In case you missed it, in 2010 I wrote an Ocracoke Newsletter about the Clam Factory. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112110.htm.
This month's Ocracoke Newsletter is research into the origin of the Ocracoke Island Wahab family. You can read the article here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news022115.htm.
If one reads the article about the clam factory, one finds a few curious bits of information. According to the report, unmarried young women and widows worked in the factory harvesting the meat from the shells and then tossing the shells out of the window. This brings to mind women with popeye arms and reeking of steamed clam. Is this to say that unmarried women at the time needed to support themselves with a job and widows back then needed to support themselves with a job as there was no retirement plan, annuity, IRA, thrift savings, pension, available back then. Now these products exist but the lifespan and cost of living factors place a modern day working woman in a clam factory toiler existence. Oh please do not consider this off topic, as the business was able to relocate several times to find the clams but did they relocate the staff to the new factory settings? Probably not. DD
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. On Ocracoke there were no retirement plans, annuities, IRA, thrift savings, or pensions available back then. Although several islander carpenters went with the Doxsees when they moved their operation, they did not relocate the other workers.
Delete