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.
Note: Recording contains racist and graphic language. This is the first of a two-part interview. It starts with Paul Boston describing watching the hanging of an African American man, Raymond Ross, who was wrongly accused of rape, when he was 14. He then talks about another hanging of an African American man who had shot someone. The men have a brief discussion about Hoyle Reinhardt and his sisters. Paul Boston changes the subject to the Yankees coming through and stealing everything from his grandfathers land after the Civil War. They then talk about Dr. Moore, Lonie Bostons uncle. At this point, Lonie Boston joins the interview. Paul and Lonie Boston then talk about a few people who lived in Waleska, Georgia, where they grew up. Next, they talk about Reinhardt College, later renamed Reinhardt University, which Paul Boston attended. He recalls not attending school until the cotton was harvested in the Fall and then proceeds to discuss farming. Paul Boston then shares that his sister, Dexter Boston Fincher, was the first woman to graduate from Reinhardt, and reminisces about playing pranks on other kids and the rules of courting. He then returns to the topic of Dr. Moore and the flu pandemic of 1918. The interview concludes with another discussion about farming.
Paul Boston (1885-1976) married Lonie Moore Boston (1886-1976) in 1909 and they had three children, Ford Boston (1913-2004), Kleven Boston (1916-1991), and Martha Boston (1919). Homer Guy Cline (1891-1984) was born to James Erwin Cline (1861-1940) and Cora Artemis Mathis Reinhardt Cline. Eva Esther Johnson Cline (1897-1971) was born to Henry C. Johnson (1867-) and Sarah E. Johnson (1870). Homer Guy Cline and Eva Esther Johnson Cline married and had one child, Winona Cline McCurry (1918-1998). After Eva Esther Johnson Cline passed away, Homer Guy Cline married Evas sister Ruby Johnson Cline (1909-2009).
3 Mr. Boston: Iz borned in Waleska in 18 and 85, and I live in the house that Iz borned in, all these years. I have a - I'm married, I have three children, two boys and a girl, and uh 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. ,'fuen Iz lh years old I went to Canton to a nigger hangin', a1 uh it uz supposed to be private and they tore the blinds down so that peoib:l:e could see it, and I climbed up ill a tree - up about 12;..14 feet so I could see him good, and he come ridin' down to the gallows on a wagon - in a wagon a-sittin' on his coffin eatin' c<L'1dy; and, uh, if I could call back I ,"ould'1't-a had the nerve to a-got up in the tree to seen him hung - as I said, but it uz the last one I ever saw hung ;n d never will see another one. (L'lUghter) There was another nigger hung a few years after that but I didn't go to the hangin' - uh, I let the other fellow go - I stayed away. Mr. Reinhardt: What happened? Can you tell us'/ Mr. Boston: He shot a. fellow - killed a. fellow over a dime in a poker game. Waleska was named after an Indian squaw that died here on my place - on my father's farm, and they's old relics of the Indian , . \ hatchets and just all kinds ,a Indi~ stuff that's - I've plowed up andfounddo,vn thare but it's all been picked over and I don't I ... .... , , . ~ guess you could find any dovm thare now. My farm's in Northwest Georgia in Cherokee CoUnty. I have a. piece of the rope that hung that nigger - I have it here at home somewhare but I coulci.'1't find it right now. !Jr. Reinhardt: But you saw them pull the tra.p and you saw him dangling? Mr. Boston: Yea, I knew the sheriff - he, he wouldn't pull the trigger - he hired - he give some fellow twenty-five dollars to pull the trigger. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you remember the sheriff's name? Mr. Boston: Penn lJiddel. Mr. Reinhardt: Penn Biddel. Do you remember the llegrQ.' s name? Mr. Eoston: Raymond Ross. Mr. Reinhardt: Raymond Ross? Mr. Boston: Yea. Faye: Mr. Boston: What did he do - why was he hung? Well, you mean what uz he hung for? 7hey Claimed he'd raped a woman but he diWl't - he uz innocent of it - he uz a nigger that wadn't ~ight bright, and he went out to the well to git him a drink a ,yater a while before day and the law was a-huntin' and run up on him and he's drunk and he didn't know what it uz for all about, and they just took him in. It was a white man that committed the crime. Faye. Was he a yOWlg boy? Mr. Boston: Huh, oh he's about 20 years old. Mr. Reinhardt: That would have been about 19001 Mr. Boston: About - somewhare about 1900 - might-a been 1900 and 1 or 2. I just don't recall; .: Mr. Reinhardt: You rec,all if Hoyle Reinhardt was there? He would have been about the same age. Mr. Boston: Yea, Hoyle ,migh:t-a' been. thare; Mr. Reinhardt: He might of been there? Mr. Boston: Yea. Mr. Boston: He lived over here about 4 miles and he walked to school - 4 miles, and he had - I believe he had 1 or 2 old maid sisters, didn't he? 5 Mr. Reinhardt: Yes, he did. They didll't turn out to be old maids. One of them is living now - Beulah. Beulah's living - she's just about as old as a person could be and she's lost her eyesight, and she lost her daughter just the other