JM: What happened after that?
MM: Then Daddy got into some trouble. He spent some time
in jail. And while he was in jail, my mother was doing a little bit of housekeeping for one of the neighbors down the road,
when the farmhouse we were living in caught fire somehow. They figured it was some type of combustion in what they called
the summer kitchen. And there was myself, my sister Jenny, my brother Edward, and the baby Miriam. There were no neighbors
close by. We didn't know what to do. We just got out of the house and walked down to where my mother was working. It was in
the winter.
JM: Did you lose
the house?
MM: I think the house
went completely, I'm not sure. That's too far back for me.
JM: How old would you have been then?
MM: I'm trying to think what grade I was in school. I really can't say.
JM: So your mother was supporting the family while your
father was in jail, by working at the shoe factory. How long was your father in jail?
MM: It wasn't long.
JM:
Is it okay to ask you why he was in jail?
MM:
Him and some neighbor were peddling fish around the countryside, and they went in someone's house and took some stuff.
JM: When he got out, did he go back to work?
MM: I think that's when we moved to Eastport. I'm not sure.
I think I was in the fourth grade then.
JM:
When you moved to Eastport, what did your father do?
MM:
He went into fishing with his uncle Will, who had a fishing boat.
JM: So they would sell their fish?
MM: Yes, to the fish markets.
JM: Did you go to high school in Eastport?
MM: I started high school, but my mother said that a girl didn't need a high school
education. So I had to quit school and go to work in the fish factory, the Holmes Canning Company.
JM:
What did you do at the fish factory?
MM: First, it was just putting the cans in the little packages
and putting them in the box. And when I was older, I did the packing of the fish.
JM: Was that lousy
work?
MM: Well, when I stop and think about it now, yes. But at that time, I didn't have a high school
education, and I was earning a salary, which my mother was taking. At least, it was work. I also worked at a five and dime,
and then I got married at the age of 18.
JM: Who did you marry?
MM: Leroy Marshall.
JM: And what did he do for a living?
MM: He was a woodsman and a carpenter
in Dennysville (about 20 miles from Eastport).
JM:
And did you continue to work?
MM:
I started having children, and he didn't want me working, so I stayed home.
JM: How many kids did you have?
MM: Seven.
JM:
And your father and mother stayed in Eastport?
MM:
My father left my mother. He moved to Rhode Island. My mother was still in Eastport.
JM: Do you remember how old you were when your father left your mother?
MM: Seventeen.
JM: Did your mother remarry?
MM:
No.
JM: And did you ever see
your father after that?
MM: Once.
JM: Under what circumstances?
MM: Well, he was with some men who had driven to the area
where we lived. They were looking to buy Christmas trees. He stopped and talked for a while. Then he drove off, and that was
the last time I ever saw him. He died of cancer seven or eight years later.
JM: Do you remember when that was?
MM: My oldest daughter was born in '47, and I was pregnant with her when I saw him. When I got news
that he had died, it must have been '54 or ‘55.
JM:
Did he die in Rhode Island?
MM:
Yes.
JM: Did you ever write letters
to him or communicate with him in any way?
MM:
Yes.
JM: Did you miss him?
MM: When he first went away, very much, because we were
very close. But afterwards, you just get used to it.
JM:
Did your mother continue to work?
MM:
Oh, yes.
JM: What did she do?
Did she keep working in the fish factory?
MM:
She just worked in the fish factory.
JM:
Did she do that until she was no longer able to work?
MM:
Yes.
JM: And she kept doing pretty
much the same kind of work in the factory?
MM:
Yes.
JM: Did any of your brothers
or sisters finish high school?
MM:
No.
JM: Did any of your children
go to college?
MM: No, but they
finished high school.
JM: Can
you tell me anything else about your father?
MM:
One thing about my father. He loved the sea. He was a fisherman, every inch of him. That's what he loved, the water and the
boats.
JM: He must have done
that in Rhode Island, too.
MM:
I don't know. The sea was his life. He took other jobs when he had to, but the water and fishing was his life, his love.
