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Erie_RR_Train_Dispatcher_Erastus_Lewis_Telegraph_Age_vol_24_1901.jpg   Original: 1400 by 1074 pixels - Current: 1400 by 1074 - 100%
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pravoslavna_@_comcast.net
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2022 11:33:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Erie RR Train Dispatcher Erastus Lewis at JC, 1901
"Erie_RR_Train_Dispatcher_Erastus_Lewis_Telegraph_Age_vol_24_1901.jpg" - image/jpeg, 1400x1074 (24bit)







One of my retirement projects has been reading through the entire corpus of digitized "trade press" publications spawned by the Telegraph industry in the Nineteenth Century. These journals began coming on-stream in late 1865, and for information before that date, must rely on the collection of digitized newspapers in the collection of the Library of Congress.






One das'nt (sic) undertake such a project without a good PDF editing program and Photoshop, too. I have run across some really obscure information buried in these old journals, which just cried out for rescue and preservation from the dustbin.






The attached JPG is one of the good finds. It concerns a fellow named Erastus H. Lewis, who was a Train Dispatcher in the Erie's division office at Jersey City, from the 1870s until his death in 1901.






I have set up a page on Ancestry.com for this interesting fellow, who was called "Ras." He was born 3 Dec 1846 in South Bristol, Ontario County, NY, in a valley just west of Canandaigua Lake. Ras enlisted in the Union Army at Geneva, NY, in September 1862, at which time his occupation was shown as Farmer, and was promoted from Private, to Corporal, to Sergeant, to 2nd and then 1st Lieutenant, and discharged Aug 1864.






The 1865 New York State Census shows Ras back at home, and gives the father of Ras and his five siblings as Ebenezer Lewis, living in the town of Seneca. Ebenezer's occupation is listed as that of "Speculator" !






We next find Ras in the records in 1875 (the New York State Census,) his occupation shown as Train Dispatcher in Newberg, NY. He appears in the 1884 Jersey City City Directory, employed as Train Dispatcher, residing at 226 7th St, Jersey City, which house still stands. In the 1885 NY State Census, he resided at 118 Erie St, Jersey City, which still stands. The 1900 US Census shows him at 1002 Summit St, Jersey City, which still stands, as well. He died on August 17, 1901, aged 56, leaving his wife, Mary, and one daughter, Josephine.






Ras is buried in the Grove Church Cemetery, on N. 46th St, North Bergen, and a military tombstone was provided for him. Someone set up a Find-a-Grave listing for Ras, but no photo of his tombstone is posted. He appears in 19 trees on Ancestry (with the usual vast variation in quality of research and documentation.)






Wouldn't you just love to talk to Ras, and hear his stories from the Old Days ? Perhaps he learned telegraphy and hired on the Erie shortly after his discharge from the army, which would make him an 1860s hire.






And who would have known, save perhaps Mr. Yachechak, that there was once a Train Dispatcher at Newburg ? I wonder what territory the Newberg job handled?






Tach'mint.






-- abram burnett,


pennsylvania turnip arbitrageur











Erie_RR_Train_Dispatcher_Erastus_Lewis_Telegraph_Age_vol_24_1901.jpg

Image EXIF Data:
Image Creation Date   2022:02:06 11:18:22
Software Version   Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
X Resolution   280 Pixels/Inch
Y Resolution   280 Pixels/Inch
Exif Image Width   1400 pixels
Exif Image Height   1074 pixels
ColorSpace   sRGB


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