[00:00:00:17 - 00:01:20:21] Collin This is an interview with Gerard Morrissey conducted by Colin Capurso on June 19th, 2025. Gerard's family heritage spans continents with deep roots tracing back to Irish immigrants who arrived in the 1850s and Dutch ancestors was settled in nearby Rochester. Growing up on a farmhouse on Latin Road, beside West Transit Church Road, Gerard experienced firsthand the rhythms of agricultural life. From tomato farming for hunts ketchup to apple orchards shaped by the seasonal cycles that defined his family's daily routine. His upbringing was closely intertwined with his Catholic faith in the St. Joseph's community, which provide both spiritual grounding and a sense of identity amid challenges, including instances of a discrimination targeting immigrant and Catholic families in the area. Gerard reflects on these experiences with honesty, highlighting how they've shaped his understanding of community and resilience. Through vivid anecdotes about farm life, local characters, and the joys and hardships of working the land, Gerard offers a window into a way of life that has evolved but remains deeply connected to the region's history. His longstanding involvement with the local museum and his role as scout master further reflect his commitment to preserving community traditions and fostering connection. In this interview, Gerard not only shares his personal memories, but also insights about what it means to be a lifelong vocal, honoring the past while witnessing the changes that have shaped the community over time. [00:01:22:04 - 00:01:30:20] Collin First and foremost, we'll talk about family and your background. What can you tell me about your family's roots, where your parents and grandparents came from, and how they ended up in this area? [00:01:31:20 - 00:01:53:15] Gerard My father's grandparents were born in Ireland, and they immigrated to this area as the potato famine hit, and settled in farming areas to the north of here, and they worked for the Billings family, the Morrises did, from about 1852, [00:01:54:17 - 00:02:05:13] Gerard and they continued to be in this area and continued to have interaction with different families. They moved to the Latin Road farm in 1929, [00:02:07:18 - 00:02:10:20] Gerard and let me tell about the Rickey family and the Bern, [00:02:11:21 - 00:02:16:05] Gerard the-- Oh, don't worry, that's in there. Has this in there farther? Okay, so that was, [00:02:17:18 - 00:02:22:00] Gerard that's the farm that I grew up on on the Latin Road in Town of Gaines. [00:02:23:02 - 00:02:26:15] Collin And then regarding your father's side, especially the Morrises coming, [00:02:27:18 - 00:02:35:16] Collin your mother's family, contrary, came from the Netherlands and settled in Rochester, as you mentioned. What stories did she share about the immigrant experience [00:02:35:16 - 00:02:42:19] Gerard in growing up in this area? My grandmother, Polma, was born in the Northeastern Netherlands in the farm area, [00:02:44:08 - 00:02:51:17] Gerard and they immigrated, various families immigrated when she was five years old, and stayed with relatives in Rochester. [00:02:52:23 - 00:03:02:18] Gerard And the Polmas were also on the ship that came from the same part of province, Groningen in the Netherlands. [00:03:03:19 - 00:03:07:06] Gerard And the Polma brothers who were on the same ship [00:03:08:16 - 00:03:10:13] Gerard worked in Rochester and then worked on the farms [00:03:12:04 - 00:03:14:04] Gerard outside of Rochester to learn American farming. [00:03:15:08 - 00:03:36:04] Gerard And the Great Depression of the 1890s struck, and farms were foreclosed on, and the Polma brothers had saved some money, and they went to the savings banks in Rochester and said, "What farms are available?" And the one that they were shown, one of the ones they were shown was here at East Gaines on Ridge Road. [00:03:37:09 - 00:04:01:12] Gerard And they bought that farm, and the man who was foreclosed on, they'd been a billions farm, well, far back, Timothy Billings, and the man who was foreclosed on was a relative of the Morrissey's from Ireland, and just got there at a very difficult time. So there were ties to that farm on both sides. [00:04:02:13 - 00:04:20:21] Gerard And eventually, the two Polma brothers who farmed on Ridge Road married my grandmother, Jenny Vink, and her sister Anna Vink, and they grew up on a Jason, or they lived on a Jason Farms and raised their families there. [00:04:22:03 - 00:04:33:03] Collin Very nice. And yourself, you grew up on a farmhouse on Latin Road. On Latin Road. What can you tell me about that kind of stuff? Living there, the work that you may have done, any memories from your childhood? [00:04:33:03 - 