“Dutch” Case-knife Beans: A Taste of History©

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case-knife beans

Photo:  William Woys Weaver, Roughwood Seed Collection

I once had someone who was viewed as an amateur historian tell me that people did not eat dried beans in the 18^th century.  What?  I’ve never forgotten that and today we will debunk that theory.

The earliest description this writer found for a white-seeded bean that matches the description of what was later called the case-knife bean was written by Nicholas Culpepper in 1666.  “…but white is most usual; after which come long and slender flat cods, some crooked, some straight, with a string as it were running down the back thereof, wherein are contained flattish round fruit made to the fashion of a kidney…”.

Amelia Simmons was perhaps the earliest cookery book writer to document white beans for drying (1796) and Simmons listed a “clapboard” bean which some think was the case-knife.  She advised they must be poled and were, “the easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell”.

Philip Miller said in 1775 the Dutch White Beans were much the sweetest for the table.  He thought them “extream [sic] windy Meat” and recommended preparing them in the Dutch fashion of half boiling them then “you husk them and stew them… they are wholesome food”.

John Reid wrote of beans in 1683, “Beans and peas boyled with savory and thym[e]…served up with sweet butter beat amongst them and set a little on a coal or chaffing boyl [sic]”.  – “The Scots Gard’ner”.

A farmer wrote in 1840 that the “prettiest” way to grow dry beans was to raise white pole beans and, “The common case-knife beans are excellent for this purpose”.  Twenty-three years later Fearing Burr told his readers the case-knife was “common to almost every garden” and it remained so into the early 20^th century.  Today the white-seeded variety of case-knife bean isn’t as common, at least by that name, but close versions can be found.

“Some Dutch case-knife beans did come up and grew finely…In good time they were heavily loaded, and they were of rich and splendid flavor, so much so I forbade wife cooking any more, having visions of acres of beans and a big bank account”.  One will pity this poor farmer when he explained that a mere few days before he went to pick his dried beans they had been beset upon by weevils.

“The manner of saving the seeds of these plants, is to let a few rows of them remain ungathered in the height of the season; for if you gather from the plants for some time, and afterwards leave the remaining for seed, their pods will not be near so long and handsome, nor will the seed be so good.  In autumn, when you find they are ripe, you should in a dry season pull up the plants and spread them abroad to dry; after which you may thresh out the seed and preserve it in a dry place for use”.  – Miller, Philip.  “The Gardener’s Dictionary”.  1768.

Buist [1805-1880] proclaimed the Dutch Case-knife to be an excellent pole bean producing a good crop of fine flavor and much earlier for the table than either the Lima or Carolina.  “It can be used either in or without the pod; it is also adapted for winter use”.

Mr. W. F.  Massey submitted information on white beans and their culture in the hot humid South for the Southern Planter and Farmer in 1900 saying they produced more damaged beans than when planted in the North.  He stated the best white beans he’d ever tried growing in the South were the Dutch Case-Knife beans.  “This is a pole bean, but not a rampant climber, and in my boyhood was commonly planted in the corn field and allowed to climb on the stalks in a portion of the field so as to give a supply for shelling in winter.  It is a flat bean, similar in shape to a small lima, but smaller still.  There is no shelled bean of better quality.”

As for the method of growing these beans they could be trellised or staked.  The following would make a nicer presentation than row staking.  “Strike out a dozen (or more) circles on the ground, as large as a cart wheel.  Put a wheel barrow load of manure into it and spade it up with the earth.  Drop the seeds in the circle, on the outer edge of the hill, say six inches apart.  Then insert eight or ten poles just within the circle, at equal distances from each other, and tie the tops of the whole together-forming a cone.  Cover up the seed and wait the result.

Each of these hills will yield you a peck or a half bushel of dry beans next fall—which if you have but a dozen such hills, will give you, perhaps half a dozen bushels.  This will be enough for your purpose.  By this course, but a little land is occupied.  Pole beans will yield very much more abundantly than bush beans, and occupy air, whilst the latter must have the surface of the earth”.  – Holmes, Frances.  “The Southern Farmer and Market Gardener”.  1842.

