Brown, Mary P. (1902-1991 )
|
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
|
Interviewee: |
Mary Brown (1902-1991) |
| Interviewer: | Katherine Fisher |
| Date of interview: |
1983 January 17 |
| Length of interview: | 36 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:
Domestic Life
Education
School
Worcester County (Md.)—Education
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Worcester County (Md.)—Women’s History
Location Terms:
Ocean City (Md.)
Public Landing (Md.)
Snow Hill (Md.)
Interview Begin
INTERVIEWER: This is January 17, 1983, and this is an interview with Mary Brown at her home on Federal Street. Mrs. Brown, what is your complete name, including your maiden name?
MARY: Parsons
INTERVIEWER: Alright, Mary Parsons Brown?
MARY: Right.
INTERVIEWER: For genealogical purposes, what were your parents’ complete names?
MARY: (Unintelligible) Parsons was my mother’s (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Right. And your father’s?
MARY: Was Charles Henry Parsons.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Do you happen to remember either sets of your grandparents’ names? That’s going back a long way.
MARY: I remember my grandmother’s name.
INTERVIEWER: Was she on your mother’s side or your father’s side?
MARY: My grandmother on my father’s side was Martha Emily Wimbrow and I don’t know (unintelligible) maybe Elijah Duncan and my mother’s mother was Mary Porter Parker and my grandfather was (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Where were you born?
MARY: In Snow Hill, right on Federal Street.
INTERVIEWER: Were you really, oh right downtown? On East Federal Street? Is the house still there?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the street number?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, but it’s still here?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, what did your father do?
MARY: Well, (unintelligible)....he farmed for many years and then he sold (unintelligible) insurance.
INTERVIEWER: Did you meet your husband through him?
MARY: Oh no, not at all.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, I was thinking of insurance. Did you have to do any chores around the house when you were little?
MARY: No, not really.
INTERVIEWER: How nice!
MARY: We had a maid.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
INTERVIEWER: Then they got ‘em a cook then, I think.
INTERVIEWER: Your mother didn’t work outside the home, did she?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Just you?
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Did you have any pets? Cats or dogs?
MARY: I had a cat which was killed and I never had another one.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my dear, how tragic.
MARY: Didn’t want one, got it when I was six years old. A dog bit it; it was tragic. I never did have another one.
INTERVIEWER: Oh no.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you go to school when you started school and you have to tell me where the school was because I bet it's not the same place.
MARY: I went to school at the old high school which was then everything.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, all grades went?
MARY: All grades. And then ... (unintelligible conversation) ... they built the primary school and I went to school there and I went back to the old high school.
INTERVIEWER: Now the old high school, was it on Morris Street?
MARY: On Federal.
INTERVIEWER: On the corner I presume. Down to where Bill Price is now (unintelligible conversation).
MARY: Where all those houses are built. And the house that (unintelligible) was at one time on the corner of Federal and that little street that runs up (unintelligible) and it was turned into a home economics building. So then I went back there and learned how to cook a chicken (laughs).
INTERVIEWER: Oh my word (laughs). Do you remember what subjects you took? I presume reading and writing and arithmetic. In high school, did you take any foreign languages?
MARY: I took French.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, you took French?
MARY: Latin and French.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, and Latin? Did you take algebra?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Geometry?
MARY: Yes, everything you had to take to graduate.
INTERVIEWER: Now was it 11 or 12 years?
MARY: Eleven.
INTERVIEWER: Eleven, when you graduated, ok.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any of your teachers' names?
MARY: Sure, how many do you want? (laughs)
INTERVIEWER: Well you can start naming, (laughs) some of them might still be around so you better not say much about them.
MARY: I think they’re all dead (laughs). They must be. I hope not. From first grade on?
INTERVIEWER: Just any that particularly stand out in our mind.
MARY: Well (unintelligible) I presume. (Unintelligible) Patton, I was very fond of, and Mrs. Whaley, the only one that I know that could handle (unintelligible), she was a young teacher, and (unintelligible) taught French and Latin and Mr. (unintelligible) was the principal and I loved him so.
INTERVIEWER: Now was he the principal of the high school?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: When they built the new primary school, who was the principal there, do you remember?
MARY: I believe, at that time, it was a Miss Jarvey, but I don’t know. Who knows what her name is, she probably married somebody.
INTERVIEWER: Right, but I’ve heard her name (unintelligible).
MARY: I came to that school in the third grade, I think it would’ve been.
INTERVIEWER: That was a treat, going to a new building.
MARY: (Unintelligible conversation)
INTERVIEWER: Besides schoolwork in school, were there any social activities?
MARY: I wouldn’t call it social, but we had a basketball team.
INTERVIEWER: You did!? Were you on that?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: Did they have boys and girls?
