W O M E N T E L E G R A P H E R S I N N O R T H C A R O L I N A

BRINGING THE NEWS TO CHAPEL

HILL: WOMEN OPERATORS AND THE

TELEGRAPH IN NORTH CAROLINA

Thomas C. Jepsen,

Chapel Hill Historical Society

May, 12, 2018

THE TELEGRAPH COMES TO

NORTH CAROLINA

• Why and how did North Carolina become part of the

U.S. telegraph network and the “Global Village”?

• What role did the railroads play in extending the

telegraph network in North Carolina?

• What role did women play as telegraph operators and

managers?

• How and when did the telegraph come to Chapel Hill?

• Who were the women who worked for Western Union in

Chapel Hill?

Here are some of the questions I will address in this

presentation:

THE TELEGRAPH COMES

TO NORTH CAROLINA

1848 - 1875

SAMUEL MORSE’S ORIGINAL

TELEGRAPH LINE - 1848

• 1844 – First demonstration of successful telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail

• 1846 - Outbreak of Mexican War creates demand for news from New

Orleans. Samuel Morse’s Magnetic Telegraph Company plans southern line.

• 1847 – North Carolina legislature gives the Washington & New Orleans Telegraph Company the power “to

set up fixtures along any of the roads or railroads… belonging to the state.”

• 1848 – Morse’s Washington & New Orleans Telegraph Company line passes through Raleigh. 1st message

from Charleston to Petersburg on February 14, 1848.

Detail from “Telegraph Stations in the U.S., Canada, and

Nova Scotia,” Chas. B. Barr, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1853. Library

of Congress, Geography and Map Division

“THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

TRIUMPH OF SCIENCE”

Raleigh Register,

January 1, 1848 Raleigh Register,

February 19, 1848

THE NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD

• 1849 – North Carolina Railroad chartered. Original route did not include Chapel Hill.

• 1851 – First use of telegraph by Charles Minot of Erie Railroad for train routing.

• 1856 – NCRR completed from Goldsboro to Charlotte

• 1858 – President Charles F. Fisher of NCRR signs contract with Magnetic Telegraph Co. to build telegraph line along NCRR tracks. “No road of the length of this should ever be without one.” Charles F. Fisher, 1859.

• 1859 – American Telegraph Company formed, absorbing Morse’s Washington & New Orleans Tel. Co. Stockholders authorize NCRR to build its own telegraph lines.

Trelease, The North Carolina Railroad, 203

THE CIVIL WAR

• 1861 – Southern Telegraph Company absorbs assets of American Tel. Co. in the Confederacy. Builds line from Goldsboro to Raleigh along NCRR tracks.

Trelease, The North Carolina Railroad, 2

CIVIL WAR (2)

• 1862 – NCRR lines from Raleigh to Charlotte completed. NCRR provided poles, Southern Express Co. strung wire and provided apparatus. Telegraph stations at Charlotte, Concord, Salisbury, Lexington, High Point, Greensboro,

Company Shops, Hillsboro, Durham, and Raleigh.

Trelease, The North Carolina Railroad, 2

THE TELEGRAPH IN THE POST-WAR

ERA

• 1865-66 – Kemp Plummer Battle writes, “The seclusion of Chapel Hill, the distance from the railroad, the absence of telegraph wires, added to the nervous anxieties as to happenings at the front, and almost unsettled reason.” Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, v. 1, 745.

• Late 1860s –Southern Express telegraph lines acquired by Western Union; Western Union begins to expand telegraph service in North Carolina

• 1870 – University of North Carolina forced to close due to lack of funding; campus deserted

