[BLANK_AUDIO] What's it talking about? Had a pace of business on South Broad Street and Pizzle Street on the corner. I think we'd have to block down from the police department, something like that. So anyhow, He was in the meantime Philip died and then his property had to be handled by the court because there was no, there was no specifications on his death, what to do. So I can remember going down to the Merriam and Tusti and I went to the attorney's office. And we were talking about the property across the street that had been the Addies, and that they had given to Philip. They had deeded it over to him, because he was always taking care of them. So, how much is going to be worth? I had in my own mind, nine or ten thousand dollars going from prices of the way things have been going. And so I can remember the attorney telling us, you can set the price yourself or if you want to let it go to Bitt. And the high bidder gets the price. And he says, "In all my experiences, the one that goes to Bitt's a job in or Bitt's a property in will pay more than any private deal that you could make." And the attorney was certainly correct. It came up and it was sold for something over $50,000. That allows me to go to a place where the Antisiglib. So let me see then. We had-- Well, now, was this before or after Phil had died? That the Antis place was sold? Oh, it was afterwards. So the Antis place wasn't sold until after Phil died? That's right. Oh, well then who had Phil left that place to? Nobody that I know of. Well then-- That's why I'm saying that a person should certainly make erasures before you even think of getting sick. Oh, OK. No, it was sold in the court. Oh. So then who did the $50,000 go to? That went into the... - The state? - The state. Young. So anyhow, we finally decided we'd try to sell it ourselves, and just in there, somehow or other, Tutsi was talking to a man that had been on Phil's property and didn't get it. And she said, "Well, maybe you'd like to bid on the other place across the street, the home place." And he says, "Is it going to be up for sale?" And she says, "It is right now." So he put in a price on it. Anyhow, I don't remember how it worked out, but the property went to him. We sold it to him. And was that Hamlin? Hamlin. And he had this fella that bought it and had his son go to poly, and the son moved in there with a bunch of his schoolmates, and in no time down, everything was ruined. The yard was shot, the fences were torn down, I saw Jake walking around at the side of the house and they just went to rack and ruin. Well, that went on for a while and the next thing we knew is that he had sold it. Well, no, this fellow Hamlin had bought it, had a partner in Southern California. So they sold the place and I don't know the details, but anyhow, I understand it was somebody down around Shelby's that ended up owning the property. And the next thing that we heard was the tank house was gone, the milk house was gone, the garage was gone, the old locky was gone. What's an old locky? Outside toilet. Oh. That's what it was, we always call it. I don't know why. But everything was gone except the barn, except the home. And then, a short time after that, we heard a story. Well, it came out in the San Luis Newsroom, in which I felt it was down there, it was a fireman. And he heard that they were going to wreck the home. And he went to them and bought the home for one dollar, just to make it a legal deal. And then he had a lot of things he had to do according to rules and regulations. And one of them was that if he moved it, it would have to be moved between midnight and three or four o'clock in the morning. Well, from everything we've heard, he had that thing sitting on the rollers at 12 o'clock midnight, ready to roll. And they pulled that thing out, went down on Orca Road, towards the end of the road, and up the little hill, around the corner, headed towards town, went down there to the old cadel track that they were subdividing, and they moved it in there sometime. Now, since that time, I talked to my grandson, Keith Cline, and he came by there one day. He had his son and some other scouts with him, and they had come down from the scout camp and come back. But where the old home had been, and he saw that devastation, he couldn't believe it. And so he had an idea where they had moved it, And they looked around him and he found it. And so he had a couple of shots left on his camera. He was across the street taking a couple of pictures. And his son and another boy were standing in the driveway, looking at the house when the lady came out from the little house at the back and said something to him. And he said, "Well, something about his grandparents had owned this house." And she was shocked to hear this. So Keith came over and talked to the lady. And she was so happy to have somebody that'd give her any information at all. And she took them all through the house, showed them how they were tearing this out, tearing that out and the thing that I noticed most when he was telling me where the back door had been going into the back of the house, it's a kitchen. And then there had been a window where my dad used to lie on the david floors most of the day in the sunshine there. And that had been, I think, made