In this episode, I explore pivotal events in American labor history, focusing on the personal stories of three women who tragically lost their lives in the Eastland disaster, and how their stories intertwine with broader labor rights movements. Starting with the harrowing Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, we explore the conditions that led to significant labor reforms and the push for safer workplaces.
In This Episode:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: I explore this catastrophic event where poor working conditions led to over a hundred deaths, primarily of young immigrant women, sparking a major push for labor reforms in the U.S.
Engaging with History: I mention a compelling website by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition that effectively uses media to make historical events resonate today.
Transition to Chicago: From New York, we move to Chicago's burgeoning garment industry, setting the stage for the Eastland disaster and the ongoing struggles for labor reform.
Highlighting Three Women members of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Emily/Amelia Genda: Originally from Hungary, Amelia's story is a poignant reminder of the immigrant experience in industrial America. Her journey from a family left behind to working in Chicago's garment factories underscores the personal costs of industrialization.
Rose Reine: Known as Rosalia Rynarzewski in official records, Rose's Polish background and her family's challenges provide a window into the ethnic diversity and struggles within Chicago's working class.
Mary Cooper (Marya Kupska/Mary Kupski): Mary's narrative illustrates the complexities of immigrant identities and the challenges they faced, including the support of her family through her work at Western Electric, highlighting the interconnectedness of community and industry.
In this episode, I explore pivotal events in American labor history, focusing on the personal stories of three women who tragically lost their lives in the Eastland disaster, and how their stories intertwine with broader labor rights movements. Starting with the harrowing Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, we explore the conditions that led to significant labor reforms and the push for safer workplaces.
In This Episode:
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: I explore this catastrophic event where poor working conditions led to over a hundred deaths, primarily of young immigrant women, sparking a major push for labor reforms in the U.S.
Engaging with History: I mention a compelling website by the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition that effectively uses media to make historical events resonate today.
Transition to Chicago: From New York, we move to Chicago's burgeoning garment industry, setting the stage for the Eastland disaster and the ongoing struggles for labor reform.
Highlighting Three Women members of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America
Emily/Amelia Genda: Originally from Hungary, Amelia's story is a poignant reminder of the immigrant experience in industrial America. Her journey from a family left behind to working in Chicago's garment factories underscores the personal costs of industrialization.
Rose Reine: Known as Rosalia Rynarzewski in official records, Rose's Polish background and her family's challenges provide a window into the ethnic diversity and struggles within Chicago's working class.
Mary Cooper (Marya Kupska/Mary Kupski): Mary's narrative illustrates the complexities of immigrant identities and the challenges they faced, including the support of her family through her work at Western Electric, highlighting the interconnectedness of community and industry.
Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to episode 60 of Flower in the River podcast. Today we're going to navigate into a different area. We are going to look at the poignant threads of American labor history. Today's journey intersects with the Eastland disaster, but it begins in a different city and with a different tragedy. It's March 25th 1911, in Greenwich Village in New York City, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, site of one of the deadliest industrial disasters in US history. Picture this Workers, mostly young immigrant women, trapped in cramped, unsafe conditions. A discarded cigarette butt ignites a catastrophic fire fueled by fabric and exacerbated by locked exits and inadequate fire escapes. In the inferno that ensued, 146 workers lost their lives, some to the flames, others in desperate leaps from the building. This tragedy shook the nation, igniting a public outcry that spurred significant labor reforms in New York, setting a precedent for national labor laws laws and becoming a catalyst for the labor movement across America. Now, before we shift our focus to Chicago, I must mention an absolutely compelling website that the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition has created. I'll put a link in the show notes, because this site immediately pulls a visitor into this story. There are a lot of interesting websites about this event, by the way, but this one stood out for me anyway because, having been a website designer myself, there's nothing like a well-crafted website, particularly about a historical event like the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, that has the power to transport viewers back in time, immersing them in the world of early 20th century New York City and the lives of the young immigrant workers who toiled in the city's garment factories. Through compelling storytelling, rich multimedia content and interactive features such as timelines, maps, a website can humanize the victims and survivors and make you part of that as well. So I would encourage you to take a look at that and see what you think. But all right, we'll continue.
