Bright Hope Furnace Ledger
Glossary
(Editor's Note: Help requested in
improving and completing glossary)
- a/c - account.
- allum (alum) - a double
sulfate of potassium and aluminum, used in the manufacture of dyes, paper,
etc.
- amt. - amount.
- And.,
And.w - Andrew.
- ax helve - act of putting
ax head on wooden handle.
- awels - awls, small
pointed handtool for making holes in leather or wood.
- back plait - sheet of cast
iron to form the back of a fireplace.
- bal.e - balance.
- Ball Bass Thread - (Brand
of manufactured thread?)
- bark mill - machine to
grind bark of chestnut and oak trees, bark to be mixed with water to
produce tanic acid which was used to tan hides into leather.
- bed cord - Sylvia Shannon
B.C. Canada,
suggests (July 2000) cord used in early beds to string back and forth from
holes drilled along the boards at both sides of the bed to hold the
mattress or tick of straw or wool.
- bellis, bellowes -
bellows, devise used to force air into a fire to increase the combustion
and heat.
- Ben. - Benjamin.
- bend, bind (of fodder) -
unit of measure of corn stalks used as animal feed (fodder).
- blacking - material for
giving cast iron a permanent black finish. Act of putting the blacking
material on the cast iron.
- bole - bowl.
- book muslin - may be very
light weight muslin that could be used for book binding in lieu of
cambric.
- brass - brace.
- breaching - that part of
horse harness that goes over and around the rear of the horse.
- brimstone - sulfur
- bromb - broom.
- brot, brout - brought.
- buffaloe head -
- bull tongue - part of a
plow to which the oxen or horses are hitched.
- bulls head -
- bumbaset - (bombazine ?) -
a silk twill.
- bush.l - bushel measure.
- cambrick (cambric) - very
fine and thin linen.
- campfur, campfire
(camphor) - medicinal extract of the camphor tree, Oriental laurel.
- Carolina
oven - a heavy cast iron skille-like pan with lid that could be used in
cooking somewhat as an oven.
- casting - product of
liquid metal after pouring and hardening in a mould
- Cawby(?) steel -
- cer single, sir single -
Sylvia Shannon, B.C. Canada
(July 2000) suggests misspelling of surcingle, which is the strap wrapped
around the belly of a horse to hold a saddle or harness or pack.
- ch.a - charge.
- chamber pot - a bucket-
like container used as a nightime indoor toilet.
- chesnuts - chestnuts,
fruit of chestnut tree.
- chickings - chickens.
- chimney plait - sheet of
cast iron to form part of a chimney.
- churries - cherries.
- coaling - work at making
charcoal.
- copperus - ferrous
sulfate, iron salt of sulfuric acid; used to dye fabrics black, make ink,
and to purify water.
- charg.d - charged.
- cord - unit of measure of
pole wood that was used to make charcoal.
- cotton cards - brush-like
hand tools for brushing raw cotton into a form that can be hand-fed into
the form of thread onto the spool of a spinning wheel
- cr. - credit.
- cradling - to cut standing
stalks of grain with a cradle (a long handle sythe with a rack for holding
the stalks) to form a bunch that could be made into a shock.
- cravat stiffer - (perhaps
something to stiffen a cravat (necktie)?)
- cupola - furnace at a
foundry for remelting pig iron for pouring into moulds for forming various
cast iron products.
- curry comb - a comb with
metal teeth used to curry (comb) a horse.
- cut (of thread) - unit of
measure of thread.
- cut (of flax) - unit of
measure of flax.
- damag.d - damaged.
- Dan.l - Daniel.
- Dav.d - David.
- do - repeat item(s) in
preceeding, used as ditto mark.
- dock - reduce amount.
- dogs - andiron for a
fireplace; also a tool used for grappling or holding.
- domestic (cloth) - a cloth
made in the home.
- dr. - debtor.
- dri.d - dried.
- due berries - dewberries.
- Esq.r - brief of honorary
title, Esquire, for Justice of the Peace. Addressed as "Squire".
- extrary - extra.
- fallon skillit - a type of
skillet.
- flints - flint rock chips
used in flint-lock guns to strike a piece of metal to generate a spark to
ignite the primer powder and fire the gun.
- fodder - rough feed for
livestock such as corn stalks.
- forw.d - forward.
- Franklin stove - stove
made mostly of cast iron that was invented by Benjamin Franklin.
- frizzen - part of a
flintlock that covers the priming pan and is struck by the cock when the
rifle is fired.
- Geo. - George.
- Germin (German) linin - a
fine grade of linin cloth made from flax.
- Germin steel -
- gimblets (gimlets) - an
auger-like hand tool for boring holes.
- gunlock - the part of a
gun by which the charge is set off.
- gunnels, gunnelz -
- handage - scrap iron
pieces resulting from pouring and cleaning of cast iron articles.
- hemstring (leather) -
- hearth - floor in front of
fireplace or furnace.
- H.D.Kf - handkerchief.
- hollowware, hollowere (hollowwear)
- Iron and/or pottery utensils such as pots, pans, dishes, skillits,
etc.indigo - a blue dye obtained from a plant; indigo blue.
- insoles & welts (wets)
- Jim Zobel of Clarksville, GA.
(May 2001) suggests wets is welt and a welt being a strip of leather
stiched into a shoe between the sole and the upper.
