J is for Joseph Norman Gorrell, the lineman

I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (April 2016), where we write 26 blog posts featuring each letter of the alphabet.

J is for Joseph Norman Gorrell, the lineman

Joseph Norman Gorrell was my daughters’ great grandfather, born 19 May 1869 in Blackwater, Cooper County, Missouri to Amos Gorrell, Jr. and Catherine Elizabeth Shotts.[1]

The first record I found for Joe where he was not in the household of his parents was the city directory for St. Joseph, Missouri. Joe was listed as a lineman for the Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company.[2] He worked for the company for several years.

Later he worked for the Empire District Electric Company and was honored as a 25-year employee at a Christmas party in December 1941, marking his hiring in 1916.[3]  

ID card for the Empire District Electric Company, 1942

He served on the Webb City board of electrical inspection[4] and he had also been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union for 51 years.[5]

Joe Gorrell with fellow union members, date unknown

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[1] 1870 Cooper County, Missouri, U.S. census, LaMine, p 441 (stamped), fam 3, Amos Gorrell, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 4 Jun 2012); citing NARA M593, roll 77. He was one years old.

[2] Directory of St. Joseph and Buchanan County, Combe Printing Co, Publ., 1900, p 355, J.N. Gorrell, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com).
[3] “Empire District to Stage Annual Yule Party Tonight,” Joplin Globe, 19 December 1941, p. 4, col. 6.

[4] “New Councilmen Inducted at W.C.,” Joplin Globe, 20 April 1937, p. 7, col. 4.

[5] “J.N. Gorrell,” Joplin Globe, 21 Jul 1960, section B, p. 1, col. 5.

Copyright © 2016 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.