Mae Dye: household relations, 1910s, 1920s, flappers, women's movement
Tom Camarda: race relations, suburbanization, Vietnam, Woodstock
Wanda Houke: housing, World War II, women in paid work force, race relations, suburbanization
Felix Pennant: immigration, race relations, 1960s
William Charles Stafford: 1960s, Vietnam, race relations
Joahanna Kokott: immigration, westward expansion, native Americans
Madonna Haag: urban life in the 1920s and 1930s
Harry Peterson: immigration, ethnic communities, entrepreneurship
Olivia Harris: occupational mobility, women's work in World War II, postwar economic boom, liberalism
Achsa Ault: westward expansion, farming, railroads
Tommy Lee Bailey: sharecropping, northern migration, New Deal relief
Richard Houser: 1950s, juvenile delinquency, rock n' roll, school desegregation, Vietnam, politics
Leonard Harold Reed, Jr.: Depression, automobiles, World War II, accounting, energy crisis, Vietnam
Mario Oldani: immigration, ethnic communities, Prohibition, Depression,
Charlotte Andersen: immigration, family arrangements, World War II, Vietnam,
Mohammed Farooq Ghani: race relations

My Aunt Mae is the oldest living person on my Mother's side of the family. She was born November 26, 1910 in Dysburg, Tennessee. Her family later moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She was born into an upper-middle class family. Her parents owned boarding houses. They rented most often to men who were working and often away from their families.

Being born into a family that had money, her life was slightly different than many of those around her. Her family had domestic help. They had a live-in housekeeper, she lived in the basement, named Nigger Mag. Mag was the daughter of former slaves. Although she was called Nigger Mag, my aunt states that her family had the highest respect for her and that she was a second mother to my aunt.

When I asked Aunt Mae how the depression affected her, she said " it didn't". She had a part-time job at a local dime store. She worked, but not out of necessity. She said, "I always had what I needed and never wanted for anything". This reflects her family's social position.

The roaring twenties were a fun time for Aunt Mae. She broke many traditional roles by being a "Flapper". She drank, smoked and dated. She thought women could have fun just like men. The breaking of traditional women's roles continued until the age of twenty-six when she married my Uncle Charlie. At that time, that was her third marriage. Her second marriage lasted slightly over one month. She married him on July 3rd and divorced him on August 9th. Aunt Mae thought that giving women the right to vote was something that should have never been an issue. We are equal is a theme she repeated often. Women who work was a big issue for my Aunt. She saw nothing wrong with women working if they had to help support their family. She also thought that if a woman had children that she should stay at home if at all possible. My aunt never had children and she didn't need to work. She said, "I work because I want to and I am too independent not to work." She liked the idea of having both her money and his money to spend.

Aunt Mae thought the Civil Rights movement was a good thing. She said, "we are all Americans". In her mind, black people were no different than white and that "if God didn't want them, He would not have created them". To her, skin color is just that: color. She respects the person not their color.

When I asked my Aunt her thought on Roosevelt's New Deal policies, she said, "He was a great president who put this country where it is today." Many people, according to her, would never be able to sustain their position that they have today without social security.

My Aunt's life has been on of fun and happiness. To her, life is one big party. She continues to be a fun person who everyone likes to be associated.

Joseph Camarda and Genevieve Donnelly met through mutual friends in New York City in 1940. Joseph’s parents were from Italy and Genevieve’s family was from Ireland. On May 25, 1947, they had their second child, Thomas Patrick Camarda. At the time, they were living in a 6-story apartment complex in Manhattan. Tom and his older brother Joe (3 years older) loved to play on the street with the neighborhood kids. Tom’s earliest recollection is of his mother calling for him to come inside from the window up above.

Right before Tom started kindergarten the family moved to South Ozone Park in Queens. They rented a tall, thin house that was common in that area. The neighborhood they lived in was integrated but not poor. Tom remembers that in 3rd grade he was the only white kid in his class. During this elementary school period for Tom, scooters made from wooden cartons and roller skates were extremely popular in the community. Yo-yo’s were also a sensation. Tom and the family went fishing a lot at both Baisley Pond Park and the South shore of Long Island.

In 1955, the family moved to Albertson, Long Island. Albertson is a suburban community in Nassau County. This neighborhood was not as integrated as the Queens neighborhood.

When living in Manhattan and Queens, Tom’s father Joseph was a machinist at Metalcraft. He eventually became a supervisor there, and right before moving, Joseph started his own sheet metal shop, Electron, right next to where Shea Stadium is located today in Queens. Electron specialized in building chassis for computers.

Tom took an interest in auto mechanics at an early age and by high school considered this a career choice. After the first year of high school he was going to trade school in the morning and high school in the afternoon. Also, the last 2 years of high school he was training as a mechanic at the local Gulf gas station.

Upon graduation Tom started working for Electron but was quickly drafted for the Vietnam War in September, 1966. He spent the first 6 months in boot camp in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. His company was the only one living in tents instead of barracks, and this was during the winter. Before leaving Fort Jackson he took a skills-test and it was determined he should be an auto mechanic in the army. He was then moved to Fort Knox, Kentucky, to teach tank and truck recovery techniques. This included driving them through a 10-feet deep mud puddle.

In January 1968 Tom was sent to Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. He served as a motor pool sergeant and was there for the TET Offensive. He was about 5 miles from the closest bombing raid. He also worked in Ban Me Thout, a Vietnamese City. There was located the Grand Bungalow, Teddy Roosevelt’s old hunting lodge. In September Tom was returned home to his family on Long Island.

He resumed work as an auto mechanic and continued to live with his family in Albertson. In the summer of 1969 Tom and a friend decided to go to the Woodstock festival. When they were approximately 10 miles from the event site they hit a solid block of traffic and heard on the radio that traffic was not moving. They opted to go home instead of fighting traffic and the crowd. Tom did not have anti-war sentiments and was not very fond of those that did, but he enjoyed music.

In early 1970 Tom was at a club where his friend was a drummer in the band playing that night. He saw Janis Gayle Guyton and asked her to dance. She accepted and they became good friends. Gayle was from Louisiana and had just graduated with a degree in library science from Louisiana State University. She had accepted a job on Long Island as a librarian at the North Babylon Public Library.