00:04:34:11] Gerard I can remember that we still, [00:04:36:00 - 00:04:38:11] Gerard when I was growing up, we still had pigs, [00:04:39:12 - 00:04:40:17] Gerard chickens, sheep, [00:04:43:04 - 00:04:53:02] Gerard cows, we milk cows. And so gradually, they thinned that out. I can remember milking a cow, [00:04:54:10 - 00:05:27:23] Gerard and I was about five years old, and these huge stainless steel buckets that you put under the cow. And so I'm a little kid, and I'm milking the nice cow, and my father's milking the next cow where he had to chain the legs up, so it wouldn't kick you. But he gave me the good cow. And I'm so proud that I've got this beautiful bucket of milk and I run around and I'm just, my father's seated on the stool is just at my height. That's how tall I was. [00:05:27:23 - 00:05:30:13] Collin So you're probably small enough to get under pretty easily. [00:05:30:13 - 00:06:04:21] Gerard I'm about five and I tap him on the shoulder, and he turns around and jumps up, and I don't know what's wrong. I've left the bucket under the cow. The cow lifts his big foot up and go, "Poom!" into that beautiful milk. Never gonna forget that. Beautiful white milk and the cows foot right-- Your masterpiece was ruined. Right straight down there. The milk had ruined. You're not gonna be able to use that milk. So that was my memory. And then we sold the cows off, we sold off the pigs, kept sheep for a long time and kept chickens for a long time. [00:06:04:21 - 00:06:17:14] Collin Very nice. And then similarly, your father farmed tomatoes for the Hunt's ketchup factory and later moved on towards Apples. What was his work like, and how did the seasonal cycles affect your family's life on the farm? [00:06:17:14 - 00:06:33:08] Gerard You really, to farm, you really had to plan your year's work out. So he always had Apples that he picked, and that was done from October, and then he picked up drops after that. [00:06:34:18 - 00:06:36:01] Gerard Tomatoes were picked in September. [00:06:37:07 - 00:06:52:15] Gerard So, and then they grew some winter wheat, which was, that was harvested like the end of July 1st of August. So it spread the workload out. And you planted the tomatoes in the spring. [00:06:53:23 - 00:06:59:23] Gerard The winter wheat was planted in the fall. That grew up on its own. And you had to spray the Apples. [00:07:01:05 - 00:07:08:07] Gerard And then you went out and, they didn't have the herbicides you have now, you went out and hold the tomatoes [00:07:09:08 - 00:07:12:13] Gerard until they ripened in September. [00:07:13:22 - 00:07:31:00] Gerard And that was a, as soon as the Hunt's factory in Albion opened in September, a great big board went up with every date on it. Cause you had to mark the schedule for how the Apples had, and the factory ran around the clock. [00:07:32:01 - 00:07:32:17] Gerard And so the, [00:07:34:05 - 00:07:47:17] Gerard every time and date would be put up on this calendar. And the factory would call if there was like a boiler exposure, they'd shift the dates around. So you had to have the calendar there and mark it. And so there was just an around the clock [00:07:49:06 - 00:08:04:15] Gerard hollering of Apples and delivering them to Hunt. The, I can remember very vividly, it was late in the season. It was late September, very wet and muddy. And the, [00:08:06:00 - 00:08:32:22] Gerard my mother looked out and realized my father had come back with a truck and the truck was still full. That was a disaster. They turned the load down. It was, you know, so they sort them and they weren't good enough. So very rarely did my mother go out to the barn, but she did then because that was a real disaster. And had to sort those tomatoes and then take them up to the, to be trying to hopefully accept them the next time, which they did. [00:08:34:21 - 00:08:38:16] Gerard And then when the tomatoes were done, they started picking apples. [00:08:40:00 - 00:08:44:04] Gerard And you picked drop apples until the snow covered them. You couldn't find them anymore. [00:08:44:04 - 00:08:51:04] Collin Gotcha. That way you kind of have this cycle of tomatoes and apples and keep the harvest going, so to speak. [00:08:51:04 - 00:08:54:04] Gerard And you hauled hay in the hot weather. [00:08:55:04 - 00:09:31:15] Gerard So you're doing that before and the, I would always be out and the hired help that the load of the hay, they only had trick elbows. They could only load from one side of the wagon. And I realized after that that was the side where the breeze was blowing. So I'd end up on the side of the wagon where the wagon blocked the breeze. And all I got was a chaff come down to the deck. And then when the road, when the wagon turned around, they still had the