That Fred Geary got a job with the Santa Fe railroad and the Harvey Company in Kansas City was no coincidence. I believe the reputation his father had with the railroad played a big role in his son getting that job. I propose that the diligence and perseverance Fred acquired for his career and later for making woodcuts was modeled to him by his father.
"The well-known agent of the Santa Fe Railway Company.....James F. Geary began his career as a railroader at the early age of ten years and has been closely identified with the service from that time to the present, a period of thirty-seven years..." (Twentieth Century History of Carroll County Missouri by S.K. Turner and S.A. Clark, Volume 2, 1911, page 951, accessed May 26, 2010 from the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Missouri)
It was not uncommon for youngsters to join the railroad doing whatever needed to be done. Quite likely James too had started as a "roustabout" doing temporary, unskilled labor. A founder of the Central Pacific railroad Charles Crocker once sold apples and oranges at age nine and then carried newspapers. (p. 43, Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like it In The World, The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869, c. 2000) The 1890 President of the Southern Pacific Railroad Collis P. Huntington began as an apprentice on a farm at age fourteen. A year later he worked as a store keeper, 
because he was good with numbers. (p. 47, Stephen E. Ambrose, accessed Wednesday, May 26, 2010 from the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Missouri)Likewise, train conductor Henry Clay French began his climb in 1873 at the early age of 13, first doing manual labor as a farm hand. His first railroad job that same year, was as a messenger. "With the help of a sympathetic older man, he learned the Morse Code and, at the age of 14, he was working as a full-time railroad telegrapher." Still later, he took the post of brakeman-operator, with the added duty of taking and relaying orders now and then. (p. 177,The Old West: The Railroaders, Time-Life Company, text by Keith Wheeler, 1973, accessed Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, from the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Missouri)
"Railroaders, to themselves, to all small boys and to most grownups were a breed apart from all other, lesser mortals. The trainmen were part of a fraternity whose members worked their way up the ladder and were proud of their professional skills.Typically, the engineer started as a wiper, who swabbed caked oil from locomotives back from long trips; the lordly passenger-train conductor began as a brakeman teetering atop a freight car." (p.172, The Old West:The Railroaders, Time-Life, text by Keith Wheeler, 1973, accessed Wednesday, May 26th, 2010)
Perhaps James F. Geary showed the same kind of diligence and perseverance when he was at the age of ten.
"A career as a roustabout is a great choice for individuals interested in providing temporary manual labor for a variety of employers. Roustabouts must be in great physical condition and have excellent physical stamina and strength to carry out strenuous tasks. They must be able to perform a variety of tasks and use basic tools and machinery. They must also be reliable and follow detailed instructions. Mechanical aptitude, good coordination, manual dexterity, and confidence are desirable characteristics. Roustabouts must be able to work in stressful and sometimes dangerous situations and be flexible in their availability to work. They must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be able to work effectively as part of a team." http://www.degreefinders.com/education-articles/careers/how-to-become-a-roustabout.html (accessed Tuesday, May 25, 2010)
"...During the time indicated (James F.) had filled a number of positions with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the company, and for the last seventeen years has been local agent at Carrollton, a post of responsibility and trust, this being one of the most important points on the line."
(Twentieth Century History of Carroll County Missouri by S.K. Turner and S.A. Clark, Volume 2, 1911, page 951, accessed May 26, 2010 from the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Missouri)
Santa Fe engineer Keel Middleton of Wellington, Kansas told it to me like this: "I can't quite go back to the 1800s to tell you about the duties of an agent, but I can give you details from the mid 1950s on. An Agent answered to the train master for that area, and the train master answered to the superintendent. Agents had control over their stations and took care of any business that was generated on that part of the railroad. The agent collected the money that was owed to the railroad from a shipper and billed the cars that the shipper had as well as instructed the train crews in what cars went where at a station. In smaller stations, the agent was the only one there. If the station was large enough to warrant a second person, he was a train order operator. If the station was even larger, there could be bill clerks, yard clerks, yard masters, crew clerks, wire chiefs, etc. The agent was in charge of that station and the movement of all cars associated with it."
"Harper, KS was a similar sized depot as Carrollton and was on the main line like Carrollton. That depot had an Agent, a train order operator around the clock and bill clerk on weekdays. Since the Southern Transcon didn't have many passenger trains, they were not interrupted constantly selling tickets to the public. They did take in the mail and see that it was sent out on trains along with freight duties too. In a large station such as Amarillo, there were freight agents and passenger agents taking care of each respective duties and not crossing over."
