Making Shoes in Derry, New Hampshire

A typical "ten footer"

Shoemaking was an important industry in New England. Shoemaking was the second biggest industry in Massachusetts during the 1800s and 1900s. Most shoe factories were based in Haverhill, Brockton and Lynn. Peabody, Massachusetts was called the “Leather City” and provided the leather for the shoemakers.

At first, the shoes were made at home workshops. Many people had a shoemaking shed in their yard, and the entire family worked on the shoes, one piece at a time. The women sewed the uppers, the men pegged the soles. The shoemakers were paid about 25 cents for each pair of shoes delivered to the distributors. These small shoemaking buildings survive still in many New England dooryards, and are called “ten-footers” because of their size.

Jan Matzeliger of Lynn changed the shoe industry by coming up with a method of making the shoes entirely by machine. Other inventors had made machines to cut parts of the shoes, or to sew some parts. Matzeligers machine made from 150 to 700 pairs of shoes a day, and it was patented in 1883. Men were hired to man the machines in large factories that supplied the entire country with footwear.

The United Shoe Machinery Corporation, which I blogged about on April 8, 2010, made the machines that made the shoes. This corporation was based in Beverly, Massachusetts and became a monopoly on producing shoemaking machinery early in the 20th century, securing Massachusetts’ role in the shoe industry.

In 1870, Colonel William Pillsbury purchased 18 buildings in downtown Derry, New Hampshire for his shoe manufacturing enterprise. Formerly he was in Londonderry, but the move to Derry placed his factory closer to the railroad to Boston. The industry provided a major source of employment for Derry until 1960, when fire destroyed the large plant. As a volunteer for the website “Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness” I am often asked to trace families who came to Derry to work in the shoe business. Sometimes these families are in the Derry censuses for twenty years, and then the family retires from the factory life back to whence they came, and most often they stayed here, leaving marriage or death records, and obituaries in the Derry News.

The Pillsbury Shoe Factory

Most of the obituaries of the factory workers portray the life of a shoe worker. Life was good when everyone was gainfully employed, and the community flourished with churches and clubs. There was a train to Boston, and trolley lines ran to Manchester, Salem and Canobie Lake Park. The French Canadian workers worshipped at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic church, and belonged to the Knights of Columbus. The Yankee workers were born in upstate New Hampshire or Maine belonged to the First Parish Congregational Church, the Baptist church or St. Luke’s Methodist, and joined the Masons. Everyone belonged to the VFW and the Beaver Lake Association. These institutions all still exist here in Derry along Broadway and Crystal Avenue.

By 1900 three quarters of Derry’s population lived and worked in walking distance of Broadway, near the Pillsbury shoe factories. The farms were abandoned for factory work, and many became summer homes. It didn’t last forever, however, since the manufacturing of shoes moved to the southern US and overseas. The 1960 Chelmsford Shoe Factory fire destroyed the wooden factories and tenements, and they were not rebuilt. The last shoe manufacturer in Derry, Klev Bros, closed in 1989. Local workers had to travel to Manchester or Massachusetts to find manufacturing work. Broadway is now lined with small businesses and homes. Most shoes Americans wear today are not produced domestically.

Today, the shoe industry has been replaced by high tech manufacturing companies in Derry, and most of the business community continues to be made up of many family-owned businesses. The opening of Route 93 in the 1960s provided a boost to the population. The Derry population is now 5 times bigger than it was in 1963. Both Londonderry and Derry have become bedroom communities for commuters to Manchester, Massachusetts and even Boston. The noon lunch whistle no longer blows for the factory workers at the old brick fire station on Broadway, because now it is an Irish Pub.

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For More information:

Nutfield Rambles, by Richard Holmes, 2007

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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Working at “The Shoe” in Beverly, Massachusetts

United Shoe Machinery Corporation was a major employer in Beverly, Massachusetts. The locals called it “The Shoe,” and when it began manufacturing in 1902 it was the largest factory in the world at that time. By World War I it employed over 5,000 workers. Founded in 1899, they produced machines for the shoe industry, and it was one of the first international companies. There were branches in England, Germany, Canada, South America and Asia by 1905. It quickly became a monopoly, receiving royalties on 317 million pairs of shoes by 1932.