This bean was often referred to as Old Dutch White or White Dutch and differs from the brown-seeded variety sometimes sold as Caseknife today.  Old cookery books and garden manuals refer to white beans, small white beans, large white beans and great white beans.  All agree the white was preferred.

Dr. William Woys Weaver says the Caseknife Bean is perhaps the oldest documented bean in American gardens.  Like the farmers quoted above he believes the oldest were white seeded like those grown in the gardens of Thomas Jefferson and the closest variety to the original bean is the Pelzer Schwertebuhne (Palatine Caseknife Pole Bean).  He found the beans being grown by the Wendel family of Weilerbach in the Rheinland-Pfalz.  He offers the Palatine June Pole Bean in his Roughwood Seed Collection.

As to cooking dried white beans, let’s look at Louis Eustache Ude’s 1814 receipt.

White Beans a la Maitre d’Hotel.  “if they are dry, they must be soaked for an hour in cold water, before you boil them.  Then boil them in cold water and replenish with cold water also which makes the rind or coat tender.  White beans must be well done before you dress them, which is done as follows:  trim a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, a little parsley chopped very fine, and some pepper and salt, over which lay the beans, well drained.  Keep moving the stew-pan without using a spoon, for fear of crumbling the beans.  Then squeeze the juice of half a lemon and send up quite hot”.

The Shop at Monticello offers seeds of the Caseknife Pole Bean which have white seed like the original and the flattened, slightly curving shape of the beans matches the description above.  They are grown out on-site.  A packet contains between 20 to 25 seeds and sells for $3.95 plus shipping.  1-800-243-1743.

Johnson’s Home and Garden offers “Old Dutch White Half Runner Bean” seed he says were brought from Germany by original settlers of the Dutch Fork Section of South Carolina.  A Half Pound of untreated seed is $3.95 and a pound is $5.95.  Johnson’s Home & Garden, 130 Power Drive, Pikeville, KY 41501, phone                   606-432-8460.

Roughwood Seed Collection:  https://www.roughwoodtable.org/roughwood-seed-collection offers the Palatine June bean seed.

ROUEN DUCKS: Their Origins and Qualities©

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Rouen duck

America has gone chicken crazy.  Every suburban housewife has 3 hens in the back yard and homesteaders seem to fixate on chickens when we value our other poultry as much, sometimes maybe more, than chickens.

I love our colorful Rouen ducks.  I’m currently caring for seven hatched just two days ago by two Rouen hens.  After a dog and raccoon killed some, our flock had dwindled to three hens and a drake so I’m thrilled to add seven little brown and yellow balls of fluff.

There are two schools of thought as to the origin of the name.  One is that it was bred from wild and tame ducks in the area of Rouen, France, and the other is that Rouen is simply a corruption of the word Rhone or Roan duck.  I had several ancestors that went from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror so I tend to favor the probable Norman origin for them while agreeing the English were, at least in part, responsible for improving them.  Where do these ducks rank in the hierarchy of historic poultry?

First, for the uninformed, what does a Rouen look like?  I can find no better description than the one from “Farmer’s Bulletins” published in 1917.  After noting the duck derived its name from the city in northern France, the author noted it was equal in size and standard weights to the Pekin.  “The eyes are dark brown and the head and upper part of the neck of the male are green, with a white ring around the neck, while the back is gray mixed with green near the neck, shading into a lustrous green near the tail.  The lower part of the body is gray and the breast is claret colored.  The tail and wings are gray and brown mixed with some green, while the wings have a wide purple bar with narrow white bars on either side of the purple, which are exposed when the wing is folded.  The shanks and toes are an orange or orange-brown color.  The duck is barred on the wings similarly to the drake, but the color of the plumage of her body is brown with penciling in all sections.  This breed has very handsome markings…”.

