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This interview begins with Emory Franklin describing a three day wagon trip his family took to Atlanta, Georgia, to sell beans and sweet potatoes. At 05:25, Lucy Franklin talks about folk medicine, including a cure called conjuring to remove warts performed by her uncle. She then recounts a story about a snake biting her aunt and her grandfather tying the snake to the bottom of her foot after killing it. Next at 07:52, Emory Franklin describes foraging for sassafras and preparing sassafras tonic by scraping and boiling the roots. They also discuss using oil of cloves for toothaches and red mud and splints for sprains. Ora W. Fields starts her interview at 10:00 by detailing how to cure boils with pig fat. She also describes how her father stopped bleeding with a dime and/or reciting bible verses. Warts could also be removed by rubbing corn on the wart, and bug bites and stings with tobacco juice. At 13:30, she says that her father treated thrush in a babys mouth. She continues that throats and colds were treated with warm salt water and iodine and fevers with alcohol. Then she describes additional folk medicine for ailments like high blood pressure and hives. At 16:50, Fields explains several uses for turpentine.
Emory (approximately 1882-1971) and Lucy (1890-1973) Franklin had 10 children, including Margaret Carry Franklin (1915-2010) and Newton Franklin (1925-2018). In the 1940s, Emory Franklin worked as a farmer. Ora W. Fields (1982-1971) was married to Orestus W. Fields (1885-?) and lived in Atlanta, Georgia. They had six children and Orestus Fields worked at an insurance company. Additional biographical information has not been determined.
FOIX MEDICINE IN GEORGIA The practice of folk medicine in America has developed into an intriguing area of study for the folklorist. In the past, the absence of modern-day scientific medicine, and, in many instances, the scarcity of trained physicians ,, forced the backwoods farmer to develop his own methods of treating illness. Experimentation with natural herbs and plants yielded a surprisingly extensive variety of remedies, which were handed down to each successive generation until the present. Through the years, many of these procedures have become traditional, reflecting the attitudes and customs of the people who practiced them. Today, the arrival of modern techniques in medicine combined with advancements in scientific research has contributed to a decline in the actual "practice" of folk medicine; yet its traditional value to the folklorist is immeasurable, having distinguished the field by reviving the spirit of bygone days. A recent excursion into the foothills of North Georgia and the outskirts of Atlanta provided a sampling of folk medicine techniques, including superstitions associated with folk remedies. -2- TRUMAN MA TTHE W The first informant was a man by the name of Truman Matthew of Route 3, Toccoa, Georgia. Mr. Matthew has earned the reputation of a hermit, and, at the age of sixty-four, lives in a rambling shack in the seclusion of the woods. He is a rather heavy-set gentleman, with grey hair and beard, and two large warts on the side of his nose. His sole companion is his seven-year-old dog, Sam. The conversation, which took place on Sufiday, November 1, revealed Mr. Matthew's distrust of "store-bought" medicine, and his conviction that all pharmaceutical drugs are "dope". At one time, he had experienced kidney trouble, and, when his doctor was unable to cure him, he decided to provide his own remedy. Mr. Matthew believes he would have died had he depended on his physician for a cure. The old man was adamant in denouncing the scientifiraiscovery of the transplanting of organs in the human body. In accordance with his Bible teachings, Matthew explained that "God didn't mean for men to have transplants or store-bought medicine, so He gave them the medicine in the forest . " He opposed the clearing of land for building and construction purposes, because it destroyed the medicine in the forests. The government, by clearing away a large portion of the wooded area, is, according to Matthew, forcing him to travel deeper into the forests to secure his medicinal herbs and plants. Mr. Matthew's reluctance to discuss the detailed -3- procedures involved in preparing many of his remedies, and his refusal to disclose his "secret" cures, resulted in a somewhat limited interview; yet his conversation did reveal a number of remedies. For the kidney trouble mentioned previously, Matthew used sprignut, a plant found growing on creeks. He recommended elderberries as a blood and body builder. When questioned further on the subject of elderberries, their location and preparation, Matthew's only response was that "they grow in low places and are ripe in the month' of August." He recommended a plant known as yellow root for the building up of blood in general, and explained that it produced a rejuvenating effect which made a person forty years old look twenty years younger. Matthew stated that sassafras was an excellent heart medicine. He remarked that all heart disease was due to the thickening of the blood as a person gets older, and that