Praeteritum
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • Services, Fees, FAQs
  • Contact
  • Links

Mullin' Marrow & Ponderin' Pith

A genealogical blog of reflections about my family history and my experiences as a genealogist.

Scandalous, I Say!

10/7/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
My hometown was founded in 1777.  It lies in two counties and straddles the Greenbrier River. 

In 1967 a man named Thomas W. Dixon, Jr. wrote a book about it entitled The Rise and Fall of Alderson West Virginia. 

In 1974 my paternal grandmother secured an autographed copy and gave it to my brother.  He was and still is the family history buff--able to recall dates and incidents with enviable ease. 

I've never read the book all the way through cover to cover.  On occasion, I have singled out chapters to read.  I've also used it as a resource.

I was doing just that when I encountered a previously undiscovered six-and-a-half-page chapter entitled “High Crime and Misdemeanor.”

What was this?  I had never seen this chapter before.  Perhaps because it was jammed between “Inventors” (three pages!) and “Entertainment and Sports” (26 pages).  What kinds of high crimes could have occurred in my sleepy river town? I quickly devoured it. 

While a several fisticuffs, a few murders and a couple of riots were related, the story that follows caught my eye:

“On July 20, 1914, Sergeant Hundley had to take in two Camp Greenbrier boys for “. . . strutting upon the street showing too many . . . [of their] physical charms, . . . . [their] shirts having too much cut out at the arm holes . . . .”[1]
I have no doubt today’s trends of too much cleavage, pants-around-the-thighs, and public pajama appearances would have landed an individual sporting such “fashion” in the hoosegow in turn-of-the-century Alderson. 
Scandalous, I say!


[1] Thomas W. Dixon, Jr., The Rise and Fall of Alderson West Virginia (Parsons, West Virginia:  McClain Printing Company, 1967). 334.





0 Comments
    Cynthia Maharrey
    Born and raised in a small town in West Virginia before the turn of the century, Cynthia has always been fascinated by the intricacies that make up her own family history.  As a result, she has been researching and studying it since the late 1900's.
    Memberships

    -Association of Professional Genealogists
    -African American Genealogical Group of Kentucky
    -Kentucky Genealogical Society
    ​-Kentucky Historical Society
    -Greenbrier County (West Virginia) Historical Society
    -Monroe County (West Virginia) Historical Society

    Archives

    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    February 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    RSS Feed

    Return to Home Page
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.