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| Swede's Dock | ||
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| Uncle Joe | ||
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| Swede's Dock | ||
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| Uncle Joe | ||
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Intro The Family Albert Adolph Betty Joe Ernst Gunnar Einor Gösta * * * Email Gösta * * * Leave a Comment * * * Swede's Dock * * * |
The wheeler dealer who, as I recall, was always only one step away from GREAT WEALTH. I really only knew him in his last days when I worked on the dock for him in the early 50's. The family had leased it to Doug MacIntosh, a party boat owner, in 1955 so it had to be before then. He paid a 12 year old a man's wage. I never forgot that. Guess it just demonstrates how little regard he had for money, the game was the thing. He had diabetes since his youth but apparently never took care of it until the later years. Quite a drinker, it eventually blinded him. All the old time fishermen had a "Joe and his needle" story where he broke it or threw it overboard or some other thing. Matter of fact, there seems to be more Joe stories than any of the boys. He was quite well liked in the fishing community. And if he had ever been able to make that one step, our family might be another "Gorton's of Gloucester". His nickname was "Schmeed" or at least that's what I remember it sounding like. I have no idea what it means in English. Pop liked to tell stories of how Uncle Joe was the chief rum runner in Long Branch (a playground for the New York wealthy at that time) during Prohibition. One time he had a brand spanking new Zephyr(?), a car whose back doors opened to the front. He had the gang aboard out for a ride showing off his new car riding along the beach in Long Branch when a back door opened. "Hey Joe, slow down. I can't get the door closed." from the back seat. "Dass all right, yust get your arm in." whereupon he sideswiped a light pole, knocked the door off and then went and bought a new two door. No more back door trouble for him. My favorite Joe story was when he and I think Red Risden had spent some time in the Shore Hotel before going fishing one night. They took a bottle along, no heat on those skiffs you know, and went to sea during a thick fog. They steamed full bore till dawn steering, nippin at the jug, blowin on a lung powered horn every coupla minutes, and trying to see past the bow in case of steamers. "Slow down, Joe! I hear somethin." says Red. They stop, throw er outta gear, go out on deck to listen. "Hey Joe, you want me to throw your sternline off?" hollers a guy standing on the dock. I remember when we were living in an apartment over the barber shop in town when Lou, who was probably about 15 at the time (I was about 5 or 6), came in crying to my mother. She had tripped on the railroad tracks taking a forbidden shortcut on her way to the movies. I don't know if she was crying from pain from her cut leg or in fear for breaking the railroad track rule. At any rate Lou was the first of a string of the female cousins to come to my mother during crises. It was in that apartment I remember the profound pall FDR's death cast over our world, and later watched the VE Day parade. During Uncle Joe's years pound fishing was a major fishery along the coast here. Most of the pounds were fastened to poles about a quarter mile off the beach. But there was another type called a submarine pound that used anchors instead of poles. Uncle Joe had developed a modification to the submarine, either in the anchors or the net itself, that knocked the socks off all the other pounds. He NEVER told anyone, not even his brothers, how he did it and the secret died with him. Made an awful lot of people nuts trying to figure out how he did it, especially the Carlsons of Carlson's Fisheries, I understand. Whitey Nelson was a kid in Sea Bright during the 30's and worked for Uncle Joe in Galilee H&G'ing (heading and gutting). He says the pound skiff boat would come in near the surf when it had a lot of fish. Joe would jump over and swim ashore. The crew would bring the boat in around the Hook and by the time it got to Galilee (which was between Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright), Joe would have the fish already sold. Lotsa Joe Lovgren stories. He laughed easily and always put me in mind of descriptions of Santa Claus laughing because he seemed to shake all over. When I think of him, I have a picture of a laughing round faced man in a rough wool black and red check shirt. I didn't know Aunt Ruth (who was from Point Pleasant Beach I believe) very well, but do know she took pretty good care of him in his last years. Uncle Joe and Aunt Ruth had one daughter - Lou. (to the best of my recollection) on the left.} End of JoeThe address of this page is: http://www.SwedesDock/family/Joe.htm You can email the author at NMFS-BITES-BIG-TIME@SwedesDock.com Let me know what you think in the anonymous form below.
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