1920-1940s – Margaret Brown & Karl Forsberg

Karl always wanted to own a business and at one time and place he had a hot dog and bait store on the Forge Pond, South brand of the Metedeconk. He was trying to get control of his life after rejecting his eight-year romance with Gladys. She was a righteous, honest person but the whole situation seemed to be a love affair between Karl’s Mother and Gladys.

Pa Pa was concerned about this romance for Gladys would about drive him insane with her whaling to the top of her voice while playing the piano and singing those old Methodist Hymnal songs.

During this impractical romance, Karl built a small house, across the street, from where he lived, in a house that Karl purchased in 1920 for his parents since Pa Pa was very ill with an incurable sickness, Tuberculosis, and his sister Margaret suffered with infantile paralysis.

In 1933, I met Karl at a Methodist Epworth League gathering in the town of Whitesville. I am a member of Lakewood Methodist Episcopal Church and Karl attended the Greenville and Herbertsville Methodist Episcopal. I do not believe that he ever formally joined any Methodist Church since he was a devout Lutheran, taking his catischism at the Swedish Lutheran Church at Brooklyn, NY. His deep-rooted church learning was always with him, each nite, he would spend a contended ten minutes reviewing his prayers.

I honestly did not know Karl before this time, he seemed so tall and nervous. After playing several games, such as spin the bottle, musical chairs, sit on the follow’s knee, the group lined up in two rows, girls in one row and the boys in another, we all sat down, girls facing the boys in the seating arrangement. This long table consumed the entire length of the room, we did not have a choice of whom we may be sitting across from. The whole idea was to have young boys meet young girls for companiable purpose. Coca and a big price of home-made cake was served.

My friend, Alma Holman, was holding a conversation with Karl, me, the flitting butterfly, as Lakewood High School Class Nite honored me by, “Merry Marid with All”, so stated in my graduation book. I was talking a mile a minute about absolutely nothing of importance. Alma poked me and said that Karl wanted to take her, Billy, and I, to the next meeting which was to be at Atlantic Highlands. But heck, Billy often walked me home from school and I wasn’t particularly interested in dating him. I told Alma, if she really wanted to go with these two guys, she would have to be with Billy and I would sit in the front of the auto with Karl, she agreed. Alma’s parents would not allow her out of the house with any of the boys without a girlfriend or two with her.

Karl stopped by my home and asked if Alma and I would go with him and Billy to the next Epworth League meeting. Karl had a new Chevy with port and starboard lights, on the appropriate sides, the exterior was a black with Barnegat Bluff steering wheel and mud fenders. I spoke to Mother with this idea of going with Karl and the big word was Church, she agreed, for it was the policy at the Brown’s household, if the door was open for attendance at church – we were to attend – the unwritten rule.

We never spoke to our Dad while he was eating but if it became necessary, he would answer, “What is going on at church?” Church came first in most all instance. When I was attending High School and the fellows would stop by to take me to the school dance, Dad would meet them at the front door and ask the big question, “What Church do you go to?” if the answer was satisfying, he would come back at them with, “Do you work?”

On the way to the Highlands, Karl had to stop by his home at Ramtown, to take care of his father’s needs since Pa Pa was confined to his bed on the porch, where he remained for many many years. One of my deepest regrets is that, although, I stepped out of the auto to walk around the yard to admire the Japanese Quice, I never spoke to Pa Pa in his confinement.

When Karl came out of the house, he looked at me with dismay, probably the first time he realized that I may be of some interest. Pa Pa wanted him to start dating me with the thought of marriage, he didn’t care what it took to gain this result.

I didn’t see Karl, after this, for a few weeks and I decided to attend the evening classes at Lakewood High School to brush up on my shorthand and typing, with a bit of artwork thrown in. One of my friends told me that Forsberg was in the elocution class trying to recite, “Thru Terris’s Hall”. Well, I went down to the class and there was Karl stammering with his new upper false teeth and proper speech. He was determined to speak the American language correctly and would not allow anyone speak Swedish, around home, his sentiment was, we are in America, and we are Americans.

As nite school progressed, I saw Karl in the corridor of the school as I was attending Ms. Sawdie’s art class, he was also interested in art. I sort of picture him, in my memory, a tall, thin ang bit bowleg, although, he would say that his leg muscles were on the wrong side of his shin bone. He wore khaki long pants and shirts that didn’t fit since his arms were so long. He would fumble with his words and rather embarrassed that he had false teeth, this didn’t both me, like Mother said, “If you cannot spell umbrella, just draw one and go right on.”

