Edited interview with Madeline Strasser (MS), daughter of Elias Joseph, conducted by Joe Manning (JM), on December 18, 2008.

JM: How did you react to the photo?

MS: I was taken aback by it. I had no impression at all of my dad's youth. It certainly looked like him. I was surprised that he worked at that mill in Winchendon. He was such a wonderful father, and to fill in that portion of his life was quite a revelation. It opened up a whole new avenue for my sisters and me. I'm glad that you found it.

JM: Do you have any idea why he might have been called Batise in the caption?

MS: My sister Elaine remembers my father being called by another name. She said it sounded like Batista.

JM: When you saw him photographed at the mill, was your inclination to feel sorry for him?

MS: Definitely. My father was a very bright man. He skipped two grades in elementary school. I think he was the only one in his family who went on to finish high school. I think he had to drop out in the latter part of high school, but he had a tutor and was able to fulfill the requirements and was accepted at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He saved some money to go, but he couldn't because his father wanted him to work and help with the family finances.

JM: Did he regret that?

MS: I think it was a great disappointment in his life, the reason being that from a very early time in our lives, my dad instilled in us that we were expected to go to college when we finished high school. He even encouraged our cousins to do the same. We all did go to college. He always helped us with homework. When our cousin was in high school, he got early acceptance to Holy Cross College. My dad encouraged him to accept, and if he needed financial help, dad offered help to his parents. However, it was not necessary as he received a full scholarship. My oldest sister told me that when she was a young girl she was envious of our cousin who had received a fur coat. When she asked my father for one, he replied, ‘That coat will only last a short while. You are going to go to college and that will last your lifetime.' My brother-in-law, George, said my dad was so intelligent that it was a shame that he couldn't follow through with his education. By nature, he was an engineer. It was unfortunate that he didn't have the theory to go behind it.

JM: What kind of engineering did he do?

MS: Mechanical engineering.

JM: Was he building things or was he simply maintaining them?

MS: He did everything. He built them; he maintained them. He worked at Norton, in Worcester. Their concentration was grinding wheels, and tool and die. He worked for them a number of years, and he had quite a few inventions and patents with them, for which he got awards.

JM: What, for instance?

MS: Tools and dies. Not only did he come up with the ideas, but he also knew how to make the parts. He was a machinist, and because he was so good at what he was doing, he was assigned to teach others how to work the machines and also how to introduce his new inventions.

JM: Did he own any of the patents?

MS: No, the company owned them.

JM: Do you recall having any conversations with your father about his past?

MS: My father never talked about working as a child or any hard times in his past. He was always a forward thinker. He talked about Lebanon. He was born there in 1898. He came to the US (Winchendon) when he was eight years old (1906 according to immigration records). His family moved to West Street in Fitchburg in the early 1920s (records indicate the family moved to Fitchburg about 1918). After marrying, my father and mother lived on West Street, where my oldest sister Genevieve was born. They later moved into an apartment on 26 Blossom Street, where my sisters Elaine and Joanne and I were born. We lived next to the Crescent Apartments, which was owned by my grandfather (Elias's father) and his children. As we grew older my parents wanted us to have a yard to play in so they moved to 64 Milk Street in 1941, where my sister Bernadette was born. We lived in a beautiful Victorian house with a large yard, and that's where we all grew up.

JM: What kind of a neighborhood did you live in?

MS: It was a very nice residential neighborhood. We used to walk to downtown Fitchburg. It was only about 15 minutes away.