Bela Hall was a Blacksmith
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Blacksmith's Forge Burned Royalton
Today we begin a unit study on Bela Hall and the blacksmithing trade as it was practiced in the early 1800's.
Photo Credit: Blacksmith at Work by derekskey
Used under creative commons
The Blacksmith Shoes the Horse
The Blacksmith Shop
Herring I, John...
Available at Allposters.com
Shoeing horses was just one part of a blacksmith's job. The blacksmith recycled any metal he could get his hands on. As pioneers moved to Vermont they brought just their absolute necessities. They certainly didn't carriy extra iron rods. Like other blacksmiths, Bela Hall must also have traded work for broken wagon wheels, bits of scrap metal, and other items that had worn out or otherwise couldn't be repaired in order to have material to make horseshoes, nails, hinges, wagon parts, ladles, axes, and much, much more.
Effects of the Fire caused by Bela Hall's Forge
The fire burned down the Town Meeting House as well as the Academy Building. At this time in Royalton's history the village of Royalton was growing and prospering. The fire was certainly a setback but did not deter the citizens from rebuilding. In order to economize, however, the town decided to combine uses and built one building to serve the purposes of both the Town Hall and the Academy.
Once the railroad came though town, however, the village of Royalton declined as South Royalton prospered. The Town Meeting house now houses the Historical Society collection and is only accessible by appointment.
There is now a new building across the road for the Academy but it is now used for small town meetings, spaghetti dinners, bingo, senior dinners and preschool.
Now there is no longer a blacksmith shop in Royalton Village.
Photo Credit:Blacksmith Stands with the Tools of His Trade
Available at Allposters
Royalton Meeting House - Statement of Significance
In the year 1839 a fire caused by sparks blown from a nearby blacksmith burned the 1790 meetinghouse building and the 1807 Royalton Academy next door. In 1840, the Town of Royalton united forces with the Academy to construct a single shared building. The Town House was built in that year across from0 points
The Craft of the Blacksmith
What does a Blacksmith do?
The Blacksmith's Craft: A Primer of Tools & Methods
Amazon Price: $9.50 (as of 05/30/2012)
Learn about the work of a blacksmith like Bela Hall who plied his craft as a vital part of the pioneer community. Learn how to build a blacksmith's shop. Learn how a blacksmith acquired the iron and steel to create a multitude of tools, wagon parts, kitchen utensils, and much, much more. With amazing ingenuity, blacksmith's such as Bela Hall, turned broken wagon parts into scales, created horse shoes one minute and made delicate candle sticks the next.Blow the billows and stock the fire, a community couldn't survive without a blacksmith.
Tales of 18th Century Blacksmiths
Blacksmiths of Great Expectations
As homeschoolers, we often have children of various ages and abilities that we teach. These stories are about blacksmiths and can give children an idea of what life was like for a 19th century blacksmith. Little Tuppens is for very young children but older children could look into the barter system presented here. Great Expectations is obviously for older children but you might be surprised at how much younger children can learn from listening to great literature read aloud. What can we learn about blacksmithing from Great Expectations?
Blacksmithing Stories, Fact, Fiction, Myths and Legends
Blacksmith stories. True blacksmithing stories, biography, historical fiction, comics, myths and legends.0 points
Blacksmithing in Great Expectations
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens places great emphasis on the ideas and attitudes of work. He gives examples of various kinds of work through each different character. On one extreme the idea of "gentlemanly" work is depicted through the character of the lawyer, Jaggers. On the opposite end of the spectrum there is Joe Gargery in his role as the village blacksmith, the "non-gentlemanly" depiction of0 points
Little Tuppens
The Primer by Harriette Taylor Treadwell and Margaret Free is a story of a mother hen and her chick who goes from one to the other trying to barter for her needs. It includes going to the blacksmith who wants iron.0 points
Bela Hall the Blacksmith Unit Study
Hands-on Activities to Accompany the Bela Hall Blacksmith Unit Study
Why use leather aprons?
