Figure 1.-- This unidentified child in a tin-type portrait child looks to be about 12 years old. He looks to be a boy with a boyish hair cut, not a girl's short hair cut. Unfortunately we have ni family infotmation. The dress is one a girl of that age may have worn. There is smocking on the bodice and the skirt has extensive runching. The portrait is undated, but the dress style and studio set suggest the 1870s. We are not sure if he has a necklace or a religiius device of some kind.

We have found a few images of older boys wearing dresses. Some look to be about 12-yearsold or even 13-years old. It is difficult to tell the difference. In the 19th century these would still be pre-pubesent boys. Unfortunately we have dound no accomphying information to explain these images. It coould be examples of mothers keeping boys at home and and hnging on to their youth abd innosence. Or perhaps a mother of artistic sensabilities. Even in the 19th century, however, not breeching a boy this age would have been seen as unusual, but not as today requiring outside intervention. Mothers were given great lattitude in such matters. Often fathers would intervene. But fathers might be absent in some families or for a variety of reasons not asertive. Another possibility is that there may have been a kind if playful costume exercise. There of course is always the possibility that the child is a girl with short hair. By this age, however, it is increasingly possible to spot the differences betwen boys and girls. And girls even with short hair often had their hair styled slightly differently than boys. Thus the images we have found of 12-years olds are something of a mystery. There are not many such images, but we have found a few, unfortunately all without any accompanying family information.

Created: 4:52 AM 1/14/2015
Last updated: 4:52 AM 1/14/2015