Looking for Ford employees or families who worked for Ford between 1910-1950

[SCProductions]

Hello to the DetroitYES community -
I work for a documentary film production company that is making a documentary about Henry Ford for PBS. As part of our research, we're interested in speaking with individuals who worked for Ford Motor Company or who had relatives who worked for Ford Motor Company prior to 1950. Learning about the day to day work that people performed in the early years of the company will help us add a personal side to the story in addition to the contributions of historians and archival collections. If you or your relative[[s) worked for Ford between 1910-1950, I would love to hear about the kind of work you/they did, why you chose to work for Ford, and any other details you'd like to share. Thank you.

[dtowncitylover]

I'll ask my grandmother. Her father worked as a machinist for Ford at the Oakville Plant in Oakville, ON during that period. My great-uncles also worked there, but in the 1960s and 70s.

[Hardhat]

I can't help you find anyone, but I was just thinking that the story of Henry Ford would make a great Ken Burns series or even a good motion picture. Good luck in your endeavor.

[SCProductions]

Thanks to both of you. Dtown - I would be interested in hearing what your grandmother recalls.

[cballzwagon]

My grandfather worked at the original Ford Rouge plant and was even featured on an edition of Time magazine. Let me know if you would be interested in hearing more from myself or my mother.

[lilpup]

I can't see Ken Burns being all that objective about Ford. I wish Burns would do Detroit's story like was done for New York and Chicago.

My grandfather worked for Ford during those years but I never knew him. I was told he worked at both Highland Park and the frame shop at the Rouge.

Do you have access to Ford archives for this project? I have a story about my grandfather & the company during the Depression but have never checked the archives to see if they have anything in his file about it.

[SCProductions]

Lilpup,
We are working with a hired researcher at the Ford archives for the project. However, if you're local, you can go perform research on your own for free. Otherwise, I'm sure they have researchers they can refer you to that could look up some material for a fee. Here's more info - http://www.hfmgv.org/research/faq.aspx#2.

[EastsideAl]

Anyone who was still alive who worked there during that period would have to be very very elderly by now. My maternal grandfather worked at Ford from 1919 to 1954 and he's been dead since 1974 [[and he was 85 then). His daughter, my mother, is now in her early '80s. Unfortunately, she doesn't talk to outsiders much any more, so I'm not sure if she would talk to you or not.

As for why my grandfather worked there, he was freshly mustered out of the WWI era army in California, and my great-uncle, who had come to Detroit from the east, wrote him and prominently mentioned the magic number of $5 a day. Grandpa was on the next thing smoking...

[SCProductions]

Dear EastsideAl, Thanks for this information. The $5 Day was such a huge draw. As you mention, this is a difficult search because most people who worked at Ford in the early years aren't with us anymore. However, I've come across a few people who have strong memories of their parents' or relatives' work at Ford, and that is also very helpful research for the project. Trying to cast as wide a net as possible...

[Pickford-Bentler]

My father worked at the Rouge Plant from about 1939 to 1941 as an electrical apprentice. Sadly, he passed away three months ago at age 90. He had a lot of Ford stories. One thing you did not do was say anything nice about Harry Bennett. That would drive him into a rage.

He told me that there was a foreman who abused workers that was last seen in the foundry before a sitdown strike. When the strike ended, they never found him.



Before my father went into apprentice school, they had him on the line installing floorboards for the Model A. This was on a Friday and there was a man a bit over forty years of age who showed him how to do his job. On Monday, he asked a foreman about this guy and was told he got fired for being too old and that my father was his replacement. It was my father's opinion that the reason the UAW got voted in was Bennett's thievery and favoratism, and seeing old guys punted and left to beg outside the plant. By and large, the workers liked the old man. They felt that Bennett had misled him. Whether that is really true or not... I have no idea.

Not all stories were bad. There was a Polish lady who had the hots for my father who kept on tripping a breaker on her machine so that they would send my father to fix it.

Plant safety was not as good. One time, my father took and electric arc in the eyes while working on the elements they had to heat the rolled steel. I guess the iron dust was that thick.


His older brother also did some time at the Rouge and went on to move up into the Glass House. He also hated Bennett. He thought it was a great day when Bugas and HF2 sacked that thug.When he drove a truck for Ford, Bennett's stooges would load the thing up with parts and have him drive to some repair joint in the city to unload. He was told to keep his mouth shut or else. The older brother died in 1991. His wife is still alive and still has very sharp powers of recall. She presently lives in Oscoda, MI. I think she would be a valuable source of information. I get the impression that the neighborhood by West Chicago and Grand River that they all lived in back in the 1920s and 1930s was loaded with Ford workers.