day. Mr. Boston: The Yankee's comin' through down here at my grandfather's place whare my father was raised. They come through thare and I think th~ took about ever1thing that my grandparents had. Thet'd git out their silverW'are and such as that, and they got all their meat and got their feed to feed their horses on, and I think that's about all the damage they done to him. Mr. Reinhardt: Couldn't of done much more except took his life though, could they? (Laughter) Did they give them anything to eat? Did they leave them anything? Did they do anythihg about their welfare? Mr. Boston: Who? Uh? Mr. Reinhardt: The Yankees - .Did they take care of them in any way? Mr. Boston: Not that I know of. Mr. Reinhardt: Never heard of a Yankee doctor treating anybody? Mr. Boston: No - not that I know of. Mr. Reinhardt: Just wauldn' t touch them? !r. Boston: Yea. (Speaking of Dr. Moore, Mrs~,Boston's uncle) Doc - he's done a whole heap for this county - he - all the upbuilding of the,o_f ~he' county. That, is, like the forestry doin's.and the civic leagues, and he was once a legislatur in . ~ f , 6 ,."..A 1907 or 8, I believe it was - that uz before I knew him. In 1918 during the flu he went for about 72 hours 'out any sleep and he never lost a flu case, and he carried his med'cin in his little grip, you know, and I believe that's all I know. Mr. Reinhardt: How did he go about the countryside? Mr. Boston: In a horse and buggy. Mr. Reinhardt: Horse and buggy? Mr. Boston: HOll'se and buggy. Mrs. Boston: About the only pay he got was just - lot's of it was just given to him off the farm - hams and things like that, you know, and he's paid in that. Of course, I don't know mf you want to put that in there or not. Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: One, one time thare's a nigger here - he's a - he used to stay with Uncle Gus Re~nhardt; and he'd go around to some of the nigger neighbors and keep um up all night. And me 'n' Virgil Puckett put on white sheets one night and went to the house and stood in the dhimney corner and listened at him talkin' thare a while, and we knocked on the door and \1e went around mare he could see us and we told him that we's Ku Klux and he'd better git out from here, and I says he sold out - he told the folks thare - he says, "I'll not be back here no more, II and he went through the woods a-hittin' bobbed wire fences, and tore his pants off of him nearly, and he never did go back to that nigger's " ,house anymore. A fello\1 that taught school up here and uz so thick with the Huffstetler boy and wore sweaters three different lengths and wal~ed ever'whare he went - if 'he wanted to go to Cartersnlle Mr. Boston: , 7 or GIL"lton or anywhare he walked, and he just walked all the time when he wasn't in the elas sroom. I had a nephew from Texas to visit roe this last week, and he's we're both 82 years old, and we had the best time while he's here, and talking old times over and telling about when we's in school. They had the rules on us and we couldn't be out at night, and we'd ,slip out, and maybe officer of the day ud corne around and we'd hear him a-comin' and we'd hide in the house, when he'd corne and .....'4 then~have to stay hid till he left 'fore wecoulct git out to come horne and he - - let's see Mr. Reinhardt: Reinhardt CO.Llege was a military school, wasn't it? Mr. Boston: Yea. Mrs. Boston: Yes, it was. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you know about when it started as a military school? Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: No, I don't. I guess it uz started purty soon after the college opened up. Now they used to have a good military here and We had sham battles and we all had to wear gray uniforms and the girls, they in their societies, they 1~re blue skitts and white jackets and a cap. Now tell about that old Indian rock. \lll"n the college was burnt they burnt up ".Ll the guns we had and they built a stone buildin' here in '26 and they put the gun barrels for the braces up the steps on the, 'on the Dobbs Buildin' and Mr. Reinhardt: Those are Confederate gun barrels. Mr. Boston: Yea, Confederate gun barrels. Thare's a big rock over here in the mountains, I don't know how many ton it weighed, but the people I '. Fayeiil Mr. Boston: Faye: Mr. Boston: 8 used to run away from school on the first day of April and go over thare and see that rock; and it had wild turkeys feet cut on it and bear tracks and old uh horseshoes and oh, just all kinds of foot prints made on it, and it had a, a place bored out in thare ,'mare the Indians ud grind - mash up their com for their bread, you know. Why on the first day of April? Huh? Why did they go on the first day of April? They uh, had a habit of running away, you know, to fool the teachers. Mr. Reinhardt: Mrs. Boston: Mr. Reinhardt: Mr. Boston: April Fool Day. April Fool Day. April Fool Day called Ball GrOlmd .,. that was named after the Indians.,. they'd meet up thare and play ball - they call that Ball Ground, I think they played what they call town ball - or some such-a name. Play with each other or against the people that lived there? The white people that lived there? Jdr. Boston: Yea. Mr. Reinhardt: Play with them ane! play with each other? Mr. Boston: Yea I went to school here at Reinhardt College and I never did I never got to finish school - I went to about the uh sophomore class and I - my father was a farmer and I had to stay out and hep make a crop, and I couldn't go to school till cotton was picked in the Fall and then I went to school than till crop time in the Spring lilien I had to drop out and hep farm. 9 Mr. Reinhardt: Wasn't-that about the situation with all the young men up here all of them had to do that - most of them had to do that? Mr. Boston: Yea, most of us had to do that - mighty few that went the full nine months school. Mr. Reinhardt: Now in those days Reinhardt was f rom the 1st grade on up", wasn't it? Mr. Boston: Yea. Mr. Reinhardt: It was all the way - fror.l 1st grade through two years - what Yle call now two years of college - it was a four year college, wasn't it? lars. Boston: No, it never was a four year college. !ar. Reinhardt: Two year, always just a two year college. Mr. Boston: Yea, two year cOllege. My sister was the first un that ever gradllated here with uh - it uz in '93, I believe it was, and she won the first honor and the gold medal and she had her- and she give her diploma back to the college here just a few years ago. It I S in the museum down here now. Mr. Reinhardt: First diploma awarded by Reinhardt College? lar. Boston: Yea. Mr. Reinhardt: What was her name? Mr. Boston: Dexter Boston. Yr. Reinhardt: Dexter Boston. Mr. Boston: And she married a Fincher. Mr. Reinhardt: Fincher? Mr. Boston: Yea. Mr. Reinhardt: What did it cost you to go to Reinhardt College in ~hose days? Mr. Boston: Oh, it didn't cost but about a dollar a month, and now the tuition's purty hiBh. 10 , , , . (Laughter) ~.. , Mr. Reinhardt: I well know. What did that dollar pay, for? t. 'r , Mr. Boston: t . ~ It uh, went to pay - hep pay the expenses of the teachers and the heat of the college. Mr. Reinhardt: Did you get a meal? Hr. Boston: Huh? Mrs. Boston: No. Yri Reinhardt: Did you get a din.~er - a meal with it? Mr. Boston: No. Mr. Reinhardt: No dinner - no meal. Mr. Boston: No, no meal. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you remember some of the teachers at that time? Some of the names of the teachers at that time? Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: I!rs. Boston: Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: Mrs. Boston: Teachers? y~, yes, thare's uh Joe Sed Lewis, and uh No, n:l.l'le further back than that, Dad. Huh? It was a little higher tuition then. N=e further back - them Patillos - one's that Aint Dexter went to. Oh, she went to school wi. th Pat Patiller and and uh, uh Smith and What uz them womin folks name? What.other folk? The womin folks - I've heard her talk about the \vominl That Was in her class? Naw - teachers here - teachers. (In the follo\ving conversation, Mr. Reinhardt and the Boston's are talking about two different Dr. Rogers'. The Bostons are -- -- - ------------------------------------------~ 11 re~erring to Dr. W~llace Rog~rs~ who. was President illld pastor at Reinhardt Col.le"e. Jell'. Reinhardt is .referring to a Dr. Rogers ' who taught at Reinhardt for several yeOlrs after retiring .8 Preside,nt of' the University of Georgi;.) Mr. Boston: 1hz Hosa Hogers and Old Dr. Rogers used to be t.lJ,e pOlStor here. Mr. Reinhardt: Is he the one that went on to be the University of Georgia President and passed away not long Olga - just this week, wasn't it? Mr. Boston: Yea. Mrs. Boston: That uz Ernest - it "as his daddy. Mr. Reinhardt: Oh, his daddy. Mrs. Boston: Must have been, or granddaddy. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you remember who the president of the school Was at that time? Or who the headmaster was or what Mrs. Boston: Patillo, wasn't it? Mr. Boston: Naw, it uz Doc Rogers, I believe. Mrs. Boston: Yea, I guess it was. Mr. Boston: Dr. Rogers. Mr. Reinhardt: And that was the father or grandfather of the Dr. 'Rogers that was the former president Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: Of Ernest - that died. Back when Iz a boy - well, it's not been too many years bOlCk, we used to have wood choppin's and, and log rollin's, and if people got burnt out, whY the neighbors ud meet in and hep build him a house back, and git up household stuff for him, and we'd have corn shuckin's and, and all that done passed now. I hadn't been to a corn shuckin' in I don't reckon in 15 years. People quit havin' the log rollin's and Mrs. Boston: Mr. Boston: Quit fannin'. And they just practically quit farmin' - nothing here but raisin' cattle and chickens and 12 lIT. RellUlardt: quite a few of, them Nork at 'Lockheed, don't they? \ Ilr. Boston: Yea, a lot of people go from here to Lock - ~!arietta to work - to I~ckheed, and even go to -,as far as Atlanter and and: Mr. Reinhardt: Everyday. Mr. Boston: Ever'day - back\iards and forth. Mr. Reinhardt: Now, when you was a yowg man, what did ya'll do for a good time? ~~- How did ya'll seeial - what did ya'll do for socials? Mr. Boston: Well, we just had, uh, pulled jo~es on one another - play Mr. Reinhardt: Remember any of the jokes you pulled on somebody? 