Stocking Making: A Family Industry

The tricoteur, bonnetier, Strumpfmacher, Strumpfweber, knitter, stocking maker, hosiery mill laborer... all of these titles were listed as occupations done by various family members in my Waldspurger family tree.  Because at least five generations of Waldspurger family members have been occupied in this industry, I thought I better take a look at what it entailed.

History of Stocking-Making
Stocking making before the invention of the knitting machine was done by hand, obviously.  Most stockings in this time were actually worn by men, and made popular by them.  Knitted stockings were often expensive, given that they took more time to make than stockings made of woven material and sewn.  However, because knitted stockings had more elasticity, they were better constructed and fit better than ones made from woven material, even if they didn't last long due to the way they were washed.  So they were in higher demand.

While men wore stockings and flaunted them, women's stockings were often plain and functional, meant only to keep legs warm, since women wore dresses or skirts that went down to the floor, hence not needing to flaunt any decorations.  It was considered risque for a woman to show even her ankles.  One of the first famous women to wear stockings and make it known was Queen Elizabeth I of England.  She apparently wore some elaborately made stockings too.

William Lee, a curate from Calverton, in England, created the first mechanical stocking knitter by 1589.  While Queen Elizabeth I rejected the machine (citing that she wanted to keep her hand knitters employed), King Henry IV of France loved the idea (since he loved wearing stockings as well) and helped Lee establish the machines in France.  However, when Henry was assassinated in 1610, Lee's life in France fell to pieces and after he died, his brother moved the machines back to England and improved upon them.  They eventually became so successful that spies from around Europe were sent to steal the blueprints and establish the machines in their countries.  By the nineteenth century, the industry was widely established and were one of the first industries to trigger the Industrial Revolution.

Hosiery was often made of silk, though linen, wool and cotton hose were also knitted.  The Industrial Revolution helped to bring these stockings to the masses. In the late 19th century, rayon was invented as the first man-made material and was introduced into hosiery, though silk stocking were still the most preferred of hose.

By the 1920s, hosiery had made a shift from being predominately worn by men to being worn by females, and as skirts got shorter in the flapper era, stockings became more elaborately designed and colored hose became the rage.  Eventually, around the middle of the 20th century, nylon and later spandex were invented by Du Pont, and made waves as they were introduced into the industry.

First Generation
The first documented Waldspurger ancestor to be a stocking maker was François Waldspurger, father to Florian Waldspurger.  François lived in Bas-Rhin, Alsace his entire life.  He was born in Ebersheim, moved to Diebolsheim, where he married Sophie Egermann and had three children, and eventually moved his family to the larger city of Erstein. On all of his children's birth records (of which there were nine) and also on three different French census records, he is listed as a bonnetier (hosier), faiseur de bas (stockings maker) or tricoteur (knitter).  By the time of his death on 6 June 1875, however, Alsace was part of the German Empire, so Franz Waldspurger, as he was known on his German death certificate, was also occupied as the German counterpart to one of his French occupations.

Loom likely used by François Waldspurger.  Found in The illustrated exhibitor: a tribute to the world's industrial jubilee (London: John Cassel,1851) page 431.  Source: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Heidelberger Historische Bestände digital via Wikipedia Commons

Second Generation
Florian Waldspurger, who was husband to Elizabeth Marie Hans, was the sixth child born to François Waldspurger and Sophie Egermann.  Since Alsace was in German occupation when he came of age, he had occupations that were listed obviously in German.  Florian was employed as a Strumpfweber (stocking weaver) and Strumpfmacher (stocking maker), as listed on both his marriage license and also on the birth certificates of his two eldest children. When the family moved to Philadelphia in 1880, Florian quickly found work in the textile industry of the area (which was brought to the area by immigrants such as Florian). His occupation varied from document to document, as he was listed as a weaver, a knitter, a tailor, and an ironer (the changing occupations isn't a surprise in an area where small scale industries were forever changing to suit Philadelphia's current needs).

