Dorothea Dix

I am very fond of Dorothea Dix's gravestone at Mount Auburn.

It looks like this:

Everything else at Mount Auburn looks like this:

or this:

When I was in high school, I spent some time transcribing various bits of Dix's Civil War era correspondence in the collections of the University of Connecticut. It was a chore — she had the handwriting of someone who was too busy to bother with the niceties of legibility. I've read many 19th-century letters by women, and they have generally been tidy, pristine exemplars of impeccable penmanship. Dix's letters are blotched with ink and the individual letters are scrawled so large that she can only fit 1/4 of the usual text on a page. That's ok, though, because her correspondence is terse and businesslike — it's very rare that she sticks in any of the usual blandishments or runs over to a second page.

I love her gravestone because it is so like her letters: terse, to the point, and unconcerned with the fripperies of Victorian convention. It stands out at Mount Auburn.

I Love Thee

 

 

Plymouth, MA

My Cat is Famous in France

Someone found this old picture of my cat on Pete's Flickr account and used it for the header of some online book reviews. The cat likes to attack me when I am reading, which is all the time.

I wish I were reading something more dignified than "Anne's House of Dreams."

Study Weekend

I have five days until my exam, so I probably won't post much (if anything) until then.

In the meantime, I recommend

• Kevin Levin's response to Ta-Nehisi Coates' post about his visit to Petersburg
• "Facing the End: Death and Dying in American Culture" by Mark Schantz at Common-Place
• more discussion of the criteria for modern Medal of Honor recipients at Edge of the American West (previous discussion here)
• J.L. Bell's series on the early life of Ebenezer Richardson

Back to the books.

Name o' the Day

Candy Lovin Welborn,

grandmother of historian Glenda Gilmore. Gilmore's much-read book, Gender and Jim Crow, is dedicated to Candy's memory.

I love the balance of whimsy and dignity in this name. You can't get much cuter than "Candy Lovin," but the "Welborn" reminds you to mind your manners.

Musings

I wonder . . .

If I were to invent a pompous title and author name and slip them into the 250+ items on my Seventeenth-Century England general exam list, would anyone notice?

Chesterthorpe, P.R. "Surplices and Sectarians: Harbottle Grimston and the Demise of Antinomianism." Journal of British Studies, 37:2 (1996), 264-89.

Totally plausible.

Sharing a Grave

Usually, when a gravestone is dedicated to more than one person, the people are related. They may be spouses, siblings, or parents with their children.

Very rarely, I come across gravestones where the people are not obviously related. They tend to be young people of the same sex.

In some cases, I think they might be cousins. For example, Elizabeth Titcomb (d. 1781, age 20) and Elizabeth Dummer (d. 1779, age 22) of Newburyport, MA may have been cousins. According to the Newbury Vital Records, Hannah Titcomb married John Dummer in 1755 — she may have been a sister of Elizabeth Titcomb's father, Samuel. I can't tell for sure — all of these North Shore families are entangled and there are multiple Elizabeths, Samuels, Hannahs, and Johns in each generation.

SACRED 

to the Memory

of M[is]. ELIZABETH

TITCOMB Daughter

of Capt. SAMUEL

TITCOMB and Mrs.

ANNA his wife who

Departed this Life

May 29th 1781 In ye

20th Year of her age

SACRED

to the Memory

of M[rs]. ELIZABETH

DUMMER Daughter

of JOHN DUMMER

Esqr. and Mrs.

HANNAH his wife who

Departed this Life

April 19th 1779 In ye

22d Year of her age

In other cases, the deceased do not seem to be relatives. Instead, they are buried together because they died together. For example, Paul Harrington (age 19) and John Ball (age 17) of Waltham, MA drowned together on June 24, 1771:

Here lie ye Remains

of PAUL HARRINGTON

Son to Mr. Benjamin

Harrington, &

Mrs. Elizabeth

his Wife.

Aged 19 Years.

Here lie ye Remains

of JOHN BALL, son

to Mr. John Ball

Decd, & Mrs. Anna

his Wife.

Aged 17

Years.

These Young Men were both drowned

on the 24th day of June 1771.

"Great God! how awful and how Just

"Thy law that turns our Flesh to Dust!

"O let me learn how frail am I

"And all my life Prepare to die.

This stone is quite beautiful — the carver made the two faces distinctive, though I do not know whether they truly resemble the boys. If they do, that would imply that the carver knew them, that he had portraits of them, or that he was in close enough consultation with the families to get a general description.

