Firebaugh/Poe: What is your name?
Burns:
Susan Burns.
Firebaugh/Poe: What
was your maiden name?
Burns:
Susan Fitzgerald.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And where were you born?
Burns:
At Blanket Creek.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And what was the date of your birth?
Burns:
1879.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Sometime of the (___) at twin booth…and
now you are…
Burns:
Seventy-nine years old.
Firebaugh/Poe:
…yesterday. Would you give the name of your father and
your mother with her maiden name?
Burns:
Well his name is Samford Gerald Fitzgerald
and her name was Ella Peez.
Firebaugh/Poe:
How many children were there in your family?
Burns:
Twelve.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And you were the fourth (___)…
Burns:
Fourth from the oldest.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And did they all live. I mean
were they all…did they all live to grow up?
Burns:
No seven of them…we all lived to grow up, yes.
Firebaugh/Poe: How many of them are still
living.
Burns:
Well, seven I think.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Seven?
Burns:
Yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Seven isn’t much. Did you go to
school at Blanket Creek?
Burns:
Yes.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Can you remember the names of any of your teachers at Blanket Creek?
Burns:
Well, Laura Morgan and Gussy Simons…oh
let’s see…and Art Teggo,
Company Can Art Teggo.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) Art Teggo?
Burns:
Yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Where were you born?
Burns:
At Blanket Creek.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) (___) (___).
Burns:
We weren’t born in hospitals in those days.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh you were all born at home?
Burns:
At home, yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Was there a doctor present or did she (___)…
Burns:
Oh no we had a nurse.
Firebaugh/Poe:
A midwife?
Burns:
Midwife, yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Was it someone who lived in the area?
Burns: No, no she lived quite a ways.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you remember her name; the one that delivered most…
Burns:
Well it was Mosley…I guess Mrs. Mosley I think brought me into the
world.
Firebaugh/Poe:
I see, uh-huh.
Burns:
I’ve never met her but I’ve been hearing of her.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Getting back to the school; did you ever go to school with Mrs. Dolly
Burger?
Burns:
Yes, oh well, she filled in for the other teachers.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh I see and if she moved down there, one time that was Dolly Honey’s
aunt.
Burns:
Yeah she filled in (___) of
teachers. She taught one term, but I
didn’t go to school yet.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you remember about how many children there used to be in the school
when you were attending?
Burns:
Well when I went to one of the room, run the schools
but that was at Blanket Preschools about 40.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And only one teacher?
Burns:
Yeah and then I went to the Wards Ferry School (___)
(___).
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh the Wards Ferry…
Burns:
Yeah that’s where Mrs. Burger taught, and I didn’t go there.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh I see.
Burns:
Uh-huh.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Did you have any school entertainments of any kind up at the church?
Burns:
Oh yeah Christmas. We had bigtime
there at Christmas and that’s about all.
Firebaugh/Poe:
What kind of game did you play at recess?
Burns:
Would you like to held…the boys let us play with them.
We played bases.
Firebaugh/Poe:
You played baseball?
Burns:
The boys was kind enough to let us play with
them; and our school ran over the national hillside.
Firebaugh/Poe:
The way they always picked out the…
Burns:
Oh yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
…hilliest,
rockiest place at the schoolhouse (___)…
Burns:
You couldn’t do anything else but have a school (___).
Firebaugh/Poe:
That’s right. How old were you
when you were married?
Burns: Twenty-two.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Did you work away from home?
Burns:
Oh yes I left home when I was 16 and worked in town here.
Firebaugh/Poe:
What kind of work did you do?
Burns:
House work.
Firebaugh/Poe: Do you remember the names of any
of the families where you worked?
Burns:
Well I worked for Susy Smith; she’s still alive.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Yeah.
Burns:
And Mrs. Shine, (___) Shine and she’s dead and I worked for Mrs. (___). I worked for quite a number of people
in town here. I’d just take odd jobs
around hoping that they want somebody.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh…about how much a month did you make in a day?
Burns:
You’d laugh; only $10.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Ten dollars and your board and room?
Burns: Yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Well things weren’t quite so expensive.
Burns:
Oh no; I should say not.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Where did you meet your husband?
Burns:
Well I…
Firebaugh/Poe:
Have you known him for a long time?
Burns: Oh yes. I don’t remember where I met him
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh. Where were you married
in, uh…
Burns:
In Sonora here.
Firebaugh/Poe:
At…at…
Burns:
At my sister’s place.
Firebaugh/Poe:
At your sister’s home?
Burns:
Uh-huh.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Who was officiated?
Burns:
Reverend Maxwell.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Did you have any bridesmaids (___) (___)?
Burns: No, no just family I guess.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And how many children did you have?
Burns:
Four.
Firebaugh/Poe: And what were their names?