MARY: Yep, I don’t think boys, but I know they had girls.
INTERVIEWER: Was that considered part of your regular schooling, or was that afterschool activities?
MARY: I think it was after, as far as I remember.
INTERVIEWER: Did you attend church?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: What church did you attend?
MARY: The Whatcoat Methodist.
INTERVIEWER: You didn’t have far to walk for that either, did you? (laughs)
MARY: No (laughs), but I had a long walk to high school.
INTERVIEWER: Yes you did, didn’t you?
MARY: I mean, I walked.
INTERVIEWER: Nobody carried you, did they? The bus didn’t stop.
MARY: We didn’t have a bus (laughter). Nobody knew what a bus was (laughs). Yeah, they did, but they had no school bus.
INTERVIEWER: Was there a lot more church activities then than there is now? Were the services longer, were there evening services, or is it pretty much the same?
MARY: (Unintelligible) But I don’t remember.
INTERVIEWER: When you were in elementary school, what would you do for fun and for recreation?
MARY: (Laughs) We just had a good time.
INTERVIEWER: Would you go ice skating?
MARY: The ties on my ankles would not allow me. (Unintelligible conversation).
INTERVIEWER: That would be Purnell?
MARY: (Unintelligible) Where the railroad track used to go.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, I’m not sure of the name of that. Ok, would you go rollerskating?
MARY: Oh yes, we did roller skating, I remember that.
INTERVIEWER: Were there sidewalks here when you were roller skating or was it streets that were paved?
MARY: Well, I think there were sidewalks.
INTERVIEWER: Sidewalks? Ok.
INTERVIEWER: Did you go swimming?
MARY: I didn’t go swimming, but we went to the bay and we went bathing.
INTERVIEWER: There’s a difference, isn’t there?
MARY: Oh yeah, there sure is.
INTERVIEWER: Where’d you go? Public Landing?
MARY: Oh yeah.
INTERVIEWER: What do you remember about going to Public Landing, let's say before 1933? Because that’s when there was the storm.
MARY: Oh, I remember that.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, good!
MARY: What do I remember about it?
INTERVIEWER: Today there’s not much there.
MARY: (Unintelligible) All the churches had their summer picnics there, that kind of stuff.
INTERVIEWER: Would you go crabbing?
MARY: Yes, went crabbing.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember Public Landing when it had any of its amusements there? Bowling alley and things like that? Were there movies there?
MARY: I think they did, but I’m not sure. I know they had bowling alleys, and the Purnells, Mr. Tom, they had (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Was there a merry-go-round or anything?
MARY: I think there was, and then they had amusements.
INTERVIEWER: When you would go to Public Landing, would it be something you would do once a week or would it be for a special occasion more?
MARY: I remember (unintelligible). We stayed ... in a hotel or a boarding house.
INTERVIEWER: You lived in town and your father worked (unintelligible). Alright, if you went downtown when you were little, what would you do?
MARY: Well, you’d just go to the movies when they had ‘em upstairs, somewhere on a bored day, when they first had movies. (Unintelligible conversation)
INTERVIEWER: Was that up at Baker’s Opera House?
MARY: No, that was up over the store.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
MARY: I think somewhere along (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Was there a penny candy store or anything like that?
MARY: I think there was one in the alley where I lived (unintelligible). There was a little store near the primary school and all the children (unintelligible) … Layton’s Store.
INTERVIEWER: Layton’s Store? Alright, I have never heard of that ’til you told me.
MARY: And the Laytons lived in the house and the store was next to the house.
INTERVIEWER: And it was a general store?
MARY: Yes. I think they tore it down a long time ago. And then it was a vacant lot until (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Ok, that was my next question. Was there a place downtown where you could buy either yard goods or dresses?
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: If you went shopping, would you go to Philadelphia or Baltimore?
MARY: Philadelphia.
INTERVIEWER: You went to Philadelphia because that’s where the train went?
MARY: Sure. And they had ice cream parlors, two of them (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Oh, how nice.
INTERVIEWER: About where were they?
MARY: One was where the dollar store used to be, and one was where the Burbage House (unintelligible). Well, his daughter and I were very good friends (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Nowadays, there’s a lot of dating. Back when you were in high school, did you do much single boy-girl dating?
MARY: No, not too much.
INTERVIEWER: What would you do?
MARY: Well …
INTERVIEWER: Just whatever happened to come up?
MARY: If any of ‘em had a car, we’d run around (laughs). And then we’d walk.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember your parents’ first car?
MARY: (Unintelligible) ... I don’t know what it was.
INTERVIEWER: How old were you when your dad got that? You were young.
MARY: (Unintelligible) And don’t ask me what it was ’cause I don’t know.
