Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper

Boss spinners were essential workers in 19th-century textile mills in England and America. In the mid-1800s, the spinning mules used in textile mills were among the biggest and most expensive machines in the world, and the men who operated them were called boss spinners. Johnson shows that operating the spinning mules required “a practiced mix of strength and a sensitive touch” (32), and that “when a spinner had labored with a mule for a few weeks no one else could run it” (33). He describes the relationship between boss spinners and spinning mules as “a partnership between man and machine that made the man irreplaceable” (33). Boss spinners commanded respect within and beyond the mill, and were well compensated for their labor. Sam Patch was one of the first American-born boss spinners in the Northeast.

As the United States expanded in the 19th century, a new class of leading families emerged from the old aristocracy of the original East Coast states. In Rochester and other major New York cities, leading families began to develop their own subculture, which they described as “respectable.” Johnson describes how these families “valued domestic comfort over public display, work over idleness and leisure, sincerity over affectation, prayerful contemplation over gay sociability” (133). They distinguished themselves from the old aristocracy by dismissing the latter as “thoughtless people who wore fashionable clothes, read novels, drank brandy, went to the theater” and generally focused on pleasure (133). In Rochester, the respectables “organized to impose respectability on the town as a whole” by banning entertainment like Patch’s jumps (133). Throughout the book, Johnson depicts respectable culture as the antithesis of Patch’s career as an entertainer.

Sporting culture was prevalent among men in 19th-century America. In the late 1820s and early 1830s, sporting culture emerged in the factory towns and frontiers of the American Northeast. The subculture was defined by excess—in drinking, sexuality, and physicality—and outdoorsmanship. Johnson describes sporting culture as a collection of men “who enjoyed the company of other men, sipping alcohol, telling stories, planning hunting and fishing trips, and concocting broad practical jokes” (140).

The respectables criticized sporting men as “low vagabonds, sneak thieves, and drunkards” (140). In Rochester, New York, sporting man culture was headquartered at the Rochester Recess, where Sam Patch stayed while jumping in Rochester. Johnson argues that the support of the Rochester sporting men was essential in Patch’s final months, and that sporting man culture helped to continue his legacy after his death.