Speaker 1:
Now let's journey westward, to Chicago, and, as you know, chicago was another industrial powerhouse of the late 19th and early 20th century. However, 19th and early 20th century. However, chicago was also one of those places that emerged as a major center for the ready-to-wear clothing industry. Yet this booming industry cast long shadows. Sweatshops proliferated, particularly in the garments sector, where immigrants labored under dire conditions. The spirit of feistiness and resistance was vibrant in Chicago, and there reformers and the labor movement pushed for change leading to notable improvements in the industry, leading to notable improvements in the industry. These movements culminated in the founding of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1914, and they were deeply influenced by the legacy of the Triangle Fire and they were driven by the necessity for organized labor in the burgeoning garment industry.
Speaker 1:
We're going to pause here and not go forward with the timeline anyway, because the Eastland disaster happened in 1915. And here is where our story for today takes an intriguing turn. So, while reviewing various publications from this era, as I do, I stumbled upon something in the Day Book. I've talked about the Day Book before but, as a reminder, the Day Book was an experimental, ad-free newspaper from Chicago, and the Day Book was funded entirely by its readership instead of advertising, which was a radical concept that allowed it to discuss labor issues, economic inequality and social justice with an unusually forthright perspective. The Eastland disaster happened on July 24, 1915. On July 29, 1915, the daybook reported the following Headline Bury Three Garment Workers, local number 39, amalgamated clothing workers of America paid tribute to its three members who perished in the Eastland.
Speaker 1:
They were Mary Cooper, 2836 North Lawndale Avenue. Rose Rhine, 2959 South Loomis, and Amelia Genda, 5028 West 24th Place, cicero. Interestingly, according to this article, the women were not employees of Western Electric, and that, of course, is the company that predominantly composed the passengers on that fateful outing. And luckily the notice provided names and addresses and you'd think that would be easy right to find these women. But finding out who they were was not straightforward at all. None of the three women seemed to exist under those names initially and I love these kinds of challenges. I figured based on the various ethnicities so many different ethnicities who were living in Chicago during that time, and also just looking at my own immigrant family living in Chicago during that time and all of the name changes some of them underwent, not as dramatic as some of these, but I have seen these because, again, my predominant ethnicity is Eastern European and let's just say, when many of my folks came here they decided they didn't like the names that they brought in with them and they would change them around a little bit, which has made it so much fun to try to find some of them. But you kind of get used to the patterns after a while and you look at a number of different variables as you do this.
Speaker 1:
Going into this type of research, cold would have been kind of formidable. But because I already have so much experience dealing with my own family, I was ready for this challenge. So I needed to look at all kinds of alternative spellings for not just the last names but the first names, and this effort did not disappoint, I have to say. At first it was a real head-scratcher. I mean it was a real head-scratcher. I mean I had names and addresses and yet I ended up scouring back and forth, checking the addresses provided in the daybook several times, in several different ways, and when that didn't yield anything. Initially I tried searching by their first names, along with the date of death and location, and it seemed like I was slamming into a wall at every turn. As you probably figured out, and if you do this kind of work yourself, there's nothing like persistence, and persistence really is the key. And it paid off. I had breakthroughs for all three women.
Speaker 1:
Let me introduce you to these women in the order that I found them. I found the first woman, emily or Amelia Yenda, on the Chicago Ancestors website, which is operated by the Newberry, and this search led me to a lot more and I'll let you know what happened. But the first thing is I did find her obituary in the list of death notices in the July 31st 1915 issue of the Chicago Tribune. Here is what it reported Mrs Emily, 35 years old, 5028 South 24th Street, was entirely alone in this country. Her husband is a soldier in the Hungarian army and her two children also are in Hungary. She was employed by Hart, schaffner and Marx. The funeral, which took place Thursday, was conducted by the Hungarian council and the body was buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery.
