African American Shoe Makers, Repairers, Shiners - Lexington, KY [John B. and Ella B. Thomas] [Rev. Titus Buckner]

In Lexington, KY, there were hundreds of African American men in the shoemaking and shoe care business. The income they earned kept some in the business going for a short while, and for others the income sustained their businesses for decades. There were even a few who were in the business for half a century or more. This entry represents a selection of both African American men and women in Lexington, KY, who were in the shoemaking and shoe care business from 1920 to 1930. This was a period of time before retirement and social security benefits, and people started working early and kept working up to the time of their deaths.

The individuals in the table below earned their livelihood in shoe occupations that offered services considered part of the standard cost of being well dressed. In 1920, there were at least 16 African American shoe shiners in Lexington, according to the U.S. Federal Census, and only one, Mitchell Garth was listed under the heading of "Shoe Shiners" in the business section of the 1921 city directory. After 1921, race (c) was not noted again in the business section of the directory until the 1928 issue was published. Mrs. Ella B. Thomas was the only African American woman listed and her name can be found under the heading of "Shoe Repairers." Born around 1869, Ella B. Thomas was the wife of John Thomas, the couple married in 1886 and had two children according to the 1900 U.S. Census.

Beginning in 1900, Ella's occupation is listed as dressmaker, seamstress, or sewing in the census records, but in the city directories, beginning in 1916, she is listed as a shoemaker or a shoe repairer [source: p.555 in R. L. Polk and Co.'s Lexington City Directory 1916-1917]. She was actually both a seamstress and a shoemaker; the data collectors for the publications chose what they perceived as her primary occupation. Ella's husband, John B. Thomas, born around 1857, had been a shoemaker as early as 1880 according to the U.S. Census. Ella learned how to make shoes from her husband and continued the business at their home after his death in 1916 [Find A Grave]. She was the proprietor until she became ill in 1932 and she died in 1933. Like Nettie Franklin in Ashland, and Mattie Porter in Bowling Green, Ella B. Thomas was one of the few African American women to make shoes in Kentucky.  All three women took over a deceased husband's shoe business and kept the business going for a number of years. The John B. and Ella B. Thomas shoe business was one of the oldest owned by African Americans in Lexington and Kentucky, from 1880 to about 1932 (52 years).

Another shoemaker of note in Lexington was Rev. Titus Buckner who was in the shoemaking and shoe repair business for at least 57 years. Rev. Titus Buckner was born around 1855 and died in 1936. He was a shoemaker as early as 1877 [source: p.10 in R. C. Hellrigle & Co.'s Lexington City Directory and Gazetteer, Cincinnati Southern Railway, 1877-78]. He is last listed as a shoemaker in Polk's Lexington (Fayette County, KY.) City Directory 1933-34, p.780. Rev. Titus Buckner was in the shoemaking and shoe care business a lot longer than any one African American recognized in Kentucky history. "Shoe-maker" is the occupation written on his death certificate [source: Kentucky Death Certificate File No.794, Registered No.24; and the death certificate is filed under the name "Rev. Titus Buckner"]. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Lexington. In addition to being a shoemaker, Rev. Buckner was also a minister who performed marriages at his home and conducted funeral services for many decades [sources: "Colored Notes" in the Lexington Leader newspaper]. 

Another name in the shoe care business was James W. Beatty who was a shoe shiner in Lexington. Shining shoes was his main occupation for his entire life, having established his first business around 1921, and continuing to the time of his death, April 14, 1949. James W. Beatty is buried in Cove Haven Cemetery.

Another name is Robert H. McClasky, Jr. who was a shoemaker, shoe repairer, and owned at least two retail shoe stores. McClasky came to Lexington from Bloomfield, KY, where he was a shoemaker as early as 1910. He employed others to work for him, thus enabling him to have more than one business location in Lexington. He was in business up to the time of his death in 1960. Robert H. McClasky, Jr. was in the shoemaking, shoe care, and shoe retail business for at least 50 years. He is buried in the Bloomfield Colored Cemetery in Nelson County. 

Two other names are James A. Graves, who was a shoemaker and repairer for 41 years, and Samuel Harrison, a shoemaker and repairer for 46 years. A few of the shoemakers were also known for their other employment, such as the previously mentioned Rev. Titus Buckner, and Simeon Thomas who was the superintendent of the Colored Orphan's Industrial Home on Georgetown Pike as early as 1906 and up to 1911 [sources: p.491 in Lexington City Directory 1906-1907; and p.549 in Lexington City Directory 1911]. The making of shoes was one of the trades taught to the children in the orphan home. Simeon Thomas is listed in the city directory as a shoemaker from 1912-1925. He died in 1927 and is buried in African Cemetery #2.

Other African American men who spent 20 or more years in the shoe care business in Lexington, KY, include Mitchell Garth, Samuel M. Harrison, George W. Johnson, Fred King, Marcellus Overton, John Nimrod Paul, John Smith, Joseph M. Smith, Eli Strider, Henry E. Howe, and Harry E. Worsham.

*There are two African American couples named John B. and Ella Thomas in the census records and the Lexington city directories.