Tidbits about Christmas throughout history in Illinois

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in 1864. As president, he signed a resolution in 1870 making Christmas a federal holiday. Courtesy of Mathew Brady/Smithsonian Institution

The Rev. William Beckmann of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Batavia delivers a Christmas-themed presentation every year to the Tri-Cities Exchange Club. COURTESY OF IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH

Mary Todd Lincoln's Christmas shopping was included in a report in the Dec. 25, 1860, edition of the Springfield Journal. Daily Herald File Photo

One might say Illinois had plenty to do with the Christmas holiday in the U.S.

After all, it was Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the U.S. and a resident of Galena, Illinois, who signed a resolution in 1870 declaring Christmas as a federal holiday.

"Christmas is the only federal holiday with religious significance," said the Rev. William Beckmann of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Batavia.

"It meant that federal services would be halted that day and federal employees had the day off," Beckmann said this week during his annual Christmas lore presentation for the Tri-Cities Exchange Club.

"Naturally, the state and private sector would quickly follow suit."

In honor of Illinois celebrating its bicentennial this year, Beckmann studied his various Christmas history books and reports to find examples of the holiday tradition in our state.

Not an easy find:

It wasn't easy to find specific mentions of holiday traditions that Illinois could claim as its own, Beckmann said, mainly because the state was truly reflective of the country, with its "melting pot" of different nationalities and lifestyles from the cities in the North to the rural areas of the South.

However, journals from those living in the French town of Kaskaskia in 1700, along the Mississippi River in southern Illinois, give us a glimpse of what it was like to celebrate a holiday that hadn't really caught on nationally yet.

When Christmas Eve evening church services were complete, people headed home to their large fireplaces and used bed warmers (pots with coal) to take the chill out of the beds as children dove under the covers.

"We don't know what the Christ child brought to the children, as there is no information available," Beckmann said. "But by checking records of goods sold in shops, there were many things imported from France and various things made locally."

Possible gifts for a boy might have been silver knee buckles, while the girls likely received ribbons from Paris.

Otherwise, Christmas was fairly low key, with no packages to unwrap in the morning.

"The joy and merriment was saved for New Year's and Twelfth Night, when special cakes celebrated the end of the Christmas season," Beckmann said.

Knox College prank:

Early settlers in Illinois were "no-nonsense" kind of people when it came to celebrating Christmas," Beckmann noted.

He used the example of students at Knox College, established around 1832.

"The first president of the college assumed students would not celebrate Christmas, and that classes would be held that day as usual," Beckmann said.

That concept worked until the early 1850s when a group of students hatched a plan that attempted to change the tradition.

"The students unsuccessfully attempted to stop classes from taking place, and on Christmas Eve they hid the school bell, removed the keys to the classrooms and sealed window latches," Beckmann said.

The incident was serious enough to be recorded in the college faculty's meeting minutes. Like most kids of that age involved in a schoolwide stunt, the students claimed they had no idea who would do such a thing.

Mrs. Lincoln's shopping:

The Christmas Day edition of the Springfield Journal in 1860 reported the day's doings -- including what Mary Todd Lincoln bought as Christmas gifts.

"Mrs. Lincoln, who did all of her own shopping, bought eight silk children's handkerchiefs for a total of $3.13," Beckmann said.

In other news of that day, several kids were involved in sleigh-riding accidents, and there was also a barroom brawl in which the two men involved were arrested.

The most bizarre incident ended in a shooting, Beckmann added.

"The Illinois State Journal said that a man named Gus Lloyd went to the local stable while under the influence of alcohol and got into a shouting match with one of the workers," Beckmann said.

It resulted in an agreement to fight it out someplace else, but when they mounted their horses, other workers fired three shots at Lloyd, one hitting his hat and the others grazing his body.

So much for Christmas cheer.

Costs in Chicago:

Beckmann also shared some interesting tidbits about the cost of some holiday staples in our area over the years.

A turkey from the Jewel store in Chicago in 1950 during the holidays cost 45 cents a pound, while coffee was 75 cents a pound.

In 1998, that turkey cost 59 cents a pound, and coffee was $3.99 a pound.

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'll believe Rev. Beckmann when he says you can find it on sale these days for about $5.99 a pound.

In 1985, Marshall Fields in Chicago reported using 146,000 feet of wrapping paper for gifts.

The Salvation Army fed more than 2,000 people in Chicago with Christmas dinners in 1991.

Speaking of the Salvation Army, Beckmann also noted that the organization was the first to play Christmas music in public in the early 1800s.

"They usually had a small band playing right next to one of the kettles," he said.

Those 12 days:

Admitting that "The 12 Days of Christmas" generally shows up on lists of the "most abominable Christmas songs," Beckmann said it is interesting to get to the bottom of that story.

The song was first part of a children's songbook "called Mirth Without Mischief" in 1780.

"If you had a copy of the first edition of that songbook in 2014, it was worth $23,000," Beckmann said.

As for the song, it was originally established as a "test of recall" to see if people could remember the various gifts as the song went along.

"If you didn't know it, you would forfeit something like a kiss to a loved one," he added.

While the song originally had nothing to do with pillars of faith, others have tabbed various meanings behind the gift numbers, Beckmann said.

"For example, the eight maids represented the beatitudes, while the 10 lords were the Ten Commandments," he added.

Since 1984, PNC Bank has been estimating the cost of the 12 days of Christmas. This year, that tab would be $39,095.

No matter what your tab is this season, have a Merry Christmas!

dheun@sbcglobal.net