Brittingham, Ralph L. (1895-1989)
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Copyright: Records are open for research. Copyright, including literary rights, belongs to the Worcester County Library. Permission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Worcester County Library which extends beyond “fair use”.
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
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Interviewee: |
Ralph L. Brittingham (1895-1989) |
| Interviewer: | Katherine Fisher |
| Date of interview: |
1982 |
| Length of interview: | 47 min |
| Transcribed by: | Elizabeth Hall, Worcester County Library |
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Farming
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
World War I
Location Terms:
Berlin (Md.)
Libertytown (Md.)
Queponco (Md.)
Interview Begins
INTERVIEWER: Where would you go to the store, if you had to go to the store for something?
RALPH: Well, we went to Libertytown, here, we were 8 miles from here.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
RALPH: But there was a country store in Libertytown.
INTERVIEWER: There was?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Who ran that? Do you remember any of the storekeepers there?
RALPH: Yeah, John Townsend was one of them.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: And T.E. Brittingham. There was two stores there.
INTERVIEWER: Two? My goodness.
RALPH: Yep, two stores there.
INTERVIEWER: Now, was T.E. Brittingham any relation to you?
RALPH: No.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: But he had one store there, T.E. Brittingham.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. What else was in Libertytown?
RALPH: Well, there wasn’t much, just … a church there, a Presbyterian church.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: But I’ve seen about three churches built there since my day.
INTERVIEWER: My goodness.
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: So there’s still a church there now, right?
RALPH: Oh yeah, there’s a brick church there now, a nice church. But that’s the first church I went to.
INTERVIEWER: Was it really?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: The Presbyterian Church there?
RALPH: The Presbyterian Church there.
INTERVIEWER: Aww. Did you go when you were a young boy?
RALPH: Yes, since I was a baby, I guess.
INTERVIEWER: Ha-ha. Aww.
RALPH: That’s where we started. It’s a branch of this church here.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, ok. Like a chapel, or something like that?
RALPH: Yes. This church here. It was built after this church was here.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, right, and this church is Buckingham, right?
RALPH: Yeah, Buckingham.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, so it was a branch of that.
RALPH: Right. They’re both connected, I think.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: But I remember when those homes ... built up there, those houses. I think they haven’t got mowed down some big … but I do remember the church and this was kind of a big part of it ... the Presbyterian ministry, ya’ know. The preacher lived here.
INTERVIEWER: Alright and then he would go out to the other churches?
RALPH: Yeah, and what I remember, he’d go out to Libertytown and preach.
INTERVIEWER: And would he have gone up there every other week?
RALPH: Well, I forgot … seem to me about every other week we had a service, I think that’s what it was, I won’t be sure. But I do remember him coming from here and going up there and preaching ‘cause there wasn’t enough preachers.
INTERVIEWER: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
RALPH: I had one brother and one sister.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: One child before my wife died. And he died there on the farm.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Now your parents. How many children did they have?
RALPH: I think papa had five or six sisters.
INTERVIEWER: Did he really?
RALPH: Yeah. But he was the only boy.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my dear. He got stuck with a lot of the work, I imagine.
RALPH: Yeah, he was the only boy. But he had five or six sisters, but they’re all dead now.
INTERVIEWER: Did your mother keep a garden?
RALPH: Oh yeah, we had a garden, we always had a garden.
INTERVIEWER: And did she can and preserve things?
RALPH: Yeah, that was the main eating. You had to, to get something to eat. We had no refrigeration, and no telephone. Well, we had a telephone before I left the farm.
INTERVIEWER: Did you?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. But you didn’t have electricity.
RALPH: No, nu-huh. We built our line in there, the farmers did, the dairy farmers, ya’ know, and we built the Line of the Eastern Shore of Public Service then.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
RALPH: And then we had electric.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: And then we had it pretty nice then.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, I think so. Was your dad in the dairy business also?
RALPH: No, he didn’t start til I left the farm. I started the dairy business.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
RALPH: He always growed wheat and corn, ya’ know, and things like that, but he left and I started in the dairy business.
INTERVIEWER: Well what made you do that?
