Peggy Norwood and Janet Green interview with Ben Hill Methodist Quilting Club (Beatrice Star, Daisy Morgan, Emily Crawford, Lois Chapman, Ida Cash, Grady Coggins, and Cordy Edward)

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. In this recording Peggy Norwood and Janet Green interview members of the Ben Hill Methodist Quilting Club. Beatrice Star, from Paulding County, Georgia, starts by recalling sewing her first quilt and quilting sessions she attended, which were also social events. She also explains a few superstitions associated with quilting and quilting methods. Next, she recalls making candy out of sorghum syrup. At 4:20 Daisy Morgan, from Rockingham County, North Carolina, recollects corn shuckings, which included dancing and live music. Next she talks about raising barns in which participants built barns in which to cure tobacco, a process that she then details. Emily Crawford, from Turin, Georgia, explains how to cook hominy with lye soap at 6:25. She also recalls making corn shucks into mops and sage grass into brooms. Next, she remembers an African American broom salesman who visited her family annually. 10:45: Lois Chapman, from Cherokee County, recollects sewing her first quilt as a child. She then describes quiltings during which men would cut logs and build log-cabins. After the quiltings, there would be a social with singing, but no dancing, and games, some of which she describes At 14:26 the women sing Tell Aunt Tabby, a folk song, and the hymn Amazing Grace. At 15:45 Ida Cash, from Douglas County, recalls making poke salad. At 17:09 Grady Coggins remembers her husbands family, particularly that they used oxen to haul supplies on their saw mill and two syrup mills. She also describes living on and managing the farm, specifically the syrup making process. She asserts that they had more fun in those days. At 20:48 the women explain some superstitions about jay-birds, removing warts, stopping a screech owl, and curing thrash. 23:47: The last interviewee, Cordy Grayson Edward, from Tennessee, describes shucking corn and corn shucking gatherings, shelling peas, and milling flour. Next, she talks about her school, which was large and had only two teachers. The town also had a high school. To conclude the interview, she explains how to make vinegar out of apple juice as well as hog killing and smoking meat. Lois Stanley Chapman (1892-1984) was born in Cherokee County, Georgia. At 20 she married George Chapman (1891-1950) and they had one daughter, Wyolene (1917-2006). Cordelia Grayson Edward (1881-1972) lived in Gibson Tennessee. She married James Lee Edwards (1876-1936) in 1905 and they had two daughters, Nell Ruttledge (1908-1951) and Marueen Davis (1912- 1991). Beatrice Star (1890-?) was born in Paulding County, Georgia. Daisy Morgan was born in Rockingham County, North Carolina. Emily Crawford was raised in Turin, Georgia. Ida Cash was born in Douglas County, Georgia. No biographical information about Grady Coggins has been determined. !; AHC Oral History Cataloging Worksheet File Information Catalogue number \ '0\);S , \ \ . 0 1 Source Field' (ContentDM) ~d",,- l() X) 'SDII 0 [) 7. Release form ( -:Xes):Jr No - Transcript \... ~rNo scanned: From ( _Y~~Jr No Default text: Contributed by an OR: Donated by individual: individual through <your org. name> Georgia Folklore Collection through <your org. name> Object Information Enter information about the phvsical object here: Title (intervielJ\(ee name and date of interview) -1:-1 , Il C l Ie( I.e;, Description (bio on interviewee) \e\,. C"P~'~\\f (O':Il\tV\~:' _. , 0..:, ("h'\ \ Cr\''''..,,) : ~",;,l"" "l".'" "2 1-,,,./1.'\'1\ ~ . 'f("~ "ItI ,.\w,) (\''';y'!'f~' ; "\0\ V ,,1V, 't,t,\o ~, l,\!.".{'H" '\)(",.. '~> \1 1 ,; Creator (Enter either an individuai's name or an organization) Collection Name (Within the organization) Creation Date (use only one) Object Type Media Format (VHS, reel to reel, etc) Recording extent Burrison Folklore Class Georgia Folklore Archives Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) Year (if only the year is known) Circa (4 digit year) Year Span Image_ Text_ Text and image_ Video and SOjnd _ Sound only Reel-reel Hours: Minutes: ~-4 From To Derivatives Access copy: Yes or No Access copy format: Recording clip (~s)or No Time code for clip (h:m:s) Notes (interview summary) J ~ Lecd t ~5 ...hQ,.... --\::h <L '" IA i I.