into a doorway over there. And he didn't remember all these things because he didn't remember how the place looked before I had it. But anyhow, he enjoyed seeing it, and he told the city that if he got any information or that he thought she would approve of, that he would send it to her. So she was very happy about that. And so I don't know, I know when the place was moved. They said it was moved at 12 o'clock midnight. The big trucker, the truck, started pulling that thing out. and the way they went with it. Now that's a big two-story home. Four bedrooms, four big closets upstairs, one bedroom downstairs and closets. It was a so-called parlor. It was cut off in the rest of the rooms by sliding doors. And then there was a dining room, which was the actually everybody congregated at night and then there was a kitchen, which was a big room with a big table on one side, it was a long bench, and there was at least seven or eight of us could sit right at that table. because he was nearly always somebody who was missing anyhow for their meal. And so there was lots of room in the kitchen, a big wood stove and a big wood box. Then off to one side of the kitchen, there was a bathroom. And then in that bathroom, in later years, had been divided, making a special room for the bathtub. And on the other end of the building, the room, was what we call the pantry. And that's where all the dishes were. the food and everything else stored and the place to wash the dishes and the table ever. Mother would roll out her bread. She was a great hand to make her own bread, which was delicious. And... There's a cook stove in there. Yes. They finally got an electric stove in the pantry. So that's where most of the cooking was done on the electric stove. Had the cooking been done on that wood stove? Yes. Oh. Used to cook on the wood stove. Well dad, can you go go way back and tell me a little bit more about your mother's history, where where her parents came from and how many there were in the family and where she grew up and how she and your father happened to get together and where he came from and how they happened to end up where they did. I don't have the history of them, and I never have that. Except in the first that I ever know about, my mother was born up here, a place they called Maine Prairie. Oh, where's that? This up. Yeah, Rio Vista? Yes. Main prairie. There's no buildings there now because I was up one time with Mary years ago and she knew where to go and all this is everything's gone. But that's the first step. But then did they live in Rio Vista at one time or was it just that main prairie was somewhere near Rio Vista? Well, she had an aunt or somebody that lived in Rio Vista. I don't know just what the detail. Your mother did. But anyhow, from what I understand, her father was killed working on a windmill and got knocked off or something and was killed. Do you have any idea how old she would have been? No, I don't. If she was a child or if she had? So anyhow, the story that I had then, that now, whether Aunt Mary was living in Cuyufas or not, eventually my mother and her mother came to Cuyufas to live with Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary was a sister to your mother's mother. To my grandmother. Okay. And then in time they came, moved to San Jose to 444 Igaris Street. And they were living in Caguthis. When my dad got into the picture, and where he came from, I don't know. Well didn't your mother go to San Jose to school also? didn't she have some kind of a teaching? Oh yes, she went to the St. Norville School and graduated from there as a teacher. And that was before the turn of the century then? But? Because... Oh yes, because she wasn't even married then. So she must have been living in Rio Vista or in Main Prairie before she went to San Jose. I'd have to get to see give you that history. Because she used to get a lot of that, take care of the folks, you know, just sitting around all day. Well, so then she graduated from normal school in San Jose, and then they were in Cayuca, and she did some teaching in Cambria. And I think up at Lopez Canyon. Oh, and they lived on Hingara Street. I know exactly the house, I guess, because When I first got married, I lived almost across the street. Yeah, up the Logan Apartments there. Yeah. So anyhow, they... Well, they were at 444 Higer on the... Yeah, but mother didn't ever live there. Oh. No. Your grandmother, Stuart? My mother was married then, and the Faris. had a double wedding up on, had a ranch up one of those canyons between Cuyacus and Morro Bay and from the stories that I heard and I can imagine so, they married in December And they took off from the wedding, drove over through those mountains to pass the roads, and out to Shannon and the pouring rain all the way on their wedding night. And drove what? What were they driving? A spring wagon. And the other couple too? Well, I don't know what became of the trees. They probably had more sense of the driving the rain up. He probably did, but yeah. The dad used to tell that story about going over there in that rain, and they cut across through the mountains to task a little or pass the road or somewhere. I don't know where, but I can remember him talking about the pouring rain all the way. Well, how many