The
blacksmith shop and its storied smithy, made famous in
legend and poetry, has largely passed from the scene.
Nostalgia periodically grips those who recall the blacksmith
shop of yesteryear, and they yearn to stand at its open
door, see the flaming forge, the flying, burning sparks, and
hear the rhythm of the hammer and the bell-like ring of the
anvil.
As this
part of the country was being settled, a community could not
make progress without its important and necessary blacksmith
establishment. Often it was located at a cross-roads
rather than in a village, and the shop, like the mills and
trading posts, became impromptu meeting places for the
neighborhood.
Blacksmithing
was a skilled trade, and horseshoeing was a vital part of
it. The brawny-armed men had to carefully fit the shoe to
the horse's hoof and nail it on so that it would stay there.
Brinkerhoff wrote, “Horseshoeing was only a small part of
his-job for in that period of self-sufficiency, many tools
and household artifacts were made to order by the local
blacksmith. He made knives, razors, nails, hammers, and
other home tools as well as spades, rakes, scythes and hoes
for the garden. Plows, harrows, cultivators and other
farming equipment were manufactured, repaired and sharpened
by the smithy. In many localities, this versatile artisan
performed the duties of a gunsmith and carriage maker.”
The
blacksmith shop passed through the age of horsepower to that
of the gas-powered engine and finally into the era of
electricity. There is little wonder that the man who kept
the horse shod was the craftsman called on to minister to
the new form of transportation ― the car, and many
blacksmith shops were converted into auto service garages.
Industries such as the railroads, coal mines and factories
required the services of blacksmiths.
James
Young, son of the county's first settler, performed some of
the chores of a blacksmith at his home west of Salem. The
census of 1825 lists James Chance as Salem's blacksmith -
his shop was on Town Creek north of the St. Louis -
Vincennes Trail. Another of the earliest smiths was Gideon
Burton who moved from Clinton County to Romine Township.
An
incomplete list of Marion County blacksmiths follows:
SALEM:
Samuel Young (1858), John Stevenson (1860), David Marsh
(1860), Charles Oyler (1860), Alfred Cooper (1860), George
Watson (1860), Samuel Long (1860), John Drapar (1860), John
Riley Kell (1860), Herman Jackson (1860), Wm. Britton
(1870), Frank Clay (1870), John Schmermund (1870), Alvin
Glick (1880), Wm.M. Telrop (1880), Merz Bros. (1881), W.H.
Young and F. Albert (1885), Robertsons (1890), Paul Gossett
and Shorty Holland (1928), Archie Ferris, Perry Robbins,
Harry Gardner, Redis Crain.
CENTRALIA:
John Peltier (1853), James Cunningham (1859), Alex
Somerville and Snyder (1859), Charles Miles (1859), Peter
Webb (1860), James Rug (1860), Adam Wehrheim (1860), John
Marker (1860), Charles Weaver (1860), Sam Conrad (1860),
Richard Whittle (1860), Albert Marsh (1860), Alfred Stoddard
(1860), John Polstiffer (1860), Mat Jacobs (1860), Hugh
McCann (1860), Pat Murphy (1860), Aaron Austin (1860), Frank
Reeder (1860), Wm. Green (1860), James McDaniel (1860), John
VanHyning (1860), Capt. R.W. Joliff (1866), Nicholas Leifer
(1868), Joseph R. Ross (1870), Robert Centz (1870), James
Bohn (1870), Herbert Hall (1870), Lawrence Hoffman (1870),
Adolphus McMillan (1870), Wm. Randy (1880), Andrew McLean
(1880), Marshall Thompson (1880), Thomas McNeil (1880),
Hibbard Hall (1880), Morris Herrin
(1880),
Ephriam Ridgeway (1880), George Marsh(1880), James K. Rahm
(1880), John Greany (1880), Morris Brennan (1880), James
Greer (1885). Waggoner and Robertson (1886), Charles Zweig
(1887), G.W. Davis and G.W. Wright (1887), Thacker and
Skipper (1888), Henry Hediger (1888), Henry Broecker (1891),
J.T. Belt (1892), E.H. Frank (1913), Henry Merten, Cliff
Elrod (1914), Theodore Buehler (1914), John McNeil (1910),
Wm. Green.