During the Great Depression, USM made only 15% less than just before 1931, and workers were sometimes furloughed, but not laid off. By 1960 USM had invented over 800 new machines and held more than 9,000 patents. When the monopoly was broken up, USM tried to diversify but fell into debt and sold many of the new divisions. By the 1970s the USM had its last decade of manufacturing in Beverly. The factory property was bought by Cummings Properties in 1996 and converted into office, laboratory and research space.

The Beverly USM factory was a good employer in its day. Besides employing the majority of blue collar workers in the region, it also established an industrial school, part of Beverly High School, where young men were guaranteed a lifetime job with “The Shoe.” There were also athletic associations, a country club and a chorus. My parents held their wedding reception in the country club, which is now the Beverly municipal golf course. "Inside are a theater, an auditorium, a library, locker rooms, bowling alleys and cozy little rooms for the women who may congregate with their sewing or other pleasant diversions so dear to the feminine heart," New England Magazine reported [from the Cummings Center website].

This is the kind of prosperity that drew immigrants to New England. This is the kind of guaranteed employment that my generation and my daughter's generation will never know. I can't imagine working in one place my entire life, knowing that my children would be guaranteed jobs, too! This just doesn't exist anymore in the United States.

Three generations of my family worked here at “The Shoe” in Beverly, from my two great grandfathers, three of my four grandparents, and my father.

My great grandfather, John Peter Bowden Roberts, immigrated to Beverly in 1915 from Leeds, England to work at “The Shoe.” He was lured by his son-in-law, who also left Leeds to work at General Electric in Lynn, Massachusetts. His other son-in-law, my grandfather, Donald Munroe Wilkinson, worked at “The Shoe” as a shipping inspector. His daughter, Bertha, who married Donald, was a matron at USM during World War II, watching over the many Rosy-the-Riveters. They all lived on Dearborn Avenue, within walking distance of the factory.

On my mother’s side of the family, my great grandfather Arthur Treadwell Hitchings was a draftsman and shoe designer for “The Shoe.” He lived in company housing near the USM company golf course. His son-in-law, my grandfather, Stanley Elmer Allen, was a glazier for 45 years at USM. I can remember his retirement party was a big deal in the 1960s, when thousands of people were still employed by “The Shoe.” My father, John Warren Wilkinson, worked his way through college as a security guard at USM. Various other uncles and cousins all spent some time employed by USM during the mid 20th century. They all had modest jobs, but they were happy with their situations and community.

The Cummings Center in Beverly is now more than 1.5 million square feet of office space. The Cummings Properties worked with the Beverly Historical Society to showcase artifacts from USM throughout the hallways, and in a special gallery. Of special interest are the many photographs of workers, old time clocks and machinery. It is located at 181 Elliott Street, Beverly, Massachusetts, and it is free and open to the public.

The collected archives 1899 to 1972 of the USM have been donated to the Smithsonian Museum, and include 5,000 glass plate and safety negatives of shoe making machines, company catalogs, photographs taken at the Beverly plant, and 16mm motion pictures. A complete description of the collection can be found here: http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1267646M588BM.4957&profile=all&uri=link=3100006~!135429~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=2&source=~!siarchives&term=United+Shoe+Machinery+Company%2FCorporation&index=#focus

Essex National Heritage Area, Industrial Trail http://www.essexheritage.org/sites/united_shoe.shtml

The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System - Search over 2.3 million records, with 290,000 images, video and sound files from Smithsonian museums, archives, and libraries http://www.siris.si.edu

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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Ancestor Approved Award

Thanks to Leah at “The Internet Genealogist”, Theresa at “Tangled Trees”, and to Hummer at “Branching Out Through The Years” for granting me the “Ancestor Approved Award.” I feel very humble and very honored, and it is nice knowing that someone outside of my immediate family is reading my blog. I feel three times honored!

To accept this award I have to list 10 things I have learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or enlightened me. I need to pass along the award to 10 other genealogy bloggers who I feel are doing their ancestors proud.

What has surprised me:

1. All the family myths I’ve researched have been TRUE! But it has taken 30 years to track down some of them. All I can say is be prepared for the long haul, and never give up!
2. There was royalty on American soil in the Hawaiian Islands, and most Americans have forgotten the tragic story of how the native people in Hawaii lost their lovely independent kingdom.
3. I haven’t found a single Irish ancestor, even though I live near the highest concentration of people descended from Ireland in the entire United States!
4. Finding Mayflower ancestors, even though I swore my ancestry was all from North of Boston. Surprise, surprise, some of the Mayflower passengers settled in Salem, Massachusetts, not in Plymouth. The rest is history.

