Hi y'all,

I was about to chime in with a response that now, having read Carol's
thorough articulation of the possibilities, will seem totally inept and
redundant. My humble thoughts, without being informed by any research
whatsoever on the subject, had been that the term might have originated
- courtesy of Hargreaves invention - in the textile mills of Britain's
industrial wasteland - did I say wasteland, I meant heartland, and that
by the mid 19th C 'Jenny', was simply a term for working class girl (NOT
working girl you understand).  The notion of a connection between a type
or class of occupation and a generic description for women is not so far
fetched, when one considers the origins of 'spinster', which was
typically a young unmarried woman at home engaged in spinning yarn on a
single spindle machine (prior to the massive
capitalisation/collectivisation of the industry).

'Sheila' is a term I'm very much more at home with.  Most of them are
top, or bonza!  Guys by the way tend to be objectified as 'Fellas'.


Greg Jackman
ARCHAEOLOGY MANAGER

Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority
Port Arthur
Tasmania
Australia  7182

Ph: (03) 62 512 336
Fax: (03) 62 512 322

Visit our new website: www.portarthur.org.au


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Carol Serr
Sent: Friday, 12 November 2004 1:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: what's in a name?

Here's all I could find...

wooden "spinning jennies", a water-powered yarn spinning machine
OR ...an early type of spinning frame with several spindles, invented by
James Hargreaves in 1764

"coal or ore jennies"...a type of railroad car

"Curtiss made a big name for itself by turning out World War I trainers,
the famous JN-4s, which would become better known for its post-war work
as
Jennies, highly favored by fearless fliers on the barnstorming circuit
throughout the 1920s."

"Our ancestors were known fondly (along with other Cornish people who
immigrated) as "Cousin Jacks" and "Cousin Jennies."

Side note: a 'cousin jack' is term for a semi-subterranean
shelter...associated with Cornish folks (from County Cornwall).  They
made
such structures (in mining towns?) when they came to the US (and
elsewhere,
I imagine).

And..."the Jenny" is a term applied to the "most famous US stamp"...that
was printed in 1918 (1 sheet of 100) with the airplane upside down.  (I
did
not know of this term)

"Burglars call their short crowbars for forcing locks Jennies and
Jemmies.
'Jenny' is a small engine"

And here is a line from an article written in 1669:
"Two gimlet eyed jennies dressed in an appallingly gauche style
accompanied
a pair of hatchet faced brothers."
http://members.optushome.com.au/bletch/seventh/pages/journal/mirror3.htm
l

And under Newfoundland heritage...found this glossary definition:
Mummer
Also called themselves Jennies or Fools. Someone ridiculously disguised
who
participates in various group activities during Christmas such as
visiting
local homes.
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/glossary.html

Or simply the plural of:
Jenny - A familiar or pet form of the proper name Jane. [1913 Webster
dictionary]

Perhaps this list of synonyms will shed some light on your
search....from
the Moby Thesaurus words for "jenny": Partlet, Rocky Mountain canary,
ass,
biddy, bitch, bossy, brood mare, burro, cow, cuddy, dickey, doe, donkey,
ewe, ewe lamb, filly, guinea hen, gyp, heifer, hen, hind, jack, jackass,
jennet, jenny ass, lioness, mare, mule, nanny, nanny goat, neddy,
peahen,
roe, she-bear, she-goat, she-lion, silkworm, slut, sow, spider, spinner,
spinning frame, spinning jenny, spinster, throstle (spinning machine),
tigress, vixen.


And...elaborating on what you already knew/mentioned:
"Breeding males are stallions (horse or zebra) or jacks (donkeys or wild
asses).  Females are mares (horses, zebras, mules) or jennets/jennies
(donkeys or wild asses).  Male mules should be gelded before age 2 and
are
called Horse mules, geldings, or sometimes "johns" (Mare mules may
locally
be called "molly mules")."


At 05:02 PM 11/11/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>I have a question about a woman's name which might be descriptive or
maybe
>a noun. Other than with reference to mules or donkeys (and I think
that's
>spelled jenny?), has anyone out there heard of historical period women
>being referred to as "Jennies"? Anyone know if "Jennie" was a slang or
>common word for perhaps a female servant, or was commonly applied to
women
>who had no last name, circa 1860? Kinda like Jane Doe?
>
>Anne Stoll
>Statistical Research, Inc.
>P.O. Box 390
>Redlands, CA 92373