Cynthia Strickland Wolfe interview with William Bennett Kee, Mattie Lou Martin, and Feodor Leslie Strickland (part three)

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 is the final part of a three-part recording. Feodor Strickland begins by discussing superstitions about items that bring good luck and traits that impressed the other boys growing up such as whistling, smoking tobacco, and fighting. At 2:02, he states that he does not believe in ghosts but is superstitious, and then he tells a humorous story about two men scaring each other after falling into a grave. Next, at 5:22, Strickland recalls the Upshaw house mentioned in part two of the recording, specifically that it was said to be haunted by Turner Upshaw (18331869) after his murder. He further explains that the house survived Shermans March to the Sea during the Civil War because Alice Benton (1852-1915) treated a Union soldier. The enslaved people who worked at the house survived by hiding in the nearby forest with livestock and burying their belongings. At 13:01, he recalls specific enslaved workers, including Mary Lassiter. Strickland returns to the topic of superstitions and good luck charms at 17:48. Then he discusses conditions growing up in the country, including the use of bells as distress signals, burials, hunting and fishing; in addition, he shares stories about camping, fish baskets, and snake hunting at 23:38. At 35:21, Strickland discusses remedies including fatback, sassafras tea, and rabbit tobacco poultice, as well as making paint from pokeberries, white wash from white mud, hominy, soap, and chitlins. Afterward, at 43:46, Strickland fondly recalls ice cream suppers which were a special occasion because families had to buy a block of ice which had to be insulated with seed hulls to transport the ice cream without it melting. He finishes the recording with a discussion about entertainment such as visiting movie theaters, listening to the radio, and hillbilly music. William Bennett Kee (1896-1978) was born to William Matthew Kee (1856-1924) and Mary Frances Parrott (1858-1903). He married Beaulah Kee (approximately 1907-?). Mattie Lou Martin (1891-1979) was born in Luthersville, Georgia to John Alan Martin (1863-1949) and Cora Wortham (1863-1942). She married Joseph Russell Chambless (1892-1973). Feodor Leslie Strickland (1919-1994) was born in Luthersville, Georgia, to Isaac Newton Strickland (1882-1962) and Olive Rebecca Upshaw (1883-1934). In 1941, he married Charlotte Mildred Ruth Smith (1921-2010). He attended college for two years and worked as a shoe salesman at Davison Paxon before enlisting in the United States Armed Forces in 1943 during World War II. F'OLK TALES COLLECTED F'ROM LUTHERSVILLE GEORGIA SPRING 1974 CYNTHIA STRICKLAND WOLFE FOLKLORE 301 Luthersvl.lle fa a small farming tewn in western Georgia, The people who live there now are essentially old and. poor, But, each of these people I talked to rem0mbered Luthersville as it used to be, They were each excited over the fact that someone did want to talk to them and. hear about the old times, I collected tales from three people who had. grown up in Luthersville and one ta.le "Th< Black Sheep of the Family" I wrote down from memory the story based on what my grandfather had told me before he died, ':/hen asking for stories_,the story tellers I collected from aJ.ways said they didn't know any stories, Their main wealth was in the stories about people who lived in th',s area and they were always willing to tell you a. story about someone, Mr, W, B, Kee i.s an old man(78yrs,) and has always been o.il11 sma.11 farmer, He's a gna.rled man that derives l.nfinite pleasure out of chewing tobacco and. rocking, I had talked to his wife about tatting so I asked him if he knew any stories, Most of the ones he knew werefa-bout people who lived in that area, He has such a gravely voice it was hard to understand him but he had such a quick wit it was hard to keep up with him, I went to several sessions with him-just to talk and listen to stories, Mrs, Matty Lou Martin is even older (8Jyrs,) although she looks to be in her 6O's, She iH as sharp as Willie B, and knows everything that goes on in thai, community, She grew up in Ltithersville and has a.lways ll.ved. dal.ry there, She ld her husband, Russel Chamblis, ran at one tim0 a farm and 1at another a. store, Mrs, Martin, as she likes to call herself, loves to talk espeeia.ly about people in the family and it seems 1l, the,t Luthersville was" t(i'ming with some of the nastiest people ever, The family legends she learned from her mother but the others she learned from her father, Mr, Feodor L, Strickland, my father, has read stories to us since my earll.est memories- sometimes 5or 6 before I would go to bed, Ile grew up l.n Luthersville, His father ran the general store and did a little farming on the