A Craft for Your Inner Colonist ~ How to Make a Feather Quill Pen

Today, we're going to have some fun with your inner colonist as we learn to make a quill pen. 

As a kid, didn't you ever want to make a feather quill pen to use? I bet you did. I bet you took apart your Bic, found a big ol' feather somewhere, and stuffed the ink tube from the pen inside to write with. I know I did. If you somehow missed doing that, how about as an adult? Now, of course, you know that stuffing pen parts inside a feather is not authentic. You want a real nibbed quill and an ink bottle on your desk. Seriously, I've found myself researching feather pens on Amazon. I have this one with interchangeable nibs (for style) on my wishlist:

Making Your Own

If you're feeling crafty, though, here's how to make a real feather quill pen. First, you need a likely feather. If you don't have access to someone's farm where you can get a pretty chicken or goose feather,  or you don't have any turkeys roaming around dropping the occasional feather, you can buy some nice turkey feathers online or in a craft store. Note how wing feathers curve. Whether or not you're left or right handed, the way they curve will feel better in one hand or the other. Back in the day, right-handed folks generally chose feathers from the left wing, and vice-versa for left-handed writers. They chose feathers from a bird's right wing. (Note: if you're going to chase down Granny's pet goose to nab a feather, keep this left-hand-right-wing, or right-hand-left-wing info in mind. Haha!)

Once you have your chosen feather, you need to prep it a bit. First clip off any of those soft, fluffy little feathers near the tip, and trim off any of the lower feathers that might get in the way of your holding the shaft. After that, it's time to strip the membrane. This part isn't 100% necessary, but it makes for a nicer "barrel". Just take a paring knife, and scrape the shaft along the barrel. You'll see the membrane coming off.

Good. Now it's time to cut the point on the end. You'll want to trim it at a nice angle, and make sure that you're cutting in the direction you want to be able to hold the quill to write most comfortably. Inside the end of the barrel is the "quick", kind of a like a plug. You'll need to remove that. Then you'll make a second cut to create the point. If you have trouble picturing this, think of the shape of tip on a fountain pen. If you want to make broader strokes, say for calligraphy, then you'll blunt the end a bit squarer. 

You have one more cut to make. After you've fashioned the tip, cut a slit in the middle of it so that the ink can run properly. Again, picture that fountain pen nib.

And that's it! You're ready to write. You'll need ink of course. You can order some, or you can squash up a few berries like some of those colonists would have had to do. I have a character doing that in my WIP, a sequel to Mist O'er the Voyageur. If you live in an area where you have black walnuts, those work good too.

Writing with Your Quill

Dip the tip of your quill in the ink of your choice, and give it a gentle tap to avoid drips. Make slow, easy strokes as you write, realizing that you'll have to re-load your quill every few words. Imagine how long it took Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, Tom Jefferson, and so many of our other founding fathers to pen their lengthy documents! And if you lived in the mountains of North Carolina, there was only a small likelihood that you knew how to write at all. You would probably be just as mesmerized watching someone with that skill as we would be today--watching them write with a quill pen.

Send me a picture if you do this!

In the meantime...what are you reading? I hope you'll add my newly re-released, popular Empire in Pine series to your TBR, Goodreads, and BookBub lists. 

The Green Veil ~ The Red Fury ~ The Black Rose

by Naomi Musch

Here's to History,

Naomi

https://naomimusch.com/

P.S. As I completed this post, I discovered that this topic has been discussed before, in 2012, here on the CQ blog. If you'd like to see some step-by-step pictures and results from another crafty perspective, you can find that post here: Making Pens from Quills

This Month in Colonial History: December

This is my last month bringing you the theme of “this month in colonial (and Federal) history.” Next month I have the joy and privilege of starting posts relevant to my upcoming release, The Counterfeit Tory in CQ’s long-awaited all-colonial novella collection, The Backcountry Bride (May 2018, Barbour Publishing). So, this month I’m going to do something a little different and add in events specific to the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution, particularly in South Carolina—some of which are featured in my novella, and one of which figures into my first full-length release coming in October.