{ ; ",,:> C t IA b +0 l \e; r>S Ot \, 0 \A C\\1< l \ ''t " >') ',":>, S \Ar e ~ c:-{ ,o...f- i () n c, I " '3 c; 'f I' ~5 " ", '0 <A \ y-, <' (A I $.; ~ ":{> "" >' d {) \' ,C) or ~"'" {L.."'~ 0 \' / ~ $.. 2 Recording S'O~e- b c< cJ::..s '( ~) '" " (~ \ issues "'0 l S. ~ -\:''" '\) "" (background \l~.:l If LQ~ -\"0\ \.~~ ., S " ,~d , (~ noise, echo, '<n~ '() " ~ ..... ~ D. \' \) "" ~. static, etc.) Subject Information Enter .InformarIon about the content 0 f theob)I'ect here: Subject Date Exact Date (yyyy-mm-dd) (use only one) Year (if only the year is known) \ C\ In Cr Circa (4 digit year) Year Span From To Subject Who Last Name First Name MI B tL\', '-l:i.ll M ~ t-\---\Q d ; 50 '.l: \;) \A'I \ i , I C( '-" b '" S, Subject Country s~e County Town'J?, Locai Name .f}., .c" ~\;\, Location v.~ f\. 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'::;c IQ d ~\A\ \ '1. <' "':J \.-\<A"'~; ccAf'f: s C-XH~, :; h",-- L ~ ; r-- ':) \\<J,,) K~ Il,' ".", , J l<J .s Y' Q ll, ~ 'J Topics ~Lb\'Q<' <",n.<' 'j'jfVp C- Q "" J 't' '?"'- I. l l ~ '5' \ \ \' '" >J;'kQ'I ' "" l1, Q 5-) r ~ w " 5"V c k N:,\Q'P \-lll.)l.e, 7" '" c:"LA; (+ $c...".;o..~'l'c.s. '\" cA 4 QUILTINGI YESTERDAY AND TODAY PROJECT OFI Peggy Norwood & Janet Green COMPLETED FORI Folklore of Georgia, #401 John Burrison OUTLINE I. INTRODUCTION II. HISTORY OF THE GROUP OF INFORMANTS III. TRANSCRIPTION IV. PICTURES OF THE PROCESS OF QUILTING V. THINGS REFERRED TO IN THE TRANSCRIPT VI. SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 1 One of the most interesting and beautiful handicrafts of the folk people in Georgia is that of quilting. The patterns as well as the colors vary to create a variety of useful coverlets. The quilt, like other handicrafts, first purpose is to serve as useful. It was necessary to have covers on the beds and therefore the women had to make them. The making of the quilts became an art and vias a pride to the women that made them. We chose the topic of qUilting for our project as it was ever present in the folk society as well as the fact that we both had a personal desire to learn more about the making of quilts. With the making of the quilts was the quilting bees where many women got together to work on completing the same quilt as the work was long and tedious. The task became a pleasure rather than a chore as the women got together and talked as they worked. Thus our project called for a search for the existence of quilting bees. For almost a year we had heard of a rumor that there was a group of ladies in Ben mIl who quilted. We never had the opportunity or the reason to investigate it before, but it seemed like a good idea to check it out for our collecting project. This was the beginning of what turned out to be a very interesting and beneficial experience. We first called Ben Hill Methodist Church in Southwest Atlanta and tal ked to the chm ch secretary. Mrs. Carter. and she told us that there waf; such a group and they even had thoir own quil ting room in the church. She said that the ladies met every Thursday from nine in the morning till four in the aft"rnoon. She felt that the women would be very glad to ,dY,\ 2 us. We then called Mrs. Crawford and talked with her. Over the phone she seemed a bit hesitant but we made an appointment to meet her at the church on Saturday morning, April 19. When we walked into the room that morning, we were amazed by the great number of quilts and their beauty. We were even able to recognize a few of them and call the-<I'by the name of the pattern. When Mrs. Crewford saw that h weJ e were really interested and seemed to knoll' a little bit about what we were doing, she took us in. She invited us to come the next Thursday to talk to the other women. She wanted us to come in time to have lunch with them, but due to school vie were unable to do this. We fel t our first visit was successful and that the women really enjoyed having us there. They have threatened to turn us into quilters, and if we ever have the time we plan to give them the chance. They really had a laugh at one of us crawling under the quilt passing the microphone from one to the other. And they included us in on one of their sayings I "The one who gets caught under the qui! t, gets his head thumped with a thimble." And this did happen. As we left that day one of the women came up to us and told us how glad they were that someone was doing this because they all knew that pretty soon they would be gone and all their memories with them. They all invited us back again and next time to stay for lunch. We made a return trip two weeks later to get further information on details we had I)icked up from our tar)e. We mainly took more photographs of the quilting process, but there was one new lady who wanted -!3 to get in on the tape too. ~he told us that she was born and reared on a farm and could tell us about corn shuckings and hog killings. ,J " 3 As noted above, the visits also resulted in the women sharing with us many oj the other folk ways of life as they remember them when they were children. We got some interesting descriptions of the corn shuckings, log rolling, barn raising, syrup making and other various practices. They also shared with us the many superstitions and sayings they were brought up with. The general feeling among the women was praise of the days gone by. Since we not only got information on the quilting bees and quiltmaking but also other practices in folk life we feel they top"became a part of our study and are therefore included in this paper. HISTORY of BEY HILL METHODIST QUILTING CLUB 4 The Ben Hill Methodist Quilting Club was started in 1958 as a part of the Golden Age project by the pastor of the church at that time. He wanted to involve the older members of thE' community in something that would bring them together and give them something to do. Several ladies loved to quilt and got others interested and these together formed the club. Now the club is open to anyone who wants to come. It is not restricted to church members. The club began veith six members, and the membership has grown trrmemdousl y. HovlPver the members have varied due to deaths, moving of members, and new members coming in. Mrs. Crawillord stated that one of their greatest enjoyments is getting together with older members of the families from allover the United States now living in their community. They get their work from all sources. At first it came mainly from inside the group, then people that they knew began to bring to them the quilt tops that had been handed down to them and stored away. As their fame spread, they received work from allover, even from out of the state. Lately, they finished one for a baby in Illinois. Their patt<'rns have been handed dovlI1 from mothers, grandmothers, and aunts and tradpd among friends. They occassionally make up new patterns themselves. For the past five or six years, they have entered quilts in the Southeastern Fair and have won around twenty prizes which then are all very proud of and keep displayed in their quilting room. 5 The group meets wvery Thursday from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon to quilt. They bring a covered dish and have lunch together. They have their own quilting room in the church where they meet. They also have a group meeting once a month. Information from W~s. Emily Crawford Tfl/\NSCRIPTION COLLECTOR'S NOTE: Due to the fact that we made OU1" collections from such a large group, often one of the women present would interrupt the one doing the talking to remind her of some fact. We have included these interruptions in parenthesis with no speaker given as it was often difficul t to notice which lady was the prompter. 8 BEATRICE STARR: IDA CASH: BEATRICE STARR I 9 Beatrice Starr and I was borned in Paulding County and I'M seventy-nine years old and I pieced the first quilt, it was a nine diamond and my grandmother helped me to piece it and I quilted it when I was ten years old. But the stitches wadn't very good, and after I got grown we'd have quil tin's and all of us go to um and quilt and the boys would come at ni te and we'd have a dance then, party of some kind and ... I don't know nuthin else. Did you stay all day and have dinnerl Yeah, we'd have a big supper and then we'd have gatherings in the afternoons we'd go to dances have them out on the creek banks or somewhere build a stage and we'd have dances. (tell them about the cat) And when we got the quilt out we'd put a cat on it and shake the quilt nnd the one that the cat jumped out the closes to that'd be the one to mnrry first. And then when we'd get the quilt out lotsa times we'd be at one of them's houses to spend the nite and we'd stay up all nite changing the quilt around to see who get to sleep under the quil t, whatever we dreamed