Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Edith Boothe Interview

Becky Bailey: This is Becky Bailey for the Matewan Development Center. Wednesday, July 5th at 1:15 in the afternoon. I'm in the residence of Ms. Edith Boothe. Ms. Boothe the first question I'd like to ask you is when you were born and where?

Edith Boothe: I was born in Matewan, West Virginia. January the 31st, 1905.

B: Were you born at home?

EB: Yes at home.

B: Did a doctor attend your mother or was it a mid-wife?

EB: A doctor attended.

B: Okay. And would you know his name?

EB: Yes doctor Burgess.

B: And who were your parents?

EB: Uh...my parents were Henry Boothe, and my mother was Calley Thompson Boothe.

B: And when were they married?

EB: Approximately nineteen hundred and two.

B: Okay. Were you the oldest child?

EB: No I have a brother that died.

B: Okay. Did he die as a child or as an infant?

EB: As a baby...as an infant.

B: Okay. Were your parents from the Matewan area?

EB: My father came from uh...Pennsylvania. And uh...my mother was from Virginia.

B: Do you know what brought them to Matewan?

EB: Yes. My grandparents came to Wilkesburo, Pennsylvania early in the century I don't know just what time...no probably eighteen hundred and ninety-two or something like that. And they came from Wilkesburo to Matewan on the first train that was put...on the one of first trains that was uh...brought down through the coal fields. In approximately eighteen hundred and ninety-five. My grandmother lived in England and she came to Wilkesburo and married an English.

B: What had brought her from England to American?

EB: Well I suppose the coal...coal mines. They were interested in coal.

B: Do you know when she came from England?

EB: I really don't know the exact...she was a young girl when she came. I don't know the date.

B: Do you know where in England she...

EB: Yorkshire(?)

B: Yorkshire.(?).

EB: England.

B: Say her..

EB: When they came to Matewan they started the Marvin Coal and Coke Company. My grandfather Boothe that she first was married to passed away and a couple of years later she married a man by the name of Joseph Williams. And together they started the Marvin Coal and Coke Company.

B: One of the questions that Ms. Boothe suggested that I ask you is why they...it was named the Marvin Coal and Coke Company? Do you know?

EB: I have no idea. I have no idea.

B: What do you know about uh...how and why they started that company? Do you know anything about that?

EB: Why they started the uh...coal mines?

B: Um-hum.

EB: Well they were interested. My grandmother had a little money and she invested it. It was her money that they invested. And uh...I suppose they were trying to make money. I don't know the reason.

B: Do you know were there other uh...coal mines already started here in the area?

EB: I think that was about the first. And uh...they had uh...they built several homes or several coal company places for people to live. And I think their were only uh...eleven or twelve men employed at the time they started that coal mine.

B: And did they use mules and things like that to pull out the uh...the cars from the mines at that time do you think?

EB: Well they had uh...I think when they started the mines they had mules that brought the coal out in little cars. If I remember right I'm not sure about that.

B: So early on did they have a company store or anything like that?

EB: Oh yes, they had a company store. Built there in the vicinity of Matewan Methodists Church right in that area.

B: Okay.

EB: And we lived up the uh...road there a little ways in one of the houses that they built. And that's where I was born. And my grandmother also lived in a home. Uh...adjoining that place.

B: Okay

EB: That's how I happen to be in Matewan.

B: So your parents came with your grandmother and his stepfather?

EB: No. My father came down and later he went to Pocahontas, Virginia and met my mother. And uh...they were married in Pocahontas.

B: Okay.

EB: And then he brought her to Matewan.

B: What do you remember about the Marvin Company?

EB: I don't remember too much about it except I remember my father managed the little store. And my grandmother kept the books. And uh...when My sister and I were real small we used to go down there and uh...she would give us a picnic lunch and we'd go up in the mountains and sit down and eat you know. That's all I remember much about it.

B: Do you remember any of the food she would give you? What...did she give you sandwiches or...

EB: Well I can remember bananas for one thing and sandwiches. Little sandwiches. Nothing particular.

B: Do you remember overhearing them ever discuss what kind of uh...products they had in the store? Or do you remember any?

EB: Well they had uh...bananas in that day that...oh and a bunch from the ceiling. I remember that part. Bananas that hung in the big bunch. Not like their...not like they buy them today. And they had canned food. And they would get meat in on trains. We had quite a few trains that ran through there...well not a quite a few that in the early days...But several. And meat was brought in on the trains.

B: Were the miners that worked for the company were they uh...paid in script that was redeemable in the store or...

EB: They were paid in uh...I suppose script. They were uh...I don't know exactly how they handled it but it was script.

B: About how long did they Marvin Coal and Coke Company stay in business?

EB: Not very long because it lost everything they had in the mines. And uh...I suppose eight or ten years. And then my grand mother and grand father opened a little grocery store over in Matewan.

B: What was...I'm sorry go ahead.

EB: I don't remember what it was called. What the name of it was.

B: Okay.

EB: But Williams. They were Williams uh...Mr. and Mrs. Williams.

B: Do you remember perhaps approximately where the store was?

EB: In a building close where the Now...Nowlin building was. I think there was a frame building there. And they had uh...a little store in that building.

B: Okay. Was there a recession or did the...did they make some bad investments? What...do you know anything about why the business failed?

EB: I don't know...I have no idea.

B: Okay.

EB: What was wrong.

B: Okay.

EB: I was too young to know.

B: How many siblings did you have that lived to adulthood?

EB: Uh...just one...my uh...I had...my mother died when I was three years old. And my father married again with in three years. And I have three half sisters. And two of them are dead. One's living in Florida. Then I have one sister real sister that uh... she passed away three years ago. That was uh...Mrs. Leckie...Mrs George Leckie...Hazel Leckie.

B: Did your mother die in childbirth or...

EB: No she had uh...TB.

B: Tuberculosis.

EB: Um-hum. It was quick consumption in those days. They couldn't treat...they did everything they could to try to save her. But uh...it was nothing they could do. They didn't have the treatment like they have today for...

B: Do you know when she contracted it? Did anyone ever tell...

EB: I don't know.

B: Were there many cases of Tuberculosis?

EB: No...no. She just uh...I don't know why that she got it. That's what I was told.

B: Okay. You say your father remarried and within two years?

EB: Yes...

B: Okay, did he...

EB: And he died when I was fourteen years old.

B: Did he...had he remarried a local lady or...

EB: No he uh....around Bluefield, West Virginia. A little town called Durang(?) he met this lady that he married.

B: After your fathers death did you live with your grandparents?

EB: Lived with my grandmother. Grandmother Williams. We called her grandmother Williams.

B: Okay. Where did you go to school when you were young?

EB: Matewan.

B: Matewan okay.

EB: Matewan elementary school and Matewan high school. Then I went to Concord College for four years. And got my A.B. and then to Marshall University and got my masters.

B: What stands out about your childhood school year? Do you remember playing games and any school day in particular?

EB: Nothing stands out. We had a teacher that was called Martha Hoskins that I remember well. And uh...my father always wanted my sister and I to go to school to here because she was strict. And uh...he liked that part about her.

B: Did you have her for a teacher?

EB: Yes, I had her I guess three or four years.

B: How many teachers were there in your school? When you say you had her three or four years did she teach several grades?

EB: No, she taught at different time. Uh...different years. I don't remember...there were four or five teachers.

B: Okay. Do you remember playing any child hood games? Do you remember any of the games that children would play in Matewan?

EB: Yes we played uh...hide and go seek. (laughs) And in the winter the it would freeze behind the school building and we'd skate back there.

B: On skates? Did you have skates?

EB: No. Just on our shoes just uh...

B: What kind of clothing did children wear when you were a little girl?

EB: We had just regular dresses but uh...stockings. I can remember black stockings. And my grandmother made our clothes, and we had very nice looking clothes because she sewed nicely. My sister and I lived with her.

B: Were the black stockings...I don't suppose they were like the panty hose of today...

EB: No...no they were uh...they just came above the knee. And they were black ribbed stockings.

B: Okay. What do you remember about going to the doctor when you were a little girl? Did you have to go to the doctor much?

EB: Not very much. I can remember going to the dentist for the first time. When I was oh...eight or nine years old.

B: What happened then?

EB: He pulled a tooth...I remember that. And then I went to the dentist constantly after that. Cause I've always had trouble.

B: What did he...do you remember what he did to you? I mean what kind of uh....there was a doctor in my hometown that use to actually press his knee into the...his patients to hold them still when he pulled the tooth out. What did your doctor do when he pulled your tooth?

EB: Well he uh...injected a cocaine I guess then just used    ____ and pulled the teeth out.

B: Was there a tooth fairy when you were a little girl?

EB: No...no tooth fairy.

B: Do you remember uh...anything that stands out in your mind about World War I? Were you very aware as a child of the war?

EB: I was uh...living with my grandmother and she did a lot of knitting for the soldiers and made socks. And she taught me how to knit a little bit. But that's all that I remember. I don't remember too much about World War I.

B: How bout the uh...flu epidemic? I heard that it hit Matewan pretty hard. The flu epidemic that followed the war?

EB: Yes it was. That's when my father died.

B: Okay. Was ill for very long from the flu or...

EB: He had a heart condition and when he got the flu he just passed away.

B: How old was he uh...when he passed away? Do you know?

EB: Fifty some I'm not sure. Maybe not that old I'm not...I don't know.

B: Did you uh...contract the flu at that time? Did you have it?

EB: Yes my sister and I both had the flu. BUt not very...we didn't have very bad cases of it.

B: What do you remember about that time? About the flu as it went through town?

EB: I don't remember too much about it.

B: How about uh...the uh...the events surrounding the Matewan Massacre and the coal mining wars? Do you...does anything stand out in your mind about that?

EB: When I was a young...very young girl I lived with my grandmother up in what is known as the O'Brien Addition and uh... in a small house across the railroad and I remember the shots down in town. And I ask my grandmother what it was and she said oh don't worry about it their...their having mine trouble. And that's I got...all I know. But I heard the shots. See I wasn't right in town at the time.

B: Okay. Do you remember ever seeing uh...some of the people involved? Say Sid Hatfield or Ed Chambers or Charlie Kiser?

EB: Yes I remember Sid Hatfield and that Mayor Testerman. I remember them.

B: What do you remember about them?

EB: I remember that Testerman had a jewelry store there in Matewan. And Sid Hatfield...I don't remember too much about what he did. But I think he was the mayor of Matewan wasn't he?

B: Uh...

EB: I'm not sure have you heard that he was?

B: He was the police chief...he was the police chief for a while I think and then he ran for constable.

EB: Oh I don't think he was mayor...I don't know.

B: Okay. One of the things that is difficult for us to piece together is his personality, Sid Hatfield's personality. Is there anything that...that you can think of perhaps a incident you remember seeing him or how he acted down in town when you were there or did you see much of him in town?

EB: I didn't see much of him. I don't know too much about him.

B: Okay. How about Testerman?

EB: He was a rather friendly fellow if I remember right. And I remember going into his store when I was a small girl. And looking at all his rings and things like that and thought it was wonderful.

B: Uh...do you remember seeing his wife? He uh...apparently he had two either the first wife or Jessie you may have been too young to remember the...

EB: Yes I remember them?

B: Okay. What do you remember about them?