Tom and his brother Joe started Adramac (Camarda spelled backwards) in 1970, a sheet metal shop of their own. In 1972, Tom decided to go to Suffolk County Community College and left the business mostly in his brother’s hands. Less than a year later Joe was killed in an auto accident.

Wanda M. Houke was born on March 30, 1934, in Columbia, Missouri, along with her twin sister Wanita. They were third and fourth, among five children. Her father worked as a plumber, always employed by another person. During the 1930’s times were hard for my mother and her family. The economy was just starting to recover, under the guidance of Franklin D. Roosevelt, from the great depression and it reflected on my mother’s family. They didn’t own a house but rented houses and frequently moved, always trying to upgrade their status. They spent lots of time with their extended family members on a family farm, not far from Columbia. Her mother worked as a housewife. She took care of the children, made their clothes from fabric and flour sacks, and grew a garden.

When the United States entered World War II, my mother was 7 years old. As she went to grammar school she participated in numerous scrap metal, paper, and rubber drives. Her father was hired by the military to help install the plumbing in some of the midwestern military bases, such as, Ft. Leonard Wood and Ft. Leavenworth. In 1943 her brother, Raymond Houke, was drafted into the United States Navy upon graduating high school and served in New Guinea during the war. The war ended and Wanda soon entered in high school. In 1950, at the age of 16, she took her first job working in a dime store. As she grew up in Columbia, she noticed the wide spread segregation. Blacks could eat only in their own restaurants, sit in the balcony in the movies, and had to give the right of way to whites. Wanda graduated from Hickman high school in 1952, and took a secretarial job, working for the Super Intend ant of Public Schools in Columbia. After working in that job for a year and deciding that she was wasting her time living in Columbia, Wanda, decided to move to Saint Louis with a female friend of hers to start a new life.

In 1953, at the age of 18, Wanda moved to Saint Louis and applied at the city unemployment office. She was hired by AT&T, as a typist and moved into a boarding house on Washington Blvd. There she was part of a steno-pool that typed various letters and documents that were given to her, earning forty-two dollars a week. As the Korean War broke out she was confused on what exactly they were fighting for, there was no clear enemy. Later that year, while living at the boarding house, she met a newly returned army soldier, Paul Oliver, and fell in love. The two dated for six years and finally married in 1960. After marriage my father acquired a job with Remington-Rand, where her fixed and repaired typewriters, where he made one hundred dollars a week. By this time Wanda was making eighty dollars a week having been promoted, almost as much as my father, male and female equality in the work place was becoming a reality.

In 1965, Wanda had her first child, Nancy, and had to quit her job at AT&T, devoting her full time and attention to her child. Paul then switched occupations and started being a computer technician with the newly formed Sperry Univac Company. As their family grew, Paul and Wanda felt the necessity to move to the suburban town of Glendale in 1967. Later that year my mother had her second child, Cindy, and a third, Diane, in 1969. The Vietnam War and the various riots around the country didn’t affect my mother, she was too busy taking care of her family, although it couldn’t be ignored either. During the late 1960’s and 1970’s, Wanda and her family lived from paycheck to paycheck, saving every penny. She sacrificed her own personal needs and spent the money she was given on her children. In 1976, her fourth and final child, Paul was born.

Felix Pennant was born to a farming family in 1935. Felix was not born in the United States but in Jamaica, WI. He grew up on the land that his father owned. On the family land, they grew assorted vegetables and fruits. The family also had livestock which consisted of cows, pigs and goats. Felix would help on the farm before and after school with his older brother David. His father wanted more than a life of farming for his son. As a teenager, Felix was sent to a trade school to become a tailor. He was a quick learner and worked odd jobs to help his father pay his school fees. After completing his training, Felix worked as a tailor, but felt the money he was making would not be enough to support a family in Jamaica. Felix decided to migrate to England.

Felix left for England in November of 1959. He had a hard time adjusting to the cold climate. He had never seen snow before and he marveled at it, and cursed it with the same breath. He tried finding work as a tailor but it was difficult. He faced racial discrimination at every interview. He would go to the local pub and watch TV. He would see news reports about the racial inequality in America and think to himself, "things aren’t any better here." Felix decided to run a tailoring business out of his small one bed room flat. Business was slow at first, and it only got worst.

Felix decided it was time to find a new line of work if he intended to survive. He was hired as a truck loader by a local manufacturing company. He made friends with one of the drivers a convinced the driver to teach him how to drive the trucks. After receiving his license to drive the rigs; he convinced his boss to move him up to a driving position. He met his future wife Lynette in the summer of 1963; they were later married in the spring of 1964.

After the birth of his third child Rosemary in March of 1968, Felix felt there was more that the world could offer him. He made plans with his wife to move the family to America. He and his wife had concerns about the current racial climate in America. The family needed to figure out where could they raise their family in America. They watched and listened to any kind of news report they could find about America. They watched in horror as they saw peaceful demonstrators get attacked by police dogs and fire hoses. Felix remembers the riots and the peaceful demonstrations that he watched on TV. He recalls the student protest against the Vietnam war. He wondered if he was making the right choice for his family. They also spoke to people they knew had family in America to make a decision about where they would raise their family.

Felix decided that New York City would be his port of entry into the United States. He would leave his family and send for them once he was settled in America. He found work at the hotel Waldorf Astoria in mid-town Manhattan. He started out as a painters apprentice. He later sent for his family to join him in America. Felix worked many years in the decorating department of the hotel. He would get side jobs from the hotel clientele on the weekends to redecorate their homes. Felix soon became the interior decorator for the hotel. With the extra money he was making, Felix invested in the buying and selling of real-estate. This is where he made his fortune.

While continuing to work at the hotel for the benefits, Felix began to acquire wealth, and was able to provide his family with the kind of life he had always dreamed of. Upon reflecting back on his life, Felix felt that only desire and determination allowed him to fulfill his dreams. As I listened to him talk about his life, it made me proud to be able to call him Dad!

