What do you have for me?
Farm animal friends;the horse and the peacock
Big brown eyes looking out!
Come along now, Bessie and Brownie
And good day to you, too!
March 27, 2009
January 20, 2009
The Great Depression-Tales of Wildcat, PA
The sisters
- My mother Jeannette in yard of home in Weston Place, PA.
- My, my grandfather looks handsome in his suit with his brother -in -law
During today’s celebration of my mother’s birthday, she talked about growing up during the Great Depression of the late 1920’s and 1930’s. Wildcat was the name of a village in Girardsville, Pa. They lived in coal-mining towns. The first place they lived was Lost Creek # 2, a coal mining village. That makes me a coal-miners granddaughter. You may recall the movie with Sissy Spacek , Coal Miners Daughter.
Wildcat,Girardsville, Weston Place and Lost Creek #2
They walked to school It was far! She said, they walked across a field and up a hill, possibly two miles or more. No such thing as buses. It snowed a lot. The front door was level with the ground. Once when my maternal grandfather opened the door, he saw that the snow that had fallen overnight was so high, that it was over my mother’s head, a child of 7 yrs old or so.
Growing up in the Great Depression, they didn’t have much. They didn’t have boots to walk in the snow to school. She said , they used tin cans. The tin cans used for boots were the size to fit their feet; they would stomp on th mash down to fit the foot shape. I cannot imagine this. Sounds like a snowshow of sorts. And by the way, sounds like school was not canceled for snow.
So by now, my dear readers , you must realize how much easier that we have it today. If you need boots, you have an multitude of places in which to shop for boots. My mother was not concerned with style such as the now Australian boots Uggs that many young women parade in during the winter months.
Her parents picked wild mushrooms in the forest and strung them on a string and hung straight across in the kitchen to dry. They also picked Huckleberries , blueberries and canned them.
When her parents were first married and she being the oldest recalls some of these details of the house. In Lost Creek # 2, they lived in a “double” house with her maternal grandmother and grandfather from Lithuania. My mom said that her grandmother worked hard all of the time at home. She made sauerkraut in large wooden barrel, it was kept in the basement. My mouth waters for a taste of that sauerkraut. She baked bread, in the coal stove as well as” Coshi”, A potato mixture that was baked in a large oblong pan. She remembers the nice crust on top of the “Coshi” (pronounce- co-she-). A dish called Kapoosta was cooked, made of pork and cabbage. ( recipe is in my blog ). My mother’s father, my grandfather emigrated from Italy as a child of six years old by ship with his mother to Ellis Island in New York. Being that he had a taste for Italian foods, “an Italian stomach”, my grandmother learned to cook that traditional Italian dish of Polenta. It was served with tomato sauce. She also cooked pasta for lunch on Sundays. Once living in Weston Place in their own house, they would visit the gradmother each Sunday and have pasta again for supper. Her Uncle Tommy also lived in the house before he was married. His preference for the pasta was fresh made, so when she recalls looking out the window and upon seeing his car, the pasta was put on to boil.
My great grandmother, called grammy also raised chickens, and 1 rooster. Mom can remember hearing the rooster make his call “cock -a-doodle-do” in the early morning hours. Great grammy had a back yard shed where her she made her own whiskey. She remembers peeking in there and her grandmother saying to her to shoo away from there. She served it to people. This may have been during Prohibition or just lack of shops to buy liquor.
There were no grocery stores. There was a train tracks that ran in the front of the house; they would hop on ( it moved slow, she recalls ) and head to the town of Shenandoah. There was limited groceries there.
At the front of the house , her grandmother planted flowers. Her mother in later years did not like the hobby of planting flowers. But my mother did carry on that knack for growing plants. My grandfather loved the year she planted zinnia flowers outside our back door, the multi-colored hues of lavender, pink and yellow. I degress.
In the back yard was her vegetable garden and the chicken coop, rooster, shed for whiskey making, and a coal hole. There was a hole to dig for coal right in the backyard. She remember watching a man from Philadelphia come with a truck to buy the coal.. The kids would sit and watch. Since there was no indoor plumbing at this house, they went outside to the out house, one for kids and one for adults. There was also a ”Bathhouse” for the adults. The kids had their baths in the kitchen in a wooden tub.
My mother has an old kerosene lamp…. I asked her what it was used for. She said it was to light the way in the coal mines. My great grandfather and grandfather both mined the coal and also wore miner’s caps with a light on.
Comments
If there is anyone reading this that lives in Pennsylvania in these towns, I’d appreciate a comment. I’d like to know if the coal mines are still operable. When I did a map search of the streets, I can see the vast area occupied by the mines.. My mother recalls a kind of dust in the air living near the coal mines.
Again, Comments are welcomed. Many people stop by from other countries and if you’d like to share your story or your great grandparents story of those years,please drop me a line under comments.
Addendum: May 18,2009
This writer sees that many come to this blog with an interest in the photo of 1920’s suit, 1930’s suit, grandfather suit. Your Comments are welcomed.
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www.pencilsandbooks.wordpress.com
My parents wedding
Look at the coal transport system overhead!
My mom's school photo, age 6
My mothere's brother , Undo, (Anthony)
