I remember growing up in the Philippines and remembering an old maid in her late 40's who would come around the neighborhood every week and do laundry for the people that didn't have the time to do their own laundry. She did it almost exactly the same as Maggie--all handwash with beatings and boards and all that, but just with plastic tubs and modern day powdered soaps. But that old lady did that by the back area of the slums, or if it was a more capable patron, in their parking garage next to where the dogs were kept. It's extremely surreal to watch these videos and be reminded of her and the laundry methods she used, and I suppose that's what makes me feel that more connected to Maggie in these videos--the sense that what they used to do back then still applies today
My great grandmother was a laundress in the late 19th century. Apparently it paid a living wage because Great Grandpa was a bit of a ne'er do well. Granpa said they never went hungry.
@@bcaye this is a proof that women back then had plenty of job opportunity. Thanks. Unlike those that shallowly highlight women in past had 'no choice' except prostitution.
@@sallylemon5835 Laundering was an incredibly difficult and painful job that required great strength, endurance, and access to materials. Granted there were other jobs but for some women prostitution was more accessible.
My mother used to soak diapers overnight in ammonia after heating the pot on a coal stove. She washed them in a washing machine with an electric motor to agitate the laundry, but she cranked the wringer by hand. She had quite an elaborate setup with two rinse tubs. My grandfather made brown laundry soap. Lye was one of the ingredients. Oh! I always wondered what a battledore was! I helped my mother with the washing. I learned to iron when I was ten. We didn't have permanent press then. I did ironing for a neighbor who had five kids like steps of stairs. She paid me 50 cents an hour! I'm 69 years old and so grateful for my washer and dryer!
my mom was a professional reenactor at a Civil War fort/state park for several years, and she was the laundress for one or two of them- she has the old placards from the park with her picture hanging in the laundry room now- so this video series is close to my heart. i loved Maggie's demonstration, and her acting is fantastic! thank you!
@@astrangeone yeah defects from doing handwash laundry, but suddenly that very same movements are totally fine when you kept doing it in the gym ☺️ even would say it benefits health and fitness till old age! No wonder people back then were stronger than today.
@@sallylemon5835 Yes because the gym is totally the same as a wet, caustic piece of laundry AND the laundress had to launder the pieces a lot to get stains out. You do a gym set for 100's of times, but in a safe environment. While these women did it 1000's of times in a wet and dangerous environment. Totally the same and good for muscles.
@@astrangeone It wasn't the work so much as the inadequate rest and probably inadequate nutrition as well. Athletes don't work out at the gym 10 hours a day 6 days a week then go home and eat nothing but bread and beans.
I'm convinced it's a little of both. Our technical knowledge may have increased since the 1800s, but our overall social standards have fallen quiet far. Mathematics, reading comprehension, the sciences in general seem to have been taken more seriously back then, and they were operating at a higher level with less overall knowledge than today. Physically we are a much less motivated society than they ever then I think. We've got more then they did, but we use what we do have less efficiently.
When I first got married we couldn't afford a washing machine. Let me tell you that washing jeans and towels by hand is no joke; wish I'd seen this video then 😅. A great video!
My husband is a mechanic and I used to wash his oily, greasy jeans in the bathtub with an old sponge mop (minus the sponge) to agitate and beat and stir….. it was hard work! I feel ya on that one!
Same. When my husband and I first lived together, we had a bed, a tv unit, a fridge and a car. Nothing else. We bought a washer off gumtree and it didn't work. For months, I had to hand wash his work uniforms, our clothes, bed clothes and towels in the yard. Originally, I wash washing clothes in the kitchen sink but that sucked. I actually quite enjoyed it as it was summer. I'd set up two buckets, one with hot soapy water and one with boiling fresh water. I got in the bucket and stomped on the washing. The stuffy Karen next door called me a gypsy. We put some clothes flat between two boards and ran the car over the boards to get the water out then hung the stuff on the fence. It was hard but good work. I was so grateful to get my washing machine after a few months
*nods* king size sheets. when Partnerperson and I were struggling, we were given a king size bed (we had been sleeping on the floor) and 1 set of sheets. The landlord-provided washer broke, and there was an illness incident which required the sheets be washed NOW. No car, no public trans available because 2020, and washing king size T shirt sheets in the tub became A Thing.
Holy crap. That was insanely interesting with a awesome mix of old world knowledge explained with modern science. And never broke character! Lady is amazing.
Indeed: for a woman in such a "lowly" profession, she knows an awful lot, plus how to explain it. In real life, someone like here would be remarkable to know.
I spin my own yarn-dye it- knit & crochet. I've made butter-lye & soap. I grind my own wheat & bake bread, but I've never done laundry this way. Thank you Maggie. You are beyond wonderful. Keep it coming. 🥰
Where do you buy wheat and what do you grind it in? I remember seeing something in a Laura ingalls wilder book and they only had a coffee grinder and used it to grind their wheat, when they didn’t have flour. I’ve only made my bread with flour.
Agreed, reminds me of the other channel that is a cook in period England. Their channel even did a calabo with Townsend & Son. Enjoyed her English accent as well.
@@DDoubleDrew - You mean Mrs. Crocombe of English Heritage, another of my favorate channel. Both her and Maggie are such delightful actresses. They really get into their characters really well.
Wonderful video! I remember my grandmother boiling clothes in a kettle over a fire when I was a toddler. And this was around 1953. She was a farmer's wife.
If there were stains that just wouldn't come out of white clothes Mom would lay them on the grass, let the dew dampen them overnight and then leave them to dry and bleach the next day. That method was handed down through the generations clear into the 1960's.
