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TAPE INDEX Margaret Williams Fosberg 5/5/90 Tape I History 398 Interviewed by Shannon Kennedy SIDE I Introduction Family History - Born one of twin daughters to parents who already had 3 children. Margaret and Martha would be the youngest children in their family. Their mother was a school-teacher. She finished her education at Carrollton University in Georgia and her husband and 5 children came to watch her graduate as the valedictorian for her class. Ihe interviewee's grandparents were English and they settled on a farm near LaGrange, Georgia where they had 6 children, the eldest son of which would become Margaret Fosberg's father. Both of Margaret's parents grew up in the LaGrange area and met there. They married when her mother was 20 and her father was 30. The young couple continued to farm. Margaret Williams Fosberg was born August 6, 1921 in Roanoke, Alabama as the second of twins. Her mother had gone to stay with relatives in Roanoke for the delivery and Margaret's uncle was the doctor who delivered the twins. There were 3 older siblings, Henry 5, Ralph 3, Lanier 1%. The family continued to live on farms. The parents eventually sold their small farm and bought a larger one that they lost in the start of the Depression about 1926. After living in town and saving their wages, the family was able to buy back their original smaller farm. This is the farm that Margaret remembers most clearly. The family worked together for the most part but Margaret's twin, Martha was sickly. At 6 or 7, she suffered a stroke. After numerous trips to the hospital for therapy, the twins began chopping cotton since this was believed that it would help Martha's arm heal. Because the family had hired help to work in the fields, the twins' labor wasn't needed to harvest the crop. Since the family was going through hard times, they were all close to one another .• However, the family always believed in higher education. Bnth parents were determined that all of the children would attend college. -1- Tape Index - continued: Education - Puberty - Growing up on a small town, everybody knew everything about everyone. Topics of conversation ranged from people•s behaviour to farming problems. More often, the teenagers tended to be careful so they wouldn't get talked about. Margaret's family lived on the small farm in a 4 bedroom house but she remembers that there was no electricity or indoor plumbing. The day that they finally go electricity was cause for celebration. The family worked together, ate together and played together. Before the circuit preacher arrived, MargaretJs mother would take the children down to clean the church and put out flowers. Margaret stayed at home until she was ready to go to college. Henry, her eldest brother had attended two years of college and then come home to run the farm. Because she was a school-teacher, Margaret's mother pressured all of her children to get an education so that they could take care of themselves. Because there were several Negro families who lived on the farm, there were many children for Margaret, Ralph, and Lanier to play with. Martha was sickly and was unable to keep up with Margaret in school. Most of the responsibilities were on the farm since there was help in the house. So, Margaret didn 1 t learn to cook. There was no discussion about sex at home. Margaret learned more about sex at school from her classmates. Family did not discuss sex. Conflicts with Family - None, the family was too busy trying to survive the Depression. Adulthood - Margaret attended West Georgia College at Carrollton, Georgia for two years. Because her father became ill, she didn't go on to the university and continue her studies in Home Economics. Instead, ~he transferred to the school of Nursing in Emery, Georgia and graduated from there. Her first job was that of a Public Health Nurse and she used her earnings to buy a car and then to keep that car operational. She took a Public Health Nursing job in Thomasville, Georgia because it paid well, she could have a car and weekends off. In 194$, Margaret met Maynard Fosberg who was a photographer for the Air Force and stationed in Thomasville. They dated for two years until she was 26 and then married. When Maynard finished his education, gaining a Masters in the study of Soil, he was offered a position at the University of Idaho. They would have liked a -2- position at a university in the south, preferably Georgia near Margaretts family but things were tight so they moved to Moscow, Idaho where they've lived now for almost 40 years. Their first child, a daughter was born in 1952 when Margaret was 31. Their son was born two years later when Margaret was 33. Education was extremely important to both Margaret and Maynard. Both of their children attended W.S.U. Their son is a veterinarian with a practise near Bothell, Washington. Both children are happily married. Their daughter has recently returned to W.S.U. to earn a degree in Pharmacy. During the time that they were raising their children, f4argaret and Maynard's social life revolved areound their work at the University of Idaho where he was a professor but more importantly around horses and youth groups. In spite of the fact that they were raising their children during the 1960's, Margaret had no trouble with drugs, free love etc. She believes this is because the kids were so busy with horses and competing in dressage and English riding competitions Throughout her life in Moscow, Margaret has stayed active in her church. So has her husband. They have stayed together since they first married and have had a good marriage although Margaret admits she gets angry with Maynard and yells at him at times. The two of them had bought a rundown house and 20 acres on the edge of town back in 1951. They spent a great deal of time fixing up the place. When there