Washington's Portrait, by Stuart

1 – Spanish garrisons driven out of Portugal in a nationalist revolution that will lead to Portugal’s independence. (1640)

1-19 – Continuation of “the Bloody Scout,” a six-week reign of terror by loyalist officer William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham and his men across the South Carolina backcountry, in retribution for the treatment of family and friends by the patriots. (1780) (This event forms the backdrop of my story The Counterfeit Tory.)

2 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowned Emperor of France. (Because that was an improvement on the French Revolution?) (1804)

3 - Birth of Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828) near Narragansett, Rhode Island. Best known for portraits of George Washington, James Madison, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson.

4 - The Observer, now the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, first published in Britain. (1791)

5 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies in poverty at age 35 in Vienna, Austria. (1791)

5 – Birth of Martin van Buren (1782-1862), the 8th U.S. President and first born a U.S. citizen, in Kinderhook, New York.

7 – Birth of Marie Tussaud (1761-1850) in Bern, Switzerland. Later famous for Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

8 – Birth of Eli Whitney (1765-1825) in Westboro, Massachusetts. Assisted in his invention of the cotton gin by Caty Greene, widow of General Nathanael Greene.

9 – Birth of John Milton (1608-1674) in London.

10 – Birth of Thomas Gallaudet (1787-1851) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Co-founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817.

12 – Birth of John Jay (1745-1829) in New York City. Diplomat and the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. With Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, he co-wrote the Federalist Papers.

13 - The Council of Trent, summoned by Pope Paul III, met to discuss doctrinal matters, including the rise of Protestantism. (1545)

13 - Francis Drake departed Plymouth, England, on his voyage around the world. (1577)

13 - New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman of the Dutch East India Company. (1642)

13 – Birth of Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) in Dusseldorf. “Best known for his statement made a hundred years before the advent of book-burning Nazis in Germany – ‘Where books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too.’”

14 – The evacuation of the British from Charleston, South Carolina, after occupying the city for more than a year and a half. (1782)

14 - George Washington dies at Mount Vernon. (1799)

15 - The Bill of Rights takes effect following ratification by Virginia. (1791)

16 - Following the defeat of King Charles I in the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary forces, is declared Lord Protector of England. (1653)

16 - The Boston Tea Party! Colonial activists disguised as Mohawk Indians board British ships anchored in Boston Harbor and dump 342 containers of expensive tea into the water. (1773)

16 – Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) in Bonn, Germany.

16 – Birth of Jane Austen (1775-1817) in Hampshire, England.

17 – Excommunication of King Henry VIII after he declares himself supreme head of the Church in England. (1538)

17 - The Continental Army, led by General George Washington, settles in for the winter at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania. (1777)

Poor Richard's Almanac

19 - Benjamin Franklin first published Poor Richard's Almanac containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, eventually selling nearly 10,000 copies per year. (1732)

19 – Birth of William Perry (1790-1855) in Bath, England. Famous for his Arctic expeditions and three attempts to find a Northwest Passage.

20 - The Virginia Company expedition to America began as three small ships, the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, departed London under the command of Captain Christopher Newport. (1606)

20 - Czar Peter the Great changes the Russian New Year from September 1 to January 1 as part of his reorganization of the Russian calendar. (1699)

20 – Attack on “Bloody Bill” Cunningham by General Andrew Pickens on the Edisto River, effectively ending “the Bloody Scout.” (1780)

22 – “Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, Maryland, George Washington, victorious Commander-in-Chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appeared before Congress and voluntarily resigned his commission.” (1783)

24 - Franz Joseph Gruber composed “Silent Night.” (1818)

24 – Birth of Benjamin Rush (1745-1813) on a plantation in Byberry, Pennsylvania. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, doctor, and humanitarian, whose writings on mental illness earned him the title “Father of Psychiatry.”

24 – Birth of Christopher "Kit" Carson (1809-1868) in Madison County, Kentucky.

25 - George Washington takes 2,400 of his men across the Delaware River for a surprise raid on 1,500 Hessians (German mercenaries) at Trenton, New Jersey. The Hessians surrendered after an hour, with nearly 1,000 taken prisoner by Washington, who suffered only six wounded. The victory provided a much-needed boost to American morale. (1776) (This incident figures into the backstory of my heroine’s father in The Cumberland Bride, releasing October 2018 from Barbour.)