In the United States during the 1960s, there existed a somewhat unstable and active political climate. Women lobbied for equal opportunity; students and other groups protested the sending of American troops to Vietnam; workers rallied in unions for living wages; and amidst the chaos, African Americans fought for civil rights. While some movements toward the end of civil rights were violent, such as the tactics used by the Black Panthers, others were peaceful, such as that headed by Reverend Martin Luther King. During the mid-1960s, King marched in the city of Chicago, Illinois, the birthplace and home of my father, William Charles Stafford.

Within this climate, my father lived in a southern suburb of Chicago with my mother, Susan. During this period, William describes the tenor of the presiding American attitude toward military duty as necessary and assumed. Almost all men of appropriate age, health, and circumstances were expected to serve a tour of duty, either in the military or in the military reserves. Rather than enlisting in the active United States military, William voluntarily joined the United States National Guard, serving for a term of six years. He chose to do this in order to serve in a clerical capacity, rather than risk being drafted and having no control as to which unit he might be assigned. The Vietnam War served as the first military conflict since the Civil War to enact the practice of drafting Americans.

William completed his eight-week basic training at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri. During his remaining five plus years of service, he participated in military drills one weekend a month, and also engaged in additional drills for two weeks out of each year. He asserts that everyone he came in contact with, whether they supported the United States action in Vietnam, supported the soldiers fighting in that action. Of course, he was immersed in the company of fellow National Guard volunteers. In his mind, the only people that disrespected soldiers were "Jane Fonda and long-haired wackos." William described two particular situations he experienced while serving in the National Guard as memorable and striking. Helping patrol the streets of Chicago during 1968, the year of Martin Luther King’s death, he witnessed the shutdown of public buses on the Saturday following King’s assassination, in order to avoid fueling any fires of destruction or rioting cropping up in the city. Some passengers were stranded in neighborhoods they knew nothing about, with no foreseeable way to return home. William remembers the confusion and worry of these passengers as buses let them out randomly along the streets of Chicago, as the buses were ordered to return to their depots.

And yet amid the chaos, a moment of peace stands out in William’s memory. He was touched to see African American families walking to church on the Palm Sunday following Martin Luther King’s death. A life is certainly shaped partly by experience, as in the case of William Stafford’s tour of duty in the National Guard, and he was awed by the steadfast resolution of these families to attend worship services at a time when most residents of the area he patrolled would not voluntarily leave their homes, lest they become victims of the ensuing violence that brewed. William made what he felt was his contribution toward keeping the peace in Chicago in the mid and late 1960s, and in the process, was forever changed by the events occurring during that period of time.

Johanna Kokott was born in 1842 in the village of Domesko, near Oppeln, Silesia, Germany. It is believed that her forefathers were of Polish descent. Her father, Franz Kokott, owned a farm of thirty-six acres, and at the same time did the blacksmith work for Count Gerlah, who had an estate adjacent to the Kokott farm. Johanna’s future husband, Albert Monek, was born in 1835 on a farm near Berlin. The name at that time was spelled Mylneck, but was simplified some time later to its present form. In Polish it was pronounced like Minyek and meant "little mill." At the age of sixteen he became an apprentice to Franz Kokott to learn blacksmithing. In time he became an excellent blacksmith and went to Berlin to work in the railroad shops. When Albert had saved 2,800 Austrian dollars, he left the railroad shops to visit the Kokott family. He found all the children gone except Johanna. Old Franz Kokott was worried because there was no one in line to take over the farm, and so after many discussions it was decided that Albert would marry Johanna, pay off the mortgage, and take over the farm. They were married in 1863.

Early in the 1870’s the farmers of Silesia were advised that there were wonderful opportunities in America for people to become wealthy. The German government encouraged emigration, especially to Argentina, but the Monek family had friends in the United States. One friend in St. Cloud, Minnesota, wrote to them and asked them to come to St. Cloud, but another friend advised them to come to Wisconsin. They decided in favor of Wisconsin. In the meantime, Albert’s sister, Mary, had married a woodcutter named Joseph Scripsick. When her two sons, Joseph and Michael, were half-grown, her husband developed an infection in his foot which caused his death. The widow had no way to make a living, so Johanna offered her and her children a home. In 1872, the Monek family sold their farm for 3,600 Austrian dollars. Albert and Johanna, along with Mary Scripsick and one of her sons, Michael, packed their belongings and sailed for the United States. When they arrived in Wisconsin they bought a 160-acre farm on the outskirts of Arcadia and opened up a blacksmith shop. The Moneks lived there for six years. Albert then took an interest in politics and set about establishing his citizenship.

In the 1870’s, the United States government opened up land for settlement in the territory of Dakota and other western states. Johanna and Albert Monek decided that Dakota would suit them very well. In the fall of 1878, Albert went to Jamestown, then Fort Seward, to look over the land. He was so pleased with the rolling prairies that he took up a tree claim and a preemption totaling 320 acres, four miles east of Jamestown. Later the preemption was exchanged for a homestead and he returned to Wisconsin to dispose of his property there. In April of 1879, he came back to Jamestown with his family and the household furniture, farm machinery, two cows, four oxen, and a food supply. The Monek family rented a house in town where they lived while the buildings were being erected on the new farm. Upon her arrival, Johanna Monek looked about her and saw Indians and soldiers everywhere. It was truly a wild and uncivilized scene to one who had lived the narrow life of a European. But Johanna had hope, courage, and an excited interest in the country which was to be her new home. On the very day of her arrival she, with her husband and older children, climbed the hills east of Jamestown and gazed long and earnestly at the vast expanse of wild prairie.

Jamestown at this time was known as Fort Seward. Indians were camped all along the James River, guarded by 400 cavalry soldiers. In 1880 a governmental order came to abandon Fort Seward and move all Indians to Fort Totten, near Devil’s lake. The Moneks witnessed the transfer, which was a truly impressive procession a mile long. Some eighty wagons, each drawn by two yokes of oxen, carried the women and children. The Indian men walked or rode ponies and all were guarded and directed by the 400 cavalrymen. Even after the exodus, Indians were still to be seen. Traveling in groups, they went back and forth between Fort Totten and Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. These groups would often stop at the Monek house and stand around looking in the windows until given a loaf of bread or a piece of bacon.

