Granite-working Tools, owned by John J.Wilson, Gardiner, Maine, ca. 1900. Maine State Museum. Gift of Mary Stoddard, 69.33.
Granite-working Tools, owned by John J.Wilson, Gardiner, Maine, ca. 1900. Maine State Museum. Gift of Mary Stoddard, 69.33.
John J. Wilson (1863-1928), a Scottish immigrant, owned these granite-working tools. He immigrated to America to seek work, and his wife and baby daughter soon followed him. In 1910, Wilson was a stone cutter living in Augusta, Maine. He may have worked at the Hallowell Granite Works.
Local men owned Maine's first granite quarries. In time, rising costs for machines and labor encouraged outsiders to buy up small, local companies in order to realize savings through consolidated production. The new owners often lacked connections to local workers. They ignored workers' complaints of low wages and irregular paychecks. In 1877 workers formed ten local affiliates of the Granite Cutter's Union. Quarry owners responded by forming the Granite Manufacturers Association of New England which blacklisted workers who showed interest in unionizing. If a worker's name appeared on a "blacklist" the owners agreed no one would hire him.