of indigo used or increased time in the
dyebath.
The colouring completed, the cloth was stretched and allowed to dry
completely, rinsed in vinegar solution and let dry, then washed with soap, rinsed, and
dried. Only then was it ready for use.
As I began to think of this site as a feasible dye site, located near a river, on
sandy soil with a pit of the correct dimensions which showed evidence of once having
had a wooden superstructure a scant 9 ft. (2.74 m.) away from the cellar foundation in
which was located a substantial fireplace and in which was found a heavy deposit of
ash required in quantity in both the washing and dyeing process, I had the opportunity
to spend a day with Jean Warholic, a nationally recognized authority on natural dyes.
Twelve men and women, all experienced with dyes, met on the campus of Hanover College,
(Madison, Indiana) on an ideal Saturday in June to work with an indigo dye pot. About
24 lbs. (10.89 kg.) of wool and cloth had been brought for dyeing. The vat was made
from the modern chemical equivalents of the ingredients I have just discussed.
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"Purists", wrote Mrs. Warholic, "are welcome to go ahead and use stale urine if they
choose, but do i t outdoors" (Warholic n.d.).
In the course of a day, I did not find the odor of the vat offensive but there
was a steady breeze and we were not processing the tvool as a dyer wo:..1ld have. The
work was exhausting, as we d 1.pi?~·, re.t;.·ieverl , shook, and rotated skeins of wool.
Other gro~.:ps, working at weaving or basketmaking, could put their work down at will.
The dye pot was our master that day, even though we were only working with a "cold"
formula that did not require subtle temperature manipulations.
A urine mordanted dye pot
must be tended 24 hours a day to
work at peak efficiency, perhaps
explaining the proximity of the
pit to the living quarters. If,
indeed, this was the use to which
the site was put, the rewards of
that efficiency were great . The
first professional weavers came
to Indiana in the mid 1820s. By
the late 1830s the jacquard
weavers began to settle there,
with by
far
the
heaviest
concentration of
production
centering in She lby (5) , Wayne
(16), Franklin (15), Union (6),
and Decatur (4) counties , all
located immediately north-east or
east of Bartholomew County (see
Figure 1).
A coverlet could be
woven in a day and cost the
purchaser from $5 t o $10 .
In the census records of
1840 , the Newsoms list their
occupation as farmers. There was
probably greater status attached
to being landowners than there
was to being artisians of any
kind.
The majority of weavers
also listed their occupation as
farmers
(Montgomery
1974:6)
although extant signed and dated
coverlets made by them indicate
winters, at least, were spent at
their looms.
F~gure
1.
Distribution of Indiana Coverlet
Weavers
(One dot represents a working
location for one of Indiana's
major coverlet weavers).
In summary, when viewed as an indigo dye site, what seems disparate and bizarre
construction and social behavior on the Packwood Site becomes explainable and
rational. The placement, not of a privy, but of a work pit close to the house became
expedient. . The traditional functional use of the cellar for storage is not
59
disregarded. It is simply used for the storage of a reliable supply of ash. The
badly scoured crocks were probably originally used to collect and hold the fermenting
urine which was transferred to the vats.
When cracking prevented their use as
containers for this fairly caustic liquid they could still be used to carry lime and
ash to the dye bath.
The recovery of 1 1/4 in. (3.18 em.) pins with both solder-drop and
machine-pressed heads was mentioned, an unusual find in and of itself. Machine-made
pins were available in England by 1826 and would have been available to the Newsoms by
the 1830s. The length suggests not a sewing pin but a utility pin required for the
preparation of cloth. And, lastly, there is the Newsom's obsession with moving short
distances, taking the portable parts of their home with them.
REFERENC.FS CITED
Bemis, Elijah
1815 The Dyer's Companion (3rd, enlarged edition).
New York.
Reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc.,
Ellis, Gary D.
1984 The Packwood Site: A Plow Disturbed Historic Structure. Proceedings of the Symposium
on Ohio Valley Urban and Historic Archaeology 2:89-110, Louisville.
Les II e, Mrs.
1840 The House Book or a Manual of Domestic Economy for Town and Country (3rd edition).
Carey and Hart, Philadelphia.
Montgomery, P. M.
1974 Indiana Coverlet Weavers and Their Coverlets.
Warhol Ic, Jean
n.d. Three Indigo Dyepots.
Hoosier Heritage Press, Indianapolis.
Unpublished ms. (dated 1984).
60