John Reed, Jr.

Von Ormy

May 22,2003

Justin Beard

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Maymester 2003

Great Depression

John Reed, Jr. was born on the sixth day of September, 1919 in a little town in Walker County, Georgia known as Villanow. His parents, John H. Reed and Elizabeth Myers Reed, lived on a farm there and this is where John was to work as a boy. Alongside him, working the farm you would find his three brothers and two sisters. As time passed and John matured, his life directed him through several occupations. As a young man, he worked at a sawmill and as a store clerk. Later he graduated high school and served his country as a medic in the United States Army. By then, John’s life had taken him to San Antonio, where he would live for 29 years. Once he finished military service, it was time for John to settle into a career. He chose a career working at Swift, a meat packing company. He began his career at Swift working on the delivery trucks as a mechanic and remained in this position for 14 years. Later, John advanced into the position of Beef Boner and finished his career here 20 years later. John married his wife of 56 years on the 22nd day of December, 1949. His wife’s name is Thelma June Beard, and together they raised two children and spoil four grandchildren in middle-class America. Today John lives on a family farm in Von Ormy, TX. He loves the outdoors and the open and wild landscape of living in the country. For this allows him to enjoy walks with Thelma in the early hours of the morning, watch the various types of wildlife travel over his land, and partake in the occasional hunt. The Great Depression is the topic selected for this interview. John was 10 years old when this tragedy first affected him and can give us a perspective we might not have heard before, as we will be hearing this account from the mouth of a child who lived in the time of the Great Depression . John Reed, Jr. is my paternal Great Uncle and these are his remembrances of what might have been, on an economic basis, the worst time to live in America.

TRANSCRIPTION

In what ways did the depression affect you as a kid?

Oh I don’t really think it made a difference in childhood. I guess we didn’t have a lot of things or have a lot of free time, but as the son of a farmer I imagine it wouldn’t have been too much better without the depression.

What were your parents occupations before the Great Depression?

They were farmers before and after.

Well what did your mother do?

Momma would cook the meals make the jams and things. She would also work in the fields and pick the cotton and help with the corn. She would bring us lunch in the fields we would eat and then she would take it back and start making dinner. She would wash clothes and do things of that nature.

And your dad?

Ahhh, he was just a farmer. In the winter he would work on the roads around where we lived as the superintendent.

Was the farming affected in any way when the depression hit?

Well, before that time we would produce as much as we could so when it hit we couldn’t do much more work than before.

Did you notice an immediate change when the depression hit or was it more subtle?

The depression was an immediate thing, the market just fell, but it was more subtle in the way it affected us. It took a little time for it to take affect on us.

Did you notice any change in your schooling?

Nah, not much changed there.

Were you required to help support the family?

Oh yeah Justin, but that was just the way it was back then. The Great Depression had nothing to do with that. Us kids were at work everyday. We didn’t work as much as daddy, but we were required to be out there and busy.

What measures did your family go to in order to save money?

(laughing) No money to save.

Were meals of the same quality as before the depression?

Oh I guess so. Being a farming family, momma made just about everything herself from things on the farm.

Did you lose your farm or did any of those around you?

No we didn’t and if I remember correctly nobody around us did. (laughing) My uncle was tax collector. He understood the situation and grew up poor so he knew what it was like. He cut a bunch of breaks.

What did you kids do for entertainment during these times?

Oh we would play cops and robbers on the farm, swim in the creek, or just run around exploring the countryside. It is this reason why in retrospect, knowing how things are now, that I believe this aspect of the depression was a good thing. It brought families together. The kids would play together and being poor we would just swim in creeks and run around the area. The town would have parties where we would all get together and have good clean fun. We weren’t able to all have or afford ways of self-entertainment. We would have to pool together to have a good time. And where I lived we were able to have a grand time without alcohol and drugs like you see in the young ones today.

Was the depression ever explained to you while it was going on?

Explained, no. But I knew of it. You would hear of the ones who lost it all jumping out of windows on five-story buildings. We would hear all sorts of things about the depression.

What were your feelings toward the depression?

Oh, us kids were just growing up. We really didn't know any different. Times were always hard on the farm, the depression just made it a little worse.

Did crop yield decrease during the depression?

No, that pretty much stayed the same. It would decline but that just happens as you keep farming the same land. It loses potential with every crop.

How much did crop prices drop during this time?

Oh man, they were up close to .30 cents a pound and dropped to a measly .05 cents a pound.

How long did your family feel the depression would last?

Ahh before Roosevelt and all of his programs well it didn’t look too good for ever getting better but after ’32 when Roosevelt was elected we could see things looking up.

How long was the recovery time?

Oh, I’m not really sure how you want me to answer this, but I guess it lasted right on up to the war when things boomed. Like I said though, things were getting better as of 1932.

In what ways did the depression affect your family?

My family was like most farming families. We were just really poor instead of poor. Were not as bad as some though. We had a roof over our heads and enough food to keep us healthy. Several people would come to our farm bringing their family and asking for food and a place to spend the night.

Did your parents allow it?

(smiling) Momma would give a nice warm meal and a place to sleep. Sometimes there would be so many that they would have to sleep on the porch. Momma never turned anybody down!

ANALYSIS

This interview has been extremely beneficial for me. I learned things about my great uncle that I would not have ever known had I not had the opportunity interview him for this oral history project. I also have discovered the joy you can get by just sitting down with an elderly person and listening to the many stories they have to offer. I learned of the trials and difficulties experienced by my father’s uncle when he was growing up on the farm. The way he described the farming lifestyle was surprisingly poor. The work that had to be done in those days was extremely hard relative to that of today’s farmer. I view the Great Depression a little bit less severe now than I did before this interview. Before, I had pictured this terrible time with total absence of money and food. John portrays a different picture, a picture of bad times but bearable and livable times. However this viewpoint is coming through the vision of one boy from one family and might not reflect the Great Depression as a whole. A strength offered by these views is that they are firsthand and not distorted through writings and editing. Straight from the horse’s mouth, sort of speak. This is an extremely efficient and enjoyable way of learning about the past. You can gather information through feeling in an interview that is impossible to find in a book. You can get information that is uniquely accurate from a first hand point of view.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Modern American Poetry. About the Great Depression. http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/about.htm. This website's purpose is to help in the understanding in the basics of the Greaat Depression

The University of Georgia: Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties. http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/histcountymaps/walkerhistmaps.htm. This site is a project done by The University of Georgia's government department. This site allows you to view the location of Walker county in Geaorgia. If you scroll down the page you will find a link to a historicall map of Walker County in 1915, the time in which this interview concerns. A click on the link will give you a map of Walker County where you will find Villanow in the lower right-hand corner.This allows you to place a location with Villanow and gives a setting to John's childhood.

PBS (Public Broadcasting System). Timeline of the Great Depression. http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pbs.org%2Fwgbh%2Famex%2Frails%2Ftimeline%2Findex.html. This website is done by PBS and gives us the important events during the Great Depression in chronological order. When you get to end of the list simply click on the links below to view the next period.

United Sates Government. Past presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt. http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fr32.html. This site is a compiled listing of past presidents. It gives a short biography for each president. The site provides various links dealing with the U.S. governemtn past and present.

About.com: The Great Depression. Photographs of the Great Depression. http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blyindexdepression.htm. This site gives us a great collection of photos from the time of the Great Depression. Several of these pictures deal with the things discussed in the interview.

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