Judy Leonard interview with Villa Crawford, Hugh Crawford, and Lola Hill

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. This audio begins with Villa Crawford discussing her hobby of quilting. She uses denim, wool, and cotton scraps and describes quilt patterns such as the leaf, the colonial doll, and the double wedding ring. Then, at minute 11:00, Hugh Crawford, her husband, talks about growing up on a farm. They plowed the field with calves and cut down trees to make sleds to haul corn and wood. At minute 15:20, Lola Hill talks about growing up near Flat Top Mountain in Gilmer County, Georgia. As a child, her parents took her and her sister to a field while they worked the crops. At minute 16:25, Hill shares two stories from her childhood. In the first, her familys dog jumps into a swamp and gets bitten by a snake; and in the second, a neighbor catches a man in a steel trap who was trying to steal his corn crop. At minute 18:20, Hill reminisces about houses where she lived as a child, including a log cabin her family built. At one point she lived with her grandmother who told her about life during the Civil War. At the time they didnt have salt or sugar and would instead season their food with dirt they dug up near a smokehouse that they had boiled and strained. Next, at minute 24:10, Hill remembers her family and the farm they lived on, including her chores: milking the cows, churning butter, and canning beans, peaches, and apples. Then, at minute 37:07, she recalls remedies her mother used when she was sick as a child, such as honey and sulfur for a sore throat; and camphor, turpentine, and lard for colds. Hill herself used hogs oil and assifidity, a substance similar to wax with a strong odor, when her children had colds. Next, at minute 40:18, Hill reminisces about traveling with a horse and wagon before her husband bought a car in 1925; however, shortly afterward he swapped his car for a team of mules to operate a sawmill. He ran the sawmill until 1940 when he quit to focus on farming; they grew beans, potatoes, and cabbages. At minute 42:50, Hill describes slaughtering hogs, preparing them for the smokehouse, and canning or putting the sausage in corn shucks. To conclude the interview, at minute 49:17, she recalls cooking squirrels, possums, and mud turtles for her husband when he fell sick. The audio cuts off for the remainder of the recording from minute 51:00 to 1:04:09. Hugh Crawford (1907-1988) was born in Gilmer County, Georgia, to Robert (1866-1938) and Mary Crawford (1869-1958). Hugh Crawford worked as a farmer. In 1932, he married Villa Atkins (1912-2009), who was born in Pickens County, Georgia, to Berryman Franklin Atkins (1849-1917) and Martha Fannie Smith (1881-1917). Hugh and Villa Crawford had three sons: Robert Howard (1932-1973), James David (1936-2019), and Charles Grady (1939-2022). Lola Hill (1894-1982) was born in Gilmer County, Georgia, to William Sluder (1871-1926) and Florence Sluder (1872-1944). She married Homer Hill (1892-1952), and they had four children: Homer Ernest Hill (1924-1925), Walker Frank Hill (1926-2006), Charles Willard Hill (1913-1965), and Opal Margaret Powell (1930-2023). Additional biographical information has not been determined. FOLKLORE CUSTOMS and REMINISCENCES Judy H. Leonard Folklore 401 John Burrison November 26, 1973 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Mrs. Villa Crawford - Quilting ................... 2 Mr. Hugh Crawford - Breaking calves for plowing, tanning bark and hauling it, miscellaneous remembrances... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Mrs. Lola Hill ................................... 11 Pictures ......................................... 27 The people with whom I talked all live in the East Mountaintown community of Gilmer county. Each of the three people I had contact with are related to me - two of them are my my grandmother. great uncle and aunt and the other one is Each of them wwe1rIeA brought up i. n an d around Gilmer county. Gilmer coun1j is a small community in the North Georgia mountains. Farming is no longer the primary livelihood for the people of this community. However, there are still many who raise such things as corn, cabbage, beans and other vegetables to bring to the Atlanta Farmers' Market to sell. My contacts all have their own vegetable gardens each year for their own personal use. Many industries have moved into this area and