Probate Inventory Items
Caps and pins | may refer to the caps that women wore and the pins that held them to their hair |
Slice and tongs | the slice is what today would be considered a spatula - it was used to turn foods in the frying pan and the tongs to pick it up |
Knot dish | a dish to hold fancy ribbons, called knots |
Milk trays | used to put milk in and the cream would rise to the top to be separated - also called "set pans" |
Bed rope | preceded the bed slats we know today and was used to support the mattress. The rope was strung across the bed frame and the mattress laid on top. The expression "sleep tight" came about because the bed ropes had to be tightened occasionally and it was considered a better night's sleep with the ropes taut. |
Fletchets (or hetchels) | a hetchel, or hackle (bed of nails) was a tool used to comb flax to break off the rough straw parts and to separate the fibers in order to spin it and make linen thread. |
Dutch wheel | a type of spinning wheel to make yarn or thread |
Stilhards (or stilhands) | a stilyard, or steelyard, is a portable scale for weighing things |
Pillowbeers | pillow case |
Trammel | a shackle for a horse or a device with links or openings at different heights for hanging a pothook in a fireplace |
Porringer | a small shallow bowl, probably of pewter |
Doulas | a coarse linen cloth made in France |
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