- int. - interest.
- Irish linin - a very fine
grade of linin cloth made from flax.
- jains (jeans) - a very
durable cotton cloth long used in work clothes.
- Jas. - James.
- Jno. - John.
- Jnr., Jun.r - Junior.
- juge - jug.
- juse (Jew's) harp - a
small metal musical instrument that is held between the teeth and played
by plucking a projecting bent piece of metal with a finger while humming a
tune.
- keeping furnace - tending
the iron furnace while making a "blast" of ore and limestone to
produce liquid iron.
- lamp black - fine soot
produced by the incomplete combustion of tars, oils, and other forms of
carbon that is used as a dye pigment.
- lead - the metal lead used
for moulding bullits for guns.
- life frankling - a book
about the life of Benjamin Franklin.
- linsey - a course cloth
made of linen and wool or cotton and wool.
- madder - a red dye made
from the root of the madder plant.
- mdz. - merchandise.
- mandrill - a spindle or
bar inserted into something to hold it while it is being cast, molded or
shaped.
- milch - milk
- mill gudgeon - metallic
journal piece let into the end of a wooden shaft,the journal or bearing of
a waterwheel.
- mill ink
- million - melon, (water
millions = watermelons).
- Missouri
(Messoury, Messourie) Harmony - A song book of the day authored by Allen
D. Carden entitled "The Missouri
Harmony; or, a collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes, and Anthems, from
eminent authors, with an introduction to the grounds and rudiments of
music. In four parts." One song from the publication, 'The Pastoral
Elegy', included the lament for the death of a young shepherd, Corydon.
This was a favorite song of General William Henry Harrison as sang by a
friend's daughter in southern Indiana.
He gave the name Corydon to the first capital city of Indiana
(source DAR Magazine, issue June 1992, page 527).
- mortar (& pestle) - a
very hard bowl in which a substance can be ground into a fine powder by
use of a pestle.
- mould board - a curved
plate of cast iron attached to a plowshare of a plow for turning the soil.
- mustmillions - muskmelons,
cantaloupes.
- nales - nails.
- opeldeldock, opedildock
(opodeldock) - one of the earliest American medicines.
- pailing (paling) - (probably
material for making a fence or railing).
- past ( paist, paste) board
- (might have had to do with making ceramics out of clay "paste"
?)
- pattapants -
- pattron (pattern) - the
required amount of material to make a specific garment, sometimes cut and
ready for assembly.
- paregoric - medicine made
from powdered opium, anise oil, benzoic acid and camphor; first made in
1700's
- pestle (& morter) - a
small hand tool used to grind a substance into a fine powder in a bowl
which is called a morter.
- pig meatal, pig metal -
units of iron after it is drawn from the furnace and allowed to cool and
harden in the sand moulds on the furnace room floor.
- Pilgrim's Progress - Book
written by John Bunyon, Part 1 in 1678 & Part 2 in 1684. Bunyon was a
preacher in England
and wrote Pilgrim's Progress while in prison.
- Plaits - plates.
- powder - explosive used as
gunpowder and for blasting purposes.
- quire (of paper) -
25-sheets of paper.
- race - channel dug to
divert water from a stream to the waterwheel at a mill using water as the
power source.
- remov.d - removed.
- ribband - ribbon.
- saddles & inks -
- Sam.l - Samuel.
- ser single, cer single -
Sylvia Shannon, B.C. Canada
(July 2000) suggests misspelling of surcingle, which is the strap wrapped
around the belly of a horse to hold a saddle or harness or pack.
- Sn.r - Senior.
- schooling - teaching.
- Sessouery Harmony - See Missouri
Harmony
- sider - cider made from
apples.
- sharp.d - sharpened, act
of sharpening.
- shaving box - metal box
for holding rasor and shaving material.
- sheep shairs - sheep
sheers, sissors for cutting wool from sheep.
- shucks - leaf-like
covering of an ear of corn.
- shugar - sugar.
- skane (skein) - a measure
of thread wound in a coil.
- smith work - work of a
blacksmith.
- sole leather - hardened leather
for soles of shoes.
- spider - a skillet or
frying pan with legs to hold it above the fire or heat source.
- stearing - controlling the
direction of movement of a boat on the river.
- steeling - process of
heating and hammering iron to convert it into hammered steel.
- strain - strainer.
- strip.d - stripped.
- sundaries - a listing of
various items.
- sundry - various.
- tare - tar.
- th.d - thread.
- Thos. - Thomas
- tick - cloth sack to be
filled with cotton, feathers, or other soft material to make a mattress or
pillow.
- ticking - strong heavy
cotton or linin cloth of which ticks were made.
- tirkey - turkey.
- tow linin - a very course
cloth made from the course and broken fibers (tow) of hemp.
- trace chains - harness
chains from horse collar to single-tree attached to implement being
pulled.
- tyres - tires.
- upper leather - pliable
leather for upper part of shoes.
- viol - small bottle
usually for holding medicine.
- wafful - waffle.
- ware (were) - Iron and/or
pottery utensils. Pots, pans, dishes,
- skillets, etc were called
hollowware.
- wallower - the first
driven wheel (gear) of a water mill, gears that change the direction of
the drive.
- water million - watermelon
- wautch - watch.
- whilst - while
- Wm. - William.
A. Claude
Ferguson-Editor
passed away June 15, 2006