@@caragarcia2307 it would have been a hell to even have grass allergies in the 1700s in the Colonies. Whenever you step out of the cottage you live in, you'll be sneezing and itching all over your body because the place still surrounded with green meadows and plains unlike in more modern times like the late 19th to early 20th century where you probably live inside flats and bricks and concrete surrounds your home. Just a hunch
Of all the things on this channel I've seen, I think the line "I wish I could do laundry, but I can't--it looks like way too much work" is the one that struck deepest. I grew up in a large family, and during the summer when I wasn't in school one of my jobs was to do the laundry. It was a never-ending job 20 years ago, one that quickly became a background noise in my life. I could fold the cloths while watching TV, after all, and if it was raining what else was I going to do? To see just what it took to do laundry back then--seeing that it wasn't a background noise, but a full time profession!--is astounding. A great reminder of what we take for granted today.
Well now I'd love to know the soap making process of the 18th century! This was such a wonderful video - I love when you bring in actors to teach us things in character!
I remember seeing my Grandmother (we called her MeMe) hand wash whites and lay them in the tall grass to bleach it whiter . She was born in 1901 . I remember her mother my great grandmother Martha , as well . They were Scotch Irish and my Grand Daddy Irish and a Kelley . Wonderful people . I have treasured memories . Blessing's to you all , Linda
That was really nice information about the processes! My grandmother had a wash tub and board and also an old electric washer with a ringer on top. I'm going to go hug my washing machine.
My Grandparents had no electricity nor running water in Austria. I´ll never be as tough as they had to be! (they grew up just after the great war and went through WWII)
@Sheila T. Unfortunately, not. They passed away, before I got interested in prepping. Besides, as soon as they could afford it, they moved on and burnt all bridges so to say. You have to understand that there was quite a culture of silent shame. If you like to understand what it means, be prepared to read a lot: I had only one relative from that time that talked about said time and he was probably a psychopath, as he spoke without shame or regret and survived things that would drive normal people crazy and went then back to normal, which in his case was being a petty criminal (still, he was a funny guy and I liked him a lot). AFAIK, a part of my relatives had already a horrible life before WWII, with forced labour (e.g. my grandfather working as a kid for food scraps), rape and other humilations. Then after WWII, a part of my relatives were pretty much put on a death-march, when Austria shrunk to its present size and my Grandfather became a POW and stayed in prison for quite some time due to lesser war crimes. The other grandfather came back as a broken man, who I met only in two states: a) drunk; b) sleeping. My grandmothers never ever talked much at all and were pretty far from being mother-of-the-year material. it´s not too unlikely that both suffered rape. My grandfather had seen mutilated corpses, torture and everything else that humans can do to other humans and remained unfazed by it, but there was one thing that creeped him out: how his wife treated animals. She was both peasant and a butcher and apparently the best thing about having to deal with animals was for her to slaughter them and she did so in creative ways... She was also far more tyranical and violent than him, when it came to their daughter, though he was clearly not cut out to be a father either way... When my mother was nearly sexually assaulted and reported it to her mother, she got smacked to the ground and yelled at; saying that she should keep her filthy mouth shut and not spout such unspeakable, deranged fantasies! Later, when it happened again, her father stepped in and beat the crap out of that dude... In any case, both grandparent families caused mental trauma to their kids (parenting style: do as I say and if you´re hurt STFU; no-one cares about you; I´ve had it worse and didn´t cry) and I had to grow up in a dysfunctional family because of it...
@RibbitHopX, all my grandma ever had on the farm was a washboard and tub. No electricity, no running water. Even when she moved off the farm into a small house in town, she didn't change her way of washing clothes. Only now all she had to wash were her own things. She no longer had to wash for a family of 7 (she, her husband and 5 kids). All my mom ever had to wash laundry with was a wringer washer like you describe. Also, the rinse tub for the wringer washer was our bathtub until I was nearly 10 years old, as 3 out of 4 houses we lived in didn't have indoor plumbing, only an outhouse.
Thank you! I love laundry and the history of laundry. I have buckets and things my great grandmother used in the 1800s. Fun to see techniques still older. thanks Maggie!
Wow that was a great history lesson! Ok, I have admit that I just hugged my washing machine and said I'll never complain about doing laundry again. 😂 Thanks for sharing.
It worked for my daughter. It only took two days for her to complete a load and about a month to learn a lesson in keeping her clothes off the floor. Each weekend she was up at the crack of dawn, because there are other chores to do in our house. She wasn't exempt because she had her laundry. Her chores doubled in time and now took all weekend. Scrubbing jeans by hand is a pain. Literally.
@Mur'La Aurelius LOL! I love it! I've had to do that sort of washing at times when my washing machine has died and I couldn't immediately afford another and I used to have the same set up when I'd go camping for long periods. The old stomp the laundry in the bath method works pretty well too. My son was about ten when this last happened and he was amazed that you could do laundry without a washing machine. He knew you could hand wash small or delicate things because I've always done that, but I was lucky, he was of an age where he actually really enjoyed stomping on the laundry so I let him go to town until the novelty wore off, then he just complained lol. It was only for a couple of weeks but it must have left an impression because he's never complained about either doing the laundry or about how I do it.
I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this video! Maggie has a subtle way of sliding in and out between character and teacher. Artfully done and happy to have seen this!
Still typical in most of Central America. If you don't wash your own laundry in a pila (compartmentalized cement basin with a reservoir in the middle, a washboard on one side & a normal sink on the other), you pay (by weight) to have someone else do it. Washing machines are quite uncommon in most places.
There have definitely been times in my life where I didn't have access to a washing machine, at least not for small loads that needed to be done fast, and I had to try to wash by hand. She has some good tips and tricks omg
This is excellent! I wrote about the year we lived in Africa without a washing machine in response to the previous video with Maggie the Laundress. It really is A LOT of work; at least we had running water about 5 days a week and didn’t have to make our own soap. I wish now we’d had battle boards and battledores, or known about how to make and use them, because squeezing the soapy water out of the clothes was the hardest part!
I love the character of Maggie! She’s amazing making the most mundane things such as doing laundry seem endlessly interesting. Can’t wait to see more of her in these videos.
I seriously love every character, and kind of job that Carol portrays. You can absolutely see the hard work from research to character development, and love she puts into it.
