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Object Description
Object ID
SR-257
Title
Interview of Marshall Cronkhite Conducted By Warren Sommer 2011.
Extent
6 cassettes were donated and 12 CDs were produced (6 preservation and 6 research) SR-257.1-257.6.
Date
25 May; 22 June; 28 June 2011.
Description
Interview of Marshall Cronkhite conducted by Warren Sommer. Interviewed on May 25, June 22 and June 28 2011. Interview contained on 6 cassettes.
SRR-257.1 (CD 1)
Track 1: Marshall discusses how he got his name. Family history and family names. Father was loyalist. He talks about how his father was shell shocked during the First World War, that's why they lived in the country.
Track 2: Describes the family farm. Talks about the history of the farm and how his father came to own it.
Track 3: Talks about Skid Road and the BC electric railway. How it affected settlement.
Track 4: Marshall talks about taking the interurban. describes the cars and the lines. taking it to auction markets in New Westminster. Also talks about CN rail.
Track 5: Talks about stump farms and the "landscapes of stumps".
Track 6: Transportation in Aldergrove. Unless you had a car or horse there was none. Talks about walking everywhere. Used phones to contact people. There was only 1 line and everyone would have to share it.
Track 7: Talk about clearing land with horses. Custom work.
Track 8: Describes his parents' house and how they came to own it. Used as a chicken farm.
Track 9: Talks about his parents' farm. Describes different aspects of it. Paid help and children helping around the farm. Duties of children on farms. What it was like growing up there.
SR-257.2 (CD 2)
Track 1: Wild animals around Langley in early years. His parents were afraid that the children would get lost.
Track 2: Marshall talks about the lack of transportation home after school which meant he could not partake in extracurricular activities. He also talks about community events like dances and how it would be difficult to get there.
Track 3: Talks about their property and the orchards they had. They would can their food to preserve it. Marshall discusses availability of different types of food such as meat. He also talks about the Japanese family that owned a strawberry farm.
Track 14: Crime in Aldergrove. Police chief Maclun. Alcohol and other trouble he had to deal with.
Track 5: Talks about eating meat and how regularly they ate it.
Track 6: Marshall discusses working out (doing odd jobs).
Track 7: The differences between ranching and farming. Ranchers thought they were more special.
Track 8: Connections with Glen Valley.
Track 9: Marshall talks about his paper route as a kid. Other opportunities to earn money as a young kid. Berry picking and odd jobs.
Track 10: The class system in Langley and how richer famlies treated poorer ones.
Track 11: Neighbouring farms and their types of cows. Marshall also discusses methods of milking and the process of doing it.
SR-257.3 (CD 3)
Track 1: Changes in agricultural science over the years. Lots of courses available through UBC. Lectures would go to farmers. Otter's Farmers' Institute would also have lectures.
Track 2: BC artificial insemination centre. 4-H and other resources available to farmers.
Track 3: Marshall's father viewed the farm as recreation only. He did not encourage his kids to take up farming. Marshall talks about why he took up farming and the different types of animals on the farm.
Track 4: Marshall discusses the Surrey co-op which he belonged to for a time. Also talks about diseases and contagious diseases that farmers worried about.
Track 5: Marshall talks about the American dairy market and why it is bad.
Track 6: Growing up in Aldergrove. Did lots of exploring. There were always wild animals around. He also talks about family outings.
Track 7: Marshall talks about attending County Line School. Pop Leonard would come and teach them wood working. Marshall left school at the end of grade 8.
Track 8: Talks about what fairs he attended. He never went to the Langley fair but went to May Day fairs.
Track 9: Shopping. Shopped at County Line Store and sometimes went into Vancouver. Dr. Marr and Dr. McBurney are also discussed.
Track 10: The difficulties of only having 1 phone line in the town. You would have to wait for other people to get off in order to use it. You could listen to other people's conversations.
Track 11: The news and how Marshall's family got it. Newspapers and radio. WWII is also discussed and Canadians' views on it. Did he see it coming? Changing life in Langley.
SR-257.4 (CD 4)
Track 1: WWII and Japanese Canadians are discussed. The Takita farm and their strawberries. National registration.
Track 2: Reasons for joining the air force. Brother's involvement in the war and the airport in Langley.
Track 3: Marshall recalls parts of his military career. Basic training in Edmonton. Seaview school in Vancouver. His experience with British Officers.
Track 4: Training at Seaview School and his training for the air force. First time in a plane.
Track 5: Talks about his training and his gun. Talks about taking a convoy over the Atlantic.
Track 6: Talks about dealing with the French people in Quebec and their resistance to the war. Conscription and conscientious objectors. How people in the army viewed objectors.
Track 7: Talks about various training in Langley, Montreal, and PEI.
Track 8: How soldiers got news of the big battles and what they thought. How soldiers followed the course of the war.
SR-257.5 (CD 5)
Track 1: Marshall talks about demobilizatoin. Coming home after the war. Got a degree in agriculture economics from UBC. Loaned money to farmers. Worked in New Westminster then Langley.
