First two photos: Mary
& Antone Pecarich -- Next: Antone, Antone (Peter's son), PeterNext:
Frances, Peter, Matilda, & Margaret
The Pecarich Family
The Pecarich family came to Fairhaven
in 1911 as man and wife - Antone and Maria (Mariani). He came
to Fairhaven in 1903 at the age of 21. We are not sure if he came
in at Ellis Island or Halifax, Canada - but are assuming the latter
because he took a train across Canada to Vancouver, B.C. After
he arrived in Vancouver, he started walking on the railroad tracks,
South. He arrived in Blaine, Washington and asked where the Croatians
were and they told him to keep walking. He walked all the way
to South Bellingham (then known as Fairhaven). When he got there
he found some of his countrymen and knew he was in the right place.
Once he got there, he quickly
got a job and worked for fifty cents a day at the Lumber Mill
on Lake Whatcom. He stayed in a rooming house and walked to and
from work every day (about 8 miles). Soon he had saved enough
money to go back to the "old country" to get his promised
bride, Mary. They were married in Komiza on the Island of Vis,
Yugoslavia in the fall of 1911.
They came to the United States
and back to Fairhaven. They began to have their children: First
was Peter Joseph (named after both their fathers), born September
1, 1912. Then Margaret Mary (named after both their mothers),
born August 11, 1914. Next was Frances, born November 12, 1915,
and finally, Matilda, born September 14, 1918.
In the early years, the Croatians
were especially poor, but they were savers and hard workers. Many
of the families would walk the railroad tracks and pick up coal
that had fallen off the trains to keep their fires going at home.
In the 20's, 30's, and part of
the 40's, the South-side Croatians were a busy people. They had
a hall on 10th Street (dances, weddings, etc.), had various parties,
bazaars, and many picnics at Fairhaven Park. It was a close-knit
community that helped one of their own whenever there was a need.
They were a "proud" people who loved their new country.
Many of them joined the armed forces in WWI and their children
followed suit in WWII and the Korean War.
By 1915 or so, Antone was making
a dollar a day, and Mary, without fail, saved 10% of this money
for future needs. They built their home on the corner of 12th
and Knox in 1929 or 1930 at the cost of $2,500. Mary also had
saved enough for all new furniture and enough to live on for a
year at the time the home was built. The home stayed in the family
until 1991.
The children grew and Peter was
the first to start school. The family never had a need to speak
the English language, so all the children spoke in their native
Croatian tongue. Peter's teacher would have none of this... she
sent Peter home and told him not to come back until he could talk
English. When he was in the eighth grade, some one told him that
he wouldn't be able to graduate unless he could recite Julius
Caesar by heart. In Pete's mind, that sounded pretty impossible,
so he figured... "Well, I am done now, because I will never
be able to do that!" He went to the cloak room, got his coat
and lunch pail, came out, waved and said, "Bye class, bye
teacher." Then left and never went back.
In 1917, Nick Pecaric, Antone's
brother and Andrew Mardesich built the Calendar
at the Barbare Shipyard. It was a 60 foot vessel with a 40 hp
Frisco Standard gas engine. The total cost was $6,000. (A very
large sum of money in that day).
When Pete was only eight years
old, his uncle Nick died, leaving Antone his interest in the purse
seiner. Antone was fishing as a crew member at the time and with
the money he made, he purchased Andrew's interest in the boat
that same year. Antone was an excellent fisherman especially in
Alaska. Pete's first venture was to South East Alaska on the Calendar
with his father when he was very young (probably shortly after
he left the eighth grade). He went along for the ride and did
not get a "share," but by the time he was 17, he was
fishing on the boat with his father during dragging season, learning
all there was to know. He did not go back to Alaska until 1956.
Not only did Pete learn the fishing trade, he became one of the
best fishermen in the county. The best fishermen were known as
the "high-liners" - the ALWAYS had a good year fishing.
Mitch Evich and his family lived
across the street from Pete and his family and was four years
younger than Pete. He said that he was amazed at Pete's ability
to build small skiffs and boats using the crude tools belonging
to his relatives when Pete was only 13 or 14 years old.
In the summer, when in their
teens, the Croatians used to swim three times a day in Bellingham
Bay at the Easton Avenue beach or the Filmore Avenue beach (morning,
after lunch, and early evening). Apparently if there were no girls
present in the early evening, they would "skinny dip"
- I do believe that tradition was kept up at least until the middle
1960's. These beaches are now a part of Boulevard Park.
Pete had a vivid imagination
and sought ways to improve fishing and anything else that he did.
Inventing things to make work easier and better was as easy for
him as breathing is for the rest of us. He took over the Calendar
at age 19 during drag seasons and was running the boat during
both drag and salmon seasons by the age of 22 or 23. Antone continued
to fish with his son until he retired sometime in the late 50's.
In 1954, Pete and Antone had a steel seiner built called the Secure
which was a "drum" seiner. The drum, which Pete
and several friends "perfected" after observing the
"drum operation" on purse seine boats when they were
in Canada is now used on almost all fishing vessels in the U.S.
(except Alaska) and Canada. Antone and Pete sold the Calendar
to Frank Scott in 1959 who then sold it to James Costanti in 1961.
Most of the Croatians were a
little superstitious and Pete was no different. When the Secure
went into the water for the first time, he didn't want
ANY woman on board because he believed it would bring "bad
luck." I was about twelve years old at the time and I remember
hiding aboard the boat and not coming out until it was going down
the track into the water... I am sure Pete's heart nearly failed
him when he saw me because he thought the boat was cursed and
wouldn't make a dime. I know I got a severe tongue lashing from
him after the boat was in the water. It proved to be an old wives
tale and he made a good living in spite of me being on board.
He married Vivian Lewis and had
a son and a daughter. By this time, one of his sisters, Margaret,
was married and had three children (the youngest was me). Pete
was a great story teller and used to wow his nieces, nephews,
and his own children with tales of the "old West" complete
with the showing of "scars" on his back and chest where
he was shot with "arrows" by the Indians in some big
war. Of course he was much too young to be in the old West when
all of these things were going on, but all the kids believed his
stories until they were well into their teens.
When his sister, Margaret, came
down with turbuculosis in 1952 or 1953, Pete moved his family
into Margaret's house and took care of her children for a year
while Margaret was recuperating in a hospital in Seattle. This
was probably very hard on him and his young family, but that was
the way Pete was. he helped when help was needed even if it meant
disrupting his own family life. He thought us kids had been through
enough with our father dying just two years before and now our
mother was sick, - so rather than disrupting our lives further
by moving us to Blaine, he moved his family to Bellingham.
He was always wheeling and dealing,
buying machinery of some sort, improving it, and then reselling
it for a profit. He was the kind of person that could take anything
apart and rebuild it into something that would work better and/or
faster. After he officially retired from fishing in 1988, he gardened
in his back yard and invented his own particular brand of soil
by mixing dirt with his own finely ground compost and working
it until he had the perfect combination. His vegetables were the
best in the area and he grew enough to feed his family and give
away to friends and neighbors.
The
Calendar