Cam Middleton Interview with my Grandfather
Oral History Transcription
- William Middleton Interview, History 150 Spring 2017, Conducted by Cam Middleton, March 8, 2017.
- This interview was conducted in person at my grandfather’s house in Needham, Massachusetts. Surprisingly, I did not have to edit the interview a lot because the sound quality and everything we talked about was exactly what I had planned. Basically, I had two steps in setting up my technology for the interview. The first was to get out my laptop and open up GarageBand. Secondly, I just needed to place the computer in front of us and hit record and then we were underway with the interview. My grandfather and I did prepare a quiet space in his house. He has no animals or anyone else in the house so it was very easy to interview him in his T.V. room (with the T.V. off). Looking back on the interview, there were no problems or exceptions that occurred during the interview process which was a great thing.
- My grandfather’s full name is William Chalmers Middleton and he is 82 years old. He was born on June 17, 1934 in Aberdeen, Scotland. My grandfather grew up with his mother and father in a small house with four siblings: David, Mickey, Alfred and Edna (his only sister). My grandfather was the oldest child, so he started working as a painter to help provide for his family and in his free time he would always play soccer. He played many sports growing up as a child, but his favorite by far was soccer. He made many friends through the sport of soccer and he played on some of the best teams in Aberdeen. Also, he lived in a town in Aberdeen which was a popular place for the Germans to bomb. Thankfully, my grandfather and his family were never severely hurt when there were bombings, but it was a very scary thing to go through as an 18 year old. He came over to the United States in 1962 with his wife, Norma Middleton and his son (my father), Gary Middleton. Once they were here they decided they would live in Needham, Massachusetts because he knew of a few people who had already been living there. First, they bought an apartment and then in 1965, three years after they got to the United States, they bought their own house in Needham, Massachusetts. He still lives in the same house today and is currently living a happy life.
One source that I used to help me with my interview was “Scottish Immigration to America.” Before I interviewed my grandfather I wanted to get a little bit of background information on how many people came over to the United States from Scotland. While I couldn’t find the exact number for the amount of immigrants from Scotland, this source did tell me that the amount of immigrants to the United States from Scotland in the 1960’s was down compared to previous years. So when I asked my grandfather “When did you immigrate over to the United States?” I wanted to see what the exact year was because Scottish immigration was down in the 1950-1960’s and I wanted to see if that’s when he came over and it was.
A second source that I used to help me with my preliminary knowledge was from the “Scotland Guide.” I really wanted to see where the majority of the Scottish immigrants would settle once they got to the United States and this source had that answer. This website told me that many went to Virginia, but Massachusetts was the second most popular place for the Scots to go. So when I asked my grandfather “What was the deciding factor when you decided to leave Aberdeen?” I was kind of referring back to this source because I was able to get him to talk about how he came to Massachusetts, not Virginia, because he knew of someone who lived in Needham, Massachusetts.
Alchin, Linda. “Scottish Immigration to America.” Scottish Immigration to America: History for Kids ***. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Cockburn, Craig. “Scots Emigration/immigration to the US.” Scotland Guide. Silicon Glen, 19 June 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
D.
Cam Middleton: This is Cameron Middleton and I will be interviewing my grandfather here in Massachusetts… Alright so could you tell us your name and when you were born?
William Middleton: Yeah, my name is William Chalmers Middleton. I was born on the seventeenth of June, 1934.
CM: Alright, could you tell us a little bit about your childhood?
WM: Yeah, I grew up in a six family apartment and had lots of kids to play with, the whole street was full of kids. So we played soccer and baseball, you name it; and we played out in the streets because there weren’t many cars then. Then I’m talking about naturally when I was a little bit older; four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. But I had a good childhood, of course it was a little tough after the war started.
CM: How many siblings?
WM: There were five. Two boys, excuse me four boys and one girl.
CM: Alright nice, when did you immigrate over to the United States?
WM: I immigrated on April 26th, 1961.
CM: Ok. And about the immigration process, what was the deciding factor when you decided to leave Aberdeen?
WM: Well, I left Aberdeen to try to make a better life for my family. It was very very tough. I served an apprenticeship as a painter which you have to serve five year of apprenticeship, and I was a fully fledged journeyman painter when we decided that we would maybe like to join my wife’s brother who was in Needham, Massachusetts and so I talked to him and he said to get your name on the list, which I did. And that was the reason we decided to come over.
CM: Yeah, yeah that’s good. So that was the deciding factor, but what would you say was the toughest part about leaving?
