Person:Matthew Maguire (1)

au: Paul Milo
ti: Did a Paterson man create Labor Day? And more facts about the holiday

http://www.jerseyhistory.org/matthew_maguire.html
ti: Matthew Maguire, Father of Labor Day? Paterson NJ Machinist the real "Father of Labor Day"?
au: Grace-Ellen McCrann, Special Collections Librarian

Paterson, New Jersey.
editorial: "Honor to Whom Honor is Due" calls Alderman Matthew Maguire "author of Labor Day as a holiday" and "Father of the Labor Day holiday".

au: Walsh, William Shepard
entry: Labor Day
full text at hathitrust.org
===
L.
Labor Day. An annual holiday in honor of workingmen and workingwomen, which in the United States is celebrated on the first Monday in September, and in several European countries
on May 1.
The idea of the American holiday seems to have been born in Boston. But the credit for the first formal movement belongs to New York. In 1882 Matthew Maguire, secretary of the Central
Labor Union in that city, with the approval of the Union, corresponded with the various labor organizations in the State with a view to setting aside one day in the year as their own holiday.
The proposition was well received. The first Monday in September was chosen. Maguire was made chairman of the committee to arrange for the first Labor Day celebration in that
year.
This was so successful that it was determined to continue the holiday annually, and in 1883 the New York Central Labor Union corresponded with similar organizations throughout the
country with a view to having celebrations elsewhere. A number of cities responded. The holiday now began to assume a national character. It was endorsed as the official labor holiday by both the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. Then the work of obtaining legal recognition began.
The legislature of New York, by an act passed April 27, 1887, took the initiative.
Massachusetts, and then other States, speedily followed suit.
Meanwhile a measure to make the holiday a national one hung fire in Congress until 1894. Then Representative Amos Cummings took hold of the matter in the House, and Senator Kyle, of South Dakota, introduced a bill making Labor Day a holiday throughout the Union. The latter was immediately reported from the Senate Committee by Mr. Kyle without amendment.
It was passed without opposition, and was signed by the President and became a law on June 28, 1894.
In point of fact, this declaration of Congress has legal effect only within the District of Columbia and among government employees in the States; but the moral effect was to bring about a general observance of the day in nearly all the States of the Union. Up to 1894 monster parades were held in New York and other cities in honor of the day, but these proved so expensive that they have been abandoned almost everywhere. The festival is now marked mainly by the closing of shops and warehouses, by the cessation of mechanical labor (many labor unions impose heavy fines on members found at work this day), and by picnics, excursions, and public games which are expected to fill the coffers of the Unions rather than deplete them.
Tho American Socialists take no part in the celebration of the September Labor Day, choosing rather to cling to an unofficial holiday on May 1, which has been chosen by the labor men and socialists in Europe as the occasion for their annual demonstrations. In New York the evening of May Day witnesses a parade through the streets and a mass meeting in Union Square of the various socialistic Unions. The mass meeting is addressed by prominent orators of their faith. Similar demonstrations occur in other large cities. But the rioting and bloodshed that have too often signalized the day in Europe have found no repetition
in America.

Days and deeds; prose for children's reading and speaking; comp. by Burton E. Stevenson and Elizabeth B. Stevenson.
Main Author: Stevenson, Burton Egbert, 1872-1962.
Published: Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Page & Doran, [c1912]

THE HISTORY OF LABOR DAY
THE idea of an American holiday consecrated to the
cause of Labor seems to have been born in Boston,
but to Matthew Maguire, Secretary of the Central Labor
Union of New York City, belongs the credit for first act-
ually putting the idea into execution. In 1882 he cor-
responded with the various other labor organizations in
the State about the matter, and finally the first Monday
in September was chosen as Labor’s Holiday.
The celebration was so successful that the idea was
taken up by labor organizations in other States, it was
endorsed by the National federations, and in State after
State the first Monday in September was decreed a legal
holiday. In 1894. Congress passed a bill making the day
a legal public holiday, defining it as “the day celebrated
and known as ‘Labor’s Holiday."’

full text on haithitrust.org

A history of Paterson [New Jersey]

Maguire, Mathew - (1855 -1917), Father of Labor Day.

Matthew Maguire
Birth: Jun. 28, 1850
Manhattan
New York County (Manhattan)
New York, USA
Death: Jan. 1, 1917
Paterson
Passaic County
New Jersey, USA
The Father of Labor Day; Candidate for Vice President of the U.S. Socialist Labor Party - 1896. Paterson Alderman, Publisher of The Paterson People, 1894-1895.
Burial: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery
Totowa Passaic County New Jersey, USA
Created by: william collins
Record added: Oct 18, 2008
Find A Grave Memorial# 30674198

1860 United States Federal Census
Name: Matthew McGuire
Age: 10
Birth Year: abt 1850
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Atlantic Ocean
Home in 1860: Paterson Ward 5, Passaic, New Jersey
Post Office: Paterson
Family Number: 289
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Christopher McGuire 35
Mary McGuire 30
Matthew McGuire 10
Joseph McGuire 8
Mary McGuire 2
Peter McGuire 1/12

1880 United States Federal Census
Name: Mathew Mcguire
Age: 30
Birth Date: Abt 1850
Birthplace: For At Sea
Home in 1880: Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA
Street: Front Street
House Number: 173
Dwelling Number: 200
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Self (Head)
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha Mcguire
Father's Birthplace: Ireland
Mother's Birthplace: Ireland
Occupation: Machinest

Household Members:
Name Age
Mathew Mcguire 30
Martha Mcguire 28
Mary Mcguire 9
Christophe Mcguire 5
Martha Mcguire 3
Joseph Mcguire 2/12

1900 United States Federal Census
Name: Matthew Mcguire
[Matthew Mcquire]
Age: 51
Birth Date: Sep 1848
Birthplace: New York
Home in 1900: Paterson Ward 4, Passaic, New Jersey
Ward of City: 4
Street: Crooks Avenue
House Number: 409
Sheet Number: 18B
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 314
Family Number: 373
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha Mcguire
Marriage Year: 1868
Years Married: 32
Father's Birthplace: Ireland
Mother's Birthplace: Ireland
Occupation: Editor
Months not employed: 0
Can Read: Yes
Can Write: Yes
Can Speak English: Yes
House Owned or Rented: O
Home Free or Mortgaged: M
Farm or House: H
Household Members:
Name Age
Matthew Mcguire 51
Martha Mcguire 49
Christian Mcguire 23
Martha Mcguire 21
Joseph Mcguire 20
Jane Mcguire 10
Peter Mcguire 9
Rose Mcguire 7

1910 United States Federal Census
Name: Mathew Mcguire
Age in 1910: 59
Birth Year: abt 1851
Birthplace: At Sea
Home in 1910: Paterson Ward 11, Passaic, New Jersey
Street: Crooks Aveneue
Race: White
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1851
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha Mcguire
Father's Birthplace: Ireland
Mother's Birthplace: Ireland
Native Tongue: English
Occupation: Machinist
Industry: Locomotive Shop
Employer, Employee or Other: Wage Earner
Home Owned or Rented: Own
Home Free or Mortgaged: Free
Farm or House: House
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Years Married: 39
Out of Work: Y
Number of weeks out of work: 2
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Mathew Mcguire 59
Martha Mcguire 58
Peter Mcguire 19
Rose Mcguire 16