the secret is to make the blood thinner. By boiling the sassafras roots and drinking the tea in the spring as a tonic, the blood is thinned sufficiently to prevent heart disease. Matthew continued by proclaiming the effects of gensang, an herb found in dark places, as a painkiller, and suggested the use of May apple as a laxative. When questioned about remedies for stopping bleeding, Matthew related a story of a Choctaw Indian woman he had seen actually stop the bleeding of a man who had been hit with an axe. By reading a particular verse in the Bible, the woman was able to stop the bleeding within five minutes, despite the fact that everyone had expected the injured man to bleed to death. Mr. Matthew possessed a remedy for the "common cold" in a weed known as boneset. After washing and boiling the boneset, he drinks the tea, which, because of the extreme bitterness of the li quid, produces a "puckering" effect on the mouth. Salt, handmade tobacco, and onions, when combined to make a poultice, draw out the poison from snake bites. One of the most outstanding features about Truman Matthew was his claim to possess the "secret" cures for cancer and high blood pressure; but, because they were "secret", he refused to disclose any information concerning those cures. Mr. Matthew's cancer cure is supported by a gas station attendant in Toccoa who originally referred me to the hermit. He explained that he had suffered from a "disease" on his hand which he felt was malignant. When Truman Matthew placed a poultice of same unknown mixture on the man's hand, the cancer disappeared. Of course, the true validity of Matthews cancer cure is uncertain, yet it is an interesting point to consider. The most astonishing fact about Truman Matthew is that he actually "practices{? the remedies he discussed, and depends on the forest medicine for his health and well-being. -5- MRS. WIILIE UNDERWOOD The next informant was a woman by the name of Willie Underwood of Route 1, Clayton, Georgia. At the age of sixtyone, she has lived in the country all of her life. Her home is a small wooden shack in the hills, where she lives with her husband and his eighty-year-old father. Mrs. Underwood is an extremely pleasant woman, agreeing to exchange correspondences should she think of any remedies other than those we discussed. Most of the information provided by Mr's. Underwood concerned folk medicine techniques that she had heard from her mother, and her grandmother, on her father's side, who was half Cherokee Indian; yet she had not actually "practiced" any of these methods herself, with the exception of the copper wire which she had wrapped around her arm as a cure for her arthritis. Mrs. Underwood explained that, although she didn't actually believe in the superstitious power of the copper, that the arthritic pain had diminished somewhat since she first began wearing the bracelet. My conversation with Mrs. Underwood revealed an extensive variety of "old-timey" folk remedies. For example, pine needles provide an excellent cure for the croup. When questioned further, Mrs. Underwood outlined the procedures more explicitly, stating that the pine needles were broken and boiling water poured over them. Then the vapor is breathed by standing over the pan, and wrapping a towel around the face and pan to prevent the steam R from escaping. Another remedy for a baby's croup is a cough syrup of whisky, camphor, and lemon juice. To relieve a baby's cold and to quieten the nerves, catnip is made like a tea, then sweetened, and drunk hot at night. Sassafras and yellow root are recommended as good blood builders. Mrs. Underwood recalled a case in which a baby with thrush was taken to a chimneycorner by an old Negro woman, who blew in the baby's mouth and recited a verse of scripture from the Bible, after which the thrush disappeared. Next, Mrs. Underwood related a number of superstitions she had heard regarding the removal of warts. First, take three or four rocks, put them in a clean white cloth, and place the cloth at the forks in a road, and the warts will go away. Second, cut a piece from an old dishcloth and rub it on the wart, and it will disappear. Third, rub a grain of corn on the wart, and throw it over your shoulder, and don't look back if you want the wart to go away. Mrs. Underwood had heard that castor oil could be applied at night for ten to fifteen days to remove warts. She then proceeded to relate the different uses for the pokesalad root. To cure boils and risens, the root is boiled and mixed with hog lard to form a poultice. She had heard that cooking the root and eating three messes of it in the spring prevented fever in the winter. A leafy plant, "dock", is also known for its power to prevent fever. The boneset weed is used to break a fever -7- In answer to the question of sprains and their treatment, Mrs. Underwood recommended the use of brown paper and vinegar, explaining that the sprain absorbed the dampness from the paper. She also suggested making a tea from boiled sassafras roots and elderberries, and mixing it with red clay to form a poultice, which is then placed on the sprain to prevent pain. A remedy for arthritis is found in the velvety leaves of the