WERE YOU PERSONALLY AFFECTED BY THE GREAT DEPRESSION?
Yes, I was personally affected by the great depression, inasmuch as work jobs were hard to obtain. During my father’s development of the typesetting company, I used to work there after school and on Saturdays to assist father; I also used to go to the shop occasionally on days of the week during summer school vacation to transport type to the printing shops, and to clean up around our shop. One of these projects was to remelt the used type and pour it into molds for re-use by the machine. I started doing this when I was about ten years old, and performed it throughout my years until I was 18 and at the time the machine was sold. I also had started learning to set up type on the machine, but it became interrupted when the machine was moved to Salt Lake City for a couple of years, and later I lost my association with the typesetting operation when the machine was sold.
My father died on March 15, 1929, [actually 1932] leaving a large family at home. There were 12 of us children living with mother, inasmuch as Henry and Richard were working in Salt Lake City. The older ones of us used to work at odd jobs; my brother Paul and I could work as caddies at the Ogden Golf Club after school on week days, and on Saturdays. Sometimes it was favorable, but other days not enough members came to play golf, or the weather would keep them away. After Richard moved the machine back to Ogden, I used to assist him whenever he had enough work to accommodate me. After the machine was sold and we moved to Salt Lake City, I started going to school at the L.D.S. Business College. During my last two years in high school at Weber, I had developed my ability in learning the typewriter; I also had acquired speed and served as a member of the school’s typewriting team which performed on contests at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. At L.D.S. Business College I passed a top-speed typing test, and also passed the English class entry examination which established me as a helper for the English class professor. I would work during one class period with him, and also for an hour after school correcting other student papers. This would total for me about ten hours per week for which I was paid 35¢ per hour to cover most of my school expenses. I also had joined the Utah National Guard, for which I received $1.00 per drill meeting each week and the same pay per day during summer training camp at Camp Williams in Utah County, located at Jordan Narrows at the north boundary of Utah County.
In November of 1935 I was sent by the business college to serve as a temporary typist at the Mountain Fuel Supply Company. I worked there for four days and received pay at 35¢ per hour also. I returned to school and continued for another month. In December, my supervisor in the Company accounting department re-called me to work for another few days typing up financial reports. It turned out that more work was available on November and December business, and I continued working until the end of January, 1936. One of the accounting department employees received a job appointment through civil service and moved away to work in the Salt Lake Post Office. This provided a job opening permanently for me at the Mountain Fuel Supply, first as the clerk of the company mail department, next as an operator for the addressograph machines, then later returning to the accounting department to type up accounting reports, gas supply invoices, and to duplicate reports on ditto machines for transfer to the general office at Findlay, Ohio, located with the Ohio Oil Company, the principal stockholder of Mountain Fuel Supply Company. I continued working with Mountain Fuel for 43½ years, interrupted only be serving for two years in the United States Army during World War II and thereafter in 1944 to 1946. I advanced to other jobs in the Accounting Department until 1953, and in the Legal Department from 1953 to 1979.
WAS YOUR FAMILY OR A MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY INVOLVED IN THE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AVAILABLE AT THE TIME? (CCC, WPA)
My brother Paul served in the CCC from 1936 until 1939. He worked in the Jericho area north of Delta, Utah first, then transferred to Southern Utah, and later to Southern Idaho. Another brother Philip served in the CCC during 1939 and 1940.
DURING THE DEPRESSION WHAT WERE YOUR FAMILY’S FEELINGS TOWARDS HOOVER AND FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT?
Generally they were changeable-type feelings; first when Hoover was elected, they felt good about him, but after the stock market crash and subsequent depression, they decided that Hoover was not taking proper care of the country. Likewise, when Roosevelt was elected, they felt supportive of him, but in subsequent elections, they wanted improvement for taxpayers and voted for Roosevelt’s opponents. The depression kept businesses down too long, and they were discouraged with the president’s capability. I suppose we all thought someone could change economic conditions faster than was possible.
WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT VIEWS TOWARD THESE TWO MEN?