EB: They were nice looking ladies both of them. I don't know...I can't tell you anything about them. Cause I don't remember.

B: Okay. Do you ever remember any of the other women in town that were saying anything about them?

EB: No....no not...

B: Okay. When did you uh...when did you finish high school? When did...when did children finish high school when you were young? Did they go through 'til eighteen?

EB: I finished when I was about eighteen. There were about six in the class.

B: Were you the only one to go on from college from that graduating class?

EB: No. I think they were...now I finished in Ieager, West Virginia my last year. And uh...a couple of the uh...girls that I graduated with went to college and were teachers. So that was about three out of six.

B: What was the ratio of boy to girl in your graduating class?

EB: There were two boys and four girls I think in my class.

B: Okay. Do you know about your friends back in Matewan that graduated the same time as you? You say you finished up in Ieager...

EB: I know a few. But uh...well what would you like to know? I don't uh...

B: Okay, well, first I guess I should ask you is what took you to Ieager in your senior year?

EB: Oh well I had uh...my grandmother had a close friend and I went up there to stay with her the last year in school. And that's how I happened to be up there.

B: Okay. Did they lady need a companion or...did you just stay...

EB: I just stayed with her. Her name is Lydia Stinkie, L.Y.D.I.A S.T.I.N.K.I.E.

B: Okay. What I was asking if you had graduated in Matewan do you have any idea about how big your graduating class would have been? How many of your friends from Matewan went through high school?

EB: I think they were about the same number.

B: Okay.

EB: Four or five maybe.

B: Okay. What about the uh...the admission process to go into college uh...when you went to Concord? What did you have to do to apply or to gain admittance?

EB: I had to send in my credits from high school. And that's about all that admission I had in order to enter. I entered the teachers college.

B: Okay. How was that set up differently from the overall uh... college

EB: college.

B: itself?

EB: No. Just the same. I took elementary work.

B: You say you went to the teachers college and you concentrated in the elementary education?

EB: Yes.

B: Okay.

EB: Then I went to Marshall after that for uh...a year and got my masters. And I also took elementary education.

B: Okay. At Concord where did you live?

EB: I lived in Matewan at the time.

B: Okay.

EB: That's in Athens, West Virginia. You probably know where it is about from...

B: Like my father attended it. He attended Concord. Uh...in... in...did you travel back and fourth to go to school or did you stay...

EB: No, I stayed there in the dormitory.

B: Okay.

EB: In fact I taught school and then earned enough money and then went during the summer and got my degree that way.

B: Okay. Where did you teach?

EB: In Matewan.

B: Okay, so did...was there a teachers certificate process that you went through...

EB: Yes...

B: To teach?

EB: I had teachers certificate. I started with a short course and then got normal school certificate and then a A. B.

B: Okay. Was that common then for teachers to go during the summer...

EB: Yes...yes...

B: to get their degree?

EB: Yes.

B: Okay. How long would the summer school sessions uh...run?

EB: Six weeks and then twelve weeks. You could go six weeks or twelve weeks.

B: What kind of course did you have to take to get your elementary education degree?

EB: Well you had to have a variety of courses pertaining to the elementary school. Math, and English and all kinds of school uh ...teaching equipment...teaching.

B: Okay.

EB: It's been so long I don't remember.

B: Were there special courses that you taught when you taught school or did you teach anything that was in....

EB: I taught in Matewan the fourth grade.

B: The fourth grade.

EB: I also taught the fifth grade.

B: How long did you teach?

EB: Forty-five years.

B: Forty-five years? So when did you retire from teaching?

EB: Nineteen and uh...seventy...I guess it was nineteen seventy. Maybe nineteen seventy-two I don't remember.

B: What stands out in your mind uh...as far as how teaching in Matewan changed through those years? That's a fantastic span of time when you look at education and how it developed?

EB: Well I think it improved all along. Except...no we had very good schools...all along I think. And very dedicated...dedicated teachers the last oh...several years before I quit teaching. They were nearly all dedicated teachers. I was also principal of the grade school in East Williamson one year. And uh...principal of the Matewan Grade School the last year before I taught. Before I uh...retired.

B: What comes to mind when you think of the kind of things that you did as a principal? What kind of things did you do that were different say from your teaching activities?

EB: Well I uh...worked in the office and we had charge of the lunch room. Had to plan the menu's I know that. And I supervised playground constantly and the halls.

B: Did you believe in corporal punishment at the time? Did you spank any of your students?

EB: Yes I...we spanked some. There uh...not very much though. When it was needed.

B: In the early years when you first began teaching uh...was the teaching a profession for women primarily or for men?

EB: Mostly for women.

B: Married or unmarried? Married or unmarried women? Was their any difference?

EB: No they uh...employed both married and unmarried women. Because my teacher...my sister was married and she taught.

B: Did you ever work with any uh...male teachers?

EB: Yes.

B: Okay. Was that something that men would do between other professional activities or do you know anything about why men would teach for a while and then go onto something else?

EB: I think they'd get more money that's why they would do it.

B: Okay.

EB: I taught with very few men. They were substitutes most of the time.

B: Okay.

EB: Or principals.

B: Were the principals then if they...if it were a male principal did he have much much teaching experience or who would they hire to be a principal of most of the teachers....

EB: Oh they had to have a certain...they had to have principal certificates before they could teach.

B: Oh okay.

EB: Before they could handle a school.

B: Your sister that taught was she the lady that was married to Mr. Leckie?

EB: Yes.

B: Okay. Was her husband involved in the running of the drug store there in town?

EB: Yes he had the drug store there in Matewan.

B: Okay.

