Wilmette Public Library Local History Digital Collection

C. Herbert Jones (1889-1987) oral history

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Track 1, Transcript p. 1-3: Track 1, Transcript p. 1-3
Transcription: C. Herbert Jones CHJ: I am C. Herbert Jones, 1039 Linden Avenue, Wilmette. I was "born in Philadelphia, October l8. 1889. The City of Brotherly Love - I lived, there until I was a sophomore in high school. And then I moved to Evanston because my father had a cousin, Mr. Childs, who had a stationery store on dark Street. A: How long did you live in Evanston? CHJ: Well, I came in 1905 and I went to Evanston High School and then, because we moved in May - I was a sophomore - I'd been taking physics and Greek and a lot of subjects in a Philadelphia school and when I moved out here I was in Mr. Beardsley's class in Greek. And I remember there were four girls and two boys in that class and Mr. Beardsley was principal of Evanston High School and built a new high school in the west that at this time was on Dempster Street. A: How large was Evanston High School at that time? CHJ : I don't know how many pupils were there. We all met every morning in one big room. Everyone had a desk and they kept their books in there and every morning Mr. Polkwood who was principal - Mr. Polkwood believed everybody should be able to spell. Every morning we had about ten words to spell and those words were turned in and before the end of the day we had every one of those papers back and any problems-- words we couldn't spell, we had to work on that. (C. Herbert Jones, Transcript cont. p2) He had: us do spelling. He was a specialist in spelling. But this Greek class---all I remember was in Philadelphia. I had a red-haired teacher and we just had a good time in that Greek class. I didn't learn anything and I tried in the month of May and a couple of weeks in June to make up a whole year's work in Greek. And I never worked so hard in my life. But I flunked Greek. And that's the only course I've ever flunked. I changed from Classical Course to Latin Scientific course. So I had four year in Latin in the Evanston High School. So I really spent five years in high school, but I had a lot of engineering courses like trigonometry, and drawing, and physics and chemistry. I needed those to get into Armour Institute. So I had a friend in Evanston whose father was a preacher and a very good friend of Dr. Gonzales who was a pastor of The Peoples' Church and also of the - I guess it wasn't Peoples' Church, but anyhow. Central Church in Chicago. A: That big one in the Loop? CHJ: Yes, that big Central Church. And he had a scholarship there so I went down to Armour Institute which is now Illinois Tech and I took the "L" in the morning about 7;30 and I wouldn't get back until supper time. We had a lot of lab courses and so forth. Well, then Northwestern University just started up a (C. Herbert Jones, Transcript cont. p3) school and I had another friend whose father was a relative of some Methodist and he had a scholarship at Northwestern in the Engineering School, so I changed to Northwestern and so I finished in two more years in college "because I had a lot of extra credits from my technical. And they just started their regular course for liberal arts for twelve to fifteen hours. Well, I figured my credits amounted to twenty-two hours. They said we can't give you credit for that but they let me go on with advanced calculus.
Creators: Jones, C. Herbert, 1889-1987, Interviewee; Rhea Adler
, Interviewer
Media Type: Audio; Image; Text
Item Type: Audiocassettes
Description: Interview with C. Herbert Jones by Rhea Adler in Wilmette, Illinois, on June 25, 1977.
ABSTRACT: Early life in Philadelphia Move to Evanston High school and college years Graduate school Half century of engineering school Northwestern University Chattaqua Romance Miami Military Institute World War I years Marriage Homesteading in Montana 1917-1922 Northwestern Tech building Return to Illinois Teaching in Joliet New Trier - Faculty Jones family Church and community Work with Hadley School's ham operators
Notes: This interview was conducted as part of the Wilmette Public Library District's Oral History program, started in 1975 by a committee of the Friends of the Wilmette Public Library chaired by Rhea Adler, a resident of the Village of Wilmette since 1932.
Date of Original: 15 June 1977
Subject(s): Baptist churches
Oral histories
Wilmette (Ill.) -- Residents
Personal Name(s): Jones, C. Herbert
Local identifier: R977.31 JO
Language of Item: English
Copyright Statement: Protected by copyright: Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Copyright Date: 1977
Copyright Holder: Wilmette Public Library
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Wilmette, IL 60091
Contact: Wilmette Public Library
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