My Great Grandfather’s Memoir: Life In The Early 1900s

I have been so excited about this, and I figured since most of you are interested in the same kind of stuff that I’m interested in, you might enjoy it as well.

So I’ll share.

My grandmother sent me a memoir that my great grandfather wrote before he died. And I have relished every word.

I wish so badly that he were alive today, that I might ask him the dozens of questions rolling over in my mind. Although I do have memories of my great grandpa Thomas, he died when I was only 6 years old.

I remember he was quite the prankster. He had one of those tin jars made to look like a jar of candy, with a cloth “snake” that would spring out when the lid was taken off the jar. When we were small children, he loved to innocently offer us a piece of candy, and then startle us with the jumping snake! Although we caught on after the first scare, he still enjoyed his shenanigans. It makes me smile today to think of him laughing at his own practical jokes.

I am so grateful that he took the time to sit down and share some of his favorite memories while he was still able to do so. And I love that his memoir is typed… on a typewriter! I also love that he uses words that we don’t hear nowadays. It’s a good ten pages long, so I won’t write the entire thing here, but I do want to share a good portion of it. So grab a snack and settle in.

A short intro first…

My gr. grandpa Thomas was born in October of 1904, in Pittsburgh, PA. His father was born here to Irish immigrants. His mother was born in Germany, and died before my gr. grandpa Thomas could remember her. When his mother died, Thomas and his baby sister were boarded to various families. He doesn’t remember his sister either, as she also died while he was very young. He was told that the family taking care of his sister was “Shanty Irish”, and that she had died from neglect.

(Okay, so just imagine the following in an old typewriter font. And kindly overlook any misspellings… it was a lot to copy!)

My Father remarried about the time I was five years old. (This time to an American born Irish lady.) I remember throwing rocks at their carriage when they departed on their honeymoon. I was mad because they didn’t take me along. Living with my stepmother wasn’t too pleasant, especially after she had her first child. She was very young and did not know much about children of my age.

Her family had all the farm animals the Irish were accustomed to having in the early days. I was introduced to chores at a very early age.

I started school in the second grade, thanks to my Aunt Jennie. Although I was a good student academically, my deportment was terrible. I remember during the fourth grade, we staged what could have been the first student strike. I was expelled. I had the best display in the parade (a team of horses hitched to a hay wagon with a large sign stating our grievances). My father didn’t take too kindly to my actions. I was enrolled in a parochial school. At first the nuns treated me very kindly. I was invited to the convent and given cookies, etc. Soon they figured I was incorrigible and all the pleasantries stopped. They resorted to the strap.

Most of my young life I lived in the suburbs of the city of Pittsburgh. At that time it was a great place to live. There were rivers, locks, and dams. The paddle wheel steamers pushed long strings of barges ahead of them. They transported coal, iron ore, sand, and gravel. We spent a lot of time watching the boats go through the locks.

Some times in the summer the water going over the dam was barely an inch deep but the dam would provide deep water when the runoff slackened. I would paddle my canoe to the brink of the dam as if I would go over onto the rocks below, but then put the paddle down to prevent the canoe from going over. The locks master would be frantic and shout all kinds of cuss words at me.

Most of us kids were fine swimmers and we had a great time in summer. Although I was forbidden to swim in the river, I spent most of my time doing just that. We never wore bathing suits. That would have been unheard of and we didn’t have them anyway. My step-uncle gave me the canoe. I had a great time riding the rollers behind the steamboats. I used to take my younger half-brother with me. Recently he told me he was scared to death. He couldn’t swim.

The sewage in the rivers was something else, even babies’ bodies would float along with the excrement from humans, etc. (abortions I expect.) Our favorite swimming place was off an island about a quarter mile away from the bank where the water was clean. We would swim through the sewage to get to the island. There was a cave where we left our clothing. Usually someone would have a bar of soap. After being exposed to the sewage we were immune to most diseases.

Our home was on top of a hill overlooking the river. Along side of the river was a large railroad yard. The locomotives were steam engines. Diesels weren’t invented. I played in the rail yards and became acquainted with the engineers and firemen, and would ride the freight trains. I was permitted to fire the boiler and ring the bell, etc.

Having the railroad nearby had other advantages. There was always plenty of material to build a shanty where we could hang out during the winter. We would borrow a small coal burning stove from a parked caboose, lanterns, etc., even the coal we burned to keep warm came from the railroad. This was a continuing thing. When the railroad discovered we had borrowed their equipment, the railroad bulls would take back their property and burn our shanty down. Then we would start all over again.

