Friday, April 12, 2024

Their Three Sons

The Elmira patriarch, Timothy Bermingham, passed away in January, 1899, but by way of Daniel and Margaret (Flynn) Bermingham, he left his legacy in his grandsons John, born in 1898, and Timothy, born eight months after his death, on Aug.19.I haven't found Timothy in the New York State Birth Index, but he did register to fight in  World War I in 1918, and on his registration card, we see his date of birth.



Before he could fight, he had to grow up, of course, and that's what he was busy doing on the 1900 U.S. Census, at eight months old.  He was living with his brother John, parents, and paternal grandmother, Mary (Kavanaugh) Bermingham at 559 East Third St.  Since Mary is listed as the head of the household, the house probably belonged to her.


Daniel was working as an "Engine(Wiper)".  I'm not familiar with that occupation.  Most references to it on-line refer to a job in the engine room of a ship, which doesn't seem likely for Daniel.  Elmira wasn't a port city, even though it's on the Chemung River.  It was a busy railroad hub, so this definition from usgennet.org is more likely the job that he had.

"Wiper

The Wiper's job was to work a 12 hour shift in the roundhouse, where he packed the internal moving parts of some engineer's beloved engine with wads of greasy waste. The pay was $1.75 a day. This was the bottom rung on the latter that climbed to the engineer's seat."

https://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/topic/railroads/job.html

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