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Post by paranger on Apr 17, 2023 8:42:26 GMT -7
FWIW, my unit did a similar "study" of 18th c. Pennsylvania newspapers (like the Virginia sampling mentioned in Spence's post) and arrived at the same estimate: 3%.
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Post by artificer on Apr 17, 2023 9:05:00 GMT -7
The 18th century British Army and later the American Army in the AWI followed the "olde" example of requiring soldiers to be "clean shaven" and that meant all the way down to the lowliest Private Soldiers and "Awkward Soldiers." (The latter being their terminology for what we might call new recruits.) However, this did not mean they were required to be shaved every single day, as we might think of being clean shaven. Soldiers were expected to be shaved twice a week to be "clean shaven." In the British Army one of the two weekly shavings had to be on Saturday, so as to be in proper order for the required Sunday Church Services. The other shaving day was on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Of course if a big inspection or parade was scheduled, then the soldiers were also required to shave the day before. So even "clean shaven" soldiers' cheeks would have been a bit "scruffy" in between shaving days.
I haven't been able to document if civilian laborers and tradesmen in towns and cities followed a similar pattern of being shaved at least twice a week to be "respectable," though I suspect that would also have been the case.
Gus
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on Apr 17, 2023 10:06:31 GMT -7
My magnificent beard still trembles… Magnificent. Truly.
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Post by spence on Apr 18, 2023 17:08:43 GMT -7
My magnificent beard still trembles… Magnificent. Truly. You need to put on your thinking cap and come up with a persona who could have/would have worn a beard in the period. The possibilities are multitudinous. If, for instance, that thinking cap was a yarmulke, the problem would be solved. Spence
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RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 973
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Post by RyanAK on Apr 18, 2023 17:18:26 GMT -7
Nothing funnier than a smoking monkey. My beard is better, but the ears are about right.
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Post by spence on Apr 18, 2023 18:32:55 GMT -7
At a salt lick James Harrod "put fire to Billy Bush's red beard" . (Draper Collection 12CC65-98)
Spence
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Post by spence on Apr 18, 2023 21:20:14 GMT -7
There is evidence that both James Harrod and Simon Kenton were bearded.
James Nourse visited Harrod's Town in the spring of 1775, met James Harrod and described him as "Quiet, bearded, dark-skinned and spare."
The NAs gave Harrod the name Black Beard.
Kenton was captured by the Shawnee in about 1778.
"Kenton was mistaken for James Harrod or "Black Beard", as the Indians called him, but were set straight by Simon Girty who told them that they had Kenton. So Kenton must have been wearing a beard." (Draper Collection 12C 23, 12C24)
Spence
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Shaving
Apr 19, 2023 17:24:30 GMT -7
Post by spence on Apr 19, 2023 17:24:30 GMT -7
Whiskers by any other name are a beard? Or are they sideburns? Or both? Just FYI.
THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3 April 4, 1777 DESERTED from Elk Ridge landing, Maryland, the 5th of February last, four soldiers belonging to capt. Charles Fleming's company of the 7th Virginia regiment..... JOEL JOHNSON, a low well set thin man, about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, wears his own hair and very large whiskers, full faced; had on a hunting shirt dyed black, fringed round the capes, ruffles, tail, and down the breast, belted with the skin of a rattle snake, and had with him a bundle in a blanket.
The Pennsylvania Gazette January 30, 1766 THIRTY DOLLARS Reward. Broke out of the Goal of the County of Hunterdon, in the Province of New Jersey, and made their Escape, on the Night of the 21st Instant, Samuel Pelton, and John Moore, --- John Moore is about 25 Years old, 5 Feet 5 or 6 Inches high, smooth Face, black Hair tied behind, and sandy coloured Whiskers; had on a blue Surtout, red Jacket lappelled, and light coloured Cloth Breeches.
The Pennsylvania Gazette April 23, 1772 Pilesgrove, Salem county, West New Jersey, April 20, 1772. FOUR DOLLARS Reward. RUN away, on the night of the 14th instant, from the subscribers, a certain JOHN HUXELY, says he was born in New England, near 6 feet high, a little knock kneed, has a curly cross look, talks very thick and fast, and has a stammer in his speech, sandy beard, with long whiskers; wore an old lightish coloured coat and jacket, old hat and stockings, new shoes, with brass buckles; stole, and took with him, one new check shirt, a new pair of striped ticken trowsers, made with a fall, and a good razor, with a black handle.
THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 2 September 14, 1775 RUN away from the subscriber, in the upper end of Spotsylvania , the 20th of May last, JOSEPH INORAM, on Kingfish convict servant man, 27 years of age, about 5 feet 7 inches high, rather smaller built than the common si[ze] of men, with dark hair, his complexion rather pale, has a sly cast with his eyes, a round face, a peaked nose, wears whiskers, and a kind of a dimple, or something like it, on his chin; he has a scar on one of his arms below his elbow, talks something quick, and much of it when a little groggy and can sing well.
THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3 September 20, 1776 NINE POUNDS REWARD DESERTED from my company of the 5th battalion, at College camp. Williamsburg, JOSEPH JOLLEY , 5 feet 10 or 11 inches high, a stout well made man, stoops in his shoulders, has light brown hair, gray eyes, fair complexion, and large whiskers; he is addicted to strong liquor, and when drunk exceedingly talkative and troublesome.
THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3 April 25, 1777 DESERTED from Williamsburg, the 19th of January 1777, ... John Adams (whose proper name is Grigg ) who deserted the 1st of March; he is a stout well set man, 30 years of age, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, has short black curly hair, large whiskers, black eyes, a round full face, writes a good hand, and is a pretty good scholar.
THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE 3 May 2, 1777 Sixty DOLLARS Reward. DESERTED the 20th instant ( April ) from Fredericksburg , the following soldiers, viz. Peter Barham, about 34 years old, stout made, about 5 feet 10 inches high, red complexion, with red whisker, his upper fore teeth broke off to his gums, and when laughing shews them much; he is very artful, and will when taken up make his escape if not properly secured.
Spence
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Post by brokennock on Apr 20, 2023 12:44:19 GMT -7
Thank you Spence, I love all these ads regardless of the topic. Interesting stuff to be found in them to be sure, especially here as some of the descriptions are no longer use thus leave me to wonder, and many seem to have things in them that contradict themselves. How is one a, "a low well set thin man, about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high,,,,"? I'm thinking that at the time "low" did not mean short as 5'6" seems pretty average. "smooth Face, black Hair tied behind, and sandy coloured Whiskers;" Wait, what? How is he smooth faced yet having whiskers? This and the next one provided seem to lend themselves to support a suspicion I've had that "whiskers" refers to a mustache, and the rest of the beard is considered separate. "wears whiskers, and a kind of a dimple, or something like it, on his chin;" ? If whiskers are a beard, how do we see the chin dimple? "a stout well made man, stoops in his shoulders," ? He is, "well made," but, "stoops in his shoulders,," ? Um, seems contradictory to me. Anyone have any insight into some of the usage of these adjectives at the time?
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coot
City-dweller
Posts: 152
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Post by coot on Apr 20, 2023 20:00:38 GMT -7
Looking at the Oxford English Dictionary (and a few others), "whiskers" as early as the 17th c was used as a noun, referring to, or meaning a man's facial hair.
I believe that many of the 18th c references to a "beard" or to "whiskers" were not describing what we would today consider a beard but referred simply to the color of facial hair which was one of several identifying features often mentioned in runaway/wanted ads. Today we might write such ads using words like "stubble" or "a weeks growth" in place of the 18th c "whiskers".
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Post by brokennock on Apr 21, 2023 1:24:46 GMT -7
You may be right, and I've always thought of whiskers in modern terms as being a short growth of facial hair, what we might call stubble or even "five-o'clock shadow." It does seem to me that sometimes these period descriptions use, beard, full beard, and whiskers separately. I do seem to recall a description as referring to "the whiskers on my chin," but that might not be an accurate period reference as it is totally from memory, more of just a nagging thought in the back of my head.
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Post by spence on Apr 21, 2023 13:20:38 GMT -7
January 6, 1781, Lebanon, Connecticut
On returning from the hunt I dined at the Duc de Lauzun’s with Governor [Jonathan] Trumbull and General [Jabez] Huntington. The former lives at Lebanon, and the latter had come from Norwich. I have already painted Governor Trumbull; now you have only to picture this little old man, in the antique dress of the first settlers in this colony, approaching a table surrounded by twenty Hussar officers, with perfect composure and without losing a bit of his formal stiffness, pronouncing in a loud voice a long prayer in the form of a grace. Let it not be fancied that he excites the laughter of his auditors; they are too well brought up for that; you must, on the contrary, imagine twenty amens issuing simultaneously from the depths of twenty pairs of mustaches, and you will have some idea of this little scene.
Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782 by le Marquis de Chastellux; trans. Howard C. Rice, Jr; Chapel Hill: Univ. of N. Carolina Press (1963), p. 230. *********** It would seem mustaches were part of the uniform for Hussars.
Spence
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Post by paranger on Apr 21, 2023 13:30:08 GMT -7
January 6, 1781, Lebanon, Connecticut On returning from the hunt I dined at the Duc de Lauzun’s with Governor [Jonathan] Trumbull and General [Jabez] Huntington. The former lives at Lebanon, and the latter had come from Norwich. I have already painted Governor Trumbull; now you have only to picture this little old man, in the antique dress of the first settlers in this colony, approaching a table surrounded by twenty Hussar officers, with perfect composure and without losing a bit of his formal stiffness, pronouncing in a loud voice a long prayer in the form of a grace. Let it not be fancied that he excites the laughter of his auditors; they are too well brought up for that; you must, on the contrary, imagine twenty amens issuing simultaneously from the depths of twenty pairs of mustaches, and you will have some idea of this little scene. Travels in North America in the Years 1780, 1781 and 1782 by le Marquis de Chastellux; trans. Howard C. Rice, Jr; Chapel Hill: Univ. of N. Carolina Press (1963), p. 230. *********** It would seem mustaches were part of the uniform for Hussars. Spence Indeed. Ermine pelises, too, no doubt. All cavalrymen are dandies, and Hussars are the dandiest of all.
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Post by spence on Apr 21, 2023 13:56:44 GMT -7
paranger said, "Indeed. Ermine pelises, too, no doubt. All cavalrymen are dandies, and Hussars are the dandiest of all."
All of which is on full display in Ridley Scott's movie The Duelists, I believe. Including the side braids.
Spence
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Shaving
Apr 21, 2023 23:44:24 GMT -7
Post by artificer on Apr 21, 2023 23:44:24 GMT -7
One of the most interesting comments on 18th century shaving I've ever seen.... Yes, I know it is a made for TV movie, "The Crossing" about the Battle of Trenton during the AWI. It begins at 34:13 with Henry Knox complaining to John Glover about rowing the artillery across before the Infantry. Glover doesn't hold his punches telling Knox why that can't be done. About 35:07 Knox calls Glover a "Sour, foul mouthed, barbarian. Watch Glover's reply immediately after. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jgEMrK1lcMGus
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