side.He learned most of his stories from his sisters, He moved to Atlanta in hl.s late to ml.d. 20's- that was some 30 years ago, To these people in this community the local legend or personal memorate was the most prevalent kind of tale but they also included other kinds, In a typical southern manner, the story teller a,J.ways treats the Negro a,s dull - witted creature and one to laugh at, Looking up these stories in Tale~ and Folktale Motif Index, I found most of the stories not even present, "1~he Reid Boy" is a tale collected from W, B, Kee, He swears the -; \' 0 ;\ story is actual and it, may well be but the introducement of the cat could be a folk motif (E 1+23,12 revanant as a cat, D 142 man transformed to cat) coming in since the cat occurs where the body ,l\,uld be but isn't now, l "Drunk Again" even though told as a true story seems to contain the folk motif J2311 (person made to believe that he is dead), The story ''Two Misohevevous Boys Scare a Negro" is e, little hard to understand as it was told, It seems two boys see a couple coming from a negro baptising and decide to scare them, I could not find a folk motif in it except for the fact that the Negro is treated. aB a very superistitous person, The personal memorate was included. because I thought it was amusing and fun to fead, ,t The Billy-Goat" is a funny story and again portrays the Negro as being dull witted, "The Tar Baby" was an abbreviated version with just the tar baby and not the briar patch scene, It even left Ber Rabbit in a compromising position, It contains the motif K741 (capture by Tar Baby), "The Fox and the Rabbit in the Well" was the typical smart rabbit outwitting the duller fox, 'l'he closest motif I could find. was K6.51 (Wolf descends 1.nto the well in one bucket and rescues fox in the other), "Di vid.ing Hickory Nuts in the Cemetery" was one of two of the same type of tale I found, . The motif is X42i.J, under tales about parsons and the tale type, The Sexton carries the Parson, is 1791. I included some personal memorates of Mrs, Chamblis because they seem to give a, feeling for the type of life she had and the type of person she is, Most of her stories were just observations on the lives of the people around her, "The Upshaw Killing" is a story not really understood., No one really knows exactly what happened and different versions of the story have developed., "Scaring a Negro" is supposed. to have happened. in real life but it sounds like the motif J231.1.4 where the dead. man-or the one who is sup-. posed. to be dead-speaks up, Again, the Negro is treated as a dull witted creature, "Dividing Fishes in the Cemetery" is another version of type 1791) motif x1+24. Mr, Strickland's tales were mostly about the family and growing up in tho communl.ty. "'rhe Drunk who Fell in the Grave" has tho motif J2311 (Drunk man fal1s 1.n open grave), The poem was sometM.ng learned from a sister and something I have heard since I was a small child. 1'he story I included is a local legend in the Strickland family. The tale does have some basis in fact but is mostly just a good story, THE RUUD BOY They was having a corn shucking wadn't it and this boy got sleepy and he crawled. up in the shucks, I reckon wasn't it? Crawled. over in the shuck pen and went to sleep and they didn't know he was in there and just kept piling shucks in there, Way back yonder they'd have corn shuckingsme, n with a four horse-had four mules and a crib 'bout half as big as this room-put all his corn in and had his shucks where they had room enough put in there and they was having that corn shucking and most everybody (when they had a corn shucking they had likker drinking to,) and this boy got sleepy and went over in there and got in-might have emptied the baskets of r1hucks and fell in there-but anyhow they just kept shoving corn shucks and. piling shucks in there, He'd disappeared and 3 or 4 days 'fore they ever found him and when they found him he was in that shuck.pen, Been dead. ever since that night, Smothered. to death, And this boy-that boy lived. there, his d.ad,had the corn shucking and. he had to go to the barn every morning at 4 o'clock to feed the stock and. he said the mules was right here and ten feet over here the,t was the shuck pen and he went right between 'em every morning.Boy laying in there dead and. didn't know nothing about it-didn't think nothl.ng about it, So, they found him and the next morning down there to feed. the mules 'cause they found him dead, He said his daddy made hl.m go right on with his, , , Just as soon every morning and ,,, there was a pole from that crib over the1.