Great in-character teaching. I learned so much! Thank you Maggie! I would definitely hire you! I love these videos showing how the common folk lived. Far too often people want to reenact a more "glamorous" character; a fine lady or lord, or a high ranking officer. But these simple folk were the basis of a functional society, and frankly in my opinion led more interesting live.
Yay Maggie!! Love how real Carol makes Maggie. My mom used to make lye soap (the hard kind). We used it a lot growing up. From scrubbing stains before washing (then putting in the washing machine) to washing hands.
Yes! One of my great Aunts made lye soap and would give us a big chunk for laundry. We would grate it and use it but it definitely had a distinct scent!
This is how I did my laundry when I visited family in Mexico when I was a kid. Helped my aunt boil towels, sheets, etc. Scour clothing on a wash board. Blue the whites. Now they have washers & driers. It's a good skill to have for camping or if the washer breaks.
if you evaporate urine the residue is potasium nitrate. essential to making gun powder. during the civil war southern ladys saved their urine for the cause. urine was also used in hyde tanning.
This soft soap was used in the great monthly washings which, for a century after the settlement of the colonies, seem to have been the custom. The household wash was allowed to accumulate, and the washing done once a month, or in some households once in three months. This is from Alice Morse Earle Home Life in Colonial Days It was written in 1898 about life in the 1700s It is free on the internet
Idk if they did this in the u.s., maybe just England & France, but I've heard they would drape clothing over rows of lavender or rosemary to make them smell nice.
Yes, and the frenchmen preferred their flags to be as white as possible but why not make them smell nice too. It would be pleasant to have a nice lavender smell as you are waving that thing over your head. :-D
Maggie is magnificent! I love her anachronistic tutorial. Watching her makes me feel like I'm really there back then. Also makes me glad that I have an electric washing machine, lol. Bless her and thank you to her for such a convincing demonstration.
Astounding presentation! How in the world did anyone survive? All the time to make soaps, clean clothes, using LYE? My goodness. Excellent, and thank you all for the video!
Maggie is awesome! I've always wondered why people are shown rubbing against the board. The beating and rubbing explaination closed that gap for me. Thanks!
I am honestly amazed and humbled. Not just by Maggie's depth of knowledge and great skill in communicating it (wow!) but holy cow. I knew machine-less washing was complicated and difficult, but this has really opened my eyes. Thank you, thank you!
I still do sometimes. I find that it does a great job with natural fibres. My mum and nan used to do it more often than I do but I find that it not only does a good job whitening, it also gives the laundry a lovely freshness. I still also use blue sometimes (when I can find it - it's hard to come by now) even though most laundry detergents have optical whiteners incorporated now. I actually find that blue still does a better job if you want something really white. We usually had a copper when I was a kid too, usually gas heated but we had one once that was heated by woodchips and the sheets and towels were done in them, even when we had a washing machine because it handled bigger items and reall got them clean. We also had a mangle that was clamped to the divider of our laundry tubs, and my nan had a washing machine that had an electric powered one on top of her washer (luxury!). Washing day was a full day's work back then, and very physically demanding work, at that. Fully automatic washers were around when I was a kid but only well off people could really afford them. The washers we had were semi automatic - you had to manually fill and drain the wash and rinse water and turn the agitator on and off manually and then wring the washing out in a mangle, between the wash and rinses and at the end. I was a young teen before we got our first fully automatic one. No doubt Maggie would have thought that our coppers and semi automatic washers were the height of luxury - it's all relative :)
It must be a relief for the settlers to have these washing machines. Thanks for this really cool video. This historical channel is so inspiring to me to learn about how they washed there cloths. :)
My grandmother used to dry my grandfathers white handkerchiefs on the grass like that. I never knew the grass was part of the bleaching process! In fact, a lot of this information is new to me. Thank you for the great presentation!
Maggie is WONDERFUL! All that research and knowledge she passes on - thank you so much! I didn't know how the hooves could be used for this purpose - what great information WOW.
Crazy thing is, in 2016 when I visited Pakistan the ladies in the house (I.e. mom, aunties and grandma) were hand washing clothes like this with designated buckets for each stage. We had special soap which was quite cheap but worked great! And the blue thing (you can buy these traditional soaps etc at a local asian convenience store) we used specially for whites. Our clothes were super clean - as it can get very dirty and sweaty back home. There was always a power cut and the very old (1991 model?) fashioned laundry was almost useless. Suppose it was nice to unplug and consciously do things.
Ah, Maggie our love, blessings to you! Carol, you are fabulous. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Townsends, no one else brings us this kind of information. Love and blessings to all of you as well. 😁
I put these videos on during my 2 hours of commuting in my car everyday, then I play them at home. They provide information and help me wind down after 12-15 hour days. Thank you.
That was fascinating! I hope more topics like this one get covered, so much precious knowledge is transmitted here. And as always, Carol is doing an amazing job
I have said more times than i can count that everyone especially the young ones coming up now should have to live like our ancestors did. Now people including myself some days find it so hard to put a load of laundry in the washer or load a dishwasher. Thank you so much for this...i have ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW THIS STUFF. So happy i found this channel
Outstanding! ....as always I don't say it enough. That was a truly outstanding presentation . The amount of research and behind the scenes prep and work that go into something such as this. Amazing. Also Kudos to Townsend Crew, outstanding production. Thank you for all that you do.
@@kck9742 Nope that's how 'Bat' games originated, the Grandmas grew stronger and the Bats grew longer, then the grandchildren got faster, and at some point...Evolution dictated they became spherical..... so they could roll off better Cricket, As a Fairy Tale.... ( enough advice, violence and abuse, but subtley communicated to the right individuals)
Lye soap made with sodium hydroxide (soda ash + lime) gives a bar of soap but 'soft soap' is made with potassium hydroxide (wood ash + lime). Either type, soda lye or wood lye mixed with fats will yield a soap. As Maggie said the 'soft soap' is better for laundry. Urine was used for many things and was collected. It was used to make nitrates for black powder. Stale urine was called lant. The bleaching property was due to the ammonia and was also used to bleach hair.
