[Ads-l] antedating "square dance"

Jonathan Lighter 00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Fri Aug 8 13:19:10 UTC 2025


The 1831 quote appeared a few days earlier(Aug. 5) in the _Salem Gazette_
(GenealogyBank).

To judge from newspaper sources, "square dances" (at least so called) were
uncommon before the 1860s.

JL



On Thu, Aug 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> MW: 1870
>
> 1831 _Hampshire Gazette_ (Northampton, Mass.) (Aug. 24) 1 {GenealogyBank]:
> The Shakers at Shirley, Mass... The brethren paired off, and after them the
> sisters, and paraded in a kind of procession around the choristers, in what
> they call the "square dance."
>
> 1866 _Springfield [Mass.] Daily Republican_ (Jan. 6) 5 [Newspapers.com]:
> Thorough instruction will be given in all the Round and Square Dances.
>
>  JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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