Most say working long hours is crazy, but you don’t notice while you are doing it. I never worked that long but I remember working long hours. Sometimes we think we have it tough but nothing like other people had it then. It’s hard to believe !
Well, it probably wasn't for his whole career; but especially after his wife died census information indicates he worked 90 hours a week. Impressive or grief avoidance?
I loved reading this because my g-g-grandfather, Michael Maloney, was also a moulder! His father-in-law (my third great grandfather) John Gordon owned a small foundry in Griffintown in Montreal in the 1860s. I am not sure whether Michael was John's employee, or for the much larger operation across the street. Thank you for all the sources!
I came back to your archive to read this piece, Kirsi, because my great-grandfather was an iron moulder in Chicago from about the 1880s-1920s. I was interested in that flyer you found for architectural iron moulding because that was the great era of beaux arts architecture there and I imagined him fabricating the decorative iron work for stores like Carson, Pirie, Scott, where my grandmother worked as a comptometer operator (connecting threads here to Ancestory!). I have no idea what he actually made though. These rabbit holes are fascinating -- but now back to real work! :)
I found the “flyer” in an old city directory. It was a full page advertisement, which I found interesting in and of itself as a former marketing manager? Clearly his Foundry was primarily industrial with the railroad as the share of the work orders, so why would they be advertising in a consumer directory so prominently? Obviously targeted marketing wasn’t very fine-tuned back then! Thanks for commenting and sharing my enthusiasm for genealogy rabbit holes!
Thanks. I hope you find some answers for your 2x and 3x GFs! It's interesting to me that a molder is such a skilled occupation and yet Frank was the sole foundry worker in his family. What would have sent him in this direction, I wonder. I also wonder what types of things he may have made at work for personal use at home.
Given that the moulder was the apex of foundry work, I am sure it was highly paid relative to other trades. In the case of my ancestor, he was probably apprenticed at the workplace of his foster father, who was a fettler. One of the pleasures of writing family history is learning about these old timey jobs. This applies to extinct or endangered 20th century jobs, too, now. When I made a short picture book about our family for some very young relatives, I had to explain what a stenographer and a newspaper compositor were!
Most say working long hours is crazy, but you don’t notice while you are doing it. I never worked that long but I remember working long hours. Sometimes we think we have it tough but nothing like other people had it then. It’s hard to believe !
So true!
Hard worker! That must be where Dad gets it from!
I can't imagine working 90 hours a week for over 50 years. Impressive!
Well, it probably wasn't for his whole career; but especially after his wife died census information indicates he worked 90 hours a week. Impressive or grief avoidance?
Maybe it kept him out of trouble ;-)
I loved reading this because my g-g-grandfather, Michael Maloney, was also a moulder! His father-in-law (my third great grandfather) John Gordon owned a small foundry in Griffintown in Montreal in the 1860s. I am not sure whether Michael was John's employee, or for the much larger operation across the street. Thank you for all the sources!
I came back to your archive to read this piece, Kirsi, because my great-grandfather was an iron moulder in Chicago from about the 1880s-1920s. I was interested in that flyer you found for architectural iron moulding because that was the great era of beaux arts architecture there and I imagined him fabricating the decorative iron work for stores like Carson, Pirie, Scott, where my grandmother worked as a comptometer operator (connecting threads here to Ancestory!). I have no idea what he actually made though. These rabbit holes are fascinating -- but now back to real work! :)
I found the “flyer” in an old city directory. It was a full page advertisement, which I found interesting in and of itself as a former marketing manager? Clearly his Foundry was primarily industrial with the railroad as the share of the work orders, so why would they be advertising in a consumer directory so prominently? Obviously targeted marketing wasn’t very fine-tuned back then! Thanks for commenting and sharing my enthusiasm for genealogy rabbit holes!
Thanks. I hope you find some answers for your 2x and 3x GFs! It's interesting to me that a molder is such a skilled occupation and yet Frank was the sole foundry worker in his family. What would have sent him in this direction, I wonder. I also wonder what types of things he may have made at work for personal use at home.
Given that the moulder was the apex of foundry work, I am sure it was highly paid relative to other trades. In the case of my ancestor, he was probably apprenticed at the workplace of his foster father, who was a fettler. One of the pleasures of writing family history is learning about these old timey jobs. This applies to extinct or endangered 20th century jobs, too, now. When I made a short picture book about our family for some very young relatives, I had to explain what a stenographer and a newspaper compositor were!
Oh! I'd love to see your explanation (and/or sources) for the stenographer. That is the next occupation I was planning on diving into. :)