Elder Interview-Dolly Benson
Name/Title
Elder Interview-Dolly BensonEntry/Object ID
A.2008.001.022Tags
Needs Accession Sheet, Needs Location, Needs PhotoDescription
Benson, Dolly Mamie (Parkhurst) Born 12/15/1908 Mother: Huldah (Metoxen) Parkhurst Father: Edward Benson My mother had a Indian name but I don’t remember it. My mother never went to school. She lived to be 71 years old and had lots of children. My father was born and raise in Canada. He was a French Canadian and Oneida and went to school in Canada. I don’t remember the name of the school he use to go to. My dad moved to Oneida because his dad used to come to Oneida a lot. My grandpa’s name is John Benson. He would just come to visit. He died at the of 96 years old. I don’t know any of his family I don’t know if he worked or not! My dad was a farmer he had 90 acre’s. We lived on E, our house os still there Ernie Stevens lives there now. Dad lost it all because he mortgages it. I was still at home when we had to move. The kids had to work around the farm, milk the cows, feed the horse and chickens and haul hay. My mother sewed all of the clothes for the kids. We didn’t have electricity or running water but we had a well. Once a week she would wash by hand with a wash broad. For the meats and butter she would put it in a pale and tie a rope to the pale and put it down the well to keep the meats and butter cold. My mother had a wood stove and my father would cut the wood for her to do the cooking. When we went shopping in DePere, we rode in a horse and buggie. I went to silver Summit School about 40 or 50 students went to that school. The older kids went away to school when they were teenager. My mother talked about a hanging of a man where the police station was built. I asked my mother; why did they hang the man! My mother didn’t speak English. All of my brothers and sisters spoke Oneida. One of my sisters was a Oneida singer. My parents and all the kids went to the Methodist Church. My Christmas was always nice nothing like it is today. I didn’t get presents all I got was what they put in our socking. I got a teddy bear one year but I lost it when we moved. I remember my parents use to light the Christmas tree with candles. Dad and my brothers went in the woods to get a Christmas tree for my sister Lillian to trim and I put a candle to close to the branches and it started on fire, dad grab the tree and took it out side. Then that night they went out and got another tree. I remember when I was 6 years old; we all went to church on Christmas Eve, and they had a Christmas program and we all got a bag of candy and peanuts. I don’t remember the preacher name at that time. My mother would make a big pan of doughnuts. We believed Hoo-yon meant Happy New Year. Mom use to bake bread a lot, corn soup & corn bread and Dad use to plant white corn, we always had plenty of white corn. Mom made baskets and rugs out of the corn husk and would take the rugs to DePere and sell them to the store; she got .25 cents each for them, Dad and my brothers would go and get the wood for the baskets. Mom took care of anyone who was sick, she never seen a doctor. If someone was bad they took them to Green Bay and would get something from a drugstore. He uses to make some kind of Medicine for people who had T. B. that use to help them out. He would sell it by the gallon. Dad went back and forth to Canada on a train he would talk about a tunnel the train would go throw. Dad went to Milwaukee after losing their home to find a job and apartment. My mom and all the kids went to Sturgeon Bay to Pick Cherries for two weeks then we went to Milwaukee. Mom didn’t like it there so we moved back to Oneida. Dad rented a house. When we moved back I went to look for a job. Dad use to work on roads also when there was a bad snowstorm he would get all the men that worked on the roads to shovel the road all the way to County line. I have pictures of the men shoveling, he was the road master. I moved back to Milwaukee moved in with my sister, got a job at a Hotel stayed there for 7 years. Then I met my husband his name is Ted Matthew and started a family. He was North Dakota he worked all over as a laborer. We have 6 children, 19 grandchildren and don’t know how many great-grandchildren. Both my parents died at the age of 71. Advice to the young people is to stay in school and stay away from drugs.Recording Type
Audio/VisualCollection
Elder InterviewsCataloged By
Gerzetich, Courtney (Cottrell)Category
Digital Media