The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

It is my "boondocker" holster. Fits almost any handgun, right or left handed, up to a 2" belt. My 5th great grandfather came to the US from Scotland in 1740, his occupation was listed as shoemaker, so it may have been a spiritual visitation, or, you may be right, I might be crazy.

Remember folks, you saw it here first!

All I can say right now is Interesting and Different.....!

Another thought, this old adage sums it all up here. "Necessity is the mother of all inventions."

Interesting. The old timers attached the moniker of shoemaker not necessarily only to one who makes shoes. It was used to describe someone who would get something working by any means possible. The end result might look odd, or dangerous, but would work. Good example of this is seeing two layers of fuel and heater hose clamped around a leaking power steering pressure line in a 2011 Subaru Impreza with about ten hose clamps. Looks like hell, but it's not leaking and the lady is able to get back and forth to work with the car until she can afford a new line.

Jim, I had never heard that about the term "shoemaker." I wonder if the term was used "back in the day?" That could fit with my 5th GGF. I had a hard time understading how a shoemaker could come up with the funds for passage for their entourage and have enough left to make a start.

He and his three sons and an undererminded number of their women came here in 1740 from Scotland via Ireland. The dad lived to be 100 years of age (his wife lived to 99) and died a wealthy planter in Georgia. They were well-off enough to entertain Washington on his victory tour in their home near Savanna. His son, expanded that wealth to become an empire in Northern Alabama. It must have been a family that knew how to get things done. (That may translate to ruthlessness.) Of course when the free labor was eliminated, most of the family did not adapt well and the empire was soon a "small holding." My grandfather, born during the first year of the Civil War, did fairly well until he ran off with my Grandmother, basically abandoning everything that was left, including a wife and three kids. My father died an alcoholic, broke and in debt with essentially no assets. It is a rags to riches to rags family story.

The term was being commonly used by members of the WW2 generation and older when I first heard it. It probably predates that and may be regional in origin. It's been some time since I heard it used in conversation since most of that generation is gone now. " who the hell did the wiring on this car? Looks like he was a real shoemaker all right" " what's with all the tarpaper and tar patching the roof? You hire a shoemaker to do this job? My family had a big booze making operation in upstate NY, but it didn't last past the end of prohibition. That generation ended up opening a small grocery store and lived modestly after the wild days were over.

So, I sobered up this morning and went looking for my boots...

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 02, 2024 1:10 pm So, I sobered up this morning and went looking for my boots...

Ooops......!

One of my maternal ancestors was an actual shoemaker. Started his living in Leroy, New York working in the window of a store. At the end of his life, he OWNED that entire block. A real rags to riches story.

awalker1829 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2024 7:08 am One of my maternal ancestors was an actual shoemaker. Started his living in Leroy, New York working in the window of a store. At the end of his life, he OWNED that entire block. A real rags to riches story.

It is nice to hear stories about trademen doing well. That is the American dream in action. That path to financiall success is not as open to working class folks as it once was.

Making big money is an interesting study. In my small school (300 kids from Kindergarten to grade 12) everybody knew everbody. I know that at least two of the biggest dumbasses, I am talking about real doofuses, in my school, went on to become multi-millionaires. They are still stupid, but stupid and rich. Some of the brightest kids went through life struggling financially... I fell somwhere in the middle, both academically and financially, I am neither rich, nor do I struggle and as of today, I still have enough sense to get in from the rain.

If a person really loves money over all other considerations they will become weathy, all that they have may be money, but they will have plenty of it. Of course there are other paths to riches, some are born to it, some of them just being lucky to be in the right place at the right time, some of them by ball-busting work and thriftiness. You just can't judge the person by their bank account.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2024 10:46 am

awalker1829 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2024 7:08 am One of my maternal ancestors was an actual shoemaker. Started his living in Leroy, New York working in the window of a store. At the end of his life, he OWNED that entire block. A real rags to riches story.

It is nice to hear stories about trademen doing well. That is the American dream in action. That path to financiall success is not as open to working class folks as it once was.

Making big money is an interesting study. In my small school (300 kids from Kindergarten to grade 12) everybody knew everbody. I know that at least two of the biggest dumbasses, I am talking about real doofuses, in my school, went on to become multi-millionaires. They are still stupid, but stupid and rich. Some of the brightest kids went through life struggling financially... I fell somwhere in the middle, both academically and financially, I am neither rich, nor do I struggle and as of today, I still have enough sense to get in from the rain.

If a person really loves money over all other considerations they will become weathy, all that they have may be money, but they will have plenty of it. Of course there are other paths to riches, some are born to it, some of them just being lucky to be in the right place at the right time, some of them by ball-busting work and thriftiness. You just can't judge the person by their bank account.

Bernhardt Furniture out of Lenoir, North Carolina was founded by kin (We share the same GGG Grand Father) of mine and is still owned by the family.

https://www.bernhardt.com/

https://www.bernhardt.com/company/the-bernhardt-story/

That was quite interesting. A long time in the furniture industry.