38 A Bridge To The Past 
     
    
   
   
    
     SHOEMAKER 
     
    
   
   
    
     Shoemaking was another necessary industry in early days. There were 
     
     many cobblers among the pioneer families but in most cases, style and 
     
     comfort took second place to ruggedness. The shoemaker tried to encom« 
     
     pass all three and in his little shop would have a choice of leather and other 
     
     fittings to provide a bit of variety for his customers. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A shoemaker, John Matthews, came to Wilmot Valley previous to 
     
     1860, and set up a shop near the school. He was born in England in 1832 
     
     and when he emigrated he probably brought along the tools of his trade. 
     
     The customer would come to the shop and have his foot measured and pick 
     
     out a choice of material and design. At a later date he would come back and 
     
     pick up the finished footwear. Occasionally Mr. Matthews would go to the 
     
     homes and make a pair of shoes for each member of the family. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A tannery at nearby Read’s Corner would probably supply some of 
     
     the leather while other materials and fittings could be bought at any country 
     
     store. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mr. Matthews served as Post Master at Clark’s Mills from 1890 to 
     
     1896. He died in 1896 and is buried in Wilmot Valley Cemetery. 
     
    
   
   
    
     MACHINE SHOPS 
     
    
   
   
    
     Several machinists got their start in Wilmot Valley and went to 
     
     establish successful manufacturing and retail machinery businesses in other 
     
     locations. Among these were Jonathen Hall and John Dickieson. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Hall name has long been associated with machinery. As far back 
     
     as 1860 the people near the Taylor Road were hearing the sound of iron 
     
     being hammered into shape in the machine shop of Jonathen Hall. In those 
     
     days the invention of new and labor-saving machines was an important 
     
     achievement, mainly because these machines would ease the burden of 
     
    
   
   
    
     heavy manual labor. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mr. Hall would often call on his neighbor, Mr. Joseph Rogers, a 
     
     blacksmith, for help in mounting one of his threshing mills or fanners. In 
     
     1861 there were twenty-one threshing machines owned by farmers in Lots 19 
     
     and 25 and it would be interesting to know how many of these were 
     
     manufactured in Mr. Hall’s shop. His son, Thomas Hall, was soon 
     
     established in Summerside where the Hall Manufacturing Company grew 
     
     and expanded. A notice in the newspaper in 1882 tells that they have just 
     
     completed a new style of separating machine. They not only expanded to 
     
     new lines of machinery but they continued to improve the ones already in 
     
     production. The Hall threshing mill is remembered as an efficient and well- 
     
     built machine and was a helpful invention before the coming of the grain 
     
    
   
   
    
     combine.