Photo portrait of Harry Middleton

Harry Middleton emigrated from England in 1886 and was a skilled boilermaker in the steel mills. His wife, Sophie Weisen, had emigrated from Prussian Germany. They met in Chicago and had six children. The third child, John, was a soldier in World War I and wrote a series of heartfelt letters to his family who lived on the East Side (see Middleton letters). The East Side was a newer, more prosperous, section of Southeast Chicago known in city documents as “The Ironworker’s Addition.” Located across the Calumet River from South Chicago, it attracted a smattering of native-born Americans as well as longer settled immigrants, including Germans, Swedes, Irish, and some Italians, many of whom worked in skilled trades in the steel mills. It would also become the area for second settlement for many newer immigrant groups as they became more prosperous.