Cooking: over a fire seeing in the dark: by fire keeping warm: by fire Laundry: *over a fire* Conclusion: Everybody in the 18th century smelled like smoke 24/7.
Mom told me just this summer that she as the oldest girl of 9 on a farm, just went down to the river and washed in the river on a stone. No bucket, washboard or beaters.
Yeah, parents used to say, "I'll beat the crap out of you". My parents never hit me, but I'm sure all of the kids I knew back then were, when they were naughty. Thank goodness those days are gone.
Was amazed how much work was put into washing laundry and all the different kinds of components used to make laundry 🧺 shiny, stiff, white, even the sun ☀️ and grass...it was truly amazing 😉 Maggie did a wonderful job in explaining and demonstrating 👍🏻👍🏻❤️❤️
Maggie Delaney the Mrs. Crocombe of 18th century laundry
MizzKittyBichon This is the most niche comment i have ever read and i appreciate it immensely ❤️
Who doesn't love Mrs. Crocombe?
Indeed!!! Love Mrs. Crocombe
OH my god, i was thinking the very same thing!!
Underrated comments, I see
I remember growing up in the Philippines and remembering an old maid in her late 40's who would come around the neighborhood every week and do laundry for the people that didn't have the time to do their own laundry.
She did it almost exactly the same as Maggie--all handwash with beatings and boards and all that, but just with plastic tubs and modern day powdered soaps. But that old lady did that by the back area of the slums, or if it was a more capable patron, in their parking garage next to where the dogs were kept.
It's extremely surreal to watch these videos and be reminded of her and the laundry methods she used, and I suppose that's what makes me feel that more connected to Maggie in these videos--the sense that what they used to do back then still applies today
I absolutely would pay her my coin. That makes me really appreciate my modern conveniences.
Agreed, I'd pay her very well for what she does.
My great grandmother was a laundress in the late 19th century. Apparently it paid a living wage because Great Grandpa was a bit of a ne'er do well. Granpa said they never went hungry.
@@bcaye this is a proof that women back then had plenty of job opportunity. Thanks. Unlike those that shallowly highlight women in past had 'no choice' except prostitution.
Beth Roesch I thought the same thing!!! 🖤♥️❣️
@@sallylemon5835 Laundering was an incredibly difficult and painful job that required great strength, endurance, and access to materials. Granted there were other jobs but for some women prostitution was more accessible.
My mother used to soak diapers overnight in ammonia after heating the pot on a coal stove. She washed them in a washing machine with an electric motor to agitate the laundry, but she cranked the wringer by hand. She had quite an elaborate setup with two rinse tubs. My grandfather made brown laundry soap. Lye was one of the ingredients. Oh! I always wondered what a battledore was! I helped my mother with the washing. I learned to iron when I was ten. We didn't have permanent press then. I did ironing for a neighbor who had five kids like steps of stairs. She paid me 50 cents an hour! I'm 69 years old and so grateful for my washer and dryer!
I'm 28 years old, and I'm thankful for my washer and dryer as well.
This comment made me smile so much.
that's how my diapers were done back in the 60s.
Great video. Maggie does such an excellent job of teaching in-character!
couldn't agree with you more mate!
@@robertgreen6027 I agree rr me matey
Couldn't agree more!
Maggie's the best, she could give those so called hollywood pros some lessons! We want more Maggie!
Hollywood hasn’t a clue of how it was in the past. Even the near past.
I don't know but when she said "see if it's worth your coin" at 0:52 that one sentence just sounded really sincere and kind of sad.
All those hard work and sometimes they didn't even get paid 😭
More of these demonstrations please, about anything and everything!
Yes!!!!!!
Kelli Billings yes! Yes! This is my absolute favorite way of learning history. The details stick like glue!
Have you seen her telling of Maggie Delaney's story yet? It's beyond wonderful. Here's the link: ua-cam.com/video/jqOgWngL5aY/v-deo.html
my mom was a professional reenactor at a Civil War fort/state park for several years, and she was the laundress for one or two of them- she has the old placards from the park with her picture hanging in the laundry room now- so this video series is close to my heart. i loved Maggie's demonstration, and her acting is fantastic! thank you!
...and this is why being a launderer or laundress was a vocation.
You had to remember all the steps and how to make the solutions...
Plus it was terrible on your wrists/shoulders...
The skin on their hands must have peeled off.
@@astrangeone yeah defects from doing handwash laundry, but suddenly that very same movements are totally fine when you kept doing it in the gym ☺️ even would say it benefits health and fitness till old age!
No wonder people back then were stronger than today.
@@sallylemon5835 Yes because the gym is totally the same as a wet, caustic piece of laundry AND the laundress had to launder the pieces a lot to get stains out.
You do a gym set for 100's of times, but in a safe environment. While these women did it 1000's of times in a wet and dangerous environment.
Totally the same and good for muscles.
@@astrangeone It wasn't the work so much as the inadequate rest and probably inadequate nutrition as well. Athletes don't work out at the gym 10 hours a day 6 days a week then go home and eat nothing but bread and beans.
My mother used to use a powder called "bluing" to help make cloth look more white in the 1960's and 1970's (I'm 61 now).
It's also used by people with grey or white hair to increase the optical whiteness of the hair.
@@animequeen78 ....... Bwahahahaha, I'm quite thank my grey hair shines like silver.
I still use that stuff today. Back then, it were sold in a form of solid cube block but nowadays they sell it in a liquid form.
I remember bluing.
I saw the bottle and new it was bluing.
Pretty amazing. Can’t imagine, how hard on the hands that must have been. Lye, ammonia, hot water...😲
Yes, it was really rough on the hands and many laudresses would end up partially or fully blind from the alkaline fumes and steam.
My grandma grew up doing a version of this during the Depression, and she always talked about how doing the wash meant her knuckles would bleed.
@Algerian Cutie life used to be much simpler with a lot less information available. We didn't become weak, we've become aware.
