My Grandma Ruby Emma (Blohm) Neal (1898-1991) grew up in the small town of Dexter, Iowa. Her father, George Amus Blohm, was born on Pellworm Island, Germany.
This story is from Ruby’s unpublished memoir called From Prairies to Plazas–From Meadows to Malls:
The Village Blacksmith
I’m glad that I lived where I could pass two blacksmith shops on my way to and from school. I used to stop and watch them shoe a horse or work at the forge and see the sparks fly. They always wore a leather apron and would take the horse’s hoof on their knee to nail the show on. Some horses stood perfectly quiet and some did not. They [the blacksmiths] did have sinewy arms, as the poem said. [The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]
I became fascinated with horseshoes and it never had occurred to me that horses hooves differ just as people’s feet. The blacksmith had to heat the shoe and shape it to the horse’s hoof. A work horse had big feet while a riding horse had smaller feet.
In the winter a horse that was used on the road had to be shod or their hooves would wear away or split. Sometimes a horse would lose a shoe and have to be re-shod. Sometimes a hoof would have to be trimmed as the hooves would be uneven. The blacksmith also repaired wagons and wheels and some machinery.
I collected quite a few horseshoes and even brought some with me to town [after Grandpa Kenneth Neal died] and hung them in the garage. I wanted to bring more, but I didn’t think the family would like it. Knowing that I liked horseshoes and wanted some small ones, like for a pony, an old horseshoer sent me three after I moved to town. Not having a car, I made my garage into a porch or solarium. It was always cool out there in the summertime. . . .
Ruby Neal, Dad’s mother, was my only grandparent who completed high school, graduating from Dexter High School in 1916.
She married Kenneth Neal that November and my dad, Warren Neal, was their firstborn. Ruby was also my quilting grandma.
Grandma was right about her welcoming garage. We never used her front door, just went into the kitchen from the garage. After Grandma moved to the Stuart Care Center, her son and his wife, Bill and Helen, moved into her house in town. Bill had helped build the house. I wonder whether those cheerful horseshoes were still in the garage.