Historical Fiction & Anachronisms

Am I the only one bummed by inaccuracies in historical fiction? 

When I read historical fiction, I expect the historical parts to be accurate. If an author really must deviate from historical accuracy, a disclaimer in the introduction is helpful. My novel  Patches on the Same Quilt isn't historical fiction but it is set in the past, so I added this info to the novel's introduction: 

Recently I read this book, which explains a lot of anachronisms/errors/etc, so I decided to point out some anachronisms in a historical novel I'd read a few months earlier.

 Set in early Jamestown, this novel had some anachronisms that leapt out at me.

             

For instance,  the narrator writes "Neither did God, I am fairly sure (though I am no Puritan), intend for women to sport the corset or bodice. . . ." While corsets may have existed in parts of Europe, the term "corset," according to Etymonline, meaning 'stiff supporting and constricting undergarment for the waist, worn chiefly by women to shape the figure,' is from 1795." Nine decades earlier, when this character was writing, she—as did all women in Jamestown—wore stays. Stays were the precursor of the corset (and the bodice, or pair of bodies, was the late 1500s precursor of stays, though there was some over-lapping). The verb "sport" meaning "to wear" is from 1778. Prior to then, "sport" referred to taking pleasure or amusement. Arrgh! Two anachronisms in one sentence!

But the anachronisms get worse:  The narrator observes a man, standing watch on the east bulwark, who was "dressed to the nines" and had grown a "Vandyke beard, a new style he had carefully cultivated in the last two months." FYI: This scene is in January of 1610. 

 Wikipedia offers this info about the particular style of beard: "A Van Dyke (sometimes spelled Vandyke, or Van Dyck) is a style of facial hair named after the 17th-century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)." I doubt eleven-year-old Anthony would have much facial hair in 1609 (when the guy at Jamestown started his beard, and—even if he did—he certainly wasn't influential enough then to popularize the style. As for "dressed to the nines, "the earliest written evidence of this phrase ["to the nine"] appeared in the late 18th century in the poetry of Robert Burns. Its meaning is 'to perfection; just right.'" Plus "Dressed to the nines" dates from the mid-19th century—not the early 17th century. 

Some other anachronisms: "On the final day of February, a single daffodil appeared.Where it came from, I wasn't sure." I'm not sure either.  From this site:  "It is believed that daffodils might've arrived in the 1600s, but they don't appear in the written record until the early 1700s." According to this site:  "After the establishment of the Virginia Company in 1606 and the settlement of Jamestown colony in 1609, daffodil bulbs were transported by sailing ships from Britain to America, often by women colonists who brought them along as a reminder of home." So—bulbs arrived after 1609, and it took until spring for them to bloom after they were planted. 

Another cringeworty anachronism: "I swallowed my share of snow that winter. It was plentiful and convenient. We would awaken to the wedding-white present and . . . " Arrgh! While the first white wedding dress "originated with Anne of Brittany on the occasion of her marriage to Louis XII of France in 1499, it wasn’t until 1840, when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, that the white dress was made popular." Also, until the 1900s, most brides wore their best outfit, not a special dress.

Another scene has a Jamestown maidservant treating a severe wound with rum and honey in Nov. 1609. I knew honeybees weren't in the New World then, so I looked up when they arrived: "Honey bees first landed in North America in 1622, when the Virginia Company of London sent some bees to the governor of Jamestown with a note that said 'the preservation and encrease (sic) whereof we recommend to you'. Eighty years later, the honey bee population in Virginia was thriving." But the honeybee population was nonexistant at Jamestown in 1609. Perhaps one of the 300 who survived the hurricane and made to Jamestown in August 1609 brought some honey? If so, how did it last three months in a time of very short supply of food? Likely if anyone did bring honey, it was soon consumed.

I'm sure there were other anachronisms in that novel, but those above were the ones that were obvious to me.

