THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOT AND SHOE INDUSTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS BEFORE 1875 BLANCHE EVANS HAZARD PROFESSOR OF HOME ECONOMICS IN CORNELL UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON: HUMYHREY MILFORD Oxrm Umansrn P.k~s 1921 TO THE MEMORY COPYRIC~,I 92 I OF MY HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS FATHER AND MOTHER PREFACE THEdevelopment of the boot and shoe industry of Massachu- setts proves to be an interesting and productive field for economic investigation, not merely because its history goes back to colonial days as one of the leading industries of the states, but more especially because the evolution of industrial organization finds here an unusually complete illustration. The change from older stages to the modem Factory Stage has been comparatively recent, and survivals of earlier forms have existed within the memory of the old men of today. Sources, direct or indirect, oral and recorded, can be woven together to establish, to limit, and to illustrate each one of these stages and the transitions of their various phases. The materials used as the basis of the conclusions given here have been gathered at first hand within the last ten years,%y the writer, in the best known shoe centres of Massachusetts, i.e., Brockton, the Brookfields, the Weymouths, the Braintrees, the Randolphs, and Lynn. The collection and use of such written and oral testimony has been attended with difficulty. No New England shoemaker of a former generation has dreamed that posterity would seek for a record of his daily work.2 Only inad- From 1~7-1917. f Exceptions to this did not occur until about 1880, when David Johnson of Lynn, and Lucy Larcom of Beverly, began to write in prose and poetry about the shoemaker's homely daily life. Since then newspaper reporters have become active in getting such dramatic details as the Blake-McKay and the Howe-Singer rela- tions afforded, or the rise of Henry Wilson, of Natick, from the cobbler's ben* to the vice-presidency of the United States. vi PREFACE PREFACE vii vertently have the pages of account books, kept to help in "set- necontemporary official documents and newspapers give tling" with neighbors and customers, bills, and letters giving little of direct value, but serve to give the general setting of the amounts and addresses, been left for us. These records, however, community's industrial activity. The local addresses and reminis- are scarce and fast becoming scarcer. The spring and fall house cences are nearly if not actually contemporary. Though tinctured cleanings and the demolition of old shops to give place to new and limited by personal and local pride, by inaccuracy, and by factories are destructive to valuable papers of this kind, and even fallacious reasoning as to cause and effect, they are full of sugger where an old attic still harbors them, oftentimes molding and tion, and help in the appreciation of facts found in other places fading under leaking roofs, they are generally difficult of access. or other relations. The recollections of old men and women who have worked on SCOPE shoes, in producing or distributing them, are even more precari- The information thus gathered seems,Qn analysis, to confirm ous. Such people are often confused by specific questions, even inductively and with definite evidence of the transitions, the when the investigator is not a stranger to them. Their confidence stages of evolution set forth by Karl Biicher? In the boot and can, as a rule, be restored only when the appearance of any special shoe industry of Massachusetts before 1875, four stages of pro- course of questioning has been abandoned. The material which duction may be definitely traced. Although the stages are dis- is thus gathered comes imbedded in unrelated matter with little tinct as to characteristics and essential features, they are not so perspective, and with much provincialism; yet it is the most valu- as to time, for overlaps and survivals occur. The household able, as it is the most vital that can be secured. I have prosecuted economy or Home Stage, for instance, characteristic of frontier such inquiries among the older inhabitants in a number of Massa- conditions, was early followed by the Harcdicraft Stage, which chusetts towns, not only where the industry now exists, but prevailed until the middle of the eighteenth century. The Domes- where scattered shops, the " ten-footers " of the domestic period tic Stage of industrial organization, with its successive and over- of shoemaking, are the only visible remains of a once flourishing lapping phases, was well under way before the Revolution, and local trade. lasted ro the middle of the nineteenth century, giving place, about Besides this oral and written evidence, there are available also 1855, to the Factory Stage, which passed into its second phase