USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Brockton > History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894 > Part 61
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Among the ancient Greeks and Romans the coverings for the feet assumed their most elegant forms, and those without sacrificing the comfort of the wearer or the natural play of the foot. That was held in reserve for latter days, or what has been termed the " March-of-Intel- lect days."
Vegetable sandals, termed Baxa or Baxea, were worn by the lower classes and, as a symbol of humanity, by the philosophers and priests. The making of this last class of sandals in their variety was the business of a class of men called Baxearii ; and these with the Solearii (or makers of the simplest kind of sandal worn, consisting of a sole with little more to fasten it to the foot than a strap across the instep) constituted a cor- poration or college of Rome.
The solea were generally worn by the higher classes only for light- ness and convenience in the house ; the shoes (Calceus) being for out- of-door use. The soccus was the immediate covering for the foot, being between the solea and the calceus, it was in fact like the modern slipper and could be cast off at pleasure, as it did not fit closely and was secured by no tie. This like the solea and crepida was worn by the lowest classes and country people ; and hence the comedians wore such cheap and common coverings for the feet to contrast with the cothurnus or buskin of the tragedian, which they assumed, as it was adapted to be part of a grand and stately attire. Hence the term ap- plied to theatrical performers-" brethren of the sock and buskin." The
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BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE.
cothurnus was a boot of the highest kind, reaching above the calf of the leg, and sometimes as far as the knee. It was laced down the front as the boots of all the ancients were.
The Hungarian shoe, or moccasin, is made of rawhide, prepared by a suncuring process. It is bound together with many thongs of rawhide. Loops or thongs extend upward around the ankle, and through these loops is passed a strap which is buckled at the side.
The Grecian shoe is made almost entirely of leather, and has a thickly padded sole, with a sharp turn-up toe, which is surmounted by a large ball of colored wool or hair. The shoe is fleece lined, and is gorgeously decorated with beads and ornamented stitching.
The Clog, worn by the Japanese, is of wood, and, as viewed from the side, is the shape of a boy's sled. It is fastened to the foot by a string which passes between the great and second toe and across the former. A strap, an inch in width and lined with linen, is carried across the in- step.
The Chinese shoe has no fastening or string, buckle or strap. The upper is made of felt, velvet, or other cloth The sole does not extend to the end of the shoe, but curves upward beneath the ball of the foot. The sole being very thick it gives the wearer an unsteadiness of gait, as though a pair of rockers were fastened to his feet. Of all the varieties of shoes none are so curious as the Chinese, none are so costly or elab- orate, and none so unnatural. Their feet are kept bandaged from their infancy, so that when they arrive at maturity they are enabled to wear shoes of three or four inches in length, which are usually made of beau- tiful silk.
The Persian footgear is a raised shoe, and is often made a foot high. It is made of light wood, richly inlaid, with a strap extending over the instep.
The Portuguese shoe has a wooden sole and heel, with a vamp made of patent leather, fancifully showing the flesh side of the skin.
The Arenian shoe has a leather sole and heel, without a counter and back quarter. The vamp is made of felt, and is beautifully ornamented with needlework done in colored silk thread.
The Siam shoe has the form of an ancient canoe with a gondola bow and an open top. The sole is made of wood and the upper of inlaid
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
wood and cloth, and the exterior is elaborately ornamented in colors and with gold and silver.
The Algerian shoe in appearance is not unlike the light English wooden clogs. This shoe is made entirely of leather in the simplest form, and usually without any ornamentation.
The Muscovite shoe is hand woven on a wooden frame, and but little attention is paid to the shape of the foot. Leather is sometimes used, but the sandal is generally made of colored silk cordage and woolen cloth.
The Sandal worn by the Egyptians is composed of a sole made by sticking together three thicknesses of leather. This is held to the foot by a band passing across the instep. The sandal is beautifully stitched with threads of different colors.
The Russian boot is composed of many pieces of morocco in several ยท colors, put together in a shape to please the maker or wearer. The foot of the boot is made of heavy calf. The whole boot is beautifully em- bossed by thread in bright colors.