I feel that none of these two men could have accomplished rapid turn-overs of the economic status without full assistance by all top-American businessmen towards such improvement. Mr. Hoover served favorably after his presidential term in other matters for our country, but Mr. Roosevelt, due to his death in 1945, was unable to perform in after-term matters.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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.
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.
About Grandpa Wessman's Letter
As previously mentioned, I sent Grandma Beverly and Grandpa John Wessman a list of questions as part of a AA History/English project in 10th grade. Grandma hand wrote seven pages plus a cover letter. Grandpa Wessman typed up 10 pages to answer my questions. He included the questions in his report, so his letter is a little more formal than Grandma's.
With the questions outlined, you can see where Grandma got her topics from: she wasn't just writing random things that we might find interesting. The letters are not life sketches, so a lot of things are missing that would be included in a history.
In typing up these letters, I have been reminded of things that I had forgotton about my grandparents, and learned new things about them. I must have read these letters when I got them 20 years ago, since I had to write a report on them, but I was only 16.
I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did!
With the questions outlined, you can see where Grandma got her topics from: she wasn't just writing random things that we might find interesting. The letters are not life sketches, so a lot of things are missing that would be included in a history.
In typing up these letters, I have been reminded of things that I had forgotton about my grandparents, and learned new things about them. I must have read these letters when I got them 20 years ago, since I had to write a report on them, but I was only 16.
I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Grandma Wessman's Letter Page 7
[This is the extra page about learning to drive that Grandma mentioned in her first letter here]
—7—
The spring of the year I was graduating —Age 17— from High School I said to my Dad, “Teach me to drive will you please?” He said, “Sure, let’s go.” We lived on an alley way through the block. There were 2 garages opposite our exit to the alley from our garage. The neighbor had just finished a new double garage. So I got in behind the wheel — but I had never paid much attention to the driving of a car so I said, “What do I do?” Dad said, “Turn the key on, put your foot on the clutch, shift into first, let off the brake and slowly put your foot from brake to gas as you lift left foot off the clutch pedal.” So I did as instructed but my slowly on the gas was too fast and the car shot out of the drive right into the corner of the new garage — I was devastated and so was dad. All my courage was gone — my next try came in 1953 — 12 years and four babies and a husband later.
John taught me — a neighbor taught me. I had to parallel part on a steep hill besides all the other things — go down main street up state turn rt, turn left — I was indeed nervous and he thought I needed more practice parallel parking on a steep hill. I didn’t give up — so I tried again a month later and passed. The written was easy. I loved driving but was nervous with a police officer watching every move I made. I passed and was so happy — especially so I could take children to the Drs. Without having to bother my mother as I did not like to get John off work for such things. In fact in those days you did not call or bother your husband when he was at work except for an extreme emergency. I was thereafter helpful to encourage anyone to learn to drive—
[That's the end of Grandma's letter! Thanks for reading along. Next I'll transcribe Grandpa Wessman's letter. Then I'll scan the pages and they'll be available to anyone who requests them. Send me an email if you want copies or if you want the transscriptions.]
—7—
The spring of the year I was graduating —Age 17— from High School I said to my Dad, “Teach me to drive will you please?” He said, “Sure, let’s go.” We lived on an alley way through the block. There were 2 garages opposite our exit to the alley from our garage. The neighbor had just finished a new double garage. So I got in behind the wheel — but I had never paid much attention to the driving of a car so I said, “What do I do?” Dad said, “Turn the key on, put your foot on the clutch, shift into first, let off the brake and slowly put your foot from brake to gas as you lift left foot off the clutch pedal.” So I did as instructed but my slowly on the gas was too fast and the car shot out of the drive right into the corner of the new garage — I was devastated and so was dad. All my courage was gone — my next try came in 1953 — 12 years and four babies and a husband later.
