The Dayton Village Citizens Coalition tries to preserve our local history and to prepare exhibits at the Slack-Carroll house. For more information contact us at info@daytonvillage.org

This project is made possible in part with a grant from
The Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission,
which is funded in part by the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State as well as by The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

2007

The mission of Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission is to develop county wide programs and promote public interest in local and county history, in the arts, and in the cultural values, goals, traditions of the community, the State and the Nation. The Commission undertakes the restoration, operation, maintenance and preservation of real property acquired by the County. The Commission is authorized to establish museum and cultural programs, exhibits and displays including the fine and performing arts, engage in archaeological, genealogical and historic research, publish reports and engage in such related activities to promote and develop public interest and understanding of historic and cultural matters.

Acknowledgements

This booklet and the exhibit which flows from it would not be possible without the dedicated help of Dr. Robert K. Tucker and Dr. Richard Ilnicki . Thanks also to Art Rodel for helping to fund the exhibit and materials. Dr. Ilnicki, former Mayor of South Brunswick and Professor Emeritus from Rutgers University, is an expert in wildflowers, herbs and weeds. Over his decades as a plant expert, he took thousands of slides of plants. We were able to translate into digital form for print his slides of wild plants that grew in South Brunswick when it was a rural area. Brian Del Guercio's Eagle Scout project made the Victorian garden room a reality. Brian raised funds to create this garden room. He and Scouts plowed the area, improved the soil, designed and installed brick and stone paths, and planted the area. Many plants grown in this garden room, our rose garden, and in our butterfly garden are part of the exhibit and provide ingredients for the lotions and the potions. Many Girl Scouts helped create the butterfly garden and planted the rose garden. Anthony Grameri provided display cases and as a part of his Eagle Scout project completely refurbished display areas and installed the museum sign. Ceil Leedom, the South Brunswick Township Historian, inspired this project when she donated books from the Perrine family library. Ceil Leedom works tirelessly to carry out research on topics related to South Brunswick history, including its peoples, houses, and lifestyles. Thanks to Dr. Tucker for his endless patience and review of the text and the toxicity information. All the mistakes are mine. This project was made possible with a grant from Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission. A special thanks to Isha Vyas for her kind help and assistance throughout this process. A positive support system emanates from the Commission helping to sustain local history groups through the hurdles they face.

Dr. Joan Cook Luckhardt, Editor 2007

Introduction

Books salvaged from the local Perrine family library became the inspiration for Grandma's Lotions and Potions booklet and exhibit. The books were almost lost along with the family's house, which was abandoned and left to decay. Ceil Leedom, the South Brunswick Township Historian, rescued their books, finding homes for each of the volumes. Depending on topic, she shared the volumes with our local library's Local History Collection, the Cranbury Historical Society, West Windsor Historical Society, and those relating to medical matters with the Slack-Carroll house. Thus, we received Dr. Chase's Last Recipe Book and Household Physician, published in 1887, along with other volumes of the period. The Family The Perrine family home is located on Route 130 in South Brunswick, but will be demolished. In 1939, Milton Perrine had deeded the property to his daughter, Annabel Perrine Fulton Havens. Widowed and elderly, she sold the family lands including the house and 115 acres to Richard K. Greene and Jacob D. Quick, partners, in 1972 for $449,044 as a life estate. The owners received possession six months after she died. Many of the books in the collection were used by the Schenck family, relatives on her mother's side. Daniel R. Schenck for example had a Greek Dictionary from the early nineteenth century. Others prominently noted in Anna's books are Harriet Schenck, Hannah M. Schenck and Ellen Schenck, the last two women are daughters of Daniel R. Schenck. Many of the Perrine family and the Schenck family members living in South Brunswick were farmers. Rural areas often lacked easy access to doctors or to hospital care. Even with access to a physician, women of the household provided nursing care. These remedy and homecare books showed signs of use. Family members with serious diseases most often were cared for in the home.

Source of the Information on Lotions and Potions As mentioned above, the main source for the recipes found here are from the book titled Dr. Chase's Last Recipe Book and Household Physician copy written in 1887 written by Dr. Chase. The book, while bound, seems as if it were a sample book since there are many pages missing entirely and other pages that are not sequential. Because the page numbers are unreliable, page numbers often are not included, but the book noted. The recipes included are samples of those typically used. Despite the missing pages, there were handy tips on living as well as recipes for everything from how to remove rust from hinges, to how to care for cows, to how to care for sick family members, and how to make many remedies and beauty aids. Other household remedies books were common to the period; some medical remedies have stood the test of time and showed some efficacy while other remedies have not. Other books on remedies from the period include the Frugal Housewife, the Family Receipt Book, and others noted below. Recipes, known in the 1800s as Receipts, were shared orally and through print. Recipes from books other than Chase are included when they address diseases common for the time, were widely used, although we do not know if the Perrine family library held these exact volumes. In some instances the recipe from Chase to cure a particular ill, contained ingredients now known to be very harmful, and hence the choice was to use recipes common at the time, but with more benign ingredients. The time in which they lived The 1800s was a time of the rise of scientific medicine, the beginning of the chemistry industry, the beginnings of the cosmetic industry, while at the same time there was an increase in patent medicines, and the budding of the pharmaceutical industry. These recipes show a mixture of science, word of mouth, reliance on an authority shifting to the professional, even perceived professional, physician or druggist.

About the Booklet

The recipes chosen for this booklet are those that families would have used for ailments and diseases common to the Victorian era. The cosmetics and fragrances are those representing ingredients that most often could be found in the garden. However, included also are recipes using ingredients requiring trade. What may surprise the reader is that many of the ingredients are from lands half way around the world, show a robust trade and familiarity with the products from lands far away. The Victorian era was an age of Imperialism, when Europe still ruled many of the countries from which spices or other valuable plants or minerals were discovered. Also, plants and seeds of coveted plants found their way around the world as traders sought other locations to grow valuable plants. The booklet is broken into two parts: recipes and ingredients. The latter portion includes pictures or drawings of plants used as ingredients in the recipes. Many recipes cover so many conditions and cover such a broad range of topics, that choosing items for inclusion proved a challenge. Dangerous components in the recipes could rule out a recipe. Recipes were included that were least dangerous or if slightly dangerous, could be a model of why the compound was then used, but why it no longer is used and what problems its use posed. Another criterion for inclusion was to what extent the recipe would be used to care for a then common ailment. If a beauty product, we asked to what extent the recipe reflected the Victorian era's view of beauty. The text if it appears somewhat stilted in language, odd spelling, or odd punctuation, is an outcome of using the text from the recipes.