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Piecework -  Taken by Jacob Riis

Home

• Extended families often lived in the same building or apartments.

The 1918 Flu

• My grandmother's older sister was killed by the 1918 Flu, also known as the Spanish flu.   The flu seemed to strike first in Spain and soon spread to major cities in the United States. Over one half million Americans were killed by this pandemic which struck at the end of World War I. It is estimated that over 20 million people died worldwide.

School

Primary School

• St. Anselm’s Grammar School

Boy Scouts 1920s - Family photo taken in front of a monument to World War One dead.

Secondary School

• Bishop McDonald High School

Trade Schools/College

• US Maritime Academy
• Nursing School

Child Labor

• Home based Piecework
• The National Child Labor committee, organized in 1904, exposed the cruelties that child suffered in the workplace but reform came slowly. By 1914, 34 states prohibited children under 14 working and limited hours to 8 for children under 16. Most states required minors to go to school
• In our family, according to the census, the youngest children reported working were at age X for boys, and Y for girls.

Self Employment/Small Business

Grocer

• Michael Blumetti

Mechanic

• Frank Klosek, 1933

Butcher’s Helper

• Nick Blumetti, 1925

Saloon/Liquor Store Owner

• Small saloons were all over the New York City area and apparently were an easy thing to start. Prohibition in 1920 put an end to this until 1933 and none of my relatives reentered the business
• Stella Dacci, 1915, NYC
• Pietro Pomarico, 1905, Brooklyn

Junk Dealer

Traveling Tin Shop - Brooklyn 1936 Taken by Bernice Abbott as part of a WPA funded photographic project to photograph New York City

• Giovanni Busicchio, 1905, Elizabeth

This was a family business and the son was the cart driver. Apparently this business was run out of their home.

Junk dealers would buy rags, bones, junk then would sell it to specialized wholesalers. Junk would be melted. Rags were transformed to pulp in paper mills and bones were sold to soap manufacturers.

My father remembers people still doing this with a cart in Brooklyn during the 1950s.

Refrigerator Repair

• Anthony Pomarico
• Major new home conveniences meant lots of work for repair people of all types.

Store Owner

• Radios, Patrick Reilly

Agriculture

Farmer

• John Kenney, 1900,1920, Southold

Transportation

Steamship Company

• Henry Gill
• Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah, GA
• Commercial agent, General Freight
• Pier 46, north river, NY
• Booth Steamship Ltd.
• Asst. to President

U.S. Patrol Boat Argus - Circa 1950 -Part of Army Corps of Engineers fleet patrolling NY Harbor

Longshoreman

• Pietro Pomarico, 1920

Horse Drawn Trolley Driver

• Michael Gill
• Brooklyn Rapid Transit

Wagon Driver

• Joseph Busicchio, 1915, Elizabeth
• Worked in the family junk business

Elevator Operator

• Rocco Dacci, 1920
• NYC Courthouse

Truck Driver

• Dacci, 1920

Manufacturing

Bag Factory

• Stella Blumetti, 1920
• NYC

Bookbinder

• Lena Blumetti, 1925, age 21
• NYC

Paper Box Factory

• Pasters, 1915
• Lena Blumetti(daughter of Delia)
• The paper box factory was located on the same block as the Blumetti Family almost directly behind their house.

Rag Sorter

• Rosa Blumetti, 1915, age 43
• Elizabeth, NJ

Value Company?

• Packer, Vincenza Pomarico, 1920

Shirt Factory

• Machine operator, 1910, Mary Blumetti
• Operator, 1915, Angelina Busicchio, Elizabeth
• The work was seasonal, three months in the summer and three months in the winter. Workers made about 5$/week for working 10-13 hour days.

Standard Oil Company

• Bayonne, NJ
• Martin Murphy
• Accident on the Job
• 1927

Gas Works(refinery)

• Elizabeth, NJ
• Francesco Blumetti
• Accident on the Job?
• 1913

Service Industries

Cleaning

• Stella Blumetti, 1915

Book binder

• Sal Dacci, 1920
• NYC
• Lena Blumetti, 1925

Advertising

• Rose Blumetti Pomarico, 1934
• National Card Novelty Company, 15 street and 9th Ave., NYC

Armed Services

WWI Army

• Men born between 6/6/1886 and 8/28/1897 were registered for the draft
• Dominick Sogga
• John Gill, Fighting 69^th w/Joyce Kilmer

The 69th regiment of the New York National Guard saw its greatest glory in World War I. 95% of its members were of Irish heritage and it was one of the first units sent to Europe.

In an unprecedented 181 days of direct contact with the enemy, the 69th changed its headquarters 83 times and gained 55km in trench warfare. It went overseas with 3500 men and it suffered 3500 casualties with 644 killed and 2857 wounded.

WWII Air Force

• Frank Sogga, Ordinance Officer

WWII Coast guard

• Henry Gill, USS: NJ, NM, MN, Prometheus

WWII Navy

• Brooklyn Navy Yard
• Opened in 1801 in Wallabout Bay

WWII Merchant Marine

• Joseph Reilly