EB: Leckie's Drug Store. And after she had taught 14 years she retired because she...she was needed in the drug store to help him. And she kept the books for him. That was a meeting place for everybody in Matewan. They would go there for sandwiches and drinks and for just uh...to meet people the social part of the town and they miss that now because they have nowhere.

B: So was it...was there an area in the store that was kind of like what they call a soda fountain?

EB: Yes he had a soda fountain, and sandwiches and they made soup and salads and different things like that. He had girls working for him in the drug store. And at the counter at the food counter.

B: Okay. What kind of things did he sell in that store? Do you remember? Or was it mostly...

EB: All kinds of cosmetics. And at one time he had a prescription department. All kinds of uh...uh...cosmetics and uh...musical supplies and any...most anything like that that you wanted. Had everything in it. Stationary, jewelry, all kinds of medical over the counter medical supplies.

B: One of the uh...concerns of our director of our center's director is historic preservation. And he would like to uh...to see some of the stores returned to what they were. So one of the questions we ask is do you remember any of the name brands of any of the things that he might have carried any uh...particular brands that he was fond of that he bought that he felt was quality?

EB: In cosmetics I remember Dubarry.

B: Dubarry?

EB: Uh-huh D.U.B.A.R.R.Y. Well just name brands but I think that they had most of everything that you could buy today except they have more different things today than they had then but uh...not too much because that store went out in nineteen seventy-seven during the flood. It was bought by uh...Sharon and Tommy Maynard there in Matewan. They bought that store out.

B: Was this before or after the flood?

EB: Before the flood. About a year before the flood.

B: You say that people socialized in the store. Where else did people social in Matewan?

EB: They had no place except uh...they would meet to talk. And uh...they young people from the high school would come down and they would eat sandwiches and my brother would kid them and talk to them you know. THey liked to come there.

B: Okay.

EB: They were...you'll ask most anyone and they'll tell you about the Leckie Drug Store I think if you uh...are interviewing people they'll tell you.

B: That's one that really stands out...

EB: Yes I think it does.

B: Really stands out. Okay. What are some of the other stores that you remember being in town? What does...

EB: They had uh...a dry good store. And a ladies store. Kirk's Department Store. That's Aileen Phillips's brother-in-law had the store there in Matewan and they had nice things.

B: When...when you were younger did you do all of your shopping in Matewan or did you travel to other places to shop?

EB: We did in the early days we did a lot of shopping most of our shopping right there in Matewan. But then later on we went to Williamson, Huntington, Charleston and did our shopping. Years ago you could get most anything you wanted in Matewan.

B: When you would travel about did you do most of your traveling by train?

EB: By car.

B: By car?

EB: Well now when I first started to teach we used to ride the train on Saturday down toward Williamson. We'd leave about eleven o'clock in the morning and get back on the evening train which came back about five o'clock.

B: Do you remember the fair at all? How much the fair costs?

EB: Oh, about 25 cents. I think it was about that much.

B: Goodness. How about the movies did you go to the movies much?

EB: Yes I went to the movies. They...the first movie that I can remember is one in a frame building uh...close to the Urias hotel there in Matewan. It was a very well it wasn't much of a building. They had movies there on Saturday afternoon and we would go to see serials.

B: How much did it cost to go on Saturday afternoons?

EB: I don't remember exactly but I don't think it was much maybe 15 cents 10 or 15 cents. I don't remember. I'm just guessing at that. And then later on they had a movie there where I Ibos's(?) uh...oh the Ibos(?) girl what's her name? Lives there in the building...where she had....she makes the t...all the t-shirts and puts them...

B: Oh okay, uh...in R-House...

EB: R-House yes.

B: Margaret Casey.

EB: Uh-huh.

B: That was Frank Allara's theater?

EB: Yes it was Frank Allara.

B: Okay.

EB: We went to the theater there and I can remember during on Saturday night and during the evening there would be a line way down the street waiting to get in the theater. There were that many people that came to the theater. And there was so much shopping there in Matewan that you would have to...you couldn't walk on the sidewalk you'd have to go off on the...the street probably to get through the crowd to get into Matewan there were so many people on Saturday nights. When I was young.

B: What was the sidewalk like uh...years ago when you were young? Was it built...

EB: When I was real young I can hardly remember but I think it was a board sidewalk. Made out of boards.

EB: Wooden...I should say wooden sidewalk.

B: Back then uh...when you were first starting teaching were professional women rare in that community? How did...how was your standing say on feminine side of the community as a teacher?

EB: You were uh...outstanding I mean uh...they felt people sort of looked up to you in those days more then they do now I think.

B: Was there any sense in that perhaps you lived in a glass house? Did people watch what teachers did? I mean did you feel that your social life was some how influenced by your standing in the community as a....

EB: I don't think so. I don't think so.

B: Okay. Were you uh...uh...Methodists?

EB: Yes. In fact, my grandmother and grandfather started the Methodist's Church there in Matewan.

B: And were they...I believe Ms. Bowes they were Episcopalian originally but...

EB: originally and uh...there wasn't uh...a Methodists...there wasn't an Episcopal church in fact they didn't think that a Episcopal church would go over there in Matewan. So they started the Methodists Church. The Matewan Methodists and uh...I think when they first started they only had uh...seven or eight members.

B: Was there another church in Matewan that people went to or...

EB: As far as I know not.

B: Okay.

EB: At that time...

B: Right.

EB: There may have been people that met at homes and places like that. You'll get the chimes in the...

B: With such small a congregation was there uh...a minister that came through on a circuit?

EB: Yes on a circuit. He came.

B: How often would he come? Did he come every Sunday or...

EB: No, but Jane Bowes could tell you that I think. She has the history of...

B: Okay.

