Today is the day we honor labor by not doing any.
Back on GEnie in the Old Days of the intrnet, people solicitous for TOF's mental well-being trid to assure him, after he mentioned that he was a working class kind of guy, that he too was Middle Class like all good people should be. It said something of their attitude toward the proletariat. Herewith, TOF's roots and those of the Marge Incomparable. It is replete with farmers, canal boatmen, nasons, teamsters, blacksmiths, and the like. Thr ar no lawyers, doctors, or other middle class professional types.
TOF's paternal uncles included cook, pressman, and steelworker and his aunts were telephone operators and manager of catering hall. His twin maternal uncles were a stenographer and an accountant, though the former did become city clerk.
Despite the Late Modern efforts to deprecate all things female, prior to the burst of labor saving devices, the job of mother and housekeeper was a difficult, full-time occupation, in particular for farm wives.
They have been arranged by generations, except that Margie;s father was older than TOF;s grandfather, one reason her uncles were vehemently opposed to the marriage, so all of his ancestors have been bumped back one.
1.
- Joseph Francis Flynn. Master Printer, worked his way up to superintendent of pressroom.
- Rita Marie Singley. Secretary, mother, proofreader at newspaper, school librarian.
- Claude Lee White. Teamster [armored car, taxi]
- Elsie Vera Hammontree. Mother.
2.
- Francis Thomas Flynn. caterer on RR, asst. mgr of Hotel Easton, accountant, boilermaker, sampler at silk mill.
Francis and his crew - Blanche Jean Cantrel. Mother.. Took in laundry during Depression. dishwasher in restaurant
- Harry Francis Singley. Bricklayer.
- Helen Myrtle Schwar. Mother.
- White, see next generation
- John Burton Hammontree. Farm labor, laborer, Speller Co.
- Ora Vanora Harris. Mother. Housekeeping on ranch.
3.
- Daniel Joseph Flynn. Shoemaker, blacksmith, core maker, repairman at cement mill, security guard.
Matilda Loretta Ochenfuss. Mother.
Gruncle Leo stome masining - Fernand Ernst Octave Cantrel. Dyer in silk mill, tailor
- Mary McGovern. School teacher in Cavan, mother.
- Anthony W. Singley. Steelworker.(X)
- Sarah Jane Metzger. mother
- Francis Joseph Schwar. Stone mason
- Frances Hungrege. mother
- Jasper Moses White. Horse thief, farmer
- Maggie Louise Tam. ran boarding house in Choctaw Nation
- Harrison Burton Hammontree. Farmer.
- Cordelia Adeline Jones. Mother, farm wife
- Charlie Harding Harris. Farmer.
- Sadie Francis Holland. Mother, farm labor
4.
- John Thomas Flynn. RR laborer, car greaser, repairman (X)
- Anne Elizabeth Lynch. domestic servant, mother,
- Mary Ochenfuss. Single mother, cotton mill
- Anton Zengly, canal boatman
- Margaret Weaver. Mother.
- Franz Xavier Metzger. Canal boatman
- Lavina Steidinger. Mother.
- Sebastian Joseph Schwar. Mason
- Theresa Kresch. Mother.
- Conrad Hungrege. Canal boatman
- Magdalena Riess. Mother.
George Washington White. Farmer - Cynthia Ann Marlow. Farm wife, mother.
- Charles Melvin Tam. Laborr
- Louisa Synesker Eads. Keeping house
My father, a Greatest-Generation guy, walked the border on this count. While he always worked with his hands (thus never gentle), it was always in technical fields (radio electronics, later photoelectronics and forensic photography) — never any college but much technical education, on occasion served as an expert witness in court. His career was half handwork and half brainwork; sort of bleached blue collar. Near as we can tell, all his forebears were farmers (counting farm wives as farmers for, after all, they make up half the four bears); the same on my mother's side of the family.
ReplyDelete— Occasional Correspondent