{"id":85861,"date":"2022-07-26T10:16:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T14:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=85861"},"modified":"2022-08-17T08:44:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T12:44:10","slug":"family-history-childrens-pastimes-and-toys-the-letter-c-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/family-history-childrens-pastimes-and-toys-the-letter-c-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Family History: Children\u2019s Pastimes and Toys (the Letter \u2018C\u2019), Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Jessica Edwards continues her series exploring the pastimes and toys our ancestors enjoyed when they were children, focusing on games that start with the letter \u201cC,\u201d Part 1. Jessica has had a lifelong interest in her family\u2019s history \u2013 especially on her father\u2019s side, which goes back to the first settlers in Pennsylvania, Jamestown and New England \u2013 and has documented and added more than 27,000 people to her family tree!<\/em><\/p>\n

In examining children\u2019s pastimes and toys from 1700 to 1950, we\u2019re looking at a time when children worked more and had less free time than children today. By studying how they played, we can learn about an aspect of our ancestors\u2019 lives not often dealt with in genealogy, and help bring those names and dates on the family tree back to life.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: children reading and singing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cat\u2019s Cradle:<\/strong> This is a string game; its name\u2019s true origin is debated, though the first known reference is in The Light of Nature Pursued<\/em> by Abraham Tucker in 1768.<\/p>\n

Traditional Cat\u2019s Cradle requires two players who pass string designs to each other. It is a game involving the creation of various string figures between the fingers, either individually or by passing a loop of string back and forth between two or more players, each building on the last configuration. The type of string, the specific figures, their order, and the names of the figures vary from place to place and time period to time period. Independent versions of this game have been found in indigenous cultures throughout the world, including in Africa, Eastern Asia, the Pacific Islands, Australia, the Americas, and the Arctic. The goal of the game is to get to the last shape without making a mistake.<\/p>\n

Chalk or Slate Boards:<\/strong> These were considered both a toy and a school tool that were used in classrooms during the 18th<\/sup> into the early 20th<\/sup> centuries. They were the equivalent to our scratch paper. They were used to practice Reading, Writing and Arithmetic for school, as well as to draw on in a child\u2019s spare time. There was no waste, as they could be erased and written on again and again.<\/p>\n

Most\u00a0had an unfinished wood frame around the chalk board that was usually 7\u201d x 10\u201d.\u00a0 Most students probably did not have erasers and just used a small rag (generally a damp one worked best) to wipe the board clean.<\/p>\n

Change Seats:<\/strong> This game is a Victorian variation on musical chairs, in which one person is \u201cit\u201d and they stand in the middle while everyone else sits around them in a circle of chairs. The player in the middle asks someone in the circle, \u201cDo you love your neighbor?\u201d That person has the option to say \u201cNo,\u201d which forces the people adjacent to them to run around the circle and try to grab a new seat, or they can say, \u201cYes, except those who wear __\u201d (brown, blue, etc.), at which point anyone wearing that color has to scramble for a chair. The person in the middle will almost always get a chair because they are so much closer, so the one leftover player takes their spot. There\u2019s no way to\u00a0win the game, but the action offers multiple opportunities to land in someone\u2019s lap or make a person blush by asking if they love their neighbor.<\/p>\n

Charades:<\/strong> This popular game originated in the 18th<\/sup> century. A \u201ccharade\u201d is a word game, usually involving riddles and guessing. This type of word game employs word imagery or double-meaning to help the guesser discover the word.<\/p>\n

Checkered Game of Life\u00a0(now known simply as \u201cLife\u201d):<\/strong> This\u00a0board game\u00a0was created in 1860 by Milton Bradley. It was America\u2019s first popular parlor game. The game board resembled a modified\u00a0checkerboard and the object was to land on \u201cgood\u201d spaces and collect 100 points. A player could gain 50 points by reaching \u201cHappy Old Age\u201d in the upper-right corner, opposite \u201cInfancy\u201d where one began. Instead of\u00a0dice\u00a0\u2013 which were associated with gambling\u00a0\u2013 players used a six-sided top called a\u00a0teetotum, a form of spinning top. It has a polygonal body marked with letters or numbers, which indicate the result of each spin. Usage goes back to the ancient Greeks and Romans.<\/p>\n

Chicken-Hazard:<\/strong> The origin of this game was a complicated Medieval English dice-throwing game.\u00a0Chicken-Hazard\u00a0was a low-stakes version that became popular in the 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> centuries, probably descended from \u201cHazard\u201d which was played for relatively high stakes by the upper classes and the wealthy.<\/p>\n

Chuck-Farthing (now known as \u201cPenny Pitching\u201d):<\/strong> This was a game, said to combine skill and chance, that really did consist of chucking (throwing) farthings (a farthing was a British coin, one quarter of a penny). Farthings went out of use in 1960 and were replaced in the game by tossing pennies.<\/p>\n

It seems, though, that coins weren\u2019t always used, sometimes being replaced by rough-cast leaden counters, called\u00a0\u201cdumps\u201d\u00a0because they were dumpy in shape. The game was an old game, in which the player who pitched coins nearest to a mark was then allowed to gather and toss all the coins at a hole \u2013 and won those that went into it. There are a whole variety of games which simply involve the throwing of coins or discs at walls or at holes in a bench, chair, wall or box.<\/p>\n

It was also called Pitch Penny, Penny Seat, Penny Slot, Tossing the Penny, and Penny in the Hole.<\/p>\n

Cluedo:<\/strong> This game wasn\u2019t invented until 1949 (and therefore barely makes it into our list of games from 1700 to 1950), but it had its forerunner in the rather more adult-orientated \u201cMurder Dossiers\u201d of the 1930s. These contained reproduction crime-scene photographs, testimony from witnesses, and clues such as hair, burnt matches and even a scrap of bloodied curtain. You had to read all the information, come to your own conclusion, and only then open the envelope containing the solution to the crime. This was the forerunner of the modern game of \u201cClue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cock-A-Roosty:<\/strong> To play this game, one player is chosen as \u201cit\u201d and stands opposite all of the other players, who are lined up on one side of a road in their \u201cden.\u201d One by one, each player in the den has to try and get past \u201cit\u201d to reach \u201chome\u201d on the other side of the road, while everyone has to stand or hop on one leg the entire time.<\/p>\n

More coming!<\/p>\n

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