<> to this shuck over here and. said just as he went under the gate there a great big old cat was going across that pole and when he opened. th~te jmrt as shucking as someone, Fell right down in front of him and said it like to scared him to d.eath and said I'm telling you, I ain't ne:ver been so sca:r.ed in all my life, That boy was in th0re the, day before but wasn't anybody there that morning. W, B, Kee DRUNKS AGAIN Old man Aus Clark got drunk one night and they was at a party and they drug him til they got tired and they carried him out in the cemetery and laid him dmm. He went to sleep, Already asleep they'd dragged him down the road, He wcnt to sleep and woke up just about sunrise;raised upj crawled upjand sat down on a tombstone and went to looking around and seen where he was at-he was out in the cemetery, He said" Dang,resurrectl.on ii morning and I'm the first man up, W ,B. KEf.!~ rwo MISCHFNOUS BOYS SCARF! A NEGRO COUPLill 'l'wo mischevous boys had a rope across the road with a sheet on it, And so, just before they got to the,ah, sheet, you know, they would pull the sheet across the road in front of em and they'd hit the mule and struck out to running and they'd already put a log down at the bottom of the hill So when the folks that were going just fast as they could down the hill and they'd hit that log, I guess :the wa.@011 ,justr,.l,umped over the log, I'm sure they thought that was a, ghost, W, B. Kee A Personal Memorate About 'I'wo Boys Marvin and Haylin was little, you know,and had. no business being out at night.They was sleeping in the shed-room and they'ed. raise the window and jump out on the ground and he'd go and. get into d.evUment and frolic around. until some time in the night way in the next morning sometime and. got him a bale and lay up at the window,you know,to jump up on and. then he'd jump in the window, He se,id. he got up on there and just spring come on over and up in the shed, Just about the time illa'i'vin give his spring the bottom fell out of the bale and made so much racket woke up everything there was on the place-when wake up the dead,his mammy,and daddy and all the rest of them was hun-l;ing for their rifles.They was two boys I'm telling you,,, One time their mother went off-they was little sure 'nuff then-and had been over to a Nigger baptising on Sunday before that-old. Niggers come out of the water,you know,just water draining off 'em so Ed. Dodd went off and left Marvin and Waylin and they caught every hen she had and dipped 'em into a tub of water and then rolled 'em in ash-hopper where they'ed taken up the dry ashes and turned em loose and1J.ev11:cy hen she had walking around when she got home and couldn't lift a wing just dragging around on the ground.She went on in the house and changed clothes,call both of them,they come around then, She got her a brush broom and she wore 'em both out, When she turned 'em loose Marvin went around on way and Waylin another and met at the front door, Marvin said " D idn't hurt me-did it you?" "Naw" And says both of 'em was burning so bad,,, W,B, Kee '.!'HE BILLY-GOA'.!' I we,s just thinking about the old billy-goat.Did you ever hear about the billy-goat? One time they had no [~ot understandable] the North. There's a fella sold a goat and he was gonna ship it on a train. So,they got him,put him in a little crate,you know-just fit him and put a tag on there and tied him with a string and the Nigger, he got him and set him out on the edge of the platform so when the train got there just pick him up and turn him around in the train and the train blowed, And he looked around e,nd the goat, had done run his tongue through the crack of the box and cut, the ticket and eat it, up, And, the Nigger went a-running down there "Mr, Phillips, Mr, Phillips" "What you want Elie?" "Come out here, Do something, This goat done eat up where he's gwinne", W, B, Kee 1'HE TAR-BABY Rabbit was gonna knock him in the head of the tar-baby and landed with his one foot and told him if he didn't turn him loose he'd hit him with the other one, So, he slammed the other one up against him and it stuck, He looked up at him and said" Now if you don't turn me a-loose I'm gonna bust you down."'He got backed and rammed him with his head and his head stuck, There he was sticking there with his head and both feet stuck to the tar-baby, W, B, Kee Fox and Habbit in the Well Put him in the well or something and hold him in there- caught the rabbit once and dropped him over in the well and fox come along and he asked how come him in there, He said" Oh,I'm a good fiddler and they put me in here to carry me over to the band tonight to play the fiddle," And,the old fox he was a better fiddler than the rabbl.t was so he says" Well,how come they didn't catch me? I'm a extra-good fiddler,""Well, maybe they didn't know it," He said"Well, if they had caught me then and we'd a both been in there!' He sal.d."Well, I tell you what you do!I This well they had him in had two buckets on it-one went up;the other come down, The rabbit, he said "You get in the other bucket and oome down with