Speaker 1:
Interestingly, the obituary paints a picture of Amelia as a lone figure in a foreign land, of Amelia as a lone figure in a foreign land. But the truth, as is often the case, is more complex. Again, according to the Chicago Ancestors page, amelia was definitely not entirely alone. She lived at the same address with another Hungarian immigrant family, the Androvits Albert, the dad who survived the Eastland, susanna, a 30-year-old mom and two little daughters who tragically also perished on the Eastland. Here's another obit from the Chicago Tribune andrew vitz, mrs susanna, 30 years old, amelia, six years old and emerentia, eight years old. They were the wife and daughters of albert andrew vitz, 5028, 24th place, who was saved. Funeral was held Wednesday and I want to add that they were buried Susanna and her daughters, I should say were buried in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, illinois. I think that Albert, who was the sole survivor of this party, he may have been the Western Electric employee, but that remains to be seen.
Speaker 1:
But let's get back to Amelia, amelia Genda. So she left her family in Hungary, including a husband serving in the army and two children, to come to America. Things must have been pretty desperate and I did locate her immigration record from 1912. So she came over only three years before the Eastland and she was on a steerage list and unfortunately there wasn't a ton of information there. She made her way to Chicago and probably already knew of this family, the Androvitz, and she was making her living as a seamstress for Hart, schaffner and Marx and probably well, most likely working along other immigrants in this bustling, thriving, crazy garment industry of Chicago. I'm guessing she wanted to save up some money to at least get the children to come over and then eventually, her husband would leave the army and also be able to join them. I don't know, but I think that probably was the case. So Emily Amelia's story, like so many of our immigrant ancestors, was marked by hope and, in this case, heartbreak, and it reflects the complex narratives of many immigrants during that era, pursuing new opportunities while facing, let's just say, profound challenges and, a lot of times, tragic endings.
Speaker 1:
Right now I want to do a very quick dive into Chicago's labor history, focusing on the tumultuous early 1900s in the clothing industry. The clothing industry was dominated by small tailor shops and the Chicago Wholesale Clothiers Association. Now, according to my resources Now, according to my resources Hart, schaffner and Marx stood out as a notable exception. By 1910, they had become a behemoth, employing over 8,000 people and sparking a movement to cut labor costs that squeezed recent immigrant workers. Tensions came to a head on September 22, 1910, when a pay cut led several workers to walk out, sparking solidarity across the industry. This conflict escalated, drawing over 18,000 workers into a struggle that gained support from the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Women's Trade Union League. The battle culminated on January 11, 1911, with an agreement that promised fair treatment for union members and established an arbitration committee to handle grievances. This system set a precedent in labor relations that resonated throughout the industry. Over time, this led to the formation of the amalgamated clothing workers and significant labor reforms, reshaping labor rights in Chicago and leaving a lasting legacy on national labor movements. These moments of conflict and resolution remind all of us of the ongoing struggle for fair labor practices. This is a vital part of our shared history and it continues today.
Speaker 1:
I also want to talk about Hungarian immigration, and this comes from the Encyclopedia of Chicago. Amelia Genda is the first person from Hungary that I've featured on this podcast, but she wasn't the only Hungarian immigrant in Chicago. Then Chicago became a beacon for those fleeing hardship and seeking new opportunities. From a modest 159 Hungarians in 1870, the population soared to over 70,000 by 1920. This increase was part of a larger wave of migration from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although these numbers were complicated by shifting national borders over the years. Now Hungarian immigration in general.
Speaker 1:
While in the early 1900s, hungary, as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, faced significant hardships, the majority of the population relied on unproductive agriculture and land distribution which was highly unequal. Industrialization was slow, leading to high unemployment rates, compulsory military service under harsh conditions and political repression further pushed many Hungarians to seek better life in America, which promised employment opportunities, better wages and potential for upward social mobility. And the decision to immigrate was made easier by the presence of family and village networks already in the United States. As more Hungarians established themselves in America, they sent money back home and sponsored the passage of relatives and fellow villagers. Now, the outbreak of World War I in 1914 added to the instability and uncertainty in Hungary, further contributing to the immigration wave. Many Hungarians saw the United States and cities like Cleveland and Chicago as a place where they could escape the rigid class structures and restrictive land laws of their homeland and build a better future for themselves and their families.
