Stripper Girl
March 15, 2018 § 22 Comments
A guest post from Melissa Ballard:
Family history. Why would anyone waste their time with it?
In the summer of 1993, I agreed to do just a bit of ancestral research, at the request of my great-uncle. I was quickly lured into the mysteries of century-old handwriting, sepia-toned photographs, and the personal details in local newspapers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
I began to write essays about my ancestors, who were much more interesting than I’d thought. My publication record for these pieces is scant, but I persist. At first, I had to go to libraries or historical societies and do battle with microfilm machines. Now I can do most of my research online, from my home office.
So when the newspaper database I use added two decades of issues from Muncie, Indiana, I set aside some time to search. I already knew a line of my family had lived there from 1888-1912, where my third-great uncle, A. A. Arnold, owned a small manufacturing business. His own education ended when he was twelve, and began to learn a trade, but he sent all three of his children, two boys and a girl, to college before 1910. His older son became a priest and eventually, a bishop.
Skimming my search results, I stopped dead at this, from September 3, 1905:
WANTED–Stripper girl
followed by my uncle’s business and home address, across the street from the Catholic church, where he and his wife were godparents for a good portion of the families in the congregation.
This can’t be right, I thought. Surely, if he had some kind of illicit side business, he wouldn’t have advertised so blatantly…would he?
My negative stereotypes about power and institutions have been reinforced daily of late, and I know things were even more skewed toward powerful men 113 years ago. It’s not that I expected my ancestors to be perfect, but this didn’t fit with anything else I’d learned about them. I did a bit of research: in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the age of consent in Indiana had been raised from 12 to 16, but the laws were not applied consistently. This did not make me feel any better.
As I put away my papers and poured a pre-dinner glass of wine, the Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girl” morphed into “Stripper Girl” and settled in as my personal earworm.
The next morning, after some strong coffee, I sat down with my folders of notes on my Muncie ancestors. I am only an amateur historian, as evidenced by the stacks of photocopies I constantly—and unsuccessfully—try to organize. I began to search through them, not sure what I was hoping to find. My persistence was rewarded when I removed the binder clip from a stack marked “Background/Misc.”
*
One of the first steps in cigar-making is to remove the thick vein from the middle of the dried tobacco leaf. Now it’s mostly done by machines, but pulling out the stem by hand doesn’t require a great deal of strength, so before automation it was often a job performed by women. My uncle was a cigar manufacturer.
Occupations were included in the early city directories and by searching for “A. A. Arnold,” I could identify some of his employees. In the 1893 directory I found a Katie Gallivan, “tobacco stripper.” A quick search of the census showed she would have been twenty in 1893.
Health hazards from tobacco hadn’t yet been established. But my uncle advertised “union made” cigars, so I like to think his workers were treated well, at least by late 1800s-early 1900s standards.
The Beach Boys quietly surfed out of my head.
*
If I had the sort of neat and legible journal that could serve as a reference for future essay writing, I would turn to a fresh page and start a list. Instead, I’ll blog it here:
- Remember: words matter, but they can have multiple meanings.
- Consider context.
- Maintain a sense of humor.
- Write your own stories, and the stories of other people, with care. If something doesn’t fit, it’s worth trying to figure out why.
When I found the “stripper” want ad, I could just see my dad shaking his head and saying, “Always let sleeping dogs lie.” I prefer to poke them with a stick, gently, and see what I can learn. It’s risky, but far more interesting.
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Melissa Ballard’s work has appeared in Brevity, Compose Journal, Full Grown People, Gravel, and other publications.
Still ….. since we are looking at this with the benefit of hindsight ….
It is difficult to argue that asking a lady to assist you with the manufacture of carcnegenics is any less morally questionable than asking her to take her clothes off.
I agree. Thanks for reading.
Such a fascinating and surprising tidbit you unearthed. I wonder what future generations will make of current job titles or, for example, one from the 1980’s – “word processor”. Lovely writing, Melissa, and advice worthy of cutting and pasting into the journals of those of us who write family related CNF.
Thanks, Susanne, for reading a final-ish draft of this and for your kind words. I always appreciate your editing. I hadn’t thought about job titles now–you are so right.
Great post! I too love genealogy, and my discovery of a homesteader’s journal has led to 8 years of researching not only the homesteader’s family but also researching the genealogy of every neighbor mentioned in his journal. I appreciate your advice about the meanings of words and the responsibility to get things right. I’m in the midst of working with a publisher, and hope soon to share my research about this amazing community and the Populist Movement!
Thank you. I love that you researched all of your ancestor’s neighbors; I would do that, too! Good luck with your project.
Melissa, this is deft and, as usual, you are funny! I love the way you polish your sentences. You’ve got luck ancestors. I wonder if they know.
I mean lucky.
Thanks, June. I’m luck(y) to have writer friends like you!
[…] Pat: Brevity: Stripper Girl https://brevity.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/stripper-girl/ Always one of my favorite blogs, and this one is an example of how the world’s language […]
Thanks for reblogging!
Reblogged this on wuthering bites and commented:
How to handle uncertain information when digging in the family archives.
Thanks, Susanne!
Perfect! hilarious. Each essay you write is an adventurous search for hidden treasure–the ordinary turned extraordinary. Guts and grace!
Although I did not guess tobacco leaf stripper, I was thinking it might be someone who stripped down a machine or engine. Funny where our minds go…..
Brilliant…it’s what keeps us hooked! However, just wonder if it turned out to be true would you have published the unvarnished truth? Or airbrushed it out of family loyalty?
Excellent question. I’d like to think I wouldn’t airbrush, as long as it wouldn’t be damaging to living relatives. I can’t wait to read more of your site!
I LOVE this family story! I was shocked to discover that my maternal grandmother was married prior to my grandfather. This was NEVER discussed & even my uncle didn’t know. I do wish she was alive so I could ask her about it! It’s crazy the things we can find out about our relatives. THANKS for this great story; it does bring about the need for context. LOL!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve heard, “We never talked about that.” Good luck with your own stories.
[…] via Stripper Girl — BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog […]
Reblogged this on Her Headache and commented:
CNF is challenging enough, but when it’s about ancestors and family history it adds a whole new layer of challenge. This subject sticks with me as I try to construct my own familial literature.
[…] offended by the suggestive titles of her guest posts for Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog: Finishing, Stripper Girl, and Slow Flash. Or, having read the posts, disappointed she does not deliver on her […]