I'm convinced it's a little of both. Our technical knowledge may have increased since the 1800s, but our overall social standards have fallen quiet far. Mathematics, reading comprehension, the sciences in general seem to have been taken more seriously back then, and they were operating at a higher level with less overall knowledge than today.
Physically we are a much less motivated society than they ever then I think. We've got more then they did, but we use what we do have less efficiently.
Yep that's the bad part not the two week old stale urine haha
When I first got married we couldn't afford a washing machine. Let me tell you that washing jeans and towels by hand is no joke; wish I'd seen this video then 😅. A great video!
Wish I New to piss on my washing sooner
My husband is a mechanic and I used to wash his oily, greasy jeans in the bathtub with an old sponge mop (minus the sponge) to agitate and beat and stir….. it was hard work! I feel ya on that one!
I washed a full size comforter once in the tub
Same.
When my husband and I first lived together, we had a bed, a tv unit, a fridge and a car. Nothing else. We bought a washer off gumtree and it didn't work. For months, I had to hand wash his work uniforms, our clothes, bed clothes and towels in the yard. Originally, I wash washing clothes in the kitchen sink but that sucked.
I actually quite enjoyed it as it was summer. I'd set up two buckets, one with hot soapy water and one with boiling fresh water. I got in the bucket and stomped on the washing. The stuffy Karen next door called me a gypsy. We put some clothes flat between two boards and ran the car over the boards to get the water out then hung the stuff on the fence.
It was hard but good work. I was so grateful to get my washing machine after a few months
*nods* king size sheets. when Partnerperson and I were struggling, we were given a king size bed (we had been sleeping on the floor) and 1 set of sheets. The landlord-provided washer broke, and there was an illness incident which required the sheets be washed NOW. No car, no public trans available because 2020, and washing king size T shirt sheets in the tub became A Thing.
Holy crap. That was insanely interesting with a awesome mix of old world knowledge explained with modern science. And never broke character! Lady is amazing.
Inane or insane?
That lady has great communication skill, where do they found people like this?
The 18th century, silly...😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆
@@jonthornton8758 Ya and?
Maggie looks EXACTLY a you'd picture a colonial washer woman to look -- kindly, sturdy, comfortable but strong.
and don't take no guff with those beaters!!!!
And you wouldnt want to mess with them because if you did, they could strike you with them laundry sticks lol.
I LOVE Maggie Delaney!!! She's a fabulous character!!
Maggie is awesome.
Indeed: for a woman in such a "lowly" profession, she knows an awful lot, plus how to explain it. In real life, someone like here would be remarkable to know.
I spin my own yarn-dye it- knit & crochet. I've made butter-lye & soap. I grind my own wheat & bake bread, but I've never done laundry this way. Thank you Maggie. You are beyond wonderful. Keep it coming. 🥰
Cool, impressive.😊👍 Maybe if you want to you should teach it, to keep the knowledge alive.
Where do you buy wheat and what do you grind it in? I remember seeing something in a Laura ingalls wilder book and they only had a coffee grinder and used it to grind their wheat, when they didn’t have flour. I’ve only made my bread with flour.
CAROL IS INCREDIBLE - A FINE ACTRESS.
Love this style video
Agreed, reminds me of the other channel that is a cook in period England. Their channel even did a calabo with Townsend & Son. Enjoyed her English accent as well.
@@DDoubleDrew - You mean Mrs. Crocombe of English Heritage, another of my favorate channel. Both her and Maggie are such delightful actresses. They really get into their characters really well.
@@inisipisTV That's the one! Defiantly a great show and actress.
@@DDoubleDrew , that is an Irish accent . Just sayin ,so ye know xx
@@lindamazur4208 I thought so
Wow, this lady's the best reenactor we've seen so far on this channel. She made doing laundry interesting.😀
Grass.... the original OxyClean
I was going to comment that, then I thought I ought to scroll down first. you deserve all the thumbs ups!
@@dscrive Dang it! I didn't scroll down first. Anyway, here's a like. :)
Nurse JoCo
She’s wrong. It needs to be exposed to the sun. It’s shaded under the grass.
A clothes line does it better. The sun bleaches and the UV rays will kill germs.
Wonderful video! I remember my grandmother boiling clothes in a kettle over a fire when I was a toddler. And this was around 1953. She was a farmer's wife.
I knew about the urine and the indigo, but grass=oxi-clean?! Amazing.
If there were stains that just wouldn't come out of white clothes Mom would lay them on the grass, let the dew dampen them overnight and then leave them to dry and bleach the next day. That method was handed down through the generations clear into the 1960's.
this makes me feel better about the laundry that has fallen off my line onto the grass. I always was so worried it would be dirty, guess not!
@@jackie9-z2t It would have been hell to have grass allergies in the 1700s and have to wear white as part of an uniform.
@@caragarcia2307 it would have been a hell to even have grass allergies in the 1700s in the Colonies. Whenever you step out of the cottage you live in, you'll be sneezing and itching all over your body because the place still surrounded with green meadows and plains unlike in more modern times like the late 19th to early 20th century where you probably live inside flats and bricks and concrete surrounds your home.
Just a hunch
JessicaTheAwesome
She’s wrong about the grass helping to bleach. It’s in the shade, no? Photosynthesis needs sunlight.
Of all the things on this channel I've seen, I think the line "I wish I could do laundry, but I can't--it looks like way too much work" is the one that struck deepest. I grew up in a large family, and during the summer when I wasn't in school one of my jobs was to do the laundry. It was a never-ending job 20 years ago, one that quickly became a background noise in my life. I could fold the cloths while watching TV, after all, and if it was raining what else was I going to do? To see just what it took to do laundry back then--seeing that it wasn't a background noise, but a full time profession!--is astounding. A great reminder of what we take for granted today.
Maggie kept me riveted. That's what a great teacher does regardless of the subject.
Well now I'd love to know the soap making process of the 18th century! This was such a wonderful video - I love when you bring in actors to teach us things in character!
Cheers. Love the content. Jas makes history fun.