Track 2: Took over the family farm. Became a dairy farmer. What types of cows he selected. Experimenting with different types of animals
Track 3: The differences in agriculture between different countries. Why some countries export certain products when we can grow it ourselves.
Track 4: Marshall discusses that he switched from Guernsey cows to Holsteins for dairy farming. The evolution of milking over the years. The different types of cows and the milk they produce.
Track 5: Otter Farmers' Institute. His main source of feed. Served as president. Had affiliation with the credit union.
Track 6: Otter co-op. Fred Grier was the manager. Marshall became the manager in the 70s. He describes where the offices were and what they looked like.
Track 7: Marshall describes how farming changed after the war. Many farms changed from subsistence to for profit farming. More money from the government became available. More mechanization of work. He also describes how Canadian farmers differ from American Farmers.
Track 8: Animal attacks on farm animals. Lots of coyotes in Langley. Sometimes it was people's dogs.
Track 9: Marshall talks about the Agricultural Land Commission and how it changed farming. Protected land. Selling and taxes on land.
Track 10: Marshall describes the situation surrounding Gloucester estates and its controversy.
SR-257.6 (CD 6)
Track 1: Marshall continues to describe Gloucester Estates and the soil it had. Compares it to his. Also talks about the future of farming in the Fraser Valley.
Track 2: Global warming and shifts in weather over the years.
Track 3: Agricultural Land Reserve and its effectiveness.
Track 4: Marshall talks about meeting his wife. She was a stenographer for a Prof at UBC he was working for.
Track 5: Marshall discusses Langley Prairie seceding from Langley. How it felt underserved and how Aldergrove feels underserved.
Track 6: Political views and views of the Cronkhite family. Lots of different views in the family and how this affected the family dynamic.
Track 7: Talks about the Langley Flood and how it affected him.
Track 8: Nuclear testing and people's awareness. Were people afraid? How much did they know?
Track 9: Marshall describes how Langley has been developed over time. Old farms being revived and the renting of farmland to other farmers.
Track 10: The globalization of farming and how this has affected Langley farmers. The foreign impact on farms in Langley.
Track 11: Marshall describes his involvement in community groups such as the Scouts, Langley Home support, and helping people with disabilities (handicap people). His wife helped in these efforts as well.
Track 12: How Langley is poorer now then it was 50 years ago.
People/Subject
Cronkhite, Abram Marshall
Abram Marshall Cronkhite (1881-1958). Abram Cronkhite was born in 1881, in New Brunswick. Cronkhite married Agnes Macdonald, and together they had three children: John Morrison, Flora Eunice (married name Ellis), and Marshall Abram Cronkhite. Mr. & Mrs. Cronkhite come from a background of "United Empire Loyalist" stock. Mr. Cronkhite owned a farm in Aldergrove. He died in 1958, in Aldergrove.
Cronkhite, Agnes (nee Macdonald)
Agnes Cronkhite (née Macdonald) (1888-1967) was born in 1888 in Nova Scotia. Agnes Macdonald married Abram Cronkhite, and together they had three children: John Morrison, Flora Eunice (married name Ellis), and Marshall Abram Cronkhite. Mr. & Mrs. Cronkhite come from a background of "United Empire Loyalist" stock. She died in 1967 in Aldergrove.
Cronkhite, Flora Eunice
Flora Eunice Cronkhite was born in Aldergrove and was the daughter of Abram Marshall Cronkhite and Agnes Cronkhite (née Macdonald). She attended Langley High School. Flora Eunice seems to have gone by her middle name, Eunice, and her married name was Ellis. She was the sister of John Morrison and Marshall Abram Cronkhite. She became a school teacher, and taught at Aldergrove Elementary School in the 1950s.
Cronkhite, John Morrison
John Morrison Cronkhite (1925-2015) was the son of Abram Marshall Cronkhite and Agnes Cronkhite (née Macdonald). John Cronkhite served in World War II. He was the brother of Flora Eunice Cronkhite (married name Ellis), and Marshall Abram Cronkhite. He was born and grew up in Aldergrove. He married Marguerite Weir on August 24, 1948. After their marriage, John and Marguerite removed the 'h' from their surname and went by Cronkite. They had two children, George and Susan Marie.
Cronkhite, Marshall
Marshall Abram Cronkhite was born in 1925 in Langley (Aldergrove) to Abram Marshall and Agnes Cronkhite (née Macdonald). Marshall served in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. After the war, Cronkhite received an agrology (agriculture and economics) degree from UBC. He worked for the provincial and federal governments as a farm management specialist, and returned to farming himself in 1966. He was married to Jennifer Cronkhite, and together they had five children: Andrew, Janet, Duncan, Brian, and David. Marshall was the brother of John Morrison and Flora Eunice (married name Ellis) Cronkhite. He died in 2015 on his dairy farm in Aldergrove, which had been "his lifelong home" (Aldergrove Star Obituaries, 10 Nov. 2015.).
farms
See Also: agricultural laborers, agricultural machinery, barns, haying
Term Source: Sears List of Subject Headings (16th. Ed.)
World War, 1939-1945
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