Fall 1987

Hunting Shirts and SilkStockings: ClothingEarly Cincinnati

Clothing Early Cincinnati

Carolyn R. Shine

Among the prime movers that have shapedhistory, clothing should be counted as one of the most potent,although its significance to the endless ebb and flow ofarmed conflict tends to be obscured by the frivolities offashion. The wool trade, for example, had roughly the sameeconomic and political significance for the Late MiddleAges that the oil trade has today; and, closer to home, it wasthe fur trade that opened up North America and helpedcrack China's centuries long isolation. And think of the SilkRoad.

If, in general, not quite so valuable per poundas gold, clothing like gold serves as a billboard on which todisplay the image of self the individual wants to present tothe world. In addition, it has an important utility function: itprotects the human body, particularly in cold climates and inarmed combat. In many social contexts, however, the dis-

play function is the more important of the two. Shakespeare,that fount of familiar quotations and universal truths, gavePolonius these words of advice for Laertes:

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not expressed infancy;rich not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man.1

Laertes was about to depart for the Frenchcapital where, then as now, clothing was a conspicuousindicator of social standing. It was also of enormous econo-mic significance, giving employment to farmers, shepherds,weavers, spinsters, embroiderers, lace makers, tailors, buttonmakers, hosiers, hatters, merchants, sailors, and a host of others.

Across the Atlantic and nearly two hundredyears later, apparel still proclaimed the man. Although post-Revolution America was nominally a classless society, thesocial identifier principle still manifested itself in the qualityand type of clothing worn. The cut of skirt, coat, breeches,etc. might conform to patterns common to Western Europeand the European population of America, but the boss wore

Sol in TONA:,- •' • . • 7

' • , ' -

Carolyn R. Shine, retiredCurator of Costume and Tex-tiles, Cincinnati Art Museum,is a member of The CincinnatiHistorical Society and a nativeCincinnatian.

Major Heart's drawing of FortWashington, done in 1791, afew months before he waskilled, is a reminder of the starkconditions prevailing in earlyCincinnati.

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superfine cloth (top quality English woolen broadcloth)while his employees might be able to afford only linseywoolsey (wool weft on the linen warp and home spun atthat). One might assume, however, that familiar patterns ofdress were forcibly altered at the frontier where pioneerscame to grips with the problems of surviving in the wilderness.

Before the Revolution, population pressureshad pushed the frontier as far west as the trans-Appalachiancounties of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. In 1787Congress opened to settlement the Territory of the UnitedStates Northwest of the River Ohio, and in 1788 pioneersfrom around Boston founded Marietta, Ohio while a secondgroup, mostly from New Jersey, settled in the Miami Pur-chase, some three hundred miles downstream between theGreat and Little Miami rivers. For the pioneers from NewJersey the fashion center was, of course, Philadelphia, andwhat was being worn in Philadelphia can be seen in theportraits of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Bailey by Charles WilsonPeak. Mrs. Bailey, in fact, was one of the migrants to Cincin-nati, though not until 1818 after Mr. Bailey's death.2 Pealepainted the Baileys around 1791, but they illustrate whatwas worn by the prosperous middle class for several yearseach side of that date. A Mr. and Mrs. James Latimer ofDelaware, painted by Peale in 1788, are dressed in the same

style, as are Mr. and Mrs. William Woods painted by CharlesPeale Polk in 1793.

Mr. Bailey, a printer and publisher, wears aclose-fitting coat with a high folding collar (earlier, the coatwould have had no collar), high-buttoned waistcoat, andprobably matching knee breeches, of sober gray, very likelyof imported English wool broadcloth. The lawn or mull ofhis neckcloth was also likely to have been imported: thefinest linen cambric and lawn came from the Netherlandsand the finest cotton muslin or mull (or mul mul) fromIndia. Mrs. Bailey wears a close-fitting bodice with tightthree-quarter sleeves and low neckline. Her skirt would havebeen a long, full bell-shape. The material was very likelyimported silk, mixed siik and wooi, or giazed wooi. Herhair is dressed close to her head and covered with a cap,which, like the kerchief that veils the low neckline, waspresumably imported lawn or mull. Mr. and Mrs. Woods aredressed much the same with minor variations in detail, and itcan be seen that Mrs. Woods' dress is an open coat-dress overan underskirt. The sobriety of the ladies' coiffures probablyreflects their social position as married ladies of the conser-vative, industrious, fairly prosperous middle class. It was notparticularly a Quaker mode —the Baileys were Swedenborgians.Nor was it purely local—the Woodses lived in Baltimore.

Mr. and Mrs. Bailey of Phila-delphia wore a restrained ver-sion of fashionable dress thatprevailed in the east when thefirst pioneers set out for theMiami Purchase. (Picturecourtesy Cincinnati ArtMuseum)

Clothing Early Cincinnati

The appearance of this style of dress in numerous portraits ofthe period indicates that it was a prevailing mode, but it wasnot high fashion. High fashion called for a fichu puffed up tothe chin.3 and for a piled-up coiffure like an ice cream soda inthe 1770's to 178o's and a frizzed-out cloud in the 178o's to1790's. The Reverend Manassah Cutler described Mrs. Hen-ry Knox in 17 8 7 as "very gross... her hair in front is craped atleast a foot high much in the form of a churn bottomupward and topped off with a wire skeleton in the same formcovered with black gauze which hangs in streamers downher back. Her hair behind is in a large braid, turned up andconfined with a monstrous large crooked comb."4 There aremany portraits of the time that show these extravagantcoiffures. That there was this range of styles is confirmed byJohn May of Boston, one of the Marietta pioneers, who,riding through Philadelphia in 1788, noted in his diary:"Some of the ladies appear sensible and dress neat, and someappear by their garb to be fools. I have seen a headdress inthis city at least three feet across."5

Mr. Bailey and Mr. Woods wore their hairfalling naturally to below the ears and unpowdered whereasa portrait of Thomas Jefferson painted by Mather Browncirca 1786 during his appointment in France shows the highfashion for men, with the hair rolled over the ears, tied in a

queue in back and powdered. A comment of Horace Walpole'son the Misses Berry in 1788 would fit the Baileys and theWoodses perfectly: "They dress within the bounds of fash-ion," "but without the excrescences and balconies with whichmodern hoydens overwhelm and barricade their persons."6

The clothes seen on the Baileys and Woodses,if not the highest fashion, were nonetheless best clothes,clothes in which to sit for one's portrait, and not verysuitable for conquering the wilderness. For those who leftcivilized parts in 1788 to settle in the Miami Purchase, theprotective function of clothing presumably assumed moreimportance than the social identifier function because theyfaced a challenge involving hard manual labor, a climateranging from steaming hot to bitter cold, hostile Indians,and inadequate shelter. They had to take everything theyneeded with them because replacements or additions couldbe obtained only very slowly and expensively from the east;and all of their necessities—clothes, axes, food, everything—had to compete for the limited space in a wagon or in thesaddlebags of pack animals. There is evidence, however, thateven these arduous circumstances did not cause them to losesight of keeping up appearances.

As to what, specifically, the pioneers wore fortheir initial plunge into the wilderness, evidence for the

Mr. and Mrs. Woods of Balti-more dressed like the Baileysof Philadelphia, and pioneersfrom New Jersey too wouldhave dressed as much aspossible like Philadelphia.(Picture courtesy CincinnatiArt Museum)

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years 1788 to 1793 comes mainly from the reminiscences ofpioneers—written down after the event. Although fashionplates were circulating out of Paris and London by the1780's,7 these certainly did not depict heavy-duty clothing,and very few examples of utilitarian clothing of that periodsurvive. That kind of clothing tended to be used up completely,descending through various stages of altering and patchinguntil it was finally trampled underfoot in a rag rug.

One of the earliest of the Old Pioneer back-ward glances appeared in Cincinnati's first city Directory in1819 in a prefatory summary of the town's history (said to bebased on information from participants in the events of theearly years): "The men wore hunting shirts of linen andlinsey woolsey, and round these a belt in which were inserteda scalping knife and tomahawk. Their moccasins, legginsand pantaloons were made of deerskin. The women worelinsey woolsey manufactured by themselves."8

The hunting shirt figured in most of the mem-oirs. It had probably evolved from a man's loose-fitting coatcalled a frock, in its early phase as country working-man'sgarb; but by this time, in America, the success of DanielMorgan's frontier Riflemen, who marched to the Revolu-tionary War in hunting shirt, leggings, and moccasins, hadgiven their woodsman dress considerable cachet. Their hunt-ing shirts were deep ash-colored, according to Judge Hen-ry's journal of the March to Quebec; biographies of Morgansay they were brown or dry leaf color.9 An engraving, thefrontispiece of Graham's biography of Morgan, illustratedthe point that he was famous for wearing woodsman's dressand that, vice versa, the woodsman's dress was famous becauseof being worn by this dashing fighter. The engraving, how-ever, was copied from an 18 21 painting by Trumbull, basedon a 1792 miniature by Trumbull, which he copied from aportrait by Charles Willson Peale showing Morgan in uni-form, not hunting shirt, so it is questionable whether it is areliable illustration of the woodsman's dress.10

One gets the impression from the memoirsthat the hunting shirt came to occupy much the same nichein the frontiersman's wardrobe that blue jeans occupy inours. Patrick Henry was said by Thomas Jefferson to love toget into his hunting shirt, gather a group of overseers, andgo hunting in the piny woods and sit around the camp firecracking jokes.11

Linsey woolsey, originally an English woolenmaterial, woven in the Lindsey area south of York, and latercheapened by being woven with linen instead of wool warp,was plentiful on both sides of the Atlantic. On a farm thatraised both flax and sheep it could be wholly home pro-

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duced and therefore inexpensive. If the women wove itthemselves during the first year or so at the frontier, howev-er, they must have brought the yarn with them; linen andwool don't grow on trees. It took the pioneers nearly a yearto clear the trees sufficiently for pasture crops, their agricul-tural activities being hampered by early frosts and by thehostility of the Indians which also restricted their huntingfor game. Even food was desperately short, they werethreatened with scurvy from over dependence on meat, andwhen planting became possible they had to import seedfrom Kentucky which was a few years ahead of them insettlement.12

The most comprehensive and most pictur-esque description of the woodsman's dress came from theReverend Joseph Doddridge, looking back from 18 24 to hisfamily's pioneering experiences at the western extremity ofPennsylvania in the 1770's and 1780's.