Florian, whose name was also butchered severely in the same documents, likely worked in a number of different factories in the Northern Liberties neighborhood in which he lived, as the textile industry was one of many that dominated the heavily industrialized neighborhood and the surrounding areas. At one point, he owned his own knit good business, which was not hard to achieve, because in Philadelphia, most textile industries were owned by first generation immigrants. However, his health began to decline as a result of the heavily industrialized air that he breathed in on a daily basis, and he removed to the country and took up a farmer's lifestyle to help improve his health. He was on his way to collect the money owed him for selling his business (among other things) on that fateful day of 2 September 1900 when the Hatfield Train Wreck took place.

Third Generation
Because Elizabeth Hans Waldspurger could not fully support the needs of her family herself, and since it was a socially appropriate thing to do, her children went to work after they finished their primary schooling at eighth grade. The youngest two children, Elizabeth and Clara, both went to work for the textile industry in the Port Richmond neighborhood of Philadelphia. Both girls were listed as winders of cloth in the 1910 census enumerations. Clara was also listed as a winder at the stockingmills in Lansdale, per her marriage application.

Fourth Generation
Hosiery mills were a prevalent industry in the southeastern portion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, especially in Montgomery County, where the Waldspurgers moved in the latter part of the 1910s. Many of the grandchildren of Florian and Elizabeth Marie Hans Waldspurger worked in the industry at one of the many hosiery mills in the area, especially in Lansdale and North Wales.

All of the nine sons of Edward Waldspurger (Florian's son and Francois' grandson) worked in one of the hosiery or textile mills at one point or another, including my own grandfather, who worked at Elm Hosiery Mill in North Wales.

My pop, Ernest Waldspurger, at work at the hosiery mill circa 1940.  It is presumed this mill was Elm Hosiery in North Wales.  Personal Collection of the blogger

Some of the other grandchildren in the extended Waldspurger family also worked the hosiery mills at one point or another, as it was an easy job to start at in the twentieth century. Because of the increasing mechanization of the mills, the job was much less skilled in the 1900s than it was in the time of François just three generations prior.

Ernest Waldspurger looking over a hosiery loom with his boss, circa 1940, probably at Elm Hosiery, North Wales.  Personal collection of the blogger.

It is possible that some of the descendants of François Waldspurger even participated in the Dexdale Hosiery Strike of 1933 that took place in Cheltenham. Florian Waldspurger, son of Edward and great-grandson of François, did work at Dexdale for a bit, though it is not known exactly when. (He later became a watch and jewelry repair man).

Fifth Generation
Since Hosiery mills were so prominent in the southeastern Pennsylvania area, some of the  great-great-grandchildren of François Waldspurger also were engaged in hosiery making as their first places of employment in the area.  However, since a number of this generation is still alive, I have chosen not to go into depth about their employment.

Sources Used
"1910 United States Federal Census," database online, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 September 2016), Family of Elizabeth Waldspurger, Year: 1910, Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 25 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Roll: T624_1398, Page: 12A, Enumeration District: 0539, and FHL microfilm: 1375411; citing Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

"1930 United States Federal Census," database with images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 September 2016), Entry for Edward C Waldspurger and family, Year: 1930, Census Place: Lansdale Montgomery, Pennsylvania, Roll: 2082, Page: 14B, Enumeration District: 0053, Image: 55.0, and FHL microfilm: 2341816; citing United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

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Elizabeth Waldspurger entry, Birth Registers 1860-1903, "Births Registered during 1889 Nov - 1890 Oct", reel 44: page 155, Philadelphia City Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Father listed as F. Waldspurger, weaver.

Ernest Walspurger entry, Birth Registers 1860-1903, "Births Registered during 1887 Jan-Dec." reel 41: page 38, line 5, Philadelphia City Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Father listed as F Walspurger, weaver

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