William, Gladys and the two boys moved to Alexandria sometime in 1897 when the Virginia Glass Co was started by William’s half-brother Henry Schnell. The company needed master glass blowers and William and Gladys left Salem, New Jersey to begin life in Alexandria.
Although Master Glass Blowers were the princes of the labor movement in 1897, all was not well. The mechanization of glassblowing continued, although the early attempts were only partially successful. There was continued strife as management attempted to hire as many apprentices as possible in an effort create many more master glassblowers and drive down wages.
The Virginia Glass Company shut down during the summer and resumed operations in early September. You can only imagine how hot it could be in an unairconditioned glass factory in the Summer in the South. In 1896 it was recorded by the The Washington Post (Washington, D. C.) February 3, 1896. “There are sixteen blowers employed at the Virginia Glass Works, besides a force of about forty helpers.”
A footnote of history taken from The Times (Washington, District of Columbia) December 31, 1897. “Mr. Henry Schnell, of the Virginia Glass Works, has been advised that his father, who lived in Salem, N. J., was burned to death by falling down a stairway with a lighted lamp in his hand.”
Immigrants could achieve a mention in the newspaper if they died a horrible death or committed a newsworthy crime. In this case his son was sufficiently famous a rate a mention in a Washington newspaper.
There was sufficient demand for master glassblowers to keep William busy at the various factories around Alexandria.
The death of Gladys in Feburary 1908 changed everything. There are several address listings 122 south Alfred, 222 south Alfred street and 22 south Alfred st
William was suddenly left alone with two boys to raise. It’s not recorded when the Birchmire farm on Telegraph Road was acquired but William was living there in 1908 or 1909 with the two boys Conrad, and William now aged 16 and 13.
The house located on R.F.D 3 Telegraph Road, Fairfax Virginia and its few surrounding acres might generously be called a farm but while it had running water it didn’t have indoor plumbing and depended outdoor privies for sanitation in pleasant weather and chamber pots in other times. The house did not get indoor plumbing until the early 1930s. As a sign of his unwillingness to change William continued to use the privy while the ladies of the household immediately switched to indoor plumbing.
Somehow when a man needs a wife the universe spins a little and a wife appears. Margret Delores Murphey, according to Irish humor of the time, was considered almost an old maid when she married William Birchmire in 1909 at the advanced age of 24 or 25.
On May 1, 1909, Thomas Henry Birchmire was born, he was named in honor of Thomas Henry Murphy his maternal grandfather. A hired girl, mother’s helper, one Janie Potts was found and she stayed on until the farm was sold in 1940 or 1941.
The glassblowing industry was gradually becoming mechanized with machinery gradually replacing the traditional glassblower. In any case, in 1910 William, and the two boys worked at a glass factory. The two boys soon left to find easier employment. William was still working at a glass factory in 1920 although after that he switched to working on the loading dock and doing deliveries at a local department store. The glassblowing business as he had known it had completely changed to where it no longer needed master glassblowers who could supervise a gang of apprentices handling molten glass and hand molds. It needed machine operators who could run an automated machine to turn out hundreds of bottles an hour.
In 1913, Conrad married Mildred (Millie ) Virginia Nalls and they moved to Pennsville, New Jersey where he found work as Electrician at the Deep Water power plant. The plant belonged to DuPont and produced munitions during World War I. As soon as Bill could join the Navy, he enlisted at 16 or 17 where he became a Machinists Mate. Bill worked at the Navy torpedo plant in Falls Church. Va and married Christine Sophie McIntyre Sept 29, 1931.
Margaret Francis Birchmire was born Aug 7, 1912 and named after her mother. The Fairfax Herald and the Herndon Observer both reported that in 1926 she had diphtheria. She married William Milton Rogers in November 23, 1938. Later after becoming widowed she married Linwood Horsley Bryant. She worked as a private nurse for a local doctor.
Gladys Birchmire was born September 16, 1919, in Fairfax County, VA known jokingly as “Happy Bottom” , from “Glad Ass”, to her contemporaries. Gladys Birchmire married William Ned Scott on December 6, 1939 in Russell County, Alabama where he was stationed. She died in Alexandria, Va in 1971. Scotty, as he was known, was a soldier in nearby Fort Belvoir and his army career took him to Germany in the post-war occupation. Gladys and Granny , the original Margaret Birchmire accompanied him. Granny was living with Gladys and Scotty and was the housekeeper as Gladys always worked except for time out for the occasional pregnancy. Her life was cut short as she was a heavy smoker and developed lung cancer. She died in Alexandria, Va in 1971. Her sister Margaret, who was a nurse, tended to her during her short illness. After Glady’s death, Granny lived with her daughter Margaret in Alexandria Va, until at long last she died in 1986 at the age 103.
Thomas Henry Birchmire or Henry as he was known to his mother and sisters. Sometimes they shortened it to “Heny”. Henry led a typical boy’s life in Virginia in the early 1920s. He played in the creeks, fished for minnows, and sometimes they brought the catch home where they wrapped it in bread dough and baked it in one of their mother’s ovens. Every kitchen in rural Virginia had an wood fired iron range where water was heated for cooking and bathing and an oven where many of the meals were prepared. Henry attended the Xaverian Brothers’ school in Alexandria for his elementary education. One of the brothers had an uncanny aim with a black board eraser to any one in his class that had allowed his mind to wander off the subject. After graduation, Henry was apprenticed to a machine shop at age 16. This machine shop had one power source, several drive shafts, and lots of belts coming down from the ceiling to drive the various machines. When Henry was 17, his brother Bill came home on leave from the Navy and suggested Henry visit the local Navy recruiter as he could probably get an advanced rating based on his work at the machine shop. But there was one catch he was under age. But no matter, his father would sign for him as hr had done for his brother Bill. His mother was furious as she had other plans for Henry, some involving that nice girl that lived just down the road. The machine shop operator was mad as Henry was getting to be profitable after his apprenticeship. Henry was in the Navy now and was off to see the world.
Life went on. William continued to work at the department store but sometime in perhaps early 1941 the couple decided to move in to town and the farm was sold. Margaret continue to cook those old-time Virginia meals that would nourish a glassblower in 1920 but William was supervising a loading dock and didn’t need to be fed that well. Gradually he put on weight until he weighed some 350 pounds. One day there was an accident and William was mashed by a truck into the loading dock. On December 24, 1941 he died and was buried Old Bethel Cemetery in Old Town Alexandria along side his first wife Gladys. Margaret would follow along some 45 years later at the age of 103.