RALPH: Well, it was the best thing that was going then. You see you made some money to pay your bills.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
RALPH: And my wife, she was sick eight years before she died.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. How many head of cows did you have?
RALPH: When I left I had 40.
INTERVIEWER: My, that’s a lot, isn’t it?
RALPH: Yeah, it’s right many, but we had milking machines.
INTERVIEWER: I was going to ask if you had the machines.
RALPH: Yeah, it (unintelligible) ya’ know, but I had help.
INTERVIEWER: When you were with your dad still on the farm, how did you keep things cool, before you had refrigerators? Did you have a milk house or anything?
RALPH: Well, we got our ice hauled to us from here.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
RALPH: We had an ice box, ya’ know?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
RALPH: That’s the way we’d cool our vegetables and stuff ya’ know. Or we didn’t have that ‘cause they made ice here then.
INTERVIEWER: Was it still Davis Ice Company then?
RALPH: Davis Company then, yeah. Of course, Ocean City’s bought it now.
INTERVIEWER: That’s what I thought I remembered hearing. Goodness, after all those years.
RALPH: Yeah, well he was here when I was a boy. He had the ice (unintelligible) here, Mr. Davis did. And he died here. And it's been sold (unintelligible) to Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, when you were a young boy on the farm, did you ever do any hunting?
RALPH: That was my main job. (laughs)
INTERVIEWER: (laughs) Oh, it was?
RALPH: Yes, and I had time when I retired--I retired when I was 51 and we lived up here--and we’d do a lot of hunting then. There was a lot of game, ya know, on the old Pocomoke River. You see, that was an Indian country.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
RALPH: Pocomoke was. And they were great hunters, ya’ know. I’d come here and find all kinds of Indian relics, ya’ know?
INTERVIEWER: Did you?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh for heaven sake.
RALPH: (unintelligible) I don’t know what I did with them, I guess when I sold I guess I left ‘em there.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, goodness.
RALPH: I sold all of ‘em now.
INTERVIEWER: Well, when you were a young boy hunting, what would you hunt?
RALPH: Quail, we would hunt quail most times. My brother, he was a coon hunter.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my.
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Would you eat 'em?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: You ever eat one?
INTERVIEWER: Nope. Don’t want to. (laughing).
RALPH: (Laughing) Some people don’t, but they’re alright if you know how to cook ‘em.
INTERVIEWER: I think that’s the secret.
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Knowing how to cook it.
RALPH: I hunted quails here. I had more time when I was retired, and Milton Moore, he was in the automobile business here, and after he retired, we went every day before dinner, quail hunting, and we killed a lot of quails then. And I hunted til he died. And I’ve not been since. I can’t walk you know like I did and there’s a lot of walking in quail hunting.
INTERVIEWER: I think so. Did you do any deer hunting?
RALPH: Yeah, I’ve killed a many deer. I think I’ve killed 20 deer.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my. Well that’s good.
RALPH: I killed two in one day.
INTERVIEWER: Goodness!
RALPH: They were first put out on that farm where we lived in that neighborhood.
INTERVIEWER: They were?
RALPH: Uh-huh.
INTERVIEWER: Because they didn’t used to be here, right?
RALPH: None here, and I knew when they were put out there.
INTERVIEWER: Do you have any idea when that was?
RALPH: Well I don’t know, but it's been 50 years.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. And they were put out in the Queponco area?
RALPH: You ever hear tell of Ned Jones?
INTERVIEWER: No.
RALPH: Well, they were put on his farm and he’s younger than me.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: And that’s where they were first put out.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Dr. Law put ‘em there, I remember.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, ok.
RALPH: And they were put there, and then they got all over the county.
INTERVIEWER: All over the county, and got to be a nuisance.
RALPH: Yeah, well, I lost a lot of money on the farm ya’ know, they eat the soybeans up, ya’ know, and all that stuff? They’re a nuisance like that. But I don’t here too much talk ... bothering crops anymore cause they’ve killed lots of them, ya’ know. But that’s where they were put out--in my neighborhood.
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s good to know. When you were in school as a teenager, what would you do for entertainment?