Speaker 1:
Since my family also is part Hungarian and came from that same region and immigrated around the same time as Amelia, I can testify to the reasons why this happened. Okay, we're going to do a lot of back and forth in this podcast because it is for such a short little article announcing the deaths of these three women. It is very complicated and before we move on, you might be wondering, as I was, what happened to Albert Androvitz, who survived but lost his wife, two little daughters, his wife, two little daughters and Emily Genda, the boarder and friend who was living with them. Well, he continued working as a woodcarver and I'm not sure again if this was at Western Electric or not and he married a woman called Mary a little over a year after the Eastland disaster. Over a year after the Eastland disaster In 1918, they relocated to San Francisco where he was working as a cabinetmaker and by 1920, they had a daughter and it looked like on the surface that he was rebuilding his life. Well, based on this article from the San Francisco Examiner, on May 8th 1926, things were not going well at all.
Speaker 1:
Cruelty Charged to Wife in Complaint. Last Wednesday there was published an article erroneously stating that Albert Androvitz, 1-9-4-3 McAllister Street, had been granted divorce from his wife Mariana. As a matter of fact, no decree was granted. All that happened on that day was the filing of a divorce complaint by the husband charging his wife with cruelty. He alleged that nine days after his wedding she told him to go and kill himself, that in that way he would free her and that on Christmas Day 1922, quote when plaintiff sent defendant a basket of flowers, defendant upbraided plaintiff for this expenditure. Defendant upbraided plaintiff for this expenditure, saying why didn't you give me the money instead? That's the end of that article.
Speaker 1:
I'm sharing this with you for a few reasons. Number one granting a divorce to a husband based on a wife's cruelty was very unusual back then. The article states that the previous report, which claimed Albert had been granted a divorce from his wife, was erroneous. In fact, no divorce decree was issued on the day mentioned in the earlier article. This particular article's purpose seems to be correcting a previous inaccurate report and providing more details about the divorce complaint filed by Albert, which includes allegations of his wife's cruelty toward him. They had at least a couple of children, but what happened after that? Not quite sure. After that not quite sure Albert divorced Mariana and eventually relocated to Massachusetts and after that the record trail went cold. But that just means more research is needed and I'll update this information as I find information.
Speaker 1:
But when I think about a situation like this, the Eastland happened and in many ways it continued. The downstream effects of the Eastland disaster in many ways continued in various survivors' lives. Albert's story is not that much different from my grandmother. My grandmother gave her sister the tickets to the Western Electric picnic. She left town. She literally left her two children with her mother, got out of town and returned to Johnstown, pennsylvania in Western Pennsylvania, which is quite far from Chicago, had my mother and then three, four years later, my grandmother died. So in many ways, the deaths and the tragedies that followed the tragedy that was the Eastland can probably never be counted, but these small articles give us an insight as to what really happens when something like this occurs in people's lives.
Speaker 1:
I want to go on to a woman who was also listed in the article as Rose Rine. The name was spelled R-E-I-N-E. This is not her last name at all. I did manage to locate her and it was a lot of back and forth, but I did find her on Find-A-Grave under the name Rosalia Rose. In quotes Reiner Zivsky, and her birth was on the 23rd of December 1893. And she also worked for the same clothier, hart Schaffner and Marx, and I neglected to mention that Hart Schaffner and Marx has a long-standing reputation for crafting fine American-made suits and sport coats fine American-made suits and sport coats and they are one of the oldest brands in the American menswear industry and they continue to be a respected name in classic menswear even now.
