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First things first - URS!!!!! I got my present today! Thank you SO MUCH! You are really too sweet. *glomps and huggles* *loves*
Second, I came across something my granddad had written for my mom when she was going to college. She was doing some project on the Depression and asked my grandparents to share their experiences. I've typed it in here because every time I read it it makes me smile. Granddad had a wonderful sense of humor, and he loved to tell stories. It also reminds me just how blessed I've been in my life. As bad as I've thought my financial problems were, I've never had to worry about food and shelter. I've always had some place or person I could fall back on.
Anyway, for those who are interested, here is my Granddaddy Brown's account of the Great Depression. I've made minor spelling changes, but these are his words.
A Saga of the Great Depression
or
A Tale of Survival Under Adverse Conditions
I, George Brown, do declare that the following narrative is true and accurate to the best of my recollection, allowing of course for some forgetfulness and possibly a little exaggeration.
When I was just a small child my family moved from a large city to a farm where I grew up. My father died when I was quite young and sometime later Mom married our farm manager. In my late teens, we moved from the farm to a small city nearby, this was early in the Depression. Having lived in impoverished circumstances on the farm, I was not in a position to accurately evaluate the severity of the Depression.
When we sold the farm and moved onto the new house which we bought in town, our spirits were so elevated over the improvement in living conditions that we spent little time worrying about the state of the economy. However, one this I remember noticing that did make quite an impression on me was that we were now buying milk by the quart, whereas on the farm the cows gave it willingly by the pailful.
We made the move from rural living to city dwellers with only one member of the family having a steady job. My brother Tom, who was apprenticed to a machine shop owner at a salary of $1.00 per day. He later received periodic raises.
My stepfather Broze and I worked at whatever jobs we could find. Broze worked for a time as a farm manager. I worked for quite awhile at a Florist shop and nursery until it went into bankruptcy. Actually this did not come about through any fault of mine.
Broze and I worked on any and all kinds of construction jobs as they became available. Forty cents per hour was the standard rate of pay, although I worked on several jobs for twenty cents per hour.
When the Florist went broke I lost a month of pay, so to help reduce the debt he let me pick some pears from his orchard with the suggestion that I might be able to sell them. I picked 14 bushels and sold 1 1/2 bushels. The balance I wrapped individually in paper and stored in our fruit cellar. They were a winter variety of pear called Kiefer, good for cooking or eating when ripe. We had pears all winter. This florist also turned over to me the equipment from a hat renovating shop which he had formerly operated. I set up shop in our basement and after an hours instruction from the Florist, swung into operation, cleaned and blocked hats for 40 cents retail and 17 cents wholesale. Developed a fairly good business volume wise, but not very profitable.
Another time Broze asked me if I thought we could pick the tax collector's apples on the shares. Never have I seen higher apple trees, used a 40 ft. extension ladder to reach the fruit. It was very sparse, but No. Spy variety of excellent quality.
I remember one cold winter helping Broze trim an entire commercial orchard by hand. Don't remember just what we received in return for that job.
One winter we worked several nights in a coal mine for a couple loads of coal.
Our city owned quite a lot of timberland, and permitted needy people to go in and cut dead and undesirable timber for firewood. Broze, being a professional woodsman, was given the job of going in to forest and marking the trees that could be removed. Everyone had to cut their own wood, and the city trucks delivered it. We got most of our winter's fuel there that year.
I was offered a job digging potatoes on the shares one fall. It was a one for you and one for me deal. I got Broze to help me and we right after lunch and worked till dark digging a total of four bushels. Two bushels was our share, both quality and quantity wise that patch was a loss. The largest spuds were about the size of golf balls. Broze allowed as how this was not one of our most profitable ventures.
These were just a few of the things we did to survive during the lean years of the Depression.
There were also some public works projects which we worked on. They were known by letter designations such as W.P.A. and C.W.A. This was a time when the practice of using the first letter of each word in a title became popular.
The government made some food stuffs available for distribution to needy families. The only thing I can remember getting was a couple of cans of beef, and it was of such poor quality that Mom told Broze not to bring any more home as we didn't have a dog at the time.
I had a Buick touring car and while working on the various public works projects furnished transportation for other men working on the jobs, with the understanding that they would contribute some gas money. Only two men ever contributed, some others said they were family men and needed all their money, and some chose to ignore the issue altogether. Gas was less than 20 cents a gallon at that time.
Many of the theaters awarded dishes as door prizes and Bingo games gave baskets of groceries as prizes. I remember winning one. It was also a great time for punch boards. I hit a $15.00 winner one Sat. night and immediately went across the street to a clothing store and picked our a suit which was laid away until I was able to raise the other $4.50 needed to complete the deal.
In 1935 I helped some fellows move into a new garage and filling station which they had just built, and was given a steady job at a salary of $16.00 per week. When I left there in January of '37, my salary had been raised to $18.00 per week.
It was between the years of '35 and '37 that the economy started to improve in the area where I was living. During this time the Govt. paid the WWI veterans a long overdue bonus and many of them bought new cars and made other purchases which put the money back in circulation.
