Albert
Bayles Diaries 1930-1939
edited by
Mr. Donald Bayles
1995
MEMORIES OF THE 1930s
Several years ago I prepared a biographical sketch of my
grandfather based on diaries that he kept nearly all his
life. I also wrote my memories of the war years before
they began to fade. So why not fill in the intervening
years? This story begins after the death of my
grandfather Richard M. Bayles in November 1930. Albert
took over my grandfather's insurance business and
continued to work the printing press. He did this when he
wasn't busy fixing something for someone. My father
worked in the Patchogue railroad station from 1 PM to 9
PM so he had the mornings free to engage in other
activities. The were several chicken houses on the
property and it seemed as though we always had chickens.
I had started my
first grade of school in September 1929 at the new East
Middle Island School which had just been completed. In
fact it was not 100 per cent finished because we had to
use the desks from the old school for a while. The school
had electricity and running water with flush toilets in
the bathrooms. We had none of these luxuries at home.
During my teenage
years Swezeytown played a important role in my family.
One of my early memories was a birthday party for Mrs.
Martha Edwards who died in 1933. Later my father used
several acres of her land to raise corn and he also set
out several hundred seedlings of spruce trees which he
hoped to sell when they got big enough. At the same time
he was using several acres in Chestnut Pound for beans,
corn and strawberries.
On the west side of
what was later Swezey Lane were three fields of 4 1/2
acres each separated by wooded hedges. The east field
belonged to George Edwards, the next which we used
belonged to Alice Albin and the west field belonged to
Hewlett Mott. This was Chestnut Pound which we reached
over a farm road that snaked through a long overgrown
field from Half Mile Pond Road which then was open only
from Swezeytown Road east. There was also a farm road
that George Edwards used running north to the
Coram-Swezeytown Road which was widened about 1935 and
became Swezey Lane. In 1954 while working for a surveyor
in Patchogue I surveyed these fields for the site of a
new West Middle Island School using diagrams that my
grandfather had made many years earlier.
Although my father
was employed by the Long Island Railroad as a ticket
agent in Patchogue his hours were 1 PM to 9 PM so he had
all morning to take care of his farming activities and he
liked to get up early in the morning. He never owned a
farm but instead he rented fields at various locations.
In addition to the Chestnut Pound lot he used three of
Lewis Ritch's lots, a couple of acres across the road
belong to Mr. Ferguson, another piece adjoining Mr.
Pfeiffer's pond, another in back of Martha Edward's house
and several acres at the north end of Wellington Farms. I
don't know exactly how many acres he used for raising
crops but would guess it was about 15 acres. I don't
think he ever used all of these lots at the same time.
To pick the
strawberries my father would get a crew of girls usually
daughters of Ed Swezey whose home was about one half mile
south of Middle Country Road on a private road. At that
time you received 3 cents a quart for picking berries.
During the height of the season in mid June we would be
getting about 500 quarts. Later in July my father and I
would pick the sweet corn, usually about 1000 ears the
first thing in the morning. There were also tomatoes and
beans. Three stores in Patchogue took some of what we had
and some were sold on a roadside stand in front of our
house. But we still had to ship some to the market in New
York City. My days during summer were spent hoeing the
weeds from the rows of corn, beans, tomatoes and the new
strawberry plants that had been set earlier that year.
In 1937 when I was
14 years old I bought a 1928 Chevrolet roadster from Wal
Mott for $ 5.00. He had used it as a tractor but it was
not running and a good portion of the body was missing. I
bought a new coil and got it running and used it in farm
fields and wood roads around home until I was able to
obtain a driver's license in January 1940. When someone
stopped and offered to buy it I asked $10 but the person
had only $6.50 so I sold it anyway.
One favorite road
to drive my unlicensed car was Middle Island Blvd.
although I didn't know the road had a name at the time.
It was just a dirt road running through the woods to
Whiskey Road and located a few hundred feet west of Mr.
Miller's fields. To get there I would drive across Mr.
Ferguson's apple orchard just west of our house to Mr.
Miller's field. Mr. Miller had a farm road which started
at Middle Country Road and ran along the east side of his
property about a mile to the north end of his fields.
This continued north as just a wood road to Whiskey Road.
Just north of his fields there was another unused wood
road which ran west to Middle Island Blvd. From there it
had been widened to Davis's Pond.
