Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Edna Wolford Interview

Becky Bailey: On Tuesday, June 26, 1990, I'm in the home of Mrs. Edna Wolford. Mrs. Wolford, my first question is, what is your full name and when and where you were born?

Edna Wolford: My full name is Edna Wolford.

B: Okay.

EW: And I was borned in Virginia. Uh...a little old place called Pawpaw. See, there' s Papaw, Kentucky, but they's a Papaw, Virginia up next to Bluefield.

B: Un-hun. Okay, and what year was that?

EW: You will have to count that out. I was seventy-three uh...Christmas day.

B: Okay. So you were born on Christmas day?

EW: Yeah.

B: What were your parents names?

EW: Joey Sipples and Nan Childess.

B: You weren't their only child were you?

EW: No.

B: Okay.

EW: I...I see. I give you Childess it's Shards. Sorry about that.

B: Okay.

EW: Shards.

B: Okay.

EW: My mother was from Grundy.

B: Okay. How many children did your parents have?

EW: Let's see, John Claude, nine, as well as I know.

B: Okay. And you were the baby of the family?

EW: Right.

B: Okay.

EW: And I'm the only one a living.

B: When...how long did you live in Virginia when you were little?

EW: They brought me to Devon when I was four years old.

B: And why did they come to...why did they come there?

EW: My mother was sick and she come to stay with her sister. My daddy worked on the railroad.

B: What did he do on the railroad?

EW: He was track walker.

B: What's that mean?

EW: That's where they walk track to keep up the...that's the only thing I just know, they walked the track you know, keep the bolts and things tight and everything.

B: What was wrong with your mother? Do you know?

EW: Cancer. (cat meows)

B: She had cancer. Okay. Um...where had their families come from? Do you know?

EW: My daddy's from here and my mother's family's from above Grundy.

B: How did they meet? Do you know?

EW: I don't know how they met.

B: Okay. Your father was involved in the...in the Glen Alum posse, right?

EW: Yeah. He was one...he was one that was helpin' them find those men, you know. But a man killed him.

B: Un-hun.

EW: Get down. (speaking to cat)

B: Do you remember him very well?

EW: I was four years old when he got killed but I can remember that black mustache and I can remember her real well.

B: Un-hun. Okay. How did he die?

EW: Charlie Williams killed him. Another railroad man.

B: Do you know why?

EW: Well, what I have to go by was young, you know, it's what a man told me.

B: Un-hun.

EW: This old man when he took sick to die, I talked to him a lot, and he sent for me to come to his house. I was married then and had children and he said he wanted to tell me about it. So he laid on his death bed and told me all about it and he said that Charlie Williams killed my daddy. He was murdered for money. For, a money belt he was wearin'.

B: Un-hun. Um. You say you remember your mother better though?

EW: Yeah. I remember mother better. Why I reckon the reason, there's only six months in between their deaths. Why I remember her, I reckon is uh...

B: You were saying off tape that there's only six months between your parents death?

EW: That's right. Mother died first then my daddy got killed.

B: Un-hun. How come you remember her better?

EW: I don't know unless maybe because I aggravated her so much about her hair is all I know.

B: Did she have really long hair or...

EW: Oh yeah. She could sit in one of these straight back chairs and it'd drag the floor.

B: Oh. And did you want to brush it or...

EW: I wanted to comb it and plait it. (laughing)

B: Who...who raised you after they died?

EW: W.R. Wolford. Married my mother's sister.

B: Did they have other children?

EW: W.R. Wolford had uh...one son and one daughter but they wudn't with...with him. He'd been married before and they was in um...California. Their mother took them out there so I was the only one he raised.

B: Un-hun. Okay. Was he much older than...than your aunt?

EW: Un-hun. I don't their age but he's a lot older than her.

B: What did he do for a living?

EW: Well, only thing I ever knowed, he was an officer.

B: Un-hun. Like a police officer?

EW: Yeah. And then he had hotels and store and things like that, you know. Around here at Devon. There ain't nothin' there now. There used to be a big place though.

