1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/72eb3091cd66b7d29516ed058c5e7b5e.pdf bd40525eec5259655c582a9d5775c88d PDF Text Text This is an interview with Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Richards for the Appalachian Oral History Project by Donna Clawson at Rt. 7, Boone, en June 12, 1973. Q: Mrs.-Richards I'll start with you. Where were you born? A: Well, I was born at Silver Stone in 1902. March 5, 1902. Q: And your parents always lived in there? A: Yes. Q: They were born in Silver Stone two? A: Well, my mother was born rear Poplar Grove and my papa was horn there. Q: How many brothers and sisters did you have? A: Well, does that mean living? Q: No. A: Well I have six sisters and one brother all the others are gone. Q: Can you remember, do you have many memories of what life was like when you were growing up. Did you live on a farm? A: -fes. Q: What kind of crops did you raise? A: Well, Papa raised corn, wheart back then to amke our flour, you taow. WB used to gst out the Dutch oven, my brother is one of the younger ones, you know. Us girls, he used to cut his wheat with you've seen these old cradles you know. Did you ever see cne and cut wheat by hand? �We raised our corn, hogs and chickens, things like thata didn't have to run.to the store for everything. You It was pretty hard vork. Q: Did your father sell any of his crops or did he just A: Well, I didn't have ituch0 0 . I went to "the sixth grade. Q: How many months out of the yaar did you go to school? A: Well, when I first started in school it was four months. Then they got to having six month school. Q: What was the names of the schools you attended„ A: I always went to Silver Stone. Q: Do you remember you teachers names. A: Well, my first teacher was Mrs. Lottie Bowes, she's still living and I think my next .teachers name was Jack Greene and Mr. Charlie Haigaman, and Mr. Alie Tugman and Mr. Don Horton and that was all of them. Q: What kind of thing did you learn and what kind of text books did you have? A: Well, at first we didn't have anything only first reader, they called it. And then got a little high. We had a reader and spelling, arithmetic and grammer they called it, geography history. Q: About the same thing they teach no isn't it? A: I guess so. Q: I think it is0 Mr. Richards where were you born? �A: Caldwell County, I think. Q: And were your parents from these too? A: Vfell, ny father was. My mother and father lived there and I come back up here to this country in the mountains when I was six years old.. We lived up on Meat Camp from 6 til I was grown, about 20 or something like that. farmed you know. I lived up the 1s and About everybody ip there farmed. It was hard labor of course but we farmed. Q: What year were you born? A: 1897. Qi What kind of crops did you raise on your farm? A: Well, it was just about like she'd tell you. Corn, pota- toes you know wheat, rye, buckwheat alot of buckwheat«, thing to eat on too, you know. Some- And that was before they had the market crops like tobacco, beans and cabbage. In the later years we got to having market crops, like tobacco and stuff. Q: What kind of live stock did you have? A: Cattle mostly, worked steers. Did you ever see any steers? Q: Yeah, I seen 'em. A: Steers to plow throught the harvest. Had an old cross cut saw to saw up wood in the winter, to put in the fireplaces about half as wide as this house. Q: Go diead. A: One time one side would burn up and the other side would freeze. �Q: I didn ' t know. A: My father would, Jater years got to rasing tomatoes and cabbage to sell0 Q: What about school? How many years of schooling did you bave? A: I don't know. I did n't do no good when I did go. About quit between fifth and sixth grade. Q: Howmany months out of the year did you go? A: About ibru months sometimes we'd run short about three monthso It didn't take long sessions like they do now. children most of them any account at all had to work. to farm the time I was twelve yaars old on. The I had We all had to work seem like to make it. We didn't have a bif family no how. Just myself and two sisters. One of them lives in California and the other one passes away a week ago Saturday. My mother married, you know Jason Muller don't you. Q: I don't know. A: He lived here and was raised up on Meat Camp up there and never traveled around too much. He was Larken Miller's brother. All passes away I think but Jason. But he married my mother and I had a step father for about five or six years. up about 12 years old0 (Mrs. Ro 'I think he was about 10')) A: Well, something along there. (Mrs. R. 'I know he's 94') I can't remember0 I was �Q: When did you two get married? A: Miy the sixteenth, 1918. Q: Where did you live then? A: Well, he lived on Meat Camp and I lived. . 