25 – Birth of Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.

Overlay of the Louisiana Purchase

27 – Birth of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) in Wurttemberg, Germany. Considered the father of modern astronomy.

29 – Birth of Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), the 17th U.S. President, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Abraham Lincoln's vice president and President upon Lincoln's assassination in 1865.

30 - The Stars and Stripes flag raised over New Orleans as a sign of formal possession of the territory of Louisiana by the United States. (1803)

My thanks to The History Place, Holiday Insights, and the invaluable printed resource of Nothing But Blood and Slaughter: The Revolutionary War in the Carolinas by Patrick O'Kelley.

This Month In Colonial History ~ November

Welcome to this month's edition! Just one more month to go and then I'll be on to other interesting things ...

1 - Charles II of Spain dies and is succeeded by Philip V, kicking off the War of Spanish Succession. (1700)

1 - Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California. (1776)

2 - Peter I proclaimed Emperor of all Russia. (1721)

Daniel Boone at age 84

2 - Birth of Daniel Boone (1734-1820) in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

2 – Birth of James K. Polk (1795-1849), 11th U.S. President, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. After serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1849, he “declined to be a candidate for a second term, saying he was ‘exceedingly relieved’ at the completion of his presidency.”

3 - King Henry VIII is made Supreme Head over the Church of England. (1534)

5 - Guy Fawkes Day in Britain:  the anniversary of the failed "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I in 1605.

5 - First issue of the New York Weekly Journal published by American printer and journalist John Peter Zenger. (1733)

8 - Cortes captures Aztec emperor Montezuma and thus conquers Mexico. (1519)

8 - Birth of astronomer and mathematician Edmund Halley (1656-1742) in London, who “sighted the Great Comet of 1682 (now named Halley's Comet) and foretold its reappearance in 1758. Halley's Comet appears once each generation with the average time between appearances being 76 years. It is expected to be visible again in 2061.”

10 - The U.S. Marine Corps is born in 1775! Established as part of the U.S. Navy, it became a separate unit on July 11, 1789.

10 – Birth of Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Eisleben, Saxony.

11 - Birth of Abigail Adams (1744-1818) in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

11 – The signing of the Mayflower Compact by 41 Pilgrims, onboard the Mayflower, just off the Massachusetts coast. (1620)

14 - The first experimental blood transfusion takes place in Britain, utilizing two dogs. (...winning the weird science of the month award!) (1666)

14 - Scottish explorer James Bruce discovers the source of the Blue Nile on Lake Tana in northwest Ethiopia. (1770)

14 – Birth of Robert Fulton (1765-1815), inventor of the steamboat, in rural Pennsylvania.

15 - The Articles of Confederation were adopted by Continental Congress. (1777)

17 - Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England at the age of 25, “reigning until 1603 when she was 69. Under her leadership, England became a world power, defeating the Spanish Armada, and witnessed a golden age of literature featuring works by William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser and others.” She defined the Colonial Era in ways few others have. (1558)

17 - New York Weekly Journal publisher John Peter Zenger is arrested and charged with libeling the colonial governor of New York, a year after the newspaper was established. (1734)

17 - The U.S. Congress meets for the first time in the new capital at Washington, D.C.; and President John Adams becomes the first occupant of the Executive Mansion, later renamed the White House. (1800)

17 - Birth of German mathematician August Mobius (1790-1868) in Schulpforte, Germany.

18 - First book in the English language, The Dictes and Sayengis of the Phylosophers, printed by William Caxton. (1477)

18 – Birth of German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) in Eutin, Germany.

18 – Birth of Photography inventor Louis Daguerre (1789-1851) in Cormeilles, near Paris. Inventor of the daguerreotype, the first practical photographic process to produce lasting pictures.