Speaking of anachronisms, some of you long-time readers of this blog might remember an issue I had several years ago with a novel set in the 1750s in the Blue Ridge area of Virginia. My problem: I could not believe that a character rode a mule from the Blue Ridge Mountains to eastern Virginia because I was sure mules didn't exist in the Blue Ridge Mountains then. However, I discovered that was hard to prove. I found wills of men who died in the1700s that mentioned sheep, cattle, horses, oxen, and other livestock, but I couldn't find a will that mentioned mules. 

That novel's author pointed to me out that mules were at Jamestown in the very early years of settlement, but I could find no source to support her claim—and, if any mules were at Jamestown in 1609, they were soon consumed. I did, however, find information that horses had been transported: 

“Six Mares and two Horses” were loaded onto the Blessing in Plymouth, England, in May 1609 for a three-month voyage to Jamestown. Transporting horses was expensive and tricky because they had to be secured into slings for the entire voyage to avoid breaking their legs on the rolling motion of the ship. 

Alas, these horses didn't survive the starving time in the winter of 1609 either. "As the winter dragged on, they ate rats, cats, dogs, snakes 'or what vermin or carrion soever we could light on.'  In this starving time winter they even butchered the horses brought from England the summer before." A few years later, horses again arrived in Jamestown. But there was no mention that mules were transported.

From Life at Four Miles an Hour—Thomas Jefferson's World of the Horse: 

In 1609, the first Virginia horses arrived in Jamestown, but unfortunately did not survive the winter.  At this time, as far as is known, none of the Native Americans in the Tidewater Virginia area owned or used horses.  In 1611 Jamestown settlers were pleased when another shipment of seventeen horses arrived.  Offspring of these small Irish and Scottish breeds eventually were crossbred with descendants of the Spanish horses from Florida producing a small sized horse breed good for both riding and farm work.

Again, no mules yet. Not until 1785 did George Washington receive a jack from the king of Spain and began breeding work mules at Mount Vernon. It wasn't long until Virginia had a sizable work mule population, but even then it took a while for mules to reach the Blue Ridge region. For a long time I couldn't pinpoint a time—until I read a copy of This Pleasant Land. From that book I learned that mules came into the Blue Ridge in the 1820s—more than 60 years after the author of that novel assumed they were there.

But back to Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders: As I read it, I noticed a blunder that  had to do with horses. On p. 136, in a section dealing with travel, is this info: "A specific type of horse, the palfrey, was bred for carrying well-off travelers. Palfreys are trained to use a particular gait, called an 'amble' (sort of like power walking for horses), which is faster than a walk." Palfreys were indeed bred for their smooth gait but I doubt they were bred for only "well-off travelers." The smooth gait was indeed bred into the palfrey, but they weren't trained for it. [In my lifetime, I have owned two easy-gaited horses—a racking mare and a Tennessee Walker—whose gait was bred into them. In fact, my racking mare and I won several ambling classes at local shows.] 

The section on undergarments in MU and OB is confusing. Those of us who have studied historical costumes —FYI: I took a "History of Costume" class in college—know that from about the seventeenth through the 18th century, a woman only wore two undergarments: her shift and her stays. (No she didn't wear underpants—they wouldn't become popular until about 1830.) But on p. 9 of MU and OB :  "If the woman wore a corset it went on over the shift. . . ."  Historically speaking, that woman would have worn stays—the precursor of the corset—over her shift prior to the late 1700s. Or, during the latter half of the 1500s, she would have worn a bodice (a pair of bodies). Sometimes the terms bodice, stays, and corset are used interchangeably now, but historically they belonged to different time periods. The women at colonial Jamestown, as mentioned earlier, would wear stays. 

Nonetheless, I did find Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders an interesting read. It isn't all inclusive, but it's a good place to start if you're interested in historical fiction and it offers an extensive bibliography. If you're a writer, this is a book you might want to read. 