INTERVIEWER: I bet that was exciting.
MARY: (Unintelligible) ... dirt roads….But we used to go up to Newark.
INTERVIEWER:That was a trip, wasn’t it? Now I read something that with the early cars, ladies had to wear something … “reductors?”
MARY: I don’t remember wearing that.
INTERVIEWER: You don’t go back that far.
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: You were talking about the train to Philadelphia. Where would you get the train to go to Philadelphia?
MARY: We basically had a passenger station.
INTERVIEWER: You had a passenger station.
MARY: At that time, (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Alright, there by the railroad track where (unintelligible conversation) … and that was the passenger station. Alright.
INTERVIEWER: How long did it take to get to Philadelphia from here? It wasn’t like overnight or anything?
MARY: Oh no, just a few hours.
INTERVIEWER: Was there a dining car?
MARY: No, not on this line.
INTERVIEWER: Oh. But you’d get on this line and go right straight on? You didn’t have to transfer?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: How often would you go to Philadelphia?
MARY: (Laughs) I don’t know.
INTERVIEWER: Now let’s see, before automobiles, do you remember horse and buggies or anything like that?
MARY: Oh, I remember them.
INTERVIEWER: But you all didn’t have one?
MARY: No, that was before my day.
INTERVIEWER: You lived in town. Was there a distinction between townspeople and country people?
MARY: Not that I remember.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the steamboat?
MARY: Oh yeah. I liked to see the steamboat coming up Saturdays. The girls all got together and went down to look at it.
INTERVIEWER: Did you really?
MARY: Sure.
INTERVIEWER: What was it like? I’ve never seen a steamboat. I haven’t. And I can’t even picture one coming in down here.
MARY: (Unintelligible conversation)
INTERVIEWER: Now that carried passengers and freight as well?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever travel in school?
MARY: No.
INTERVIEWER: You talked about Public Landing. Do you remember Farmer’s Day?
MARY: Yes, I didn’t go, though, but I remember it. It always rained.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go over to Red Hill? Isn’t that down in Virginia? It's sort of far away.
MARY: I’ve heard of it, and I’ve been there, but not in those days.
INTERVIEWER: What about Pocomoke Fairgrounds? Did you ever go to the Pocomoke Fair?
MARY: Ah, I’ve been about once maybe.
INTERVIEWER: That was a long trip, wasn’t it?
MARY: Well, I’d go to Salisbury.
INTERVIEWER: Ah, Salisbury.
MARY: Well, that's where my father would take all the (unintelligible) roads.
INTERVIEWER: I’ve heard that there used to be a (unintelligible) course or racetrack. Did they raise horses?
MARY: I don’t remember that.
INTERVIEWER: You were talking about remembering the ’33 storm.
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Tell me what you remember about that. Were you here in town?
MARY: I went to (unintelligible). My husband was in Salisbury. He’d gone to his business. And he finally got back home. And I remember ... I don’t know if we went to Public Landing that afternoon or what, and we saw the wreckage of it. Horrific, I mean, you can’t explain it. (Unintelligible) ... It didn’t bother much, but there were a lot of trees. I was supposed to go to a party that night, which was canceled. But there was lumber floating all over the place. And water. There was water everywhere.
INTERVIEWER: Did the river come up here?
MARY: It came up, I think they had trouble getting across that bridge.
INTERVIEWER: That’s what I was wondering.
MARY: I think they did, I don’t want to say.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any big snowstorms?
MARY: There were lots of big ones.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Tell me about when you were young and growing up. Did you or any of your friends have a piano or organ?
MARY: Oh sure. We had a piano.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
MARY: (Unintelligible) ... first grade ’til I graduated.
INTERVIEWER: Would you get together as young people and play piano?
MARY: We had recitals.
INTERVIEWER: Oh you did? Were they quite the social events? Parents had to attend, didn’t they?
MARY: I guess so (laughs).
INTERVIEWER: Who did you take music lessons from?
MARY: Well Ms. (unintelligible), ... for one. She had a friend we all met and then I think Ms. Duffet was another one, later. I think that was all.
INTERVIEWER: Did you take piano lessons?
MARY: No, you didn’t ask me the main one. I took vocal lessons.
INTERVIEWER: You took vocal lessons? Who taught those?
MARY: (Unintelligible) ... and I hated those.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have recitals?
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: When did you get married?
MARY: 1932.
INTERVIEWER: Now you graduated from high school. Did you go off for other schooling?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you go?
MARY: Temple University.
INTERVIEWER: Did you really?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: That’s a long way away.
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Ok, what did you study?
MARY: Physical education.
INTERVIEWER: And you weren’t on the basketball team here?
MARY: I took it because (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Ok, and did you graduate?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: And did you get a job?