"In the 1800s and early 1900s, the agent was the railroads representative for that town. He or she had quite a bit of influence in how the railroad did business. At the town of Glazier, TX in the panhandle, a tornado blew down the depot in 1947. The Santa Fe was not going to replace the depot since it was a small station and was going to let the cattle shippers use Canadian as a billing station. The shippers refused to do this because of their love for the agent who took good care of them, and the ATSF decided that a new depot at Glazier was in order. The depot from Marsh, TX on the Boise City line was moved there and used for several more years." (Mr.Middleton first was hired out as a brakeman in 1977 for Santa Fe and currently runs as an engineer from Wellington to Amarillo.)(Email,Thursday, May 27 and Tuesday, 25 May, 2010, Keel Middleton, Wellington, KS)
"During the whole of a 12-to-14-hour day, the gentleman I am describing had been more or less actively engaged in a whole galaxy of jobs - agent, telegrapher, baggageman, express agent, Western Union manager, ticket agent, accountant, bookkeeper, cashier, janitor, and roustabout - to mention a few."
(Just Around the Corner by Bertrande H. Snell http://www.kinglyheirs.com/Palmer/BostonMaine.html (accessed Tuesday, May 25, 2010)
"Freight agents were a big deal. They were the ones to make commerce go in these cities." (Stephen Fried, Appetite For America, soundbite from his book discussion on Book TV on C-Span2, accessed Thursday, May 27, 2010)
James F. Geary was the one who drummed up the business for the railroad in Carrollton. Think about each of the following businesses that he would have worked with.
From the Missouri Booster pamphlet issued by Bureau of Labor Statistics:
"During 1912 there were shipped from the county 14,203 head of cattle - 48,521 head of hogs - 2,986 head of horse and mules - 19,143 head of sheep - 18 head of jacks and stallions, and four head of foxes. In crops.... 828, 275 bushels of wheat - 415,800 bushels of corn - 41,520 bushels of oats - 7,735 bushels of rye - 7,883 bushels of timothy seed - 1,498 bushels of clover seed - 447 bushels of millet seed - 912 tons of hay - 4,476 tons of straw - 63,090 pounds of tobacco - 11,000 bushels of popcorn - 5,704 pounds of bluegrass seed - and 98,419 pounds of nuts."
"In mill products.... 17,631 barrels of flour - 81,309 pounds of corn meal - 174,441 pounds of bran - and 129,038 pounds of feed chops."
"In forest products... 49,500 feet of lumber - 16,500 feet of walnut logs - 60 cords of cordwood - and one car of sawdust. This does not nearly complete the surplus shipments from the Carroll County during 1912, but these few show some of the many commodities that have gone out from this county, the more forcibly to impress upon the minds of all the richness and desirability of Carroll County." (Carroll County Missouri 1910-1968, by the Carroll County Historical Society, Carrollton, MO,1968, p.24, accessed May 26, 2010)
(Sepia photos of Carrollton taken by author)
Double click triangle to view one minute video of Burlington Northern-Santa Fe line, Carrollton, Missouri. More photos of Missouri depots, click HERE.
"Mr. Geary is an accomplished business man, fully alive to the interests of the corporation with which he has been so long identified and is highly esteemed by his superiors and the general public. Since becoming a resident of Carrollton he has kept in touch with the growth and prosperity of the city and has assisted to these and
other worthy ends. By his gentlemanly and urbane manner he has gained the confid- ence of the public and made friends for the road which he represents, thus attracting much business, which but for him would doubtless go elsewhere...Both husband and wife are popular in the social life of this city and have many warm friends who hold them in high regard." (Twentieth Century History of Carroll County Missouri by S.K. Turner and S.A. Clark, Volume 2, 1911, page 952, accessed May 26, 2010 from the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Missouri)"Carro
llton, MO is very proud of the fact that it is to have a new depot. The citizens already have begun to cooperate with the Santa Fe in making the surround- ings harmonize with the beautiful station which will be built. Agent James F. Geary, who has been on the job for twenty- two years, is about the most popular man in town as a result." (THE SANTA FE magazine, Volume 10, By Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company, September, 1916, page 90) Most surely James F. Geary impressed diligence and perseverance on his maturing son. "If time and expense went into the choice of a profession, then one should earn a decent living." (Fred Geary, Missouri Wood Engraver by E.H. Deines, 1946, unpublished, page three, courtesy of Ms. Jane Metz and the Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, MO, accessed January 10, 2010)
"...Firemen, brakemen, engineers, conductors, mechanics, welders, carpenters, repair-shop men, the clerical force (male and female), the foremen, directors, and supervisors, and everyone else who worked for either the UP or CP (Central Pacific) stayed with railroads. For their careers, and so too for their children, followed by the third generation and beyond. These are the people who make up the force that made the modern railroad. They repair it, improve it, take care of it, make sure the damn thing runs. More than in almost all other professions, railroading is something a family is proud of and wants to remain a part of."
"Railroad people are special. Like all the rest, they lose jobs, have to move, are underpaid, and otherwise have a lot to bitch about. But on the job, they love being next to and able to run and being responsible for all that fabulous machinery. They love being around trains. More than the rest of us, they hold the locomotives in awe." (p.378-379, Stephen E. Ambrose, Nothing Like it In The World, 1863-1869 The Men Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad, 2000, accessed Wednesday, May 26, 2010)
Geary remembered his father's advice and put his art training to work. In 1919, at the age of 25, Fred began working for the Fred Harvey system doing commercial art.....
