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(Same e-mail I sent at 11:39 but hopefully now not in plain text.)<br>
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<Happy Monday to you all!><br>
<br>
<In my genealogical research, I came
across a newspaper article in 1836 calling an ancestor of mine a
“Skallewagg.” This piqued my interest and I branched out into
the less-familiar discipline of etymology. Here is what I found,
beginning with this query sent to a New York magazine...>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>1863, The Historical Magazine,
Volume 7, New York, NY, “Queries, April 1863,” page 130</b><br>
SKALLYWAG. - Bartlett, in his
Dictionary of Americanisms, gives the definition of this word, but
not its derivation. I presume it is only another form of scaley wag.
But where did it originate?<br>
A.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><A very good question!
Unfortunately, when I searched the magazine's available archives, I
did not find any published answer. But let's see what Barlett has to
say.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>1859, Dictionary of Americanisms by
John Russell Bartlett, Little, Brown & Comp., Trübner &
Comp., 2nd ed, Page 382</b><br>
SCALLAWAG. A scamp; a scapegrace. A
scallawag has been defined to be, "like many other wags, a
compound of loafer, blackguard, and scamp."</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Dr. Collier has been showing his model
artists here, and the mean skallewag left without paying the printer.
- Buffalo Courier.<br>
You good-for-nothin' young scallawag,
is that the way you take care of that poor dear boy, to let him fall
in the pond. -S. Slick, Human Nature<br>
That scallawag of a fellow ought to be
kicked out of all decent society. -Western Sketches</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><I couldn't find Bartlett's
references but I stumbled on what could be the original source of his
definition in a newspaper clipping from the previous year.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Monday, October 4, 1858 Paper: New
York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) Volume: XVIII Issue: 5445 Page:
6, 'WHAT IS A "SCALLAWAG?'</b><br>
To the Editor of the N. Y. Tribune.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Sir: Mr. John Livingston, in his recent
letter to you in reply to a spicy communication reflecting on him and
his "list of reliable lawyers," and copied by you in your
issue of August 21, 1858, styles the author a "scallawag."<br>
Having hunted in vain in the various
dictionaries, and being desirous to find out the true meaning of this
word, application is respectfully made to you to furnish the desired
information; and if you are unable to do so, then please publish
this, and perhaps Mr. Livingston may enlighten.<br>
Sept. 20, 1858 READERS.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Answer.-- A "scallawag," like
many another wag, is a compound of loafer, blackguard and scamp. We
believe Mr. Livingston used the term according to its accepted
meaning.<br>
[Ed.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><A year earlier and in the same
publication I found the term used in relation to cattle.><br>
<br>
<b>Thursday, July 16, 1857 Paper: New
York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) Volume: XVII Issue: 5066 Page:
8, “Cattle Market Report”</b><br>
...The whole system is as rotten as
some of the livers of scallawag cattle that scallawag butchers sell
scallawag people to eat for food, and swell the lists of weekly
deaths. ... It is cheat all around from farmer to consumer.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><These Cattle Market Reports were
published weekly by Solon Robinson who may have been the propagator
of the term being applied to undersized livestock. The influence his
reports had is evident below.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Friday, Feb 18, 1859, Brockport
Republican (Brockport, NY) “Nominating Town Officers”</b><br>
Persons who participate in making the
nominations and then bolt because they or their friends have not been
nominated, are what the New York Tribune in its cattle report terms
"scalawags," and the sooner the party is freed from such
burdensome stock, the sooner it will be on the road to prosperity.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><Throughout the mid-to-late '50s
Robinson used this term quite often in cases like “scallawag pigs,"
or "miserable scallawags."></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Thursday, Feb 19, 1857 Paper: New
York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) Page: 8, “Cattle Market
Report”</b><br>
On the other hand, there are scarcely
any of that old-fashioned kind for which we had several years ago to
invent the term of reproach now so commonly known as “scallawag,”
which means an animal wholly unfit for the butcher.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><That's right, Robinson not only
defines the word but even seems to claim credit for its coinage!
