RC Hoiles Reminiscing on His Early Years

INTERVIEW WITH R..C. Hoiles – June—July 1970 at an age of 91

Adams: I checked through the book that you have up there and got the birth date for

yourself, and I know that is correct, but do you remember birth date of your brother,

Frank?

RC No, he was older than I was, about 8 years older.

Adams: And how about Roland?

RC He was 18 months older

Adams: And Effie?

RC Effie was two years, or three years younger.

Adams: And Franks full name?

RC Frank Austin

Adams: And what is Effie's full name? Is it Euphemia?

RC I don't know-- I just always called her Effie.

Adams: Did she have a middle name?

RC I don't think so.

Adams: And I wondered, is there an old family bible or something like that anywhere, where

family names were recorded?

RC Yeah

Adams: Where is that, do you have it or does Effie have it?

RC Effie has it.

Adams: And do you remember the names, and where they lived of any of your mother's

family?

RC Oh they lived at Quaker Hill in Ohio.

Adams: Was your mother a Quaker?

RC Well, she came from a Quaker family

Adams: And did she have many brothers and sister?

RC She had two sisters, three brothers--- I was named after one of the brothers--Cyrus —

Adams: Do you know what her mother's and fathers names were?

RC No I don't know

Adams: Was she born in Quaker Hill

RC I think so

Adams: So you know where her family might have come from, originally?

RC Well, I think they come from Pennsylvania.--I'm not sure of that.

Adams: And how about your father--where was he born?

RC He was born in Columbiana County, Ohio --no, no, Mahoning County, cornered on Columbiana and Stark County.

Adams: And did he have many brothers and sisters?

RC He had two brothers and three sisters

Adams: What was your father's name?--your grandfather?

RC James Hoiles

Adams: And did they always live in Mahoning County--or do you know where they came from?

RC Well, as long as I lived they lived in Mahoning County, but I think they were given quite a tract of land because the government couldn't pay 'em for their war services

and they give 'em several sections of land. That would be interesting to trace back

Adams: Yeah I wonder how you'd find out about that--through land records back there I

suppose

RC That would be pretty tough.

Adams: What was James Hoiles wife's name?

RC Barbara

Adams: Were they living when you were born?

RC Yeah,

Adams: Did you know both of your grandparents, then?

RC Yeah. Barbara lived with us for a while after her husband died.

Adams: With your father and family?

RC Yeah

Adams: What were the names of your mother's brothers and sisters?

RC Something and Cyrus and I don't know the names of the sisters.

Adams: How about your dad's brothers and sisters

RC Well, my father's brothers were Emmanuel and something I don't remember his

name, he was a policeman

Adams: Don’t' try now---we'll think of it later. Tell me again how your dad used to get you

up in the morning.

RC Oh, he'd turn the cows loose and they'd go up the road. If we didn't get up and put

‘em in the pasture, you'd have to go and get 'em and put ‘em in the pasture.

Adams: How old were you then?

RC Oh, six or seven. He used to plant corn in the rows instead of the hills because he

figured he'd get more corn from it and he'd have my older brother and I hoe one row and keep a little ahead of him, and he'd watch and see that we got the weeds all out.

Adams: Making you work, and seeing that you worked well.

RC Yeah

Adams: How long did you live on the farm in Alliance?

RC I lived on the farm until I got married.

Adams: And you met Mabel on a blind date in Cuyahoga Falls?

RC Yeah.

Adams: How long after you first met her before you were married? You were married in

February, 1905. When was your first date with her?

RC Well, I don't remember, but it was two or three years, I think. It was a pretty long

courtship, then--you got to know one another well. Yeah---had her down to the

house---and she'd have me up there--for dinner.

Adams: Did you like her right away, R.C.? Did you know this was the girl you were going to

marry, right from the beginning?

RC Well, I liked her voice.----she had a splendid voice--I liked to hear her sing.

Adams: Did she sing in the church choir?

