African American Shoe Makers, Repairers, Shiners - Ashland, KY [Nettie May Higgins Franklin]

Below are the names and locations of African American-owned shoe businesses in Ashland, KY. Three of the owners were members of the Franklin family, and Nettie Franklin is the only woman listed. It was very rare for there to be a woman in the shoemaking and shoe care business in Kentucky. Nettie Franklin was in business for about 10 years, then in 1933 she was doing domestic work, and she was working as a janitor when she died in 1939 [sources: p.139 in Polk's Ashland (Boyd County, KY.) City Directory, 1933; and Kentucky Certificate of Death File No.196, Registered No.30]. 

Nettie Franklin ran the shoe shop from 1924 to about 1933. During this time, Nettie Franklin was a widow with a son named William W. Franklin and the shoe business was their livelihood. She had kept the business going since her husband's death in 1924. The shop was located on 29th Street and Nettie and her son lived at 309 Greenup Street [source: p.539 & p.266 in Miller's Official Ashland, Kentucky City Directory, 1930-31, Advertiser's Special Directory]. 

Nettie's deceased husband was Edward Franklin. The couple lost a son shortly after he was born in 1915 [source: Kentucky Certificate of Death File No.29279, Registered No.153]. In 1920 the couple was employed by a private family where Edward was a butler and Nettie was a maid [source: 1920 U.S. Census]. Their son William W. was born around 1921. In 1922, Edward Franklin was owner of the Electric Shoe Shop on 29th Street, and at that same address, Fred Alfred ran the shoe shine parlor [source: p.144 & p.309 in Ashland, Kentucky City Directory, 1922-1923]. Edward Franklin had run a pool parlor in 1908.

Edward Franklin was the son of Richard and Amanda Cockrell Franklin [source: Kentucky Certificate of Death File No.829, Registered No.108]. The father, Richard Franklin, had been a shoemaker and repaired shoes since the 1800s. In 1930, both he and Nettie Franklin had shoe shops on 22nd Street. Nettie May Higgins Franklin was the daughter of Serenia Lindon and Alex Higgins, the family was from Wolfe County, KY [source: Kentucky Certificate of Death File No.196, Registered No.30]. 

Another shoe business in Ashland was the Keeton Shoe Shop, the longest owned African American shoe repair shop in Boyd County, having opened around 1908 with Rev. Harry T. Keeton as the proprietor up to about 1947. Rev. Keaton was also a shoe repairer and a minister in Maysville, KY. The Ashland shoe shop was taken over by James Keeton and Aaron Keeton, both were there in the 1960s. The Keeton Shoe Shop was open for more than 50 years.

*There were two women named Nettie Franklin in Ashland, KY in the 1930s and both had a son named William, one of the women was African American and she is the one being referred to in this entry.

**Edward Franklin and William Edgar Franklin were brothers. Their names are continuously mixed up in the census records and in the Ashland city directories.

***Starting around 1933, the Ashland city directories no longer indicated the race of individuals or businesses.