On the frontiers and particularly amongst thosewho were much in the habit of hunting and going on scouts andcampaigns, the dress of the men was partly indian and partly thatof civilized nations. The hunting shirt was universally worn. Thiswas a kind of loose frock, reaching halfway down the thighs, withlarge sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over afoot or morewhen belted. The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringedwith a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of thehunting shirt itself The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to holda chunk of bread, cakes orjirk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle,or any other necessary of the hunter or warrior. The belt which tiedbehind, answered several purposes, besides that of holding the dresstogether. In cold weather, the mittens, and sometimes the bullet bagoccupied the front part- of it. to the right side was suspended thetomahawk, and on the left the scalping knife in its leathernsheath—The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimesof coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins. These last were verycold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were ofthe common fashion. A pair of drawers or breeches and leggins,were the dress of the thighs, and legs, a pair ofmocassons answeredfor the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deerskin. They were mostly made of a single piece with agathering seamalong the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel,without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flapswere left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These werenicely adapted to the ankles, and lower part of the leg by thongs ofdeer skin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow could get within themocassons.

The mocassons in ordinary use cost but a few hours'labor to make. ...In cold weather the mocassons were well stuffedwith deers hair, or dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably

Fall 1987 Clothing Early Cincinnati 27

A wool gown worn by LydiaRichardson Mendenhall, aQuaker of Redstone, Pennsyl-vania, has the kerchief, fittedbodice, and full skirt of thelate 1700's, but other detailssuggest that it was actually

made up in the early 1800's.(Picture courtesy CincinnatiArt Museum)

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warm; but in wet weather it was usually said that wearing themwas aA decent way of going barefooted..." owing to the spongytexture of the leather of which they were made.

Owing to this defective covering of the feet,... thegreater number of our hunters and warriors were afflicted withrheumatism in their limbs.

In the latter years of the indian war our young menbecame more enamoured of the indian dress throughout, with theexception of the matchcoat. The drawers were laid aside and theleggins made longer, so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. Theindian breech clout was adopted. This was apiece of linen or cloth,nearly a yard long, and eight or nine inches broad. This passedunder the belt before and behind leaving the ends for flaps hangingbefore and behind over the belt. These flaps were sometimes ornamentedwith some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the same belts whichsecured the breech clout, strings which supported the long legginswere attached. When this belt as was often the case passed over thehunting shirt the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips werenaked.... I have seen them go into places of public worship in thisdress. Their appearance however did not add much to the devotionsof the young ladies.13

After this description of the frontier toughsfrom whom Morgan's Riflemen were recruited, Doddridge'sdescription of women's dress came as something of an anti-climax:

The linsey petticoat and bedgown which were theuniversal dress of our women in early times, would make a verysingular figure in our days [i 824]. A small home made hand-kerchief, in point of elegance, would illy supply that profusion ofruffles with which the necks of our ladies are now ornamented.

They went barefooted in warm weather, and incold, their feet were covered with mocassons, coarse shoes, orshoepacks,which would make but a sorry figure beside the elegant morroccoslippers often embossed with bullion which at present ornament thefeet of their daughters and grand daughters [They were] con-tented if they could... cover their heads with a sun bonnet madeof six or seven hundred linen.

Petticoat in this context did not mean under-wear, it was simply what a skirt was called at that time. Thebed gown was originally a hip-length, loose overblouseworn in the bedchamber, but like many other garments, ithad crept out gradually into more general use, particularlyamong countrywomen and working women.14 It was infor-mal, comfortable, and unfashionable, but had a vague func-tional kinship with a woman's riding habit jacket or caracowhich could be worn for informal occasions in fashionablecircles. Shoepacks were probably similar to moccasins; moroc-co was goat or similar hide tanned with sumac leaves or oak

Queen City Heritage

1 I

galls.15 Curiously enough, Doddridge did not mention apronswhich most women wore and which were even fashionable.Embroidered and other fine materials were advertised spe-cifically for aprons in nearly every issue of the MassachusettsCentinelfrom 1788 to 1793.

Doddridge associated the woodsman's dresschiefly with "hunting and going on scouts and campaigns"and so did early Cincinnatians like Jacob Fowler who statedthat in 1791 he had dressed deer skins for moccasins forGeneral St. Clair's troops at Fort Hamilton north ofCincinnati.16 A few years later, however, Anthony Wayne,nagging the War Office for supplies, complained that twopairs of moccasins were worth less than one pair of commonshoes.17 Benjamin Van Cleve, in his memoirs, said he accom-panied a military expedition down the Ohio River in 1794 ascontractor for supplies, "... my gun in one hand & toma-hawk in the other, a knife eighteen inches long hangingpendant at my side dressed in a hunting frock breech cloth &leggins. .. ."18 And the Reverend Oliver M. Spencer, whosefamily settled at Columbia (now vanished under the east endof Cincinnati) described a company of volunteers from Colum-bia, "well mounted, and armed with rifles, knives and someeven with tomahawks, and dressed in hunting shirts."19

On the other hand, Spencer said that when, in1792 at the age of eleven, he was captured by Indians

The dress that more than anyother is associated with thefrontier was the woodsman'sgarb of hunting shirt, leggings,and moccasins made famousby the frontier Rifle companiesled by Daniel Morgan who

wore this dress in theRevolutionary War.

Fall 1987

between Cincinnati and Columbia, he was wearing a plainsummer roundabout (short jacket)19 and pantaloons withcovered buttons, and a blue silk vest with two rows of platedsugar-loaf buttons which his Indian captor ripped off andtied around his own legs. When sold back to his family thefollowing year he was re-outfitted in a roundabout andpantaloons from the wardrobe of an ensign at Detroit (prob-ably the smallest soldier in the garrison) and a pair of stock-ings and slippers from one of the women there.20

Since costume and textile terms are very unre-liable, shifting meaning every few years, it is not clear wheth-er those slippers were forerunners of the coming change inwomen's shoes form fairly high heels to flat-soled shoes likeballet slippers or whether they were house slippers some-what like ordinary shoes but without buckles, or possiblywithout backs like mules. After 1800 there are a number ofreferences to Thomas Jefferson's wearing slippers to receiveguests in the White House, so house slippers is perhaps thesafest guess.21

Whatever they were, they were available, andavailability counted heavily at the frontier. Sometimes local

Clothing Early Cincinnati 2 9

wild materials were substituted for scarce cultivated materi-als. There is a tradition that nettle and hemp fibers were spuninto passable substitutes for linen, and wool as well as meatcould be obtained from buffalo.22 Thomas Rogers, writingof his family's homestead near Lexington, Kentucky, describeshis father's coming in from the hunt in the 1780's with abuffalo skin, and his mother's shearing it for the wool, "and Ithink I wore stockings made from the wool." Equally impor-tant was do-it-yourself. Rogers continued, "It was very com-mon at this time for farmers to tan their own leather forshoes and dress deer skins for clothing. Buckskin overallswere a common dress at this time.23 My father generallytanned his heavy hides such as buffalo and beef hide when hekilled one. He was a shoemaker also and generally workedtill bedtime on his shoe bench. As soon as my sisters were bigenough he had a loom provided for them." Wood to con-struct the loom was plentiful, of course; what was in shortsupply was the yarn to weave into material, until local hus-bandry had advanced far enough to produce sufficient wooland flax to be spun into the needed yarn. This was handspun, of course, but spinning machines had been invented

The illustration of OliverSpencer's capture in 1792shows him wearing the jacketand vest he described in IndianCaptivity, but his flaredtrousers are probably more inthe style of 1835 when hisnarrative was published.

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In 1793 Lieutenant IsaacYounghusband at Fort Wash-ington bought four pairs of silkstockings from the Cincinnatimerchants Smith & Findlay.

Fall 1987

some twenty years earlier, and factories to machine-spin yarnwere in operation in the east by the 1790's, reaching Cincin-nati at least by 1808.24

Deer skin and linsey woolsey were notexclusively pioneer garb. In the eighteenth century, buck-skin, the suede-finish hide of deer (or sheep or goat if handi-er) which had previously been worn only by laborers, wasadopted by the English upper classes for hunting breechesand became fashionable for sporting wear and even for justinformal wear.25 Incidentally, Matthias Denman, one of theproprietors of the Miami Purchase, is said to have beenapprenticed in his youth to a maker of buckskin breeches.26

Buckskin was supple, warm, and tough, except, as ReverendDoddridge noted, when wet; and there was plenty of itrunning around the woods on the hoof. Though pantaloonswere beginning to supplant knee breeches in men's apparel,in 1815 William Stake in Cincinnati was still advertising thathe made buckskin breeches, gloves, and overalls.27 Panta-loons were breeches extended down to mid-calf and closefitting, for wear with boots; they were later extended toankle length, with a strap under the foot—but still calledpantaloons.29

Linsey woolsey was commonplace stuff, ofcourse, plentiful, inexpensive, and not very fashionable. Onthe other hand, when the pioneers started west, there was awide variety of other fabrics for sale in New Jersey, most ofthem imported from England or the Continent, or evenfrom as far away as India: cottons, from the finest Indianmuslin to corduroy; woolens, from superfine broadcloth toforrest cloth, frieze and cassimere or kerseymere; linens fromdelicate lawn to silesia, drill and duck; plus mixtures ofcotton and wool, linen and wool, and cotton and linen.30

Many of the sturdier fabrics on the market served the pio-neers as well as linsey woolsey. These all still were hand-woven, but a distinction was seen between domestic weav-ing and professional weaving and also between English-wovenand American-woven.

Silk and silk/wool fabrics were also imported,and there is always the possibility that silk dress clothes werecarried along by the pioneers in anticipation of some daybeating the wilderness into an outpost of civilization. Infact, silk stockings can be documented in Cincinnati as earlyas 1793: they figured on a bill from the merchants Smith &Findlay, and also in a theft from a Thomas Goudy (whether aman's or a woman's stockings is not specified).31 The Goudytheft, moreover, included a man's silk dress clothes.

If the foregoing is more about material thangarments, it is because material, not clothing, was what was

Clothing Early Cincinnati 3 1

available. One wove or bought yard goods and made it up orhad it made up by a tailor or seamstress, every stitch by handof course; sewing machines were not available until the18 5 o's. Army uniform items, however, and "slops" for sail-ors, were ready-made earlier than "citizen" (civilian) clothes.Army regulations of April 30, 1790, specified that eachsoldier be issued annually a hat or helmet, coat, vest, over-alls, shirts, four pairs of shoes, two pairs of socks, blanket,stock and clasp, and a pair of buckles. This contradicts thehunting shirt-leggings-moccasins picture painted by the oldpioneers, but as Anthony Wayne never ceased remindingthe War Office, there was a gap between the issue of Direc-tives at the War Office and the issue of actual garments at thefrontier that frequently had to be filled with locally suppliedmoccasins and other items.32 It is likely, however, that it waschiefly the militia and volunteer units that fitted themselvesout in woodsman's dress emulating those brilliantly success-ful guerilla fighters, the rifle companies from the frontiercounties of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

Regardless of deficiencies of supply, there cer-tainly was demand for the type of clothing ordinarily wornin the east, whether military or citizen. Robert Whelan,writing in 1789 from Redstone Old Fort (Brownsville),Pennsylvania, on his way to North Bend, advised his friendsback in New Jersey: "The best Articles they can Bring toTrade with are Nails, men and Women's Shoes, Axes.... Shoessell here from twelve to fifteen Shillings, Nail from 2od to21. Axes from fifteen to twenty... [up to] three pounds. .. ,"33

John May's journals of his trips from Bostonto Marietta in 1788 and 1789 mentioned boots, a flannelunderwaistcoat, "briches"—no hunting shirt, no moccasins.34

He also wore on cold days a mysterious garment that appearsin manuscript to be either sloaper or slooper.35 Dictionariesof the period so far consulted have yielded nothing like thisword; it may be a Bostonianism or, worse, family slang.36

Mr. May also took along goods to sell: shoes, tow cloth(woven from broken fibers of flax or hemp), calico, a broad-cloth suit, and a "Bever" hat.37 The hat was possibly a roundhat since the tricorne was beginning to give way to thetop hat. The best hats were made of beaver fur shearedvery close and smoothed to a silky surface. Second best wereroram hats of wool with fur felted in to imitate the beavers.The broadcloth suit might possibly herald the coming ofready-made clothing, but it is more likely that it was simplysecond-hand.

The 1819 Cincinnati Directory asserted (sourceunspecified) that as early as 1790 there was at least one tailorin Cincinnati and a shoemaker (neither identified) along

with two blacksmiths, two carpenters, and a mason. Theshoemaker may have done his own tanning (very likely, if itwas David Everett Wade they had in mind), but that materi-als for the tailor to work on were already reaching thefrontier is documented in the journal of William Stanleywho clerked for a store in Cincinnati, kept by John Bartleand then Solomon Strong, from 1790 until 1792 when hewent into partnership with Daniel and John Stites Gano.38

Stanley made many arduous trips to procure goods in theeast for the goods hungry frontier. The goods were pur-chased mostly in Philadelphia and carried over the moun-tains in carts which took about twenty-three days on average.39

At Redstone on the Monongahela, the goods were loadedon boats for the rest of the trip to Cincinnati or Columbiawhich might take anything from a few days to a few weeksdepending on the state of the river. Their business wasperipatetic: they sold in Cincinnati and Columbia and at"Bairdstown," Lexington, and Frankfort, Kentucky, and pointssouth, and later at Greenville, Ohio, when General Wayne'stroops were there. Some merchants had stores in severalsettlements, often in a room in a tavern. Others sold directlyfrom the boats in which they brought their goods.40

Along with knives, augers, plated saddle bosses,buck shot, etc., the merchants of the day carried clothingitems and the makings. In the Torrence papers at The Cin-cinnati Historical Society is an invoice headed, "An accountof Goods sent to Beards town Novemb. 2d 1790," that mayrelate to Stanley. It listed among other items, fourteen and ahalf yards of Drap Cloth No. 189 at thirteen shillings two-

pence a yard, "Nitting pins" at twopence each, narrow blackribbon at ninepence, seven pairs of spectacles at two shillingsthreepence each, two scarlet cloaks at one pound sixpenceeach, a gross of narrow binding and "6 Hatts No. 5" at fourshillings tenpence each.41 For comparison, a woman's payfor a day's cleaning or washing in 1790 is recorded at one

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shilling sixpence in the accounts for a Boston household.42

An invoice of March 6,1791, included amongother items, Indian calico, striped chintz, two purple calico,cotton and linen check, horn combs, beaver fustian, bluestrouding, brown cloth, superfine cloth, large cotton shawls,ten and a half dozen coat buttons, worsted hose, cottonhose, olive sattinett, and printed linen.43 These were themakings for men's and women's clothing and probably cur-tains and chair covers.

Supplying goods to the frontier was one ofthe principal roads to riches in the newly opened territoriesin spite of the difficulties of transport (it took about as longto bring goods across the Allegheny Mountains as across theAtlantic Ocean). The merchants, however, could not justtake the money and run; money—that is currency—was veryscarce, particularly at the frontier. Merchants had to taketheir pay in local products and cart them back across themountains to eastern markets or float them down to NewOrleans to turn them into money—and New Orleans wasstill in the hands of the Spanish who sometimes closed theport. Furs were the principal currency in this barter econ-omy, along with hides and gingseng, followed by wheat,corn, whiskey, tobacco, country linen, etc. as cultivationprogressed.44 As late as November 15, 1814, a subscriptionto the newspaper, Liberty Hall, could be paid for with wheat;and Stephen M'Farland, hatter, advertised in Liberty Hall ofAugust 20, 1819, that he would take wheat, country linen,and whiskey in payment for hats.

The Territory's first newspaper Centinel of theNorthwestern Territory, commenced publication in Cincin-nati in November 1793, just five years after the first settlersarrived. In 1796 it was succeeded by Freeman'sJournal, andthat in turn by Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette which ranfrom June 1799 until 1822 with an interruption betweenAugust 1808 and September 18 io.4S Starting in December1804, Cincinnati had a second newspaper, Liberty Hall andCincinnati Mercury, which outlasted the Spy.46 So from 1793on, through advertisements in these newspapers, there is alot more evidence for what was actually available for cloth-ing Cincinnatians. Most of the ads were for material notgarments, but the kind of material implies the kind of cloth-ing to some extent. For example, it is unlikely that superfinecloth would be wasted on a hunting shirt. It was expensiveand would be reserved for proper tailor-mades.

It was in the Centinel of November 23, 1793,that Thomas Goudy reported the list of items stolen fromhis house: "One waistcoat and breeches, black silk; one bufcasimer waistcoat, one [1] back florentine do. [ditto] one

One of the flatboats used tofloat people, goods, and stockdown the Ohio River to the newsettlements was sketched byVictor Collot, a Frenchmanwho visited the frontier in1796-1797.