mullen plant. The leaves are heated and bound to the arms, hands, and other affected joints. A tonic for treatment of rheumatism consists of corn liquor and three tablespoons of sulfur; the dosage is one tablespoon three times a day. Another treatment associated with rheumatism is the wearing of a dime around the ankle. In treating burns, place hot pepper and pure lard in a small pan and heat to boiling; then mash the pepper, strain, and rub on the burned area. To relieve the pain of a toothache, place two or three drops of vanilla flavoring on a piece of cotton, and apply to the tooth. The sap from a persimmon tree is effective in treating earaches. The limb is heated until the sap drips out; then a few drops are applied, still hot, to a ball of cotton, and placed in the ear while warm. Mrs. Underwood had also heard that if smoke from a pipe burning strong tobacco is blown into the ear, and cotton put in quickly, the earache will be relieved. Wet tobacco or wet baking soda makes an effective poultiee when applied to stings or insect bites. When cow butter and rose petals are heated together and strained, they form an -8- effective medicine for minor skin irritations. An antedote for hives is found in catnip or ground ivy when boiled to make a tea. The tea is then strained, sweetened, and taken warm at night. Blackberry juice, taken every three hours, is a good remedy for diarrhea. Strong yellow root tea is effective in treating gum disease. The tea is held in the mouth for two or three minutes several times a day. , For relief of asthma, Mrs. Underwood prescribed one teaspoon of strained honey three times a day. In treating lameness, she suggested mixing one cup of salt and two cups of corn meal with hot water; then placing mixture in a white cloth and patting it out to about one inch in thickness. The cloth is then applied to the affected area. For the treatment of ringworm, the application of a green walnut hull is effective. Another superstition connected with ringworm is to press a thimble on the area until it leaves a mark. In treating consumption, rich pine splinters in pure corn whisky taken by the tablespoonful three times a day is an effective remedy. Mrs. Underwood reports having seen the treatment for consumption applied about fifty years ago. When questioned about childbirth techniques, Mrs. Underwood recalled her grandmother having taken one-fourth teaspoon of black pepper in a large cup of hot water, drinking it as hot as possible,, and placing her feet in as hot water as she could stand. In case of miscarriage, women propped their feet up higher than their heads, and placed pillows or cushions under their feet. As part of the afterbirth procedures, a clean white cloth was scorched and tied on the umbilical cord after it had been cut. Mrs. Underwood recalled that camphor was an effective medicine in drying up the mother's milk when the baby is weaned. She mentioned an old saying that if an axe was placed beside the bed with the blade pointing upward, the lsbor pains would not be as severe. She remembered hearing as a child that when a baby is exposed to chickenpox, if he is taken to the chicken house, the germ will leave the baby and go into the chickens. To relieve the pain of teething, beads of asafetida tied around the baby's neck are said to be effective. A variation of the same remedy for teething is tying a penny around the baby's neck. When treating chest congestion and pneumonia, take bags of salt, heat them, and place them on the chest. To relieve a high temperature, take the leaves from a peach tree, boil them, and drink as a hot tea. Finally, octagon soap, when chipped and mixed with water to form a paste, makes an excellent poultice for boils. -10- TFHE FRANKLINS The next ihformants were my great Uncle Emory, aged eighty-eight, and my great Aunt Lucy, aged eighty. The Franklins live in a small frame house in Duluth, Georgia. Uncle Emory has lived in that same house since the year 1892. He has become somewhat feeble and hard of hearing in his old age, and, as a result, the interview was difficult to conduct. His tendency to ramble is evident at the onset of the tape. Aunt Lucy provided a greater store of information during the course of the conversation. The interview proceeded as follows: (Begin at 0036) Cheryl: "What did you ever do for warts?" Aunt Lucy: "Well, I had a few on my fingers., and my uncle cured them by conjuring, he called it, and he just rubbed his fingers over it, and told me to forget about them for a while and not be looking for them, and when I thought of them sometime later and would look, they were gone." Cheryl: "What do you mean by conjuring?" Aunt Lucy: "Well, he just rubbed his hand over them and they were gone. They called it conjuring. The way to stop the blood is to read a verse in the Bible (Ezekiel 16:6): 'And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; -11- yea, I said unto thee when thou west in thy blood, Live.' Repeat it several times to stop the blood. A highland mocassin bit Aunt Jane. Grandpa killed the snake and split it open and bound it to the foot where the snake bit her and went for the doctor. Back in them days they didn't have much way only on horseback