Conshockton was a densely populated town. An ideal place to start a telegram service. Conshockton was John Rex's connection to his future wife, Hannah Binns. Her family arrived from England and found jobs as painters. Hannah Binns was a quiet woman who caught John Rex's eye. (See the Binns family line) John moved up the chains in the western union telegraph company as an executive. John received a promotion and transferred the family to Brooklyn after 1894. At the time modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. John went from Mill town to an executive in one of the largest most successful companies in one of the most exciting cities in the world. 6 By 1900 Western Union operated a million miles of telegraph lines and two international cables. The telegraph was dominated by Western Union, an industrialized monopoly. The company continued to grow, acquiring more than 500 smaller competitors. Its monopoly power was almost complete in 1943 when it bought Postal Telegraph, Inc., its chief