it'd come true. And thatis about all now that I Qur quiltin frames, we'd bore holes in em with an auger,and then we'd put great big ole nails in em and we'd han1 JANET GREEN: BEATHICE STARR: DAISY MORGI\N: 10 Qur quilts from the ceil ing, was the way we had to hang our quilts in them days. Cab yall think of anything else? I don't know, that's all. Yeah, we had to take cotton from the gin and then we'd cord it with cords and make our own bats and put in our quilts (Ball threads) and we had ball thread to quilt with, we didn't know what qUiltins with \fA \1- spool thread was back then. And (What'd you for bottom) 1\ Well we used cotton checks, used cotton checks lining. I didn't know (What'd you dye your linings with?) Dyed em with red mud, to to some bank where there was lotsa red mud and dig down in there and g~t the clay and dye our liniings with em, when we'd have white linings Well, What's cotton checks?I don't know what that is. It's somein like ginghams now. That's about all I know Well, we used to have candy-pullins too back in the old days, we'd pUll candy and we'd have it allover us and the house too when we got through. (Made it out of sorghum syrup) and we made it out of [,o1'gum syrup and we'd put butter on our hands to keep it from stickin to em (and nuthin in the world burnt as bad as that hot candy) I know it and sometimes we'd get burnt pretty bad with it and we'd try again. I vias born in North Carolina In Rockingham County and was raised on the farm. There was a big family of us, there was seven girls and seven boys and we all had to work. But they'd have corn shuckl.ns and the women would gather 11 and bring a quilt and they'd some'd be a quil tin and some a cookin. The men shuckin corn and they'd gather in for lunch, and go back the men go back to the corn and the women'd finished up the quilt. They'd have supper there and they'd move eVl'rything out of one room and put cornmeal on the floor and have a dance that nite. And I think the only song that I remember was They'd be only one or two banjo's and violins and they'd play "Turkey in theStraw" and you should have seen the old people dance. Probably you people don't know what a "raisin Barns"is. but it is buildin barns to cure tabacces in, and in those days they done all the curin with wood-they didn't have gas and oil like they have in the burners now. And they'd have a good sized little tree with a fork in it they'd cut it off. And two men would lift a gig log up and get it in place and after they got it as high as they wanted it, they would fix the cracks with red mud and they'd put a roof on and they build the furnaces on and then they was ready to put tabacces in the barn and that's where they done the curin. I'm Daisy Morgan, and was born and reared in Nor,h~t) Carol ina about 14 miles from Winston Salem {tell em bout scrubin floors with lye soap) EMILY CRAWFORD: I'M Emily Crewford. I was raised in Coweta County, not far from Newnan in a little village called Turin. One of the things that I remember, that you see now-that you don't see now that you used to see was the making of gig hominy and that involved the use of lye from the ashes that you got 12 from your fireplaces and people would fix what they'd call an ash-hopper where the rain water ran over a barrell of ashed and uh, the water would be filled with lye from the ashes. Then the strong lye would be taken and put with the grease that would be saved up from cookin and uh we'd make soap that we used to wash our clothes with that was what they called soft soap and the weaker ly~ would bel taken and uh used to make hominy. We'd take th" best corn and uh shell it, Vie take a li ttl e piece of corn cob in your hand to keep from wearing out the heel of your hand and uh, shell as much of the corn as you wanted and then that was soaked and boiled in this lye water until it~elled and the husks came off. And it made a great big soft grain of corn (Tell em about the wash pot ) And that was done in a big black iron wash pot in the back yard usually and it . (Tellem we'd take uh an old shuck mop and that lye soap and scrub the floors) ...LAUGHTER We used the lye soap for uh alot of purposes like scrubin the 'floor with a shuck mop, and the ~ominy we ate. It was cooked and served with butter or it was served with-fried in the skillet after uh-cooking meat and they still make it infactories, and it btill