When a Press Wasn't for Printing & a Davenport Wasn't in Iowa
Family words passed down
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, some of my dad’s family lines passed through Belmont County, Ohio. They kept moving west. I can trace their moves, and I was lucky enough to be able to listen to my great-grandma tell stories about moving from Colorado to Kansas in a covered wagon.
Several of my mom’s family lines came to Belmont County about the same time. While some members of the families continued west, her lines stayed here.
The only time my two sets of grandparents met was at my parents’ wedding.
Years later, when I was eighteen, I was staying and caring for my grandparents in Kansas. (I learned quickly that I did not want to be a nurse, but that’s a whole other story.) I remember my Kansas grandparents asking me, “Now, what did your other grandparents call a sofa? Not a couch. Some other word.”
I had to think about it a minute, because my Ohio grandparents’ lingo was just second nature. I never really gave it much thought. I grew up with it. “Do you mean ‘davenport’?” I asked. That was it.
“What about that other word? They had another word for closet. What was that?” Press. As in, “Go hang your coat in the press.”
My Kansas grandparents had never heard those two terms used before or since seeing my Ohio grandparents that one time.
I’ve asked other friends in this eastern part of Ohio or in other parts of Appalachia if they’d heard the terms. They had heard “davenport.” Apparently, some think Davenport is an upper Midwest thing.
Not as many folks remember hearing the term “press.”
There’s a bit of me that wants to start bringing back these old words. Maybe I’ll try using them when the neighbor kids are over and try to catch their reactions.
Have you heard these terms used? Do you have other terms you remember your grandparents using that aren’t used today?
My friend Lynn turned me onto a Youtube Channel called Celebrating Appalachia. Tipper, the channel creator, has a series about Appalachian words where her husband and daughters try to guess what the words mean or use them in a sentence. When you have some time one day, watch some of her videos and see how many of the words you recognize.
Thanks for pulling up a chair and joining me at The Creighton Cabin this week. If you think any of these ideas will spark conversations, please share the articles with friends and family.
Join me again at The Creighton Cabin as I slowly help rural Appalachian communities unlock their economic potential by challenging and changing the stories they tell themselves. I use local history and genealogy to help communities recognize their strengths and envision a brighter tomorrow. Think of it as community development powered by DNA, not just dollars.
The word 'davenport' was easily recognizable to me, but I don't exactly remember where in my childhood I heard it used. The word 'press' was not as recognizable. Growing up on a fruit farm, I thought you were going to talk about a cider press.
We called the couch or sofa a Davenport when I was a kid. My grandparents used the term press. Their closets in the old farmhouse were shallow and had hooks to hang clothes on. As a kid I thought they were called a press because they were so full you had to press the doors to latch them. There were two doors hinged on the side and latched in the middle.
What do you call tidying up a room, not actually cleaning but picking up and putting things in their place? We have always said “red”. As in, “we have company coming, let’s get this place red up!”
There is a great book called “Talking Appalachian” that you may want to check out.