Grandpa Wessman's Letter Part 1

JOHN HAYWARD WESSMAN
Memoirs
7 April, 1989

Born May 24, 1917
Salt Lake City Utah

WHAT WAS YOUR FAMILY’S ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STATUS BEFORE THE DEPRESSION?

Our economic status before the depression was generally good, in that my father was ambitious towards obtaining favorable jobs. He had become associated in the printing industry, and he was continually looking for other projects therein that would increase his pay; he desired to do so inasmuch as his family was becoming enlarged and additional income was necessary for their support. By 1929 he had nine sons and four daughters, and he had acquired adequate income for their support. He had established a typesetting shop in Ogden to serve many printers in the area, and he had also been established as a full time typesetter in the local newspaper.

Our social status at that time was moderate, inasmuch as we had moved frequently from Salt Lake City to Bountiful, Mammoth, Provo and Ogden to accommodate his changes in jobs. We, the children, used to associate with each other mostly inasmuch as we didn’t live in each house very long and didn’t become acquainted very long with possible friends. Also, whenever we went any place, we usually went as a family. Also, with my father working hard, he usually spent at least six days a week at it, and this left only Sundays to go visit our other family members or old-time friends of father’s and mother’s. Occasionally we would attend church meetings, but it would require considerable preparation by all of us to get dressed and ready to go to church. When I was born, our family lived in a home which mother and father had purchased, but when father purchased a typesetting machine, he sold the house to accommodate his typesetting moves. Consequently, we lived in rented homes and moved frequently; during the summer of 1935 after I had graduated from high school, we moved to the fifteenth home that we had lived in during my lifetime.


DID THE STOCK MARKET CRASH OF 1929 DIRECTLY AFFECT YOUR FAMILY?

The stock market crash of 1929 did not directly affect my family, as we were not involved in stock ownerships. However, subsequent results did involve us.


DID THE GREAT DEPRESSION AFFECT YOUR FAMILY ECONOMICALLY OR SOCIALLY?

The great depression did not at first affect our family economically or socially, as my father was extremely ambitious towards maintaining income for his large family. After a couple years, however, the printing industry slowed down, and not enough work was available to maintain the typesetting shop in Ogden. My first brother Henry (or Harry, as his family name) had transferred to Salt Lake City and had obtained a favorable job there. My father’s brother also had a typesetting shop in Salt Lake City to which father moved the machine; also my second brother Richard went to uncle’s shop to work there and to build up his operating capability with the machine. After a couple of years, the typesetting requirements had slowed down in Salt Lake City, and Richard moved the typesetting machine back to Ogden to attempt building up a business there.