Sisters in Telegraph Service

Sisters in Telegraph Service

This blogpost is part of the challenge of Amy Johnson Crow, genealogist's "52 Ancestors, 52 Weeks." I post sporadically. The prompt was "service."

My grandmother, Margaret ("Pearl") Charles McCann Kilgariff, and her sister, Mary ("Minnie" and later, "Mamie") Catherine McCann Holzmann were just under 

3 & 1/2 years apart. 

Aunt Mamie was the first child of Joseph McCann and Catherine Sherlock. She was born in Belfast, Ireland, on 4 August 1882. Her baptismal certificate:

 

Image of certificate rec'd from her daughter, Gerry Holzmann Cassidy

The family emigrated to America in that same year; specifically, to New York City.

Then my grandmother was born, on 11 December 1885. Or, possibly the 12th. See the note she wrote on the side of her birth certificate:

Certificate in the possession of myself, Carol Neilson, granddaughter

Here is a family photo of the two sisters together when they were young. I would guesstimate about the age of 7-10? Maybe younger? It's not the best because it's a photo of a picture on fabric in a frame. The photo on frabric is, we think, from the late 1800s. It's in a fragile state. My grandmother is on the right. Aunt Mamie is on the left.

(Framed photo in the possession of Joan McLaughlin, 

granddaughter of Margaret)

Both sisters went to work after eighth grade, and eventually ended up as telegraph operators for Western Union. One thing they got to do was work at the Jersey shore, operating the telegraph offices in the hotels. They would send out messages for customers, and pass on messages they received. They also had to write important incoming news on a chalkboard outside the telegraph office. Aunt Mamie was working when she received the news that President McKinley had been shot, on September 6, 1901. 

This is a picture of my grandma, looking very much in fashion of the late 1800s-early 1900s. This is they style of clothing Margaret and Mary would have worn around 1901.

(Photo in the possession of myself, Carol Neilson, granddaughter)

In later years Margaret moved into other departments at Western Union. Her sister, Mamie, stopped working after she married and had children. However, she still knew her Morse code. When one of her sons was learning Morse code and would practice in front of her she would correct him when he made an error.