BASQUE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

INTERVIEW TAPE INDEX

NAME:  Gregorio “George” Alberdi
DATE OF INTERVIEW: January 13^th, 1976
LOCATION: Boise, Idaho
INTERVIEWER: Joseba Chertudi
LANGUAGE: Basque
TAPE NO: 38
INDEXED BY: Nere Lete
 

TAPE MINUTE         SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

0-4:00              Born in Iurreta, Bizkaia. Parents were farmers. He went to school for 6 years. Avoided military service by coming to the United States at the age of 20. His mother gave him 1,000 pesetas ($200) to come plus $50 to show in New York. He had a brother and an uncle there. His father was dead by the time he came. Mother told him to come back home soon. He spoke Basque and Spanish.

4:00- 8:00        Itinerary of trip to the United States: Bordeaux (France), Coruńa (Spain), Habana (Cuba), New York. The name of the ship was ”Chicago”. Some people were very seasick on the trip. Two or three children died and were removed from the ship on the way to Habana. They waited in Habana for 8 days until it was decided what to do with the remaining sick, then they departed for New York.  Valentin Aguirre  met Gregorio in New York and took Gregorio to his boarding house.  The next day, he took the train to Chicago. They stayed inside the train station until the next morning. (The doors were locked up with them inside) In Boise, “Barbero” from the boarding house was waiting for him and the group.

8:00-15:00       He found work through his brother, and started working as a sheepherder.  He took sheep to the desert in Kuna. He really got sad on Sundays, as he remembered what Sundays were like back home.  Gregorio missed his friends in the old country. He didn’t have any trouble herding sheep.  In 1925, Gregorio went to work at a lumber camp for a year in Centerville. He had plans of going back home but didn’t earn enough money. Many people went to the old country and then came back. He wanted to go and be able to stay. Then the Spanish Civil War started and he didn’t hear anything good from people there.

15:00-23:00     He didn’t speak English, but got along with a few words and ‘sign language’. He met his wife in Boise. She came from the Basque Country to see her sister. He became an American citizen after taking classes in Caldwell. The citizenship exam was easy for him.  He cast his first vote in a presidential election (for Roosevelt). The hardest thing about living in the United States was learning the English language, but the work wasn’t hard. He loved the ranch lifestyle. His oldest brother went back home four months after Gorge came and the other brother went back 4-5 years after George came.            

NAMES AND PLACES

NAMES:

Barbero: met George in Boise, from “Barbero Boarding House”.
Roosevelt: first presidential candidate Gregorio voted for after getting his citizenship.
 

PLACES:

“Chicago”: ship, brought George to US.
Bordeaux, France: port of departure.
Coruńa, Spain: stopped there to get some Galicians.
Habana, Cuba: stopped there for 8 days, never left the ship.
New York, New York: port of arrival.
Chicago, Illinois: train station. Got locked in over night. “So they wouldn’t get lost if they went outside.”
Kuna, Idaho: Gregorio’s first herding job.
Caldwell, Idaho: citizenship classes.
Centerville, Idaho: Gregorio worked in a lumber camp for a year (1925).