I would like to begin by thanking my cousin, Suzanne Thomas, for providing me with a copy of this informative document.

As many of you may know, my great grandfather, Thomas Downs{#20} was an operator for the French Cable Company in Eastham and Orleans, Massachusetts. We have known for some time that he was born in England and somehow met and fell in love with a girl from Bonmahon, Ireland. My assumption was that he was employed in the telegraph industry in Ireland before emigrating to the United States.¹ This document confirms that this is true.

Let us begin by looking at the date the document was executed. On the last two pages we find Thomas's signature affixed to the contract and to an additional secrecy form. Both of these signatures are dated 1 June 1884. Why was his contract dated 1884? He came to Cape Cod a few years before this. Did he come to America before he worked for the French Cable Company, or Compagnie Française du Télégraphe de Paris à New-York, as the company is officially named in the document? Like always, Thomas is going to challenge what I think I know about him with this latest document.

The information of real interest to us is on the cover sheet. I've reproduced the most important part of this page for the reader's reference here:

This cover sheet is the portion of the document where Thomas's pertinent personal information is recorded. His name, and place and date of birth, correspond to what we already know. In the box below the basic information, he is asked to provide his previous residences and jobs. From 1874 to 1880 he lived in Limerick, Ireland and was an operator. Above this box, it says that he had 6 years previous experience in telegraph, 4 years with the Postal Service and then 2 more years commercial service. A couple of lines above this we see that he was actually hired by the French Cable Company in September of 1880, several years before this document of 1884.

It appears that Thomas began his career as a telegraph operator at about the age of 15 and worked for the next 4 years until about 1878, at age 19, for the Postal Service in Limerick, Ireland. He then worked until 1880, or about the age of 21, for a commercial company as a telegraph operator. There currently is no hint as to what company or type of industry this was, however, it appears that it was also located in Limerick.

On two different lines on this page, we learn that he was hired by the French Cable Company in September of 1880. One of the entries looks as if it is trying to give us some more information about his hiring at that time. I have blown up this section up and placed here on the left. It looks like it says: "Sept. 1880 aLpool." What does this mean? Could it mean he was hired to a pool of operators, like an old secretarial pool? Or maybe "at Pool" is what is meant. There is a place called Pool in Cornwall and it is in the vicinity (a little over 20 miles or about 33 kilometers) of a place called Porthcurno. Porthcurno is significant because the first length of cable of what would become the line to Eastham in 1879,² was laid from Brest, France, to Porthcurno, UK in Cornwall. Is it possible that Thomas was hired in Cornwall by the French Cable Company?

This is all conjecture. All we know is that Thomas was hired in September of 1880 by the French Cable Company, but did not go to Cape Cod right away. Where he worked remains unknown. If you want to consider the possibility that it was Pool in Cornwall, I've provided a map at the bottom of this page. It shows Porthcurno and Pool. Again, there is a little over 20 miles between the two locations. Could there have been an office in Pool where he was hired? Pool does seem to be situated near the main road. I I include these thoughts here in case anyone else may be in a better position to look into this or elaborate. I really don't consider the Pool theory very likely myself.

So, when did he come to Cape Cod? In the 1900 US census schedule, Thomas informed the enumerator that he had come to this country in 1881.³ The contract refers to Thomas transferring to the station at Orleans on Cape Cod in March 1882. Maybe 18 years after he came to America he wasn't sure of the exact year. Could 1881 be a guess? Or maybe he came to this country several months early, say December, November or even earlier, to begin a job in March 1882. This slight discrepancy doesn't bother me. The thing I really find interesting is that this document refers to the Orleans station in 1884. At that time the station was located at Eastham and would continue to be for about the next six years.

The inevitable Monkey Wrench
Every time I find a document concerning Thomas Downs, it winds up throwing me for a loop. I fully expected to be left with more questions than I found answers. This document would not fail on this point, but I think I have the issue solved.

There is a box, or section, at the bottom of the scanned portion above. In it we find that Thomas was married and had six dependants. Wait a minute! I have already established that this document was signed and dated in 1884. His marriage to Anna{#21} was over a year away. Now my head is swimming with questions. Was he married before his marriage to Anna? Did he have an ex-wife and kids back in England or Ireland?