• 1871 – NCRR leased to Richmond & Danville RR

• 1875 – Cornelia Phillips Spencer receives telegram notifying her of the passage of the bill to re-open the university. “March 20, 1875, was Mrs. Spencer’s fiftieth birthday. It was on that day that the news was telegraphed to her, a few minutes after the bill was safe.” Hope Summerell Chamberlain, Old Days

in Chapel Hill, 222.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING

TELEGRAM

• “The bill came up on its third reading on March 20th and passed without a division. …The joyful news was forwarded by electric wire at once to Mrs. C. P. Spencer, who, with her mother and young daughter, remained at Chapel Hill in all its darkest hours and by her potent pen kept the University and its woes before the public eye. She summoned to her aid Misses Susan G. and Jenny Thompson (now Mrs. J. T. Kerr), Mr. A. D. Mickle, and perhaps others, and repairing to the attic of the South Building, exultingly rang out the glad tidings over the hills and vales for four miles around. The tuneful bell had lost by its slumbers none of its deep-toned sonorousness. It seemed to rejoice to enter on its duties again, and to promise never again to cease "calling from duties done," or, "ringing for honors won," to the end of time.” Kemp P. Battle, History of the University of North Carolina, Volume 2: From 1868 to 1912, 69.

• ??The telegram appears to be missing.

Kemp Plummer Battle

(1831-1919). From History

of the University of North

Carolina, Vol. II

Cornelia Phillips Spencer

(1825-1908). From History

of the University of North

Carolina, Vol. II

WOMEN IN THE

TELEGRAPH OFFICE

WOMEN IN THE TELEGRAPH

OFFICE

• Women worked as telegraph operators from the 1840s

• “Any female proficient in orthography, with an inclination to useful employment, would make a good telegraphist, and might

readily command… a salary of from $300 to $500, and be profitable to her employers beyond the ordinary male telegraphists employed under the present arrangement of office.” Virginia Penny, How Women can

Make Money, 1870.

• “It does not soil their dresses; it does not keep them in a standing posture; it does not, they say, compromise them socially. A telegraph operator, they declare,

has a social position not inferior to that of a teacher or governess.” Martha Rayne, What Can a Woman Do? 1893

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, August 1873

WOMEN TELEGRAPH OPERATORS

IN THE UNITED STATES 1870-1960

Year Total M

(U.S.)

Total F

(U.S.)

% of F Total M

(N.C.)

Total F

(N.C.)

% of F

1870 7961 355 4 41 3 7

1880 21678 1131 5 112 4 3

1890 43740 8474 16 362 18 5

1900 48623 7229 13 546 44 7

1910 61734 8219 12 771 47 6

1920 62574 16860 21 798 156 16

1930 51699 16122 24 736 208 22

1940 31554 8228 21 473 149 24

1950 27090 7290 21 395 135 25

1960 15980 4496 22 200 74 27

Source: U.S. Census

MANY WOMEN WERE RAILROAD

OPERATORS

• “At railroad stations where the business has increased enough to warrant the employment of an assistant, a young woman to do the telegraphing is frequently the first helper employed." B. B. Adams, editor , Railroad Gazette, 1897

• “Most of the operators on the Pennsylvania road are girls. About the hardest work we have to do is to pull the lever back and forward which changes the lights.” Girls of the Signal Towers, Railroad Telegrapher, June 26, 1889.

• Probably 20-25% of all telegraph operators were women – however, it is difficult to determine exact numbers due to census underreporting and lack of corporate records

• Women operators were especially

common in small towns and rural depots

Carrie Pearl Seid, railroad operator,

Sunbury, Pennsylvania, 1907. From Railroad Telegrapher, August 1907.

WHAT DID A RAILROAD

TELEGRAPHER DO?

• Functioned as “air traffic controllers”

for the railroads in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

• Train routing - Telegraphers were stationed in individual depots along the railroad line in order to receive train orders from a centrally located

dispatcher and report back on train movements – “OS”ing trains

• Handing orders - Telegraphed train orders would be written out on paper and "handed up" to the crews of passing trains using an order staff

• Setting signals - With the advent of the block system, the local depot operator would also set the signal flags to notify trains of the status of the block ahead

• Handling personal messages – the

depot operator was often the Western Union operator as well

• Stereotypical image of telegraph operator as male

Cover of Railroad Telegrapher Journal, January

1903

HANDING TRAIN ORDERS

• A number 31 train order required the train to stop and sign for the order. A number 19 train order had to be “hooped” or handed up to passing trains using an order staff.

