Of the 10 delegates who attended the IBEW's founding convention in 1891, six were from St. Louis and members of AFL Local 5221. However, only three represented the city: Henry Miller, James T. Kelly, and William Hedden. The other three served as proxies for cities that couldn't attend the convention in person. In our last look at two of the IBEW's founders, we covered C.J. Sutter, the proxy for Duluth, Minn. In this column, we'll cover the remaining proxies, Joseph Berlovitz and James Dorsey.

Joseph Berlovitz

Brother Joseph Berlovitz joined AFL Local 5221 shortly after it was organized in 1890. In January 1891, Local President Henry Miller appointed Berlovitz to the committee responsible for promoting the idea of a convention to form a national organization. He helped the committee prepare a circular letter, which was mailed to electrical workers in every major city in the country. Electricians from Philadelphia voiced their support but were unable to send a delegate, and Berlovitz was selected as their proxy.

On Nov. 21st, 1891, the first day of the IBEW's founding convention, Berlovitz was elected as assistant secretary and had the honor of introducing the first motion. It was a proposal to name our organization "The National Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America" and it passed unanimously. Berlovitz also served as secretary for the Committee on Rituals. He received a nomination for the Grand Office of Secretary-Treasurer but ultimately lost to Kelly. He did, however, win the election for Past-Grand President, a position that was necessary for initiating the newly elected Grand Officers.

On Nov. 28, the final day of the convention, Berlovitz submitted a motion for the NBEW to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor, which passed unanimously. Just over a week later, on Dec. 7, NBEW President Henry Miller presented the motion to AFL President Samuel Gompers, who issued an official certification of affiliation.

Unfortunately, more information, including Brother Berlovitz's birth, death and occupation during his time working in St. Louis, is unknown.

James Dorsey

As a member of Local 5221, Brother James Dorsey also served on the committee calling for a national organization. At the founding convention, he served as a proxy for electricians in Milwaukee and sat on the Committee for Charters and Supplies. Around 1900, he moved to New Orleans and became a member of Local 4. According to an article from The Times Democrat, a newspaper there, Dorsey broke his leg in February 1906 while working as a lineman for the Postal Telegraph Company. The article lists his age as 56, which suggests a birth year of 1850.

The only other information known about Brother Dorsey comes from a Local Lines article published by Local 4 in the December 1916 issue of The Electrical Worker. It states that Dorsey had died "some years ago" and that he had a 12-year-old daughter who worked in a factory and was living with relatives of her mother. The article goes on to say that Dorsey had a brother in Indiana who, a few years earlier, had offered to raise the child and pay for her schooling but her relatives refused.

While much of the detail of both these founding fathers' lives is lost to history, what's not forgotten is their contribution to the establishment of the IBEW, and in that, their legacies remain as strong as ever.

If your local has any information about Brothers Berlovitz or Dorsey, please contact the IBEW Museum at Curtis_Bateman@ibew.org.