Paul Harrington:

John Ball:

Have you ever seen a stone like these?

101 Ways, Part 100: Bid Adieu to Earthly Scenes

For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click here.

Goodhue Children

Sarah (d. 1819), David (d. 1797), Mary (d. 1800)

Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham, MA

In testimony of par-

ental affection & en

dearing recollection

of Miss Sarah Patter

son, who bid adieu to

earthly scenes, Jan 31,

1819 AEt. 18, & David, who 

died March 6, 1797 AEt.

2 yrs. & Mary, who died

Sept. 22, 1800, AEt. 19 M.

Children of Mr. Saml. and Mrs.

Lydia Goodhue, He was son of 

Mr. John Goodhue, son of Dr. 

Saml. Goodhue, son of Dr. Joseph 

Goodhue, son of Dr. Wm. Good

hue, who came from Engl. & 

settled at Ipswich 1645.

Fellow tapholphile spotboslow has a clearer pic on Flickr.

More Gems of the Bible

Onesiphorus

Onesiphorus Tileston

1710-1771

Boston, MA

Granary Burying Ground

set in wall behind Paul Revere monument

Dear Broadsheet,

For most of recorded human history, women have given birth surrounded by neighbors, friends, mothers, sisters, in-laws, etc.

Communal childbirth is not a "trendlet." In fact, it is more in line with historical norms than the 20th-century idea that birth should be "private." The major difference between modern communal childbirth and historical communal childbirth is that modern fathers are usually expected to participate (though other male relatives often aren't).

Anyway, congrats to Sara and Ev — don't let the historical amnesiacs who rule the Mommy Wars get you down.

101 Ways, Part 99: "Translated to His Masters Joy"

For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click here.

Robert Ward

Wenham, MA

1732

HERE LYE THE REMAINS OF

THE REVD MR ROBERT WARD

WHO WAS BORN AT

CHARLESTOWN SEPTR ye 23D

ANNO DOMINI 1694

TOOK HIS FIRST DEGREE

AT HARVARD COLLEGE IN

CAMBRIDGE ANNO 1719

WAS ORDAINED PASTOR OF

THE CHURCH IN WENHAM

JANry ye 25th 1721 AND AFTER

HE HAD FOR MORE THEN

TEN YEARS FAITHFULY &

HONOURABLY SERVED CHRIST

IN THAT OFFICE HE WAS

TRANSLATED TO HIS MASTERS JOY JULY

ye 19th 1732 AGED NEAR 38 YEARS

For a related entry, see Part 80: Translation to the Temple Above.

a

101 Ways, Part 98: "Remanded"

For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click here.

I always prefer to get my own pics rather than poaching from the Farber Collection, especially in cases like the Polly Howard stone where the epitaph is not fully visible in the Farber photo.

Unfortunately, Brockton, MA has several 18th-c graveyards and I have been unable to find this stone in any of them. It is possible that it is no longer standing. I haven't yet checked every cemetery in Brockton, so I am not without hope that I will find it someday. If I do, I'll update this post.

Polly Howard's stone characterizes the little girl as a gift given and recalled by heaven:

Polly

The daughter of Mr. Danl.

& Mrs. Vesta Howard.

A Boon received Jany. 25

1778. Remanded by the . . .

[d. 1784]

Experience Tarbox

First of all, awesome name.

Add Experience Tarbox of Wenham, MA to the list of the "depated."

Wenham Cemetery gets its best light in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, I was there at 11 a.m. and couldn't hang around all day. I had a tiny mirror, so Pete helped me illuminate the relevant part of the inscription.

HERE LYES BURIED

the BODY OF Mrs

EXPERIENe TaRBOX

WHO DEPAtED

THIS LIFe MaRCH

the 2nd 1739 &

in the 85th YEaR

OF HER AGE

Notice the strange mix of upper- and lower-case letters and the crossed capital Is.

Other "depated" gravestones:

• John Potter, NJ, 1780
• Manassah Fairbank, MA, 1767
• Martha Brown, RI, 1769
• Abraham Gibson, MA, 1740
• Francis Brown, MA, 1800
• Ephraim Terry, CT, 1797
• Daniel Tyler, CT, 1741
• Sarah Swan, RI, 1767
• William Pabodie, RI, 1707
  

Boy or Girl? A Public Service Announcement

Until the middle of the 20th century, young children in Europe and the United States regularly wore dresses, regardless of sex. Many modern Americans are aware of this tidbit of sartorial history, but find it amusing or baffling. When I was looking for a digital image of this Winterhalter portrait of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their five oldest children, many of my Google hits contained comments along the lines of "Two of the kids are boys!?!?"