WM: Leaving my family and friends. I had a lot of good close friends, I played soccer for quite a few of the really good teams in Aberdeen, and I had a lot of friends that way, and also my family because it’s a big loss. Back then telephones and these things weren’t around and instead of the telephone it was letters. So it was tough.
CM: Yeah. What would you say, like what kind of memories, and we were just talking about this, what memories do you have about the immigration process itself?
WM: Well, the first thing we had to do was sign up for it and we were put on a waiting list. The waiting list at that time for British people to immigrate to America was one year. We waited out the one year and got down to Glasgow, took medicals down there and they looked at all our particulars about who we were and all the rest of it. Then we got the okay to come over, so I decided to come over in April, which was the 26th of April. Then my wife and son came three months later, in fact they arrived her on July 4th and my wife thought that the parade in Needham was for her.
CM: Haha yeah like it was a party for them coming over?
WM: Exactly! [Interviewee threw his hands in the air]
CM: Then, I remember from when I was a kid you used to talk about all these stories about the war and everything that was going on about where you were. So what would happen when the bombs were dropped by the Germans, would you stay in your house? And was there a warning signal?
WM: No, we had bomb shelters in our backyards which I guess everyone in the house, in the six family were able to get into these shelters and that’s something you had to do; and there were air wardens which were like policemen who went to these places during a siren and made sure everyone was out of the houses. Yeah, my street Seaforth road was bombed twice, we were evacuated to a church by ambulances and all kinds of automobiles. They would take us to the church and we were there for three days until they fixed up our houses again.
CM: Was your family ever severely hurt or anything like that?
WM: None of them were, thank goodness. The inside of the building was hurt quite a lot [Interviewee laughed]. In fact, where one of my brothers slept there was a big piece of shrapnel right through the wall and if he had been sitting up it would’ve taken his head off, but he was sleeping when it happened.
CM: Yeah, and then you were just saying before this, you said that you’re part of Aberdeen was the most bombed part…
WM: Yeah, the most bombed in Scotland. It was bombed most, and I think one of the reasons for that is when the German bombers were going home, Aberdeen was only a few hours, well less than an hour over to Germany. So it dropped all their bombs with us. It was tough.
CM: Yeah, I can imagine, jeez. Now, once you actually got here, what were some of the biggest differences you noticed between Aberdeen and you moved to Needham, Massachusetts so what were some of the biggest differences you noticed?
WM: Uhh, transportation number one. Everyone had a car here and I had never had a car, never owned a car. That was one of my happy events.
CM: And you finally ended up getting one of course, to travel around.
WM: Yeah, the car, then an apartment. Further down the road in ‘65 we bought our own house, which was a wonderful thing to do.
CM: Yeah, all that independence that you gained from coming here to Massachusetts, well to the United States really. Now, and we were already talking about this. How difficult was it for you to find a job once you got to the United States?
WM: Well, within 5 minutes of arriving here I met the painting contractor, my brother in law had arranged for me to meet. I went down and had a meeting with him and started two days later.
CM: So it was a quick process? Because I remember we were talking about in class how some people it had took them weeks or months to find a job, but it only took you that day when you got here.
WM: Plus the fact that I was making, right away, four times what I could have made back in Aberdeen.
CM: Yeah, so that was another perk of being here in the United States.
WM: Exactly.
CM: Alright, now how long do you think it took you to adapt to the United States culture? Maybe like a year?
WM: Yeah, probably a year.
CM: So, it was kind of like a long process?
WM: Yeah, kinda.
CM: Now, what do you miss the most about Aberdeen today?
WM: Again, family and friends. I still have friends, very close friends who we’ve been buddies for fifty odd years, played on the same soccer team and we’re still as close today as we were then. That’s the kind of people I miss and family.
CM: Yeah, that makes sense. Finally, was it all worth it in the end? Would you have changed anything about it?
WM: Never. Never. I love this country and it’s been good to me, and my wife, and my son, and my grandkids who are all doing well now.
Conclusion:
If I could do this interview over again I would try to ask more questions about the war in Aberdeen. I feel like more information on that would create a much better interview, but I loved the way this interview came out. I did feel like the interview flowed, there were no awkward pauses or anything like that which made the interview a high quality one in my mind. For me, I found it a little bit easier to go “off-script” because then it was just my grandfather and I having a nice discussion about his life. For the most part I stayed on script, but when I did go off it I felt like it flowed with the rest of the interview. Finally, I feel like the divergences made when I went “off-script” were extremely positive because like I said it turned into me just having a conversation with my grandfather. The interview went well and I am extremely happy with how it turned out.