Family legend always had it that Joseph Richard Skewis was recruited by Andrew Carnegie to emigrate from Scotland to work in the Homestead steel mill in McKeesport, Pennsylvania…and then was later, as a result of his actions during the Homestead strike, blacklisted from ever working in the steel mills again by Carnegie and his right-hand man, Henry Clay Frick. The first part of the story is hard to prove, but there’s some surprising evidence for the second part.
Joseph Richard Skewis and his family (wife Marion and three young sons) emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1880. The 1880 Census shows Joseph and his family living with Joseph’s brother, James Skewis, on Washington Avenue in Allegheny, PA. Both James and Joseph listed their occupations as roll turners – a steel mill occupation (1880 United States Census).
An 1890 article in the Pittsburgh Dispatch states that Joseph Skewis was an Assistant Superintendent and had worked for the Homestead mill for 10 years. If accurate, this means he worked there starting in 1880 (Pittsburgh Dispatch, 1890). Andrew Carnegie did not actually buy Homestead and add it to Carnegie Steel until 1883 (Wikipedia). Maybe Joseph was recruited by Carnegie to stay on when the mill was purchased and this is where the first part of the story comes from, but we’ll likely never know.
Another article in the Dispatch in 1892 notes a promotion for “Joseph Skewis, who for a number of years has been manager of the Bessemer department, will take charge of the new beam mill.” (Pittsburgh Dispatch, 1892). Joseph had risen through the ranks from roll turner all the way up to superintendent of a key department at the Homestead mill.
But trouble was brewing. This was literally months before the violent Homestead strike broke out in June of 1892. The strike was a dispute between management and the union over wages and management’s desire to break the union. A lock-out of the workers by Henry Clay Frick (Carnegie’s right-hand man), resulted in a violent confrontation on July 6th between Pinkerton agents and locked-out strikers (Global Nonviolent Action Database).
Joseph was still employed as a Superintendent at Homestead during the June lock-out of the workers, during the July 6th battle with the Pinkertons, during the occupation of the plant by the strikers, and when the National Guard recaptured the plant on July 12th. There’s no family story that relates where Joseph was during these events or what he saw…but he was still employed at the plant. As Superintendent of the Beam Mill, he could have been inside supervising the new non-union strikebreakers or “scabs” hired by Homestead to replace the union workers, or he could have been sympathetic with the workers and complied with the walk-out.
In August 19, 1892, though, W.T. Roberts (described as a Homestead orator) left for Newark, New Jersey to make a speech on behalf of the locked-out Homestead strikers. During his speech he noted that “Superintendent Skewis and Jamieson, their crack beam-roller, quit to-night.” (Pittsburgh Dispatch).
By August, the mill had recruited enough non-union workers to fully staff the mill and resume production. If the Dispatch article is correct, on August 19, 1892, Joseph Skewis resigned his job at the mill, apparently in sympathy with the striking workers. In terms of his background and where he came from, Joseph had more in common with the rank and file workers than with the upper management like Frick and Carnegie. At the same time, he’d also worked for years to climb the ranks at the mill. It can’t have been an easy decision.
Was Joseph blacklisted by Henry Clay Frick as a result of his actions during the Homestead strike? In 1894, Frick wrote a letter to Joseph as follows:
‘As you know, Mr. Curry (presumably Henry Curry, the Carnegie treasurer) gave a good deal of attention to Homestead during the strike, and he tells me that you were quite luke-warm, hobnobbing with the opposition, he was told, and, while I hold no resentment whatsoever toward you, yet I do not see that we should, or could, give you a letter of recommendation.” (Triumphant Capitalism)
So the answer is yes! This is one family story that seems to be at least partially true. Whether or not he actively blackballed Joseph, Clay did refuse to give him a reference to help him find another position after the strike. Joseph never worked for a Carnegie company again, but he did work. An article in the Pittsburgh Daily Post in 1898 announces that Joseph was leaving his job as Superintendent of the Buhl Steel Mill in Sharon, PA to become Superintendent of the New Castle Tin company. (Pittsburgh Daily Post). At the time of his death in 1915, Joseph was 70, and had come full circle – he was working as a roll turner at the National Tube Company in McKeesport, PA. (1900 US Census).
Joseph Richard Skewis – Skewis Family Tree #4
Sources:
A Prominent Worker Iron Worker Home, Pittsburgh Dispatch, 16 Aug 1890, pg. 2, retrieved: 21 Apr 2020: Newspapers.com
Confident of Success, Pittsburgh Dispatch, 20 Aug 1892, pg. 2, retrieved: 21 Apr 2020: newspapers.com
Homestead Steel Works. Wikipedia. retrieved 21 Apr 2020 from Wikipedia
Joseph Skewis Sr. has resigned, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 31 Jan 1898, pg. 6, retrieved: 21 Apr 2020: Newspapers.com
Promotions at Homestead, Pittsburgh Dispatch, 15 Mar 1892, pg. 6, retrieved: 21 Apr 2020: Newspapers.com
U.S. Census Bureau (04 Jun 1880) 1880 United States Census, Allegheny, Allegheny, PA. Sheet 15, SD 9, ED 22
U.S. Census Bureau (10 Jun 1900) 1900 United States Census, McKeesport City, Allegheny, PA, Sheet 10, SD 18, ED 431
U.S. Homestead Steel Workers Strike to Protect Unions and Wages, 1892; Global Nonviolent Action Database; retrieved 21 Apr 2020:
Warren, Kenneth (1996) Triumphant Capitalism, Kenneth, pg. 105, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA