Curious Customs

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Julie Goucher

I have been catching up on my reading and came across an interesting article on the BBC website – Concealed Shoes: Australian Settlers and an old superstition.

In order to ward off evil spirits, shoes were placed within the confines of the property. One point raised by the article is that there was four themes connecting the items recovered. They were England, fear, youth and ignorance.

  • England – concealing items within property had been in existence since the 17th Century. So it does seem obvious that settlers continued the practice.
  • Fear – In early times, child mortality was huge and as such parents were terrified of loosing their children to illness. Many of these illness were attributed to evil spirits.
  • Many of the items found belonged to children. The belief being that youth had the advantage of being able to defend against evil spirits
  • Many believed that God went to Church. Most were poorly educated and were drawn to superstition.

Further reading into the Concealed Garments Project is available HERE. The project was set up in 1998.

What is interesting is that these are the customs and superstitions that our ancestors lived under. It helps us build a further dimension to the social and domestic lives of our ancestors.

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100 Word Challenge – Week 35

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Julie Goucher
Joining the weekly 100 words challenge for Grown ups. This week the prompt is to use the following prompt with no more than 100 words.

……the red box…… 


As he lifted the red box and placed it on his desk he was shacking a little inside. He knew that as he later opened the red box and subsequently read from the papers inside he would absolutely have made his mark in history. He would either be labelled the chancellor who made history or the one who damaged his career in the time it took to read the details. Either way, he was reading what he believed was absolutely the best thing to do. To be the best, you must do the right thing. There was no turning back.

Taking part in the 100 word Challenge for Grown Ups – Week #35
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High Street, Guildford, Circa 1950 Showing F W Woolworths

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Julie Goucher
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21st Century Organised Family Historian – Week 10 – Quick and Dirty Way to Start Organizing Photos

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher

Continuing the weekly thread organised by Michelle at The Turning of Generations. 

Over recent years we have organised our physical photograph albums and collection. The major job now is scanning and making digital copies of those photographs and then making a CD of the photos. The last stage in the process is to upload a copy to Flickr.

In the digital age, we always download our photographs to our laptops and external hard drive. We then make a CD of them and then upload a copy to our Flickr album. 

We can make choices with Flickr whether or not to make our photographs available for general viewing or making it private. I do make a digital copy of photographs sent to me by friends of their children, but I always make the file a private one, so that only myself and my husband can see them. 

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21st Century Organised Family Historian – Week 9 – Organize Heritage Photos

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher

Continuing the weekly thread organised by Michelle at The Turning of Generations. 

About 4 years ago I sorted through a series of boxes in the loft space of all the photographs we have. The photograph collection was made up of – 

  • All my photographs prior to marriage

  • All my husband’s photos prior to marriage
  • All our photographs taken since marriage

All my genealogical photos were already sorted and housed separately. We also had a collection of photograph albums that held specific holidays. The rest of the photographs were still in the paper envelope and outer bag that you collect from the photograph store.

All the envelopes were then dated and a note jotted on the outside indicating what there represented. An example – 1988 Royal Naval HMS Raleigh.

Having done this earlier work, it now means that we can scan and make a digital archive as much of the dating has been done.
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21st Century Organised Family Historian – Week 7 – Stock Up & Catch Up!

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher

Continuing the weekly thread organised by Michelle at The Turning of Generations. 


A belated post as I took stock of where I was at in my personal tidying, sorting and culling plans.

My study is at the top of the house, on the third floor. From the study I can access the roof space via a series of eve cupboards. In these cupboards I have a couple of boxes of memorabilia and pieces collected over the years. I enlisted the help of my husband to move the boxes into the study and position them in front of the armchair which sits in the study. I then proceeded to go through the boxes and have a trip down memory lane; reading and reviewing the material that I have gathered over the years. I discarded nothing. I did though sort through and organise the collection of material into the following – 
  • Letters sorted into a sturdy box
  • Cards sorted and sorted into a sturdy box
  • Diaries and journals sorted into a small suitcase that had belonged to my Grandfather
  • The rest – large cards, scrapbook of our wedding and a whole pile of other bits re-homed into a large suitcase that had belonged to my Grandfather
  • Collection of school reports and alike that I plan to scan sorted into a sturdy small box
The collection of suitcases and small boxes were then placed back into the eves cupboards, where I can access them at any time as I start to catalogue and scan cards and letters.
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St Mary’s Church, Worplesdon

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher
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What would you put in a Time Capsule?