The Mussulman's shoe is of heavy leather. It is adjusted to the foot by a wide leather strap, which runs from the heel and buckles over the instep. The only ornamentation is the fastening of two feather plumes on the right side of the sharp toe.
The Roman shoes had various names and were distinct badges of the position in society held by the wearer. The solea, crepada, pero and soccus belonged to the lower classes, the laborers and rustics ; the cal- iga was principally worn by soldiers, and the cothurnus by tragedians, hunters and horsemen, as well as by the nobles of the country. The Gauls wore a kind of shoe resembling the socks of our ancestors at the time Julius Caesar made his descent upon the British Islands.
GENTLE CRAFT .- During the reign of Edward the Third, of Eng- land, those that worked at the shoe trade were denominated the " gen- tle craft," as they produced shoes of the most gorgeous descriptions ; the greatest variety of pattern was devised and the richest contrast of color elaborated. Coming down to the reign of Richard the Second, boots and shoes were made of great length, so that they were chained to the knee of the wearer with gold and silver straps or cord. This fashion was in use till Parliament, in 1643, forbade shoemakers making points
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BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE.
on shoes over two inches long for the unprivileged classes under penalty of twenty shillings, and for those that wore them excommunication was denounced against any person wearing such. This move had the effect to widen the toes to such an absurd extend that Queen Mary limited the width to six inches.
During the reign of Charles the First, in the sixteenth century, boots were made of elegant Spanish buff leather, with tops of such enormous dimensions as to obstruct walking with ease. The distinguishing mark of gentility during the reign of George the First and Second was red heels. The ladies wore silk or velvet in preference to leather, and the . favorite color was figured blue silk, with bright red heels and silver buckles. In 1790 the low, flat slipper was introduced, and the shoe- buckle disappeared and the plain shoestring was introduced. The Prince of Wales endeavored to preserve the use of the buckle, in order to assist the bucklemakers, but fashion was too powerful for him.
The shoes of the Oriental ladies are highly ornamented, the covering being wrought with gold, silver, and silk, and set with jewels. The sabot is a shoe peculiar to France, and is made of wood, very clumsy, but warm and comfortable.
The shoes worn in 1689 were coarse, clumped, square toed, and adorned with enormous buckles. If any boots made their appearance, prodigious was the thumping as they passed up the aisles of the church ; for a pair of boots was then expected to last a man's lifetime. The tops were short, but very wide at the top; formed, one might suppose, with a special adaptation to rainy weather ; collecting the water as it fell, and holding an ample bath for the feet and ankles ! Many of the early set- tlers of New England made their own boots and shoes, as well as cloth- ing. The more wealthy people importing their clothes from England.
During the ninth and tenth centuries wooden shoes were quite com- mon, and even now the peasantry of Europe wear them to a great ex- tent.
Of the boots and shoes of modern days those manufactured in Amer- ica excel all others in style and variety of kinds. The celebrated gaiter- boot inaugurated a new era in coverings for the feet, and its introduc- tion is attributed to the Countess of Blessington ; but owing to the labor of lacing and unlacing, holes wearing out, breaking off, etc., these gave
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
way to the elastic gaiter, which has been universally adopted and ap- proved.
It would be a matter of no little interest to know just when the trade of shoemaking became a distinct means of obtaining a livelihood. There is no doubt that at first every one made their own shoes, which was a mere wrapping up of the foot in a piece of flexible skin, being a matter of very little difficulty, but according to Rosseline, whom we have already quoted, shoemakers' shops were in existence in Egypt at a very early period. We may also infer that it became a trade or calling at a very early age, as it was an injunction of the Jewish social system that every one, no matter what his rank or wealth, should be compelled to acquire the means of self- support by an acquaintance with some art or other, the better to secure himself against the adverse vicissitudes of life. This obligation naturally affords reason for belief in a variety of professions, and the shoe from its constant requisition may, therefore, be supposed to have given rise to one of the earliest.
