~ The Hurricane of 1938 ~ Lewis Wilkinson the pressman of The Traveler Watchman ! ~THE PECONIC BAY SHOPPER dated SEPTEMBER 2023 ~
BY DANNY McCARTHY
Orient resident John Holzapel WAS hosting talks on The Hurricane of 1938 in local museums and societies. I contacted John Holzapel and he gave his e-mail address and said to kindly provide him with absolutely anything about my writings and that maybe he could use MY Hurricane of 1938-related items at his talk Saturday {September 23, 2018} at Peconic Landing.
Write on! You Knew Just What to Do!
By Danny McCarthy
This compositor, job printer, typesetter, machinist and newsgatherer was an invaluable aid to the Long Island Traveler-Mattituck Watchman newspaper business. His undying devotion made this veteran member receive due credit and I hope to add to that right here. It’s true that Bessie Gagen did an item for the May 4, 1988 The Peconic Bay Shopper on this “Southold Master Printer” but I thought I’d give a different interpretation. His name is Lewis Wilkinson. Here’s to you Lew!
According to a March 13, 1964 Suffolk Times obituary, Lewis P. Wilkinson was born in Southold on September 26, 1873 to Henry A. and Susan Canterman Wilkinson. (This obituary was supplied by Jeff Walden of the Mattituck-Laurel Library.)
He was Hardly Pressed for Time!
Lewis Wilkinson’s Traveler apprenticeship began when he was at the age of 14. For his six-day week he earned two dollars. He pedaled his way daily to the Traveler office. The day would start at 7 a.m. and quitting time would be 5:30 p.m. Lew remembered in a Thursday, October 2, 1952 Newsday article by Bob Pfeifle that “If you were good, you got a dollar-a-year raise until a master printer was paid seven dollars a week.” Lew said that a suit of clothes ran for $15. Sirloin rib roast was 15 cents a pound. Milk ran six cents a quart. All the fish desired was given out off the boats by the fishermen.
More Power to You Lew! Think Before You Ink!
During his printer’s devil days, one of his duties was to fire up the boiler that powered the steam-driven Babcock cylinder press. He wore out three boilers prior to the arrival of electricity. Lew went “through the ropes” as compositor, pressman, engineer of the press and worked for the Traveler for some 50 years.
His duties included distributing and setting type. He gave the final lock to the galleys, stoked the furnace, and attended the mechanics of the press. Lewis Wilkinson was an artist and a great printer. It is known that “No one could determine better than he the lay-out of a program, the form of a caption, and the artistic uses of the varieties of type.” Lew was considered “the top man among eastern Long Island printers.”
A Saturday in February 1956 the Sea Shell Restaurant in Southold was the place to be for 100 members and guests of the Southold Fire Department to enjoy the annual department banquet. According to a February 16, 1956 Long Island Traveler article, the evening’s climax was an awarding of seven members of the Southold Fire Department that included Lewis Wilkinson, Spencer Petty Sr., J. Leo Thompson and George Gaffga of the Eagle Hook and Ladder Company, and George H. Dickerson, Herbert M. Hawkins and James M. Grattan of Protection Engine Company. Chief Joseph Sawicki presented each 50-year member with an appropriate plaque and the respective captains of the Eagle Hook and Ladder Company and rotection Engine Company presented each man with a fifty-year pin. Walter Gagen acted as toastmaster.
The list inscribed described the people of the community at that period who were library supporters and among them were Joseph N. Hallock and Lewis Wilkinson.
In the 1950s and 1960s Spreading Chestnut Tree columnist Bob Smith for the Long Island Traveler shared different thoughts. Some of the highlights included a story of a shotgun reportedly used by Barnabas Horton, items people collect are discussed, the weather, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and words on part-time Nassau Point resident Alistair Cooke (Bob Smith has Mr. Smith’s first named typeset as “Alastaire”.) In a February 26, 1953 Spreading Chestnut Tree column that was in the Traveler, author Bob Smith wrote about a word that is a good old Long Island word. It’s “pightel” which is pronounced “pikel.” He said this charming word is a fence or enclosure around a farmhouse. In a later March 5, 1953 column he remarked that “A pightel is an enclosure in a farm yard, not built around the house.” The Spreading Chestnut Tree column included information about the Traveler shop on Traveler Street in Southold. Bob Smith said wondrous things were happening. “The building was being enlarged about 75 per cent with an extension built on the west side. After sixty-six years of adding machines and type fonts and this and that, the old place was getting more than a little cramped.”
In that August 6, 1953 column, Bob Smith included that he had asked Lew Wilkinson if Lew remembered when the shop was built. Lew said that when he first came to work at the Traveler in 1887, Martin B. Van Dusen was the Traveler editor. “The paper was set by hand then, letter by letter being picked out of the case and set in the composing stick.” The electric motors then. Bob Smith and Lew got to recall that “they certainly had terrific newsprint in those days.” The date the Traveler shop construction began was August 5, 1885.
Read All About It!
For the March 12th Blizzard of 1888, Lewis Wilkinson shared true facts of that storm in a special Traveler edition. It’s also featured in the Bob Pfeifle Newsday article of October 2, 1952. Lew and Herb Hawkins made it work. Lew set the stories and put the paper out on a hand press. Lew also has among his Traveler writing contributions items about the Hurricane of 1938.
Hot Off the Press
Lew, the remarkable craftsman, wore out four publishers by the time he was 79 years old. Bob Pfeifle said in his October 2, 1952 Newsday article that Vandeusen was spelled that way. That there was “no caps on that ‘d’ in Vandeusen.” Edwards F. Taber, Joseph N. Hallock and Republican assemblyman Russell L. Davison followed. Frederick C. Hawkins was the next publisher Lew was “working on” when Lew was age 79.
The March 13, 1964 Suffolk Times obituary says that “He is survived by a daughter, Mavis Wilkinson; two sons... and by nine grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and one great grandchild. Graveside services were held on Tuesday, March 10, 1964 at Willow Hill Cemetery with Rev. James Alcock officiating.”
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HERE's SOME HELPFUL INFO:
BY DANNY McCARTHY
—————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper Preserving Local History SEPTEMBER 2023 —————
publisher/editor — Michael Payne Hagerman
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On Our Cover...
E I G H T L Y F I V E Y E A R S L AT E R . . .
As northeastern America once again braces for the next hurricane, we are reminded of the absolute destruction that the 1938 storm brought. Many stories handed down over the years tell of the complete surprise of the category four storm. No one saw it coming...but it did!
After publishing this paper for 45 years we have decided that December will be our last issue. It's been a great ride!
We thank all our readers and advertisers for all your support.
BELOW is the SEPTEMBER 2023 THE PECONIC BAY SHOPPER: