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Oral History Transcript
Appalachian State University • Collection 111, Tape 34
Interviewee: Edward Blackburn
Interviewer: Bill Ballock
2 March 1973
BB: Bill Ballock
EB: Edward Blackburn
OB: Ollie Blackburn
BB: This is an interview for the Appalachian Oral History Project with Edward Blackburn at Todd,
North Carolina, on March 2, 1973 by Bill Ballock. Tell your name and start out from there.
EB: I’m Ed Blackburn and I live at Todd, North Carolina. I’ve lived here for 80 years and I’m a
preacher. I have, in the past been a mail carrier, but today I’m trying to preach. Lived here in
the mountains and worked with mountain people, think they’re the finest people in the world.
That’s not belittling anybody else, but I appreciate and honor them. Want to be an honor to the
mountains. Is that thing (the tape recorder) running now?
BB: Just don’t even pay any attention to it.
EB: Now, you go ahead and talk to me.
BB: Okay. Can you tell me something about your childhood?
EB: Yes, a little bit. I remember not too much about it. I remember many years back, born here
in Ashe County and lived here, as I said once, all my life. Went to school here, what little I went,
and went to the First World War. Went through the First World War through the entire was
except for 14 days. Came back and lived here ever since. This has been my home ever since.
All my life this has been my home. I have seen Boone when it was just a few white houses there
and the streets were two feet deep of mud. If you got across the street you got across on a pile
of ashes. You missed the ashes and you went in the mud to your knees. I’ve seen West
Jefferson come from a house or two to a nice town. Seen the railroad come in here and helped
work on it. I drove pegs for the engineers, helped work on the track and I’ve seen it come and
go.
BB: What about the railroad? What did you do on the railroad?
EB: I helped the engineer survey it and worked on the track work. And then I helped grade it,
helped grade the whole thing. Helped make it, everything but the coaches and the engines.
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�BB: Where did it start out?
EB: Where did it start from? Abingdon, Virginia. Came to Todd, 76 miles, 76 miles and so many
tenths to Todd. Came in and out once a day. Stayed all night here and then went out in the
morning, came back in the evening. Todd used to be a business place. Had a bank, drugstores,
and how many grocery stores I’ve forgotten. Lots of numbers of people lived here. It’s just a
ghost town now because all the old people are dead and all the young people have moved
away. And the banks are gone, the money is gone, the timber is gone, and most of the land is
gone.
BB: How did people feel about the railroad here in Todd?
EB: Well, they wanted it to come in you know. They didn’t know it was going to ruin us and take
all our timber out and leave us nothing. We wanted it to come in.
BB: So you think after it left it was bad?
EB: Yes, yes. It left us in a lot worse shape. All of our timber gone and not anything to show for
it.
OB: It should have gone on up to Boone.
EB: Sure, if it went on up to Boone it would be running today. West Jefferson over there is a
thriving town and it came into West Jefferson now one or two times a week. (The railroad)
hauls freight in there. No passenger trains, no mail. Used to run a passenger train in there and
carried the mail.
BB: It did run a passenger train?
EB: Yes, oh yes. Two times a day the Lord blessing. One in the morning and one in the evening.
In and out. Passenger train and freight, sometimes two freights. Loads of them, double heading
out here, a number of cars loaded with timber.
BB: So if you wanted to change it back, you wouldn’t let the railroad come back?
EB: No. I wouldn’t work on it. In fact, I would get other people not to. That’s right, keep what
we have.
BB: Well, they tell me you are a preacher. Can you tell me something about how you got
started in that?
EB: Yes, well the Lord called me. Yes, I’m a preacher honey. Got a lovely church over here. The
finest people in the country come there. I got started because the Lord called me to be a
preacher. I didn’t want to be a preacher. I wanted anything in the world besides being a
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�preacher. I really wanted to be a drunkard, and drink liquor and carouse around. But the Lord
saved me. Then He called and saved me and delivered me from drinking liquor. He called me to
be a preacher. And now I’m preaching and wouldn’t do anything else now. I’m not much of a
preacher, but I’m the best preacher I know how to be. God bless you.
BB: When did it start?
EB: When did I start preaching? I started preaching in about 1922 or ’23.
BB: What brought it on? Did you go to school?
EB: No, never been, just went through the schoolhouses. Ran a mill, only school college I’ve
ever been in. I used to run a mill in Todd and sell meal to the Boone College. That’s the only
college I know anything about; selling meal. I’ve been to college anyhow selling them meal.
BB: So you just took the preaching on your own?
EB: Yes, thank God. On my own. Lived by it. Only way I have of getting a penny is what people
give me. Nobody behind me but the Lord and that’s enough. God called me and I’ve worked
with everybody that needs help.
OB: He’s worked all his life and got Social Security.
EB: I draw Social Security, but not enough.
BB: Do you get paid for preaching?
EB: Yes sir. Got a lovely congregation. Get a little, sometimes get more than others. Take an
offering every morning when I preach. I just preached over here at the tabernacle two times a
month, second and fourth Saturday. And somebody takes an offering for us.
BB: What’s the name of the church?
EB: Blackburn Memorial Church and Campground. I want you to go out and get a history of it,
get you to look at it and take the history down off of the sign.
BB: How did it come about that you’re preaching? How were you called?
EB: Well, the Lord just called me you know. I got saved from being a drunkard and the Lord
called me to be a preacher. Why, I don’t know, but He called me to be a preacher. I just went to
doing things that preachers ought to do. Not like other men can, but the best I could. And God
called me to be a preacher and I’ve been faithful to the job ever since.
OB: He gets busier everyday about it, counseling with somebody. Some drunkard or some
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�family having trouble.
BB: What people come here?
EB: Drunks, folks trying to get delivered from liquor, folks having marriage troubles, about to
separate, parting, fussing and fighting. Come here day and night to be prayed with and
counseled with, talked to and prayed for. Thank God. God had blessed us so far with a fruitful
ministry.
BB: They told me that once you got sick. Could you tell me something about that?
EB: Once I was seriously sick. So sick they thought I would die you know. They sent me to the
hospital against my will. They sent me to West Jefferson and the hospital at Jefferson kept me
18 or 19 days and couldn’t find what was the matter with me.
And they sent me from there to Winston-Salem. When I got to Winston I was so near dead they
gave me eight pints of blood. And that’s about all of it. But I stayed down there 18 or 19 days
and they were going to operate on me, but I couldn’t take it. I was weak. I couldn’t stand an
operation. I prayed and before the Lord and the host of heaven, God healed me and I came
home the day they were supposed to operate on me.
That night – the doctors and nurses came in to get me ready for an operation and I told the
nurses, “God’s healed me. I’m going home. I want you to send me home today.” That excited
the nurses and the doctor came in and told him that, and then he went out of the room. And
several other doctors came in. They pushed me and then rolled me, then looked in my eyes,
looked at my fingernails and examined my feet and had a counsel and told me I could go home.
But when I got ready to come home there were a number of people there that came to set up
the operation.
Felt sorry for my mom you know and my children. I was getting my clothes on and getting ready
to come home and I told the doctor, “I’ll never be back down here unless I come to pray for
somebody.” I’ve been back twice, or three times.
OB: Why don’t you tell the whole story?
EB: Well, I’ve told enough of it, haven’t I?
BB: I want the whole story.
OB: The night you were healed, don’t you remember?
EB: Yes, yes. I was praying you know, the night before the operation and a nurse came through
and turned my pitcher upside down, the water pitcher, and I knew that was bad business. I was
burning up and wanted water. The nurse came in and turned my water pitcher upside down, no
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�more water for me. If I had money I would have hired somebody to pour water for me, but I
didn’t have that kind of money and had to depend on the nurses and the orderlies. The nurse
came through or one of the aides came through and turned my pitcher upside down and I knew
that there was no more water for me. I knew what was coming. I knew that I was so weak and
couldn’t take it. I was already dead. I just told God that I couldn’t take it. And sometime through
the night, somebody came to by bed and called me name and said, “You don’t need an
operation.”
Next morning I was able to come home. Thank God. And I’ve been home ever since and I work
like a slave, day and night. I haven’t ever been sick any more and I’m 80 years old this coming
August. Thank God. That’s what God done for me.
BB: You sure don’t look 80 years old.
EB: I have been out here sawing wood.
BB: My father is 50 years old and you look twice as young as he.
EB: What about that? Bless your daddy honey.
BB: What about the community itself? What do you think of the Todd community?
EB: I think its marvelous and wonderful. One of the best anybody ever had the privilege to live
in. Thank God. The best neighbors that God could set down around you. Anything you need,
somebody will bring it to you and see about you. That’s what I think about it. It’s so good I
nearly disgraced it by living here, that’s what kind of place it is. Marvelous.