have created a new source of income for many of the people ef Lhh: area.. Apple growers are also quite prominent in this area, especially in recent years with the outgrowth of the Annual Apple Festival in the early fall. This has brought much attention to the apple industry in Gilmer County. Having been brought up in this area I know more of the people than most visitors. I also feef that I have an advantage in that I know how warm and sincere the people in the area are. This, I feel, gives me an inside -1- advantage in talking with these people and getting information from them. Since they know me they were more willing to talk and all were eager to help me. The first of my contacts was Mrs. Villa Crawford. Mrs. Crawford was born and reared in Pickens county, but moved to Gilmer county over forty years ago when she married. She is 61 years old, and she and her husband live on Route #1, Ellijay, Georgia. Before I started taping anything Mrs. Crawford said I asked her just to tell me mainly about her quilting. She and several other ladies in the community get together two or three days a week and quilt, so I thought this would be interesting to hear about. Villa: "When I's a girl we didn't have showers like they do now to give to young married couples. So we'd just all get together and make a square each and put our name embroidered on it, and then we'd quilt the quilt and give it to the couple, because everbody back then needed quilts, they're not like they are now with a lot of heat ya know, in the house. So this has always been cherished with me because I can look back and remember people that I knew when I's young, and this belongs to my son that, uh, was made (for him) and he enjoys lookin' at the names and -2- remembers everbody thats moved away." JUdy: "Each square has, I mean that's the person that did that particular square?" Villa: "Each square has their name of the one that made it on it. So, I don't know where they originally came from but it was back a long ways, because I'm 61." Judy, "When did you start quilting and everything, I mean like did your Mom do it when you were little and all that or ... ?" Villa: "No, uh, my mother died when I's four years old, so my sister raised me and she jes' always quilted and I had to be into everthing she was in and I learned to quilt like that, jes' helping her. And I didn't raise anything but boys, I didn't have any girls, so I let my boys learn ? to quilt too. They'd make pieces on the machine (while I'd mend) then they'd help quilt 'em after I'd get 'em. Also, my husband helped quilt when we wuz first married, forty years ago. Noi now, but he used to help when were on the farm. And, uh, a lot of rainy days and all we didn' have much to do so he'd help quilt. So I've quilted jes' ever sinCe I was just young." "Well, I have a house out here that my mother-in~law used to live in, its just a kinda 12 by 18. So, since -3- she died, all the neighbors get together, there's 'bout eight or ten of us, and, we, if anyone has a quilt we put it up and all of us quilt it. And it dudn't cost any of us anything. And, uh, we just quilt for one another, as they get their quilts why we quilt 'em. And, sometimes, why, people wants us to quilt for them and we'll quilt a regular quilt, regular size, for 'ate' dollars. And we'll quilt a queen size or a king size for twelv' dollars, if they furnish all the stuff. But if we make 'em and quilt 'em we've made 'em, I have and sent 'em to several different states in the Union. Sold 'em you know. And, uh, there's always somebody callin' me wantin' quilts, I have three on order now, but I can't make 'em, I'll have to just wait til I get able. But we do make 'em for newly married couples and give 'em as presents. And then we make our pastor every year that we have a new pastor we always make them a quilt. And, uh, so different ones of 'em make 'em for their children to get to give to them. So we quilt around fifty or sixty every winter. And they all bring somethin' ever day, and of corse I'm elected to cook. I have to come in and cook dinner and we have a big dinner everday. So if anybody wants to visit they can be 'sure of a big dinner on quiltin' day. we quilt about three or fore days a week." -4- "Uh, we have the leaf quilt pattern, fall leaf we call it and it is beautiful. I love that pattern better'n any. We put it on white background set it together with some color, each