When growing up in the ’50s, as a teen on a farm, I knew about hope chests. My understanding was that unmarried girls collected items, such as handmade embroidered linens, tablecloths, bureau scarves, and placed them in their “hope chest” in hopes of a future marriage.
In my older sisters’ case — Mary Alice and Dorothy — they, too, made lots of handcrafted items and placed them in large, cardboard boxes, since chests weren’t an affordable item in our household. In snooping through those boxes, in our farmhouse attic, I found embroidered bureau scarves, table cloths, even dishes. Dishes came from our Sunday School department at church, given for perfect attendance. Although I admired my sisters’ handiwork, it was not my forte.
Yet, this ancient tradition and widespread practice of hope chests for future wives, was known by other names, such as dowry chest, glory box, bottom drawer, trousseau,, and bride price.
A good description of “bride price”, is found in Genesis 29:15-30. In those days, the groom’s family paid compensation for a bride, because they were taking a valuable worker away. Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel, and Jacob wanted to marry Rachel. In order to compensate for the loss of Rachel, Jacob promised to work seven years for his future wife. On the morning after his wedding night, Jacob found Laban had deceived him and he had slept with Leah. Laban’s explanation was, “It was not the custom to give the younger daughter in
marriage before the older.” Thus, another agreement was made, that Jacob could also have Rachel as his wife, if he worked another seven years for her. He agreed.
At some point, instead of the groom paying for the bride, her family took over the responsibility of a dowry for the husband-to-be, so the young couple had the basic necessities to start their new life together.
The dowry of wealthy families could be furniture, property, silverware, jewelry, even animals. Poorer families also wanted their daughter to have a good start in marriage. At a young age, girls learned handcrafting skills, such as knitting, crocheting, gardening, cooking, and more. Sometimes, if a hope chest wasn’t affordable, the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers, sufficed, to store these precious items.
The custom of a dowry goes as far back as 3000 BC, with written records, but it is believed to have been a part of marriages even before this date. Depending on the culture or area one lived in, usually the head of the household was the husband. A dowry did help the bride in case of divorce or death of the husband. In some places grooms still paid the bride price and others the dowry.
It is known that the ancient Egyptians carved cedar chests out of a single block of wood. Inside were stored jewelry, ] even papyrus scrolls, which lasted 1000s of years. During the age of the Pharaohs, there is no evidence of dowries. This was a time when women were allowed to own and manage their own property. It wasn’t until from the 9th century to the 19th, that marriage contracts found mention dower chests.
In ancient Greece it varied from time to time — either bride price or dowry. A woman usually didn’t own more than her wardrobe, jewelry, and a slave. A male guardian, the father or brother, managed her finances.
The Romans had specific dowry or dos laws, often complicated depending on different types of marriages. Sometimes the groom was in control of the bride’s property, other times it
could be the bride’s father. A popular Italian style hope chest for the wealthy was the richly decorated Cassone, which came from the bride’s family.
In Germany, it was the suitor who gave his girl a wooden chest called a “Minnekastchen,” which the suitor himself designed. Through the courtship, the girl stored her gifts and love letters.
In France, we have another word for dowry, “Trousseau,” meaning small bundle. This bundle consisted of the bride’s wardrobe and personal possessions. The name stuck, but the chest used to carry the items was now an elaborately carved armoire.
In the United Kingdom, it was the Bottom Drawer, within a chest of drawers, saved for a girl’s future marriage. Glory Box was also a name used in the United Kingdom, as well as Australia.
Beginning in the 18th century, European immigrants crossed the ocean with most of their belongings in a wooden chest. Later, in American homes, the chest served as a bench, even as a bed, when furniture was a luxury.
By the 19th century, hope chests were a common tradition with young girls. At least until World War I, when furniture companies, such as Lane Furniture, in Virginia, contracted with the government to make pine chests for military ammunition.
By the time World War II came, the era of the hope chest tradition was mostly gone in most families. By the 1940s women entered the work force, when men were fighting war. The hope chests were looked upon as old-fashioned, especially when retail stores offered “Bridal Registry,” where a bride-to-be could choose the items she specifically wanted in her future marriage.
Once a gift was purchased from the gift registry, it was given to the bride at the wedding reception or earlier at a bridal shower, hosted by the bridesmaid. In the U.S. bridal showers started in urban areas in the 1890s, and by 1930 spread throughout rural America.
Actually, this bridal shower custom started in Brussels, Belgium, in the 1860s, due to dowry custom. If a father refused to give the groom a dowry because he did not approve of his daughter’s choice, her friends and relatives got together and brought gifts so she could marry. It came to be called bridal shower when gifts were placed in a parasol, when opened . “showered” the bride-to-be with gifts.
Some families still have these hope chests and pass them on to family members as heirlooms. It’s never too late to start a new tradition with a hope chest for a daughter. The wooden chest can be large or small, with your own crafted items, mementoes, photos or whatever would be meaningful for her. Before you close the lid, be sure to add a pinch of warmth and love.