What has humbled me:

1. Even though my family is full of abolitionists, reformers and Quakers, several ancestors owned slaves.
2. Our ancestresses lost a prodigious number of children, and even their own lives bringing forward the next generations. We cannot begin to honor their memory enough. And we don’t even know some of their maiden names, and in some cases, their forenames.
3. My family tree is not full of diversity. We are a boring conglomeration of people from the British Isles, with one Hessian soldier and one Dutch stowaway. Their stories are interesting, but our DNA needs a little spicing up. Must be why I married a Spaniard!

What has enlightened me:

1. You can’t sit along at home on your computer and trace your genealogy. You MUST get out, interview the older relatives, look in the dusty archives and visit the towns and cemeteries. Just a passing conversation with a librarian or town historian can reveal very valuable clues.
2. For every person of historical interest (a college educated doctor, town pastor, wealthy mill owner, town founder, member of nobility) there are 1,000 paupers, swamp Yankees and subsistence farmers.
3. The genealogical community is full of wonderful people who will share not only their research, but photos, time and friendship- from the little old ladies at the historical society, to the librarians at NEHGS to other geneabloggers. A wonderful bunch of people!

I would like to pass along the award to all the genealogy bloggers out there in cyberspace. Every blog I read provides me hints, information, inspiration and courage to keep blogging. However, here are a few that are dear to my heart… Please visit the following blogs!

1. Anthony Vaver at “Early American Crime” for giving hints on finding black sheep ancestors
2. Tim Abbott at “Walking the Berkshire” for being such a stylish writer
3. J. Dennis Robinson at “Seacoast History Blog” for maintaining the history of New Hampshire’s Seacoast Region- all 18 miles of it!
4. Bill West at “West in New England” for staging the comeback of the century!
5. Barbara Poole at “Life at the Roots” even though she won’t accept this award! Enjoy the award Barb in private, and you don’t have to pass it along!
6. T.K. at “Before My Time” for piquing my interest in genealogy outside of New England
7. Renate at “Into the Light” for her recent Carnival of African American Genealogy, and more…
8. Peter M. at “New England Folklore” for stories about the weird side of New England
9. Ruth at “Reed Cook Dearman” for blogging about her fun upcoming genealogy trip to England to research our common Chapin ancestors.
10. Caitlin Hopkins at “Vast Public Indifference” for being my favorite gravestone and antique photography blogger.

2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Not so Wordless Wednesday- Easter Photo

Easter 1966
Beverly, Massachusetts
Going to Easter Service at the Dane Street Congregational Church
Yours truly and baby sister

Tombstone Tuesday- After the Storm

This little stone looks precarious!

Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire is the only cemetery in Derry. It is located behind the First Parish Church, very close to the location where the first Ulster Presbyterians worshipped under a tree for their first Sunday in 1719. The first settlers are buried here.

After last weeks flood and rain, several trees toppled in Forest Hill. I only photographed this tree, near the road, because the workers were busy clearing another toppled tree up near the First Parish Church end of the cemetery. In this case, the tree came very close to damaging some headstones.

For more information about the historic Forest Hill Cemetery, please see the website at http://www.forest-hill-1721.webs.com/

You can click on "Storm Damage" in the left column to see photos of storm damage, including the Great Ice Storm of December 2008. You can also click on "Please Help Us" to make a monetary or supply donation to the restoration project.

The stone on the left was hit, but not damaged

click on photos to enlarge

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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NEHGS and NHHS Workshop "Advancing Your Genealogical Research"

The New England Historic Genealogical Society and the New Hampshire Historical Society present "Advancing Your Genealogical Research" on May 15, 2010 at the NHHS Library in Concord, New Hampshire. 9AM - 4PM. NEHGS/NHHS member $55, non-member $65.

A whole day seminar to explore "intermediate and advanced techniques for genealogical research. Lectures will explore the resources of online and printed sources, as well as topics relating to general technology, social networking, NewEnglandAncestors.org, land and probate records, and others."