In 1937 I remember
there being only one house on Middle Island Blvd. However
by 1940 the Estonians started to build houses along
there. I guess that I first realized this in 1940 when I
had my driver's license and was no longer traveling on
Middle Island Blvd. My father was using Lewis Ritchs
fields for his corn, strawberries, etc. The north field
ran to the north boundary of the Ritch property. One day
while hoeing corn I heard the sound of someone practicing
their musical scales at some distance to the north. I
learned that this was Mrs. Kukepu who was one of the new
Estonian families. Her home was about one half mile north
of Ritch's field on Middle Island Blvd. and she gave
singing lessons. I think that her husband George was a
piano tuner. Immediately north of Ritch's north lot lived
the "goat man". We teenagers were a little
leery of this man as we had heard stories of his shooting
at people. Although I spent considerable time in this
field hoeing corn for my father I never met the man until
over 25 years later when I was surveying the property for
Raymond Ritch. I met the "goat man", chatted
with to him and didn't find him to be very fearsome.
Written by,
Donald Bayles
December, 2000
ALBERT'S DIARIES
My uncle Albert kept a diary every year from about the
age of 15 whereas my father never did. However since we
all lived next to each other on the same piece of
property Albert was able to keep a pretty good account of
every thing that went on. As he sat at his office desk he
could see everyone coming and going. I don't know what my
parents would have done if he wasn't always close by. He
was a mechanic that could fix just about anything so my
father never tried, he just called Albert. I guess my
father took after his father whereas I don't know who
Albert took after.
I have shown some of the entries from Albert's diaries
below although I have substituted "Albert" for
"I" as though written by a third party.
1931
Jan.7 & 11 - Albert and others drove to Westhampton
Beach to see a coal freighter stuck on sand bar. On
Sunday the 7th Albert estimated over 1000 cars were at
the beach.
Feb. & Apr.- Albert knocked down an old brooder house
and salvaged lumber to build a garage for his car. When
completed (with concrete floor) he figured the total cost
at $ 38.90. On March 18 he started working for Joe
Herbert on a house in Commack at $ 7.50 per day. On April
14 a union delegate threw him off the job for being
non-union.
May 5 - Tom was replaced by Mrs. Ferguson as School
District 17 Treasurer at the annual meeting.
May 8 - The new concrete pavement on the relocated Rocky
Point Road through Mr. Pfeiffer's land north to Rulands
was opened to traffic.
May 10 - Grandma & Albert drove to Riverhead to the
dedication of the new L.I. Historical Society building.
May 31 - (Sunday) Albert reported the heaviest traffic
ever on Middle Country Rd (almost 1000 cars per hour).
June 24 - Tom had 300 Rhode Island Red chickens
delivered. This meant more work for me.
Sept. 15 - Miss Marguerite Holmes from Westbury arrived
to take up the position as new school teacher for
District 16. She was 21 years old and would board with
Grandma. At a meeting on Sept. arguments were heard for
and against dissolution of the school district and it was
decided not to dissolve the district.
Sept.25 - The new concrete road from Coram to Port
Jefferson Sta. was completed.
October - Albert was voted in as a member of the Coram
Fire Dept. There was only a fire dept. at Coram and
Yaphank to serve the Middle Island area. Albert was
insurance agent for both districts.
Nov. 3 - Harold Davis was elected Supt. of Highways. This
was important as he and Tom were good friends and both
were active in the church. Later on Tom would lose his
job with the LIRR and would be able to augment his income
by hiring his truck out to the Highway Dept.
Dec. 3 - Beatrice Ritch was taken to the County Home in
Yaphank where she remained in a bedridden condition for
the rest of her life.
1932
Apr. 14 - Tom lost his job at the Patchogue R.R. station.
Apr. 23 - Albert emptied their cistern, borrowed some
1" pipe, connected it to Ferguson's well and pumped
for about 17 hours to fill it.
Apr.-May The family dug about 5250 plants from Tom's
strawberry fields to fill orders for various people. Each
spring plants were dug but this year there was one order
for 3000 plants.
June - Albert was helping to lay out footings for new
Coram Fire House.
June 24 -1200 tomato plants were set.
July 8 - Tom started working at the Babylon R.R. station.
Aug. & Sept. - Albert was constructing a new building
for Mr. Pfeiffer to be used as a real estate office. It
was located on the N.W. corner of M.C.Rd. and Rocky Pt.
Rd.
Sept. - Gus Terry was building a concrete pit at east end
of Pfeiffer's store for greasing cars.
Sept. 6 - Miss Holmes started teaching for another year
and boarding with us.
Sept.30- The old Thompson house at bottom of hill burned
to ground. This is very close to the location of the
present library.
Oct. 10 - Laying of the 3rd conrete lane on M.C.Rd. was
started at Coram. By the end of the month it had advanced
to our place.