B: Un-hun. Did your aunt help run the hotel or...or whatever where you were?

EW: Yeah. Yeah. Un-hun. Her and him. Her and W.R. Wolford. Her name was Polly.

B: Un-hun. What do you remember about growing up with them?

EW: With the Wolfords? Well, they died when I was twelve years old. And then I got me a job with uh...Evermond Staton, was a janitor for a school and I worked at that 'til, well I worked at that a long time.

B: Un-hun.

EW: But I didn't think people was good to me like they ought to be. Then I...my foster father went west and while he was gone, I moved in his garage.

B: Did they die together when you were twelve?

EW: Not...wudn't very much apart.

B: Were they older or...

EW: Yeah. She fell and uh...killed herself on a concrete block. And he died a natural death.

B: So, she killed herself?

EW: She fell on that rock and it killed her.

B: Um. How long did you go to school?

EW: I didn't got to school much. I had to stay and work all the time.

B: Un-hun. Okay. Was this after they died or...

EW: After they died.

B: Un-hun. You say you worked as a janitor at...at a school?

EW: Yeah, I worked as a janitor.

B: What school was that? Do you remember?

EW: It was around Devon. Devon school. I went to this uh...old man, Evermont Staten and I asked him for a, well, see, I had to walk from here to Devon and I ask him for the job and he said, "You can't do that." I said," Why don't you try me and see. I've done everything else kicked and knocked about, I'd certainly try it on my own and if I don't do it, why, you can cut me off." But I stayed with it them 'til I got old enough to go to the YMCA and go to work.

B: Un-hun. When was that?

EW: I couldn't tell you how...how long that's been that I worked there, you see, cause, I worked there after I was married a long time.

B: Un-hun. What did...what did you do there?

EW: I was a cook. For Weaver and Wilson, in Williamson, West Virginia.

B: Okay. Now um...do you remember, I think I figured out, that you were born in 1913. Do you remember the flu epidemic?

EW: Which?

B: The flu epidemic of 1919? It was about 1919, 1920. You would have been a real little girl.

EW: I remember something about it but I can't tell you what it was.

B: Un-hun. Okay. When did you get married?

EW: I was uh...I was about sixteen when I got married. I have a daughter fifty-eight. She's retired from the PX from the army.

B: Un-hun. Okay.

EW: I done everything to make a livin', you know, I hauled coal and everything else. I had a brother that insisted on tellin' me this and that and the other and tellin' me not to get out and do nothin' wrong. And so I worked me out a truck. And then I raised my children and learned to drive that truck and put them all in school.

B: Un-hum. Hum. Who did you haul coal for?

EW: Everybody.

B: Really.

EW: Yeah.

B: How...could you tell me about...about it. I mean, did you like buy it from people...somebody and sell it to other people?

EW: Yeah. Un-hun. I'd buy it and pile it up at my house, you see, where I lived. Then I worked for people. I had it tough but I made it. I had a brother that always talk to me. Make an honest livin' he'd say. See, I don't have no brothers or sisters a livin' at all.

B: Un-hun. Did your brothers and sisters live around here when?

EW: Well, some of them lived here awhile see, uh...W.R. Wolford had one of the girls and uh...and one of the girls got married and she slipped off and got married and went to New York City, so she sent her husband back to steal, the other girl, and I wouldn't go. She tried to get me to go, I wouldn't go. I's afraid. The other wudn't...the other one wasn't afraid, so she went.

B: Un-hun. Um. Did you ever hear from them, after that?

EW: My sisters? Yes. I always heared from them.

B: Okay. Okay. Well, if your daughter's fifty-eight, you were fifteen when you had her. Seventeen.

EW: Yeah I was young. That was just right. Cause I married real young.

B: Okay. Who did you marry?

EW: A Wolford. Claude Wolford. A railroad man.

B: What did he do on the railroad?

EW: Run the machine. That's where he got hurt at and then, he died from that.

B: Un-hun.

EW: He died in Morgantown.

B: Un-hun. You say he ran the machine. Did he run the engine that ran the train or?

