Week 22 Conflict

The theme for Amy Johnson Crowe’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Conflict for week 22. They are actually on week 39 now and I am slowly catching up. I decided to write about my grandfather for this theme. He was President of the local street railways employees union. In 1920 there was a strike for better working conditions and higher pay.

I knew my grandfather worked for the street car. My mom had many happy memories of riding the streetcar with her dad. One of her favorite gifts was a couch for her doll that grandpa had covered with leftover fabric from a repaired seat in the car. I first came across this article in the Boone News Republican July 19, 1958 pg 8, Boone, Iowa. I wish the photos with the article were of better quality. I contacted the newspaper and the historical society to see if either had better images but I guess they don’t as I never heard back from either. (Yes, I did try more than once. I am pesty like that.)

I didn’t know that he was the President of the Union until I began searching for more news articles. Before he worked for the street car John Kirkwood was a miner. He had a couple of serious injuries like this one which was in newspapers all across the state.

This next one must have been the deciding factor. It happened in 1917 which is the year John began driving a street car.

The first article I found about the negotiations was from April 30, 1920 and the last I found was September 30, 1920. It wasn’t resolved overnight by any means. They weren’t off the job for this entire time. This is part of the article from the Boone News Republican about the beginning of the negotiations.

Here is what the men were asking.

Once the Street Car Company agreed to raise the fare to 7 cents, the City said they would give the men their raise beginning August 16th.

The men felt they were entitled to their original demands of a raise beginning May 1. A strike began at noon on August 21, 1920.

There were a number of other articles between the time the strike began until it was resolved. This one seems to explain the situation the best.

The strike ended on October 1, 1920 according to this article. Some concessions were made but they did get back pay to July 1, 1920 and the agreement will stand for two years.

My grandfather was a fighter. I think growing up as a miner in Scotland he probably began working in the mines at a young age. In the Scottish Census from 1891 he was only 9 and still listed as a scholar. His older brother George was 12 and already working in the mines. In the 1901 Scottish Census John is 20 and working as a coal miner. George travels with John to the U.S. and does a lot of conflict resolution for the mine workers as well as helping to set up a lot of much needed health reform for the mine workers. Is there a conflict resolution gene? I’d like to think I inherited some of their grit.

What have you discovered about your ancestors who resolved conflicts of their own?