square. And, uh, then we have the dutch girl and the boy that we put on the white background too. We also have the colonial doll. Its larger and, uh, we have the double wedding ring. And, uh, I just don't have, uh, time now, but I like the string quilt. What we call the string quilt. Thats the oldest quilt they are, because people used ta didn't buy too much cloth to make dresses and they didn't have much left but string, and uh, they'ed piece it on paper and then set it together and, uh, pull the paper off then and have you~ top, you see, with jus' the little strings.'' Judy: It wasn't scraps like we see now or something else, just string, scraps? Villa: ''Its just cotton, it was just the little pieces that wuz left because now you can find a half of a yard, or a quarter of a yard or something like that left from dresses that you buy. People always buy plenty, you know, but back in olden times we didn't have the money to buy a lot of, uh, cloth extra, you know and, uh, of course we just used the strings to make tops and I think that is the prettiest -5- they are because its the oldest that I know of and then again, uh, a lot of people now's wantin' antiques and that's what they call for. I sell them too, because that's what they like is the old timey quilts. And, uh, I sell a lot of the string quilts. So you can have a piece of everybody's dress in it you know or shirt or anything like that you see, and we used to get the quilts out and look at 'em and pick out our dresses and everything, and remember ever piece in the quilt you see, by having them pieced like that." "I wouldn't know how old this log cabin quilt is cause Oleeta Crook's mother's mother made it and she gave it to me, so I jes' don't know how old it is, but her mother now is up in ninty." Judy: "So it probably goes back into the 1800' s, doesn't it? Villa: "So itsapretty old quilt. This is one of my antiques that I wouldn't sell at all because it is beautiful and it means a lot to me because they're real good friends of mine. "This is made out of wool now and the little scraps out of what, uh, from dresses, but the big scraps, you take man's pants, lots of times you know and when they get pretty worn why you take the big scraps and cut those big squares, uh, to match the pieced ones out of the pants, wool pants." -6- Judy: "Has this got a particular name, or is it just a scrap quilt?" Villa: "No its just a wool scrap quilt." "Well this is a star quilt. And of course, it would be much prettier, if it was put together with solid material, but like I told you, a lot of times we don't have that, so we just use what we have on hand, and, uh, thats, uh, twelv' stars to the quilt and we do make the Lone Star, but I don't have one of those, now. And its big enough to cover the whole bed, the big star. And its all made in plain color, different shades you know. And, uh, thats one quilt I never did care for myself was the star quilt . "We make baby quilts, too, and sell 'em and piece 'em like the big quilts in littler squares. But now again, we do the appliqueing, and this one's appliqued, here. And we uh, put it on white with the animals all in color and put it together with different colors. We have blue, pink, yellow, green to set together, mostly to match whatever they want to in the baby quilt. I've made some for I,', my grandchildren. I have one twelve and all forf of the " children have used the quilt. They can be put in the washer and washed and dried just like any of the other clothes. So they do last, we put sheet cotton in 'em and -7- then line 'em, but theyr~ still they're warm.'' Judy: "You do have others than just the animals, though You have like little ones like the big ones, like the star or something like that you could do." Villa: "Yes in a smaller pattern. We do make 'em in the different colors, jus' piece 'em with our fingers, you know that way and make smaller. Make step around the mountain, and different patterns, for the little quilts just like we do the big quilts." "We have two different patterns. One is a single tulip and, uh, you can put in a purple, yellow or red you know the color of the tulips, and sometimes we put 'em all the same color. Sometimes we mix the colors for a quilt. And then we have another tulip pattern, and uh, it has three tulips. They're smaller, but it has three tulips on it. And we generally put it in red on white background and it just takes six squares to make