MARY: All of them trained (unintelligible conversation).
INTERVIEWER: And you lived in Baltimore?
MARY: For four months.
INTERVIEWER: Four months?
MARY: Four. I came home at Christmas and I didn’t go back. I resigned (laughs).
INTERVIEWER: At least you tried it.
MARY: Well, I tried it. And then I had a chance to teach first grade in Snow Hill. So I came back.
INTERVIEWER: So you came back and taught first grade.
MARY: For 15 years. Everybody around here I see, I taught … that’s still living.
INTERVIEWER: Did you change grades?
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: When you taught first grade, where was first grade?
MARY: Right across the street. (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Well, now you got married when you were teaching.
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember your teaching experience? How did you discipline the kids?
MARY: A little spank (unintelligible) pat-pat-pat, it didn’t hurt really.
INTERVIEWER: No. And did the parents support you and the teachers?
MARY: Oh yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Discipline is a lot different now.
MARY: Oh, I think it's horrible.
INTERVIEWER: And how large would your classes be? Twenty to 30?
MARY: Oh, usually around 30.
INTERVIEWER: And would you have a county supervisor or a state supervisor then that would come around?
MARY: We had a county one, just one.
INTERVIEWER: For everything?
MARY: For everything (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: How much did you get paid when you first started working? It wasn’t much.
MARY: I think it was $950 or something. It wasn’t anymore. I went to school for three summers to get a teacher’s certificate and then I did the pension.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you go to summer school?
MARY: University of (Unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: You spent the summer there?
MARY: Right, six weeks.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Did you get to Ocean City much?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: You liked that. Did you go when they just had the one train bridge? And you had to go over the bridge and hope the train wasn’t coming?
MARY: I did, yes.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. And what would you do when you went to Ocean City? Did you go to stay or just for the day?
MARY: Both.
INTERVIEWER: You said they had dances at the (unintelligible) and at The Atlantic?
MARY: Both.
INTERVIEWER: Would they have bands or records?
MARY: They had music, that’s all I know. I think they were bands.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. When you were in Ocean City, was there a pier there?
MARY: Oh yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. Did they have something on the end of the pier? A pavilion or something?
MARY: Oh yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
MARY: (Unintelligible) … on the upper part of the pier….(unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: This would be before 1925, right? Because the pier burned in 1925. I had forgotten to ask you earlier. How old are you now?
MARY: Eighty.
INTERVIEWER: Are you really?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: You act a lot younger.
MARY: I show my age (laughs).
INTERVIEWER: You sit young (laughs).
MARY: Yeah, I do alright that way.
INTERVIEWER: Were there rides and amusements in Ocean City?
MARY: Oh, yes, merry-go-rounds, ferris wheel.
INTERVIEWER: Oh.
MARY: (Unintelligible) ... We tried it all.
INTERVIEWER: Let me see if I can think of anything else that we haven’t talked about. Oh, here in town, every now and then, I see old newspaper write-ups about plays and shows that they put on.
MARY: In the Opera House.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, the Mason’s Opera House?
MARY: Yes, yes.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Who would put these things on? Church groups?
MARY: I think a person came down and trained them.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
MARY: They were terrific.
INTERVIEWER: Did you all ever have anything like a minstrel show?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: You had those?
MARY: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Also at the Opera House?
MARY: And something else, I can’t think. We used to have a theater group that used to come in here. Oh, that was the highlight of the year. They stayed a week and put on all these plays.
INTERVIEWER: Did they really?
MARY: Oh the name was Chinese or something like that.
INTERVIEWER: Ok, but they were professional?
MARY: Yeah. They were good. We thought they were good then; I don’t know what we’d think now, but …
INTERVIEWER: It’s more than is here now.
MARY: Yeah, You're darn right. No movie, no …
INTERVIEWER: Right. Did you ever act in any of those things, or sing?
MARY: Only when I was forced (laughs).
INTERVIEWER: Let me ask you about your husband. Now you got married in 1932. Where did you meet your husband?
MARY: In Salisbury.
INTERVIEWER: In Salisbury. Did you have a long engagement?
MARY: A few months.
INTERVIEWER: Ok. And what business was your husband in?
MARY: Insurance.
INTERVIEWER: And where did you live after you were married?
MARY: On Washington Street, here. He commuted.
INTERVIEWER: He did? Because you were teaching here.
MARY: Umhmm. That’s right. And we moved here in 1936.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, that wasn’t long then, to commute four years. That’s not too bad.
MARY: He still had to go to Salisbury.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah?
MARY: (Unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Did you move into this house?
MARY: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Ok.
MARY: He owned an office in Snow Hill, too.
INTERVIEWER: What was the name of his business?
MARY: Bishop Grant.
End of Interview