The Rouen was commonly found around Normandy and were taken to Paris where they were plucked and drawn for market.  “The Rouen duck used to pay a duty double that of the dabbling duck.  This difference arose not only from its size, which in fact is larger, but again, on account of the quality of its flesh…The ducks…are finer in Normandy than in any other canton in France.  The English come often to purchase them alive in the environs of Rouen, to enrich their farm-yards…”.  The author went on to say there was quite a lucrative trade in coasting-captains returning to England with a load of ducks which were always sold at a profit.  (1810)

“The large, fine species, called the Rouen duck, suits well in the environs of Rouen, on the banks of the Seine…”, read the opening line in a discussion of this duck penned by Walter Dickson in 1838 and copied by Peter Boswell in “Treatise on the Poultry-Yard”, published in 1841.

The “Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture” said in 1863 that the family of ducks was a numerous one but only the mallard; common farm-yard duck; Aylesbury; Rouen; Musk [“sometimes improperly called Muscovy”]; Black East India Duck, Wood Duck and Mandarin Duck were worthy of discussion.

The author said, “The Rouen Duck has for a long time been as distinguished in France as is the Aylesbury in England.  It is the largest, and, in some respects, the best duck of all our domestic varieties, though less beautiful in form than the Aylesbury.  Its color is pleasing, closely resembling the wild Mallard.  These ducks have broad, clumsily-built bodies, and when highly fattened they are very ungainly in their movements.  They are remarkably quiet, easily fattened, and are most excellent layers of very large eggs, and have no equal for the table in the domestic family of ducks.  The adult Rouen not unfrequently reaches from twelve to fifteen pounds per pair.  They are emphatically a “puddle-duck,” seeming to care less for water exercise than most other varieties….

For amount of care and feed the Aylesbury and the Rouen yield the greatest profit…”.

Saxton wrote in 1859 that the Rouen duck of France was abundant and fine, especially in Normandy and Languedoc, “where duck liver pies are considered a great delicacy”.

The Rouen remained much appreciated as a meat duck into the 20^th century.  “Few, if any, ducks fatten more readily.  The flesh is extremely delicious, the Rouen acknowledging few equals and no superiors in this respect.  While they do not mature quite as quickly as the Aylesburys, they attain equal weights.  They are thoroughly hardy…”.  – May, 1891.

The Rouen’s negative trait, if the reader considers it so, is that its pin feathers are darker than the white Pekin or Aylesbury.  Rouens were supposedly being raised in England by about 1800, but some claim it wasn’t until about 1850 that D. W. [Daniel Waldo] Lincoln of Worcester, Mass. introduced Rouens to the U.S.

This author made a rather thorough search for a period [published in the 19^th century] account connecting Daniel Waldo Lincoln to the Rouen duck and found nothing earlier than 1947 when Paul Ives made the statement in his book, “Domestic Geese and Ducks”.  He gave no source for the information, and by his own admission, rather assumed the date to be so based on the fact that he neither found the Rouen shown at the first Boston Poultry Show in 1849 or at the New York State Fair.  He gave no source, or even a hint, for how he connected the duck to D. W. Lincoln.

In the absence of any mid-19^th century documentation, this author questions the validity of Lincoln as the first to import the Rouens, yet the statement has been passed on by one author after another with none noting an original source other than Mr. Ives.

Governor Levi Lincoln, called “farmer Lincoln”, when chosen Governor of the Commonwealth in April 1825, was the father of Daniel Waldo Lincoln, mayor of Worcester for two terms.  Daniel, born Jan. 16, 1813, was named for his paternal uncle, Daniel Waldo Lincoln, who died unmarried in April 17, 1815.  His uncle is remembered for his oration for the creation of the Bunker Hill Society in 1808.  Daniel was, “President of B. and A. R. R. [railroad]; killed by the cars at New London, Conn., 1^st July, 1880”.  Levi and Daniel were officers of the Worcester Agricultural Society for numerous years.

In closing let’s examine another statement about Rouens from “The Poultry World”.  “To the one who desires to combine hardiness, prolificacy, quiet disposition, excellent table qualities, and exquisite plumage, in a word, great beauty and general utility, the Rouen duck makes a strong bid for favor”.

