Women's Footwear in America

Shoe – B. Benjamin Nov. 18th, 1938

Haunted by the tapes I made of my grandfather as a child I’ve always wanted to share his story. A few months ago when I submitted an article to Wikipedia on him it was rejected due to not being notable. Kate Gosslein and Kim Kardashian are notable, but not my grandfather? i.e. A self-made man orphaned at 12 who rose to be one of the biggest shoemen in this country.  Instead of spending my time proving to Wikipedia that he is, I started this blog to try and put together the missing pieces. The answers are out there I just have to keep asking the questions.

My Dad and Grandfather.

The first place I started was a box of papers I had.  It was a mess of old college letters, drawings from high school, stickers, junk, but inside all of that junk there was a manila envelope with some letters and notebooks that my grandfather must have given me I had forgotten about. They were his notebooks from when he was an apprentice in England as a boy and the letters of reference that he brought with him to America.

Each twist and turn I take is just another layer to be peeled away.