19 - Puerto Rico discovered by Columbus during the second voyage to the New World. (1493)

19, 1703 – Death of the "Man in the Iron Mask," a prisoner of Louis XIV in the Bastille in Paris. Speculation abounds on this man’s identity:  was it Count Matthioli, who double-crossed Louis XIV, or possibly the brother of Louis XIV? (1703)

20 - New Jersey is the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. (1789)

21 - The first free balloon flight takes place in Paris as Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis Francois Laurent d'Arlandes ascended in a Montgolfier hot air balloon. The flight lasts about 25 minutes and travels nearly six miles at a height of about 300 feet over Paris. Witnessed by Benjamin Franklin, among others. (1783)

22 - Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama, leading a fleet of four ships, is the first to sail round the Cape of Good Hope, searching for a sea route to India. (1497)

22 - Death of Edward Teach, AKA Blackbeard the pirate, off the coast of North Carolina after a long and prosperous career. (1718)

24 – Birth of Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) 12th U.S. President, in Orange County, Virginia. Only served as President from March 4, 1849 to July 9, 1850, when he died in the White House from illness.

25 – The last British troops leave New York City at the end of the Revolutionary War. (1783)

26 – Observance of the first American holiday, proclaimed by President George Washington to be Thanksgiving Day, a day of prayer and public thanksgiving in gratitude for the successful establishment of the new American republic. (1789)

26 - The first lion exhibited in America (1716)

26 – Birth of Harvard College founder John Harvard (1607-1638) in London.

27 – Birth of Anders Celsius (1701-1744) in Sweden. Inventor of the centigrade (Celsius) temperature scale commonly used in Europe.

28 - Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed through the strait later named for him, located at the southern tip of South America, thus crossing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific. (1520)

John Bunyan's magnum opus

28 - Panama declares independence from Spain and joins the fledgling nation of Gran Colombia. (1821)

28 – Birth of British artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827) in London.

28 - Birth of John Bunyan (1628-1688) in Elstow, Bedfordshire.

30 - The Battle of Narva takes place, where 8,000 Swedish troops under King Charles XII invade Norway, defeating a force of 50,000 Russians. (1700)

30 - Provisional peace treaty between Great Britain and the United States is signed, ending America's War of Independence. (The final treaty was signed in Paris on September 3, 1783.) It declared the U.S. "...to be free, sovereign and independent states..." and that the British Crown "...relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof." (1782)

My thanks as always to The History Place, Holiday Insights, Marine Corps University, and Wikipedia. :)

This Month in Colonial History: October

So what tidbits do we find in colonial and Federal history for this month? Every single month has held some surprises for me ... what are yours?

4 - "The Gregorian Calendar took effect in Catholic countries as Pope Gregory XIII issued a decree stating the day following Thursday, October 4, 1582, would be Friday, October 15, 1582, correcting a 10-day error accumulated by the Julian Calendar. Britain and the American colonies adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752."

4 - Belgium gained its independence in 1830, after having been a part of the Netherlands since 1815.

Jonathan Edwards

5 - Birth of theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in East Windsor, Connecticut.

5 - "Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 2d Continental Congress used the word 'Marines' on one of the earliest known occasions, when it directed General George Washington to secure two vessels on 'Continental risque and pay,' and to give orders for the 'proper encouragement to the Marines and seamen' to serve on the two armed ships." (usmcu.edu) (1775)

5 - Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh defeated and killed (1813).

7 - The Stamp Act Congress convenes in New York City, attended by representatives from nine colonies meeting in protest to the British Stamp Act, the first direct tax by the Crown upon the American colonies. (1765)

11 - King Henry VIII of England is given the title "Defender of the Faith" by Pope Leo X following the publication of the King's book against Martin Luther. (1521)

12 - After a 33-day voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus makes first landfall in the New World in the Bahamas. Also, Paraguay declared its independence from Spain and Argentina in 1811. And in 1822, Brazil became independent of Portugal.

13 - The U.S. Continental Navy is created. (1775)

13 - The cornerstone of the White House is laid in 1792 by George Washington.

14 – Birth of Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn (1644-1718) in London.

15 - Napoleon Bonaparte arrived on the Island of St. Helena beginning a British-imposed exile following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.  (1815)

16 - Yale University founded in Killingworth, Connecticut, as the Collegiate School of Connecticut. (1701) The name later changed to Yale College to honor Elihu Yale, a philanthropist.