© – Victoria, Thehistoricfoodie

Sources:

“Saxton’s Rural Hand Book”.  1859.  Richardson, H. D.  “Domestic Fowl and Ornamental Poultry”.  1851. Dickson, Walter.  “Poultry:  Their Breeding, Rearing, Diseases, and General Management”.  1838. A Treatise on the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Poultry”.  1810.  “The Poultry World”.  May, 1891.  Loring, James Spear.  “The Hundred Boston Orators Appointed by the Municipal Authorities”.  1852.  Rice, Franklin Pierce.  “Worcester of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-eight”.  1899.  Ives, Paul.  “Domestic Geese and Ducks”.  1951 edition.  New York.

 

A Cloth Before

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apron

Readers will recall a previous post on aprons, but today we will focus on brief descriptions and the apron’s use in carrying various items. Gathering these references reminded me of my youth when aprons were commonly worn whether fancy for show or utilitarian for gathering eggs, holding clothes-pins, picking vegetables, etc. The references are presented as they were found pre-1790 with no additional rhetoric on my part.

Thomas Sheridan defined an apron as, “A cloth hung before to keep the other dress clean, or for ornament”. (1790)

A novel described a utilitarian apron in 1797 as: “her old checked apron, which was very clean, and had been patched and darned from one end to the other…”. – The Universalist’s Miscellany.

Let’s look at the description of a fine apron. “…having an apron on, that was embroidered with silk of different colours…”. – Annual Register. Vol. I. (1758).

While being queried for a possible service position, it was written that the lady had not only observed the girl’s appearance, but had felt her garments as well. “…every article of which she not only examined with her eyes, but her fingers, feeling the stuff of my gown, and holding my apron between her and the light, to observe the quality of the gauze and the texture of the lace.”

The woman then questioned the girl as to whether it was her own or a borrowed garment, “why this is a lace at twelve shillings the yard, was there ever such extravagance! But perhaps you had it cheap at an old-cloaths shop…In fact she had guessed the real history of the apron, which I had bought that morning in my way to her Ladyship’s house; and I owned it was so, and that I had it at a third of the value”. The lady appreciated her thriftiness at having secured such a bargain. Upon entering service, the girl received a blue flannel apron and stomacher from her Ladyship. – Mackenzie, Henry. The Lounger. 1788. Edinburgh.

Jonathan Swift wrote: “I found out your letter about directions for the apron; and have ordered to be bought, a cheap green silk work apron.” Works of Jonathan Swift. 1784.

A 1780 account noted a butcher’s apron was white and ironically so was an executioner’s. 1780, The Antiquarian Repertory.

In 1770, John Gay, documented a white apron worn by his maid. – The Works of Mr. John Gay.

“She then removed her checked apron, and mewed [sic] a white muslin one, embroidered and flounced”. The woman revealed to her companion that she was not in service, but instead a gentlewoman and dressed down in order to go unrecognized. “I keep a large bonnet, and cloak, and a checked apron, and a pair of clogs, or pattens, always at this friend’s; and then when I have put them on, people take me for a mere common person and I walk on”. – Burney, Fanny. Camilla. 1796.

Henry Fielding penned the phrase, “a short flowered apron”, in 1741.

I found references prior to 1790 to: a greasy apron; a leather apron; a clean apron; a gentleman’s linen apron; a gold apron struck with green; muslin apron; an executioner wearing a linen apron; “her apron green serge, striped longitudinally with scarlet ferreting and bound with the same”; a Holland apron (1728); white apron trimmed in pink; a cobbler’s apron; “her apron tucked up”; “the lady’s laced apron”; a coarse apron; a waiter in a blue apron; “fate must hang on apron strings”; and “tied to her apron strings”.

Aprons were a universal means of carrying various items as is evidenced by the close-up of a painting of Rubens’ (1750 or 60’s) in which the child has an apron full of grain and several pre-1790 written references to “an apron full” to include: an apron full of shells; an apron full of papers; an apron full of letters; apron full of wit and novelty; apron full of biscuit; apron full of tools; apron full of stones; apron full of playthings; her apron full of grain and millet seed; apron full of sheaves; apron full of onions; apron full of peas; and an apron full of reasons; apron full of cloths.

