Oral History Interviews

Oral History Interview Techniques

When you are planning a trip to visit relatives and you want to do some oral history interviews here are a few tips that worked for me. I like to have a bag all packed and hanging inside the front coat closet, then I don't have to look all over for the things I need and run the risk of forgetting something very important.

• digital or cassette tape recorder (bring a microphone it there is not one built in)
• AC cord
• supply of cassettes if using a tape recorder
• labels for the tapes
• extension cord
• extra batteries
• notepad and pens
• list of questions, or a book on oral history with sample questions
• address book to note relatives' names and addresses the person you interview may give you
• a research notebook with pedigree charts and family group sheets
• watch or cellphone so you don't overstay your welcome (one hour is a good amount of time for an interview)
• photocopies of any documents you've gathered to show the relative- they may be good conversation starters
• photographs that your need to identify
• magnifying glass, in case the relative needs to have the picture amplified
• cell phone or other digital camera to take picture of items or documents that cannot leave that home

A lap-top is also really good to have when you go to an oral history interview.

Killing Turkeys for Market

Carrie and George Davies

"Every year we had some turkeys, and usually about ten survived the skunks and coyotes. We would usually keep one for Christmas and then decide when we could take the others to Lethbridge to sell.  Two days before we would go to sell them, George would slit their tongues to kill them.  They were then hung by their feet so all the blood drained out.  Then they were laid out on the kitchen table to get all the feathers out.then we laid them on some newspaper on the living room floor. There was no heat in the living room, so it was pretty cold in there. Over night they would freeze.  The next day we took the frozen turkeys to market to sell them."

Caroline McMurray Davies

I found this short bio on my grandmother- I don't know what it was written for, but it is just a short, concise piece:

Caroline McMurray was the 9th child of James S. McMurray and Sarah Orr. She was born on march 11, 1902 in Orton, Alberta, Canada. Her parents and seven siblings moved from Idaho in march.  It was cold and windy, they had no house, and lived in a tent for a few weeks.  Being very windy in March many times her parents and older brothers would stand outside and hold down the tent poles.

Carrie, as she was called, also had a younger sister named Lila. They were the only ones born in Canada.

When Carrie was nine her mother died of a rare disease. Lila was only four months old. Carrie was very sad and lonesome. Her older sisters helped take care of her and little Lila. Before her mother died, Carrie would stand at her side with a fan to help keep the flies from bothering her.

She attended school to sixth grade. She lived with some of her older siblings to help take care of their children. Late she worked for several different families helping with housework.  While she was doing that kind of work she met George Davies and they were married.

About 18 months after George died in 1957 she attendend Nursing School in Calgary and became a successful Nursing aid and worked at three different hospitals until she retired.

She died June 1, 1981 after being ill with Parkinson's disease.

Tuesday Task - Find a Flag

England

Wales

When one of my sons was about 12 years old he was working on the Genealogy Merit Badge for Boy Scouts.  One requirement was to do a 4-generation pedigree chart.  He carefully filled it out by copying the information from both of his grandmas.

Scotland

Then we went to a store that sold small flags and bought a flag for each country that was on his pedigree chart. It was a good visual to show how diverse our heritage and background can be.

Norway

Gold flecks - Now why don't you search for information on your own ancestors...

Pony Express Rider

Thomas Owen King, Jr.

My father: Allan King Fowler     1928-1971
His mother (my grandmother): Louise King     1898-1987
Her father (my great-grandfather): Thomas Owen King     1869-1946
His father ( my great-great-grandfather)  Thomas Owen King Jr.   1840-1921

Experiences of Thomas Owen King Jr.

Pony Express Rider

In March 1860, T.O. King was employed to ride the pony express.  The first work he performed was with several other men distributing horses to the stations for one hundred miles east of Salt Lake City.  He was left at the mouth of echo Canyon to ride to Bear River -- forty miles distance -- when the rider from the west reached that point.  

He started on his first trip 7 April, 1870.  He was 20 years old that year.  Mounting his pony at 12 noon, he rode twenty miles, when a yell brought out a man from a station with a fresh horse.  He went five miles further and encountered a heavy snow with only a narrow path.  He lost the path, but recovered it and got through on the scheduled time. George Leonard, the next rider had given out and King had to double back.


"My longest ride,"  he writes, was from Salt Lake to Hanis Fork, 140 miles and return the next day; making the trip in 13 hours and I remember I went out walking that evening with my best girl.  I don't know how far I could have ridden in those days, with just time to eat a little.. I never tired."

When the semi-weekly express was put on, I rode from Salt Lake to Bear river -- 80 miles -- and opposite me rode Henry Worley, going and coming in the night.  Often the hostler would ask me where I met Worley, and I would say I hadn't even seen him.  It was the same with him; we were both asleep when we passed each other but our horses were going the same old gait.