RALPH: Well, we went to see the neighbors, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
RALPH: And we had festivals and stuff like that, ya’ know, and church service, and we didn’t get far from home.
INTERVIEWER: It took too long to get far from home
RALPH: Yeah, yeah. But my father, he come up here every Saturday to do our dealings, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: I remember that. But we didn’t get too far from home, but we went to the country store. We didn’t have to buy so much; we grew everything then, ya’ know. We had our beef, we had our hogs, all that stuff. And of course now, they have to get most of that stuff from the store.
INTERVIEWER: That all changed. Did you ever do any ice skating?
RALPH: Yeah, I taught several how to skate.
INTERVIEWER: You did?
RALPH: See we skated on the Pocomoke River, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Did you really?
RALPH: Yeah, and there was a branch that went up there, Nine-Ten Branch,
INTERVIEWER: Alright, yes.
RALPH: And that was a good skating place.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Was it deep?
RALPH: I used to like to skate.
INTERVIEWER: Did a lot of people have skates, or did a lot of people slide on their shoes?
RALPH: Nah, most people had skates.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: More that went to school (unintelligible). Most of ‘em had skates. My uncle … he give me his skates when he quit and of course I was then old enough to buy my own skates.
INTERVIEWER:Uh-huh, good. Well you skated on the river. Did you fish in the river?
RALPH: Huh?
INTERVIEWER: Did you do any fishing in the river in the spring and summer?
RALPH: Fishing? Yeah, yeah, we fished all the time. I mean to say we done a lot of fishing. We enjoyed the fishing up there. And we killed a lot of ducks, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, ok.
RALPH: We had a lot of fun up on the Pocomoke River.
INTERVIEWER: Well it sounds like it.
RALPH: A lot of game and a lot of fish.
INTERVIEWER: What about swimming?
RALPH: Well I could swim anywhere.
INTERVIEWER: Did you go in the river there?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: You did. Ok.
RALPH: It's the deepest river in the state, I think. I believe I’ve heard that.
INTERVIEWER: I have too, because it’s so narrow.
RALPH: Rain (unintelligible) up to Snow Hill, ya’ know, to that wharf.
INTERVIEWER: Right, I’ve seen pictures.
RALPH: It must be a deep river.
INTERVIEWER: It would have to be to (unintelligible) big ships.
RALPH: I’ve seen vessels up to there.
INTERVIEWER: Well, what do you remember about the railroad? It didn’t come out (unintelligible)
RALPH: Not in my day, it was here when I first remember. But I don’t know how long it’s been here.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Did you use it much?
RALPH: Well, that’s the way people from Snow Hill and Newark, they’d come up here and visit and come to the store. They had a passenger train then, ya’ know. They were (unintelligible conversation) to Philadelphia.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, ok. Now if you were shipping your livestock, would you drive them up to Berlin or over to Newark?
RALPH: Newark.
INTERVIEWER: Newark?
RALPH: Yeah, they had … every place had a receiving place for you to put your calves and hogs and stuff.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, to keep them there.
RALPH: To keep them there, and then they went to Philadelphia most times. That’s where we’d ship most of our stuff.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Newark today, when you go in, except for Barbely’s Store, doesn’t have much.
RALPH: I don’t think there’s anything there but that store.
INTERVIEWER: I think that’s all; that and the bank and the post office.
RALPH: Yeah, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: But when you would go up there in your younger days. Was it busier?
RALPH: Oh yeah, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Then they grew a lot of potatoes around here, and stuff, and shipped from Newark to Philadelphia and different towns, ya’ know. But that was a big market in them days, ya’ know, and all the stuff was shipped. And there were no trucks, wasn’t no such thing as a truck. And it all went by train to Philadelphia to the seaport, ya’ know. Nowadays … you take ... trucks has put the regular one out of business, ya’ know. Well they come almost every day down here, ya’ know, the train does, but I don’t think it goes too far, maybe to Pocomoke.
INTERVIEWER: Right, and that’s all.
RALPH: I think it is, but I don’t know.
INTERVIEWER: You mentioned trucks. When did you get your first car?
RALPH: Car?
INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh. Do you remember that?
RALPH: Yeah, I paid $50 on it.
