Working Gal--Sarah Margaret VanGilder

     My Grams, paternal grandmother, Sarah Margaret VanGilder Hughes, was a member of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania work force before she married George Henry Hughes in 1921.  I was told she was a stenographer/secretary; however, until this week I never knew just where she was employed, nor did I have confirmation of her employment.

     The 1917 Pittsburgh City Directory had a listing for her. At age nineteen she was a stenographer aka typist for The Sloan Typewriting Bureau. Also of interest in the directory is her home, which is listed as Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. 

     It appears that Grams had to travel into Pittsburgh from Wilkinsburg, probably on a bus or streetcar.  The Sloan Typewriter Bureau is advertised as the "oldest circular letter company in Pittsburgh."  I had to google "circular letter" to find out what it was.  Grams spent her work days typing and retyping the same form letter which was sent to groups of customers from various businesses. 

     She was a typist.  I have numerous cards and letters that my Mother and I saved, typed by Grams.  In 1977/1978, at age seventy-nine, she was still using a typewriter to write to me when I was pregnant with my first son.  

     Naturally as I am writing this, my mind is wandering to where Grams was at in her relationship with my paternal grandfather in 1917.  They had met about 1915 and were dating, although she was living in the Pittsburgh area and he was living with his folks up the Ohio River in Woodlawn, Pennsylvania.  

     It was on August 1, 1917 that George Henry Hughes joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force,  as a member of the 20th MGF (Machine Gun Force).  Pop Pop was discharged on May 16, 1919 and they were married a little more than a year later, on June 5, 1920 in Fairmont, Marion County, West Virginia.  I imagine that Grams was working as a typist up until she married.

     I do not believe that Grams worked outside the home following her marriage; however, her typewriting skills stayed with her forever.

FROM MY BROTHER, JEFF--interesting historical tidbit. Back in 1917, the person using the machine was known as a "typewriter". The word "typist" came later.

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