The Moneks lived on their homestead for many years. The buildings were rebuilt, enlarged, and beautified. Shrubs and trees surrounded the house and the garden was always a riot of colorful flowers. About 1906, when their children were mostly grown, the farm work became too heavy for Johanna and her husband, and so they sold the farm and moved to Jamestown. They bought a frame house next to the old Tilden house, and there the old couple spent the remainder of their lives. Johanna Kokott Monek passed away on January 30, 1914 and her husband, Albert Monek, died on February 8, 1917.

My grandmother, Madonna Walsh (Haag), was born on Feb. 7, 1923, in the small town of Germantown, Illinois. She was the oldest of seven children, six girls and one boy, born at home. They were born to Alexander Haag and Margaret Eversgerd. Alexander's parents had come to Illinois in the mid 1860's from Boden Boden, Germany. Margaret's parents came from the Netherlands about the same time.

Alexander was mostly self taught, with some help from his parents. In 1922 Alexander became a teacher in Germantown at Bottom Boys. Then in 1924 he and Margaret were married. They moved to St. Louis and he began teaching at Speedway Business College. Margaret, like many other people, did not go to college. As far as education goes, she was home taught up to the fourth grade. She became a very good house wife, doing most of the cooking and cleaning (Not to say that is what makes a good/bad house wife). She would also take her cleaning skills to many other homes in hopes of making a little extra money to save. In addition to being busy cleaning for everyone, she took people into the house, 4-5 at a time, called "roomers." Most of the "roomers" were Alexander's students, who would be charged three dollars a month to help pay the rent ($40 a month). As can be imagined the small four bedroom house was fairly crowded.

Madonna's house was on a block with about fifty other homes, of which, only one had a car. If you needed to get any place you would either ride the street car for one token a ride (thirty-five cents would get you four tokens) or walk. From walking so much Madonna would have to replace the soles of her shoes (since new shoes at $1.98 cost too much). To do that she would use cardboard or tin cans and glue one to the bottom of the shoe. Most of her clothes came from feed sacks, which were cloth, containing the feed for the chickens they raised.

Saving money was not really an option for Madonna. Rather, all the money made by the family went to the family. Madonna would scrub anyone's porch for twenty-five cents. Her sister delivered messages, on bicycle, for Western Union. In the summer the coal truck would come and dump the coal, for winter heating, in the front yard. Everyone would have to help shovel the coal into the storage bin down in the basement. With a five ton storage bin they only had to do this once a year. In addition to working, Madonna also attended Beaumont Tutorial School for two years.

Madonna continued to work, and she also went to French Mother's Convent to learn how to knit, embroider, and learn other useful skills. In 1936, she went to Comptometer School to eventually work for a railroad. She would go to school during the day and work at Statler Hotel at night. Five years later in, 1941, she received her diploma from Comptometer School and would go to work for the Wabash Railroad. She worked at the railroad until 1949, when she was married to my grandfather.

For fun Madonna would play games like hopscotch and kickball. On Thanksgiving the family would go to a show, which was ten cents. During the summer she would go to Fairgrounds Park and swim. There were so many people who wanted to swim there would be forty-five minute shifts. After forty-five minutes another group would come in and the previous would get out. As she got older Madonna and her friends walked, five miles, to SLU basketball games.

Everyone had their favorite food, but that did not mean they ate them very often. You ate whatever was on the table, whether you liked it or not. If you did not like the food you would not eat that meal. Madonna's mother did make a large quantity of cookies. So many, in fact, she would store them in a ten gallon bucket. In addition, a variety of juices were often made. On Saturday Madonna's mother went shopping at Kroegers. Meat was bought the day they planned to eat it; while fifteen cents worth would feed the entire family.

Madonna feels that she had a good childhood. She had a home to go to every night and a family that loved her. She felt that she was better off than most people, since she always had food on her plate and clothes on her back. The times were tough during this period, but so were the people. My grandmother has taught me that you have to not only create opportunities for yourself, but make the best of them as well.

Olivia Harris was born on April 23, 1924 in Birgilina County, Virginia. She was the second of three children. Her father worked for the state of Virginia, doing road construction. He dug trenches by hand with a shovel for one dollar a day. Her mother stayed at home and tended to both the children and the housework, as many American women did.

During Olivia’s high school experience she attended seventeen different schools. Her fathers job required that they build five to ten miles of road at a time, therefore when completed he had to move to the next location. By the time her father retired in 1943 he had accomplished the American dream of the time, to be in the highest level of office available in your line of work. He had climbed the ladder and was then Supervisor of the Virginia Road Dept.

In 1942, when Olivia was eighteen she moved to Washington DC with nothing but a old wooden trunk full of her belongings. In Washington DC she worked as a clerk typist inside the pentagon for one thousand four hundred ninety two dollars as a annual salary. During the war women in the work field became more common allowing Olivia to transfer after only eight months.

In December of 1942 Olivia transferred to the Furniture Exposition Building in North Carolina. Production of goods had been ceased in order to manufacture war materials so the building was vacant. In North Carolina she worked with both World War I veterans along with World War II veterans. In April of 1943 Olivia became an administrative assistant, working her way up in society as her father had.

In 1945, Olivia was transferred once again to St. Louis. At a office party on September 6, 1946 held on the Admiral she met Norman S. Dalton, and they danced every song the entire night. Norman proposed to Olivia on December 23, of the same year.

The two were married on the June 21,1947, during the beginning of what was known as a time of great prosperity after World War II. The war was over and everyone was ready to spend the money they had saved while the government rationed supplies.

Together they bought a house in the suburbs in what is know called Old town Ferguson. Since Olivia’s newly wed husband was a veteran of the war the G.I. Bill of rights helped them find a good low down payment for their house. They both were still employed by the government and were making enough money to be considered part of the middle class.

In 1951 they had their first son, Robert Dalton, who contributed to the growing number of baby boomers in the United States. Their second son, Norman Dalton, was born on July 23, 1953, he was also part of the baby boomers. Both, Olivia and Norman were supporters of the democratic parties Keynesian Economic Theory. They believed in government intervention as well as government support. Both thought of Roosevelt’s New Deal as the main factor in the United States coming out of such a deep depression. As the economy continued to grow Olivia and Norman decided to have another child David Dalton who was born in 1956.

