The peddler walked the old road into Concord with thoughts of success and prosperity as he visited each and every farm he encountered. He desired to sell unique items that were not easily procured at the local market on Main Street in Concord.
The peddler made house calls, a job that existed as far back as the 16th century, America witnessed a peak in this old marketing technique just before the Civil War. The common peddler walked along with his wagon of goods for hundreds of years, from the old country to America and right into New England Yankee lore.
History tells us of the independence of our earliest settlers in New Hampshire. For the most part our forefathers were very independent, building their own homes, weaving their own clothing and growing their own crops to sustain them over the long winters our ancestors witnessed right here in Concord. However, there were items that the earliest settlers could not build, grow or weave, items such as spices, glassware, buttons, ironware and printed books. These were items that were commonly produced in England and shipped routinely to the early colonies for sale and profit. The peddlers would purchase the desired goods at dockside in Boston and stock their wagons well prior to departing for the roads crisscrossing northern New England. Destinations were desired where there were communities, such as Concord, that offered many people in need of the goods on the wagon. When a special event was scheduled such as a wedding, the finest material might be desired to sew a beautiful wedding gown for the young bride. This material would more than likely arrive on a peddler’s wagon.
As the years progressed and more specialized shops began to arrive on Main Street in Concord, the popularity of the peddler changed but certainly did not cease. Instead of imported items from England many of the local peddlers simply sourced everyday items that the common consumer on Concord might need. There was an ice man, milk man and rag man. These common peddlers continued well into the 1900s and brought comforting foods to our kitchens. A card would be placed in the window of your home with the desired amount of ice you required. The ice man would cleave the appropriate cake of ice and carry it with his tongs into your home where you would place it in your early version of a refrigerator. The refrigerator was not electric but simply a well-insulated chest where the ice would slowly melt into a pan on the bottom while it kept your milk, cheese and butter cool during the long hot summer days. The ice most often was harvested during the winter months at Long Pond by the Concord Ice Company and stored in a warehouse sometimes below ground covered with sawdust to ensure its life.
The milk man would deliver fresh milk, butter and cream each morning to your doorsteps from the farm. The insulated milk box sitting upon your porch allowed the consumer to leave a list of desired items for purchase as well as a place to leave the invoice. You would simply leave your payment and pick up your purchases from your milk box, which was seen on every porch in Concord. The rag man sold cleaning rags and chemicals to clean the coal dust from your walls and floors. The coal dust left a film within your home after a long winter of coal heat from the furnace.
As the gold rush reached a frenzy in California during the 19th century there were many professional peddlers that simply followed the thousands of people along the trails selling items in need. Many of the largest fortunes were won by the merchants providing to the gold prospectors rather than the men mining the gold. People like Levi Strauss saw the opportunity to peddle merchandise and reap a fortune with his new riveted jeans. He worked with his brothers selling wholesale goods in New York City prior to joining the ranks of people heading for the gold rush in San Francisco, opened a store, served the American west and walked into history.
As the years progressed many joined the early Yankee peddlers selling unique items, bibles, services, magical elixirs and even medical care.
The Sears, Roebuck and Company has a wonderful early history and entered into the mail order business in 1893 selling from a catalogue that the postman left each year. Some of the goods were very small while others items were quite large, such as the “do it yourself” homes that were sold more than a century ago. You could order your home from the catalogue and received all of the material required to build a complete home at a competitive price. To this day there are in fact Sears, Roebuck and Company homes dotting the New Hampshire landscape still.
From the primitive wares such as tea, flour and nutmeg peddled here in Concord to our ancestors, to our grandparents’ era where they could purchase a home from a catalogue, the Yankee peddler served a purpose to our forefathers. They delivered so much more than just products; they delivered a way of life.
The old Yankee peddler takes the lonely road from Concord after a successful day of selling merchandise to the farms. He travels towards the next populated area in northern New England with his wagon full of goods, his constant companion pulling his wagon and some coins representing his profits. He finds high ground and builds a campfire for his nights lodging near a tree, waters down his horse and brews fresh coffee with his dinner. He sleeps well this evening for he enjoys the life of a peddler.