Oct 22, 2018 2 min read

Wool dress

worn by young boy

From the mid-16th century until the early 20th century, young boys and girls in American wore frocks or dresses until an age that varied between 2 and 8. Breeching, when a young boy began to wear trousers, was an important rite of passage. At this age boys would leave the care of their mothers to be prepared for manhood by their fathers and other prominent males of the family. In non-farming families, boys as young as 7 or 8 could be sent away to a relative to work as an apprentice and to learn a skilled trade. A male descendant and namesake of this prominent early settler wore this dress as a young boy in the mid- to late 19th century.

The fine wool, elaborate buttons and decoration suggest the boy who wore this dress was from a well-to-do family. The braided embellishment is characteristic of clothing made during the Civil War period. The Richard Waugh family is highlighted in J.H. Beers, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (1893). Beers recounts that the Waugh family had been in Pennsylvania at least 150 years and was involved in building two of the first water-powered mills. Waugh is also credited with building two tunnels, roads and bridges, at his own expense, significantly improving transportation in the area. This dress was given to the Washington County Historic Society by the Charles Edgar Crothers Estate in the 1970s.