1lr. Bostdln: (Lau~hing) Well, I, I don't remember now - I pulled so many - and I don't know whether I know a real good one or not, but anyway, Iz in - thare's a fellow that always come into Walesky, he lived 'bout a half a mile below here, and he'd cone up here and he'd have a 1211tern - he' 5 - on dark nights and he'd go hone, and he had to pass by a cemetery. l,c put a feller in the cemetery VIith a white sheet on, and he got to rollin' around gruntin f and this feller heard him and he tore out dOln! the road and that lantern looked like a lightnmng bug goin' over the hill. Like to run hisself to death - he just fell in home - in the doors - just give plum out-a wind. (Laughter) Mr. Reinhardt: That's wonderful. Do you remember who the fellow was ya'll scared so? Mr. Boston: The feller that got scared - yea, it uz Virgil Puckett - a redheaded boy. (LaUghter) Mr. Reinhardt: Did you do this by yourself or did you have some help? Mr. Boston: Huh? Mr. Reinhardt: Did you do it by yourself - or you had some help? Mr. Boston: No, I had some hep'to hep me - and he come to see me here 'bout six weeks ago, and he, he's 77 years old and he, his hair had all 13 , , come out and he come in the house and didn't pull his hat off, and I got him to ,pull his hat off, and he said he didn't want to - he didn't have no hair, and he - he uz just as bald-headed as he could be, and he said he - thare's a little stroop a-comin' back on the back of his neck - it was black and he said he's gonna buy him a red wig - he didn't want to be buried black-headed. (Laughter) Mr. Reinhardt: How did ya'll court in those days? 1~. Boston: Well, we don't Mrs. Boston: Horse and bug~J time. Mr. Boston: We courted back yonder, we didn't ever take urn by the hand when we went anywhare - we'd git a stick and they'd git a-hold of one end and we the other and we'd walk along - but now they just look like they growed together when you meet urn out on the street. (Laughter) Mr. Reinhardt: Mrs. Boston, did ya'll hold a stick in your courting days? Did you hold a stick? Mrs. Boston: I guess we did - don't remember too much about it - been so far back. I know we courted in the buggy and thare come up a cloud, a thunder storm one night. We's comin' from the 'Tracted meetin', and uh, the horse got frightened, and I fell out, and I caught a-hold of him and tore his shirt ;sleeve Qut. (Laughter) ._-------------------------- - - -- - --------------------------------------------. 14 v~. Reinhardt: Did you have to explain that when you got home? Mrs. Boston: I don't remember whare - I guess we did, but I don't remember. lvI.r. Boston: I had my daddy's buggy and, and uh, and it uz awful dark and thare's a cloud a-comin' up and just a-flashin' lightnin' and I'd make the horse run w.hen, when it'd lightnin' -. .and it run into a bank and cut the buggy over ;md like to throwed my wife - my sweetheart - out. lIi.rs. Boston: Mr. Boston: You did - I did go out. A And lvhen she went out she carried my shirt with her, and I lost '. . my hat,' and broke the shaves out of the buggy, and I had to go t~ the next morning and hunt my hat and pull my buggy in - well, thare's just one shave on it, and brought it in and my daddy asked me how it come, and I told him that the horse fell down with it and he said, ''lYell, just fix my shaves back up, It and I had urn fixed. That year they all had the flu the - ever' one in my famly had it and I hadn't had it till yet - that was in 1918. Mr. Reinhardt: I believe you said the Old Doc Moore didn't lose a single person in this . Mr. Boston: Mr. Reinhardt: Mr. Boston: Mr. Reinhardt: Mr. Boston: Mr. Reinhardt: Mr. Boston: No, he never lost a patient. in this end of the county - that's unusual, isn't it? Rode miles and miles over this cOlmty. But were they dying in Canton with the flu? Well, I don't - I think thare was some di.ed in Canton wi th the flu. How about Ball Ground, Jasper, - were they dying there? I expect they lost a few cases up thare, but he didn't git that f",r out. Mr. Reinhardt: Well, I understiUlQ that. Faye: Mr. Boston: How did he treat it? I don't know - he just - he's just a feller that studies med'cin all the time and know'd just exactly what to use. l~ lArs. Boston: I don't remember ,vhat he gave us. Mr. Reinhardt: Did he make up his own medicine? Mr. Boston: Yea, he made up his ffi1n medicine. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you kn~ if he used Mrs. Boston: He mixed it just like they do at the drug store Mr. Reinhardt: Use a lot of honey in it? Do you remember that, if he used honey? Mr. Boston: I don't remember ,tbout the honey. Mr. Reinhardt: Do you remember if he used herbs he got out in the field and woods? Mrs. Boston: No, I don't think he went out that far'vith it. Mr. ReUL~ardt: Don't think he did that? Mr. Boston: 1908, I think, 7, somewhare along thare, we had the depression - 1 and, you couldn't git IIIOney no way, you had to use a script to buy anything. And my father was in Atlanter when they had a nigger riot dm1n thare and, and they just killed niggers down thare and throwed urn iI' old wells and hauled urn off in old boxcars - thare's no tellin ' how many niggers they did