it. Because, uh, tulips you know are, I mean the squares are large and' they's three tulips and, uh, a lot of the green. We have a lot of the stem, you, and the leaves and all with it, so, uh, we have the two tulips . -8- My next contact was my uncle Mr. Hugh Crawford. He has lived in Gilmer County all his life. He is sixtyseven years old and lives on Route #1, Ellijay, Georgia. (The next segment of the tape is not very clear because there was too much background noise, so I will just attempt to reconstruct what was said. I was talking with Mr. Hugh Crawford about how they used to plow when he was a little boy. They used to take young calves and put a yoke on them and use them to plow with. They would also use them to pull small loads with. The main purpose was to tame the calves and get them used to wearing the yoke . It was also good experience for the young boys. He also told of some experiences they had with the young calves. He had two ox yokes - one large one he got with some calves he bought and the other, smaller one his father had made. Both are still in good condition.) (The first part of the following section was cut off, but I felt the rest was worth leaving in.) " ... then we'd take that (?) and pore a hole in it, we'd jes slide it down over that til we got down ta that flat place then try, we'd try the other in the front and then uh, we'd put our bed on that ya see and make a big cross pitch in it and nail our bed down on that an see theres a body on the sled. And we'd, uh, that's how we made our sled. -9- Judy: "And that's what you carried what on?" Villa: "Haul corn on." Hugh: "You could haul anything on it." Judy: "Like a wagon almost." Hugh: "They used it ta haul. They used ta sled tan bark off the mountan when they'ed take this, uh, cut down trees ya know, and get the bark. And they used tan bark in these tanrys you know they'ed sell it and they'ed, uh, they'ed sled that off an' when they'ed go off the steep places or anything why they'ed tie a log chain aroun' them runners to hold, to hep hold it back, see, to keep it from slidin' up from off the top. Keep it so it wudn't slide so fast . And they'ed take that and slide it off the mountan ya know and, uh, then they'ed take it to where they could get to it with the wagon. Where they could haul it to the tanry where they sold it." Villa: "Haul off wood with it because you could get that in the woods where you couldn't get a wagon or anything and haul wood in the wintertime and haul out corn in the fall." -10- In this last section of tape I talked with my grandmother, Mrs. Lola Hill. Mama HilL as everyone calls her, is 79 years old. She was born and reared in Gilmer county and has lived there all her life. Her present address is Route #1, Ellijay, Georgia. Mama Hill: "I, uh, I can remember some things when I's a girl I guess mebbe would be appropriate. I don't know. But, uh, I remember when my mother an' daddy, we lived a way back under the Flat Mounten. And, uh, my mother and daddy would take me and Mary into the field with 'em when they's workin' the crops ya know, and uh, she would put us on a quilt and we'd jes' set ya know on a quilt. And they had a big ol' houn' dog, my daddy did, that uz the best watch dog and they wudn't afraid to leave us when the dog uz with us ya know. So they took us girls with 'em. And, uh, he was a good watch, and he wuz. He hated snakes, he hated snakes, and, uh, we lived pretty close to a swamp whar the spring wuz and so that dog wood, uh, go into the swamp sometimes and get snake bit, and when he got snake bit he come out and go whinin' to my daddy because he always giv' im something ya know, found somethin' for him and he lernt it, so he'd uh, was an awful good dog and, uh, somebody killed him, they never knowed who it wuz, nur why they did you know. And, uh, they lived up thar in the mountens and they had a, had always raised a lot of corn -11- and they had a big lot crib, and uh, they's a happed to be a, one bigger crack in the other side of the crib where he throwed the corn in. We he got ta missin' the corn an' so he didn't know what uz a gettin' it, but he, uh, set a steel trap. Thought they might be somethin' a carrin' it off ya know. And, uh, when he got up the nex' mornin' he had a man caught in that steel trap. And, he went out and he washed his hands, I think they had water out close ta the house or on the porch, and he said 'come in an', uh, have