OB: Tell him how we worship.
EB: Well, just like anybody else so far as I know. We go to church.
OB: Well, I mean we’re all one.
EB: Sure, sure. Our prayer meetings, we all worship together you know. We have a prayer
meeting in the Baptist church, and we’re known as Holiness people. We go to the Baptist
church and the next night they come to the tabernacle church, and the next night we go to the
Methodist church. We worship all the way around. And nobody knows whether uncle Ed
belongs to the Baptist church or the Methodist church. And I don’t know whether the Baptist
church belongs to our tabernacle or the Baptist church. We don’t pay any attention to that, we
just worship God, and get along good. It’s a marvelous community. Nobody’s got a better one.
BB: As time goes on, do you think that it’s losing out, that people are getting away from each
other?
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�EB: Yes, I do believe the young people are as time goes on. Yes, I do. And the old people are
dying and that cripples us some. But so many of our young people have moved off from this
country see, they had to leave here to get a job. And we just get them through high school and
many of them through college and they’ve got to go somewhere else to get a job you know, to
work out a living.
So that just leaves the young and the old folks. You know the old folks die one by one and leave.
And then these other children go to college and then they get…raised. Ma’am and me raised
five children, two boys and three girls. Our baby is in New Jersey, she’s a librarian. I got a boy in
Virginia Beach, Virginia; he’s a printer for the United States government. He has been thee a
long time, soon to retire. And I got a boy that lives at Cherryville. He drives for the Carolina
Freight and he’s been there for years. We have a daughter that lives in Abingdon, Virginia. She
married a builder contractor and they have a supermarket. They are building a supermarket.
Our oldest daughter married a sanitary and county health officer and they live here in Ashe
County. Five lovely children and all of them seem to be doing well.
BB: That’s just great. It’s just beautiful out here. I don’t see why any young people would want
to leave.
EB: Thank you, it is beautiful. And we live in an old house.
OB: I’ll tell you why the young people, our children…every one of them get so homesick to
come to the mountains to live. But you see, where we made the mistake was selling every stick
of timber we had here for the railroad and letting the companies come in here and carry it off,
haul it off on the train out away from here. And wouldn’t let companies come in here. We could
have had factories up here, all kind of furniture factories and everything if we hadn’t loved our
little dirt. You see we loved the dirt better than if we loved…
EB: Sure. They wanted to buy land for factories.
OB: And we wouldn’t sell them land. And see that’s the reason our children now had to reap
the results of it. They had to get an education and go somewhere else to get a job.
BB: What do you think about somebody who would want to come out here and farm and try to
preserve what you have?
EB: I think it’s wonderful. I think that young people can come and live conservative and buy a
farm and get rich, thank God. Say raise enough cattle to get rich. Right here in these mountains,
men are doing it. I don’t. I don’t have a cow. Don’t have anything but some fish and wild ducks.
That’s all the property we’ve got. I own 27 acres of land here and this old house is over 176
years old, where you’re sitting now.
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�All handmade, all worked with hands. And there’s a door that doesn’t have a nail in it unless I
put it in. The house is put together with wooden pegs. It’s been here we know for 176 years
and we think several years longer.
BB: Do you know who built it?
EB: We think we know. We think a man by the name of “Younce,” who has been dead for many
many years you know. We think he built this house here. This house and the soldiers, Northern
soldiers came down and burned my grandfather’s house down. This was his workhouse where
he loomed, had looms, and wove their cloth and cooked here.
OB: Made their shoes.
EB: The fireplace was six feet across and I filled it in. But this was just and outhouse. Northern
soldiers burnt the house down out here and left our people with nothing. Took their meat and
the horses, and burned a lot of their clothes. Just left my grandparents with nothing.
BB: So you remember your grandparents talking about the Civil War?
EB: Yes, I just barely can, the Lord bless you, just barely.
OB: His mother was 11 years old.
EB: Yes, when they burned the house and she’s been dead for years.
BB: So they did come through this way?
EB: They did come right through here and burn the nice home out here on this hill right out
here. You can go out there and dig up charcoals from it right now.
BB: And you’re 80 years old?
EB: I’m 80 years old this coming August.
BB: Okay. What do you think about politics?
EB: Politics? Well, I think that we need two kinds. I think we need two good parties and I think
that both sides do so sorry that I’m ashamed of both sides. I vote for one then I wish I had
voted for the other because we do things. They tell us we’re not going to do one thing and the
next day they do it. Then I think I ought to have voted for the other fellow. I think we need two
good parties and men to be honest and upright and tell us the truth and do the best they can
for us and quit lying to us. We know they can’t do all the things they tell us they’re going to do
because we haven’t got enough money to do it.
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�BB: Do you remember the first election you voted in?
EB: No, I can’t remember darling. No.
BB: Who was the first president that you remember?
EB: Oh, I remember Teddy Roosevelt and Mr. McKinley. I remember, I was just a boy though,
but I remember when the news traveled so slow you know, about killing McKinley. I remember
that.
BB: What did you think of Roosevelt?
EB: Well, I was just a boy. Didn’t make any different to me darling. Just another man and I
heard by father and mother talk about him you know. Teddy Roosevelt.
BB: What about Truman?
EB: Yes, I loved Harry Truman. I think he was an excellent president. He would tell you what to
expect and then he did it. And if you didn’t like it he would fight you if you wanted to fight. I
think he was fine.
BB: What about Eisenhower?
EB: I think he was great.
BB: You did? You liked Eisenhower then?
EB: Yes, I liked him good enough to vote for him.
BB: What about Kennedy?
EB: Not struck on Kennedy. I’ll not comment why, but I’m not struck on him. I didn’t give a dime
if it’s on the signboards in Broadway, New York City.
BB: What about Johnson?
EB: I liked Mr. Johnson, thought he was a nice, fine gentleman.
BB: What about Mr. Nixon?
EB: I think he’s fine. I quarrel with him sometimes, cuss him sometimes for things he does and
don’t do. But I think he’s going be a fine president. I think he’s doing the best he can.
BB: What was World War One like?
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�EB: It was rough, rough, rough. World War One was rough. I volunteered and went. The war
was declared the 6th day of May and I enlisted in the World War the 17th day of May. I wanted
to go to the war and then I went, but wanted to come home. Went to France and fought
through the Meuse-Argonne Forest, Mont Saint-Michel, close to Verdun, and sector near
Verdun. I saw the Hindenburg line broke where Von Hindenburg said there wasn’t enough men
this side of hell to go through that line and the American soldiers went through it and tore it all
to pieces and whooped their hind ends off.
BB: And you were in it? You were fighting?
EB: I was there. Came out of the lines on November 11th, 1918.
BB: And then you went to World War Two?
EB: I wasn’t in World War Two, no.
BB: You were at home right?
EB: I was at home, yes.
BB: Were you preaching then?
EB: Yes.
BB: What was it like during World War Two?
EB: Well, I wasn’t in it. I just knew all the men that was in it. I knew lots of the men that did go
you know. But I wasn’t in it. I didn’t have any part of lot in it except to work you know. I worked
in the defense plant, the most of the time during the Second World War in Coats, Pennsylvania
for a steel mill. A big steel mill.
BB: What about Vietnam? What about the people here at home? How do they feel about it in
your community?
EB: Well, I think the majority of us thought that we had it to do. That there wasn’t anything else
to do is what I think. They didn’t fight as rough as I wanted them to fight. I wanted them to
thrash the face out of them and get out of it. Give them a thrashing and come home, but we
just played along with them and didn’t whoop them. I wanted to whoop them good and come
out.
BB: Are you glad that the Peace…
EB: I am delighted! I want to be a peacemaker honey. That’s my business, being a peacemaker.
But if I have to fight you I’m going to fight awful rough while I fight.
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�BB: What about the Depression?
EB: Yes, I lived through that. It didn’t make much difference to me because we’re kind of
depressed every day anyhow. But we did get through it, but it was a hard time, the Lord bless
you. It was a hard time.
BB: What did you do during the Depression?
EB: Well, I lived right here and raised cabbage and Irish potatoes and sent children to school,
right here.
BB: Do you think that it was easier for the people, the farmers than it was for the people in
town?
EB: Yes, I do. The man that had the farm knew how to work it and to manage. He had a better
chance of surviving than the people in town because they didn’t have anything. They were just
out.
BB: You didn’t have any trouble getting clothes or shoes and stuff did you?
EB: Oh, no. No, we had clothes, had shoes, and had plenty to eat what it was. But we didn’t
have any money.
BB: You wouldn’t want to see another Depression would you?