The day came when Karl graduated from speech class, my friends and I were sitting in the Assembly Room balcony, when someone spotted Forsberg below. Well, that was all we had to know, made hands full of spit balls and fired them at Karl, guess he through we were a bunch of nuts. In fact, the whole of Lakewood thought that I was the first hippy that ever hit town. I didn’t want to conform to the ways of my parents. I existed in a creative world applying myself to the wrong this at the rite time, I term it as self-creative.

Each Saturday, as the weeks rolled by, Karl would bring his Mother into Lakewood to do their weekly grocery shopping at the Atlantic and Pacific Grocery Store on East Fourth Street, contrary to the grocery stores today, one would ring their food list and the store clerk would place these items from the shelves to the counter where he figured up the cost.

As luck would have it, Mother always dressed up in her finest silk dresses, in the afternoon when the weather was conducive, sat on the front porch and prepared vegetables for dinner, such as shelling lima beans, etc. In the offset of this chore, she would greet people as they walked pass and gossip with the neighbors who were also sitting out-of-doors doing their chores.

Karl and his Mother drove down Ridge Avenue, they always stopped on the wrong side of the road, Karl would sort of half step out of his auto to speak to us. Then, came the day when there was aloud knock on our front door, upon answering, there stood Karl with a gift of candy, just for me. This was the high lite of my life for no one in our household ever received a gift, “Just for Me”, since within our home there were sisters, brothers, grandfathers, and many times a cousin or two, some to visit and some to stay and attend Lakewood Schools.

It wasn’t like I never had candy, my Father always had a sweet tooth and when our family played cards, each evening before bedtime, we were treated to chocolate candy which came from our Grocery store. Then there were other times when Mother would cut a Chocolate Bar into five parts so the children would all have a piece.

I told Karl that the chocolates were good, but I really would enjoy a nut candy. That did it, the following Saturday, here stood Karl with Billy in his shadow, and a large box of nut chocolates, from Levitz Confectionery Store. This seems great but those two guys gave me a couple of pieces and proceeded to consume the entire box of chocolates on their own.

I didn’t get it, what was Karl trying to do, I wondered why he didn’t ask me to cruise around town in his auto or go to the racetrack to watch the auto races, downtown. We could pick up some of my friends and meet the gang by the brook in the woods and play Rugby. I had to work at our Grocery Store, each night, until 7:00pm, after this I could be with my friends, there was no curfew as long as I followed the rules.

My dad figured that I should get a good ol’e country boy friend but to tell you the truth, they drove me nuts with their home-made raisin wine and sitting by the hot iron cooking stove telling jokes with the family. One time, Bill Marks, one of Dad’s coon hunting buddies, came to date, he was an instant disappointment. I invited him into our home, sat him by our iron cooking stove to entertain my brothers and sisters. He would pick up the hot iron stove lids with his bare hands, swallow a tall glass of water without drinking it, the only thing good about this situation was, I didn’t have to date him outside of our home, so I thought, until one Sunday. Thelma drove over to our house with her Ford Coupe, which had a rumble seat, asked if Bill and I would go with her and her friend to Bear Mountains for a picnic. I jumped at the idea, Bill and I sat in the rumble seat and as we drove along people in other autos would curl with laughter. Upon arrival at our destination, I found that Bill had hung a huge bunch of onions on the lifting handle of our rumble seat. I could have died right there and then. Things were not too swift after this but when Christmas arrived, Bill was at the front door with a gift for me, it was a pair of knitted gloves with a difference color for each finger. This was the end of country boys, back to my friends in the Big City of Lakewood.

All my friends, accept Blanche Dizo, had a curfew, the two of us would attend all the political meetings at the Palace Theater, the only possibility that I had to worry about was to be on the east side of the Rail Road track before midnite, if I didn’t make it, that train would mill back and forth for at least a half hour, this would have been disastrous.

Then too, everyone in the town knew that Dad was a sharpshooter with the rifle, hitting 99 little dried lima beans out of one hundred that were thrown in the air. My Dad presented a fear tactic but underneath it all, he was completely happy and proud of his Wife and family.

One nite, after church, I was zooming up and down Second Street with my friends, I looked down Lexington Avenue – “Lord and Behold”, there was Karl in his auto with those port and starboard lites. We looked at each other and ran for Fourth Street, composed ourselves so he would think this meeting was coincidental. Karl stopped, we were asked to climb in, “Climb In” was the big word for he had several others with him. Our destination was the Ministral Show at the old building that stood down Ridge Avenue, toward Greenville, I think that this building was once a Lodge Hall.