tabtes good, but it duddn't tast e like old-fashioned lye hominy made from the ash hopper. Uh shuck mop was made from corn shucks tied real tight around the end of a stick like a broom handle that you'd get a stick anywhere that was the right size and the right length and uh, and the shucks were tied onto that and used as a mop. We also had brooms made out of what we called sedge grass and LOIS CHAPMANI JANET GREENl LOIS CHAPMANI 13 this sedge grass would ,row all around on the terraces and (broom sedge) Broom sedge they called it, and uh, you'd get a qig handful of that, and tie it together and sew it carefully and make a broom to put by your fireplace to keep the hearth clean. In our town, they used to be an old Nigra man named Billy McAfee and every year he wo:>ld come with a wagon load, he'd make em in the winter time, he'd cut his straw in the fall and makehis brooms during the winter and bring 'em to town and sell 'em, and they were real nice brooms because he always seemed to know where the longest tallest grass was. And we kept one of those to sweep our back porch years, but every year when he came we'd buy another one. Made to piece quilts when I was six years old and when I was e1 even I pieced a quil t and it vias two or three years before we quil ted it. But I still have the qui! t top, part of it. and ... What kind is it? Hexegon, it was a hexegon quilt and my sister my second oldest sister pieced a square of it in Texas and sent us the quil t square and that's where it, I got my pattern. And those other told about the quiltins. We had qUiltins and the men, my father and the men who helped him had log rollins. They rolled the logs and then they built log houses. And that night was when we had the festival. But we didn't move out and have a dance Vie just had a social together. 14 JANET GREENI Well what did you do, did you sing or what? LOIS CHAPMAN: You could sing, play games but we didn't have the music and dancing. We might play "Stealin Partners" Or something like that. But it wudda't a dance. But everyone enjoyed it. JANET GREEN I What kind of games did you play? LOIS CHAPMAN: wti played "Stealin Partners" and I don't know if you've ever played, heard of "club Fist" (No, tell us what they are, cause we don't know what they are. What playing "Club Fist" is? ) Well, I cc,uldn' t show it. You did it thi a way and stacked up there; OH,yeah Like that. That was "Club Fist" and then we played "Will iam the Trimble-Toe"aad "He's a good fisherman" catch his hens sploch em in the pens some lays eggs, some none Flack, three piggies in the flock One flew east, and one flew west And one flew over the cuckoo's mest And O-U-T spells out and be gone. But there is of doing all this stuff. I think that's about all I can think of They sawed the big logs on the hillside and rolled 'em down and then took a team of mules andaagged them and put them in a heap and they'd burn 'em to get the JANET GREENI LOIS CHAPMAN: bark off. Then they'd split those logs. How did they split them? With a maul and wedge, iron wedge, big old maul that they'd that the men drive the malll in you know and split em. And the men also made those mauls out of trees bout I'd say six THE GROUP: THE GROUP: IDA CASH: 15 inches and they'd saw off have the maul and trim off for a handle that they used and that's the man power we had to split that. Lois Chapman, I'se born in Cherokee County, Au~ust 8, 1892. "GO TELL AUNT TABBY" Go tell Aunt Tabby, Go tell Aunt Tabby That the ole grey goose is dead. The one she's been saving, the one she's been saving, To make a feather bed. The ole Yankee's killed her, the ole Yankees killed her, \(){ The ole Yankee's killed her to eat with their corn bread. "AMAZING GRACE" Amazing Grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me. I onCe was lost but now am found Was";blind but now I see. This is Ida Cash and I was born in Douglas County, way back yonder. And a good ole Southern delacacy is "poke Salad" Not many people know what that is, but it grows wild oat in it's usually where they'se some red clay or places out you know in the fields where it grows. And you, you uh, wash it and dress it and parboil it because its supposed to be poison if you don't. And then you cook it with a little salt pork or ju,t butter or you can cream it and chop up eggs in it, boiled egge and its real good. And you can peel the~tems and cook