EW: It was called a burr crane. I don't know whether he called it a burr crane or a clam shell. Clam shell, I believe's what they called it. It's hard to remember things, ain't it?

B: Um-hum. Yes... Where was he from?

EW: Here. Well, he was borned at Hurley.

B: Un-hun. How old was he?

EW: I'm two years older than him.

B: Un-hun. Okay. So he was thirteen when you all got married?

EW: He must have been or they had his...his uh...his uh...age wrong. He was, W.R. Wolford, that had me, he was W.R's grandson. They took me when I was four years old. Took him when he was eight. There you get it from that, now. He might have been older.

B: Okay. So that would have made him four years older than you. That made him nineteen. Does that sound right?

EW: Yeah. I know he was older. Since I got to talkin', why, he was older than I was.

B: Un-hun. Okay. So you all were raised together?

EW: We was raised together. And they was real good to him but they wasn't to me. And they sent him to school. He got his education. I stayed home and worked.

B: Un-hun. Um. Do you know why did they think that girls didn't need an education? Was that why?

EW: Well, it wudn't my foster father's fault. It was hers. She was too tight to send me. She wanted me to stay there and do the work, you know. She learnt me to work.

B: Un-hun. Did she work or did you have to do all the..

EW: No. I done all the work and then they hired two women.

B: Un-hun. Well, what did she done then if...

EW: Fished.

B: Fished?

EW: That's all she ever done.

B: She sounds a little eccentric.

EW: A guy come here about six or seven months ago and walked up in my yard wanted to know about a house out here a lady lived in. And the more I looked at him, the more I wanted to ask him who he was. And I told him I said, uh...I but waited 'til he started to leave, when he started to leave, I told him I said," Do you know Margie Potter?" He said, "I sure do, do you know her?" I said, "Sure I know her." I said," She's older than I am." I said, "When you see her, I said, you tell her that...you tell her that you was at W.R. Wolford's daughter's house. She won't know me no other way." Only called me W.R. Wolford's daughter. He said, "How'd you know her?" I said, "Well,my foster father went and got her." I said, "When I was a little girl and she stayed fifteen years at the hotel and worked at the hotel. She had a little boy while she was there." And I said, "The little boy used to work above Grundy in that gas station and he's never been back since." But I remembered Margie Potter just like it was today though. Cause she stayed there fifteen years, why wouldn't I remember her? Well, see, we didn't stay at the hotel. We had a cottage house where we stayed down at the cottage, you know.

B: Un-hun. Where was this hotel situated? Was it near the railroad or....

EW: Devon. Just about...about a mile from here. There was two hotels around there. Now they ain't nothing around there.

B: Un-hun. Who would stay there? I mean was it, a...like a hotel hotel or was it more like a boarding house?

EW: No, they's somebody there all the time. Goin' and a comin' all the time. W.R., it belonged to W.R. Wolford but he had people that run it for him you see.

B: Un-hun. Where did they send your husband to school? Where did he go to school?

EW: Devon. They had a big school house there.

B: Un-hun. So did he graduate from high school?

EW: Um-hum. Yeah, they sent him to school and kept him dressed up. If I got anything, why, people give it to me, but they had the money. But I don't know why she was that way by me.

B: Un-hun. And this was your mother's sister?

EW: That's right. My mother's sister.

B: Was your mother younger or...or older than...than...

EW: No uh...Polly was a little older than my mother. But they thought that Polly would take care of me you know, and she was afraid to give Henry to her, afraid she'd put him around on the railroad throwin' off coal you know, and things and he'd get crippled. But he wound up crippled anyhow.

B: Un-hun. Um. Was Henry your...your brother?

EW: Yeah. That's my brother.

B: So, who raised him?

EW: Harvey Harris.

B: How many brothers and sisters did you have that were young enough that had to be raised by other people when your parents died?

EW: Just me and Henry. The others were dead.

B: Un-hun. The other children were dead?

EW: Yeah. The other children were dead. Just like my sister that died here awhile back. I got nine children. She had ten so, when she died, she had four livin' and all of mine's still livin'.

