RBOH

Help the Historian: Mysterious (Bible?) Fragment – a clue!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Among the real pleasures of writing a blog like this are the comments I receive from CHH readers. Recently, I heard from reader James Cornelius of nearby Grafton, Wisconsin,1 who had some thoughts about our January 24, 2025, post “Help the Historian: Mysterious (Bible?) Fragment.” 2

As the original post explained, I had been examining a number of loose Bonniwell papers, scraps, and other ephemera that were donated to the Clark House along with the Bonniwell family Bible itself, and I was particularly interested in one little fragment of printed text that had me baffled.

The mysterious fragment, sides A & B, photo credit: Reed Perkins, 2022.

In my original post, I examined the text and typography of the fragment and estimated that the it was published sometime between the late-sixteenth century (at the very earliest) and—at the very latest—the first decades of the nineteenth century. And the mentions of “Moon” and “motion” and such suggested a source that might be more scientific or philosophical, and not necessarily a sacred text, but I couldn’t think what that might be.

A new possible source: Almanacs!

In his comment, James observed: My hunch is that this triangular scrap /bookmark came from an almanac, likely as common in 1800-1820 U.K. as in U.S. a half-decade later. Many fairly good or detailed ‘scientific’ discussions appeared in the old almanacs or ‘farmer’s friends.’

I think James is on to something. Almanacs seem like a very plausible source. But how common were farmer’s almanacs in the UK, and how likely was it that the Bonniwells had access to these annual “farmer’s friends” in Chatham, Kent, England, in the years before their 1832 immigration to North America?

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“Dashing through the snow…”

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Kimmel and Forster, publishers, “Winter Pleasure in the Country,” circa 1865. National Museum of American History, Peters Prints Collection, Smithsonian Institution.1

Talk of sleighs and sleighing in our recent CHH posts on Snow! and Shoveling out -and other winter chores, plus our January, 2022, essay on Stuff Happens – on a sleigh ride, got me wondering again about winter travel in old Washington/Ozaukee county during the Clarks’ era. Assuming most of the more successful farmers—such as the Clarks, Bonniwells and Turcks—owned a one- or two-horse sleigh, how easy was it to navigate that sleigh on the early county roads? Could you ride all the way to Milwaukee? And if you could, how long might that take?

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Shoveling out – and other winter chores

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 4 Comments

We’ve had some snow in my corner of southeastern Wisconsin, several modest snowfalls over the past few days. I’ve had to shovel the walks and driveway at our house a few times this week, and there’s more snow—and shoveling—in the forecast. With that in mind, I thought you might enjoy the snow-related images and stories from a revised edition of this post, which originally appeared here in February, 2023.

Homer, Winslow, A Winter-Morning,—Shovelling Out, 1871. Wood engraving. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Harvey Isbitts.

Winter chores

I empathize with the lads in this 1871 engraving by Winslow Homer. Unlike these fellows, with their (homemade?) wooden shovels, I have a lightweight, sturdy, ergonomic, plastic and metal snow shovel to work with. And although we do get snow in 21st-century Wisconsin, I haven’t had to deal with shoulder-high accumulations like the ones in Homer’s picture since I lived in western Massachusetts in the early 2010s. It looks like our 1871 snow shovelers are dealing with the kind of snowfall that Clark family neighbor Rev. James W. Woodworth described in these January, 1871, diary entries:

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Help the Historian: Mysterious (Bible?) Fragment

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 1 Comment

I’m spending some of my time this winter on projects related to the cataloging, interpretation and display of our historic Bonniwell Family Bible. One of the items on my “to do” list involves the study of a number of Bonniwell papers and other ephemera that were donated along with the Bible itself. Some of the miscellaneous papers are self-explanatory and easily understood. But one little fragment of printed text has me baffled, and I need your help, history lovers!

The fragment, sides A & B

Photos credit: Reed Perkins

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RBOH: some Beckmann & Cedarburg updates

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Revised 17 February 2025 to include some additional material about my Beckmann-related talk at the Cedarburg History Museum in Spring, 2023.

Cedarburg News, October 14, 1885, page 1

I’ve been spending time with historic local newspapers online, searching for those tasty tidbits of local news that never quite make it into the history books, but are often found in the 19th-century local press. Today I was browsing through 1880s to early-1900s issues of the Cedarburg News, Fred. W. Horn, publisher, and found some interesting random bits o’ history that are connected to the Clark House and to some work I’ve done for the Cedarburg History Museum.