Experiment with various types of cloth including leather to see what happens when they are exposed to a flame. NOTE: This is an activity best done outside in the driveway with adult supervision and a bucket of water.1 point
Bela Hall's Diary
Imagine what Bela Hall would be doing each day. Write a diary including work he might have been doing in his blacksmith shop. Would the items he made differ by season?1 point
Become a Blacksmith
Set up your own pretend blacksmith shop with hammers, tongs and beeswax. This is a wonderful activity for younger children while being lots of fun for older ones as well. Beeswax is much safer than heating metal but will give young children a sense of what it is like to hammer iron into a desired shape.1 point
Bela Hall's Blacksmith's Tools
Tools of the Blacksmith
Who was Bela Hall?
What was Bela Hall's Geneology?
Bela Hall, Sr. of Windsor, named his son Bela in 1795.
Bela Hall married Lydia Dewey, daughter of Darius Dewey. Lydia was born on Mar. 1, 1787. Her father was a pensioned Revolutionary Soldier and a Captain in the Militia who moved to Royalton three years after the Royalton Raid. Darius married Lydia's mother, Rachael Bingham, three years later in Connecticut and they had Lydia a year later. Lydia was the first of their 8 children. Darius married his second wife, Mary Hall in 1820 and one wonders if there was a connection between Lydia's husband, Bela Hall and her step-mother, Mary Hall.
Bela Hall joined the church in 1825 by letter from a church in Grandville. His blacksmith shop was on the common just west of the Frank Bosworth house.
Bela Hall died on Mar. 31, 1870, three years after his wife, in Royalton, Vt. and is probably buried next to his wife, Lydia, in the cemetery on the hill overlooking the village of Royalton. Lydia's grave is marked but there is no stone there for Bela.
History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911
BELA HALL, son of Bela, b. 1795, Windsor; d. Mar. 31,1870, Roy.; m. Feb. 27, 1820, Roy., Lydia, ...0 points
Bela Hall and Garner Rix
Who was Bela Hall and how was he related to Garner Rix?
Though there seem to be no records, we might assume that Garner Rix would have gone down to Bela Hall's Blackminth Shop on occasion to have tools repaired or items made. Bela Hall's Blacksmith Shop was, of course, the closest smithy.
Come learn more about Garner Rix:
Blacksmith Coloring Pages
Coloring Pages about Blacksmithing
Blacksmith Shoes a Horse
Free printable coloring pages for kids to download more...0 points
Working in a Blacksmith Shop
Coloring page depicting two blacksmiths hammering more...0 points
Blacksmith Shop from the Pioneer days
Notice that the blacksmith is wearing a leather ap more...0 points
The Blacksmith
The Blacksmith with Tools for Shoeing a Horse
Product Description
Forging horseshoes, the blacksmith comes prepared with his hammer and tongs. The blacksmith brings the newly forged horseshoes to the farm along with the tools of the trade. Think of what the Schleich blacksmith can forge for you. Meddling with metal, your blacksmith will make his mark for many years.
18th Century Blacksmith Trade
Photo Credit: Blacksmith using Hammer and Anvil
on Flickr, Creative Commons
Blacksmiths create objects from iron and steel by heating it over a very hot fire in a forge. Once the metal has turned orange-yellow, indicating that it is malleable, the blacksmith uses tools, such as hammers, anvil and chisel to form it into any shape he desires. Because the color of the metal is so important to the blacksmith, many work in dark conditions. Sunlight can make it impossible to see when the metal has gotten heated to just the right temperature.
Blacksmithing of the 18th Century
The word "blacksmith" refers to iron, which was known as the black metal, and smith, meaning a smitter of metal (as in tinsmith or silversmith). The blacksmith was traditionally held in high esteem, because all trades known to mankind were dependent on the blacksmith. Most blacksmiths were toolmakers. They repaired things for people in the neighborhood and had to know how to work with different metals. In the 18th and 19th century, there were four types of tools. Tools for the farmer w...0 points
Farrier
Farrier with Blacksmith Tools
Photo Credit: Farrier with Blacksmith Tools
Available on Amazon
Bela Hall most likely worked as a farrier as well as a blacksmith, creating horseshoes, shoeing horses and even trimming their hoofs.
