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As Shown by the Diary of Joseph Lye, Shoemaker.
For all the facts in this little book the writer is indebted to Henry F. Tapley, who gave the Lye, or Tapley, shoe shop to the Essex Institute, and who related the record of it, as well as extracts from the diary of Joseph Lye, to the Lynn Historical Society, October 14, 1915.
Mr. Tapley’s story is published in the Register of the Lynn Historical Society, Number XIX, for the Year 1915.
JOSEPH LYE HIMSELF.
Joseph Lye was born in Lynn, Mass., in 1792, being one of the nine sons of Joseph Lye, a shoemaker and soldier of the Revolution, and Ann Hart. He kept a diary which shows that he “was first clerk of the Second Congregational church (Unitarian), clerk of the Fire club, served as juryman, trained in the militia, watched with sick friends and neighbors. He was something of a traveler in his modest way, worked as a shoemaker, painter, fisherman and skipper, and sailed small boats. He cleaned the chimney, set out posts and fences, fixed the pump, caulked boats and helped kill the neighbor’s pig. Interested in religious matters, he led the active, useful life of a good citizen.”
Altogether, he was a busy man. He viewed life from many angles. His diary is doubtless a good and accurate record of the acts and thoughts of the average man of his time. It furnishes material for contrast with men and their ways of these days.
In Lye’s time all work was done by hand. Machinery was scarcely known. Men often worked alone, for the factory system had not been started. As they toiled in solitude they read from a book or meditated in silence. They were given to deep thinking.
He lived in extraordinary times. His father told him of the Revolution. Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson were laying the foundations of the new nation. Pioneers were pushing their way west. Inventors were busy. Fulton sailed the Clermont down the Hudson. Inventors dreamed of the steam locomotive. American ships opened trade with the Far East and brought back “the wealth of the Indies.” The nation had prospered so much that it had a surplus in the treasury.
The shoe business flourished. John Adam Dagyr, “the Celebrated Shoemaker of Essex,” had taught his fellow workers of Lynn how to make shoes equal to the best imported from London and Paris. Newspapers of the time urged people to buy American shoes instead of imported footwear. Ebenezer Breed, an early captain of American industry, had induced Congress to put a protective tariff on American shoes.
Joseph Lye, the diarist, learned shoemaking of his father, the Revolutionary soldier, as did many a lad of his time. He worked on the farm, too, and became a handy man, able to undertake most any of the simple tasks of his time. He was content to work industriously and to live thriftily. Ambition did not tempt him. He thought deeply upon matters of religion. The Puritan conscience then was alive. He kept a diary. Its records are a good standard by which to compare the acts and thoughts of an average man of a century ago with the acts and thoughts of an average man of today, should any reader desire to do so.
JOSEPH LYE’S SHOP.
Soon after his return from the war of the Revolution, Joseph Lye bought a parcel of land and buildings thereon near the Common in Lynn, paying 123 pounds, 6 shillings for the entire property.
Among the buildings was a small, sturdy structure, scarcely as large as a kitchen. In it were four “berths,” or seats, on which shoemakers sat, their tools by their side and their stock on the floor, making shoes by hand. It was heated by a wood stove and lighted by candles, but aside from these it was as primitive as an old barn and had none of the hundred and one devices so essential to the modern factory. It had no steam, no machinery, not even running water. But it sufficed for the times. In it the Lyes made a comfortable living, first Joseph Lye, shoemaker and soldier of the Revolution, and then his son, Joseph, shoemaker and diarist.
This shop passed from the Lye family by purchase to Amos Preston Tapley, a shoe merchant, related to the Lyes by marriage. From him it passed to his son, Henry F. Tapley, who gave it to the Essex Institute in Salem. Here it is preserved as an example of an early type of American shoe factory.
JOSEPH LYE’S RELIGION.
“A Diary of my Daily occupations and a few remarks that do not relate to them, and a record of what deaths and marriages come to my knowledge.”
“Let not ambition mock my useful toil, My humble joys and destiny obscure, Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The simple annals of the poor.”
Lye thought much upon spiritual matters. He wrote in his diary frequently of his attendance at church and of his views of religious subjects. He worked leisurely and had time to reflect upon the meaning of life and its highest ideals. It may be his view of life has been lost among men of today, intent upon their affairs of the moment. The point is worth looking into, for the solution of many serious problems of business, labor and society is coming through Christianity and its interpretation by men.
Lye wrote in his diary many records of his acts and views of Christianity, and some of his records are these:
“Sunday, Nov. 23. This day attended the meeting at the meeting house in Lynn, heard Rev. Mr. Brown preach from Luke 23, 61-62 verse. In the afternoon from Matthew 26, 24-27 verse.”