side with the nice breeze out. And I was still getting the chaff down my neck here. I needed to develop a trick elbow that I didn't have. [00:09:32:20 - 00:09:35:04] Collin They tried to keep you tucked away, so to speak. [00:09:37:05 - 00:09:46:11] Collin And other than maybe the breeze or perhaps the milk that the cow stepped in, what are some of the strongest memories that you may have of working on the farm as a kid? [00:09:47:13 - 00:09:48:19] Collin Other things in that realm? [00:09:48:19 - 00:10:08:18] Gerard Well, certainly Halloween hay was, and my father would grow either cucumbers or pickles. The long greens are the pickles. And he would take them over right across the way here to this barn where El Zambito, I had a produce operation. [00:10:10:02 - 00:10:46:02] Gerard And there were four of us, my uncle and my father, my brother and I. And my father would plant four acres of cucumbers. And you had to pick them every day. So every day you'd go out there and pick one. One acre a piece of cucumbers. And I'm tall and you're bending over and you're scraping these things that are sandpaper. And if you miss one, when you come back the next day, there's a giant orange, it just explodes into a giant orange thing. And there's no other cucumbers who grow around it because of that. So you, [00:10:47:20 - 00:11:45:14] Gerard and my brother was a better picker than I was. He made sure that you got a sign to the same road. So that all your mistakes showed up on that every day. And the price shifted tremendously because for a pickle with a deli sandwich, you get a quarter of a pickle. And they don't care what it looks like. They don't care how much it costs. They put one quarter slice of pickle on a deli sandwich. And so they will pay whatever the going price is. And it just, it'll go all over. So you'd have, and you have to keep picking every day. You can't, you can't, you've got to abandon it or you've got to pick every day. And so you would go and you'd pick a lot of, either pickles or the long greens, whatever they were. And you get a very low price and they threw out most of them. And then when the, [00:11:47:07 - 00:11:55:00] Gerard down the Carolinas, there were other, they're competing Florida, Florida, the Carolinas, they competing pickle growing areas. And you, [00:11:56:13 - 00:12:14:13] Gerard when that, when there were storms that crap went out, then the price shot up. So all of a sudden, every pickle went, you know, and you got a good, a good price, but you never knew what that was going to happen. You just got to have, just keep picking and hope that the price shifted. So that was a supply and demand that I learned. [00:12:14:13 - 00:12:16:17] Collin Good lesson to have when you're a kid, so to speak. [00:12:16:17 - 00:12:17:06] Gerard Yeah. [00:12:17:06 - 00:12:17:21] Collin Good, how are you? [00:12:17:21 - 00:12:19:13] Gerard What happened to the supply and demand? [00:12:20:13 - 00:12:42:03] Collin And then as we prepared for this interview and I was asking you some questions about things to ask, you mentioned the shift from kind of this general purpose farming to more specialized crops, such as the apples and tomatoes, and, you know, looking at the cycles of crops coming through and stuff, what ended up causing that change from the general purpose to more specialized and how did it affect your family's routine or perhaps their livelihood? [00:12:42:03 - 00:12:43:19] Gerard Well, there was just a, [00:12:45:10 - 00:13:04:13] Gerard the farm my father had is 125 acres, which now would be a tiny farm, but that was, you know, it was good soil and it was a reasonably good farm when he started farming in the late 20s. And so the size of farms got bigger, the equipment got bigger, [00:13:05:17 - 00:13:10:09] Gerard and the specialization got bigger to have, [00:13:11:16 - 00:13:34:15] Gerard like if you're growing string beans, so now it's snap beans, you called them string beans before, but then you gotta call them snap beans because it sounds better. The, you had to have a contract for, I can't remember real, 100 acres or more of beans. So you had to be bigger just to have a contract on this. So the factories wouldn't deal with you on a smaller basis. [00:13:35:17 - 00:13:36:07] Gerard And so you, [00:13:37:14 - 00:13:49:17] Gerard and I can remember the first automated bean picker that came in, it was on the bottom of a tractor with these, it spun and picked the beans. And before that, [00:13:50:17 - 00:14:15:00] Gerard what we call string beans, snap beans, green beans were picked multiple times. And with a picker, it destroyed the plant, but it was automated. And so you had to change the breeding of the plant so that the, all the beans ripened at the