"I REMEMBER WHEN"

Sketches of Life in Pennsylvania

We all have stories we carry with us from our childhood. Some
of them are the warm, fuzzy kind that leave us with a feeling
of contenment. Other reminisces are from days when life
was hard, when everyone in the family pitched in to make
a living, when some of us didn't get to finish school.
Some of you can still feel the hunger pangs of times when
food was not plentiful, or the wonderful satisfaction
of a bountiful meal.Yet, others, have rich memories of jams,
and homemade bread.

One thing I've learned through my years of research,and that is
that all of us have stories to tell. I decided to take the stories
friends and family have sent me, from my home state of
Pennsylvania, and put them on a webpage. I'll let them
paint a picture of life in Pennsylvania, from the big city,
to the coal mining villages called patch towns, to the rich farmlands.
On this page you will read the memoirs of those
who grew up in Pennsylvania,and call it home.
Please come in and join us for trip down memory lane.
You can just see that house under the arbor.
...................
Let's sit down on the front porch
right there by the lilac bushes. I'll get us a glass of tea
.Here are real life stories
from those who grew up in the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania.

JEAN

I left Hazleton in the 50's but do remember in the 40's a
truck that also came around our street. Actually I think it
was a converted bus. All of the people that purchased
things there just called it "the store on wheels".
It was great because most of the females didn't drive.
I don't know the name of the man that came on our street
but he was appreciated.
As for being embarrased about being on the truck
and quitting school, that's how things were in those times.
I had to quit during my senior year of high school because
the mines flooded and there was no work for most of the men.
My father was also handicapped because of a hunting accident
so it was harder for him.
I only went back to school and got my diploma 25 years later.
Yes, they still pick mushrooms
(but you better know what you're doing)
and we never picked blueberry's but picked "swampers".
Tasted the same.
...................................Jean Corazza-Hazleton, Pa.

BOB

The 30's continued to be a period of decline for
the anthracite coal industry. My father moved our family
to a patch because he thought it would be less expensive to live.
Being a laborer, he didn't work often and had low pay
as well as no pay periods.
However, many men, i.e., pump runners, hoist engineers
and fire bosses worked seven day a week regardles
if the mine worked or not. The house into which we moved
had six rooms and no bath or central heating.
The rent was ten dollars a month and the electricity,
which was supplied by the company was two dollars a month.
However, there were restrictions. No appliances,
especially those that heated, were permitted.The
double block (duplex) homes were painted light colors,
i.e., lt.yellow, lt.green or lt. blue.They were
in a row with three going up the hill and the rest
going across a level at the top. Our house was the
third one up and gave us a good view of the colliery.
The front porch was a great place to sit on a rainy
day and watch the mine at work.A wire fence extended
the length of the front of the property and along
the sides.A board fence enclosed the rear.
There were no sidewalks or paved roads. The "street"
in front of our house had deep ruts and couldn't
be traveled by a vehicle. The space at the top
of the hill afforded parking for visitors to the mine
or patch.
Inside the yard, there were large plank boardwalks
leading to the front porch,side/rear porch and out
to the coal shanty at the rear of the property.
About twenty feet from the houses,there was a row of
double block outhouses which were painted to match
the main dwelling. However, the toilets had running
water. When the seat was depressed, the water
carried the waste down to a black creek which carried
it to the Susquehanna River. (An environ-mental
nightmare.)There were a few homes that had baths.
They were rented to the men who had seven day per
week jobs. At their own expense and with permission
from the company, the renters installed the baths
themselves. Each home had a backyard large enough
to grow a variety of vegetables. Everyone planted
such things as tomatoes, potatoes, beans and other
vegetables.Most everyone home canned many of the
items. By the time December came round,
the shelves in our cellar were filled with all
sorts of pickles, tomatoes, beans, chili sauce and
a variety of jams andjellies.
Beyond the back fence, was a row of coops where
people raised chickens, ducks, geese or turkeys.

One of my chores was to see that the stock was fed
and watered.
The year we raised ducks, our neighbor, Mrs. "Pete",
asked to kill the duck so she could have the blood
to make czarnina (sp ?) which is bloodsoup.
When we offered her the duck, she insisted that she
only wanted the blood but she had to kill it.
Out of curiosity, I watched. It was the worst
thing I could have done.
I couldn't stand to see my "pets" killed in that manner.
The next year, I asked my dad not to raise ducks and he agreed.

