Part 2:
Dunkirk to the Depression
Louie: Would you like another glass of champagne?
Anthony: champagne?
Louie: Yea,
Anthony: what's that?
Louie: Champagne
Anthony: Yea, (unint)
Louie: Here
Anthony: Yea! I don't want it so much (laughs) no
Louie: (speaks polish)
Anthony: Oh!
Louie: Ok then, in 1907 you were in Dunkirk and.. where did you work in? what factory was it? What was the name of the factory you worked in?
Anthony: American Locomotive Company
Louie: American Locomotive...
:: noise in background ::
Louie: Mo-More champagne? More cham- more champagne?
Anthony: No, I don't want champagne (Louie laughs) (unint)
Louie: What was the name now of this factory that you said you worked at?
Anthony: American Locomotive Company
Louie: Is that in Dunkirk? And uh, what did you do there?
Anthony: Work on the machine
Louie: How much did you get an hour there?
Anthony: 15 cents!
Louie: How long did you work there?
Anthony: 8 year
Louie: And uh - you got married in the mean time
Anthony: eh?
Louie: You got married in the mean time, how did you meet your wife?
Anthony: In a church
Louie: In a church? what was she doing?
Anthony: Singing upstairs
Louie: mm hm
Anthony: Ah, you know, singing
Louie: In a choir? and uh, what year did you get married?
Anthony: (unint)
Louie: What ah - what year did you get married?
Anthony: that was 1912
Louie: 12? And uh, where did you live after you got married?
Anthony: At my uh, what do you call that? My wife's mother
Louie: Uh huh, how long did you live there?
Anthony: 6 months
Louie: Then what did you do?
Anthony: Then I got (unint)
Louie: Uh huh
Anthony: 6 dollar I paid
Louie: When was your first child born?
Anthony: 1913
Louie: Do you remember the date?
Anthony: Ah, I don't know
Louie: March...
Anthony: Something like that, I don't know
Louie: ...9th 1913
Anthony: Yea, 13 march
Louie: and did you have any more children in Dunkirk?
Anthony: Johnny was born in Dunkirk too
Louie: What year was he born?
Anthony: 14
Louie: 14?
Anthony: he was 60 now.. how much, 63
Louie: And uh, where was Frank born?
Anthony: Detroit... on Junction
Louie: Oh, and you were still in Dunkirk, when you left Dunkirk, where did you go?
Anthony: Lima, Ohio
Louie: Lima Ohio? How did you get to Lima Ohio?
Anthony: On the freight train (Louie Laughs) Didn't have no money for bags then, it's free
Louie: Yea, uh, what made you go to Lima, Ohio?
Anthony: 1915
Louie: Yea, but what, why did you go there?
Anthony: There was no work in Dunkirk, laid off
Louie: Oh and -
Anthony: You went to Lima, I got a job right away
Louie: Did you take a -
Anthony: (unintelligible) Same job I used to work in Dunkirk
Louie: and uh,
Anthony: and after six months I went back to Dunkirk, then we go - then I went to Pennsylvania
Louie: Ok, but - when you were in Lima, you worked 6 months in Lima locomotive, and how did you get back to Dunkirk?
Anthony: On the express
Louie: Express?
Anthony: Free
Louie: Free? How come you got on free?
Anthony: ah, nighttime you know
Louie: You got on without paying?
Anthony: Yea, it was good, yea!
Louie: You were supposed to pay but you didn't pay
Anthony: (unintelligible) sat outside - hang on outside - between the two cars
Louie: (laughs)
Anthony: Yea! (unintelligible) Sandusky! Sandusky Ohio 90 miles from Lima. Them from Sandusky, I take freight train to Dunkirk
Louie: Was it?... Oh, I see. And then you got back to Dunkirk, and how long did you stay in Dunkirk after that? After you came back
Anthony: I didn't stay very long, I don't remember
Louie: So what did you do? Did you, uh, take your family from Dunkirk
Anthony: Yea, uh, we went to Natrona
Louie: Natrona Pennsylvania? And who went to Natrona from Dunkirk? You and your wife?
Anthony: Yea
Louie: And (florence?) and Johnny
Anthony: Yea
Louie: And you paid to go from Dunkirk
Anthony: Oh yea, we was on the train
Louie: You gave her a treat on the train
Anthony: Didn't go on the freight train
Louie: Did she want to go on a freight train?
Anthony: huh?
Louie: Didn't she want to go on a freight train?
Anthony: who?
Louie: Your wife
Anthony: No (both laugh)
Louie: and then what did you do when you got to Natrona, did you find (rent?) out there?
Anthony: (unintelligible) Karshinski
Louie: Who? Oh, Karshinski?
Anthony: (unintelligible) take the (rent?)
