MAESSEX-L Archives

From: Stan Malcolm <>
Subject: [MAESSEX] Cordwainer Defined
Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 09:54:49 -0400

According to Alfred F. Young in "The Shoemaker and the Tea Party", which
describes the role of George Robert Twelves Hewes in what came to be
called the Boston Tea Party, "If Hewes was typical, he would have made
shoes to order, "bespoke" work; this would have made him a cordwainer.
And he would have repaired shoes; this would have made him a cobbler."

Young's book is fascinating, by the way, as it relates the extent to
which "the destruction of the tea", long out of public consciousness,
was resurrected, "spun", and popularized for partisan political purposes
in the 1830s.

Similarly, James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz's "The Times of Their
Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony" has much to say - and
correct - about our popular, engrained ancestor-myths. Highly readible
and HIGHLY relevant to our Essex County ancestors just up the road a
piece. I'd call this a "must read" if you wish to gain a better
understanding of how the early colonists lived and thought.

- Stan

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