Many readers, I'm sure, aren't bothered by anachronisms—or possibly don't even notice them. 

But, alas, I am—and often I notice.

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Blatant plug for my own work: If you're interested in my novel, Patches on the Same Quilt, it's available from Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Patches-Same-Quilt-Becky-Mushko/dp/1499616082 .

Solving a Mystery

When I was in elementary school, the three types of books I liked—and the ones I was most likely to check out of the Huff Lane School library—were horse books, biographies, and mysteries. Horse books fed my passion for horses. I'd started seriously wanting a horse when I was seven but didn't get my first one until I was thirty-two. Biographies made me realize that people—even ones who'd lived and died long ago—could lead pretty interesting lives.  Mysteries intrigued me and kept me guessing until all the clues led to a solution. I especially  liked the way the girl detectives solved mysteries: first they noticed something amiss, then they looked for clues, and the clues finally led them to a solution. I wondered if I'd ever solve a mystery.

Recently, I did. The solution revealed some secrets about someone who had lived over a century ago—my 3rd great uncle, Matthew Harvey Nace, from Buchanan, Virginia. He was the relative no one would mention—he apparently did some dastardly deed and then disappeared. Every so often, I'd Google him (his first name sometimes appeared as "Mathew") without much luck. Then, I got incredibly lucky when I found a newsletter from Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery about a Nace monument being restored—a monument that Matthew Nace built for his wife Evaline, who died in 1854 after giving birth to their fourth child. (The infant, a girl, died six weeks later.) 

Nace Monument in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, VA
Photo taken by Mike Ruble on July 28, 2018

Now I had some names and places, so I started Googling for other clues. And I found them.

Matthew and Evaline were married in Lynchburg in 1847. The 1850 census showed that 26-year-old Matthew, his wife Evaline Augusta Fuqua Christian, and daughter Fanny were living in Richmond where he was a merchant and one of his Christian in-laws lived next door.

Soon their son William (no doubt named for Matthew's father, William Nace) was born in December 1850 and their daughter Virginia Harvey in 1852. After Evaline's death, Matthew and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. The 1855 Brooklyn census shows him living in a $10,000 stone house with his children, three Irish servants, his brother Robert, and an "L.P. Nace" who supposedly was a sister (although Matthew had no sisters). Matthew's job was "tobacco," and he was a partner in Nace & Coe—a company he was later accused of robbing and swindling. That, I concluded, was the dastardly deed.

His partner Israel Coe took out a newspaper ad after Matthew mysteriously vanished:

Matthew did write a letter to his former partner, and this letter—published Wells Vs. March case in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, Vol. 30, p. 346—explains a little more:

. . . and there Matthew Harvey Nace seemed to drop out of sight. But I kept Googling and occasionally checking info on Ancestry.com. I got lucky—and solved the mystery of what became of Matthew.

It turns out that Matthew didn't go directly to California—and he didn't sail. But he remarried (in Indiana), changed his name, ended up on the West coast, had a few more children, and had some interesting adventures. I've blogged about what I discovered about him on my Naces of Lithia genealogy blog. You can read what I learned about Matthew here: 

Part I: https://nacelithia.blogspot.com/2019/04/matthew-nace-mystery-part-i.html

Part II: https://nacelithia.blogspot.com/2019/04/matthew-nace-mystery-part-ii.html

Another discovery: https://nacelithia.blogspot.com/2021/02/matthew-nace-another-discovery.html

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Geezer Test

I'm not sure of the original source or I'd post a link, but this "Geezer Test" has been floating around the Internet lately:

Could I be a geezer? Let's see what I remember—

1. Cap guns: I had several when I was a kid. I also had a cowgirl outfit, and I pretended my bike was my horse:

2. Home milk deliveries in glass bottles: Yep. I can't remember if we got our milk from Garst Brothers Dairy or from Clover Creamery, but I remember those bottles. Cream was at the top, so you had to shake the bottle to distribute the cream before you removed the bottle's cardboard cap. I have a bunch of old glass milk bottles—here are two. They make great vases.