Thanks Maggie
Edit: Thanks everyone for the love. We are basically a family of the ol days
She's stays in character. What a cool lady. That bit of information about the grass whitening from the bottom up is a cool bit of knowledge
Carol is so talented and certainly not a slacker in anything she does. She give 100 %.
Speaking of 100 I’m your 100th like
@@sirquacksalot6463 - that's awesome. Thanks. have a great day. 😊
I remember seeing my Grandmother (we called her MeMe) hand wash whites and lay them in the tall grass to bleach it whiter . She was born in 1901 . I remember her mother my great grandmother Martha , as well . They were Scotch Irish and my Grand Daddy Irish and a Kelley . Wonderful people . I have treasured memories . Blessing's to you all , Linda
Can you imagine doing this on a cold, dark winter morning? My finger creak just thinking about it...
On the other hand, you don't sweat as much in the winter. I'd say they went a little longer between wash days during winter.
But the warm water could be kind of nice....
Not to mention washing kids clothes or cloth diapers.
this lady is a class act. like she stepped right out of the 18th century giving a full lesson.
Cant get enough of you guys lately. Attended my first living history event this past weekend and had a blast. Keep up the amazing work!
afrisn where did you go?
This was amazing. More Maggie content, please! I love the "interactive" story telling she did. Super engaging
That was really nice information about the processes!
My grandmother had a wash tub and board and also an old electric washer with a ringer on top. I'm going to go hug my washing machine.
My Grandparents had no electricity nor running water in Austria. I´ll never be as tough as they had to be!
(they grew up just after the great war and went through WWII)
@Sheila T. Unfortunately, not. They passed away, before I got interested in prepping. Besides, as soon as they could afford it, they moved on and burnt all bridges so to say. You have to understand that there was quite a culture of silent shame.
If you like to understand what it means, be prepared to read a lot:
I had only one relative from that time that talked about said time and he was probably a psychopath, as he spoke without shame or regret and survived things that would drive normal people crazy and went then back to normal, which in his case was being a petty criminal (still, he was a funny guy and I liked him a lot).
AFAIK, a part of my relatives had already a horrible life before WWII, with forced labour (e.g. my grandfather working as a kid for food scraps), rape and other humilations. Then after WWII, a part of my relatives were pretty much put on a death-march, when Austria shrunk to its present size and my Grandfather became a POW and stayed in prison for quite some time due to lesser war crimes. The other grandfather came back as a broken man, who I met only in two states: a) drunk; b) sleeping. My grandmothers never ever talked much at all and were pretty far from being mother-of-the-year material. it´s not too unlikely that both suffered rape. My grandfather had seen mutilated corpses, torture and everything else that humans can do to other humans and remained unfazed by it, but there was one thing that creeped him out: how his wife treated animals. She was both peasant and a butcher and apparently the best thing about having to deal with animals was for her to slaughter them and she did so in creative ways... She was also far more tyranical and violent than him, when it came to their daughter, though he was clearly not cut out to be a father either way... When my mother was nearly sexually assaulted and reported it to her mother, she got smacked to the ground and yelled at; saying that she should keep her filthy mouth shut and not spout such unspeakable, deranged fantasies! Later, when it happened again, her father stepped in and beat the crap out of that dude...
In any case, both grandparent families caused mental trauma to their kids (parenting style: do as I say and if you´re hurt STFU; no-one cares about you; I´ve had it worse and didn´t cry) and I had to grow up in a dysfunctional family because of it...
edi. Wow, that was really fascinating in itself. Sorry you and your family had to go through so much. Hopefully it made you all stronger!
@RibbitHopX, all my grandma ever had on the farm was a washboard and tub. No electricity, no running water. Even when she moved off the farm into a small house in town, she didn't change her way of washing clothes. Only now all she had to wash were her own things. She no longer had to wash for a family of 7 (she, her husband and 5 kids).
All my mom ever had to wash laundry with was a wringer washer like you describe. Also, the rinse tub for the wringer washer was our bathtub until I was nearly 10 years old, as 3 out of 4 houses we lived in didn't have indoor plumbing, only an outhouse.
Thank you! I love laundry and the history of laundry. I have buckets and things my great grandmother used in the 1800s. Fun to see techniques still older. thanks Maggie!
Absolutely love Maggie! She can make history come alive just in the way she speaks and what she does! ♥
I will never complain about laundry
Maggie is by far my favorite character. She's an absolute delight when she is on screen.
I am loving the Maggie series! Keep her videos coming! 😍
Maggie is an amazing teacher and storyteller! I hope she comes back!
Wow that was a great history lesson! Ok, I have admit that I just hugged my washing machine and said I'll never complain about doing laundry again. 😂
Thanks for sharing.
Living history is much better. Stepping into history with the sights and smells gives you much more appreciation.
Wonderful! I'll show this to my teenagers with the threat that if they won't pick up the dirty clothes, THIS will be their weekend . . . 🙂
make sure to show them the bottle of lemonade that's "been aging for the past two weeks...so it's all ready for your use."
Haha, I’d love to do laundry this way!
Potato mashers work well too.
It worked for my daughter. It only took two days for her to complete a load and about a month to learn a lesson in keeping her clothes off the floor. Each weekend she was up at the crack of dawn, because there are other chores to do in our house. She wasn't exempt because she had her laundry. Her chores doubled in time and now took all weekend. Scrubbing jeans by hand is a pain. Literally.
@Mur'La Aurelius LOL! I love it! I've had to do that sort of washing at times when my washing machine has died and I couldn't immediately afford another and I used to have the same set up when I'd go camping for long periods. The old stomp the laundry in the bath method works pretty well too. My son was about ten when this last happened and he was amazed that you could do laundry without a washing machine. He knew you could hand wash small or delicate things because I've always done that, but I was lucky, he was of an age where he actually really enjoyed stomping on the laundry so I let him go to town until the novelty wore off, then he just complained lol.
It was only for a couple of weeks but it must have left an impression because he's never complained about either doing the laundry or about how I do it.