During the first year or so of my employment at the garage, I did not see a piece of money larger than a ten dollar bill. It was late in '36 that a customer paid for a tank of gas with a twenty dollar bill. I remember the customer and the bill very vividly, and will always think of that as the turning point in the economy.
In Jan. of '37 I accepted a job which necessitated my moving to Florida. The salary was $25.00 per week which was a very good salary at that time in Florida, as wages were as low as $1.50 per day for labor. A garage mechanic friend of mine had a good job earning $14.00 per week. Starting salaries for secretaries were as low as $5.00 per week. But on the other hand, a good meal including salad, soup, and dessert could be had for 35 cents.
Florida did not start to emerge from the Depression until the U.S. started preparing for WWII.
I often wonder how my mom coped with the problems of the Depression. She being the head of the house as far as managing the finances were concerned. House payments were low and utilities reasonable, but still it cost something to feed and clothe 8 people, 4 of the younger ones were still in school.
My mom had an acute sense of smell. One time she sent me to the store for some hamburger. I got it, 2 lbs for 25 cents, took it home and Mom gave it the old sniff test. It didn't pass so back I went to the butcher with a message from Mom. She smelled everything, she was probably a bloodhound in a former life. Incidentally, I inherited her sense of smell.
I remember when margarine came on the market. The Govt. would not permit it to be sold with the color added, but color could be purchased separately and added by the customer. It was a revolting mess to anyone who had been raised on good butter.
I have no thoughts on what brought on the Depression, but am thankful that I was young at the time. It must have been a terrifying experience for the old people as there were few welfare programs and Scoial Security did not come into being until Jan. '37. Likewise, I am not sure what ended the Depression. President Roosevelt is credited by some with bringing us out of it, and I have no argument with that as he was in there trying everything he could think of. As for the overall effect of the Depression on me personally, I wouldn't even hazard a guess. If it hadn't happened I might be a king today, or a drunken stumble-bum.
It is easy to blame someone or some circumstance for one's own lack of initiative or ability to cope, but I do think that the experience of living through the Depression helped develop some qualities of compassion and understanding that I might not otherwise have acquired.
I could go on writing for days, but this will give you just an inkling of what it was like. There were some really bad times and some nice things happened, too - like the girl friend who always had the money to take me to the dance when I didn't have the quarter.
Bye now.
Second, I came across something my granddad had written for my mom when she was going to college. She was doing some project on the Depression and asked my grandparents to share their experiences. I've typed it in here because every time I read it it makes me smile. Granddad had a wonderful sense of humor, and he loved to tell stories. It also reminds me just how blessed I've been in my life. As bad as I've thought my financial problems were, I've never had to worry about food and shelter. I've always had some place or person I could fall back on.
Anyway, for those who are interested, here is my Granddaddy Brown's account of the Great Depression. I've made minor spelling changes, but these are his words.
A Saga of the Great Depression
or
A Tale of Survival Under Adverse Conditions
I, George Brown, do declare that the following narrative is true and accurate to the best of my recollection, allowing of course for some forgetfulness and possibly a little exaggeration.
When I was just a small child my family moved from a large city to a farm where I grew up. My father died when I was quite young and sometime later Mom married our farm manager. In my late teens, we moved from the farm to a small city nearby, this was early in the Depression. Having lived in impoverished circumstances on the farm, I was not in a position to accurately evaluate the severity of the Depression.
When we sold the farm and moved onto the new house which we bought in town, our spirits were so elevated over the improvement in living conditions that we spent little time worrying about the state of the economy. However, one this I remember noticing that did make quite an impression on me was that we were now buying milk by the quart, whereas on the farm the cows gave it willingly by the pailful.
We made the move from rural living to city dwellers with only one member of the family having a steady job. My brother Tom, who was apprenticed to a machine shop owner at a salary of $1.00 per day. He later received periodic raises.
My stepfather Broze and I worked at whatever jobs we could find. Broze worked for a time as a farm manager. I worked for quite awhile at a Florist shop and nursery until it went into bankruptcy. Actually this did not come about through any fault of mine.
Broze and I worked on any and all kinds of construction jobs as they became available. Forty cents per hour was the standard rate of pay, although I worked on several jobs for twenty cents per hour.
When the Florist went broke I lost a month of pay, so to help reduce the debt he let me pick some pears from his orchard with the suggestion that I might be able to sell them. I picked 14 bushels and sold 1 1/2 bushels. The balance I wrapped individually in paper and stored in our fruit cellar. They were a winter variety of pear called Kiefer, good for cooking or eating when ripe. We had pears all winter. This florist also turned over to me the equipment from a hat renovating shop which he had formerly operated. I set up shop in our basement and after an hours instruction from the Florist, swung into operation, cleaned and blocked hats for 40 cents retail and 17 cents wholesale. Developed a fairly good business volume wise, but not very profitable.
Another time Broze asked me if I thought we could pick the tax collector's apples on the shares. Never have I seen higher apple trees, used a 40 ft. extension ladder to reach the fruit. It was very sparse, but No. Spy variety of excellent quality.
