MERRYMAKING NEW YEAR`S CUSTOM IN AREA

New Year's Day in our not-too-distant past was a time when friends called to extend their good wishes for the coming year. Since Southeast Missouri had a large German and French population during those early years, and because both nationalities had customs for observing the new year, there was merrymaking from dusk 'til dawn.

In Cape Girardeau County the day is particularly significant because, as the new century, 1800, entered, a wagon train from North Carolina under the leadership of Maj. George Frederick Bollinger crossed the Mississippi just above Cape Girardeau. The persons in the train were to be new residents of Cape Girardeau County, then known as Upper Louisiana, Missouri Territory. They would establish their homes along Whitewater River, Jackson, and surrounding areas.

The traveling party included family, relatives and friends of Maj. Bollinger from Lincoln County, N.C. Many of their descendants have remained in the area for 101 years.

Before his death in 1842, Maj. Bollinger was made a colonel. He was prominent in Missouri politics and a leader in affairs of Cape Girardeau County during the formative years of statehood. He erected a water mill on Whitewater at the village now called Burfordville soon after his arrival, and back from the mill, on a rise of ground, built his log house. The present brick and stone mill, now in Burfordville State Park, is the third to occupy the original mill site.

Bollinger instructed his daughter, Sarah, an only child, in the art of milling, and after her father's death she assumed operation of the mill.

A southern sympathizer, she supplied Confederate troops with flour during the Civil War. Because of her loyalties to the South, Union soldiers burned the mill (the second structure built on the site). After the war, she sold the mill to Sam H. Burford from Kentucky in 1865. He built the present mill, which is the third structure. The village was named for him when he was appointed postmaster of Burfordville.

Sarah married Joseph Frizel, a Jackson merchant. After his death in 1823, she married Ralph Daugherty, who was prominent in Cape Girardeau history. For a small amount of money and certain provisions about his sons' educations, he gave the land on which St. Vincent's Church and Academy was erected to Father Joseph Timon of St. Louis and St. Mary's.

Residents of Burfordville once enjoyed celebrating New Year's because it was the arrival date of many of their families to the area with Maj. Bollinger. Men would dress up in bright jackets and feathered caps, and ride in hay-bedded wagons through the village and countryside, serenading their families and friends.

They sang jolly songs often in German. They played guitars, and blew horns. The horns were supposed to frighten evil spirits away. After the serenades the singers were invited inside the house to partake of refreshments. There would be more singing, and before they left this greeting blessing was given:

IP1,1"God bless the Master of this house,

IP2,2And bless his Mistress, too,

IP1,1And all his children, large and small,

IP2,2The best of luck to you!"

IP1,0In Jackson, if the ground was covered with snow, callers often went their rounds in sleighs trimmed with bells. At each stop they would leave a New Year's calling card in a tray on the hall table. The cards were in colors and very decorative.

In Cape Girardeau it was much the same. New Year's parties were often masquerades or cotillions. Ladies dressed in fancy costumes and wore masks. Supper was served at Riverview Hotel and at the St. Charles, followed by dancing 'til dawn. Firecrackers were shot to welcome in the new year at midnight.

It is pleasant to contemplate these celebrations because they were held long ago when residents moved at a slower pace. We marvel that they accomplished so much and had time for so many activities, but never seemed rushed.

French residents along the river had masquerade parties and sang the French song, "La Guignolee," which was like the one the Germans sang in their house blessing. They collected food as they went their rounds serenading, and the next morning took the food to church when they attended mass. The food was given to the poor or used in the Feast of the Epiphany at the church, when all the villagers attended.

There was Twelfth Night Cake ... our traditional fruit cake ... served with champagne. In later years fresh coconut cake was baked and trinkets were hidden in the batter or frosting to tell fortunes.

With so much merrymaking it must have been difficult after the holidays to settle down to the dull routine and drudgery of keeping house with few conveniences, and the back-breaking tasks of farming with mules, horses and oxen. But it was a way of life then and people accepted things as they were. There are no records of complaints; it was the beginning of a Happy New Year.