EB: No, no. Never want to see another Depression. Don’t ever want to see ten-hour workdays
come back. I want good wages and honest work. I do believe in a man that’s getting two dollars
an hour ought to be able to put out and work for two dollars an hour.
BB: I reckon that you remember the flood of 1940 too, don’t you? The flood?
EB: Yes, I do.
BB: I reckon as a preacher that you had right much to do?
EB: Yes, I had much to do the entire time son.
OB: When was the flood?
EB: 1962, wasn’t the flood the one I’m thinking about here in ’62? We about washed away in
this country. I think it was in…no, in 1943, wasn’t it ’43?
BB: Yes, somewhere in there. Do you remember it?
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�EB: Yes, oh yes. I had a mill down here in this little village we call Todd. And I came home and
when I came around the curve coming out of Todd, there was a high place there. I turned
around, looked around and told God and to myself, “This is the last time I’ll ever see Todd if it
doesn’t quit raining.” And that night two or here buildings went out of Todd all together like an
ark. The buildings went right down the stream all together. There was a mill there, a big mill.
That mill was taken out, a store on the other side of the creek away from the water; the rain
took the store just like an ark was floating down the creek. But God ceased the rain and that is
the only reason that Todd didn’t wash away.
OB: Right here, over there came a big crack on the hill.
EB: Yes, the mountain cracked there. And had it slid off, there wouldn’t have been anything left
in the village. It would have all went out; too much dirt and water. I saw that.
BB: Did anyone come to your house for refuge?
EB: Yes, we had company. Some of our kinfolk were here. They got caught in the storm here
and had to stay here.
BB: Were all of you scared?
EB: No, we weren’t scared here on the hill. We thought my, lots of water, but we didn’t think it
would get to us and it didn’t.
BB: I was talking to Miss Trivette and she said their house almost washed away.
EB: Oh, yes. All around them.
BB: I reckon that was a pretty bad time.
EB: Yes. Serious time, serious time.
BB: Getting back to your childhood, what can you remember about it now? Was it like growing
up in the mountains?
EB: Marvelous, wonderful. I had a good daddy and a good mother and didn’t know what
trouble was. He was a hard worker and had a good farm and made all the things we needed to
live on except clothes and shoes. It was marvelous. I would love to go back and live through it
again. Didn’t know what trouble was. Didn’t know we would ever see a day that we didn’t have
enough. Thank God!
BB: What kind of games did you play?
EB: We just played what we called back in those days “Base.” We didn’t know anything about
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�baseball and things like that. We just played Base, “Dare Base” and would run like wild men.
We would see who could outrun the other and who could break the other side. If we ever made
a circle around the others man’s home, we would break him up and had to start over again. If
we would catch his men off a base, we would put them in jail. We would get all of his men until
he was overpowered, why we broke him up again.
BB: What was it called?
EB: We called in “Base,” or “Dare Base.” We would have a line and dare a fellow to come put
his foot on a line. Then we would take out after him and if we caught him before he got back to
his base, why we would bring him and put him in a jail. But then we had to guard him and if
another man left his base and came over, we could touch him. But if he touched the guy in jail
before we could get to him, then he would get out. But he watched that and if we caught him,
we put him in jail. That was our job.
The fellows that got the most men in jail or one of our best runners made a circle around the
other man’s base, that broke him up and we won the game. Just like war. He just had to
surrender, that’s all.
OB: Then at night, we danced in the homes. Barn dances.
EB: We would have parties in the night. Play the banjo, the violin or fiddle. We danced all night,
thank God! Had a good time.
BB: Did you know anybody that played the fiddle?
EB: They are dead now. Knew a lot of men, but they have gone to heaven now.
OB: My daddy played for the parties. My granddaddy played the violin and my daddy played
the banjo.
BB: Would it be every night?
EB: No, we couldn’t take it every night. About two nights a week.
BB: Would you all be drinking moonshine?
EB: Not much, sometimes. Usually wine, grape wine. Sometimes we had the real
stuff…moonshine.
BB: Did your dad make moonshine?
EB: No sir, he was a Christian gentleman. He didn’t even drink it. My father’s brother was a
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�Congressman. There is his picture on the wall. Served two terms in the United States Congress.
And my father was against liquor.
BB: What was his name?
EB: E. Spencer Blackburn. Honorable E. Spencer Blackburn.
BB: What was the year that he was in Congress?
EB: Well, I’ve forgotten little darling boy. I was just a boy. In 1906 and 1908 I expect (Edmond
Spencer Blackburn was a Republican U.S. Congressman from 1901-03 and 1905-07). You better
put a question mark on that honey, because I was just a little boy. But he would visit my father
often. Had a big, high silk hat and fine clothes.
BB: What kin was he to you?
EB: He was my uncle, my father’s brother.
End of side I
BB: Have you hunted and fished a lot?
EB: Yes, fished a lot. Yes, it wasn’t against the law then to take a net and go into the river and
catch fish by the bushel.
BB: What about legends and stuff? Old folk tales and myths. Do you remember any?
EB: No, not many. People used to tell us ghost tales and that would scare us nearly to death.
BB: Who would tell them to you?
EB: Old people. But they are all dead and gone many years ago. They would come by and tell us
ghost stories you know, and we were afraid to look out of the house after the sun went down.
BB: Do you remember any?
EB: No, I can’t remember them. One old man lived down here on the river and a man went
missing and the people never could find him. They thought he went and jumped in the river at a
hole where it wasn’t frozen over. But never could find him. But then in the spring when the ice
went out, the ice flow went out, why this old man down here on the river found five bones.
What the doctor said was they were five bones of a man and he took them home and put the
bones in the loft. He said that every night the five bones would just beat the floor all night. I’ve
heard him tell that story many times. He said there was a beat on the floor. But he still had so
far as I know, when he died – still had that beating on the floor.
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�BB: Do you believe that?
EB: Don’t believe a word of it, no. But I do believe that he had the bones because I heard
people talk about the man disappearing. The man’s name was “Lookabill.” Something
happened to his mind. A nice man, but he disappeared and never was found. That’s as close as
anything that would come to a ghost story. But that’s just to me a folktale. I know nothing
about that, only what was told.
BB: Do you remember any old sayings?
EB: No, I’ve forgotten them all. We used to have many of them. And they were all so good that
they ought to have been remembered.
BB: You ought to have written them down.
EB: Yes, by all means.
BB: If there was anything that you could change back, what would you change that’s now gone?
EB: Well, if there was anything that I could change back I would have gone into preaching when
I was 14 years old. And I went into the First World War without ever being a Christian. God
wanted me to be a preacher when I was 14 years old, but I wanted to drink liquor and I put off
preaching until I was about 22 years old. I would change that.
BB: Is there anything that you would change in the community?
EB: No, I doubt it. Just let her roll, just like it did.
BB: Is there anything else you want to tell me?
EB: Bless you. I don’t know much more little lad. The Lord blesses you. I never thought about
anybody coming to talk to me about things like this because there are so many men that can
tell you so much more than I could tell you. But there is nobody in this country much older than
I am.
BB: They say you are the oldest around?
EB: I don’t know any men that are older than I am. I know one lady down here. No, not in this
vicinity, I don’t know of any man that’s older than me.
BB: And this is your mother?
OB: This is my wife and she’s 81 years old.
14
�BB: What’s her name?
EB: Ollie Blackburn.
OB: I was Ollie Clawson.
EB: She was a Clawson.
OB: I waited through the war to marry him.
EB: We were supposed to get married anytime, but I went to the war and left her here you
know.
BB: Were you raised here in Todd too?
OB: No, I was raised in Watauga County.
BB: In Watauga County?
OB: Yes, this is Ashe County.
EB: Yes, here we are across the line about a hundred feet. When you came up that road you
were in Watauga; when you turned in to our house, why you are in Ashe County.
BB: So you all live in Ashe County?
EB: Just across the line. We pay our taxes on the Ashe side.
BB: What was your childhood like? Did your mother teach you how to crochet and all?
OB: She taught me how to sew and I sewed and made all my children’s clothes. During the
Depression we had some pretty well to do folks and they gave us second hand clothes and I
made them over for my children. Some of them got the prize for being the best-dressed in
school there.
EB: Out of second handed clothes.
BB: During the Depression they got the best-dressed?
EB: Yes, I guess it was during the Depression. They went to school well-dressed by ma working
over old clothes, redoing them.
BB: How long have you two been married?
15
�EB: Going on 54 years. We had a 50th anniversary three years ago this June. So this June we will
have been married 54 years.
BB: Have they all been good years?
EB: All have been wonderful. Thank God, I would like to live them all over. Been good years.
Ma’s been a darling.
BB: How many grandchildren do you have?
EB: Fourteen.
BB: I bet you have a big Christmas don’t you?
