William H.<br >Sylvis and<br >the Search fox<br >Citizenship<br >David Montgomery<br >In 1828， when William Sylvis was born in the town of Armagh， it con-<br >sisted of some thirty buildings nestled among the mountains of western<br >Pennsylvania only a few miles from the Connemaugh River. His parents<br >had but recently moved there in hopes that the building of the western<br >division of the Pennsylvania Canal along the Connemaugh might provide<br >work for an experienced wagon maker. Nicholas Sylvis s ancestors had<br >come from the German Palatinate to Pennsylvania in the 1730s and<br >through subsequent generations had scraped together a living by hard work<br >at farming or mechanical trades. His wife， Maria Mott Sylvis， spoke of<br >her family s prominence in New Jersey s revolutionary conflicts of half a<br >century before. Memories of the battles working people had fought for<br >survival， for their nation， and for citizenship were their legacy. The rugged<br >terrain through which the canal and its railroad portage were built failed to<br >provide Nicholas Sylvis the steady customers he needed to support his<br >family， so he moved east to Mauch Chunk， where another canal linked the<br >anthracite fields to Philadelphia， bringing the coal that heated most of the<br >city s homes.<br > In 1835 Irish immigrants who unloaded coal from the canal boats began<br >a strike， which gathered the Support of shoemakers， printers， building<br >workers， blacksmiths， and others in such numbers as to culminate in a<br >citywide general strike for higher wages and the ten-hour working day. For<br >more than a year after this strike a General Trades Union assembled dele-<br >gates from more than fifty unions of artisans， laborers， and even factory<br >operatives from mill villages at the nearby falls of the Wisahickon， to sup-<br >port each other s strikes and formulate a common program of action. The<br >movement produced remarkable leaders， like John Ferral， William En-<br >glish， and Thomas Hogan， who spoke not just for the weaving， shoemak-<br >Q<br >Q<br ><br >