or buggy and go several miles extra for a doctor. That's about the only way they had to get there. Had no phone. No way to get word but to go. I remember they said that was what he done. Killed a snake and bound it to her foot inside. For a tonic in the spring of the year we drank sassafras tea." Cheryl: "Where did you get the sassafras?" Uncle'Emory: "Got it a lot of times on . the bank of the road where I used to dig it. My mother would send me to get sassafras and it growed out on the side of the road. I also met a bulldog there one night and it ran .me off the path." Cheryl: "Did you use the leaves or the roots?" Uncle Emory: "The roots." Cheryl: "Do you remember how you would fix it?" Uncle Emory: "You scrape the root and boil it and use the juice. -12- aunt Lucy: "You dig them out of the dirt, wash them off good and scrape them off. Boil it. Drain the tee. Spring tonic." Cheryl: "What would you do for toothache?" Aunt Lucy: "Oil of cloves. 'Shen it gets terrible, I always just took me some whisky and held it on it. That really relieved it." Cheryl: "What would you do for sprains?" Aunt Lucy: "Put a plaster of red mud on it and let it draw. In later years just bandaged it tightly with wide sticking tape." -13- MRS. 0. W. FIEIDS My final informant was my grandmother, Mrs. O.W. Fields, aged seventy-six. She was born in Buford, Georgia, and was one of ten children. She is the mother of nine children, herself, and she presently resides at a Canton Street address in Roswell, Georgia. The interview proceeded as follows: Cheryl: "Tell me something about risens and boils." M. Fields: "Sometimes you take a piece of fatback and put it on the risen and it helps to draw the fever out and then I guess cause it to get well." Cheryl: "What did you do when you had to stop bleeding?" M. Fields: "I've heard if you put a dime under the lip and gum it would cause it to stop." Cheryl: "I've heard of people reading Bible verses to stop bleeding. Have you ever heard of this?" M. Fields: "My father would by reading a verse in Ezekiel and repeat it three times. You have to know their full name to do that." Cheryl: "Is there something where only a man can say it to a woman?" M. Fields: "A man is supposed to tell a woman and a woman could tell a man. I've heard it wouldn't do any good if a woman told another woman or the man either." -14- Cheryl: "Do you know any case where that happened?" M. Fields: "I never did know of anything like that happening. I know a family lived on my father's place and had two little boys and a little girl. They were out at the wood pile chopping wood and they chopped the little girl's finger nearly off and ran to the field where he was working and told him about it. He stopped the blood over there." Cheryl: "He wasn't with the little girl?" M. Fields: "No, you don't have to be with them to do that. You just know their name and repeat that two or three times." Cheryl: "What did you do for getting rid of warts?" M. Fields: "Well, sometimes you rub a grain of corn over the wart and throw it away and it would go away. I guess they worked like that." Cheryl: "What about stings and insect bites?" M. Fields: "When you get stung by a wasp or a bee, just rub tobacco juice on that. That will take care of it. I won't mention the snuff." Cheryl: "What about thrush in a baby's mouth?" M. Fields: "Well, my father cohjured babies for that, too. People would bring their babies there to him and he would carry them down to the edge of the woods. But what he did for them. I don't know. That was _15_ his secret, I think, but they would seem to be worse the next day but after that they would get all right." Cheryl: "What about sore throats and colds?" M. Fields: "Well, warni salt water is good for that, A little iodine in water." Cheryl: "What did you do to get rid of fever?" M. Fields: "Well, alcohol is good to rub a person who has a fever. It will really cool them off., Cheryl: "Whet did you do for sprains?" M. Fields: "Well, red mud is good for that. Just make a poultice of red mud and wrap it around the sprain where it might be and let it stay wrapped for a few hours." Cheryl: "Does that just take the swelling down?" M. Fields: "Supposed to." Cheryl: "What did you do for high blood pressure?" M. Fields: 'When a person had high blood pressure they didn't operate back in those days. They just cut a person somewhere and sucked the blood out of them to get what amount they thought they needed to lose. That would help their blood pressure." Cheryl: "Did they do anything for low blood pressure?" M. Fields: "I don't know about that. I don't guess they knew then what to do." -16- Cheryl: "What did you used to do for hives?" M. Fields: "Well, my father used to doctor babies for hives. He would lay the little fellow on his stomach and cut about three places on his little back, take a suction cup and draw out about a teaspoonful and turn around and thin it down, I think, and give it back to the baby. What good that done I don't know, but it always helped." Cheryl: "What did they call this?" M. Fields: "Scarafying the baby.,' Cheryl: "What was that supposed to do?" M. Fields: "That was to help to get the blood away from the heart. Sucked it away from