ON THE FARM

When I was young I remember going to a farm to pick pears and it was owned by an interracial couple. They were close friends of my grandparents and like many of my grandparents friends, spent a lot of time with my grandparents at their cabin. Now days interracial couples are common place but back in the 1920's and 1930's being friends with an interracial couple could get you stoned in some southern states.

When my mother visited my dad at an army base during WWII my mother and her two year old daughter were stoned in Tennessee just because my mom opened a door for an old crippled black woman. My mom didn’t realize an act of kindness was so frowned upon in the south. Luckily the man who owned a nearby store let my mom and sister into his business. He was originally from the north and was disgusted by how African-Americans were treated in the south.

In Michigan at that time the content of ones character was becoming more important than ones race. By that time my family was a great mixture various ethnic groups. Most believed in a God but most also believed that there were a lot of crooks that wanted to steal from the poor via the collection plate, to make themselves rich.

ROSCOMMON COMPANY FROM CHICAGO ABOUT 1918

To the right you will see my great grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Chase, entertaining the Hesston’s from Chicago. Charles Chase was a Michigan politician and farmer. His wife owned a restaurant in Roscommon Michigan. The picture shows company at the Chase farm in about 1918. The Chase family were early settlers in Roscommon.

The horse drawn wagon in the background demonstrates that auto’s were not commonly used. In fact, trains were used to bring people up to Roscommon from big cities like Chicago. Roscommon was a major vacation spot at the time. Weekend trips further north were not yet practical.