• “Then I prepared to go out and hand up. …The big 5000 coming toward me with its headlight shining in my eyes loomed larger and larger. …I held the train order hoop

tightly, and only the fact that I stood too close and the brakeman missed the hoop kept me from being pulled into the train. …He advised me not to stand so close and to hold

the light up so the hoop could be seen.” Sue Morehead, Railroad Magazine, 1944

Cover, Railroad Stories Magazine, October 1935

WOMEN RAILROAD OPERATORS IN

NORTH CAROLINA

• “There are but few openings for a woman in a small place

to earn a livelyhood, and they should be encouraged in

their labors as clerks.” Robert M. Cowan, Editor, Anson

Times, Wadesboro, NC, 1884.

• 1898 - “Sister Horton,” agent and operator, Flat Rock, NC.

“We find Sister Horton holding down the agency as well as

both wires.” Railroad Telegrapher, August 1898, 691.

• 1907 - S.D. Taylor, become operator for Atlantic Coast Line

at Wilson. “Sister S.D. Taylor has accepted Wilson, ‘HN,’

days. We are certainly proud to have this Sister in our

midst. At present, she is having to work late on account of

no night telegrapher. We hope this won’t continue long.”

Railroad Telegrapher, June 1907, 1004.

• 1907 – Commercial operators go on strike in August. “Our

two sisters, Miss Dunne and Miss Medlock, at Morgantown,

N.C. are stickers.” Source: CTUA Journal, December 1907,

1260.

• 1908 – S.D. Taylor dismissed from 1st trick position at Wilson.

Railroad Telegrapher, July 1908, 1248.

• 1913 - Miss S. D. Taylor, operator, Norfolk & Southern RR,

Sims, NC. General Secretary & Treasurer, District 147, ORT.

Railroad Telegrapher, May 1913, 960.

• 1914 – Alice Reamer and Gertude Smith, operators,

Salisbury , NC. Railroad Telegrapher, March 1914, pp. 523-

4

S.D. Taylor, Norfolk & Southern

operator, Sims, NC. Source: Railroad

Telegrapher, May 1913, 946.

WOMEN IN COMMERCIAL OFFICES

• Commercial telegraphers

mostly handled business

transactions, press reports,

and personal messages

• The two largest companies

were Western Union and

the Postal Telegraph

• A commercial office

would typically be

opened after the town

outgrew the capabilities of

the railroad depot office

• Commercial offices were

normally located in the

downtown commercial

district

Western Union office, Wichita, Kansas, 1912. Courtesy Western Union Telegraph Company

Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History , Smithsonian Institution

ALICE F. JOHNSTON – WESTERN

UNION OPERATOR, 1880S

• 1882 – Alice F. Johnston arrives in

Wadesboro, NC to work for Western Union.

“We trust she will find her new position a

pleasant and desireable one, and her stay

among us to be both long and agreeable.

Miss J. understands her business well—and

we are inclined to suspect that there will be

more cotton telegrams sent than formerly by

some of our younger dealers.” Anson Times,

July 6, 1882.

• Alice F. Johnston was born in Urbana,

Maryland around 1853-1865

• Alice Johnston learned telegraphy from her

cousin, Annie North. Annie North had been

the operator in Urbana, Maryland, during the

Civil War

• Annie North moved to Camden, SC after the

war and became the telegraph operator

there. Alice joined her and became the

operator in Aiken, SC

• 1883 –Alice Johnston’s boarding house burns

in Wadesboro

Anson Times, Wadesboro,

NC, July 26, 1883

Alice F. Johnston, 1889.

Photo courtesy Catherine

Birchard

ALICE F. JOHNSTON’S LIFE AND

CAREER

• 1883 – Brotherhood of Telegrapher’s Strike.

Alice moves to Concord to become

Western Union operator after Mary

Ormand, union member, leaves for S.

Carolina: “Two weeks ago the Western

Union Company cut its own wires and

removed the instruments from the office in

that town, thus depriving the citizens of the

benefits of the wires, and all because Miss

Mary Ormand, the operator, was a

member of the Brotherhood and had

joined the strike.” Raleigh News and

Observer, August 10, 1883

• Alice Johnston later worked in Charlotte

and Henderson, NC

• Married Robert Louis Green in Henderson in

1889 and left telegraphy

• Had four children; died in Shelby, NC in

1929

Photo courtesy Catharine Birchard

LAURA NELSON DUNCAN, WESTERN

UNION MANAGER, BEAUFORT, NORTH

CAROLINA

• Wrote a pro-suffrage play while a student at Greensboro College in 1878 titled “Turnabout is Fair Play.”

