[This is an excerpt from a transcript of interviews between Emmilou Collins Edmonds Adams and her father, Carlos C. Collins, recorded February 14, 1982. Passages in italics are his actual words, although portions may have been omitted for brevity. Portions in brackets [] were added for clarification.]
Carlos Collins --
Finally the people in Washington decided to discontinue that school [at Nauvoo, Illinois]. I had a sure enough job then. They transferred out everybody except the person in charge of building and equipment, and I was it.
Then, there wasn’t any railroad in Nauvoo. They had to ferry everything across to Montrose Island, really a lake. There was a dam across the river at Keokuk, Iowa. We started out – had to use whoever we could to pack up things. Some [was]supposed to go to a school in Nebraska, some Ohio, the rest to a warehouse in Chicago. The railroad wouldn’t accept unless shippers load and count. We had to gather up whoever we could get to go across the river on the ferry. We got it all out of there, turned the keys over, then I went to Chicago. I had to invoice it after I got to Chicago. I was supposed to have a count of what went out. The supply depot found that the stuff which was supposed to have gone there went other places. So I worked and worked. I was attached to the supply outfit there.
It was a great big office – I had a desk there and could use stenographers. Just to explain how big that was – the Butler Building was an old, great big building on Canal Street. We had two floors of that. Of course, you could get lost there if you wanted to. You could get lost whether you wanted to or not.
But I worked until finally the Board of Survey gave me a clearance and I went down to Nauvoo to see my family, waiting to see what was going to happen next. I had worked myself out of a job.
I went back to Chicago and the big boy there in charge of the administrative part, I went to see him. He said, “I have a job for you. In Milwaukee. They have all that stuff in a warehouse there and the fellow doesn’t know which end is up. Want you to go up there and straighten them out. You’ve done a good job here.”
I told him I wasn’t particularly wanting to go to Milwaukee. Instead of going North, I wanted to go South. He said, “We don’t have anything south for you. There’s a job for you. If you want it, you can take it.” So, I had to have a meal ticket with a family down in Nauvoo. So I went to Milwaukee.
When I got there, the office was in a warehouse down on Water Street. I talked to the manager about things. He said the boy doesn’t know anything about anything. We’ve got equipment all over Wisconsin. They’d put trainees on job training and furnish them with whatever tools where needed for the job. This young fellow had drawn up a statement and wanted me to sign that I had taken over. I told him I wouldn’t sign for anything I didn’t know where it was. I he would get me a receipted bill showing where it was, I would sign. He said I can’t do that. Finally, I guess he talked to the manager and drew up something that said that I had reported to the office that day and had taken over as is.
I worked and worked and took receipts – a lot of these fellows had been what they called rehabilitated and they were supposed to be able to keep the equipment they had been issued. I took every fellow that had been rehabilitated had him sign that he had received his final equipment. Things like that – just tedious. Finally I got everything I could do. I was over – I wasn’t short. They had a board of survey there. They cleared me that everything was there. I had an assistant who was real good, and plenty of stenos to help.
By that time, they made Milwaukee a Regional Office, not just a Branch Office. I had met the man who was going to be in charge of it in Chicago. He had been in the rehab section. He said he wanted me to be the Disbursing Officer. I want you to go down to Chicago and take some training. I got that job, disbursing pension checks, compensation, etc. It was a good job. It was nice. When you’re dealing in money, somebody can’t come along and run off with it like the other.
After that I tried to find a place to live in Milwaukee to bring my family up.
Emmilou Edmonds --
All this time you hadn’t had the family there?
Carlos Collins --
Maybe I got them up there before then, but I don’t recall. It wasn’t a very substantial place to bring them and they had a good place in Nauvoo. And Mother Prince [Susan Green Prince 1867-1953]was down there.
I finally got an apartment pretty close in. It wasn’t very good – it was on North Water Street. It was awfully hard to find a place, it seemed like. Finally got located. It was upstairs, supposed to be heated. You were there and it turned cold.
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