The Cotton Mill

Today I did some research into the cotton mill around the year 1900.  What I found gave me further insight into Grandpa Canty's childhood experiences.  The U.S. Census is just a beginning.  It told me that Thomas Walter Canty, my Grandpa, at the ripe old age of 13, was working in the cotton mill as a sweeper.  His father James A. Canty, at this point a widower with four children, age 46, was working also at the cotton mill as a sweeper.  So I went to Google Images and found an image which could have been my Canty "boys."

At first, the picture looks harsh to me.  Most 13-year olds I've been around (and raised) could barely clean their rooms, let alone have to work to make a living.

However, in looking a little deeper into what was going on at that time, I found that in Augusta, Georgia, the cotton mill business was thriving.  The mill worker often lived in what was referred to as "mill villages." These villages were communities of company-owned homes that grew up around the factories.  They evidently were places of commraderie and support.  Everyone knew each other and they functioned like a large extended family. 

Learning this helped me to picture Great Grandpa Canty getting the help he needed not only in finding employment in tough economic times, but in raising his children without their mother.  It was a tough life as mill workers often worked six 12-hour days.  However, they relied on each other for support and encouragement and that kept them going.

If you would like to know more about this era, you can go to www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-260.

Last Records or is it First Records

Since I'm going backwards at this point, the "last" records I have of my grandfather, he was 13 years old and was living in Augusta, Georgia.  The 1900 Census tells me that both he and his father James Canty were sweepers in the cotton mill.  Already working at the age of 13.  Since his sister Sadie Pearl was 5 years old and born in South Carolina, that tells me that he and his family were born and lived in South Carolina until that time.  I am guessing but it seems like their mother might have died in child birth or at least sometime thereafter, leaving Gr. Grandpa with four children to raise on his own.  The Census also tells me Gr. Grandpa's mother was born in Georgia so perhaps they had connections there or perhaps working in the cotton mill was an important reason to move.

So now, the story I have learned is that Grandpa Canty was born in South Carolina, lived there until he was between 8 to 13 and then moved to Augusta, Georgia.  Then his father dies, the family is again hit by sorrow and on top of that split up.  He ends up with in-laws in Ohio and decides to join the Army.  The Army sends him to New London where he meets my grandmother.  They have three children.  And then it gets confusing, leading up to a brick wall.