horses would pull a spring wagon to and when you say a spring wagon were they inside a coach? Or were they sitting on a buckboard? I don't know what it's all open Okay, I've only seen Western movies so I can't quite Yeah, I think they're both sitting on a wooden bench up front. Yeah, okay. That's what what the spring wagon was So then after that period, I guess, I don't know though when Aunt Mary and Mom moved to San Luis Obispo or how they got there. But there was a brother there too, Ferguson, that I think lived there too. A brother of who? Of Ferguson. Of Aunt Mary's and Grandma. Let's see. Aunt Mary was Aunt Mary Ferguson. That's right. Then why did she... Okay, that was a married name, Ferguson. She had married somebody named Ferguson. No, no. Had she... Aunt Mary was never married. So she was never married. And your grandmother's maiden name was Ferguson, and she married a steward. That is correct. Okay. So your mother's last name was Stuart, Flora Ann Stewart. Right. Okay. So... And Aunt Mary lived to be a hundred and one? Oh, I know. Do you remember? Aunt Mary lived to be more than a hundred. Aunt Ella did. I think Aunt Mary did also. Well, they could. They could. But I just don't recall that part. So the thing then was that your mother's father was killed in an accident when he was on a windmill. I'm wondering then if that has anything to do with why she was an only child. There was a discussion recently about the fact that she was an only child. And because so many families had so many children, we thought that was curious because... You're thinking of a person just with one member of a family that didn't have nine kids? Oh, what about your father? How many brothers and sisters? Now didn't he come didn't his family come from Canada? Yes from Brunswick or New Brunswick or? my dad and His parents Came out from New Brunswick along with it the rest of the McMillan's Uncle Jim Uncle Don, and Uncle Don was the one that started all this migration business. He was traveling around the country for a seat company. And boy, he came out here to California. He wrote back, "That's the only place to live, California." And so these people all got together and they just moved out. And they came as far as Soledad. That was the end of the railroad line at that time. So they were coming by train from New Brunswick in Canada? Yes. To Soledad, California? That's right. All by train? Now I don't know where they got the train in New Brunswick. Uh-huh. I have no idea. But I know they got as far as Soledad. And then they came one by stage or some sort of conveyance and all that. It's hard for me to figure, here's an old group of people coming and walking up into this country, vacant ground, no cabin, no nothing. Well, it doesn't seem right deserts. But anyhow somehow they got from Soledad to Shandon is that yeah on a bus or a state Doesn't seem strange that they went into such dry country I had going towards the coast I asked my dad I Said why in the world? Did you ever pick that hot rolling dry country? When you got that beautiful Selena's Valley down there, and I never forget what he told me. He said son If you haven't got any money You go where you can afford to go and that is why we picked where we went and they They took up that's property they took up from the government in what he called homesteads and Now, what just a preemption is, I don't know. But that's what they did. And then the first year it's in there, they were able to have enough money to get seed. But that was all, and I don't know how they, and the plow I guess. And these brothers were all working together then? This whole group who had come from New Brunswick? No, they spread up all through this canyon. Okay. who was down here at the first place, was my folks. The next place was Uncle Alex. The next place was Uncle Don. Then the next place way up here on the hill was Uncle Jim. And then those other distant relatives, they were up over on this side, the whites. So, the whites, George White, no. I think he came from up in that country too, from Canada. I'm sure he did. Well then, obviously, when your father came with these brothers of his, did his parents come or just your father and his brothers? When they came out, this is my understanding. It was my mother, no, it was my dad in his ones, and his parents. And then grandma, McMillan, lived on for years. He lived across Edgefields, probably there, with the Anties, in San Luis Obispo. Oh, so when your father and mother left Shandon and came to San Luis Obispo, he brought his mother with him. And the Anties moved down too. Oh. And so the Anties were his sisters. Right. Okay. So, where was his father? His father? His father, I think. I think he died there in Shannon. Oh. If I'm correct now, I'm not sure. You don't have any recollection of your, of your grandpa Macmillan? No, I have none. But you do of your grandma? Oh, yes. Uh-huh. What was her first name, you know? I probably have it. I thought his name was Ellen. Oh. Put an answer. And Kate and that Ellen, that's Ellen. Now, Dad said her name was Ellen. And we used to call her that Ellen. It's a little confusing, huh? Very confusing. sometime after your father then got to California and took up on this property in Shandon. It had to be after that that he met your