INTERVIEWER: You did?
RALPH: Yeah, when I was a boy. I wanted it ya’ know. (Unintelligible) $1,000 for it, and he wasn’t gonna give me anymore, ya’ know, So I paid him $50.
INTERVIEWER: You did?
RALPH: A Buick.
INTERVIEWER: A Buick?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: And a Ford man was selling for $350.
INTERVIEWER: My goodness.
RALPH: And a Buick was $1,050.
INTERVIEWER: What possessed your dad to get a Buick?
RALPH: Well, he just happened to buy one, he wanted one, so he bought this Buick from Ward Murphy.
INTERVIEWER: I was going to ask if it was Mr. Murphy in town.
RALPH: Yeah, Mr. Murphy sold the first Buick in this county.
INTERVIEWER: For goodness sakes.
RALPH: Yes, first car was sold in this county, a Buick ... Ward Murphy sold it to my father.
INTERVIEWER: Well isn’t that something.
RALPH: That’s a long time.
INTERVIEWER: No it wasn’t.
RALPH: 1914, I think.
INTERVIEWER: 1914?
RALPH: I want to be sure, but it’s right around there. Right in that ... Maybe a little later, maybe a little earlier, I wouldn’t know … because when I went to the war I hadn’t been driving but about a year or two.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. How did you learn to drive?
RALPH: Well, Poppy sent me to school, and Jess Taylor--Did you ever know Jess Taylor?
INTERVIEWER: I know the name.
RALPH: You know the name?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
RALPH: Well, he was in business up here, and we went to school. And Pop, he sent me up here and Jess taught me.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Wasn’t nobody could drive a car then, hardly.
INTERVIEWER: Well, that’s what I thought.
RALPH: No. And I stayed up here a week at my grandfather’s and Jess, he taught me, he and Slim Burbage.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, I’ve heard of him.
RALPH: Well, they were schoolboys, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. And that’s how you learned.
RALPH: And that’s when I learned. And when I got into the Army, nobody could drive a car.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
RALPH: And with hundreds of soldiers, I was called out one day. And the captain ... I didn’t know what I’d done, but he called the whole company out, ya’ know ... and he wanted somebody to drive a car for him, ya’ know ... and I told him I could drive a car. And so, then I was up there at headquarters and I stayed up there a good three weeks and drove cartaway quarters.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
RALPH: And nobody knew how to drive a car then. There was hundreds of soldiers and nobody knew how to drive a car. That’s been a long time ago.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, it has. Well did you enlist in the Army?
RALPH: No. I was drafted when I was 21. I went into the service when I was 21.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. I’ve never asked anybody what it was like here before World War I or during it. Was there any rationing or anything like that going on during World War I?
RALPH: Nope, I don’t think so. I don’t remember if there was.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Where did you serve? I’ll ask.
RALPH: Well I served in France, Switzerland, and...
INTERVIEWER: Oh my goodness.
RALPH: Yeah, 19, I mean ... I was in Switzerland ... the day ... I mean, the day I was in Switzerland they (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Oh for goodness sake.
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that something? That’s been a long time ago.
RALPH: My lands yeah. That’s before you were born.
INTERVIEWER: Oh yes. A whole lot. (laughs) Oh goodness.
RALPH: But I stayed over there a year. I did a lot of traveling in France. I got some good friends over there. An officer, he give me a pass for where I wanted to go when I was working at the headquarters.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, well that made it nice.
RALPH: Yeah. That’s why I can’t get up today.
INTERVIEWER: Aww, can I help you?
RALPH: Well, (unintelligible) she helps me, sometimes I can’t, sometimes I can. I want to show you something.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: (The flapping of an x-ray film can be heard) I went to Doc Tyler the other day. I’ve got a bullet in me. He wanted an x-ray, so I let him.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my dear! Ok, and that’s your leg.
RALPH: Hold it this way. Can you see it?
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Is that it right there?
RALPH: Yeah. There it is. It’s been there 65 years.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my dear! Why didn’t they take it out?
RALPH: Well they said there was no need of it. It didn’t hurt me. I’ve never felt it.
INTERVIEWER: Haven’t you really?
