Fossil Fern on Slate

In the 1910 US Census, Edward R. Byrnes is listed as having the occupation of a drayman. A dray, as listed in a wiki is 'a low horse-drawn cart, often without sides, and used especially for heavy loads'.

From the census too we learn that his father Thomas J. Byrne(s) is a hotel bartender, while Edward's older sister Emma was a hotel table waiter, another sister, Margaret was a milliner.

There was a shirt factory in Barnesboro but it didn't open until 1930 and a milliner is someone who manufactures hats, perhaps there was a hattery in Ebensburg?

Along with being a drayman, Edward R. Byrnes was also a survey man for one of the coal companies, his job was to mark (by drilling holes in the mine roof and inserting pegs) where the coal was to be mined.

He also surveyed above ground and during one of these surveys he found the fossil fern shown here. The fossil is about 5 inches long on the slate which is about 1.5 inches thick.

Edward R. painted one edge of the slate with gold paint and kept it in his living room behind the couch on the radiator. The radiator was in front of an east facing window, the window had shear curtains on it. It is a heavy keepsake.

The radiator was painted silver. There was carpeting and a dark shiny wooden desk in the corner of the room to the left if you were facing out the window.

You can see a picture of family members, the couch, window, and the living room of the Edward R. Byrnes household in the family photograph from 1961.