Fosbrooke tells us that at one time the streets of Rome were so filled with cobblers' stalls that the emperor had to issue an order to clear them away to some less ambitious situation, to some of the nar- row and by-places of the city. The trade is not only a very ancient one, but one of respectability, for we read in Homer of princes manu- facturing their own shoes. Various materials have been brought into use in the construction of foot-wear from the earliest days, as hides, flax, silk, cloth, wood, iron, silver and gold, and a great variety of shapes, plain and ornamental. The Jews used leather, linen and wood. Soldiers' shoes were made of iron and brass. In the ninth and tenth centuries the greatest princes of Europe wore wooden shoes fastened with thongs. The shoes or scoh of the Saxons were also fastened by thongs. In the Dialugoes of Elfric, composed to instruct the Anglo- Saxon youth in Latin, we find the shoemaker had a very comprehen- sive trade. " My craft is very useful and necessary to you. I buy hides and skins and prepare them by my art, and make of them shoes of various kinds, and none of you can winter without my craft." Among the articles which he fabricates he mentions ankle leathers, shoes, leather hose, bridle thongs, trappings, leather bottles, flasks, halters, pouches and wallets.
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BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE.
In 1555 a company of Cordwainers were incorporated in old Boston, England. By their charter it was ordered that no person shall set up within the said borough as Cordwainers until such time as they can sufficiently cut and make a boot or shoe, to be adjudged by the war- dens. . The name of Cordwainer as a designation of this craft long since usurped the place of ladies' shoemaker, and has been applied to all kinds of shoemakers. The word is from a city in Spain, Cordova, where a peculiar kind of leather was manufactured for ladies' shoes. The word in Spanish is Cordoban, in the Portuguese Cordovan, in the French Cordouan ; whence the term Cordouaniers, or Cordwainers. The cordovan leather was tanned and dressed goat skin, similar to our mo- rocco.
Members of the craft are sometimes called Sons of Crispin, it having been the calling or trade of their patron saint, Crispin or Crispinus.
From among the numerous instances on record of individuals who have belonged to the " gentle craft," (by which name those who have learned the shoemaker's art are sometimes called) we find many who have become eminent as statesmen, patriots, scholars, poets, authors and professional men. Nilant had a book on shoes ; Hans Sack, whose real name was Loutzdorffer, a German poetical writer, wrote fifty vol- umes in prose ; Robert Bloomfield, the poet shoemaker, composed the beautiful rural gem, " The Farmer's Boy," while at work with six or seven others in a garret in London. Nathaniel Bloomfield, brother to Robert above, was a poet of no mean order, and belonged to the craft. William Gifford, the editor of the London Quarterly Review and trans- lator of Juvenal, served his apprenticeship with a cordwainer, and it might be justly observed that in him a " shoemaker happily went be- yond his last." John Pounds of Portsmouth, while engaged in his daily occupation, educated hundreds of the neighboring children. Linnaeus, the great botanical classifier, was apprentice to a shoemaker, and so was David Pareus, the elder, celebrated as professor of theology at Heidelberg. Benedict Baudoin, one of the most learned men of the fifteenth century, was a shoemaker ; so also Thomas Holcroft, author of "The Critic," led the life of a tramping shoemaker and wandering school-master, all the while working sedulously at the task of self-edu- cation. St. Anianus, a contemporary with St. Mark, was a shoemaker.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
In our own country the name of Roger Sherman is inscribed upon the brightest record that adorns the annals of America ; who was on the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and when reported and adopted by Congress had his signature. He was one of whom the elder John Adams said " was one of the soundest and strongest pillars of the revolution." He was a shoemaker. Another distinguished mem - ber of the bar, Daniel Sheffey, member of Congress from Virginia from 1809 to 1817, was in early life a shoemaker. His colleague, Hon. John Randolph of Roanoke, alluded to the fact in his debate in his usual sarcastic manner, to which Mr. Sheffey retorted as follows : "The dif- ference, sir, between the gentleman and myself is this, that if his lot had been cast like mine in early life, instead of rising by industry, enter- prise and study above his calling and occupying a seat on this floor, with which each of us is now honored by our constituents, he would at this time have been still engaged at his last at the work-bench." Gideon Lee is another person who has risen from humble life, and was a suc- cessful leather merchant in Ferry street, New York, and member of Congress from New York. He was born in Amherst, Mass., in 1778, and at an early age was apprenticed to the tanning and shoemaking business, it being then the practice for one person to conduct both branches at the same place, working at the former in the summer and the latter in the winter. Joseph Pendrell of London, who died about 1830, had a thorough knowledge of mathematics and was familiar in the poetical literature. He began his life a shoemaker and followed the trade till his death. Rev. William Cary, D.D., the eminent Chris- tian missionary and oriental scholar, followed the trade of shoemaking in early life, during which time he learned several languages, studying while at work with his books by his side. He died in Hindostan, June 9, 1834.
