Jeanie Shaw Wheeler Oral History Interview, 1979
Table of Contents
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- Wheeler, Jeanie Shaw, b. 1882
- Title
- Jeanie Shaw Wheeler Oral History Interview
- Dates
- 1979 (inclusive)19791979
- Quantity
- .2 Linear feet of shelf space, (1 box)
- Collection Number
- CT 14 (collection)
- Summary
- Oral history interview (audiocassettes) of Jeanie Shaw Wheeler, conducted by Margot Knight in 1979.
- Repository
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Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu - Access Restrictions
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This collection is open and available for research use.
- Languages
- English
Historical Note
In April of 1979, Mrs. Jeanie (Shaw) Wheeler visited Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections at Washington State University accompanied by her daughter, Mrs. Millard Hastay. Mrs. Hastay thought someone might want to interview her mother, feeling her pioneering experiences in Humptulips and Hoquiam, Washington were particularly interesting. During the next week, Margot H. Knight spoke with Mrs. Wheeler about some of her life experiences in front of a tape recorder.
Content Description
This collection consists of an oral history interview (three audiocassettes) of Jeanie Shaw Wheeler, conducted by Margot Knight in 1979. Mrs. Wheeler's memory was sharp on some events, spotty on others. Mrs. Hastay often reminded her mother of stories she remembered her telling. The tapes consist primarily of her experiences settling and growing up in the rainforest near Humptulips, WA. She later moved to Hoquiam and became a schoolteacher. From 1918 through 1943 Mrs. Wheeler and her husband, Frank, owned and operated a small orchard in what was White Bluffs, Washington, until they were forced to move due to the building of the Hanford nuclear site. She talked of the apple and peach business in White Bluffs.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Use
Copyright restrictions apply.
Preferred Citation
[Item Description] Jeanie Shaw Wheeler Oral History Interview, 1979
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Administrative Information
Arrangement
The tapes are arranged chronologically in order of the interview dates.
(MASC STAFF USE): range 3-4.
Detailed Description of the Collection
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Series 14/1: Jeanie Wheeler (Shaw), homemaker, 1979
Birthdate of : 1882
Geographical Areas Covered: Humptulips, WA
Interviewer: Margot H. Knight
Location of Interview: Pullman, WA
Date of Interview: 3/30/1979
Length of Interview: 60 minutes
Abstractor: Margot H. Knight
Date of Abstraction: 8/3/1979
Release: Yes
Restrictions: No
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Description: Childhood in Wisconsin. Father worked in the woods. Mother was from Glasgow, Scotland. Her mother's trip from ScotlandContainer: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-6
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Description: Her first spanking. Brothers and sisters.Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 6-8
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Description: Travelling west on the immigrant train when she was 8 in 1890. Her father had built a house for them in the rain forest. Arriving at Hoquiam.Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 8-12
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Description: The trip from Hoquiam across Gray's Harbor to an Indian camp. Canoeing up the river to Humptulips. Siwash Indians helped to paddle the canoe.Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 12-16
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Description: Describes their house with shake floors. Flooding on the river -their house was built on stilts.Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 16-21
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Description: Garden in hollowed-out trees. Ate a lot of canned food. Eating beaver.Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 21-26
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Description: Taking a trip up the river with her father and meeting a little Indian girl. She had no girls to play with for 2 years,Container: Tape 1, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 26-30
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Description: Her father had been hired to help build a town to be called Frederick on the Humptulips River.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-2
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Description: A half-breed, Tom Ford, who had a daughter. Siwash Indians. They called her father Siwash George because he adapted so well.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 2-6
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Description: She doesn't recall helping around the house very much. Carrying water to the house. She read all the time.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 6-8
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Description: Teachers were only there 6 months out of the year. Teaching was very individualized. Mail was brought up the river for them.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 8-11
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Description: Her grandparents. Her mother's mother was very strict.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 11-13
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Description: Story of a cougar who jumped on the roof.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 13-14
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Description: Mother was a staunch Presbyterian. No church when they lived in the rain forest. No work was done on Sunday.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 14-17
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Description: More about her Scottish grandmother's family and how they came to America.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 17-20
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Description: Monday was always washday. They used store-bought soap. Memories of making soap. Her hair was thick and blonde and she always wore it in braids.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 20-23
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Description: Her mother had a sewing machine and made all their clothes.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 23-25
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Description: No memories of big Christmas celebrations. Her favorite doll with a kid body and a bisque head.Container: Tape 1, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 25-30