I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this video! Maggie has a subtle way of sliding in and out between character and teacher. Artfully done and happy to have seen this!
My dads family had to do this when they lived in Mexico , that was 1980 onwards
Shows how they were doing
Still typical in most of Central America.
If you don't wash your own laundry in a pila (compartmentalized cement basin with a reservoir in the middle, a washboard on one side & a normal sink on the other), you pay (by weight) to have someone else do it.
Washing machines are quite uncommon in most places.
More like it shows how YOUR family was doing. My parents had a full functioning washing machine and dryer in the 80s and the lived in Mexico.
Incredible, where were you 30 years ago when I was in school and needed to learn history
Everyone should watch this show on how it used to be done. Thanks for sharing
Maggie Delaney is a gem! And I am thrilled to see her again and learn what she is come to share with us. I could listen to her talk all day!
Absolutely love this style of video! Educational, informative and entertaining too! Three cheers for you and Maggie/Carol!
hi
Tyr Justice hi! 🌷
There have definitely been times in my life where I didn't have access to a washing machine, at least not for small loads that needed to be done fast, and I had to try to wash by hand. She has some good tips and tricks omg
Maggie does a great job! These are practical methods that anyone in the Navy still recognize. I'd give her 10 pence per piece easily.
This is excellent!
I wrote about the year we lived in Africa without a washing machine in response to the previous video with Maggie the Laundress. It really is A LOT of work; at least we had running water about 5 days a week and didn’t have to make our own soap. I wish now we’d had battle boards and battledores, or known about how to make and use them, because squeezing the soapy water out of the clothes was the hardest part!
I love the character of Maggie! She’s amazing making the most mundane things such as doing laundry seem endlessly interesting. Can’t wait to see more of her in these videos.
I seriously love every character, and kind of job that Carol portrays. You can absolutely see the hard work from research to character development, and love she puts into it.
She is a treasure! Who knew there was so much fascinating technical detail in *laundry*!
Great in-character teaching. I learned so much! Thank you Maggie! I would definitely hire you!
I love these videos showing how the common folk lived. Far too often people want to reenact a more "glamorous" character; a fine lady or lord, or a high ranking officer. But these simple folk were the basis of a functional society, and frankly in my opinion led more interesting live.
Yay Maggie!! Love how real Carol makes Maggie. My mom used to make lye soap (the hard kind). We used it a lot growing up. From scrubbing stains before washing (then putting in the washing machine) to washing hands.
Yes! One of my great Aunts made lye soap and would give us a big chunk for laundry. We would grate it and use it but it definitely had a distinct scent!
I love her commitment to character and her whole bit!
I LOVE that she does this in character, so it is so much more authentic. great vid series
This is how I did my laundry when I visited family in Mexico when I was a kid. Helped my aunt boil towels, sheets, etc. Scour clothing on a wash board. Blue the whites. Now they have washers & driers. It's a good skill to have for camping or if the washer breaks.
if you evaporate urine the residue is potasium nitrate. essential to making gun powder. during the civil war southern ladys saved their urine for the cause. urine was also used in hyde tanning.
Leland45028 Also good for lemon trees.
This soft soap was used in the great monthly washings which, for a century after the settlement of the colonies, seem to have been the custom. The household wash was allowed to accumulate, and the washing done once a month, or in some households once in three months.
This is from Alice Morse Earle
Home Life in Colonial Days
It was written in 1898 about life in the 1700s
It is free on the internet
Idk if they did this in the u.s., maybe just England & France, but I've heard they would drape clothing over rows of lavender or rosemary to make them smell nice.
Oh, I like that idea. Fresh dried sheets scented with real lavender? That sounds like heaven.
...and repel some insects.
Yes, and the frenchmen preferred their flags to be as white as possible but why not make them smell nice too. It would be pleasant to have a nice lavender smell as you are waving that thing over your head. :-D
Maggie is magnificent! I love her anachronistic tutorial. Watching her makes me feel like I'm really there back then. Also makes me glad that I have an electric washing machine, lol. Bless her and thank you to her for such a convincing demonstration.
Astounding presentation! How in the world did anyone survive? All the time to make soaps, clean clothes, using LYE? My goodness. Excellent, and thank you all for the video!
Beautiful. Just beautiful. These episodes are incredible. Carol, you've got my coin.
Maggie you always do such great job of telling us of you duties. Carol you always are so informative in what you share with us.
Maggie is awesome! I've always wondered why people are shown rubbing against the board. The beating and rubbing explaination closed that gap for me. Thanks!
Maggie is so sweet!! love her, thank you for sharing
I'm not a fan of people who act, but I have upmost respect for this lady and for the had work she put in to her character .
I'm loving Maggie's presentation of laundry... and thinking I would like the receipt for that soft soap if she would care to give it to me.
I am honestly amazed and humbled. Not just by Maggie's depth of knowledge and great skill in communicating it (wow!) but holy cow. I knew machine-less washing was complicated and difficult, but this has really opened my eyes. Thank you, thank you!
My mother would lay the white sheets on the lawn to bleach out
I still do sometimes. I find that it does a great job with natural fibres. My mum and nan used to do it more often than I do but I find that it not only does a good job whitening, it also gives the laundry a lovely freshness. I still also use blue sometimes (when I can find it - it's hard to come by now) even though most laundry detergents have optical whiteners incorporated now. I actually find that blue still does a better job if you want something really white.
We usually had a copper when I was a kid too, usually gas heated but we had one once that was heated by woodchips and the sheets and towels were done in them, even when we had a washing machine because it handled bigger items and reall got them clean. We also had a mangle that was clamped to the divider of our laundry tubs, and my nan had a washing machine that had an electric powered one on top of her washer (luxury!).
Washing day was a full day's work back then, and very physically demanding work, at that.
Fully automatic washers were around when I was a kid but only well off people could really afford them. The washers we had were semi automatic - you had to manually fill and drain the wash and rinse water and turn the agitator on and off manually and then wring the washing out in a mangle, between the wash and rinses and at the end. I was a young teen before we got our first fully automatic one.
