‘The Gilded Age’ and My Family

I’ve been watching The Gilded Age on HBO+ and this is one in an occasional rambling reflection on things the show brings to mind. Not a review – maybe, one day – just thoughts. There are two stories in my family that reflect the multiple dimensions of The Gilded Age. In 1862, William McClelland Ritter […]

Frank Stickman, a boy 12 years old, was killed by an elevator in February 1890 in Downtown Pittsburgh

Content Note: description of industrial accident When I think of Labor Day and other hallmarks of organized labor, I now think of a 12-year-old boy. His name was Frank Stickman. I met him during my family tree research. Frankie was born in 1878 to a poor working family living in Duquesne Heights. His parents, Herman […]