same time. And it changed, it changed the amount of workers, it changed the whole structure of farming there. [00:14:16:01 - 00:14:33:00] Collin And then as someone that's been on a farm and was raised there for most of your life, what can you remember about seeing those changes in equipment and all these new innovations that might've made farming easier, and maybe in some cases made it worse because you had to do more work. Are there any things that you've seen throughout your lifetime that changed the industry? [00:14:33:00 - 00:14:37:09] Gerard Oh, just a gigantic machinery. [00:14:38:15 - 00:15:01:19] Gerard My father had a farm all C and a farm all H tractor. And these are just hobby tractors by modern standards. And he had a combine that was attached to the tractor, which would be tiny by modern standards, the size of the equipment was, and the expense of the equipment was just beyond belief. [00:15:03:18 - 00:15:06:19] Gerard You had to be able to finance this stuff or you couldn't farm. [00:15:08:04 - 00:15:14:09] Gerard That was a tremendous load on that. I'm sure. And the rules and regulations that were there. [00:15:15:17 - 00:15:28:04] Gerard A lot of the farmers around the area had gone to Cornell Ag School. And my father quit high school as a junior and farmed. He didn't, [00:15:29:09 - 00:16:10:18] Gerard he was self-educated, but he was annoyed by some of these Cornellians and all. We had a little pompous sometimes. And when New York state required that you get a license to apply pesticides, he had to take an exam. Well, that was torture for him. He had to go and he knew the stuff because he used it all the time, but he had to go and prove it on an exam. And he studied and studied and studied. He passed the exam the first time and there were some of the Cornellians that flunked. He didn't take it seriously enough. And he was quite pleased with himself that he'd-- [00:16:10:18 - 00:16:25:22] Collin Kind of shows the difference between actually living the experience versus just reading about it, so to speak. And when it comes to other farm work and stuff, as we prepared for this, you had mentioned to me that you didn't like doing the farm work, especially when you were younger. What were some of the chores that you dreaded doing the most? [00:16:25:22 - 00:16:28:02] Gerard Well, you'd always go out and, [00:16:30:04 - 00:16:44:09] Gerard milking was twice a day. When we had college, you had to milk a place a day. So that was, and the chickens had to be fed and all the animals had to be fed whether it was hard weather or not. You had to get out there and do that. [00:16:46:08 - 00:16:49:09] Gerard Holling hay is always hot weather, that you're out in hay and it went to town. [00:16:50:17 - 00:16:51:22] Gerard I had no use for holling hay. [00:16:54:01 - 00:17:01:03] Gerard My father called and said, "You gotta get out there before it gets hot. This'll be about 6 a.m." Well, you'd bumble into the pillow, it's already hot. [00:17:03:09 - 00:17:29:06] Gerard So if a thunderstorm came up, it would be rain pounding against the window that washed the hay out, you could sleep in. That was just wonderful. But you had to wipe the grin off your face going downstairs, because that was not a happy-- How dare you look disappointed? You had to look sad. You couldn't be too sarcastic, but you had to put a sour look on your face and pretend that this was unfortunate. [00:17:30:19 - 00:17:48:22] Collin And then similarly, do you remember a time, maybe a specific instance or anything, where a storm or bad weather changed your farming plans? Was there anything that those moments taught you? Maybe not so much trying to wipe the grin off your face, but kind of the labor aspects, or what it taught you about being behind by a day, anything along those lines? [00:17:48:22 - 00:17:51:12] Gerard Yeah, you never knew when the weather was gonna change. [00:17:52:17 - 00:18:36:03] Gerard You had to get out there and work like everything to get things done in case the weather changed. My grandmother, Morris, he owned the farm, and she would stew about bad weather, which all farmers did, but she'd stew excessively. And they would never tell her when there was a forecast of bad weather, because she would stew about it. But Charlie Rhodes' neighbor would call up and say, "Lizzie, have you heard the weather report?" "Give a full weather report." "Well, you're Catholic, you got out a holy candle and lit that holy candle and said some prayers here that the barn doors wouldn't blow off." I mean, that happened too. [00:18:36:03 - 00:18:38:08] Collin I've lost many windows on my own barn. [00:18:38:08 - 00:18:38:14] Collin Yeah. [00:18:38:14 - 00:18:49:22] Collin And then you mentioned religion