•wtMNIilllK

purple and white striped do. one pair yellow breeches, ribbedworsted; one pair paist kneebuckles, with small range ofpurple stones set inside the white do; nine ruffled shirts; onemarked with W.F. the rest marked T.G. 5 neck cloths 2 pairsilk stockings, 2 pair silk and cotton striped do. one paircotton do. 2 pair of shoes, one red cotton handkerchief withwhite spots...." It is difficult to picture Mr. Goudy, in Cin-cinnati, in 1793, in a log cabin chinked with mud, wearingformal attire of black waistcoat, black silk breeches withjeweled knee buckles, silk stockings, ruffled shirt, and proba-bly a superfine cloth or velvet coat—but perhaps he worethese only for balls. That may read like a lame attempt athumor, but according to the Reverend Oliver M. Spencer,the officers at Fort Washington gave a ball to celebrateWashington's birthday in 1791, and a ball to celebrate theFourth of July in 1792. What's more, Dr. Allison gave aChristmas ball in 1795.47 It was, in fact, on his way homeafter the 1792 July Fourth bash, that Spencer was capturedby the Indians.

In Centinels for 1794 and 1795 ads appearedfor a surprising variety of goods and services that would notbe out of place in Philadelphia. Samuel Freeman, for instance,offered a typical miscellany: rose blankets, forrest cloth,printed cottons, blue strouding, brown halfthicks, gray coat-

ing, thread, coat and vest buttons, tools, looking glasses,ribbons, gold cord, satins, and hats. Forrest cloth and halfthickswere woolens for men's clothing at the inexpensive end ofthe price scale; strouding was a napped woolen from theStroud valley in England often used for linings. The printedcalico most likely went into bed and gowns and petticoatsand perhaps curtains.

A gilt watch from James Aspy of London wasreported lost in July 1794, and a year later another goldwatch was lost by John Gano. A thief was described aswearing checked linen overalls. A green surtout coat wasreported stolen.48 The surtout was a man's fashionable fittedovercoat, roughly mid-calf length, with one or more broad,falling collars, then called capes. Green appears from the adsto have been one of the popular colors for coats and surtoutsalong with brown, gray, snuff, tobacco, and blue. They wereoften lined with red, green, or dark blue English woolenbaize or strouding.

The Centinel of October 11 supplied firm evi-dence for a resident shoemaker: "John Finnyhon & Co.Have lately set up their Boot and Shoe making Business...;"December 6, the loss of John Robertson's gold enameledmourning breast pin was reported. The most surprising adwas the one in the April 26 issue for Peter Walsh who was, of

In 1796 many pioneers werestill living in cabins like the onesketched by Victor Collot, buttheir clothes were essentiallysimilar to what they had wornback east.

34

all things, a Hairdresser and Perfumer. The very same issuereported that the Indians were stealing horses out of thestables in Columbia.

It was, however, only a few months later thatthe turning point came. The Battle of Fallen Timbers endedorganized Indian resistance in Ohio and transformed theOhio settlements from high-risk, combat zones into merelyprovincial or backwoods villages. This is reflected in thenewspapers in the kinds of goods and services offered and intheir ever-increasing quantity and variety.

Prices of materials varied considerably. A Smith& Findlay statement for 1793-179510 Jonis Simmons listedlinen at two shillings sixpence a yard and also at three andnine a yard, black velvet at ten shillings a yard, calico at sevenand six, and coarse cloth (wool) at eight shillings a yard.Simmons also bought a dictionary for five shillings, twopairs of silk mitts (a rather urban touch) for fifteen shillings,and two pairs of shoes at eleven shillings threepence a pair.49

These may have been ready-made shoes since Smith & Findlaywere merchants, not shoemakers. In October 1795, DanielMayo, another merchant, advertised wines, groceries, cot-ton, boots and bootees (short boots for men, not babies),and men's and women's shoes—and these must surely havebeen ready-made shoes.50 In later papers, many other mer-chants advertised supplies of men's, women's, and children'sshoes, sometimes in quantities of thousands.51 It is odd thatshoes, which one would expect to need to be made tomeasure more than any other item of dress, were among thefirst to be marketed ready-made. As early as the mid-seventeenth century they had been made in England by thethousands for Cromwell's army.52 In 17 8 8 Brissot de Warvillereported that the industrious inhabitants of Lynn, Massa-chusetts, turned out 100,000 pairs of women's shoes a year.53

As for other ready-made garments, from thefirst issue of the Centinel in 179 3 through the Spy of Decem-ber 1816, there are only three ads for ready-made garmentsaside from things like shawls, gloves, and hats: in Centinel ofFebruary 13, 1796, John Prince had breeches and overallsfor auction; in the Spy, October 8, 1799, Richard Jones &Co. advertised "linen shirts and trowser made up;" and inthe Spy, July 1, 1801, M. Nimmo offered ready-made waist-coats. This does not exactly constitute a trend. In view of thescarcity of everything at the frontier, particularly money, it issurprising that ads for ready-mades did not really appear inthe Cincinnati papers until 1817 although Congress wasdebating an import duty on ready-made clothing at least asearly as 1789.54 In the Spy of January 1, 1817, appeared anotice of an auction of public property consisting of wool

Queen City Heritage

WILL be fold at public Au&ioiTon Tuef-day the 24th inft. at the houfe of iV!r.

Samuel Freeman, (for cafh ou\y) the follow*ing articles, viz :

Rofe Blankets, No. : and No- 2Indian duto, No. 1Forreft ClothPrirt-d CottonsBarrowthreesBlue .Strouding, N0.T04Brown Hal ft hicksGray CoatingSilk & TwiftColoured ThreadCoat ButtonsVeft dittoCroflcut FilesITandf-iw dittoLooking GtaftesBibbons and Gold CordTable SpoonsTea dittoShot & leadSattin andHats

B O O K SCarrs Sermons 2 Vol.Paradife Loft

Modern Chivalry, by II. FT. Brackenrulge i v6\The Sexatoror Parliamentory ChronicleSenacas MoralsRollins Belles LettersPrince of AhiffiniaThe Idler, by Cr. Johnflon

Cincinnati, June ro, T794.N.B. Thefalc coniinences at 16 o'clock

A M.

coats, pantaloons, vests and jackets, cotton and linen shirts,trousers, vests and jackets, and Russia duck shirts, trousers,vests and jackets. This sounded like Army surplus, but in theSpy of November 7, 1817, there was an ad for "SuperfineLondon made Coats and Surtouts of assorted colors and thelatest fashions," and a month later Jacob Gourgas advertised"Superior Gentlemen's ready made clothing of the mostfashionable cut."55 The most superior ready-mades, howev-er, were still considered inferior to tailor-mades. In 1817 atleast ten tailors advertised in Cincinnati papers (Cincinnatipopulation as of 1815: 6,49 8 ).56

Samuel Freeman's ad in theCentinel illustrates the varie-ties of merchandise that werebeing carted over the Appa-lachians to the new settlementsby 1794.

Fall 1987 Clothing Early Cincinnati 35

In the late 1790's, long trailsof white muslin sweeping theground and high waistlineswere fashionable. (Picturecourtesy Cincinnati ArtMuseum)

Queen City Heritage

Oddly enough, there are no ads for tailors ordressmakers prior to 1800 except for Amos Thursbey whotook an ad in the Centinel of July 5,1794, but only to say thathe had left the army and was setting up shop in North Bend.Perhaps they had all the work they could handle withoutadvertising; someone must have been making up the super-fine cloth, the satins, and the goods "from the latest vesselsfrom Europe."57

In any case, the impression conveyed by thenewspaper ads is that Cincinnati was becoming urbanized ata remarkable speed— as apparently was intended from thevery beginning, judging by the careful surveying of theoriginal town plat. The extent to which the setting hadalready changed from that of the hungry, frightening days of1789 is illustrated by G. Turner's household goods, adver-tised for sale in the Centinel of January 14, 1795, whichincluded books, furniture, chinaware, carpets, a "superbSecretaire of Zebrawood richly ornamented with gilt brass,"and a number of walnut window and door frames andturned pillars. Frame houses were turning up in for rent orsale notices, and those with pillars suggested that Cincinnatibuilders were aware of the Classical Revival. As for thechinaware, Josiah Wedgewood's enormously popular QueensWare was advertised in the Centinel as early as December 6,1794.58 In this context, Thomas Goudy's silk waistcoat andbreeches would no longer seem so incongruous. His every-day wear would be not unlike that of Francis Bailey andWilliam Woods, perhaps with pantaloons and boots insteadof breeches, stockings, and shoes. For agricultural pursuits,hunting, or volunteer military service, he might wear hunt-ing shirt and leggings, possibly made of local materials.Materials for more tailored clothes were clearly also availa-ble, judging by the newspaper ads and surviving invoices,which also listed printed cottons, linens, chintz, ribbons,etc. for the ladies. As of April 16, 1796, John Forguson wasoffering India muslins which were then high fashion. Mrs.Bailey's and Mrs. Woods' gowns were by 1796 going out ofstyle, the desirable image having changed to a light coloredgown with flowing skirt, wide sash, and the kerchief puffedup in front almost to the chin. William Freeman across theriver in Newport, broke out in excruciating doggerel inFreeman's Journal, March 4, 1797, to plug such items offashionable attire as cotton shawls, lawn, lace, silk, gloves,and fans.

The Western Spy, beginning publication in 1799,actually began printing fashion notes. On December 24,1799, it reprinted an article on fashion from the Providence

Journal:"... I have had to undergo a fashionable transforma-

Between Samuel Freeman's adin 1794 and John M'Cullough'sin 1801, the quantity andvariety of merchandise reach-ing Cincinnati had increasedconsiderably.

