Work and Family in a Slate Quarry Town

Abstract

Abstract Many slate quarries in northeastern Pennsylvania in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were small, family-owned operations, not large corporate complexes. For quarry owners, supervisors, and laborers in and near Slatington, work and family life were strongly connected. Fathers, sons, brothers, and other male relatives participated in slate quarry operations and labored together in a dangerous enterprise. Mothers, wives, and other female relatives played an important role in supporting the family economy, not only by maintaining the home, but also by boosting the family income through work in other local businesses. Disasters such as the cave-in at the Owen T. Williams and Son Quarry in 1894 placed stresses on local families. When the slate industry faded in the early decades of the twentieth century, the strength of family ties helped quarry workers adapt to changing times and make the transition to new ways of life.