At least three of my ancestors were craftspersons who made their living with their crafts. My mom and dad were hobbyists at particular crafts.
My paternal great-great grandfather Mathew Hale Packard (1822-1881) was a carpenter in New York and in Illinois. His occupation as a craftsman was interrupted by the Civil War, in which he served in two different regiments of cavalry from New York. After the war, he moved the family to Bloomington, Illinois, and returned to his craft.
While Mathew was being a carpenter or a soldier, his wife, Emily A. Hoyt (1823-1904) was a milliner. I have not been able to find any more information about how she practiced her profession: whether she worked from home or had a shop, or whether she designed for women only, men only, or for both. I'm thinking local newspapers might have advertisements she may have bought.
My maternal great-great grandfather, Nelson Reed McKee (1838-1908), was a jeweler and watchmaker. He had a shop in Monticello, White County, Indiana. In 1879, he disappeared, sparking a search of the town and its surroundings. Later, he turned up in Wisconsin, where he married again . . . without the benefit of a divorce from his first wife, my great-great grandmother Sarah Ann Sunderland (1848-1922). Sarah eventually married again, taking pains to obtain an uncontested divorce from Nelson first. Finally settling in Beloit, Wisconsin, Nelson again practiced his craft as a jeweler and watchmaker.
My mother, Martha Shideler Reed (1916-1980) was a craftsperson. Her crafting activity was confined to home and family, rather than in any commercial venture. She could knit like a pro, and knitted socks, hats, sweaters and other garments for us. She was working on a pair of socks for my father when he died in 1954. She never took up her knitting needles again after that. She was also good at sewing -- a pursuit at which I am totally incompetent. She made dresses for my sister and me and shirts for my brother out of flour sacks when we were very young.
My father, Arden Packard (1911-1954) also had a craft, as a hobby. He did leatherwork. One of my last memories of him was sitting at the dining room table working on a belt. He also made wallets. He also was a great storyteller, which is a craft as well.
6 comments:
Interesting – buz sad – that even then men abandoned their wives for other women.
@greyowl: I don't think he left my gg-grandmother FOR another woman. I think he left Indiana scared and confused, and ended up in Wisconsin ashamed and lonely. There was not only the family abandonment, but also some mention of a forged deed in his name, with a questionable date on it. He most likely felt he could never go back and face the shame that awaited him. It is sad that he left the family, and that my gg-grandmother, at 16, had to get a job to support the family. She became the classic one-room schoolhouse schoolmarm. Imagine anyone today being a teacher at 16 years of age! The story did give our family one of the most sensible sentences I have ever seen. Gg-grandmother rented a room from a family in the area where she taught. She described the mother of the family in these terms, which states the case for not getting all het up about housekeeping: "She waged a constant battle with dirt, but it finally got the best of her as she was buried under six feet of it." Thank you for reading my blog, and for commenting.
So many crafters in your family. But goodness I feel bad for great-great grandmother.
I hope you've got a few little pieces of crafts made by your parents and other relatives!
https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2024/03/magical-botany-c.html
A lot of talent from your family.
Interesting story about your gg-grandfather.
Lots of productive people in your family
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