The Minstrel was a group of white men that colored their faces so they would appear, such as black men. The entertainers would dance, play music on different instruments, sing and in general have a lot of un with jokes, etc. It perhaps was a fund making project, I am not sure. Karl played the spoons, sometimes the drum and his musical feature was playing the mouth organ that he had a music roll attached to it, his favorite song was, “Listen to the Mockingbird”.

Karl seemed to pop up everywhere, he was friendly, and people seemed to gravitate toward him, his hobby was body building. There were many that were interested in his health endeavor. Altho, he was not aware of it, he was a leader in his own rights, he presented a stature of prestige.

I did not intent to take it easy on Karl and I think that he had the same attitude about me. Oh, I tell you that we were the perfect pair, he an Aquarius and I a Libra. I could have put an end to this relationship many times for he engaged in so many crazy pursuits, he always embarrassed me with some foolish deed or thought, he was from a different spectrum than I. when it became to hard to understand, he would laugh and say, “Lill-lie One”, an old Swedish expression meaning that I was smaller than him – by two foot in height. We had an understanding far beyond seasoning, he, as well as I could read something into nothing and that became reality. I was the substantial one, always getting him into and from the problems that occurred around us.

Everyone, on the East Side of Lakewood, knew that someday I would marry Karl, altho, I wasn’t aware of it. My Jewish friends told me that Karl was a find Jewish boy with the name Forsberg, they would say that there are Jews in Sweden, too.

I worked in our Grocery Store most all of my spare hours with my Dad and Uncle Joel. Did not receive any pay, it was my obligation to our family. It would embarrass me when my friends had three pennies to pay for a large cup of hot cocoa, with a floating marshmallow, at school, or when I was at the Drug Store and needed a dime for a cup of cocoa. I spoke to my parents about this and was told that if I needed monies, I should get a job that paid enough for the things I needed. So, I found a few jobs that I could handle after my work at the store.

At the age of fourteen, Mother bought me a typewriter so I could type stencils at nite, for our school, also, posed for Mr. Tupper, our local newspaper, for Thanksgiving news articles, wrote a gossip column for the local newspaper, they paid me ten cents an inch, up and down, of writing, played the piano at the town hotels in accompaniment to a Jazz Band and the local dance Cabin, I was paid ten dollars a nite for my musical endeavor, took care of Jew children at the hotels for five dollars per week and then bit time arrived, I secured a job as Usherette at the Strand Theater where I earned many tips for finding a seat in the front row, where it was there or not.  I wore a uniform, live several other girls, carried a great flash lite, to show the way, I tell you I was really living even tho I didn’t off from work ‘till ten each nite, or later. One of the bad features of this job was that the Usherette’s had to take care of the boss’ son on the side. While working at the Strand, the camera man sent word down to me that the Big Swede was out front of the Theater talking to the Negro Policeman, that we had in town. In could hardly believe it, was he waiting for me? Yes, there he was, I informed him that I was expected at home, altho, my Mother was understanding, and my Dad was never informed about problems that occurred around the Brown household. We continued the conversations with the Policeman and Karl offered to drive me home, in his automobile. Just in time to be stranded on the West side of the Rail Road tracks. That trained moved slowly laboriously forward and backward until it changed tracks, it was okay from some that wanted to sit in the auto and neck, but I had to get home.

Karl had a touch time trying to date me and I think that this whole maneuver was trying to become acquainted. Well, I arrived home too late and knew that I would be cremated before the sun came up. I climbed those thirteen stairs without making one ounce of noise by extending my feet to the most outer edge of the step. I made it just in time before that clock tolled the hour. My heart sunk, I head my Mother’s high heel shoes clicking on the wooden floor, “OH MY LORD”, here she comes, I jumped in bed headfirst, fur coat and all. I heard her say, “Oh, she is in bed, Harry.” Dear Lord, I made it. My sisters slept in the same room with me, in another double, they never said a word.

I was so very tired in the morning; it was hard to get out of the bed, but it was summer, and I had to go to work at our grocery store. I could overhear the neighborhood Mother’s talking in our yard over the boarded chicken wire fence. Mother made the top of the list telling this group that I came home too late and of course Lena Horowitz and Violet Wallace agreed with the problem since they were having the same difficulty with their daughters.