EB: Though the church built up quite fast and they had uh...a large...well right large membership within a year I think or two years after. I know that my grandmother taught the primary department and my grandma...grandfather is uh...well grandfather Williams by marriage he was superintendent of Sunday school. And my father played the piano. So it was sort of a family affair when it first started. But later on it was different.

B: Did church meet with or without the minister? What did they...

EB: They would meet without the minister. And then uh...the minister would come and preach. As far as I remember when I was a child we had church every Sunday. So he must have come quite often.

B: Okay.

EB: But the members there were just six or seven members but then outsiders would come in to the church see. And there would be more people there.

B: One of the things that I've found...I've interviewed most of the ladies that's been my department. I have a colleague that's interviewed mostly gentlemen. Is uh...I haven't really established a date when it changed but early on it seemed like young couples would marry in someones home rather than the church do you remember uh...ever noticing when that changed or...

EB: I don't remember exactly when it changed. I remember that my cousin married and they married in my sister's home. But I don't remember...that's been fifty years ago I guess...well more than fifty years ago.

B: Okay. What about politics in the county? I've run across a couple of things that uh...involved politics and school. What do you know about Billy Adair if you don't mind me....

EB: Billy Adair?

B: Yes.

EB: Yes uh...I can remember them soliciting teachers or trying to solicit but I had...never contributed. I got by without it...some way. They just solicited teacher I know that for amounts of money to pay into for the politics in the county.

B: Did anyone ever approach you or...

EB: Not...not directly they didn't.

B: Okay.

EB: Through other people.

B: Right. What kind of things were said? Do you remember did they...

EB: Well they would come around with a paper and say that uh... they were asking for money to uh...help the Board of Education or something to that effect. They help elected the Board of Education. They wouldn't say any certain person. As far as I...

B: But you managed to avoid that...

EB: But I...I never uh...as far as I now I don't' think that I ever donated anything. I don't believe I did.

B: One of the terms that has come up has been the Flower Fund. Do you ever hear...remember hearing a "flower fund" that was...

EB: I've heard of the "flower fund". But that must have been the fund for uh...electing to put into the money to elect certain board members I suppose. I don't know.

B: Okay.

EB: I think that's what the "flower fund" is. Mrs. Reams can tell you about that.

B: Okay.

EB: She knows more about politics than I do.

B: Okay. One of the ladies that I interviewed was uh...Stella Presley.

EB: Oh yes.

B: And uh...I'm not sure if this was in Matewan or perhaps one of the other school that she taught at but she said one year uh...it was demanded of the teachers to buy season football tickets. And I was wondering if that was....

EB: I don't remember that. Of course I know Stella Presley but I don't know.

B: Okay. And one of the other things that I've from I can't remember honestly if it was Mrs. Presley or another teacher was uh...that teachers were not paid over the summer they received their salaries during the school year.

EB: That's right. We weren't paid during the summer at all.

B: What did you do during the summer months when school was out?

EB: Went to school.

B: To school okay.

EB: We had to borrow enough money to go to school and then pay it back in the winter. Borrowed money from the bank to attend school.

B: Since you were attending school did uh...the bank did they try to give you favorable interest rates because you were continuing your education?

EB: No...no I think we paid the same rate.

B: Okay.

EB: Back then it wasn't very high. I think it was three percent or something like that.

B: Okay. One of the things that we heard about the uh...the bank during the great depression was that it stayed open for business even through the bank holiday that was declared. Do you remember anything about the uh...depression that was in Matewan. That stands out in your memory about the depression?

EB: I remember that we couldn't buy certain items in the store like soap, sugar, butter. We were rationed. We were allowed so much.

B: Okay. And then that probably continued into World War II? The rationing?

EB: I think so.

B: Okay. Did the depression effect uh...schooling? Did the children continue to come to school or...

EB: Yes they...they continued to come. They didn't have the clothing though that...well I know they didn't have proper clothing some of them didn't in those...in those days. And uh..we would try to help them. The teachers would try to help them and give them. Buy clothing for them. Or solicit.

B: One thing that uh...Aileen Phillips said that she remembers about the depression and being school was a food program that they sponsored for children that were under weight for their size. she said "she was a tall thin child and she got to eat at the special" ...I believe that they had uh...breakfast and a snack time or something like that were the thin children uh...

EB: I don't remember that. I remember giving the children Olive Oil. For undernourished children. And we served a hot lunch. It wasn't buy the government but uh...this Mrs. Hoskins that used to ...my father always wanted us to be in her room she was principal of the grade school here in Matewan. And she would run a little lunch room down in the basement of the school and serve soup and sandwiches and things to the children for a very low price. And those that couldn't afford lunch she would give it to them free. They'd have a free lunch. They do that today but on a different scale. They have a different scale they pay so much.

B: So this was something that was not sponsored by the government?

EB: No it wasn't sponsored by the government at all.

B: Right.

EB: She just did that on her own.

B: Okay. What about uh...the teacher responsibilities in the class room? I know my mother is from that area of West Virginia she says "she remembers uh...the teachers would check their fingernails and whether they had clean faces in the morning and"...what kind of responsibilities did the teacher have when you first started teaching that perhaps went away through the years? Did you...were you responsible for checking the children health or...

EB: Yes we did...we checked the children in the....

B: This is Edith Boothe tape two Miss. Boothe we were talking about uh...some of the responsibilities that you had as a teacher and we were talking about uh...teachers being responsible for cleanliness and you said one of your principals would actually come by and check himself?

EB: Yes he would check the children himself. Stewart Gose was the man who did that. He is dead but he was an excellent principal. And you say he'd even make them stick their feet out?

EB: Oh yes he'd have them stick their feet out to see if their shoes were clean. No mud on them tracking in the school building. For one thing. If they'd brush their teeth and.

