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FK: What were your parents' names and where did they come from?

BT: My father is Saichi Takemoto from Yamaguchi-ken, on an island just like Bainbridge Island. And same with my mother, she was Yone Takemoto. They lived about a mile apart, different town, but same island.

FK: So were they married when they both came over here to the United States?

BT: No. Well, when they both came over, but then there was another life for my father before that. Him and his three brothers came to Hawaii, and then I don't remember which was the oldest or what, but two of 'em came, after a while in Hawaii, they came to the Seattle area, and the other one stayed in Hawaii. They lived in Seattle, my father and his brother, and then his brother died. He's buried in Capitol Hill in Seattle. Then I don't know what year, but they bought a place on Bainbridge Island. Again, I don't know what year, but he arranged for a matchmaker to get a wife in Japan. And I don't know what year that was, but the wife died at childbirth, and their daughter survived. I didn't get this from my parents because it was a subject that they never discussed. This daughter was either adopted by somebody else, but never did live with us. So when she died, I guess they went back to the same matchmaker and he married her sister. And then they came, arrived in Seattle in 1921. Well, my older brother, and me, and the rest of 'em arrived.

[Interruption]

FK: So actually, your dad then moved to the island earlier than the 1920s, is that right?

BT: Yeah. I don't know when.

FK: Well, what did your, what did your family do for a living, then?

BT: They were in farming, strawberries, peas for a while, primarily strawberries.

FK: Where did you bring your berries?

BT: I'm sorry?

FK: Where did you bring your berries?

BT: Well, earliest I can remember, they had a cannery in Winslow, and they, I guess you'd call it the head of the bay or something, and that's where we brought strawberries. But later on, they closed the cannery and seems like they would have a pick-up point and then they'd bring all the strawberries to Seattle to be canned.

FK: So how many kids in your family? Who are the kids in your family?

BT: Well, there's Vic, myself, Roy, Fred, James and Teruko.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.