Belcamp.jpg
20dollar.jpg
Posted 06/01/2007 07:38 am
What I found out.
F.W. Smith
DOB 1863
DOD 1946: 83 yrs.
F.W. Smith & Sons was established in 1888 when he was twenty-five.
Harford County, Maryland, had at its peak 128 canning houses, the last one closed in 1999.
Many of them used tokens to pay their workers. Workers were paid in the field for picking "x" number of bushels with small denominational tokens with holes in them so that they could be pined to their shirts. These, in turn, were then exchanged for larger valued tokens at the end of the work day. Tokens would then be used to purchase groceries and other necessities in towns around Harford County. These tokens could be redeemed for cash when the crop was sold. These Tokens, manufactured in Baltimore, were accepted by merchants as long as the cannery was in good local standing.
It's a small world. When Smith died in 1946, his burial service was performed by Rev. Edward Austin. As it turns out, his son Rev. John Austin performed my marriage in 1983.
F.W. Smith
DOB 1863
DOD 1946: 83 yrs.
F.W. Smith & Sons was established in 1888 when he was twenty-five.
Harford County, Maryland, had at its peak 128 canning houses, the last one closed in 1999.
Many of them used tokens to pay their workers. Workers were paid in the field for picking "x" number of bushels with small denominational tokens with holes in them so that they could be pined to their shirts. These, in turn, were then exchanged for larger valued tokens at the end of the work day. Tokens would then be used to purchase groceries and other necessities in towns around Harford County. These tokens could be redeemed for cash when the crop was sold. These Tokens, manufactured in Baltimore, were accepted by merchants as long as the cannery was in good local standing.
It's a small world. When Smith died in 1946, his burial service was performed by Rev. Edward Austin. As it turns out, his son Rev. John Austin performed my marriage in 1983.
