|
|
|
BASQUE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW TAPE INDEX
NAME:
María “Mary” Martiartu TAPE MINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Side 10-4:00 Mary was born 8 August 1921 in Riverton, Wyoming. Her parents moved back to Santander with Mary and seven other children. From oldest to youngest, she and her siblings are: Aurora, herself, Carmen, Antonia, Agripina, Asunción “Txone”, Louie, and Elena. Her father was Modesto Barquin Barquin, and her mother was Leonarda Torre. Her father came to the United States at the age of 18 and found work building railroads. Modesto had a sister in the US with whom he went to live. Once he made a little money, he brought his wife to the ranch he had established. All eight children were born there. The Great Depression hit, and the family decided to move back to Spain. They stayed in Santander for three months before moving to Gernika. Modesto was originally from Markina and had family in Durango. The children were raised in Gernika. 4:00-8:30 Mary moved to Spain at the age of 8, turning 9 the August after she arrived in Santander. She shares some memories of her early years in Wyoming. She went through three grades of school in Wyoming. Mary had cousins in Riverton, some of whom married Basque sheepherders. There were other Basques there as well. Some were from Navarniz, Bilbao, the French part of the Basque country, and other places. Mary and her family lived close to a Native American reservation. She remembers that even though there were Basques and Native Americans in Riverton, the population was mostly Mexican. Her family got along well with people of each ethnic group. The family did not speak Basque at home, in part because her mother did not speak the language. Mary learned to speak Basque by talking to neighbors while working at her family’s store in Gernika. After the city was bombed, Basque was outlawed, so Mary did not speak much of the language after that. 8:30-13:30 School in Gernika was taught mostly in Spanish. Mary remembers that the ikastolas were established only in later years. Those who could afford it sent their children to Carmelite schools. She describes her family’s store, where they sold textiles, thread and other materials, but no food. Their home and shop were destroyed in the bombing of Gernika, so they opened a liquor store and sold mostly wine. They had to rebuild their home. Mary’s mother worked at home, taking care of household chores and the children. She also worked at the family’s shop. Everyone in the family helped with the shop (in Spanish, “lonja”), which was on the ground floor of the house in which they lived. The house was right downtown, so they did not have a garden or animals. 13:30-21:15 Mary and her siblings went to public school in Gernika until they were 14, then attending another two years or so of private school (in the summers) to learn a little more about mathematics. Mary would have liked to open her own shop, but she did not have the finances for it. She finished her studies at the private school just before the city was bombed. As soon as she finished, the city was bombed and Mary had to go work in a factory. Many young men and women did the same. In the factory, which made silverware and jewelry (platería/joyería), Mary worked in the packaging and shipping department. She says that she has always worked for what she has had, but does not feel jealousy toward those who have more. She takes pride in having earned what she owns, and making her own way in the world. Mary is grateful for her skills and ability to work. She worked at the factory for about four or five years before deciding to pursue a career as a seamstress. 21:15-23:00 Mary learned to sew at her sister, Aurora’s, tailor shop. Aurora had learned to sew by working as an apprentice for her father’s cousin, tailor, in Gernika. Mary and her sisters worked for Aurora. Aurora, who was still unmarried, Mary, and their other sisters lived at home while they worked at Aurora’s shop. 23:00-30:00 Mary was still single when she came to the United States. She married on 26 May 1961. She immigrated in search of a better life. Since then, she went back to visit her family three times. Mary had cousins in Riverton and Boise with whom she corresponded by mail before she immigrated. She stayed in Wyoming for a few months (see minute 30) before moving to Boise. As soon as she arrived in Boise, she found a job as a maid in a hotel (the Owyhee Hotel – see minute 29) for a few months. Next, she went to work in a tailor shop beneath the Idanha Hotel in Boise. Mark Jones came into the store one day and offered her a job at his