No doubt Maggie would have thought that our coppers and semi automatic washers were the height of luxury - it's all relative :)
Mine too, and she'd leave our pillows on the HUGE Rosemary bush to "freshen" them
works great on babies' cloth diapers too.
My great grandfather was an immigrant from Japan and he had a laundry for the miners in Nevada in the 20s. So much work.
@steve gale uh...no he was Japanese.
It must be a relief for the settlers to have these washing machines. Thanks for this really cool video. This historical channel is so inspiring to me to learn about how they washed there cloths. :)
My grandmother used to dry my grandfathers white handkerchiefs on the grass like that. I never knew the grass was part of the bleaching process! In fact, a lot of this information is new to me. Thank you for the great presentation!
Cheers..got to love Maggie.. I learned so much from her.. I want to see her more often she has a stellar personality ❤️
5:21 That's why they used sleeved buttons (cuff links) and thread buttons at the neck.
Great video!
More videos with Maggie.
That is all, thank you and good job.
Maggie is WONDERFUL! All that research and knowledge she passes on - thank you so much! I didn't know how the hooves could be used for this purpose - what great information WOW.
Maggie, you earned my coin.
Crazy thing is, in 2016 when I visited Pakistan the ladies in the house (I.e. mom, aunties and grandma) were hand washing clothes like this with designated buckets for each stage. We had special soap which was quite cheap but worked great! And the blue thing (you can buy these traditional soaps etc at a local asian convenience store) we used specially for whites. Our clothes were super clean - as it can get very dirty and sweaty back home.
There was always a power cut and the very old (1991 model?) fashioned laundry was almost useless. Suppose it was nice to unplug and consciously do things.
It’s sad these women were paid so little for such hard work.
It wasn’t until Obama that they started getting paid same as men. Thanks Obama
@@butterkeks8599 Lol.
BUTTERKEKS lmfaooo 😂😂💀
That is why one hears in a later period 'Chinese Laundry'
There were much harder jobs at the time
That chain holding her kettle, I found one while metal detecting. It’s rusted but still amazing.
Ah, Maggie our love, blessings to you!
Carol, you are fabulous. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Townsends, no one else brings us this kind of information. Love and blessings to all of you as well. 😁
I put these videos on during my 2 hours of commuting in my car everyday, then I play them at home. They provide information and help me wind down after 12-15 hour days. Thank you.
That was fascinating! I hope more topics like this one get covered, so much precious knowledge is transmitted here. And as always, Carol is doing an amazing job
I have said more times than i can count that everyone especially the young ones coming up now should have to live like our ancestors did. Now people including myself some days find it so hard to put a load of laundry in the washer or load a dishwasher. Thank you so much for this...i have ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW THIS STUFF. So happy i found this channel
Fascinating video! Really appreciate the thorough demonstration and history lesson. Wonderfully produced and explained :)
Very fascinating to watch. I tried hand washing one day, did not go well at all. I am very thankful to have a reliable washer/dryer.
Outstanding! ....as always I don't say it enough. That was a truly outstanding presentation . The amount of research and behind the scenes prep and work that go into something such as this. Amazing. Also Kudos to Townsend Crew, outstanding production. Thank you for all that you do.
Honestly the best thing I’ve watched in so long. She deserves an award for that performance!!
Aaghh, yet again an amazing Townsends video to brighten my day:) Was smiling the whole way through.
Her presentation is wonderful. Thank you, great video.
4:34 I remember the English one, my maternal grandma once threw it at me. But then when she was done with it we would play cricket with it.
I suspect that's how ball games originated.
@@kck9742 Nope that's how 'Bat' games originated, the Grandmas grew stronger and the Bats grew longer, then the grandchildren got faster, and at some point...Evolution dictated they became spherical..... so they could roll off better
Cricket, As a Fairy Tale....
( enough advice, violence and abuse, but subtley communicated to the right individuals)
@@sushanalone Thanks, that's what I meant.
Lye soap made with sodium hydroxide (soda ash + lime) gives a bar of soap but 'soft soap' is made with potassium hydroxide (wood ash + lime). Either type, soda lye or wood lye mixed with fats will yield a soap. As Maggie said the 'soft soap' is better for laundry. Urine was used for many things and was collected. It was used to make nitrates for black powder. Stale urine was called lant. The bleaching property was due to the ammonia and was also used to bleach hair.
pixelpatter01 👍🏻👍🏻
Cooking: over a fire
seeing in the dark: by fire
keeping warm: by fire
Laundry: *over a fire*
Conclusion: Everybody in the 18th century smelled like smoke 24/7.
Imagine if you had asthma
Imagine the itchy eyes from the smoke
Obedient Wife Material
I can imagine, and *o o f*
That's probably most of history, not just the 18th century.
But also different woods smell different, and the driest wood barely smokes. They just knew what they were doing.
That's what I was thinking a few years ago when John made something IN ashes, ate it, smelt like it, probably breathed it in...
Maggie did an impeccable presentation here. Brava. Brava!
Excuse me, I'll go kiss my Samsung washer/dryer 😳
Same😂👍
same!!!😂
😂 😂 😂 Just got done professing my undying love to mine! 😂 😂 😂
Just a Random Dude me toooooo
Booooooooo 🤣😂
Mom told me just this summer that she as the oldest girl of 9 on a farm, just went down to the river and washed in the river on a stone. No bucket, washboard or beaters.
Just realized where the saying, "beat the p*ss out of it" came from!
Yeah, parents used to say, "I'll beat the crap out of you". My parents never hit me, but I'm sure all of the kids I knew back then were, when they were naughty. Thank goodness those days are gone.
Was amazed how much work was put into washing laundry and all the different kinds of components used to make laundry 🧺 shiny, stiff, white, even the sun ☀️ and grass...it was truly amazing 😉 Maggie did a wonderful job in explaining and demonstrating 👍🏻👍🏻❤️❤️