Thimbles

These thimbles were found at the site of Byrnside’s Fort. The majority of them appear to be 18th century English imports consistent with thimbles found at other 18th century frontier forts. The exception is the largest one at far right, which appears to be a 19th century thimble with some sort of phrase or inscription on it.

Three of the same type, each a different size.

These are identical to thimbles found at other forts, and appear to be English imports. I know many people, such as John Homan, have found identical ones at Great Lakes Native American fur trade sites, many times with a hole punched in the top to be worn as a sort of jewelry, or decoration.

18th Century Lofting thimbles found at Fort Loudon

As can be seen in the image, the Fort Hunter thimble is a one piece cast thimble with knurled indentations and the waffle-patterned crown. Based on historical research this form and design is often called a “Lofting” type of thimble, named for John Lofting a Dutch thimble maker, who produced large quantities of thimbles for export from England (UK Detector Finds Database 2005). It is believed that the Fort Hunter thimble represents the final development in the “lofting” form, which was quickly copied and exported by other European manufacturers throughout the 18th century. 

http://twipa.blogspot.com/2016/11/thimbles-through-time-space-and-life.html
18th Century thimble found at Fort Hunter (36Da159) during 2016 State Museum of Pennsylvania field season.

For example, there have been thimbles found at other French and Indian War period forts in Pennsylvania, such as the five 18th century Lofting thimbles, one 17th century two-piece thimble and one 19th century thimble with a concentric crown design found at Fort Loudon.  Other examples of thimbles from Pennsylvania forts include two 18th century Lofting type thimbles from Fort Augusta and Fort Morris each.

http://twipa.blogspot.com/2016/11/thimbles-through-time-space-and-life.html
18th century Lofting thimbles from Fort Augusta

An excerpt from a great thimble resource I found, showing these “lofting thimbles” and their creator:

https://thimbles.host-ed.me/Early_English.html

More found in colonial era American archaeology:

A variety of sizes accommodated a child’s growth to adulthood. These examples were uncovered by archaeologists at Ferry Farm.
Two examples of one-piece machine-made thimbles of the type made in England by John Lofting. Left: PUBLIC-059C26. Right: LANCUM-038C8D. Both should probably be dated to c. 1650-1750 AD.

Now look at the last one of these, found at Washington’s Ferry Farm.

A sample of the 30 historical thimbles found to date by archaeologists at George Washington’s Ferry Farm.

That looks a whole lot like this one:

I just can’t quite make out the words….

Some of these say “Forget Me Not,” but that doesn’t look like the wording of ours. But it’s pretty close. And some other excavated examples:

It’s easier to see the letters “FORGE…” of the phrase “FORGET ME NOT” upon this conserved Ferry Farm thimble. It was found in 2004 in direct association with one of the Bray era dwellings.
Look closely and you can read the word “NOT” upon this unconserved “Forget Me Not” thimble found in 2014. It was found in the yard east of the Bray era structures in a layer dating from sometime between 1800-1860.
Found at The Hermitage in the Mansion Backyard Triplex (1800-1860) This brass thimble has regular impressed knurling (machine-applied indentations) and a rolled rim, common in factory-made nineteenth century thimbles. It is stamped with the phrase “Tho Absent Ever Dear” around the base circumference.  Similar stamped thimbles from this time period included mottoes such as “Forget Me Not” and “From A Friend” (Beaudry 2006). Despite the mass production of these thimbles, the personalized message selected here suggests the user’s choice to convey its message to those who viewed it, perhaps in commemoration of a loved one.
Found at St. Mary’s Plantation

Leave a Reply