Courtship with Harry Brown’s daughter began in earnest. Believe me this took a lot of nerve on Karl’s part since most of the young men in town were afraid of Dad. I am sure that Father indulged in many things that were not quite correct, but he married Maggie and she was without question a lady in every sense of the way. Only when Dad worked in his gardens did he ever wear, so called, work clothes – his garb was a washable shirt and washable trousers with black socks and black shoes, polished. Mother wore cotton dresses in the morning with an apron but when it became afternoon, she dressed in her washable silk dresses and took her afternoon nap, she was on hundred percent Lady, of her own means.

Karl passed all the requirements, he worked, he attended Church, but in my parents eyes he was a foreigner, altho, he was born at Brooklyn, NY. Mother explained to Dad that this may be excused since Uncle Frank married Mary who was from Ireland. This was no reasoning for Dad because, ‘We Brown’s” have been in American since 1685, even tho we were kicked out of Scotland.

The Chevy was the joy in Karl’s life. Inside he had an old home-made radio which did not have an antenna. When we wanted to hear the radio play music, we had to park the car next to a metal fence, such as Rockie’s, hook up the antenna with an alligator clamp. When at the beach there was no metal fence, Karl would stretch wire across the sane, many times the people walking would fall over this when they snagged their foot. Mother and Dad were absolutely embarrassed when they would drive passed us sitting hooked up to the Rockie’s fence.

Hubert Johnson’s, where Karl obtained his boat repair and building trade, owned a varnished Chris Craft Skiff which Karl drove over to the Pt Pleasant Beach Inlet and tied the boat to the rocks. For a modest amount, he would drive people out in the ocean and back for a thrill. When I found time, we went down to the rocks together and enjoyed the salt spray, took people for a boat ride, all in all it was very exciting. I do not remember if Karl kept the monies or was it a boat advertisement for Hubert Johnson.

Pa Pa, Karl’s Father, passed in August of 1934, I felt badly since I never had a chance to really speak with him.  He often came into our grocery store, he knew Dad and at one point sold Dad a smoking cabinet that he made, “Hobo Art”, Pa Pa made many different wooden tables, etc.

With respect, I went with Karl to the funeral services at the Greenwood Cemetery, Lakewood. He had purchased the plot for his Dad since the illness was consuming his body slowly. He spent fourteen years, many in bed, on the screened in porch at the house Karl purchased at Ramtown, 1928.

Come, September 17^th, 1934, Karl and I married at Elkton, MD, by a minister of the Baptist faith, in a Baptist Parsonage, after a six-month courtship. How in God’s name could I expect Karl to have a local wedding when he was under such strain, a father and son separation. We discussed marriage on a Saturday evening while we were parked in front of 322 Ridge Avenue, Lakewood. I bade him good nite and went into the house. There came a knock on the front door, it was Karl, he asked, “Will I marry him on this coming Monday.” He would pick me up in his automobile around noon, he will rent an apartment to return to, in Pt Pleasant. It was a beautiful day, Monday, my wedding day, and as usual I was helping with the weekly washing of the clothes. When Karl arrived, I was buys hanging the apparel that occupied five long clothes lines in our back yard.

Mother had one of those electric copper washing machines that had dancing suction cups. The whole washing process was on long drawn-out job. There were no powdered soaps only the Fels Naphtha yellow bar. Most every week, Mother’s lace up stay supported corset was scrubbed with a scrubbing brush, rinsed and hung on the line, we were all at a loss as to which way was up, between this corset and Mother’s bloomers – which came down to meet the knee, I will tell you that our clothesline display had character. To this day, I am mesmerized at the beauty of the clothes handing on a line with the color, shape, and form that it presents. When I saw Karl enter our side yard, I made the big announcement that I was getting married today, my sisters and brothers doubled over with laughter. Mother’s remark, “To Whom”, I responded Karl.

I dressed in my women gray skirt and jacket, told Mother that I was going to marry at Maryland, like the song says, “They All Laughed”. From the first day of my life when Mother looked at my hair in the sun lite and discovered that it was as red as a strawberry, it was decided that I was possessed by the devil. I never seemed to follow that thin line that was placed before me, had my own way about life and had a ,’Happy go Lucky”, look. I never could handle disturbance, when my life became unbalanced, I fell apart. Mother did her best trying to bring me down to earth, every lunch, at home, I was presented with Mary Margaret McBride on the Atwater Kent radio, after several years of this culture, I was doomed to the kitchen cooking, never allowed in the garden, just never could understand bugs and crawling creatures. Dad only grew vegetables fertilized with cow dung, he proudly would state that we ate vegetables from our several gardens, twenty minutes from picking to the table. I will agree the food was superb.