in this aspect, and you said that you went to a Catholic school all the way up to eighth grade, that your family was also part of St. Joseph's. How did your faith shape your upbringing? [00:18:51:00 - 00:19:02:08] Gerard Well, it was, you don't take off a Catholic background like a jacket, it's just embedded there. And there's prayers and ritual that are there, and you just take it seriously. [00:19:03:14 - 00:19:05:20] Collin Very heavy traditions and stuff along those lines. [00:19:05:20 - 00:19:08:15] Gerard You know, saying the rosary, saying prayers. Gotcha. [00:19:08:15 - 00:19:17:04] Collin And your mother herself had also converted Catholicism when she married. And how that influenced any of your family's religious traditions, maybe prior afterwards? [00:19:17:04 - 00:19:45:17] Gerard Well, my mother observed Catholicism, and she was doing a Catholic for a marriage, but she, if there was an event at the Baptist Church, she would continue to go. There was a real line of demarcation between Catholics and non-Catholics about attending church and so forth at that time. And my mother just basically ignored that. She was part of the community, and she went to whatever the events were. [00:19:45:17 - 00:19:49:05] Collin More of like a Christian umbrella rather than a specific denomination. [00:19:49:05 - 00:19:50:10] Gerard Yeah. Gotcha. [00:19:51:12 - 00:19:53:17] Gerard And so, [00:19:54:20 - 00:20:44:18] Gerard her parents, when they came from the Netherlands, had a Benductry Forum Church, which is a line to the Presbyterians and so forth. And in a Protestant church, you take your letter to the new church to show that you're a good person here. And the East James Baptist Church would not accept the letter from a Reformed church. They wouldn't do it. So, my grandmother, Poma, burned the letter. They attended that church, but they were never asking me members again. They just, their children were members. Uncle Ralph Poma was a, and cousin Arthur Poma were members. But they'd been turned down once, so they refused to apply for membership again. [00:20:44:18 - 00:20:54:12] Collin Wow. And then, kind of the topic of religion as well, you alluded to it at the beginning of this interview. Can you share more about the story of the Rickey family who lived down the road from you? [00:20:54:12 - 00:21:09:06] Gerard Right. The Rickeys lived at Brick House on the crossroad, on the West Transit Church Road, just over from Lantan Road. And they were there when the Morrises moved in, and they were both Catholic families. [00:21:10:07 - 00:21:26:11] Gerard Peter Rickey Sr. had come from, and his wife had come from Italy. The, and this is 1929, 1930, the Ku Klux Klan was active, and they decided to burn a cross in the Rickey's yard. [00:21:27:12 - 00:21:53:00] Gerard And one of the neighbors came to my grandfather, Morrissey, and said he didn't want him to be offended, that the Irish Catholic Democrats had moved up a notch, and it was the Italian Catholic Democrats that were now the target of this, well, he was offended. You know, it was a shameful thing when he got a crossburned yard, but they went ahead and burned it. [00:21:53:00 - 00:21:59:00] Collin So they had a terrible trifecta. They were immigrants, they were Catholic, and they were Italian. [00:21:59:00 - 00:22:01:17] Gerard And Democrats, that's how it happened. Oh, so, you got four. [00:22:01:17 - 00:22:17:04] Collin Everything, all of it. Which at that time, definitely not, would have been welcomed as much. And with stories such as this, such as the cross burning, how did that affect your view of the community, or shape perhaps your identity growing up, knowing that these sorts of things happened maybe 50 feet away from where you had lived? [00:22:17:04 - 00:22:24:19] Gerard Yeah, it just, you're conscious of it, and you know that some of your neighbors are the ones joining it. You know, it was not a cheery thought. [00:22:24:19 - 00:22:43:08] Collin Knowing that some person might actually be the big, bad wolf or something, these guys. It's a terrible thing to kind of wrestle with. And then when it comes to any things that you've experienced on the farm, what can you tell me about the story with Jack Robinson, the former mayor of Albion, and perhaps maybe the Cowboys buying hay? [00:22:44:22 - 00:23:04:09] Gerard Jack Robinson was married to a first cousin of my father's. And I was just thinking about this, I'm gonna tell another story, that they married in the Catholic church. Jack was the Episcopal. And then he had a row with the local Monsignor, I think it was Monsignor McCabe, and the family went to the Episcopal church. [00:23:05:12 - 00:23:12:22] Gerard And the older children had been baptized in the