{"id":54115,"date":"2019-11-15T11:47:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-15T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=54115"},"modified":"2023-09-22T11:37:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T15:37:08","slug":"family-research-mystery-great-grandfathers-kewpie-doll-tattoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/family-research-mystery-great-grandfathers-kewpie-doll-tattoo.html","title":{"rendered":"Family Research Mystery: Great-Grandfather\u2019s Kewpie Doll Tattoo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about the research she did to unravel the mystery of her great-grandfather\u2019s Kewpie doll tattoo. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I love how genealogy can provide surprises and uncover family facts that were lost long ago because they seemed trivial or unimportant back then. Case in point: a detail about my paternal great-grandfather Oscar Joseph Philibert (1899-1972).<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Oscar Philibert with his son Leo, along with his sister-in-law Lillie Chatham. Credit: from the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My great-grandfather died when I was a little girl so I don\u2019t remember him. However, he was an everyday presence in his grandchildren\u2019s lives since my dad and his family lived next door.<\/p>\n

Recently my nephew wanted to complete his genealogy merit badge for Boy Scouts. His father is my brother, and so I decided we would look at more recent generations in our shared Philibert line so that it would be of interest to my nephew and my brother. Because I knew I could find Oscar in several online databases, I chose him as our research project.<\/p>\n

Oscar Philibert<\/strong><\/p>\n

I knew quite a bit about Oscar before teaching my nephew about family history. Oscar was born in 1899 in New Hampshire, and was the child of French Canadian immigrants. As a young man he registered for the World War I draft, and in 1919 he joined the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the USS New Mexico<\/em> and the USS California<\/em>, which eventually led him to spending time at port in Southern California \u2013 where he met and married my great-grandmother, Mary Chatham.<\/p>\n

After his military service he lived in Los Angeles County with his wife and later their only child, my grandfather Leo Philibert. Through research, I had obtained all the usual documents such as the censuses he appeared in, his military records, his vital records (birth, marriage, and death), and I had documented him in the California voter registrations and city directories.<\/p>\n

But over time, as records become more available online, we learn new things. As my nephew and I searched online for Oscar we found his World War II Draft Registration from 14 February 1942, and that registration had an interesting detail I hadn\u2019t seen before. On the back side of the card, under the sentence \u201cother obvious characteristics that will aid in identification\u201d were the words: \u201ctattoo of Kewpie doll on chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

What? A Kewpie doll tattoo?<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: German Kewpie doll, c. 1912, with original heart sticker on its chest. Credit:
Scottdoesntknow; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After my 11-year-old nephew stopped laughing, he and my sons asked me what a Kewpie doll was. After I showed them a photo on the Internet, we all had the same question: What was my great-grandfather doing with that tattooed on his chest?<\/p>\n

He had served in the U.S. Navy so the fact that he had a tattoo wasn\u2019t surprising. His military papers don\u2019t indicate he had a tattoo when he joined, so I figured this was something he acquired during his service. There were tattoos historically that sailors sought to adorn their bodies with \u2013 but I wasn\u2019t sure a Kewpie doll was one. I knew I had more research to do!<\/p>\n

To Start<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a perfect example of how social history can help provide some insight into your ancestors\u2019 lives. First, my nephew and I talked to my dad and asked him if he knew anything about this tattoo. His immediate response was: \u201cThat was a Kewpie doll?\u201d He remembered his grandfather\u2019s tattoo but he also remembered not being able to figure out what it was.<\/p>\n

So, the question still was, why a Kewpie doll? Looking at the history of Kewpie dolls, it started to make sense why it was possible my great-grandfather chose this image.<\/p>\n

Kewpie Dolls<\/strong><\/p>\n

To my surprise, Kewpie dolls were enormously popular when Oscar acquired this tattoo. They were the image that Americans were familiar with.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 20 September 1912, page 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kewpie was the brainchild of illustrator Rose O\u2019Neill, who created the character that first appeared in a Ladies Home Journal<\/em> comic in 1909. The character, which was a round, whimsical, genderless, naked cherub, derived its name from the name Cupid. The character became so popular that it was used in marketing campaigns for products like Jell-O, and was made into dolls so that people could not only read and see the Kewpie image but they could also own one.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 21 March 1915, page 50<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly enough, it was also used in pro-suffrage materials, an important cause for Rose O\u2019Neill.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: a postcard promoting the women\u2019s suffrage movement, illustrated by Rose O\u2019Neill, 1914. Credit: Campbell Art Co.; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tattoos<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, what about tattoos? It goes without saying that sailors in the early 20th century had tattoos. I would assume that Oscar\u2019s tattoo was a souvenir from his four-year military career. According to the article \u201cWorld War I: The War to End All Wars\u201d on the Tattoo Archive<\/a> website, a study in 1908 claimed that 90% of American sailors were tattooed. (1) Navy sailors tended to choose tattoos like a hula girl if they had gone to Hawaii, an anchor to symbolize their service, or a swallow for each time they had traveled 5,000 nautical miles.<\/p>\n

Judging from historical newspapers, such as GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, Oscar wouldn\u2019t have had to be in his home port to get his tattoo from a local artist; he might have received it from one of the tattoo artists who followed the fleet from port to port, as this article suggests.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, California), 3 September 1919, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kewpie dolls were a popular tattoo design starting in the early 1900s, but became \u201cold-fashioned\u201d and unpopular by 1950. (2) This corresponds with the appearance of the Kewpie doll in the pages of Ladies Home Journal<\/em> and the lifespan of its popularity. The Tattoo Dictionary<\/em> by Trent Aitken-Smith further confirms that the Kewpie doll was a popular tattoo:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the twentieth century Kewpie dolls were a common sight on tattoo flash walls\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Tattoo flash are the drawings that you would see on a tattoo artist\u2019s walls or in books or their tattoo art.)<\/p>\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two questions I have yet to answer are: (1) Why did my great-grandfather choose that tattoo? and (2) What did the tattoo look like? While he may have chosen the design due to its popularity, he also could have chosen it for a personal reason \u2013 like maybe it was my great-grandmother\u2019s nickname, or maybe she loved Kewpie dolls. I may never know the answers to these questions and that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve learned so far helps to provide Oscar\u2019s descendants with more information about his life. He is more than just someone represented on a genealogical chart \u2013 he\u2019s a living, breathing person who saw the world, enjoyed life, and yes, had a tattoo. While I may never know the whole story behind this choice, it won\u2019t stop me from continuing to explore this topic.<\/p>\n

_______________<\/p>\n

(1) \u201cWorld War I: The War to End all Wars,\u201d Tattoo Archive (https:\/\/www.tattooarchive.com\/history\/world_war_1.php<\/a>: accessed 17 September 2019).
\n(2) \u201cKewpie Dolls,\u201d Tattoo Archive (https:\/\/www.tattooarchive.com\/history\/kewpie_dolls.php<\/a>: accessed 17 September 2019).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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