Carmen Sauceda (nee Felan )

Familias pobres y Sufrimiento a Mujeres (Poor Families and women who suffered).

Somerset, Texas

January 01, 2012

Isabel Levrie (nee Delgado )

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Spring 2012

Carmen Felan Sauceda was born on April 24, 1919 in Somerset, Texas, to Carmel Cantu Felan and Amador Felan. She was the fifth of ten children born to her parents. Carmen's oldest brother Lorenzo Cantu Felan was the first sibling born on January 25, 1909. Carmen and siblings were not allowed to attend school and get an Education. Carmen attended one day of pre-school. In 1925 Carmen's parents and sibling were migrating in small towns around Texas. By 1940 she and her family settle down in San Antonio, Texas in a small house on a street called Big Foot that they have owned for a long time. In 1942 she married Adam Sauceda by the Justice of the peace and years later by St. James Catholic church Carmen has continued to attend Sunday mass at the same Parish. Within the same year 1942 her husband Adam Joined the Army for Three years. Carmen applied for work at Joe Louis Corporation as a seamstress in 1942. By 1947 Carmen first child was born Delia Sauceda then 1952 her son Adam F. Sauceda. Once Carmen became a mother she quit her job and stayed home to take care of her two children. Carmen's hobby has been sewing since she became very good at. She has nine grand- children and out of the grandchildren she now has ten great grandchildren. On September 7, 1996 her husband Adam past away, due to cancer. Carmen lives alone with one great grandchild who helps her around the house. Carmen is excited because she will be turning Ninety-Three years old in a few months. This interview was done in spanish and translated by Juanita Delgado.

How was the living arrangements' while you were growing up?
We slept on the floor, we only had two beds, and we were ten children. The house only had a kitchen and two bedrooms. It didn't have a restroom or an outhouse; we had to go out in the bush areas. An outhouse was built much later. To bathe my mother would place a big Tin bucket and hang bed sheets around it for cover outside in the woods. During winter it was very cold, because of the cracks and the holes. We always made sure there was firewood to burn. She remembers that early in the morning her and her sister would walk towards the river to get buckets of water. This was different for them since the river had no steps they had to climb down. One would stay up hill and the other would fill the buckets and pass it up. This was done several times a day.

How old were you when you worked the field?
I was seven years old when I started to work the fields. My first job was to plant cotton and corn seeds. All my family would work, but my brothers would go to other Ranches to work. My younger Sister and I would work with my dad. I remember my father would plow the land with the help of a horse and my sister and I would plant the seeds. I also remember my sister Ofelia would make herself sick and throw up so my mother wouldn't make her work. My mother would place blankets in the truck and Ofelia laid there until we were done. Our grandmother would stay behind and cook lunch for us. Sometimes she would bring it to us or we go home to eat.

What was the saddest time for you?
The saddest memories for me were worrying each time my mother was pregnant. She was a small frame women and she was always sick. One time we lived in a place that looked like a barn out in a Ranch own by Charlie Sanders going south towards Somerset road. My mother was pregnant with my sister Mary and it was very hot so my mother sat outside under a tree and a snake pass right by her my mother scream and turn pale that was a very scary moment for me.

What were the conditions of the homes your family stayed when migrating?
The conditions were bad, some were small shacks and some were not. The floors were out of dirt, the walls had cracks and holes, so bugs would crawl in. Once we had to live in a tent in 1925. My mother was pregnant with my brother Epimenio. It was snowing and cold I remember they had to burn Cactus to feed the cows. We would have to look for firewood to cook on a cast iron stove we would have one tortilla and beans once a day. At times we only ate one meal a day.

Did you have a church wedding and wedding announcements like your parents?
No, unlike my parents, their wedding was very proper my father, who was Irish descendant and very Catholic and my mother was only allowed to marry someone Catholic had to be ask for her hand in marriage and have the wedding announce properly by the local San Antonio Newspaper. This was a tradition back in those days.

Once you married what was it like?
After we were married by the County Judge my husband was drafted to the Army. I had to live with my sister-in-law for a few months. Later with my mother-in-law at 120 Melvid, San Antonio, Texas for two years. My husband would write to me and dictate where he wanted me to live; I had to follow his wishes. My husband was a difficult man to live with. I couldn't visit my family and they would hardly visit me because my husband didn't like it. For the rest of my marriage I practically lived my life without seeing my siblings. My husband was very abusive mentally.

During the years of being married was there ever a time you wished your life would have been different?
Yes, I would have liked my life to have been different, but I don't think I could have made the difference because I grew-up living a hard life already coming from a large family and then getting married at a young age. I left a difficult situation to go to another. My husband was older and controlling. My inability to write or read gave me no hope for myself. There were moments I truly wished I wouldn't have been brought to this earth. As a married woman with two children I sometimes wasn't allowed to even watch T.V. I had no choice but to make the best of my life and continue to be a mother to my children and a wife to my husband.

Lots of changes and time has pass by, what do you see that you feel has NOT changed?
Lots of changes have accrued, but what I think hasn't, is being a mother always worrying about their wellbeing of your children. Making sure you can provide for them and most of all the fear of not being a perfect parent.

Do you have any advice or wisdom for the younger generation?
To take advantage of educating themselves and study hard, so your life will be different then our generation. We were deprived of learning to read and write we were taken advantage of our ignorance, we worked physically hard. You live in a different time, and now you can make the difference in your life.

What are your feelings about this interview and all that we have covered?
During the whole Interview there were times I felt relief and content talking about my life, but there were moments, as I remember some sad and troubled memories of my past, but over all I feel good to be able to discuss out loud the journey I have endured for 93 years.

ANALYSIS

ANNOTATED WEBOGRAPHY

Jul 1, 2007 ... Somerset, Texas: travel, history, photos, save on area hotels, and more. www.texasescapes.com www.texasescapes.com/SouthTexasTowns/Somerset-Texas.htm clipped from Google - 4/2012 List a minimum of FIVE sources. There must be links to each of the sources within the transcription. Consult Citing Web Sources MLA Style for further help. Not sure how to cite a reference, utilize EasyBib: Free Bibliography Maker. Here's an example of an annotated bibliography:

• The Handbook of Texas Online is a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture sponsored by the Texas State Historical Association and the General Libraries at UT-Austin. It was produced 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.

• Texas Escapes Online Magazine: Travel and History has an extensive collection of annotated photographs of twentieth century Texas. Included in the collection are historical images of courthouses, churches, schoolhouses, banks, jails, cemeteries, gas stations, and water towers. Website Content Copyright ©1998-2008. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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...