Catholic church. And my father's, [00:23:14:02 - 00:23:15:00] Gerard Aunt Hannah Sullivan, [00:23:16:18 - 00:23:25:05] Gerard when the next children were born, decided that this Episcopal baptism wasn't good enough. That she was gonna sneak over and have baptized secretly Catholic. [00:23:26:14 - 00:23:26:14] (Laughing) [00:23:26:14 - 00:23:28:15] Gerard And she was babysitting. And would, [00:23:29:15 - 00:23:36:18] Gerard you know, so the, there were two baptisms for several of the Robinson children, one in the Episcopal church, one in the Catholic church. [00:23:38:06 - 00:23:42:15] Gerard And my, I'm gonna tell two stories here. [00:23:43:19 - 00:24:15:19] Gerard My grandmother, Morris, was a Sullivan, and she had four brothers, all of whom died before their father did. Dead by their 20s. One was a gun cleaning accident, one was worked in the quarries, and the dust from the quarries got your lungs, and another one died under the cars and a railroad incident of some sort. It was just an impulsive bend. Yeah. And so of the seven Sullivan children, [00:24:17:01 - 00:24:27:20] Gerard my grandmother had two children and her, one of her sisters had two children. There's only two lines of dissent there. [00:24:28:22 - 00:24:39:11] Gerard And, but anyway, one of those Sullivan relatives, Mary Jack Robinson, he was a mayor of Elbin, he was a businessman and he raised pacers and standard bred horses. [00:24:40:11 - 00:24:46:10] Gerard And the one time he sent a truck and two men down to buy hay from my father, [00:24:47:10 - 00:25:08:16] Gerard and I'm out there, my uncle, my father and I, and these two, two cowboys working for Jack Robinson are there for the, to get the hay. And you didn't need three people up in the barn, you're dropping the hay down from the, from the mow, and then they're loading it down on the truck. So I'm gonna stay down and help load the truck. And my father said, "Don't, don't get up in the barn." [00:25:09:19 - 00:25:55:00] Gerard I didn't understand at the time what was going on. I knew he wanted me up in the barn. And he wanted to make sure that if that load shifted, I wasn't to blame for it. That the two, two Robinson workers who had stacked that, they were the ones to blame for, if it shifted, he wasn't gonna have anybody else down there to blame for it. And got the truck loaded and the guys left. And about half an hour later, the phone rings and Jack's on the phone, "Where's that crew with the hay?" You know, and my uncle, Jane Borrissey, enters the phone and said, "Well, they left over half an hour ago." And if they went up on the, in the middle of the road, [00:25:56:14 - 00:26:04:12] Gerard "Kylo Road, there's an underpass there." Oh boy. And you could hear Jack roar at the other end of the phone. He had quite a temper. [00:26:06:19 - 00:26:20:09] Gerard Now they hadn't done that. They take the Zigzag road and the load shifted. So they had to reload it. So they did dump the load and I wasn't to blame for it. My hands were clean on that one. [00:26:20:09 - 00:26:38:16] Collin Oh, that's amazing. And then when you mentioned in the past about working on the farm or particularly in the barn, you mentioned these low maple beams and you and I were both taller gentlemen and especially being taller than the rest of the family. What was it like doing that kind of work and perhaps maybe the heat influence it? [00:26:38:16 - 00:27:05:21] Gerard Yeah, I mean, the inside the barns on a hot day, just to a day, there's no circulation. So it would just brutally hot in there. And you'd haul the hay across and like I said, my father and uncle would walk under these beams. I had to duck each time. So you go and duck and then come back and duck. Then you finally forgot to duck and cob bam. Oh, you just see stars there on that. That was brutal. [00:27:06:23 - 00:27:10:12] Gerard And those barns trying to get that done. [00:27:10:12 - 00:27:13:12] Collin Sure you and I have hit our heads a few too many times. [00:27:13:12 - 00:27:58:07] Gerard Yeah, show the effects of it here. I guess that's one where Jack Robins' story, he'd come back from the farm at Eagle Harbor and he'd been shooting wood chucks and he goes to start a fire in the fireplace and he's leaning over and a couple of bullets fell out of his pocket into where he's gonna start the fire. He lights it, goes off. His wife Helen is standing there by the mantle and the fire heats up the bullet and she gets shot in the butt. And Jack says, well, if you'd been out in the kitchen getting my supper ready, you wouldn't have gotten hit. [00:27:58:07 - 00:27:59:00] Collin Oh my God. [00:28:00:19 - 00:28:02:05] Gerard A very sympathetic man here. [00:28:02:05 - 00:28:04:11] Collin Yeah, very much so. [00:28:04:11 - 00:28:07:09] Gerard It was like the old honeymooners on TV. [00:28:08:19 - 00:28:20:02] Collin And similarly with the heat in the barn, what was it like working when it was incredibly hot out? Especially we're about to have a very big heat spell coming up soon and working on those kinds of conditions. What was it like? [00:28:20:02 - 00:28:23:18] Gerard You just had to do it, just had to have fluid and whatever. [00:28:24:19 - 00:28:41:11] Gerard The old get out there before it gets hot was the theory on the farm. I knew it was already hot, but it was gonna get hotter. So you'd be out there at five, six in the morning trying to get as much done as you could. [00:28:42:13 - 00:29:02:04] Gerard And if you got things done, you set up on the lawn of the farmhouse, which had big trees, and there's always a breeze there. So you'd get the adults to get some beer out. The rest of us got lemonade and something cold there to drink, so you try and get fluids. [00:29:03:15 - 00:29:14:16] Collin And then you mentioned earlier the farmhand who would often work on the breezy side of the wagon. What was the dynamical bike with those kinds of fired or hired farmhands? Like what on that operate? [00:29:14:16 - 00:29:26:20] Gerard Well, there was a man named Louis Harper. Louis Harper was from Florida, he was black. And he always worked for my father. He worked for my father for years. [00:29:28:01 - 00:29:34:08] Gerard And they always knew if Louis said, "See you all in the morning," he was coming. If he didn't say that, he wasn't coming. [00:29:35:21 - 00:29:40:20] Gerard Said he was coming or not, didn't matter. And, you know, but he was just, [00:29:43:04 - 00:29:58:09] Gerard I've talked to people from the South, and the black migrants always referred to, my father and uncle was Mr. Homer, Mr. J. And in the South where there was a plantation, [00:29:59:13 - 00:30:18:01] Gerard the boss man was the owner of the plantation, and the sons of the owner were always called, you know, Mr. Bob, Mr. Joe. But because my father was out there on the tractor, he wasn't an overseer. He was right there. [00:30:18:01 - 00:30:19:15] Collin Alongside. [00:30:19:15 - 00:30:40:03] Gerard Yeah, he was running things, but he was alongside. So he was Mr. Homer and his brother Mr. J. and I was just sure I had no title, no status. I just, I was a fellow worker out there, you know. But that always Mr. Homer and Mr. J. that was how they were addressed. [00:30:41:07 - 00:30:50:11] Collin And then you've been involved with the Cobblestone Museum here for a while and stuff along those lines. How'd you first become interested in history and get involved with the stuff that we have here at the museum? [00:30:50:11 - 00:30:54:12] Gerard It was just fascinating, you know, the stories we told and the, [00:30:55:13 - 00:31:04:18] Gerard you know, there were different people I knew who lived in cobblestone houses and hear historic stories and so forth. Very nice. [00:31:04:18 - 00:31:12:21] Collin And then in the past you mentioned that you were a scout master. What was your experience like as a scout master and how has it influenced your connection to the community? [00:31:12:21 - 00:31:27:12] Gerard Well, the Baptist Church of East Gaines had a scout troop, troop 42, which I was in. And you went to summer camp, there were just experiences there that were there. And then I became a scout master. [00:31:29:04 - 00:31:45:16] Gerard And, you know, the thing I learned, you could have kids in your troop who could disrupt a meeting, you could have a meeting and they could just drive you crazy for an hour. You went to summer camp and you had all week, you know, and you could wear them down. [00:31:46:23 - 00:32:10:18] Gerard I remember the one kid, he's supposed to be the waiter up at the mess hall and he's throwing a fit. He's not gonna go up there, he's gonna show me. So all the other kids are going over, you gotta do something. You gotta tell him to go and go up there. And I said, no, I've got a car, I can go to a restaurant in town, I won't starve. And if he doesn't go up there, he's not gonna eat either. [00:32:12:07 - 00:32:31:03] Gerard And so he went storming around, storming around, storming around and I wasn't gonna take the bait. I wasn't gonna do this. Give the satisfaction. No, you know, just, you know, not gonna force him to go do that. He's gonna end up hungry too. And finally it's quiet around and I said, where'd he go? He went up. [00:32:31:03 - 00:32:32:01] (Laughing) [00:32:33:20 - 00:32:41:09] Gerard Just looking for a fight, you know? And if he just did, you know, weeks long camp, you could outlast him. [00:32:43:18 - 00:32:49:23] Collin And as someone that's deeply rooted in this area, what do