19th Century Tattoos

[Brett Asselin]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

anything out there about soldiers tattooing the inside of their fingers? I just did one of an anchor on myself. If its not authenitc, I guess its just like some stitch work on some clothing out there, very well hidden.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

That patriotic eagle he has on his chest with "Union" is what I am planing on getting.

[Ike Gatlin]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

What do you think? Period?
Maybe I should qualify a little better... this art work is from a 16th century French Woodcut. The only "add-on" was the latin. I will let you folks who are smarter than I to translate.
Ike Gatlin

[Boucher42]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Those two fellows are strapped. I don't feel so out of place now with all mine, even though I don't have the awesome cannon and patriot stuff going on.

[Bushrod Carter]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

The blow up photo of the second guy shows me that he was (most likely) a member of the Odd Fellows fraternal organization. Very Cool!

[Mutt]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Thanks for reviving this thread! I've been mulling over what I'd like to get for my second tat and was, of course, leaning towards a 19th sited/documented design and perhaps something patriotic. You'll find my first attached. Not 19th century, but I like to share :)

Check out this book if you're into vintage tats, mine was taken from it: http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Tattoo.../dp/0789318245

It does skirt out of the 19th century quickly, but still gives some information.

Best,

[Hank Trent]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Here's a source of dozens, maybe hundreds, of descriptions of men and their tattoos. The only link I looked at was the 1830-1840 pdf, because that's the era I was looking for (didn't find the man I wanted), but there are later dates too up through the 1850s and 60s that might have the same thing. It's a list of inmates of the Baltimore Penitentiary, with distinguishing marks. This being a port city, lots of sailors, though many of the men with tattoos have other occupations but may have been more likely to get them because it was a port city and they had sailors around them.

http://guide.mdarchives.state.md.us/series.cfm?action=viewSeries&ID=SE65

That link's normal, but if you click on any of the links on that page called "link," they are huge pdf files. Took me an hour to download one on a medium to slow dsl connection. But for every man with a tattoo, it describes it briefly, sometimes with a little drawing. Most are boring, initials, dates, hearts, that kind of thing, but some are more unusual. It's also an interesting bit of demographic data because of course men without tattoos are included too, so one can see what percentage of convicted criminals in the Baltimore area were tattooed and what types they were most likely to have.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[markj]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Very interesting data! Thanks for sharing this. I have since found numerous other reports of tattooed individuals in the papers. I have attached about twenty 1850's newspaper items for your perusal and edification. Incidentally, at least one of the articles, from 12 March 1856, also mentions the sailor habit of wearing earrings.

Enjoy,

Mark Jaeger

[markj]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

While casually searching the Web, I found this fascinating ship's manifest from 1867. The individuals listed were apparently bound for Australia, but the body art described in the list is exactly like that mentioned in American accounts from the same period.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/conwad41.htm

Check it out,

Mark Jaeger

[Aubrey]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Interesting Mark, thank you ! but no idea of drawings, I'm planning to get an anchor on my arm in 1850' style....approaching to what we see on sailor's scrimshaw....

[markj]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

Seems like a logical way to go about it: I'd wager the same guys who were talented at scrimshaw work were also talented at tattooing on side. However, per the documentation I've previously provided regarding the tattooing methods of the day, I'd suggest you avoid using gunpowder or lamp black as your "tattooing media." ;)

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[markj]

Re: 19th Century Tattoos

With the anniversary of Antietam/Sharpsburg coming up, this reference to tattooing within a specific regiment (Company A, 8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry) was a nice find. Scroll down about halfway in the writeup for Sergeant George Marsh (KIA, 17 September 1862).

http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2014/07/sergeant-george-marsh-first-connecticut.html

Regards,

Mark Jaeger