• “Move over, you liege lords, and let the ladies show you what they can do!” “Turnabout is Fair Play.”

• In 1881, married Thomas Duncan, Beaufort entrepreneur who built a telegraph line to Newport, NC

• Became manager of the Beaufort Western Union office

• Continued activities in support of women’s rights, including participation in Beaufort Women’s Club and Beaufort Lyceum

• Grandmother of Tibbie Roberts (1914-2013), Morehead City, NC, women’s rights. advocate

Laura Nelson Duncan, 1881. From

Morehead City-Beaufort News-

Times, Sept 13, 1976.

COMMERCIAL WESTERN UNION

OFFICES IN LARGE CITIES

• In large towns, a Western Union office

would be opened for commercial

business (press, stock reports, personal

messages)

• 1908 - Miss M. Virginia Fouche listed as

office manager for Western Union in

Concord, NC. Source: 1908 Concord

City Directory.

• Clerks were responsible for

maintaining the flow of messages

between customers and operators.

• Messengers delivered telegrams to

customers

• Employment of women increased

around 1910-1920 as teletype began

to replace Morse keys and sounders

Clerks and Messengers, Raleigh Western Union Office, 1912. Courtesy Western Union Telegraph Company Collection, Archives

Center, National Museum of American History , Smithsonian Institution

LIZZIE WEHNER BECOMES A

TELEGRAPHER – NEW YORK, 1915

• Elisabeth “Lizzie” Wehner born in Brooklyn, 1896

• Becomes Teletype operator, Manhattan, 1915

• Marries George H.E. Smith, railroad telegrapher, 1919,

and moves to Ann Arbor, Michigan

• Begins writing for publication, and becomes known as…

Elizabeth Wehner, age 20. From Southern Historical Collection

BETTY SMITH

• Divorces George Smith. Moves to

Chapel Hill and works for WPA project

– 1938

• Marries Joe Jones, writer for Chapel

Hill Weekly -1943

• Publishes A Tree Grows in Brooklyn –

1943

Betty Smith - Publicity Photo from GoodReads,

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2327917.Betty_Smith

Chapel Hill Weekly, October 29, 1943

THE TELEGRAPH COMES

TO CHAPEL HILL

1882-1965

THE TELEGRAPH COMES TO

CHAPEL HILL 1882-1965

Early Map of Northern Orange County from

OpenDurham website http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/university-station

CHAPEL HILL DEPOT - 1882

• 1882 - Rail line built from

Chapel Hill to University

Station. Run between

Chapel Hill and University

Station operated by

Richmond and Danville

Railroad.

• Chapel Hill Station

opened in what is now

Carrboro

• Telegraph Operators

included Ben Teague and

R. R. Best

Chapel Hill Station

from Vickers, Chapel Hill, p. 58

“In my boyhood, Chapel Hill’s only telegraph office was at the depot.

When we would get play-by-play telegraphic reports of football games we

would go out there, some of us in hacks, most of us on foot, to listen to the

bulletins which would be handed out through a window by the telegraph

operator and read from the high loading platform by a student.”

Louis Graves, 1947

UNIVERSITY STATION - 1889

University Station, date unknown from

OpenDurham website

http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/univ

ersity-station

• Before 1889, there was

no depot at “University

Station” –just a siding

• 1889 – University

Station built

• 1892 – Richmond &

Danville Railroad goes

into receivership

• 1894 – Richmond &

Danville taken over by

Southern Railway

• 1899 – J. H. Tucker,

agent/operator at

University Station

RIDING ON THE “WHOOPER” - 1893

• The train from Chapel Hill to University Station (10.4 miles) was called “The Whooper.”

• The engineer was Captain Fred Smith

• Two daily runs in 1893

• “Neither Egypt, Athens, nor Rome in all their glory had a railroad ten and two-fifths miles long.” Kemp P. Battle.