Register online or email education @nehgs.org or mail to:
NEHGS
Education/Tours
101 Newbury St.
Boston, MA 022116-3007

for more information contact Josh Taylor at 617-226-1226 or by email at jtaylor@neghs.org

Amanuensis Monday- Bertha’s Audio Tape, Part 1

Houses in the Woodhouse section of Leeds

photo circa 1980s

most of these buildings are no longer standing

I read about Amanuensis Monday in Randy Seaver’s blog “GeneaMusings” and he read about it on John Newmark’s genealogy blog “TransylvanianDutch”. Amanuensis: a person employed to take dictation or copy manuscripts.

Years ago my uncle sent me a cassette tape. It was my grandmother Bertha’s voice, telling about her childhood in Yorkshire, England and her arrival in Massachusetts via Ellis Island in 1915. She must have made the tape sometime in the 1970s.

Bertha Louise Roberts was born in 1897 in Leeds, and she died in 1990 in Long Beach California. When I heard her voice on the tape, it brought back lots of nice memories. Not only did she have a distinctive Yorkshire accent, but she was also a very good storyteller.

Bertha left school at age 12 to become a trained British nanny. She was the “Under Nurse” for the archbishop in Leeds, and then at age 19 she emigrated with her parents and brother to join her married sister in Beverly, Massachusetts. I previously posted her emigration story on November 23, 2009, and her father’s emigration journal pages on July 30, 2009. Here is a transcript of part of her audio tape. I’ll transcribe a little more, and post more on each Amanuensis Monday.

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“Bertha Louise Roberts Wilkinson, "The Story of My Life"

"My name was Bertha Louise Roberts. I was born September the 30th, 1897 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Leeds was a big industrial city and a very hilly city having many hills and valleys in it. Many steps leading up to the higher plateaus. Leeds was in the Pennine Chains and it's chief industries was furniture, woolens and shoe factories.

The district where I lived was named Woodhouse. I think it was named after a furniture factory on the street near where I lived. The school was called Woodhouse School; there was Woodhouse Lane, Woodhouse Road and et cetera. My little street I lived at number three North West view, a short street leading off of Woodhouse Street. It was a small house and the sides were attached to the next-door, the next houses, and the back was attached to the back of the house on the next street. So there was only the front of the house open.

We had a large kitchen. Well, it was a living room and everything was done in that one room. We had a huge fireplace with an oven along the side of it, where Mother did all her cooking. She was a good cook and made all her own bread and would make tea cakes. And when my brother and I were small we used to take our bath and make the tea cake last as long as we could so we didn't have to go to bed.

In the living room we had a piano on one side of the room and a chiffonnier on the other. And then to the side of this living room there was a scullery where we had a big sink and a bath tub and a huge set pot where Mother would get a little fire going underneath it and boil the white clothes on wash day. In the corner of the living room were stairs leading up to the two bedrooms. My mother's bedroom had a huge fireplace in it. And then there was a smaller room where my sister and I slept. And my brother would sleep up in the attic where Mother stored a lot of her furniture. A lot of things. And of course we had a cellar where we kept the coal.

I had a sister six years older than me. She is still living. And then I had a brother two years older than myself. He passed away. I was really the baby of the family. But I did have a little baby brother. He died when he was an infant. And my Mother and Dad told me that there was a son after my sister and he died when he was a small child. My earliest recollection was of my mother holding that baby. And then I remember the baby being in the little casket and people coming in the house and the funeral. I wasn't three years old then.

And a little later on I would chase my sister to school. So finally they let me stay. Now in those days there was no automobiles. Everything was horse and buggies and wagonettes and so forth and we had to cross the street to the school. This infant school was separate from the public school where the boys and girls went. I remember the classroom very well. I remember there was a hammock in the corner where the good little girls and boys could take their turn and have a swing in it. And I can remember the clay modeling we did and things we played with. And the colored rings that we did put our toes to and did gymnasium things.

I was really quite a bit spoiled I think because I can remember being real tiny and crying quite a bit. One day my father got very exasperated with me, and he.., I had my hair shampooed, it was wet, and I was crying a lot, and he put me, shut me on the cellar head. Shut the door. And of course I got sick out of it. I remember that I was very sick and I had a birthday while I was in bed. The doctor came in a Hansom cab and the neighborhood children all gathered around the door. And I remember the gifts I had to play with while I was in bed.

