Beckett, Annie (1881-1981) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
Annie Beckett (1881-1981) |
| Interviewer: |
Reg Hancock |
| Date of interview: |
1981 February 25 |
| Length of interview: |
1 hour |
| Transcribed by: |
|
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
African Americans—History
Domestic Life
Education
Transportation
Worcester County (Md.)—African Americans
Worcester County (Md.)—Education
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Worcester County (Md.)—Women’s History
Location Terms:
Pocomoke City (Md.)
Stockton (Md.)
Interview Begin
INTERVIEWER: I’m at the home of Miss Annie D. Beckett, in Stockton, where I’m interviewing Miss Annie and her daughter, Suevalue, and Miss Annie within just about 1 month will be celebrating her 100th birthday. The date of her birthday being on April 1st of this year. (1981) Now we’re in her home in Stockton, and we’re going to interview this remarkable lady and learn from her some things of her life, that were highlights of her life. Starting out, Miss Annie where were you born? Do you remember where you were born, what area?
ANNIE: I was born near Stockton. Born on the Pocomoke and city road. Just right over these, down to Pocomoke City.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, and that was what year, Miss Annie?
ANNIE: 1881.
INTERVIEWER: 1881.
ANNIE: I may been born up here, in 1881, I don’t know. I was very small.
INTERVIEWER: Right. So this was……………..
ANNIE: I don’t guess I was born, there’s no more house, have you heard tell of the home, Douglas home, down near the crossroads?
INTERVIEWER: Between here and Pocomoke, then.
ANNIE: You heard tell of it, haven’t you?
INTERVIEWER: Yes I have.
ANNIE: Well that’s what you seen.-------?--------
INTERVIEWER: Is that home still standing? I don’t guess it is, is it?
SUEVALUE: No.
INTERVIEWER: It is not?
ANNIE: It’s burnt down, isn’t it? Some years ago I was down there it was standing. Now that was my, before I was born.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now Miss Annie, who were your parents? Give me their names, if you can remember.
ANNIE: James and Sarah Douglas.
INTERVIEWER: James and Sarah Douglas.
ANNIE: She was James, Sarah, she was Sarah Peyton, she that was, I don’t know who she was before then, but she was Sarah Peyton, she been the name of Sarah Peyton. Cause she belonged to the Peyton’s. And my father, he was bound to the Tull, John Millard Tull family. That was her grandmother and he was born with them. But he did say, that some was slaves and some served their time, told me, but he did serve his time, 20 years to Mr. Tull, and my mother was a slave for Miss Peyton.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. How old were your parents when they died, Miss Annie? Do you remember?
ANNIE: They were, what I tell you Miss Beulah Selby, said mother was?
SUEVALUE: 73, wasn’t it?
ANNIE: 73.
SUEVALUE: Yes
ANNIE: There was a man over here in Pocomoke, kept a store, name, it wasn’t his, but it collect him, and it was, them days they call it her brother, you know, when you belong to…….
INTERVIEWER: Your mother was 73 or your daddy was 73?
ANNIE: 73 when she died.
INTERVIEWER: When she died, how about your father?
SUEVALUE: 79, wasn’t he?
ANNIE: 79.
INTERVIEWER: 79.
ANNIE: Over, I------?------but an old uncle, a man Tom, somebody over here at Pocomoke, he stopped and talked with us and he told us my father was 79.
INTERVIEWER: I see, well you’ve outlived them by a number of years, and of course we are much older, also at the time that you’ve been here than that they were here on this earthly life. Okay now how many brothers and sisters did you have Miss Annie?
ANNIE: I had, 7 brothers and 2 sisters. Two my own sisters.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. So 9 of you all together. 10 of you, 10 of you with you, I guess. You had 7 sisters, or 7 brothers and…….
SUEVALUE: It was 9, wasn’t it, mama?
ANNIE: It was 7 brothers and 2 sisters, we were brother and sister. Then we has a sister-in-law, we…………….
INTERVIEWER: Right, okay. But there were 10 of you altogether in the family. Okay.
ANNIE: 10 of us altogether.
INTERVIEWER: Now can you tell us something about your years in school? Where did you attend school? Where did you attend school? Now we were talking about this a while ago, before we started taping, but tell me again, for the tape.
ANNIE: Right over here.
INTERVIEWER: In Stockton.
ANNIE: Right. I told you that.
INTERVIEWER: What’s now known as Tob Jacobs Hall.
ANNIE: Tob Jacobs Hall.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: Tob tore it all to pieces, I believe. I think he did. And made a hall out of it, didn’t he?
SUEVALUE: I don’t think so, he just sort of remodeled it, that building there in back of it.
INTERVIEWER: Just remodeled you say.
ANNIE: I don’t know what he done. I thought he tore it to pieces and made a hall out of it, but that was the old school house.
INTERVIEWER: I see. How many years did you attend school, Miss Annie? How far did you go in school? If you remember.
ANNIE: I went up to the 6th grade, them days.
INTERVIEWER: Up to the 6th grade.
ANNIE: Wanted to go to college, but my folks weren’t able to send me.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, then you did learn to read and write quite well, which I know you can do.
ANNIE: Done fairly good.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, after you left school, after finishing the 6th grade, what did you do?
ANNIE: Worked for people who, folks that lived round, neighbors.
INTERVIEWER: Folks that lived around, neighbors. You did domestic work, housework?
ANNIE: Housework, anything they want me to do.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: And went with them too.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so you weren’t afraid of hard work, I’m sure, were you?
ANNIE: No, no sir.
INTERVIEWER: No indeed, I’m sure you were not.
ANNIE: No sir.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, now when you were living at home, tell me something about some of the highlights of living at home. How long did you remain at home with your parents before you were married?
ANNIE: I remained there, 19, 20 year. 20 year.
INTERVIEWER: You were 20 years old when you left home?
ANNIE: I was older than that, when I left. I guess I was 22, I didn’t leave home when I was first married.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, when you were first married you lived at home with your parents, then.
ANNIE: I lived at home with my parents a couple of years.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: Farming, what I done.
INTERVIEWER: You were farming, then when you were married. Okay.
ANNIE: Farming, when I was married and was born on a farm. That’s all I loved to do.
INTERVIEWER: You were borrowing a farm, you say.
ANNIE: Yes sir.
SUEVALUE: She said she was born on a farm. She said born a farmer.
INTERVIEWER: Born a farmer, on I beg your pardon, yes okay. I understand now. So once a farmer always a farmer then as the saying goes. Is that right?
ANNIE: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: But we did live by a good farmer, and I could do their work.
INTERVIEWER: Now who did you marry, Miss Annie, tell us that.
ANNIE: Charlie Beckett.
INTERVIEWER: Charlie Beckett, okay.
ANNIE: Son of Isaac Beckett.
INTERVIEWER: He was the son of Isaac Beckett. Okay he died a good many years ago, I believe you’ve told me in the past.