IUKA: A.B.
Taylor, A.O. Estes, James Jackson (1858), R.M. Rodgers
(1860), Sam Young (1860), John Pierce (1979), Cuthbert Jones
(1880), S.W. Bryant (1880), J.T. Rawlins (1881), M.T. Huddle
(1899), A.A. “Bud” Spitler (1901), Harry Linder (1908),
Albert Hawn Sr. (1914), Albert Hawn Jr. (1954).
FOSTER:
W.J. Goldsborough, Joseph G. Knight (1880).
ALMA:
Jacob Smith (1841), Smith and Hawkins (1855), Joseph Full
(1870), John Tinkler (1880), Granville Gammon (1880).
CENTRAL
CITY: Charles Heath and Benj. Brooks (1856), Jacob Garnier
(1860), Thomas Fowler (1860), Conrad Criley (1860), Andrew
Skeen (1860), Andrew Klaus (1860), August Worst (1860),
Adolph Stobe(1860), Jacob Stoyer(1860), Klaas Loling(1865),
John Fields (1870), Birl Jones (1870), Fred Tilker (1880).
PATOKA:
Snider and Harrison (1857), A.M. Hulser (1870), R.S. Horner
(1870), Thomas Quayle (1880), John Church (1880), F. Geiger
(1880), Henry Vails (1885), John A. Miller (1929), J.C.
Griffin.
KINMUNDY:
Henry Eagen (1860), Clinton Wolf (1860), B. Chalfant (1868),
W.H. Harrison (1870). Henry Lyman (1870), D.C. Stout (1870),
Lewis Cole (1870), Wm. Baker (1870), George Lupp (1870),
John Hollman (1870), James S. Moon (1880), Albert G. Eagen
(1880), Justin Eagen (1880), Joseph Bargh (1880), George
Withbeck (1880), Albert Blackburn (1880), J.C. Gunn (1881),
J.Smith (1881), S.G. Heift (1933).
BANNISTER
ROAD: Hollis Baker (1934).
WALNUT
HILL: James Young (1870), Columbus Bruce (1870), John Trieb
(1880), C.N. Breeze (1881).
TONTI:
Thomas Allmon (1830s).
FOXVILLE:
Greenbury Belt (1880), Wm. Eastland (1880), John R. Byars.
KELL:
Fayver and Hooten (1896), Henry Moehlman (1901), Bird
Wilkins (1925).
HAINES:
Green Fields, Benj. and Nathaniel Little (1860), Samuel
Stonecipher (1860), Abner Wilkins (1860), Joseph Belt
(1880).
SANDOVAL:
Ferd Stein (1860), Henry Seiter (1860), James Lum (1860),
Jerman Jacob (1860). Lewis Ruby (1870), Peter Schell (1880),
Henry Kern (1882), George Geiger (1890), W.W. and Jesse
Kissner (1898), Dave Parker (1898), Harvey Schotter (1900),
Frank Kennedy (1901), Fred Grote (1901), John Hopfinger
(1901), Henry Kehder (1914), Joseph Klein (1932).
OMEGA:
R.M. Rogers, John W. Fickness (1860), John W. Smith (1870),
Jacob Smith (1870), Cox and Lockes (1881), R.D. Barnes
(1881), Robert and Ray Schooley.
VERNON:
W.H. Goldsborough (1880), McCallon (1885).
,
CARRIGAN:
Wiley Burton, Joe Davis, George Geiger (1886).
ODIN:
James Headley (1870), James Jackson (1870), Henry Soulon
(1865), B.C. Holsapple (1911).
RACCOON:
John Gardner, John McBryant (1870), J.M. Snyder (1880),
William Gaston (1892).
ROMINE:
Richard Cook (1881).
STEVENSON:
George Huff (1892).
CARTTER:
Charles Hammond (1900).
GLENRIDGE:
Morris Gilley (1911).
MEACHAM:
Andrew Shields, Alva Lambird, Don McDavis (1870).