From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, February 4, 1775

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had on, when he went away, a Kendal Cotton Jacket and Breeches died with Maple Bark, and has flat Metal Buttons on it, Cuffs to his Jacket Sleeves, a Collar of gray Cloth, and a Felt Hat, with a Tinsey worked Button

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, January 5, 1775

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had on and took with him, an old blue Surtout Coat which has been turned, faced, and trimmed with the same Colour; a green Cloth Jacket with yellow Metal Buttons, a Pair of red Plush Breetches; fine mixed blue Country Stockings, a mixed blue Cloth Coat and Jacket lined, and trimmed with black; a stripped [sic] VIRGINIA Cloth Jacket, one Shirt of brown Sheeting with several others of fine Linen, Nankeen Breeches; and many other Cloaths that cannot be particularised. The other is an Englishman named CHARLES BOOTH, and by Trade a Joiner, about 20 or 21 Years of Age, 5 Feet 8 or 10 Inches high, slender made and of a fair Complexion, has white short curled Hair; had on and took with him, a violet or purple Coloured Coat and Vest, a Pair of new Buckskin Breetches, a Pair of old ditto much worn and very dirty, an old blue Coat lined with white Shalloon, a new green Cotton Vest lin’d with Oznabrigs and Plaid Sleeves, a Pair of dark ribb’d Stockings, and several others of different Colours, a brown sheeting Shirt, one fine Irish Linen ditto much patched and several others; also a Silver Watch

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, December 2, 1775

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he had on a fine white Broadcloth Coat, which has been turned, a lapelled green Sagathy Waistcoat laced behind, with Breeches of the same, an old Beaver Hat, Thread Stockings, and Country shoes

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, February 24, 1775

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had on, or took with him, a suit of blue clothes with a red velvet cape … had on a red waistcoat and trousers … a watch in his pocket, a baker by trade, and will endeavour to pass for a freeman; had on a pepper and salt coloured cloth coat, and leather breeches

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, June 6, 1777

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when he went off, a blue Coat and Waistcoat, white Breeches, a grey great Coat, and a black Velvet Cap

Also check out my other post on this here.

Pearls

I was able to find three examples of women wearing pearls. In my last post about jewelry I stated that Mrs. Adams’ pearls actually were not real, so it’s likely that these pictured below were not either.

1776
The woman below has a rather large neckpiece that goes from her neck down to the top of her dress. The necklace also has a cameo type thing, and two matching pearl bracelets with similar cameos. Also interesting to note in this painting is this woman’s earrings. They seem to also be made of pearls and are rather large.

1780-1800
The woman below has a more simple set of pearls on. You can see that her necklace is tied in the back with a ribbon. Similar to the painting above, she also has a matching set of pearl bracelets. It’s important to note as well that the pearls here and above are rather large and round. These are not delicate pearl necklaces.

1777
Here is one last example of pearls. This is a drawing, so it’s a little harder to see them, but you can tell she has one strand around her neck. They do not seem to be as perfectly round as the two depicted above either.

Ribbon

These pictures below show a more simple neck ornament of ribbon. The pictures I have here show a simple black, thin ribbon, between 1/8 inch and 1/2 inch. I have also seen a few pictures where the ribbon was thicker, maybe almost an inch and a half to two inches, and it was also black.

1771-1772
The woman below is wearing a thin black ribbon in the style we would call a ‘drop’ necklace. The ribbon goes around her neck and then drops down to the top of her dress in a ‘Y” shape. It’s hard to tell how she achieved this, but by zooming in you can see that most likely she just doubled up the piece of ribbon and looped it through itself in the front and tucked the end in the top of the dress.

1773
Below is a fun portrait that has a lot of neat things going on, but as far as her neckwear is concerned, it looks like she is wearing a black silk ribbon that is a half inch thick. It is tied in the back and it also has a drop with a good size cross on the end of it. It looks to me like she made a small loop of ribbon, slid the cross on it, and then tied that to the front of the loop of ribbon going around her neck. Pretty simple to do.

1770
This little girl below has a similar necklace to the one shown in the first painting. This shows that this kind of neckwear wasn’t only for adults. It’s hard to tell if this ties in the back or not, but the double ribbon in the front tells me that most likely it’s not and it put together in the same way as the first painting.

1790
This painting below is a little later than the others, but I really like it because it’s not a ‘portrait’ so to speak. It depicts someone of the ‘everyday’ wearing a ribbon necklace. Unlike the others though, she has the ribbon tied in a knot in the front, close up it looks like maybe a thin silk that is a forest green (maybe black) color. Again this looks like it is a half-inch thick.

I hope these examples give you a better idea of the type of necklaces an 18th century woman would have worn. As you can see it wasn’t anything too complicated and relatively simple to duplicate.

In order to see the full ads, please click on the direct link, they are very interesting and really give a taste of the 18th century.

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, January 12, 1775

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had on when she went away a brown linen jacket and petticoat, plaid stockings, common shoes, a calico jacket and petticoat, 1 or 2 white linen shifts, and several other clothes, which I do not remember

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, July 21, 1775

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She had on, and took with her, a calico waistcoat and petticoat, one blue plains ditto, and sundry other apparel. She went off with a free negro fellow, who pretends being a doctor, commonly wears a laced hat

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, March 25, 1775

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had on a Check Petticoat, one brown Linen Ditto, and a blue Stuff Jump Jacket

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, June 15, 1775

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She had on, and took with her, a homespun striped jacket, a red quilted petticoat, a black silk hat, a pair of leather shoes, with wooden heals [sic], a chintz gown, and a black cloak

From the Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, July 27, 1775

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She is dressed with a blue and white Swanskin petticoat, oznabrig shirt, and striped homespun jacket