Marie Antoinette by Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun

16 - Queen Marie Antoinette beheaded during the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. (1793)

16 - Birth of teacher and journalist Noah Webster (1758-1843) in West Hartford, Connecticut.

17 - The first major victory of the American Revolutionary War, the Battle of Saratoga, where British General John Burgoyne and his entire army of 5,700 men surrendered to American General Horatio Gates. (1777)

18 – In 1685, the Edict of Nantes is revoked by King Louis XIV of France, thus depriving Protestant Huguenots of all religious and civil liberties previously granted to them by Henry IV in 1598.

19 - The Revolutionary War ended with the surrender of Cornwallis to Washington at Yorktown. (1781) The final treaty would not be signed until September 3, 1783.

20 - The U.S. and Britain agreed to set the U.S.- Canadian border at the 49th parallel. (1818)

20 - Birth of British architect Christopher Wren (1632-1723) in Wiltshire, in southwestern England. “Considered one of the greatest minds of his time, he designed St. Paul's Cathedral and 52 churches for the City of London. His secular buildings included the ‘new’ wing of Hampton Court near London and Greenwich Hospital, now the Royal Naval College.”

21 - The Battle of Trafalgar takes place between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets. Britain’s victory ends the threat of Napoleon's invasion of England, but British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson is mortally wounded aboard his ship Victory. (1805)

26 - The Erie Canal opens, connecting Lake Erie to the Hudson River. (1825)

27 - The first of 85 Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, appeared in print in a New York City newspaper, arguing for the adoption of the new U.S. Constitution. (1787)

28 - Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in America, is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, named after John Harvard, a Puritan who donated his library and half of his estate. (1636)

29 - British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh is executed in London for treason on orders from King James I. (1618)

Luther's 1534 Bible

30 - Birth of John Adams (1735-1826) the 2nd U.S. President, in Braintree, Massachusetts.

31 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg's palace church, denouncing the selling of papal indulgences, questioning various ecclesiastical practices, and marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. (1517)

As always, my thanks to The History Place, Holiday Insights, Marine Corps University, and Wikipedia. :)

The Year Without a Summer

There's a lot of talk about global warming lately, but in 1816, the new nation of the United States would have done anything for a warm summer. That year, there was no summer.

The causes started the year before. On April 5th through the 15th, 1815, Mount Tambora erupted on an island in Indonesia. It was the largest eruption on the Earth since 180 AD and caused massive ash to be spurted into the atmosphere. That caused the temperature to cool all over the globe. If that wasn't bad enough, it came after four other volcanic eruptions in various places that added to the global catastrophe.

One of the hardest hit areas of the United States was New England in 1816. A dry red fog covered the sky and dimmed the sun. Frosts in New York and New England killed crops in May, and on June 4th, frosts were reported as far south as New Jersey. On June 6th, snow fell in Albany, New York. On June 9th, the ground in upstate New York froze solid, and the Shaker community reported having to replant their crops on June 12th. It didn't help because on July 7th and April 24th, all of Northeast United States again was plagued with a frost that froze the crops.

By Autumn, no crop was available to harvest in New England, and the price of food skyrocketed. The South was able to bring in some crops, but the frost over the summer had reached as far south as Pennsylvania. Even Thomas Jefferson, retired president living in Virginia, had his crops fail that year causing him to go into debt. There wasn't enough food for everyone. The poor suffered most from starvation and malnutrition, and many died.

1816 wasn't the coldest year in record history, but what made it so devastating was that it happened during the summer after crops were planted. There were many theories at the time to try to make sense of it including sun spots and a solar eclipse. It was only later they found out about the volcanos half way across the world.

Eileen Marguet wrote this poem about that fateful summer.

It didn't matter whether your farm was large or small.

It didn't matter if you had a farm at all.

Cause everyone was affected when water didn't run.

The snow and frost continued without the warming sun.

One day in June it got real hot and leaves began to show.

But after that it snowed again and wind and cold did blow.

The cows and horses had no grass, no grain to feed the chicks.

No hay to put aside that time, just dry and shriveled sticks.

The sheep were cold and hungry and many starved to death,

Still waiting for the warming sun to save their labored breath.

The kids were disappointed, no swimming, such a shame.

It was in 1816 that summer never came.