Meet the lawyer who leaves her Prius for an 1800s time machine
During business hours, Adelaide Beeman-White, 27, dons what she describes as her “costume”: a dark suit, collared shirt, pearls and Mary Jane shoes, which she wears to work as a criminal defense lawyer. She sends emails, hops on conference calls and spends days hunched over her computer. But as soon as she steps out of her Prius and into the Oregon home she shares with her mother, Beeman-White transforms into what she feels is her true identity: A woman living between 1893 and 1898.
As a child, she discovered that moving too quickly led to her making more mistakes, and she selected the late 1800s because things moved at a slower pace. It also helped that the fashion during the time period was mesmerizing, she says.
When Beeman-White arrives home from work, she turns on her oil lamps, peels off her work suit and replaces it with a handmade 19th century style dress, complete with a full bodice, corset, skirt, collars, gloves, wool stockings and cuffs. She curls her long red hair into a tight bun, and transforms her straight bangs into ringlets.
Then, she might take 20 minutes to submerge her dip pen, which is similar to a quill, into an ink well and write a letter, sealed with a drop of candle wax. Or she may pull out her sewing machine—it’s electric, but she covets the space for an old-fashioned foot-powered model—to sew herself some new dresses. Beeman-White’s grandmother taught her the basics of sewing, and she figured out the rest through trial and error. She usually starts with a pattern, but veers off to suit her 19th century purposes.
“I take bits of the time period I like,” Beeman-White says.
Much of her love of the late 1800s revolves around time, and how she’s spending it. Things you wanted to be fast, like telephones, were there, but there wasn’t an over-reliance on automobiles, says Beeman-White, who longs for a landline phone.
Her passion for the 19th century began in sixth grade, when she started wearing skirts instead of pants for comfort reasons. Then it progressed when she realized that most of the mistakes she’s made in her life have been due to moving too quickly. Her lifestyle allows her to enjoy the slower pace of basic life.
One issue: Her law career. If she were actually living in the late 1800s, Beeman-White would have struggled to become an attorney. Mary Gysin Leonard was the first woman admitted to the Oregon bar in 1886, and there were few female attorneys who joined her until the 1970s, according to the State of Oregon Law Library.
So while Beeman-White didn’t face the same hurdles as her 19th century counterparts, she did choose to use a 1910 typewriter for her essays at Lewis & Clark Law School, and she bought fabric for the clothing she made at the Mill End Store, which has been selling textiles since 1918.
Beeman-White also dislikes cars, preferring her bicycle for transportation. But that’s not possible for her commute to work from Portland to Hillsboro, so she’s stuck in an automobile.
Finally, there are the emails and the legal technology. She doesn’t like it at all, but she says she does email and text during the day as needed. She’s holding off on using artificial intelligence until forced, as she believes it numbs independent thought. Currently, Beeman-White says, her law firm is not pressuring any attorneys to use AI … yet.
“I may sound crotchety,” she says, “but I’m very much skeptical of AI.”
(Photo by Mary Casey)
As a lawyer at Ridehalgh & Associates, Beeman-White lives a very fast-paced life, but she knew this going into the field. That’s why she really focuses on her 1890s lifestyle when she’s not working, as it helps her to re-charge.
Like most 21st-century twentysomethings, Beeman-White also has an active Instagram page and a booming YouTube channel, though both look as if they’ve been lifted from a Jane Austen novel. On her platforms, Beeman-White explains topics including hygiene in the late 1800s. Despite myths to the contrary, she says people bathed every other day, as staying clean was a status symbol and was also helpful at a time without antibiotics.
Another post explains The Save Act, an immigration bill that would require employers to confirm all new hires are authorized to work in the United States. Opponents argue it could harm women, especially immigrant women. Beeman-White has antique style but not antique values, she explains, disparaging the government moves that could potentially leave women without rights. She also plays an 1892 banjo on her channels.
Beeman-White met her current boyfriend on the dating app Hinge when he wrote the 19th-century ice-breaker to her: “‘I could use some more of Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup.’”
The 19th century product, which contained morphine and alcohol, was advertised to calm small children, clean teeth, freshen breath and relieve constipation. Beeman-White was instantly smitten.
In the future, she hopes to move out of her mother’s 1960s home and into something a little more historical.
“It would be old or built new to look old,” she says. “I’d want it to have a turret, a library room with ladders and a secret room behind a bookshelf.”
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