Olivia and her husbands life greatly reflected the good and bad parts of the United States past. Together they learned how to save money and use the governments opportunities to their advantage. Olivia believes that if it wouldn’t have been for Roosevelt entering the World War II in 1941 she never would have met her husband, and would have had a completely different life.

Achsa Ault was born in Deerfield Township, Fulton County, IL. on May 6,1878 and died Feb.21, 1946 in Kansas, near Wichita. She was the daughter of Lebbeus Bigelow Ault and his wife Margaret Ann (Sexton). She was the ninth of eleven children born to her parents.

Achsa married Leonidas "Lon" Turner on Nov. 8, 1899 at Blyton, IL. Her brother Lebbeus and his future wife, Elsie Frazier were their witnesses. They lived in Illinois until January 1908 when they moved to Kechi, KS. on a farm. By that time they had four children- Glenn, Anna, Howard, and Clair.

Lon had a twin sister, Lenora, who married Arthur Riley "Toad" Jones. Both families owned farms in Fulton County, IL. About 1908 the Turner twins and their spouses decided that Kansas was where they would like to live, so both families sold their farms and moved to Sedgwick County, KS, where they purchased adjacent farms in the Wichita area.

The move to Kansas was made by railroad. The women and children and household goods went via passenger train while the livestock and implements were sent by freight train. The men traveled on the freight train to keep the live stock in good shape and from trampling each other in route.

Only three months after arriving in Kansas, Lon and Achsa had a new daughter, Harriet. Later, six more children were born to them- Frances, Burl, Jake, Gene, Wayne, and Doris.

Lon and Achsa eventually owned 400 acres of land. They raised wheat, barley, oats and other grains. They also had cows, hogs, horses, and chickens. Besides the regular farm duties they owned and operated a dairy called Highland Dairy. This was the family business. Their day started at the crack of dawn, with Lon and the boys feeding and milking around 70 head of cows and delivering the milk. Achsa and the girls bottled the milk and made butter and sold cream.

After the morning chores were done it was time for the huge breakfast Achsa and the girls had prepared. It was the most welcoming event of the morning. Their typical breakfast in the 1920’s consisted of two large iron skillets of sausage, two or three dozen small new potatoes cooked and peeled the night before, chopped and fried in a small amount of lard, one large skillet of gravy made with whole milk, a large kettle of oatmeal served with heavy cream, two loaves of homemade bread and butter, coffee, or milk. Sometimes they also had pancakes made the size of a dinner plate. There were barely any leftovers if any at all.

Achsa had a large flock of chickens, a big garden, and lots of flowers inside and outside of the home. She also sewed most of the children’s clothes and loved to piece quilts. When asked what he remembered about his mother, one of the sons said," Work, work, work! If she wasn’t working in the garden, she was patching pants, or taking care of the chickens!"

Achsa died on Lon’s 75^th birthday. She was 68 years old. Lon continued to farm until shortly before he died on Sept. 19, 1960. They had eleven children and 31 grandchildren.

Harriet Margaret was the fifth child and first born on Kansas soil after the westward move. She married Howard Richard Means on Jan. 8, 1936 in the parsonage of the Methodist Church in Kechi, KS. Howard was born Aug. 9, 1907. They had four children- Marjorie, Dean, Charlene, and Richard. Harriet completed her education at the Highland Rural School just one block from the farmhouse. Harriet prepared for a career as a homemaker by distinguishing herself through the 4-H Club and State at a National 4-H Competition in sewing. Howard worked as a Stillman-Engineer for Cities Service Oil. He retired in 1972. Howard died Jan. 17, 1992. Harriet died May 26, 1998.

Marjorie Alberta Means was born Dec. 21, 1936 in Maude, OK. On Oct. 14, 1955 she married Jack Ronald Perkins at Broadway Christian Church in Wichita, KS. They have two children: Pamela and Daniel. Marjorie graduated from West High in 1955 and has been a homemaker for the past 47 years. She cared for her parents their last couple of years because of their ill health. Jack worked for Roadway Express for 25 years as terminal manager in Alton, IL. Jack died Feb. 10,1994. Marjorie remarried to Donald Pettig on Sept. 30,1995.

Pamela Kaye was born Sept. 6, 1956 in Wesley Hospital in Wichita, KS. She married Mark Steven Henke Oct. 18, 1975. They have three daughters: Teresa, Jessica, and Stephanie. All three girls were born and raised in St. Louis, MO. Mark and Pamela divorced in 1984. Pamela graduated from St. Luke’s School of Nursing in 1977. She received her B.S.N and Master’s degree at Webster University. She worked for St. Luke’s hospital for 13 years and raised the kids as a single mother. She remarried to Richard Allen Bligh on June 25, 1994. Since then she has been a homemaker.

I am Stephanie Michelle Henke, born July 24, 1981. Achsa was my great-great grandmother, Harriet was my great grandmother, Marjorie is my grandmother, and Pamela is my loving mother. My great-great grandparents took part in the westward expansion and were very successful. Most of my family was born and raised in the west. That is where you can still find most of them.

My Grandmother, Tommie Lee Bailey, was born in Lula, Mississippi in 1932. She is the daughter of Fannie Mae King and Harrison Benitt, but was raised by her biological mother and stepfather, Jessie Simmons, when her father and mother separated. Jessie Simmons was a Methodist preacher and always taught his family to trust in the Lord no matter how hard the situation. While in Mississippi, her stepfather worked as a sharecropper to help ends meet. He would hall lumber from different parts of Mississippi. He didn’t gain much of a profit working as a sharecropper because he only got a portion of the money that he earned. The white men that he worked for took half his earnings, and left him with little money to provide for his family.