BN: Un-hun. Um. So your sisters that had gone to New York and stuff, we're they still livin' or, when had they died?

EW: They're dead. Yeah. They come back here before they died. They died here. One of them died, let's see, one of them died at Noble,from there at Grundy. They was livin' in Chatrah, Missouri, and come back on a visit and died up there.

B: So how did you and your husband decide to get married since you were raised together? That's really unique.

EW: Well, the way we stayed apart was more like strangers, you see. Cause he was gone to school all the time and I was home doin' the work.

B: Un-hun. Hum. So, how long did ya'll court before you decided to get married?

EW: Well, after, after she died. Why, he went away somewhere, I can't remember where he went, but then when he came back, why, we got to datin'. Didn't date very long then we married. And had a family.

B: Un-hun. Okay. You say, you had nine children. How far apart are your children in...in age? How old's the oldest and the youngest?

EW: Well, I can't remember. I've got there ages down somewhere but I don't know where I'd find it at. Then I know there's not much difference in their ages cause they were all little at one time. I used to...lot of times when I'd go to work, I'd take a couple of them with me. I worked and he did too. Both of us worked. It took it.

B: So he didn't have anything against you workin' like some men back then?

EW: He didn't want me to work but I did.

B: Un-hun. Why was that?

EW: Well, took so much for that bunch of children, you see, and I wanted them to have things and he did too, and so, every now and then he'd say, if I would not...If I were to stay at home, I say well, we do the work at home, and he'd say, well I help too. He was good to help me.

B: So he would help you do housework...

EW: Yeah.

B: And stuff like that?

EW: Warsh and everything. Then I had a son named Billy Jean. After he got big enough and I worked, he did the warshing and Jim do the ironing. Back then, you know, you had to iron everything you wore.

B: Un-hun. When your children were born, did you have a doctor or did you go to the hospital or anything. Where were your children born?

EW: Uh...across the river, all of them but one. Betty was borned in Devon. And, uh...I reckon the rest of them, all but one, was borned over across the river in Kentucky side down here. Just across the river. All but one, that was Judy and she was, no, Judy and Bit, his name's Leon, I call him Bit. They was born here on Beech Creek.

B: Uh...huh. Were they...born..

EW: Them's the only two I had a doctor with. The rest of them, I had a mid-wife.

B: Oh, really. Who was the mid-wife?

EW: Hannah Ferrell. She's well know as Aunt Hannah. Everybody call her Aunt Hannah.

B: Un-hun. How much did she charge you? Nothing?

EW: No, she knowed us all her life and she wouldn't charge us anything.

B: Un-hun. We...we've talked to some people said the um...the mid-wives sometimes would call delivering the baby, "catching the baby." Did she call it that or did she... EW: No. She called it deliverin' the baby. Cause, she told me one day she said, now, when I deliver, I'm not deliverin' this baby unless I get to name it said, some of the families named all the children and I never got to name one of them. I said, "How you gonna name it before it's born?" She said, "Well, I'll name it." I said, "What are you gonna name it?" She said, "Edgree." (Edgar) that was after her baby. So when it was borned, it was a boy. And we call him Edgar now. He lives in uh...Alexander, Virginia. He's not married.

B: Un-hun. How do you spell his name?

EW: E,D,G,A,R is the way I'd spell it. And I...Bit, one called Bit, his name's Leon. We call him Bit. And Wimpy's name is Charles Ezekiel. She named him out of the bible.

B: Un-hun.I wish I had that piece of paper that Betty gave me had all their names on it, I mean their ages. I just got so, like I told Betty, I lost my memories. I can't remember everything.

B: Did you have problems with any of your deliveries?

EW: No. Worked every day up 'til they was borned.

B: How soon after they were born would you go back to work?

EW: Maybe, three weeks.

B: When you were raisin' the older ones, some of the things that um...people like my grandmother would do, like they'd say that they wouldn't take a baby outside for a week or so. They wouldn't let sun light or any kind of light hit the baby's eyes.

