Labor Day: A holiday for a Jersey workin' man

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, August, 2008 | by JASON NARK narkj@phillynews.com 856-779-3231

WHETHER you're catching summer's last wave, flipping burgers or hitting the snooze button till noon, Labor Day's a good thing.

If you want to thank the person responsible for your three-day weekend, lay a flower at the grave of Peter J. McGuire in Pennsauken's Arlington Cemetery.

Or, if you've got the time, drive up to North Jersey and try to find Matthew Maguire's final resting place. It's probably in Paterson.

It hasn't turned into a donnybrook yet, but there is a minor controversy as to which Irish-American with New Jersey ties founded the working-man's holiday.

"Either way it was a McGuire [or Maguire], but I'm siding with Matthew," said professor Grace-Ellen McCrann of The City College of New York.

McCrann researched the issue for the New Jersey...