were problems with the kids, Margaret and Maynard would discuss the problems away from their children and then stand together when it came to relaying the decision. Both of the children are now grown and married but they both visit and call their parents fairly often. Margaret continues to work. She is due to retire this year from her job at the University of Idaho Student Health Services and Maynard will also retire as a Professor at the U of I. Margaret still has close ties to her own family. Her father is now dead but her mother is 97 and in a nursing home. Margaret visits her 3-5 times a year, flying back to Georgia. In 1965 when Henry nearly lost the family farm, Margaret and Maynard bought into the farm. So did Martha and her husband. After Martha's death at 49, Margaret and Maynard bought out Martha's heirs. Now, Margaret has told her nephew that she wants him to buy them out once he has all the other mortgages caught up. Then she and Maynard will have more money to enjoy their retirement. -3- END OF SIDE ONE SIDE TWO END OF SIDE TWO Like her grandmother and mother, Margaret believes that she is a domineering woman. She handles the finances for her own family. She has told Maynard over the years that he'd better be good to her - she can earn her own living. She doesn't need him for financial reasons. She just needs him. She believes that the reason her marriage has lasted is because at 26, she was old enough to get married. Many of her friends married too young and then divorced later after the W.W.II. Thinking back on her father, Margaret found him both very strict and yet a lot of fun. Margaret and Maynard often are chided for working too hard~ But, they want that they don't have to fear illness, costs during their retirement. by friends enough money or high
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | Fosberg, Margaret Williams Oral History Interview, 1990 |
Interviewer | Kennedy, Shannon |
Date | 1990-05-05 |
Description | 50 minute oral history with Margaret Williams Fosberg, conducted for a Women in the West (HST 398) course at Washington State University. She discusses the family farm where everyone was working together, and encouragement from her parents to go to college. She earned a degree in nursing and worked her whole life in a maternity ward and in student health services at University of Idaho, even though she was married and had children. Her marriage was one of equality and cooperative parenting of the children. |
Subject | Working mothers; Rural women; Nurses |
Coverage | North and Central America--United States--Idaho--Latah County--Moscow; North and Central America--United States--Georgia--Troup County--La Grange; North and Central America--United States--Alabama--Randolph County--Roanoke |
Type | Sound |
Genre | Interviews |
Publisher | Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries: https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Rights Notes | In copyright. Item is in copyright until 95 years after 2011 publication date. |
Identifier | ua220b04f25 |
Source | Is found in Archives 220, Women in the West Oral Histories https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/finders/ua220.htm at Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc |
Holding Institution | Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries |
Contributors | Digitization and description funded through a National Endowment for the Humanities We the People grant for Washington Womens History to the Washington Womens History Consortium, a part of the Washington State Historical Society. |
Language | English |
Digitization | Original audio cassettes were converted to wav files using Audacity and a USBPre interface. Mp3 files were then created from the wav files for online access. Film clips were created as mpeg-4 files using Adobe Premiere Elements 9 to add selected images to the wav audio files, and then converted to flv files for online display. Print documents were scanned to 300dpi pdf format using a Xerox Workcentre 5030 copier/scanner. |
Description
Title | ua220b04f25_Abstract |
Full Text | TAPE INDEX Margaret Williams Fosberg 5/5/90 Tape I History 398 Interviewed by Shannon Kennedy SIDE I Introduction Family History - Born one of twin daughters to parents who already had 3 children. Margaret and Martha would be the youngest children in their family. Their mother was a school-teacher. She finished her education at Carrollton University in Georgia and her husband and 5 children came to watch her graduate as the valedictorian for her class. Ihe interviewee's grandparents were English and they settled on a farm near LaGrange, Georgia where they had 6 children, the eldest son of which would become Margaret Fosberg's father. Both of Margaret's parents grew up in the LaGrange area and met there. They married when her mother was 20 and her father was 30. The young couple continued to farm. Margaret Williams Fosberg was born August 6, 1921 in Roanoke, Alabama as the second of twins. Her mother had gone to stay with relatives in Roanoke for the delivery and Margaret's uncle was the doctor who delivered the twins. There were 3 older siblings, Henry 5, Ralph 3, Lanier 1%. The family continued to live on farms. The parents eventually sold their small farm and bought a larger one that they lost in the start of the Depression about 1926. After living in town and saving their wages, the family was able to buy back their original smaller farm. This is the farm that Margaret remembers most clearly. The family worked together for the most part but Margaret's twin, Martha was sickly. At 6 or 7, she suffered a stroke. After numerous trips to the hospital for therapy, the twins began chopping cotton since this was believed that it would help Martha's arm heal. Because the family had hired help to work in the fields, the twins' labor wasn't needed to harvest the crop. Since the family was going through hard times, they were all close to one another .