Glassworkers - Part 3

Historically, glassworking has been considered a high risk occupation. Very tiny particles of silica become airborne and were breathed into the lungs with extended exposure leading to respiratory problems. Due to the extreme heat of the furnaces and the molten glass, burns were inevitable for many. Heavy metals and toxic chemicals created threats, especially lead poisoning, which would have led to a number of serious health issues with the heart and other organs. 

My grandfather, Herbert Samuel Kuhn, was a 13-year-old boy in school when his father died in 1912 at the young age of 38. The family (which included his mother Hattie, age 33; sister Margaret, age 12, and twins Alma and Agnes, age 4) suddenly had no means of support, so Herbert became the man of the house and began working full time at Fostoria Glass in Moundsville, West Virginia. Of course this meant that he had to quit school, receiving only an 8th grade diploma.

I don't know how long my grandfather worked at Fostoria, nor am I sure of the sequence of all of his various occupations. He and my grandmother bought a small dairy farm on Fork Ridge in 1929, and Grandpa delivered milk by wagon at some point in time.

By December 1936 when he applied for a social security number, Grandpa was employed by Imperial Glass Corporation in Bellaire, Ohio. Back again in the hard work and tough working conditions of glasswork, his doctor, Harold Ashworth, MD, eventually informed him that if he did not leave Imperial it was going to kill him. Interestingly, I found a NY Times article from 1901 entitled “Occupations That Kill” which discussed the reluctance of life insurance companies to insure glass blowers at that time, noting the certain death of the trade.

Fortunately, my grandfather listened to his doctor and put glassworking behind him. In addition to farming, he was a self-employed carpenter for many years, and lived to the age of 74.  I grew up living just across the road from my grandparents, so I saw them often and have many memories, even though Grandpa died when I was only 17.  If he had continued with glasswork, I might not have been so lucky to have those memories.


See Glassworkers - Part 4 for the final post in this series.