EB: Yes. Fourteen. And two great-grandchildren.
BB: Do they all usually get home for Christmas?
EB: Yes, usually.
BB: What’s the difference in Christmas when you were small and Christmas now?
EB: Oh, so much difference. When I was small if we got two sticks of candy and an orange we
were well fixed.
BB: Do you remember any great presents that you once got during Christmas?
EB: No. I got a toy truck; as far back as I can remember and thought that was the greatest thing
that could be delivered to anybody.
OB: Tell him about your pistol.
EB: Yes, I used to have a little gun when I was six years old. Lots of folks won’t let boys have
pistols and I had a gun. I think this is the same one if I can find it here.
OB: I guess it’s gone.
EB: I had one like this when I was just a boy and I’d hunt with it you know. I would shoot grouse
and rabbits when I was six years old.
BB: So it’s a real pistol?
EB: Oh, it’s a real .22 pistol. Break it down. That’s a real gun. Dangerous, it would kill you. Single
barrel, a Stevens.
16
�BB: Do you still hunt?
EB: I still hunt.
BB: Do you still hunt with this?
EB: No. I carry an automatic shotgun.
BB: What do you think about the tourists?
EB: Well, I think that they have ruined the mountains, is what I think of them. We can’t go
anywhere and get anywhere but they do bring in some money but we were living well before
they came. That’s not belittling them; that’s just what I think about them.
BB: So you think that Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain…
EB: Yes. I think its hurt the morale of the country. I do. And that’s just what I think. That’s my
personal opinion.
BB: Well, I agree with you.
EB: Yes. I think its hurt the morale of the country. I do. And that’s just what I think. That’s my
personal opinion.
BB: Well, I agree with you.
EB: Thank you dear. Bless you darling. Just about ruined us.
BB: I hate to see the mountains torn down too. I think it’s real sad.
EB: Thank you honey.
BB: Is there anything that you want to tell me? Just anything that you would want somebody to
know about you as a man?
EB: No, I didn’t do well enough to want anybody to know anything about me darling.
BB: I think you being a preacher…
EB: I’ve done my best on that line. But we got many preachers.
BB: Do you baptize?
EB: I do. Baptize and marry folks.
17
�BB: You have a license to marry?
EB: I do have a license to marry, yes. And to baptize and to establish churches.
BB: What was your education? You got as far as…
EB: Oh, I wouldn’t know. I just…it pushed me to get through the seventh grade I guess. We just
had three months of school you know, when I went to school. Always commenced in
September and would be out by Christmas. And we had to walk three miles. We have to walk
three miles when I went to school most of the time.
BB: So you got about as far as the seventh grade?
EB: Yes, I guess it pushed me to go through the seventh grade.
BB: Learn enough just to read and write?
EB: I can read and write. And I can…
OB: Figure (mathematics).
BB: I would like to come down to your church sometime.
EB: Well, you ought to come darling. You ought to come. You ought to bring some friends. I
want you to go up by and look it over darling before you leave here this evening. Open the
door, it will not be locked. Just open the door and go in and look around. What God has done.
BB: How long has that church been there?
EB: Well, this one has not been there that long…I guess 38 or 40 years. That right ma? About 38
years.
BB: Is this your first church?
EB: Yes, but the first church was burned down over there.
BB: I know a good question. Do you remember the first time you preached? The very first time
that you preached?
EB: No. I don’t remember the first time I ever got up and took a text and preached from it. But
for years before I ever went out into the ministry, before I was ordained I would hold funerals
you know. So many people would send for Uncle Ed you know, to come and hold funerals. But I
can’t remember the first time.
18
�BB: What were the funerals like?
EB: Well, they haven’t changed much. They have gotten finer, but the same mode and the same
lines. When I was growing up we didn’t know anything about undertakers in the mountains
here. Just neighbors, dress people and made their caskets and put them in the ground.
BB: When was the first time that you can remember that you preached?
EB: I can’t remember. Can’t remember the first time that I ever was called to a funeral. Wish I
could. I would like to try and recall the feeling, but I can’t remember to save my life. I’ve had
hundreds of them.
BB: It wasn’t a good feeling I guess.
EB: Wasn’t so good. I was scared. Still am.
BB: Are you still scared?
EB: Still scared. Scared to death.
BB: Do you preach from a text or do you just get up and talk?
EB: I preach right out of a book. Never write down a note or take a note and just read by
chapter – what I’m going to preach from and go to preaching. If there is one certain verse in it
that I want to dwell on and talk about, I pick out such and such verse in such and such chapter
and tell my people all I know about it.
BB: Do you all have Sunday school?
EB: We do have Sunday school every Sunday. One of the finest in the county.
BB: What time does preaching start?
EB: Eleven o’clock. Every second and fourth Sunday.
BB: So you only have preaching the second and fourth Sunday? Why is that?
EB: Well, because we found it’s the best. And because my people are not…
OB: Well, he preaches in other places.
EB: Yes, I’m gone a lot of the time and that gives me a chance to preach here twice a month and
go somewhere else two times.
19
�BB: Oh, so you go other places?
EB: I go to other places.
BB: Where do you usually go?
EB: Well, the last meeting I was in was at High Point. Evangelical Methodist in High Point. And
next to that one, I go anywhere they call for me…anywhere from Ohio to Pennsylvania.
BB: You’ve been up to Pennsylvania?
EB: Yes sure, give two meetings in Pennsylvania and two meetings in the city of Baltimore.
BB: Well, thanks a lot.
EB: Honey, have I been any help to you?
BB: I think you have.
EB: Have you? Do you? God bless you. (Gives a prayer) “Father in heaven, here’s a lovely, pretty
boy. I’d give a billion dollars, God, if I could be like him. But it’s gone from us God. And now
Lord we pray that as long as he lives let him remember the two old people, the Blackburn’s on
the hill. Came in to have an interview with them and we wasn’t wise enough to give him much
of an interview. After he leaves we’ll think of many things that happened to us that might have
been amusing to him.
I pray you will take good care of this little boy God, and make his successful in the world. Help
him to be a Christian gentleman. Because if he gains the whole world and loses his soul, what
would he give for that pearl of great price, which is his soul. Take good care of the little boy. In
Jesus’s name we pray. Amen and amen. Bless you darling. You’re lovely.”
End of interview
20
�
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Title
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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
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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
Sound
A resource whose content is primarily intended to be rendered as audio.
Artist
Blackburn, Edward (interviewee)
Ballock, Bill (interviewer)
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:04, Reflects on Todd and Ashe County, 00:32, World War One
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
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Interview with Edward Blackburn, March 2, 1973
Subject
The topic of the resource
Blackburn, Edward (1893-)--Interviews
Todd (N.C.)--History--20th century
Todd (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century
Clergy--North Carolina--Todd--Biography
Railroads--North Carolina--Todd--History--20th century
Lumber trade--North Carolina--Todd--History--20th century
Description
An account of the resource
Edward Eugene Blackburn was born on August 29, 1893 to Alex (b. 1852 – d. June 1, 1926) and Rhoda Howell Blackburn (b. February 12, 1856 – d. December 6, 1934). He was married to Ollie Clawson Blackburn (b. July 29, 1893 – d. June 1985). He grew up in the Todd community of Ashe County and served in the U.S. Army during the First World War with the 318th Field Hospital of the 80th Division. He experienced combat in France, which is briefly mentioned in the interview.
Many affectionately knew him as “Brother Ed” or “Uncle .” The Reverend Ed Blackburn and his wife took over the leadership of The Tabernacle, a non-‐denominational Holiness church across the hill from his childhood home. This church later became the Blackburn Community Church, was originally started by his father around 1910. His uncle was U.S. Congressman Edmond Spencer Blackburn (b. September 22, 1868 – d. July 21, 1912) who served in 1901-03 and 1905-07.
During the interview Ed Blackburn talks about growing up in rural Ashe County. Topics include explaining the rules to a game called “dare base,” and his experience working at a grist meal and laying railroad track as a young man. He also discusses the railroad in Todd, timber stripping, religion, and family.
Source
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<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>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2-Mar-73
Rights
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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.
Format
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MP3
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20 pages
Language
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English
English
Type
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Sound Document
Coverage
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Todd (N.C.)
Ashe County
childhood games
Civil War
folklore
ministry
railroad
religion
timber
Todd
Watauga County N.C.
West Jefferson
World War One
-
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/65294dd3a42086d804b328b5020c7683.pdf
8f3e93d509b1a8423ede8ffc3295b8e0
PDF Text
Text
Oral History Transcript
Appalachian State University • Collection 111, Tape 249
Interviewee: Early Earl
Interviewer: Barbara Greenberg
22 August 1974
Transcriber: Marty Tschetter, October 2011
Background
Early Earp was born on July 31, 1891 in the Bairds Creek Community of Watauga County, North
Carolina and died on December 25, 1988. His parents were Lewis Calloway Earp (b. June 5, 1844
– d. November 11, 1919) and Rebecca Williams Earp (b. May 15, 1861 – d. March 27, 1937).