They had a lot of fun in that neighborhood. My father was a very good ballroom dancer, so he tried to get the night shift. That way he could spend the evening at the Grande Ballroom, then go to work at the Rouge, and then sleep in the day.

Walkability comes up on this forum, a lot.

My father told me that he would walk downtown from West Chicago and Grand River with his uncle just for the fun of it.

[pgn421]

My dad worked at Ford in the 30's. He was a security guard at Miller road, gate 6.he was working the gate. When the union was trying to organize Ford.He had some many fond memories of working there.

[Mikeg]

My father, who will be 89 yrs old next month, was telling me yesterday about the day in March 1941 that he and a buddy went to the Ford hiring office at the Rouge to apply for a job. There was a big crowd of like-minded men outside the building and they were all eventually dispersed by horse-mounted police officers without having the opportunity to fill out an application.

Instead of returning home, they decided to execute "Plan B" and drove downtown and enlisted in the US Coast Guard. They both filled out their paperwork and were told to wait in a room to be called for their physical exam. His buddy got called in first and he promptly fainted when he caught sight of the needle they were going to use to draw his blood. My dad, who was unaware of his buddy's fear of needles, started having second and third thoughts about enlisting when he saw his unconscious friend being carried out past him on a stretcher!

[lilpup]

Lilpup,
We are working with a hired researcher at the Ford archives for the project. However, if you're local, you can go perform research on your own for free. Otherwise, I'm sure they have researchers they can refer you to that could look up some material for a fee. Here's more info - http://www.hfmgv.org/research/faq.aspx#2.

Oh, maybe things have changed recently. Ford Motor Company used to have an on-staff archivist separate from HFMGV to do personnel record searches and the like. Not everything was at HFMGV. One was supposed to write to her with some proof of death for the employee [[like an obit) and whatever other known info so she could do a records search.

[[add)

The contact info I have from a few years ago is:

Elizabeth W. Adkins
Director of Global Information Management
14441 Rotunda Drive, Suite 180
Dearborn, MI 48120, USA
Telephone: [[313)845-0556
Fax: [[313)248-4921


What's the specific focus of your doc? What docs have you done previously?

[JenniferL]

My great-grandfather worked as a foreman at Ford. I don't know exact dates, but Grandma was born in 1910 and I'm pretty sure he was there before then. Sadly, Grandma isn't here anymorre and I don't know how much Dad knows. But if you want to post a list of questions here, I'll do my best to answer the ones I know and pass the rest onto Dad.

One thing I do know is that my great-grandfather made a comfortable living at Ford. Shortly after Grandma was born, he moved his family to a nice house in Highland Park. By the early 1920s, they were living in a VERY nice house on a large lot in Royal Oak, on which he later built three additional houses [[one for each of his children). He also had at least one vacation property up north. I'm guessing he was making more than $5 an hour! It's truly an "American dream" story, because my great-grandfather was an abandoned child who survived by working as a hired boy on different farms, where he was not always treated well.

One story I heard was that the immigrant workers were grouped together with others from the same country. Based on the way Grandma described it, it sounded like a "team spirit" type of arrangement to get everyone to work faster. For example, my great-grandfather would tell a group of Italian workers to speed things up because "the Greeks are getting ahead of you" and then he'd turn around and tell the Greeks that the Italians were getting ahead of them. And so on...

[Strathcona]

My grandfather was employed and retired from Ford Motor Company. He had many positions but the the most interesting one was that he played trumpet in Henry Ford's Personal Orchestra. He is 98 years old and in very good condition--still driving to the coffee shop every day. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more information or to talk to him personally.

Richard Ban
rfban@detroitmanagement.com

[Chloe]

My father began his employment at the Ford Motor Company, in January of 1941, at the age of eighteen, working as a bookeeper. However his involvement with Ford began well before this time. Growing up in Brightmoor, life was not financially easy, as my grandparents received some type of aid. Henry Ford provided a program for youth to attend some type of a summer program, working on the Ford farmland, where I believe the HQ is now located. My dad attended this camp for a couple of summers. He said that on Sunday, Henry Ford would visit the camp, have breakfast with the attendees, and then would attend church with them. My dad had an interest in aviation, and apparantly had a much stronger mechanical apptitude then your average bookeeper, and ended up working at the Ford airport in 1943-1944 assisting in the instruction of a airplane mechanic's class during the war. [[he was discharged from the army for medical reasons). Old Henry happened to be at the airport one particular afternoon, and engaged my Dad in conversation, and actually remembered him from the camp, including remembering his name. My father them went on to hold a variety of positions at Ford Motor, including coordinating the set-up of auto shows in the late 1940's, into the early 1950's. Ultimately he worked in the quality control division, passing away while on business for Ford in 1979, six weeks shy of retirement after 38 years of service, at the tender age of 57 [[heartbreaking).

