I don't know about anyone else, but my research for the early-mid 1800s
found that the average height of an American male was between 3/4 to 1 inch
smaller than the average height today, which was just about 5'10". Diet and
sanitation were the big skewing factors and the reason why average height
plummeted in the wake of the big European migration post 1880-1910.
Folks in rural areas tended to be somewhat taller and healthier, than those
who lived in tenements in the cities.
Bed styles can also provide visual illusions that make them appear to me
"short."
We have the bed of Joseph W. Brick, founder of the Bergen Iron Works and
modern-day Lakewood, NJ and namesake of Brick Twp., NJ. The bed looks short,
but actually measures out to 6' long.
Contemporary accounts of the final days of marine engineer James P. Allaire
in 1858, while directly from the period asked about, reveal nothing about
him sitting in bed or in any other position than reclined while dying from
severe pneumonia complicated by crippling rheumatoid arthritis. His doctor,
in testimony in the probate of Mr. Allaire's will, mentions nothing of his
position in bed during the final days while mentioning once how Mr. Allaire
had to reach across the bed and across a bureau to sign some papers.
Finally, remember that there are certain things done in bed that, according
to accepted rules of practice were to be done only in a certain position,
that will be very uncomfortable, if not extremely unpleasant for the parties
involved, if done in a short bed that does not allow at least one of the
individuals involved to stretch the bodies full length, if you know what I
mean. Or have intimate practices changes that much over the years?
Scott D. Peters
Research Director/Archivist
Ocean County Historical Society
26 Hadley Ave., P.O. Box 2191
Toms River, NJ 08754-2191
(732) 341-1880
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
"Telling the Stories of Ocean County"
Historically Speaking
ALHFAM -FPIPN vice-chair for trivia, errata and miscellany
[log in to unmask]
"The ordinary distinctions in society are often vague, and imply no just
pre-eminence: rank and titles are
adventitious things and instead of designating merit or virtue, are
frequently the baubles of imbecility, or
the sparkling decorations of meretricious pageantry"
William Griffith, on behalf, and by order of the New-Jersey Society for
promoting the gradual Abolition
of Slavery, Twelfth Month (December) 20th, 1803
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 10:40 AM
Subject: Bed length
> I know people want to put to "bed," the issue of bed length, but I thought
I would put in my two cents worth. First of all are you talking about "day
beds" or nightime beds. In the late 18th century and into the 1800's people
would recline and perhaps read or knit on a "bed" and sit up to do so. There
were also fainting couches (bed) which, because of the tight corsettes women
wore cut of circulation and breathing so women would inevitably faint while
wearing them, especially the wealthier women, who to them image was
everything. Lastly, the average height of a person during post Colonial
times to the late 1800's was just over 5 feet tall. The idea about watching
the fire, I do not know about that.
>
> Andrew B. Jacobson
> Director of Collections/Curator
> New Jersey Museum of Agriculture
> North Brunswick, NJ
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