mother then because she was over in Cayucas. Yeah, what was he doing, Chum, chasing around over Cayucas? I don't know. Maybe he went for water. I don't know. Well, that's part of it. I don't know a thing about it. I can't imagine he had to go that far for milk. I don't know. Oh, he had to. I just don't know that part of us. How he met up with her. If you get there again, hold a toothy and sit her down. I know they used a tov. Phil, usually isn't a big argument with her, says, "Toothsy, you're wrong. That is not the way it was." Well, he says, "It is the way it was." Well, I make your difference. And, of course, Phil would probably have the history of it. So... And that group ended up in New Brunswick, Canada, then came down to California. But your mother's heritage, I'm thinking, also came from Scotland. If her mother's maiden name was Ferguson, that sounds Scottish to me. I think the whole bunch of, somehow or other, were Scots. Well, that's been a wonderful history. Now, what you didn't have a chance to talk about was how you met mother and what came of that union. After all, you were one of nine children and you were the only one to have any children. Well, the rest didn't know. They didn't know how. Can you plug it in? Yes, you can go ahead, ma'am. Our family, through and through, my dad was in some sort of a church officer for years and years, except one time he had a little fall out with it ministered, So during that period we went to the Baptist Church, but then we were back again. And so I grew up in the church through the young people's department and all. And it was through the young people's department is where I met Shirley. when she and her family came to San Luis Obispo, where her dad was an instructor at the California Polytechnic School. We became friends, and we would see each other quite often at the church functions, And it gradually grew and grew till this saw a great deal of each other. And, well, it was early it was going into Polly, and she graduated from there. And then she went to the high school and actually graduated from there. And then she went to San Jose State and started to become a teacher. So that meant letter writing, letter writing back and forth. And once in a great while, I was up that way with Fred Traver one time and was filled another time. So, this went on for a long time. And I guess I was just cutting out anybody else who's in the lineup so that I didn't have to stop all the competition. So finally, I went to her parents and got the consent that I needed. So I called her and told her, and she thinks she was going to get married the next day. And I said, "Well, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, not so fast." So I don't remember what time that was. But anyhow, about this time she had to do a practice teaching. somehow or other she was assigned to Oceano and Pheasome Beach. So I thought, "Well, she's going to be home during that period, so that's okay." So we worked it out, we were married on April 8th. And while she was doing her practice teaching. Do you remember what year that was? That was in 1932. So then in the fall she had to go back to school at Santa's A. She would like very much just I insisted, say that's it, no more school, no more school. But I insisted that she'd have to have a diploma in case nothing happened to me, that she would have means of light with it. Dad, can I have you back up to your wedding when you got married? Would you tell a little bit about your wedding, where it was and how... I'm coming to her. Oh, okay. So anyhow, let's see where it was. You insisted that she-- Yeah, I insisted that she would have to graduate so she had a job. So she did. She went back in the fall for her last semester. that we were married on April 8th. We came to San Luis Obispo. We lived in a house for short time in a duplex on Choros Street. And then we moved into the house on North Broad Street that we bought. Well, then of course the next thing, I get this, moved to Santa Cruz. So, that's what we did. We moved to Santa Cruz in 1933. And I believe it was in August. And we rented a little place there that we lived in for a little over three years. Well, we build a house at 120 Rathsdern Way, where I still live. Well, I guess we better get married first before we have any kids. So, the time came time for the wedding. It was decided that she was going to get married right at her folks place, which was a property of the California Power Techniques School. I can remember it very plain. There was an orange tree there. There was in full bloom, just as sweet as honey. And Iarist, you know, blew them all around the place. And this was right in front of a fish pond beside the orange tree. And it was an evening performance after the wedding party was over. Then we went in the house and had a elaborate dinner. And— I didn't. Did her mother do a lot of? Oh, yes. Grandma Dunning did a lot of? Sure. She do as she said, give her to her daughter. So then we took off from there and went to Santa Barbara. And then for the weekend. How was that trip to Santa Barbara, dad? That trip was terrible because the lights went out and the lights were on. The lights went out where? On the road down Bachelabeno. The road lights went out? The car lights. Old car? And the funny