EW: No.

B: Do you remember any...

EW: Yeah.

B: things like that?

EW: I know that. I never take mine out unless I had somethin' with somethin' over top of it. A little carriage thing.

B: Un-hun. What are some of the other things people would do to take care of babies?

EW: Huh?

B: What are some of the other things that people would do back then to take care of babies say that they don't do now?

EW: Well, they's a lot of things. I know I had one boy that uh...he took the shingles. You've heard of shingles ain't you? And uh...couldn't get nothin' done for it. I'd keep takin' him to the doctor and it seem like the more I'd take him, the worse he'd get. So one day, they's an old man told me, he said, lived over across the creek here, and my brother was a great big boy. We call him Brother, his name's Claude, after his daddy. And he said, "I tell you what will cure them," he said," if you won't get mad at me." I said, "I won't get mad at you." He said, "Sheep manure." I said, "Sheep manure." He said, "Yeah, and he's got the whooping cough, too, and it will cure the whooping cough." He said, "I'll go get him some if you'll fix it for him." Well, I said, "He won't take it." He said, "Don't tell him." Now, all of the rest of the children was well, but couldn't get him well. So, right then, he didn't get, he got well with the whooping cough, but the shingles was tryin' to go around him, you know. He said, "Well, I'll tell you another nasty thing." I said, "What's that?" He said, "You got any chickens?" I said, "Yes." And I laughed at him. He said, "You go get me one. Get me a black one." He killed it and he held it and let it bleed on them shingles. We wrapped him up and put him in the bed. And honey, he never had no more shingles. That was the last of that. Would you believe that?

B: I heard that this summer. I've heard people tell me that.

EW: Well, that sure cured Brother. I wish you could see him now what a healthy man he is. It just like that much a goin' around him you know, and I'd do anything in the world I could to keep him alive. Shingles kills you sometimes.

B: Hum. What um...what did he do with the sheep manure? What did he have to...

EW: I made tea.

B: Tea out of it?

EW: And he drank it for the whooping cough.

B: He didn't know it was sheep manure, did he?

EW: No. Hun-un. Mixed it with uh...wild cherry tree bark.

B: Un-hun. What are some of the other remedies that you remember? Do you remember any, like, for the stomach ache or anything like that that people would do?

EW: No. I...I can't remember, but sometimes, they come to me, you see, and then, I never had too much trouble with mine with things like that.

B: How about penny royal? We've heard that was used for...

EW: What?

B: Penny royal.

EW: Yeah. I know that's been used, yeah, Penny royal.

B: What was that used for?

EW: Well, it was used for coughs and things like that.

B: Okay. (tape cuts off)

EW: Then, I didn't finish here, finished in Alexander, Virginia.

B: Why, had you all moved up there for awhile?

EW: No. When the older brother's and sister's went up there, they'd go up there to see them and they wouldn't come back.

B: (laughing) Your children seem like they're a pretty close knit goup [sic].

EW: Oh, yeah, they're close. They don't stay away from each other.

B: Why do you think that...that your family is so close compared to others?

EW: I don't know but people in uh...South Carolina askes ne that. They see them all you know, ganging up to eat and that one son-in-law does cookin' on them days and lets them girls rest cause the girls work.

B: Hum. As you said, your sons would help with the...with the house work, how did raisin' nine children, did uh...did you have chores that the girls would do because they were girls?

EW: Yeah.

B: Could you explain how you...how you raised them?

EW: Well, they'd pick what they wanted to do and each one would do their work, you know, and one that could do it the best and I just had one that cooked when I was late a comin' in. And that would be Jim. Edgar. And he's a good cook yet.

B: Okay. Alright.

EW: They have big parties and things at uh...in Alexander, (Alexandria) sometimes and he'll bake their cakes and pies and things for them.

B: Did any of your sons ever get teased about, like when they were going to school, by the other boys in the area for helping you?