My Grandmother would often go to the grocery store to get food for her family. She would buy things on credit if her father didn’t have the money to pay for the food she was buying. Her father would pay off the debt that he owned at the end of the month. There was not a need for my Grandmother to go to the store much because most of the food her family ate was home grown. Sugar, lard, meal, flour, and soap were the basic things that were brought from the store. They had a large garden, and it took a lot of time and effort to prepare it for the winter. For winter, my Grandmother would help her mother sit the peas out to dry, and she would assist in taking the sugarcane to the cane mill to make syrup. The syrup was used to go on top of hot biscuits. She also helped her mother cure meat (hang it up to dry and paint it with a brown solution and then smoke it for two to three hours). Once the meat was cured, it was hung on a crib and would sit the whole winter and not spoil. They didn’t have a refrigerator, but an icebox was used to keep food cool. Ice was bought to put in the icebox. It was bought by the pound (25 or 100).

They later moved from Lula Mississippi to Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 1946 to find a better life for themselves. Once they moved North, they were faced with something even greater, the Great Depression. My grandmother remembers that her stepfather had a hard time finding work during the Great Depression. He would travel to a certain place that was owned by the United States Government or as she remembers, Uncle Sam, and he would bring back sugar, lard, butter, cheese, rice, powdered milk, and powdered eggs. These foods were given out to all of those who were in need of it. Food and clothes stamps were among the other things that were rationed and given out in proportions. My Grandmother wasn’t affected much by the Depression because her mother was blessed to get a job working as a housekeeper for some wealthy white people. The father of the house was a judge named Judge Oliver. My Great Grandmother would also clean his sons house who was a lawyer, his name was Lawyer Oliver. They would give my Grandma plenty of clothes and food.

My Grandmother was the fifth generation of a slave named Silus Underwood. He was her great grandfather, and often told her stories of his life as a slave. He was one day working in the kitchen with his mother, who was a housemaid for some white people. On that day, some white men came by the house looking for some slaves that might have been for sale. His master sold him, and he was separated from his mother. Once he was sold to these men, they sold him again at an auction. He was sold on the block (a tree stomp), and said being separated from his mother was the most devastating day of his life. He was six years old. I believe that when my Grandmother heard these stories she began to want to do as much as she could for herself, so that one day she could make a better life for her family to come. My Grandmother moved to East St. Louis, Illinois in 1955, when she married my Grandfather, Richard H. Bailey. They did very well. My Grandfather bought some land, and built him a house. My Grandmother applied for a teaching position at Venice highschool after finishing college at the age of 34, and was hired. She continues to strive for excellence.

My father, Richard Michael Houser was born on June 20, 1942, in the middle of WWII. His father did not go overseas to fight because the Standard Oil Company, which was considered part of the war effort, employed him. Richard was the third of seven children, and he did not have a normal childhood. He had a brother three years older than him, who was born with Muscular Dystrophy. Consequently Richard spent much of his childhood pushing his crippled older brother around in a wheelchair. His brother faithfully read the Bible, and was a diligent about going to church, but he did not ever get better. He slowly died right before Richard's young eyes. Watching his brother die made Richard skeptical about there being a reward for living a good life.

Richard started to hang out with a bad crowd, the year before his brother Tommy died. He was in the seventh grade. It was 1953. The local pool hall became Richard's refuge from the depressing scene, Richard's household became as his brother neared death. At the pool hall, Richard learned how to gamble, he developed friends who introduced him to liquor, and he cultivated a three pack a day smoking habit. On the day that his brother died, Richard was called into the principal's office at Ritenour Junior High, and was given the bad news. Richard was sent home, but he did not go home. He went to the pool hall. Because of the emotional pain, he did not want to see his dead brother.

From that day on in 1954, Richard fervently embraced the rebellious lifestyle of rebellious teenagers, in the fifties. He dropped out of school in 1955. The pool hall and rock n roll became his education. Elvis, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly were his instructors. Ritenour schools integrated one year after Richard dropped out. Before that, African American children were bused from Breckenridge Hills to "separate but equal" schools in St. Louis city. Richard worked some jobs, from 1955 to 1959 but he did not take any of them too seriously. He was young and wild and determined to enjoy life, but in 1959, he met Justine Barbour, and became civilized.

Justine Barbour became Mrs. Richard Houser in 1960. From 1961 to 1965 Justine gave birth to four little Houser's. Richard went from wild young man to responsible father. His education was limited, but he worked hard to provide for his family. He drove a trash truck by day, and took a part time job driving a taxicab at night. His family never went hungry. Because of his children at first and his age later, Richard never had to go to Vietnam. At the time he regretted not getting to go. He said that he was a hawk back then, and that he despised war protestors.

Through the sixties and seventies, Richard worked hard, and was an active father. His family expanded to six children, four boys and two girls. He spent a lot of time coaching his children's baseball, softball, and soccer teams. In 1983 his three pack a day cigarette habit caught up with him. He suffered a severe heart attack. Open-heart surgery was performed on him, and he survived. The doctors told him that his heart would be good for ten years if he did not abuse it. In 1993, Richard was hospitalized for heart failure. One month later he was the recipient of a heart transplant.

Richard is still alive today. All six of his children have gone to college, although only the two youngest have graduated at this date. Thirteen youngsters call Richard Grandpa and he clearly loves them all. Richard has changed much over the years. He now says that the kids were right about Vietnam. He has become a devout Catholic, due much in part to his near death experiences. He is life long Democrat, who can still remember where he was when he heard about JFK being shot. He had just parked his trash truck, when his boss told him, " It's about time someone shot that son of a bitch."

Leonard Harold Reed, Jr. was born on September 3, 1924 to Leonard and Leitha Reed in a small home in Richview, Illinois. Being an only child, Leonard received lots of attention from his parents. Times were good for the Reed family during the middle to late 20’s. Leonard’s mother would often dress him up in different outfits and on one occasion, a friend of the family commented "look at the little dude." Leonard liked being called Dude rather than Junior.

Dude’s grandfather George Reed owned one of the two grocery stores on the main street in Richview, which was a town of about 750 people. Dude spent most of his childhood at his grandfather’s store helping out whenever possible. He passed time at the store learning to play checkers and cuss, at both of which he beat the adults. When Dude was not helping his grandfather or playing checkers, he was checking out books with his father from the local library, which had been built by the donations of a rich local who had passed away. Dude enjoyed reading books and it was said that he read every book in the library. Dude also liked to listen to the St. Louis Cardinal baseball games on the radio and especially loved the "Gas House Gang" of the 30’s.

