My Husband's Grandpa Was an Upholsterer

His name was Tom Frankhart and he raised his family in Tiffin, OH.  I found the family in the 1940 census, and it said he was born in 1898, he would be 42 that year.  He and his wife Alice raised 8 daughters, Madelyn, Evelyn, Beatrice, Alice Jane, Patricia, Matilda, Mary Jo, and Norma Jean.  It said Tom had a 5th grade education.  He never owned a house, always rented.  Alice, his wife, died a couple months after she had finally given birth to a son, who died at birth.  Those had to be some dark days for Tom.  After that, Tom married Alice's sister, which was socially acceptable back then, and brought 3 more girls into the mix!  (By now, my MIL was married and out of the house.)

I never knew how he became an upholsterer.  Self taught?  His family?  I will find out, but I do know it was a lifelong career, his only help was his family.  My mother in law told me she had to work very hard, she was an older daughter, to help with the large family.  Really, she never looked back on her childhood with a lot of sentimentality.  Her father and mother needed a lot of help to survive with all of those children, I suppose.  She was a bit resentful of the responsibilities and said she never had a "childhood".  And their routine was different back then.  After school, she helped her mother prepare supper.  If she didn't peel the potatoes thin enough her dad would make her scrape the peelings again, to add more potato to the meal.  All of her sisters had to be bathed and redressed before the meal, hair braided, and dressed in fresh clothes when they came to the table.  I guess that was the way things were done back then. 

Tom's upholstery shop always was at 469 West Perry Street in Tiffin.  My MIL said she remembers he had a job upholstering the interiors of Model T cars at first.  It was an agreement he had with someone from Fostoria, OH if I recall correctly.  (Recognize those towns names? Tiffin and Fostoria were known for their elegant glass, and Norma Jean worked there when she grew up)  Once, one of the Model T's came back because some one said it wasn't done right.  I would imagine that was an unfortunate financial blow to the family, because that story was remembered many years later. 

Another job my MIL had was "tying the springs".  She said she had take cloth and sew it around every upholstery spring before it was installed into the project.  She hated that job.  The only way I can relate to this is from a mattress commercial I've seen where they show each spring is individually covered.  (Sealy, Beautyrest?)  I imagine this was a monotonous job.  She also had to thread big curved upholstery needles, all sizes, with a couple yards of thread on each, and set aside for him to use as he needed them

She told a story where she was "helping" in the shop, she was just little girl.  Tom had finished reupholstering a sofa, and she was left alone in his shop.  She saw a can of open black paint with a paint brush laying across the top.  She decided to paint the sofa!  Oh my gosh!  When Tom returned she had paint on herself, her clothes and the sofa.  Back then all paint was oil based, I can only imagine what a mess that was. 

Tom was the only upholsterer in town, to my knowledge.  I imagine a few of his upholstery jobs are still in use in that area.  Some of his other daughters learned to upholster, but not my MIL.  She probably knew the process well, but never did it.  She even paid a lady later years to cover her desk chair seat and back in a big brown and black plaid.  $50, and the plaid wasn't matched and was a little crooked to boot!  

Tom was retired and the shop was gone when I came into the family.  He died in 1979.  His daughter Beatrice had his sewing machine, I was told.  I'm not sure what Singer he used.  Norma Jean got his "Sample Chair" first.  This was a great idea.  In the 40's he sewed dozens of sample squares together and upholstered a chair with them, so customers could better see how they would look.  I now have this chair.  I wish I could just go back into his shop once to see the equipment he accumulated, the fabric sample books.  Aunt Bea gave me a bag of his samples once.  I still have them but haven't used them.  They look like fabric from the 60's and 70's. 

I found this little story about Tom in someone's blog.  This writer is describing his childhood memories and his father's good friends: 
"Thomas S. “Tommy” Frankhart was born in 1897. He and his wife Alice eventually lived in that familiar red building at 496 West Perry St. Here he operated a well known upholstery shop. I remember this shop, and I can still see Tommy seated at that old pedal operated Singer sewing machine, which was next to a large window. As a young boy I once broke that same window with a baseball. Tommy normally had a Camel cigarette dangling from his mouth. He usually chose not to use his ash tray, opting instead to flick the butt out the front door and onto the concrete slab. We as kids saw these butts fly out the front door. We then snuck over to get them while they were still lit. He never seemed to mind when the neighborhood kids wandered in and out of the shop and roamed freely around. He occasionally stopped his work long enough to give us candy and gum. Tommy died in 1979 and his wife in 1947. "

Tom was strict and made sure his girls were raised in a way that he felt was right.  My MIL told a story that when she had a "date", Tom was very keen about who, what, when, where, and how.  One winter night a date brought her home and they sat longer than was respectable in his car.  He was trying to give her his ring to go steady.  Tom came out on the front porch and shouted "If you don't want my size 9 up your ass, you'll get moving now!"  My MIL said she was so scared she jumped out of the car, and lost the ring in the snow, which wasn't found again until spring.  LOL.