3. TV test patterns early in the morning: Yep. As I recall, one of the two local stations didn't come on until later in the day, so the test pattern was on for a long time. I remember the Shot of the American flag flying when one of the stations went off the air at night, but I didn't usually stay up that late.

4. Curb finders for your car: I remember seeing them on some cars, but I don't think our car had them. We called them "curb feelers." You can still get them.

5. Stamp books and redemption centers: Mama always saved S&H green stamps from Mick-or-Mac. I got to paste the stamps in the book. She acquired a lot of stuff with the stamps we saved. I still have the glassware she bought with stamps.

6. Phone booths. I remember those well. I used to see them downtown and inside some buildings. When I was a student teacher at Hermitage High in Richmond, the school had a phone booth in the hall. One day at lunch, a teacher (I think it was the band director) was in it when some kids turned it around so the doors faced the wall. 

7. Aluminum ice cube trays with pull handles: I still have some of these somewhere.

8. Subway tokens: No subways in Roanoke, but I remember bus tokens. I used them when I was in the seventh grade had to ride a city bus downtown to Lee Junior High.

9. Crazy Eddies: Didn't have one in Roanoke. But we had Lee Hartman and Sons, which is still around after 75 years.

10. Earl Sheib's auto paint jobs: I used the Roanoke Earl Scheib to get my first horse trailer painted in the mid-80s. I remember the ads on TV, too. Heck, the person Earl Scheib might have died, but his business lives on—just not in Roanoke. 

11. Mobile rides that came around the neighborhood: What the heck are those? In Roanoke, we had a vegetable man whose truck came around once or twice a week. In summer, we also had Jerry the Popsicle Man.

12. Free Road Maps at Service Stations: My daddy ran the Sinclair Station (earlier it was Conoco) on Williamson Road, and he had a rack of free maps. Besides pumping gas, he also cleaned the windshield and checked the oil.

13. Seltzer bottles: Clarabelle the Clown on Howdy Doody used to squirt people with one on TV. Never saw anyone I knew use a seltzer bottle, though.

14. Doctors who made house calls: I can remember my grandmother being visited by a doctor who made a house call.

15. Cigarette vending machines: They used to be all over the place. I think there was even one downstairs in Founders Hall at RPI in the little alcove where the candy machine and drink machines were. I can remember when businesses gave their clients ashtrays.

16. Flash cubes: Heck, I even remember flash bulbs. The cubes were a later improvement over the bulbs. My first camera (l.) didn't have a flash capability, but my second camera (center) did. I can remember having my picture taken with Mama's Kodak (r.) many times. It was way before home camera used a flash. 

17. Lincoln Logs: I had a set, but I was never able to build a cabin with them. I mainly used them to make corrals for my Roy Rogers Western Town.

18. Johnny on the pony, running bases, stoop ball: These must be games from big cities up north. I remember the pony rides on Williamson Road though. Three times around the ring for a quarter. 

19. F.W. Woolworth Company: It was in downtown Roanoke—in the same block as Kress's, McLellan's, Lerner's, People's Drug Store, the Mr. Peanut Store, and Pugh's Department Store. Miller and Rhodes came later.

20. Checkered Cabs: I remember Checker Cabs and also Yellow Cabs.

I can remember other stuff that I'm pretty sure qualifies me as a geezer:

21. I remember when everyone's mama sewed on a treadle sewing machine. many of my clothes were made on this one.

22. And everyone cut buttons off clothes that were worn-out and saved the buttons in canning jars.

23. I can remember when women wore aprons, like this one that Mama sewed on her sewing machine. Women wore house-dresses, too.

24. I can remember when mamas packed their kids a lunch, and the kids carried the lunch to school in a metal lunch box. I loved my Roy Rogers lunch box.

