The Great Steel Strike of 1919 brought a Shift in Life and Careers for the McGregor Family.
The McGregor’s immigrated to North America around 1770. Following Matthew McGregor’s service he received land in south-central Pennsylvania. His descendants remained in the area for generations. They were committed to their farms, but lacked any education. When a father divided his farm each generation received a smaller portion. This created unsustainable farm sizes, and the McGregor men were forced to find other employment. Industries needed uneducated and unskilled labor from men like the McGregor’s for coal and other industries. In census records from 1880 to 1930 we can see they worked in these industries. Their farms had become so small they could no longer support families on farming alone. Miners had to be willing to perform hard manual labor and the motivation for workers were the steady wages. As the number of factories doubled in the years 1850-1900, the weekly earning positions increase. According to the Pennsylvania Historical Association, “The average number of ...