them and it tastes very much like ~ asparagres, put a little butter, salt and pepper on it and I read in the pa, er recently that these London doctors discovered that if you eat poke salad you don't ever have cancer. (That's true!) And it's like a spring tonic, it's real good tor you to eat in spring (Tell about Sassafrase Tea) 16 MRS.COGGINSI Well, I'm Mrs. Grady Coggins, and when I married the family I married into, I thought it was very strange they had great big ole o'lGen to haul to the saw mill. They had a saw mill and they used thece big ole oxen with great big horns and they used it for all the haulinl And they hauled their logs to the saw mill then they also ran a syrup mill- two syrup mills which kept us all busy, everybody that couilld lift a p stall; of sorghum had to or ribbon can'had to feed the mill. ~ and we had to get up before day every morin I and feed the mill to get our juice out so that when the syrup makers got there they could start the pans to cookin. And it was quite a show to me because I never had done all that. And it, we just, my father-in-lawi,he had a big farm, he kept a lot of ,(\(1 m~Hs and horses and he had one arm he used to ride the horse all over this farm to see after the farm and (tell about sassafras Tea) .. Oh, yes, he had to have sassafras tea wery spring. He thought it was good for your health. The vias. He was old-fashioned come to things like that. Had a big bunch of boys-seven boys, two girls-and they were all at home and I thought the grandest thing about it they all got to the table you could hear a pin drop (laughter) Nobody spoke a " word,for it was so quite for a big family. Everybody believed ';n what Pa said, and Pa ruled that house, and I think it was good...VB?.. (tell 'em about eatin sorghum syrup) .. And Wf, really enjoyed that sorghum syrup, ribbin ca"e syrup, we had plenty--g1<,at big glass five gallon jugs we put in there and one day my middle son, wh had a bdig jug full of I 17 of syrup on the back porch and he pi.cked up a little ole hammer and gave ita tap, and I gUN.S you' lJ. k"ow what happened, the syrup ;,egan to run (Laughter) that 1 ive gallon jug and I"e had that to empty up in something else. (Did you ever boil it down and make it at YOllr place?) Oh yes, we boiled it down,< we had t\.'.'O syrup pans going all the time. Boiled it down and made syrup, not only for us but for the vlhole commu(lity. They would haul ev,'ryi,ody, would haul their sorghum there (Co thllU a mill to screen the juices out and then boil the pieces) Yeah, had a mule go round and round and turn the syrup mill and usually took somebody with a whip there to keep that mule a-going. (laughs) And somebody to feed the mill. We had a lot of fun an~ sometimeE, I think we had more fun when we were young than these young people do that's (jrowin up now (And it didn't cost no money to have it) And it didn I t cost mllthin either (Laughter) And that's all good-bye. EMILY CRAWFORD: One of the old superstitions that we heard when we were children our hired man told us that the reason you never did see no jay-birds, we called'em jaybirds, they call them blue jays now, and uh, but they're still jay birds, and he said that the reason you never did see them on Friday was because they all went down to what we called the bad place on Friday to visit with the devil (Uh,oh,I've heard that too) A familiar garment in the old days was what we called checkedy apron. Nearly every apron that the housewife made was made from a checked gingham and most of them were blue. 18 They were long, they weren't like the little flyaway aprons you Sfle today, out uh that is the origin of the expression you hear sometimes "I'll takE' you ovpr my checkedy apron and give you a spankin." IDA CASHI One of the superstitions we grew up with were how to get rid of warts. We'd take a bean and rub the wart till it hurt, and then \'Ie'd drive a 'tick down in the ground and pull it up and put the bean down in the qround and then drive the stick back. It really works (About the dishrag. Tell another one) 1 don't know Ibhat(Steal a dishrag and rub it over your wart) DAISY MORGANI If you want to get .lid of your warts steal a dishrag, rub it (! over your wart, then take it and hid it someplace, like under ~' a rock at the doorstep. IDA CASHI The Way to stop a hoot-owl or a screech wol was to tie a knot in the corner of the sheet and another