breakfast with us.' said the man said no he couldn't come. So he knowed what wuz happnin', my daddy did, ya know. He knowed what had happened. So he ~tout to whar he wuz and ther he wuz caut in the steel trap. And he didn't say, I don't remember him ever tellin' who it wuz. But anyhow he jes turned the man loose and give him a bushel o' corn and told him he'd a lot druther give it to him as for him to come and take it outa the crib. "And so we moved down a piece from that, we had a big ol' log house built down from where we lived up there, and uh, me and Mary my sister was gettin' up rite smart little girls, so he had a man a buildin' the house and, but, he, hewed the logs, and he had to line 'em up you know some how you know so he could get 'em strait. So he'd -12- had a big long cord string, that h~ and he'd put it in, dip it in pokeberry juce and Mary and me would go down and help him line up his logs, we'd hold the string for him. "So we moved from there on down to the ol' Lizzy Elliott place. She was my grandpa Rogers' sister and, uh, she was gettin' to be kinda of a old woman, but she wuz the kindest, best thang. She, uh, wuz, so awfully fond of children, you know. She jes' petted us all. And she'd tell us stories about what happened when she wuz a child you know. She said that, uh, that when- she wuz, that her school for that part of the country, said they wuz panthers and uh, wild animals, a lot of 'em you know. So she said they could hear the panther a screamin' of a night and one day, uh, one evenin' late she'd went out down in the settlement. It wuz about a mile from where she lived to any other nabors. So she'd went out and she wuz late a gettin' back and she said that she, uh, uh, wuz gain' along b~fDre she got, she like a little a bein' home. Anyhow, but she heerd that panther scream behind her and said she looked back and said she seen it a comin' around a big rock and she run she said as hard as she could go. And wuz plum outta breath when she got to the house. She jes' fell inta the house. So she said that, uh, then, that, uh, you know that uh, the people killed out the panthers, and, uh, the visus animals you know. But said they wuz always coons, -13- possums, squirrels, and, uh, rabbits, and, uh, and a lot o' wild turkey. And uh, they'ed come rite aroun' the house sometimes the wild turkey would. And, uh, so she, uh, moved away from there then. "Then, I' 11 go on down ta Grandma Rogers' . Now my grandmother and grandfather lived down there. And, uh, so they wuz very industrous and, uh, my grandmother always made a lotta garden and she'd plant ever little corner. She'd put somethin'. She'd put a watermelon vine, tomater vine, some, you know ever little nick and corner she had somethin' a growin'. "They lived rite on the creek. And when we moved down to the ol' Aunt Lizzy Elliott place, why, uh, Ethel my aunt, youngest aunt, she, uh wuz always, uh, me an' her wuz always awful close to each other and, uh. So it come an awful rain, jest a flood, one nite. And, uh, so, uh, I didn' know nuthin about it til the next mornin' . But they told me they didn't sleep any down there because they uz on a creek. We wuz too. But anyhow they went to the creek to see what the creek, how big the creek wuz you know. And said she says when she seen it she says, 'oh, I bet Will's drowned, and went to cryin' she said. But then, uh, it didn't get to our house, it uz pretty close tho . -14- "And, uh, Grandma Rogers' said in time o' the war now, the Civil war, why people had to, they got ta where they couldn't get salt, and, uh, sugar, not any commodities like that you know. So they had always killed their own hawgs and salted the meat you know. And then the smokehouse where the brine run down into the ground you know. They didn't have a floor in ther smokehouses (at that time) they'ed dig up that dirt and boil it and strain it." Judy: 11 The dirt? 11 Mama Hill: "The dirt, strain the dirt out of it you know, and get the, and theyed strain it several times and jes' get the liquid you know to season the food . "My grandparents had eleven children, and, they, uh, all but one lived to be grown and married." (The next section on the tape did not come through well. There was too much background noise to hear what was being said.) (The mai~ part of this section was about her family of three brothers and three sisters. Then she begins to tell about when she and my grandfather were