Making a List of Old Saddlemakers?

[TrooperChuck]

I'm just brainstorming here, and I won't be surprised if this idea proves to be impractical, but here's my idea...

I do lots of repair work on saddles. When I get a saddle that looks "older" I often try do a bit of research for the owner so I can tell them something about who made it. Would it be possible to start a thread in this forum where we can post information about old saddlemakers? This might help people like me, who like to learn something about the guys who built saddles before us.

Unfortunately, I know NOTHING about how forums are operated, so I don't know if my idea is easily done or not.

[bruce johnson]

Chuck,

Someone already did it for us, but it is a book. I have it and I use it quite a bit. I am sure there are errors and definitely some omissions, but it is pretty thorough. Here's the link - Old Saddlemakers Book. If you look at the old ones, worth having for sure.

[TrooperChuck]

Thanks! I'll check it out.

[kaiaokamalie]

I am in the process of writing our dad Manuel P. Freitas, III (affectionately know only as Manuel) his legacy story as a saddle maker. I just found this site and was excited to find this post hoping there would be a lot of traffic and postings here. The link of the Old Saddlemakers Book is broken, but I was able to google it. 

Here are a couple pics of his saddles. The first one with the eagle was in Santa Barbara, CA where he worked for Jedlick's (1957-1960) previous to that he worked at MacPherson in Los Angeles (1955-1957). That was our first move to the continent. From Santa Barbara we moved to Pendleton, OR (1960-1963) where dad worked for Hamley's by day and Severe Brothers by night. We moved to Walla Walla, WA next where he worked at Soper's Leathergoods from 1963-1975, then he went on his own full time. The 2nd saddle pic was in "the small house" where his shop was till we bought the property behind and he used that for his shop. He always did leather work at home and was happiest being his own boss. Dad pretty much did leather work into his 80's when he found himself between a rock and a hard place. It used to be that he could buy so many side of what ever weight and type of leather he wanted, now he was being "forced out" by having to buy 10 sides of one kind at a time. From that day his health got the best of him and he passed in 2006. Dad didn't keep written track of where his saddles where, everything was kept in the ledger in his amazingly sharp mind!

The 3 generation pic is of his Uncle Raymond P. Freitas of Makawao, who taught him, our dad in the middle and their nephew Philbert P. Freitas also of Makawao. Uncle Raymond has since passed and Philbert is retired from leather work as arthritis got the best of home. He is part owner of Kihei Safe & Locksmith and Towing on Wakea St in Kahalui, Maui. Uncle Raymond's wife Rose Freitas is the only Hawaii woman to be inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

[chuck123wapati]

awesome saddles and awesome memories!!! Your family has a great legacy. 

[kaiaokamalie]

I guess I posted in 2019 and forgot to check back! Hopefully, y'all that I am responding to are still around!

@chuck123wapati, Mahalo, yes we come from an awesome family!!

@bruce johnson, your link for Old Saddlemakers Book is broken...I tried to google but haven't been able to find the book. Must be rare and not published anymore! Does it happen to talk about any of the Hawai'i saddle makers?

@TrooperChuck, I love your idea! It's not impractical at all, people do it all the time "nowadays" anyways!! Did you ever find or start a forum like you were talking about in your post in 2008?

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by kaiaokamalie