Lunch Atop A Skyscraper...Week 50
P2 of the ancestry discoveries
I’m kind of feeling sorry for myself because I worked all day and I’m still not done. Plus Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills 90210) and Richard Simmons died and that just doesn’t seem right.
Anyhow..Nevertheless we persist.
And the topic for today is part two of my ancestry discoveries. In case you’ve forgotten, I pledged to explicitly write about myself each week for a full year. So I understand if this is boring, but that’s my mandate. So…
I’ve spoken about my family at least a few times. My parents never graduated high school and my dad Robert Emerson Clayton was a hard-drinking ironworker. You might not know anything about ironworkers, but I bet you’ve seen the iconic 1932 photo of ironworkers taking lunch while building Rockefeller Center in NYC.
Notice the guy with the bottle on the right side? I think drinking was part of the professional culture, but probably not on the job.
My dad’s father (B. Clayton) died when I was six, but I remember him as a sort of bon vivant-type. For someone who was a cook in the Navy, worked in restaurants and then later at John Deere Tractor Works, I remember him as ever so slightly refined.
The story goes that he went one semester to college in Texas and then dropped out to marry by grandmother, against absolutely everyone’s wishes. My grandparents had my father and then his three brothers in quick succession. Two of the brothers ultimately followed in their father’s path and worked their whole lives at the John Deere factory (the youngest one escaped to Texas to sell shoes in a department story —nobody could understand!) Why am I bothering you with this? Well, because this hard drinking, hard working side of the family, believe it or not, descended from ministers, military leaders, math genius and writer royalty (if you like Ralph Waldo Emerson).
My 4th great-grandmother Lucy was the Emerson linked to RWE’s father’s side. She married Benjamin Olney, who descended from Thomas Olney. Thomas accompanied Roger Williams in the founding of Rhode Island. And another Olney descendant, Jeremiah Olney, commanded the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, largely regarded as the first Black military unit, in the Revolutionary war. The Olneys were also integral in bringing the Baptist church here. Furthermore, my 3rd great granduncle Edward Olney was a self-taught math genius who became a University of Michigan math professor and even had a school named after him. And one grandfather was a college music professor.
I’d known of the Emerson link, but only in the past years was I able to do research to substantiate it. I’d never heard of any of the rest. I’m thinking a lot about this lately because one has to wonder how families can be leaders in various ways for generations and then merely really hard working blue collar types. My reality growing up was one of pretty much working class poor. I remember when my dad’s union, Ironworkers Local 89, fought for health insurance for members and their families and what a big deal that was. (I still think it’s a big deal. We thankfully get our health insurance through my husband’s union, IATSE.)
Because it’s getting late I’ll save the rest of this for next week. But I basically want to talk a bit about shame and family and what I surmise happened along the generations. I think some of you will relate.
Thanks for reading! I have only two posts left for the year!
P.S. Also check this out: in 2017, ironworkers in Chicago recreated that iconic photo.