SUEVALUE: 1926.
INTERVIEWER: He passed away in 1926. Okay. Do you recall how old he was at that time?
ANNIE: Can’t hardly recall it.
INTERVIEWER: Suevalue says he was 47, would that be about right.
ANNIE: Yes she knows, because he had an aunt named, he would never tell his age, but his aunt told it one Sunday after dinner.
INTERVIEWER: He didn’t like to tell his age then.
ANNIE: He wouldn’t tell his age.
INTERVIEWER: Was he about your age or a little older than you?
ANNIE: He was a little older than I was. He was about 2 years older than I was.
INTERVIEWER: 2 years older, okay.
ANNIE: He was no more than 2 years, it seems like.
INTERVIEWER: Alright now you had how many children?
ANNIE: I’ve had 5 children.
INTERVIEWER: And only one of them is living today.
ANNIE: That’s all.
INTERVIEWER: And that’s Suevalue, who lives here with you. Okay, now Edgar was one of your sons, he just recently passed away.
ANNIE: He was a twin.
INTERVIEWER: Edgar was a twin?
ANNIE: His sister and him.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, what was her name?
ANNIE: Winnie.
INTERVIEWER: Winnie. And Edgar just recently passed away, at what age?
ANNIE: Yes.
SUEVALUE: 80.
INTERVIEWER: He was age 80, Suevalue says. Okay.
ANNIE: I know his age, I was 20 years older. 4 or 5 weeks I would have been 20 years older than he was.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: He didn’t live that, if he’d lived.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Now who are the other children? Besides Edgar and Winnie and Suevalue. You said you had 5, do you remember the other 2 names?
ANNIE: The name was Armenta and Beatrice.
INTERVIEWER: Did they live to be very old?
ANNIE: No sir, they lived to be 1 or 2 years old.
INTERVIEWER: And what was the cause of their deaths?
ANNIE: They had some kind of spell. Some kind of spell, I don’t know what it was.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. But they died as just very young, young children.
ANNIE: Yes, they died very young babies.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Alright.
ANNIE: Some kind of spell caught on them and one of them died in my arms.
INTERVIEWER: Is that right.
ANNIE: And the other one died in my brother’s arms. See a spell come.
INTERVIEWER: I see. Now Miss Annie, you spoke of your school, now about church. I know you’re a Christian lady, you’ve always had, let the church play a big part of your life. What church were…….
ANNIE: Born and raised in this here church right here.
INTERVIEWER: The Saint Paul……………………….
ANNIE: The Saint Paul.
INTERVIEWER: Saint Paul Methodist Church.
ANNIE: I was born and raised in that church. My father bought that church, ground too.
INTERVIEWER: Your father bought the grounds?
ANNIE: He bought the grounds. And they couldn’t find no church, built the church on. He gave them the ground that built the church on. He didn’t give them the church. He give them the ground.
INTERVIEWER: The ground and then the church was built and you attended that church.
ANNIE: Tend that church all my life. I remember when I was about 2 years old, it was dedicated. I think the dedication.
INTERVIEWER: When you were 2 years old?
ANNIE: When I was 2 years old.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember anything about the dedication service?
ANNIE: All I remember about it, my father took me in his arms, and carried me to lay me down to see the cornerstone laid. See them days, they put, left a hole on the side the church. And they filled it up with bricks, and they called that laying the cornerstone.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
ANNIE: And my mother sat over on the churchyard, in front of it, with my brother Arthur, and he’d be 4 months old. He was a baby.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Do you remember who spoke at the service? Do you remember the name of the preachers?
ANNIE: No sir, cause I didn’t go in church, I went out there and I sat out with her.
INTERVIEWER: I see, and you were, how old at the time?
ANNIE: 2 years.
INTERVIEWER: Oh 2 years old, so you wouldn’t naturally recall too many details. Right. Okay. And you stayed and remained in that church for many, many years, until………..
ANNIE: Stayed in that church, til about 50 years ago. Ain’t it been 50, honey?
SUEVALUE: I would say about 40 I expect, mama.
ANNIE: About 40, and I followed Jehovah Witnesses.
INTERVIEWER: After that you followed Jehovah Witness, so you left……
ANNIE: Didn’t like the way they lived in there.
INTERVIEWER: In the Methodist church.
ANNIE: After the old folks died they got mean in there.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: Hateful, didn’t want to live like I thought, the old folks lived. Old Jimmie Collin---old Showell and all them old folks tried to live like Christians I thought.
INTERVIEWER: But after they died, then the younger generation changed that.
ANNIE: After they died, I got………generation changed, I got dissatisfied with the old generation and I come out.
INTERVIEWER: And then you joined, followed the Jehovah’s Witness, is what your religious belief now?
ANNIE: No sir, I fell out with them about 2 years ago. You come in, they want to do everything, but I thought was God’s way. Want their way and make a way own, so I left the table, I-----?------I’d run across, -------?-------I want to talk about Jesus Christ, tell them-------?------but they didn’t want to talk about it after I talked about it. So --------?---------I took my stool, took this stool, and got right down there and lift it to the table, about 2 years ago. They kept on comin’, I never would go back to them, cause, I don’t want to think the right kind of people or not, way I was raised. I was raised about Jesus Christ.
INTERVIEWER: And their beliefs…………………
ANNIE: Were of a different God.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
ANNIE: And that’s the way I believed. They……..
INTERVIEWER: And their belief was not, was contrary to what you believed in.
ANNIE: Contrary to what I believe, and so I left them.
SUEVALUE: They had a ----?-----you know.
ANNIE: I’m still a Methodist child, because I was born and raised in that church.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
ANNIE: And my father used to come home, money in his hats, oh pop you got a lot of money now, ain’t ya, used to give to Aunt Minnie---?---come home where.
INTERVIEWER: Yes indeed…………..
ANNIE: No honey, he says, not my money. Not your money, I didn’t want to ride him whose money it is. It’s the church money, got to pay for the church. They owed him you know-----?-----pay the church bill. He had it to come up with…………..
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so……………………….
ANNIE: He-----?-----I want to pay for the church.---?---So you children can have a place to go to when I’m dead and gone, well I never did…………
INTERVIEWER: I understand.
ANNIE: I never did.
INTERVIEWER: So now you consider yourself as a Christian, even though you don’t attend church?
ANNIE: Christian, don’t attend church.
INTERVIEWER: Right, right.
ANNIE: I’m a Christian, child of Jesus Christ.
INTERVIEWER: Read your Bible, I know you do, and you certainly profess to be a follower of Christ. I know that you do.
ANNIE: That Bible that you give me is number one.
INTERVIEWER: Well I’m glad you’re able to read it, large print.
ANNIE: I can see the print, better than I can, I don’t see like I want to, like I used to.
INTERVIEWER: I understand that.
ANNIE: I used to read good.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, well that’s fine.
