FIRSTS - Telephonic Pioneers, the Elkin Sisters

Intro

I've been doing genealogy for a while, mostly for my own knowledge and on occasion will try and share something I've learned with family and friends also involved in researching.

Last week on WikiTree, I read posts about #52Ancestors and discovered that Amy Johnson Crow developed a challenge to highlight family members and encourage writing. Ms. Crow provides the prompts, which it seems, may be interpreted any way that you want. This challenge sounded intriguing so I thought, what the heck, let me give it a try.

Of course, with this challenge, came the opportunity to learn how to blog. I selected the easiest template for me to attempt this adventure (suggestions welcome, of course!).

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FIRSTS - Telephonic Pioneers - Nellie, Edna, & Thelma Elkin

For the theme "Firsts", I chose my maternal family: The Elkin Sisters. My grandmother, Edna Elkin and an older sister, my Great Aunt Nellie Cleveland Elkin, and their youngest sister, another Great Aunt, Thelma Elkin. Growing up, my mother often mentioned that there was a telephone switchboard in my grandmother's family home. I always wanted to know if this family story was true. It was.  Perhaps they could be considered the first teleworkers? Along the way, I learned that each of these women had a long career in the telephone industry.

Nellie was born in 1892, the 5th child; Edna came along as number 7, in 1897; and number 8 was Thelma, in 1903, all born in Fayette County, Indiana near Connersville, Indiana to Zilpah Alice McCullom and Isaac Hodgen (I.H.) Elkin. Connersville was and is a small city located in Eastern Central Indiana. Population in 1900 was 6,836.

As of the 1910 U.S. Census [1], the Elkin clan moved to the 10th Ward in Indianapolis, with Mom (Zilpah), Dad (I.H.), Grandmother (Mary Richardson McCullom Beal), and 6 of the 8 children still living - Annie, Nellie, Charles, Edna, Thelma, and Everett. About this time, the population of the city was 233,560. That's a big jump from a small city to a metropolitan area with an increase in population size of 3316%! 

R.L. Polk's 1914 Indianapolis Directory [2] reveals that Nellie was working from the family residence as a telephone operator for John S. Spann & Co. Dad (I.H.) is listed as a carpenter, and also worked from home, too. Nellie would have been about 22 years old at this time.

I imagine that the switchboard (see below) might have been about triple this size to accommodate the needs of businesses in Ward 10. Indianapolis and the Indiana and Ohio region had, in 1913 catastrophic flooding [9] of up to 10 feet of water from unexpected rain. Telephonic communication would have been essential to convey information quickly and efficiently. Keep in mind, too, that not many people at the time had telephones in their homes, lines were still very limited, although businesses were beginning to install them in offices. 

(This photo features Alton, SD telephone operator, Florence Morrison. The picture was taken on November 7, 1914. All those cord pair connections that she has up equate to individual telephone conversations.
I count 12 cords, which is six pairs--so six conversations taking place.
~Photo submitted by volunteer Larry Lundeen,
with added research done by Linda Ziemann, Sioux County Coordinator.)

To give you a sense of the times - July of 1914 was the beginning of World War I in Europe at the Austrian-Hungarian border with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.  May 1915 the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed, which was a harbinger for the United States to later join the war effort in 1917.  

In 1915, my grandmother, Edna, at the age of 18, followed Nellie, beginning her career as a telephone operator, according to R. L. Polk's 1915 Indianapolis Directory [3].

By 1917, three siblings worked in telecommunications, even recruiting younger brother (and 7th child) Charles Bryan, as an installer in this nascent industry, according to Polk's directory for that year. [4]

Late 1919 most of the immediate family moved to Detroit, probably to be in on the economic prosperity of Henry Ford and the booming automotive market. The 1920 US Census [5] reports Nellie, 27, is now an "Instructress", and Thelma, at age 16, is a telephone operator. Within the next year or so, Edna, along with her husband, Paul, and their young daughter, Betty Louise, joined her family, moving from Indianapolis to Detroit. 

Edna continued to work in the downtown Detroit area, eventually retiring in 1967 from the Detroit Telephone Answering Service after working for 25 years as a supervisor. Nellie [6] and Thelma [7] continued to work for many years as telephone operators, as well.

I remember as a young child visiting my grandmother's office and watching as the women manually connected telephone calls as they provided answering services for professionals throughout the city. I have no idea how they kept all the lines straight and made the correct connections!

Detroit Telephone Answering Service circa 1959
(on left white blouse w/headset - Millie Bertalino,
center, white blouse no headset, my grandmother, Edna Elkin Duckworth Martin, supervisor) [8]

What times they lived in - World War I, women voting in 1920, World War II, the Korean (War) Conflict, the Cold War, Vietnam, and through it all these professionals worked behind the scenes providing the skills needed to enhance and support the blossoming telecommunications industry.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

Sources
[1] "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK5M-5MZ : accessed 7 January 2019), Zilpah Alice Elbin in household of Isaac Hodson Elbin, Indianapolis Ward 15, Marion, Indiana, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 262, sheet 3A, family 40, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 369; FHL microfilm 1,374,382. [Note: Family name indexed as "Elbin" instead of "Elkin"]

[2] R. L. Polk & Co.'s Indianapolis City Directory for 1914, Thirty-eighth year, A Classified Business Directory and A Directory of Householders, Volume LX, Price, Eight Dollars,, R. L. Polk & Co, 1914, Indianapolis, Indiana, Indiana State Library [Elkin, Nellie, pg 503], http://archive.org/stream/citydir1914cdap

[3] R. L. Polk & Co.'s Indianapolis City Directory for 1915, Thirty-ninth year, A Classified Business Directory and A Directory of Householders, Volume LX, Price, Eight Dollars,, R. L. Polk & Co, 1915, Indianapolis, Indiana, Indiana State Library,  [Elkin, Edna, p 435], http://archive.org/stream/citydir1915cdap

[4] R. L. Polk & Co.'s Indianapolis City Directory for 1917, Forty-first year, A Classified Business Directory and A Directory of Householders, Volume LX, Price, Eight Dollars,, R. L. Polk & Co, 1917, Indianapolis, Indiana, Indiana State Library [Elkin, Chas B, Edna, and Nellie, pg 504],  http://archive.org/stream/citydir1917cdap#mode/1up

[5] Elkin, Nellie and Thelma in "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZWD-FTM : accessed 7 January 2019), Alice Z Elkin, Detroit Ward 10, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing ED 316, sheet 6A, line 39, family 118, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 809; FHL microfilm 1,820,809.

[6] Elkin, Nellie in "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHSJ-C8L : 15 March 2018), Nellie C Elkin, Ward 21, Detroit, Detroit City, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 84-1503, sheet 8A, line 31, family 160, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1885.

[7] Watson, Thelma in "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch  
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHMY-T6V : 16 March 2018), Edna Duckworth, Ward 6, Detroit, Detroit City, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 84-282, sheet 7B, line 45, family 183, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 1849.

[8] Photograph - Millie Bertalino and Edna Elkin Martin at Detroit Telephone Answering Service, circa 1959. Elkin-Duckworth-McCann Private Archives. Privately held by Lynda McCann.

Also consulted:

[9] Wikipedia, Timeline of Indianapolis