Transcript of Interview

R = Ron WileyH = Hazel Green

F = Fred Lindley

B = Butch Green

H: (Looking at Ron) Who was your dad?

R: Raymond, Ray Wiley, he drove a milk truck and my mother was called Mat, Matilene.

H: Now, wasn’t he related to Jim Pearson?

R: Now, let me see…

H: His father or mother died, didn’t they?

R: Yes, Dad’s father died two weeks before he was born, up in Cleveland.

H: Yeah they were from Cleveland

R: There were 3 boys and their mother just couldn’t take care of them, so they were out in the streets, then were in an orphanage for some time. Then they were adopted by family members. Bill and "Pearl." Pauline, but everybody called her "Pearl," adopted Dad. He was a Wiley adopted by a Wiley. Pearl was a Keppler and they adopted Eldon, "Sam" Wiley who was a Keppler.

H: Well, then Mary and Harry Pearson adopted Jim.

R: Right, and they lived over here on the curve. Her farm that.. must have been 80 acres.

H: Ennis (Pearson - Harry’s brother) lived in the big house and Mary and Harry lived in the little house on the corner.

R: Were you born and raised in this area?

H: I was born in Hamilton, on Smith Road, on a dairy farm.

R: What was the family name - your maiden name?

H: My maiden name, Gintner

F: Who were your parents? Your father’s name was…?

H: Don

B: His real name was Donham, but went by Don. Donham P, which he didn’t like…Richard Philip

F: And your mother’s name?

H: Carrie

B: She was a Krause

H: It was spelled with an “e”, then someone along the way dropped the “e”

F: There are Krause’s over around Seven Mile

B: Yeah, they are related

F: So, Hazel Gintner married Richard Green

H: Yes

F: So, Butch do you have any siblings?

B: Yes, a sister, Dorla

F: Dorla Green

B: She’s Johnson now. They live in West Chester

F: Butch, your given name is…?

B: Richard L., Lee

F: (to H) We’d like to know your memories of Darrtown… When did you come to Darrtown?

H: 1916. I was 6 years old

F: So, you came to this house?

H: Oh no. We came to where Butch lives now

[Webmaster Note: Butch lives about one-half mile east of Hazel's house on Schollenbarger Road. His residence sits atop the hill that overlooks the former Hugh Decker farm to the east.]

R: You used to do my mother’s hair. She’s living at Westover in assisted living. She’ll be 96 at the end of this month.

H: Did she go to school at Darrtown?

R: Yes, she and Dad went to Darrtown High School and graduated in 1930

H: I graduated in ‘28

R: Dad played basketball and baseball

H: Do you know where the first basketball court was?

B: I’m sure Mom knows

H: It was out east of the school house. We played outside.

B: (Showing pictures) That’s her father and mother.

H: That’s mom and dad and me. And you know what this is right here?

F: Looks like a haystack of some sort

H: It’s a straw pile. That was our dairy. They built a frame work. The back was open. The straw was covered over

F: What else have do you have (pictures)?

B: This is a picture of the house where I live.

F: So that was the original Gintner farm?

B: Yeah, so we’re talking …the fifth generation.

H: You see the barn, and there is a little building, maybe about 20 by 12. We lived in that one whole summer while we built the house. We didn’t have a well. We had a little stream down below. These were the happiest days of my life

F: My memory is that we would ride the bus out there and there was a Pater family that lived there.

B: Yes, they lived there 8 or 10 years.

H: We rented the house, but we kept the land.

F: The kids were Joe and Patty.

B: They [Hazel and husband Richard] moved here [Hazel's present home on Shollenbarger Road.]

H: Well, Pop died in 1948 and Mom came to live with us, and that’s when we rented the house to Pater’s

R: When you were married, then, did you live here?

H: Yes, we bought this in 1945

R: Do you remember who owned it before you?

B: Kleinfelter. Was it Kleinfelter?

H: Yes, we bought it from them. That was Harry, and John was in real estate.

F: Do you remember who had it before that?

