The Crispin Colloquy

I have 4 generations of cordiners in my ancestry, all in Glasgow, Scotland.

John Johnston.
His daughter Agnes married 10 June 1752 William Robertson.
Their daughter Janet Robertson was born 26 November 1752, Glasgow, and married John Gentle 3 March 1777.
Their son William Gentle was born 14 May 1781.

John Johnston, William Robertson, John Gentle, and William Gentle were all shoemakers/cordiners.

William Gentle is my gggrandfather.
John Gentle is listed in 1816 at 35 High Street, Glasgow, as a leather cutter.

I am just starting to try to find some information on Glasgow cordiners. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.

Jane

All messages posted prior to 25 February 2002 have been moved to the first Crispin Colloquy CD Archive. Those interested in obtaining a copy of this CD need to contact admin@thehcc.org

Admin--07 May 2002

I have found quite a bit on Glasgow Trades Guilds and the Guild of Cordiners, including verifying my ancestors' membership. In fact, I have learned that John Gentle was Deacon of the Guild in 1808-09. I have a booklet giving all members from 1550 to 1975. The Guild is now a charitable organization. Write me if you would like more info.

Jane M. Fraser
janemfraser@hotmail.com

My Grandfather was a shoemaker in Millinocket, Maine. He worked through the WWII era. The story goes, he was the only guy in a very large mile radius that was building/repairing boots.

I unfortunately did not get to see him in action. He had retired long before I was old enough to speak with him about much of anything.

G'day All. Not sure where to put this as I can't reply on the 'In Memoriam' thread. I'm not here very much at all these days, as I'm burnt out and finished with shoemaking for the time being, so I missed the passing of D.W. Really sorry to hear that. He was keen to teach, and keen to learn (even about some of my weird, of the wall methods ). I learnt a number of things from him, one of the most useful being the trick of offsetting the heel end of a sole about 1/2" to the lateral side so that when it's forced over to line up with the heel, it drops down into the lateral side of the shank, leaving a bulge above the medial side of the shank that can then be smacked down with a dome faced hammer and then burnished down with a bone, thus making it fairly easy work getting a thick leather sole to mould around a deep shank. See drawings to clarify.
D.W. also passed onto all of us the advice he'd received from his master:
"When you finish a pair of shoes/boots, find three things you can improve next time.
Not more than three, so you won't become discouraged
Not less than three, so you won't become arrogant" (can't quite remember the exact word he used here, but that general gist of not getting too proud etc)
A good thing to remember in any trade.
Vale D.W.
Thank you, and you will be missed.
Duncan