Ninety-one-year-old Chuck Honyoust’s (Onondaga) family’s story of the Great Depression is brighter than most, but it didn’t start out that way. His father John (Turtle Clan) initially was among the 25 percent who lost their jobs during this period and was forced to take on odd jobs on farms for three or four years, being paid with fruit, vegetables or eggs.

“It was a barter system at that time,” said Chuck. “When the Depression came, we knew what hard times were, so we knew how to survive. We had wood bees*, gardens; we knew what it was to be poor and we could live with it. Everybody was poor. It wasn’t something to cry about.”

Times started to look up for the Honyoust family when John took a civil service test and got a job around 1932 with the U.S. Navy Ordnance, working in a torpedo plant. Though John found employment, it was difficult for the family, as the position required him to move around – first to Alexandria, Va., then Philadelphia; New London, Ct.; Newport, R.I. and finally back to Virginia.

Because John could be transferred at any time, his family couldn’t live with him. Chuck said his dad would be given orders and be required to leave within a few days, something not feasible with children in tow: – Eliot, David and Eugenia were on their own, leaving Chuck and William at home. John could be stationed at one place for two or three years, but never knew when his orders would change. As the children grew, his wife, Cassie (Waterman) moved to John’s last assignment in Alexandria.

During the time John worked for the Navy, the U.S. entered World War II and life for the family changed again. Sugar, meat, gasoline and butter were rationed. Some industrious women who owned cows on the reservation would make their own butter and sell it, said Chuck. And black-out curtains were the norm in homes every night before the lights could come on.

“We’d tack the black curtains up every night; some people had shades. The idea was to prevent the enemy from using lights from homes to guide their planes,” said Chuck.

In 1942, during the height of the war, Chuck’s father invented a precision hole locator which he patented. “It never really went anywhere,” said Chuck. “But I’m proud of it.”

After 20 years of seeing his family for only one month a year, John retired from the Navy. He returned home and went to work for Air-Cooled Motors of Syracuse, formerly the Franklin Automobile Company owned by H.H. Franklin, John’s employer in 1929. Instead of being a tool maker as he was in 1929, John returned to the company as a tool grinder. He’d come full circle in his work career.

Through all the separations, the family remained intact, said Chuck. John had experienced separation from loved ones before.

Born to Mary Honyoust on the 32 acres (Territory Road) in 1881, he was sent to Thomas Indian School in Cattaraugus near Buffalo, as were his four siblings: Katie, Sylvia, Daniel and Charles. According to Chuck, John had a positive experience at the school, working on a farm from the time he was six years old.

Chuck’s mother also attended the school and met his father there, although it would be years before they became a couple and married. At around 16 years old, John went on to another school and became a tool maker, working his first job for the wagon maker H.H. Mower in Syracuse, a company that joined with H.H. Franklin.

Seemingly indefatigable, when John finally retired he began farming in earnest. He bought tractors and plows and planted all types of crops. John sold his potatoes to Jean’s Beans (restaurant) in Syracuse in the 1950s and received $1 for 100 pounds of potatoes.

“He’d plant his wheat in the field by just throwing; they called it broadcasting,” said John. “His wheat would grow so tall.

“My father passed away in 1967 at 86 years old. He was a worker, that guy. He wouldn’t give up.”

* A wood bee was formed by 12 to 15 men, who gathered to chop firewood to help families heat their homes. These men supported their own families by performing seasonal work, and were unemployed for most of the winter. In a community spirit, they would gather together at least twice a week to chop wood for someone’s home.