0 Oh, you mean where we lived after we got married. Q; Yeah0 A: Well, we lived on Meat Camp awhile and we moved over to Silver Stone over there. while aid out And we moved over to Howard's Creek a little to somewhere. Q: You've always lived in this county then0 A: Yes. A: (Mr. R.) No we lived about four years in Cleveland, Ohio, wasn't it. R: Well we didn't exactly move up there. A: We lived up ther with Sally Roten (Mr. R). A: You was vorking up there and I would go up there awhile. Q: Mr. Richards what kind of jobs did you have? A: All kinds. I've worked in several shops. I've worked in a shop up there in Cleveland and I used to work at Lenior in a furniture shop. And I've had several jobs sawmilling, car- pentry work and I never could be very choicy about that. I had to work at something or another that wasn't hardly right to work awhile and find something better. Jones, don't you. feymond Jone's brother. You remember Hubfoard Joneses sons. I �worked for him a whole lot. I reckon liked him alot. Most of anybody that sawmilled I don't guess you remember a bunch of Jews around run a pie factory a few years ago. when ve first moved out here wasn't it. ago0 It was Close to 30 years I don't imagine you're that old. Q: Not qiitec A: I vrorked there 10 years ago or longer around and about, around and around. Q: Can you remember a time when you had a hard time getting a job? A: Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, lots of times you couldn't hardly get a pi?. Eack then they didn't pay much, they got labor real cheap» I used to vrork alot for a dollar a day and wages like that. And now they don't like tlBt you know. A: (Mrs. R) If you got a hold of five dollars you thought that was a whole lot of money , didn't they. A: (Mr. R.) How much was it a dollar and seventy five cents or a dollar and a half, something like that. He was awful good to pay what he promised,, I don't remember. It wasn't very much, but still we sorta lived about all you could expect was to live and went to Cleveland, then and made better there, better than I ever had in this county. Q: What kind of wrk did you do in Cleveland? A: I worked in a factory or where they made �R. I call them clothers hampers.) Clothes hampers. For people to carry their laundry around in. like that*, All kinds of stuff I did so many different things I can't remember all of it. A: (MrSo Ro) . . „ we have had it a long time andit's getting old. A: Bunch of Jews I worked for and they were from New York and ate these0 I cut out all that stuff outl I cut it all out on a shaping machine a saw, a big table saw, and shaping machine and a , they tad all kinds of machinery and I ran a machine all the time myself. They vent to a lot of. . . They was alot of people worked there0 We went to a more colored people. QK How many hours a day did you work? A: Well, I worked eight„ We were supposed to work about eight hours, but they let me work a lot of overtime„ 10 hours, 10 orU hours alot of days. I'd work avbout We got time and a half for o/er forty and thats the reason I made pretty good, was the over time. The pay wasn't but about a dollar and sixty cents, I believe it was0 Then I'd get couple hours, maybe 3 everyday of overtime and when it ran over forty hours I got time and a half. Then carried up pretty good when payday come. Q What year was it you were working up there? A: 1952, fall wouldn't it. 3952, I went up there then about four years later I come back about '56 or '570 Something like �8 about 1956 or 1957. Then messing around here I haven't done too nuch work since I came back0 On a job. I've been busy all the time but it's been a farming and messing around,, Q: What about diurches in the area. Can you remember churches that been around here? A: ¥>u Mean. Q: The denominations. What kinds of churches? Just in the county and around. A: (Mrs. R.) You nean we've attended. Q: Well, yeah, Just any you can remember. A: Well, I can remember Methodist Churches and Lutheran, we still have them. Baptist, we always went to the Baptist Church. Oh, I have been to the Methodist Church that was up at Silver Stone. I don't think to any denomination outside of the Baptist Church since we lived over here* Q: To which church did most of the people belong. Which church did most people attend? A: (Mrs. R.) I always thought it was the Baptist, of course I dan't know for sure. Q: What were the churches like, have they changed slot? A: Well, some of them have , but I like the old time way. Q: How are they different. A: Well, I don't know what. You go to diurch now. the people have the interest that they used to did0 then they had monthly meetings0 Seem like Of course The preacher would preach once. �They'd have Saturday meetings to attend to all of the business you friow, and on Sunday. Of course we'd have Sunday School every Sunday, but we wouldn't have preching any more till next month. Aid I remember the fourth Sunday was the monthly meeting in Silver Stone. once a uear. And , oh, they'd have revivals you know about Sometimes they'd last two weeks and they would have a big time. Have services in the daytime, then at night. Q: Do you know how this community got its name? Rainbow Trail community. A: I dan't rightly know0 Thats the name as far back as I can remember. (Mr. R.) A: (Mrs0 R, > Maybe Mr. Walter Cullins could know. Q: Yeah, I talked to him. A: They used to call it the Doe Ridge Section back up in yonder that mountain right thea is Doe Ridge Mountain. This used to go by the name of Doe Ridge Road till after we moved out here then they got to calling it Rainbow Trail., come they to change. I don't know how (Mrs. R.) Q: Well this road here goes in around to Doe Ridge Church, years ago, It maybe now that it's impassable back up there in that mountain. I've been through these a couple of times, it's just a dirt road , around through there years ago. I can