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195Appendix

Employment Histories of Apollo Rollers and Laborers, 1892–1896

The names of workers who moved to Vandergrift are highlighted in bold. The names of workers who remained in Apollo or moved elsewhere are highlighted in italics. All other names are of workers who could not be found after the 1896 tax-assessment records in either the Vandergrift property records or 1900 census for Apollo, Vandergrift, Vandergrift Heights, Morning Sun, or surrounding townships. I have not listed the names of workers who could not be identified every year or who never moved up to a better job at the mill.

The Apollo strike and lockout began in summer 1893, after the annual tax assessment. The impacts of the strike on occupational structure are not discernible until 1894.

I have been careful not to take count data of rollers and laborers as definitive measures of the size of the workforce and the magnitude of the strike. There is a great deal of evidence that suggests many problems with the original primary documentation, including surname misspellings, occupational misclassifications, and omissions from the tax roles due to oversight. Therefore the strongest and most plausible interpretation to make from the following list of rollers and laborers concerns the correlation between general employment history patterns and eventual residence in Vandergrift. The employment history patterns found in the tax-assessment records corroborate statements made by labor union and trade papers regarding McMurtry’s hiring and management practices during the 1893–94 strike/lockout. The lack of movement of individuals to Vandergrift who, from their employment histories, appear to have been disloyal workers, possibly union members, corroborates local folklore and company statements that these individuals were barred from purchasing property in Vandergrift and Vandergrift Heights.

Sources: Armstrong County Tax Assessment Records, Apollo, Pennsylvania, 1892–1896; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population Manuscripts, 1880, 1900, 1910; Westmoreland County Tax Assessment Records, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania.

Rollers

Group A: Rollers who were demoted, never resumed their 1892 jobs, or disappeared by 1896: 18 (these were possibly Amalgamated members disloyal to McMurtry)

Group B: 1892 rollers who persisted in the tax-assessment records as rollers through 1896: 3 (these were possibly Amalgamated workers who renounced their union membership in 1893 or who worked for Philip Laufman in 1893 and were not affected by the Apollo Iron and Steel strike/lockout; possibly loyal to McMurtry)

Group C: Workers who may have moved to Apollo as nonunion replacement rollers during the strike and remained as rollers through 1896: 9 (loyal to McMurtry)

Group D: Laborers who were fast-tracked through the mill hierarchy to become rollers before 1897: 5 (loyal to McMurtry)

Group E: 1892 rollers who may have been union members before the strike/lockout, were demoted during the strike in 1893, but later resumed as roller: 4 (these were possibly Amalgamated workers who initially struck against McMurtry, but later capitulated; eventually loyal to McMurtry)

Group F: Individuals who may have been replacement rollers and were later demoted, or left Apollo: 6 (attitude toward McMurtry unknown)

Group G: 1892 rollers who retired after 1893: 2 (attitude toward McMurtry unknown)

Group H: Rollers mentioned in tax-assessment records during a single year and who cannot be classified: 6

Laborers

Group A: Individuals who held laboring positions every year between 1892 and 1896: 10

Group B: Laborers who were promoted to mill occupations in 1893: 10

Group C: Laborers who were promoted to mill occupations in 1894: 7

Group D: Laborers who were promoted to mill occupations in 1895: 17

Group E: Laborers who were promoted to mill occupations in 1896: 8

Group F: Laborers for whom a date of promotion to a mill job cannot be ascertained due to missing data for one or more years in the tax-assessment records: 10

Group G: Laborers who were promoted, but not to a mill job: 39

Group H: Laborers with single-year records who cannot be classified: 176

Group I: Laborers who were included in multiple years of the tax-assessment records but who had intermittent gaps in their employment histories and cannot be classified: 128