Products of the Blacksmith
What are some of the things that Bela Hall might have made in his blacksmith shop?
Photo Credit: Square Nails
from WikiCommons
Nails made before 1850 were so scarce and expensive that people sometimes burned old buildings in order to recover the nails. Using a hammer, these nails were easily straightened. The house that I live in was built in 1840 using square nails. There are cans of used square nails in the barn that we straighten and use today whenever we need nails. Some of these nails were probably made by Bela Hall.
Learn about Care of Horses
A Blacksmith or Farrier Knew all about Horses
Here are worksheets with information about horse care. Some deal with shoeing a horse, others match farrier tools to their names, still others are simply coloring pages of horses. All are printable. Use these worksheets to add to your blacksmith literacy bags or as elements to your Blacksmith Lapbook.
Be sure to come back here and vote for your favorite worksheets and then let us know in the comments which ones you found most helpful when learning about Bela Hall and the life of a 19th century Blacksmith.
Horsemanship Worksheet
This worksheet helps to prepare you to receive the Boyscout Horsemanship Merit Badge0 points
Horse Fan Badge Worksheet
Activity Booklet to prepare Girl Scouts for the Horse Fan Badge.0 points
No Foot, No Horse
A horse needs new shoes every six to eight weeks. Trimming and shoeing is a regular and very important part of caring for a horse. The person who puts shoes on a horse is called a farrier. A standard horseshoe is made of steel and has a groove in which the farrier inserts nails to hold the shoe to the roof. (Don't worry! It doesn't hurt the horse at all. It's just like getting your fingernails trimmed.) Most horseshoes have spaces for eight nails.0 points
USPC Horse Management Lesson Plans
Foot/Hoof and Shoeing Farrier Tools & Hoof Photos Worksheet/Activity for teaching Farrier Tools With many, many more resources for learning about care of horses0 points
Horsemanship Study Guide and Worksheet
Level 4 from 4 H Club With information for diagnosing problems in horses helpful to any farrier or blacksmith0 points
Horse Printables - Horse Activity Pages
Horse printables include horse coloring pages, a word search puzzle, dot-to-dot puzzle, maze, and a preschool traceable page.0 points
Blacksmith Blog
- Egypt's Conservative Rural Vote Appears Split
- The rural vote appears as divided as it is elsewhere. ??As Egyptians await the results of their first truly open presidential election, fault lines between Islamists and old guard secularists appear to cut across the nation.
- Odisha: Villagers in Remote areas barter paddy in lieu of getting services ...
- ... old barter system is still prevalent among many villagers in the rural areas of Jajpur district . In lieu of bartering paddy, black-grams and green-grams the villagers get the helps from the boatmen, barbers, blacksmiths, washer men and carpenters.
- Moms enjoy pancakes, courtesy of rural firefighters
- In addition to the rural fire station lot, cars were being parked in the adjacent Larson Blacksmith lot. As the men were interviewed, a woman walking past said, ?Did you guys leave a pancake for us?? When their families show up, ?we try to take 10 ...
Strike the Anvil and Leave a Comment
Blacksmith Banter
Come on over to the Anvil and chat with the blacksmith. Talk of your blacksmithing experience, gossip about the lives of people in the early 1800's. Ponder about the lifes of Bela Hall and his wife, Lydia Dewey Hall. Come gather at the Blacksmith Shop...
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GayleMcLaughlin Feb 26, 2012 @ 5:42 pm | delete
- My grandfather was the last blacksmith in a neighboring town! Love this article about blacksmiths!
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earthybirthymama
Feb 2, 2012 @ 10:55 pm | delete
- I have always wanted to learn blacksmithing. For now I'm involved with silver smithing and eventually will focus more on creating vessels.
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KarateKatGraphics
Oct 4, 2011 @ 11:43 am | delete
- very interesting! blessed :)
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vallain Aug 15, 2011 @ 11:14 pm | delete
- Fascinating, as your pages always are to this history buff.
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About the Author of this Blacksmith Unit Study
by Evelyn_Saenz
My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning... more »
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