B: Huston’s. Where the log house was. That was Huston’s and he got it from the military is what I understand. He was in the military, a Captain or something like that and that’s how he got that.

B: You know this sharp curve down here? (Pointing in the direction of the 90 degree left turn of Schollenbarger Road, just south of Hazel's house.) If you go straight back (due south off Shollenbarger at the first turn) that’s called Chaw Raw Hill.

R: You ever been to any cock fights back in there? What was the guy's name who lived back in there and had the cock fights?

H: That was my Daddy

R: I wouldn’t have known your Daddy. Who was the guy later who set up the cock fights? A big guy.

H: That was Jim Hendricks

B: If you go way back in there, that’s where the Indians had an encampment there.

R: Have you found artifacts back there?

B: Oh yeah, I’ve got all kinds of artifacts that I found there. Well, not so much back there as on our farm. I could spot them from the tractor because they shined.

F: Darrtown High School - other memories of it?

H: I remember Shuck, the family.

F: They had a grocery store?

H: Yes, where the Hitching Post is.

F: Thank you! Because, Kirk Mee III contributed a picture of the Shuck General Store, it’s on the Internet.

F: OK, please continue.

H: We moved out here in May of 1916. The Shucks ran the store. She was a Wendel; when she died Jack Wendel took it over and ran it. He was a brother. Somewhere along the way he sold it to a Wiley. [Webmaster Note: other records show that the Shuck family sold it to Oscar L. Irwin in 1925 and Irwin sold it to Pauline Wiley in 1932, then the Wiley’s sold it to Red Huber in 1949]

R: That was my grandparents, Bill and Pearl. They bought it in 1939.

H: There was things sold like meats

R: Yes, my grandparents sold meats and cheeses, and things like that. It was during prohibition, so I was told my Dad delivered booze around town out the back door with his little red wagon.

F: There were several drinking establishments in Darrtown over time.

F: So how old were you? Do you mind telling how old you are?

H: I was born in 1910.

F: Where did you start to school?

H: In the school house on Schollenbarger Road.

R: That’s the house where Jimmie Stevens lived.

[Webmaster Note: The school building still stands at the intersection of Schollenbarger Road and Walnut Street, in Darrtown.]

H: Mr. Brown, he was principal, and Marie Beaton, she was my first teacher.

F: How many grades were you in, in that school building?

H: I would say maybe 3rd or 4th.

F: And then where did you go to school?

H: You know where the Hitching Post is… it was on the corner where the next street crosses.

[Webmaster Note: This is a reference to the intersection of Main Street and Apple Street in Darrtown]

F: I understand that was a grocery store that Frank Bufler ran.

H: That could have been happening at the time and maybe when the school took it over that’s when he gave up the store… We weren’t in that building very long… then we went to the new school that they built.

R: That building is no longer there.

[Webmaster Note: This is a reference to the school building that stood opposite 3126 Oxford Street in Darrtown.]

F: Knute Wagonfield told me that they closed the school in ’38 or ‘39

F: So you were born in 1910, you would have started school in 1916.

H: We walked to school from where we lived. I walked to school with the Deckers, the Manrods…

F: So you’re going to tell me you knew the Weiss family.

H: Sure

F: That’s my mom

H: I was going to ask you. I was pretty sure I was right. What was your mother’s name?

F: My mother was Bernice

H: Bernice and Paul; Paul was in my grade

F: Their parents were William and Frances Bufler

F; My mother told me that she (Frances) died in a fire.

H: Yes, I remember the fire

F: So, you walked to school.

H: Yes, and the road wasn’t there.

B: It went straight past the house, it didn’t go around by Deckers like it does now.

H: Yes, I walked and never missed a day of school

F: Do you remember some of the first school buses?

H: Sure

F: My Dad told me about early school buses that had some kind of temporary heaters in them. They were basically like trucks, with boards running along the interior for seats that faced inwards.

H: Jess Frances drove, he had a garage there on the other side of the street. Mrs. Francis drove the bus, also. They had a route that went out Scott Road, and a route down towards Hamilton. One went down Darrtown road there, and they had one come out our way.

F: You said Frances’ garage was across from what, please?

H: Across from Don’s grocery store (Don Beckett's store now)

R: Later on there was another grocery store there. Dees, Clarence Dees.

H: Then there was the Grau family

F: They were related to me through the Buflers. Joe and Marie. There were six Bufler girls; Anna Mae Bufler Alston, Francis, my grandmother, there was a Stella, Mary Wagonfield was a Bufler...

H: Lucille Dynes

R: She was married to Keith?

H: Yes

F: I don’t know who Stella married. I didn’t know her very well.

H: Frank and Addie Bufler...

R: No, that was a different Bufler. They lived next to where my parents built a house in 1948-49. They moved in in the Spring of ’49. Frank and Addie were next door. They never had any children

F: Tell us about those 50 - 50 dances. Did you go to those?

H: Oh, sure

F: I went to those.

H: You did?

F: Yes, I was about that big (raising hand in the air). I can still see Dick Bufler… He would hold his partner's arm way out to the side and pump it up and down…

R: That was his style and he was pretty darn good at it

F: It was family, because you would dance with your aunts, mother, cousins…

F: (To Butch) You were a pitcher.

B: Well, I once pitched 19 2/3 innings in one game

F: Wow!

B: 5 hours and 20 minutes. And I didn’t get the win.

F: Who were you playing?

B: We were playing down in Hamilton

F: Summer league, maybe? At the North End?

B: Yes. I played summer league

F: Who where you playing for?

B: Well, I played with Abe Brown [Furniture Company, from Hamilton, Ohio]. Yeah, Kirk and I played together. Doug Stamper came in and pitched to one man and he got the win.

F: Where did he go to school?

R: Seven Mile?

B: No, Hanover. This (picture) goes back to my McGuffey team.

B: I brought these [newspaper articles - some with photos]; mostly of Smokey Alston with the Dodgers

F: There’s Casey Stengel, with Smokey

F: Look at this one. Who is that? Oh, that’s George Rider. Where was this picture taken?

R: It says K of P Hall. But I don’t remember a brick wall in the K of P Hall

F: Did you play with Lee Hunt?

B: Oh yeah. He was a year behind me.

F: Here is Jack Hansel. Butch, Jack...

[Group looking at various pictures]

R: (to Hazel) Do you remember how many were in your graduating class?

H: There were 16 in our freshman class and when we graduated there were 4 girls and 2 boys.

R: My mother and father had 11 in their graduating class.

H: A lot of them quit along the way. Hugh Decker quit when he was 16

F: It was before the depression, but some of them still had to quit to get jobs and earn money.

H: And a lot of the boys quit to help on the farm.

H: Well, this has been fun

F: We’ve enjoyed it. We’d like to get some of your pictures sometime

F: Do you get out of the house at all?

H: I go up to the Senior Center and play cards twice a week.

F: That’s great! What do you play

H: Euchre. They call it Horse up there. I call it glorified euchre.

[Webmaster Note: At this point, Butch left the kitchen table and retrieved several pictures from upstairs; all were shown the pictures]

F: Do you know any of the people in these pictures?

H: (Pointing) I’m in that one.

F: Do you know other people in the pictures?

H: Oh sure, I know all of them.

F: Look there! That’s Hugh Decker! Now wait a minute, that means my uncle Paul would be in there.

H: Paul Weiss? Yeah, there he is.

F: Oh, for heaven’s sakes...I would like to make copies of these and get the names of the people.

R: (Pointing at a photo) Is this the Darrtown school?

H: Yes

F: Oh that’s great! Are you in there?

H: Yeah, somewhere along the way

H: There I am. Ruth Follmer, Martha Kramer, Smokey…

F: There’s John Bradbury!

R: What a find (to see the pictures). What a treasure. You (looking at Hazel) are a treasure.

F: What a fantastic memory. You are blessed.