• UNC students who “overstayed” their visits to Durham would telegraph the University Station operator to “hold the train”

Chapel Hill Station, 1890s. (Captain Fred Smith is 2nd from right.). North Carolina Collection

Richmond & Danville Train Schedule,

from Chapel Hill News, 1893

UNIVERSITY STATION AND CHAPEL

HILL STATION TODAY

Rail Crossing at University

Station Road

Crossties & The Station

Restaurants– Main

Street, Carrboro

Author’s Photos

WESTERN UNION OPENS FIRST COMMERCIAL

OFFICE IN CHAPEL HILL - 1925

• 1925 - Western

Union opens new

commercial office

in former Strowd

garage at 106 W.

Franklin St.

• L.V. Bullington and

Miss Pansy Ayres,

operator and

assistant. Telegram sent to Chapel Hill, 1925. From author’s collection

“People who lived here 30 years ago remember that the only telegraph office was out at the railway station in what is now Carrboro… But as the town grew, and the pressure upon the single wire became steadily heavier, there was much grumbling about the inadequacy of service. The long-awaited improvement in the telegraph service in Chapel Hill seems near at hand.” Chapel Hill Weekly, May 21, 1925

WESTERN UNION MOVES TO 134 E.

FRANKLIN ST - 1932

Western Union Office, 134 E. Franklin St. From photo of Chapel Hill Business District,

circa 1904-1954. Bayard Wooten Photographic Collection, North Carolina Collection

• 1932 – Western Union moves into former UNC Service Plants Bldg. at 134 E. Franklin St.

• Western Union played an important role in WW II notifying relatives of the status of service

personnel • Building gutted by fire, December

11, 1947 • Occupied temporary quarters in a

trailer, the lobby of the Pick Theater, and a house near Porthole Building until 1950

Chapel Hill Weekly, December 19, 1947

WESTERN UNION MOVES INTO CARL

SMITH BUILDING - 1950

• After two years in

temporary quarters,

the Western Union

office opened in the

Carl Smith Building in

1950 at 121 N.

Columbia St.

Western Union Telegraph Office, June 19, 1955. From Roland Giduz Collection, North Carolina Collection.

THE WOMEN OF THE WESTERN

UNION OFFICE IN CHAPEL HILL

THE WOMEN OF THE WESTERN

UNION OFFICE IN CHAPEL HILL

• Ruth Clayton started as operator in Chapel Hill office in early 1930s

• Native of Statesboro, Georgia

• Learned telegraphy at

Southern Telegraph Institute in Georgia

• Also worked in Hendersonville and Brevard, NC, and Anderson, SC

• Became Manager in 1936

• Manager of Chapel Hill Western Union office until 1948

Ruth Clayton, Manager (center), Chapel Hill Western Union Office, Pick Theater, 1948.

Photo courtesy Claudia Cannady

Chapel Hill Weekly, February 13, 1948

CLAUDIA CANNADY AND LUCILLE AYERS.

OPERATORS, CHAPEL HILL WESTERN UNION

OFFICE

Claudia Cannady (holding paper) and Lucille Ayers (seated) Western Union

office, October 3, 1958. From Roland Giduz Collection, North Carolina Collection

• Claudia Cannady was born on Main Street in Carrboro in 1926

• Went to Chapel Hill High School on S. Columbia St.

• Learned Morse code at CHHS • Graduated in 1943

• Worked for a cleaners and then as “soda jerk” at Carolina Pharmacy

• Met “Choo-choo” Charlie Justice while working at Carolina Pharmacy

• Went to work for Western Union in 1946

• Self-described “sports freak,” worked split shift at Western Union so she could watch morning and afternoon football practice at the stadium

• Claudia loved live reporting of sports events from the press box at Kenan

Stadium and Woollen Gym • Became manager of Chapel Hill

Western Union office after Ruth Clayton left

LUCILLE AYERS

• Originally from Western North Carolina

• Began working as telegraph operator in Durham

• Married to Robert Ayers, geology student at UNC

• Moved to Dallas in 1959 after husband graduated

• Two favorite Western Union stories: • Students tried to send “roses

by wire”

• SBI kept a file on local radical Junius Scales – wanted to intercept his messages

• Returned to North Carolina and now lives in Swansboro

Lou Ayers riding bicycle – 1948. Photo courtesy Claudia Cannady

SENDING A GOOD LUCK TELEGRAM TO

THE UNC FOOTBALL TEAM, 1954

• “When the teams would play on the road, she [Claudia Cannady] would get people to sign—for 10 cents each—a good luck telegram, some with hundreds of signatures.” Perry Young, Chapel Hill Herald, 1999.

