The Family Shoe Store of Little Falls, Minnesota, was established in the early 1900s by John F. Joswiak (1873-1935) and was in existence until sometime after 2001. In the 1916-17 Little Falls and Morrison County Directory, Joswiak is listed under “Shoe Repair”. The name Family Shoe Store does not show up until the 1937-38 Little Falls and Morrison County Directory. In 1946, the store was purchased from Joswiak’s second wife, Josephine, by her daughter and son-in-law, Robert D. and Blanche Garvin. Blanche had already been managing the store for her mother for over a decade. Robert (1907-1979) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and moved to Little Falls after his marriage to Blanche in August of 1945. Robert, Blanche’s second husband, had served in the United States Navy during World War II and was a civil engineer. Blanche was the daughter of John and Josephine (Hammer) Deering. Below is an excerpt from a Works Progress Administration biography on Josephine (#189 Biography of Josephine Joswiak – March 1, 1937):
Two years and six months following John Deering Jr.’s death, his wife, Josephine, married for a second time. Her second husband was John F. Joswiak. They lived on 6th St. S. E. John F. Joswiak was born in January 1873 in Posen, German Poland. His father worked in a distillery in the Old Country and died three months before John was born.
John’s mother later married a man named Wozniak and they came to America. They left John F. behind as he was still attending school and learning the shoemaker’s trade. His mother and step-father, Mr. Wozniak, settled in New Ulm, Minnesota, later moving to Morrill township in Morrison County where they lived until their death.
John F. Joswiak had two brothers and one sister. Their names were Vince, Frank, and Lillian. John F. Joswiak was highly educated. He came to America in 1894. In 1898 when the Spanish American War broke out he enlisted. He was a Corporal while in training. The war ended before he went across.
When the war ended he came to New Ulm, Minnesota and worked in a shoe shop. Later he went to Gilman, Minnesota. He married Hattie Kaproth, a farm girl from Duelm, Minnesota.
He started a shoe store in Gilman, later he moved to St. Paul where he worked in a shoe store and shop for six or seven years. After this he moved to Little Falls where he started a Shoe Repair Shop, repairing and making shoes for men working on the drive.
He enlarged his shop and sold a full line of men’s shoes. Soon after he enlarged the shop again and sold a full line shoes for the entire family. He called it the Family Shoe Store at the same time doing repair work on shoes.
His first wife died in April, 1924. She is buried in Duelm, Minn., beside her parents and where she was born and where they lived and died.
Mr. Joswiak had one daughter, Helen, who is married to John Schrieber. He works in a Gamble Store in Windom, Minnesota.
Mr. Joswiak suffered from a lingering illness for several years and after being bed ridden for only one day, he died on July 29, 1935. He is buried in Our Lady of Lourdes cemetery.
After John F. Joswiak’s death, his wife, Josephine, moved to 205 7th St. S. E. where she lives at present. She manages the Family Shoe Store with two clerks and one shoe repairman.
Had to read Ann Marie’s post. We tend to surprise each other with what we blog because we don’t necessarily tell each other beforehand. Ann Marie picks such fascinating pieces. The bag above has an appealing design; it certainly caught my eye when I came to the website.
As I was reading through the W.P.A. Biography in the post, I wondered if other readers would understand the line, “repairing and making shoes for men working on the drive.” The “drive” refers to log driving. Log drivers were also called “river rats” or “river pigs.” Hard work, that. They needed special shoes, called “caulks” (pronounced “corks”), that had spikes in the bottoms to help them walk around on the logs as they floated downriver.
Mary