Burns:
Well they the first one I didn’t name born dead…
Firebaugh/Poe: Awe.
Burns:
…then
I had Sophonia and Leland and Ester.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And who did Sophonia marry?
Burns:
A friend Daniel.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And Ester?
Burns:
Neil Allison.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And your son?
Burns: Leland had two wives; first was
Dora McGowan and then the other was Louis Cowood.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And how many grandchildren do you have?
Burns: Let’s see…I have five
grandchildren…
Firebaugh/Poe:
And…
Burns:
…no
I have seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and I forgot that.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) God.
Burns:
Leland only had four girls and Sophonia only
had one boy and Ester had a girl and a boy.
That comes to seven ain’t it?
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh.
Burns:
Yeah seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Three great-grandchildren. Did
you live in Sonora all of your life?
Burns:
Oh yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
What kind of work did your husband do?
Burns:
Well he worked on land quarry. Around
then, they get a little (___) (___) (___).
Firebaugh/Poe:
Ok well let’s stop that private…is it on?
Burns:
My name is Susy Burns and *can’t hear*
(6:06-6:16) and his mother and father was Jimmy Burns and Jane Duckwall
Burns.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Tell about when *can’t hear* (6:24-6:27).
Burns:
(___) (___) Ranch on (___) they eloped and came across the Williams place
in Twain Harte which is (___) now and then they
came down from there at Harrison Buggy to Sonora
and got married.
That was when we went back to the ranch.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Where did they make their home after that?
Burns:
That ranch just below Soulsbyville.
Firebaugh/Poe:
That was the Burns’ Ranch?
Burns:
Burns’ Ranch.
Firebaugh/Poe:
How many children did they have?
Burns:
Let’s see they had Frank and Harold (___) (___)
(___) and Jessie was three and Jane, um, Snowy, the girl.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Yeah.
Burns:
But I think Jessie was the youngest and Snowy the next.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And your mother-in-law was nine years when they…
Burns:
When they landed in Columbia.
They had a…she said…now this is coming from her, so she said she had a boarding
house there or lodging house right across from her farm house in that little
dent in there and the fire took it; it burned up. Then they decided to go back up to the
Duckwall Ranch and make their home. They
had met…they’d been over the Duckwall Ranch when they come over here and I
guess they spotted it. So they went back
up there then, and stayed up there all the time and raised cattle.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you remember what your…do you have any
pictures of your mother-in-law?
Burns:
No only one where she’s moving her cradle.
Firebaugh/Poe:
That’s interesting.
Burns: I’ll have to get it out. It’s in my box somewhere.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) (___) Pine?
Burns:
No we went down to Santa Cruz, all of us, and she was sitting on
the…it’s a…and she…we all had (___) that time
and she was smoking her pipe.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Was it a clay pipe or corncob pipe?
Burns:
Oh a clay pipe I guess. She didn’t tell us what pipes she smoking.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Had she smoked from the time she was quite young?
Burns:
Oh yes. She said she got to
smoking because she had a toothache and she got to smoking to cure her
toothache, so we remembered that.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Well…and that’s (___) (___). Do you remember what she looked
like? Did she have dark hair or light
hair?
Burns:
Well she had dark hair and curly because Mr. (____)
told me he met her because she had nice, long curls.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh and do you know how old she was when they were married?
Burns:
No, you know, I don’t know how she was.
She was probably about 18 or 19 probably.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Or the date of the…when they were…
Burns: I don’t even know the date.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh.
Burns:
Nope…I think she lost all those things in a fire they had there…burned
out twice.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you know what color her eyes were?
Burns:
Blue.
Firebaugh/Poe: They were quite predominate in Angel’s family blue eyes.
Burns: And my husband had blue eyes
too.
Firebaugh/Poe:
How…do you have any idea how tall she was? Was she tall or short?
Burns: No not too tall and she wasn’t
stout (___) (___).
Firebaugh/Poe: And where did…I’m going to ask
you about Seth now…Sim rather.
Burns:
Sim.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Sim…he never married either?
Burns:
No.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And where did he make his home?
Burns:
In Visalia and he had an orange (___) down
there.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh I see and Dave Duckwall stayed in this part of the country and to
pair the…
Burns:
To pair the mother and father and he sold the ranch out and moved to
Sonora and his mother died here.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you know the name of the woman he married?
Burns:
Oh her name was Paddock, Mrs. Paddock, she’s a
widow with one dollar.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh…and did they have any children of their own?
Burns:
Oh yes they had two girls.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you know where they live?
Burns:
One of them lives in San Diego and the other one back east.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh I see.
Burns:
She’s a trained nurse. Run down in San Diego was up here last summer…the
summer before last. She was…she doesn’t
know much about the Duckwalls though.
Firebaugh/Poe:
How much do we have *talking to someone else and
they are responding but can’t hear them* (10:23-10:29). Jane Duckwall died in 1907?