• Sending a good luck telegram to the UNC Football Team at Notre Dame, November 12, 1954. L. To R.: unidentified student collecting signatures, Operators Claudia Cannady (sending telegram), and Mary Catherine Roberson (holding list),

From Roland Giduz Collection, North Carolina Collection

KEEPING UP HIS STRENGTH…

• Claudia Cannady feeds

Jimmy Beatty, UNC

undergraduate, later first

man to break indoor four-

minute mile. May 30, 1957

• Her job as manager of the

Western Union office

enabled her to meet many

famous people—Charlie

Justice, Andy Griffith, Betty

Smith, George Hamilton IV,

William Friday

From Roland Giduz Collection,

North Carolina Collection

WESTERN UNION OPERATORS AND

MANAGERS, 1956

Western Union Operators and Managers, February 10,

1956. From Roland Giduz Collection, North Carolina Collection

• Man in center is Mr.

Dobson, Manager,

Western Union

Message Center,

Greensboro, NC

• First row from right:

Claudia Cannady,

Mary Catherine

Roberson

WESTERN UNION MESSENGERS

CHAPEL HILL, 1940S-1960S

Freddy Baxter (1948) Photo courtesy Claudia Cannady

Wayne Elliington (1948) Photo Courtesy Claudia Cannady

Clifton Jones (2013) from Durham Herald-Sun, September 26, 2013

CLAUDIA CANNADY LEAVES

WESTERN UNION - 1961

• Last job as telegrapher was running telegraph operations from press room when President John F. Kennedy spoke in Kenan Stadium on October 12, 1961

• Left Chapel Hill in 1961 to manage career of country singer, Demetriss Tapp, in Nashville

• Returned to Chapel Hill and went to work for Orville Campbell at the Chapel Hill Weekly in 1964

• Became secretary, Binkley Baptist Church – 1972.

• Office assistant, Mayor Jimmy Wallace –

1976.

• Retirement party – 1986. Speakers included football greats Ray Farris and Ed Sutton, and sportscaster Woody Durham

• “Needless to say, every day has always been Chapel Hill Day and UNC Day in

Claudia’s life.” Perry Young, 1999

• Claudia passed away on October 23, 2016

Chapel Hill Herald, January 1999

CHAPEL HILL MAYOR PROCLAIMS

JANUARY 20, 1988 “CLAUDIA C.

CANNADY DAY”

• “WHEREAS, Ms. Claudia C. Cannady has a distinguished record of service to the greater Chapel Hill community; and

• WHEREAS, Claudia is a staunch supporter of the University of North Carolina in all of its academic and athletic endeavors; and

• WHEREAS, Claudia is well known as “Miss Blue” because of her great love for the University…

• WHEREAS, Claudia’s career of community service has included being president of the American Field Service, chair of the Salvation Army and Y Teens Boards of Directors, secretary to the American Red Cross Board, deacon of her beloved Binkley Baptist Church, chair of the Town’s Recreation Commission, and assistant to Mayor James C. Wallace…

• WHEREAS, Claudia received the Jaycees’ Citizen Service Award in 1959; the Exchange Club’s Book of Golden Deeds Award for 1970-71; the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Award in 1976… and in 1978 the community named her one of the 25 leading citizens of the previous 25 years…

• NOW, THEREFORE, by the authority vested in me as Mayor, I, Jonathan B. Howes, do hereby proclaim Wednesday, January 20, 1988 to be

THE END OF THE

TELEGRAPH ERA

1964 - 2006

THE END OF THE TELEGRAPH ERA,

1964 - 2006

• The telegraph continued to provide messaging services in the late 20th century

• However, the number of telegrams send began to decline after 1960

• The railroads no longer used the telegraph for train dispatching after the development of Centralized Train Control in the early 20th century

