The surname Beseler in various scripts |
A blog by Campaspe Regional Library to talk about genealogy and family history, ask questions, highlight useful sites and share tips.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
German scripts
I have just discovered a great website where you can type in your ancestral name and see what is would look like in several old German scripts. As I have German ancestry and my one year of high school German was both a long time ago and totally inadequate to translating old documents, I'm finding it quite useful. Anything that helps me decipher the old documents I find is great news, and as you can see from the scripts below, some of the results look nothing like the name I typed in. So here is the name Beseler in several different scripts.
Some of these, yes, I can see it is the Beseler surname at a glance. Others, not so easily. If I was rapidly scanning a document I would probably not pick it up - in several the B looks like L, the Es look like Ns and the S is an F.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Victorian Mourning Customs
By the 19th century, mourning behaviour in England
had developed into a complex set of rules, particularly among the upper
classes. For women, the customs involved wearing heavy, concealing, black
clothing, and the use of heavy veils of black crêpe. The entire ensemble was
colloquially known as "widow's weeds" (from the Old English waed,
meaning "garment"). Special caps and bonnets, usually in black
or other dark colours, went with these ensembles.
Widows were
expected to wear special clothes to indicate that they were in mourning for at
least two years after the death, although a widow could choose to wear such
attire for the rest of her life. To change the costume earlier was considered
disrespectful to the deceased and, if the widow was still young and attractive,
suggestive of potential sexual promiscuity. Those subject to the rules were
slowly allowed to re-introduce conventional clothing at specific times; such
stages were known by such terms as "full mourning", "half
mourning", and similar descriptions. For half mourning, muted colours such
as lilac, grey and lavender could be introduced. There was also
mourning jewelry, often made of jet. The wealthy would wear cameos or lockets
designed to hold a lock of the deceased's hair or some similar relic.
Mourning became
quite an industry, with special warehouses offering specially made mourning
wear. As it was considered unlucky to have mourning clothes on hand these
clothes were generally discarded after the period of mourning ended, then new
clothes would have to be quickly purchased when needed again. Friends,
acquaintances, and employees wore mourning to a greater or lesser degree
depending on their relationship to the deceased. Mourning was worn for six
months for a sibling. Parents would wear mourning for a child for "as long
as they feel so disposed". No lady or gentleman in mourning was
supposed to attend social events while in deep mourning. In general, men
were expected to wear mourning suits of black coats with matching trousers and waistcoats.
The black dyes used
for mourning clothes were often unstable and could not be worn next to the skin
as perspiration and natural body oils would cause the colour to blotch and run.
It was this reason white shirts were worn but trimmed with purple or black
lace, ribbon, or piping.
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