B: What did the school building look like inside? How big a building was the elementary school there in Matewan? When you first started teaching?

EB: When I first started teaching there were about uh...one, two, three, four...there were about eight rooms. And then later on there was four more rooms added. We had a large enrollment at that...in the early days.

B: About....

EB: I can remember having in my class room around forty and forty-two children.

B: At a time?

EB: Um-hum. And also we uh...after I had taught about ten years I think we had two and three fourth grades or two and three third grades and so on like that. It was a big school.

B: During those earlier years uh...did children switch classes like they do now. In elementary school...I know they started switching classes in the forth [sic] and fifth grade.

EB: No not until the...later on and then we did departmental work for two rot three years but that didn't work out very well. Departmental work we taught...say I taught reading and writing and spelling and English and some other teacher would teach math and so on. And the children would move to room to room. But it wasn't very satisfactory. The fourth, fifth, sixth grades did that.

B: When you say if wasn't' very satisfactory um...what were some of the things that you didn't like about...

EB: Well this one part wasn't very...was uh...difficult. And then uh...children carrying their supplies their books supplies was unhandy for them. Keeping up with things.

B: So most the time say if you taught the fourth grade class...

EB: It was all...

B: you taught every subject....

EB: I'd rather have it all in one room. Teach the entire subjects in one room and have the children all day long. I preferred that.

B: How would you break up your day? How...what was the school day like? When did school begin?

EB: It began at nine o'clock and we taught until uh...about eleven thirty and then we'd have lunch and go back about a quarter of one and uh...then we taught until three thirty. But I can remember teaching until four.

B: Oh goodness.

EB: Then the latter years that I taught the last few years. We were out at three o'clock.

B: How many subjects did you teach say in the fourth or fifth grade?

EB: About six or eight.

B: Oh goodness. Do you remember some of the subjects...did you teach say health or science or history?

EB: Yes we taught health. We had regular health classes. And math, and English, reading, writing, spelling, history, geography, science. I think I've named more than...I don't know...the regular curriculum.

B: Did uh...did you take student on field trips in the early years? What kind of activities did the school have say...that they took the children out of school but on a school activity?

EB: We'd take them on uh...field trips short field trips. Around Matewan and there. And I especially took them on bird trips. You now to listen to the birds and also to learn more about trees and flowers and so forth.

B: Now I know I ask briefly before about discipline now when a student needed to be disciplined did the teacher perhaps spank or was the child sent to the principal for a spanking?

EB: We used to in the early days...I didn't...i never did much spanking because I could handle the children very well without. But uh...accasionally would spank them. And I never got any repercussions from it...from the parents...it was always okay. But later on we sent them to the principal. And we also then later on we had to have witnesses before we could spank a child. But when I first started to teach I didn't have to have anything.

B: Okay. Were the spankings with a ruler or a paddle...

EB: With a little paddle.

B: With a paddle okay. How about the uh...normal health epidemics? Were like say lice or chicken pox? How would something like that...how was that handled when it would hit Matewan?

EB: Well uh...if we would find that there were lice...that a child had lice we would examine their heads and send them home with the instruction what to do, what to take.

B: Right.

EB: They could get uh...medicine from the drug store but I don't remember the name of the medicine that we recommend for them to take...uh...to use on the head. In fact I never found too many I...just one or two cases that I had.

B: Okay. How about the childhood diseases? Did you ever say an out break of the measles or the chicken box or the mumps or anything like that?

EB: Yes.

B: Okay.

EB: But uh...they weren't uh...we would sent them home if we found out they were taking the measles or mumps or something. But they were inoculated for measles I know. For quite a few years back.

B: In the uh...forties and fifties I know there were many polio cases. Were there ever any uh...polio cases that were...

EB: I don't remember any. I don't know.

B: I think perhaps one more question before I would try to finish up would be your grandmother Williams seems to have bene such instrumental figure in the Methodists Church I though [sic] we might talk just briefly abut her. What kind of person was she? What stands out in your memory about your grandmother?

EB: She was a very dedicated person and she could do most anything. She was an excellent cook. And uh...being an English lady she naturally was and uh...she could...she kept the books and the uh... company store as I...I think I told you that before. And she was an excellent home maker she could sew. She made all our clothes.

B: Did she ever talk about her life in England her childhood? Did anyone...did she tell you...

EB: Yes...but uh..not..she didn't...she came over as a young girl and she didn't know much about it.

B: Okay.

EB: She had a sister that was also uh...I think she was born in this country though. She was English and she married an Englishman. And my grandmother married and Englishmen see so uh...

B: So her first husband was that Mr. Boothe was that the Enlgishman [sic]?

EB: Yes he was a Englishmen. That was my father. My father's father i'm sorry my grandfather.

B: So was there a large English community in that...in Wilkesboro...I believe

EB: I think there were I don't know. But I think there was a lot of people settled there from England.

B: I don't know that you would...

EB: I think that...there was coal...there was coal mines there. If I remember right. I never...I in fact I don't think I've ever been to Wilkesboro.

B: Um...I don't know that...that you would have necessarily have noticed any difference but were there any customs or anything that was different about living with your grandmother than saying the women in the community. Did she have any little things that she cooked differently or anything that she prepared differently from the...

EB: Well I'll tell you when...people would come she'd always say...come to visit she'd say "well stay and I'll have a cup of tea"...they served tea in England a lot. And she's not only have tea but she'd have cookies or cinnamon buns or raisin bread or something like that. That people in those days early days I don't think they had maybe raisin bread and cinnamon rolls and things like that. Which they do have today but in those days I don't think they had them. And she would serve she'd always have raisin or cinnamon toast or cinnamon buns and tea for people when they would come to visit.