Before taking him at his word however, let us look at some other
instances from “several years ago.”></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Thursday, March 8, 1855 Paper: New
York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) Page: 8 Column 4, “Cattle
Market Report”</b><br>
The term “scallawag” is a
provincialism that means everything that is mean. It should be
applied to the owners who are mean enough to send Cattle here too
mean to keep at home.<br>
Is there no way to stop this trade in
live carrion meat?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><Robinson's definition is much
broader here, and it certainly sounds like he is making no claim to
ownership.> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Thursday, October 24, 1854 Paper:
New York Herald-Tribune (New York, NY) Page: 8 Column 3, “Cattle
Market Report”</b><br>
The truth is that the number of
miserable “scallawags” is so great, that like the bad portion of
the biped race, they tend to drag down all above themselves to their
own level.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><The above is the earliest instance
of Scalawag I found in the Robinson's reports. Note the apostrophes
which he later dropped. I found two other instances in 1854, which I
won't quote here, one from the Herald-Tribune and the other from the
Knickerbocker Magazine, that both use apostrophes as well.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Jan-Jun 1850, Sartain's union
magazine of literature and art, Volume 6, Philadelphia, PA, By John
Sartain, Page 67, “The Doctor's Third Patient,” by Rev. John
Todd, D.D.</b><br>
<font color="#000000"><font face="Times-Roman, serif"><font size="3">Tell
the meaching, cowardly, ignorant rantum-scantum scaliwag that I
won't, that's all!</font></font></font> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><I'm not sure if that quote has any
academic value, but it was too good to pass up! The following is the
earliest official definition of the word.> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>1848, Dictionary of Americanisms:A
glossary of words and phrases, usually regarded as peculiar to the
United States (Google eBook), Bartlett and Welford, 1st ed, PAGES
284-285</b><br>
SCALAWAG. A favorite epithet in western
New York for a mean fellow; a scapegrace.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><This implies that less than 200
years ago this “provincialism” was still uncommon in all but a
small corner of the English-speaking world.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Tuesday, January 12, 1848, The Daily
Courier (Buffalo, NY)</b><br>
One of our County Contemporaries wishes
everybody a happy new year, except a couple of “scalawag”
subscribers, who have taken his paper for more than a year, and now
refuse to take it from the post-office, after been politely solicited
to pay up. Such men, he says, “don't deserve happiness either in
this world or the next.”</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><This excerpt, coming from western
New York, supports Bartlett's definition.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>September 24, 1848, Onondaga Gazette
(Baldwindsville, NY) “One Dollar a Year, Invariably in Advance,
Walk up and Settle”</b><br>
Louis Fontain, also of Washington...
is, as near as we can learn, a poor miserable skallywag, at best. ...
We wouldn't mind the original bill so much, however, if the scoundrel
hadn't had the impudence to “elect” us for ten cents on his straw
promise.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000"><Once again,
an editor filled with righteous and eloquent indignation. And yes,
the town of Baldwinsville is also located in the western half of the
state.> </font>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Tuesday, September 12, 1848, The
Daily Courier (Buffalo, NY)</b><br>
NED BUNTLINE asks us the definition of
the word “skallewag.” It means a 'tuppeny,' conceited, seedy,
individual who is well described by “Ollapod,” thus:-- “an
utmost wretch, a multitudinous puppy, lacking not urbanity merely but
also politeness likewise.”</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><Back to Buffalo and this time with
a pre-Bartlett definition! After some searching I was able to trace
the colorful quote to a 1835 article written by Willis Gaylord Clark
under the pen name “Ollapod” and published in the Knickerbocker,
but could find no instance of the word in that context (or anywhere
in the available Knickerbocker archives). Also of note is that the
above three instances of Scalawag, while published in the space of
only nine months, all exhibit their own unique spellings.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Tuesday, November 26, 1844; Vermont
Gazette (Bennington, VT), Volume 15; Issue 48; Page 2; Col. 5. “All
the Decency”</b><br>
As the procession passed they were
insulted…denouncing the democrats as a “gang of ragmuffins,” a
“loco foco rabble,” a “band of scalawags,” “Irish
vagabonds,” “poor loafers,” “drunken rowdies,"...</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><The above usage was antedated on
this e-mail list in 2009 by Stephen Goranson and is the only pre-1850
instance I found not published in New York State.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Thursday, August 31, 1843 Paper:
Albany Evening Journal (Albany, NY) Volume: 14 Issue: 4087 Page:
2, “Common Council Wednesday August 30”</b><br>
Mr. McKnight has sympathy for Mr.