George Fox, the founder and first preacher of the Christian sect of Friends or Quakers, divided his time as a boy between shoemaking and the tending of flocks of sheep. Rev. James Nichol of Scotland, the able and eminent pulpit orator, was a shoemaker, as was his father. The celebrated and popular preacher of Providence Chapel, Gray's Inn Lane, London, Rev. William Huntington, worked for sometime as a shoemaker, In 1802 the appearance of the work entitled " Immateri-
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BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE.
ality and Immortality of the Soul," brought Samuel Drew, another shoemaker, before the world as a metaphysician of the highest order, and has been styled the " Locke of the nineteenth century." He died at St. Austell, Cornwall, Eng., March 29, 1833. The celebrated book- seller of Finsbury Square, London, kept a place known as "Temple of the Muses," James Lackington, was brought up as a shoemaker and was successful beyond precedent. He observed :
" Cobblers from Crispin boast their public spirit, And all are upright, downright men of merit."
The renowned lexicographer, Rev. Noah Worcester, D.D., born in Nashua, N. H, spent his early life on his father's farm, receiving a very little education. He afterward entered the Revolutionary army, and was present at the battle of Bunker Hill. Soon after that event he en- gaged in farming, and commenced on a course of self-instruction, and in order to make the most of his time he employed himself in shoemaking. His diligence was unbounded ; his books, pens, ink and paper lay at the end of his bench, and in this way he obtained much useful learning, and was soon advanced to the clerical profession, while living at Brigh- ton, Mass., to which place he removed in 1813. He founded the " Mas- sachusetts Peace Society " in January, 1816, and conducted its quarterly magazine for ten years. The late John G. Whittier, the Quaker poet, gave up the manufacture of ladies' shoes to make verses for their bou - doirs. Hon. Henry Wilson, M.C., who made for himself an enviable reputation as United States senator, left the manufacturing of shoes to assist in conducting the affairs of the nation, and succeeded to the posi- tion of vice-president and major-general of the United States, and died with well deserved honors to himself as well as to the people.
And now having given a few among the many who have won for themselves names worthy of perpetuating and handing down to poster- ity, let us notice some of those in our own vicinity who have by pru- dence, good management, industry, and close application to business, made their business pursuits a success, and helped to build up an act- ive, thrifty city, worthy of emulation. A careful examination of the list of those who have been engaged in the manufacturing of boots and shoes, cannot but convince the reader that the old adage : There is noth- ing like leather, is true.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
Among those who have been engaged in the manufacture of boots or shoes in Brockton we publish the following names :
Micah Faxon.
B F. Hayward. Samuel D. Keith.
Washburn Packard.
Col. Edward Southworth.
George Sawyer.
Silas Packard.
Horace Bryant.
H. B. Packard.
Maj. Nathan Hay ward.
William Snell.
Enos H. Reynolds.
Benjamin Kingman.
John O. Emerson.
E. L. Thayer.
Isaac F. Curtis.
George Stevens.
George R. Thompson.
Noah Chesman.
Gardner J. Kingman.
Levi B. White.
David Howard.
Howard W. Reynolds.
Welcome White.
Henry Howard.
Gardner Reynolds.
Varanes Wales.
George W. Bryant.
M. V. & J. W. Reynolds.
Darius Howard.
