John McGarr and the Haymarket Riot

Women delegates to the 1886 Knights of Labor Convention, Richmond, Virginia

     It's hard to believe it's been less than two weeks since the governor here in New York ordered a shut down.  It feels like months, though that's probably because even before the order, my children insisted I remain secluded.  While the isolation is unpleasant, I've used the time revisiting ancestors I haven't looked at in a while, particularly those who spent time in Auburn, New York as the Seymour Library in that city recently put some Auburn newspapers online.  Which is nice because ever since the Old Fulton newspaper site has come back online it hasn't functioned properly for me.

     I did a broad search for John McGarr, (there were several), just to see what turned up.  One hit was for a John McGarr of St. Louis, Missouri.  That rang a bell!  I recalled that the John McGarr I believe was a brother of my third-great-grandfather Daniel McGarr, had a son also named John who was married in St Louis.  Opening the link dated February 26, 1888,  I saw that this John McGarr was the National Worthy Foreman of Shoe District 216 of the Knights of Labor.  That title is a mouthful, could it be my cousin John?  I also recalled that branch of the McGarr tree had shoe makers in it, so it was a possibility.

    John McGarr was born in Auburn, NY to John McGarr Sr. and his wife Mary Kelly, in 1854.  John Sr. died when John Jr. was twelve, and his wife Mary Kelly passed three years later, leaving John an orphan.  Along with his younger brothers Timothy E., who went on to become prominent in New York government, and William, John was given into the custody of his older brother Richard McGarr.  Looking through my records I saw this entry in the 1875/76 City Directory of Auburn, "McGarr Brothers, (John & Richard), boots & shoes 35 Genesee St.  Then there was the letter sent to me by a very distant relative that contained some reminiscences of an older McGarr family member recounting what she recalled of the children of John McGarr Sr.  She hadn't known John Jr. personally, but reported he was called Jack in the family and was a politician she believed.  Interesting, or a labor leader perhaps?

     Try as I may I have never been able to find John Jr. in the 1880 census, so it was telling that I found a reference to John McGarr of the Knights of Labor being a treasurer and secretary in Los Angeles.  I still can't find him in 1880, but it explains why he wasn't in Auburn that year.  John appears in the 1875 New York State census, living in Auburn with the Chapman family, the in-laws of his brother Richard.  His occupation is shoemaker.  It appears John became involved in the Knights of Labor which took him to LA and Missouri where in 1882 he married Mary Brennan.  

     The 1900 census shows John and Mary living in Chicago with three daughters.  John's occupation is the ambiguous, "clerk".  I would imagine being a labor boss would involve much travel, and in fact news articles placed him in negotiations all over the country, perhaps John gave up his union work to spend more time at home?  But in truth, the Knights days were numbered.   

     On the 4th day of May in 1886, a large labor rally was held near Chicago's Haymarket Square in protest of the killings of several striking workers by Chicago police the day before at the McCormick Reaper Works.  The rally turned violent when near it's end one of the protesters threw a bomb at police and shots rang out. There were numerous injuries and seven policemen died that day along with a member of the crowd. The Haymarket Riot, as it came to be known, was a major setback for the American labor movement and the Knights, being unfairly singled out for blame, were decimated.  By the year 1900 only 100,000 of their former one million members remained.

     The 1910 census describes John as a "saloon keeper" while the census of 1920 shows a widowed and retired John living with his daughters in Chicago.  Only his middle child, Kathleen, ever married, sadly enough passing away a year before her father from the effects of a brain tumor.  John died in Chicago in February of 1940.  I strongly feel I'm correct about John being the same John McGarr of the Knights of Labor.  Following in the steps of James Connolly, who incidentally once owned a cobblers shop?