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher

Bill, who blogs over at West in New England suggested a small challenge. You can read his post here What would you put in a time capsule to be opened a year from now?

  1. Make a list of what you would put in a time capsule and why you’d choose each item. 
  2. What would you use for the time capsule? Where would you have it kept?  

I think it depends on the “market” for your time capsule. As we headed into the new Millennium I did several things. One of which was to keep a year long scrapbook and the other was to create a time capsule which I have placed in the loft for other house owners to find in the future.

In this case, the time capsule contained details about who were were and where we moved from and when we bought the house. It included a copy of the sales particulars. I also included who we had purchased from and other data connected to the house and a copy of the Census information for 1901.

The information was placed in a plastic container which had been lined with archive brown paper. The lid was sealed and then a binding of electrical tape placed securing the seal. Across the top and down the side I wrote
the following information. “Time Capsule, sealed by J & S Goucher January 2000″

We historically think of small vessels to hold time capsules. I would I think use a suitcase or a large firm structure. Cardboard would not be good in case of future dampness. Inclusion would be in two parts about myself and that of my husband. It would include some photographs, copies not originals. There would not be any data discs – everything would be photographic and handwritten copies, as that is pretty much easy viewing. It would include details of hobbies and interests, our jobs and professional life. I am wondering whether to create such an item to be opened on the occasion of my 100th birthday.

This year in the UK is the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. As part of the celebrations there is an opportunity to create a time capsule. You can read the details HERE. Anyone can take part, as long as the memory occurred between 6th February 1952 and 6th June 2012 and is about a Commonwealth Country, any of the 54 of them and can include those Countries no longer within the Commonwealth (Fiji, Hong Kong and Zimbabwe). Or the event could be a World Event and the impact upon a Commonwealth Country. You can follow the project via Twitter and Facebook.

Going forward, I plan to submit an article and photographs to the Jubilee Time Capsule and keep a copy of the information for inclusion within my family archives. I am also going to explore further the details of creating a time capsule to be opened on my 100th birthday. Stay tuned for a likely second post…..

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Weekend Cooking – Civil War Era Recipes Compiled by Julia Hutchins

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Julie Goucher

Last week I spotted this e-book available via Amazon. I was intrigued, so downloaded the book.

Contained within the e-pages was a collection of recipes from heritage publications and some great and interesting recipes. Here is one that caught my eye

Salad Dressing (1870)

1 boiled egg
teaspoon of ground mustard
teaspoon of salt
a little Cayenne pepper

beat together until perfectly smooth then add

1 raw egg yolk and stir until the dressing becomes thick and creamy.
Add vinegar to taste. If too much of the vinegar is used then add a small lump of ice.

Originally extracted from “Famous old recipes used a hundred or more years ago in the kitchens of the north and south. Contributed by the descendants 1908.

How on earth do you make ice without refrigeration? I guess it is possible. Other recipes that caught my eye were:

  • Creme de menth
  • Lemonade to Carry in your pocket (1863 Dr Chase Recipes)
  • Civil War Lemonade (1861 Housekeepers Encylopedia)
  • Snail broth for obstinate coughs
  • Pigs Head
  • Bread sauce for birds

At the end of the book was some really useful links to other websites detailing more recipes from this period, Civil War historical documents and Civil War Re-Enactor groups and a link to the author’s website, where you can currently subscribe to the newsletter and get a free download of original Civil War recipes. You can also follow via Twitter the author

Taking part in Weekend Cooking hosted by BethFishReads

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Worplesdon Platform Ticket 1937

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Julie Goucher
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