me#, ' So,the fox ,jumped over in that bucket,you know, As he was going down the rabbit hopped up on this end here and he went up and when he got to the top, the rabbit jumped out and went to the woods and left the fox down in the bottom of'-the well to play the fiddle that night-wasn't no fiddle in it, W, B, Kee DIVIDING HICKORY NU'l'S IN 1'HE CEMETERY Two little boys that were dividing up the hickory nuts in the cemetery,, Did you ever hear that one? They was dividing up the hickory nuts out in the cemetery and the way they was dividing- You take this one and I'll take that; You take this one and I'll te,ke that, And the fella heard it,you know~ He didn't know what it was so he went off and got one of his neighbors to come up there -see if he could fl.nd out what it was, "You take this one and I'll take that," They was both standing there listening, "You take this one and I'll take that (jne," And, they got done and he said"You remember we left two at the gate? You take one and I'll take the other," And them fellas at the gate thought they was talking about them and when they got to the gate they was gone, W. B, Kee A personal memora.te by Mrs, Matty Lou Martin I reritti~\ your great grand mother o.nd gpmd-daddy,you see, we lived there close to 'em and,uh,his name was Al-Mr, Al Upshaw- and Miss Alice and,uh,he was kinda high tempered and onoe it snowed and he walked out on the porch and when it snowed sometime it'd get slick and he slipped off the steps ,you know ,and Mi,c;s Alice ,and Benton ,and maybe Ollie Beck would try to get him to let them help get him in the house and he'd fight at 'em with the stick, He was high strung and he was mad with hisself because he fell out the door, Pappa would--just lived pretty close to 'em, Pappa would go to see 'em 'bout once or twice a week and,uh,he didn't want pappa to know that he was high strung or anything and Miss Alice said. she said"I think I see Mr, Martin comin/and she said Mr, Al was happy for 'em to help him in the house and told 'em"Don't tell Mr, Martin that he had been mad1! Sweetgum I knew O]/ie-Beck's sister Gibb, (Is that who Aunt Dee is named for?) Un-huh; Ollie-Bock named her daughter after Gibb,but,she wasabout 18 years old when she died, And now,a long time ago honey we couldn't go to the store and buy chewing gum like you .all do but-you ever heard. of a sweetgum tre,3? Yeah,well,we had lots of it 'round our house and we would chop 'em and then the sweetgum would run ont a.ml we would always let it stay for awhile, Then it got hard and we would go there and get a sweetgum,I think I've got a scar-there's a scar right there, Gibb was getting sweetgum with a knife and. I was getting sweetgum and her knife slipped. and stuck in my finger right there and all of us would get us a chewing piece and we wouldn't dare throw it a.way-we put it up,you know, we chewed along(on itJas we wanted to. We put it up and next day or. any time we wanted to but we didn't bother. one another's chewing gum-sweetgum we called it, Matty Lou Mar.tin About Grandparents from Mrs, Matty Lou Martin I reckon it was during the Civil War, Now this is my great-great grandfather, Do you know where Banning is? Or,Whitesberg? You know where Carrolton is, This is close to Carrolton, It was on my mother's side, My great grand.father owned a paper mill up there and he was,oh,he was just rich and had trunks of money,Then,when-after the war was over-this money wadn't worth one thing and. Mamma said she used to go up to her grandmother's and. they,her a,unts, would. make-we called. 'em firescreens ,you know, they had. open fire places and in the summer they put a screen over the fireplace and she said. they had" firescreens just made out of thousands and thousands of dollar bills and she said. she give the children the money and they would. play with money and we never ell.cl save any of that money.She didn't save any and I do wish we had it now, They wore big bills-much larger than wha,t we have, About Death and Wens a personal memorate by Mrs, Matty Lou Martin This is about your grandmother's- I believe she called her Aunt Francis, She was an old, old lady, Aunt Francis Upshaw, and, uh, she lived with her bachelor son and daughter right down here in Stricklamltown and she had two high wens up on her head, Have you ever seen anybody wl.th these? And she always kept a white cloth tiecl over her head and she died.- I was about 18 years old and then you didn't send for an uncl.ertaker when someone died, They dressed. 