first married. When they were first married they lived with his parents. Then when his mother died the sister remained living with them until she died.) -15- Mama Hill: "So his family's all gone now but one sister." Judy: "Grarrilladdy was a farmer wasn't he? He did do some farming?" Mama Hill: "Yea, he farmed and sawmilled, too. Your grandpa did. Yea he sawmilled quite a bit and farmed too." Judy: "You made your own butter and stuff like that didn't you";" Mama Hill: "Oh lawd yes. Milked my own cows, and made my own butter, an' raised my chickens, and had my eggs an' chickens. And raised me some hawgs and pigs and had my meat. Everthin' like that. Didn't back then we didn't buy, go to the grocery store and buy too much you know, because we had most of it livin' at home. Before we got freezers, of course we canned lotsa canned stuff. I think I'd have three or four hundred cans before I ever got a freezer, and whil' I's able to work I'd fill all my cans. Of corse I'd give a lot of it away. Never eat it all but we give, I'd give folks that needed it. I always liked to divide it." Judy: "Where did you keep your milk and stuff, you didn't have a refrigerator back then did you? Did you have a spring near by?" -16- Mama Hill: "When we first moved here we had a good sprang not too far out there. I guess a hundred yards or somethin' like that. And we had a little house built where we, uh, just below the spring where we put our milk and butter. And, if it come a awful bad rain why we had to go and get it out because the sprang wuz jes' on the other side of a pretty big little branch and the water would get up you know and would ruin our milk if we didn't go and set it out. And, uh, we had to carry all of our water from the spring. Didn't have no ice or anything you know but sprang water was all. And it kept the milk and butter good. But after we got, had the water piped to the house we had a springhouse here but it never did keep the milk as cold as it did when the sprang water you know wuz close to it. Because again it run through the house why you know it kindly got warm. But we managed awright. We got, uh, a refrigerator, I don't remember jes' when that wuz we got our first refrigerator. It uz much better. (Side 2 of tape) Mama Hill: (talking about their house) "We had a upstars. and uh, we had a porch on, out on the upper story." Judy: "Then the bottom one too?" Mama Hill: The bottom floor, too. (and upstairs you could -17- go out on it too) We had two big bedrooms upstairs. The hallway between the rooms. I used to carry all my seeds, we used to save all our seeds, bean seed, okry seed, tomato seed, and cucumber seed, an' all, an' I would fix 'em and take 'em out on the upstairs porch, you know, where they'ed be in the dry and they'ed dry out, see. Dried, uh, apples up there some, when the weather wudn't be good to put 'em out you know, they'ed dry up there cause certain times of the day the sun shined on that rfr'dch. Peas, and beans we raised all of our soup beans and peas, black-eyed peas. Raised our other kind of peas too, what da ya call them then? English peas. We grew the English peas. We growed all of our onions, cabbage, beans an' corn. Of course we'd always have enough peas and beans. We growed all kinds. we never had to buy anything like that. We jest growed 'em on the farm." Judy: "You said, you know, when you canned, it wan't like we can now was it, it was different, how'd you do it," Mama Hill: "Well we done all of our canning back then, when I's a canning s'much I didn't have a pressure canner, I jes' cold packed my cans, you know. Cooked them on the old wood stove. Got to canning beans. I'd uh, Homer, he, uh, said he didn't like canned beans much (he'd stay off canned beans) -18- But after he contacted that disease and he jest had to eat certain things he had to eat a lot of canned beans through the wintertime, you know. So I jest canned beans, more canned beans, had enough to do us through the wintertime. And, uh, well I canned most everthin'. canned a lotta peaches, apples, and uh, sweet potatoes sometimes, and uh, and I'd gather these fall grapes and put up a big jar o' them. And smoked apples. I'd smoke apples an' peaches too. Then we'd make a lot o' kraut and put up pickle beans too. And dry leather britches. Drive a lot of the leather britches. So we had a plenty, all kinds of food like that at home. All the time. It wudn't like it is now