Candle Histories

 December 21 is the shortest day of the year.  For many years, candles were one of the few sources of light during these dark days.  Today, candles retain an important role in many wintertime holiday celebrations. The Benton County Historical Society's collection includes a few such candles.

Honeybees are not native to the Americas so the missions in New Spain (including Mexico and California) had to import beeswax and candles from Asia for use in church services.  The Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos left the Philippines in the summer of 1693 loaded with a cargo that included Chinese porcelain, beeswax, and candles.  It was never heard from again.  But from the blocks of wax, candles, and other items that washed up on the Oregon shore near Nehalem, researchers have concluded that the ship wrecked somewhere off the Oregon coast later that year. 

This candle is very likely from that ship: pollen in the beeswax has been identified as being from Luzon Island, Philippines and carbon dating puts its origin in the late 1600s.

It was also in the 1600s that German Christians began putting decorated Christmas trees in their homes.  Some were lit with candles wired to the branches.  Moravians brought the tradition to the United States in the early 19^th century but the tradition only became well-established here in the late 1800s. In 1878 Frederick Artz  invented a clip-on candle holder which made lighting the tree easier.

These holders and candles may have been used on trees decorating Philomath College. It wasn't until at least the 1920s that most people began to switch to strings of electric lights instead.

 

Some people like the look of candles and similar holders are still available. 

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon  

Children's Farm Home, Corvallis, Oregon

 One hundred years ago, the Oregon Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)  purchased 245 acres north of Corvallis from Harry Ashbahr in order to build the Children's Farm Home. Mary Powers of Shedd  initiated the project. The oldest of nine children, she had to find homes for her siblings after her parents died. The memory of the sorrow caused by the separation of her siblings led her to propose a home for bereaved children.  Ill health prevented Mary and her husband from converting their own farm for this purpose but she was able to appeal to the WCTU to take on the project.

The farm home's mission was to provide a healthy, home-like atmosphere for “normal” children age 3   to 17 who had been abandoned or whose parents had died, divorced, or were disabled. Until the farm home was established, the state had no provision for the care of dependent children except for those deemed “feeble-minded” or who had been sent to reform school.

After acquiring the land along highway 20, the WCTU funded construction of  the Willard Cottage; money from the state funded the Oregon Cottage. An additional donation of $50,000 from the Oregon Klu Klux Klan also helped establish the farm.

Cottage at Children's Farm Home

 

The first child, a nine-year old boy from Multnomah County, moved in during July of 1923. In 1925, the WCTU built a school and hired teachers for grades 1 to 7.  Older children attended Corvallis public schools.

Children's Farm Home School, 1953

In addition to regular schooling, children received vocational training.  These boys are participating in a carpentry class taught by volunteer Edward Kammerer.

Local WCTU members supplied needed items such as school clothing  and books.  Local farmers sent produce.

By 1939, there were eight cottages, each of which housed 17 to 20 children and a house “mother” or “auntie.” Each house provided family-like activities.

Children were assigned chores.  Boys typically did landscaping or worked on the farm. They maintained a dairy with a herd of 35 Holsteins, raised pigs, vegetables, and fruit trees, Girls typically were assigned to some gardening or housework.

A variety of recreational activities were available.  All children beginning in grade 2 were expected to participate in 4-H.  Swimming, horseback riding, and sports teams were also available.

In its first twenty-five years, the Farm Home cared for over dependent 1,200 youth. Over time, however, the organization and purpose of the Children's Farm Home changed.  In 1964, an independent board replaced one selected by the WCTU.  In the mid 1950s, with the rise of the foster care system, the Farm Home's  mission changed to “care for and rehabilitate those young people who for some reason have shown difficulty in maintaining a normal home relationship. Many of  these youths have been involved in some minor infraction of what society expects of its youth.  Our goal is to take these young people before they become seriously involved with law enforcement.”   The cottage format and the emphasis on farming and other chores remained the same; however, the Farm Home now put more focus on counseling and returning the youth to society.  The children were older (10 to 18) and now stayed only an average of 15 to 18 months.

The Children's Farm Home changed yet again in 1998  when it merged with several other organizations to form Trillium Family Services.  Once the state  began removing children and teens from state mental hospitals to community treatment centers, Trillium began operating the Farm Home as a residential treatment center for children with mental health disorders. It now takes in up to 60 youth.

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eyeglasses

As I recently needed new eyeglasses, I was curious about the styles that were popular in the past.  The Benton County Historical Society's collection contains numerous pairs. I was surprised that many of the older eyeglasses had much in common with my new ones.

1860s spectacles

The eyeglasses in the photograph above have gold tone metal frames and date from the 1860s. The metal frames are similar to my new ones except mine do not have a metal bottom rim.  That change was made possible by the development of plastic lens which replaced glass ones in the 1980s. Also, the eyeglasses in the photograph, like most of the older pairs of eyeglasses in the museum's collection, have straight temples that do not curve around the ear.   I wondered if this style of eyeglasses slid off more often but then learned that the small loops at the ends of the temple pieces would have held a ribbon which would be tied around the wearer's head.

1950s cats-eye spectacles

Although this style of thin metal frames is still available, the real change in fashion took place after the development of plastics allowed for more varied colors and shapes in frames. The 1950s saw cats-eye frames decorated in gold, silver, and rhinestones. In my youth I had glasses with blue frames but never ones with such an exaggerated shape as these from the museum's collection.

Now that I'm older, I wear trifocals. The idea of bifocal lenses was invented by Benjamin Franklin.  He cut two different lenses in half and inserted them in a frame.  The museum's collection includes on pair of bifocal eyeglasses made in this fashion.  Fortunately, modern bifocals and trifocals have a less visible demarcation than that dark line across the middle.

Bifocal eyeglasses, circa 1880s

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon