William H. Sylvis

[1] Nicholas' father was a maker of canal boats and repairman of wagons who found great difficulty earning enough money to support his family.

[2] During the Panic of 1837 the family's financial situation became particularly grave and young William was sent to live on the homestead of a prosperous neighbor named Pawling,[3] earning his keep there by helping with chores around the farm.

[2] He proved to be a voracious reader and took full advantage of the library at the farm estate, owned as it was by a man who had been elected to the Pennsylvania State Assembly.

[2] In 1846 the 18-year-old Sylvis left the farmstead to learn the trade of iron molding — fabricating products by pouring molten metal into wooden patterns.

[6] A spontaneous October 1857 strike over a proposed wage cut in the shop at which he was working was the precipitating event in Sylvis' entry into the labor movement.

[6] Upon receiving positive feedback, Sylvis circulated a formal convention call to establish such a national organization, with the founding gathering held in Philadelphia on July 5, 1859.

[8] During the American Civil War Sylvis aided the Union forces, despite having supported Stephen A. Douglas in the Presidential election of 1860.

[9] Early in the conflict Sylvis recruited a regiment on behalf of the Union Army, although he himself declined the offer of a commission as a 1st Lieutenant due to his wife's vehement objection.

[10] In 1863 Sylvis was elected President of the flagging National Union of Iron Molders,[11] a group which had virtually gone extinct during the wartime years.

[14] In February 1866 Sylvis set his sights on the establishment of an organization that was broader still — a federation of unions which would be able to bring workers of different crafts together under a single organizational umbrella.

[16] While Sylvis carefully followed the work of the five-day convention, he was critical of its work, declaring that it had built a "splendid track, placed upon it a locomotive complete in all its parts; provided an engineer and numerous assistants, placed them upon the footboard, told them to go ahead and then suddenly adjourned without providing wood or water to get up steam..."[17] During this interval Sylvis did not work as a trade union functionary, instead entering the world of journalism as co-editor of the Chicago broadsheet Workingman's Advocate, regarded as the most influential labor newspaper of the day.