The houses were built long before the electric lights
were installed. Each room had the bare bulb
hanging from the center of the room. There were no
wall switches. The bulb was screwed into a socket
that had a brass chain which one pulled to turn
the light off or on. It was very frustrating entering
a dark room and searching for that chain.
The solution was to tie a string to the chain and
fasten it to the door jamb. Or, in the bedroom,
we would tie one end of the string to the chain and
the other end to the head of the bed.
There was an outlet in the front room and one in the
middle room but only on the first floor. The outlets
were in the floor and not in the wall as they are today.
Since there was no bathroom, we were required to
use the round galvanized tub for bathing.
That's why I went down to the colliery for a shower
....................................Robert Howells-Nanticoke,Pa

CAROL

I don't know exactly what you would call my
grandfathers business. He owned a general merchandise
store on Alter Street in Hazleton. But my mother
recalled how she hated getting up early, before school,
and her and her siblings had to carry goods to my
grandfathers truck. Then my grandfather and my uncle
Joe would drive around to all the patch towns,
selling goods out of the truck. My uncle Joe regrets
to this day, that he had to give up high school to go
work on the truck. Mom said she was embarrased
to have to be seen hauling supplies out to the truck.
As an adult, she looks back and realized how fortunate
they were to have a steady and reliable source
of income.
Through his resourcefulness, Grandpop ended up with
a decent income and was able to take very good care
of his family. Even though mom says she wore flour
sack clothes, my grandmother was a dressmaker and made
really nice things for her children. Mom always
had shoes, stockings, etc. even though it was what
was left overs (things in the store that didn't sell).
Granpop also kept pigeon coops and raised a garden
and small animals. This gave a constant supply of food.
When we would visit, we always went mushroom picking and
blueberry picking. I can still taste those hot blueberry
muffins. Times were hard in the 30' & 40's but my grandparents
sure found ways to make do.
...................................Carol Cannon-Queen-Hazleton,Pa

JUNE

I wore clothes made from flour sacks. The flour
sacks were of different prints. Some were even
attractive! Truck stores were common. Even the
A&P Tea Company used to send out goods to the
patch towns for people to buy. My dad worked at
the A&P Store on Diamond Avenue & Wyoming St in Hazleton.
You must remember most people did not own cars.
It was very inconvenient for housewives in the patch
towns to harness up the horse and buggy, if they had one,
and deal with all their children to get to the store
in Hazleton. They could either buy from the company store
(to which so many were in debt) or buy from the wagons
and trucks of merchants from Hazleton or nearby farms.
My father told me that when he was a boy in Stockton #7,
his mother preferred to buy from the trucks and wagons
from Hazleton because of the selection and the
freshness of the produce. Of course everyone grew
a garden in the summer.
I used to spend the summer on my grandmother's farm in Zion
Grove, PA. I too used to "help" with their truck
business...mostly produce, milk, butter, and dressed
chickens. I would pray I wouldn't be spotted by
my friends, so I know how your mother felt. But I
wouldn't give up my memories of that for anything.
And now I admire my grandmother for all the hard work
she did keeping a fatherless family together.
I lived on Wyoming Street. My mom used to take me to
the movies on Tuesday evenings at the Diamond Theater
on Alter Street because she was collecting a set
of china, a piece of which was given away on that
night every week at that theater if you paid a
little extra for your ticket. I saw a lot of movies at
that theater.
....................................June Nessler-Hazleton,Pa

J. TOM

This Lavelle story is in my son-in-law's family.
His great, great grandfather was working in the mines.
A mule stepped on his foot. In keeping with his
Irish demeanor, he hit the mule over the head with
a two-by-four. He was fired for hitting the mule!
.....................................J. Tom

James

I was born and raised in Hazleton, PA. I remember picking
huckleberries to supplement our income. There were 2 of us
boys and 4 girls. We took buckets with us and picked till they
were full. We got 5 to 15 cents a quart which was BIG MONEY.
My mom got to go to school until 8th grade, but dad only went
until the 3rd grade. We were poor, but happy!
I am now retired in Florida and am an Irish citizen as well.
.....................................James McNelis

MAIN PAGE
SURNAME PAGE

GOOD FAMILY/Memories of Jonestown, Columbia Co., Pa.

Have you got a tale to tell?
Feel free to write me with you memory
and have it added to the "big picture."

postalq@grnco.net

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page