My grandfather, Otto Ullrich, took sick in the winter of 1928. He had a bad cold. He may even have had the flu as there were reports of an influenza outbreak that winter in New York City. Still Otto was determined to go out one evening. He was very involved in New York City politics, especially the “partying” part of politics.
His wife, my grandmother, Isabel, begged him not to go out. She explained, as wives and mothers do, that the weather was frightful, cold and wet. Damp was probably another word she used! But Otto prevailed and out he went.
Not surprisingly, Otto became sicker. On March 14, he was admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital and two weeks later he died of pneumonia.
My grandmother was 46 years old, though she always subtracted at least five years from her age and, in this instance, probably with good reason. She was a realist and very aware of the financial implications of Otto’s death. She had lost her father suddenly when she was 22 and her family had been economically crushed by his death. She also knew she had to provide for a 14- year old son, my father, Charles. My grandmother had a mission.
Otto had sold coal for Burns Brothers Coal Company, a very successful business which literally “fueled” much of New York City. My grandmother went straight to Burns Brothers and applied for a job. Burns Brothers was very responsive to the new widow and explained they would certainly find a job for her typing or filing. She quickly explained that clerical work was not at all what she had in mind…she wanted Otto’s job.
This was an outrageous request in 1928. Women had only been allowed to vote for eight years. Women typically did not sell and not on the street door to door and certainly not a product like coal. She might have had a shot at selling lingerie in a department store, but not selling coal.
One feels somewhat sorry for the man to whom my grandmother applied for the job. He was in an impossible position. He was dealing with a grieving widow, but she was making a ridiculous request.
Realizing that her potential employer was unwilling to offer her the job she wanted and felt she needed, my grandmother proposed that she be allowed to work for two weeks without pay. She explained that if Burns Brothers found her performance satisfactory during those two weeks, they could hire her. If, on the other hand, she was a disappointment, then she would accept a clerical position.
In no time at all, my grandmother was a top salesperson with the firm. Initial success during the boom years of 1928 and early 1929 was one thing, but she went on to weather the Great Depression with remarkable skill.
Once my grandmother had found satisfactory employment, she moved my father and herself to a new apartment in the Fort George area of New York City. She was, most likely, motivated by cheaper rent, a new building and a very good high school, George Washington, for my father.
Such a move in this day and time seems a straightforward proposition. In the late 1920s, it may not have been. I do not know how difficult it was for a woman to rent an apartment in her own name. It wasn’t until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, 20 years after my grandmother’s retirement, that a single, widowed or divorced woman could engage in any credit arrangement without a man co-signing. Had renting an apartment been an issue for my grandmother, I assume she would have asked one of her brothers to co-sign. She would not have been happy about that.
Photos suggest that my grandmother totally embraced being a business woman. She had what she considered her definitive photo taken not long before her retirement. She looks as “officially” a businesswoman as she possibly could! This is how she wanted to be remembered.
But photos when she was younger reveal a woman with a real love of fashion. She wore hats with great panache.
Photo above was taken around 1920 of my grandmother, Isabel, with husband, Otto, and son, Charles.
Photo on the right from the early 1900s features one of many glamorous hats.
My grandmother might have been a business woman and a realist, but she was also a true romantic. She loved the poetry of Lord Byron and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. She delighted in discussing books of all kinds, especially Charles Dickens. All Dickens’ characters, Peggotty in particular, were like good friends to her. She was an accomplished seamstress and created the most beautiful doll clothes. She listened to the Metropolitan Opera every Saturday afternoon on the radio. And she always talked to the animals.
But, more than anything, she loved being a career woman and selling coal for Burns Brothers. She sold coal for 26 years until she was 73 years old. She only retired then because my father prevailed upon her to do so. The family had moved to the Midwest and my Dad was not comfortable leaving her alone in Manhattan. She, on the other hand, was quite comfortable alone!
I imagine Burns Brothers loved her, too…but not so much that she was ever made a supervisor or paid the same salary as the salesmen. She was, after all, a woman.
I just love this – and I do wish I had known your grandmother – it is easy to see why you adored
her- she was a remarkable woman in so many ways. What a role model!
I, too, wish you had known my grandmother. You surely would have enjoyed one another’s company. And you had MUCH in common!
Lynn we are so lucky to have had Mana in our lives but you have brought her back to life for me! This blog is the best one yet -but do I say that everytime I read one? I never knew she worked until she was 73! Now I have a goal…thank you as always for these blogs.
Age was a closely guarded secret!
You portrayed your grandmother so realistically that I felt as if I knew her. It’s not to late for you to start writings novels. Your family is a great source for your novels.
Your family, too, would make great novels! Truth is stranger than fiction.
Beautiful story!
I remember your grandmother very well, and always much admired her. I did think it was remarkable that she was successful in what was considered a man’s field. She was, as you say, ” Ahead of her “Time” and always nice to know and be with. When my daughter Diane was born your grandmother put her sewing skills to work and made sweet little baby nightgowns for her – a lovely memory.
That is a lovely memory, Joan, and makes me happy to know.
What a frightening world your grandmother faced after Otto’s early death. I admire her for meeting it head on – and beating it. From this post, and all your other stories of your grandmother, it’s clear why she meant so much to you. I’m just sorry that I never had the chance to meet her and find out the key to her determined spirit.
Remarkable I would have liked to meet her.
Really wish you had, Michael. You had much in common and all of it good.
This is so inspiring!! I want more pictures! When Aislyn is older this will be a story told many times.
I almost titled this post…”For Aislyn!”
I love her!! and it is helpful to get more specifics on where you and Karen come from! I am so sorry the hats disappeared, though. do you have more pictures of her in them? The I was a young woman I wore hats (after all, Jackie Kennedy did!), but again they disappeared. You know, I really like to know and understand what people were doing at what age in their lives. Well, once again, we have here a tale in which I cannot make any sense of what’s happening when with one of your female relatives!