nichepoetryandprose

On a short vacation to eastern Ontario last month to visit my niece, we visited Upper Canada Village.  It was a memorable day.  My favorite of the many buildings on site was the shoemaker’s workshop.  I was particularly interested because my great, great-grandfather, Josiah Hawk, was a shoemaker.  I know this from two sources, an entry in the Pennsylvania Census for 1860, and a list of the items in an Inventory and Appraisement at his death in 1865 at 33 years of age.

In 2001, I became interested in studying my maternal great-grandmother Ellen’s history.  Ellen (Ella) was Josiah’s daughter.  One evening, I was puzzling over a poorly copied entry in the 1860 Census, trying to figure out his occupation.  I was tired and my eyes went a bit blurry … by bending the paper a little, I suddenly saw what it said… ‘Master Shoemaker’.  My delight at this discovery was immense.

Later, when I read a list of Josiah’s property at the time of his death, his occupation was confirmed.  His belongings included: ‘…1 shoe bench, 1 lot of shoe mackers [makers] tools, one cramping [crimping] machine, [and] 1 lot of leather …’, among other worker’s tools.

I have relatively little information about my great-grandmother’s life, but I can imagine that she knew her father’s profession and his workshop.  Perhaps, as a little girl, Ella played in the workshop and knew the smells of the leather and the sounds of the shoemaker at his work.

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leather and boot polish

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the leather in my Papa’s shop

makes a kind of tent

where I can play

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Papa pays me no attention

sews seams in Mr. Gruber’s boots

heels a pair of Sunday shoes

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at church, I bend to see

beneath the benches

all those solemn feet

wearing Papa’s leather

boots and shoes

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Copyright Jane Tims 2012