52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 28, July 7 – 14, 2024
Trains

To say that trains played a large part in my Allen family tree would be an understatement. The railroad industry played an especially important role in my ancestors’ lives.
My paternal great-grandfather, John Smith Allen, was born on 15 June1868 in Limestoneville, Montour County, Pennsylvania the sixth of eight children, to Andrew Schooley Allen and Effa E. Smith Allen, just after the end of the American Civil War. John went by the nickname of Smith or Smitty for most of his life. When Smith was born his father was a tenant farmer. Living along with his wife, Effie, were three children of Andrew’s previous marriage that ended in the death of his first wife who was Effie’s sister, and three of their own children. John was two years old at the time of the 1870 U.S. Federal Census.
By 1880 he was a resident of Turbotville, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania along with his parents and three other siblings. His father was a carpenter, and his mother is recorded as keeping house.
Limestoneville Township is and was a small village in Montour County in east-central Pennsylvania, founded in 1835. It is near to the birthplaces of several other of my ancestors. Larger cities in the same area are Williamsport, Bloomsburg, Sunbury, Milton, Lewisburg and Danville, Pennsylvania. Most of those communities relied heavily on the railroad during the late 19th and early 20th century for transportation of people and goods during my great-grandfather's life.
Since the unfortunate loss of the 1890 U.S. Federal Census, we do not know where he resided in that year, but from the 1900 census were able to discern that he married his wife, Florence Brenneman Smith in 1889 and had three children of his own by 1900. His children were three boys, Reginald Sidney Allen, b. 1890, Joseph Smith Allen (my grandfather) b. 1892, and John Andrew Allen, b. 1899. The family lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania on Front Street, near to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and to the main railroad tracks in the city. His occupation at that time was brakeman for the railroad. He was 31 years old.
The railroad industry grew in Williamsport because of the lumber industry and by 1900 Smith
still was employed by the railroad as a brakeman. The family now lived on High Street, farther away from the river. It seems that by at least 1905 John had moved into the position of conductor for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad.
Here is some information that I found about the occupations of brakeman and conductor:

Working as a brakeman in the 19th and early 20th century was one of the deadliest jobs in America. The brakeman worked from the top of moving trains in all types of weather. In the United States, the brakeman was a member of a railroad train’s crew responsible for assisting with braking a train when the engineer wanted the train to slow down or stop. A brakeman’s duties also included providing flag protection from following trains if the train were to stop, ensuring that the coupling between cars were properly set, aligning switches, and signaling to the train operators while performing switching operations. The brakeman rode in the caboose, the last car on the train, which was built specially to allow a crew member to apply the brakes of the caboose quickly and easily which would help to slow the train. The job was extremely dangerous with numerous reports of brakemen falling from trains, colliding with lineside structures, or being run over, or crushed by rolling stock.
Thankfully by 1905 Smith’s job was that of conductor, a much safer, yet an important position with much responsibility. Smith held this job until at least 1934 when he was 66 years old. Smith and Florence lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania during all the years that he worked for the railroad.

Railroad crew members in the late 19th century
The conductor was in charge of the train in its entirety, and of the train crew at large. Some of the conductor’s duties were:
1.) Collecting fares and tickets from passengers.
2.) Maintaining order on the trains, ensuring that passengers boarded and alighted the train safely.
3.) Responsible for overseeing the loading and unloading of cargo at each stop.
4.) Communicating and coordinating with the engineer and other crew members to ensure a smooth journey.
Some interesting challenges faced by early train conductors were:
1.) Dealing with rowdy and often intoxicated passengers.
2.) Handling difficult situations, such as disputes between passengers and enforcing rules and regulations on board.
3.) Working in extreme weather conditions including heat, cold, rain, and snow.
4.) Working long hours and irregular schedules often made the job physically and mentally demanding .

Railroad passenger train conductors looking at pocket watches
By the late 19th century, railroad conductors started wearing distinctive uniforms that set them apart from other railway employees. These uniforms included a jacket with brass buttons, a conductor’s hat, and sometimes a pocket watch. The importance of the conductor uniform became a symbol of authority and professionalism within the railway companies and passengers.
I only wish that I had a picture of my great-grandfather wearing his conductor uniform, or any picture for that matter! Unfortunately, the Allens were not particularly keen about having their pictures taken, unlike the maternal side of my family tree!
Thankfully, I actually have in my family collections the pocket watch that he used during his tenure as a conductor. Notice how the winder is at the side and not the top of the watch for the conductor's convenience.

J. Smith Allen's conductor's pocket watch
My great-grandfather was a passenger train conductor as noted in the following excerpt from a local newspaper in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Article from the Williamsport Sun-Gazette 12 July 1905
Despite all these duties and challenges in 1905 J. Smith was chosen as the conductor to accompany the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (a.k.a. Reading Railroad), George F. Baer, in his private rail car on a trip to the Pacific Coast. They would travel through Buffalo, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco even visiting Yellowstone National Park along with other areas of interest. It must have taken several weeks to complete the journey.
As a side note here, I knew that my great-grandfather worked for the railroad at some time during his life, but I did not know about other ancestors that also spent their life working for railroad related industries. My great Uncle Reginald worked as an accountant for a railway company. My half uncle, Harold Knauer, worked for the railways, my maternal great-grandfather and maternal grandfather worked for Vulcan Iron Works, a large company in northeastern Pennsylvania who made parts for locomotives. If I research a bit more, I’m sure that I will find others. The railroad was a big part of my ancestor’s lives.

Glass paperweight commemorting the loss of Reginald Allen's arm while hopping a train
It is also ironic to note here that Smith and Florence's son, Reginald, lost his arm while hopping a train on his way to school one day.

Article from Williamsport Sun-Gazette 27 December 1911
Smith was also a man who often visited his close relatives in the north-central area of Pennsylvania. I found short articles that were published in local newspapers that discuss visits to his father’s home in 1911 and then to his sisters’ home in Milton, Pennsylvania after his father's death in 1913. During some of these visits he traveled with other family members. I would imagine that they traveled via railroad.

Article from the Miltonian 10 June 1926
I did not find any conclusive evidence that Smith ever served in the military. Having been born in1868, three years after the U.S. Civil War, and by the time of WWI he was already 49 years old made it improbable. But then, John Allen was a common name in the United States as well as the United Kingdom.

By 1940 he was still living on W. 3rd Street, a lovely street with many Victorian homes in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, it is not one of the nicer areas in Williamsport today. On the U.S. Census from that year, it was reported that he and Florence owned their home and that both Florence and Smith had only completed school up until the 8th grade, not uncommon in those days. Their son, Reginald, was residing with them. Smith was 71 years old and was a retired conductor from the service of the railroad.
On 14 November 1941, when he was 73 years old, John Smith Allen died at the Williamsport Hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage where he had been a patient for four and a half months. He was laid to rest in the beautiful and historic Wildwood Cemetery, Williamsport in a family plot that he and his wife Florence had purchased during the 1920s. Florence would outlive him by 20 years.

Headstone of John Smith Allen, Wildwood Cemetery, Williamsport, PA
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