1em 1 you. know, so she died one day and that night somebody has to go there and stay with your fa,mily and sit up and there was a, married man and his wife sat up there and Mama sent me, And I always see those big wens up on her head ancl I wondered how those felt, and um, they didn't embalm people and they would o,lways have a white cloth and put camphor on it and lay it on the face to keep it from turning dark so this lady tha,t was setting up there, she would do it and I d.ectded I think I'll go wet that cloth and put it over her face I want to feel those wens and see how they felt and I did. and. they was just as hard and. then when the undertaker would. come next day, they would bring the casket and put 'em in it, take 'em on to the church, and then bury 'em but then they never called an undertaker like we do now, Haunted House Tale Did you ever hear stories of any houses that wem around here? Oh, yes I lived in one, I tell you H was out in the country; it was the McCoomb home and Mr, & Mrs, McCoomb, they were older than my father and they raised a big family and and I don't know, they just didn't try to pay up and keep and they lost the farm and my husband. bought it and we lived in thirteen years, It was just out back-out in the country-and we called it the McCoomb home and one day, my neighbor was visiting there and said I heard somebody call you, I said "Aw, that's just some of the McCoombs. ~ The McCoombs were dead, I went to the front door,. Nobody there. I went to the back door, Nobody there,,. I come back and said "Why, Miss Fannie, that's just Mr, McCoomb," And another time she was there and she said "I heard somebody knock at your door," I went to the front and I went to the back and I told her before I went, Iisaid "I hear that all the time" and there weren't anybody there, But one day I was in the kitchen by myself and I heard something ,just knocking on thejust making a terrible racket and I thought it was some of the McCoombs that was dead, And, I ran out and looked on top of the house and it was a bird sitting on top of the house picking on the tin, So, I found out what that was but just lots of times I hear folks walking in that-we stayed there about thirteen years and I was so scared, {ii1d it brother youij Yes, it would sometimes scare me to death but I would tell Russell and he'd say "Aw" but never did hear it and it would nearly scare me to death sometimes when I was there by myself. So we lived there thirteen years and we moved back here in this house and I was glad to move, Matty Lou Martin The Upshaw Killing Do you remember there s a little cemetary there at the house? With one man? Just one, I'm not talking about the cemetary down in Stricklandtown, This is right down he:r.,;, at your Daddy's home,, You don't, Well I'll tell you, Ollie Beck's Uncle, ah, he had a, one brother was Mr, Nath Upshaw, 'rhe other was Mr, Turner Upshaw and, a,h, a,h they- got in a fuss, Mr, Turner was marriecJJ'ra' wife, a son, and a daughter but Mr, Nath wasn't married and it seemed like the fuss that they got in- Mr, Nath was gonna marry some lady or some girl and Mr, Turner didn't approve of it, He'd been wanting hi!li to marry and they got into a fuss and Mr, Nath killed Mr, Turner- shot him, Killed him right there at the house and his Mother wanted hl.m buried just across the road so she could go to his grave and honey, it's got a nice little wire f'ence around it and it's right across the road from your Daddy's fe,rm, Matty Lou Martin Scaring a Negro Used to up here we had a store that was a two story store and upsta,irs the merchants he,d caskets and maybes we did.rt' t even have a undertaker, You know you just, go there and. buy a, casket and put people in it when they cl.iecl and there were lots of boys around town that was grown and they was always we,nting to do something funny, And, on Sa,tm:cl8,Y nights there'd be a good bit of Negroes uptown, you knol!, so some of the boys got one boy to e;o upstairs B.nd get in one of those caskets, And a Negro come in the store and another one told the Negro to go upstairs and get' em something and bring down so this Negro he went on upstairs,of course,with--we didn't have electric lights then--not much light, I think they gave him a lamp or a ce,ndle to go upstairs and. get .something and when he got up there this boy raised. up and. said."Did. you come after me?" And. they said. it just . like to scared. the Neg:m to death and. that I think that was some of your kin people--some of the Upshaws, Matty Lou Martin Dividing F'ishes in the Cemetery Two men went fishing, Have you ever heard that? And they caught lots of f:l,sh and they-going on the way home that night- . they went by the cemetery and they decided'they'd stop at the cemetery and divide the fish and they dropped one at the gate and. they went on in the cemetery and. they divided. the fish, \/ One said. I'll take this and ., you take that one and a man came along and. heard.'em and. he sat down out at the gate, He knew who they were and. he-he thought he did.- and. they kept on counting fish and he kind.a got afraid., But, he kept sitting there, When they got through one of them said "You take this one and. I'll get that one at the gate." And., they said. he flew, Matty Lou Martin COULD 'l'URNER UPSHAW HAUN'!' THIB UPSHAW HOUSE? She [011ie-Bec!