Unusual use of "Tarheel" (1848, 1852)

[Dan Goncharoff]

Isn't a snake feeder an insect?

DanG


On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Unusual use of "Tarheel" (1848, 1852)
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>
> I'm interested in the 1852 associations of the surnames with
> political personages.
>
> Andrew Jackson Croutcutter?  There may have been a utensil called by
> someone a "crout cutter", but Darn.  It's no longer available and
> cannot be viewed.  For "krautcutter", several Ghits, including a
> Wanted ad -- "I need either new or used (antique ok) krautcutter for
> preparing sauerkraut."  Apparently one device was patented in 1891.
>
> A cabbage-slicer?  Why would that be associated with Old Hickory?
>
> ("Croutcutter" is alleged to have appeared in the Nashville Daily
> Union, March 24, 1866, p. 1 --
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025718/1866-03-24/ed-1/seq-1/.)
>
> Henry Clay Snakefeeder?  As far as I can tell, he was not a patron of
> Copperheads.  (He had died a few months earlier than the article.)
>
> Fred Douglass Tarheel?  He certainly was not a poor white, and for
> the later connotation I read that he was born in Maryland.
>
> John Quitman Screwdriver?  I learn that he was governor of
> Mississippi 1850--1851 and a Fire-Eater ("an unorganized group of
> extremist pro-slavery Southern politicians").  1835 -- "One who
> drives a 'screwy' horse."?
>
> In curiosity,
> Joel
>
> At 9/21/2013 05:16 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake wrote:
> >A few years ago I shared an 1846 usage of "Tar heels," which seemed
> >applied generally to poor whites of the South and not especially
> >reserved for North Carolinians.  (The earliest "Tar Heels" as a
> >designation for North Carolinians is currently found in the 6 February
> >1863 entry of a diary kept by a North Carolina confederate officer.)
> >
> >Here are two antebellum sightings of "Tarheel," again without any
> >apparent reference to North Carolinians, though they do show a novel
> >(to me) usage, as the last name of fictional characters.  Below,
> >asterisks signify the use of italics.
> >
> >-- Bonnie
> >
> >-----------------------------
> >
> >Mrs. Farthingale was the other day, overlooking a lazy son of Guinea
> >in her employ, as he was sweeping down the sanded floor of the
> >kitchen, and remarking the queer figures the dark one drew with his
> >broom, observed:
> >
> >"Well Caesar, you can draw, pretty well, can't you?"
> >
> >"Yah, yes, Missus, I can draw fust rate; last Saturday, I took a
> >policy for Pompey Tarheel, and I drawed fifty *dollars*!"
> >
> >Mrs. F. drew herself up into one of her highly dignified attitudes,
> >and left the kitchen.
> >
> >[From "Drawing," The Litchfield (Connecticut) Republican, 10 February
> >1848, p. 1; via Genealogy Bank.]
> >
> >-----------------------------
> >
> >Well, we are glad the election is over, if we *did* "come out a little
> >horn."  Democrats will now discover that there are *some* decent
> >people among the Whigs, and *vice versa*.  A Whig lady can now lend
> >her Democratic neighbor her coffee-mill, and in turn, borrow an egg to
> >put in her pan-cakes.  Andrew Jackson Croutcutter will now be allowed
> >to play with Henry Clay Snakefeeder's pet hog; and Fred Douglass
> >Tarheel will se-saw with John Quitman Screwdriver, and take the South
> >side of the fence.  All will go just as if one person were as good as
> >another!  [From "A Funny Man," The (Huntington) Indiana Herald, 24
> >November 1852, p. 2; via newspapers.com.  The Herald's editor notes
> >that he is reproducing a column penned by "[t]he witty editor of the
> >*Emporium*, published in Germantown, Ohio.")
> >
>
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