days whar they run to the store fer everthing cause they didn't have those things in the store. And, uh, I liked them better than what I could buy at the store. Judy: "What did you do whe.n the kids got sick, what kind of stuff did, or when you were little, what did your mom do about taking care of the colds and coughs and stuff like that." Mama Hill: "On, law, my mother would give us honey and sulfur. That uz one o'her grate remedies for sore throat and colds. And then, uh, she'd make pollices of, uh, you know campher, and uh turpentine, and, uh, hawg's lard . -19- And poltice our chest you know for colds. They give us worm medicin' when we uz growin' up too. And hit wuz, uh, (?) because it uz jes' like this ol', uh, Jersuelum oak. And she would make a candy outta the Jeruselum oak, boil it up you know, somehow. And uh, it didn't taste vary good, but then hit ud get the worms. children used to be wormy, thar not no more like they use ta be. I can remember having worms. So when my children uz a growin' up of course, I give them different medicin. I kept groun' hawgs' oil all the time for croup. When they'd go to gettin' croopy an' horse, why I'd give 'em groun' hawgs' oil. And then I'd tie a hund o' assifidity aroun' their necks. Judy: Mama Hill: "Assifidity". Judy - What's that? Mama Hill: Well that's a kind of a what they use ta have. What did it look like Annie," Annie (lady who lives with my grandmother. She didn't want to talk much.) "It seems to me like hit jes' looked like wax. A dark looking wax." Judy: "Did it smell bad." Mama Hill: "Yes hit had a loud oder. And, uh, then I'd, uh, -20- I'd put a little sang. Homer use ta go to the mountens and he'd find sang, when he's a cattle huntin'. And I'd, uh, put a little, uh, sang, in whiskey and give that to the babies for colic. They was sumthin' else I forgot now. And then I've, uh, burnt alum and powdered it up to go on sores, when they had a sore on 'em." Judy: "Well, what, uh, when you and grandpa first got married did ya'll have a car or what did you use to get around in?" Mama Hill: "Well we had a horse an' wagin. We didn't have no car. We'd been married, uh, we married in nineteen an' twelve, an' in nineteen an' twenny-five he bought his first car. An' he kept that 'til he's,-til we moved over here. An' he bought this place in nineteen an' twenny-five. An' when we moved over here, why he swapped his car for a team o' mules to log with. And went into the sawmill business. He sawmilled then on 'til, well fer, ..... about nineteen an' forty along mebbe a little before when he quit sawmillin' and jes farmed altogether. Then we'd grow beans and grow big cabbage patches and growed arsh potatoes an' plant three or fore acres in arsh potatoes. An' when they wuz dug we'd set out cabbage and grow a bunch of cabbage. Then we had jes' the bean patches. They wuz jes' on the side -21- kindly. We didn't never go into the bean business." Judy: "But you grew the cabbage and potatoes to sell at the market," Mama Hill: "For the market, an' then they haw led it off. And that's whar we sold it, all the stuff. Well all but the potatoes, now, the county agent sold the potatoes. So we worked pretty hard, but I enjoyed it. ---------Skip next section--------- Mama Hill: "We used ta kill hawgs when the weather was so cold you'd almost freeze ta death workin at it. But we'd uh, kill 'em, we'd have the water pot an' scald an' scrape em an' clean all the hair off of 'em. Hang 'em up and wash 'em down. An', uh, let 'em hang and drain fer a good while before theyd cut 'em up. I have knowed 'em to hang 'em up an' let 'em drain over night you know, if it wudn't too awful cold. cause it wood cut better than it wood while it wuz still warm. We spred it out in the smokehouse and we'd have our hams, an' the sholders an' middlin's and the backbone and ribs and, uh, the tenderloin. And, uh, we'd trim a lot o' the fat off an render it into lard. put it in the washpot outside when the weather was good an' uh, render it. We'd have meat of all kinds to eat, an' I use ta can a lot o' the backbones an' ribs. An' can the livers for later use you know. -22- Judy: 11And sausage .. 