Speaker 1:
So let's get back to Rose, and this is her obituary from the July 31st 1915 Chicago Tribune Reinerzowski. Miss Rose, 21 years old, 2958 Loomis Street leaves a father and mother, mr and Mrs Martin Reinerzewski, and a brother, frank. Services were held Wednesday with interment at Resurrection Cemetery. This obituary got quite a few things wrong, at least according to the census and other records that I found. Her parents, like my family on my mother's side, were both from the Poznan region in Poland. They met in Chicago, married in Chicago and had a large family. According to the 1910 census, rosalia Rose, age 16, was working as a tailor and in 1911, their mom died, leaving the dad and about nine children, although this newspaper article only mentioned the one, frank. Her dad was working as a carpenter and her brother, frank, unfortunately died two years later in 1917 at age 27. Not sure why.
Speaker 1:
So our next person in the Daybook article was called Mary Cooper and she was a 22-year-old employee of the Western Electric Company. According to several records I found, and right out the gate I figured that Cooper was probably not her original surname and she was the most difficult of all to locate. And I had to do again a lot of back and forth, a lot of this, that and the other and I had to do again a lot of back and forth, a lot of this, that and the other. And after searching through Illinois newspapers by the address in the death notice, I did find her name listed with other Eastland victims in the Polish newspaper Jenik Chikagoski or Chikagoski, I'm not quite sure how they pronounce that. This article was printed in the July 26 issue and there her name was listed as Maria Kupska. Further research in the July 31, 1915 issue of the Chicago Tribune revealed her obituary with another slight name change Kupski, that's K-U-P-S-K-I. Miss Mary, 22 years old, 2832 Lawndale Avenue, was an employee of the Western Electric Company. She was the only support of the family, the other members of which have been unemployed for many months. She was born in Chicago. Her mother and father, mr and Mrs Matthew Kupski, two brothers and two sisters, are living. Funeral was held from the residence to St Viacher Church and burial at resurrection.
Speaker 1:
Okay, there's a few things to take apart here. In Polish surnames the ending of the surname often changes based on gender. So the surname Kupski with the S-K-I ending is masculine Got that? While Kupska K-U-P-S-K-A is the feminine form of the same surname. This is a characteristic feature of many Slavic languages, including Polish, where gender is again reflected in the surname. Now the church mentioned in Mary's obituary is actually St Viator and I've also heard it as Viator located at 4160 West Addison in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood. It's a Roman Catholic church that is still going today and it's got a rich history dating back to 1888. Now, interestingly, in the 1910 census Mary's family was going by the surname Cooper and they were living in Philadelphia, which is where other sources say that Mary was also born. So that's another conflict we have here.
Speaker 1:
In the 1910 census, mary was 16 and working in a dress shop, while her father, matthew, was employed as a machinist. There was also a married daughter called Bella who lived with them alongside of Bella's four young children, and Bella worked as a tailor. After the Eastland tragedy, some members stayed in Chicago while others returned to Pennsylvania. Tragically, bella's daughter, who remained in Chicago, was killed by a yellow cab driver in 1921. Mary's parents eventually returned to Pennsylvania, where her mother passed away in 1930, followed by her father in 1934.
Speaker 1:
One puzzling aspect of Mary's story is why she was a member of the clothing union. If she worked for Western Electric, it's possible that Western Electric contracted out this type of work. I don't know, so more research needs to take place, as always. Overall, what I discovered in that tiny little obituary in the daybook, it, was enlightening. These women, only one of whom seemed directly employed by Western Electric, were part of a broader sub-community that was affected by the disaster. They very well may have had family or friends who worked at Western Electric or, who knows, maybe they joined the outing through neighborhood connections or community groups that included company employees, connections or community groups that included company employees. The presence of these three women and their membership in this union underscores a lesser-known aspect of the tragedy, reflecting perhaps a broader representation of Chicago's working class seeking leisure amidst their arduous lives. This tragic event connects their daily struggles in the sweatshops with the broader labor history in America, highlighting not just their fight for better working conditions but also their community and camaraderie outside the oppressive confines of their workplaces.
Speaker 1:
Well, that's it for now, and next week we will continue this adventure. Take care, thank you for joining me and I hope you have a great week. Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book, available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.