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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;2manybooks, post: 2957345, member: 8267&quot;]His cap is known as a mechanics, forage, or wheel hat. They were informal wear, popular in the pre-Civil War period. </p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Among <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor" rel="nofollow">sailors</a>, a pierced earlobe was a symbol that the wearer had sailed around the world or had crossed the equator.&quot; </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earring" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earring" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earring</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;In addition, it is commonly held[citation needed] that a gold earring was worn by sailors in payment for a proper burial in the event that they might drown at sea. Should their bodies have been washed up on shore, it was hoped that the earring would serve as payment for &quot;a proper Christian burial&quot;. </p><p><a href="https://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/italian-history-culture/25973" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/italian-history-culture/25973" rel="nofollow">https://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/italian-history-culture/25973</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps the young man was a sailor, and his portrait was drawn as a keepsake for someone before he went to sea again.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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