Picatinny: Margaret Williams Paulus

Margaret Williams Paulus
Born: Nov 4 1887, Neath(?), Pennsylvania
Died: March 4 1972, Succasunna, Morris, New Jersey
Relation to Author: Great Grandmother
Mother of Elizabeth (Betty) Paulus Cheney

Margaret Paulus (nee Williams) was born in Pennsylvania in 1887 to Robert Williams and Elizabeth Williams (nee Thomas), who were both immigrants from Wales. She married Frederick Paulus - the son of immigrants from Germany. At the age of 56 and then again at age 64 Margaret went to work for Picatinny Arsenal.

I am guessing that part of the reason Margaret worked at this late age was because of the early death of her husband, who died on March 12, 1934 at the age of 47. Before working at Picatinny, Margaret worked at Van Raalte Hosiery on Myrtle Avenue in Boonton, New Jersey - from 1926 through June of 1943. So she was working before her husband died, but it seems she might have continued because of the loss of his income. How Social Security played into her decision is unclear to me - maybe something for a future post.

Margaret Paulus' first stint at Picatinny was from June of 1943 through October of 1945. She started as a senior laborer making $4.80 per day ($62.68 in today's dollars) and ending as a shop inspector making $0.87 per hour ($10.92 in today's dollars).

Her second stint was from March 1951 through February 1957. Margaret worked as a machining inspector / machine tool inspector / machined parts inspector - inspecting inert components with a starting pay of $1.40 per hour ($12.17 in today's dollars) and ending at $1.96 per hour ($15.76 in today's dollars).

To get a sense of the work she performed, here are the duties from a job description for the Machining Inspector:

Inspects metal parts manufactured by the Arsenal metal shops. Inspections performed cover a great variety of grenades, fuzes, boosters, primers, rockets, and shells, as well as numerous small components parts such as lock assemblies, rotors, firing pins, springs and other items which are internally assembled into the major components. From completed lots selects samples in accordance with Standard Sampling Plan and performs inspections visually and by the application of gages and precision measuring instruments, such as micrometers, verniers, calipers and dial indicators.

Margaret's time at Picatinny ended in October of 1945 ostensibly because of the end of World War II. Though the termination notice does not spell this out explicitly, it seem obvious since notice was received September 24, 1945, only 22 days after victory over Japan. The personnel records show her being terminated in 1957 due to a reduction in force, but it doesn't explain why there was a reduction at that time and I can think of no obvious historical reason.

As you can see, I included her wages in today's dollars. I think it puts it into perspective better. After all, seeing that she was paid $0.87 per hour seems ridiculous and gives the wrong impression. And just to add a little more perspective, $10.92 per hour is roughly $22,700 for the year (assuming 40 hours per week and 52 weeks).