ANNIE: But I enjoy.
INTERVIEWER: So what you are telling me then, is that you loved your church through the year and you attended the church and you really, and it meant a lot to your life, is what you’re saying, up here the Saint Paul’s Church here in Stockton.
ANNIE: Saint Paul’s.
INTERVIEWER: Now Miss Annie what kind of chores did you do on the farm? You said you were always a farmer at heart, what kind of chores did you do in your earlier years, besides working for people in their homes, you did say that, I believe.
ANNIE: Shuck corn, we planted corn, is that what you mean? Do anything that was ever with the farm.
INTERVIEWER: And you had horse drawn carriages and wagons at that time?
ANNIE: Well there was, my father, he didn’t think much of a woman workin’ it with plows and then we plow.
INTERVIEWER: But he had a horse, I guess he had a horse until…………………
ANNIE: Horse and mules.
INTERVIEWER: Horse and mules, okay.
ANNIE: Oxen.
INTERVIEWER: Oxen.
ANNIE: That’s what he tended his farm with.
INTERVIEWER: With the oxen, the horses and the mules.
ANNIE: Horses and mules, of course he was a timber hauler.
INTERVIEWER: Now when you left your farm to travel here into town or go to anyplace else, how did you travel?
ANNIE: I never left, I was a home stayer.
INTERVIEWER: You were a home stayer? How bout your family, or when you did go somewhere however infrequently it may have been, did you go by carriage or wagon or what?
ANNIE: Went by carriage.
INTERVIEWER: Had a covered carriage? Horse and buggy?
SUEVALUE: Had a hack, didn’t ya Mom?
ANNIE: Before my father had a hack. What you call a hack.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, could you describe that for us, because a lot of these people who may hear this tape, in years to come would never had heard of a hack. What did the hack look like?
ANNIE: Looked just like these cars. What ----?----double built, see where ya had one, one seat here turn another one come across here.
INTERVIEWER: You had a front seat and a back seat then?
ANNIE: One front seat, and a back seat.
INTERVIEWER: And it was covered over with a……
ANNIE: Cover over the top.
INTERVIEWER: Over the top, okay.
ANNIE: Carry you along nice.
INTERVIEWER: Was it drawn by one horse, or 2, normally?
ANNIE: You could put one or two.
INTERVIEWER: One or two.
ANNIE: You could use 1 or 2 with, if you had a big load.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
ANNIE: You put 2, but if you didn’t just had, could use 1.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now in addition to the 2 seats, did you have a space in the back to carry packages or to carry your groceries, of things like that?
ANNIE: Well, was no space in there. But we made one, outside of it. Wasn’t quite big enough for a space.
INTERVIEWER: So you made extra room on that, for your own purchases.
ANNIE: Extra room. In front of our feet, they took, so it wouldn’t barrin’ on us too much, off the sides of us, lay our packages, extra packages.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
ANNIE: Plain, plain hack, they called it. They called it hack, them days.
INTERVIEWER: Was it made of, was it black in color, so of a black leatherette type of material, of which they were made, okay.
ANNIE: Yes, just the same, same. Made out of the same material, the top and everything, but they were just like…..
SUEVALUE: They were bigger.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: Hold double. A carriage wouldn’t hold 4, no way. So was crowded, and they would hold 8 or 10.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: You’d get 8 or 10 in them.
INTERVIEWER: 8 or 10 people could ride in those hacks?
ANNIE: Ride in those hacks.
INTERVIEWER: Well you could carry the entire family, then with you.
ANNIE: Yes sir, that’s what my father got it for. Carry the family.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, now, where else did you go besides church, as a family? Did you ever go out on picnics or ever go out on hayrides or things like that for, for recreation?
ANNIE: Well sometimes, we go to a holiday.
INTERVIEWER: To a holiday?
ANNIE: The 4th of July.
INTERVIEWER: Now where would you go then?
ANNIE: I believe they call it, Mill, or Big Mill, down there somewhere.
INTERVIEWER: Big Mill?
ANNIE: Little Mill or Big Mill, down there somewhere.
INTERVIEWER: Little Mill or Big Mill, was that around that pond, pond of water you mean?
ANNIE: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, what would you do there, when you’d go down to Little Mill or Big Mill?
ANNIE: Some people would be fish, you know, and then they’d go George’s Island Landing for a holiday, what you call it?
INTERVIEWER: 4th of July, Independence Day.
ANNIE: Went to George’s Island, to spend the day there.
INTERVIEWER: For Independence Day? You mean or what holiday was it, if you can recall?
ANNIE: What did I tell you we went for? Went to George Island Landing, for, time Dennard stepped in the pond.
SUEVALUE: That must have been 4th of July, wasn’t it? It was in the summer like, it must have been, because…………….
ANNIE: It was just a holiday, anyway. We go there anyway for a holiday, every year. We would go there for a holiday.
INTERVIEWER: Would you have a picnic or go out on the boats or………………
ANNIE: Ah then, that’s what it was called, picnics.
INTERVIEWER: Picnics, just take your lunch and just have a good time down by the water where it’s cool.
ANNIE: Take your lunch, that’s right, that’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, what happened to Dennard? You said the time he stepped into the pond, what happened that day?
ANNIE: Laid his boat round the water, the people that went in the water, carried the boat up round the shore and the, had sailboat round there, he tried to be smart, he jumped, he went steppin’ from boat, to boat and one boat kind of beared down and he slipped in the bay.
INTERVIEWER: So he lost his footing in, into the water he went, then.
ANNIE: Lost his footing. He lived…………………..
INTERVIEWER: He didn’t drown, in other words?
ANNIE: No, he didn’t drown.
INTERVIEWER: Just got himself good and wet.
ANNIE: Cause he was on top, on top of the water. But it was a laugh when we telling.
INTERVIEWER: I guess so.
ANNIE: His mother-------?-------She wouldn’t dress him, just put drawers on him, walk by, he wouldn’t let nobody see his face.
INTERVIEWER: Stayed right close, did he to his mother?
ANNIE: Stayed up there, stayed there til 12 o’clock. Poor old Dennard.
INTERVIEWER: Poor old Dennard, he’s gone too. Yes he has. How old were you children then, Miss Annie?
ANNIE: Just child, about 3 or 4 Christmas’s.
INTERVIEWER: Dennard’s child.
SUEVALUE: Eleanor.
INTERVIEWER: Eleanor.
SUEVALUE: She lives in the house.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, I remember Eleanor. Yes, yes I do.
ANNIE: How old was I then?
INTERVIEWER: How old were you when you went on this picnic? Were you like 8 or 10?
ANNIE: We went young, see this here hack, I told him………….
INTERVIEWER: Right.
ANNIE: Carried the whole family, little young.
INTERVIEWER: So a little young, so you were about 6 or 8 then, maybe when you went down there.
ANNIE: I’m afraid so. I sure……………….