remem- ber a person could walk up throug there. (Mr. R) A: (Mrs R) Well we've not been out in there in 7 or 8 years have we. �10 A: (Mr. R) Yeah, I guess, A: (Mrs. R) We've been living out in here nearly fifty years0 A:(Mr. R) What? A: (Mrs. R) We've been living out in here nearly 30 yearso Johnny wasn't hit about 3 years olcU Johnny's 32, maybe 29 or 30 years. Q: How has the community changed over the years? A: (Mr. R) Everybody living, buildt em a new house. A: (Mrs. R) Much better ttiat it was then. moved in town yonder. I know when we Lots of barns looked better than it did. A: (Mr. R) You remember, that old house down yonder0 A: Yeah, A: (Mrs. R) She did n't look to see if it looked worse. A: (Mr. R) You oould tell from the outside before we tors it down. Couldn't possibly be very much on the inside. A: (mrs. R)) I wonder how we kept from freezing to death of a winter time. Q: How long did you live down there? A: (Mrs. R) Law we lived down there. We moved into this house from down there in 1960 and I never stopped to count. A: (Jtfr. R) Down there about 12 years. A: (Mrs. R) Down there about 29 or 30 years then 1960 we moved up here. A: (Mr. R) From "72 it been 12 or 13 years0 �11 A: (Mrs. R) From 1960 on, no 1959 then it come that awful, can you remember that awful snow that come in 1960= Q: Yeah, A: We vas moved in this house thei?,we was lucky we got moved, Well, the weather seemed colder on us you knowa One winter time0 Q: I bet these alot more people lived around here now than they used to be. A: (Mr. R) Yeah. A: (Mrs. R} The 0 . . moved in there. We moved out here. Who moved out there at that house? Anybody living over there at time? Well, he lived over there awhile and Mr. Ladkey. A: (Mr. R) Oh yeah he lived there longer than us. A: (Mrs,R) Yeah, he bought up that place and then Gladys Smith, she moved up here in this house a little while after we moved in that old house dswn there0 where John Greene lives now. And Mr. Hartley lived up there Ed's mother. But they Mr. Lewis and Hartlys were off down the country a working. daddy moved back. When their Mr. Colors he lived up in the hollar and Donald Miller and ttet was about all. And Mr. Woodry. And we lived down in the old house which we tore down. That little house that stood over there and they tore it down. I forgot them, and I believe Jeff Garner lived out there where Mr. in an dd house that s$bd over there and they tore it down. Where Mr. Woodring lived„ Of course they lived in another �12 home. And then there is Glenn Pierce the were living out there in a house that got burned. I can't remember. I guess the, Mr. and Mrs. Lackey living over there across the river. A: (Mrs. R) Yeah, I remember em living over there along time. A: The old road was like a stieeps path, the road down there„ The bushes out the other side of Mr0 Woods would generally lap across the road. A: (Mr0 R) You couldn't meet somebody two a walking, you couldn't hardley passing0 Holler and a scare you to death. Car couldn't come out in here at that tLme0 A: (Mrs. R) There was one once in a while, I don't hardly see how it did. A: (Mr. R) The bushes was high and the cliffs down in here one time. Antler's one, hung on the youngest one, what's his name? A: Petty A: (Mr. R) Help me cut out the bushes off the bank of the road so they wouldn't lap over the road. cut em let the state cut em0 And they said let -ftie state The state wouldn't come out here. No electric lines, nothing out here. A: (Mrs. R) We did have no maid; out there0 A: Yeah, we had to put our mail box out theie at Mrs. Barnes0 (Mrs. New Barnes0) A: (Mr0 R) And they says let the state and I think to myself you've got a long wait. Q: The way it goeso Well how long wag it till the mail started �13 coming ip in here? A: I don't Know but it was a good long while. A: (Mrs* R) I took awhile. I don't remember how long it took. The School bus come out there at to Mr. Judd Barnes and turned there and the mail gst coming out that far. And it wasn't too many years till ttie moil got to coming out that far. And as to where you used to turn over to your house. And then a little later on it got to going to the top of the hil!0 Q: Wello A: (Mr.R) There was Clyde Rumbarger. Do you remember Clyde Rumbarger? Q: "feaho A: Me and him used to go to school together. We while, we was raised up on Meat Camp and he carried the mail back here A: (Mrs. R) I know a Johnny. Tried to rush around and get out to Mr. Woodring to catch the bus. Of course after they left home, they's poke around and let the school bus leave them. I'd get so aggravated. Q: How did people get"around back then, when you were growing up? A: (Mr, R) They was a few people had horspes/ some wouldn't or couldn't buy a saddle hores and buggy0 A buggy would just run over you0 A: fclrse R) If you can believe it, I have gone to church and other places in an ox and wagon. Roads rough , rocky �14 you know, just jolt around. Q: I'll bet it would. I guess it could. A: (Mrs. R) Well, my daddy always kept an exxtra team. out horse to work on the farm. He kept an ox, Rent you'd better b elieve they were pretty slow, but they started to plow farming -he done with them oxen., here on the mountain0 Around the old turnpike you know up Hauled all over the whole county0 Q: Where did most of the roads run? Well just where were the roads