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We have little information on German families during the early 19th century. With the invention of photography, much more information becomes available on the second half of the 19th century. We are just beginning to archive the 19th century family pages we have found and begin to assess the paterns illustrated by the photographs. Througout the decade younger boys wore dresses. This varied greatly from family to family. At mid-century we see men in frock coats and women in voluminous dresses. Boys has longish over the ears hair and wore tunic suits. Girls wore dress with pinafores. Gradually as the century progressed. boys began to wear their hair cropped. Younger boys still wore dresses. We still boys wearing belted tunics in the 1890s, but the cut-away jackets were no longer very common. The sailor suit had become san important style in Germany by the 1890s. Boys more commonly wore kneepants. Younger boys commonly wore shrt-cropped hair. Girls dresses had tight neck collars.
At mid-century we see men in frock coats and women in voluminous dresses. Boys has longish over the ears hair. Tunic suits with military styling such as decorative belts and buttons were popular for boys. Blouses had small collars or none at all. We also notice cut-away jackets with vests and small collars. Boys mostly wore long pants.Girls wore dress with pinafores and patalettes.
Here we have the Bätcher family (figure 1). All we know about the family is that they are German and that the boys are Max and Georg. They look about 8 and 11 years old. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1860s. We do not know where in Germany the family lived. Of course in the 1860s Germany as a united country did not yet exist. The family looks to have been a prosperous middle-class family. The adults look rather old, they may have been the grand parents. The boys are dressed identically in what look like velvet jackets. The jackets are done with a kind of tunic look and are decorated with large button and piping. The jackets do noy have collars. Notice also that the sleeves are cut rather short. This is not a style we have commonly seen, but in the years before ready-made clothes, styles were more varied. The boys wear long pants. Kneepants were not yet commonly worn. The boys have relatively short hair, but the style was to wear down to the ears, some times even covering the ears. The close cropped style so popular at the turn of the 20th century was not yet popular in Germany.
Here we have a portrait from a German family of the 1860s. The portrait
was taken in Rinteln or Bad Nenndorf which are located rather close to each other. The little girl's name was Marie. The boy is August who sadly died at the young age of 9 years due to thyphus. Unfortunately we do not know their family name. Father wears a frock coat with a low-cut vest. Mothers wears a voluminous dark dress. Perhaos she is in mourning. Note the center-part hair cut. The boy wears hair combed over his ears. The close-cropped hair was not yet very common. The boy wears a belted tunic with just a hint of a collar showing. I'm not sure what color this may have been. The little girl wears checkered dress with a dark pinafore, but I'm not sure what color.
A german reader has found an unidentified family. We believe it to be German, but we can not be positive. The mother and father in the center, surrounded by their five children, four boys and a girl. The children look to be about 10-18 years old. The boys all wear sack suits with curiously different bows. The younger boy wears a suit with matching trousers. He has a rather large collar for the period which looks like an Eton collar. He wears it without a bow and his jacket does not have lapels. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken about 1860. It could easily have been taken anytime in the late 50s or early 60s. The girl wears a dress belted at the waist and with a full skirt. It is a light colored dress, but we have no idea about the color.
Younger boys wore dresses. After breeching, cut-away jackets with vests and small collars continued to be popular. Some boys wore small bows. Younger boys might wear bloomer knickers, but were long pants were still common. We notice some expensive suits done in velvet. Younger boys wore suit styles that were quite varied. We note suits with military styling. Collars as in the 1860s tended to be small and bows and other neckwear realtively restrained. Girls wore print dresses. Plaid seems to have been popular. Skirt lengths for younger girls tended to be well above the ankles. Some mothers liked to dress the children alike. We notice several portraits with the children all dressed alike. Boys hair styles might be longish, but by the end of the decade shorter cuts were more common.
A cooperating web master has found a nice bundle of seven CDVs. The portraits were undated, but look to be taken in the 1890s, perhaps some in the 1880s. All photos were taken in Görlitz, Germany and have inscriptions on the back increasing curiosity. The family name was "Mager" and were born in the years: 1881, 1884 and 1886. Thechildren are: Konrad, Else and Fritz. Unfortunately on one backside is to read that Fritz passed away aged only 7 years.
Younger boys still wore dresses. We still boys wearing belted tunics in the 1890s, but the cut-away jackets were no longer very common. The sailor suit had become san important style in Germany by the 1890s. Boys more commonly wore kneepants. Younger boys commonly wore shrt-cropped hair. Girls dresses had tight neck collars.
Here we note a family photographed at the Atelier Gerdom in Thorn. It is undated, but to is looks to have been taken in the 1890s. It is a fascinting pprtrait because it is colorized. It is much better done than often crudely colorized postcards. It almost looks like a color portrait, but as fr as we know color photography ws not a commercially viable process at this time. As this is a colorized image, we are not sure to what extent the image reflects the actual colors of the childrn's clothes. We are unsure how this might have worked. Pergaps the photographer filled out a form such as dark blue suit and red dress. The colors shown certainly look reasonable. There are four children, three boys and a girl. The younger boy looks to be about four years old and is not yet breeched.
Here is a wonderful cabinent portait of the four children in an unidentified Halberstadt family. CDVs were still common in Germany during the 1890s, but we also bein to see cabinent cards. Unfortunately the parents are not pictured, but we see how both boys and girls dressed. The children look to be about 5-10 years old. The girls may be twins. The youngest boy wears a knee pants sailor suit with a lanyard. Charmingly he has a whip for his toy pull horse. I'm guess ing that the toys are studio props. The older boy has no childish toys. He wears a long pants suit with high lapels. Note the napoleonic pose. Thevgirls seem to be wearing identical jacketed dresses. One girl has a basket of flowers. The other has a pram and doll. Again we are gressing that this is a studio prop. The children wear long stockings and high-top shoes.
Here we do not have informtion on the entire family. We do know that there were four brothers. While we do not have information on the other members of the family, we have very extensive informtion on the brothers over an exteded period, 1892-1911. As we result we have decided to include them her in the family section. This 20-year period provide a wonderful look at boys' fashions at the turn of the 20th century. We at first thought the boys were Hungarian, but we have since learned that they were probably Austrian.
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