In the summer the farmers would ship melons, grapes, and other perishables on consignment to the produce markets in the eastern cities. For some reason– probably glutted market- these things wouldn’t be accepted. Then the ice in the refrigerated cars would melt and they would open the doors on the cars. When finally the railroad was certain they couldn’t make delivery, the people would help themselves. We would glut ourselves on watermelon. The farmers would lose their crop. There were no government subsidies. This was when the people were allowed to control their own destinies.

Every neighborhood had its gangs. There were the Sharpsbergers, the Laurenceville gang, and the Morningside gang. I belonged to the Morningside gang. We hung out at a corner near a bridge crossing the Allegheny river. For no reason other than to be doing something, we had fights with the opposing gangs. When I went to Sharpsberg, I walked down the middle of the street so I couldn’t be too easily attacked by a Sharpsberger.

There was a city dump or earth fill, as they would call it today. We would frequent the dump looking for metals, glass, etc., that we could peddle to the junk dealers.

We celebrated all of the National holidays with a lot of enthusiasm. There were very few automobiles. Only the wealthy could afford one. On Independence day we would decorate our bikes with red, white, and blue bunting. Everyone would picnic in the parks. They would have a band concert in the afternoon. Then at night, there would be a spectacular fire works display. In those days there was no restrictions on the type of fireworks one could have. It was even permissible or at least tolerated to cause window shattering explosions by igniting beer barrels containing carbide gas, homemade black powder cannons, etc. Of course this was before there were environmental groups and other government agencies to interfere. Then there was no income tax to support these “do-gooders.”

I looked forward to all the holiday celebrating; the birth of Washington, Lincoln, and the other great Americans. They were celebrated on their birthdates and not on some other date as set by our knot heads in Washington.

Halloween was the greatest. We started our pranks about a week before Halloween. One night would be chalking windows with soap, etc. Then there would be garbage night when we would dump all the garbage cans in the neighborhood. Then we would take off gates, swap porch swings, and dump over the outhouses, and take apart and reassemble wagons on the tops of barns, etc. It isn’t any wonder that they have established Juvenile Detention Homes. After some of the tricks we played, it was shameful to ask for treats.

A lot of people in our neighborhood were superstitious. When we needed a place to gather during the long, cold winter days all we had to do was haunt a vacant house. Then nobody would rent or buy it. This was done by lowering a Chinese lantern at night from the roof to the ground, ect. and making all kinds of odd screeching and moaning noises. It wouldn’t be long before the rumor would circulate that the house was haunted. Some of the stories gathered oomph with the telling. It would be told about balls of fire floating from the windows. Then someone would remember that some one had died there or had been buried from there and the house would be haunted for sure. This didn’t always work. Sometimes, at the first disturbance, the owner would appear with a shotgun or the police would be called in.

Christmas was probably the best day of all. It started with the whole family attending Mass. Our parish was named Saint Raphael. My father was very religious. After church we opened our presents. Nothing was made of plastic, thank Heaven! The stuff hadn’t been invented. We had new warm clothing that should have come with the onslaught of winter but appreciated none the less, also such things as new sleds, skis, skates, etc. Then there was the candy and other sweets. My step-mother was a very good cook. We had steam pudding with brandy sauce and a dinner you couldn’t forget. My Father belonged to clubs and fraternal organizations and they all had entertainment for us kids.

There was no television. We entertained ourselves with various games– mostly self contrived. Some of our games could be used by kids of today, such as socky ball, cat and dog, etc.. Socky ball was a ball game played with three or more players. The bat was a fence picket; the ball a Bull Durham tobacco sack stuffed with rags.

About that time, radio came into being. The first broadcast was over KDKA, a Westinghouse effort. I was fortunate as I had an uncle who was an electrical engineer. He taught me many things including how to build a radio receiver. He was one of the original radio hams. He built and operated a Morse code wireless. Needless to say, I listened to the first broadcast. It was a preacher talking.

There were no buses. Very few people owned cars. Street cars on rails were used and the tracks ran through every part of the city. One might have to walk a block to the street car but it was a much better transportation system than we now have. Progress in reverse.

The fire engines were drawn by horses. I used to go to the firehouse and ride the horses around the lot. They needed to be exercised daily. The horses were trained so that when the alarm would ring they came from their stalls and took a position by the fire wagon. The harness was suspended above so it could be easily dropped on their backs. The pumper was run by a steam engine and had a large boiler. The fire was all set and was ignited just before they left the fire house. It usually would have a head of steam by the time they reached the fire.

Our house was heated by a central heating system, consisting of a coal-burning furnace in the basement. All the bedrooms had coal-burning fireplaces. It was lighted by gas lights with mantles, some upright; others drop type. when electricity became available the house was wired