Oct. 13 - Tom and Gus Terry took a load of cauliflower to
N.Y. market and then drove upstate for a load of apples.
1933
Tom was working at Blue Point R.R. Sta. Albert doing
printing jobs on his press and writing insurance. Miss
Margeurite Holmes ( teacher of District 16 school ) was a
boarder. Not many days passed without visiting or
receiving a visit from Gertrude's relatives in East
Moriches or Florence's numerous aunts and cousins. Albert
spent time making mechanical repairs for various
neighbors and sharpening saws. He listened to his short
wave radio for broadcasts from various parts of the
world.
Jan. 9 - Checker season opened at Pfeiffer's store. There
was always a checker board set up at the rear of the
store behind the pot bellied stove.
Jan.11 - Nowaski's house on Rocky Point Road burned to
ground. Was formerly Eugene Ruland home.
Jan. - Arthur Viertel died at 89. Mr. Bussing was
starting to build on east end of Schmierer land ( where
Suburban Set dress shop was later located ).
Mar. 4 - Albert listened to inauguration of F. D.
Roosevelt.
Mar.11 - Heard about earthquake which hit Los Angeles
killing 131 people.
Mar.17 - Tom finished job at Blue Point R.R.Sta. The next
day he went with Gus Terry to the city in Gus's truck and
brought back fruit and vegetables to sell.
Apr. 7 - Albert and Marion Van Horn treated themselves to
some beer which was legal for first time since 1919.
Apr.13 - Tom started working at Babylon R.R. Sta.
June - In mid June Tom was getting about 500 qts. of
strawberries from his patch (over 800 picked June 12).
June 16 - Miss Holme's father took her and her belongings
back to Brookville. Last day of school.
June 22 - Elwyn graduated from E. Middle Island school.
July 9 - A very short severe storm in afternoon with hail
stones 1 1/2 inches long. Small tornado caused very
severe damage between Selden and Lake Ronkonkoma.
July - Cousin Lavinia Rackett is 91 this year (not
birthday).
Aug. 15 - Funeral for Adam Bubb.
Aug. 17 - Mr. Pfeiffer and Mrs. Dixon married.
Toward end of August Tom was picking about 1000 ears of
corn.
Sept. 4 - Clinton Smith (new teacher for District 16 )
arrived to board with Grandma.
Oct. 11 - Rupert Zebrowski cut foot while sawing wood at
Pfeiffer's and died at Mather Hospital.
Nov. 7 - At election prohibition was repealed and Harold
Davis of Coram was elected Supt. of Highways.
Nov.16 - Mrs. Martha Edwards of Swezeytown died.
Nov.25 - Gertrude, Elwyn and Donald went by train to city
and to RKO Music Hall.
Nov. 30 - Thanksgiving Day with turkey on Florence's
table for the first time in 35 yrs.
Dec. 2 - Albert bought a Delco electric plant from John
Randall of Ridge for $ 35.
Dec. 18 - First electric lights from Delco plant.
Previously kerosene lamps had been used.
Dec.29 - First time the temperature fell below zero in
years.
1934
Tom working at Babylon RR station. Clinton Smith, the
District # 16 teacher, was a boarder.
Jan. 5 - First electric lights from new Delco batteries.
Jan. 23 - Albert got old printing press that had been
stored in barn and rigged it to run with an electric
motor. Thereafter he periodically converted 110 volt
appliances for use with 32 volt current supplied by Delco
batteries.
Feb. 4-9 Spell of cold weather. Coldest ever recorded in
N.Y. City on Feb. 9 ( 14.3 degrees below zero ).
Feb. 18 - Family drove to West Meadow Beach to view
16" thick ice cakes piled up 10 to 15 ft. high on
beach and Sound frozen as far as the eye could see.
Feb. 20 - Blizzard with drifting snow. No train service,
mail or school. Jim Ashton plowed open Middle Country Rd.
to Coram with his "V" plow tractor with men
digging through drifts. School closed for a week.
March - Albert borrows pump and pipe to empty their
cistern and then fill it from pipe temporarily connected
to Ferguson's well.
May 17 - Albert started doing carpentry work for CCC at
Camp Upton.
May 21 - Everett Pfeiffer, Jr. born.
Sept. - No mention of any teacher boarding.
Sept. 2 - Prager's gas station burned down.
Sept.26 - Launching on Cunard liner "Queen
Mary" in Scotland heard over radio. Albert often
listen over short wave radio for broadcasts from Europe
and other distant places.
