Edward Glasheen; A Puddler

The 1875 New York State census Indicates that Edward Glasheen’s (1860-1906) occupation was that of a puddler. In fact, it is also listed that way in an 1875 Street directory for Troy New York. An iron puddler or merely puddler was a worker in iron manufacturing who specialized in puddling, an improved process to convert pig iron into wrought Iron with the use of a reverberatory furnace. Working as a two-man crew, a puddler and helper could produce around 1.5 tons of iron in a 12-hour shift. The strenuous labor, heat and fumes caused puddlers to have a short life expectancy, with most dying in their thirties. Puddling was never automated because the puddler had to sense when the balls had “come to nature”. The 1875 New York census indicates that two of Edward’s neighbors were also puddlers and it is conceivable that they worked together at Burden Iron Works. Those workers’ names are Mike Slattery and Luke Holland. They appeared to live on either side of the Glasheen dwelling.

Established in South Troy in the early 1800’s, the Burden Iron works dominated south Troy’s waterfront. At its peak the company supported 2,000 workers. Because of the geographic advantage, Burden Iron works was able to supply a host of products to the emerging western United States including Iron, train rails, bells, cast iron stoves, horseshoes, manhole covers. If you want to learn more about the history of the foundry, I have attached two links below. One link is to the Burden Museum and the other is to the Burden Iron Works.