thing is that- Was it a brand new car, an old car? Well, it wasn't a too old car. But the funny thing is when the lights went out right behind us, when the car comes along with Phil and Irvin, the rest of the troublemakers. And I always blamed them for doing something. But they turned around and I followed them right up close and followed them back in the town into the Ford garage. Well, how far out of town were you when the lights went out? Oh, I was out there a good two miles. Oh, and they were following you? Yeah. So... Then did you spend your wedding night at the garage in San Luis? know then we got it fixed. There was a man there by Mr. Shirley that was a night watchman and he finally found out what was the trouble. It wasn't these kids at all that were giving the trouble. So anyhow she went back to school, finished her school, and then we came to Santa to live. And in 1934, November 1934, Tom was born. And then two years later, we moved to of our new house and two weeks later Nancy was born. Of course this meant really heavy work for me because it was so much of the work that I was doing myself a run. Not of the carbon work, but of the yard work, such as that, dryways and everything else and fences. So our little family was coming right along and mom didn't want any more children. She thought two was plenty. But then after a while she decided it wasn't. She was begging for more children. At least one more. So the result of that bigging was merry. And she came along in 1941. And at this time, all of this time, were you the manager down at Central Supply? Yeah. I was working for the Central Supply Company yard here in town. And it was those long days and lots of time in the evening doing book work and other stuff. So anyhow, before we knew it, our kids were in school, and then grandma's school, then high school and then Tom decided he joined the army so he did and they sent him off to Europe where he, I think he was in Austria for about a year and the same for Italy and it when he came home. Oh, he told us before that he didn't want to go to college. He wasn't going to gain any math. So when he came home, he told us that he says, "Boy," he says, "I learned something that you could tell every college man who's in the army." I said, "Why? How? The way they talked." So he decided he was going to go back to school and he did, and he graduated and got married and soon after that he was one or two years he was up around the Bay Area teaching then he came to San Luis of Santa Cruz and put in the rest of his years he retired in June of 1975. He will do extra teaching work. What do you call this? Substitution. He will will substitute in work to get by because his retirement is an early retirement which demands that he put in so many weeks out of the year and then he has to do that too to keep up his health insurance and all that sort of stuff. And then he and Donna had Peter. And then later, Long comes Bruce and then Teddy. Teddy graduated from school around here like the others did, but then she went off to school back on the east coast and she also went to England for a term to some special school there and then she went to Groton, a university or college where she met her husband to be. And they both graduated from that college and then worked for a while in the East. And she was awarded a job near Sacramento here in California, so they moved out here. And good ol' California climate pretty soon along comes a daughter. And then next is a son. So they have a nice little family. And her husband went back to school to get some other degrees a period he should have in order to do the certain type of work he's doing. and she is working on the outside doing different types of church work and such as that. So, they're getting along fine by the end of the week. Go ahead, Dad. I forgot who I was talking about. Oh, well, you just told about Teddy's family. Now you were going to talk about Peter. Oh, what? - Tom's son, oldest son. - Tom's oldest son, Peter, is a graduate from college in San Francisco. He evidently is doing okay because He works for the University of California at Santa Cruz. And, well, he's been there for four or five years now. And has had nice raises and enjoys his work. He has a great deal to do with computers. and his wife teaches school in Boulder Creek. But they get along great, busy all the time. And then Bruce went to-- or Peter graduated from Chico State College, is where he graduated from. And then Bruce came along, and he went to State College Chico for a while and then he just muckied along, wasted his time and then he went over to the Sacramento area looking for work and anyhow he's working in San Jose and of course have already told you about Teddy. And then, of course, we have Nancy. The little jewel was born just after we moved into this house. I think two weeks after we were to something like that very close to that time. So, and she was born here to the local hospital, which is all gone by now. And she went through the local schools and we followed her all the time. She had a system of her own, getting along with other kids, and in little playlets and balls, it seems as if she was, she enjoyed. And then she went on after graduation. Oh, in the meantime though, she got hot for boys. And...