Fall 1987 Clothing Early Cincinnati 37

Fitted full-length pelisses withlong sleeves and waist-lengthspencer jackets began toreplace shawls and cloaks infashionable wardrobes around1800 and continued to befashionable into the 1820's.

(Picture courtesy CincinnatiArt Museum).

38

tion.... I was always accustomed to wear large shoes onaccount of a plentiful assortment of corns upon my feet—now, sir, I am cased in a pair so small and so sharp pointedthat I walk like a parrot upon a mahogany table.... My hair,which was long, is now cut so short that my chin and skullform a very indifferent contrast.... In this situation I wasinvited to a public ball. The ladies, you must understand,wear long trails of muslin sweeping the ground, very con-venient to be trod upon in the public assemblies... .Theheads of our ladies here are... fortified with a formidablerampart of curls and powder. ..." Hair powder could bebought in Cincinnati from William and Michael Jones, butpowdered hair was beginning to go out, and women's hairwas being dressed close to the head and often topped with alarge turban and plumes, sometimes with a wig.59 As thegentleman from Providence remarked, men's hair was alsobeing cropped shorter, but Thomas Jefferson and others ofhis generation were still powdering their hair ten years later,and General Gano of Cincinnati wore a queue in defiance offashion long enough to be photographed with it.60

It should come as no surprise to find R.Haughton advertising in the Spy of November 19, 1799,that he will give dancing lessons in the minuet-cotillion,French and English sets, country dances, the city cotillion astaught in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and Scotchreels. He returned for a second session the following year.61

The Spy of September 24, 1799, reported thatlong waists were gaining ground in England and advised the"American fair" not to endanger health and beauty withwhalebone prisons. These were evidently corsets intendedto redistribute the female figure to fit the newest classical-revival fashions with very high waistlines, tubular skirts, andvery delicate fabrics. Where the ultimate in fabric for aformal gown had formerly been a still, heavy, glossy, oftenfigured silk, fashion now dictated the fine, transparent mus-lins imported mostly from India, and almost every Cincin-nati merchant advertised these muslins. Also fashionablewere silk crapes, as soft and fluid as the muslins, and theyappeared presently in the ads as did tamboured muslins(muslins with chain-stitch embroidery), and painted mus-lins. Lockets and ear drops were available from RichardJones, and John M'Cullough had ladies' feathers, beads,necklaces, lockets, breast pins, and ribbons. Francis Menessierpresently offered gold and silver watches, jewelry, fans, lace,umbrellas, embroidered dimity gloves, and gentlemen'ssuspenders.62

A letter of March 25,1805, from Eliza Symmesto Jane Short mentioned a cloak trimmed with ermine.63

Queen City Heritage

Red broad cloth cloaks trimmed with white fur were all therage in December 1799 and so were black velvet greatcoats.64 Fitted coats for the ladies, instead of capes or cloaks,were the coming thing, and a "lady's striped great coat" wasreported lost in the Spy of October 31, 1801. The wordpelisse, formerly signifying a man's heavy coat, often furred,65

was being transferred to ladies' fitted coats, often of muchlighter material and cut like the fashionable dress of the daywith high waist, narrow skirt, and long sleeves. A shortjacket called a spencer was also beginning to appear infashion notes for ladies.66

In 181 o Dr. Daniel Drake wrote, "The dressof pur inhabitants is similar to that of other inhabitants ofthe middle states. The females injure their health by dressingtoo thin and both sexes by not accommodating the quantityof clothing to the changes of the weather."67 He could havesaid this ten years earlier. Cincinnati rounding the cornerinto the nineteenth century was swiftly coming to resemble

T WARTIN,Gentlemen s Hair Drejfer,T U S T arrived from the city of Balti-

w j more, refpeclfully informs the citi-zens of Cincinnati and its vicinity, thathe hat opened a HAIR DRESSER'SSHOP, in the eaft end of Mr. SamuelStitt's houfe, on Front ftreet, firft doerbelow the BANK, where he will attendto drefs gentlemen, in the-moft fafhions-ble mode, from Monday,until 11 o'clockon Saturday evening—Thofe who wiihto appear dreffed on Sumday, will plesfecall on Saturday evening when he willfo arrange the hair th?t by merelycombing it out it will look as well as ifdrefTed that morning, He has alfo avariety of perfumes, and a general «f-fortment of the mod elegant fancy goodifor the LADIES—which he will felllow for GASH.

Cincinnati, May 13th, 18O6. (6w)

John Martin, advertising in theSpy in 1806 was not Cincin-nati's first hairdresser; even atthe frontier appearancesmattered. To make ends meet,however, he also offered dry

goods and groceries and Milkof Roses to remove "frickles."

Fall 1987 Clothing Early Cincinnati

. R. Adams,her friends and the public, that

(h£ ha? been bro'r up to the TAYLORINGMAKING butinef»r and will take

k in that line, and fewing of any cta-, which (hall be done in the neat-

'•t|riTranner and (hurteft notice- She refidesit^fr. A. Siippfon's, corner of Markot andSycamore ft reefs. Cin, Aug. 9, 1809.

N. B. She ailb m ik«s Fringes, and coversella's. 46

the thriving communities the inhabitants had known backeast, even if everything west of the Alleghenies was consid-ered "backwoods."68 Buildings were increasingly of frameand brick, there were several inns, many merchants, andseveral cabinet makers.69 The Mill Creek and Little Miamiwere clattering with mills, Francis Menessier ran a coffeehouse where one could read the latest papers or take Frenchlessons, and teachers were also available for English, reading,writing, arithmetic, geography, Latin, and Greek, even forsinging and dancing.70 A subscription library was organized.71

John Martin opened another hair dresser's shop.72 Cincin-natians learned of inoculation with smallpox—and votedagainst it.73 In 1801 a Philadelphia shoemaker made thestartling discovery that we have left and right feet. For sometwo hundred years shoes had been made straight, ignoringthe asymmetrical curves of the foot, but now W. Youngadvertised that he would make shoes fitted to the anatomicalshape of the foot.74 This news, however, seems to have beenslow in reaching Cincinnati. Not so, news of the invention

of the steamboat, and Cincinnatians immediately beganorganizing to investigate this invention of such dramaticpotential for a town in their particular geographical position.75

News of another invention called "The Devil Among theTaylors" was reported in the Spy of June 1, 1807; this was thebirth notice of the sewing machine which, owing to techni-cal problems and to the hostility of those who earned theirliving by the needle, did not reach the market until forty-fiveyears later. For entertainment, Cincinnati enjoyed theatricalperformances as early as 18 o 1, including She Stoops to Conquerthe week of December 5. Griffin Yeatman's tavern was hostto an exhibit of wax figures of national heroes in April 1805,and to a live elephant in February 1809.76 All these eventsare relevant to what early Cincinnatians wore, even theelephant, because people dress to their setting and to theoccasion.

For those in need of clothing appropriate tothese events, ads in Spy and Liberty Hall attest to the availabil-ity of tailors, hatters, shoemakers, dyer and textile printers,

One of the few respectableoccupations open to womenwho had to support them-selves was seamstressing andmillinery, sometimes combinedwith washing. Mrs. Adam's ad

in Liberty Hall, August 9, 1809,was one of some thirty similarads between 1800 and 1820.

Queen City Heritage

Elizabeth Houghton's dress of beginning of the trend toward1814 on the left and JaneHunt's dress of 1820 on theright exhibited the early nine-teenth century fashion fornarrow skirts and high waist-lines, but Jane's shows the

lower waistlines and widerskirts. (Picture courtesyCincinnati Art Museum)

Fall 1987

and dressmakers who grandly billed themselves as mantua-makers in spite of the unlikelihood of any Cincinnati femaleof that day having need for a hooped mantua suitable forpresentation at the English court. On the other hand, thetailors like John Mansfield were advertising their services asalso ladies' habit-makers. Until the late seventeenth century,particularly in France, it was the male tailors who made thehigh fashion women's dresses, with the female marchande desmodes restricted to adding decorative laces, flowers, ribbons,etc. Women were permitted to make a loose robe called amantua, however, and with the easing of restrictions byLouis XIV and as the mantua moved into fashion and became

Clothing Early Cincinnati 4 '

more fitted and formal, and eventually court dress, thecouturieres or seamstresses moved with it.77 By the end of theeighteenth century seamstresses were making all types ofwomen's clothing, but tailors still made tailored garmentslike riding habits and pelisses. The tailored habit with longjacket cut like a man's frock, frequently worn with a waist-coat as well, was correct wear for informal occasions when abedgown or short gown and petticoat would be dowdy.78

For more dressy occasions the dress would be like the oneadvertised in Liberty Hall November 3, 1807, as stolen:"... made of cambrick muslin, scalloped round the bottompart, about ten or eleven small tucks, short sleeves...." It

REMOVAL.

Samuel M'Quilkin,BOOT & SHOE-MAKER,

j ESPECTFULLY informs the public inX \ general* that he has rettioved from h*sformer (land in Main-ftreer, to COLUMBIASTREET, oppofite Mr. Harman Lonp's card-ing machine, and nearly oppofite (he alleyleading from the centre of the Market-houfe,where he purpofes carrying on the abovebufinefs in the mod extenfive manner. Hehas, and will continue to have on hand, aquantity of neatly finiihed work j and hopes,trotn his performance in this line, to procurea general patronage.