October - Tom and Albert attended cauliflower auction in
Riverhead several times. On Oct. 9 Tom bought a new
Chevrolet truck from Behan in Patchogue. The next day he
bought 100 crates of cauliflower at the auction and had
Gus Terry drive it to the Baltimore market. Almost every
other day from then until Dec. 6 he would buy from 100 to
150 crates of cauliflower and have Gus drive the truck to
Baltimore or Philadelphia. Often he would return with a
load of apples or other fruit which he would sell
locally. Some apples were obtained in Loganville, PA.
Dec. 27 - Tom and Gus go to Florida with truck.
1935
Jan. 4 Gus returned from Florida with a load of oranges
that my father had bought. From Janary to May he bought a
number of truckloads of apples from Baltimore,
Loganville, PA, York, PA and Stewartstown, PA. and
peddled them. About 160 bu. per load. On these buying
trips he used the train as much as possible while Gus
drove the truck. My father always kept his railroad pass
which usually would be honored on other lines.
Jan.11 - Mrs. Ferguson's father, Hal B. Fullerton died in
Pathcogue Hospital at age 76.
Jan. 28 15 - 20 degrees below zero.
Jan. Listened to radio broadcasts from Byrd expedition in
Little America.
Mar. Gertrude and Donald took train to Brooklyn and saw
Helen Brown Carder and family off to the Canary Islands
for their missionary assignment.
April 25 House was connected to new electric line.
May 8 - The Delco plant was sold.
July 29 Aunt Mattie celebrated 84th birthday. Cousin
Lavinia Rackett of East Marion is 93 this year. (I
haven't figured out the relationship).
Sept. 2 Ralph Thomas, new teacher for District 17,
arrives to board with Grandma.
1936
Mr. Ralph Thomas was boarding with my grandmother. He was
teaching the 4 upper grades at the East Middle Island
school where I was in the 7th grade. Cousin Lide Carman
was also boarding with my grandmother. Evenings were
often spent next door listening to the radio and playing
checkers with Albert and Elwyn. The economy was bad all
over and Tom was looking for ways to use his truck to
make money. Sometimes he would buy apples from Hallock in
Rocky Point and sell them to stores or pedal them house
to house.
Jan. 20 - Heard on the radio of the death of King George
V of England.
Jan. 22 - " " " " the cermonies and
proclamation of Edward VIII as King of Great Britain.
Mar. 19 - Reports on radio of floods in 14 NE states,
some places the worst in history.
Mar. 23 - Tom began using the truck working for the
Brookhaven Town Highway Dept. three days a week.
April - Tom set strawberry plants out on a lot he rented
from Hewlett Mott in Chestnut Pound. He planted corn on
Pfeiffer's land by the pond, tomatoes across the road on
Schmierer's land and he rented an field of asparagus at
Harold Davis's in Coram.
May 8 - Heard radio broadcast from the German dirigible
"Von Hindenburg" which was crossing the
Atlantic to the U.S.
May 14 - Gertrude attended shower for Elsie Brenner Faron
at Watsel Zebrowski's.
May 27 - Heard radio broadcast reporting departure of
liner "Queen Mary" from Southampton, England on
her maiden voyage to U.S.
June - Between 200 and 300 quarts of strawberries were
being picked at Chestnut Pound during middle of month.
June 11 - Tom picked up 240 "N.H.Red" 12 week
old pullets at Yaphank RR station and put them in chicken
houses out back. These were first chickens on place in
some time. During late winter and spring the chicken
houses were being made ready with new roofing and other
work.
June - Donald took Regents exam in geography at Port
Jefferson and got 95%.
June 18 - Graduation exercises at E. Middle Island school
with 2 graduates, Edith Ferguson and Vera Depta.
June 20 - Albert shot 3 woodchucks under brooder house in
back lot and another the following day.
June 22 - Mr. Thomas left for summer at his home in State
College, PA.
June 23 - Albert took Gertrude and his mother to Port
Jefferson graduation exercises and dedication in new high
school.
July 4 - All attended parade in Patchogue celebrating
Suffokk County Tercentenary.
July 6 - Depta's house burned to the ground.
July 11 - Cousin Lide moved to her new boarding place in
East Moriches.
Sept.14 - Tom bought peaches from "Bess"
Hallock in Rocky Point to sell.
Sept.28 - Tom bought first truck load of cauliflower at
auction in Riverhead and had Gus Terry drive it to the
Philadelphia market. During October and November he
bought about 26 truckloads most of which Johnny Robinson
drove to Philadelphia with a few times to Baltimore. An
average load would be about 144 crates of cauliflower.
The trip to Baltimore took about 8 hours and Tom would
travel there by train and buy something to bring back and
sell.
