by Alethea Connolly
In her teaching about historic primary resources,
Stacia Kuceyeski distinguishes between the diary and the journal. The diary, she says, was originally a tool
for reflecting on one’s spiritual growth, and later developed into a “general
recording of personal feelings and self-examination…” 1 The journal, by contrast, is a less intimate
record of events and activities often including details of weather and business.
Harry D. Pomeroy was the youngest son of Dr. Theodore Clapp Pomeroy, a physician, and his second wife, Jane Amelia Blodgett of Cortland. His grandparents, Captain Stephen Pomeroy and Hannah (Polly) Clapp, started their family in Otisco, New York in 1806, after a westward journey from Southampton, Massachusetts.
Harry was a keen observer. He wrote in pocket journals since he was fourteen, and continued to do so until 1937, the year of his death at age seventy. Brief, almost telegram style entries showed he lived an energetic life, over thirty years of it in Syracuse, within many social circles: family, work, neighborhood, city, state and nation. All of these interactions were frequent, and important to him.
He was a mechanical engineer and an inventor; a recorder of detail. 2 His diary is a kaleidoscope of images, activities, and observations. Catastrophes got his attention, as did any parade or a circus. He worked diligently, but also had a peevish side that surfaced when he felt underappreciated at work. Pomeroy’s diaries are particularly interesting because they depict not only interactions at his home at 134 Baker Street and at work, but within a larger context of historical time, place, and responsibility. What was going on in the nation and the city of Syracuse mattered to him. The nation was gradually being drawn into the European war theater as a combatant, and Harry’s notes show family members getting involved in the war effort amidst their ordinary daily routines.
In 1915 when he started work as a draftsman at Semet-Solvay Company, Harry Pomeroy was fifty years old, a widower of eight years, with four children. The Semet-Solvay Company, a chemical manufacturing business, made an array of products distilled from coal in coke ovens. The preceding year, the company started building a plant to manufacture explosives, picric acid, ammonium picrate, and trinitrotoluene (TNT) at Split Rock.
As the war spread across Europe, the United States identified a need for independent supplies of ammonia because both the food and munitions industry required it. One way ammonia was used in explosives was by oxidizing it to get nitric acid. Much of this was under secret experimentation, much of it at the Semet-Solvay plant. It was a dangerous business.
During the course of World War I this company accounted for almost 25% of the nation’s military munitions. Chemical engineer Ludwig A. Zohe was in charge of the building project, and was Pomeroy’s supervisor. The TNT was set up in one quarry, and the picric acid plant in another.
Feb.1,
1916: Snow squalls. Worked part of the day on Synthetic ammonia
apparatus for Zohe and then back on N A 4 & P A 3.
Feb
19: …an explosion occurred about 9 last eve in the TNT #2 Plant at Split Rock,
killing 5 and injuring 5. We got a .094%
bonus today on our Jan salaries. Went
down town in aft.
Nov
6: … A nice day. Mr Conklin came over
and brought a sketch of an electric furnace for me to design. In eve stayed home & read.
Nov
28: …Worked all day on the Metallic Sodium furnace. In eve worked on Shoe Polisher for
Sanborn. Robt arrived fr NY with a hard cold. The boys went down to the Empire and saw The
Birth of a Nation in the moving pictures…
Dec.
5: ...We had a notice of over time work to begin tonight. Most of the boys complied.
Dec
13: …the German offer of peace is spurned by the Allies. The stock market suffered on announcement of
the proposal. Wheat took a drop.
Dec
30: …Zohe & I spent most of the forenoon studying on a sodium carbide
furnace. Payday. …deposited my
paycheck…Went to the Eckel. Walked
home.
In 1917, the company pressed forward with its munitions contracts, in what was a relatively new industry, handling volatile and unstable chemicals.
Jan
9: Zohe went to Split Rock to start the
new men who are to build the new acid towers….
Mar
31: Cold and cloudy with snow
flurries….a very heavy explosion occurred at 5:50 which I afterwards learned
was at the C. A. Plant at Semet-Solvay. 18 men injured…in eve I attended services
in the church.
In April, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany.
Apr
2: Cloudy and threatening. Congress met at 12 noon in special session to
hear President Wilson’s message requesting them to give him permission to
prepare for war with Germany. A most
momentous time for the nation. In the
eve attended prayer meeting in the chapel.
Zohe returned from his trip to NJ
rather suddenly.
Apr:
4: The Senate took a vote on the
resolution that we declare war on Germany, and carried it by a large majority.
Apr
5: The House has the war message in
debate…..
Apr
6: …A company of State militia is here from Buffalo to do guard duty on the
canal and railroads east of here.
As
the European war expanded, Semet-Solvay accelerated its product experimentation
and manufacturing in the weeks and months following the declaration of war,
May
1: …Zohe got out the prints today of the ammonia oxidizing plant at the Rock to
send to England.
May
21: Cold, rainy and disagreeable. I started a floor drawing for the Prussiate
plant at Buffalo for Miller.
May
24: Cold, cloudy and rainy. I subscribed for a Liberty bond of $50 today
through the company. Yesterday Mr. E. L.
