I"ll relate what an older fellow in town told me about my grandfather. I don"t know a great deal about him since he died nearly 20 years before I was born.
Grandpa was born in 1861 and came from Iowa to Kansas in 1886. He learned the blacksmith trade from grandma"s uncle and promptly bought out his shop.
The fellow telling me the story related that grandpa was an excellent blacksmith but made more by buying and selling his various shops rather than at the trade itself.
He had a good business as he knew his work well. He would tire of the work and sell out. Within a few months the new smithy didn"t have much work because of poor skills so grandpa would buy back the shop for a fraction of what he had sold it for. He did that several times always making a decent profit from the selling and buying and then selling again later.
The link below has photos for three of his shops and also an interior view which has been used in a couple of books. The shop was in Utica, KS from 1886 until 1928 which was the year he died. -- An older cousin said on rainy days he would lay in bed all day smoking his pipe and work out details and dimensions for a project, recorded only in his mind and once the rain stopped he would go to his shop and build the item. -- He and another fellow designed and built a centrifugal water pump but their sample pump was stolen during rail shipment and never reached the patent office. The railroad was unable to trace the loss. --- I do have items that belonged to my grandfather. I have two of his blacksmith shop account books, a small notebook which gives his clothing sizes indicating stature, a few hand and measuring tools, his post vise, his last keyring of keys, and even his bowler (derby) hat. Love the packrat ways of my family.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - The Day Mom Drove the 8N - by Brian Browning. My Dad was wanting to put in a garden but couldn't operate the 8N and handle the old horse drawn plow he had found and rigged up to use with the tractor. Well, he decided to go get Mom out of the house and have her drive the tractor while he walked behind the plow. You got to understand that while my Mom is a hard worker who will always help whenever she can... she had never operated farm machinery before that day. Dad got her out there, explained how the clutch was the same as in our o
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Oliver 550 Diesel runs like a watch three point hitch pto engine gone threw about two hundred hours ago nice clean tractor
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