EW: Yeah. And they...one of them would get teased about helping me quilt. I quilted a lot and I had one could quilt and the rest of them couldn't. One boy. And I'd tell him, I said, "Now Jim, I got this quilt sold. You're gonna have to help me on it cause I have to work." And he'd say, "Well, don't let nobody come in the back room cause I ain't a wantin' to be called a sissy. And I'll fix your quilt for you." (laughing) He's something else, Jim is.

B: Okay. What do you remember about the Great Depression?

EW: Well, just to tell you the truth, I can't remember very much about it. Maybe these times comes and goes that I remember things, you know. Just like me and him (companion) talk about the war and things and I said, "Well, the only thing that I can remember about the war was when the troopers come through with them trains, you know, where's there's nothing ridin' but the army men." I can remember that.

B: Un-hun. Okay. When you were a...a real little girl was when all the things happened over in Matewan. Did you ever hear about any of that over here?

EW: Oh, yeah. That uh...I'd hear about that because the, W.R. Wolford was on that train that pulled in there and stopped and that...that night...that evening. He was on that and I'd hear him talk about it all the time, you know.

B: What did he say?

EW: That was uh..W.R. Wolford. I can't remember, but I know he talked about it a lot. Then he knowed all those Hatfields, you know. That was my foster father.

B: Un-hun. Did he ever say, you know, what he thought about any of the men like Sid Hatfield or?

EW: Well, he's talk about them but I can't remember, you know, just what he'd talk about. He talked about Sid a lot. Greenway all them of them.

B: Un-hun. Okay. How about um...did he um...did he ever...do you remember him saying anything about Greenway Hatfield?

EW: Yeah. I heared him talk a lot about Greenway. But I can't remember what he talked but he talked a lot about all of them you know, because he got off the train there that evening.

B: Un-hun. What about um...R.W.Buskirk. Did you all ever hear about him?

EW: I...I've heared of him but not too much. Not like I did them other boys. Them Hatfields. But, he'd talk about them.

B: I was just wondering, you know, how much you all got over to Matewan, say livin' here you know at Devon, did you all go to...

EW: We didn't have no road here then.

B: Really?

EW: No.

B: Well, what...what did you all have? Just the railroad or...

EW: Railroad. The train around here at Devon. We'd catch a train down and back.

B: Well, how did you all travel through this area then if there were no roads?

EW: If we got anywhere, we went on horseback. Sounds bad, don't it?

B: Sounds rough. How long was it before they...before they put roads in?

EW: Huh?

B: How long was it before they put road in?

EW: Well, I was big enough to remember when they put these roads in. See they didn't have no schools on Beech Creek, they was all around at Devon then. A place they call, I call it Devon, but uh...on the map, I think it's called Okeeffe. O,K, double E, double F,E. Have you heared that? I think that's what it's called.

B: You'd mentioned off tape that there was a...a flood that you lost all your pictures in. Do you remember when this flood happened? It wasn't the 1977 flood was it?

EW: I...I can't remember cause I've been in two or three. Let me ask him.(companion)

B: We were talking, off tape about a, one of your children that you almost lost in the flood...

EW: That's right. Judy.

B: What happened?

EW: Well, we got all the children out. We thought we had them all out. And we missed Judy and she was asleep in the bed and the water was comin' up to the mattress.

B: Oh, my goodness.

EW: And uh...Earl Daniels, store merchant brought a boat and come in and got her.

B: Un-hun. Okay. We were trying to figure, that was probably about the '57 flood, wudn't it have been, if she's thirty-five.

EW: Well, it might be. (cat meows) I was scared so bad, I didn't know nothing no how.

B: Okay. What do you...were those...do you think those were natural floods, I mean, do you think it was caused...

EW: See, we got the riv...the creek here and the river backed this creek up on us. (cat meows)

B: Un-hun. Okay. Well, what um...were you raised in a particular religion when you were growing up?

EW: Yeah.

B: Did you go to church? What...what church was it?

EW: Well, uh...Church of Christ is what they all belonged to but after I got on my own, I went to the Church of God.

B: Un-hun. And where was this?

EW: Out at Devon. Oh, Church of God's up here. Beech Creek. That's what the girls belong to.