INTERVIEWER: But you went several times, I’m sure to those picnics.
ANNIE: We did, several times, several times, every year, every year.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Was that some of the highlights of the year for you? For the family to go out on a picnic like that, was that about the highlight of your recreation? Of your fun times?
ANNIE: Do you remember, Suevalue, what’s the name of that place down there where Miss Mabel Pruitt lives?
SUEVALUE: Public Landing.
ANNIE: Do you remember Public Landing, how you use to go there? Used to go to George Island Landing, just like, but George Island Landing got so it wasn’t big enough, and so we all went to Public Landing.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: That was the same thing. Same idea.
INTERVIEWER: Went down there the same holiday you went down also by your big hack, is how you went.
ANNIE: Been goin’ in the hack. Family got so went in carriages.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: Buggies and old horse. But carried your dinner.
INTERVIEWER: Carried your dinner along.
ANNIE: Carried your dinner along.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Would you get home by night time, usually?
ANNIE: Oh yes sir. Be down there, get up---?----in the morning.
INTERVIEWER: Spent the entire day there and got home by nightfall.
ANNIE: Spent the entire day there, go early in the morning. Just as soon as we got up. Didn’t eat no breakfast.
INTERVIEWER: Made a full day of it.
ANNIE: Full day of it, but carried your meals with us.
INTERVIEWER: Sure. Did you ever go in swimming, when you were down there by the water, Miss Annie?
ANNIE: No, I didn’t like no swimming.
INTERVIEWER: You didn’t like the swimming, but some of the children did, I guess.
ANNIE: All the children did, they swim. They swim nice.
INTERVIEWER: But you never did.
ANNIE: I couldn’t swim.
INTERVIEWER: I see, so you…………………………
ANNIE: I didn’t try.
INTERVIEWER: You thought you better stay out of the water, then, I’m sure, yes indeed.
ANNIE: ---------------------?-------------------I stayed out.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: My father had a boat down there, Chincoteague. Named Queen Anne.
INTERVIEWER: Your daddy had this boat at Chincoteague, you say?
ANNIE: Yes, no sir, down to George Island Landing.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, on George Island Landing, on the Chincoteague Bay, okay, alrighty.
ANNIE: Down, back and forth, Chincoteague Bay.
INTERVIEWER: Your daddy worked on the water some, didn’t he?
ANNIE: Oh yes sir. He was a bayman.
INTERVIEWER: Bayman. I see.
ANNIE: He was a bayman and a farmer, and a woods hauler.
INTERVIEWER: Woods hauler, okay.
ANNIE: He generally brought up big, he put his children to do and he did that, and went off and worked.
INTERVIEWER: And his boat was called the Queen Anne, you say.
ANNIE: Yes sir, Queen Anne. He had a boat named Queen Anne.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go over to Chincoteague with him on the boat?
ANNIE: I didn’t go with him, but every time they had the holiday, we’d go out sailing.
INTERVIEWER: On the Queen Anne?
ANNIE: On the Queen Anne.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Did you ever do any ice skating, during the winter months, Miss Annie?
ANNIE: No sir.
INTERVIEWER: No ice skating, okay.
ANNIE: No, no sir.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
ANNIE: Children used to go. Some of them used to like sit and go on the ice, and I wouldn’t go, I wouldn’t go, sometimes they’d holler, ----?----push me on it. I couldn’t skate. Go right out there and fall out.
INTERVIEWER: Well now this boat your dad had, the Queen Anne, was that a power boat, did it have a motor in it, or was it sail powered or how did it, navigate?
ANNIE: It was a boat, go up and down the bay.
INTERVIEWER: How was it powered?
SUEVALUE: You paddled in those days, didn’t ya mama?
INTERVIEWER: Paddled?
ANNIE: Paddled.
INTERVIEWER: A paddle, it didn’t have an engine in it then?
ANNIE: I don’t think it did.
INTERVIEWER: And it didn’t have any sails on it.
ANNIE: Yes it had sails on it.
INTERVIEWER: Had sails.
ANNIE: It was a nice boat.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so…………….
ANNIE: I tell you who backed him up with his boat. Mr. John Bill Tull. When he was about…………….
INTERVIEWER: Mr. John Bill Tull……………………
ANNIE: Mr. John Bill Tull and Miss Nancy, they were kinds, they were rich people, and they backed him up, in his boat down there.
INTERVIEWER: You mean helped him buy it, is that what you mean by backing him up?
ANNIE: ---------?????? I guess, I think they helped him to buy it. I’m sure they did. Cause they could buy anything they wanted.
INTERVIEWER: He worked with Mr. Tull, sometimes, did he?
ANNIE: All the time. After he left, after he got free from ‘em, he worked for him all the time.
INTERVIEWER: I see. He at one time was a slave in their family, you told us at the beginning of this tape, I believe.
ANNIE: Well they didn’t call it slave.
SUEVALUE: Bound boy, wasn’t it?
ANNIE: Bound boy.
INTERVIEWER: Bound boy.
ANNIE: He belonged to them, 20 years, just the same as today, just the same as today.
SUEVALUE: I thought he was 21.
INTERVIEWER: After the slaves were freed, then you were, you were bound to the owner until you were age 21, is that what you are saying?
SUEVALUE: Right, right.
ANNIE: You could go back to your age.
SUEVALUE: You see, like a regular slave, didn’t matter, but if you got 21 or not, you still had to be a slave.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
SUEVALUE: But the bound boy, he could get loose at 21.
ANNIE: Regular slave, had to be a slave……………
INTERVIEWER: Well this happened after the slaves had been freed, is what you mean by the bound boy. How did that happen? What was the difference?
SUEVALUE: I think, he had the bound boy the same time, didn’t he? Two different things, wasn’t it?
ANNIE: Huh?
SUEVALUE: Wasn’t it two different things, wasn’t it Mama? Bound boy was some, I mean some were the bound boy, and some was the slave.
ANNIE: Same thing, same thing going on, some was slaves and some was bound boy.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: Some just call it bound boy, you know. Just took and called them bound boy.
INTERVIEWER: I understand.
ANNIE: Lot of people them days, they tell me, now I don’t know. They used to take babies and carry to the gate, haul them out to the road.
INTERVIEWER: Miss Annie, we’ve talked about many things, regarding travel, what other types of travel did you ever experience? Like a steamboat or train or, when you were small?
ANNIE: No sir, afraid of boats.
INTERVIEWER: You were afraid of boats, you never did go out on the river on any steamboats?
ANNIE: No sir.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever see any steamboats, on the Pocomoke River?
ANNIE: Oh yes sir. Like to look at them.
INTERVIEWER: Like to look at them.
ANNIE: With great trawler on ‘em.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of boats were out there? Steamboats? Did you ever see these sail or sailboats?
ANNIE: I seen steams come in and sailboats, but I didn’t notice sailboats much, but I noticed the steamboats come in. Big boats, great big ems, I notice them.
