The Natick Cobbler

At the corner of Mill Street and West Central Street in Natick, just a short distance from where I grew up on Westfield Road, there is a small, red, wooden building that I passed almost every day. I knew what it was but I never really paid any attention to it and never took the time to learn the history behind that building. I'll bet most of the people who still pass by it every day don't any more about the building than I did.

It is the shoemaking shop of Henry Wilson, the eighteeth Vice President of the United States, who became known as the "Natick Cobbler". He was born Jeremiah Jones Colbath, to a very poor family in Farmington, New Hampshire in 1812. When he was 10 years old he was apprenticed to a nearby farmer, which meant he had to remain employed by that farmer until he reached the age of 21. He had very little education but he did learn to read, and he read every book he could find. When he turned 21 he literally walked to Boston to find a new job. He settled with a friend in the small town of Natick, and learned to be a shoemaker. He had his named legally changed to Henry Wilson, probably after someone he had read about when he was a child. Soon he opened his own shoemaking shop, hired employees, and had a very profitable business.

On a trip to Washington, DC, he became interested in politics, particularly the anti-slavery movement. Upon his return, he joined the "Natick Debating Society" and began thinking about a career in politics. He ran for public office, and was elected to the state legistlature. After serving in the state legistlature for many years, and losing a run for the Governor's office in 1854, he was elected to the United State Senate in 1855, where he served until 1873 when he was elected Vice President of the United States in the second term of Ulysses S. Grant. Unfortunately, he suffered a stroke shortley after arriving in Washington, and was plagued with health problems for two years. He died on November 22, 1875 at the age of 63.

His plaque in The Capitol Building in Washington, reads in part: ' He left to his grateful countrymen the memory of an honorable public service, and a good name far better than riches.'

Now the next time you're in Natick, at the intersection of Route 135 and Mill Street, you'll look over at that little red building and know all about it's history and it's former occupant, Henry Wilson.