How the Fergusons Came to Detroit
David: You never told me how it was you guys decided to come to the States, which I never knew.
Greet: You never knew how we decided?
David: No, well, you probably didn’t ask my opinion back then.
Greet: I’ll tell you. There was no jobs in Inverness.
Hughie: That was it.
Greet: We were down to just a few hundred dollars, that was it. And Cassie said that maybe we would get work here. And then she wrote us a letter, and I remember that letter, I should have saved it. And she was wondering if it would be good for us. She said, you know, there’s lots of people that you’ll know. But those are acquaintances. But you’ll have very few friends.
Little did she know how good we are at making friends. She said I’m just afraid – because Cassie didn’t mix as much as we did.
Hughie: No, no.
David: Was there anybody else besides Cassie and Art at that time?
Greet: Gina was, Georgina.
Things were booming kind of here then, and Hughie was getting old for work and no training. So he decided to come up.
He came in February (of 1952). God, you kids were small. Art wasn’t a year old. And it took until November for him to find a place that we could live.
Hughie: The first job I got was in a hardware store. You’d put wheelbarrows together and all that stuff, but it was a good job, you know. I think it was 75 cents an hour.
And then from there, I went down, got a job down at Borden’s, delivering milk. That was a hell of a job.
But then I found out that Art was going to get a job at Chrysler’s. He was going to work – there was a fella renting downstairs where Art and Cassie were. He had a brother that was a boss at Chrysler’s, see. So Art was going to work at Chrysler’s. He’d have to go work midnights. Cassie said, no, you’re not, or I’m heading back for home.
So I got his job. That’s where I retired from.
Greet: He worked 24 years and retired at 64, and he’s 92 now.
Hughie: Not yet.
Greet: Well, next week.
Greet (to David): You were such a curious child. Questions, you’d stump anybody with questions. Do the clouds get tired when they’re moving all the time? That kind of stuff.
But anyway, if I didn’t grab you as soon as we got down off the plane, you were under the plane, looking around.
Hughie: Do you remember Cassie? That’s who took you over.
Greet: Cassie and Dad met us in Windsor. And when we got off the plane – John spied him as the plane was landing. He spied Dad. And we got off the plane, and all the big fuss, and all the commotion and stuff.
And then we had to go through immigration. And Cassie said, when we get there, just leave the kids loose, don’t be holding them. The kids’ll start getting in trouble and they’ll put you through fast.
And I arrived here with $20 because you got sick in Hawkesbury.
We had gone, I had taken the three of you up to Hawkesbury, and we were going to take the night train down to Sydney to get our plane. This was (the) most convenient (way). Charlie would drive me.
I put you kids to bed for your nap, and you got up with a raging temperature. I had to postpone everything.
Call Hughie, call the airport. I had the doctor see you three times, and I had to pay him every time he came. You had pneumonia, you were very sick. He put you on antibiotics, and you got better.
So by the time I got here I had $20 and that was it.
Hughie: We were lucky to get the flat. Jennie and Frank Gillis got us the flat.
Greet: That flat got empty, and Frank lied a little to get us in there. They didn’t want so many kids.
Hughie: They would say, did you have any family?
Greet: But oh, God, Jennie and Frank were so good to us.
Adults: Jenny Gillis, Cassie MacLeod; Kids: David, John, Art Ferguson
Detroit / April 5, 1953
Greet, David, John, Hughie, Art Ferguson
Detroit / Summer, 1953
Ferguson, Cassie • Ferguson, David • Ferguson, Hughie • Ferguson, John • MacLeod, Art • Macdonald, Greet • Stories • told by Greet Macdonald • told by Hughie Ferguson | Dave Ferguson February 8, 2006