Thomas A. Ford.
George Loring & Co.
Frederic Howard.
Charles L. Hauthaway.
B. G. Stoddard.
Howard Tilden.
Samuel S. Brett.
B. Cary, jr.
John Tilden.
Edward S. Packard.
W. H. H. Hebard.
Caleb Howard, jr.
Francis M. French.
Benjamin F. Reynolds.
David Eldred, jr.
William French.
Perez Marshall.
Isaac Perkins.
Ambrose Packard.
Russell Alden.
William S. Huntington.
Oliver Leach.
George B. Blanchard.
Alpheus Andrews.
Oliver F. Leach.
George C. Cary.
Robert A. Stoddard.
Marcus Leach.
Allen Leach.
Simeon Dunbar.
Peleg S. Leach.
Henry Cross.
Lysander Howard.
Cyrus B. Kingman.
Charles R. Ford.
George Clark. F. O. Thayer.
Charles Keith.
Richard M. Fullerton.
Martin L. Keith.
Marcus Holmes.
F. A. Thayer.
Charles P. Keith.
Daniel S. Howard.
Lewis, Whittier & Griffin.
Franklin Keith.
Franklin O. Howard.
Aaron B. Drake.
Albert Keith.
Cyrus Jernegan.
Josiah Fuller.
Arza B. Keith.
Fearing W. Bent.
Arza Keith.
Howard P. Keith.
Frederic G. Jones.
George W. Dunbar.
Willard Keith.
George A. Haven. "
Bradford Dunbar.
Elmer Keith.
O. O. Patten.
Howard T. Marshall.
Thomas Young.
J. O. Patten.
Henry A. Ford.
Thomas Swift.
Nathaniel R. Packard.
Edwin C. Ames.
George C. Littlefield.
Harvey F. Bird.
Nathan Jones.
Preston B. Keith.
Timothy A. Mitchell.
Daniel E. Millett.
George E. Keith.
Nahum Johnson.
Casanda L. Reynolds.
William L. Douglas. Moses A. Packard.
Sylvanus Keith.
Shaw & Bryant.
R. B. Grover & Co.
Daniel N. Keith.
Reynolds, Drake & Gabell.
Edwin Keith.
Charles A. Richards & Co.
Wilton E. Copeland. James Means & Co. Francis E. White.
Walker, Taylor & Co.
Shaw Brothers.
Hathaway, Soule & Har- rington.
Otis F. Curtis. Lewis Porter.
Edwin Keith
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BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURE.
George G. Snow. Bouve, Crawford & Co. Churchill & Alden.
Myron F. Thomas.
Daniel W. Field.
Warren A. Howard.
James S. Allen.
Burt & Packard.
Packard & Field.
William S Green & Co.
Emerson, Weeks & Co.
Charles F. Porter & Co.
Packard & Grover.
Howard & French.
Charles W. Copeland Mfg. Co.
Whitman & Keith.
Howard & Foster.
Kimball, Tisdale & Baker.
Moyen, Habig & Dolan.
F. S. Tisdale.
Holmes Brothers. N. S. Gould & Co.
Charles B. Gould. Charles A. Eaton.
Patrick Crimmings, jr. Albert Barrows. William T. Calren.
C. F. Quiggle & Co.
Mitchell & Millett.
George A. Perkins
Stillman S. Perkins.
Issachar K. Snell.
David Eldred.
L. C. Ward.
Charles O. Emerson.
Reynolds & Herrod. William H. Cary. Albert D. Fullerton.
Thomas White & Co.
J. S. Allen & Shaw Shoe Co. Henry L. Adams. B. F. Lawton. Zenas Brett.
James C. Tannett. George H. Thompson. John F. Thompson.
Thompson Brothers.
Scandia Shoe Company. C. L. Robinson & Co.
Edward Sheehy. Joseph Hersey. Charles Howard.
Charles H. Foster. George N. Bailey.
A. B. Jenks. Henry B. Reed & Co. Jonas Reynolds.
Houghton, Coolidge & Co. Ralph R. Littlefield.
