James Edward Greenwood

1870s–1880s

Born about 1870 (most records say 26 January) in Halifax, in England's West Yorkshire wool country, the son of Newton Greenwood. Left school after the eighth grade for the worsted-weaving trade.

1890s

A worsted weaving overlooker in Halifax in 1891. Married Clara Evelyn Rawson; son Arthur was born in 1894. Emigrated in 1896, and by 1897 was a loom boss in South Chester, Pennsylvania, where daughter Ida was born.

1900s

Moved to Philadelphia, where daughters Florence (1900) and Evelyn were born; Evelyn died in 1905. Became a U.S. citizen in January 1907.

1910s–1930s

A loom fixer in Philadelphia's cloth mills, living on Mascher Street and from 1924 on East Thayer Street. Probably retired about 1932.

1940s

Widowed in 1941. Died at home on East Willard Street, Philadelphia, on 29 October 1948.

A Halifax Weaver

James Edward Greenwood was born in Halifax, in England's West Yorkshire wool country, around 1870; most records give January 26, 1870. His father was Newton Greenwood and his mother's first name was Mary. He had sisters named Amy, Florence (Florrie), and Gertrude. James left school after the eighth grade and went into the worsted-weaving mills, and by 1891, at about twenty-one, he was a worsted weaving overlooker, the man who kept the looms running and the weavers supervised, living at 8 Plymouth Grove in St. Augustine's parish. A young weaver named Clara Evelyn Rawson lived in the same parish, at Chaffers Court. They married in the early 1890s, and their son Arthur was born in England in March 1894.

The Philadelphia Mills

In 1896 the Greenwoods emigrated to America. James arrived in Philadelphia on March 11 and took up permanent residence in Pennsylvania on March 26. His sisters Amy and Florrie also came to America; both were married in Chester in 1900. By 1897 James was a loom boss and the family was living at 405 Flower Street in South Chester, where their daughter Ida was born that February. By 1900 they had moved into Philadelphia, where Florence was born that March and Evelyn about 1903. Evelyn died of meningitis in March 1905, when she was about two.

James declared his intention to become a citizen in 1903, filed his petition in October 1906 with two fellow weavers, Meshach Harrison and John Turner, as his witnesses, and took the oath on January 7, 1907. For the next quarter-century he worked as a loom fixer in the cloth mills; his 1918 draft card places him at the Fernrock Woolen Mills at Trenton Avenue and Wishart Street and describes him as of medium height and build, with blue eyes and black hair. The family lived at 3444 Mascher Street from 1910 to 1923, and from 1924 lived at 306 East Thayer Street, a house James owned by 1930, when it was worth $3,000 and had a radio. Ida lived there with her parents in 1924, when she was teaching and about to be married.

Later Years

James was out of work at the start of 1930, though that year's census still listed him as a loom fixer, and he probably retired about 1932. Clara died in October 1941. By 1948 James was living at 226 East Willard Street, where he died on October 29, 1948, of heart failure brought on by prostate cancer. He was buried at Greenmount Cemetery in Philadelphia.