Lye went to church twice Sunday. Many of today do not go to church once.
“Sunday, Nov. 30. Rainy and warm. In the forenoon attended public worship, heard Mr. Brown, of Charlestown, preach a sermon from 2 Corinthians, 2 chapter, 15th verse and part of 16th. In the afternoon from Paul 39, 4th verse.”
Rain did not keep Lye from going to church twice. Rain keeps many a churchgoer away from church these days.
“Thursday, Dec. 25. Christmas. Rev. Hosea Ballou was installed pastor of the Second Universalist meeting in Boston.”
Christmas Day and no mention of Christmas joys. Puritans frowned on Christmas celebrations. Lye knew no Christmas cheer as do people of these days.
“Sunday, Jan. 18th. Read one of Laurin’s sermons in the forenoon. In the afternoon attended divine worship in Chelsea. Heard an excellent sermon by the Rev. Mr. Tuckerman.”
Lye could not go to church Sunday morning, so he read a sermon. Men of today read the newspapers Sunday morning, or play golf, or motor.
“Jan. 1, 1818. Fine day for the new year. Walked on foot to Chelsea, engaged a seat of Capt. John Tewkesbury in Rev. Mr. Tuckerman’s meeting house.”
Lye walked to Chelsea, a distance of eight miles, to church. Few of today will walk a mile to church.
A time of woe to Lye was in February and March of 1818, when he recorded in his diary:
“Sunday, Feb. 22. Attended public worship at the old meeting house. Sermon by Rev. Mr. Morse, son of D. Morse, of Charlestown, from the passage, ‘Be ye reconciled to God.’ The sermon was the true essence of Calvinism, very uncharitable, cruel as the grave, profitable to no one.”
“Mar. 22. Staid at home this day, rather than to hear a Calvinistic preacher at the First church.”
Lye was evidently a man of strong convictions.
A time of joy to him was in the early part of the year 1822, when he helped to form a Congregational church at Lynn and worked on its meeting house. He records:
“Tuesday, Nov. 5. Assisted in erecting two stages for the accommodation of the committee, clergymen and singers for the dedication of the new meeting house.
“In the afternoon was laid the corner stone of the Second Congregational church (Unitarian) with appropriate ceremony. The treasurer, William Badger, having deposited under it a 25 cent piece, one half cent, a ten cent piece, an American coin and some newspapers of the day, and the copper plate with the inscription: ‘There is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. God is no respector of persons but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is acceptable.’ The other side: ‘Second Congregational society of Lynn, maintaining in their fullest extent the right of conscience and private judgment in Religion and the principles of Universal Charity was established, and this house devoted to the worship of the only true God, the Father of Jesus Christ, our Lord, founded under their patronage in the year of the Christian Era 1822. May God give thee increase.’”
Deep interest in religion was common among shoemakers of the time of Lye. The Bible was kept in many a shop. The Sunday sermon was a chief topic of debate among the shoemakers. The minister himself often called at the shop. But these days there is no room in the shop for the Bible and the minister never calls. There may be business wisdom in the remark of a shoe man that each large manufacturing organization should have a minister on its staff.
THE WAGES OF JOSEPH LYE.
For his useful toil Joseph Lye was content with a modest wage. He was willing to turn his hand to most anything. He worked “as a shoemaker, painter, fisherman and skipper of small boats. He cleaned the chimney, set out posts, built fences, fixed the pump, caulked boats and helped kill the neighbor’s pig.” He also was a farmer. Evidently he had a good all around training which enabled him to adjust himself to the circumstances of each day. He did not become a specialist in shoemaking and limit his work to one branch of the shoe trade, as do shoemakers of these days. He undertook most any work that came before him. Yet he was not a plodder, living from day to day, for he took upon himself responsible tasks and financial obligations. For example, in April, 1822, he agreed to pay his mother $150 a year for the use of the farm, comprising eight acres of tillage, two cows, a pasture and a wood lot, as well as buildings.
He was taught his trade of shoemaking by his father, Joseph Lye, the cordwainer and soldier of the Revolution. In turn he taught his brother Robert to make shoes. He made mention of it in his diary. He was not apprenticed to a master workman for seven years, or until he was 21, as was the common practice of his time. His knack of painting, building fences, fishing, sailing boats, and farming was picked up in his boyhood life on his father’s farm. A task came before him. His father showed him how to do it. He did it, and learned a lesson in the school of experience.
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