Edwin and Jane on their wedding day. |
page 2
A Kerosene Heater and a Flower Garden Living Conditions | Personality Christine: When he had the butcher store and also when he worked in the slaughterhouse, did he provide enough income for the family? He had a lot of responsibilities. Could you describe their living conditions in the house before they separated? Sunny: When he worked in the slaughterhouse he had a steady job and provided food and money for the family. And then when they separated, by that time the children had grown old enough so that they could contribute to their mother's well being and she lived with her children for most of her life. She had five children so she was able to move from one to the other. And her husband, ex-husband, would, when he worked, would give her money for the children's care. C: Some of the family members said he tried his hand at mining. Gold mining. Had you heard anything about that? He mined near Jackson, California? S: He used to try to mine but they never really found any gold. C: What do you think motivated him to leave his family and go up to Alaska and then to try mining and do these different things? S: I think he just enjoyed changing his lifestyle. He was very popular with people. They gave him places to stay and he would work for them. |
|
|
C: Earlier we talked about this and you described the house that he had in Santa Rosa. And it really takes you back because the house sounds like the living conditions that the early pioneers had, yet this was in in the 1920's. Could you describe the house that he lived in? S: When he had the butcher store? C: Yes. S: It was just a very simple house. And in the summertime they slept outdoors because it was warm and the house itself was so small it was crowded with three people. And they raised vegetables and a flower garden. C: And they had a horse and a cow? S: That was earlier when the kids were little. C: When the family was together what kind of place did they live in and what were the living conditions? S: It was just a small house and there was a fairly large kitchen with a cook stove and two bedrooms and a small living room. They had running water but there...they had an outhouse. And also they raised a pig and a cow for milk and Edwin Snively on his days off would work around the place to try to improve it. |
|
|
C: Was it a small parcel of land? Was it an acre? S: It was about an acre. C: Was there heat, like a furnace? How did they have heat in the winter time? S: In the winter time they had of course the wood stove in the kitchen and also a small kerosene heater. C: Did they have electricity? S: No, I think they had lamps, kerosene lamps. C: How about basic nessessities like blankets, sheets and linens? S: Well, they had very little in terms of blankets and sheets. They managed to keep warm. C: Their lifestyle was... S: Very simple, almost primitive I guess you could say. Return to Top |
Edwin & Jane Griffitts. |
C: The next question concerns Edwin Snively's personality. We know that he was a woodcarver and all. Other members of the family have said that he could be very outgoing, and had funny stories and loved to talk. Do you remember any unique sayings that he might have told Eddie that you remember? S: I think he used to speak about his family in Potter Valley and his life there with his parents and siblings. He and his wife didn't have a very close relationship so there wasn't too much conversation. C: There was alot of friction in the house? S: There was lots of friction, yes. C: He had a saying that you related to me just earlier about when Dad was a kid and they'd go walking together, and his advice, what advice was that? S: He always said as they started out on their walk, "Start slowly and gradually get up to speed". C: You could say that about life in general. S: Yeah, right. Return to Top Page Three | Sitemap | Webmaster |