B: Now wait a minute. You (looking at Hazel) spent a lot of time at Red Huber’s. I would get the phone call here that someone had come to get her hair done and I would have to call the Hitching Post to remind you that someone wanted to get her hair done.

[Webmaster Note: Hazel was a part-time hairdresser; she had a shop in the Green home on Schollenbarger Road. Frances Weiss, Fred's first cousin, remembers that her mother, Lois Weiss, went to Hazel's shop.]

F: (to Butch) Did you know Red Huber well? Could you tell us about him?

B: I didn’t know him that well. I didn’t go down there all that much. I lived out of Darrtown and didn’t get involved all that much with people in town.

F: I had the same situation, living south of Darrtown.

R: Yeah, when we played baseball in the church yard or "Kick the Can" at night, you guys were far enough out that we didn’t involve you.

F: Dale Bufler told me he organized a basketball team of boys from Darrtown and they were called the Purple Skunks. I think you, Ron, named them.

R: Yes, we had scrap (metal) drives and paper drives and sold the stuff in Hamilton to raise money, and we bought our own uniforms. And they were purple, so I suggested the name Darrtown Purple Skunks. Dale Bufler organized it. He was so considerate of all of us who were younger, maybe by 10 years. He and others [friends of Dale’s] would come and gather us [younger ones] up - they had cars - and take us out to Hueston Woods where the “trusties” - the prisoners - were, and we would play them in softball.

And they would pick us up and take us - I don’t remember the courses - and we would caddy for them in golf. It wasn’t organized like they do today, it was just spontaneous for the kids around Darrtown. And there were others (with him) like the Wagonfield - was it Knute?

F: Maybe it was Junior Wagonfield?

H: Well, did you boys ever hear about the ballgame played down there as you go out of Darrtown? Where they had those two pitchers come in… Where’d they bring them in from?

F: One from Chicago - Hod Eller

H: Who was the other one?

R: It’s on the website

F: From St. Louis, I think. That was big time.

H: Smokey played with them.

F: And Doc Alston.

F: Did you go to any of those games? Were you there?

H: Oh, yeah

B: Did my dad play?

H: Not in that game

B: But, he played down there?

H: Yes

F: Kirk Mee, Sr., the Second, wrote down his memories, and Kirk the third gave that to me, and I put them on the website, and he talks about the game, and then we have the pictures. I can’t remember who played on that team, but the names are there. They said they played a series of three games, and money was exchanged.

H: I can’t remember who was the catcher. There was a Ward who played, but I can’t remember if he was the catcher.

F: There are names, but not positions (with the pictures).

H: I didn’t know if you boys would remember that.

F: We weren’t around, but we heard about it.

R: We have read about it and our parents told us about it.

B: There was to be a train [track]. There was something about being two and they competed with each other [to develop a train track]. You know where the ballfield was? It was near there. That levee that’s there, that was supposed to be a railroad. There were two, one on one side (of the road) and one on the other.

F: In the 1920 baseball picture that I have, you can see people standing on an elevated area.

R: That’s the levee

F: That’s where the railroad would have been. [See route marked in township sections 31-33 and 34 on the 1855 map of Milford Township]

[Webmaster Note: This ends the first visit. There was some additional discussion, but mostly just about how to go about copying the pictures that Hazel has and communicating to set up another visit.]

Recollections of Hazel (Gintner) Green

The following interview of Hazel Green occured June 3, 2008 - at her residence on Schollenbarger Road.

Webmaster Note: Thanks to the cooperation and assistance of Hazel Green's son, Richard L. "Butch" Green, Ron Wiley, and Fred Lindley were able to interview Hazel on June 3 and June 5, 2008. Hazel was born in 1910, which means that she was 98 years old at the time of this interview.

Hazel was standing on her front porch waiting for her visitors, as "Butch" (age 69), Fred (age 70), and Ron (age 71) exited their cars and approached the house. Mrs. Green greeted the threesome with a boisterous, "Oh my! Look at these young boys with old men's faces!"

Soon, Hazel, "Butch," Ron and Fred were seated at Hazel's kitchen table. Notice who started the interview!