Dyer and Dye House Worker were noted as occupations, with dyeing broken away into industries under "bleaching and dyeing" and Dyestuffs. So what Johann was doing at this time was not dyeing (dyeing did not fit in the palm leaf category). The Compendium makes a few other interesting notes on palm leaf production. It notes that in 1875, the average value of a palm leaf hat was $2.32 and of a palm leaf tea mat $0.19 respectively. 33,180 dozen palm leaf hats were made, and 7,000 dozen sets of palm leaf tea mats. As an industry, palm lead work rolled up under "Straw and palm-leaf goods," for $5.9 million. An interesting comparison is made of this industry from 1845 - 1875 (each column representing 1845, 1855, 1865, and 1875, respectively):
We can see that the number of establishments making straw/palm leaf goods more than doubled between 1855 and 1865, but then dropped 75% between 1865 and 1875. Interestingly, the number of employees dropped slightly between 1855 and 1865 (we might have expected an increase along the lines of the number of establishments made), but plummets to 5,004 in 1875. The value of goods made, however, increases over $1M in 1875. What can explain this shift? To speculate on the data, one might predict that there was greater entrepreneurialism in 1865, and then consolidation of businesses in 1875. There appears to be a reduction in force, but that stat can be quite deceptive. The Compendium notes later that "To the number of persons employed on Straw and Palm-leaf Goods, should be added 14,762 women furnished with work at their homes; the number in the table includes those only who work in the factory." Given only 5,004 were listed as employed in the factory, this entails that roughly 75% of the work force for the industry were women, who worked at home. It also breaks down the women furnished with work at home statistic between Palm-life goods (790 women) and straw goods (13,972). Another 1,000 were involved in "palm leaf splitting."
This likely included Johann's family. The 1865 census notes next to his step daughter, Anna Kramer (18), and his daughter, Eda (16), that they too worked as palm leaf workers (notice the '' in the occupation field, referencing the most recent written entry), so multiple members of the family were involved in doing this work, and would have been part of the statistic. The 1875 Compendium does not let us know how many women were working in 1865 in palm-life goods, but expecting it to be smaller in number than 1875, Eda and Anna would have been among ~750-1750 (grouping palm leaf goods and splitting together) women in Massachusetts doing this work from their home in 1865. There may have been a general transition from work at the factory to work at the home.
Fred was 3 at the time, and his autobiography makes no reference to this trade engaged upon by his family.
UPDATE [1/15]: This data is interesting, as it makes one wonder why Johann transitioned [temporarily] from being a dyer by trade to acting as a palm leaf worker. The 1860 census, when the Kohlhepps were still in Rhode Island, lists Johann as a dyer there, so it is not something he transitioned to following doing Palm Leaf work.
1860 was prior to the American Civil War, and 1865 at the tail end. Perhaps dyeing business was not as good then? Family lore describes that Johann dyed uniforms for the Union soldiers in the American Civil War, but if he was primarily a palm leaf worker in 1865, it does make me question that somewhat. But he could have done it prior to 1865 at an earlier part of the war, or done these jobs simultaneously. Johann had also moved the family over to Boston, at least by 1862, and perhaps had not yet found work as a dyer there?
After 1865, Johann did go back to the dye business. I'm looking for the earliest account of it past 1865. What I've found thus far is that in May 18, 1869 issue of the Boston Transcript there was an ad for his Dye House in Jamaica Plain (which repeated in later issues). He transitioned quite quickly back to running his own dye shop in the short span of 4 years. It's interesting to see the recommendation from a doctor, William P. Wesselhoeft, on the effectiveness of his work:
"F. Kohlhepp. Jamaica Plain Dye House. For washing, steaming, bleaching and purifying woollen blankets. I can recommend Mr. K.'s process of cleansing old woollen blankets. Besides making them look as good as new, this process destroys all contagion after diseases." The latter statement, I presume, was to reference removal of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.
If I find any earlier references, I'll modify this post.
NOTE: It's unfortunate that no other state census survived in MA than the 1865 and 1875, but this document is still a treat for disclosing this.
No comments:
Post a Comment