Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Day 132 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: "Only two of the many verses of this song are presented here. As a satire the piece has its points and touches more than the surface of current life, manners and morals."
This is sung to the Protestant hymn tune "I Will Sing of My Redeemer."
"Unlike most patent remedies found in the nineteenth century, Lydia Estes Pinkham's concoction was not originally designed simply to lure the public. She was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, where she spent almost her entire life. She was one of ten children of her father William Estes and his second wife Rebecca Chase. She was a schoolteacher who became involved in many liberal causes, notably in the fight against slavery. But she also favored women's rights and temperance -- as well as oddities such as Swedenborgianism, phrenology, and spiritualism. She married Isaac Pinkham in 1843 and settled down to bear four sons (one of whom died young) and a daughter.
"Joe Schwarcz, That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles, ECW press, 2002, pp. 218-222, reports that she was originally just a local woman who devised a vegetable brew to deal with "female complaints." It was not until her husband lost his money in the Panic of 1873 that Lydia (1819-1883) started trying to sell the glop.
"Schwarcz lists the compound's ingredients as licorice, chamomile. pleurisy root, Jamaica dogwood, life plant, dandelion root, and black cohosh. Plus, of course, alcohol. Interestingly, there is some evidence that black cohosh actually can ease some of the symptoms associated with menopause. But the main "active ingredient" was doubtless the booze.
"Dumas Malone, editor, Dictionary of American Biography, Volume VII, p. 624, says that Lydia made "Mrs. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound" available to the people of Lynn in 1875. Her children set about hawking it -- one of them, Daniel, travelling as far as New York and picking up financial support from outsiders. In 1876, the compound was patented; after that, the family advertised it in newspapers. In 1879, her portrait began to appear on the packaging.
"According to Schwarcz, she was successful enough to become the first millionairess in America. "Lydia Pinkham's" is actually still sold. But it's been reformulated, and is now apparently mostly a vitamin mix." (Robert B. Waltz in the Traditional Ballad Index)
Day 132 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Series
Sandburg writes: "Only two of the many verses of this song are presented here. As a satire the piece has its points and touches more than the surface of current life, manners and morals."
This is sung to the Protestant hymn tune "I Will Sing of My Redeemer."
"Unlike most patent remedies found in the nineteenth century, Lydia Estes Pinkham's concoction was not originally designed simply to lure the public. She was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, where she spent almost her entire life. She was one of ten children of her father William Estes and his second wife Rebecca Chase. She was a schoolteacher who became involved in many liberal causes, notably in the fight against slavery. But she also favored women's rights and temperance -- as well as oddities such as Swedenborgianism, phrenology, and spiritualism. She married Isaac Pinkham in 1843 and settled down to bear four sons (one of whom died young) and a daughter.
"Joe Schwarcz, That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles, ECW press, 2002, pp. 218-222, reports that she was originally just a local woman who devised a vegetable brew to deal with "female complaints." It was not until her husband lost his money in the Panic of 1873 that Lydia (1819-1883) started trying to sell the glop.
"Schwarcz lists the compound's ingredients as licorice, chamomile. pleurisy root, Jamaica dogwood, life plant, dandelion root, and black cohosh. Plus, of course, alcohol. Interestingly, there is some evidence that black cohosh actually can ease some of the symptoms associated with menopause. But the main "active ingredient" was doubtless the booze.
"Dumas Malone, editor, Dictionary of American Biography, Volume VII, p. 624, says that Lydia made "Mrs. Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound" available to the people of Lynn in 1875. Her children set about hawking it -- one of them, Daniel, travelling as far as New York and picking up financial support from outsiders. In 1876, the compound was patented; after that, the family advertised it in newspapers. In 1879, her portrait began to appear on the packaging.
"According to Schwarcz, she was successful enough to become the first millionairess in America. "Lydia Pinkham's" is actually still sold. But it's been reformulated, and is now apparently mostly a vitamin mix." (Robert B. Waltz in the Traditional Ballad Index)
