Old Back to School Moment

Old man for a' that

Pittsburgh and Allegheny, 1854

The world was so recent that many things lacked names

Interesting article on aging immigrants and their isolation. I'm sure it's on a much smaller scale here in Pittsburgh, but I have observed it as I'm out and about the city with a gerontological eye.

Reminded me of an old post, "Where the Grandparents Cohabitate"

Making Old Trains Run on Time

From the Unwritten History of Braddock's Field (1917):

Things were done in a much more simple manner in those days than at present. An incident which happened on one occasion shows the absence of red tape in the management at that time.

While Andrew Carnegie was Superintendent, Mr. J. B. Corey, a coal operator, who still lives in Braddock, went to Mr. Carnegie and asked for some coal cars. Carnegie said "All right, they will be out there before you will". Mr. Corey said that would be impossible, as he intended going out on the next trip of the one passenger train which ran between Pittsburgh and Braddock at that time, and which was lying in the station ready to start.

Then Mr. Carnegie ordered that the coal train be coupled on ahead of the passenger train, which was done, much to the displeasure of the conductor, John Routh, a famous character in the early days of railroading on the Pennsylvania, and the coal cars really reached Braddock before Mr. Corey did.

Also, J.B. Corey was not from Braddock originally. He was from Port Perry, which is just over the hill from Wilmerding.

More about J.B. Corey on the streets of Braddock as an old man:

Towns usually improve with age, but Port Perry as a town has been practically obliterated by the growth of great industries as the years have gone by. In J. B. Corey's Memoir we find that his father brought his family to Port Perry on the occasion of having secured, in company with his brother, the contract to erect the lock and dam known as No. 2, for the Monongahela Navigation Company, J. K. Moorehead being president of the Company. The work on the dam was started in the year 1840. J. B. Corey was then about eight years old. At the present time he is nearly eleven times that age and in comparatively good health. I saw him on the streets of Braddock as this was being written, greeting old and new acquaintances with a vim that was surprising in one of his great age.

It's amazing to think that old J.B. Corey may well have spoken to my grandfather, who at the time (circa 1917) was a little kid playing in the streets of Wilmerding.

Old Government Job

More from J.B. Corey's memoir. It was just put on archive.org last week, not sure how long it has been on Google books.

In the previous post, I said he was from Pittsburgh. He was from Braddock, his parents being among the earliest settlers there. Here is his house, which I presume is long since gone (no sign of it anywhere along Jones Ave on Google street view).

Here he is at 82, with this 31 yr old horse.

Old Memory ATM

I came across this remarkable memoir by Pittsburgh native J.B. Corey (published by the Pittsburgh Printing Company). He wrote it in 1914, at the age of 82. Here is what some newspaper editors said in their introduction:

Here is his second encounter with Abe Lincoln during his time as a government clerk in DC:

Old Center of Everything

In the run up to the 'Burgh being the center of the world for a few days, it's worth remembering from whence we came. This from the 1899 Historic Towns of the Middle States: