Samuel Proctor Oral History Program College of Liberal ... · Interviewee: Donald George...

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-February 2018

TMP-139 Interviewee: Donald George Interviewer: Jasmyn Sullivan Date of Interview: October 2, 2016 S: Good afternoon, my name is Jasmyn Sullivan and I am here with Mr.

Donald George. We are at the Reedville Fishermen's Museum on October

second. Hi, how are you?

G: Fine, thank you.

S: Okay. So, can you give me a little background information about yourself?

The date you were born and where you were born?

G: I was born November 25, 1926. Born in the house we lived in in Fairport.

Now, Fairport is a little town about five miles from here.

S: Okay. So, can you tell me a little bit about your childhood?

G: Yes, I was the last of six children. I had three brothers and two sisters. All

went to Reedville School here by bus. Previous to that, they used to go to

school here by boat. Let's see, I graduated from Reedville High School in

1944, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and then, when I got out of the navy in

[19]46, I went to college and went to work for the navy in the naval

weapon systems. And continued that tour of duty for thirty-nine years

working on ships and guns.

S: So, how did you like doing that job?

G: Well, I enjoyed doing it.

S: Can you tell me a little bit about the industry in the Reedville area?

G: I think I'll start with what we do with the fish.

S: Okay.

TMP-139; George; Page 2

G: The fish, menhaden, is called many different things, mossback,

mossbunkers, alewives, it depends who you're talking to. But here in

Reedville they usually use the alewives or bunkers or menhaden. And the

menhaden is a small fish that takes up about twenty-three cubic inches

and weighs about four to six pounds, and they travel in large schools

which makes ‘em real easy to catch. In the fall, these fish are grown to the

size of a peanut. They begin to bunch together in great big bunches and

move down the coast. First, the big fish were the first fish to go up are the

first fish to come back down the coast. And they come in the bay and

some of ‘em go on down and go offshore in Hatteras. In the springtime, it's

just the reverse, that the schools come up here scattered and the big fish

go further north and the smaller fish probably don't get any food in the bay.

They catch ‘em by the millions, actually by the millions. They are paid by

the number of fish they caught. So, the twenty-three cubic inches is an

important thing because that’s what they're paid for. Okay.

S: So, did you used to work at the tomato factory?

G: Yes, and some of these factories that did menhaden fishing also, during

the summer, did tomato canner-ing. Used to go down the street, Blundon

and Hinton were a big deal. Now that's all closed up and there's a

restaurant in there called Tommy’s. And on down where the Crazy Crab at

the end of the street, they had a menhaden plant but they also had a

canning facility. So, in the county, someone told me there were at least


twenty canneries in the Northern Neck. You know we're in the Northern

Neck?

S: Yes, sir.

G: Okay.

S: So, can you tell me about working at the tomato factory? Like, what did

you have to do during the day or what the industry was like?

G: Well, first off, they picked the tomatoes by hand. So, that meant that most

of the time there would be a group out in the field picking tomatoes by

hand, and they'd deliver them – maybe they would start cleaning in the

afternoon. It was hard work. It was hot, and everybody was uptight

because they had schedules to meet, and the pay wasn't very good. I

think I got fifteen cents an hour working. The peelers, they got a little

more, they got – I don't know what they did. One thing they used to do is

preparing the herring. In the spring, when the herring came by, they had a

lot of roe in ‘em, and they would cut the herring and get the roe and then

can the roe. Now, a can of roe is almost twelve dollars, a small little can.

That industry no longer exists.

S: Okay. So, going back to you being in the military, what was your

experience like there?

G: What's that?

S: What was your experience like being in the military?

G: Oh, I think it was the best two years I ever spent because, one thing, it

gave me the G.I. Bill, which I was able to go to college full-time. I was just


a little country boy, I never been anywhere but Reedville, and it gave me a

chance to see a lot of the world and grow up a little bit before I went to

college. Now, I can see the difference, too.

S: What college did you go to?

G: What high school?

S: College.

G: Randolph-Macon.

S: And what did you study?

G: Physics.

S: Physics? Wow.

G: Yeah.

S: So, how did you like that?

G: I wanted to study something that I wouldn't be stuck to a desk all the time.

But actually, I worked more as an engineer than a physicist. Being a

physicist got me the job.

[Laughter]

S: So, how did you get involved with the Fishermen's Museum here at

Reedville?

G: Well, I decided I was going to do something about the Chesapeake Bay,

and I was gonna go to work with or help the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Well, I kinda fell out with them. I started working down here, and I had

already started collecting data, and I collected a tremendous amount of

data. I have pictures of the fish boats, the dimensions and all that, which I


have given to the museum. So, that took the place of me working with the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation, because this job keeps me pretty busy.

S: Yes, sir. So, what or who caused you to be involved with the Reedville

Fishermen's Museum?

G: Well, I had a lot of time because I'm retired, and I wanted to do something

that was kinda useful. I didn't want to sit around.

S: So, when you were young, did you used to fish a lot?

G: Yeah. During the summertime, fished and crabbed.

S: So, tell me about those experiences.

G: Well, first off, I went in for [inaudible 8:45] blue crab, that's what we were

trying to catch. And they had these what we call [inaudible 8:56] to creeks

and things had a lot of grass, and these crabs would double up and mate

and you'd catch ‘em in the grass and catch ‘em easy. So, that's where we

used to get our spending money from that.

S: And usually, in those times, what did you use your spending money for?

G: Clothes. It wasn't a whole lot of money, you know. For a dozen soft crabs

wouldn't even get twenty cents or something like that. But it was fun. I

mean, I can't imagine anything better than growing up in an atmosphere

like that.

S: So, can you describe to me more about the fishing industry in that time?

G: The fishing industry, at that time, was really labor intensive because they

had mostly steam-driven boats and they used coal to create the steam to

drive the engines. It was a twenty-four-hour job. They went aboard the


boats in the late afternoon on Sundays and got off on a Saturday

afternoon, and the whole time they was on there they were subject to

work.

S: Wow. So, can you tell me about the foods eaten during the 1920s through

the 1930s? What kind of foods did you guys eat?

G: Well, mainly vegetables and seafood because beef wasn't available. I

mean, we didn't have the refrigeration to handle large-scale beef. We had

plenty to eat, that wasn't a problem. There wasn't many jobs but we had

plenty to eat.

S: So, when you came back to Reedville after the navy, could you tell a

difference in the city or was the city the same close-knit city that you left?

G: It was about the same.

S: What was your favorite part about living in Reedville?

G: Well, let's get something straight: I didn't live in Reedville.

S: Oh, I'm sorry.

G: I’m sorry. I lived in Fairport which was across this creek over here. But

Reedville had a lot more to offer. They had a drugstore and they had a

movie theater. We're probably sitting on the ground that the movie theater

. . . it was right in here. So, that gave us something to do. We'd come to

the movies by boat, come across from Fairport, dock down at the end of

the street, walk up the street to the movie house.

S: So, how cool was that to transport yourself from place to place through

boat instead of car?


G: Pardon? I didn't understand.

S: Did you prefer to drive around in boat or car?

G: I didn't have the option, I didn't have a car. My family didn't have a car.

S: So, when you went to school you would walk to school or you would ride

the bus?

G: We had busing to our school. But if you wanted to stay afterschool and

practice baseball or something, we had to find our own way home.

S: So, at school, what other sports did you play other than baseball?

G: That's the only thing we did.

S: Play baseball?

G: Yeah. I mean, we didn't have no basketball and we didn't have a court

large enough.

S: What things did you find important about the industries that you were a

part of, like fishing and the tomato factory? What did you enjoy most about

being a part of those?

G: Well, most of it was the small amount of money we brought in. It was an

income that right at the beginning of the school year where you could

spend some of your money for books and clothes. But it wasn't a whole lot

to spend.

S: Tell me more about how you grew up, your parents and the environment

that you grew up in.

G: Well, we lived in Fairport, lived near the water. We would go down there

and sometimes all day play around, fool around. This was before I was old


enough to work at the tomato factory or canning factory. My mother, as I

remember – when I raised my kids, I had certain things I wouldn't let them

do, like go swimming by yourself. My mother had enough faith in us. She

never, never controlled that. But it was just an easy lifestyle for a young

person. And it was all centered around the menhaden fish. ‘Cause some

of ‘em, they stayed here in the Reedville area, had the factories in

Fairport. Some of them would go up to Lewes, Delaware where they had

factories up there, and most of the crews came from the boats and things

in Reedville. They even had fish factories in New Jersey and then some

on Long Island. So, lots of the people moved off during the summer, we

wouldn't see them until fall.

S: And they moved because of the factories?

G: Because they paid more money and better working conditions and the

jobs were available.

S: So, what made you stay here and work at the factory even though you

know that you could make more money in another state?

G: I reckon it's something that you grow up with and love to do.

S: Do you have any good memories with your siblings or your parents?

G: Not really.

S: Do you have any good memories with your children or your wife?

G: Oh, yeah.

S: Tell me about that.


G: Well, we were married in 1955 and had three children, two boys and a girl.

We lived in King George County, close to Washington. When I went to

work for the Naval Proving Ground. Then, they changed that to the Naval

Weapons Laboratory, now it's the Naval Surface Warfare Center. So,

unfortunately, I lost my daughter to a terrible accident. You never get over

that.

S: I'm sorry to hear that. So, can you tell me a little bit more about the

Reedville Fishermen's Museum?

G: Well, what we do in the Reedville Fishermen's Museum is try to save the

past of the Chesapeake Bay by standard museum practices. It was

formed when people got together and formed the Greater Reedville

Association, which later changed their name to the Reedville Fishermen's

Museum. We collect artifacts from – we don't buy anything, most

everything we have has been given to us. You see all these tools and

things? All of this has been gifts to us. Sometimes some pretty big gifts,

too.

S: So, can you tell me a little bit more about the boat exhibit next door? The

small museum full of the . . . I don't know how to say it. The mini little

artifacts?

G: Yeah.

S: Can you tell me more about who designs those and what they intend to do

with it?


G: Well, we have an artist by the name of George Frayne who's responsible

for a lot of that artwork over there. Most everything – we have a policy that

we don't accept things on loan. I think most museums have that. What we

do is come up with a name for an exhibit and then we do the research to

fill in the voids we have. In fact, we're using too much of our assets,

because we usually have two exhibits a year, and that soon takes up a lot

of your . . . have you been through the museum?

S: Yes, sir.

G: I was gonna recommend that I’d go with you, I could tell you a whole lot

that you don't see.

[Break in recording]

S: Okay. So, can you tell me more about this model city?

G: I can't see it.

S: You can't see it?

G: Unh-uh.

S: Okay.

G: I just see a blur. What was it?

S: The model city that's next door with all the houses and homes and the

railroad tracks.

G: Oh, you mean in the permanent exhibit we have.

S: Yes.

G: Well, those houses are on the main street of Reedville, which starts up the

street here a little bit and goes all the way to the end. And most of them


were built between the turn of the century and 1912. The biggest of the

industry was, I would say, around 1912, and most of these houses were

from the owners of the fishing industry.

S: There's a painting in the museum . . . oh, can you tell me more about the

nets in the museum? They have the big huge nets on the inside. Can you

tell me more about those, the fishing nets?

G: Yeah. The standard fishing net we use is called a purse seine, and what it

is, is about eighteen hundred feet long and forty feet deep, and in the

bottom they have rings put on the bottom, there's a rope running through

the rings. And what they do, they see this school of fish and the net they

have is divided into two boats, they call the purse boats. They see this

bunch of fish and you're looking at ‘em and you'll see a purple color in the

water, and they go around ‘em and the two purse boats meet, and when

they meet they throw overboard what they call a tom. It was a big lead

weight, and that would draw the bottom of the net together so the fish are

trapped in. And then, they'll take this power block, which is a hydraulic-

driven block, and get the net back to the purse boats, about that like that.

Then, they call the steamboat to come alongside and they throw a hose

overboard and pump the fish from the net to the boat, and that's called

purse seining.

S: Very strong. So, can you tell me more about the bells? There's actually

like different types of bells in there, like, the regular bell and then the huge

one that you hit on the side. What were those used for on the boats?


G: What's that?

S: The bells?

G: Bells.

S: Uh-huh.

G: You mean the one that was on the wall?

S: Yes, sir.

G: Oh, they didn't have voice communication between the pilothouse and the

engine room. So, they had a group of signals that they would pull up the

signal behind the pilothouse, they would ring a bell in the engine room,

telling the engineer what to do.

S: Okay. Can you tell me more about the lighthouse?

G: Well, there were two lighthouses around here. One was Great Wicomico

Light, and if you go down to the little town of Fleeton and you look out the

bay and you see it, and that was what they call a screw-pile light. It was

put on a piling that that was screwed into the bottom. And they usually

were manned by about four people, and the coastguard manned that. On

up the bay a little bit further in the Chesapeake Bay is Smith Point Light,

and that's right on the corner of the bay and the Potomac River. That's

what they call a caisson construction. Otherwise, they built the structure

and went out and sunk it and built the floor of concrete. Now, here at last

[inaudible 23:44], the coast guard now has taken away all the light

keepers, it's all automated. And so, they sold the lighthouse and people in


Wisconsin, who have never been on the bay, bought the lighthouse. But

they finally – I think they sold it now.

S: So, what was so intriguing about having the house by the lighthouse?

G: They lived aboard the lighthouse.

S: I'm sorry?

G: I said there was a crew that lived aboard the lighthouse.

S: So, have you ever heard any stories about how that was, living in the

lighthouse?

G: Yeah.

S: Can you tell me some of those?

G: I don’t know any particular one. But I know they used to have a lot of boats

on the bay and there were accidents and things like that. It was one of the

turning points, if you were going up the bay, you'd be sure to be on the

right side of the lighthouse.

S: Okay. Can you tell me more about the different types of boats in the

museum?

G: The boats?

S: Yes.

G: Well, essentially, we have . . . our signature boat is the Claud Somers, and

that's a skipjack. Are you familiar with – anybody tell you about a skipjack?

S: No, sir.

G: A skipjack, it's designed primarily for dredging oysters. They tow these big

scrapes on the bottom and scrape the oysters right off the bottom. In the


1880s, Maryland, which owns the bay from Smith Point Lighthouse north,

wrote a law that prohibits you from catching oysters with boats that had an

engine in it. So, therefore, they built these skipjacks for sail power. There,

at one time, may be eleven hundred skipjacks on the bay, now there's

twelve of ‘em left because they weren't maintained and the oysters went

away so there wasn't any business for ‘em . . . Hold on, we never

answered the boat question. The skipjack, then we have what we call a

deck boat, the Elva C. She's about fifty-six feet long and was used in the

pound net fishery. She's powered with a diesel engine. The pound nets . .

. also, she was called a buy boat. She'd go around to these little small

boats catching oysters and buy their oysters, and then they would sort of

buy fish from the pound net fishermen. So, it was a general boat used in

the bay for most everything. They don't build those anymore because

there's no use for them . . . Then, we've got this canoe out here we made

by shaping the logs. They measured the size of the canoe by the number

of logs that they had to build. I think we have a five-log in there. And then,

you go on the dock, we have the latest [inaudible 27:50] boats they call . .

. it's planked cross-wise where most boats are planked length-wise. It has

a deadrise which you see it over here on this one, this goes from the bow

being straight up to the bow being flat. And the stern can be a round stern

or a stave [inaudible 28:15] stern. And that's called a Chesapeake Bay

work boat, deadrise work boat.

S: So, can you tell me about Chesapeake Bay?


G: That’s not my deal, but the bay is the largest estuary in North America, I

think. It’s saline in part, and it goes all the way to – starts in Pennsylvania,

goes through Pennsylvania, parts of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia.

Most of the bay is under the jurisdiction of the state of Maryland. The bay

prominently catches rockfish. Menhaden is the largest amount of fish

caught. Maryland won't allow menhaden fishing, nobody else does but

Virginia.

S: Okay. Well, is there anything else that you would like to share with me that

I didn't cover?

G: Well, I'm more familiar with menhaden boats.

S: Well, you can tell me about that.

G: Yeah. I've been compiled a lot of data on boats. When they started fishing

with purse nets it was around 1848. At that time, they used three boats –

sail boats – two of ‘em were was for setting the net and the other boat is

used for carrying fish back to the factory, they called that a carry-away

boat. The industry caught on with such speed after the Civil War that a

third of all the boats being built in New England were built for the

menhaden business. So, in [18]66, [18]67, they introduced the steamboat,

which gave ‘em a lot of mobility that they didn't have because they didn't

have to depend on the wind. And by 1880, all the sailboats had been laid

up and all they had was steam-driven wooden hull boats. How're you

doing?

[Interruption in recording]


G: Well, anyway, Elijah Reed, who's supposed to be the father of the

menhaden fishery, came down the bay in 1867 or sometime soon after the

Civil War, and he saw two things: he saw menhaden in abundance and he

saw a large labor force because here we were after the Civil War and

these people didn't have anything to do. The place was ravished. So, he

saw a bunch of labor. So, he moved his fishing operation from Brooklin,

Maine to Reedville. And, at first, he was down near Virginia Beach, then

he moved up to Reedville here. Well, you see that big stack over there?

S: Yes, sir.

G: That was part of his steam-driven factory. And then, in 1888 his son

named the town Reedville after his father, Elijah Reed. There were two

guys coming down here, one of ‘em . . . most all the people came down

from Baltimore or cities up north because they didn't have the expertise to

run steam-driven engines. They never had the experience. So, what they

did, they transported a lot of these technicians in to do that. Well, anyway,

there was two big guys, one from New Jersey and one from Maine, named

Captain James Fisher and . . . can't think of the other one. Albert Morris.

