History question

[Janetnva]

Can anyone tell me what breeds or types of chickens would have been common in the Harpers Ferry WV area before and during the Civil War? I'm hoping to have at least one historic breed to show from my geographic region. thanks

 

[write2caroline]

You could try viewing photos of just the area. You you try researching bills of lading from the Port of Baltimore. I would look at records from the fair or old newspapers maybe. Most photos were formal settings. You raise in interesting question.

Caroline

 

[Janetnva]

Thanks Caroline. That Port of Baltimore suggestion did the trick. It got me to tha Smithsonian archives where I fount old newspaper articles about chickens. It looks like Dominique's and Dorkings are a safe bet with the Sussex I already have being a "maybe". My Jersey Black Giants will just be an anachronism. They came about twenty years later. I'm taking them anyway because they are sweet and impressive.

 

[3riverschick]

Might try checking and see if Java and Shanghai poultry were around then.
Best,
karen

 

[Narragansett]

They were, but most likey being diluted with the common generic fowl. Purebred birds, such as they were, were more likely to be found near the port cities which had a lot of trade abroad. As they moved inland they were more likely to be mixed along the way. In more sophisticated areas these dilutions were being refined into other breeds, such as the Plymouth Rock. Prior to the turn of the century, the idea of purebreds had not yet taken hold, with a few exceptions. It is just around that whole time period when many purebreds were in the beginning of development, using landraces from foreign lands that had not yet been diluted much, keeping them pure and refining them, and mixing them with other landraces and with complete mongrels to create new breeds. Probably the purest chickens of the time were Games, and still not even recognizeable to us today as distinct breeds, but more likely strains, resembling somewhat today's American Game, and more loosely the OEG. The short answer is that a mongrel game type chicken is probably the most accurate representative of what was available on most farms back then, especially in the South.

 

[Chris09]

Thanks Caroline. That Port of Baltimore suggestion did the trick. It got me to tha Smithsonian archives where I fount old newspaper articles about chickens. It looks like Dominique's and Dorkings are a safe bet with the Sussex I already have being a "maybe". My Jersey Black Giants will just be an anachronism. They came about twenty years later. I'm taking them anyway because they are sweet and impressive.

Keep in mind that the Dominique that they had pre Civil War is not the American Dominique that is known today.
The Dominique that they had then was the Dominique Game Fowl.

Chris

 

[Chris09]

To be honest the most common poultry pre Civil War were Gamefowl, the "purebred" breeds were far and few in between and found on more wealthy farms and plantations.

Chris