Sosman & Landis: Shaping the Landscape of American Theatre. Employee No. 56 – Winnie Kennedy

Copyright © 2021 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett

Winnie Kennedy was a seamstress at Sosman & Landis in 1888. Her name and position at the company made headlines that year when she was involved in a court case.

On June 13, 1888, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “The trial of Daniel Ryan, for an alleged criminal assault upon Winnie Kennedy, of No. 265 Morgan street, occurred before Judge Baker and jury yesterday. The complaining witness is a fair daughter of Erin, only three years from the “ould sod,” and Daniel, who had been a childhood playmate, has lived in America two years longer. Winnie is a seamstress and works for Sosman & Landis, on Clinton street. Last February she lived with her sister, Mrs. Matthew Gleason, at No. 144 North Peoria street, where Ryan also boarded. They were on very good terms and Ryan frequently escorted Winnie to and from places of amusement, etc. On the night of Feb. 5, when the assault was said to have occurred, they were visiting Mrs. Madden, another sister of Winnie, on West Harrison street, and on their return home, she said, the attempt to assault her was made.  Winnie and her brother-in-law Gleason, her only witness, differed widely in their stories. For the defense it was shown that Winnie had offered to settle the case if Ryan would marry her. Ryan denied her story point blank, and the jury acquitted him without leaving their seats” (page 7).

That same day, a similar article was published in the “Chicago Tribune:”

“The trial of Daniel Ryan for an alleged criminal assault upon Winnie Kennedy at 265 Morgan street occurred before Judge Baker and jury yesterday. They had been childhood playmates. Winnie is a seamstress and works for Sosman & Landis on Clinton street. Last February she lived with her sister, Mrs. Matthew Gleason, at No. 144 North Peoria street, where Ryan also boarded. The night of Feb. 5, when the assault is said to have occurred, they were visiting Mrs. Madden, another sister of Winnie, on West Harrison street, and on their return home, she said, the attempt to assault her was made.  Winnie and her brother-in-law Gleason, her only witness, differed widely in their stories. For the defense it was shown that Winnie had offered to settle the case if Ryan would marry her. Ryan denied her story point blank, and the jury acquitted him without leaving their seats” (page 8).

It is almost impossible to identify a single young woman who was boarding at a relative’s house during the nineteenth-century, especially if it is a year between census reports. This challenge is compounded when the individual has a common first and/or last name. To successfully track any nineteenth-century female, it helps to have the names of a husband, parent and child/children. The historical records connected to her family members help cross-reference any other information that may come to light. The birth of children is especially helpful, as birth certificates help pinpoint the location for a family during a specific year between census reports.

In regard to a birthplace, a Winnie Kennedy from Ireland is incredibly challenging. In 1886 alone, there were two Winnie Kennedy’s who traveled from Liverpool to New York one month apart and were approximately the same age.

I was able to locate Winnie’s birthplace and parents, based on a few breadcrumbs. The two newspaper articles pointed me in the direction of birthplace (Ireland); approximate year of immigration (1885-1886), and the married names of two sisters (Gleason and Madden). The names of her brothers-in-law were really key in locating some basic information about Winnie’s background.  

I started with her sister, Mrs. Matthew Gleason of 114 N. Peoria, Chicago. Tracking the life of Matthew Gleason identified his marriage to Winnie’s sister. On June 4, 1883, Matt Gleason married Kate Kennedy in Chicago. The couple was also listed as the parents of Winnie Margaret Gleason. This helped verify that Kate and Matt were likely related to Winnie Kennedy from the 1888 article.  Locating the death certificate of Katherine Kennedy Gleasons identified her and Winnie’s parents – Thomas Kennedy and Bridget Harrington of Tipperary, Ireland.

Katherine Kennedy Gleason born in Tipperary in 1853 and emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1875.  A decade later, her younger sister Winnie followed, initially living with Kate in Chicago.  This is the same story for many immigrant families; eldest children leave for better opportunities, save every penny that they can in their new home, and gradually send for the remainder of their family. This is how both of my paternal grandparents emigrated from Poland to the United States in the early twentieth century. Their journey was only made possible by the financial assistance and support from older siblings.

Such was the case when Winnie Kennedy left her home in Tipperary, Ireland, and headed to Chicago to live with an older sibling whom she had not seen for a decade. She arrived between 1885 and 1886. By 1888, Winnie was living with her sister Kate and brother-in-law Matt at 144 N. Peoria St.