B: Un-hun. You know, there's...there's different branches of...of Church of God. THere's some that are pentecostal and there's some that aren't um...

EW: I don't think they call that pentecostal, that's the one across the hill. Over at uh...Newtown.

B: Un-hun. Okay. Um...let's see, did you uh..in...in this Church of God, did...did they believe things like uh...healing through faith and...

EW: Yeah.

B: Okay. What were um...some of the restrictions. I know some Church of God um...congregations, they don't believe in like, women cutting their hair or...or women wearing pants or...

EW: Well, they don't neither.

B: Okay.

EW: I have one daughter that had sugar. And she's always belonged to the Church of God. And uh...she kept the sugar. She didn't know she had it and I don't know why the doctors didn't tell her and she went blind. And they took her to a Huntington, she couldn't even tell who I was only by my voice. But I wish you could see her now. She took five shots a day, now she takes one and she puts all her trust in the Lord. She's Joanne Jesse. She's the first that went down to South Carolina to live and bought her a place and the rest of them followed her.

B: Did she regain her sight or is that..

EW: Oh, yes. Oh yes. She's workin'.

B: Okay. I noticed there that...that you wear pants, and your hair is cut short. Does that mean that you don't go to church anymore or...

EW: Well, I ain't been able to go for a long time. How come my hair cut was two years I was down and couldn't take care of my hair nor nothing and I don't wear pants no more. Just around the house. I...I got a bad leg. Did I show you my leg? Well, that's why I...I don't wear them off no where.

B: Okay.

EW: I stuck a nail in my foot and I stayed in the hospital two years. Took blood poisoning. I thought I had to work and I had a bunch of borders and I stayed up on it to much. You can see I don't work much now by the looks of my house. My youngin's, when they come clean it up. I have high blood and heart trouble then that leg acted up on me, you know, and I just ain't able to work. I've worked all my life.

B: What about politics...how...how have you...

EW: I'm a Democrat.

B: You're a Democrat?

EW: Been one all my life.

B: Why is that?

EW: Well, that's the way they raised me. And they use to take me to work...work in the...politics with them and so I just got lead away with that, I reckon.

B: Who took you, your...

EW: Foster parents.

B: Before she died...your...your foster mother, your aunt would have been, could have voted because of them allowing women to vote. Do you know...did she vote?

EW: Yeah, she voted.

B: Okay.

EW: Worked in the election, her and him both. And he was an officer but I never know him to arrest nobody in my life.

B: What about your husband. Did...was he a Democrat too?

EW: He was a Democrat. Now, he'd cross over sometime and vote for Republican you know, but we wouldn't have nothing to say against each other for that. If he liked some of the Republicans, he'd cross over and vote for them. He'd always say vote for the good man.

B: How did you learn how to quilt?

EW: When I was a little girl, I just learnt it myself. Picked it up. Makin' doll quilts.

B: I know you worked hard when you were little but do you remember in your free...did you have free time to play games with other children?

EW: No. Hun-un.

B: Were you ever around other children?

EW: You carried sand to put in the yard if you had any free time.

B: Why did you put sand in the yard?

EW: So you can sweep it and keep it clean, that's what she thought you had to do.

B: Un-hun. Um. Okay. Well, is there anything else you'd like to add?

EW: No, not as I know of.

B: Okay. Well, thank you for talkin' to me today.

EW: I'd be ashamed to sit own and tell anybody, how...how I was treated when I was comin' up.

B: Well that's, I mean, that happened to a lot of people.

EW: That's why I always worked so hard with my children. Afraid that they'd have to be treated like I was, you know.

B: Um. Well, as close as they are. They seem like a happy family, I think.

EW: I just wish you could visit them sometime. (laughing) They's a car load went from here about a month ago to see them all and it tickles them to death. And Mother's Day, here, two knocked on the door and I didn't know they was comin' and they come in, I was tickled to death. Wudn't about five minutes, some more knocked, opened the door and it was all of them. (laughing) They're so good to me. (tape cuts off)

Matewan Oral History Project Collection