tailor shop, which she accepted. She met her husband, Antonio Martiartu, who came in to buy a sport coat, at Mark Jones’ shop. When her husband fell ill, she left the shop to care for him. She describes meeting him. They met again at the Basque Center and started dating. They married at St. John’s Cathedral in 1961. Her husband passed away on Christmas of 1969. Side 20-5:30 Backing up, Mary gives the details of her trip to the United States. She traveled to France in November of 1958, where she boarded a large ship to cross the Atlantic. Rough seas stretched the crossing from five to ten days. She was seasick from time to time, but was never very ill. Mary traveled by herself, and arrived in New York, where she stayed at Valentin Aguirre’s boarding house. Next, she boarded a train for Rawlins, Wyoming. Her cousin met her in Rawlins and drove her to Riverton. Mary’s sister, Carmen, who had arrived in August, was living in Riverton, but her husband was in Boise. Mary accompanied her sister when she moved to Boise to be with her husband, and saw that it was “more Gernika that Wyoming” was. When she first arrived, Mary was pleased to meet friends from Gernika such as Mari Carmen and Enriqueta Totorica, Lydia (Abadia), and others. Mary felt like she had come home, and was willing to work hard to succeed in her new community. She and her sister found an apartment with Carmen’s husband, Tony. Tony was working at the Boise Hotel. Carmen and Mary found work making beds at the Owyhee Hotel, and were soon joined by Aurora, who eventually worked as a seamstress for Ralph Davis for about 26 years. 5:30-7:30 Mary remembers the Letamendi boarding house. She and Carmen did extra sewing jobs for people to make a little more money. Thinking back, Mary says she came to the United States more to stay than to work and return to the Basque country. She found it easier to make a living in Boise than in Gernika. 7:30-12:00 After her husband passed away, Mary went to work for Ralph Davis until Alexander’s bought the store. She worked for Alexander’s until her retirement in 1992, at the age of 71. She shows the interviewer an appreciation plaque from Alexander’s, which reads “Presented to Mary Martiartu with deepest appreciation for ten years of loyal and dedicated service. – Alexander Davis.” When she left the store, in part to retire and in part to care for her ailing brother, she offered her position to a Vietnamese tailor with whom she felt a special bond. She says that all foreigners living in the US share a bond. The man is still working at the shop. She tells the man’s immigration story. Mary says that department stores are looking for people who really know the trade, so people who know how to sew will always be able to find jobs. 12:00-19:45 Since her retirement, Mary stays busy with private sewing projects, taking care of her apartment, and visiting the Basque country. Her first visit to Gernika was on a tour with the Basque Center, and she has made two trips since. She misses the old Gernika, but is happy to see that the city and country as a whole are prospering. She has noticed that even though there is a good deal of unemployment, people seem to be better off economically. Her generation has not changed much, but younger generations are completely different. Mary has no plan to move back to the Basque country, and jokes that she already has her “second home” prepared. When asked how she identifies herself, she answers that she considers herself more American, then Basque. She loves the Basque country, but says that she has made her life in the United States and has difficulty relating to young people in Euskadi. Her advice to them is that the only real way to succeed is by hard work, which has been her philosophy since the beginning. She maintains that philosophy by sewing her own clothes, reading, and cleaning the apartment. For her, “life is interest,” and she takes the good with the bad. 19:45-23:00 Mary is a member of the Basque Center and the Basque Museum and Cultural Center. She feels like she grew up in the Basque country and in Boise, so her heart is with the Basques here. Assigning a focus to each institution, Mary says that the Museum is for history, and the Basque Center is for fun. They each serve their own purpose in the community. She loves the Basque Block as well, commenting on its beauty and uniqueness.
NAMES AND PLACES NAMES: Barquin,
Modesto Barquin – father. Riverton,
Wyoming – birthplace. THEMES: Hard work |
| Copyright © 2001
Basque Museum & Cultural Center, Boise, Idaho USA All rights reserved. Webpage designed by Lisa Corcostegui, Center for Basque Studies, Reno, Nevada USA |
