Itt-Ott, 1990 (23. évfolyam, 114-117. szám)
1990 / 116. szám
J.L.: Well, there was always the fear of wars there in Europe and, well, Mother loved peace. We all did. You know, we’re Christians. We wanted peace. She had the money to better herself in this land of freedom because Hungary is just a small country and, well, they were always afraid that war would start and we’d become under some other government. So that’s why we came here. L.M.: You mentioned there was a certain amount of religious persecution also. J.L.: Well, a little, yes. In that town it was something different. You see, they had a state religion and it’s because they didn’t understand. There’s no persecution anymore. We have many friends among them. L.M.: What was Ellis Island like? Were there quite a few other immigrants there? J.L.: Yes, and one family because one of their children was sick and sent back to Europe. Oh there was quite a commotion. Every one of us — there was five of us — we just passed the test like nobody’s business... I remember the fear of being carried from the ship to Ellis Island and I was so afraid of water. It was just like a narrow plank... L.M.: Your father, then, he came before you did? And went through Canada? J.L.: Yes, a couple of years before. L.M.: How did he hear about Oregon then from up in Canada? J.L.: Well, these people came to look for work. They were friends of ours from Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Balogh and family, and they settled in Tigard — Tigardville at the time. They told us that my father would find work here. But we had some relation in Saskatchewan, Canada and they were doing very well as farmers. But it so happened for two years that poor Dad lost the crops. Then of course investing in so much machinery he just couldn’t go on and came to Oregon where the weather was milder. L.M.: There were quite a few Hungarians and Eastern European people in Canada at that time? J.L.: Yes. Yes, there were. There was just a handful here in Orenco and on the Quatema Road I think there was about five or six families. Grandma and Grandpa and then we were next to them and my uncles and, oh yes, these people from Tigardville also moved up here. Just the families of the Hungarians. They used to call Quatema “Hunky Town.” They would say “Let’s up now and see the Hungarians, the ‘Hunkies’ down there.” They didn’t think much of us at that time. We were hard-working people and we did prove ourselves, that we wanted to help leave this world behind better than we found it... You know, for a mother with five children it took quite a lot of courage to come and knowing that Father lost the money and wasn’t able to build a home right away. But we weathered it. Id didn’t hurt us one bit... L.M.: How did you come from St.Louis, then? J.L.: Oh, well, from there it was really something. No pillows and no food. Just the dried bread and sausage that we brought from Europe. We really almost starved in a way. We were so hungry... L.M.: You were living on food that you brought from the old country then? J.L.: Yes, bread, oh yes, loaves of bread. They just put it in a blanket and put it over their backs. Big bundles. They just tied it on suitcases. Oh, no, it was really something to carry all our clothes and everything. When we came to Ellis Island, mother dressed us up in pink cashmere dresses, handmade... L.M.: What were your experiences in Tigard, then? J.L.: Oh, it was pleasant. We, my sisters and I, would go down to that creek there and we would be crawfishing all day long in the summer and pick berries. The wild strawberries. Oh, they were just so, so tasty, so sweet — a different flavor than even our strawberries, and they are wonderful. There were all kinds of blueberries and Oregon grapes. That was delicious. Mother acquired a hog, a little piglet, and they raised that. And we would get skimmed milk from, I guess they were settlers, American people. They would give us the milk for nothing. Being that Mother was able to work, too, it helped get us on our feet again. We started from scratch, but we got along okay. L.M.: You lived in a tent when you first arrived? J.L.: Yes, oh yes. I remember one winter the snow would come through — well, it was a tent, and then later on they built — they had lumber about five or six feet high and then a canvas over — the snow would just come through the one-by-twelves. They would kind of all shrink away, or dry up and leave about an inch of space between them. Oh, we had a Christmas tree, popcorn, and things like that, that we made. It was so happy. Such things. L.M.: How did you hear about Orenco? How did your family? J.L.: I believe what I heard here, that they advertised in the Hungarian papers that they needed men that can do garden or nursery work. Of course the European people all worked in the fields. My father, of course, took care of horses. You see, my mother married into the middle class, being that she did so well in training. Father took care of those Lippizaner horses for Franz Joseph. He did not own them but he trained them and took well care of it. They lived a higher class life than we did. My mother was a peasant. After she trained in Europe, well, then, my father’s mother needed a nurse to take care of her. She was ill so Mother went there and my father fell in love with her. Of course that caused quite a difference because Mother was a peasant and she wasn’t used to high society. Father and my Grandpa and Grandma on the Kish side were used to real social life and, well, when they would entertain they really had a big feast — wine and all that. Mother was a Christian and she refrained from that. She says, “No, I just cannot!” After they were married, that insulted my Grandpa so much that she would insult his high class company because after they drank a lot like that they began to, well, get kind of intimate and all that. And Mother was a strict Christian and wouldn’t allow anything like that. Then Mother’s father-in-law told Mother, “Unless you will treat my people, these high society people, the way I want you to treat them and be sociable to them and drink with them, we’ll have to disown you.” Then he had a large banquet again because, well, to show off to this higher class of people. Those wealthy people thought that Mother was very lovely. 34 ITT-OTT 23. évf. (1990), őszi (116.) szám
