Handbook N-P - Fulton County Public Library

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Seated on a “bench” that was put in service twenty years before Mr. Painter learned the
trade, one can easily imagine a companionship that would require a King’s Ransom to sever. Men
and their working tools become an intricate part of each other, provided one loves his work.
Mr. Painter started his apprenticeship in the year 1877. In those days all trades had to be
learned under strict guidance of older and finished workmen. The “cub” receiving one lesson at a
time, which he mastered, or he pitched camp until he did.
Every step of boot and shoe making has passed through Mr. Painter’s hands, from taking
a measure, shaping the last, cutting the leather from large rolls, twisting the waxed threads and
weaving in the bristle, and the hundred and one other tricks necessary to produce the finished
hand-made boot or shoe, in his fifty-seven year - on the same shoemaker’s bench.
Time out during all these years, Mr. Painter’s fancies will not number more than one
hundred days -- to cover slight illness, fishing trips along the old Tippecanoe, and going visiting --
plus a day off to get married. Some record! Who can beat it?
Rattle tat tat, tickle tat too, this is the way to make a shoe,” is a line from an old First
Grade school song. Here’s hoping Sanford, that you see “Rattle tat tat, tickle tat too” -- on up to
the time you want to say -- “I’M THROUGH.”
[The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, February 12, 1935]
PAINTER BROS. [Rochester, Indiana]
[Adv] DOLLARS SAVED IS DOLLARS EARNED! Look at these prices for shop-made
foot-wear. - - - - All work warrented to give satisfaction. PAINTER BROS, with Hoover’s Shoe
Store.
[Rochester Sentinel, Wednesday, April 1, 1891]
[Adv] SHOE REPAIRING and shoe making at Painter Brothers up-to-date shop is
always satisfactory. Pride is felt in the large, well pleased line of customers. In J. D. Holman’s
Shoe Store.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, February 11, 1899]
PAINTERS [Rochester, Indiana]
See Parker, Russell
__________
A. McFall will do your house sign and other painting for you in a highly artistic style.
See his advertisement and give him your business.
[Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, September 25, 1858]
Painting! E. J. Hunt, House Painter . . . Residence one square west of Hoch’s Tin Shop.
Rochester, May 19 1864.
[Rochester Chronicle, Thursday, June 9, 1864]
Among the old timers in the house painting profession was Alonzo (Lon) Freeman. If
Lon were living today and retained the same qualification with which my memory associates him,
he would be a top-flight union fanatic. As a boy I listened to his rabid declarations of insufficient
pay, unsatisfactory working conditions, long hours, etc. las he held forth in my father’s grocery for
the benefit of anyone who would listen. However, Lon was a mighty good painter, a good
neighbor and citizen. He particularly was interested in kids.
Then there was William Orr, who resided in what is now the 1100 block of Monroe
street. Orr was a small man and considered as one of the best qualified of the painting profession.
With his son Robert, he held the public esteem that later gravitated to Alf Van Dien and Charles
Goodrich. To employ Orr was considered as the essence of extreme good judgment when house
decorating was a matter of importance.