RALPH: It’s right between those two bones. See, it’s right here.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my dear.
RALPH: Right between those bones, right where I’ve never felt it. An officer told me there was no need of it (surgery to remove the bullet) … the doctor in the service, ya’ know. And I’ve never felt it since it went in there. The doc says it’s never moved.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that amazing? Goodness gracious. Well that’s neat. That’s something. Here I’ll slip that back in there for you. (Interviewer puts x-ray film back into its envelope.)
RALPH: I can’t see too good. So the doctor, he got his girl, and set up his machine and x-rayed.
INTERVIEWER: Well that’s really neat.
RALPH: Here’s a medal I got. You might want to see that.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, look at that. Now what is this called? Anything special?
RALPH: Yeah, it's the highest citation ... this is just a citation here. See this little ribbon here?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
RALPH: That’s the citation, and this is the medal.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Now you can read on that side, if you can see good ... on this side of that jar.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, it says what it is? Let me look down here where I can see.
RALPH: I don’t know whether you can see or not.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I can. “For Gallantry in Action, Ralph L. Brittingham.”
RALPH: Yeah, it's the Silver Star. Anyway, it's the next to the highest medal in the service.
INTERVIEWER: That’s quite an honor. Now when you went in the Army were you married yet?
RALPH: No, I wasn’t married.
INTERVIEWER: You weren’t. Ok.
RALPH: I was 21 then.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. “For Gallantry in Action During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the 312th Machine Gun Battalion.”
RALPH: That’s what I was in.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Goodness, That’s quite an honor, that really is.
RALPH: Well, doesn’t do you no good.
INTERVIEWER: Well, no, it does. It gives you something to think about.
RALPH: It doesn’t mean nothing. Nobody I know knows nothing about it. It’ll all be gone. I ain’t got many more days here.
INTERVIEWER: Aww, yes you do. Gotta wait til spring anyway. (laughs)
RALPH: I don’t know. Doc Mason, he died about two weeks ago. You ever know Doc Mason?
INTERVIEWER: He was Mary Lou Grutman‘s father?
RALPH: Yeah. I believe he was.
INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh. I know the Grutmans. Didn’t he...
RALPH: He died last week, I believe, or week before last. I don’t know. Anyway, he died ... he was in Ocean City. He was about four years older than me.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. So he did that.
RALPH: I forgot her girl’s name. I know two, just one.
INTERVIEWER: I know one was Mary Lou, and I know...
RALPH: Yeah, and I believe she is at home here, I don’t know. I won’t be sure. They lived in Ocean City, Doc did.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, he did.
RALPH: He used to come up here every day.
INTERVIEWER: Aww.
RALPH: We had a club up here and he..
INTERVIEWER: Oh you did?
RALPH: Yeah. And he’d come up and he’s been an entertainer, Doc was.
INTERVIEWER: Aww. Well, how did you, where did you meet your first wife?
RALPH: Well she teaches school here.
INTERVIEWER: In Berlin or in …?
RALPH: No, in the county somewhere.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Pocomoke aways.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my dear.
(a female voice, unintelligible, can be heard adding to the conversation from another room)
RALPH: I don’t know if she had two or three different..
INTERVIEWER: Ok, so she was a teacher anyway.
RALPH: (To the female in the other room) Come in here.
(Other female: No.)
RALPH: I don’t know where she was a teacher. I remember she was a preacher’s daughter. And Robert Sterling’s mother was her sister.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Do you know Robert?
INTERVIEWER: The name sounds familiar.
(other female speaks from the other room again; unintelligible conversation with interviewer)
INTERVIEWER: Oh yes, that name.
RALPH: Well, he married Eleanor and I married Louise. Their father was preaching in Crisfield. I married her, she was from Crisfield.
INTERVIEWER: She hadn’t grown up on a farm then.
RALPH: No.
INTERVIEWER: How did she adapt to that?
RALPH: Well, she did the best she could, I guess.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. There’s a knack to being a farm wife and running a farm.
RALPH: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: There’s no doubt.
RALPH: She was sick eight years before she died. But she was (unintelligible) ... she didn’t live long after she come home, before she died.