Mother read all types of poetry aloud, the newspaper and even went so far as to have a group of young ladies arrive at our house to lean how to water bath preserve vegetables, walk correctly, comb and brush my hair, make a bed properly and all that necessary functions to become a lady. All this culture has stayed with me, and I am thankful for I have learned how to be content within myself, I can enjoy my life with an artistic view and an over all creating aspect between my mind and hands.

Karl and I drove to Elkton, MD, in his Chevy. We stopped and bought a basket of Jersey apples, there were no such thing as a Mac Donald’s or other fast food placed. We purchased our wedding license at the County cler’s office for the sum of two dollars and fifty cents. Reverend Cope, Baptist, married us. I knew when I arrived back home at Lakewood, no one would believe that we were married so I send Billy, Karl’s friend, a telegram with the big news and prepare my parents for our homecoming.

Upon arrival, Mother was upset with worry since I did not have a new wedding dress, she should talk, she was also married in her white tailored suit, at her home in Princeton, NH. She went as far to say, “Not even a new nitie,” I looked at her and thought, she must be out of her mind but believe me she was serious, as far as she could see, all of her efforts to make me a suitable lady had failed. The big crunch was when Mother stood up, pointed her index finger toward the front door and said loudly, ‘Your Father wants to see you at the grocery store,” this was fatal.

I bundled up some clothing, Karl and I rode to the store which was around the corner from where we lived. Luck would have it, there were a few customers purchasing food for the coming day and there also, stood a half dozen old men, ‘achawen’ on the Old Apple Plug, every once in awhile spitting out the screen door. Dad gave me that look, but being a “Almighty Brown”, I stood there defiantly and remembered that big statement he always made, “Whatever you are doing, do the best you can.” Well Dad, here I am a married lady and I will help my husband in every way to achieve ultimate direction of his life.

Karl and I spent our wedding nite with Billy and Christina at our apartment in Pt Pleasant. To tell you the truth, we never had a minute to ourselves, between Karl’s friends and my friends. It got so bad, Mrs. Morris our landlady spoke to us about it.

On the following Friday, of that week, Karl looked out the window and announced that my parents had come to visit, there they were all dressed in their ‘Sunday GO Meeting Clothes’ – they knocked on the door, walked in, sober faced, handed Karl a large sum of money, remarked, “This will take care of the cost of your marrying my daughter”, the two of them turned around and left. Mother quietly spoke, she forgave me and then looked me straight in the eye and stated, “If this marriage does not work she will that Karl into her home and if there are children, they will also be welcomed, she will not care what happens to me.”

Karl and I lived in this little one- and one-half room furnished apartment for a month or two. A Mr. Wheeler who owned a large old, abandoned hotel, Pine Bluff Inn – on the Manasquan River, asked Karl if he would like to be a watchman for the winter months. We accepted this job in lieu of rent. We lived above a garage, heated by a tall pot-bellied iron stove, until spring when Karl’s family moved our of our house at Ramtown, (original name Random).

It took us a bit of time to move in, since we did not have any furniture and this house had to be repainted because of Pa Pa’s illness and the fact that we were expecting our first son. Back to basic living, with an old iron stove that had oil burning cylinders, no electricity, no running water – only a pitcher pump that was outside over the well – and a wooden framed outhouse with a curtain on the window and a door that would not completely shut. There were times while sitting there reading and without realizing that the Blimp from Lakehurst Naval Air Station was overhead.

After finishing the redecorating of the downstairs, Karl purchased a large two bladed propeller which he placed on the roof to charge batteries for the use of electric lights and radio. Our big problem was furniture, Karl bought lumber and made a bed and other smaller items for around our home. Some one gave us a round kitchen table with chairs. Mother gave me the biggest gift of all, a new gasoline stove with a great over to bake those whole meat molasses cakes that Karl loved.

We tried to have electricity installed down our road, tried to solicit customers for the Jersey Central Electrical Company, but the surrounding farmers were only interested in having one electric lite in their chicken coop so the hens would lay more eggs. There was no such thing as refrigeration, to keep foods cool so we hung them on a rope down the well where it was cold. Each day, I purchased a quart of milk from our neighborhood farmer that had cows.

