 |
Experience the Life
: Trades
: Boot and Shoemaker
Shoemaking
among strongest trades in 18th-century Williamsburg
One of the two or three largest trades practiced in 18th-century
Williamsburg, historical shoemaking is being rediscovered and preserved
through the apprenticeship program at the Shoemaker's Shop, open
for visitors today.
Shoemakers arrived in America in 1610
The London shoemaker's guild – the Worshipful Company of
Cordwainers – helped finance Captain John Smith's 1607 expedition
to Virginia, and Smith (inducted into the guild himself) was honored
with a statue in London. Whether Smith actually made shoes is unknown.
The first shoemakers arrived in America at Jamestown in 1610, and
the trade was thriving as early as 1616. By the 1660s, the Virginia
Assembly directed that each county must erect a tannery and a shoe
manufactory. It also imposed tariffs on leather and shoes exported
from Virginia to control speculation and profiteering in the local
shoe trade, and stipulated that the fees collected go to finance
the founding of the College of William and Mary.
Shoemakers diligently work at their
trade by candlelight in the Shoemaker Shop. |
Click image to enlarge |
Today, the shoemaker's shop in Williamsburg represents the firm of
George Wilson, who moved to Williamsburg from Norfolk, Virginia in
the late 1760s. In Norfolk, Wilson's sister-in-law was the proprietor
of the shoe "factory" of "Mary Wilson and Company."
In 1773, George Wilson specialized in "Boots and Shoes for Gentlemen,"
which he boldly advertised in the Virginia Gazette. Boot making was
the most sophisticated and prestigious branch of the trade. And, following
a centuries-old tradition, the making of boots and shoes for men and
the making of shoes for women were separate pursuits. Competition
fierce among shoemakers
Wilson's shop competed with between nine and 12 other Williamsburg
shoemakers, all operating in the city at the same dates. Together
the local shoemakers struggled with competition from merchants in
the colony who imported ready-made shoes from factories in London
and Bristol in England. In addition, several local wholesale factories
(one employing more than 30 men) mass produced shoes in Norfolk
and Petersburg, Virginia.
Selection and purchase of shoes changed little over
the years
When a man came into George Wilson's shop in 1773 to buy a pair
of shoes, he selected from a stock of "sale shoes" in
popular-styled, already-sized shoes – just like today. If
his feet were an unusual size, he could have a pair made to suit
his taste and fit his individual size. Boots for riding were the
specialty of the firm, and Wilson advertised seasonally, offering
imported leather and boot legs from London and also offering work
for journeymen shoemakers who could make boots.
Various leathers and tools made by specialty trades and imported
from England were readily available for sale from merchants' stores
in Williamsburg, it was no trouble finding supplies in the city.
With strange-sounding names such as "helling sticks,"
"petty-boys," and "St. Hugh's Bones," a shoemaker's
complete tool kit included relatively few items and could be purchased
for about the same price as a common pair of shoes – the same
as one day's wages for a journeyman shoemaker working for Wilson.
For further reading:
| |
)
)
)
)
)
Historic Triangle