INTERVIEWER: That reminds me about doctors. There were doctors in Berlin that you would go to.
RALPH: Yeah, Dr. Tyndall (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: I know his name.
RALPH: But you’re not old enough to remember him. He died pretty soon after the war was over, he was in World War II. And Doc Wall was. Doc didn’t go to service, but he did receive soldiers before they sent ‘em to different (unintelligible) headquarters. But I went to Mobile, I went to Camp Greene, and we trained in Scotland … and we trained two or three months before we (unintelligible) trenches and we trained in France.
INTERVIEWER: Now when did you move to Berlin?
RALPH: After the (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Ok, now was that in the ...
RALPH: I’ve been here 36 years.
INTERVIEWER: You’ve been here 36 years.
RALPH: We’ve been married for 36 years.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, that puts it back to the 1930s, right?
RALPH: Yeah. Uh-huh.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, somewhere there.
RALPH: I never got married til I was…
INTERVIEWER: Well wait, you weren’t married when you went to the war and you were 21 when you came out of the war, right?
RALPH: Nah, I was 21 when I went into the war. And I ...
INTERVIEWER: When you went in the war.
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: And I went to service, and I got married when I ... I met my wife when I went into the service, but I was 21 then. (Unintelligible) We had several of ‘em from Snow Hill, Walt Price, Jesse Goodman, did you ever know him?
INTERVIEWER: He was gone before I came here.
RALPH: I guess he was.
INTERVIEWER: But I know his son.
RALPH: He was a nice chap, Jesse was a good friend of mine. (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Ok, Mr. Walter Price, I’ve heard of him, I didn’t know him. I knew Bill, but I didn’t know Walter.
RALPH: Yeah, Walter Price, I did know he was married, but I forgot. I forget things.
INTERVIEWER: Aww, that’s understandable. I do, too, and I’m still practicing, I guess. (they both laugh)
INTERVIEWER: Living in Queponco, did you ever go over to Public Landing?
RALPH: Yes sir.
INTERVIEWER: You did?
RALPH: They had Farmer’s Day, you know they used to call it.
INTERVIEWER: I’ve heard about that.
RALPH: Yeah, we used to go over there. Farmers had a day or two a year. That was a week day, ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Well, you had to leave quite early to get there, didn’t you?
RALPH: Yeah, and we had to drive a team for it.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, yes you did, didn’t you? So, the whole family would go?
RALPH: Yeah. Some of ‘em went in wagons, wasn’t any way to get there.
INTERVIEWER: Aww. What would you do when you got there?
RALPH: Well, some of ‘em would go crabbing, some of ‘em would go fishing, or some would go swimming, you know. They had a big time. They had a lot to eat. Everybody carried a lot to eat. Just had a big day. Farmer’s Day, they called it.
INTERVIEWER: What about Ocean City. Did you get over there much?
RALPH: Yes. We went from here to Ocean City. We (unintelligible) there, ya know. It cost 35 cents to buy a ticket to go to Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: Is that all? Isn’t that something. My.
RALPH: Thirty-five cents you could get a round-trip ticket, ya’ know. We had neighborhoods, would all get together and go to Ocean City. Wasn’t nothing over there then, one or two hotels. I went down there when the inlet cut through.
INTERVIEWER: Did you?
RALPH: Yeah. I was down there then. That’s been a long time.
INTERVIEWER: Right, that was in ‘33.
RALPH: Well, I was over there and I remember it said that railroad, when it broke through, the water come in there, and it went in the ocean.
INTERVIEWER: That must have been something.
RALPH: Yep. It did a lot to Ocean City, though.
INTERVIEWER: Yes it did.
RALPH: (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember downtown in Berlin, the alligator Jake? Do you ever remember anything about him?
RALPH: Yeah, I remember seeing him many times. Doc Franklin had him in his drug store.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: Doc Franklin was a good friend of mine. I used to kill quails for him, and he was a good friend of mine. He was a county commissioner at one time, Doc Franklin was.
INTERVIEWER: I didn’t know that.
RALPH: Yeah. He had two terms there. (Unintelligible) wanted him to run for county commissioner and he won it.