I had heavy curly hair. Of course at times when there was special occasions I had my hair put up in rags. This was quite a procedure. Part of the hair was twisted around a piece of rags and then the other half of the rag twisted around it. I remember my mother combing my hair and it was very hard to have it done because it was so curly. And when I started going to school I can remember every noon time she would go through my hair with a fine toothed comb because I did get some of the lice from the other children. And she would… … she battled with it until I got rid of them.

I remember when I first went to school, noon times after she combed my hair she would hold me on her knee for a while. I really didn't care for school too much, especially arithmetic. I didn't like the arithmetic but I like the other subjects. Of course in England the arithmetic was different because they had the pounds, shillings and pence. And it was, I think, much more difficult than the arithmetic here.”

...To be continued on another Amanuensis Monday....

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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Romanus Emerson- Part 6, His lineage

All week I’ve blogged about Romanus Emerson, my 4x great grandfather, the infamous “Infidel” of South Boston. Many people have inquired about his family and genealogy, and so I will post his lineage below. The classic source for reviewing this line is Donald Lines Jacobus’s book “The Bulkeley Genealogy” published in 1933.

As I typed up this lineage I noticed that each generation produced a prodigious number of children who survived to marry and produce more Emersons. It is no coincidence that the Emerson name is so common in New England! Also, there are nine ministers mentioned below, and many others in the extended family.

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Generation 1: Thomas Emerson, son of Robert Emerson and Susan Crabbe, born 26 July 1584 in Sedgefield Parish, Durham, England, died 1 May 1666 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married on 1 Jul 1611 at Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England to Elizabeth Brewster, died on 10 August 1638 in Ipswich. Nine children, including two Puritan ministers, John and Joseph.

Generation 2: Reverend Joseph Emerson, born about 1620 in England, died 3 January 1680 in Concord, Massachusetts; married on 7 December 1665 in Concord to Elizabeth Bulkeley, daughter of Reverend Edward Bulkeley and Lucyann Coy, born in 1638 and died on 4 September 1693 in Reading, Massachusetts. Seven children. His son Edward was the grandfather to Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was previously married to an Elizabeth Woodmansey about 1646 in Boston, and had one child. Elizabeth Bulkeley Emerson married second to John Brown of Reading.

Generation 3: Peter Emerson, born 1673 in Mendon, Massachusetts, died on 19 January 1751 in Reading; married on 11 November 1696 in Reading to Mary Brown, daughter of John Brown (see above, he also married Peter’s mother) and Mary Fiske, born on 23 March 1678 in Reading and died before 1748 in Reading. Ten children including one minister, Daniel. Mary Fiske was the daughter of the Reverend John Fiske, the first Puritan minister at Wenham and at Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Generation 4: Deacon Brown Emerson, born on 16 April 1704 in Reading, died on 16 March 1774 in Reading; married on 17 June 1725 in Reading to Sarah Townsend, daughter of John Townsend and Sarah Boutwell, born on 25 March 1705 in Lynn, Massachusetts. Ten children, including one Baptist minister, Brown, Jr.

Generation 5: John Emerson, born about 5 April 1739 in South Reading, Massachusetts, died on 14 November 1809 in Hancock, New Hampshire; married on 20 December 1764 in Reading to Katherine Eaton; daughter of Noah Eaton and Phebe Lilley, born on 19 December 1744 in Reading and died on 21 January 1809 in Hancock, New Hampshire. Eleven children, including three Congregational ministers, Reuben, Brown, and Noah.

Generation 6: Romanus Emerson, born on 1 September 1782 in Townsend, Massachusetts, died on 10 October 1852 in South Boston; married on 22 November 1810 in Boston to Jemima Burnham, daughter of Colonel Joshua Burnham and Jemima Wyman, born on 9 May 1783 in Milford, New Hampshire, died on 5 August 1868 at 88 Emerson St., South Boston, Massachusetts.
1. Mary Ann, b. 1811 married Horace Ferrin, shipwright, in 1831
2. Louisa, b. 1813 married Charles Ridgeway Beers, Somerville carriage maker, in 1843
3. Emily E., b. 1814 married Melzar Stetson, shipwright, in 1847
4. George, b. 1817, Boston Police Lieutenant, married Mary Esther Younger
5. Jacob, b. 1820, house carpenter, married Elizabeth Dodge
6. Romanus, Jr., b. 1823, d. 1825
7. Joshua Burnham, b. 1823, d. 1825

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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