Cincinnati, April, I 8 I I # 34

Samuel M'Quilkin's ad in theSpy shows some of the stylishshoe and boot shapes. Many ofthe boots had fanciful nameslike Suwarrows, Firebuckets,and Napoleon Greaves.

42

should be noted that the word cambric, once signifyinglinen (from Cambrai in the Netherlands), is here coupledwith muslin which once signified cotton—except that some-times it was applied to fine linen.79 Such inconsistency is alltoo typical of textile terminology. In this case, the stolendress was most likely of cotton since cotton was very fash-ionable at that time, and the development of mechanicalmeans of ginning out the seeds, spinning, and finally weav-ing made it more plentiful. The stolen dress probably alsohad a low-cut neckline worn without a concealing kerchiefto the horror of the more conservative. Margaret Bayard

Queen City Heritage

crape without the least stiffening in it.. .there was scarcelyany waist to it and no sleeves; her bosom, part of her waistand arms were uncovered and the rest of her form visible."80

The shocking exposure of the new fashion added spice toletters of the time and peppered the newspapers with satiri-cal comment and indignant letters to the editor.61 Thesewere as nothing, however, to the blast from General Oglewho, in i 812, introduced into the Pennsylvania legislaturea measure forbidding females from appearing in public places"with naked elbows and shoulders, and other parts of thebody clad in such thin and transparent attire, as incom-

X - - - r : - - ; r : ; • • ; , / ; ; - • • . ; . ; ; - : ; ; ' , •

Smith recorded in 1804 that the American wife of a foreign-er (probably Betsey Patterson Bonapart) "made quite a noise"in Washington by appearing at a formal affair "... almostnaked. ... Her dress was the thinnest sarcenet and white

patible with decency...." Notorious bawds were to be exemptfrom his bill. It failed to pass.82

A girl of marriageable age in less exalted socie-ty than diplomatic circles would not have been permitted

Elizabeth Houghton's shoesfrom a Boston shoe store in1814 were flat-soled shoes likeballet slippers that were thenthe height of fashion. (Picturecourtesy Cincinnati ArtMuseum)

Fall 1987

such liberties as inflamed General Ogle. Her dresses, howev-er, would have conformed to the fashion for short waist, lowneck, tiny cap sleeves, tubular skirt, and gauzy materials. Anexample of this fashion is the one that was worn by ElizabethHoughton of Vermont in 1814 when she married CharlesPhelps (the first Charles Phelps Taft was their grandson). It isirrelevant that the dress was made in Vermont, not in Cin-cinnati, or that the wearer did not set foot in Cincinnati untilyears later; that dress was what was fashionable in 1814, anda Cincinnati bride would have had very similar dresses in hertrousseau. Although fashion periodicals do not seem toappear in Cincinnati booksellers' ads, it is likely that at leastsome of the ladies in the mantua-making business in Cincin-nati invested in Galerie des modes or The Ladies'Magazine.

Elizabeth Houghton's dress was of the veryfashionable thin tamboured muslin, but it is. unthinkablethat she would have been permitted to dampen her muslinpetticoat to make it cling revealingly to her figure as ladies inimpolite society were said to do. Even so, Dr. Drake consid-ered that this mode of dressing posed a threat to health, andhe was not alone. An article headed "Savings No. 3" in theSpy of August 17, 1811, made the same point, and a rathergrim article, entitled "Burning to Death," advised womenwhose muslins caught fire, in those days of open fires andcandles, to fling themselves on the floor to put out theflames.83

A very luxurious new fashion was the Kashmirshawl. Kashmir shawls were the nineteenth century equiva-lent of mink coats. They were high fashion from the lastyears of the eighteenth century until the 1870's, keeping upwith fashion's constant demand for novelty by graduallychanging shape and design from a stole with plain field anddecorated borders, to a square, sometimes as much as sevenby seven feet, patterned all over. They were great luxuries: inthe Spy of February 27, 1819, the going price was quoted as$1,100 which was expensive indeed for those days when aman's fashionable surtout cost about $ 3 2.84 The shawls werewoven in Kashmir and India of the fleece of Tibetan goats,finer than any fiber available in Europe except silk, whichmade them almost impossible to imitate, though Europeanweaving centers tried. Paisley, Scotland, was one of manyweaving towns that tried to tap this lucrative market.

Among other fashionable and expensive importswere Leghorn straw hats and bonnets from Italy whichcould cost as much as $25, but milliners and hatters in NewEngland were also making use of domestic straws, for men aswell as women. Hats were also made of beaver, silk, cane,wicker, wood splints, even cardboard, and children's caps

Clothing Early Cincinnati

RICHARD GAINES,(FROM PHILADELPHIA)

HAVING removed t*Cincinnati, has opened a.,CHEAP SHOE STORl^attha£sign of the GOLDEN BOOT^Jon the Hill, a little below 'the Engine house, Main-street, where he will con-stantly keep on hand a large,'assortment of all kinds df

BOOTS 4- SHOES,wholesale and retail, on th«lowest terms; consisting of

Ladies' Kid, white and colored,Ladies' Morocco, of all kinds 3f color*,Ladies' calf skin, fyc. fyc.Gentlemen's pumps Sf dress shoes.Men's fine and coarse shoes, ,Boys' Girls' $p Children's shoes.

Ladies' bespoke shoes, of all fashionablykind? and colors, arid Gentlemen's fashionabl*or plain work made in the neatest manner.

ALSO—-AN ASSORTMENT OF DRY GOOD*,for tale—Low for Cash, . >

Cincinnati, July 31, 1811. 4

were often made of Morocco leather.85

Another new fashion was for the ladies tocarry handbags called "indispensibles," "reticules," or"ridiculous."86 When skirts had been full, a pocket was usual-ly concealed under the folds, but the narrowing of skirts andthe use of sheer materials wiped out the pocket—hence the"indispensible," which could also be made very decorativeand reflective of the whims of fashion.

The men still had pockets, now chiefly in theircoattails, and they all seemed to carry red Morocco pocketbooks which they were forever losing. Between 1805 and1820, Cincinnati papers reported the loss of between fortyand fifty of them. According to an article in the Spy ofFebruary 1, 1812, Morocco leather was first imported fromEngland in 179 3 (but an ad for Morocco leather appeared in

Richard Gaines' ad in LibertyHall, July 31, 1811, indicatesthat conservative customerscould still have their shoesmade with heels, regardless offashion.

44 Queen City Heritage

the Massachusetts Centinel of June 18, 1788) and began to beproduced in the United States about 1796 or 1797. InLiberty Hall of June 8, 1813, W. Blumpee and E. Cliftannounced the opening of a Morocco factory on FrontStreet in Cincinnati and called for sheep and deer skins andsumac leaves with which to tan them. Morocco evidentlytook dye particularly well. In the week of April 28, 1807,Ezekiel Hall advertised in both the Spy and Liberty Hallladies' red, blue, green, purple, yellow, and black Moroccoand kid shoes.

Elizabeth Houghton's white kid shoes fromThomas Wiley's Variety Store, 15 Marlboro Street, Boston,were decorated with spangles and green silk embroideredsprigs. Spangled slippers were advertised by Jesse Camp inCincinnati in the Spy of May 7, 1808.

Although flat soles were the new fashion inladies' shoes in the early nineteenth century, Jefferson's daugh-ter Martha sent one of her shoes to her father in the WhiteHouse in 1807, asking him to have a new pair made for herwith the back quarter cut a little higher for better fit, butwith heels lower, and J. Wilson was advertising shoes withheels in the Washington National Intelligencer of February 4,1807.87 Shoes with heels were still being advertised by RichardGaines (just moved from Philadelphia to Cincinnati) in Lib-erty Hall of July 31, 1811, and by Andrew Coyle in theNational Intelligencer of March 3, 1812.

It is hard to realize in this age of mass manu-facture how local the supply system once was. Flax and sheepgrown on local farms could be carded and spun by thefarmer's wife or taken to the steam mill on Front Street(where hot baths and showers were also available) or to oneof the water mills on Mill Creek and Little Miami, or to ahorse-power mill.88 The 1810 census reported thirty-fourlooms and 230 spinning wheels in Cincinnati alone, andover ten times as many in the rest of Hamilton County.89 By1815 Newman, Essex & Williams were advertising broadand narrow cloths and cassinets manufactured at their facto-ry on the Little Miami.90 Whether their looms as well astheir yarn-spinning machines were water powered or werestill completely hand operated is not specified (nor was itspecified that Williams would ginger up his cash flow eightmonths later by robbing the mails).91 Hezekiah Healy, how-ever, was exhibiting at Joel Williams' tavern a patent loomfor weaving by water, steam, or "any rotatory power."92

The war with Britain between 1812 and 181 5stimulated the growth of American textile production, thoughit was no secret that British goods continued to be smuggledin from Canada or captured by American privateers.93 In

spite of ill feeling caused by the war, English goods were stillwanted, and English taste was still felt here. In April 1815,The Heir at Law, the play which served as mainspring of theplot of Jane Austin's novel Mansfield Park, was performed inCincinnati.94

Imported or local, however, materials weremade up locally: between 1800 and 1820, Spy, Liberty Hall,

Early Cincinnati shoemakerswho were not above a littleprice-fixing, published a list ofagreed-on prices in the SpySeptember 26, 1812.