They were farmers and raised a family of fourteen children. Many of Mr. Earl’s siblings had long
lives. His parents were originally from Wilkes County and his maternal grandfather was killed in
the Civil War. The interview took place at his house, the original property that his parent’s
owned.
TAPE INDEX
Counter Index Topic
06
Introduction including when and where he grew up. Early
wages.
146
Farm work, briefly mentions working in a Burke County
sawmill, and the U.S. Army during World War I.
328
Mentions his living brothers Willie and Coy, and sister Nora.
429
His parents grew up in Wilkes County. His maternal
grandfather was killed in the Civil War, and his father died in
1919 at age 74, his mother died in 1937.
546
Parents names were Lewis Callaway Earp and his mother was
Rebecca Williams Earp. His father bulldozed the original
family home place circa 1900.
643
Entire family worked on the farm, mentioned that only other
work for females might be in someone’s house. Wages were
typically fifty cents a week.
749
Talks about how crops were planted, and how the quantity
was determined. References growing sugar cane for
1
�molasses, selling wheat for flour, canning vegetables, drying
pumpkin, and helping neighbors hoe crops.
1052
Recalls a corn shucking held by a neighbor Mart Isaacs (b.
October 1851 – d. March 1938). Describes the specifics that
include shucking until 3am, food was cooked by the women
and there was a large gathering.
1215
Explains how farmers used to plant by the moon.
1326
Making sauerkraut, selling it in Lenoir, Gastonia, and
Charlotte. Emphasizes that it had to be made at the ‘right’
time.
1443
Growing up his family had plenty of food, even during the
Depression.
1537
Breakfast typically included biscuits and parched their own
coffee. Later they purchased a local brand called Pilot Knob.
1701
Price for coffee used to be five cents a pound, and sugar was
three to five cents. References the Smithey Store opening up
in Boone. Mr. Smithey was from Wilkesboro.
1812
Talks about the Depression, did not affect his family too
much. His father positioned himself never to be in debt to
others. References the Federal Farm Loan Act enacted under
President Woodrow Wilson in 1917. Recalls a conversation
that his father and neighbor Mr. Moody had about the
program.
2102
Briefly talks about the 1940 flood in Watauga County and
what he recalled about ending the Tweetsie Railroad service.
2115
Talks about cash crops, he started raising tobacco in 1931,
bringing it to market in Abingdon, Virginia and Johnson City,
Tennessee and also selling Cabbage. He sold beans in
Mountain City, Tennessee.
2419
Did not get rich selling produce, did not own a lot of farm
machinery. Mentions Frank Taylor in Valle Crucis told farm
machinery, and then in 1944 he entered into the cattle business.
2
�2815
Talks briefly about the county agriculture agent and his
opinion on his services.
SIDE TWO
03
Continues with his feelings about the county agriculture
agent.
210
Talks about the school he attended including the location. He
only obtained the seventh grade. His teachers were Powell
Harmon, Frank Wilson, and Marion Thomas.
346
He attended a school for only three to four months of the
year. He estimated about forty students.
509
He reflected on his schooling and how education had
changed in the 1970s. He felt that current students did not
have a lot of direction. His teachers were very religious
people and had students read a passage from the bible every
morning. As a result he felt that that was a positive that he
experienced in school.
654
The Baptist denomination was the most dominate. Also
recalled a presence of the Methodist Church. He shared his
personal disdain for the growth of the Catholic Church in
western North Carolina.
830
Funerals were held at the home and all the arrangements
were taken care of by family and neighbors.
1003
The Danner Cemetery was a local community plot. A lot of
his family was buried there. It was named after Fred Danner,
the first person buried.
1100
Briefly talked about local stores. Newt Mast had a big store in
Cove Creek, and Will Mast had one in Valle Crucis.
Remembers older residents playing checkers.
1217
Asked about what was happening in Boone during the
1910s-20s. He recalled county judge Greene, Rob Laney, and
the Councill family.
3
�13:42
Talks about the first car that he saw in Boone, was owned by
man from Lenoir. People were mesmerized. He bought his
first car in 1924, the first resident in his local community.
1539
Talks about hauling people in his car, owning a Model-T Ford
Roadster, there were no speedometers on cars at that time.
1647
Community leaders during this time were his father, Lindsey
Trivett, and Lane Farmer. He felt they were respected
because they were older.
1805
Reflects how times have changed. He felt that in the past,
people cared more for their neighbors well-being, especially
when sick.
2212
There was not a lot of formal entertainment. He recalled corn
shucking’s, log rolling’s, and talking as fellowship. Movie
theatres did not exist when he was growing up and were
subsequently not important at this time in his life.
2315
Expressed how growing up people helped each other out. If
his family had excess produce, they would share it with
neighbors without expecting payment in return.
2454
Asked about superstitions, he remembers people talking
about witches, but he did not believe in them. He did share a
story about his brother attending a funeral circa 1900. His
brother had planned to meet up with a friend afterward. They
both road horses and it was dark. They also both wore white
shirts, which they faintly could see each other, which
‘spooked’ both men.
2756
Talked about his mother spinning yarn and wool to make
socks and their clothes for the family. His family did not have
excessive clothes, but enough to last. He recalled being a
mid-teenager when he bought his first pair of clothes from a
store.
4
�BG: Barbara Greenberg
EE: Early Earp
0:06
BG: This is a recording of Mr. "Early" Earp done by Barbara Greenberg at his home on Bairds
Creek Road. Today's date is August 22nd, 1974.
BG: Well Mr. Earp -- do you want to start off by telling me a little bit about yourself -- where
you were born and when you were born?
EE: Well, I was born in 1891. I grew up right up in the field there, no houses matter fact.
(Rooster in background).
BG: Is the house still standing?
EE: No, its been torn down for seventy-five years. So I was raised up top there. I live on the
place I was born on (laughs)....and own the land I was born on...
BG: Great.
EE: There are not too many men that can say that.
BG: Right.
EE: So we had a hard time coming up. When I got big enough to work, we worked for twentyfive cents a day. And it was....I guess for about ten years before I ever got more than twentyfives cents a day. Because I started when I was small. We finally got up to where we could make
a man's wage and it was fifty cents a day and sometimes it was seventy-five (cents).
1:46
BG: What would you do, what kind of work?
EE: Farm work, farm work. Oh no, there was no work like any public works in this country at
that time.
BG: Wow.
EE: You see, there was for years and years -- I can't even tell you how many years it was before
anything...and sawmilling was about the next industry that we had in this country. When I was
16 years old I went to...down in Burke County to (inaudible) Sawmill, a (inaudible) and worked
for him and got a dollar a day (laughs)…and board. And so, and then in 1917, they took me in
5
�the army. I spent two years in the army and then came back and have been a farmer practically
ever since.
BG: Okay, tell me...you said that you were born right now the road here, did your parents own
that land?
EE: Ma’am?
BG: Did your parents own the land that you...
EE: Yes ma’am.
BG: How many acres did they have?
EE: Well, I wouldn't be able to tell you lady...I guess...well, they owned way up above where I
do now. I guess it was one hundred and twenty-five or fifty acres in all.
BG: And how many acres do you own today?
EE: fifty-six.
3:28
BG: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
EE: Oh yes, I have one sister living and two brothers. Willie Earp is the oldest...he is seventyone. No wait a minute...eighty-one. And then Coy, he is about seventy-five. And Nora is eightyone. That's my brothers and sister. They live…Nora lives about two-three miles over here. And
Willie and Coy live just up the road here -- the first two houses above here.
BG: That's great that y'all still all live so close together.
4:20
EE: Oh yeah.
BG: That's nice.
EE: So, we were born right around here and we stayed pretty well put together ever since
(chuckles).
4:29
BG: Did your parents…were they born in this area?
6
�EE: No, my father and mother both were born in Wilkes County. I can't tell you exactly
where…but they were raised both up to (inaudible). And then mother she came with her
mother to Ashe County and stayed over there a year, then moved here to this county. And
that's been a long time ago (both laugh). My grandfather on my mother's side got killed in the
Civil War. And then my father, he lived until he was 74 years old and nine months. I believe he
died in 1919.
5:46
BG: What was their names?
EE: Well, my father was Lewis Callaway Earp (b. June 5, 1844 – d. November 11, 1919) and my
mother was Rebecca Williams Earp (b. May 15, 1861 – d. March 27, 1937) (chuckles). And she's
been dead for thirty-eight years.
