Object of the Day: Employee ID Card
We are well underway with our archival rehousing efforts, and I enjoy coming across some entertaining items. Here is an identification card for Theodore P. McGann, providing an interesting method of identifying him: a small scar on his finger!
I also see some information and dates I need some help figuring out. The card states that it is for the construction period only, but McGann’s date of birth is 1920, meaning he was born after the Canal opened. Do you think it’s a typo? What are your thoughts?
Author
21 Comments
Patt Earl Anderson
What dates was Seymore Paul the Director of Personnel?
In those days, this was a very economy-minded Government (unlike today!).
You couldn’t run down to the copy machine and make some more cards.
Probably, back then, the Canal Zone Government didn’t even have a Printing Plant at La Boca.
Perhaps those old Construction Period Cards were left over from the original
construction.
Perhaps this “Construction Period” was for a later project?
Madden Dam ? Mindy Dairy? Building Quarters for Employees? Gorgas Hospital?
Good Luck finding an Answer !
ufpcmcollection
Thank you for your help!
Maddison
Hello! This is my great great grandfather! The birthday is correct! He worked on the canal inspecting it after it was built. We are so thrilled that he is being honored in this way!
Fred Sill
Seymour Paul was Director of Personnel in the 1940s. So perhaps his department was still using cards printed during the construction period for use by government employees and contractors. Instead of ID cards, employees of the Canal Commission were issued brass tags with their number stamped on them. Before payday, they would receive a chit showing what they were due to be paid, and they would take the tag together with the chit, to one of the payroll offices on either side of the isthmus to receive their pay in gold or silver coins (no paper currency used). Those who worked outside Balboa or Cristóbal, including most “silver employees”, would collect their pay when the monthly railroad “Pay Car” crossed the isthmus , stopping along the way at designated points to pay the crowds of employees waiting for it.
ufpcmcollection
Thank you!
Bill Fall
Could have been from a project on the Canal bid out to a private contractor such as the building of Madden Dam. A temporary id for the duration of the project or construction period. Did not have to be id from the construction era 1907-1914.
Bob Dillon
https://newspaperarchive.com/theodore-mcgann-obituary-233197720/
Obituary Details:
Name: Theodore P Mcgann
Age at Death: 81 years, 8 months, 28 days
Birth Date: March 17, 1920
Registration Place: Florida
Death Date: December 14, 2001
Death Place: —
Record Date: —
People Listed in This Obituary:
Theodore P Mcgann
Bob Dillon
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Mcgann&GSiman=1&GSst=11&GSob=c&GRid=50311135&
Theodore Patrick McGann
Birth: Mar. 17, 1920
Death: Dec. 14, 2001
Family links:
Spouse:
Alice Madelyn McGann (1922 – 2012)*
*Calculated relationship
Inscription:
S1 US NAVY
WORLD WAR II
Burial:
Florida National Cemetery
Bushnell
Sumter County
Florida, USA
Plot: Sec 406, Site 195
Created by: GerbLady
Record added: Mar 27, 2010
Find A Grave Memorial# 50311135
Bob Dillon
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utlac/00134/lac-00134.html
Panama Canal Employee Benefits Association Records, 1931-1979
He is listed here. The Association began in ’31/
Bob Dillon
http://barbier840louis840.tripod.com/id15.html
Listed under Cocoli Boys
His father John T. McGann is listed in the Canal Record, 1952, living in New York, the August 16, 1916 Canal Record, and his kids wedding is mentioned in the February 2, 1973
Aiken Standard from Aiken, South Carolina · Page 5
“Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Overman of Aiken announce the engagement of their daughter, Susan Jean, to Citadel Cadet Theodore C. McGann. Cadet McGann is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore P. McGann of Cocoli, Canal Zone. He is the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ralph B. Raymond of Miami, and of Mr. and Mrs. John T. McGann of Long Island. He is majoring in business administration”
The ancient Egyptians believed you would live forever as long as people continued to say your name…
So here goes… Thomas P. McGann… Thomas P. McGann Thomas P. Mcgann. Please don’t appear in my mirror.