I remember one cold winter helping Broze trim an entire commercial orchard by hand. Don't remember just what we received in return for that job.
One winter we worked several nights in a coal mine for a couple loads of coal.
Our city owned quite a lot of timberland, and permitted needy people to go in and cut dead and undesirable timber for firewood. Broze, being a professional woodsman, was given the job of going in to forest and marking the trees that could be removed. Everyone had to cut their own wood, and the city trucks delivered it. We got most of our winter's fuel there that year.
I was offered a job digging potatoes on the shares one fall. It was a one for you and one for me deal. I got Broze to help me and we right after lunch and worked till dark digging a total of four bushels. Two bushels was our share, both quality and quantity wise that patch was a loss. The largest spuds were about the size of golf balls. Broze allowed as how this was not one of our most profitable ventures.
These were just a few of the things we did to survive during the lean years of the Depression.
There were also some public works projects which we worked on. They were known by letter designations such as W.P.A. and C.W.A. This was a time when the practice of using the first letter of each word in a title became popular.
The government made some food stuffs available for distribution to needy families. The only thing I can remember getting was a couple of cans of beef, and it was of such poor quality that Mom told Broze not to bring any more home as we didn't have a dog at the time.
I had a Buick touring car and while working on the various public works projects furnished transportation for other men working on the jobs, with the understanding that they would contribute some gas money. Only two men ever contributed, some others said they were family men and needed all their money, and some chose to ignore the issue altogether. Gas was less than 20 cents a gallon at that time.
Many of the theaters awarded dishes as door prizes and Bingo games gave baskets of groceries as prizes. I remember winning one. It was also a great time for punch boards. I hit a $15.00 winner one Sat. night and immediately went across the street to a clothing store and picked our a suit which was laid away until I was able to raise the other $4.50 needed to complete the deal.
In 1935 I helped some fellows move into a new garage and filling station which they had just built, and was given a steady job at a salary of $16.00 per week. When I left there in January of '37, my salary had been raised to $18.00 per week.
It was between the years of '35 and '37 that the economy started to improve in the area where I was living. During this time the Govt. paid the WWI veterans a long overdue bonus and many of them bought new cars and made other purchases which put the money back in circulation.
During the first year or so of my employment at the garage, I did not see a piece of money larger than a ten dollar bill. It was late in '36 that a customer paid for a tank of gas with a twenty dollar bill. I remember the customer and the bill very vividly, and will always think of that as the turning point in the economy.
In Jan. of '37 I accepted a job which necessitated my moving to Florida. The salary was $25.00 per week which was a very good salary at that time in Florida, as wages were as low as $1.50 per day for labor. A garage mechanic friend of mine had a good job earning $14.00 per week. Starting salaries for secretaries were as low as $5.00 per week. But on the other hand, a good meal including salad, soup, and dessert could be had for 35 cents.
Florida did not start to emerge from the Depression until the U.S. started preparing for WWII.
I often wonder how my mom coped with the problems of the Depression. She being the head of the house as far as managing the finances were concerned. House payments were low and utilities reasonable, but still it cost something to feed and clothe 8 people, 4 of the younger ones were still in school.
My mom had an acute sense of smell. One time she sent me to the store for some hamburger. I got it, 2 lbs for 25 cents, took it home and Mom gave it the old sniff test. It didn't pass so back I went to the butcher with a message from Mom. She smelled everything, she was probably a bloodhound in a former life. Incidentally, I inherited her sense of smell.
I remember when margarine came on the market. The Govt. would not permit it to be sold with the color added, but color could be purchased separately and added by the customer. It was a revolting mess to anyone who had been raised on good butter.
I have no thoughts on what brought on the Depression, but am thankful that I was young at the time. It must have been a terrifying experience for the old people as there were few welfare programs and Scoial Security did not come into being until Jan. '37. Likewise, I am not sure what ended the Depression. President Roosevelt is credited by some with bringing us out of it, and I have no argument with that as he was in there trying everything he could think of. As for the overall effect of the Depression on me personally, I wouldn't even hazard a guess. If it hadn't happened I might be a king today, or a drunken stumble-bum.
It is easy to blame someone or some circumstance for one's own lack of initiative or ability to cope, but I do think that the experience of living through the Depression helped develop some qualities of compassion and understanding that I might not otherwise have acquired.
I could go on writing for days, but this will give you just an inkling of what it was like. There were some really bad times and some nice things happened, too - like the girl friend who always had the money to take me to the dance when I didn't have the quarter.
Bye now.
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Good ol' Grandad! I love this. It's beautiful...it "takes you there". I remember when I first learned about margarine and what it is made of and what they do to it to make it look all pretty and yellow...UGH! And I bet you not a one of them complained once when they had pear preserves or pear cobbler or pear juice or pear jelly or just plain ol' pears several times a week. :) *loves*
YAAAYY! It's there! I'm glad! I'm sorry that it had to be birthday and Christmas together, but I will make it up to you... ;) *huggles* *glomp-a-lomps* ♥
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Thanks for posting this.