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Series 14/2: Jeanie Wheeler (Shaw), homemaker, 1979
Birthdate of : 1882
Geographical Areas Covered: Humptulips, WA; Hoquiam, WA
Interviewer: Margot H. Knight
Location of Interview: Pullman, WA
Date of Interview: 4/2/79
Length of Interview: 60 minutes
Abstractor: Margot H. Knight
Date of Abstraction: 8/6/1979
Release: Yes
Restrictions: No
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Description: Leaving the woods to live in Hoquiam when she was 10. Describes the house they lived in.Container: Tape 2, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-4
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Description: The school she went to when they lived in the rain forest. She was the only girl. Schoolhouse in Hoquiam.Container: Tape 2, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 4-8
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Description: Hoquiam was a wild, lumbering town. Eight saloons in town. Describes Hoquiam. Buying a bicycle. Selling tea and spices for the Baker Company.Container: Tape 2, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 8-14
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Description: The madame in Hoquiam named Cottontop because of her bleached hair. Story of a lawyer killed by a logger. Getting caught on the mudflats.Container: Tape 2, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 14-19
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Description: She was glad to move into Hoquiam. Young folks' parties.. Box socials. An elocution group at her schoolsContainer: Tape 2, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 19-28
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Description: More about camping. She always wore short skirts which was very daring. Other entertainment. Ice cream socials. Dancing.Container: Tape 2, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-6
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Description: Father-in-law was a Methodist minister. Went to Goucher Academy at Montesano for one year. Attended summer school in order to get teacher certification.Container: Tape 2, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 6-10
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Description: She got 45 dollars a month for teaching at Humptulips. She saved her money and built a new house for her mother. Her first class. Then she taught in Hoquiam.Container: Tape 2, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 10-16
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Description: Selling milk in Hoquiam. Doctors in Hoquiam. Home remedies.Container: Tape 2, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 16-21
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Description: Teaching in New London. How she met and husband and got engaged. He was a bricklayer in California.Container: Tape 2, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 21-27
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Series 14/3: Jeanie Wheeler (Shaw), homemaker, 1979
Birthdate of : 1882
Geographical Areas Covered: White Bluffs, WA
Interviewer: Margot H. Knight
Location of Interview: Pullman, WA
Date of Interview: 4/3/79
Length of Interview: 60 minutes
Abstractor: Margot H. Knight
Date of Abstraction: 8/7/1979
Release: Yes
Restrictions: No
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Description: Memories of her wedding. They lived first in Tacoma. Going to Point Defiance for picnics by streetcar,Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-3
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Description: They moved to White Bluffs in 1918 where they had an apple orchard.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 3-4
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Description: Story about visiting Grandpa. Early married life and children. Tells about orchard in western Washington. She used to work packing the apples.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 4-10
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Description: Their place in eastern Washington was on the banks of the Columbia. Packing boxes. They always had wood because they lived on the river. They had 20 acres all of which was irrigated.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 10-16
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Description: Picnics on the island near White Bluffs. 7 cents a box for packing apples.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 16-22
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Description: Grew most of their produce.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 22-24
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Description: Story of being put off by the orchard by the U,S. Government so the Hanford Nuclear Site could be built. Talks about the good peach growing conditions.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 24-29
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Description: Being gypped by a commission man in Seattle.Container: Tape 3, side A, Time Minutes (approx.): 29-30
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Description: More about Schroeder, the commission man.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 0-5
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Description: More about the destruction of White Bluffs in 1943. Bulldozer plowed the place while they were still there. Travelling in a government truck with all their furniture to Seattle. They only got a few days notice.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 5-11
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Description: Tells about the land swindle in White Bluffs, the story of White Bluffs' move.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 11-14
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Description: Workers on the orchard were usually from the area. Fire in the smokehouse. Other farm life incidents.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 14-21
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Description: During the winter her husband went to the Coast. Getting electricity.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 21-25
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Description: Talks about her son, Donald, who became a Rhodes scholar in 1935. He also traveled to Portland on a raft. Her other children.Container: Tape 3, side B, Time Minutes (approx.): 25-30
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Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Frontier and pioneer life -- Olympic Peninsula (Wash.)
- Oral history -- United States.
Personal Names
- Wheeler, Jeanie Shaw, b. 1882
Geographical Names
- Washington (State) -- History.
- White Bluffs (Wash.) -- History.