The Depression came to Richview in 1930 after the stock market crash of 29’. Dude’s father had to take many different jobs to feed his family. They were not well off financially but this was the norm of the time. During this time his Uncle Delmer, also known as "Dim", took over the family store that survived through the depression up until it was sold in 1983. Dim would often tell stories about how he would see women in town walking along the railroad tracks picking up pieces of coal that had fallen from the train. The women would use the coal to heat their homes. Times were hard on all the people in Richview yet many stayed in town through the depression.

Dude was a very intelligent individual. During grade school, he was allowed to skip two grade levels. In grade school, he met a young girl by the name of Evelyn Cantrell and they became good friends. Dude and Evelyn’s first date was at a local ice cream pallor. They rode to the pallor on Dude’s Schwinn; Evelyn rode on his handlebars.

At 16 in 1941, Dude graduated from high school at Duquoin, Illinois. After graduation, he went to work for the railroad. He worked in the switching yard where he kept track of railroad cars and their destinations. The railroad had always been a big employer in Central Illinois. A year had passed and Dude was still employed at the railroad. Since he had worked there for a year he was entitled to benefits which included health insurance. Three days after signing the papers to receive benefits, Dude was riding in a Model A convertible Ford with two other friends. The driver of the car lost control and turned it over. His two friends were thrown from the vehicle, however Dude was not. He was dragged over a hundred feet under the car. Since he had just recently received medical benefits, he was taken to a hospital in Chicago 200 miles away and spent 6 months in Intensive Care. His jaw was broken in three places and his face needed substantial surgery. His teeth were held in with gold from then on. When Dude went to visit Evelyn after the accident he weighed 98 pounds and walked with a cane. He was only seventeen and it was 1942.

After turning 18 in 1943, Dude was drafted into the Navy. He trained at the Great Lakes Naval facility in Chicago, Illinois. This was were he first learned to swim by being thrown into a pool and then sinking to the bottom while his instructor watched. After his training, he was to be assigned to a ship. However, he was assigned to an office job on shore because he was the only one in his group that knew how to type. The Officer he was assigned to saw potential in Dude, so he assisted him in entering Officer Training and college. Dude entered the University of Notre Dame and was the first in his family to go to college. He graduated from the University cum laude in late 1947. Upon leaving school Dude left the service but remained in the reserves. He had earned the rank of Lieutenant.

On June 6, 1948, Dude married Evelyn Cantrell with witnesses Neil (Slick) Cantrell and his wife Jackie. Evelyn had just recently graduated from the University of Southern Illinois Carbondale with a degree in teaching. Soon after getting married, Dude went to work with a big eight CPA firm. It took three years of training before one could become a CPA. On November 8, 1950, he started the rigorous several day testing process. On the same day his first son was born, Larry Alan. Dude passed the test after the first sitting, a rare event then and now. Soon thereafter, he purchased his first automobile, a used Ford. On June 8, 1952, his second son Michael Stephen was born. A few months later he was called back up for active military duty in the Korean conflict. Dude took his wife and two sons to New York were he would be stationed. His third child, Julie Lynn, was born in a Naval Hospital in New York on November 14, 1953. Dude returned with his family to St. Louis in 1954 and was offered a job by the Emerson Electric Company as an accountant. After receiving the job, he bought his family their first television set. Dude would later become the Corporate Chief Accountant of Emerson Electric.

During Christmas 1961, Dude invested with Slick Cantrell (who now worked as a riveter with the railroad), a local banker, and Cecil Newcomb (a farmer) in an oil drilling venture in Posey, Illinois. Three wells were found. Dude became increasingly interested in geology, which he studied. His group and others would consult him on the location of drilling new wells. For several years the group roamed the countryside setting up deals and drilling, also known as "wildcating". Despite their efforts, the group found no other oil fields. In the 1970’s during the energy crisis, the price per barrel was very good and Dude made a handsome profit. Dude sold his interest in 1985. The wells in Posey, Illinois can still be seen pumping today.

In June 1969, his oldest son, Larry, graduated from high school. Larry’s draft number for the Vietnam War was 98, however Larry was given a deferment to attend college. In June 1973, Larry graduated from St. Louis University. Only a few months before the president ended the sending of drafted men to Vietnam. After school Larry worked for the Internal Revenue Service, as a field agent, in the economic stabilization program set up under President Nixon.

In early 1974, Dude suffered his first heart attack. After recovering, he returned to work at Emerson Electric. By 1976, Dude's two other children had also graduated from St. Louis University. In June 1979, Dude suffered a stroke that caused him to be disabled from returning back to work. Thereafter, he suffered another heart attack. Although inflation was at an all time high, he managed to live comfortably on his savings and disability payments.

Dude officially retired from Emerson Electric in 1985. In early 1997, he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon. Shortly after his 73^rd birthday, on September 18, 1997 he died. He returned to Richview, Illinois where he was buried at the cemetery just outside of town. Leonard Harold Reed Jr. (Dude), my grandfather, was a hell of a guy. When he was around, he would make everyone laugh. He was the most intelligent man I have ever met. He will be missed for years to come.

I decided to write my paper about my great-grandfather Mario Oldani. Mario was born in Italy in a small town outside of Milan in 1902. Soon after Mario’s birth, the family moved to the United States, because of a lack of jobs in Italy. Mario spent his first birthday aboard a ship in front of the Statue of Liberty.

The Oldani's settled in Murphysboro, Illinois where Mario’s father Angelo worked as a miner at the Harrison mine. The family chose Murphysboro because there were a number of Italian families in the area. Mario was the oldest of nine children, the other eight being born in the United States. The family shared a five room house and everyone was responsible for taking care of the house, garden, and the chickens and pigs. All the children attended school, where they learned English. The children in turn, taught their parents English, neither of which had formal education. Mario started high school, but only went for two days. There was some racial trouble and Angelo didn’t want him to be around it. Mario worked in a grocery store for a while and then in construction. In 1922, he met my great-grandmother, Mary Carneghi. The two secretly dated because both the Oldani's and the Carneghi’s believed in arranged marriages, and neither family approved of Mario and Mary’s union. In 1924 a horrible tornado hit the town of Murphysboro, damaging almost everything in the town. Mario and Mary found it the perfect time to sneak out of town and elope. The paired married in St. Louis and stayed there the rest of their lives.

