Code,518038
Speaker,Ott Wilson
Date,5/2/11
Interviewer,Carolyn Conklin
Abstract,"Vernong Ott Wilson was born in 1916 in Bath, Ohio, and grew up in the summer house of the Hale Farm property. Ott's family worked the Hale farm during the years when C.O. Hale was alive, as well as when Clara Belle Ritchie and her father took over the farm. Ott provided many memories of life on a farm during the Great Depression, and jobs he shared with his father hauling milk and farming. Ott also shared memories of bootlegging activities in Peninsula and Everett. His story gives a picture of what life was like subsistence and tenant farming during the early twentieth century."
Tags,"Cuyahoga Valley, Hale Farm, C.O. Hale, Clara Belle Ritchie, Great Depression, Bath, milk hauling, tenant farming, bootlegging, Peninsula, Everett"
Special Notes,"Great details about the Hale farm, Hale and Ritchie families, milk hauling business, and valley bootlegging activities."
,
0,"introductions, Ott from Bath, Ohio; parents from Akron and worked for Goodyear"
1,"house in Bath next to Hale farm, in Hale summer house; born 1916 in Bath"
2,"dad working at Goodyear, second job hauling milk"
3,"memory of father's work during World War I at Goodyear, story about Goodyear workers practicing war drills"
4,father hauling milk
5,"Ott helped his father haul milk, challenges loading truck and driving on roads"
6,C.O. Hale asked his father to work the farm; milking cows
7,Ott's siblings and uncle helped work the farm
8,"Wilson family tenant farmers for Hale family; Mr. Hale's character, Ott working with Hale"
9,story about Mr. Hale asking Ott to shoot an owl out of a tree
10,Mr. Hale reputation for flirting with women
11,Mrs. Paulilne Hale (C.O. Hale's wife); Kranz family run the farm before the Wilsons
12,"story about Hale's stagecoach from democrat senator, Clara Belle Ritchie had the coach burned"
13,Mr. Hale's death while Ott was working at Oberlin college
14,
15,"Ritchies relatives of Hale; Clara Belle's father wealthy from mining, went to Canada for claims to nickle"
16,"farm changed when Ritchies took over the farm, no more guests, remodeled house"
17,Ott and brother worked for Clara Belle
18,layout of Hale farm
19,"more descriptions of farm layout, orchard"
20,Mr. Ritchie took down the orchard
21,"description of the Wilsons' home, pigeons in house, no electricity"
22,house caught on fire
23,Ott and his brothers cut timber from woods and helped rebuild house with carpenter
24,13 children in Wilson family
25,
26,responsibilities and chores; getting syrup from trees with Mr. Hale
27,more descriptions on farming the syrup
28,
29,"Mr. Hale's parties to sell syrup and taffy candy, also sold at general store in Bath"
30,"wheat, corn, vegetables,"
31,"hay thrashing, making straw stacks"
32,granary for wheat; women cooked delicious meals for the workers; corn harvested
33,
34,selling the corn; Ott left the farm in 1935 to go to Oberlin
35,"Ott's marriage, his wife (Elaine) from a small farm, she passed away four years ago"
36,Ott's children and grandchildren
37,Ott currently lives alone in the house his wife designed
38,
39,Mr. Hale's good relationship with Ott's father; Ott's father made a lot of friends while hauling milk
40,"Ott's mother working in the house and yard, flower garden"
41,picture shows and eating at diners in Akron when father sold milk; playing with neighborhood friends
42,"neighbors, including Pat (O'Neil) Morse (another interviewee);"
43,"Wilson brothers' ""tough"" reputation"
44,"bootlegging locations in Peninsula, specific places they could buy whiskey"
45,
46,Mr. Kranz (neighbor) trading grain for whiskey; at least 15 different bootleggers between Peninsula and Everett
47,used to rent current Szalay property; Jim Szalay bootlegging
48,"father hauling ice with milk, ice cream"
49,father made relatively more money than most in the valley
50,"additional bootlegging details, Ott's uncle bootlegging"
51,living on the farm in the Great Depression; always enough food
52,Ott's father brought home treats from Akron
53,"family always had a lot of cars, siblings driving before old enough for a license"
54,"Ott drafted, but had tuberculosis"
55,spent eight months in hopsital for TB
56,
57,
58,"working in a garage, Ott and his brothers always had enough money, cars"
59,"travelling, life after marriage and children grown"
60,
61,
62,"living alone, hard to work with hurt leg; hurting his leg again"
63,
64,
65,challenges living and not being able to work
66,
67,
68,
69,
70,