you think has changed the most about the community throughout your lifetime? [00:32:49:23 - 00:32:58:18] Gerard Oh, well there's less connection. I don't know my neighbors, you know? And with the smaller farms and you knew all your neighbors, [00:33:00:00 - 00:33:11:04] Gerard my father would always leave the keys to the pickup truck in it all night. In case somebody broke down, they didn't have to come to the house. They do that they could just drive that pickup truck and return it. [00:33:12:09 - 00:33:16:05] Gerard That was the accepted way things were done. [00:33:16:05 - 00:33:30:07] Collin You know, we're much more isolated. Yeah, it's weird to think about that kind of dynamic and stuff. How do you think beyond maybe having keys in the truck, that sort of connection has changed and altered. How have you seen it kind of bridge or branch out? [00:33:30:07 - 00:33:39:20] Gerard Well, the individual farmers couldn't farm alone in the old days. They had to have help. And certain things just had to have help. [00:33:40:23 - 00:33:45:21] Gerard And the size of modern farming, I mean, [00:33:47:03 - 00:33:58:14] Gerard you hold grain to Agway or wherever the old GLF or whatever it was, where they had the big grain mills. [00:34:01:07 - 00:34:21:07] Gerard Silos. And now these individual farms have just gigantic storage bins beyond belief. Nobody, no farmer I knew had a scale, a truck scale. And I would say a majority of these large farmers have truck scales down. [00:34:23:01 - 00:34:24:21] Gerard They operate on that level. [00:34:25:22 - 00:34:39:12] Gerard And they have their own people that do the repairs. They can buy equipment directly from the manufacturers. They don't have to go through a local farm and wood dealer. [00:34:40:17 - 00:34:43:16] Gerard And the buildings are gigantic. [00:34:44:22 - 00:34:49:16] Gerard And so they're not dependent on their neighbors to help out. [00:34:51:09 - 00:35:06:05] Collin Gotcha. And then one of the last questions that I have for you, throughout everything that you've experienced throughout your life and the questions that you've answered today, what does it mean to you to be a local Orleans County? The significance of that word and what it means to be a part of this community. [00:35:06:05 - 00:35:14:07] Gerard Well, you have a connection, you know a little bit. And I'm 75 now and I suddenly, [00:35:15:13 - 00:35:31:20] Gerard I can remember things that people don't remember. I was 10 years old when dialed telephones came. They got rid of the operators. I mean, things just, and now the next generation does know what dialed telephone is. You know, [00:35:33:01 - 00:35:55:00] Gerard that's the technology has jumped. I remember the story, and I got to tell the story of my mother's father, Garrett Polma. And when they shifted over to a dialed telephone, my mother went over there to try and teach your father how you dialed a zero to get the operator. There was still an operator. [00:35:55:00 - 00:35:56:04] Collin The rotary. [00:35:56:04 - 00:36:07:15] Gerard Yeah, the rotary phone. And she wasn't gonna try to teach him to dial the phone, just in an emergency, you dial and you get the operator. [00:36:09:16 - 00:36:18:18] Gerard And he just, no, no, no, Jenny'll do that. His wife, Jenny, wasn't having it. Wasn't touch the thing, it was too complicated. [00:36:19:21 - 00:36:36:23] Gerard And now Jenny can do that. My mother's thinking, "Jenny's unconscious on the floor. What are you gonna do?" And he wouldn't touch it. He just, now, and he was a man who could take a piece of equipment around, old farm equipment, put it back together, rebuild it, build a building. [00:36:38:17 - 00:37:10:14] Gerard He should have patented the water for the stock. He just took a hinge in the spring, and he, where the, you stuck your nose in there, and the water ran. It should have been patented. And so the stock had their own water. The pipe broke to the house, and his wife had to haul a bucket out of the, darn, the stock got fed automatically, but Jenny had to haul a bucket. So just that changeover. [00:37:10:14 - 00:37:18:11] Collin That's amazing. That concludes the questions that I have for you. Are there any stories or any anecdotes that you'd like to share before we conclude the interview? [00:37:18:11 - 00:37:22:04] Gerard Sure there are, but I've forgotten them already. It's the, um, [00:37:26:23 - 00:37:28:04] Gerard yeah, that's about it. [00:37:28:04 - 00:37:29:14] Collin Alrighty. [00:37:29:14 - 00:37:30:05] Gerard Brain cramp. [00:37:30:05 - 00:37:32:07] Collin Well, thank you very much for your time today, Gerard. [00:37:32:07 - 00:37:32:17] Gerard Thank you. [00:37:32:17 - 00:37:33:07] Collin Of course. [00:37:33:07 - 00:37:34:15]