Once in St. Louis Mario took a job at a factory and Mary worked as a secretary. The two were poor, and already tough times were made worse by the Great Depression. Mario was laid off when the factory he worked at closed. He could no longer afford rent and he and his wife had to move in with other relatives in St. Louis. Everyone around Mario was having a hard time making ends meet so he and a few relatives decided to pool their efforts. They lived together in a small house in the city and shared their rations equally. The Italian community was tight-knit, which may have made getting through the depression easier. Mario was desperate for money, so he decided to make money by making something he missed terribly, alcohol. Mario and his cousin decided to make money by selling "moonshine" during prohibition. The business ventured worked but soon it went up in smoke, literally. The still caught on fire in 1931and when the fire department came they realized my grandfather was illegally producing alcohol. He was arrested and served 18 months in jail. After he was released from prison, he joined his wife and lived with relatives until he could get back on his feet.

Mario took another factory job and eventually saved enough money to buy a four-room house on the Hill, which is an Italian neighborhood. He and Mary would never move from this house; my family did not sell it until after Mary’s death in 1999. Once back on their feet Mario and Mary started a family, and had two sons. Mary stayed at home after their sons Mickey and Eddie were born. Years later she returned to work, working as a secretary for the circuit court. Ironically, while my grandmother was working in the courts, my grandfather was said to be involved in St. Louis’ organized crime (maybe my grandmother’s court connections are the reason he never went back to jail).

Life started to settle down for Mario. He avoided going to war because of a heart condition, and his sons were too young to go, so war had no great impact on his life. The rest of his life was relatively uneventful. He remained married to grandmother, worked at the same factory, and continued to live in the same house until his death. Mario was a smoker and a drinker and died of a heart attack in 1959.

Charlotte Andersen was born in France in 1918. At a very young age her family moved to the United States, to an apartment building in Boston, Massachusetts. Her father John worked many jobs to make ends meet, as a painter, a machine operator and laborer. Her mother stayed at home and raised her, her two sisters and her brother. From the age of fifteen on Charlotte worked at a local convenience store to provide some extra money for the family, as did most of her siblings. She attended Boston public schools until 1937 when she graduated from high school. In 1940 she met Joseph Landry and in 1942 the two were married. Shortly after, Joseph was sent overseas with the United States Navy in World War II. While he was gone, Charlotte worked in a factory where he had worked before our involvement in the war. In 1945 he returned home and went back to work and Charlotte returned to being a housewife. In 1946 the two started a family with the birth of Joseph Jr. By 1958 five more children, Robert, Marilyn, Diane, Carol, and Raymond were born. The children grew up with their father working long hours and their mother staying at home to clean, cook, and take care of the house. In 1964, just after graduating from high school, Joseph Jr. joined the army, followed in 1965 by Robert. Later in 1965 both were sent off to Vietnam. In 1967, Robert returned home safely, but with news that Joseph Jr. had been killed in combat. This was a very difficult time for Charlotte and her family, and they became very unhappy with the war, and the countries political leadership. Charlotte’s older daughters, Marilyn and Diane were of college age by this time and participated in many anti-war protests, while the younger Carol and Raymond attended high school. Her children began to move away, get jobs and start families of their own, including Diane who in 1972 began work as a nurse and in 1973 married James Lawson. In 1980, Charlotte’s third grandson James Jr. was born. Charlotte and Joseph are both 82 years old and still living in the suburbs of Boston near where they were raised.

Much of my grandmother’s life paralleled what was happening in the United Stated during those times. Many immigrants made their way to the United States from Europe in the 1920’s as she did. When her husband left to fight in WWII, she took over working in a factory as many women did. Also, her sons fought in Vietnam in the 60’s and her daughters participated in college anti-war protests. Many of the events we studied in class had an impact on her life. Her life paralleled in many ways a typical person in those years.

Mohammed Farooq Ghani, my father, was born on October 1, 1945 in Lahore, Pakistan. He was the son of a lawyer/farm cropper and a house wife. M. Farooq Ghani attended King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan. In June of 1968 he graduated with top honors. In search of a better life and a better job, my father moved to Saint Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1970. "I really had no clue how different America would be than Pakistan, but it hit me hard." said my father.

In Pakistan, my father was use to a country where everyone was from the same cultural and religious background. He was treated equally over in Pakistan. Everyone knew his name and was respected. But when my father finally settled in the Clayton area in Saint Louis, he noticed there were many people of different backgrounds living near him. "Spanish, German, French. It was like my whole apartment building represented the different people of the world.", said my father. But my father noticed one thing, not everyone liked each other and not everyone was treated the same, including him.

When my father was applying for jobs in the local hospitals, some hospitals would not hire him because of his religious and cultural backgrounds. The staff at St. Johns Mercy Hospital would not hire him because he was Muslim and not white. They feared that many patients would not want to be treated by my father because he was not white. My father had a hard time accepting this. He knew all about the Civil Rights Movement. He thought that African Americans and other minorities had finally won there freedom and were being treated the same, but he was wrong. There were many areas in which prejudice was still alive. "I knew I could not let little things like religious and cultural backgrounds hold me back. When hospitals did not hire me because of this, I just looked at it in a way that they were losing out in the long run more than I was." says my father.

My father married my mother, Farhana Nighat Ghani, in the winter of 1977. In the Summer of 1978, my mother came to live in America. My father finally opened his own private practice, with the help of my mother. "For the first few years it was hard.", my father said. In the beginning, many whites would not visit my dads practice but many African Americans did and other people of different races. My father developed many good relations with his patients. Slowly, but surely, more and more whites were visiting his clinic.

"When I was growing up in Pakistan, I always heard that America was a land of freedom, where life is easy. But after experiencing America for myself, its not easy. There are many obstacles to over come many hurdles to jump and when you have crossed that finish line, you know then in your heart that you have won the biggest race of your life." said my father. I asked my father if he had a chance to start over would he do the exact same thing. He answered by saying yes, "If you don’t have challenges in life, you do not have a sense of accomplishment."