RC Yeah--and she had beautiful eyes--to my notion.

Adams: What kind of things did you like to do together. Did you go to church? And to

dances?

RC Dances, and church

Adams: Box suppers?

RC Occasionally

Adams: You didn't have moving pictures in those days, did you?

RC No.

Adams: Sort of made your own entertainment--a lot of picnics?

RC Oh, we'd have picnics, yeah

Adams: Kind of fun?

RC Yeah

Adams: Where would you go for a picnic?

RC Down by a lake or a creek

Adams: Just the two of you?

RC No, no, usually get somebody--the rest of the family to go.

Adams: In 1905 you were 26 years old. You were a mature man by then, you were no kid

RC Yeah

Adams: And at that time were you working at the Alliance Review?

RC Yeah

Adams: Had you become bookkeeper already? Had you taken over for the bookkeeper?

RC Yes, but I'd got to selling advertising

Adams: Oh--you didn't stay in the bookkeeping job, then?

RC NO

Adams: And in selling advertising, was that your first experience with selling?

RC Oh, No, it wasn't my first experience at selling. I raised strawberries and peddled

strawberries down the street when the grocery wouldn’t take them.

Adams: How old were you then?

RC Oh, about ten.

Adams: You told me. too, that you sold subscriptions...

RC Yeah--I worked my way through school by selling subscriptions on Saturdays and

holidays.

Adams: Subscriptions to the Alliance Review?

RC Yeah

Adams: And where did you do the selling/

RC Oh, in Eastern Stark County and a little Carroll, Mahoning County, and Karl County

Adams: Did it mean getting out and walking from house to house?

RC Rode a bicycle

Adams: And was it a rural area so that you were visiting farmhouses?

RC Yeah. It'd be quite a ways between the houses then. No paving, just old dirt roads,

eh

Adams: How did you get to and forth to school when you were in grade school?

RC High School? I think I went with somebody that went to school.

Adams: You went to grade school and high school right in Alliance?

RC Yeah

Adams: Where was Mount Union?

RC It's part of Alliance

Adams: So you went to college right there, and you were able to live at home.

RC Yeah only three miles.

Adams: What sort of woman was your mother?

RC She was quite a reader and a very good woman. She always told me if I was as good as I looked, I'd be all right.

Adams: And you tried to be?

RC Yeah

Adams: Were both of your parents active in a church?

RC Yeah

Adams: What church did they belong to

RC The Methodist and they both belonged to the Methodist

Adams: But your mother had come from a Quaker family?

RC Yeah

Adams: Did she give up the Quaker and join the Methodist church on your dad's account

RC Yeah

Adams: Many of your gentle ways, I think, must have come from her Quaker background.

She probably influenced you some that way. Was she a kind woman?

RC I thought so.

Adams: She never lost her temper very much, did she?

RC No -- of course, Effie was younger, and we'd tease her, and the only thing Effie

could do was scream, and then she'd call us down for bothering Effie

Adams: Scold you a little bit?

RC Yeah

Adams: She was the one who encouraged you to read and to study, then?

RC Well, she set by example. My father didn't do much reading except the newspapers.

Adams: How did your brother happen to take over the Alliance Review?

RC Well, he was running a printing a shop and the Review was kind of in trouble, and I

guess he took it over.

Adams: And that was the start of the newspaper business in the Hoiles family?

RC Yeah.

Adams: You went to work for him?

RC Yeah

Adams: Right after college?

RC Yeah

Adams: What did you study in college?

RC Oh, economics and philosophy and the general course.

Adams: Were you planning to be a school teacher?

RC No, no-

Adams: You did teach though, for a while didn't you? How did that come about?

RC Well, you had to have a certificate was all you had to do. You had to pass an

examination to have a certificate.

Adams: You did that for how long?

RC Three years, I guess.

Adams: And from there, then you went to the Review? Were you teaching while you were

going to school? (You could not do that very well, could you?)