way is to put the shovel, fire shovel in the door and it'll stop. BEATRICE STARRI Stick a poker in the fire, they say it'll burn the owl and make him quit hollerin. IDA CASHI A neighbor of ours come over to where ,r,y husbih was at work and asked him could he conjur a b~by and he told her he never had done anything like that and he didn't know whether he could or not. Well, she said, "you'll be a good one cause you got brown eyes ~ And said all you have to do is take the baby's sock and tie it aJl)Quncl your head and uh, it's hu, It's uh .. CORDY EDWARD; JANET GREEN; 19 What kind is disease was that it had? (thrash) The thrash would go way. He said well you better get somebody els0,to do that, I'm alraid I wouldn't be very good at it. I was a Grayson and then I married the Edward's man. I'm 88 years old and I live now with my daught"r her in Ben Hill and a daughter in Nashville. I have two girls and I'm first one and then the other. I call em both my homes you know, and the one I live with here is named Neil Ruttlege and the one in Nashville Is MaUl'een Davis ... (BYe everybody) .. Bye .. (Take care of that ,;weet husband) .... Idon't know anything especial! y. Tell me about thf' corn shucKings that you had when you were little. CORDY EDUARD: Oh, yeah, they'd have , uh they'd grow the corn, you know In the field and bring it in with wagons and teams, you know put em in the big crib, and then they'd have corn shuckings. and the neighbors would all come in on it, shuck all their shuck off put it in another stall and then they'd have a corn shellin then bring the corn, you know, they used to have, first they got it off on a kinda like a washboard, they just rub their corn on that, you know, that's where they first had to shuck corn, I mean shell corn. But they finally got em a mill, you know you put the cob in there and the'd ge, alia f the cob. But that first was scrub it off on something made, a piece of plank or something with rough creases on-l ike a washboard, you know how they look. And shuct1 the 20 on off, I mean 5 hell the corn on that. But after they got makin the corn shellers, you k 'ow they-its ground. Turn that on and grind it off. Peas the same way. Put the peas in the sack and beat the sack when they'd pick the dried peas out of the field. Put it in a , you know great big ole, we called em cotton sacks and take stick then beat that they'd pop out of the hulls. That's the way they shelled the peas, untill they got to makin pea shellers. Finally they got pea shellers, but first you know they had to do that. Boy I was raised on a farm from way 'Ilack yonder. It was had in a b,ig ole room about one half as big as this would be back here if it was a plank off, you know. Just a gl eat 13ig room, we called it our "corn Box." You shell it and put it in there and then take it to mill to make meal out 01 it. Take it to this mill and they'd grind it up into meal and they'd have barrells 0 f it. Done tho wheat the same way, you know, cut that with their thrasher and V'i th their wheat thrasher and get all that hull and straw off you know and they'd take that to mill and get the husks off and That's where they made the ftour. JANET GREEN: Did you have parties \'hen you had corn shuckings? Was it like a big party? CORDY EDWARD: Well, it'd be just neighbors come in to help, you know we didn't especially have parties or anything, but I remember when my daddy'd say he was going have a corn shuckin, we'd, oh maybe sometimes they'd have alittle something 'to eat, you know serve somethIng but thoy dIdn't often. But they jist had the biggest 21 time you know-shuckin and uh maybe be a dozen or tR1 men would come and help this family and they'd get his all done and t/)ey'~ go to another fand 1y-help them shuck their crib full. And save the shucks then to feed to the stock, you k'iow the shucks. And they'd sometimes they'd feed the shelled corn to the pigs they usuall y throwed the ears in there and they bit it off the ears. JANET GREENl What abollt your schools? CORDY EDWARDl Well, we had a nice school, always had two teachers, one for the smaller group, you know and one Jor the bigger ones. And we had 150 sometimes in our rollin the, we called them the big room, you know, the bigger chi.ldren and 40-50 little feller's in the other room. But they'se always two buildins and that old buildin or the place for it and the old bell that we