I’m done researching, but I’d assume based on his birthdate, he’d be just out of high school and ready to work on the 3rd Locks Project. Perhaps that is the construction.
ufpcmcollection
That makes a lot of sense, thank you!
Emilee E. McGann
He is my grandfather (:
My parents have some things they’re probably going to donate when we move back to Florida. We are currently living in Germany. All 6 of his children are still alive and have plenty of stories about their parents and the Canal Zone if you’d like to get in touch! I’m sure they’d be thrilled. My mom would like to write a book after she retires this year
Bob Dillon
Whoops! One more…
Zonians in the Military right here in the collection.
http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/Portals/pcm/Zonians_in_Military_Jan_10_2012.pdf
McGann, John T. CHS USN
McGann, Theodore BHS-69 USA
McGann, Theodore P. U.S. Navy Civ 1940-83 USN
Long live Teddy McGann.
We never met, but are not forgotten, enshrined here, hopefully forever.
John T Husum
I knew Ted McGann. Two of his children, William and Mary Ellen are my age, Mary Ellen being a member of the BHS class of 1976 if I recall correctly.
Bob Dillon
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=francis_burton&id=I30566
He married in ’41
Name: Alice Madelyn Raymond
Sex: F
Birth: 12 JUL 1922 in San Diego, CA
Father: Ralph Benjamin Raymond , Jr. b: 11 JAN 1893 in Brooklyn, NY
Mother: Madeline Florence Wilson b: 10 FEB 1895 in Wlizabeth, NJ
Marriage 1 Theodore P. McGann
Married: 20 APR 1941 in Staten Island, NY
Bob Dillon
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=francis_burton&id=I30564
His father-in-law died at France Field, Canal Zone
Name: Ralph Benjamin Raymond , Jr. 1
Sex: M
Birth: 11 JAN 1893 in Brooklyn, NY 1 2
Death: 14 JUL 1939 in France Field, Panama Canal Zone
Which makes it likely they met in the Canal Zone. Wonder if there’s a John McCain connection in there.
Alice Raymond McGann is listed as a donor to this collection of the Elks Lodge 1542 Roster for ’65 thru ’66
Bob Dillon
His Brother, John T. McGann worked on the Space Shuttle for Rockwell International for 27 years. He is in the (His Obit.) Canal Record, 1993
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00010871/00172/82x?search=mcgann
Bob Dillon
Here is John T. in a photo receiving an award from NASA in the Canal Record, 1986
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00010871/00143/62?search=mcgann
Kathleen
This is my grandfather!
Mary-Ellen McGann Thomas
This is my father, Theodore Patrick McGann. His father John, was a first generation American of Irish immigrants from Boston. He was recruited by PCC as a plumber for the construction of the buildings in the Zone. After the opening of the canal and the end of his contract he opened up his plumbing shop in Colon. My dad, born in Colon (Colon Boy) and raised on the Atlantic side, was his assistant and eventually got his own Master Plumber. He graduated from Cristobal high School, where he met my mom. Dad started working for the Panama Canal Co. When he was in high school. As a married man he started working for the Navy Hospital in Coco Solo. He was called to serve in WW II while he was working at the hospital. Soon after basic training peace was declared and my dad went back to the Navy Hospital. He evolved into maintenance of the Naval Station at Rodman years as his career. My parents had six children, all growing up in the Zone.
Bob Dillon
Hi. Tell us a story about your life in the Canal Zone. All of us have seen so many cool and unique and interesting things. Not to mention the near-death experiences that we all had. Or at least most of us. I’m sure you add those too. Spill those beans. There’s a good chance it’s not a classified secret anymore. Or maybe tell us a story about your granddad and/or your dad. A Canal Zone story of course.