Frances Prouty (nee Mata )
How did the Great Depression affect your life?
I think it would have been easier than it was when we were growing up. I didnt have much of a childhood that I could really enjoy like many kids today. Everything was very scarce like food, clothes, and shoes.
Was it labeled The Great Depression back then?
Yes, it was the same term we used, it has always been known as The Great Depression
Why did you quit school at such an early age?
I needed to help my mother since my dad past away when I was two years old, my mom was a single mother working and she needed our help. Times were hard and we needed all the extra money we could get.
What kind of job did you have as a child?
I worked in laundry washing, pressing, and ironing mens shirts and folding them. I did this throughout my childhood and teenage years.
How did you feel about having a job at such a young age?
There wasnt much that I could do about it, I had no choice. I would have rathered been playing outside with my friends or my sisters. I also would have loved to be at school reading a book. My mom needed help so I didnt complain. I knew it was to take care of our family.
If you could have stayed in school, what would you have wanted to be and why?
My dream was to become a designer for clothes. I would have loved to make a career from that, but now as an older women I sew some of my clothes so I guess you could say I do some kind of designing for myself and Im happy with that.
What was your first real job as an adult?
When I got married and moved to San Antonio I worked as a hotel front desk clerk, but other then that my husband did most of the working and I bacame a stay at home wife and mother.
What were holidays like back then?
Well we celebrated holidays, it just was nothing like it is today. We would get with some friends not much family and sit outside in the front of the house and cook tamales. Back then we couldnt eat the tamales until the next day which was twelve at night. It was just a tradition like the one today that we cant open presents till after twelve. We didnt give or get big presents just little things like fruits like apples and oranges or sweets like candies. But we didnt mind, we never expected much because we could not afford it but we were never mad about that, just grateful for each other.
How did you celebrate birthdays?
My mother could never really do much for us but she would always make each of us a little cake. It was never a big birthday party like we have today. If we did recieve presents it was just little things like fruit or candy. My mom would sometimes sew us clothes or socks and give them as presents.
When you got sick, what methods did you use to get better?
We couldnt afford to go to the doctor but she was good at a lot of old fashion remedies. She would give us tea, most of the time it was chamomile tea for our stomach aches. When we had headachs my mom would put little beans on the outside of our heads and I guess with all the faith we had it really worked and our headachs went away.
What did you use for medication?
We never recieved medication like from the doctor. Just mainly the old fashion remedies that my mom was good at.
How would you get food for the family to eat?
We would buy our food from the store and we also had fruit trees in the back that had plums and peaches. An average dinner for us was potatoes, beans, and water. Every once in awhile we would eat chicken. When it came to getting water we had a neighbor across the street when I was little that had a water well. We would go to her house in the back and she would let us get water when we needed it, atleast until the city started providing us with our own water.
Were your clothes bought from the store or sewed?
My mother did most of the sewing for us to have clothes but we also bought clothes from the store as well. One thing I remember is when she would sew our dresses, she always made it out of the same material which was the bags from from the tortilla flour. The flour came from a lady down the road next to the school in bags made out of different materials that were decorated with flowers. Those were always my favorite, I wish I would of kept one of them to show you. The people that my mom worked for also gave her alot of clothes and shoes for us, they were very nice and helpful.
What did both your parents do for a living?
My father died when I was two years and old and my mother worked in a factory where they made shoes. My mom worked cleaning other peoples houses. She also washed, dryed, and iron their clothes for a living.
What did you enjoy about growing up in San Antonio?
I was just a happy girl when I was little. I dont remember much about what I really enjoyed about it.
Did you ever travel and where?
My aunt lived in a little town named Midona where my father was buried and she would come and pick me and my sisters up in her car and take us to take my father flowers. It was about twenty miles away from San Antonio. I also had aunts that lived in Von Ormy. Some more of my aunts lived in El Vaye but they would only visit us once a year and bring us baskets of fruit. No where ever really far though.
What did you do for fun growing up?
When I was little we would go outside and play hide n go seek and also a little game called the onion. When I got older as a teenager there was a dance hall that we would go to on the weekends. There was also a tent on Nogalitos and Division and on Wednsday nights there would be a movie playing and I would go with my siters.
What is your earliest childhood memory?
Mostly visiting with my aunts is what I remember alot.
What were living conditions like?
When it came to food, my mom would always cook for us in the morning and afternoon. Our bathroom was an out house in the back where we would have to go to the bathroom, at night my mom always have to go with us because it was dark and scary to us and we always took our little lamp. We had a little bucket that we could sit in when it came to taking a bath and we would soap up and then pour the water over our head with a little cup and thats how we got clean. In the winter we didnt have heaters so we just bundled up in sweaters and blankets to keep warm, at night we used each others body heat since we all shared the bed. But when it came to winter it was never really cold since we lived so far south in San Antonio. Summers were hot but we didnt have air conditioners either but it was okay because we never knew what it was like not to have heaters or air conditioners anyways.
Small town Texas Projects is The map of Von Ormy Texas in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin. Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. Geographical and historical maps of continents, countries, counties, cities; maps relating to history and current news events. University of Texas Libraries.
Cost-of-Living Calculator. The calculator uses the Consumer Price Index to do the conversions between 1913 and the present. The source for the data is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index reflects the cost of items relative to a specific year. The American Institute for Economic Research. P.O. Box 1000. Great Barrington, Massachusetts. 01230.
Small Town Texas Projects. Palo Alto College student/s ___________________ project on the town of ____________________________, Texas. This Small Town Project was completed in the _____________ semester of 200_ as a requirement for Assistant Professor of Robert Hines's History 1302 class.
Photographs and/or documents on this website were provided by name of interviewee and ____________________. Provide some historical background on the photos/documents. e.g. Who is in the photo/s? Who took the photo/s? Where was the photo/s taken? When were the photo/s taken? Special occassions? Everyday life? They were from her/his photo album... Located in the kitchen drawer...
