MySource:Jrm03063/Mason, James R. Interview with Cora Leach

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Interview with Mrs. Cora Leach Mason, April 27, 1976.

C = Cora Leach Mason
J - James R. Mason

J - When and where were you born?

C - I was born in Hancock County, Penobscot Maine, February 11, 1906.

J - Who was your father and when was he born?

C - My father was Buford Leach...he was born in Penobscot, Maine...August 2, 1880.

J - Ok, who was your mother and when was she born?

C - My mother was born in 1881, in Bucksport Maine, and her name was Charlotte Gray.

J - Do you know who your grandparents were?

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C - I know who they were...I never, I never knew my grandparents on my father's side.

J - Ok, who were they?

C - Uriah Leach and Edith Snowman was my paternal, and my maternal grandparent were Wilbur Gray and ah ... Cora West.

J - Who were your brothers and sisters?

C - My brother, the first of the family, was named Shirley ... he was six years older than I and ... I have a sister three years older than I, Edith and a sister nine and one-half years younger, Ruby.

J - What was your family structure, I mean, who was living with whom?

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J - You once said you had a grandfather who spent time in Libby Prison during the Civil War.

C - My ah... on my father's side, yes, he enlisted in the Civil War at the very beginning and he served four years ... at the end he was in Libby Prison.

J - What was his name again?

C - Uriah Leach. We lived in the house he built after the civil war.

J - Do you know what rank he obtained or his unit?

C - No, I don't know too much about it.

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J - What was the approximate population of Penobscot then?

C - About 200. It was just a very small town with one main road ... and a post office and a store.

J - What was the biggest business in Penobscot? What were most of the people employed doing?

C - Well, either in the brickyard or in the saw mill.

J - Were there any other important businesses.

C - No ... No

J - What was the main religion?

C - Ah ... Protestant. We just had two churches.

J - What were the churches?

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C - One was a baptist and one was a methodist.

J - Which one did you go to?

C - I went to the methodist, everyone went, all the children went to Sunda School ... There was nothing to do ... you always went to church.

J - When did you start school?

C - ... five or six ... I went to a one room school, had one teacher, about 20 pupils ... had all grades.

J - What would that be, one through eight?

C - One through nine then. That was before they dropped the ninth grade.

J - What would students do after they finished the ninth grade?

C - Well, we had a high school.

J - Did you go there?

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C - I didn't go to it, because we moved to the island.

J - When did you move to the island?

C - I moved to the island when I was 13 and went to high school there, ... my father had a gardner's job

J - What was the high school like in things like pupils, teachers, size?

C - The high school was small. It only had two teachers, two rooms. We did have a small lab for chemistry class. There wouldn't have been more than 20 students I guess.

J - And you went there for four years, and graduated, right?

C - Yes, I graduated.