used to have in our school is still at that place-its in West Tennessee. And I'se down there a few years ago, and went by that place where I used to go to school, the build ins burned but it didn'd hurt the bell, you know. They put the bell on th" next bllildin. Ole bell out rang many a time when I was little. They had a big school, we all got pretty good education there, went on- We didn't call it high school then Vie just called it.. I forgot what we called it, but ilnyway we went on lip in our grade you know thata way, and some of them would teach school, my brothers taught school but I never did, onlyse I maybe teach somebody'd be absent someday I did that alot. But outside of that I just stayed at home 22 and worked, making vinegar. Let me see novl, ! don't know whether ! knovi just how... Well, we just gathered our apples and put them.in this cider mill and grind em up, saved the juice to make vinegar and that was our vinegar we had (Did you press it?) Uh, press it out, uh, huh. Of course they ground everything, and then a presser would go, it would grind the apples up, you know. Then that presser would go down ans mash all that" juice out into a little pipe, up the thing you know and run out-Yie'd put it in jugs. Strain it through a good close strainer and we had uh .. I don I t know I reckon that's about all about ... JANET GREEN: Well, tell me about the hog killings. CORDY EDWARD: Oh we had this chill from ! seen my Daddy kill as high a8 15 hogs. JANET GREEN: There's a certain time of year you kill hogs isn't there? CORDY EDWARD: In the fall. You have to wait until the meat'd save, you know. You couldn't kill it in hot weather, always wait till fall'd come you know cold weather to kill the meat. We'd cut it up you know and had a plade we'd smoke it. And uh cure hams, you know, and put them up and we'd have nams for all the year through. JANET GREEN: Did you use a certain kind of wood to cure it? CORDY EDWARD: We used hickory wood alot. That Ise the best. Didn't ya'Ll do that too?. Uh. huh, hIckory sticks is the best wood for curin the hams, ! think. Think that's what they'd said. 23 But taw, it wa& way back yonder in them days, I don't rememb0r everything, but i guess it's a nuff, you can get a little out of it. I f iI' / )t?i-{7, 24 i \ <, ,\ , STEPS IN MAKING A QUILT AS SHOWN BY THE BEN HILL LADIES STEPS IN ~~KING A QUILT AS S,HOWN BY THE BEN HILL LADIES / r ,/ \ -' 25 Scraps of material are cut and sewn together -to form the quilting squares. / .1 ;/ \ Scraps of material are cut and sewn togetherto form the quilting squares. 25 26 The squares are taken and sewn together to form the quilt top. - The top, a middle layer of cotton batting, and the lining are stretched on the frame. ). /~. I 26 The squares are taken and sewn together to form the quilt top. The top, a middle layer of cotton batting, and the lining are stretched on the frame. /'-- ) \ Different angles of the quilting frame used by the Ben Hill ladies. 27 / - I I Different angles of the quilting frame used by the Ben Hill ladies. 27 ' b -: ., " .'t4 18 Each square is lined off for the quilting guide Two of the ladies at work on the "Chicken Tracks" quil t. ~( .. ~_: " ~. (I t.' 18 Each square is lined off for the quilting guide Two of the ladies at work on the "Chicken Tracks" qui! t. ( 29 When the quiltersshave reached as far as they can, the quilt is rolled and clamped. The final step is binding the edges of the quilt. ( / \ 29 When thequilters$have reached as far as they can, the quilt is rolled and clamped. The final step is binding the edges of the quilt. / ) ( , 30 From left to right: Crazy qui! t Apliqued Double Wedding Ring C~~se-up showing the delicate ~titching and the apliqued work. / ) ... ( 30 \ From left to rightl Crazy qui! t Apliqued Double Wedding Ring .,...,... _'. C~V5e-up showing the delicate Ftitching and the apliqued work. ,~-------------- / ( '..-" 31 Grandmother's Fan ,~l';' 'Loni') Star / f ( ----~-----~ --- ------- ---- / 31 Grandmother's Fan ,--,', . Lon(1 Star 6 From Left to Rightl Mrs. Starr Daisy Morgon Mrs. Cash Mrs. Coggins Louis Chapman (members of the club) --t.>-_' Display of prizes won at Southeastern Fair --~-~--.--~ 6 Prom Left to Right: Mrs. Starr Daisy Morgon Mrs. Cash Mrs. Coggins Louis Chapman (members of the club) Display of prizes won at Southeastern Fair A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.