INTERVIEWER: What was the largest boat they you ever saw during your lifetime, if you can recall?
ANNIE: They call it Pocomoke City.
INTERVIEWER: The Pocomoke City?
ANNIE: Pocomoke City.
INTERVIEWER: Was that a big ferry boat?
ANNIE: Ferry, that’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Ferryboat.
ANNIE: Big ferryboat. Went back and forth to sea.
INTERVIEWER: I see. And went……………..
Annie; Wasn’t that a ferry.
INTERVIEWER: Yes that would be a ferry, I guess.
ANNIE: Ferryboat.
SUEVALUE: Right.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you see that? In Pocomoke?
ANNIE: See it in Pocomoke.
INTERVIEWER: When it would dock up there at the docks in Pocomoke City.
ANNIE: Well they parked it, they parked them, they parked them.
INTERVIEWER: Right, okay. Did you ever go on board the boat?
ANNIE: No sir, never went on board that boat. Went down to it with my daughter, after she commenced going to school.
INTERVIEWER: I see. To the dock and looked the boat over.
ANNIE: Just went down there to it and looked at it.
INTERVIEWER: What about the train? Did you ever ride the train here in Stockton or over to Pocomoke?
ANNIE: Been from Stockton to Ocean City once or twice and I’ve been I think to New York, once.
INTERVIEWER: To New York?
ANNIE: On the train, here at Stockton.
INTERVIEWER: Left from here, at Stockton, and that was this, Stockton’s railroad station was known as Hursley, do you remember that?
ANNIE: Hursley, yes. Hursley.
INTERVIEWER: Hursley, yes, because I think the story there was that there was a Stokley, Delaware, and then Stockton, Maryland. Sometimes got confused on the trains time table and scheduling so they renamed Stockton’s railroad station, Hursley. So you recall that, do ya?
ANNIE: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: So you went from Hursley or Stockton on up to New York by way of the train. Okay, about how old were you then, Miss Annie?
SUEVALUE: That was Newark, Maryland, wasn’t it?
ANNIE: Newark, Maryland?
SUEVALUE: Up here at Newark, Maryland, wasn’t it?
INTERVIEWER: What? She got on the train at Newark?
ANNIE: I went up there………………..
INTERVIEWER: Oh, you mean you didn’t go to New York, you went to Newark, up here?
ANNIE: I mean just up here in Maryland.
INTERVIEWER: Up here, a few miles.
ANNIE: Cause my daughter went to school up there one year.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, you went to Newark.
ANNIE: I went up there.
INTERVIEWER: And that was called Queponco, wasn’t it, by the railroad station, didn’t they call that………………….
ANNIE: I expect they did.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: I expect they did, cause on the other of Snow Hill, I call it New York.
INTERVIEWER: Ya, it’s Newark, right. But I know, I know where you mean, Suevalue is right. Now what about over to Pocomoke? Did you ever travel on that train, anytime?
ANNIE: Never did travel on the train. Never traveled on that train.
INTERVIEWER: And these were the old, steam, steam engines.
ANNIE: Yes sir, never traveled on Pocomoke City…………..
INTERVIEWER: What about the old freight trains that used to come through here. Used to be a lot of freight trains through here, were there not, Miss Annie? Here in Stockton area.
ANNIE: Well they just passed on through, from Greenback, I think.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, what did they mostly haul? Do you remember?
ANNIE: Most anything, I think.
INTERVIEWER: Lot of oyster and seafood at one time, I guess.
ANNIE: Yes……………
INTERVIEWER: That they shipped by rail.
SUEVALUE: Potatoes too.
INTERVIEWER: And potatoes. I remember potatoes, in my younger years.
ANNIE: Used to go down, carry potatoes by the barrel, and load ‘em and ship out somewhere.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. They shipped them by barrels. Right. They had these ice cars, here on the side tracks and then the farmers would take their potatoes, and load them on the cars, and then the trains would come by and take them off and take them on to the markets in the city.
ANNIE: Your right, your right, that’s right. Cause the farmer have------????
INTERVIEWER: Now Miss Annie, as the years progressed, then the automobile came in, onto the scene. Now do you recall the first time that you rode in an automobile?
ANNIE: First time I rode in an automobile?
INTERVIEWER: Yes ma’m.
ANNIE: I think I be, after Edgar--?????? And he was 21.
INTERVIEWER: He was 21.
ANNIE: I think.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, so you was………………………….
ANNIE: We lived down here at St. Paul. I believe that’s the first time I rode in, rode in one, automobile.
INTERVIEWER: So you then were about, 41 years old. 41 or 42 if Edgar was 21, so you were about 41 or 42, I take it.
ANNIE: He was going to school. He was 19, 20, anyhow.
INTERVIEWER: 19 or 20, so you were about, 40 or so before you ever rode in an automobile. What did you think of your first ride? Do you have any recollections of that? In the automobile?
ANNIE: In the automobile?
INTERVIEWER: Yes ma’m.
ANNIE: I thought it was nice. Cause he drive it.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: And everybody thought he was a nice driver.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, you were not scared or upset or timid?
ANNIE: Wasn’t scared or upset.
INTERVIEWER: Just enjoyed it all.
ANNIE: Because everybody thought he was a nice driver. Oh Edgar was a nice driver.
INTERVIEWER: Do you recall what kind of car that he was driving? Do you know?
ANNIE: It was these……………
SUEVALUE: Model “T”, wasn’t it?
ANNIE: Huh?
SUEVALUE: Model “T” wasn’t it? Wasn’t it a Model “T”?
ANNIE: I don’t know nothing---cars----can’t.
SUEVALUE: I think I heard you all say, it was a Model “T”. See I don’t know, cause I was not here.
INTERVIEWER: You were not here at that time, were you Suevalue?
SUEVALUE: But I heard them talk about this Model “T”.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, right, right. Okay. Well that was quite an experience for you then. Miss Annie did you ever go over to the Pocomoke Fair Grounds? When you speak of being over there to Pocomoke, did you ever go there?
ANNIE: Yes sir, over to that fair.
INTERVIEWER: What would be the highlight of that? What did you like about the fair? Why did you go to the fair?
ANNIE: I liked the fair. I always did.
INTERVIEWER: What all did the fair consist of?
ANNIE: Well it consist of, lots of people look, go in, what you call them day, fortune teller. Getting’ their fortune told.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever have yours told?
ANNIE: Yes, I had mine told once.
INTERVIEWER: Alight, tell us about that. Did it come true? Did any of the times that the fortune teller told you come to pass?
ANNIE: They told me………….
INTERVIEWER: Was it a lady or a man?
ANNIE: It was a lady, teld me.
INTERVIEWER: Was she a gypsy? Some of the gypsies that used to………….
ANNIE: Gypsy, something the other like that. They call them gypsies.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, what did she tell you? This should be interesting, see if it came to pass, through these many years.
