I have a question

[Susan Higginbotham]

Actually, gum shoes were worn much earlier. I have a letter from Ben Helm (who married Mary Lincoln's sister) to his sister Lucinda from the 1850s in which he told her to "provide herself with gum shoes, cloaks &c."

You can see an ad for gum shoes in this 1850 paper:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/s...nge&page=1