Changes in Cherokee Attire into the 19th Century

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Cherokee women

Cherokee woman and child dressed for the photographer.

Cherokee woman and child in everyday attire.

Older Cherokee women, notice the sturdy leather shoes.

Cherokee woman, 1900

Cherokee woman, 1888.

Photographs recorded the changes in Cherokee clothing as the 19th century progressed, leaving little guesswork as to what that clothing looked like. By the mid to late 18th century, most Cherokees dressed little different than their European neighbors.

Ladies’ dresses from the mid-19th century were usually of cotton, wool, linsey woolsey, etc. (natural fibers) with the shoulder seam dropped 2 or 3 inches off the shoulder and was placed a little toward the back rather than from neck to sleeve edge running exactly across the top of the shoulder, buttoned up the front or fastened with hooks and eyes, long sleeves (with or without cuffs) and usually about ankle length. The dresses usually had a white collar, and slightly less often white cuffs.

By the late 19th century the shoulder seam was placed at the shoulder instead of dropped off the shoulder, and the seam from neck to sleeve edge was across the top of the shoulder instead of slightly toward the back, but otherwise working (everyday) attire changed little otherwise.

Aprons, shawls, etc. were pretty similar to those of white women in the area. They may have retained their native jewelry, opted for broaches and other items common in white culture, or even a combination of the two.

The so-called “Tear dress” was not found in any primary sources and is not authentic to the 18th or 19th century.

18th Century Cherokee Attire

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Cherokee

This piece is another in a short series of posts on period clothing, this one focuses on the clothing of the Cherokee nation from the middle of the 18th century. Spelling and punctuation has not been changed from the original. Part two of this article will discuss Cherokee attire in the 19th century.

Cherokee women’s wrap skirts were documented by Adair and would have been worn with a trade shirt (white or checked), chemise, bedgown or other jacket. The wrap skirts were most often red or blue. Ball and cone silver earrings and trade beads with center seam moccasins round out the dress.

“The women, since the time we first traded with them, wrap a fathom of the half breadth of Stroud Cloth* round their waist and tie it with a leathern belt, which is commenly covered with brass runners or buckles: but this sort of loose petticoat, reaches only to their hams, in order to shew their exquisitely fine proportioned limbs.” – Adair.

Swanton also described what was probably a wrap skirt: “The women wore a short skirt extended from the waist almost to the knees.”

“the women wearing a deer skinne verye excellentlye dressed, hanging down from their navel unto the mid thighs, which also covereth their hynder parts”. (Hariot)

Again, we refer to Adair: “The women’s dress consists only in a broad softened skin, or several small skins sewed together, which they wrap & tye round their waist, reaching a little below their knees”.

“The patterns of clothing were simple, the women wearing short skirts and shoulder mantles, and the men, breech clouts and sleeveless shirts. Both sexes wore moccasins that were made like short boots and reached halfway up the leg. While they were on hunting trips in the forest and in cold weather, men wore leather leggings like loose trouser legs.” (Lewis & Kneberg)

“They have now learned to sew, and the men as well as women, excepting shirts, make all their own cloths; the women, likewise make very pretty belts, and collars of beads and wampum, also belts and garters of worsted.” (1761), (Timberlake)

“Most of the garments … were made of the skins of animals, though some were woven from threads of vegetable and animal origin, some were of feathers… Deer hide was a major basis for clothing of all kinds and deer sinew was utilized as thread throughout the entire Southeast…. Bison robes are noted particularly among the Caddo, the Cherokee, and the Natchez..”. (Swanton)

In 1797, Louis Philippe wrote of his visit to the Cherokees: “Cherokee clothing is made with European cloth and goods. The rich among them wear ample dressing gowns in bright prints or similar cloth. Some wear hats, but the majority keep the native haircut…. Their clothing is so varied that an exact description is impossible. Most wear a woolen blanket over the left shoulder and beneath the right, so as to leave the right arm entirely free. They all wear a shirt or tunic which is, I am told, washed fairly often. They bathe fairly often. Trousers, breeches, or underpants are unknown to them. They have only the little square of cloth, and the shirt or tunic is belted in and hides it altogether”.