• However, the family always believed in higher education. Bnth parents were determined that all of the children would attend college. -1- Tape Index - continued: Education - Puberty - Growing up on a small town, everybody knew everything about everyone. Topics of conversation ranged from people•s behaviour to farming problems. More often, the teenagers tended to be careful so they wouldn't get talked about. Margaret's family lived on the small farm in a 4 bedroom house but she remembers that there was no electricity or indoor plumbing. The day that they finally go electricity was cause for celebration. The family worked together, ate together and played together. Before the circuit preacher arrived, MargaretJs mother would take the children down to clean the church and put out flowers. Margaret stayed at home until she was ready to go to college. Henry, her eldest brother had attended two years of college and then come home to run the farm. Because she was a school-teacher, Margaret's mother pressured all of her children to get an education so that they could take care of themselves. Because there were several Negro families who lived on the farm, there were many children for Margaret, Ralph, and Lanier to play with. Martha was sickly and was unable to keep up with Margaret in school. Most of the responsibilities were on the farm since there was help in the house. So, Margaret didn 1 t learn to cook. There was no discussion about sex at home. Margaret learned more about sex at school from her classmates. Family did not discuss sex. Conflicts with Family - None, the family was too busy trying to survive the Depression. Adulthood - Margaret attended West Georgia College at Carrollton, Georgia for two years. Because her father became ill, she didn't go on to the university and continue her studies in Home Economics. Instead, ~he transferred to the school of Nursing in Emery, Georgia and graduated from there. Her first job was that of a Public Health Nurse and she used her earnings to buy a car and then to keep that car operational. She took a Public Health Nursing job in Thomasville, Georgia because it paid well, she could have a car and weekends off. In 194$, Margaret met Maynard Fosberg who was a photographer for the Air Force and stationed in Thomasville. They dated for two years until she was 26 and then married. When Maynard finished his education, gaining a Masters in the study of Soil, he was offered a position at the University of Idaho. They would have liked a -2- position at a university in the south, preferably Georgia near Margaretts family but things were tight so they moved to Moscow, Idaho where they've lived now for almost 40 years. Their first child, a daughter was born in 1952 when Margaret was 31. Their son was born two years later when Margaret was 33. Education was extremely important to both Margaret and Maynard. Both of their children attended W.S.U. Their son is a veterinarian with a practise near Bothell, Washington. Both children are happily married. Their daughter has recently returned to W.S.U. to earn a degree in Pharmacy. During the time that they were raising their children, f4argaret and Maynard's social life revolved areound their work at the University of Idaho where he was a professor but more importantly around horses and youth groups. In spite of the fact that they were raising their children during the 1960's, Margaret had no trouble with drugs, free love etc. She believes this is because the kids were so busy with horses and competing in dressage and English riding competitions Throughout her life in Moscow, Margaret has stayed active in her church. So has her husband. They have stayed together since they first married and have had a good marriage although Margaret admits she gets angry with Maynard and yells at him at times. The two of them had bought a rundown house and 20 acres on the edge of town back in 1951. They spent a great deal of time fixing up the place. When there were problems with the kids, Margaret and Maynard would discuss the problems away from their children and then stand together when it came to relaying the decision. Both of the children are now grown and married but they both visit and call their parents fairly often. Margaret continues to work. She is due to retire this year from her job at the University of Idaho Student Health Services and Maynard will also retire as a Professor at the U of I. Margaret still has close ties to her own family. Her father is now dead but her mother is 97 and in a nursing home. Margaret visits her 3-5 times a year, flying back to Georgia. In 1965 when Henry nearly lost the family farm, Margaret and Maynard bought into the farm. So did Martha and her husband. After Martha's death at 49, Margaret and Maynard bought out Martha's heirs. Now, Margaret has told her nephew that she wants him to buy them out once he has all the other mortgages caught up. Then she and Maynard will have more money to enjoy their retirement. -3- END OF SIDE ONE SIDE TWO END OF SIDE TWO Like her grandmother and mother, Margaret believes that she is a domineering woman. She handles the finances for her own family. She has told Maynard over the years that he'd better be good to her - she can earn her own living. She doesn't need him for financial reasons. She just needs him. She believes that the reason her marriage has lasted is because at 26, she was old enough to get married. Many of her friends married too young and then divorced later after the W.W.II. Thinking back on her father, Margaret found him both very strict and yet a lot of fun. Margaret and Maynard often are chided for working too hard~ But, they want that they don't have to fear illness, costs during their retirement. by friends enough money or high |
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