kill ill1d, un, we never have had a riot like that in Atlanter since then. Mr. Reinhardt: 1That - during those days what was the situation with cotton - could ;it be sold if you - could you sell your cotton in those days? Anybody have enouGh money to buy it? Mr. Boston: No, you couldn't sell no cotton much and, and my father - back in Clevel~1d's amninistration he sold meat for 3 and 4 cents a pound and cotton for 3 and 1+ cents a pmmd, and uh, and we lived purty, purty hard for several years, and then when, - back in L- _ 16 "19 and 31 or 2 when Roosevelt went in, why, he put up this CC Camp business and got to paying wages and people got to whare they could buy things, and wear fairly good clothes and that uz during - President Hoover wasthe cause of that - he like to starved us all to death. (Laughter) I growed cotton. Mr. Reinhardt: Everybody grew cotton here? Mr. Boston: Yea - cotton and corn and some lrheat and, and this never was 11 " . , , tobacco or peanut county to grow that stuff, but 4vJl.Othey,. grow the poultry, and the. ch+cken feed now. I , , Mr. and Mrs. Homer G. Cline live in the Indian Knoll Community ne..r Canton, Georgi... The house they live in is very old and .rustic. There ..re cr..cks in the \vo.lls and it is heated by .. pot-bellied wood stove in the center of the living room. They ..re not poor people. I w..s told th..t Homer Cline introduced the chicken industry to Cherokee County. For sever..l ye..rs they lived in .. fairly modern, wooden home .vith many modern conveniences, but they moved b..ck bec..use they felt more cOlnfort..ble. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cline were quite willing to co-oper..te. The "sque..king" in the background on the t ..pe is from Mr. Cline IS roclcing .ch..ir. 17 ,. ,, , . UR. AND HilS. IlOl~R G. CLINE ROUTE-:..l CANTor-I, GEORGIA 30114 Mr. Cline: I'm Homer Cline. I live five mile east of Canton, Indian Knoll Uf Community, -in Cherokee. I've lived here at this place 48 years , ~ moved here in 19 and 18. 18 Mr. Reinhardt: Will you tell- us when you wer~ born? Mr. Cline: I was born in '91. Mr. Reinhardt: Now, Mrs. Cline, will you tell us who you are? Mrs. Cline: I'm Mrs. Cline, and I was born in'9? Mr. Reinhardt: You didn't have to tell that. (Laughter) Tell us that story about the coal - just like you told me while ago. Mrs. Cline: Faye: Mrs. Cline: Faye: Mrs. Cline: Uh, we've uh been reminded about a whole lot,of our uh old habits and customs from way back, from Germany and - years and years ago, and uh we have these superstitions, and just lately we've had a get-together and some folks from Ge rrnany told of the old customs, and from Scotland also, this was from Scotland. That on N~v Years' nay that it was uh very important that uh only a blackheaded person come in the door first because they wanted a blackperson, headed, ~~d in one hand you carried a piece a coal and in the other a bottle a whiskey, then you would always keep warm that whole season. And these traditions were carried oVer to this country? These are still carried over - today. They still use them today? And some - Homer's mother was very good on that, too, because every l,ew Years' Day she didn't want a woman comin' to her house first because if a man perro n come you'd have good luck wi t ya chickens 2nd a woman you didn't. Mr. Heinhardt: And they still practiced that in Cherokee County during your yOlmg ctays? 19 Mrs. Cline: Faye: Mrs. Cline: Yes. Do you remember my other customs like that? Well, uh, I remembeI' she wouldn't let. you come in the house with a hoe or an ax unless you went out the same door you came in because it'd give you bad luck if you did that. Had to go out the smne door. Faye: These were things she had learned in her childhood? Mrs. Cline: Yes Mr. ReinhaI'dt: Recently Dean Rusk came down here and made a speech at Reinhardt College. I'm sure you heard that - and he told about his, children or when he was a child putting that asafe.llda around his neck. Do you know about that? W~s. Cline: Oh, yes, it was practiced and still is in some families, I think. Mr. Reinhardt: In Cherokee County today? Mrs. Cline: In Cherokee County, yes, but it was an old remedy to keep off contagious diseases. Faye: And they still do it? Mrs. Cline: They still do. Mr. Reinhardt: Young or old or aU? Mrs.(and Mr.) Cline: Well, just a few older ones. Mr. Reinhardt: Children don't do it _y more? Mrs. Cline: They try to teach it to the children but they go to the hospitals and the clinics. (Laughter) Mrs. Cline: ~ And to keep away uh ~{elcome visitors just put your dishPag under the doorstep and it will wipe out all unwelcomeness. 