I also began tracking down Winnie’s second sister. Mrs. Madden, who was mentioned in the newspaper article too. Mrs. Madden was noted as living on West Harrison.  In 1888, there was a Benjamin A. Maddern, the ONLY Harrison, living at 394 W. Harrison St. The Maddern family remained at this address from 1887 until 1891. In 1888 Maddern was working as a painter, and married to May Maddern, providing a name for Winnie’s second sister. Also, Ben Maddern’s work as a painter was possibly Winnie’s connection to employment at Sosman & Landis.

I have yet to locate what happened to Winnie after 1888.

Regardless of Winnie’s personal life, I can identify a few of the projects that passed through the Sosman & Landis shop in 1887 and 1888. I just have this sinking feeling that she lost her position at the firm after the article was published. I wish that I could share that Winnie survived the harsh criticism after the newspaper article was published.  I hope that she was able to find a lovely partner and spend the rest of her days both happy and healthy. At this time, Winnie’s story rafter June 13, 1888, remains a mystery. If any more information about Winnie comes to light, I will update this post.

In 1887 and 1888, Sosman & Landis delivered scenery to Opera Houses in East Saginaw, Michigan; Waterton, Wisconsin; Olean, New York; Wichita, Kansas; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Sabetha, Kansas; El Paso, Texas; Bloomington and Sumner, Iowa; and Kansas City, Clay Center, Newton, Anthony, and Winfield, Kansas.

I can also describe Winnie’s working environment in 1888.  When Winnie worked at Sosman & Landis, her activities were confined to the basement of studio, located at 236 Clinton. This was the new facility erected by Sosman & Landis in 1886; so, it was quite new.

The preparation and construction of all soft goods at Sosman & Landis took place in the basement, below the paint studio. The carpenter’s shop was also located in the basement. The actual cutting and sewing of backdrops was described in an interview with former Sosman & Landis employee, John Hanny. On July 14, 1976, Dr. John Rothgeb asked Hanny a series of questions about work at Sosman & Landis.

 Hanny described that cutting fabric panels for soft goods was a two-man operation. He detailed:

“Muslin 36” wide – taken from the bale and placed on the floor at one end of a lane, marked with footage along the side. One would pick up one width and walk backward until he reached the desired number. The man on the other end would then cut it. This was repeated until needed number of widths for the drop.”

After the fabric panels were cut, Hanny explained that they were handed off to a woman in the sewing room. The fabric panels were stitched together on a treadle sewing machine.  The high-quality of drop construction by Sosman & Landis is apparent.  I have yet to document any Sosman & Landis soft good that does not have perfectly sewn seams, consistent fabric widths and perfect stitching.  Whether the sheeting was manufactured by Indian Head, Antarctic. Franklin Sheetings or some other cotton mill, the drop construction remains a testament to the talented young women who spent untold hours in a basement on Clinton Street in Chicago.

The same year that Winnie worked for Sosman & Landis, dozens of newspaper articles warned of the harm caused to women who operated treadle sewing machines. On Sept. 6, 1888, the Chicago Tribune” published an article entitled, “Employments Of Women” (page 9). Dr. Elizabeth Stowe Brown, M.D. examined the health and wages of working women. Under the section heading, “The Song of the Shirt,” Brown wrote, “A careful study of the lives and physical disorders of sewing machine operators will, I think, justify the conclusion that a moderate use of the sewing machine will not injure the average woman; but that no woman can “operate” eight to ten hours a day by foot-power without harm. The excessive use of the sewing can be no better borne than work in any line disproportioned to the strength of the individual.” It remains without question that Winnie was at least working eight hours a day, likely six days a week.

Winnie’s work at Sosman & Landis may have offered a certain amount of freedom, but it was physically-taxing labor. Injuries went far beyond one’s hands.

I am going to end this post with a short excerpt from “Little Gab,” a newspaper that was published the month after Winnie’s article.  On October 11, 1888, in the “Mount Carmel Register” (Mount Carmel, Illinois, page 3):

“And the brave young girl worked from morning until night to lay up the needed amount. She wore herself out working over her sewing machine; she cut, laid together and sewed with hardly a moment of rest. Well into the night I heard the sharp and hurried movements of the machine, resembling the abrupt rustling that grasshoppers make in the fields; beyond the curtains, illuminated by the lamp, I distinguished the hard-working girl in the outline, and I thought involuntarily of Hood’s terrible, ‘Song of the Shirt.’”

Here is the link to Thomas Hood’s poem: https://poets.org/poem/song-shirt

To be continued…