Passing It Down

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While we were in San Angelo on Tuesday, we stopped by the Leddy Boots store.

In honor of San Angelo’s once being called the Wool Capital of the World, dozens of sheep stand outside local businesses. This is the one in front of Wells Fargo. Its “blanket” is a dollar bill.

Here’s another outside the public library where we held our program. I set the camera on a trash can, set it on self-timer, and ran to get in the picture. Oops! I didn’t set that one up quite right.

And here’s the sheep outside of Leddy Boots.

We have visited Leddy Boot’s Ft. Worth store a couple of times, including while we were in Ft. Worth last week. Our friends Garth and Terry introduced us to Leddy boots when they traveled with us to the homeschool convention in Ft. Worth in 2016.

Garth and Terry have a personal connection to the company because Terry’s maiden name was Leddy. Her paternal grandfather was a brother to M.L. Leddy who founded Leddy Boots.

Ray and I wanted to go inside the store ourselves and we also knew that Garth and Terry would be excited that we got to go there. We weren’t inside long until the enthusiastic proprietress came over to talk with us. When we told her about our friend’s connection to Leddy Boot, she introduced herself as Beverly Franklin Allen, daughter of the daughter of founder M.L. Leddy. She welcomed us warmly and showed us this drawing of M.L. Leddy’s home.

Beverly and her three siblings grew up in this house with their parents. When the house was torn down, family members arranged to have its front entrance rebuilt inside the store. Notice the boot above the arched entryway in both the drawing and the reconstructed entrance. Beverly encouraged Ray and me to sit down in the entrance so she could take our picture.

That was fun. I was also excited to get to sit in this cowhide and cow horn chair since I learned about chairs like this made in the late 1800s while researching America the Beautiful.

Customers who want to purchase a pair of boots can climb into this elevated cowhide chair for a fitting.

Bootmakers actually make Leddy Boots on-site in San Angelo. Before we went inside the store, I took some photos of bootmaking through the windows. Here is a close-up of some tools of the trade.

I asked Beverly if I could take some pictures inside the workshop, and she gave me the go-ahead. Here are a couple of photos taken inside.

Photos of the Leddy family are on display inside the store, including this one of Beverly’s mother in her cowgirl suit and with her rifle.

Several years ago Ray and I were able to meet Cliff Notgrass in Waco, Texas. When  I saw a photo of Cliff when he was younger, I was struck by how much he looked like Ray’s dad. We were amazed at how strong the Notgrass gene pool is. Cliff and Ray were able to find a connection on their family tree, but that connection was before the Civil War when Cliff’s ancestor left Tennessee and moved to Texas.

One of the first things that struck me when I met Beverly at Leddy Boots was how much she and our friend Terry favor one another. These long-lost cousins who have never met obviously have genetic connections. We’re all passing things on to our children. Because you spend your days with your children, teaching them at home, you have the precious opportunity to pass on even more than other mamas. What a privilege and a joy.

Remember the day you stood
before the Lord your God at Horeb,
when the Lord said to me,
“Assemble the people to Me,
that I may let them hear My words
so they may learn to fear Me
all the days they live on the earth,
and that they may teach their children.”
Deuteronomy 4:10

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