20 Mrs. Cline: Is this still done? , - Not that I' know of. . ~ ".!. Mr. Cline: Vlhen l'z a-gr01vin"up the ?lder people would uh play pranks on their neighbor at Christmas. They'd take a wax strang about f ~ 2 or 3 hundred feet long a.qd tie'it to a nail and hook it up in the ceilin' or weather baardin ' of a house and then they'd git off about a hundred yards and rub a piece of rosin across it and it YO uld sound just like a-sawin' - like they's sawin I up in thare, and then stroke the strang 1'1i. th that wax - it'd sound like youse a-hittin' it with a hammer. A lot of people - I knew of one feller that it scared so bad that the next day he tore all the weather boardin' off from the side of his house tryin' to find out what 1vas up in thare That happened to an old man I knew very well in Cherokee County, up Ciose to Sardis Church I don't remember 'goin' to but one hangin' in Cherokee County. That was back several years - I tiDn't remember just how long, but, uh, Kellogg nigger that they hang at Canton, and I. remember goin' to that arid watchin' urn a-sprang the trap and a-seein' him fall. * Mr. Reinhardt: What was he accused of? Mr. Cline: That was - oh, at Canton, Georgia. Mr. Reinhardt: /hat was he accused of - ioh.at:oh:id'he done that they hung him for? l!r. Cline: He had killed someone - it uz for murder - I don't remember who he'd killed. 21 Mr. Reinhardt: Was there a big crowd there? Mr. Cline: Yea. Said that he'd killed - the Bible said you shouldn't kill and said the sheriff was a-committin' the same crime that he did killin' him. A little prank Lused t,o hear my daddy tell about uh some folks a-stealin' corn - going to the neighbors house and ste:l.1in' corn one night. And they',d go down - thare's a cemetery right close - they'd go d~wn ~o that cemetery ald divide the corn - thare's two i of um. They went arid got um a turn of corn aJ. d they's down thare Mrs. Cline: dividin' it that night, and they'd take- one ud take ahiear ald say, "I' 11 take this al d you'll take that, I'11L take this and you'll take that." In the mean time, the old man that they'd stea!ed the corn from - he'd got sorta wise to it and he went dovm a-listenin' at urn. He's stan din , thare at the gate of the cemetery listcnin' and they kept con dividin' the corn, -"I'll take this and you'll take that," and at last they got through and said, "Now that's :1.11 except the two at the gate." They dropped two ears when they went in - they thought they's meanin' them and they lit out ~'~ they lit out. (Laughter) Indian Knoll is really rich in the Indian lore because they lived here and that we've known and talked to the earlier folks herea ,lind families still live uh but uh the bUryin' ground of the Indians was right out from the church. Mr. Reinhardt: That's right out from here, isn't it, from your house? Mrs. Cline: On up at the road (telephone) we don't know .just "hare no one has dug urn to see wkat they left and all. But and also dovm in these bottoms here - and a big spring was where we helt, the Indians helt their green corn dance ever' year. And Buffington just nearby ~ere the Indians were placed in the fort until they were ready to be sent on west and taken out of Cherokee. 22 Mr. Reinhardt: Do you plow up "arrowheads and potterY,,? Mrs. Cline: We used-to, quite.o--ften Mr. Cline: Quite a-many of wm I've dug.here in my field. Mr. Reinhardt: Did you save -them or throw them awlJ.y? " : \' .. ., \. . l.lr. Cline: Dh, Alvin McCurly - I got - he got - he saved a whole bunch 01' those - I don't know whare they'd have urn today or not - but he used to pick urn up dOYffi my - he used to 1'10 rk a little down in my field and he'd pick them up. (Referring',to the time ltfter the Ciuil War) My grandfather at that time - he was a-hidin ' out :;0 d I heard about him - he! tell about tham a-comin' thare a-huntin' for him - those uh Yankees - vh en they's cominI through here - he's with the other crowd - with the Confederates, and I don't remember too much about it. Mr. Reinhardt: Did you hear alV stories about when .the Yankees clllIle through here; ,.maybe a bout devastating the land, or can you tell us maybe some stOFJ you heard? Mrs. Cline: Yes I can. It's very familiar because of the Page family - lives down south of Canton on the Cartersville road, and uh, Old Mother Page was tellin I - they <came thare and they was some of urn sick - they couldn't leave - they was gonna burn her house, and they 23 went ahead and made the fire, and they went on and thought they had it already fixed you know, till it would be destroyed, and they didn't even let them git the sick patient out of the house. But after they left she went and put that fire out and carried it away from there till there nas no danger. She said she knew' she's a-riskin' a lot because they had threatened her that if anybody uh l1r. Reinhardt: Now you can walk these hill and see trenches, can't you breastwork? lirs. Cline: Yes - well, you can over ar01md Buffington. Mr. Cline: Used to be a great big rocks - uh piles of rocks - big rocks that, that was, they said the Indians put thare. And a lot of people thought maybe thare's Indians buried under thare or some of their treasures - I don't know whare thare was - the last few years the rocks uz hauled away by county mostly and used crush new roads out um - but thare was a large pile of um. Mr. Reinhardt: Anybody dig lmder there to see if there was any treasury? Mr. Cline: Not that I know of. I heard those rumors that they thought Mrs. Cline: they wa~; The cliffs out at. Pine Log Mountain out uh west of Waleska are noted for the' Indians usin' um to cure' their meats wi th, and they'd bring .them ,into the homes t~ere to try to trade salt, you know, for