User:Peloisa61/sandbox

Overview
Otis Griffin was a merchant that was born in Kinston N.C. He moved to New Bern at the age of seventeen with his brother. He later became a merchant. His business was very successful until the great depression. With the great depression hitting, his business went downhill. He hardly got any customers. Due to the great depression he believed politicians were liars and bankers thieves.

Early Life
Otis Griffin was born in 1880 in the small town of Kinston in North Carolina. He had an older brother named Frank and younger sister named Alice. His father was a merchant, and his mother’s family owned a farm. He and his family lived pretty comfortable lifestyle with his father’s business. They lived in a big house which was then passed on to him and he rented out to a preacher. In 1898 or 99 (he didn’t quite remember) he was engaged to a girl but the she died. After that happened he didn’t care to get married anymore.

Adult Life
He moved to New Bern when he was seventeen. There he lived with his Brother and worked at a grocery store. He worked there for five years before he got tired of it and went back home to Kinston and worked with his father there for two years. He then got tired of that as well and decided that he wanted to go to the South. He went to the south but that was before the big real estate boom so found nothing interesting and went back to Kinston. During this time a great evangelist was at his high peek and Otis heard him preach several times. Although he never joined the church, Otis was converted and at this point in his life considered joining the ministry himself. He later moved back to New Bern and opened a shop because there was a planning mill down the street which was convenient for him to get his materials. He ended up getting use to New Bern and the people around him, so he decided to stay even after the mill was burned down. Although he never lost his business he says business really went downhill to the point where some weeks he wouldn’t sell a single thing. He believes that the only thing that would help his business is a good year of crops and tobacco. He says not banker or politician could help his business.

Social Context
In this interview Otis reflects many political social and economic issues.

Economic Issue
Growing up he lived as a fairly wealthy child. Therefore he was used to living that way. So when his business went downhill he though thing were pretty bad but in reality they weren’t as bad as he made them seem. He still had a roof to live under and all necessary things in life. He was not in need of anything. Being wealthier as he grew up impacted his life because now he felt the need to have things that weren’t necessary. The economic issue of his business going downhill was due to the issue going on the world around him, and that is the great depression.

Social Issue
The social issue going on in his life had nothing to do with the world around him. His social issue was that he didn’t care to get married. This carelessness was made present by what happened in his passed. He did not care to get married after his first fiance died. This may have been due to fear of it happening again or heartbreak. He did not care to share more information on that topic.

Political Issue
The political issue in his life was that to him politicians and economist were untrustworthy. He believed that politicians were liars and that economist were thieves. This was most likely also caused by the great depression and everything that happened during that time period. For this reason when he was interviewed he didn't seem to interested to comment on politics or politicians other then what was stated above. He didn't have a political affiliation. As for bankers, he thought they were thieves because of there contribution to the great depression. The great depression was caused by a stock market crash and this was due to money that was wrongly invested without the permission of the people.