• The telegraph remained an important communications medium in North Carolina due to slow adoption of universal telephone service

• The telegraph was eventually replaced by the telephone and the internet for personal messages

• Western Union discontinued its telegram service in 2006

• Western Union continues to play an important role in international money transfers

Harry C. Temple “Back in the Days”

cartoon, from Railroad Magazine

Courtesy Dave Adair

TELEGRAPH OFFICES IN NORTH

CAROLINA, 1965

• Chapel Hill Western Union office moved to 112 W. Franklin St. in 1964

• Other Western Union offices in North Carolina: Morehead City (MC),

New Bern (NE), Jacksonville (JA), Camp LeJeune (CJ), and…

Western Union Telegraph Company Tariff Book #81, 1965. From The History Place Telegraph Exhibit, Morehead City, NC

WESTERN UNION MOVES

OVERSEAS TRAFFIC OFFICE TO

GREENSBORO, 1969

From Western Union News, June 22, 1970.

Courtesy of The History Place, Morehead City,

NC

WESTERN UNION IN NORTH

CAROLINA TODAY

• Last Western Union office in Chapel Hill was located in

Village Pharmacy, 318 W. Franklin St., 1984

• In the late 20th Century, Western Union closed its offices

and began to operate as agencies in retail stores

• Business model switched from personal messages to

international money transfers

• Acquired by First Data Corporation, 1995.

• Spun off as independent company, 2006.

• Opened 500,000th agency in 2012. Completed 268

million consumer transactions totalling $80 billion, 523

million business payments, 2016.

Source: Western Union corporate website, http://corporate.westernunion.com/history.html

CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS

• North Carolina was one of the earliest states to be part of the U.S. telegraph network

• However, North Carolina continued to rely on the telegraph for personal communications until late in the 20th century, due to slow deployment of telephone network

• Chapel Hill was not part of the telegraph network until late in the 19th century

• Telegraphers were recognized by their communities as “wizards of the wire” who brought news from afar

• Women as commercial operators were recognized as communicators for bringing the news to their communities and helping the trains to run safely and on time

• Women as railroad telegraphers played an important role in the operation of the railroads

• However, they also had to deal with gender bias relating to their technical skills, and lower pay

Cover, Railroad Telegrapher,

March 1902

USING GENEALOGY AND LOCAL HISTORY TO

RESEARCH THE LIVES OF WOMEN

TELEGRAPHERS

• The role of the telegraph in 19th century America has been largely forgotten – America’s first digital

network • The telegraph was the direct

ancestor of the Internet – sometimes referred to as “The Victorian Internet”

• The telegraph and railroad

industries kept few corporate records – many were destroyed

• 20th century histories of the telegraph industry tended to focus on institutions, not individuals

• Women’s work was not considered to be of interest to historians

• Women operators were visible, vocal members of their profession who joined unions and professional organizations

and wrote to the trade journals about women’s issues

• The telegraphers’ journals are an excellent place to start research

• Women telegraphers were respected members of their local communities,

and were often mentioned in the newspapers

• It is possible to retrieve their histories by using the techniques of genealogy

• Genealogy websites (e.g. Ancestry.com) are an excellent source

of information • Oral histories of retired telegraph

operators are an excellent source of information

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Thanks to the following individuals and organizations who contributed to this presentation:

• Claudia Cannady and Lou Ayers, Chapel Hill’s own Western Union operators

• Susan Newrock, Chapel Hill Historical Society researcher

• Lloyd C. Dunnavant, Alice Johnston’s great-grandson, and Catharine Birchard, her

granddaughter

• Pat Johnston, for information on University Station

• The staff of the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina

• The staff of the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina

• The History Place, Morehead City, NC

QUESTIONS?

Thank You! Thomas C. Jepsen Independent Scholar Senior Member, Institute of Electrical

and Electronic Engineers Emeritus Member, society for the

History of Technology See my telegraphy website at http://www.mindspring.com/~tjepsen

/Teleg.html

Ma Kiley: The Life

of a Railroad

Telegrapher. Texas

Western Press, 1997

My Sisters

Telegraphic:

Women in the

Telegraph Office,

1846-1950. Ohio

University Press,

2000