Interview with Roy Wilhelm, Summer 1993
From WilhelmWiki
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From an interview with his Daughter-in-law [[Karen Shreeve|Karen]] in 1993 | From an interview with his Daughter-in-law [[Karen Shreeve|Karen]] in 1993 | ||
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| + | ==Pa and his siblings== | ||
'''Karen''': Did your Dad know his half-brothers and sisters? | '''Karen''': Did your Dad know his half-brothers and sisters? | ||
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'''Karen''': Also we noticed on the census records they had B.H., Grace and their kids in Concho but I couldn't find Lydia anywhere in Concho. Did he maybe leave her in Utah when he first came down to Arizona and then her and her family come down later? | '''Karen''': Also we noticed on the census records they had B.H., Grace and their kids in Concho but I couldn't find Lydia anywhere in Concho. Did he maybe leave her in Utah when he first came down to Arizona and then her and her family come down later? | ||
| - | '''Roy''': If anybody come down later it was Grace...... I don't know how they figured the census..just the ones that lived in surveyed Concho. My folks never lived there. They lived on the ranch, the ranch that Candeleria has, it was their homestead and it was outside of a surveyed place and if they're doing census they don't go on the ranches around. So maybe that's how they got missed. (ED: Later research of census records of Utah in 1880 show Lydia and her kids and B.H. still in Utah in June of 1880. So apparently they did come down later than Grace's family) | + | '''Roy''': If anybody come down later it was Grace...... I don't know how they figured the census..just the ones that lived in surveyed Concho. My folks never lived there. They lived on the ranch, the ranch that Candeleria has, it was their homestead and it was outside of a surveyed place and if they're doing census they don't go on the ranches around. So maybe that's how they got missed. (ED: Later research of census records of Utah in 1880 show Lydia and her kids and B.H. still in Utah in June of 1880. So apparently they did come down later than Grace's family) |
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| + | ==Going to school with mother== | ||
'''Karen''': I think I remember you telling about your mom teaching school up at the White School house here. Would you tell the story about you kids going up there with her. | '''Karen''': I think I remember you telling about your mom teaching school up at the White School house here. Would you tell the story about you kids going up there with her. | ||
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'''Roy''': I remember that she loved kids, everyone's kids, she just loved kids and she invited them to come to our home, come there to play, we had just scads of kids at our place all the time and they were always welcome, she always get a little lunch for the whole crew and we had a good time on account of it. It's just a good thing to remember back on, all the acquaintances we made there right at home where the kids come to play, other people didn't like to tend their own kids so they let them come. | '''Roy''': I remember that she loved kids, everyone's kids, she just loved kids and she invited them to come to our home, come there to play, we had just scads of kids at our place all the time and they were always welcome, she always get a little lunch for the whole crew and we had a good time on account of it. It's just a good thing to remember back on, all the acquaintances we made there right at home where the kids come to play, other people didn't like to tend their own kids so they let them come. | ||
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| + | ==Mother== | ||
'''Karen''': Did your Mom ever talk about when she was a little girl? Was she born in St. Johns? | '''Karen''': Did your Mom ever talk about when she was a little girl? Was she born in St. Johns? | ||
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'''Roy''': Oh, yes she was. She started the St. Johns mandolin and guitar club and its hung on so long after my mother was dead and become so popular that they have appropriated it to other people. They say that Aunt Mary Farr did that, now they say that Mrs. E.I. Whiting did that, Aunt Mary's daughter, but when I was a kid it was always understood that my mother was the founder of it and she kept the thing going. And they had their sessions, anybody that could play a mandolin or guitar rounded up, they used to come to our place and play..... There was a guy come through here, a guy named Stafford and really a guitar player and My mother got Pa to take her to, he was to give a concert, he charged for it, and there.... and when the concert was over she went home and she tuned up her guitar, it was tuned different the way she did. She tuned it up and played all the things that Stafford had played. But before he left town Mother got Pa to agree to pay Stafford to give her a few lessons. So they went and propositioned him about it and he said O.K., he would, he says I want to see how far along you are with the guitar and we'll know where to start so he handed her his guitar and she sat there and played all the tunes that she had heard him play. And when she got through, she had played some of them old classics, "La Paloma" and a few of those old Spanish things that he hadn't played and he says "I can't give you lessons." And that's the way it was every time. They went to California and stayed all winter took her out there to a Dr. a specialist and they looked for someone that would give her guitar lessons and in every case they would have her play and say I can't give you lessons. She played so many different ways, too, she tuned it three different ways. My brother Andy, he inherited this all from her, he just naturally .......he had to hire me to do it, we would take turns a washing the dishes up at Vernon and he would wash my dishes if I would play the guitar with him. | '''Roy''': Oh, yes she was. She started the St. Johns mandolin and guitar club and its hung on so long after my mother was dead and become so popular that they have appropriated it to other people. They say that Aunt Mary Farr did that, now they say that Mrs. E.I. Whiting did that, Aunt Mary's daughter, but when I was a kid it was always understood that my mother was the founder of it and she kept the thing going. And they had their sessions, anybody that could play a mandolin or guitar rounded up, they used to come to our place and play..... There was a guy come through here, a guy named Stafford and really a guitar player and My mother got Pa to take her to, he was to give a concert, he charged for it, and there.... and when the concert was over she went home and she tuned up her guitar, it was tuned different the way she did. She tuned it up and played all the things that Stafford had played. But before he left town Mother got Pa to agree to pay Stafford to give her a few lessons. So they went and propositioned him about it and he said O.K., he would, he says I want to see how far along you are with the guitar and we'll know where to start so he handed her his guitar and she sat there and played all the tunes that she had heard him play. And when she got through, she had played some of them old classics, "La Paloma" and a few of those old Spanish things that he hadn't played and he says "I can't give you lessons." And that's the way it was every time. They went to California and stayed all winter took her out there to a Dr. a specialist and they looked for someone that would give her guitar lessons and in every case they would have her play and say I can't give you lessons. She played so many different ways, too, she tuned it three different ways. My brother Andy, he inherited this all from her, he just naturally .......he had to hire me to do it, we would take turns a washing the dishes up at Vernon and he would wash my dishes if I would play the guitar with him. | ||
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| + | ==Ruth== | ||
'''Karen''': I also wanted to ask you about, your dad married Alice Crosby after your mom died and they had a little girl? Do you know what her name was? | '''Karen''': I also wanted to ask you about, your dad married Alice Crosby after your mom died and they had a little girl? Do you know what her name was? | ||