“Some are turned out with notable elegance, and I saw one among many…. whose outfit consisted of silk fichus and a light green cape or length of cloth, which hung with classic elegance and charm.” (Louis Philippe)

The following is the full description from William Bartram’s travels:
“The youth of both sexes are fond of decorating themselves with external ornaments. The men shave their head, leaving only a narrow crest or comb, beginning at the crown of the head, where it is about two inches broad and about the same height, and stands frizzed upright, but this crest tending backwards, gradually widens, covering the hinder part of the head and back of the neck: the lank hair behind is ornamented with pendant silver quills, and then jointed or articulated silver plates; and usually the middle fafcicle of hair, being by far the longest, is wrapped in a large quill of silver, or the joint of a small reed, curiously sculptured and painted, the hair continuing through it terminates in a tail or tassel.

Their ears are lacerated, separating the border or cartilaginous limb, which at first is bound round very close and tight with leather strings or thongs, and anointed with fresh bear’s oil, until healed: a piece of lead being fastened to it, by its weight extends this cartilage an incredible length, which afterwards being craped, or bound round in brass or silver wire, extends semicircularly like a bow or crescent; and it is then very elastic, even so as to spring and bound about with the least motion or flexure of the body: this is decorated with soft white plumes of heron feathers.

A very curious diadem or band, about four inches broad, and ingeniously wrought or woven, and curiously decorated with stones, beads, wampum, porcupine quills, &c., encircles their temples; the front peak of it being embellished with a high waving plume, of crane or heron feathers.

The clothing of their body is very simple and frugal. Sometimes a ruffled shirt of fine linen, next the skin, and a flap, which covers their lower parts; this garment somewhat resembles the ancient Roman breeches, or the kilt of the Highlanders; it usually consists of a piece of blue cloth, about eighteen inches wide; this they pass between their thighs, and both ends being taken up and drawn through a belt round their waist, the ends fall down, one before, and the other behind, not quite to the knee; this flap is usually plaited and indented at the ends, and ornamented with beads, tinsel lace, &c.

The leg is furnished with cloth boots; they reach from the ancle to the calf, and are ornamented with lace, beads, silver bells, &c.

The stillepica or moccasin defends and adorns the feet; it seems to be an imitation of the ancient buskin or sandal, very ingeniously made of deer skins, dressed very soft, and curiously ornamented according to fancy.

Beside this attire, they have a large mantle of the finest cloth they are able to purchase, always either of a scarlet or blue colour; this mantle is fancifully decorated with rich lace or fringe round the border, and often with little round silver or brass bells. Some have a short cloak, just large enough to cover the shoulders and breast; this is most ingeniously constructed, of feathers, woven or placed in a natural imbricated manner, usually of the scarlet feathers of the flamingo, or others of the gayest colour.

They have large silver crescents, or gorgets, which being suspended by a ribband round the neck, lie upon the breast; and the arms are ornamented with silver bands, or bracelets, and silver and gold chains, &c. a collar invests the neck.

The head, neck, and breast, are painted with vermillion, and some of the warriors have the skin of the breast and muscular parts of the body, very curiously inscribed or adorned with hieroglyphick scrolls, flowers, figures of animals, stars, crescents, and the sun in the centre of the breast. This painting of the flesh, I understand, is performed in their youth, by pricking the skin with a needle, until the blood starts, and rubbing in a blueish tinct, which is as permanent as their life. The shirt hangs loose about the waist, like a frock, or split down before, resembling a gown, and is sometimes wrapped close, and the waist encircled by a curious belt or sash.

The dress of the females is somewhat different from that of the men; their flap or petticoat is made after a different manner, is larger and longer reaching almost to the middle of the leg, and is put on differently; they have no shirt or shift, but a little short waistcoat, usually made of calico, printed linen, or fine cloth, decorated with lace, beads, &c. They never wear boots or stockings, but their buskins reach to the middle of the leg. They never cut their hair, but plait it in wreaths, which are turned up, and fastened on the crown, with a silver broach, forming a wreathed top-knot, decorated with an incredible quantity of silk ribbands, of various colours, which stream down on every side, almost to the ground. They never paint, except those of a particular class, when disposed to grant certain favours to the other sex.