Of course we (inaudible) on the farm (inaudible) and well, I went 'up north' and worked in
Cleveland for a little while, but practically I’ve been right here in close.
My daddy bulldozed it, the place, right up here, where my brother lives and we moved up there
in 1909. And we've been right here ever since.
6:43
BG: Did your brothers and sisters, did you all share doing the work on the farm? Did your sisters
do one thing or did you all work together?
EE: We worked together. There was a big crowd of us (laughs) and it took us all to make a living.
You take (inaudible). I was young, a lot younger than I am now (both laugh). There wasn't any
work at all for anybody unless it just…work for a woman, a girl could get a job maybe staying
with someone for fifty cents a week. And that was about the wages, about fifty cents a week.
But we always worked and managed together.
7:36
BG: How did you determine how much of each crop you should plant each year?
EE: Each crop?
BG: How much did you, you know, how did you decide how much to plant each year?
7:49
EE: (Chuckles)...my father, always thought that he didn’t have around fifteen acres in corn, than
he wouldn’t have corn (inaudible). Now of course back in his day, they figured it out...twenty or
7
�something like twenty or twenty-five bushels to the acre...is as much as they could produce.
Well now, you can go way up to a hundred and fifty -- two hundred. That’s a lot different
between now and then. And we always had a cane patch to raise molasses and that was our
major sweetener. There was no such a thing as buying sugar in a store at that time. We had
always sold our wheat and then sold our flour.
We raised it in the garden to get things...vegetables. We had 'canning'. There was not any
canning back at that time (referring to canned products bought at stores). We had to dry most
of our stuff that we preserved for food. I don't expect that you've ever heard of drying
pumpkin? (Laughs).
BG: Drying pumpkin? No, I....
EE: We used to dry pumpkin, and that was...we would hang it up on poles over the fireplace
and dry it. And then beans, dried beans, and fruit, and peaches. Stuff like that. We didn't have
any canning, couldn't can. Lord I was...I don't know...we didn't have any canning and the thing
about it...for a long time. I can't tell you...my memory is too short (chuckles). So that is just
about the way we lived.
We worked together, farmers worked together then. You know what I mean? We would help
our neighbors hoe their crop and then they would help us to hoe ours. We would work them
out, and then we would do the same thing. We would have logrolling, corn shucking...
10:42
BG: Can you remember any particular log rolling or corn shucking that you could tell us
about…something happening or something like that?
10:52
EE: Well, I can remember corn shucking. There was an old fellow Isaacs, uncle (James) Mart
Isaacs (b. October 1851 – d. March 1938). Right up here on this hill, up on top of the mountain.
He had a big field of corn and invited all of his neighbors around to help him shuck corn on a
certain day. Well, we shucked corn until dinner then we went back and shucked until night and
they all agreed that they would shuck until they were done if they had supper. And they sent to
the house...the women folk fixed supper and carried it up on the mountain and shucked until
we got done at three o'clock the next morning (laughs). And he had six hundred bushels of
corn.
11:50
BG: Oh. Wow.
8
�EE: That's about the best of them that I can remember (both laugh). But we (inaudible) corn
shucking and log rolling and things like that anymore. That doesn't happen much any more.
12:15
BG: Did your family believe in planting by the moon?
EE: A lot. Yes, they did. They wouldn't plant corn on the new moon at all. They thought that it
would grow too tall and that there would be no ear on it? And it don't. You plant a crop of corn
in particular on the new of the moon and the ear will look about 'so long' (uses hands to show
size) sticks right up like that. And you plant it at the right time and the ear will be that long (uses
hands again to show size).
12:59
And in fact I believe in...I believe in signs...which, probably you don't.
BG: I do, I do.
EE: (Laughs).
BG: I do, very much so.
EE: Well I do. The Bible speaks of signs....and says you will 'watch the moon' and 'watch the
stars' or so and so. Well, we both do it.
BG: I think so.
13:26
EE: You take for making kraut (sauerkraut). If you make kraut when the signs are wrong your
kraut will be slimier or kind of (inaudible) not good. But if you make it at the right time, it’s
good.
BG: When is the right time for making kraut? I'm getting ready to make some and I don't want
to do it on the wrong day (both laugh).
EE: Well, I'm about to tell you...when it’s a good time to make it. I used to know. I've told a
hundred thousand women when to make kraut. I used to truck it and down the country, down
in Lenoir, and Gastonia, and Charlotte, and down in that way. And women folks would always
know…would want to know what time was a good time to make kraut. And I had to tell them
(laughs). So that's just about the story now...(laughs).
14:43
9
�BG: Well, now tell me...were there any years when your family didn't grow enough food to
keep you all winter?
EE: Not that I remember of. There was a big crowd of us as I told you. We had lots of help...and
we put out enough that we (inaudible) a few times. We would run out of corn in the
summertime and then just buy it by the bushel if you could find it. Very few times.
15:37
Back when I was just a young boy (inaudible), we didn't have biscuits every morning for
breakfast. There was just no flour to be bought in the bag at all. You had to take it to the mill
where they grind to make flour. So it was harder to get flour than most anything. And
coffee...buy green coffee and parch it...on your fire…fireplace.
BG: Did that coffee taste as good?
EE: I believe it was better (laughs). If you got a good parch...we just used to call it parching
coffee. If you got a good java done it made a delicious coffee. And then...later on in the years
we got to buying coffee from the stores. I forget the name of the brand of coffee...Pilot Knob
was one.
17:01
BG: Pilot Knob?
EE: Oh yes, you've seen that I guess....
BG: I think so, I think so....
EE: Well that had come in three pound buckets...and it was good...and others. But coffee used
to be five cents a pound. And sugar was three to five cents (laughs). And it doesn't sound
possible does it?
BG: Sound great (both laugh). Sounds great.
EE: This Smithey...that used to be over...well, the Smithey Store its in Boone today. There was
an old man from Wilkesboro (who) came up here and built a store in Boone and his name was
Will Smithey. And he sold fatback meat for three cents a pound, and coffee for three cents, and
sugar for three cents. But now its...past (laughs).
BG: It has, for sure.
18:12
10
�BG: When the Depression hit did that have much of an affect on your family?
EE: How's that?
BG: When the Depression came in 1929, did that have much of an effect on your family?
EE: Well, not too much. We...we tried the farm to make enough...it didn't hurt us. There was no
work to do and we got along just about as good as usual. It didn't affect us or me individually
much more than any other time. My daddy would never go in debt, above what he thought he
could come out at. When he made a debt he promised when to pay it and he wanted to pay it
when that time came. And he always made plans to do that, so he wasn't in debt when the
Depression came.
In 1917, Woodrow Wilson put up the share of Federal Land Bank business. He is the one that
organized federal land.
A neighbor up here Mr. Moody...he was talking to my daddy one day about how great that
federal land bank was and would be for the farmer. And my daddy, he told him that he didn't
believe in it. And Mr. Moody said that was one of the greatest things that (inaudible).
He said (his father), “Mr. Moody -- there will be lots of men that will lose their home right over
that one thing.” Well, in the Depression it came true. Now my daddy he wouldn't give a
mortgage on his place to the Federal Land Bank or nobody else. So when it came it didn’t affect
him…we just….
BG: Kept on...
EE: Kept it going. And today, I don't believe in putting yourself under a bigger obligation than
you can ask.
BG: That's right, that's right. You can get in trouble.
21:02
BG: Tell me, what about in 1940 when the big flood came. Did it flood this area very bad?
EE: No. The biggest hurt in this county, we had a little railroad coming from Johnson City to
Boone. When that ‘40 flood came it washed the railroad tracks out from Linville to Boone. They
had to…I think the train itself was on the other end of the mine…at Johnson City. But the flood,
it didn’t come in…so they took the track up and hauled it to Johnson City or somewhere. But
individually it didn’t hurt this county too bad, only the railroad. And it’s known as “Tweetsie”
now (laughs).
BG: Right, right.
11
�22:15
BG: Did you family ever have any cash crops?
EE: Cash crops? Well, in 1931 I began to raise tobacco. You could sell tobacco for three and
four cents a pound. (Laughs). We hauled it to Abingdon, Virginia and sold it for three and four
cents. Of course that’s not much of a ‘cash crop’ (laughs). At that time of course tobacco
(inaudible). Last year (1973) it sold for better than a dollar a pound.
BG: Did most of the farmers that did raise ‘cash crops’ would they sell to large businessmen or
to small businessmen?
EE: There were not many ‘cash crops’ that I can recall. Now tobacco and cabbage were the
main money crops. We had to haul our cabbage down south to Salem. And tobacco we had to
haul to Abingdon (Virginia) or to Johnson City, Tennessee. Because there was no other market.
