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Archiver > MISAGINA > 2006-02 > 1139792716


From: Rich <>
Subject: Lumberjack
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 20:05:28 -0500
References: <41340.67.72.98.45.1139776906.squirrel@webmail.diamondcs.net>
In-Reply-To: <41340.67.72.98.45.1139776906.squirrel@webmail.diamondcs.net>


My great grandfather, Richard Boyd 1861-1934, worked "in the woods" or
worked "in the timber" in
Ohio. In all the stories I heard about him he was never referred to as
a "lumberjack".

Richard Boyd



wrote:

>I see the last writer described the early St. Mary's Hospital. There was a
>book printed in (about 1888) entitled "The Shanty Boy". It was written by
>a man who had a job selling an "insurance policy" to the lumbermen working
>in the lumerwoods north of Saginaw - in the Gladwin, "Red Keg", Midland
>area. He charged $5 per policy which entitled each lumberman to hospital
>care at St. Mary's Hospital - apparently unlimited care. I speculated that
>very few men injured in the lumber woods would be able to take the train
>back to Saginaw for hospital care. Nevertheless, he sold quite a few of
>them. He traveled among the various lumber camps and lived with the
>lumbermen while he plied his salesmanship among them and later writing
>about them. He traveled in the area north of Saginaw.
> After reading the entire book, I became aware that NOWHERE in the book
>were the lumbermen referred to as "lumberjacks". I then remembered
>that, as a boy, I had used that term to my grandfather, who worked in
>the lumberwoods. He asked me why I called them "lumberjacks". I
>answered that I thought that was what they were called. He snorted,
>"NO, they were never called that!" I was quite taken aback and then
>asked, "Well, what were they called then?". He seemed almost as
>surprised as I was. Then, after thinking, he replied "Well, if they
>were working on the river, they were called "river hogs". I accepted
>that and the conversation was terminated. I have been aware of that
>title in my reading on early history and I never saw that term used.
> In any of the genealogy research I have done, I had always was careful
>to see if I saw the term "lumberjack" was ever used in any original
>document
>before 1900. I never saw any and I will be curious if any of you ever saw
>the term used before 1900. By that time, the lumbering operation had moved
>into northern Michigan and then to the Upper Peninsula. I noticed in
>census listings they have a column for occupation and they used the term
>"lumberman".
> Since then, I had heard that the term "lumberjack" came from Welchmen
>or persons familiar with it. In the coal mines of Wales, they took
>donkeys into the mines to tow the cars back to the shaft. There were
>both females referred to as "Jennies" and male donkeys referred to as
>"jacks". Hence the word "jackass". Somehow, that origin was transferred
>to the men of the lumberwoods as "lumberjacks". I can't be sure that
>this origin is true but there were many coal mines in the St. Charles
>area and around the Saginaw valley.
> That book had been a reprint book by the Saginaw Genealogy Association.
>It was photocopied from the original so that in every way it looks like
>the original. I can't find my copy now so I can't be sure of the year
>of publishing. Since then another writer has written a book about early
>Saginaw, also entitled "Shanty Boy". The origal was called "The Saginaw
>Boy". The latter book is about "Kid" Lavigne, a boxer from this area.
>He became the world champion for his weight class and was a hero of
>Saginaw. I remember my grandfather (the same who told me about
>"lumberjacks") telling me tales of Kid Lavigne and his boxing days in
>Saginaw. How I wish I had had a tape recorder in those days! -
>Freeman Coats
>
>
>
>
>

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