Hi Polly - 
With my 18th century hat on, "josey" was a nickname for a "joseph" during the 1750-90 period in the US - perhaps it had morphed significantly into a different garment by the nineteenth century period being discussed. I put together a database of 900 runaway American indentured and enslaved women and their 5600 garments, which all came from newspapers 1750-1790. The article on this project is in May 2011's issue of Textile History.

So far, I've found josey/josie only as a garment in the New York city area and upper NJ - the term doesn't appear to be used elsewhere 1750-90. Over half the women wearing them are slaves. The women are often described as wearing their josey with a petticoat, but sometimes in addition to a gown - the josey may have been thrown over top of the gown for warmth as that runaway ran in January. They are made in osnaburg, calico, linsey-woolsey, and various striped and checked homespun fabrics. Still, described as joseys, they are still rather rare among the 18th century working population under that name, as I only have mentions of 20 joseys from 900 women.

For what it's worth!!
Becky Fifield


Rebecca Fifield
Collections Manager
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave.
New York NY 10028
212.650.2209
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-----Original Message-----
From: Textile Conservators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 10:51 AM
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Subject: Re: Question about a josie/josey

Another thought on word "evolution".... suggested by Kim's analogy to dickey and bloomer... 

Perhaps just as Amelia Bloomer's name became the garment name, "bloomer" (lower case "b").... 

Maybe Josephine evolved into "josey" (lower case "j" and possible "nickname" for Josephine)...????