Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I was just reading an article found here: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/ar ... -detergent
and it got me to wondering about the laundry soap that would have been used in the Borden household. According to this article, laundry soap is more of a modern thing.
Does anyone here know about Victorian laundry habits?

They had laundry soap in the stores by 1892. If you go to "bonanzle.com", you can buy recipes for making your own.

The laundresses in the Civil War had to make their own soap, using recipes from household hint books. (I got this from a web page. If you google 'laundress in the Civil War', or words something like that, an article is right there on how they washed the clothes for the soldiers.)

I wonder if Andrew Borden let Bridget use store-bought laundry soap. I would think she would really complain if he didn't.

I too was wondering if Andrew would have allowed the store bought to be used.
Only recently have I been adding borax to a few loads of laundry. I read that it was used "back in the day" to get clothes cleaner.
I remember my dad saying my grandmother used something called bluing, or however you spell it. It was to whiten the clothes. My grandparents were born in the late 1890's, so I don't know if this was a modern 20th century idea or something she picked up from her mother in the Victorian age.

I was down south recently and took a tour of a plantation and its grounds, and they mentioned indigo and bluing. I ain't gonna pretend to remember what was said. Well, they did say something about indigo and making bluing or part of it on that particular plantation. You can still buy it today. (Just google "bluing". I don't know if it's in stores or not.)

This comes from Martha Stewart.com:

Bluing is an old-fashioned product that was once a staple of the laundry room; chances are good that your grandmother was very familiar with it. Referred to as a whitener, bluing is added to the wash or rinse cycle for the purpose of giving whites a very subtle blue tint. Why blue? Some white fabrics actually have a blue-white hue; bluing makes them appear even brighter, cleaner, and whiter.

Bluing fell out of use as fabric detergents became more effective, but even with the improved formulas, whites gradually begin looking dingy after repeated washings. Chlorine bleach is an effective whitener, but it can weaken fabrics and fibers; bluing is often a better choice. Fortunately, bluing agents can still be found. One brand that Martha likes to use, particularly on antique linens and lace, is called Mrs. Stewart's (no relation).

This comes from About.com:
Bluing products improve the whitening of fabrics in the laundry by counteracting the natural yellowing that occurs during laundering with a blue pigment. Use only on white garments, following package directions for dilution for best results. Bluing is a colloidal suspension of a very fine blue iron powder and water. Other ingredients include a pH balancer and a biocide to prevent the buildup of algae and bacteria. Adding the blue tint to the final rinse when washing white clothing increases the light reflection off the fabric making it appear whiter and brighter.

Bridget did the washing on Mondays, as it seems women have done since laundry was invented!
Bridget, in her Prelim examination says Andrew brought the clothesline in and made sure the cellar door was locked on Tuesdays- but she seems to contradict herself about Monday or Tuesday after saying Tuesday:
He always seen a Monday, or whatever day the clothes would be taken in, that it was locked; for he always took in the clothes line himself....
That's confusing, as usual- thanks Bridget!


Q. Did you ever use that outside door?
A. No Sir, not except when I would wash.

Q. When did you wash?
A. I washed Monday and hung them out the Tuesday.

Q. Did you then use the back door?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. Was it open then? I mean the cellar back door, did you use it the day you washed?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. And the day you hung the clothes out?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. Both the same day?
A. I only used it the day I hung them out. I had no business going out the day I washed them, for I did not hang them out.

Q. You used the cellar door that goes into the yard the day you hung the clothes out?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. Who opened that door?
A. Myself. I shut it when I got through.

Q. Did you fasten it?
A. Yes Sir, with a bolt inside.

Q. Did you unbolt it again during that week?
A. No Sir.

Q. Did you take any notice whether it was unbolted or not?
A. No Sir.

Q. Did you try to use it?
A. No Sir.

Q. Did you know of anybodies going in or out of that back door any time that week?
A. No Sir.

Q. Did you notice it after the murder was committed?
A. No Sir.

Q. You did not take any notice of it then?
A. No Sir.

Q. Do you know whether Mr. Borden had anything to do about seeing that the back door was shut up?
A. Yes Sir. He always seen a Monday, or whatever day the clothes would be taken in, that it was locked; for he always took in the clothes line himself.

Q. And saw that the door was locked?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. Did he do that on Tuesday?
A. I suppose he did. He always came through to see if it was open.

Q. Did you see him do it on Tuesday?
A. No Sir I did not.

Page 17

Q. You did shut up the door yourself on Tuesday, and locked it by a bolt inside?
A. Yes Sir.

Q. Anythingelse besides a bolt?
A. No Sir.

Q. What room did that let into?
A. Into the washroom.





This upcoming info says that the term "Blue Monday" refers to wash day!


http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums ... Y&p=234081
MONDAY IS WASH DAY

This may also be suitable for General thread..... Moderator's...your call

I have a favourite recipe book from an organization in Alberta commerating the 75th anniversary of Alberta in 1980. This book has lost its cover, is very sticky and loosing pages but is an accumulation of over 1000 recipes and the very last one in the book..#1395 doesn't have a credit, but here it is....makes you stop and think...
AND be thankful for todays modern conviences
All spelling and grammar mistakes are from the text..... especially "rinse"

Great Grandma's Recipe For The Family Wash

1. Bild fire in back yard to heet kettle of rain water.
2. Set tubs so smoke won't blow in eyes if wind is pert.
3. Sort things, make three pile, one pile white, one pile colord, one pile work britches and rags.
4.Stir flour and cold water to smooth paste, then thin down with biling water.
5.Rub dirty spots on berd, scrub hard, then bile. Rub colord, but don't bile, just rench and starch.
6. Take white things out of kettle with broom handle, then rench, blue and starch.
7. Spread towels on grass.
8. Hang old rags on fence.
9. Pore ranch water on flower beds.
10. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
11. Turn tubs upside down.
12. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cupa tea, set and rest a spell and count your blessings.

