Reliving History

Reliving History next month is all about re-enactments, living history and the people within the hobby. It is also about photography of the people and events that forms the public community for the group. Enjoy the site, the photographs and the stories.

J is for Johnathan

Submitted by david d on Sun, 11/30/2008 - 22:34

Johnny, John: a Chinaman.

  • 1857: He knows. He's seed the johnnies goin' into that there doorway next block. Thomas Gunn, New York Boarding Houses, p.275
  • 1873: 1 passed out of the Chinese theater, with a lady and two children. We had to walk through a crowd of johns. Charles Nordhoff, California, p.85
  • 1878: The melancholy Johns with glazed caps and black pigtails, like a lot of half-drowned crows. J.H. Beadle, Western Wilds, p.401

Jonathan: the American people. Also known as Brother Jonathan or Uncle Sam.

  • 1846: Jonathan was hard to provoke; but when once you did get him up, he remained at a dead white heat for a long while. Mr. Root, Ohio, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, December 24
  • 1848: Jonathan is declared to be in his right in supporting his diplomatic agents like private gentlemen. Mr. Ingersoll, Pennsylvania, House of Reps., Congressional Globe, June 30

Jonathan: a downeaster; a yankee.

  • 1827: A tall, boney, Jonathan, whose appetite was in proportion to the magnitude of his frame. Massachusetts Spy, November 1
  • 1843: Occasionally you will see some honest country Jonathan, with his waggon full of yankee notions. Yale Literary Magazine, IX, p.44
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