somethin' else to eat. And one little interestin' thing is uh Old Granny Fincher was a-givin I urn food and then uh they brought her a hen one day to trade it, and she was thoughtful and wanted to help them so she traded and got urn JlP some meat and aigs and butter 'n' things, and she thought the hen looked familiar, and after they left she went out to her hen house and it was one 24 of hers. They'd come by and got the hen and traded it to her. (Laughter) Back in the early history (If Waleska, why, Homer's grandmother ud go with a bunch out on Pine Log Mountainto hold a sunrise service at Easter time, and uh the history is that the Indians did that too; that they would uh greet the Easter sunrise thare on - and T think we still have that carried on here, that the people around Waleska - a group of urn go out thare each Easter morning to have sunrise services. Mr. Reir.hardt: That's gOUlg back before theCivil War, isn't it? Mrs. Cline: Oh yes.. , t Mr. Reinhardt: Going back 150 years? Mrs. Cline: Oh yes, because see - Homer's - it's been that long... ~ -,. ., ~. .. r '" It would be very valu.ble now if we' could git this early history that was uh put out uh way back - it must have been before the Civil War. And uh there's only 4 copies that we know of - thatls been uh found and uh ray aunt had one of urn and she loaned it to another family, and non uh just recently we've rtul across it in another friends' home in Cartersville,. and we're gonna try to obtain that and have some more printed - that tells the early history of the whole of Cherokee - and the Heinhardt' s are very prominent in that. Mr. Heinhardt: That would go back 150 or 200 years? Mrs. Cline: Dr, huh, it would. Mr. Reinhardt: I sure would like to see it. Mr. Cline: I remember ray mother tellin' me different times about Gus Reinhardt uh going to Germany to collect some money thare - uh, one of the 25 fore-parents over thare was a millionaire and he didn't have any famly; and uh this party went over thare to see after that and to git that estate. And when he came back to Cherokee, why thare was not any of urn that ever got any money out of that - this one, he was a very wealthy man from then on. Never did give anyone any of that estate. (Laughter) Mr. Reinhardt: He's the one that went on to be the mayor of Atlanta? Mr. Cline: Captain, this Was Captain Reinhardt - you see after ,that - see he was a, he was", big donator to the startin' of Reinhardt College. I never did know too much about him - only just heard my mother tell a few of these things: she'd (Mrs. Cline) listen at her (his mother) more thannI I ' would for it was something that I didn't think concerned me. (Laughter) I'm like -Iz like just a lot of young people tOQay - I wasn't interested. Back ~en I uz a-grawin' up - I uz raised on a farm - nearly done ever'thing on a farm - and we'd - our main crop was cotton and corn - we'd grow cotton for a little money crop and we'd have corn, ~ittle wheat, and by Fall we'd raise a lot of corn, we'd have corn shuckin's. We'd invite our neighbors in and we'd of~en have 40 or 50 people ud come to the corn shuckin'. And ordinarily before they left all that corn was shucked and put in the crib, and that was a custom at almost every farm around in this section. Mrs. Cline: Mr. Cline: What about the eats? Eats - we'd have a, we'd have a big supper - ever'body ud enjoy that- it was usually - ,just invite um to come along after 12. 26 They'd usualt,y come in around 1 or 2 o'clock and then they'd usually be through by 9 or 10 0' clock - corn uz all shucked and put in the crib. TIe had as high as 2000 bushel a corn shucked and in that length of time. Oh, from about 1899 to 19 and 4, we growed 5 acres of terbacker. We had a barn - we called it 15 tiers high - we cut that terbacker and put it on sticks and hang it in that barn - it'd be 15 tiens high - that's what it really was, and then we'd - when it'd hung in thare 4 or 5 days, it would turn yeller and t hen we'd burn charcoal and heat it and cure it with that charcoal heat, and after it was cure~ then they'd pull it off the stems and twist it and pack it in bales and haul it off in the mountains and sell it - that's the way we marketed the terbacker. They'd go - my daddy and some of the neighbors ud go with him and they'd be gone ordinary wi th a two-horse wagon about a week. About a week or ten days ,.,. r they'd be back in.- take another load Mr. Reinhardt: flhat happened to tobacco grmving in this county? Just quit and died? Mr. Cline: Just done away with. Mrs. Cline: Just no market for the homegrown stuff you know; they got to curin' it:with the other heats and things. Mr. Reinhardt: I'm surprised tobacco would grow in North Georgia. I thought tobacco was in South Ge~gia. (Everybody is talking at once.) Mr. Cline: Most ever'body back then used homemade tobacco - they grew it themselves, you know. Mr. Reinhardt: Did they use any of that tobacco for home consumption? (Eve~ibody talking at onee) Mr. Cline: Faye: Oh yes, mDst ~l Df um that used it - a big part Df it was used fDr hDme consumptiDn. Mrs. Cline: Old home twist tDbacco w~s the best there is. NDw you know they have the stubs you might