ANNIE: I don’t hardly, what she told me. Because I didn’t believe in her much. Didn’t like her much.
INTERVIEWER: But you were curious to see what she would tell you.
ANNIE: I wanted to see what she’d tell me, but, I just remember what she told one of my friends.
INTERVIEWER: What was that?
ANNIE: Her name was Hattie Bonneville. Said you think you goin’ to get Blackie, but you ain’t though……………..
INTERVIEWER: Think that she was………..
ANNIE: She had 2 beaux, and she said you think you going to get Blackie, but you ain’t though.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
SUEVALUE: That was my uncle.
ANNIE: And so we just, had that, teased her. That’s the most, I believed it, but what she told me I didn’t believe.
INTERVIEWER: So you just don’t remember what it was, but you didn’t believe it anyway.
ANNIE: I don’t remember what she told me.
INTERVIEWER: How much did it cost you to have your fortune told those years?
ANNIE: 10 or 15 cents.
INTERVIEWER: 10 or 15 cents, okay. What else did you do at the fair? Horse races, did you watch the horses run?
ANNIE: Watched them trot, and run round that, they had sheeps, lambs, or bears or somethin’ other could watch. Penned in.
INTERVIEWER: Watch them pen them in?
ANNIE: They penned them in and I don’t know what all they didn’t do.
INTERVIEWER: Have any exhibits or any shows of any type? During the fair, exhibits of horses or farm equipment of that time, or anything of that nature that you can remember?
ANNIE: I don’t remember. I kept busy.
INTERVIEWER: But a lot of people went to those fairs, I guess.
ANNIE: Oh my, full, full.
INTERVIEWER: Did they have special trains to come in to Pocomoke, then?
ANNIE: I guess they did, so.
INTERVIEWER: Because the fairground, as I remember, was not far from the railroad track, railroad station, was it?
ANNIE: Not very. I guess they did have trains come in there. Because when people come in there………………..
INTERVIEWER: So you went there, that was an annual affair, once a year.
ANNIE: Yes sir, once a year. Sometimes twice a year. It was a show, called a show.
INTERVIEWER: Called a show?
ANNIE: It’s a day, called a show day.
INTERVIEWER: Show day, that’s what it was called.
ANNIE: Yes, a show day. But the day was called.
INTERVIEWER: Was there ever a Farmers or Foresters Day, any time that you attended, either at Pocomoke Fairgrounds or at Public Landing or anywhere like that?
ANNIE: No, never, I knowed that.
INTERVIEWER: None of those days, Farmers or Foresters Day. You don’t recall any of those?
ANNIE: Seems to me, I heard them tell of Farmers and Foresters Day, but I never attend.
INTERVIEWER: You never went to those. You went to the old fair, Pocomoke Fairgrounds and then to the picnics down at Public Landing and George Island Danding, things like that.
ANNIE: Yes, yes, things like that.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, okay, did you ever go to the old Nassawango Iron Furnace, when that was in operation, years ago?
ANNIE: No sir.
INTERVIEWER: You’ve heard of that I’m sure, up near Snow Hill.
ANNIE: Yes, heard about it.
INTERVIEWER: But you never went there.
ANNIE: No sir, never did go to Snow Hill much, no way.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, well then Miss Annie, you were telling us you were born in 1881, April 1st, 1881, is that correct?
ANNIE: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: Now who was President then, do you recall that? Who was President of the United States?
ANNIE: Well President Garfield, he took over, in 1881.
INTERVIEWER: He took over in 1881, okay.
ANNIE: And he stood there, cause this girl I was tellin’ you about, was named after him. Her name was Mary Alice Garfield.
INTERVIEWER: Was she a girl here in Stockton?
ANNIE: Girl. My brother John, wife’s girl.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: That who she was. That’s from Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: Now what do you remember about President Garfield?
ANNIE: I don’t, that’s all I know. Just, they kept talkin’ about him, talkin’ about him, and they just picked his name out and kept singin’ it.
INTERVIEWER: What was the song you sang? Let’s hear you repeat the words, if you can remember those now.
ANNIE: Well we made------?????? In the year of ’81, when President Garfield first begun, I belonged to the band, Hallelujah, hallelujah, in the year of ’81. President Garfield was the man.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, that was quite a song, then. Now……………
ANNIE: Picked it up.
INTERVIEWER: You picked it up.
ANNIE: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever see a President of the United States, Miss Annie? Any president, did you ever see one on person?
ANNIE: If I did, I didn’t know him.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, but you were never around him, that you knew of.
ANNIE: No sir, never was around none.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember when President Garfield was shot? Were you too young to remember that? Of course you were just one year old, because he died in 1881.
ANNIE: Yes, heard tell of it. They shot him, did they?
INTERVIEWER: Yes. He was shot, he was assassinated.
ANNIE: He was shot.
INTERVIEWER: He was shot. He died.
ANNIE: You know------???????? President Garfield.
INTERVIEWER: Yes ma’m. In history you remember that. He was shot I think in the month of July and died the following September, if I remember my history correctly.
ANNIE: Well I don’t know, no one……………
SUEVALUE: You know that plate got broke, what happened to it? Now that would be worth money now if that hadn’t got broke.
INTERVIEWER: What was the plate of Sue?
SUEVALUE: It was a, was a bread, it was a glass bread plate, with his picture on it.
INTERVIEWER: Do you still have the pieces of it? Did you ever keep it?
SUEVALUE: Oh yes, I’ve kept it. Because it can be glued together, somebody got the patience, because it’s not a splinter in it, it broke just as straight, just as plain as, I know many things break that clean.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you get the plate? Your mother got it? Somebody gave it to your mother or she bought it.
SUEVALUE: I don’t know. I imagine Pop got it, because Mama don’t fool with buying stuff like that. I imagine Pop got it from somewhere. Didn’t he Mom? Pop must have got……….
ANNIE: That’s right, he’s a great one for buying, such things as that.
INTERVIEWER: Who was the first president that you remember, you said now awhile ago, you heard of President Garfield, of course you were only one year old, at the time he was president, during the brief time that he served in the White House, but do you remember anything about some of the other presidents, that you……….
ANNIE: Mckinley, wasn’t he President?
INTERVIEWER: Yes, President Mckinley, do you remember when he was in office?
ANNIE: My brother George had some boys, he named a boy McKinley.
INTERVIEWER: He named a boy after President McKinley?
ANNIE: Yes sir, my brother George.
INTERVIEWER: What do you remember about President McKinley?
ANNIE: I don’t remember much about him.
INTERVIEWER: But he’s the first president that you do remember something about?
ANNIE: I think he’s about the first one I know anything about.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: Cause I was about 7 or 8 year old, that boy, George’s boy.
INTERVIEWER: Yes ma’m.
ANNIE: I just hear them talk a whole lot. He tore off a plane.