INTERVIEWER: Oh good.
RALPH: And they were good friends. He lived right up here on the hill. The hill, right over there. That’s where he lived. They burned the house down.
INTERVIEWER: They did? That’s what I was going to ask you.
RALPH: Uh-huh.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
RALPH: It’s not been burned down too long, I suspect, six or seven years. He had a nice home there.
INTERVIEWER: Well now also up here, isn’t Harrison’s up here? Harrison’s is on the hill, down that way.
RALPH: Yeah, Harrison Avenue (unintelligible) yeah. They’re not far from here. You go right by when you go out.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: The house is still there. One of the girl’s mother ...
INTERVIEWER: I didn’t realize Dr. Franklin’s house had been up there.
RALPH: Yeah. (unintelligible) It’s been burned since I’ve been here. It was a nice house.
INTERVIEWER: Well, now you were living in Queponco when they had that fire in Newark, weren’t you?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: But you didn’t know about it until after it was over?
RALPH: Well, we had a telephone line so I think that the way we found (out about) it.
INTERVIEWER: I remember Mr. Will Holloway told me about that because he was living in town in Newark at that time.
RALPH: Yes, at that time.
INTERVIEWER: And he said it was awful but he said some people slept through the whole thing as it happened.
RALPH: I remember when it was burned.
INTERVIEWER: I’m trying to think if I’ve forgotten anything.
RALPH: Bill’s mother, she lived in town here, she’s not quite as old as me (unintelligible) married Dr. Warren, she’s disabled, that’s Bill’s sister, only sister.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, I don’t believe I’ve met her.
RALPH: Yeah, well she taught school, I think, but they lived fairly close to my farm in Queponco.
INTERVIEWER: His dad did something with horses, didn’t they?
RALPH: What?
INTERVIEWER: Didn’t Mr. Archer Holloway do something with horses? Did I remember that right? Maybe I didn’t. Maybe he just farmed.
RALPH: He owned a farm. Yeah, he had a big farm right next to me.
INTERVIEWER: Did anyone ever have any fairs or circuses that came.
RALPH: They had circuses, but that’s all. We used to come to the circus up here.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: They never had no fairs here.
INTERVIEWER: I think they did down in Pocomoke.
RALPH: Yeah, they did in Salisbury, too.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: I remember them. We used to go to Salisbury when they had a circus there.
INTERVIEWER: And they had a fair, also. I’m trying to think if I can remember anything else I wanted to ask you. Did you use tractors at all on your farm?
RALPH: Well, when I sold my farm, I had a tractor then, but that was a long time before tractors come in … had a tractor ... was a long time before I ever had a tractor, but I did when I sold that farm … to Montana. He was a rancher, ya’ know, and he made a lot of money. He had a lot when he come here. He must’ve bought four or five farms after he he come here.
INTERVIEWER: Did he really?
RALPH: Yeah. And got killed on my tractor. And my boy was with him when he got killed.
INTERVIEWER: Oh for goodness sakes.
RALPH: But he lived up here in the country. But he bought four or five farms when he come up here. He had a ranch in Montana. And he was a missionary in Glasgow, Scotland, when he come here and went in Montana and bought this ranch.
INTERVIEWER: Well for goodness sakes.
RALPH: He was a missionary and married his wife in Glasgow, Scotland. And he bought my place and moved in there.
INTERVIEWER: What was his name?
RALPH: Phillips.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Phillips.
RALPH: One of ‘em. Bill Phillips
INTERVIEWER: Ok. No relation to any of the Phillips here?
RALPH: No, no.
INTERVIEWER: A whole different branch?
RALPH: He come from Glasgow, Scotland.
INTERVIEWER: My gracious.
RALPH: Missionaries.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Missionaries.
RALPH: He and his wife. He married his wife there. They had several boys.
INTERVIEWER: Well, for goodness sakes, I didn’t know that. That’s interesting. Well, you did your early farming and your dad did with mules?
RALPH: Mules. We had about, well, what I … and even after he retired and come into town, and I had a team then and bought a tractor, when he left the farm, I had nine.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my goodness, nine of them?
RALPH: Horses and mules.