Don't ever complain about laundry again!!

Sue
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http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/e ... /wash1.cfm
Blue Monday

Laundry has generally been considered by women to be the most dreaded of household chores. Indeed, "Blue Monday" (the popular term for laundry day before the turn of the century) hinted to more than the blueing agent used in rinse water, it also signalled the drudgery involved in the washing process. "Blue Monday" in itself, however, was somewhat of a misnomer. In fact, prior to the automation of laundry, the typical wash cycle involved days of hard labour

The work really began on Sunday. Women sorted and then soaked soiled and stained articles in warm water overnight. This required heating and hauling water. Early the next morning, litres of water were again hauled from a water source to the stove and then brought to a boil in a wash boiler (940154). The rubbing, scrubbing, and scouring of the family's washables then began. Water-laden items, from delicate garments to heavy bed linens, were wrung out by hand. In this way, a woman exposed her hands to water, extreme temperatures, and caustic cleaning agents like lye, sal soda, lime, and borax. A rinsing stage followed. It involved reimmersing garments into rinse water tinted with a blueing agent that counteracted the yellowing caused by soaps (940095). Again, the woman removed excess water from garments by hand. She then lugged the damp lot outside, lifted each piece from the laundry basket and pegged it on a clothesline to dry (840308). The cycle repeated for each load -- a process that took all day. The following morning, the arduous task of starching and ironing began.

--------
We know there was or had been starch on the premises, from Bridget's Prelim testimony:

Q. Who found those axes?
A. I could not tell you who the officers were; I was with them.

Q. How many were there?
A. I could not tell you.

Q. What kind of a box were they in?
A. A box we used to keep starch in, I think.

Q. That starch would come in?
A. Yes Sir.

I've thought about Lizzie's laundry, too, after her summer get-a-way. She returned on a Tuesday tho, July 26th, after washday, so maybe her stuff had to wait until Monday, August 1st to be done? I wonder if she helped do her own laundry that week?
I also wondered about her menstrual cloths and the paraphernalia that went with it- did she come home *early* from vacation in order to have the convenience of home?
She might have been expecting it around Thursday the 28th?
Was there a modicum of modesty involved, where she would like not to send that kind of laundry thru the household's staff at the home she was visiting?

I'm going to have to check out bluing. My husband is a chef and so far, I have found NOTHING that will get the stains out of his white coats. I don't care how good a detergent says it is, if it can't get the stains out of a chef coat, it's useless to me.

When I see a detergent commercial showing them pouring grape juice, or whatever stain it is they are demonstrating, then immediately washing it to show how the detergent gets the stains out, all I can do is groan. Try a white coat covered with food stains that has gone through a 10 hour workday in a 110 degree kitchen...if a detergent can whiten THAT piece of clothing, I'll go on TV myself and endorse the detergent!!

The last time I saw blueing in a store I was in high school. That would be the early 70's. I remember it came in a glass bottle. The other "old soap" and I'm not sure what it was used for was Fels Naptha, it's a bar soap & I just saw it at Market Basket the last time I was there.

I forgot all the ingredients but we used blueing to make crystals grow on coke ( I think that is burnt coal) , which we used to gather along the train tracks.

The only place I can think of that might sell it is The Vermont Country Store, they sell alot of the old products from way back.

SallyG, found this on the internet. I have no idea if it works as well as they say:

http://lacuisineus.com/catalog/product_ ... cts_id=658

There's quite a few other ideas by using "chef stains" (without the quote marks) as the search terms on Google.

Oh, common on...I've got bluing in my house now. Great for getting white cottons really white.

At the turn of the century, people in these parts were still making soap from lye in their basements.

SallyG, you might want to try Professor Amos' Shock If Clean--removes wine & grease stains off carperts (from personal experience).

My grandmother made her own soap -- not habitually, but on occasion when we were staying at her country house. (Storebought soap was regularly available in the vicinity and was regularly used by her.) She was born in Greece and no doubt was just doing it for old times' sake. She also once gave me a mustard plaster. I didn't realize till I was in high school just what an old fashioned remedy that was. (One of my teachers described it as something people used to do, which surprised me.) She (my grandmother) also once made dandelion wine.

I don't know when this habit started, but I can remember both my grandmothers keeping soap in the clothes drawers to get the clothes to smell like the soap.

I know the soap I bought at the Lizzie B and B was called glycerine soap. It was soap used in 1890's. It is translusent, you can see light through it.

I like it, it doesn't leave a film on you like some of todas soap does.

Most tended to use lye soap which was made with fat and the ingredient we’re told there was a pile of in the Borden basement, in fact one of the hatchets was coated in it, wood ash.

My church used to make its own laundry soap and sell it, with profits going to the Youth Group. I loved it. Hypoallergenic. Five bucks per gallon. it had shaved Fels-Naptha soap in it for one ingredient and maybe Borax. Could be quite a money-saver to do.