And they built this big plant over here and began building their boats

themselves rather than buying boats from the north. So, they continued

moving until about 1925, when at the same time there was a menhaden

industry up north and that was kind of being phased out. But Reedville has

been in operation, the same plant, which today is called Omega, was

called Ampro, was called Reedville Oil and Guano Company. Reedville Oil


and Guano Company had been in business for 103 years. And every other

one of those factories, maybe twenty other factories, have gone bankrupt.

So, now, we're down to seven boats fishing, that's all we're fishing, on the

Atlantic Coast, and they're probably catching almost as many as they did

when they had a large fleet. Because they have so many better ways of

catching the fish.

S: That's awesome. Is there anything else you would like to share?

G: Well, one thing is the FDA allowed, some time ago, for ‘em to use fish oil

for human use, and so we have a plant down here that makes fish oil for

omega-3 fish oil pills. The other product that we forgot – like I said, there's

two products that they manufacture these fish things. One of ‘em is fish oil,

and that's the big product they get out of that. The other is fishmeal. Now,

that's coming on strong. They can make a cookie out of fishmeal and that

will give you all your protein you need for the day. The federal government

had denied them permit to do this. But this year they have lifted that

restriction, so that's gonna be another bridge that they're gonna . . .

S: Revisit.

G: They've put an awful lot of money in that plant over here.

S: In Reedville now, are there a lot of markets where people can go to get

fresh fish?

G: No. The fresh fish is very bad.

S: In ver-bay, you said?

G: Yes, they're hardly catching any.


S: Do you think a lot of people here still spend their time fishing or no?

G: Well, there's two different classes of people here. There are people who –

I hate to get in this come-here stuff, but most of the townspeople have

moved out of the town, and most of the town now that's here, from

beginning all the way down to the end, are people who have come here. I

think there's one or two houses maybe left over . . . And then, there's

people who work here. They live all over the county everywhere. Reedville

is just a little town by itself. I think they employ about 250 people. So,

that's a pretty good income for a town.

S: Do you like working here at the museum?

G: Oh, yeah. This is a unique bunch of people. We have doctors, lawyers,

engineers, all of ‘em have retired and built nice homes along the rivers

back here. They come in and fool around, they're building this boat here.

That's supposed to be a Chesapeake Bay deadrise boat.

S: It's really nice.

G: Yeah. They work on the boats and I do . . .

S: The research?

G: Yeah. A couple of us work on it.

S: Is there any more stories that you'd like to share with me?

G: Are you familiar with the banks failing in the Depression?

S: No, sir.

G: Well, the banks, in general, through the United States failed because they

didn't have the assets to pay off the bills. And so, there was a Bank of


Reedville down at the end of the street here. Captain Fisher told the

people who owned the banks that they wasn't weren't gonna lose any

money. So, he got a chauffeur and got a brown or black traveler’s bag and

put the money in it and went to Washington. I think it was something about

$240,000 [inaudible 39:29]. So, they never went under. And he took his

money in there and someone higher up in the government said, "Who

would be dumb enough to do what you're doing?" Captain Fisher said, "I

am."

[Laughter]

G: So, he built this big brick home right on down on the left-hand side called

the Gables.

S: Is that where his family stayed?

G: Yeah. Due to World War I, they took twelve of these fish boats out here

and sent ‘em to France, and only two of ‘em got back. They lost most of

‘em in a storm. In World War II, the navy bought, I don't know, twenty of

‘em or so, and lost two of ‘em.

S: A better outcome for the second time.

G: Yeah . . . But one of the big things about living in Reedville or Fairport was

twice a week a steamboat would come from Baltimore, and Reedville was

connected with Baltimore, not Richmond, which was the capital. So, if you

wanted to a suit of clothes at Raymond Mercy [inaudible 41:18], two

boatloads back, they'd bring it to you. If you had oysters to sell, they would

take the oysters to market. It was constant transportation. These other


places had a steamboat dock, they had a pen for livestock. They made

these trips twice a week. So, people would come down for the steamboat

coming was a big deal. You'd see your friends coming back. You'd find out

all the news of what was going on in the world. And this existed until 1933.

When they built a bridge across the Rappahannock River, all of the

commerce changed from Reedville and Baltimore to Reedville and

Richmond. The truck took over from the steamboats.

S: Do you have anything else you would like to share?

G: No, I'll answer your questions.

S: So, what made you so interested in doing research on these fishermen

and these times?