Yes, two of the children are boys. From left to right, this portrait shows Alfred (b. 1844), Edward (b. 1841), Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Alice (b. 1843), Helena (b. 1846), and Victoria (b. 1840). Before WWII, most European and Euro-American boys wore skirts until they were "breeched" around age 5-6 (sometimes as late as 7-8).

If you looked at Alfred and thought he was a girl, don't worry — lots of people have trouble telling. Luckily, my early years as a Civil War reenactor and historical costume enthusiast have armed me with some tips for deciphering mid-19th-century images and I am happy to pass them along to you.

The most reliable way of identifying the sex of a child in a mid-19th-c image (1840ish-1870ish) is the hairstyle. As a general rule, boys' hair is parted on the side or swept up in a topknot, while girls' hair is nearly always parted dead-center. Take another look at the portrait — the little princes have side parts, the princesses have center parts, and the baby doesn't have enough hair to tell.

Here are some examples from Harvard's Houghton Library:

Girls:

Boy, Boy, Girl, Boy:

(Adorable) Boy, (Adorable) Girl:

Now that we've established a pattern, we can look at some ambiguous images:

Boy or Girl?

side part = boy

Boy or Girl?

center part = girl

Boy or Girl?

top knot = boy

Boy or Girl?

boy on left, girl on right

If you still can't tell the difference, don't feel bad — whoever catalogued these pictures for Houghton can't tell either. Nearly all of the boys under the age of five are misidentified as girls on Harvard's VIA site:

Yet, when we look at pictures with identified subjects, the pattern holds firm:

Ellen Tucker Emerson:

Alice Howe Gibbens James and Mary Sherwin Gibbens:

Tad Lincoln:

It's not a perfect method — for example, the Davis boys have wonky center parts — but it's a good starting point.

Other tips:

• Props: Is the child holding a doll, needlework, or a flower? It's probably a girl. Is it holding a ball, whip, dog, or military accoutrement (drum, toy cannon, kepi)? It's probably a boy. A book? Could be either.
• Accessories: Some types of jewelry can offer hints — earrings and brooches worn at the throat generally signify "female," but necklaces are tricky. Children of both sexes have worn coral necklaces as charms for centuries.
  
• Color: Before the 1930s, Americans generally considered red/pink to be a masculine color (think Mars) and blue to be a feminine color (think Virgin Mary). That said, there was not hard and fast rule on the color issue and it won't help you much unless you're looking at a painting or an actual garment. The Valentine Museum in Richmond had a fabulous exhibit on this subject a few years ago.
  
• Pattern: It would be a mistake to assume that only girls wore floral patterns in the 19th century. Still, if something is all-out floral and other signs point to girl, girl is a safe bet. On the flip side, little boys often wore tartans that evoked a martial style.
  
• Tunics: Sometimes, young boys went through an intermediate stage of dress — neither dresses nor full-on pants. See Prince Edward in the first painting (red belted tunic). Tunics often had a military flair win the form of buttons, belts, and trim. Other types of jackets worn by boys also have military overtones, such as the zouave jackets that became popular during the Civil War.
  

boy in tartan tunic, side-parted hair

I'm sure that people who are familiar with images from other eras could offer similar tips. I imagine the general principles are the same — look at hair, props, cut, etc. — but the specifics are slightly different.

The Gore Children (1755)

John Singleton Copley

Sarah and Frances hold flowers and have loose, flowing hair. John wears child-sized clothes in the style worn by adult men. Samuel's hair is confined and styled differently from his sisters' hair. He is also wearing red/pink and has a dog to mark his masculinity.

My grandfather, Benjamin Manfredo DeAngelis, 1921

"Future Corrected Edition in the Hands of a Higher Editor"

It's been days — DAYS! — since I posted a gravestone here. I'm entering panic mode because my exam is in exactly three weeks, so I haven't visited many graveyards lately.

This picture was taken by my parents on a recent trip to Washington, DC:

Thomas Mann, librarian, has a gravestone that looks like a Library of Congress catalogue card.

Mann, Thomas, 1948-
Librarian. Chicago: Charles H. and Margaret Mann, 1948.
Rev. ed. Baton Rouge, 1976; Washington, DC. 1980.
Future corrected edition in the hands of a Higher Editor.
1. Christian. 2.
Z710.M23
Library of Congress
025.5 24  0221-1948
AACR 2 MARC

The call number Z710.M23 is The Oxford Guide to Library Research by Thomas Mann.