Now beans, we raised a lot of beans for a good part of the year in this county. We sold them in
Mountain City, Tennessee.
24:19
BG: Was there any politics involved with who you sold your crops to, or what kind of price that
you got for your crop?
EE: Politics involved? Not that I knew of. We sold to just some company that was put up at
Mountain City at these tobacco markets and I don’t reckon there was any politics. We didn’t get
rich out of it anyway (both laugh). I raised one crop of tobacco and took it to Abingdon and sold
it and I didn’t have quite enough to pay for (inaudible) bill (laughs). We didn’t get rich.
BG: Yes, I understand that. What about farm machinery?
EE: Farm machinery? Well, now (inaudible) in my shed I’ve never owned any…farm
equipment…very little. I’m not a big farmer. I just tried raise enough to carry me over from one
year to the next (chuckles). If I had to have any machinery I would just hire it from someone.
BG: Now when all the modern farm machinery started coming out, did this have much of an
affect on the farmer?
EE: Oh no (emphatically).
BG: It didn’t?
EE: Very little. For years and years…in 1915 or ’16, they gradually picked up this and that and
the other in farm equipment. Now I believe that the corn planter was about the first thing that I
remember. Then this fellow (inaudible) [Krueger??] with a fellow Taylor.
12
�Do you know Frank Taylor? Over in Valle Crucis. His daddy sold turning plows and corn planters
and stuff like than and finally got to selling mowing machines…driven by horses. Then he went
out of business. And they kept getting a little bigger and a little bigger, and a little bigger.
And then in 1944 I got into the (inaudible) cattle business. And I raised (inaudible) cattle
business for…I guess ten or fifteen years.
BG: Who would you sell your cattle to?
EE: Just to whoever would (inaudible) (laughs). I took them ….I sold them up at Bristol and sell
them at (inaudible) market and then I would take them to Statesville, North Carolina and sell
them.
BG: How often would you take them there?
EE: Truck them. Haul them in a truck and then we…sold them off individually. Somebody would
come along and want to buy something…a male or a nice heifer, and just the two of us would
make a deal.
28:55
BG: Were there any government agencies that helped the farmer at that time?
EE: Well, not that I know of. The county agent came into this county about…1930 or along
about there. But I never thought that he requested too much of the county or any body else
(both laugh).
BG: Well, I didn’t say that.
EE: What?
BG: Well, I didn’t say that.
EE: Well (emphatically), anything he tried to get people to do never did help us any. I think a
county agent works at the ‘wrong end of the line’.
A county agent lady, is to…for instance say you’re a man now and you own a little farm out
here….
30:10
END OF SIDE ONE, TAPE ONE; BEGIN SIDE TWO, TAPE ONE
BG: …and the big farmer doesn’t give the little farmer a chance.
13
�EE: Well, of course…if the county agent would work with the little farmer and tell him
plans…work related…he would improve farms all over the country….
BG: Would that cause prices to come down because there would be more produce? And than
prices would come down…is that right?
EE: No, I wouldn’t think so. It would help us all. We would have more of bigger things and that
would open up better markets, bigger markets all over the country. If we had the cooperation
of the county agent and so on….I think that it would be beneficial to everybody.
1:17
Now when I was in the (inaudible) business we had several folks in this county that were raising
cattle. Well, the county agent worked with the ‘big man’ and he wouldn’t try to help the ‘little
man’ at all. That was discouraging to us. So that’s…the better your products and the more of
the ‘right’ kind of products that you got to sell will bring people in that would never see you
otherwise.
BG: Yes, yes.
EE: Wouldn’t you think so?
2:10
BG: Yes. Now tell me a little bit about your schooling. Was there a school around here?
EE: Yes, there used to be a schoolhouse up here at the forks in the road…where you turn down
this way (gestures with hands). Where you turn down there used to be a schoolhouse just
above the road after the forks in the road. One teacher schoolroom. I started school in that
building.
I forget of my teacher’s name at that time. It was a woman but I can’t tell you her name.
Eventually we built another schoolhouse down this way (points with arm) from that one. I went
to two schoolteachers…from the name of Powell Harmon and Frank Wilson. Oh I had three, and
Marion Thomas. I never got any farther up than the seventh grade. But the seventh grade was
not as far as teachers got at that time (both laugh).
3:46
The first school I went to was three months long. Well, we had three months a year of school
for….I don’t know how many years. The last school I went to was four months. We had to study
like everything to make it (laughs).
BG: How many students in their schoolhouse?
14
�EE: How many rooms?
BG: How many students?
EE: Students? Well, I declare I couldn’t hardly say. But I guess it was thirty-five to forty with all
the children in the community there…and just one teacher now had to do it. He had to start at
the beginning of the day at 8 o’clock and work till four or five to get home from school
(chuckles).
BG: Tell me, do you think that the school system was better then with all the small community
schools or do you think its better now with the one great big school that busses children in from
all over the county?
5:09
EE: Well that’s a hard question (laughs). In some way I think the old way was best. For the
teacher taught the young the ‘right way’. Now they just about turn the students loose and let
them learn themselves how. We got teachers that ought to be ‘digging roots’ for a living (both
laugh).
Now, my teachers that I had…the biggest part of them were religious teachers. One teacher
was a preacher and he taught school (rooster in background) throughout the year and he did
teach us ‘right’. Well, the other two were religious men but they were not preachers. But they
taught us and they had prayer in the schoolroom every day, every morning. One of the students
had to read a verse or two in the scripture and then they would pray themselves (rooster in
background). So I would say that I appreciated the ‘old way’ better (laughs) than what we got
now.
6:54
BG: What church was the most dominate around here at that time?
EE: Church? Baptist.
BG: Baptist.
EE: Well, we had the Methodist Church over at Valle Crucis and (inaudible). But the Baptist was
the leading church. I don’t know if you want this, but in World War II, when Kennedy (quickly
corrects self) Franklin D. Roosevelt was President of the United States, the Catholic Church –
now you may be a Catholic? (to the interviewer and laughs). But the Catholic Church…the
closest was about forty to fifty miles in Spruce Pine over here. And when he went out of the
presidency there was a Catholic Church in Lenoir and Johnson City and Boone and…I mean in
Blowing Rock and Lenoir and all around here. Of course they were small, but they came in and
now they are all over the nation. I am not trying to fight any denomination but I think that we
15
�could have gotten along just as fine without them (both laugh).
8:30
BG: What were funerals like and weddings? Were they held at the church?
EE: I didn’t understand you.
BG: Were funerals and weddings held at the church?
EE: Funerals? Well, sometimes. There was a long time that they were not. But weddings…it was
just the right thing to have a wedding in the church. But now back (to funerals)…there was a
long time that for a funeral they just sent out and got some preacher who would come and
preach the funeral and the neighbors took care of everything.
Of course I am not fighting the funeral home, they are nice but it took a lot of the love out of
the people. Don’t you think?
BG: I think so, I think so. People used to be buried wherever they owned land, is that correct?
They didn’t have big graveyards like they do today.
10:03
EE: Well, I wouldn’t think that they had (graveyards) just on their land. But a lot of them, you
are right. There has always been – ever since I can remember – a cemetery right up here on the
hill. It goes with the Danner Graveyard and there was a family of Danners’ that lived right across
the hill over there.
Old uncle Fred Danner was the first ever buried up there and it started from that name and it
goes with the Danner Graveyard. Some of my people are buried up there. Well just about all my
people that are dead are buried up there.
11:00
BG: You started to tell me before we started that there were only two stores in this county.
You want to tell us about those and what when on at the stores. Did people gather there and sit
around and play banjos? Tell us what it was like?
EE: (Laughs) Well, I couldn’t tell you much about that now lady. That’s all I knew about the
stores. Some of the men would gather in to play checkers but that’s about all I could tell you
(laughs). Now Newt Mast ran a big store on Cove Creek and Uncle Will Mast over here at Valle
Crucis, but ah…
16
�BG: Were those two Mast related?
EE: I’d say distantly related. I couldn’t tell you just exactly how much, and I wouldn’t try.
12:17
BG: What was happening in Boone at that time?
EE: What was happening in Boone? Nothing. (Both laugh).
BG: What was there?
EE: In Boone?
BG: As far back as you can remember.
EE: There was a family in the name of Harding, and some of them (inaudible) over there. The
Judge Greene, he was the county judge and he lived over there back when I was small. Rob
Laney and the Councills’. There is one Councill over there now – Jim Council. But the rest of
them I reckon have passed on. Now that was just about Boone (laughs).
