William Sylvis

William H. Sylvis (1828–1869) was a pioneer American trade union leader. Sylvis is best remembered as a founder of the Iron Molders' International Union and the National Labor Union, the latter being one of the first American union federations attempting to unite workers of various crafts into a single national organization.

William H. Sylvis was born in 1828 in the borough of Armagh, Pennsylvania, the second son of Nicholas and Maria Mott Sylvis, native-born Americans of Irish extraction who each traced their American ancestry back to the pre-revolutionary period. Nicholas' father was a maker of canal boats and repairman of wagons who found great difficulty earning enough money to support his family. During the Panic of 1837 the family's financial situation became particularly grave and young William was sent to live on the homestead of a prosperous neighbor named Pawling, earning his keep there by helping with chores around the farm.

The change of family setting proved beneficial for Sylvis from an educational standpoint, who was taught to read and write by his new employer. Sylvis attended school for the first time at age of 11. He proved to be a voracious reader and took full advantage of the library at the farm estate, owned as it was by a man who had been elected to the Pennsylvania State Assembly.

In 1846 the 18-year-old Sylvis left the farmstead to learn the trade of iron molding — fabricating products by pouring molten metal into wooden patterns.

In 1851 the 23-year-old Sylvis married 15-year-old Amelia A. Thomas. The union ultimately produced three sons, who were named after contemporary heroes — Henry Clay Sylvis, Oliver Perry Sylvis, and Lewis Clark Sylvis. Following his wife's death in 1865, Sylvis remarried; he ultimately fathered a total of five children.

Sylvis found his way to Philadelphia where he became active in the local trade union movement, serving as secretary of the Philadelphia molders' union. A spontaneous October 1857 strike over a proposed wage cut in the shop at which he was working was the precipitating event in Sylvis' entry into the labor movement. The shop's workers met and chose William Sylvis as their Secretary, from which sprung the organization which later became Iron-Moulders Union no. 1.

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