~] had the staircase taken out and the hole boarded up, She had all the windows upstairs boarded up at one time.Honey, I don't even remember, I think I remember Big Daddy saying something about that, Could have been. Now, in all probility the ghost that was there was this uncle that was kill0d [Mr, '.l'Urner Upsha~ That prooo:Hily was the ghost, did you ever hear why one of them shot the other one?( CINDY) It was kinda a family secret, I think,ah, the story I heard,of course, was that Uncle Nath was taking the gun out of the buggy, ,He had been hunting-coming home fr0m hunting-taking it out and not knowing it was loaded. It discharged, Now, I.: don't know that I ever really believed that story but this was the story that was told to the kids, F, L, Strickland THE! OLD UPSHAW HOUSE! This is the reason the old Upshaw house is still standing th<1re today, When Sherman came through,ah, my Grandmother, Granny Alice who was Grandpa Al Upshaw's,,,Grandpa Al was off in the Civil War, understand,he was fighting for the confederates., But, Granny Alice and the slaves were there and, ah, Sherman's troops were coming through and one of the Yankee soldiers was stricken while there with Scarlet F'ever and Granny Alice took him in her house and treated him, He later died and he was buried on the Upshaw place, There is no marker to my knowledge for it but again,, .. it's always been handed down that he was buried there and that was the reason the house was not burned, F, L, Strickland A MWMORATE! ABOU'r THJ~ CIVIL WAR Uncle Benton who went to see ~ with tile W:l:_l1~ and it showed the Southerners retreating ancl he just politely gets up in tho show and says "It's a goddamn lie" and walked out, He didn't see all of the movie because it showed the Southerners retreating and he didn't think they did and he walked out, F,L, Strickland The Drunk Who Fell In The Grave About this drunk who was going by the cemetery, uh, didn't know there was an open grave and he was taking a shortcut through ther~ ,f.ell in: the open grave. Being six feet down he had a little difficulty getting out since he wasn't six feet tall. And he couldn't get out but he felt like that he'd be allright. He'd just sit in the grave-lay down in the grave go to sleep in there, Wadn 't nothing that, was going to bother him and he fell asleep l.n there and the next morning he'd get :out whe somebodf'd come along. So, after that same evening there was a colored gentleman that had started through not knowing that the grave was open, He fell in the same grave, He tried to climb out-couldn't get out until this man touched him on the shoulder and says,"Can I help you?" And he says,"Lawsy no, not now, " And he went out, IP, L, Strickland A poem from F, L, Strickland learned from his sister Come right this way See the big Merino Tiger Forty-nine stripes around his body-one leading right toBe particular there J Ladies Don't step in that cow- Shame on you boys for sticking straws up that monkey'sAsk your Ma for 15 <l- To see the sideshow, All you ladies who cannot swim Climb up on the high benches Because them elephants gonna- Peanuts 5:/ a bag all over the fair ground, THill BLACK SHillillP OB' THE li'AMILY There has always been a family legend in the Strickland family for as long as I can remember, History proves it somewhat but it is one of those things that can never be proven for sure, It is sald that one of the Strickland men-oh,it must have been in the 1840's or 50's-leastways before the Civil War because I think I remember my grandfather telling me it was his uncle that this story is about, Well, this ma,n-there is never any mention of his name-shot someone in Luthersville and had to leave the community to keep from being lynched. Just as it is never said why he shot the othefan1only that he shot him, Well, this man went to Texas to keep from being lynched and started over again there, This man's descendants were later the heirs to the Humble Oil Estate which is at this date still unsettled because no heirs can be found, 'l'he state of Texas is in cho.rge of the estate now and did trace the descendents of the last person who owned the Humble Oil Enterprises, They traced it back to one man who came from Meriwether County, Georgia around the l840's or 1850's, But here, they draw a complete blank, There is no reference anywhere on any document with the man's name, It is be~e(l\ved that the father of the man was so upset at the latest doings of his black-sheep son that he totally dismmed him even going so far as to strike his name from all wills and family Bibles, 'l'he man Is name was never mentioned in the family after that, Cynthia Strickland from Isaac Newton Strickland 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.