But these decorations are only to be considered as indulgencies on particular occasions, and the privilege of youth; as at weddings, festivals, dances, &c., or when the men assemble to act the war farce, on the evening immediately preceding their march on a hostile expedition: for usually they are almost naked, contenting themselves with the flap and sometimes a shirt, boots and moccasins. The mantle is seldom worn by the men, except at night, in the winter season, when extremely cold; and by the women at dances, when it serves the purpose of a veil; and the females always wear the jacket, flap, and buskin, even children as soon or before they can walk; whereas the male youth go perfectly naked until they are twelve or fifteen years of age.

The junior priests or students constantly wear the mantle or robe, which is white; and they have a great owl skin cased and stuffed very ingeniously, so well, executed, as almost to represent the living bird, having large sparkling glass beads, or buttons, fixed in the head for eyes: this ensign of wisdom and divination, they wear sometimes as a crest on the top of the head, at other times the image sits on the arm, or is borne on the hand. These bachelors are also distinguishable from the other people, by their taciturnity, grave and solemn countenance, dignified step, and singing to themselves songs or hymns, in a low sweet voice, as they stroll about the towns. “ – Bartram, William. Travels Through North and South Carolina: Georgia East and West Florida. 1792. London.

18th Century Clothing

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18th century attire, apron, bedgown

The following are a brief sampling of period paintings showing common everyday attire for women after which one might model a living history wardrobe. This might be considered a companion piece to this morning’s post on period aprons.

Run-away ads are an excellent source of what people were wearing during the 18th century and now that many of them have been compiled into book form it is easier than ever to use them to produce an accurate wardrobe.

A white run-away servant in Virginia was described in 1752 as, “wearing fine pink-colored worsted stockings and leather shoes, an old dark brown quilted petticoat, a check’d apron a strip’d Manchester Cotton bed gown, and a black beaver hat”.

In 1760 and 1769, run-away convicts in Maryland were said to be wearing gowns of chintz and striped linen respectively.

From the General Advertiser, July 30, 1772, we read of a woman who went away in a black petticoat and flowered linen bed gown and her companion who was wearing a broad blue and white striped petticoat and a bed gown of red ground with a diamond figure.

Let’s look at a few other quotes from the mid-1700’s. “Close by him sat his lady, combing her hoary locks before the same looking glass, and dressed in a short bed-gown…she was without stays, without a hoop, without ruffles, and without any linen about her neck…”. – Coventry, Francis. The History of Pompey. London. 1761.

A similar account of an 18th century woman’s attire described the woman as, “without stays, in a raggedy greasy bed-gown tied loosely over a raggedy greasy short, red, petticoat which gave me an opportunity of seeing the finest legs and feet I ever beheld”. – Long, Edward. The Prater. London. 1757.

The description of attire being greasy is not appealing by today’s standards, but lest we think the bed gown was the attire of only the coarsest of working women, let’s compare it to a completely opposite description.

“As soon as he was gone, she new-dressed herself in a most ravishing undress, putting on an agreeable cap tied with a rose-coloured ribband, a bed-gown of rose-coloured taffety, ornamented with white lace, and a petticoat of the same; in short, her whole dress was calculated to set her forth to the best advantage…Never did I see anything so pretty.” – de Beaumont, Elie. The history of the Marquis de Roselle, in a series of letters, Volume 1. London. 1766.

With regard to the following paintings from the era:
1. The adults wear petticoats, bedgowns, aprons, caps, and kerchiefs.
2. Petticoat, shift, neckerchief, stays or jumps that lace up the front, and a white cap with pink ribbon.
3. The Fishwife, bedgown, petticoat, shift, stays, colored apron.
4. Saying Grace – the mother wears a shift, petticoat, bedgown, cap, neckerchief, and apron.
5. The Scullery Maid, Chardin, another image of typical working attire.