by public official records, like town reports, parish books, and custom-house papers; newspaper files with the advertisements 1875. of auction sales of boots and shoes, of domestic and imported ACKNOWLEDGMENTS hides, of demands for apprentices and journeymen, of sailing Neither the research work just described nor this constructive dates for vessels, and of western despatch or express com- use of the materials thus gathered could have been accomplished panies; centennial and anniversary addresses,' and occasional without the constant and unstinted aid and the inspiration of local newspaper or trade paper reports of old men's recollections. Mr. Edwin F. Gay, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. To him and to the score of octogenarian l For example, a dedicatory address delivered by Mr. Loren W. Puffer at the Plymouth County Court-house, by giving facts about Shepherd Fiske, the agent for small iron pieces were made by domestic workers and their apprentices, gave way to Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts, whose blast furnace at Bridgewater, in Ply- the shoemakers' " ten-footers " only when the iron industry had developed stronger mouth County, supplied cohorns and grenobles for use in the colonial wars as well competitors and advanced to the Factory Stage. Even then, the tool making as cast-iron kitchen implements for local consumption, furnished substantial clues " habit " survived and North Bridgewater (Brockton) was famous for its mechani- for a study of the iron business in that locality now so famous for its shoe industry. cal inventions and manufactures for the shoe industry before it was known as a Upon investigation, an explanation was found for the tardy development of the shoe making centre. Domestic Stage in the local shoe industry. The small shops, where nails and other l Bucher, Karl: Die Entstehung der Volkswirtschaft. .. v111 PREFACE shoemakers who have given generous help, the author gladly ac- knowledges her indebtedness and gratitude. To Professor Albert B. Hart of Harvard, who gave to the author her fundamental training in the use of historical sources which made this research CONTENTS possible, like acknowledgment is due. PAGE This manuscript in going through the press has had the pains- WEE taking care and interest of Professor Charles Hull of Cornell I. HOMEAND HANDICRAFTSTAGES . 3 University. 11. DOMESTICSTAGE. PUTTING-OUT SYSTEM, 1760-1855. PEASEI, 1760-1810. 24 111. DOMESTICSTAGE. %SE 2, 1810-1837 . 42 IV. DOMESTICSTAGE. PHASE 3, 1837-1855 . 65 V. FAC~ORYSTAGE. PHASE I, 1855-1875 . 97 VI. TEE HUMANELEMENT IN THE BOOTAND SHOEINDUSTRY. 127 APPENDICES APPENDIX I. PROCESSESON SHOESIN A MODERNFACTORY . 11. MODERNSHOE REPAIRING . 111. MEDIAEVALSHOEWING TOOLS . IV. PARTIALCONTENTS OF THE DELIGHTFUL,PRINCELY AND ENTERTAININGHISTORY OF TBE GENTLECRAFT . V. A CONTEMPO~ARYACCOUNT OF NEW ENGLANDTRADES IN 1650 . VI. THE CHARTEROF THE COMPANYOF SHOEMAKERS,BOSTON, 1648 . VII. EXCERPTSFROM THE TIMOTHYWHITE PAPERS. VIII. EXCERPTSFROM THE GEORGEREED PAPERS . IX. SOMETYPICAL DETAILS OF THE EARLYPOLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND FINANCIALHISTORY OF FOURMASSACHUSETTS SHOE CENTRES . X. EXCERPTSFROM THE SOUTHWORTHPAPERS. XI. EXCERPTSFROM THE BREEDPAPERS . XI. NEWSPAPERADVERTISEMENTS FOR THE SHOEINDUSTRY . XIII. NEWSPAPERADVERTISEMENTS - TANNERIES. XIV. EXEMPTIONFOR SHOEMAKERS DURING THE REVOLUTION. XV. EXCERPTSFROM THE WENDELLPAPERS . ix X CONTENTS APPmDM PAGE XVI . EXCERPTSFROM THE BATCHELLERPAPERS ....... 200 XVII . PAGESFROM THE BATCHELLERACCOUNTS ....... 202 XVIII . THE BARBERSTATISTICS OF MASSACHUSETTSTOWNS . 207 XIX . PAGESFROM THE HENRYWILSON ACCOUNTS ..... 213 XX . EXCERPTSFROM THE ROBINSON& COMPANYPAPERS . 219 XXI . NATICKSTATISTICS ................. 220 XXII . EXCERPTSFROM THE HOWARDAND FRENCHACCOUNTS . 221 XXIII . EXCERPTSFROM THE GILMOREACCOUNTS SHOWING BANK- ING FACILITIES................... 230 XXIV . EXCERPTSFROM THE KIMBALLAND ROBINSONPAPERS . 231 xxv. EXCERPTSFROM THE TWITCHELLPAPERS ....... 236 ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOT AND SHOE XXVI . THE MCKAYMACHINE ............... 245 INDUSTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS XXVII . EXCERPTSFROM THE BATCHELLERACCOUNTS ..... 246 BEFORE 1875 XXVIII . SA~ELDREW, THE SHOEMAKERMETAPHYSICIAN ... 256 XXIX . CAREY,AN ENGLISHBAGMAN ............ 258 XXX . AN ENGLISHSTORY OF THE BIRTHAND TRAININGOF ST. CRISPINAND HIS BROTHER............. 258 XXXI . A FRENCHSTORY OF THE BIRTHAND TRAININGOF ST. CRISPINAND HIS BROTHER............. 261 XXXII . THE PIOUSCONFRATERNITY OF BROTHERSHOEMAKERS 262 XXXIII . THE SHOEMAKER'SGLORY, A MERRYSONG ...... 264 XXXIV . BROTHERSOF ST. CRISPIN.............. 265 XXXV . ATTITUDEOF CRISPINSTOWARD NEW HELP ..... 266 XXXVI. RITUALOF THE CRISPINS.............. 266 XXXVIT . THE CRISPINSAT BURRELLAND MAGUIRE'SFACTORY . 267 SOURCES....................