Sidebar: How Rural Homes Lit the Night in the 19th Century

For generations, even centuries, families relied on candles for evening light. Usually made from tallow or beeswax, candles produced flickering flames that were dim, smoky, short-lasting, and needed frequent trimming and replacement.

Around 1840, coal oil and coal oil lamps became the main source of light. This fuel was made from cannel coal or shale. It burned brighter and longer than candles but still produced unwanted smoke and a strong, unpleasant smell. Coal oil’s only true legacy is that it led to kerosene, a petroleum-based fuel refined after oil was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.

By the 1860s and 1870s, kerosene became the standard for indoor lighting. It produced a cleaner, steadier flame and a longer burn time. Kerosene lamps with glass chimneys and adjustable wicks made reading, sewing, and social activities easier after dark. When decorative models appeared, they shifted from being a practical tool to a sought-after fixture in the home.

Unlike the offensive smell of coal oil, kerosene had a faint, oily scent. Lawrence would have known that smell well. It had a subtle odor that lingered in the air. It wasn’t an unpleasant odor, just familiar, like the creaking of floorboards or the ticking of a clock.

Interestingly, even though kerosene fuel largely replaced coal oil by the 1880s, people still called it "coal oil" for many decades. The same was true for newspapers when they wrote about the fuel in their articles. Almost certainly, though, the fuel in Lawrence's lamp while he studied was kerosene.