say. Mr. Reinhardt: Store-boughtin'? Mrs. Cline: Uh huh. Mr. Reinhardt: No tobacco grown around here now- not even for hDme cDnsumption? Mrs. Cline: I dDn't know of any arOlmd. Mr. Cline: I don't know of al\Y. Old superstitions they had about plantin' - we usto - rolf daddy ud all,.ays WIi.Il.t tD plant his CDrn on the full Df the moon - wasn' t s'pDsed tD grow as tall, and then When they'd kill hogs - they still hDld to that -a lot of aId people of today kill hogs always on the full of the mDon. Why is that? 27 Mrs. Cline: Cures better. .. Mr. Cline: Cut the wODd on the new of 'the mODn, fer it tD dry out quicker. Mr. Reinhardt: Did it actually do it or was it a cust~m? Mr. Cline: It ud dry as qUick again - it VIi 11 today. Mr. Reinhardt: It would actually dD it? Mr. Cline: Absolutely. Mr. Reinhardt: No superstition there, that's fact? Mr. Cline: ND, it actually does. Mrs. Cline: That's the way they planted beans tDO - you had to know when to plant beans When the mDon wua right. Now the folks say they plant in the ground instead of the moon. Mr. Reinhardt: Did it really make a difference, or superstitiDn? - - --------~-~------------------------------ Mrs. Cline: Mr. Cline: Oh yes, no, it ..auld fare better. It VTQuld come out and the vines would mature so much better. I alw~s felt like it was just a little bit of both. (Laughter) 28 )Jr. Reinhardt: I VTould think so too, the growth is dependent on the weather conditions as it comes along, isn't it? Too dry, or too hot or just right? Mr. Cline: They uh, that's what Mr. Clark over at fthens - I used to - after Iz married a few years. Mr. Johnson, her daddy, - now, he believed in signs - you had a time to plant watermelon and ever'thing and that' s - he denied if you didn't plant urn then you wasil' t ganna do no good. Well, I tried following that for about 10 years =d I didn't think it paid. I talked to Mr. Clark of the Agricultural College over at Athens - Iz a-growin' chickens then and he's up here and I asked him what he thought about that and he said it vms absolutely nothing to it - said it was all in the seasons,d ... ~:, i not in the signs, and uh I think he was a whole lot right . . .' , . I seed whiskey made when Iz a boy growin' up - for more than i -, ~ 25 years a big part .of the older people in Cherokee County - . , made their'living cOlae ~ a big part of it - from makin' and sellin' vlhiskey. They'd raise their corn crop and then they'd gitout on branches and make that up in Whiskey - grind the corn, sprout corn for malt and make pure corn whiskey, and they done that up till not many years back - still a little of it done now - not much - very near done away with. Mr. Reinhardt: They got opposition from the sheriff now, haven't they? 29 Mr. Cline: That's right. Today they're. usin' what they call ground hog stills - they don't make it on copper - they build a big round still - something that'll hold anywhare from a thousand to 4 to 5000 gallons and ferment in that thare still and, then build a big lire around that and turn steam hose into it and boil it and make the whiskey - call it on a ground hog. (Laughter) The reVenue officer - he told us, I believe just year befoll'e last on the grand jury over thare - he said they'd analyzed that and they'd never found the first time that it wouldn't contain anywhare from 3 to 5% of a deadly poison - lead, arsent~ poisoning. They use radiators, car radiators for condensers, and that's vhat t-JoYK tt: he laid a big part of that to, and thel"----- in that metal can, metal sides. Mr. Reinhardt: I guess so - people been putting anti-freeze in - that lead just stayed in there Mr. Cline: Yea, but that was a a dwellin' house not a chicken house. I sold a place, I sold right over here - sold it to a fellow at Woodstock and he sold it to a guy in Atlanta - uh Mr. Knderson's '. and ub I noticed that day, though, they had a pump in the well did notice water a-rlUlnin' out from the side of the pipe. It was And uh the,y was a-fixin' to build a right here by me, and of course I was interested in it a little; supposed to been,his name. and they had those gas tanks thare and all the doors and windows . , . house they told me. I"went over and looked and they had a f01mdation built and told me they was gorina bliilcl a block house and it was was nailed up on the house. (Laughter) I didn't go in, but I 30 a-comin' from a condenser but I didn't, I didn't think about it at the time. I asked the guy what was that was runnin' water for and he said that the jet le~(ed on his PUQP and just lettin' a little run to !(eep it frOln g<Din' dead on um. And about two weeks after that the federal men come in m1d cut that still, and he had as modern one as you'd ever seed - it was a good copper still, mId they had three gas burners on it a-heatin' it, and they had five big boxes of beer in thare and just ready to work off. They hadn't started this time. They also had a few hundred pound of sugar and a few hundred p01md of corn meal and a little barley malt.
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. 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 emailing reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.