B: So was the educate training that you had perhaps as a young lady were any...was there anything that she taught you that was any different like....did she teach you to curtsey or things like that when you were young?

EB: I can't recall. I don't remember...I don't remember.

B: Okay. Well is there anything that...that comes top your mind that I haven't ask you about that you would like to talk about before we stopped our interview?

EB: Did you uh...you have anything about the Leckie home across the river? I lived over there thirty-eight years with my sister.

B: No we haven't had anyone talk to us about that yet. Um...do you know when it was built?

EB: About nineteen hundred and uh...forty-six or forty-seven.

B: Okay. Was the home built by your sister and her husband?

EB: Yes, they built the home.

B: Okay.

EB: That was the Buskirk property. That's called Buskirk in that area. I know you've already found that out. But it was the Buskirk home that used to be built on that property there where the home is now. And there was an old saloon called the Blue Goose you've heard about that haven't you?

B: Yes mam.

EB: And when they bought the property and uh...built a home there were a lot of whiskey bottles. Oh that foundation was full and they had to clean all that out and throw them away. And when uh... they brought whiskey into uh...the Blue Goose. I was told they brought it up on a flat boat up the river they use to do that. And uh...unload it and take it into this uh...Blue Goose as it was called. A frame building that was there. And the Buskirks had that.

B: Was this building still standing by the time your sister and her husband bought that property or had it...the Blue Goose had it...

EB: Oh they...that had already fallen in. But there was another little house on down below there where they kept...sort of an ice house where they kept supplies and things. I don't think they kept ice in it, I think it was just dug down in the dirt where they could put things to keep them cool. And that was there they had to tear that down I know. They tore that down.

B: Where was that in relation to the house as it stands now?

EB: That was on the river bank right over the back there on the... right down below the Blue Goose is. There's old sidewalks down in...it's like right down over the hill there.

B: Okay.

EB: It was uh...And it's uh...been said that Bob Buskirk buried money over around that area. Silver Dollars and gold and so fourth buried in different spots, around Matewan. Around the uh...home over there in Kentucky...the Leckie home.

B: Oh my goodness.

EB: So I had several people come and want to go around with uh...those geiger to see if they could locate any money. And I wouldn't let them do it because I didn't like it. The only person I let do it was Bill Varney over in town that he uh...you probably heard about Bill that was killed by a truck, big truck. Cleo and Bill Varney.

B: Yeah.

EB: So you've heard about him. He came and he wanted to go over the grounds with a geiger so I let him. And he said "if I find anything I'll give you half of it".

B: So when you say the foundation of the home now where they dug the ground was full of whiskey bottles or did they build that home on the foundation of the Buskirk home?

EB: No they uh...whiskey bottles were in the old Blue Goose.

B: Oh in the Blue Goose.

EB: And they built the home back...back from there.

B: Oh okay.

EB: And they thought...my sister and her husband they thought about putting in a swimming pool in that area. But they never did get around to it. Where the Blue Goose is they thought they would have a swimming pool there but they didn't.

B: How...how long before say your husband I mean your sister and her husband bought that property was the Blue Goose there? Was it say around the turn of the century or...

EB: I think it was. Around at the turn of the century. It was built around the turn of the century. And there was an old swinging bridge that came right across the river there and landed right at the back or at the side of the Leckie home. Right where those concrete walks are. And it landed there and that's how they used to bring the corps over to bury them across to the cemetery. That's the only way that they had of getting over there years ago.

B: How wide was that swinging bridge? Was it something that people walked across individually?

EB: Oh it...they'd walk across it was only uh...wide enough for two people to walk over and that was just about it.

B: Okay.

EB: But when my mother died they had to bring her across I was told in a boat in one of those little boats. They took her across to bury her. My mother and father both are buried there in Matewan. Mother and grandparents too.

B: So there was no bridge other than that bridge in the early years? The swinging bridge?

EB: No...then they built another bridge later on down below just this side of that big bridge that comes across now. Just uh...the upper side of it. There was a bridge but it was a one way bridge. The cars went over it. And that's the kind of a bridge that we had when we first moved across to uh....West...to uh...Kentucky.

B: So only one car would pass at a time?

EB: Yeah you'd have to wait across the river uh...until the car would pass...would come over and then you'd go on over.

B: Okay.

EB: This bridge has only been built since the flood. I believe... I believe it's built since the flood.

B: Were you living in Matewan and during the '77 flood? Were you still there?

EB: Yes. I've always lived in Matewan.

B: Okay. What do you remember about the flood? Did uh...did you... were...you all were flooded I assume?

EB: Yes.

B: Yes.

EB: About three feet on the main floor of that Leckie home. Uh... my sister and I were in...we were...we didn't dream of uh...of being being flooded. We were there alone and we thought that the flood was all wouldn't come you know across over into that area. And we were watching TV and my sister said i believe that i better go down in the basement and see if everything's alright. She went down and stepped in water down in that...in the basement part. And the water had seeped through the ground and uh..."oh" she said "we've got to get stuff out of the basement"...so we started moving things to the first floor. Then we found out that it was gonna come up higher than that. So we uh...called the radio station to see if we could get some help but we couldn't get them the phones were out. So I ran all the way up to the radio station and ask for help so we got oh ten or twelve people came down to help us move things. Out of the basement up to the first floor. Then we found out it was gonna get up in the first floor so we moved them to the third. Uh...a lot of like mattresses and the bed and uh...the better furniture in the living room. But the dining room furniture got it. In fact I've got a few pieces around here now. That was in the flood.

B: Oh my goodness.

EB: and uh...I don't know nothing much we got the clock up stairs. I had a clock. Got it up stairs. A lot of this...this I have had this since but that chair and this chair we all moved up stairs. The TV and so fourth. That was all moved up.