13:42
I can remember when mud was that deep (gestures with arm) in the wintertime in Boone. And I
can remember the first car that ever came to Boone. And now you can’t get a parking place
anywhere (both laugh). Fred (inaudible) from Lenoir called up here and told him that he was
coming through Boone that day with a car. And I happened to be over there. It wasn’t the first
car that I had ever seen. I had seen one just before that.
BG: What kind of reaction did the people have towards this car?
EE: Just about like a circus would now (both laugh). It was a new thing (emphatically). Of course
we had heard about them, but seeing is believing you know. It was right smart scenery so
people had never seen one.
BG: Did it have much of an affect; did it bring about a lot of changes when people started
getting into buying cars? Did a lot of changes take place then?
EE: Well, not too much. I was the first to ever buy a car on this creek here (laughs).
BG: Oh yeah?
EE: I bought my first car on August 10th, 1924. I just bought it for my own use and then others
17
�began buy them, but it didn’t have too much of an effect on them. Everybody tried to be
neighbors and so on.
15:39
[Sounds as though the tape cut-off and starts again in the middle of a new conversation.
Where the conversation picks-up is out of context]
EE: And I’ve hauled people from Winston-Salem to all over the country; never charged a nickel
yet (chuckles).
BG: What was the price of gasoline in 1924 when you first bought your car?
EE: Lady, I couldn’t tell you (laughs). It wasn’t what it is today. I believe it was around twenty
cents. Now I wouldn’t tell it for certain. But it strikes me that it was around twenty cents. I paid
four hundred and ten dollars for my first car. (Rooster in background).
BG: What kind of car was it?
EE: Model-T Ford. Ford Roadster.
BG: What kind of gas mileage did you get?
EE: I couldn’t tell you that (laughs). There was no speedometer on the car so we couldn’t…
(both laugh).
BG: Oh, I see.
16:47
BG: Who were some of the community leaders around this area?
EE: Well, I couldn’t hardly say (long pause while he thinks about question). I guess some people
might say my father was one (chuckles) and the “Smoke on a Trivett” over here, Lindsey Trivett
and Lance Farmer.
BG: Why were they considered to be the leaders?
EE: Well, they were older. And people looked (up to) and listened to older people and
(inaudible) you have to understand. I guess that would be the biggest thing, and there was a lot
of religion then. And if that wasn’t it, I couldn’t tell you.
BG: Just respect.
18
�EE: Yes.
18:05
BG: Tell me, what are some of the changes you’ve seen take place in people then compared to
now?
EE: Lady I could not even start to tell you (both laugh). Back then, when I was a kid now, if
people did get sick – we didn’t have any hospitals. If you got sick, people would come in and
help in every way they could. Cooperation was the best thing then. Well now, if you get sick
they take you to the hospital and your neighbor doesn’t know anything about it. I’m like the old
man; I like the old way best (laughs).
You know we have a neighbor up here...she went to the hospital on Sunday…and she stays by
herself. I happen to be in Boone on Monday, I believe it was Monday or Tuesday – one. And
somebody told me that she was in the hospital. Now I wouldn’t have known (inaudible) unless I
happened to run into him. Well, back when I was a kid, you get sick and people would let you
know it and talk about through other people and it went by the word of mouth faster than it
does now on the radio (both laugh).
BG: Why do you think people were so much closer then than they are now?
EE: Well, that’s another hard one (laughs). Let’s not answer that one (laughs).
BG: All right, all right. It’s really kind of strange to me, I can’t really understand. Because it
seems that people your age, that lived in your lifetime…they are so much warmer and deeper
and they can ‘feel’ whereas people now…they don’t care…
EE: Don’t care is right (sternly). They don’t care for one another anymore.
BG: It’s not good I don’t think…not at all.
EE: I don’t think that it’s the right thing to do, but we were living in that (inaudible). You get sick
now and it’s just…let them die and (inaudible) they don’t care and they know it.
A couple of years ago my wife got sick and I had her in the hospital and there were very few
people that found it out when she came home. So it’s just a change, a big change…that’s all I
can say.
22:12
BG: What did you use to do for entertainment?
EE: Well, there wasn’t too much entertainment back then…only to get together and have as I
19
�said a while ago…corn shucking and log rolling and the younger folks would meet up at homes,
just to talk and pass…fellowship I say just as much as anything. Anymore and you have different
entertainment all together. A lot of people have to go to the theater to these shows…well, I
wasn’t raised to do that (child in background).
23:15
BG: Was there very much of a barter system, trade system when you were a boy? Did people
trade their excess to their neighbor for whatever they had?
EE: No, not too much. If your neighbor needed anything and there was more giving than there
was selling. We tried to work to one another’s advantage. For instance let’s just say that we had
too much vegetables say, we would divide it with our neighbor and never charge anything for it.
Just give it. But now it’s entirely different.
Just for instance, I have a few beans and a neighbor that lives on (inaudible) came over here the
other day and wanted to buy them. Well, I couldn’t sell them to him because I promised them
to him a year ago.
Instead I gave to him…he offered me $5 for a bushel for them…the green beans. When I was a
youngin, we gave them to somebody if needed. You see that’s the tilt of change…completely
turned over. The ‘right’ thing.
BG: Yes, seems to be.
24:54
BG: Did people believe in witchcraft and superstitions very much? Folktales?
EE: Well, we’ve always talked of witches. But never did believe in them (laughs) and so I
couldn’t tell you.
BG: Do you remember any of the tales that the people used to pass down?
EE: Well, I don’t think I could. I never did believe in ghost stories (laughs). I’ve heard people tell
ghost stories but I always doubted them.
BG: Never did scare you?
EE: No. Way back…it’s been about seventy-five years ago (Circa 1900), this fellow died up here,
was buried up here at the graveyard, the cemetery. My brother was out that night and he had
on a white shirt…he had been to the funeral. And then another fellow…he had on a white shirt.
I guess both of them had been to that funeral. They were coming to meet one another. They
used to say that there were ‘things to be seen’ up here at this spring just up the road from here.
20
�Each one seen the other one coming and they stopped, they didn’t know what in the world to
think. My brother, he never seen anything that he didn’t investigate. He stopped and he said he
made up his mind and said he would find out ‘what’ it is. He got right up to that fellow and that
fellow said to him, “Tony (or Toby) is that you?” (Both laugh).
Well, that is the only thing that got (inaudible). So, that’s just one of those things (both
chuckle).
27:43
BG: Was your family involved in any type of crafts?
EE: No, not that I know of.
27:56
BG: Did you know to make your clothes?
EE: Oh yes. She would spin her yarn…her wool and knit her own socks…and weave her own
clothes…all that she could weave. And make her own clothes. She had a loom setup in the living
room. She would run that old loom all day long, weaving this and that, and the other you know.
That was the only way to get any ‘new’ clothes, you had to make it. Entirely different the way it
is now.
BG: Did you have a lot of clothes or did you have just one or two pair of pants? Did they last a
long time?
EE: Well, we made them last (laughs). No, we didn’t have too many clothes. We just made out
the best way that we could. I was...I’d say sixteen or eighteen or seventeen years old when I
bought my first clothes out of a store. I’d work and had five dollars, that’s what I remembered
that I had…
30:07 Tape Ends
21
�
https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/bb6f971b68648ed498fbec173e7716fa.mp3
179799a3d9e970c3a7d50c991e489d8a
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Title
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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
Sound
A resource whose content is primarily intended to be rendered as audio.
Artist
Earp, Early (interviewee)
Greenberg, Barbara (interviewer)
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:01, Corn shucking
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 Early Earp, date unknown
Subject
The topic of the resource
Earp, Early (1891-1988)--Interviews
Vilas (N.C.)--History--20th century
Vilas (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century
Agriculture--North Carolina--Vilas--History--20th century
Farmers--North Carolina--Vilas--Biography
Description
An account of the resource
Early E. Earp was born on July 31, 1881 in the Vilas community and Bairds Creek community of Watauga County to Lewis Calloway Earp (b. June 5, 1844 – d. November 11, 1919) and Rebecca Williams Earp (b. May 16, 1861 – d. March 27, 1937). They were farmers and raised a family of 14 children. Many of siblings lived long lives. He parents were originally from Wilkes County and his maternal grandfather was killed in the Civil War. He passed away on December 25, 1988 at the age of 97.
During the interview he talked about early wages, farm work, how crops were planted and how the quantity was determined. He discusses growing sugarcane for molasses, selling wheat for flour, canning vegetables, drying pumpkins, and planting by the signs.
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>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
unknown
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.
Format
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MP3
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
21 pages
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
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Watauga County (N.C.)
Bairds Creek
car
cattle
Civil War
Danner Cemetery
farming
funerals
planting by signs
religion
Vilas
Watauga County N.C.
World War One