11 Mama Hill: "Make sausage an' I , uh, canned sausage. Dozens o' cans o' sausage put 'em up you know, besides the ones I'd put up. A long time we jest had little mouthed jars you know and I couldn't hardly ever get backbone pieces small enough to put them. An' we got to gettin' the bigger mouthed jars and then I could put in bigger pieces o' backbone you know and I always liked the backbone. And, uh, can trat and we'd have that to eat all after the meat, the fresh meat uz all gone, along when we wanted a mess o' fresh. Usually canned all the sausage, cause that uz the only way we had o' keepin' it. But back when my mother wuz a growin' up why they put up their sausage in shucks, corn shucks. Mix it, an' season it an' salt it an' put it up in good clean shucks you know. An' they'd pack inta the shucks. Some of 'em made pretty great big balls you know. And you put it in an' be shore it uz all covered, an' hang it up an' let it dry out. An' I can remember til yet how good that sausage wuz. It uz almost better to me than mine wuz when I canned it. "We'd have an awful big time a Killin' the hawgs. We'd, uh, usually take a whole day for it. One time I remember Buford Hill, Homer's nephew wuz here, him an his wife . -23- And they helped us all day, an' you wudn't a thought they'd a knowed anything about it, but now they did. They jes' pitched right in and worked. An she wuz German. Her little boys could talk German and they understood her native language you know. An' they'd get ta doin' sumthin' she thought they oughtn't ta do, she'd set in an' you couldn't understand a thang in the world she said, but now they could understand it. So they jes' enjoyed it seemed like. "I could always grow good hawgs I think. They always said some how or another they jes' growed fer me. I raised a several pet hawgs, jes' made bigguns out of 'em . I know I had one one time that always followed me everwhar I went. I went down ta the field ta get peas. I thought I'd slip off from it, it follered me though. Come on. I seen it was a kind o' trackin' me. So I went on out through the field a piece an' I jes' stepped down in another row, an' I thought well I'll throw him off you know. But he got ta that place he jes' stepped down in the other row, too, an' come right on." Judy: "like a dog." Mama Hill: uyea .. 11 -24- Judy: "Well, did you kill beef like you did hogs or did you ever do them?" Mama Hill: "Yea, we killed 'em. Homer got ta where he killed several beef. He killed, uh, oh, I guess, he killed in all three or fore before he got ta where he wudn't able, to do it you know, have the cattle to do that. He killed one - a big, ol' white-faced bull. An' I know he made a big pile o' meat too. An' I kept that beef back then when we didn't have a freezer ner we didn't have a refrigerator so I took that and cut it up as good as I could and packed it in a big jar. A big wide-mouthed jar in the springbox. Tied it up good you know and kept that meat thataway. Homer loved beef an' when he got, found out he had that disease they wudn't let him eat porK. Jes' had ta eat beef, chicken. He could eat any kind o' wild meat. I've cooked a many of a squirrel. They used ta be a sight o' squirrels. I'd cook em all the time for him. An' I cooked him one possum. He wanted to try it, he. never had eat a possum. So the boys always went possum huntin' in the fall of the year, winter. He decided he wanted one cooked, he was wantin' to try it. So I fixed one and cooked it for him. Stewed it right good an' tender and, uh, then took it out an' peppered an' put it in the oven an' baked it. So he eat a little of it. I -25- never even tasted of it. An' I asked him after that, I said well (I don't reckon I'll have ta cook another one). "An' mud turtles I cooked them fer him. Great big ol' mud turtles. Now I liked them. They wuz good. He fixed 'em as long as he wuz able, but then after he got whar he wudn' t able to do that I done it myself." -26- ' I 'FA l l Li::;..,-(? Cy<,\.: H A LI. ...rl- V ,' 1 \ A 0,. Nd, Ii. e.,e, ::ti O l.l., b i ,e_, t.,ue-M'4 '"R) IU ~ Q !.A-,' /-./-; I i.....o , C..A- t) ~ N G IA. , I-+ ' ' ~ )j:~J}'t;,;;,%, ' w o o I -s c::. e. 0f> Cf v...: H- , " '5--G'i_ lSl U. '. H- [ N AN 1 1 ,v.. A-\ po..:+\- -e-e_ N I C, I<._ 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 in a position to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, and bias is reflected in our descriptions, which may not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materials accurately. 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 language where Library of Congress subject terms are inaccurate and obsolete is ongoing. 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