George F. & L. G. Littlefield.
Jenks & Thomas.
McCarty, Sheehy & Kendrick Co. Paul F. Green.
C. A. Coffin & Co.
Michael W. Clancy.
T. D. Barry & Co. Barrows Shoe Co.
C. E. Perry. Phinney & Richardson. Bion F. Reynolds. D. B. Closson & Co. Reed & Closson.
Eldridge, Fullerton & Co.
Isaiah A. Beals & Co.
Marcus Fullerton.
Isaac S. Emerson. Edwin L. Emerson.
Maloon, Pierce & Morey. Emerson & Cary. Henry S. French. F. E. White Co.
L. H. Shaw. Oliver B. Quimby. Hiram French. Francis Dunbar. Charles Southworth.
S. Newell Buck. Clifford, McCarty & Co. Charles E. Leach. William F. Sprague. Alfred W. Jones. Henry B. Caldwell. Edwin L. Howard. Melvin C. Edson. John O. Emerson. W. A. Grant.
Delmont L. Weeks. Albert W. Hayden. Winslow F. Holmes. Hervey Dunham. William H. Stacy, jr. Edwin Dunbar. S. S. Webster.
George Southworth. Lyman E. Keith.
Chester V. Keith.
George Il. Kingman.
Henry M. Kingman.
El.is F. Copeland. Lilly, Brackett & Co.
Stacy, Adams & Co.
Terry, Ware & Alley. Frederick W. Packard & Co.
D. L. Weeks Shoe Co. W. L. Douglas Shoe Co.
Bittenbender & Caverly. S. Gardner Jones. Perkins & Joyce.
Walker & Whitman Jason K. Vincent. Micajah P. Clough.
Wendell Leach & Co. L. C. Bliss & Co.
Niles & Wilbar. J. M. O'Donnell & Co. Aaron M. Herrod.
Brockton Cooperative Boot and Shoe Company.
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HISTORY OF BROCKTON.
John May. Zophar Field.
Sidney Howard.
Henry H. Mitchell & Co.
E. L. Maynard & Co.
W. S. Morey & Co.
Chester S. Kingman.
Charles H. Eldridge.
W. S. Southwick.
William P. Kingman.
Charles C. Fullerton.
Charles Leslie.
George Gurney.
Jay B. Reynolds. Charles E. Drake.
BROCKTON AS A BOOT AND SHOE MANUFACTURING CITY .- Brockton is one of the most active and enterprising shoe manufacturing towns of its size in Massachusetts. In this city, which comprises the wide-awake villages of Campello and Montello, there are over one hun- dred manufacturers, having over five million dollars invested in the vari- ous departments, and giving employment to upwards of six thousand people. There is but very little ladies' work made here, but the great bulk is men's, boys', and youths' congress, Alexis, Balmorals, and, in fact, all the different kinds of men's and boys' goods which are sold everywhere.
Heretofore Brockton has had a reputation of making cheap goods, and, while this is still true at the present time to a certain extent, it may be said with equal truthfulness that she makes whatever the demand is for ; and while, in these depressed times, the consumer is obliged to make a dollar go as far as possible, and can only pay for a cheap shoe, her manu- facturers are on the alert to comply with the demand, and let no oppor- tunity escape to convert their leather into the kind of goods that will sell in the market. But it gives pleasure to note the gradual improve- ment and the growing inclination on the part of the manufacturers, each year to substitute good solid leather work, made " upon honor," for the cheap, low-priced goods, filled in with what is commonly known as shoddy. In 1875 this new departure was made in a large way-although previous to this date some fine work was made-and now there are some six or eight large factories whose machinery is run altogether on fine, first-class work, and the workmen in which are all skilled in the higher branches of the business. Brockton people are justly very proud at the turn manufacturing has taken in this direction, and it can be stated, without fear of successful contradiction, that some of the finest, most " nobby," and yet serviceable, men's goods to be found in the country are turned out at this enterprising shoe centre. Looking through the stock and sample rooms, one is forcibly impressed with this radical change from cheap to high-grade goods, as the leather used for both
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