For once, I seem to have solved this dilemma after a short period of time instead of having to wait a few years. In the first block of information we find the following entry:

Traitement actuel- $1400------- depuis le- 1st Jany 1911

As best as I can figure, it is saying his actual wage is $1400 to end (or had ended) on 1 January 1911. This cover sheet is unlikely to be contemporary with the rest of the 1884 document. It was probably done sometime around January 1911. Now a wife and six dependents makes perfect sense. These would be Anna and the five youngest boys. Lionel{#32} was probably on his own at 24 years old, and I guess John{#18} was still a dependant at age 22.

Maybe this sheet was updated regularly and kept on file with the employee contracts. Maybe this was an early 20th century version of the Human Resources Dept. Maybe what I've been assuming was a cover sheet is an entirely different document that over time was put away with his contract. Whatever the truth may be, it is obviously from a much later time than the contract proper. This also explains the use of "Orleans station" on this sheet. As a final cincher I recently noticed this little piece near the top:

This says "for the year 19" and leaves the last two digits of the year blank. Most of us are used to seeing this these days on many forms including our blank checks. This was obviously a stock form that was printed after 1900, so this couldn't be part of the original 1884 contract. This goes along with the thought that these were updated as needed and kept on file. They could tell how old the information was by looking at the year at the top. But why wasn't it done in this particular case?

This might make some sense in light of another thought I have. Could this have been generated at his retirement? If you recall, in a previous article I wrote, I determined from census records that he retired sometime between 1910 and 1920.⁴ I think the line concerning his $1400 is probably indicating that this may have been a salary ending on 1 January 1911.

One other thing on this page seems to point to this document being completed at retirement. Below the "married with six dependents" part, we learn that he was in poor health and under a doctor's care. In January 1911 Thomas was only 51 years old, which is sort of young to retire. Even if I'm wrong and he retired closer to 1920, the most he could have been was 61 years old. While not a proven fact, it looks like he may have retired in his early 50s due to poor health. We know he would be dead at age 61 from "arteriosclerosis," or heart disease.

Wow, for once I've disposed of all the major puzzles and conflicts up front.

Final Summary
By the time Thomas Downs was 15, he had moved from England and was living in Limerick Ireland. At that age he began a career as a telegraph operator and worked for the postal system. About 1878, when he was 19, he went to work as a "commercial" operator for an unknown agency. In September 1880 he was hired by the French Cable Company at an unknown location, but was probably somewhere in the British Isles. In March of 1882 he began working at the Eastham Station on Cape Cod and signed a contract with them in June 1884, at which time he still considered himself "of Limerick." In that year, his salary was $900 per year.

There seems to be some evidence that he may have retired at the beginning of 1911 at the age of 51 years. This was probably due to poor health and possibly a bad heart. It looks like his salary in 1911 was $1400 per year.

One final thought; we know that he and Anna became naturalized citizens of the United States in 1912.⁵ Could this have been in response to no longer being under contract with the French Cable Company? Maybe after they retired, had raised a family on the Cape, they felt that Orleans was their home and decided to become citizens. The 1912 naturalization seems to strengthen our 1911 retirement scenario, but nothing concerning the retirement should be considered proven.

Pool & Porthcurno in Cornwall

Family Group Pages
Thomas Downs Family Group Page

Related Articles
What I Know about Thomas and Anna Downs: Part 1
What I Know about Thomas and Anna Downs: Part 2

Return to Downs Family Articles

Sources

1. Downs, William, "What I Know About Thomas and Anna Downs, Part One," online DownsGenealogy.com, 2005. Linked here.

2. Glover, Bill, "Porthcurno Cable Station & Skewjack Cable Station," online <http://www.atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/Porthcurno> web site home page: History of the Atlantic Cable and Undersea Communications, online <http://www.atlantic-cable.com>, information downloaded 20 November 2007.

3. Thomas Downs Household, 1900 US Census, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Orleans, enumeration district [ED] 13, sheet 11, dwelling 341, family 344, online <http://www.Ancestry.com>, August 9, 2004.

4. Downs, William, "What I Know About Thomas and Anna Downs, Part One," online DownsGenealogy.com, 2005. Linked here.

5. Thomas Downs Household, 1920 US Census, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Orleans, enumeration district [ED] 16, supervisor's district [SD] 144, sheet 9 (written), dwelling 271, family 285, roll T625 679, online <http://www.Ancestry.com>, August 9, 2004. and Thomas Downs Household, 1910 US Census, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Orleans, enumeration district [ED] 14, sheet 9 (written), dwelling 241, family 245, online <http://www.Ancestry.com>, August 9, 2004.

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