John taught me — a neighbor taught me. I had to parallel part on a steep hill besides all the other things — go down main street up state turn rt, turn left — I was indeed nervous and he thought I needed more practice parallel parking on a steep hill. I didn’t give up — so I tried again a month later and passed. The written was easy. I loved driving but was nervous with a police officer watching every move I made. I passed and was so happy — especially so I could take children to the Drs. Without having to bother my mother as I did not like to get John off work for such things. In fact in those days you did not call or bother your husband when he was at work except for an extreme emergency. I was thereafter helpful to encourage anyone to learn to drive—
[That's the end of Grandma's letter! Thanks for reading along. Next I'll transcribe Grandpa Wessman's letter. Then I'll scan the pages and they'll be available to anyone who requests them. Send me an email if you want copies or if you want the transscriptions.]
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Grandma Wessman's Letter Page 6
—6—
After he got home apartments were impossible to find. We finally got one in May — in September we bought an old car — a green Terraplane — it ran O.K. John was a good mechanic. He even fixed it in a sand storm in Bluff, Utah — our vacation with the McQueens in Sept. to Southeastern Utah.
My father told us to wait to buy a home — prices would come down after economics settled after the war. Well, 1½ yrs later we could see they were steadily going up in price so finally we bought our first house, a small one on the west side, which we could afford. It was new, a tract house which meant there were 4 floor plans to choose from. I was not thrilled to move on the west side — some of the idealism my parents had somehow ingrained in me. But I also had become realistic and had to settle for what we could afford. John returned to the security of his former job at Mountain Fuel Supply and we were in ours & the banks home with three children and a life ahead of us. It was 1950. Life is not predictable to the extent of what all the influences and forces around us combined will affect. Our lifestyle, we individually can maintain the qualities that keep us on an even keel. These are moral courage, honesty, righteousness, integrity, tolerance, patience, love of others, gratitude, involvement to keep our land free from inward or outside aggression and know truth. America is still the land of the free — We as individuals must keep it that way for all who follow us.
My dear sweet grandchildren and all friends. We have been given so much, even to live in America is a blessing more than you realize. We have been on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean and we know this great United States is the best place in the world to live. We have a priceless heritage. We have more than anyone on the earth because of our background of freedom loving people who came, fought and were inspired to write the constitution which is our law for governing us — the people of the United States of America. It has never been easy and will never be easy, but we must appreciate, guard, and keep our country free that we all may have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is only done by good people who respect one another and keeping the laws of the land based on the Constitution of America.
Love Grandmother Wessman
After he got home apartments were impossible to find. We finally got one in May — in September we bought an old car — a green Terraplane — it ran O.K. John was a good mechanic. He even fixed it in a sand storm in Bluff, Utah — our vacation with the McQueens in Sept. to Southeastern Utah.
My father told us to wait to buy a home — prices would come down after economics settled after the war. Well, 1½ yrs later we could see they were steadily going up in price so finally we bought our first house, a small one on the west side, which we could afford. It was new, a tract house which meant there were 4 floor plans to choose from. I was not thrilled to move on the west side — some of the idealism my parents had somehow ingrained in me. But I also had become realistic and had to settle for what we could afford. John returned to the security of his former job at Mountain Fuel Supply and we were in ours & the banks home with three children and a life ahead of us. It was 1950. Life is not predictable to the extent of what all the influences and forces around us combined will affect. Our lifestyle, we individually can maintain the qualities that keep us on an even keel. These are moral courage, honesty, righteousness, integrity, tolerance, patience, love of others, gratitude, involvement to keep our land free from inward or outside aggression and know truth. America is still the land of the free — We as individuals must keep it that way for all who follow us.
My dear sweet grandchildren and all friends. We have been given so much, even to live in America is a blessing more than you realize. We have been on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean and we know this great United States is the best place in the world to live. We have a priceless heritage. We have more than anyone on the earth because of our background of freedom loving people who came, fought and were inspired to write the constitution which is our law for governing us — the people of the United States of America. It has never been easy and will never be easy, but we must appreciate, guard, and keep our country free that we all may have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This is only done by good people who respect one another and keeping the laws of the land based on the Constitution of America.
Love Grandmother Wessman
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