Pierce was elected president of the Solvay Process Co. and Judge Nathan L.
Miller vice president.
Jun
8: …Mr Zohe told me that they began to make picric acid today for the first
time at Split Rock
June
22: Zohe spent the day in conference
with government officials over the Ammonia Oxidizing experiment…
June
23: …After dinner Harry, Dwight and I walked down town and saw the great
military parade, probably 4500 men, four regiments, the largest ever held here…
June
28: …The papers report the safe arrival in France of our first contingent of
ten thousand troops.
July
2: A beautiful day, cool and clear. The Red Cross fund raising here in Syracuse
has reached $1,250,000….
July
4: …no fireworks of any kind here today.
The lid is on tight.
July
20: Warmer and clear. Everybody is all excited over the draft which
is held today to make a new army of 900,000.
Dwight wasn’t drawn, but Edgar was…I wrote Dwight and sent him clippings
of the draft numbers.
 | |
| Harry and His Horn |
Early in 1918, Harry D. Pomeroy accepted an opportunity that added focus and delight to his life. He loved music, and that year Semet-Solvay started a band. Carl Becker was their director. Marching bands and free concerts were often sponsored by large corporations during the war years. They helped enliven patriotic sentiments and financial support for the war effort, while promoting the industry or business. Pomeroy played the French horn.
Apr
25, 1918: At 2 P.M. the band assembled
at Guild Hall and were provided with linen dusters and white hats and practiced
marching, after which we marched over to the Patrol bldg….At 4 we went to the
armory and participated in the Liberty Loan parade. About 50,000 were in it. It took 2:15 to pass. The biggest ever. I walked home…
Apr
30: …Reports from the battle front indicate terrific fighting with great losses
on both sides but with the Allies holding….Donald went out in the eve to sell
thrift stamps
May
2: …Band practice at Guild Hall this afternoon from 4 to 6. We rehearsed three new pieces.
June
13: …Becker announced that we would play tomorrow at 11:45 for a flag raising
at the Patrol bldg. also at 2:30 at Split Rock…
Jun
15: …Clear and cool…We saw the parade of fathers and mothers of soldiers at
4:45. Secy of the Navy Daniels walked
with Mayor Stone and lieut. Gov. Schoeneck at the head of the parade, and
reviewed it from a stand in front of the Wieting Opera house. Walked home….
June
18: …During the forenoon the War Chest subscription cards were passed out for
signature. In the eve the band played
for a meeting at the old Solvay village hall….
June
27: …Another of our band men leaves for “the service,” his name is Northrup,
and he plays the bassoon. He is to go
into the Naval Recruit Band at Pelham Bay, L. I.
July
2: …On the way home stopped at Foxes and while visiting with them a terrific
explosion occurred at Split Rock and we could see a fire was in progress over
there. Harry rode out as far as he was
allowed on his wheel.
July
3: …the main topic of conversation is the terrible catastrophe of last night at
the rock 40 to 60 dead and 50 or more casualties. A full report will be impossible for some
days. Attended prayer meeting in the eve….
July
5:…Helen went down to Red Cross work.
The evening papers report 50 bodies found at Split Rock.
July
18:…A big victory for American arms in France announced…
While
the war lasted four more months, other anxieties gripped Syracuse residents for
weeks.
Sept
23: …when I went to bed I had a chill.
The hospitals are full of soldiers who are afflicted with the Spanish
Influenza,” 5 deaths today.
Oct
2 :..Fourteen deaths from influenza epidemic reported today. Abroad the allies continue to advance.
Oct.
5: …23 deaths in the city reported from influenza
Oct.
10: …the influenza epidemic increasing here and through the country 38 deaths have occurred in this city during
the last 24 hours.
Oct
13: …Late in the afternoon Harry and I took a walk up thru Oakwood. We noted the many new graves as a result of
the epidemic…
Oct
16: In the afternoon went over to Willis
Ave and had a conference with Dr. Jordan, Wermick, Zohe, and Townsend regarding
arrangement of apparatus for benzaldehyde experiment. 32 deaths today.
Nov.
11, 1918: I was aroused at 3’oclock this
morning by noises of horns, bells, and whistles. The occasion was the signing of the armistice
terms by german officials. Hostilities
ceased at 11. The city began to
celebrate early. When I went to Solvay
at 8 people were parading. The band was
called at 8:30 and we made a tour of the works until 11. At 2 we met at Guild Hall and took trucks for
downtown and participated in the parade.
The weather was cool and clear.
____________________________
NOTES:
1. Journals & Diaries, by Stacia Kuceyeski,
History WORKS Technician. Online at:
http://backtohistory.osu.edu/tcontent.cfm?id=8
2. While Harry D. Pomeroy worked on various designs
and ideas for his employers, he also designed machine projects for private
contractors, and had his name on several patents. In 1894, he and two colleague patented
improvements to a chain making machine. In
Syracuse he worked on the blueprints for Melville Clark’s small harp base in
1911. With two colleagues, he received a
patent on a disk record cabinet in 1920.