INTERVIEWER: Miss Annie, you mention about Public Landing and Newark, you went up to Newark on the train, did you ever go to Ocean City at any time in those earlier years, on an excursion?
ANNIE: Went to Ocean, I believe Dad did carry us, Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: In his car?
ANNIE: In his car.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: First time I went.
INTERVIEWER: Do you recall anything about Ocean City then? What it looked like, that you could share with us at this time.
ANNIE: ---------------?????????????????????
INTERVIEWER: There’s not too much down there at that time, I guess. Just the big ocean and some buildings and bridge………………..
ANNIE: Some buildings and bridges, ----??????? down the walk, stores to go in.
INTERVIEWER: Stores to go in, yes. What did you think of the great Atlantic Ocean, when you saw it, the waves and the surf and the beach, what was your………….
ANNIE: I don’t remember much about that.
INTERVIEWER: You don’t remember.
ANNIE: Of course it was late when we got there.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: We just had, mostly afternoon, couldn’t enjoy……………
INTERVIEWER: So you didn’t stay too long and came on back home.
ANNIE: You’re right.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: Didn’t stay, didn’t stay late.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
ANNIE: We come on home early. Cause it crowded up down there. Don’t know much about Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: Miss Annie what year were you married? Do, did we ask you that a while ago, we talked about your time, who you married, what year was it?
ANNIE: Do you know the year I was married?
SUEVALUE: No, I know, you got me this time.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, I don’t know…………
SUEVALUE: Usually I can help you out. Can’t……….
ANNIE: In the Bible?
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s quite alright, I didn’t know if you told me a while ago or not, I just didn’t recall.
SUEVALUE: Oh, it must have been 1900.
ANNIE: I don’t know whether it’s in the Bible or no.
INTERVIEWER: You were 19, if you were married in 1900, that would have made you about 19 then because you were born in 1881.
ANNIE: I guess…………………….
INTERVIEWER: It it’s convenient there Suevalue, if it isn’t don’t you worry about that.
ANNIE: Old Bible.
INTERVIEWER: Where were you married Miss Annie? In St. Paul’s Church?
ANNIE: No, Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: Where were you married there?
ANNIE: To the preacher’s parsonage.
INTERVIEWER: To the preacher’s parsonage. Do you remember the preacher’s name?
ANNIE: Have you ever hear me say the preacher’s name?
SUEVALUE: No, I think I have, but I forgot too.
ANNIE: I forgot it.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And then when you came back home, you did tell us earlier, and lived the first 2 years of your married life with your parents.
ANNIE: With my parents, that’s right.
INTERVIEWER: And then you moved out here on the road between, between here and Pocomoke, near crossroads, is that right?
ANNIE: Went, no sir, I went, you know where Mr. Jimmy Hancock lived? Your grandpop?
INTERVIEWER: How’s that, near Mattaponi? Out that way.
ANNIE: No, I can tell you a little bit, do you know where old John Beckett place were?
INTERVIEWER: Okay, that was near……………..
ANNIE: Near down there.
INTERVIEWER: Not far from Klej Grange.
ANNIE: Not far from Klej Grange.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, alright.
ANNIE: You be known pretty well.
INTERVIEWER: Alright Sue, tell us what you have here. It was in 1900 and, and it was by M.S McKenny.
ANNIE: M.S McKenney.
INTERVIEWER: That was the name of the preacher.
SUEVALUE: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: She was married what date in 1900, was your mother married, Sue?
SUEVALUE: May 13th.
INTERVIEWER: So you were married on May 13th, 1900. May 13th, 1900 by Reverend M.S. McKenney.
SUEVALUE: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: And that was in Snow Hill at the parsonage. Does it give the name of the church?
ANNIE: It wasn’t to this church, but it was a colored man.
SUEVALUE: There was a witness, Stephen Douglas, witness.
ANNIE: That’s right, ya, my brother Steve carried us.
INTERVIEWER: So your brother Stephen Douglas was a witness to your marriage ceremony.
ANNIE: I didn’t know I had, I forgot I had that in the Bible.
INTERVIEWER: That’s very good, that’s preserved very nice.
ANNIE: That’s right, he had that in there. And my brother Stephen carried us in the horse and carriage. I forgot that.
INTERVIEWER: Well you’ve, you’ve had a lot of thing to remember during these 100 years, Miss Annie, so you can’t possibly remember everything, can you?
ANNIE: No sir, no sir.
INTERVIEWER: No indeed. Well Miss Annie, what highlights of your life, we’ve covered most things here that I think we had intended to talk about, now maybe you could just tell us some highlights of your life. What was the most spectacular event of your life, if you could, if we could describe it that way, that stands out in your memory, as being the most important thing that ever happened to you.
ANNIE: The most important thing that ever happened to me?
INTERVIEWER: Or the most outstanding thing, if we might describe it that way?
ANNIE: I’ve had ups and downs in my live, and it wasn’t so hard, I can’t hardly tell you-----------????????
INTERVIEWER: You’ve enjoyed good health through most of your years, have you not?
Annie; Well, I ---?---such a good health. Before I got married, -------?????but after I got married, up and down with my health. But before then I done fair, when I stayed with my mother and father.
INTERVIEWER: Well did you ever have to be admitted to a hospital until these more recent years?
ANNIE: Oh no, no sir. Doctor Dickson, Doctor Parker……
INTERVIEWER: Dr. Parker, John Parker, or Albert Parker, wasn’t it, from Pocomoke. Dr. Albert Parker from Pocomoke, or Dr. Parker, from Stockton, yes.
ANNIE: Miss Mary Parker’s…………..
INTERVIEWER: Miss Mary Parker Dryden’s father?
ANNIE: Is it?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
ANNIE: 5 or 6 years ago, she stopped in here. Ed used to work for Miss Mary Dryden from Snow Hill is it?
INTERVIEWER: Yes, yes ma’m.
ANNIE: And so they stopped in here, going to their cousins, and I talked with her and told her a lot about that. She didn’t know my mother had lived with Doctor, her father 10 years.
INTERVIEWER: She worked for Dr. Parker, lived right there.
ANNIE: My mother did.
INTERVIEWER: Your mother did, yes.
ANNIE: Worked right at his house 10 years.
INTERVIEWER: So Doctor Parker was your doctor whenever you needed some medical attention for many years, and after he passed away then Dr. John Dalton Dickerson, was your doctor.
ANNIE: Dickerson, yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: I remember him. Yes. Okay, but you never had to be admitted to a hospital until your more recent years.
ANNIE: No sir.
INTERVIEWER: When you became older and when you……
ANNIE: 1901, first year ever been hospital.
INTERVIEWER: 1901?
SUEVALUE: ’72.
INTERVIEWER: ’72 you mean. More recently.
ANNIE: No. 1992, wasn’t it?
SUEVALUE: ’72.
INTERVIEWER: 1972.
SUEVALUE: Well she’s gettin’ it mixed up with her age, she was 91.
INTERVIEWER: Oh I see. Your 91, okay.
ANNIE: I was 91……………
INTERVIEWER: You were 91 years of age when you first had to go to the hospital. Well you were truly, were blessed with good health then, through the years.
ANNIE: Dr. Dickerson, Dr. Parker and doctor over here to Pocomoke, all the doctors I have.
INTERVIEWER: There’s a Dr. Parker in Pocomoke too. There’s another Dr. Parker over there.
ANNIE: I don’t mean him, but who’d I say?
INTERVIEWER: Dr. Parker here and Dr………………
SUEVALUE: Satorious.
ANNIE: Dr. Satorious.
Reg; Dr. Satorious, you went to him too.
ANNIE: He was a number one doctor.
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s fine. He’s still living but not practicing of course. He’s a little older than you are.
Annie; He’s still living?
INTERVIEWER: Yes ma’m. He’s in a nursing home over in Pocomoke. At the Hartley Hall Nursing Home, I believe it is, in Pocomoke. Miss Annie, let me sort of summarize what we’ve talked about here. You have certainly lived this, almost a full century now, within another month, you will have lived for the full 100 years, what do you attribute your longevity to? Your long life, the fact that you’ve lived longer than most of us will live, spending an entire centure, to what do you attribute that? How were you so blessed, that you lived this long?
ANNIE: Well the Lord blessed me.
INTERVIEWER: The Lord blessed you. Okay that’s…………
ANNIE: I’m satisfied, whenever to see his face, fit to take me, I want to be willing to go follow Him.
INTERVIEWER: You’re ready to go anytime He calls, you’re ready to go.
ANNIE: I want to, be already.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Well I think that’s wonderful.
ANNIE: Follow Him.
INTERVIEWER: Yes indeedy.
ANNIE: Cause He’s a wonderful Counselor.
INTERVIEWER: Yes he is. A wonderful Counselor.
ANNIE: He created and made this world, that we might have lived, now everlastin’ life.
INTERVIEWER: Absolutely.
ANNIE: And if we follow him, we’ll do it. He’s done so much for us.
INTERVIEWER: Yes he has, for all of us.
ANNIE: Send His only Son down.
INTERVIEWER: True.
ANNIE: He died to save us, that we might have everlastin’ life.
INTERVIEWER: Absolutely.
ANNIE: So God’s a wonderful God.
INTERVIEWER: So he’s the one who sustained you through these 100 years, you give Him the honor and glory.
ANNIE: He’s the one.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Nothing you’ve ever…………………
ANNIE: Whenever my friends in Him.
INTERVIEWER: Pardon me?
ANNIE: Help of my friend in Him. Send me to the Ivory Joy, these 100 years. You ever use any alcoholic beverages or smoke Miss Annie? I’m sure as a Christian lady, that you are, I’m sure you never did.
ANNIE: Give me my pipe, give my that and I’d go to light it and sparks and smoke, 2 or 3 minutes after I lit it, for to carry, carried it to her car, I want some, they all-----????be a smoker. But I never did take on to it.
INTERVIEWER: You would just smoke it for a minute or two, before you gave it to your mother. Well in those days, the women smoked pipes as well as the men, didn’t they?
ANNIE: They smoked pipe.
INTERVIEWER: What did they use? Tobacco then, is that……..
ANNIE: Tobacco, tobacco.
INTERVIEWER: Did they grow their own tobacco?
ANNIE: Well some of them growed it, those old leaves out in the yard, in the garden, and I guess they did grind them up, right fine---------?????
INTERVIEWER: Could you buy tobacco in the stores?
ANNIE: Oh yes sir. That’s where we got that.
INTERVIEWER: Where was the store that you folks dealt in, in your earlier years?
ANNIE: Dealt here in Stockton. What was his name?
SUEVALUE: Oh you mean out here to Mr. Wharton’s store?
ANNIE: No. Right cross from Mr. Wharton’s store. Who owned that? Was the store you used to stand in. Taylor, I believe…………..
INTERVIEWER: Dr. Taylor.
ANNIE: I believe-----???----was Dr. Taylor.
INTERVIEWER: Well Dr. Taylor was a dentist here in Stockton. Do you remember?
ANNIE: He was?
SUEVALUE: Mr. Wharton’s store, wasn’t it, Mama?
ANNIE: Mr. Wharton’s store who I dealt with, but there was another one right cross the street from Mr. Wharton’s store. Who was it?
SUEVALUE: A lady?
ANNIE: No.
INTERVIEWER: Mr. Pallit, there was a Mr. Pallit………………
SUEVALUE: Oh I forgot about that.
ANNIE: Miss Mason, Miss Mason there too.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
ANNIE: But he was right in front.
INTERVIEWER: I don’t remember the doctor, now Mr., Doc Taylor’s brother, Mr. Ned Taylor was a banker here, had the little bank here, the bank was built in 1904, in Stockton.
ANNIE: But this was a Mr. Taylor, kept store.
INTERVIEWER: Mr. Frank Taylor, there was a Mr. Frank Taylor who kept store in more recent years, when I was a lad, but maybe some of his relatives or ancestors…………….
ANNIE: I guess they did, cause, I guess it was a Taylor, I’m………..
INTERVIEWER: I guess the stores were, were quit different than what they are today, in that everything was made without, by bags, in barrels and…………….
ANNIE: Different, different, but I thought they were nice.
INTERVIEWER: I see.
ANNIE: I thought they were nice.
INTERVIEWER: And you could buy anything you wanted in these older stores.
ANNIE: Yes buy most anything you wanted.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ANNIE: And it was nice, I thought.
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s fine. Do you remember buying any materials for a dress or things like that in the stores when you would go in, or would you make your own materials or how would that be done?
ANNIE: Bought, bought materials out of the store for dresses.
INTERVIEWER: And made your own dresses yourself.
ANNIE: Yes make my own dresses.
INTERVIEWER: You were a pretty good seamstress then?
ANNIE: Well not much, I done fair, I sewed for myself, somebody have to………………….
INTERVIEWER: Well that sounds like you were doing a pretty good job, with that I would say. Well are there any little stories as we conclude this tape, that you might want to tell us, that we haven’t discussed. Any little, little highlights or any little stories that you might want to share with me as we wind this tape up Miss Annie, for this interview?
ANNIE: I can’t think of none right now. I’m so forgetful. I forgot everything.
INTERVIEWER: I think you’re a quite remarkable lady, you’ve, you’ve remembered many events that few of us would remember after this many years.
ANNIE: I don’t know of any, part------?????
INTERVIEWER: Well if that’s about it, we’ve been talking almost an hour, I believe now, so I think with that we will conclude this interview. I want to thank you again very, very much for talking with me. And I know that the different…………….
ANNIE: Thank you for keepin’ that in remember.
INTERVIEWER: Well I know the information that you shared on the tape……………….