TIP #501 - THEIR BOOTS WERE MADE FOR WALKING In fleshing out our ancestors and how they lived, we look at many views of their lives, occupations, modes of transportation, occupations and churches. Let's look a little lower down today and see how they got from here to there by "shank's pony". Here are some styles of older times. ARTILLERY DRIVER'S BOOT: Civil War - 1872 and beyond. The only boots issued by the government during the Civil War. They were authorized in 1851 for artillery drivers only and during the War, the government began issuing them to cavalry troops. This boot continued as a cavalry boot until 1872. Cuff lining, 12 inch high, half mid sole, full outer sole, pegged and nailed. CAVALRY BOOTS: The most common footwear was the standard-issue cavalry boot. It came to just below the knees, had squared toes, and a fairly low, flat heel. The leg or throat of the boot is fairly large so that uniform trousers can be inserted or "stuffed" in the boot tops without difficulty. Metal heel plates are standard, as they are with brogans. CHILD'S RED MOROCCO & BLACK LEATHER SHOES. These shoes date between 1830 and 1860; made of red morocco in the back half and soft black leather in the front. They fastened with a flat round brass button, normally stamped with a floral design. The tops were edged by ribbon and lined with linen. No left or right show. CHILD'S SHOES. Shoes in the 1850's were normally made by the local cobbler. There again was no left and right shoe, most had four holes for laces, came with linen linings. CHILD'S SHOES WITH COPPER TOE-CAPS. These shoes date to the 1860's. They were high topped leather shoes, again, no left or right shoe, interchangeable. They were unlined and had no tongue. They had copper toe-caps. CHILD'S SHOES WITH BRASS TOE-CAPS. Similar to the shoes above and during the same time frame. They normally had six holes for lacing on each side of the opening with white metal grommets in each hole. They came lined and unlined. CIVILIAN 10" or 16" STOVEPIPE BOOTS. Used from the Civil War on for many years. They were designed to be wore under the pants. COWBOY BOOTS: American cowboy boots have changed greatly over the years. The cowboy originally wore whatever was available which included moccasins, shoes, farmer boots, cavalry boots. In 1878 in TX a bootmaker named H J Justin designed a boot with a slender toe that wouldn't hook up in the stirrup, had a steel-shank arch to make riding easier and an unusual shaped heel which allowed for bracing against a rope. By 1880 this was the standard. (See http://www.awod.com/gallery/probono/cwchas/boot.html) FANCY TOPS: Many people in the early and mid 1800's referred to wearing "Fancy top boots" I couldn't find an actual definition of what these were and asked researcher Bill Utterback who provided the following: "Fancy tops can probably have more than one definition, but I believe that they 19th century version of this refers to boots that had a folded over section of leather at the top of each one that was often highly tooled and ornamental. I'm attaching an image of a pair of these that came from some collection I saw at one time. (C:\EUDORA.1\Attach\FancyTopBoots.jpg) FEDERAL SHOES: Issued in 1864-1865. It is a full double soled shoe. The midsole is sewn to the upper and insole and the outsole is sewn to the midsole. It is available in black or russet and either smooth side or rough side out. GENTLEMEN'S "FANCY: SHOES. Made between 1890 - 1910, men's fancy shoes were high style. They were made of a high-gloss black patent leather on the lower portion and woven black wool for the upper half. GENTLEMAN'S LEATHER MULES dated in the 1830's to 1860's. They were hand-made with hand carved oak soles and an inch high heel set to the back of the shoe. The leather uppers had a ½ inch wide strip of patent leather sewn down the center of the instep and a patent leather tip on square toes. A ¼ inch wide strip of linen ran across the toe. The sole was wooden. LADY'S LEATHER SHOES. From 1820-1830, a lady's shoe might be a soft leather slipper with an embossed pattern. The soles were flat and the toes were narrow and squared. No left or right show, lined with linen and tied with silk ribbons. LADY'S SHOES WITH BOWS. Bows were in between 1830-1840. The shoes were made of leather and had a silk bow on the front of each shoe. They were lined in lined and were held on with elastic cords. LADY'S LEATHER SHOES, no bows. These were also worn by the ladies between 1830-1840. They were very delicate leather shoes, there was no left or right shoe. Again, they were lined in fine linen. RANDOLPH RIDING BOOT. Late 1700's - 1880s . This was a two piece riding boot. The front is one piece with no top panel or "grift". The leather is soaked in oil and hand worked or "jacked" to soften, then stretched over a crimping block to create the turn. The bottom is a half mid-sole and a full outsole. STITCH DOWNS: "Stitch downs" refers to how the boot is constructed. There is a double line of stitching on top of the sole which is how the sole is attached to the boot. It was all hand work. After decent glues were available in the 19th century, the soles began to be glued to the boot in a sort of slot made in the sole, which is basically the way boots are made today. Stitch downs are actually still available, if a person wants to special order them and pay about $400-$500 a pair for them. (Courtesy Bill Utterback) VICTORIAN LEATHER OR CANVAS BOOTS: Date to the late 1800's/early 1900's. They were a combination of canvas and leather - the heel, toe and front side of the boot is leather and the remainder is canvas. The boots lace up the front and measure approximately 11". The inside of these boots were lined in a patterned material. The boots have a 2 1/2" spool heel. But, many of the average pioneers wore either moccasins or most likely went barefoot. (c) Copyright 5 Aug 2004, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/