25. I can remember when you actually dialed phones. When I was a kid, phone numbers had only five numbers. Later a two-letter prefix was added, and then that was converted to a seven-digit number.

Yep, looks like I'm a geezer.

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Civil War Skirmish

Today's warm weather and blue skies made a good day for a battle—so we went to see one. OK, not a full battle—a skirmish. More specifically, a re-enactment of the Battle of Boydton Plank Road at Gethesmene Baptist Church.

The rural church was on a hill. The battle would be down the hill (r.).

We were able to park close to the action, a good thing since I'm still having sciatica problems and I sometimes don't walk too well.

My cousin Anthony Chitwood was there to fire his cannon, assisted by his wife, Ilieta. This was the first time I'd seen her in uniform.  

There was a small encampment nearby. While taking this picture, I heard a shot from across the Rt. 116—black powder season started today.

Some soldiers did a bit of practice before the skirmish.

On the "battleground" was a stump with a fairy door. I don't think many fairies were actually involved in the Civil War.

Before long, the soldiers took their places and prepared for battle. I had a great seat on the front porch of the church.

Before long the yankees opened fire.

The cannon made a lot of smoke! Wonder what the hunters across the road thought when they heard that. The cannon uses black powder, too.

The rebs advanced a bit closer.

So did the yanks.

While they fired at each other from pretty close range, there were no casualties.

Before long, the yankees had captured the rebels.

But the cannon got it one last volley.

After the battle, the re-enactors chatted with the spectators.

I had a pretty good time and was able to get around better than I thought I would. 

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Rainy Day & Bookfest

. . .  a pretty good combination—at least when the bookfest is inside. This morning I drove 27 miles to Chatham to participate in the first annual Pittsylvania County Book and Author Festival, held in the historic Chatham Train Depot, which became home to the Pittsylvania County History Research Center last spring .

I knew I was in the right place when I saw the sign:

The venue couldn't have been better. Tables and chairs were already set up, and I was able to park right beside the door to unload. In a matter of minutes, my table was ready.

Before the bookfest got under way, I looked around in the next room that featured some wonderful exhibits. It wasn't that long ago that the old depot was in a state of major disrepair. Restoration began in 2006 and was finished six year later. A series of pictures show what the depot looked like at various times.

My favorite exhibit showed what Chatham (and the depot) looked like many years ago.

I managed to get some pictures of the little train that ran through it.

While I was looking at the exhibit, a real train sped by outside. At least a half-dozen trains rattled past while the bookfest was underway. Trains don't stop at the old depot, though.

There were lots of train-related exhibits and train-related books . . .

. . . and plenty of pictures of trains.

The wreck of the Old 97, made famous in song, happened near Danville on September 27, 1903. Eleven people were killed in the wreck and several were injured. Here's what the Old 97 looked like:

Here is a picture of the wreck. Below the picture are two railroad spikes from the scene.

Larry Aaron, author of The Wreck of the Old 97, published by History House Press in 2010, had his book available at the the bookfest.

I also looked at other exhibits—like these woven coverlets from the Stone Family plantation. . .

. . . and this embroidered cotten coverlet.

Many of the authors at the bookfest had written historical non-fiction, such as Carl L. Sell, Jr., whose table was next to mine. It was interesting listening to him talk about Gettysburg.

A few of us wrote fiction, though. One of the authors that I'd known previously, Carolyn Tyree Feagans, had her novels that are set in the Blue Ridge.

Other authors included Ginny Brock (one of my Lake Writer buddies), Angela Harris (whom I'd met at a Binding Time Bookfest), Lee Wayland, Barney Lawless, Arlene Carter, Susan Elzey, Clara Fountain, and Sandy Logan.

I had a wonderful time and sold a bunch of books at the first annual Pittsylvania County Book and Author Festival. I'm already looking forward to the second one.

If you're interested in Pittsylvania County history, you can learn more at http://pittsylvaniacountyhistory.com.

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