1937
At end of January Albert listen's on radio to reports of
record floods on the Ohio River. He mentions that my
grandmother had seen Chief Sitting Bull in Wisconsin
about 1886. My father was working 2 or 3 days a week with
his truck for the Town Highway Dept. In late February and
March he bought several loads of apples from
Stewartsville, PA. He always traveled by train where
possible while Gus drove the truck.
Apr. 10 - Tom and Albert took tour of NBC studios in the
city.
Apr.14 - Fred Randall returned to Ridge after being in
California since he was 18 years old.
May 6 - "Hindenburg" airship disaster at
Lakehurst, NJ.
May 12 - Albert spent most of day listening to coronation
of King George VI.
June - At mid month Tom's strawberry beds were yielding
about 500 qts. a day.
June 17 - Don graduated from E. Middle Island school.
July 17 - Elwyn bought his first car, a 1929 Ford Model
A, for $ 35.
Aug. 10 - Don bought his first car for $ 5. It was a 1928
Chevrolet roadster which had been used by Wallace Mott of
Swezeytown for plowing his garden until it died.
1938
I was in my freshman year at Port Jefferson High School.
The school bus made stops along Middle Country Road and I
was picked up next door along with Edith Ferguson. The
bus was owned and operated by the Quinn Bus Line from
Patchogue and Frank Bright was the driver. If I wasn't
out front he would stop and blow the horn. The bus also
ran in the evening to special activities so quite often I
attended basketball games as well as school plays and
other events.
Feb.24 - Gus returned from Stewartstown, PA with a load
of 130 bu. of apples that Tom bought to pedal.
May 16 - Elwyn started tending Brenner's store.
June - Picking about 500 qts. of strawberries at mid
month. Selling for 10 to 15 cents a qt. on stand and in
N.Y. market.
July 14 - Donald had his tonsils removed by Dr. Barber at
Holbrook Hospital.
Sept.21 - The most devastating hurricane on record hit.
Nov. - Tom was buying cauliflower at Riverhead auction
and shipping it to Philadelphia or Baltimore market on
his truck.
Nov. 7 - A total eclipse of the moon.
Dec. 29 - Tom started buying truckloads of cinders and
selling to the Town Highway Dept. He hired Tom Eve and
Charlie Campiche to load the cinders which were obtained
from the Patchogue Electric Light Plant, the Patchogue
lace mill and greenhouses in Blue Point.
1939
Feb. 22 - Tom took Don to the Sportsman's Show at Grand
Central Palace in the city.
Mar. 4 - Gertrude's father, Gilbert Benjamin, died at his
home in East Moriches.
Mar. 9 - Elwyn traded in his 1929 Model A Ford for a 1933
Ford V-8 coupe.
Mar.14 - Rev. Fred Swezey returned a book to Grandmother
Bayles. He wrote "Genealogy of the Swezey
Family" in 1939.
Mar.22 - Albert baked his first loaf of bread and said it
came out OK.
Apr. 7 - Tom was renting a lot from Lewis Ritch and set
out about 600 raspberry plants.
Apr.15 - Tom set 1000 strawberry plant at Ritch's. More
were set Apr.17 and again on Apr.20. He also had
strawberry patches in Chestnut Pound and on Harold Davis
property in Coram. He had fields of sweet corn in
Wellington Farms and in Pfeiffer's lot.
May 8 - Gertrude started doing housework for Louis Vogel
in Yaphank for a two week period. This was during the
Depression and money was scarce.
May 15 - Tom went to the N.Y. World's Fair by train.
May 24 - Albert looked over an Army searchlight set up on
Coram-Yaphank Rd.
June 19 Albert noted that Don took 4 hours walking home
from Port Jefferson after taking a typing exam in high.
(I don't remember this at all).
June 21 Gertrude took Don to high school for shop exam.
July 1 - Albert drove Gertrude and Don to historical
pageant at Shinnecock Indian Reservation.
July 15 - Elwyn drove Grandma, Albert, Joe Brenner, Pete
Goldstein and Don to N.Y. World's Fair - in his Ford
coupe.
July 18 - Elwyn drove Albert and Don to Frank Buck's Zoo
in Massapequa and then to midget auto races in Freeport.
He burned out a connecting rod near Commack on way home,
managed to drive as far as Selden and then had to get
someone to push him home.
Aug.26 - Gertrude and Don saw "Wizard of Oz" in
Patchogue.
Sept. 1 - Albert noted that Germany attacked Poland and
took over Danzig early this morning.
Sept. 3 - Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Nov.16 - Tom bought first cauliflower at Riverhead
auction and shipped it to Philadelphia.