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Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is moving forward, but questions abound

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Today In History

<p>David Anstett had a job you don&#8217;t hear much about today in these parts &#8212; theater musician. According to the Wilkes-Barre City Directory for a century ago, the North Washington Street man played at the Savoy Theater, a movie house on Public Square.</p><p>Ellen McAdams, who lived on South Franklin Street, also plied a trade not very common in our time. She was a domestic &#8212; a person who performed household tasks in an employer&#8217;s home. Some would call a domestic a &#8220;maid.&#8221;</p><p>On this Labor Day of 2017, we genealogists should take a look back at the ways in which our ancestors earned a living. Doing so is educational, and we can also gain a renewed respect for these folks who helped to make our lives today what they are.</p><p>The dominant employment of 1917 was anthracite coal mining. Some 50,000 of Luzerne County&#8217;s 353,000 residents of that time earned a living working for one of the mining companies, the directory says. Garment manufacturing came in second, with 10,000 employees, while factory production of hard goods (wire rope, machines, drills, axles and the like) finished third with 6,280 workers.</p><p>Social changes and technology have swept many once-popular jobs into near or total oblivion: huckster, carriage maker, elevator operator, hemstitcher, department store window dresser, motorman, shoemaker, all listed many times in the old directories.</p><p>Sometimes it&#8217;s what not listed that&#8217;s informative. Hardly anyone was a hair stylist, an indication that most women did their own hair. College employees &#8211; zero. We didn&#8217;t have any four-year higher education.</p><p>Here&#8217;s a question. If you had lived in 1917 and had an average education for the time, what do you think you would have done for a living?</p><p><strong>County Records Update:</strong> Many boxes of paper records belonging to Luzerne County were damaged in a sprinkler malfunction two weeks ago, The Times Leader reported. Huge quantities of records whose retention is required by the state have been stored for years in a former produce warehouse on East Union Street in Wilkes-Barre. Most heavily affected were records from the District Attorney&#8217;s Office. The county has called in an expert to help salvage them. The county is in the process of moving its paper records to a new building in the Hanover Industrial Estates in Hanover Township. The new building will have public access.</p><p><strong>Genealogical Society News:</strong> The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society&#8217;s research library will be open twice this week: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. It will also be open the next two Thursdays: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the 14th and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the 21st. The DNA program is open to the public on Sept. 13 beginning at 6 p.m. If you&#8217;d like to explore DNA testing, stop on by and find out the basics. The library is in the caretaker building on the grounds of the Hanover Green Cemetery, Main Road, Hanover Township.</p><p><strong>News Notes:</strong> Congratulations to the Luzerne County Historical Society for its successful recent program on getting started in genealogy. Archivist/librarian Amanda Fontenova said more than a dozen people attended and that she is considering another such program in the near future.</p><p>Stephanie Longo, local Italian expert, will discuss &#8220;Italian Festivals in Northeastern Pennsylvania&#8221; at the next meeting of the Genealogical Research Society of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The event will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 20 at the society headquarters, 1100 Main St., Peckville. Reservations are required. Call 570-383-7661.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_TOM_MOONEY.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: Theater musician among listed Luzerne County jobs in 1917