Louie: Uh huh, and did you work-
Anthony: (unintelligible (one year?) and from there I come over here to Detroit
Louie: Did you work in Natrona?
Anthony: (unintelligible) what's the name?
Louie: (? names a place where Anthony worked)
Anthony: (repeats name of place)
Louie: Uh huh, and how long did you work in Natrona?
Anthony: About six months
Louie: And then what did you do?
Anthony: Then I went to hospital, I was sick
Louie: You were sick, did you stay long in the hospital?
Anthony: the whole winter, 5 months
Louie: well, how did you survive?
Anthony: what
Louie: (laughs) how - what - where was the income coming in from?
Anthony: Income?
Louie: Yea, did you - did - did your wife work?
Anthony: Yea, she was working (unintelligible)
Louie: Uh huh
Anthony: (unintelligible) She was working, yea
Louie: And you only stayed there about 6 months, then - then where did you go from Natrona?
Anthony: Then we go to Detroit
Louie: How did you get to Detroit?
Anthony: On the express
Louie: Train?
Anthony: Train, yea
Louie: And, uh, once you got to Detroit, who met you in Detroit?
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: (name?)
Anthony: Yea
Louie: And then -
Anthony: then I got a job here
Louie: mm hmm
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: Yea..
Anthony: Only... 26 cents an hour, work at night.
Louie: work nights, then, uh, how long did you work at (?)
Anthony: Eight years
Louie: Eight years? It uh, where were you - where was your first residence here in Detroit? Where did you first live?
Anthony: Out on Livernois
Louie: On Livernois? And then where did you move from there?
Anthony: (unintelligible) Junction
Louie: Junction?
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: And uh, from St - from Junction to where?
Anthony: Ah, from Junction to (geiser?) from (geiser?) to... to... (virtes?) from (virtes?) to (parkinson?) from (parkinson?) to (freer?) from (freer?) I come over here.
Louie: And what year was that when you moved from Detroit to Dearborn?
Anthony: 23, 1923
Louie: Uh huh
Anthony: That's 54 years ago! 55 - this summer coming.
Louie: Uh huh - and uh, did you like it when you moved out here?
Anthony: (unintelligible) it was (unintelligible) that time there was (unintelligible) city
Louie: Yea
Anthony: in fact there was (fortune?) city (at that time?) (very good?)
Louie: mm hmm. Did you like living in Dearborn?
Anthony: Oh yea.
Louie: why? What difference was there between Dearborn and Detroit?
Anthony: Well... I don't know.
Louie: Was there more open space?
Anthony: Yea, the more open... (unintelligible) (favorite place?) (and I prefer?) house here, it's alright to move. Am I going to keep paying rent and keep the house empty? As soon as I furnish the house, I move in.
Louie: And you've lived in Dearborn since 1923, this is 78, what is that?
Anthony: 55 years
Louie: 55 years now. Are you ever sorry you moved to Dearborn?
Anthony: uh
Louie: Are you sorry you moved to Dearborn?
Anthony: no, it was good that I get rid of (unintelligible)
Louie: Alt - Altogether how many children did you have from 1908 till... How many children
Anthony: was 6, 4 boy and 2 girl
Louie: Did you have any m- You had a couple more than that didn't you?
Anthony: no...
Louie: Sure, there was a total of 10, wasn't there? originally? I think there was. Uh, where else did you work in Detroit besides (unintelligible) Axle?
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: You worked all over. How did you fare during the depression?
Anthony: depression? I work.. works.
Louie: You weren't working all through the depression.
Anthony: Oh, I work for the city during depression time.
Louie: What were you doing for the city?
Anthony: Clean up the street.
Louie: What, uh, was that uh, what did they call that? Where you lean on the shovel.
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: Yea, but what did they call that where you lean on the shovel. You know, you go to work, but you stand there all day with your foot on the -
Anthony: Oh, yea, we did work though, we just, you know, keep um -
Louie: Didn't they have a name for that though? Like W -
Anthony: Yea (unintelligible)
Louie: They call it WPA or something like that?
Anthony: Yea, WPA
Louie: Uh huh
Anthony: (unintelligible)
Louie: Did you work real hard on that?
Anthony: No.. that was the easy job
Louie: (Laughs) How much did they pay you a day?
Anthony: They give you.. you know, what you call - a check, for grocery and they give you oatmeal... and cornmeal... and a ticket for milk... and uh
Louie: And that's how you kept the family going
Anthony: yea... and I take (unintelligible) I got grocery, I didn't have no depression (have everything?) and the cornmeal they don't want to eat, you, so I take it to store, and he give me something else for that. He gots the small uh, chicken, you know, at the time, give the cornmeal to the chicken.