289 – Boots and Shoes

Mark Jarvis

Val bought a building and lot from Christian Farni and set up a boot and shoe business.

Deed Grantee Index – Valentine Maninger from Christian Farni

Farnisville/Slabtown was a growing community. Its river crossing gave it a strategic location. Its sawmill and grain mill drew farmers to town. Farni’s distillery employed up to 50 laborers.

Neighboring village of Minonk, Woodford County – c 1890

By 1860, the town hosted a butcher shop and general store. Val had set up a boot and shoe business. Blacksmith John Laufelt was a tenant in Val’s house.

Mason George Loeb operated next door, and harness maker Fred Fellrath had a shop two doors away. Next was the carpenter shop of Fred Bezler.

In the other direction, Nicholas Hodges ran the sawmill, Fourer was a wagon maker, and Valentine Miller, grocery merchant. Then the homes of William Miller, constable, and Christian Farni.

Census – Valentine Maninger – Woodford County, Illinois – 1860

Boots and shoes

Boot and shoe making was a big deal in America in 1860. The following quote is amazing!

The manufacture of boots and shoes employs a larger number of hands than any other American industry save that of agriculture, and more than one-twelfth of all the operatives engaged in manufactures.

Manufactures of the United States in 1860
Women’s boots – 1860

In 1860, there were 389 boot/shoe shops in Illnois, employing 1,204 men and 24 women. Everyone needed boots or shoes. Everyone needed their boots and shoes repaired.

Val had a good business, but the long-term future of the individual shoe and boot maker wasn’t rosy.

During the first half of the 19th century, shoemaking began to be industrialized. The invention of the McKay Sewing Machine in 1860 would greatly reduce the time to make a shoe. Ready-made shoes were available to buy, perhaps in cities or large towns.

Men’s Brogans – 1860

The lowly Oxford shoe, pretty much as it is today, appeared in the 1850’s. Brogans, with their larger heels, were used by working people and were standard issue in the military

Passion for the Past – Notes on Men’s Clothing of the 1860’s

A pair of Brogans cost $2 or $3 in 1860, about a day’s wage.

Abe Lincoln slept here

When I’ve encountered a family passdown story, it usually has some basis in fact. It may have been embellished over the generations, but there’s usually a kernel of truth. Here’s the story from Bob Henderson’s book.

While in Metamora, Valentine met Abraham Lincoln. An article in a Kansas historical book says, ‘While a resident of Metamora, he met Abraham Lincoln, who frequently came to the place in connection with his law practice and [they] frequently went on hunting trips together.’

The news of the assassination reached Val sometime on April 15, 1865. The whole nation mourned for the death of their slain leader but for Val a good friend was ruthlessly killed.

Dennis R. Angle, grandson of Fred Maninger – “The Maninger Family” book – Bob Henderson – 2000
Abraham Lincoln – 1858

While working as a clerk in a country store at New Salem, Abraham Lincoln borrowed legal texts from Springfield attorney John Todd Stuart, a cousin to his future wife Mary Todd. Though he became a respected and successful lawyer in Central Illinois – and even briefly a judge – he never attended law school. He passed the bar examination and obtained a license to practice in 1836.

Amish Mennonites in Tazewell County, Illinois

Central Illinois in the 1850s was Abe Lincoln country.

In 1839, Lincoln started riding the Eighth Circuit Court. By 1853, the Eighth Circuit included the counties of Sangamon, Logan, McLean, Woodford, Tazewell, DeWitt, Champaign, and Vermilion. In Tazewell County the court was in Pekin and Tremont, and in Woodford County in Metamora.

Is it reasonable to think that Val Maninger met Abe Lincoln?

Lincoln would be in Woodford and Tazewell Counties for three or four weeks each year, as court sessions were scheduled twice each year. Metamora was the county seat of Woodford County, about 15 miles northwest of Farnisville. Lincoln continued with circuit court until 1859.

Lincoln rode horseback between the county seats. One of the main roads between Woodford and McLean Counties crossed the low-water ford of the Mackinaw River at Farnisville.

Christian Farni’s partners in the distillery mismanaged money, and the distillery failed. Farni borrowed heavily to save it, but the creditors foreclosed. Farni hired Abe Lincoln to help forestall collections, so it’s likely that Lincoln visited Farnisville.

The family passdown story seems very plausible.

During the court session, Lincoln would stay in an inn or hotel near the courthouse. When in Metamora, he’d sometimes stay at Peter Engel’s tavern. Here’s Lincoln’s story about the first time he stayed at Engel’s.

I had supper and was sitting by the fireplace. Pretty soon a man came in and sat down. Then another, and another, until there were seven or eight bearded, silent huskies sitting around me. I began to be disturbed. It flashed through my mind that possibly they were some sort of night riders, as obviously they had come for some pre-arranged purpose.

Then Peter Engel glanced over the group and said, “Well gentlemen, I guess it’s time to begin” and he walked over to the fireplace , took his Bible off the mantle, and proceeded to lead the group through an extended prayer meeting.

Abraham Lincoln’s Recollection of a Visit to Metamora – Julie Engel Schertz

Val Maninger and Magdalena Smith

It’s easy to imagine how Val met Magdalena Smith. Lena’s eldest sister Mary married Fred Fellrath in 1858. Fred Fellrath was a harness maker. Fred and Mary Fellrath lived two doors away from Val Maninger. Certainly, Lena Smith visited her sister from time to time. Perhaps she even lived there after her parents died of cholera when she was 14.

By 1860, Lena Smith was age 19. Family lore says that Val and Lena were an item, and that Val proposed to her around 1860. But Val wasn’t Amish, and wasn’t a member of Lena’s close-knit congregation.

Magdalena decided to marry Peter Neuhauser, a member of an Amish family five miles west of Farnisville in neighboring Tazewell County.

Lena’s older brother Peter Smith had married Barbara Neuhauser, sister of Peter Neuhauser. In fact, Magdalena Smith’s maternal grandmother was Marie Neuhauser. So there were a lot of family connections.

Magdalena Smith siblings and their spouses

Magdalena Smith married Peter Neuhauser during the Amish meeting on Sunday, October 21, 1860, in Tazewell County.

Two weeks later, on November 6, Abraham Lincoln was elected President. By the time he was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, six southern states had seceded, and the Congress of the Confederate States of America had formed.

The Civil War had begun.

Val would go to war. He would get seriously wounded. After the war, he and Magdalena would have another chance.

Timeline

Sources:

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