there. They used to make catnip tea for babies with hives. I have given mine a lot of that." Cheryl: "What remedy would you have when you stepped on a rusty nail or cut yourself?" M. Fields: "It was good to pour kerosene oil on it. And, too, if you happened to snag your foot on something it was good to put that on it, too. Sometimes my brothers would be in the field and jump off the terrace where the corn had been cut onto another, and snag their foot, and cause a bad sore, and it was good to use kerosene oil on that." -17- Cheryl: "I've heard my mother talk about you giving her turpentine and sugar. What was that for?" M. Fields: "For sore throat and it was good for that too. And for croup too. Take sugar and a little pulverized allum. Mix it together and that's good to give a child that is croupy. Kinds choked up and give them enough it will cause them to vomit that phlegm up. Get it out of their throat. I used to when I used an old iron pot to boil my clothes in on wash days, I would always give my babies a dose of castor oil with about three drops of turpentine in it, and they would usually sleep until I got my work done." Cheryl: "How would you prepare camphor gum and what are some of the things it was used for?" M. Fields: "You usually shave it up and pour it in a bottle, and pour whisky in on it, and it would dissolve, and then when you had insect stings rub that on there, and, too, I've heard that when a person was about to faint, if you get the camphor bottle and let them smell of that, it would cause them to get all right." Cheryl: "You didn't have tooth brushes like we have today. What did you use?" -18- M. Fields: "No, we sure didn't. We used black gum tooth brushes. Go to the woods somewhere and break you off a few limbs and break them in short lengths and chew one end. Dip that in your snuff and rub your teeth. Some people just like the taste of it. TMIy mother did. She liked it. When she would get without, why she would go crazy until she got my little brother on a mule started to the store to get another box." Cheryl: "You're the mother of nine children. What were some of the things that you used to use during labor to hasten the delivery?" M. Fields: "We would drink red hot pepper tea as hot as you could drink it, and then bathe the feet in hot water, as hot as you could bear that, too. Cheryl: "What would that do when you drank the tea?" M. Fields: "It was supposed to hasten the pains more often." Cheryl: "What did you used to do for corns?" M. Fields: "My brother used to say that if you would keep the corn saturated in castor oil, that it would take one off." Cheryl: "What did you used to do for chicken pox?" M. Fields: "Well, scald a chicken in hot water; then take the hot water and rub the person with the chicken pox good with that and it would help to ease the itching." -19- Cheryl: "When people used to be confined to the bed for long periods of time and they got sores on their backs, what did you used to do fox, that?" M. Fields: "I have been told that if you would rub their back, the sore place, with machine oil, that would help. One morning I was bathing my husband's back with machine oil, and it seemed so lumpy till I rubbed it good and rubbed it in, too, but the next morning when I went to bathe him again, I didn't Xnotice all those bumps like it was the morning before." Cheryl: "What did you use to use for poison ivy?" M. Fields: "My brother used to be easy to catch it. He didn't have to touch it to get it, because just the wind off the poison ivy he would break out with it, and he would always use sweet milk and sugar of lead mixed together and rub the poison ivy places with it. -20- After reading the various remedies and folk medicine techniques, it is obvious that many of them are traditional; the repetition of the basic, elements of certain remedies is indicative of the fact that much of folk medicine has become firmly established in tradition. The reading of the Bible verse in Ezekiel that is essential to the stopping of bleeding is obviously traditional folk medicine, due to its widespread knowledge. The varying techniques for removing warts and the important uses for sassafras tea are all part of traditional folk medicine. The hot pepper tea taken during labor is definitely traditional, as are many of the other cures that have been discussed. The traditionality of a few of the remedies is questionable, as they are not repeated as often over a widespread area; but they still may become traditional. INFORMANTS' ADDRESSES AND DATES OF INTERVIEWS Truman Matthew Route 3 Toccoa, Georgia Willie Underwood Route 1 Clayton, Georgia November 1, 1970 November 1, 1970 The Franklins November 27, 1970 Old Norcross-Lawrenceville Rd. Duluth, Georgia Mrs. 0. W. Fields November 29, 1970 1170 Canton Street Roswell, Georgia a v I / a 3 ., v o a a a a a J - ^^ Boa ?moa q '^ .. {^ ^va a ^ i*1Ik 0 0 Mr. Emory Franklin, and wife, Lucy. fit ' 0 a o ^ ^ b mod o o 4 n o , ., a Oyu ^.---- --e a ^,...a y"} 4 era '` x.^ A )'.' ;' t f " ^'%; y III t a h ! ii -, ^rC.j am fC
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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.
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