RC No

Adams: You taught first, and then you went to work for your brother?

RC Yeah

Adams: What made you decide to come to California?

RC Well, big paving contractor bought the paper in Lorain and Mansfield, and he had so much money that we sold to Brush-Moore. We thought we were hurt by doing it, but we were lucky to come out here where we've got twice as much circulation as

Mansfield and Lorraine had together.

Adams: When you left Ohio and came to California, did you have in mind to buy another

paper, or did you think that you might just retire for a while?

RC Oh, when we bought the paper, we went to work right away at the paper. Then of

course, we bought Clovis, Pampa, later on, we bought Colorado Springs and

Marysville.

Adams: When you left Ohio did you know you were going to buy the Register, or did you

just come out here to see what was here?

RC Well, we'd come out here one winter, just to look around.

Adams: Spent a winter here then a before you finally moved out here then?

RC Yeah

Adams: Were you in Santa Ana that winter?

RC No--in Hollywood.

Adams: Just you and Mabel or did Clarence come with you?

RC Clarence come and went to school, I think

Adams: Wasn't he working at Bucyrus already, when you sold out back there?

RC Oh, well, we didn't sell Bucyrus out?

Adams: When you came to California, though?

RC He ran Bucyrus

Adams: He was running Bucyrus already , wasn't he?

RC Yeah

Adams: Did he stay back there, or did he come out here with you?

RC Well, I think he stayed there for a while.

Adams: Which of your children is next after Clarence, Raymond?

RC He died.

Adams: When was he born, R.C. do you remember his birth date?

RC Oh, about three years after Clarence.

Adams: And then was the next one Harry or Jane?

RC Harry

Apparently some missing dialog at this point going

R.C And that's the reason I had to sell, and I thought it was terrible I had to sell

Mansfield at that time, but it has half--well let's see what-it has half the population

of Santa Ana

Adams: R.C. looking up in almanac for population figures---gets confused, forgets what he's doing.

RC Then we bought a small paper in Texas and about the same time a paper of about the same circulation in New Mexico. And now New Mexico has more than it has.

Bassett's running the one in Texas. The fellow that was running Pampa then told us

about Colorado Springs and we went and bought it.

Adams: When you bought Colorado Springs was there a union there.

RC Yeah.

Adams: And then what happened?

RC Well, we carried out the contract as long as the contract lasted. But we wouldn't sign a closed shop contract, so we had a strike.

Adams: And they're still striking?

RC Yeah--and we don't know whether they'd let us start a morning paper there now or

not.

Adams: How would they stop it?

RC Oh, the justice department--hell, they'd say we were trying to drive them out of

business.

Adams: When you bought the Register, was there a union here?

RC Yeah

Adams: Did you do the same thing?

RC Yeah, Bill Lawrence was here, he helped us get an open shop and I've forgot who

else was here.

Adams: Bob Biles?

RC Bob Biles was here, of course he wasn't a printer

Adams: He was in circulation, wasn't he, to begin with?

RC Yeah

Adams: When you bought the Register, you were in the building over on Sycamore Street.

RC Yeah - but not the big building. --- we moved from Third up to Sixth. Then we had

to have room, so we had to move again. But we've got plenty of acreage here.

Adams: Where did you live when you were first married, R.C.

RC Alliance, Ohio

Adams: Did you buy a house, or were you renting a house.

RC I owned a house before I was married.

Adams: Did you pay for it outright or was it like they do nowadays, 10% down and make

monthly payments.

RC Fully paid for. Hard to do now---with taxes as they are, hard to save.

Adams: I thought you told me once that when you were in that house when you and Mabel

were first married that you rented rooms.

RC Yeah, Upstairs

Adams: How many?

RC Oh, there were four rooms upstairs. We rented two rooms with light housekeeping,

and we were both using the same bathroom. We finally built a bathroom downstairs

so we didn't have to go upstairs.

Adams: How many rooms were in the downstairs’ part?