B: Was much uh...was there much damage to the home from the flood?

EB: Well the windows and all no windows were broken the floors were not warped or anything. But the polish they were hardwood floors. The polish all came off the floors. And the basement was pretty well damaged. But uh...we got it all straightened up. Took about two years to get it back in shape like uh...like it is today. You'd never know it now.

B: That's true. That's one of the hardest for my colleague and I...people have worked so hard to make everything uh...take it back to what it was before the flood we don't see any signs of it. So it's hard to realize what a devastating flood it was.

EB: Oh that was a terrible thing.

B: Being across the river there were you all very isolated from the rest of the community....

EB: Yes we were. We uh...we couldn't...well we were just isolated from everything. Matewan was isolated. And uh...Parker Ferguson was my cousin he was the pastor of the Matewan Methodist Church and he lived up on the hill there in the parsonage. A brick home and he was out helping people. And uh...we uh...went up there, my sister and I went up across we had to wade out through the water and uh...we got in there was a car there waiting for us. And it was all heated and so they took us up on the hill off of the uh... to my uh...cousins and we stayed up there a week. No we stayed longer than that. We stayed a month. And we went down everyday and worked in the house. And got it back so we could live in it. And Parker I don't know where he was but he was out helping people out in town. And he came across that railroad bridge up there above Matewan before it was flooded. And he got up on the mountain some way and he came around the mountain in to his home. He had to. But no lives were lost.

B: That's the amazing thing. That the amount of water that came through. About how long did it take from the moment that your sister noticed that there was water in the basement was it say a day or so before it crested as high as it went or do you...

EB: Well no we had to leave when it started coming in the upstairs. In the...on the first floor there we had to leave. And when we got out you see uh...that's up higher than the lawn and we went down steps and had to wade and it was about to our waste. We waded out and uh...got in the car and went on up there. Well I know that you have been told about people in Matewan uh...about the flood over there and about people in the Buskirk building uh...had to go up on the roof you've been told that?

B: Just briefly somebody said that uh...they were up...one person was in a attic and was rescued...I haven't hear about the Buskirk.

EB: Well a lot of people in the Buskirk building that lived over there at that time. They were teachers and so fourth.

B: But people had...

EB: The county superintendent and his wife and uh...a couple of teachers. They went up on the roof and they took umbrellas and rain...rain coats and they took pots of coffee and they stayed up there on top until the uh...water started receding 'til they could come down.

B: Oh my goodness. Do you remember any of their names that did that? That went up on the roof?

EB: Gertrude Chin she's dead. And Addie Step. And uh...I think Pauline Morgan and Herschel Morgan. I don't...I'm not sure but I believe they lived up there. And uh...a Mr. and Mrs. Varney and I think they still live there. And I don't recall others but there were others.

B: Okay. In the early years if you don't mind me getting back to that unless was there anything else that you wanted to talk about, about the '77 flood? Was there any other stories that you had?

EB: Mrs. Reams can tell you one funny story.

B: Okay.

EB: You might ask her.

B: Okay.

EB: I can tell you one about uh...there was a furniture store right across from Nancy Bowling lives. Do you know...happen to know where Nancy...across from where the post office is. Two houses down and across the street there was a furniture store and they had very nice furniture nice things so uh...Mrs. Reams had to move from her house to Nancy Bowlings in that apartment that belongs to Aileen Phillips. She was there and they were watching out the window and they saw a bed come through the uh...window there at that old furniture store and it had a big teddy bear on it. And it was washing down the street and she said "that looked funny to see that teddy bear on that bed"...going down through the street. But she can tell you some funny things about the flood I think. Now I can't think of anything else.

B: One thing that I just thought of about the flood I remember somebody mentioning in passing was that there was some trouble with looting. Since you and your sister...

EB: Yes.

B: Weren't in your home. Did your...

EB: We didn't have anybody that bothered. We locked the house up pretty well and the basement. We couldn't...the door were swollen in the basement but we uh...managed to get them closed up pretty tight that no one could get in.

B: Um-hum okay. But you did hear about looting in town?

EB: There was some looting going on.

B: Okay.

EB: Nobody bothered our home though.

B: Just like to clarify perhaps before we stopped uh...was the Blue Goose saloon did you ever hear anything about bootlegging at any of the other places in town. I know as a teacher you wouldn't of you know...

EB: I don't remember there was bootlegging that went on but I don't know anything much about it.

B: Was the Blue Goose still an active saloon when you were young or had that...was that something... EB: I think it wasn't when I was very young but I don't remember anything about it.

B: Alright um...one of the stories that we have heard from information not gather by us my colleague and was that there was a celebration in town after the shooting during the Matewan Massacre did you ever hear anything about the what happened after the shots were fired? I know your grandmother said oh they're having trouble but do you remember what the atmosphere in town was like say in the next couple of days after that?

EB: See we didn't live right in town at the time do you have     ____ or two but uh...it was very quit I think. And no one on the streets. So I was told.

B: Alright um...lets see one uh...Rex Harmon is a resident of Newtown and he said that when he was little he can remember troops going through that fought during the mining wars. Do...were there ever any troop trains that went through Matewan that you remember carrying people?

EB: Well they were trains that carried troops but I didn't know that they were troop train...called troop trains. But they carried troops all through town. And through uh...Matewan. I remember getting on the train there and going to Roanoke, Virginia with uh...Mrs. O'Brien and uh...there were alot of troops on the train at the time. But it was not only the troops but other passengers besides.

B: Um-hum okay. Well if there's uh...there's nothing else...is there anything that you would like to talk about I'm sorry...

EB: I don't know of anything else.

B: Okay. Well thank you for talking to me today.

EB: Well I know you're tired...

Matewan Oral History Project Collection