August Louis Eck
husband of 2nd great-grand aunt, Catherine Judd
b. 02/03/1863 - Baltimore, Maryland
d. 03/08/1940 - Newark, New Jersey
While researching 2nd great-aunt, Catherine Judd, I discovered her husband was a steeplejack. I have heard of this term before, but hadn't investigated exactly what the occupation entailed.
"Had he fallen he would have dropped 204 feet to the ground."
"He began steeple climbing in 1878 when a weather vane on Camden Station was out of order. Once in Tennessee in 1884 he feel 81 feet and escaped without breaking a bone. He says he is usually affected by nausea for several hours after such a climb."
Wikipedia description: "A steeplejack is a craftsman who scales buildings, chimneys, and church steeples to carry out repairs or maintenance."
I found several articles about August's climbing adventures. One even made it all the way to Indianapolis! Seems he was a famous gentleman.
- The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]), 27 Feb. 1887. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1887-02-27/ed-1/seq-12/>
The second story was featured in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper, April 3, 1903, pg. 8, Baltimore, Maryland. This article was found on the Newspapers.com website. Once again, August is climbing Baltimore's Washington Monument.
The following are several excerpts from the article:
"August L. Eck, a professional steeple jack, who climbed the statue on the Washington Monument at noon yesterday in order to replace on the lightning rod a cap which had been burnt away some weeks ago."
"The climb gave the spectators several distinct shivers. Mr. Eck weighs 285 pounds, and though his muscles are not trained as those of an athlete, they are tremendous. He is 6 feet 2 inches in his stockings."
"He began steeple climbing in 1878 when a weather vane on Camden Station was out of order. Once in Tennessee in 1884 he feel 81 feet and escaped without breaking a bone. He says he is usually affected by nausea for several hours after such a climb."
As someone that gets dizzy just looking down from any height, this is impressive. I'm wondering if August was a bit of a thrill seeker. First a career with the Baltimore City Fire Department, then a steeplejack.
To learn more about steeple-climbing read "Careers if Danger and Daring" by Cleveland Moffett, published 1908.
+This post is part of series "Our Ancestor Was". Will be documenting interesting and unusual occupations as discovered.
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