Fall 1987

and the Cincinnati Directory yield the names of some seventy-six tailors and eighty-four seamstresses and milliners, andalso 105 shoemakers, eighteen hatters, twenty-four silversmith-goldsmith-jewelers, several makers of horn combs, and evena dentist who made false teeth.95

At the same time, better communications withthe east, thanks to improved roads through Pennsylvaniaand Maryland, and to the launching of the steamboat, wereincreasing the supply of imported goods and reducing thetime lag between fashion in Philadelphia and in Cincinnati.To be sure, fashion did not change quite so fast then as itdoes now except in the most extravagant stratum of society,but it did change. March 18, 1806, the Spy printed ananecdote about a man who had bought his wife a new hatand was rushing to get it home before it went out of fashion.96

A dress from the trousseau of Jane Hunt ofCincinnati (daughter of Jesse Hunt, merchant and presidentof the city council) who married Nathaniel Green Pendleton,

Clothing Early Cincinnati 45

also of this city, on May 12, 1820, was not so very differentfrom Elizabeth Houghton's 1814 dress, but the waistline isbeginning to descend, and the skirt is wider at the hem.97 Itwas decorated with very modish broderie anglaise or eyeletembroidery and measured up very creditably against thereport in the Spy of August 17, 1820, that "French fashionsare at present all the rage in London. The cone is the favoriteform for female dress, tight at the waist with a prodigioussweep downwards."

The gentleman of the day also now presentedan unmistakably nineteenth century appearance with hiscylindrical top hat, his tailored surtout with its pronouncedwaist, gathered sleeves and high collar, and his knee-highboots with light tops. He probably also wore a pair oflight-colored pantaloons, a high neckcloth and ruffled shirt,incipient mutton-chop whiskers, and a highly artificial upstand-ing quiff of hair. According to Liberty Hall, August 24,1819,the real dandy also sported a striped waistcoat and even

ROBERT GILLASPIE,Taylor & Ladies Habit Maker,Informs his friends and the public in gfeneraL, thatstill carries on the business at his old stand 6ii

Columbia street, where work will be done on theshortest notice and at his former prices.

HE WANTS IMMEDIATOT, ,."...FOUR OK FIVE JOURXKYMEN

TAYLO&S,To whom the following prices will be given, viz."

For making a coat - - - ' $ 3 13 1-2 'do. pantaloons - - - 1 25do. vest - - /"•- * 1 12 1*2

anil all other work in the same proportion.: Cincinnati, Octobei 23,1813,- 64 Sw

Between John Mansfield's1808 ad for a complete suit for$4.00 and Robert Gillaspey'sad in the Spy of October 23,1813, the price of bespoketailoring had evidently gone up.

46

corsets to nip in his waist and a twelve-inch watch chaindangling a key and five seals.

For dressy occasions, the ladies now woretheir hair in a loose knot of curls on the top of the head,secured with a large carved tortoise shell comb. These combswere advertised in the Spy by Keys & Eaton on May 30,1818, and by A.F. Ferguson on December 18, 1819, whichwas a memorable year. Gas street lights were inaugurated inJanuary, house numbers in April, and in June Thomas Foulkesinstalled a fountain of soda and seltzer in his apothecarystore at No. 8 5 Main-street.98

This was also the period that saw the buildingof some of the most elegant houses ever built in Cincinnati,like Martin Baum's mansion now the Taft Museum, theKilgour house, and Gorham Worth's suburban villa in Mt.Auburn—all exhibiting the most refined taste for the Classi-cal Revival. If Cincinnatians dressed with as much taste asthey built, and the newspaper ads suggest that they did(those that had the money for it), they must have presented avery proper urban appearance, and one that was strictlyup-to-date.

Not that everyone was completely up-to-dateof course. There were still those conservatives like ThomasJefferson wearing powdered hair or Daniel Gano with hisqueue. And the hunting shirt was still around. As late as1812 it was part of the uniform of the First Regiment ofOhio Militia." When the Cincinnati Directory was compiledin 1819, the hunting shirt was well established as part of thePioneer Legend. The dress of the pioneer women was evi-dently nothing particularly remarkable, but the men's hunt-ing shirt, leggings, and moccasins were remembered fondlyas the very symbol of the heroic times.

1. Hamlet, I, iii, 6 5.2. See William E. and Ophia D. Smith, A Buckeye Titan (Cincinnati, 1953)and Ophia D. Smith, "The Family of Levi James and its Alliances," Bulletinof the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Cincinnati, Vol. 8 (1950),No. 3, p. 171 (hereafter Bulletin Cincinnati Historical Society).3. Horace Walpole, Letters, ed. Mrs. Paget Toynbee (Oxford, 1904), Vol.1 3, p. 380, letter of May 4, 1786.4. Life, Journals and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, L.L.D. by hisGrandchildren William Parker Cutler and Julia Perkins Cutler (Cincinnati,1888), Vol. 1,p. 23i,July7, 1787.5. The Western Journals of John May 1788-1789, ed. Dwight L. Smith(Cincinnati, i96i),p. 29, diary entry of April 24,1788 (hereafter John May,Journals).6. Walpole, Letters, Vol. 14, p. 89, letter of October n , 1788.7. For some early fashion periodicals see Vyvyan Holland, Hand ColouredFashion Plates 17 70-18 99 (London, 1955).8. Cincinnati Directory... By a Citizen (Cincinnat i , i 8 i 9 ) , p . 22.

Queen City Heritage

9. The March to Quebec, Journals of the Members of Arnold's Expedition com-piled and annotated by Kenneth Roberts during the writing of Arundel(New York, 1938), p. 301; James Graham, The Life of General DanielMorgan. ... (New York, 1856), p. 63; Don Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan,Revolutionary Rifleman (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1961), p. 19.10. Helen A. Cooper, John Trumbull: The Hand and Spirit of a Painter (NewHaven, Connecticut, 1892), Nos. 30,73; Charles Coleman Sellers, Portraitsand Miniatures by Charles Willson Peale (Philadelphia, 19 5 2), p. 145, No. 568,assuming that this was Trumbull's model.11. Henry Stephen Randall, The Life of Thomas Jefferson (New York, 1858),Vol. 1, p. 40.12. John May, Journals, p. 1 34; "Dr. Daniel Drake's Memoir of the MiamiCountry, 1779-1 794," ed. Beverly W. Bond, Jr., The Quarterly Publication ofthe Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Cincinnati, Vol. 18(1923) , N o .

2-3, pp . 62-6 3 (hereafter Quarterly Cincinnati Historical Society); Luke Foster

to Thomas Clark, May 23, 1819, ibid., pp. 103-104.13. Reverend Joseph Doddridge, Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars ofthe Western Parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. ... (Wellsburg, Virginia, 1824),pp. 11 3-116.14. Francois Alexandre de Garsault, "L'Art du Tailleur," Description des arts etmetiers (Paris, 1769), Vol. 3 1, pi. 15, pp. 51-52; see also Claudia Kidwell,"Short Gowns," Dress, Vol. 4(1978), pp. 3 0-6 5.15. Webster'sThirdInternational Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged(Springfield, Massachusetts, 1966) defines shoepacks as similar to mocca-sins, worn in the Revolutionary period; Nathan Bailey, DictionariumBritannicum. ... (London, 1730) defined Morocco or Marroquin as the skinof goat or similar animal, dressed with sumac or galls and colored red,yellow, blue, etc.16. Charles Cist, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 18 5 9, p. 78.17. Anthony Wayne, A Name in Arms, ed. Richard C. Knopf (Pittsburgh,i960), p. 309.18. "Memoirs of Benjamin Van Cleve," ed. Beverly W. Bond, Jr., QuarterlyCincinnati Historical Society, Vol. 17(1922), No. 1 -2, p. 61.19. Reverend O.M. Spencer, Indian Captivity. ... (New York, 18 3 5), p. 15.20. C. Willetts and Phyllis Cunnington, Handbook of Fashion in the EighteenthCentury (Boston, 1972), p. 34.21. Spencer, Indian Captivity, pp. 85, 128.22. Sir Augustus John Foster, Bart., Jejfersonian America. ... (San Marino,California, 1954), p. 1 o; Virginia Moore, TheMadisons (New York, 1979),p. 160; Lynn W Turner, William Plumer of New Hampshire 175 9-1850(Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1962), p. 94.23. James McBride, Pioneer Biography. ... (Cincinnati, 1869), Vol. 1, p. 202;Clement L. Matzolff, ed., "Reminiscences of a Pioneer," Ohio Archaeologicaland Historical Society Publications, Vol. 19, p. 194.24. Noah Webster, A Compendium of the English Language. ... (Hartford andNew Haven, Connecticut, 1806), defines overalls as "a kind of long closetrowsers."25. Liberty Hall (Cincinnati), April 30, 1808.26. Walpole, Letters, Vol. 4, p. 276, letter of June 23, 1759 to GeorgeMontague; Vol. 8, p. 14, letter of February 22, 1771 to Horace Mann.27. C. Harrison Dwight, "Matthias Denman: Soldier and Pioneer,"BulletinCincinnati Historical Society, Vol. 7 (1949), No. 4, p. 218.28. Western Spy (Cincinnati), October 27, 1815.29. William Perry, A General Dictionary of the English Language. ... (London,1793), defined pantaloons as "a garment consisting of breeches and stock-ings in one piece;" Milia Davenport, The Book of Costume (New York, 1965),

p.653-30. For the variety of materials, see Florence M. Montgomery, Textiles inAmerica 1650-1870 (New York, 1984).3 1. Smith & Findlay bill to Isaac Younghusbands, August 1793-June 1794.Correspondence and other papers of the Torrence family, Box 33, No. 6,MSS Collection, The Cincinnati Historical Society (hereafter Torrence

Fall 1987 Clothing Early Cincinnati 47

papers); Centinel of the North Western Territory, N o v e m b e r 2 3 , 1793 (hereaf-

ter Centinel).