Burns:
If I thinking it must’ve about that because…the
at last it was to date my baby and she was…she’d go down to grandma’s to run
away. She was about 6 and grandma feed her anything she wanted to eat and she
died right after that, so she must’ve been…it must’ve been about that time…
Firebaugh/Poe:
About 1907?
Burns:
About 1907, I think, because Ester was about that size, so it was about
that age when she run away.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh and you lived on the Burns’ Ranch too?
Burns: Well I did for a while just
lately, not in the long run.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) (___).
Burns:
I lived in town all…come here all the time then.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh and…um…let’s see now the other members of the family and did Lou
Duckwall stay in this part of the ten feet mountain is
high?
Burns:
Oh yes as far as I know he stayed here all the time. After he sold his ranch out (___) somebody and the sawmill
and everything and he moved with us and lived with us until he died.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Oh I see. Do you remember when he
died in what year?
Burns:
No you know I can’t remember when he died; what year or not. Can’t remember what year he died, but he was
quite old. He was very old.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh and he was engaged in lumber and (__)
(__)?
Burns:
Yeah making shakes and lumber and things like that posts and whatever.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Yeah.
Burns: He had two cattle.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Was his ranch near the Duckwall Ranch?
Burns:
Yes quite close.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh.
Burns:
But it wasn’t much of a ranch. It
was settled on so many acreage and he cut timber upon.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Right.
Burns:
You could do those things in those days.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh.
Burns:
and got away with it and then he married this…Indian marriage, Ms. Nancy
and lived with her for, I don’t know, about five years I guess ‘til she died;
and then he went down to the Indian Camp to be in mourn
and he got another one called Mary, but she didn’t last very long. She died in two years and he went back to get
another one and they wouldn’t let him go.
Firebaugh/Poe:
(___) his wives.
Burns:
Even in fast reverse since I…but it was
funny the angels don’t recognize him because he
was a squaw man which made no difference to me because we lived around and
never see Indians too and I didn’t think anything about it, so when they told
me he was a squaw man I kind a stood up for him because I didn’t think it was
any disgrace or you wanted to live that way (___) (___). They didn’t like it, so I guess they still
don’t like it. (___)
say anything about it and they still don’t like it.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you want to turn that off for just…
Burns: Well it was kind of a little
thing that you put in your mouth (___)…
Firebaugh/Poe:
Let’s start now on Phoenix…the old man William Duckwall.
Burns:
William Duckwall was kind of a doctor and a dentist and pruned your teeth if you wanted them groomed.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And he had a regular (___)?
Burns:
Regular (___) pulling teeth, yeah, and he
made it himself I guess because it’s not a very nice one and he must’ve made it
himself.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Do you remember…did you know him?
Burns:
No I didn’t know him at all. I
knew his wife though; I knew the old lady, but not him.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Was she living in Sonora when you knew her?
Burns:
Yes she moved down from…I never met her up at the ranch. She moved down here to Sonora. She was pretty sick at that time and she
died.
Firebaugh/Poe:
There’s…the Ingles tell a story about (___) having a toothache up along by Sugar Pine where
Sugar Pine is now…
Burns:
Yeah.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And having him stop there and build a fire while he put hot salt packs on
her toothache while they were coming across the mountain.
Burns:
Well I don’t suppose he pulled teeth unless he had to.
Firebaugh/Poe:
Uh-huh well he did say his feelings about pulling his…their teeth but
they said they stopped and built a fire and he did stacks of hot salt and put
them on her jaw until her toothache was better and it’s at the place called
Saint’s Rest now right there by Sugar Pine…
Burns: Yes I know they are.
Firebaugh/Poe:
…along
where it happened. Did you ever hear her
telling the stories about her experiences coming over?
Burns:
No she…nothing anything at all.
She says she was too young; she was only nine and she didn’t remember
much of it because we ask her about it and she doesn’t remember.
Firebaugh/Poe:
And Lou told you about…
Burns:
He told us…
Firebaugh/Poe:
…killing
an Indian?
Burns: Yeah he told us about the
Indian, but you couldn’t get him to talk about it either very much so they
must’ve come without anything to think about (___)
(___). Only he wouldn’t talk
about the Indian because he said he thought maybe he might’ve killed an
innocent Indian who meant him no harm at all.
Could he just up and shot him when he saw him across the water from him.
Firebaugh/Poe:
At the springs (___).
Burns:
It was where they got the water, yeah.
(___) (___) just a stream running down. They got their water there.
END TAPE:
General Information:
Interviewer: Dorothy Firebaugh &
Madeline Poe
Interviewee: Susie Burns
Name of Tape: Duckwall and Burns Families
When: September 23, 1958
Transcriber: Dee-Ann Horn
Transcribed: 2/23/2018