The Pony Express, a system of transportation which employed ponies in relays, was started by private parties in 1860.

The ponies employed in the service were splendid specimens of speed and endurance.  There were fed and housed with the greatest care, for their mettle must never fail the test to which it was put.  Ten miles distance at the limit of the animals pace was extracted from him and he came darting into the station flecked with foam, nostrils dilated and every hair reeking with perspiration while his flanks thumped at every breath.


The case of letters carried made a bundle no longer than an ordinary tablet.  Twenty pounds was the limit of weight of mail carried.

The pony rider was usually a little bit of a  man, brimful of spirit and endurance.. No matter what time of day or night his watch came on, and not matter whether it was winter or summer, raining, or snowing, hailing or sleeting or whether his 'beat' was level straight road or crazy trail over mountain craggs  and precipices or whether it lead through peaceful regions or with hostile Indians, he must always be ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind!


There was no idling time time for a pony rider on duty.  He rode 50 miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight, or the blackness of darkness.


The riders dress was thin, and fitted close; he carried not arms - he carried nothing that was not absolutely necessary for even the postage on his literary freight was worth $5.00 a letter.  His horse was stripped of unnecessary weight also.  He wore a little wafer of a racing saddle with no visible blanket.  He wore light shoes or none at all.


The stage coach traveled about 100 to 125 miles a day (24 hours), while the pony express riders about 250 miles.

Caroline -

  - the Garden and the Chickens

Carrie loved helping Mrs. Davies with the garden and with the chickens. She enjoyed weeding the garden early in the morning before it go too hot.  She could be alone outside, and could daydream about George, and how wonderful it was when he kissed her. She daydreamed about the possibility of George and her having a place of their own someday.

She took good care of the chickens and also learned how to chop off the head and pluck the feathers and get that chicken in the pot quickly.

The Davies seemed to all be waiting and watching to see how quickly she learned everything and before you could "shake a stick"   they were getting married; George was 27 and Carrie was 23. They lived in a two room house north east  of Claresholm for a few years until they could buy a farm.

Saturday's Story...

 

Thoughts . . . . Caroline McMurray 

 

Alberta, Canada

Happiness does not just happen; you have to work really hard for it, and still it comes in its own time.

In 1909, when Caroline McMurray was a young girl of seven, she saw her mother die from errasipitus. She remembered fanning her mother to keep the flies off her up in her bedroom in the days before she died.  Her little sister, Lila was 4 months old, so she really missed having a mom, as did the four older brothers and four older sisters.

After a while(1914) her dad married a young girl from England just two years, who was to be the new stepmother. There was lots of work to do marrying into a family with so many children, and she made them all work hard.

She didn't teach, instead just yelled at the kids to get the work done. Carrie would have loved to be taught how to make bread, grow a garden, keep a tidy English home and take care of the chickens, but instead she resented Elizabeth trying to take her mother's place and wanted to get away.

She wasn't very nice to the kids, so Carrie quit school early and went to stay and help out at some of her older brother's homes.  Eventually she felt like she had worn out her welcome and that she needed a new place to go.

 

. . . Carrie McMurray - Working

After staying at her different brother's homes and having the opportunity to see different ways of doing things she was feeling rather grown-up and felt she was ready to be out on her own.

Growing up in southern Alberta there were not  many jobs available for a young girl who wanted to earn some money. Many girls hired themselves out as a helper to a farmer's wife. A hired girl could be the one taking care of the children, or doing the laundry, helping with cooking or even taking care of the animals.  They could usually count on making about one dollar a week.  During this time a dollar of cash money was worth a lot.  It meant they could use the money for the necessities of life instead of going without or using credit. No one ever really wanted to go into debt because there was too much chance that they would not have the money to pay when it came due.

Carrie got a job on the cook wagon for a threshing crew.  She had to provide three meals a day for a bunch of hungry men.  This was really hard work, but she learned a great deal and then was ready for another new adventure.

The next opportunity/adventure came in the chance to work on the Davies farm located east of Claresholm in the Starlight District in southern Alberta. The work on that farm was just as hard as at my own home, but the Davies boys were all so handsome: George, Ivan, Glen, Charlie, and Victor. the older sister, Janie had moved away and little Mary was too young to help.  Mrs. Davies really needed help.  the boys were all big enough to hlep, but they were always our helping with the farm, so she really needed my help.  i certainly never dreamed that one day she would be my mother-in-law.  Maybe she knew, and that was why she was so nice to me. She was kind and patient and made sure I knew how to fix all the family favorites. She taught me many different ways to serve potatoes, and how to make a nice flaky pie crust so I could make a chicken pot pie or a fruit pie.