Clever readers will recognize the reference to Benjamin Franklin's mock epitaph:

The Body of
B. Franklin
Printer;
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be whlly lost:
For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By the Author.
He was born on January 6, 1706.
Died 17

Abe and Jeff, Brothers at Last

I have found ten black/biracial families with sons named Abe Lincoln and Jeff Davis in the 1870 and 1880 census records. All of them lived in the ex-Confederate South.

I won't pretend to know why anyone would name brothers Abe and Jeff, but I will offer a few observations:

• In most cases, the children were born after 1865, suggesting that parents, rather than slaveowners, may have chosen these names.
• In those cases where one of the brothers was born during the war, it is always Jeff, not Abe.
• This pattern does not seem to be peculiar to any particular state, but it does seem to be limited to newly freed slaves in the ex-Confederate South.

I am a firm believer in the proposition that names convey meaning, but I'm not sure what the message is here. Is this a case of two names that "go together" because of ubiquitous pairings in news items and popular songs?

I can only suggest one political motivation that makes some sense:
I remember once reading a WPA slave narrative (admittedly, not the very best source) in which an elderly ex-slave characterized Lincoln and Davis as partners in bringing about the war that brought on freedom. He didn't distinguish between their motives — he argued that their quarrel created the necessary conditions for emancipation. If that was a wide-spread idea, it might account for the Abe-Jeff pairs.

Examples!

Alabama:
Moris, Jeff Davis (b. 1865) and Abe Lincoln (b. 1870)
St. Stephens, AL
(Abe Lincoln is on the top of the next page of the census)

Arkansas:
Caffee, Jeff Davis (b. 1865) and Abe Lincoln (b. 1865) twins
Troy, Arkansas

Mississippi:
Bush, Jefferson (b. 1867) and Abraham L. (b. 1869)
Noxubee Co., MS

North Carolina:
Powell, Jeff Davis (b. 1866) and Abraham L. (b. 1867)
Tarboro, NC

Tenessee:
Mason, Jeff D. (b. 1869) and Abe L. (b. 1865)
Montgomery Co., TN

Walker, Jeff Davis (b. 1863) and Abe Lincoln (b. 1865)
Giles Co., TN, 1880 Census

Texas:
Baylis, Jefferson D. (b. 1863) and Abe L. (b. 1867)
(brother Andrew J)
Marion, TX

Bolan, Jeff Davis (b. 1866) and Abraham L. (1866) twins
Colorado Co., TX

 Robinson, Jeff Davis (b. 1864) and Abe Lincoln (b. 1867)
Liberty Co., TX

Virginia:
Broadnax, Jeff D. (b. 1861) and Abraham L. (b. 1865)
Drewryville, VA

 

Chronology of Confederate Naming

Merely counting the number of children named Jeff Davis or Stonewall Jackson does not tell the whole story. These names waxed and waned in popularity over time. Examining the chronology of naming patterns may help us determine whether certain explanations are plausible or unlikely.

Some names were much more popular during the war than afterward. These charts show the birthdates of black men and boys named Jeff Davis (or Jefferson Davis or Jefferson D.) who appear on the 1880 Census*:

As you can see, "Jeff Davis" was a much more popular name for black children during the war than afterward. The initial dropoff was dramatic, though the name gained slightly in popularity over the next decade.**

Another name that was much more popular during the war than after was "Stonewall." Like Jeff Davis, Stonewall gained in popularity after its initial dropoff — it actually made more of a comeback than Jeff Davis. This chart includes people named "Stonewall" and "Stonewall Jackson":

These two charts have similar patterns, so they can be considered convergent for the purposes of testing theories about naming practices. But what do we do with this one?

In the immortal words of Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the other. Whatever explanations we come up with for why black men and boys were given the names of Confederate heroes must account for the fact that different names had starkly different patterns of popularity.

*A few notes of caution: I did not include black men named "Jeff D." because a large percentage of them were born before the war, indicating that this name may not have been intended to honor Jefferson Davis. It is also possible that the 1880 Census underreports people named Jeff Davis during the war and its immediate aftermath because some may have died and others may have elected to go by other names later in life.
**Since this graph includes only people who were alive in 1880, it is possible that the name did not actually gain in popularity, but that fewer children born in earlier years were still living in 1880.