RC Oh, five.

Adams: So you’re living was downstairs mostly.

RC Yeah

Adams: Looking at picture of R.C.'s parents.---looks like your mother had brown hair was

that right?

RC No - black. And it wasn't dyed either. See the knot in the back? That's the way

they used to wear them.

Adams: Was her hair long?

RC She comes from a Quaker family.

Adams: And she curled her hair?

RC Well, she got out of the Quakers and joined the Methodist church

Adams: You know, R.C. - it's real hard for someone who was born recently to picture the

kind of life that was lived that long ago--before automobiles. Can you give me some idea of what your daily routine was like? You'd get up in the morning to get the cows into the pasture, and then what?

RC Well, my- when I as a small kid my father would get up and let 'em out on the

road—and up the road a ways, and if I didn't get up and take 'em I had to go and

hunt em and get and put em in the pasture.

Adams: Before breakfast?

RC Yeah

Adams: And then would you have breakfast, all together in the kitchen?

RC Usually

Adams: What kind of things would you have for breakfast?

RC Fried mush

Adams: Did you have a lot of chickens on the farm

RC Yeah

Adams: What did your father raise, mostly?

RC Well, pigs, sheep

Adams: Sheep, too? I didn't realize that Ohio was sheep country.

RC Oh he didn't have many sheep, but he had a few sheep.

Adams: Did you use the wool to make clothing yourselves?

RC Oh, no, we didn't make clothing with it. We'd sell the wool, and they'd card it, clean

it, and so forth. We used to take the sheep down to the creek and go in with em up to here (waist) and wash the dirt out of the sheep. Then you'd get more for the wool. In the spring of the year, getting in up to here, was kinda cool. But at that time your

circulation was good.

Adams: RC’s comment about swimming.

RC I didn't care much about swimming, I liked to skate on the pond. We had a place that sometimes overflowed, and make made ice on it, and we'd skate on it.

Adams: Did you have chores to do before you went to school? Besides chasing the cows?

RC I guess I told you I took care of the school house--built the fire and cleaned out the

school house, swept it out--for five dollars for four months. So I knew what a dollar

meant.

Adams: That's how you got the gold watch wasn't it?

RC No, I got that by working two months on the farm in the summer time. Got 26$. $15

a month and board -- took $26 and got that watch.

Adams: Was this a neighboring farm?

RC No, it was a cousin's.

RC That give me a pretty good idea of what a dollar was worth when you do took care

of the school building---and there the more -as though - no asphalt or m paving

around and the more mud the boys carried in the better they liked it cause they knew you had to clean it out.

Adams: It sounds like you had a very close family. Did you do a lot of visiting with cousins

and relatives when you were young.

RC Oh, we'd go to our cousins, relative, yeah. I had a brother year and half older than I

was, and we were pals. and he was much heavier than I was. He died at Coolidge

Dam. 35 miles from a doctor, of a heart attack.

Adams: How long ago was that?

RC Oh - fifty years ago, they were coming out here to California. Family was coming

out here.

Adams: Was he making a move out here? or just to visit you?

RC No, just coming out for the winter.

Adams: That brother was the dentist.

RC Yeah

Adams: Was he still practicing? up to that time, or had he retired?

RC Gone into real estate.

Adams: Did he have many children?

RC He had two boys and a girl.

Adams: Are they still living in Ohio?

RC Well, I don't think they're living in Ohio, I don't know where they live.

Adams: How many children did Effie have?

RC Four boys and one girl. They're all living. (Walter and Richard...)

Adams: What's going to happen to the old family home now?

RC Well, her children own it and I don't know what they'll do with it. They sold part of

it off for a cemetery and a couple of the sons live on part of it, built houses there,

and Richard ----. Walter used to come down and have his evening meals with his

mother.

Adams: But nobody's living in the house that you were born in, now?

RC Unless it's Richard's children, I don't know. I saw an automobile standing there in

front of it--in the drive.