The working pay wage, in these day s was eighteen dollars each week, there were no deductions made for Federal government, etc. and no income tax or sales tax to worry about. It cost us an average of five dollars each week for groceries, a dollar or so for milk at Dunbeck’s. Pop Lurk lived next door to us, Mom’s second husband, and would give us the livers, guzzard, etc. from the chickens that he prepared for the Essex & Sussex Hotel, in payment for helping pin feather the birds, preparing them for broiling. These innards made a good pot of stew. While making our home at Ramtown, Karl and I became proud parents to three sons, Karson, Nils, and Eric, who were born at the Paul Kimball Hospital, Lakewood, NJ. These were happy days, Karl adored his sons, he cared for them and played with them, in his spare time. We felt that it was necessary to purchase Bernard Mac Fadden books with invaluable knowledge for health, Charles Atlas exercise and correct foods. The set of books cost fifty dollars and we were able to pay time, over many months.

I was fortunate enough to be able to breast feed my sons and this gave them a healthy start in life. Since, I became Toxic thru my pregnancies, it wasn’t possible for me to have a large family. Karl would go into a state of confusion when it became time for me to deliver. Our babies were extremely large in bone structure, I manager but natural birth darn near killed me. I can hear Karl now, running up and down he hospital corridors shouting, “Save my wife.”

We never had a telephone, and when I was in the hospital, Karl spent his nites sleeping on the tolled top deck at Dad’s United Grocery Store, Lakewood, NJ, where there was a two-part telephone, just in case I didn’t make it. It took three days of induced labor to deliver Karson, he was a twin. Since I knew of my physical condition, the next two pregnancies were more or less under control. With Karl’s love, help and understand, it took about five years to regain my health. I learned that my way of life would have to be pure and simple. I am thankful for this understanding and have become a strong mother in body and soul.

In 1940, when Karl was employed at Hubert Johnson’s Boatyard, Bay Head, NJ, he overheard two men speaking in German language, he understood them for he spoke Swedish language fluently and could identify words. These men were discussing the building of our American boats and how they were built. Karl went to the local police station and had the two German men taken in for questioning. Out of this dilemma, Karl was given a position at Shop #68, Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA as an instructor in the building of Patrol Boats (PT) and teaching Navy, as well as civilian workers, constructive building, such as repairing bridges and other wooden structures, in America and abroad.

We purchased a house on Snyder Avenue, Pitman, NJ, we packed up the little that we had and moved. This town was just across the Delaware River from the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Karl with other workman, shared an automobile, drove to the River crossing at Woodbridge, NJ, each day, parked and traveled across on a cattle boat, to work. There were many boat builders from the Jersey Coast that worked with Karl since the government wanted boat workers with experience in this trade. Our good friend Dave Bird and his family also accepted work at Shop #68. Dave was forever trying to climb the ladder of work, but he never made it to the top, Karl was always on the top run cross piece of recognition.

Karl never had the opportunity to complete an eighth-grade education for his had to go to work since his father was ill. While holding the position of instructor at the Navy Yard, the head chiefs sent Karl to College, evenings, to study physiology, in order that he would understand his students – mostly the young men that had joined the US Navy. Karl was also elected to be President of the Boat Builders Associate, Philadelphia, PA for several years or until we departed to return to the Jersey Shore where we would be able to raise our sons in a healthy environment.

Talk about the “Clamfords”, that was us, since we had no home to return to, I rented a summer home from Bucky Comstock where we would be able to stay until Spring. Sold all our furniture, except the gas refrigerator and gas stove, plus our Packard and bought an old wooden framed body station wagon. We packed up our automobile with the doghouse and dog, cat, chickens, and clothing, and an up side down frame of a wooden boat on the top of the auto roof.

Off we went, to our new land that we purchased, at Pt Pleasant, NJ. I was freezing to death since we had to ride with the windows opwn and ropes holding everything in place went through the open windows. The children were snuggled behind the front seat rolled up in our blankets. We drove up to the gasoline station and the attendant would not sell us gasoline, he was afraid of us, I cannot imigin what we looked like and honestly did not care.

We were relocating to the land of our dreams, on the Beaver Dam Creek, an acre of hard, dried, cracker mud with the feeling that, “This mud is Ours.” Everyone, in town, snickered at us, but who were they, we could see a future in our new way of life, and we knew that it would be a struggle, but it was Karl’s ambition.

Upon arrival, Karl looked out over the Creek, gave me the biggest hug, and said, “This land is ours, all paid for by the US Savings Bonds, we will never go hungry, there will always be plenty of fish to eat, with the help of a fike.”

In closing: – “Well Mother and Dad, we made it, I know that we worried you so very much.”

To My Beloved husband, Karl: – “It took a lot of doing to keep you aspiration alive. I know you are still with us for so many times our situation became so desperate but some how it worked out.”

Margaret Theresa Brown Forsberg