Skip to main content
Open
Main navigation
Home
Projects
Themes
African American History
American Experience
Art & Design
Civil War Era
Freedmen's Bureau
Mysteries of the Universe
Women's History
Museums and Archives
Archives of American Art
Freedmen's Bureau
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Search
About
Tips
Blog
Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Center
Sign up
Log in
Transcribe page 1 of 20
This transcription is completed and pending approval.
Switch to vertical layout
Switch to horizontal layout
Return to project home
Go to next page
Page #
Go
Download PDF for AAA-AAA_packemmy_2236298 (project ID 21111)
Post AAA-AAA_packemmy_2236298 (project ID 21111) to Facebook
Tweet AAA-AAA_packemmy_2236298 (project ID 21111)
Instructions
Transcription
[[marginalia]] [Louise Gilbert] my mothers ancestors originals (? [[/marginalia]] RADICAL ELDERS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT First interview: February 1, 1979 EMMY LOU PACKARD - early years Q: When and where were you born? A: I was born on April 15, 1914, in the city of El Centro, Imperial Valley, California. At that time my father, Walter Eugene Packard, was in charge of the University of California agricultural station in the Imperial Valley. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, He graduated from Iowa State University at Ames in 1907, with a degree in agricultural science. He received his master's degree from the University of California at Berkeley two years later. In Imperial Valley his work pioneered the introduction of successful farming in that region. While at Ames my father had met and married my mother Emma Leonard (1909). My sister Clara Eleanor Packard was born in 1910 in Pasadena. I think my answers to your questions about ethnic background, class consciousness and religion will be more interesting if I quote from a few ancient letters written by and about my ancestors. My maternal grandmother at the age of 80 (1922) wrote a 48 page letter telling what she could remember of her life in County Carlow, Ireland. Her name was Sophia Maria Smith. (The name was originally Schmidt and the family were Dutch Huguenots who fled to Ireland because of religious persecution.) My grandmother Sophia's letter tells something about her own grandparents. Grandfather James was a bearer of dispatches in the time of the Irish Rebellion. His wife Elizabeth Salter James lived to be 90 and raised seven children. They could not be educated because Grandfather James had died and she had little money. But her daughter (Sophia's mother) spoke of her with much "love and reverence, and quoted her so often that her son said "Grandmother and Soloman were the greatest men that ever lived.". Sophia remembers that when she was about seven they lived in a house called Ballintrain house near Carlow, the county seat. "The house was one storey with a thatched roof. In the center of
Notes on Transcribing this page (optional)
This section can be used to communicate any questions or concerns to Smithsonian staff, as well as other volunteers, about this transcription. Do not use to transcribe extraneous notes made by collector or other institutions.
Math question
1 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Inactivity Warning
We will release your lock in
5:00
.
Click here if you are still working on this page.