Do you know the old lamplighter?

Senior Scene | By Bob Cronin

As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, I often wonder what it might have been like for those who came before us to make the adaptations that were necessary to take up a new life in a new country. My biggest question is whether or not I could have made these adjustments as effectively as my grandparents did. Have you ever wondered the same thing?
 What must it have been like that last night as family and friends gathered for another “American wake” to bid farewell to a brother or sister sailing away in the morning? What must the emigree have thought, knowing that these were the last few hours they would spend with folks who had been so near and dear to them? Would they ever see parents or siblings again? Probably not.
My ties to Ireland are through my father’s father, Timothy Cronin,  who arrived in Worcester in the early 1880s, a man known to his friends as “Corky ”because of his birthplace in County Cork. For some reason or other, we never got to know much about his family, whether he had brothers or sister or what he did in his early years. In looking through the 10-year census I was able to find that at various times Tim was listed as a clerk, a storekeeper and even as a lamplighter. As the old radio announcer Paul Harvey used to say, “And now the rest of the story. …”
As in most families, the Cronins have a question the answer to which will probably never be unearthed, but it’s fun trying to solve it. The question is: “Was Tim Cronin really The Old Lamplighter?” Here are the details. See what you think.
“The Old Lamplighter” was a song which was at the top of the Hit Parade back in the mid-1940s and all the top singers and bands at the time made their own versions of it. (You can hear the Sammy Kaye version of it on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/dR0M3_UzxEw .) The song described the working of an older gentleman whose job it was to go around each evening to light the gas lamps before it got dark. This was in the days before the electric lights came on automatically as they do today.
The reason it was associated with the Cronins was that my grandfather Tim used to light the lamps in the Harrison, Providence, Columbia and Water streets areas which was close to where the family lived. During his tenure, a new family moved into the neighborhood from New York and one of the younger members of the group used to follow my grandfather on his rounds occasionally. The family was named Tobias.
My grandfather later found other employment but for some time he was remembered as “Tim, the lamplighter” throughout the neighborhood. He was long dead when the song became popular but my grandmother was still living and she was convinced that this song was written about her late husband, Tim, the old lamplighter. Upon checking into the authors of the song she found that the lyrics were written by a Charlie Tobias, a member of that family that had moved into the neighborhood from New York.
There is plenty of reason to presume the song might really have been written about old Tim. The two families lived in the same area and at the same time and one of the younger boys tagged after my grandfather occasionally, so he might have been familiar with the process. The reason that truly makes it believable to us is the reference in the song, “his snowy hair was so much brighter beneath the candle glow.” Tim was known for his curly mane of silvery white hair with or without the lantern glow.
On a trip to Ireland I found a figure of an old lamplighter at Dromoland Castle and as I had always been enthralled by the possibility of Tim being the authentic Old Lamplighter, I had to have it. (See inset.) It shows the lighter with his long pole and wick reaching to the lantern. He is accompanied by a youngster and his dog watching intently. I often imagine that this could have been Charlie Tobias on one of his rounds as a boy accompanying the man who “made the night a little brighter wherever he would go.”
I’m sure the Cronins will never know whether their ancestor was really the man in the song but it is enjoyable to recall the immigrant forebears, particularly at this time of the year.
Slainte! Good health to you and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day. God Bless!