G: Well, I don’t know. Actually, you see your father's name in the paper or

someone . . . once you get interested in it, and it kind of hooks you a little

bit. And not a whole lot . . . you'd be surprised what hasn't been written.

So, we try and get some of that done. But there's menhaden boats built,

used twenty or thirty years, discarded, and not a picture left of ‘em. The

best we had was a Brownie, or a box camera. They just . . . taking a

picture wasn't a big thing with these people.

S: How important is it for you to preserve these boats and these memories

for future generations?

G: I think preserving anything that's fading away is useful. I mean, if we didn't

do it, who would do it? I had something else I . . . anyway . . .


S: Well, I'd like to thank you for letting me interview you. Like I said, if you

have anything else you'd like to share, you can at this time. But if not, then

we're done.

G: I'm thinking.

S: Okay.

G: I’m thinking . . . We didn't talk about the modern fishing.

S: Okay.

G: Like what's going on today. There's been great changes in the menhaden

industry, most of it occurred in 1950 on. One of the main things was a

power block, which is actually a big wheel reel that's run by hydraulic

power. And they can grab that net and pull in. But to do it they had to have

a net that was strong enough. So, prior to World War II, they used cotton

nets, and they would rot overnight if you didn't take care of ‘em. So, they

started using nylon net, which gave ‘em a lot of strength. And then, the

power block, and then they began to use airplanes. Prior to using

airplanes, the captain, the mate, and a guy named the driver [inaudible

45:59] which would go and look for the fish. Now, they use airplanes.

[Inaudible 46:06] and they use airplanes to set the net and they can fly

above them and say, "Move to your right, move to your left to set your

net." They had that. One of the biggest inventions, I think, is the power

block. Without that, they couldn't catch these big monster fish. And, when I

was fishing, which was only three years, twenty-five thousand fish was a

big set at one time. Now, they get a hundred thousand easily. They don't


even fool with the smaller bunches. Because the airplane can see them

when we couldn’t see them. So, these things have come along that have

helped the industry.

S: Do you think the advances in technology have significantly helped? Like

being able to know the weather before you go out on a fishing trip, does

that save a lot of time and effort?

G: Well, technology sure has helped ‘em. Now, the boats can lay at the dock.

With the crewman ready, the airplane can be above New Jersey and tell

them, “We've got a big bunch of fish up here.” They can leave and go up

there now. They have no assurance that they'll be there, but most of the

times they are. So, technology has helped in that way. Technology has

helped in reducing the number of crewmen by almost fifty percent. One

thing they have aboard their boats, they have a cook on each boat, and

they cooked, I mean, tremendous meals. We wouldn't catch enough food

fish sometimes even to eat. But now my wife won't even let me eat ‘em,

the way they cook them. They cook them in deep fat and man, I tell you,

you could eat the fish and bones and everything.

[Laughter]

S: So, how often did you eat that?

G: Well, the thing of it is, they fed four time a day. Fed about five o'clock in

the morning, had dinner at ten, had supper at three, and then they set the

table and left the food on the table for ‘em to eat whenever they wanted to.

S: Oh, wow. So, a lot, right?


G: Yeah.

S: Do you think that fishing was something that was extremely important to

the people of Reedville?

G: Extremely important to the people in Reedville?

S: Yes.

G: Well, I don't know so much right now about Reedville. But in

Northumberland County, it's important because of the tax base, one thing.

It gives a lot of people a lot of money. Most of these people – I shouldn't

say this – but they go on welfare, not welfare but unemployment. They pay

into it.

S: Is there anything else you would like to share?

G: I don’t know, I’m thinking about something . . . I can't think of anything right

now. I can just reiterate the same things. I think I was really given a good

early life. We lived in Fairport, we did what we wanted to do. We used our

bicycles to ride around the fish factories. Now, you have a chain-link

fence, you can't even get to them. Occasionally, we'd go out on the fish

boat with our fathers. It was just an idealistic life here.

S: I'm really glad that I got to learn all this information today from you about

fishing.

G: Oh, I'm sorry about not being able to speak.

S: It's fine.

G: I’ll think of something useful.

[End of interview]


Transcribed by: Patrick Daglaris, March 8, 2018

Audit edited by: Jessica Taylor, May 12, 2018

Final edited by: Patrick Daglaris, May 14, 2018

Samuel Proctor Oral History Program College of Liberal ... · Interviewee: Donald George...

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Transcript of Samuel Proctor Oral History Program College of Liberal ... · Interviewee: Donald George...