Oral History Interview with Frances Thatcher Kees

Segment Synopsis: The interview starts with brief introductions and continues with some of Kees' family history. She describes herself as highly connected, with a daughter on the Alexandria Town Council, and related to the Spelmans who gave the first acre of land to the town of Alexandria. She also mentioned Doctor Shaw, who owned the first car in town.

Segment Synopsis: Kees begins by discussing how there was not much for women to do at the time she was growing up according to her, beyond raising children and becoming teachers. Her father would not let her or her sisters work, but he did send them to school and Alexandria soon had the first high school in the area. Moving from that topic, Kees mentions how her father helped build the first bank in town, and helped build the first Methodist Church along with another prominent man named Joe Wright. She notes how she was in the high school's first graduating class, and there were only 4 graduates the first year.

Segment Synopsis: Kees' father was a very successful farmer, but he chose to hire out workers because all of his children were daughters. In terms of animals, he owned cattle and horses, but mostly horses. He was very involved in the community. Beyond helping to found many local institutions, he also helped to run the Little World Fair, a community recreational space. Kees ends this section by remarking on how few overnight rooms there were in town for people visiting, and mentioning that her husband was one of the town's first butchers.

Segment Synopsis: Kees is asked how her parents met, and she does not know, but suspects they met in a nearby community of French Bend. She goes on to mention how they used to travel there and other places in the area quite frequently, such as Cincinnati. She mentions that her mother inherited a slave, who would later come under her father's paid employ, and that her grandfather (William Green) owned 23 slaves by her memory. After that, she goes into the treatment of livestock and how they would slaughter and dry the meat of many of their own livestock. She also discusses a 'cistern' which her father dug in order to freeze ice year around for harvest and sale.

Segment Synopsis: In addition to cattle and horses, Kees suggests that a large part of her father's business was from the growing and sale of berries. She mentioned them growing dewberries, strawberries, black blackberries, red blackberries, and yellow blackberries, the last of which she has not recalled seeing at all in recent times. She discusses at length the laborers her father employed on the berry farm, most of them children, and how they were paid 5 cents for every 4 quarts of berries harvested and were paid at the end of the season. Every year, Kees' father would take his employees and their whole families to Coney Island or the Zoo and pay for their admission, food, and drinks in thanks of their helping him during the year.

Segment Synopsis: In this segment, Kees discusses some of the ways the farm related to other parts of the community. For instance, she mentions that one of her father's employees who helped pick berries became the first person to open an infirmary in Alexandria. She also discusses how her father's farm grew from 100 acres to 600 acres, finally being sold for one million dollars somewhat recently to the recording of this interview. She mentions how her father would form firms with other farmers to pool money and import English horses, each of them owning a share of the horse and respective right to breeding stock. She also discusses the picnic events of the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and how the other churches were not usually affluent enough to put on such an event.

Segment Synopsis: Kees is asked to discuss some of Alexandria's prominent citizens. She first mentions Joe Wright who was previously mentioned and also lists the Todds, the Neals, the Spelmans, and the Whites as prominent family names. She notes that the Todds produced Alexandria's first doctor. After this, she transitions to discussing the highway, which was cooperatively owned by her father and 4 other men who constructed toll booths along the path. Originally, this road was used mostly for horse and buggy. Eventually, the road was purchased by the State in the 30s or 40s, at which point the State paid the farmers who's land the road was built upon for use of the land the road would be built and improved on.

Segment Synopsis: Kees mentions that her husband was the second person to own a car after Doctor Shaw, and then is asked more about her father. She mentions that her was very handsome and had a mustache. Sometimes he would shave his mustache and the children would behave more poorly because he did not look at intimidating. He was very talkative and had a lot of friends, including a German man who he hired to grow the family's vegetables. Lastly, Kees tells the story of how her father died. Evidently, her father was very involved in politics and died in the family home after an important special election. It is unclear what age he was when he died, either late 70s or early 80s; likely in the 1930s. Kees thanks the interviewer for the opportunity to reflect on things that people do not often ask her about.