 . . . more about Carrie & George

When George and Carrie Davies moved to their own farm it was their great adventure. They bought two sections of land - there is 640 acres to a section.  He was going to be a dry-land farmer and grow wheat. (as a dry-land farmer you count on rain to water your crops)

The house was two miles south and five miles west of Carmangay. They said the house faced east, but actually east was the direction they came out of the house because they came out the kitchen door. The house was small, but there was a barn with a fenced corral, and a shed and a chicken coop.

Carrie was very excited about the chicken coop.  George told her that she could sell any eggs over what they needed  and use the money any way she wanted. She would also be able to sell the extra cream and butter.
Another opportunity for Carrie to earn some cash money was to trap and kill gophers, the government paid a penny for each gopher tail.

Looking off her back porch Carrie could see the chicken coop about half a block away - she called the chickens "her girls".

She made plans for a garden down the west side of the house, along the edge of the road.  She was going to plant beans, peas, cucumbers, beets, carrots, corn, dill weed and lots of potatoes. George would dig a potato pit which would to store the potatoes. A potato pit is dug down deep and the pit is then lined with boards and a there is a ladder for climbing down into the pit.  The pit is covered by boards and will store many bags of potatoes to keep them fed through the long, Canadian  winter.

Carrie really enjoyed working in the garden early on the summer days, before it got too hot. After working in the garden for a few hours she would come into the house and make breakfast for George.  His favorite breakfast was a steak, bread and milk gravy; but most times his breakfast was hot cereal, usually oatmeal and hot chocolate.

Learning to Embroider

Family Story...Embroidery

Beginner stitches

Some intermediate stitches

Grandma Caroline McMurray Davies -

My grandma taught me embroidery stitches.  She gave me some fabric, and embroidery hoop, some needles and some embroidery floss. With the exception of the hoop, it all fit into a Whitman chocolate box. She taught me some basic stitches, and then got me started on my first project, a pink toaster cover with a picture to embroider on the side. I did pretty good - I thought, but when I needed to take out a stitch I ended cutting into the fabric, so the little bear on the side had to have a patch job in the middle of his nose.  The rest of the embroidery was quite good for a beginner. Later I learned more stitches, and did embroidery work on some pillow cases, several table clothes, and even some pictures for the wall.
It was really special to learn from my grandma as my mother didn't do much handi-work. She did her creating with her sewing machine.(I am glad my mom taught me to sew with a machine)

A Photography Hobby

Douglas Bradshaw Fowler - A Photography Hobby

Grandpa Fowler took and developed his own photographs. I always thought of it as just a hobby he had.  However, when I read his life sketch that he wrote it tells of how he first started to develop film.

" In 1912, at age 14 he commenced as an apprentice in Pharmacy. An apprentice was only paid $10 a month. He had to find some way to pay his way through University.  He took on the extra job of Night Operator on the telephone exchange that was in the drug store.  He opened the store at 8 a.m. and got an hour for lunch and dinner and closed the drug store at 8 p.m., and went on the switchboard at 9 p.m. until 7 a.m.  .  He had a cot by the switchboard and could get some sleep between 1 a.m. and about 5 a.m.using a buzzer on the board to wake him up for calls. After he gave up the switchboard, he fixed up a dark room at home and developed and printed the films that were left in the drug store - often working in the dark room until 2 or 3 AM.  In this way and with some help from his  parents he was able to complete his University and graduated with the second class that the University of Alberta graduated.  He was then a Registered Pharmacist at the age of 18."

One of his philosophies of life - "one can accomplish anything one makes up their mind they can accomplish".

Last Names - become - Middle Names

Last Names - Middle Names

John Stevenson 1806-1862 - married to Mary Vickers 1814-1867
father of
Elizabeth Stevenson 1838-1914 - married to James Hutton McMurray
mother of
James Stevenson McMurray 1863-1948

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

John McMurray 1798-1853
husband of 
Mary Hutton 1801-1896
mother & father of
James Hutton McMurray 1829-1919- married to Elizabeth Stevenson   
father of
James Stevenson McMurray 1863-1948

Technology for Family History

 

Went to a Family History Fair in Elk Grove, California.
In the class on technology, Mr. Weber taught that the only technology you need to be successful is a pencil and paper.


But- with the enhanced technology starter kit it makes it a lot easier:

Family Group Sheet

Research Log

Pedigree Chart

• Pencil
• Blank Family Group Sheet
• Blank Research Log
• Blank Pedigree Chart

 

 

This is really all you need to get started!  AMAZING!