(Interviewer sneezes)
RALPH: Cause I liked ‘em better.
INTERVIEWER: Were they easier to work?
RALPH: They were more sensible and not so flighty.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: But I had both.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Did you ever have any oxen?
RALPH: No, I never had that. That was before my time, I guess. But some farmers did. (Unintelligible) had a colored boy that had one or two. He had some farm (unintelligible) and this colored boy, I remember he had oxen and I think he worked ‘em some. But I never had one.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, but you did your mules.
RALPH: I used mules and pop never had a tractor because that was before tractor times.
INTERVIEWER: Right and that’s all you had.
RALPH: That’s all you had.
INTERVIEWER: Did you all plant any potatoes?
RALPH: Yeah. Up and along (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Well, that’s what I’ve heard.
RALPH: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: My goodness. (unintelligible) What was a good price for potatoes?
RALPH: Well, we got $5 a bushel.
INTERVIEWER: $5 a bushel?
RALPH: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: That is a good price.
RALPH: Yeah, that’s how you made ya’ money.
INTERVIEWER: That’s a good money crop. Now were you out of farming when the Depression came?
RALPH: No, I was in it.
INTERVIEWER: You were?
RALPH: It was bad.
INTERVIEWER: That’s what I’ve heard.
RALPH: Yeah. It was bad.
INTERVIEWER: You weren’t still growing potatoes, were you?
RALPH: Huh?
INTERVIEWER: You weren’t growing potatoes, were you?
RALPH: My dad ... we quit … he lost some money on one crop and he never grew no more.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
RALPH: But a lot of ‘em been gone … busted all up (unintelligible) ... in the county ... hurt bad, hurt everybody.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, that’s what I’ve heard.
RALPH: Yeah, it was bad times.
INTERVIEWER: It must’ve been.
RALPH: You couldn’t make a living on a good farm like I had.
INTERVIEWER: But you never went hungry.
RALPH: No, you can’t starve a farmer to death.
INTERVIEWER: Right, right. No, you have enough to eat.
RALPH: Yeah, we had everything to eat and enough to pay the bills. But that’s all I had. It took everything I had to keep my wife in the hospital.
INTERVIEWER: Right, I’m sure it did.
RALPH: She was in Baltimore then. Two years she was in Baltimore. (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Was that a sanitarium?
RALPH: Yeah, I think it's closed up. It was linked to TB, ya’ know. I don’t think anybody has TB now, but they were dying like flies then.
INTERVIEWER: They must’ve been.
RALPH: Yes they were. I used to go up and see her and there’d be three or four nice looking girls and next time I went back, they’d be dead, in the hospital (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Well, in the hospital, before that, didn’t they have diphtheria?
RALPH: Well, I think so, but that was before my time.
INTERVIEWER: That was before you time, ok.
RALPH: It was a killer, too, I think. Diphtheria, it was sure death if you got it. But the TB was a killer then, but they licked it now.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember your mother, did she have any medicine or cures that she used?
RALPH: Yeah, she used ... they used different things ya’ know like Indians they had their own medicine ya’ know.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Do you remember any of the things she used?
RALPH: No, I’ve forgotten.
INTERVIEWER: Every now and then, I’ll get someone who remembers something that was either particularly vile tasting or that really worked.
RALPH: Well, they had what they call (unintelligible) oil. That was something for bad colds.
INTERVIEWER: Was it like a liquid you drink it?
RALPH: You went out in the fields and got it and made a tea out of it.
INTERVIEWER: And drank that.
RALPH: Yeah, and drank that. There were some more things, but I can’t think of them.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
RALPH: But they had what they call home medicine, ya’ know (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: So you wouldn’t just go to the doctor every time you had a pain.
RALPH: No, there weren’t no doctors around hardly ... there were few doctors in them days. We had Doc (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Oh, Dr. (unintelligible).
RALPH: Yeah, he was our doctor. And he charged $2 to come out there.
INTERVIEWER: That’s all?
RALPH: $2. That’s what he…
INTERVIEWER: Because in a horse and cart or in an old car, that’s quite a trip.
RALPH: Yeah, he had (unintelligible) a horse and buggy
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