[Switchmanjim]

My father worked at the Rouge 1928-1967. He passed away in '85.
Brother worked there also, 1966-2008
And myself 1976-2008

[goggomobil]

My mom worked in Building B, Rouge, during the war. She lived in Delray at the time [[Southwestern Class of '39). She was studying art somewhere downtown and joined Ford not long after they converted to war production. She riveted B-24 tail section assemblies that were shipped to Willow Run where her brother worked until he ended up in Patton's army. I asked her once about Ford and she did tell me things but all I recall is that she rode a streetcar home to Delray around 2 a.m. and never thought anything of it. I also remember her saying that if you didn't get along with your work partner, it made riveting very difficult!

Her father worked there until he was killed crossing Grand River Ave. in '47. She said that he was offered a supervisor position but he refused, apparently due to a combined fear and hatred of Harry Bennett.

I'll ask her about this and try to pry out details. She still remembers Delray in great detail so I suspect she might yield more stuff about her time at Ford.

[1953]

My great aunt is 86; her father worked at the Ford plant in Highland Park. I don't know how much she knows about his employment there, but she certainly has plenty of memories of growing up in Highland Park. Let me know if you would like me to put you in touch with her.

1953

[shirlselects]

My Dad worked for Ford at the Lincoln plant. I think if was on Livernois. He was a tool and die maker. He started in 1927 and thought it would only be for a short time and ended up working there for 35 years. I guess he liked doing what he did as he had a lathe in our garage and worked nights and weekends at home for extra money. He never missed any work except when his Mother died about 1952. Then he took a couple of days off.


I don't remember him saying anything bad about the company so I guess he was happy there. I still have the watch he received from Ford for 35 years of service.

[judymcfarlane]

My father worked on the assembly line at the Rouge plant sometime around 1910. I'm now 76 years old, but I recall him saying that while working there they did a walk out, and subsequently had their heads bashed in by the police who swarmed in on horses. After that experience, he opted for airplanes, became a stunt pilot, also delivered mail by plane, joined the Canadian Airforce, which came first I don't recall, and ended up becoming a manufacturer's rep. selling most of the paper goods used by the auto industry in Detroit, doing so until full retirement in his 80's. He definately had respect all his life for the men who worked on the lines.

[SCProductions]

Lilpup,
Sorry for the delayed response. I'm not quite sure about the on-staff archivist. Ours is freelance, as I mentioned, but she is focusing on archival stills rather than records.

You can learn more about our film and previous documentary work at sarahcoltproductions.com.

Thanks,
Helen

[SCProductions]

JenniferL,
This is really interesting. If you or your father remember anything else your great-grandfather said about the immigrant workers and/or the Sociological Department, I would appreciate if you could share it here.
Thanks,
Helen

[DetroitPlanner]

My Grandmother worked at the Lincoln Plants too, the one on Livernois, then later on Michigan, then Wixom. She retired around 1980. She started there once her kids were in school a few years, so my assumption is that she probably started in the early 1950's.

Grandfather did not work for Ford but worked for a now defunct company called Federal Motors during the time frame you are interested in. The Plant was located in the old hood at Junction and Federal. While he did not work at Rouge but was there fighting during the battle of the overpass and would tell stories about having his head split open by Bennet. He would spin these tales over the years. If he was a few years younger it would not have surprised me if he would have fought in WW-2 and be talking about how he got into a fistfight with Hitler and freed the Poles only to have them held captive by the commies!

[xdet]

Late to the 'game' here, but my grandfather worked for Edward Gray, Highland Park plant's chief engineer, from 1910 to 1914 or 1915. I have one photo of the craneway during that time also. Grandpa was an employee of Gray at Riverside Engine in Oil City, from which the first three power plants for Highland Park were built. Edward Gray designed the next six as well although those were built by a different firm in Ohio. I have a photo of their home in Highland Park as well, 31 Stevens, which still stands today [[or at least the last 'Google Road' tour).