Fred. Beckmann and kin

You may remenber a post I wrote back in July, 2020, about newly-married German immigrant Fred. Beckmann, who farmed and lived on the Jonathan Clark property from 1868 until 1873, at which time he and his growing family moved to Cedarburg, where he then owned and ran the Wisconsin House hotel for the better part of the next four decades. I followed that up with an April, 2023 presentation at the Cedarburg History Museum, where I spoke about the life and the extended circle of family, business associates and friends of Fred. Beckmann. His story connects the hardscrabble early days of our area’s Yankee, Irish and German pioneers (Jonathan and Mary Clark’s generation) with the following generation of established and settled German-American farmers, business owners and civic leaders, such as himself. And Fred also connected and illuminated the story of the Jonathan Clark House with those of nearby Hamilton—and its Concordia Mill—and the development of downtown Cedarburg in the 19th-century.

That 2023 presentation was followed by a March, 2024, illustrated talk I gave at the Cedarburg History Museum as part of their big 2024 Civil War exhibition and lecture series. My subject was “From the ‘Burg to the Battlefield…and Back: Cedarburg’s Beckmann Family and the Civil War.” In my talk, I tried to take a more personal and local look at the war by examining the military service of few of Fred. Beckmann’s Cedarburg relatives, including his brother Charles Beckmann, future brother-in-law, Charles Gottschalk, and future father-in-law Henry Hachfeld/Hackfeldt.

Well, I wasn’t really looking for more info on Fred. Beckmann today, but I stumbled across some interesting things, and thought I’d share them with you here…

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Hail, Smiling morn! – 2025 edition

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Happy New Year to all, and best wishes for an excellent 2025. I thought we’d start the year with a lightly edited re-post of an earlier CHH essay about a cheerful, festive song, one that may have been familiar to our Mequon settlers in the 1840s.1

A spot of Spofforth to ring in the New Year…

Our New Year’s sing-along number is “Hail Smiling morn” by the English composer Reginald Spofforth (1769-1827), a vocal quartet featured in the second part of the Milwaukee Beethoven Society’s March 23rd, 1843, premiere concert:

Milwaukee Weekly Sentinel March 15 1843, page 2. Click to open larger image in new window.

Spofforth was a man of many talents, but was particularly known for his glees. A glee is a kind of convivial part-song, typically for three or more voices and usually—but not always—sung without accompaniment. I’ll have more to say about this particular composer and piece later, but for now, it’s well enough to know that “Hail Smiling morn” is—according to musicologist Nicholas Temperly—”possibly the most popular glee in the entire repertory,” and that’s saying something!

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Random Bits o’ Holiday News…

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

Well, whaddya know? Christmas is just around the corner…

JCH Parlour with Christmas tree and decor. Photo credit Reed Perkins

Holiday Lights 2024

December 2 & 3, 2024, brought us the latest edition of our Holiday Lights gathering of Clark house friends old and new. There was good food, tasty beverages, lively conversation, and fine seasonal music, all dished up in the unique ambience of our historic Jonathan Clark House Museum.

As we do every year, the house was decorated with appropriate 1840s-style decorations, including the table-top Christmas tree and ornaments, and the evergreen bough decorations on the window sills, shown above.

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“Dear Santa,”

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

The Clark House Historian’s Christmas Wish List…

Kriss Kringle’s Christmas Tree [title page], E. Ferrett & Co., Philadelphia, 1845. Library of Congress

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and I remember the holiday thrill of riding the Chicago & Northwestern commuter train downtown with my parents, and then walking into the majestic State Street headquarters of Chicago’s grandest department store, Marshall Field & Company. Our mission? A trip up to the “toy floor” at Field’s, where we would wait in line to tell Santa all the wonderful things we would like to receive for Christmas that year.1

It goes without saying that I haven’t been able to fit on Santa’s lap for a very long time. But as the Clark House Historian, I still have holiday dreams and wishes, and today I’d like to share some of them with you. Who knows, perhaps Santa will work his magic once again?

(Official disclaimer: I do not serve on the JCH Board of Directors, or any of its committees. This is my Christmas daydream, a fantasy of what I’d like to see unfold at my favorite museum, given unlimited resources. And besides, as the great Chicago architect and city planner Daniel Burnham famously said: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!”)

My list is organized into several parts, the first of these is…

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