Shoemaker's Trade Sign
Rome, New York, circa 1850
White pine, poplar, paint, gilding, iron
H. 19, W. 26, D. 2 in.
Provenance: Descent through Thron family;
private collection.
Courtesy of Allan and Penny Katz, Woodbridge, CT
This double-sided trade sign was made to advertise the shoemaking shop of Hartman Martin Thron, born in 1821 in Lauterbach, Germany. By 1844 Thron had settled in Rome, New York, near Utica, where he married Christina Strahle, also from Germany, with whom he had six children.
Thron earned a living in a number of ways over the course of his life. His early career, as indicated by his trade sign, was that of a shoemaker. In the 1860s he was listed in the census as a farmer, which he continued as into the 1880s. The Rome, New York, Directories listed Thron as an ice dealer from 1887 through 1892, a profession he maintained into the next century as indicated by the 1900 census; he passed away in 1911. The fact that Thron left the shoemaking industry early in his career, removing the sign from future service, accounts for its remarkable condition.
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