Trivia Advent Calendar

[L Verge]

(12-06-2014 03:31 PM)loetar44 Wrote:  Eva, I really have no clue. Maybe Mary detested no matching socks .... I don't know.

Just read: "Lincoln owned no shoes, only boots (ankle-boots). That was true of lots of men then. Lincoln was wearing his boots the night John Wilkes Booth shot him. William T. Clark, the boarder who had rented the room, found them after Lincoln’s body was removed. He pawned them, using them as collateral for a loan to go West to the gold fields. He never reclaimed them, and they ended up in the hands of a school teacher who brought them to her classroom every year on Lincoln’s birthday for the kids to see, try on and play with. They were finally obtained by the National Park Service. After Lincoln was elected, bootmaker Peter Kahler persuaded the president to let him make another pair of boots. He took the many painstaking measurements and made an ink impression of Lincoln’s foot. Lincoln was buried in Kahler’s boots."

About 6-7 years ago, I dealt with a very talented cobbler who was researching and duplicating the boots that Lincoln was wearing when assassinated (and they were definitely higher than ankle-length). The cobbler's name is Michael Carnnachi, and he saw that we had an exhibit on Mr. Lincoln that included a 6'4" replica of him with "boot steps" on the floor in front of him for children to see "How Do You Measure Up to Mr. Lincoln." Great photo ops for parents and teachers!

He contacted me to verify the size of Mr. Lincoln's footwear. We actually had a drawing that someone had duplicated for us of the famous boots (I believe a member of this forum has the original set of drawings...). Our exhibit creator took the drawings to Foot Locker to compare against modern shoes to determine today's size. It turned out to be comparable to today's size 14 in men's shoes - just a little bit shorter.

I passed along the information to Mr. Carnnachi, and the Washington Post also ran an article on his project. A descendant of the Kahlers, that Kees mentions above, saw the article. She lived in Baltimore, is a school teacher, and made contact with Michael. I hope this follow-up link will open so that you can see the rest of the story. http://sebastopol.towns.pressdemocrat.co...hing-time/

This next link will give you even more information on the history of Lincoln's boots and Carnnachi's work. http://sebastopol.towns.pressdemocrat.co...heir-tale/