BELLAMY MANSION MUSEUM
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Keeping Up With The Bellamys: Textiles and Fashion of the Civil War Era

11/5/2018

1 Comment

 
Need a new shirt? You can go to any of a hundred different stores in modern Wilmington or even simply buy on online and have it shipped right to your door. But in the mid-1800’s, getting some new threads was not as easy as it is today, even for a wealthy family like the Bellamys. Though we do not know much about the clothing that the Bellamy family wore, we can use written historical records and resources to gain a better understanding of how they acquired the clothing they did have. 

First up is the foundation of any piece of clothing, historic or modern- the material. The Bellamy family had their own source for cotton and wool as they owned a plantation in Brunswick County. Ellen Douglas Bellamy, the youngest daughter of John and Eliza Bellamy, mentioned these resources in her memoir Back With The Tide. “We had provisions of all kinds, raising cotton, spinning and weaving our cloth, both cotton and wool, for we had a large flock of sheep,” (p. 14) at Grovely Plantation where John Bellamy kept 82 enslaved workers who did the “raising,” the “spinning,” and the “weaving.” While cotton is the crop most people associate with the antebellum South, plantations in the Wilmington area, like Grovely, mainly grew food products like peanuts, rice, and corn, as well as raising livestock. Cotton and other materials brought in through Wilmington’s busy port were often in the form of already woven fabrics or finished clothing ready for purchase, ranging from rough textiles like “gunny cloth” to refined French cashmere.
There are some records of fabrics being produced directly by the enslaved workers of Bellamy household, once again as told in Ellen Bellamy’s memoirs:
“One of our women, Mozella, was such an expert spinner that her yarns were too fine and even for our looms. Mother took me with her to Drs. Drew’s, a first rate weaver, file miles from us, and got her to weave a bolt of beautiful white flannel from Mozella’s yarn. It was used then, and long afterwards, for skirts for all our family and kin [...]. We tanned the leather and made our shoes. Richmond, one of our slaves, cut his knee and thus was disabled for doing accustomed work of cutting wood; so Pa apprenticed him for a time to a Mr. Hewett, a shoemaker in Wilmington, and Richmond became quite an expert. His shoes would bear inspection by the most fastidious. My sister would make the uppers of little shoes from old pants or scraps of heavy cloth for my baby brother, and Richmond would sole them” (p. 14).
Picture
Ellen Douglass Bellamy, circa 1860.
Those in Wilmington without enough money to own a slave but enough to commission a dressmaker or a seamstress to create a garment had many options, as newspaper ads from 1850-1865 show. After the Civil War ended in 1865, many former enslaved women with seamstress skills also began advertising themselves in local newspapers alongside other seamstresses. These ads usually wouldn’t give clues as to the race of the advertiser, leaving the details of their identity to local knowledge. ​
The inhabitants of the Bellamy Mansion and its longest resident, Ellen Bellamy (1852-1946), witnessed many changes in fashion and the production of it during their lives. With the introduction of the Singer sewing machine in 1851, the production of garments became much easier. While there are no records of the Bellamy household owning a sewing machine, the Singer sewing machine did have a presence in Wilmington, judging by this ad from 1859.
Picture
Singer sewing machine ad from The Wilmington Daily Herald, published Friday, July 15th, 1859.
As the Bellamys were wealthy and could afford it, their dresses were often made with numerous folds, full floor-length skirts, and miles upon miles of ruffles. This is evident in the pictures of the Bellamy family which display the family’s fashion choices.
Picture
Two women, identities unknown but most likely Bellamy family or relatives.
Picture
Mary Elizabeth "Belle" Bellamy, circa 1860.
One part of 19th century fashion the Bellamy women embraced was that of lace collars, as seen in the picture of Mary Elizabeth “Belle” Bellamy above. As with other fashion production in the mid-1800s, the manufacturing of lace became more mechanized in order to produce enough to fulfill demands, but some lace was also still handmade, mostly through methods of bobbins, tatting, or crochet. Accent pieces that used lace were usually in the form of detachable collars that laid over the dress neckline and cuffs that were either detachable or sewn onto the end of sleeves (Origins of Lace).
While there are no clear records of lace use or production in the Bellamy household, it is safe to assume that it existed, especially since we have photos of family members wearing lace collars as seen in this article. There are also contemporary records of lace and lace collars being sold by merchants in Wilmington, ads touting both “real” and “imitation” laces, meaning handmade and machine-made lace respectively (Origins of Lace).
Picture
Ad published in The Wilmington Daily Herald on Tuesday, October 11th, 1859.
Picture
Ad published in The Tri Weekly Commercial on Saturday, September 16th, 1854.
The culture of fashion and textiles in America changed rapidly throughout the lifetime of the Bellamy family, heralding the beginning of the clothing industry we are familiar with today. While some of the fashion of the era may seem old and antiquated, there are parts of it that survive in our style even today and connect us to the past.
Written by Bellamy Mansion intern and UNCW English Major Caitlyn Dark.
References
Bates, Christopher G. “The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History.” First edition, Routledge, 2015. 
Bellamy, Ellen Douglass. “Back With The Tide.” Edited by Janet K. Speaker, Reprint edition, Bellamy Mansion Museum of History and Design Arts, 2002. 
Gerard, Philip. “A House Divided.” Our State Magazine, Our State Magazine, 28 April 2011, https://www.ourstate.com/bellamy-mansion/. 
“Ladies' Antebellum Clothing - Fabrics.” Historic Northampton Museum and Education Center, 2018, historic-northampton.org/virtual_exhibits/antebellum/fabrics.html. 
“The Origins & History of Lace.” The Lace Guild, 2017, https://www.laceguild.org/craft/index.html.
1 Comment
Head Scarves link
12/22/2021 10:30:21 am

Your blog is very interesting and adds insight for me. Thank you for sharing.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About Us

    The museum offers tours, features changing exhibits, and provides venue space for weddings and special events.

    503 Market Street
    Wilmington, NC 28401
    910.251.3700
    Tours:
    Tues - Sat 10am- 4pm
    Sunday 1pm- 4pm

    Categories

    All
    Events
    Mardi Gras
    News
    Restoration

    Archives

    February 2020
    January 2020
    March 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.