Cushman, but he has sympathy also for that class which he termed
“scalliwags.” That class were subjected to the loss, not only of
their capital, but their victuals. He knew one contractor who had
been kept weeks in idleness, with all his laborers and his horse,
merely because the surveyor did not choose to furnish the necessary
grade stakes. And in the mean time, the families of the men were
suffering for the necessities of life.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><The council seems to be discussing
the possible firing of city surveyor Cushman. It is interesting that
McKnight feels the need to define his term and that the sense he
gives does not sound exclusively derogatory. The next instance,
published only 19 days after the last, is distinctive in its suffix
but more common in regards to its apparent sense.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>September 19, 1843 Paper: Albany
Evening Journal (Albany, NY) Volume: 14 Issue: 4103 Page: 2,
“Common Council Sept. 30”</b><br>
By Mr. Teall, in favor of the payment
of the account of Horace Pierce, for work done on Hamilton street.<br>
Mr Chambers thought there was some
scalawagism about this business.<br>
So did Ald. Downing, when the report
was laid on the table on motion of Mr. McKnight. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000"><b>January 10,
1843 Paper: ONEIDA WHIG (Utica, NY) Page 3, “A Chapter About
Loafers” by John W. Stafford</b><br>
A man who sits in
a bar-room all day and all night, talking politics with all who he
can get to listen to him, when he makes you think that he had better
go home, chalk his collar and black his shoes, is not a loafer; he is
a schallawag.</font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000"><The above is
from an article comparing the admirable Loafers to similar but
inferior types such as Green-Horns and Puppies. If you count
McKnight's explanation, this is our third pre-Barlett definition!></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><The next earliest instances are
found in the county Black List of Batavia, a township in western New
York (surprise, surprise!). This list was begun around 1830 by the
local merchants of Genesee County in order to publicly denounce
absconding debtors. It was published weekly in the county newspapers
and consisted of about 30 names, the number fluctuating as names were
removed and added.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><The most recent appearance of
Scalawag in the Black List was on September 06 1836 in Batavia's
Republican Advocate, where a set of eight names is followed by the
label “—<i>all Skallewaggs</i>.” On that same list is my
ancestor John W. Putman, also tagged with “—<i>Skallewagg</i>.”
However, while Putman was on the list since 1834, the first time he
was called that name was not until March 8, 1836. Before that the
honor belonged to the man below him on the list, Abial Hawkins
(apparently the epithet switched to Putman through a simple
typesetting error). Hawkins' named was added to the list in 1834,
between August 5 and November 18. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>November 18, 1834, Republican
Advocate (Batavia, NY) Page 4, Column 2, “Absconding Debtors”</b><br>
The following persons are generally
supposed to have gone off without intention of returning.<br>
...<br>
James O. Leach, Batavia—Black-Leg and
Knight of the Pressboard and Thimble!!<br>
John W. Putman, Batavia.<br>
Harvy Godfrey, Stafford.<br>
Abial Hakwins, Batavia.—<i>Skallewagg</i><br>
…</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><In another Batavian newspaper, the
Spirit of the Times, Hawkins' name appears with the label “Skallewag
to Michigan.” Most Black List entries noted where the person was
from, while some also specified where they had run off to. I do not
know why the two versions entries differ in spelling and
content.> </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><And last of all is the earliest
appearance of Scalawag I could find, and as far as I know the
earliest instance yet on record.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font color="#000000"><font
face="Times-Roman, serif"><font size="3"><b>Wednesday,
April 11, 1832, Ithaca Chronicle (Ithaca, NY) No. 7, Vol. 3, Page 3,
Column 3, “Town Meetings”</b><br>
<span style="">NIAGARA
COUNTY. —Cambria, Royalton, Lewiston, Newfane, and Porter, are
antimasonic.—Hartland, Wilson and Lockport, masonic, the latter by
an average majority of 4 votes, under the designation of the
</span></font></font></font><font color="#000000"><font
face="Times-Roman, serif"><font size="3"><i><span style="">scalliwag</span></i></font></font></font><font
color="#000000"><font face="Times-Roman, serif"><font size="3"><span
style="font-style: normal;"><span style="">
ticket, in support of which the Jackson and Clay men with some
disaffected antimasons, united.</span></span></font></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><I must admit that after all those
k's and double-g's, this variation does seem a bit tame. The report
it appears in is one of many detailing the town election results in
New York's counties. A week later the Independence of Poughkeepsie,
NY quoted this report with word for word accuracy but misspelled
<i>scalliwag</i> as <i>scailiwag</i>. I'm not even sure exactly what
sense the word has in this context, and feel this instance raises
more questions than it answers.></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><So there you go. I have a few more
things I can add concerning the history of Scalawag, but this may be
plenty to chew on for the moment. Your comments and/or advice are
very welcome!></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">—Nathaniel Sharpe</p>
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