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2024 52 Ancestors: Earning a Living - Blue Collar Worker James Boyce

Born in Londonderry, Ireland about 1844, my third great grandfather, James Boyce, was brought over to America as an infant. Starting around the age of 16, I can place him in Wheeling, Ohio County, Virginia, when he enlisted in the Union Army at the start of the U.S. Civil War. Military pension records describe him as being of light complexion with grey eyes and brown hair and standing at 5 feet 5 inches high. 

Arthur Lumley, artist, and William Waud, "The old Harrison mansion--Harrison's landing James River," United States Virginia Harrison's Landing, 3 Jul-16 Aug, 1862; photograph, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661302/ : accessed 10 Feb 2024). James Boyce was mustered at this general hospital on 18 August 1862, just two days after this sketch was estimated to be drawn, meaning he very well could have been one of the soldiers featured as its subjects.

In March 1864 he deserted the army. Later that year he signed up to be a Landsman in the U.S. Navy in New York under the alias James Bradley. At this time, he was described as having a dark complexion, grey eyes, dark hair, a height of 5' 7" and vaccine marks on his arms. He was given an honorable discharge in June 1865 following the war's end, however, in his later years, he was denied a pension when the government learned of his desertion charge. In any case, James Boyce was not destined to remain a military man.

His true calling was in the mill industry. Whether he enjoyed this grueling line of work or not can't be known, but his profession remained in this vein throughout his life. Following the war, the first records in which we find James are in church and civil records for his marriage to my third great grandmother, Margaret Murphy (formerly Keeffe). 

St. Joseph's Cathedral, Ohio County, West Virginia, Boyce-Murphy marriage record, 7 Jan 1868; Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, Office of Archives & Records, digital photocopy emailed from Jon-Erik Gilot, MLIS to Kira D. Foltz on 31 Aug 2020.

A witness to their union, Mark Hopkins, was a boiler man in Wheeling so likely a coworker of James', perhaps at the Wheeling Rolling Mill in which James was employed at in the 1870 U.S. federal census. The 1872 Wheeling Directory specifies James' role as a boiler.

Wheeling, West Virginia and its surrounding communities became a titan in the iron and steel industries. It was first nicknamed "Nail City" due to its high production of wrought iron nails, but then in 1884, the state's first Bessemer converter began operation at the Riverside Iron Works, and its massive steel industry was born. In both types of mills, boilermen were in for many hazards on the job. Not only were the boiler rooms running at extreme temperatures, but they were also known to explode.

Wheeling Mold & Foundry, Peninsula Plant photograph, Wheeling, West Virginia, circa 1900s; image, "Sands & Chips at Continental" employee newsletter, December 1953; Ohio County Public Library, database of images, Flicker (https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohiocountypubliclibrary/50323590992/in/album-72157715902353626/ : accessed 10 Feb 2024); Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV.

In the 1880 U.S. federal census, James and his step-son William were both working for the local iron mill, presumably in the boiler rooms. All of their male neighbors at this time were part of the urban labor workforce as well. If residing in the city, these manual occupations appeared to be the only way to survive and provide for a family. For the next decade, James continued on as a boiler and laborer, as recorded in the bi-annual Wheeling city directories, until he suffered a terrible accident at his workplace in 1890, when he was 45 years old.


"Stepped Into a Pickling Vat.", The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, 5 Mar 1890, p. 4; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wheeling-daily-intelligencer-james-b/9651055/ : accessed 10 Feb 2024).

Surprisingly, this did not dissuade Boyce from continuing on in the city's milling industries. He turned to puddling iron. Puddling was the process of converting pig iron to wrought iron in a furnace. Puddled iron would soon be the spark that ignited the start of the Industrial Revolution (the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty were both manufactured with puddled iron).

It still remained a very strenuous job that could not be automated. Due to the heat and fumes, the life expectancy of a puddler was cut very short -- most said to meet their end in their 30's. James appeared to beat the odds, at least by a few years, and lived until 55, when tuberculosis took him.

The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, 16 Aug 1900, p. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-wheeling-daily-intelligencer-james-b/9651495/ : accessed 10 Feb 2024).

He had retired about a year prior to his death, likely already succumbing to the effects of poor health brought on by hazardous work conditions in the mills. His application for a pension in 1897 purported he was unable to garner wages due to rheumatism, a condition known for inflicting joint and muscle pain.

The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, 8 Oct 1868, p. 4, West Virginia; Newspapers.com (https://newspapers.com : accessed 22 Nov 2020).

Despite becoming a naturalized citizen by the age of 25 and having learned to read and write in his youth, James Boyce's life was the hallmark of a blue collar worker intent on earning a living. He never owned his home or property, but instead, jumped from rental to rental almost on a yearly basis. And as of yet, no photos of him have been discovered, maybe testifying to that invention being a luxury his family could not afford to splurge on.

User-submitted image by Peace4me of Boyce gravestones; database and images, Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126366786/james-boyce : accessed 10 Feb 2024), memorial page for James Boyce (-), memorial ID 126366786; citing Mount Calvary Cemetery, Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, USA; maintained by user genieresearcher (contributor 47587598).

What remains to honor him is a well-chiseled gravestone to match that of his wife's in Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Wheeling, West Virginia.





Sources:

https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/586

https://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/history/iron-and-steel-industries-in-wheeling/5196

https://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/history/3040

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddling_(metallurgy)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohiocountypubliclibrary/50323590992/in/album-72157715902353626/

https://www.fold3.com/image/287343556?terms=james,war,civil,union,boyce

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/2869533/person/-1806090939/facts

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126366786/james-boyce






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