We celebrated Labor Day here in the U.S. this week and, appropriately, our word of the week is ‘work’. So I thought I’d share a photo of my grandfather in his place of work.
To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what this photo is, but to me it has always looked like a photo of Grandpa with his co-workers. It appears he is being presented an object, possibly a watch or other award. The women appear to be dressed in a style you would expect in the 40s. My grandfather died in 1948, so the 40s make sense if he is being presented an award for longevity.
I don’t know much about my grandfather’s place of work, as he died before I was born. I’ve been told he was a cap maker who cut the sections for baseball caps. I’ve also been told he died on the job, suffering a heart attack at work. A little research has confirmed some of that story. The 1930 census does confirm that William was a cloth cutter at a cap factory, but the 1940 census states that he was a can cutter at a can factory. I have to wonder if that is an error, because his obituary states that he was a member of United Cap, Hat And Millinery Workers Local 17. And my grandmother described to me many years ago how the sections of the caps were cut and pieced together!
But the death certificate also calls into question some details regarding his death. The cause of death was Chronic Cornary Sclerosis, Chronic Myocarditis — heart issues! But he was pronounced dead at the hospital. It’s possible he died at work, but was not pronounced until he reached the hospital. He could also have been brought in alive but died while there. But the details are close enough to satidfy my curiousity.
The death certificate also named his place of work; Adjustable Cap Mfg. Co. I decided to see if I could learn more about this company. I was able to learn that the company relocated from New York City to St. Louis in 1934. Here are a couple of articles I found about the relocation.
The company either had multiple locations in the city or moved more, or perhaps the offices were at a different location than the factory; the locations are within a few blocks of each other. Here are city directory listings from the 1940s. An interesting fact that I learned is that the cap company was officially named Adjustable Engineer’s Cap Corporation. and they manufactured engineers caps. Perhaps from the same pattern as a baseball cap?
I also learned that the company was in existance as late as 1971. A want ad appeared in the paper in of that year seeking experienced cap makers.
To learn more about my 52 Ancestors in 2018 project, read my introductory blog post.
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