you had there? A: (Mr. R) They were mud roads. You sorta know this one was when you fold moved in the old road. in the country, where we growed up. Gravel road or two like that. worked About like they all was They wasn't no paved roads. on them a little. labor wanted the people out you know setting roads. Free Then they would go in and take a rake, I call it a hoe. A: (Mrs. R) Well a lot of the old new roads now run pretty close to SDiaejof the old roads o A: (Mr.R)> Pretty much the way they do now0 A.s Mrs. R They didn't used to be any old roads0 them pretty close to where the old roads were. End of Interview Alot of � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews Description An account of the resource In 1973, representatives from Appalachian State University (ASU) began the process of collecting interviews from Watauga, Avery, Ashe, and Caldwell county citizens to learn about their respective lives and gather stories. From the outset of the project, the interviewers knew that they were reaching out to the “last generation of Appalachian residents to reach maturity before the advent of radio, the last generation to maintain an oral tradition.” The goal was to create a wealth of data for historians, folklorists, musicians, sociologists, and anthropologists interested in the Appalachian Region. The project was known as the “Appalachian Oral History Project” (AOHP), and developed in a consortium with Alice Lloyd College and Lees Junior College (now Hazard County Community College) both in Kentucky, Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and ASU. Predominately funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, the four schools by 1977 had amassed approximately 3,000 interviews. Each institution had its own director and staff. Most of the interviewers were students. Outgrowths of the project included the Mountain Memories newsletter that shared the stories collected, an advisory council, a Union Catalog, photographs collected, transcripts on microfilm, and the book Our Appalachia. Out of the 3,000 interviews between the three schools, only 663 transcripts were selected to be microfilmed. In 1978, two reels of microfilm were made available with 96 transcripts contributed by ASU. An annotated index referred to as The Appalachian Oral History Project Union Catalog was created to accompany the microfilm. The catalog is broken down into five sections starting with a subject topic index such as Civilian Conservation Corps, Coal Camps, Churches, etc. The next four sections introduced the interviewees by respective school. There was an attempt to include basic biographic information such as date of birth, location, interviewer name, length of interview, and subjects discussed. However, this information was not always consistent per school. This online project features clips from the interviews, complete transcripts, and photographs. The quality and consistency of the interviews vary due to the fact that they were done largely by students. Most of the photos are missing dates and identifying information. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965-1989 Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Scanned by Wetmore,Dana Equipment Hp Scanjet 8200 Scan date 2014-02-25 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Mr. and Mrs. G.L. Richards, June 12, 1973 Description An account of the resource Mrs. Richards was born March 5, 1902 in Silverstone, NC where she was raised on a farm. Mr. Richards was born in Caldwell County in 1897. He worked many different jobs including sawmilling and carpentry. Mr. and Mrs. Richards recall their childhoods growing up on farms and their small amount of schooling. Mr. Richards talks about the hard time he had finding jobs and describes his working experience in his different career paths. He worked for four years in Cleveland, Ohio. The couple talks about the community and the changes it has experienced in transportation and religion. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Clawson, Donna Richards, Mr. & Mrs. G.L. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/195" target="_blank">Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the interviews on the Appalachian State University Oral History Collection site is held by Appalachian State University. The interviews are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Appalachian State Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Any commercial use of the materials, without the written permission of the Appalachian State University, is strictly prohibited. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 14 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 111_tape75_Mr&MrsGLRichards_1973_06_12M001 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Boone, NC Subject The topic of the resource Richards, G. L.--Interviews Richards, G. L., Mrs.--Interviews Watauga County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century Avery County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century Farm life--North Carolina--Watauga County--20th century Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-06-12 Caldwell County carpentry church Cleveland crops farm furniture shop G.L. Richards Lenior Meat Camp North Carolina Ohio Poplar Grove sawmilling Silver Stone Sunday School transportation