32. Knopf", Anthony Wayne, pp . 57, 65 , 155, 212, 235 , 247 , 309.

3 3. Lee Shepard, "News from N o r t h Bend. Some Early Let ters ," Bulletin

Cincinnati Historical Society, Vol. 1 5, N o . 4 (October 1957), p . 318.

34. John Nlzy, Journals, pp. 89, 103, 105, 164.3 5. John May, manuscript Journal entry from Tuesday, May 19, 1789, MSSCollection, The Cincinnati Historical Society.36. I am indebted to Jane Durrell at the Cincinnati Art Museum for thesuggestion that this might be private, family slang.37. John May, MS accounts, entry for May 8, 1789, MSS Collection, TheCincinnati Historical Society; Journals, pp. 154, 155.38. "Diary of Major William Stanley, 1790-1810," Quarterly CincinnatiHistorical Society, Vol. 14 (1919), 2-3, p. 19; Beverly W. Bond, Jr., cites astatement by John Bartle (in the Draper Collection, Wisconsin State His-torical society) that Henry Reed already had a store in Cincinnati whenBartle arrived in 1790, ibid., Vol. 18 (1923), No. 2—3, p. 115.

VIVE L'EMPEREUR!

Imperial Proclamation,

39. Stanley, Diary, p. 22.40. John May,Journals, p. 109; Western Spy, June 18,1800, ad for Mahoney'sboat store; Robert Sutcliff, Travels in Some Parts of North America in the Tears1804, 1805 and 1806 (York, 1811), p. 74.41. Cloth at that time almost always meant wool, in contrast to other textileterms that frequently changed meaning.

{/:;.'.„)

42. John May, Orderly Book, entry for January 19, 1790, MSS Collection,The Cincinnati Historical Society.43. Torrence papers, Box 33, No. 4.44. John May, Journals, pp. 131, 148, 150; Centinel, November 16, 1793,John Armstrong, ad.45. The Cincinnati newspaper, Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette changedtitle t o Western Spy and Miami Gazette, Augus t 2 8 , 1 8 0 5 , and to Western Spy,

September 1, 181 o (hereafter Spy).46. Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Mercury changed title to Liberty Hall, April13,1809, and to Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, December 11, 181 5(hereafter Liberty Hall).47. Spencer, Indian Captivity, pp. 29, 35; Centinel, December 26, 1795.48. Centinel, July 19, 1794;November 14, 1795; August 2, 1794;October4, 1794-49. Torrence papers, Box 3 3, No. 7.

The flamboyant ad for thebarber Jeremy Tibbets in theSpy of January 8, 1820,illustrated the very latestfashions for men.

Costume Parisien No. 1389from Journal des Dames et desModes, 1814, an early fashionperiodical. (Picture courtesyCincinnati Art Museum)

4 8 Queen City Heritage

5 o. Centinel, October 24, 1795, May ad; Spy, August 3,1811, "Savings No.

3-51. Spy, March 11, September 29, 181 5; August 1, 1817; February 7,1818,

etc.

5 2. Antonia Fraser, Cromwell The Lord Protector (New York, 19 74), p. 244.

5 3. J.P. Brissot de Warville, New Travels in the United States of America... .

(Bowling Green, Ohio, 1919), p. 265.

54. The Journal of William Maclay Senator from Pennsylvania 1789-91 (New

York, 1927), p. 61, entry of June 1, 1789; see also Cornelius William

Stafford, The Philadelphia Directory for 17 97, p. 29.

5 5. Spy, December 12, 1817.

5 6. Ibid., February 2, 1816.

57. Centinel, July 25, 1795, A. & J. Hunt ad.

58. Queen's Ware was a line of dishes, vases, etc. of fine pottery with a

creamy glaze imitating porcelain, on the market since the 1760's.

59. Spy, June 10, 1799, Jones ad; Aurora/General Advertiser (Philadelphia),

May 5, 1801, "London Fashions" (hereafter Aurora) The Family Letters of

Thomas Jefferson, ed. M. Betts and J.A. Bear (Columbia, Missouri, 1966),

pp. 238, 280, letters of October 29, 1802 and October 26, 1805, to

Jefferson to his daughter Martha.

60. Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, p. 392, letter of May ^ 1809; Cincinnati

Past and Present. ...(Cincinnati, 1872), p. 12.

61. Spy, October 29, 1800.

62. Ibid., March 25, i8oi,JamesForgusonad;July 29,1801, Francis Andre

ad; October 8, 1799, Jones ad; September 30, 1801, M'Cullough ad; April

20, 1803, Francis Menessier ad.

63. Reeder family papers, folder, 9, MSS Collection, The Cincinnati His-

torical Society.

64. New Letters of Abigail Adams i788-i8oi,ed. Stewart Mitchel (Boston,

1947), p. 218, letter of December 4,1799; Samuel Eliot Morrison, Harrison

Gray Otis 1765-1848. ...(Boston, 1969), p. 140, letter to his wife, winter

1798-1799.

65. A. Boyer, Dictionnaire Franpois-Anglois et Anglois Francois, en Abrege

(Paris, 1797), defines a pelisse as a furred cloak or coat, and Thomas

Jefferson, in letters of December 27, 1798, and November 4, 181 5 uses the

term this way.

66. Aurora, May 5, 1801, "London Fashions."

67. Dr. Daniel Drake, "Notices of Cincinnati in 181 o," Quarterly Cincinnati

Historical Society, Vol. 3 (1908), No. 2, p. 31.

68. See Liberty Hall, August 21, 1815, "Curtius;" September 4, J. Cleves

Short.

69. Centinel, September 19, 1795, Campbell & Williams; Spy, July 9,1800,

Lyon & McGuinnis.

70. Spy, September 24, 1799, July 30, 1800, Francis Mennessiers; Centinel,

December 20, 1794, Stuart Richey; Freeman's Journal, December 17, 1796,

James White; Spy, September 24, 1800, Lemuel M'Donald; October 29, R.

Haughton; October 31, 1801, Matthew G. Wallace, Levi M'Lean.

71. Spy. February 1 3, March 6, 1802.

72. Ibid., May 1 3, October 21, 1806.

7 3. Ibid., March 12,1800.

74. Aurora, June 12, 1801 and thereafter. See August 5 and October 6,

1801 for diagram and women's lefts and rights.

7 5. Spy, March 11, 1 801.

76. Ibid., April 24, 1805;Liberty Hall, May 14, 1805; February 2, 1809.

77. Garsault, Arts et metiers, Vol. 1, p. 48.

7 8. Cunnington, Handbook of Fashion in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 3 04- 305.

79. Margaret Swain, "The Linen Supply of a Scottish Household 1777-1810,"

Textile History, Vol. 1 3 (1982), p. 81.

80. Margaret Bayard Smith, The First Forty Tears of Washington Society, ed.

Gaillard Hunt (New York, 196 5), p. 46.

81 .New Letters ofAbigail Adams, p. 241, letter of March 18, i8oo;Morison,

Otis, p. 136, letter of January 18, 1800; National Intelligencer, April 17,

1801; Spy, September 11, 1805.

82. Liberty Hall, March 25, 1812.

83. Spy, March 28, 1811.

84. Ibid., August 21, 1819.

85. Ibid., May 18, 1803, Newburyport; June 6, 1812, Samuel Kidd; May

28, 1814, Kershaw & Alley; April 13,1820, M. & A. Haughton; February

24 $25 Hat, September 1, 1821, "Fault Finder;" Aurora, May 5, 1801,

"London Fashions" and No. 6 5 South Third Street; National Intelligencer,

May 14, 181 o, Gallatin's report.

86. Spy, April 23,1814, Lambert; May 28, 1814, New Shoe Store.

8 7. Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, p. 31.

88. Steam Mill, Spy, April 3, 181 3; May 7, December 3, 1814; May 17,

1816.

89. Ibid., December 22, 1810.

90. Ibid., June 9, 1815.

91. Ibid., February 16, 1816.

92. Ibid., September 29, 181 5.

9 3. Liberty Hall, April 27, 181 3; February 2, 181 5; Spy, February 4, 181 5;

November 19, 1814, "Rich Prize;" see also Morison, Otis, pp. 326—327,

338, 341, 346.

94. Spy, April 28, 181 5.

95. Ibid., March 12, 1808.

96. Ibid., March 18, 1806; reprinted verbatim in Spy of August 10, 1820.

97. Cincinnati Directory, i8 i9 ,p . 123; Spy, May 18, 1820.

98. Spy, January 2, May 1, June 19, 1819.

99. Liberty Hall, October 6, 1812.