Holloway, William (1893-1982) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
William Holloway (1893-1982) |
| Interviewer: |
Katherine Fisher |
| Date of interview: |
1979 March 21 |
| Length of interview: |
1 hr, 23 min |
| Transcribed by: |
Morgan Stephens |
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Education
Farming
Newark (Md.)—History
Queponco
Transportation
Worcester County (Md.)—Education
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Corporate Names:
Newark School
Snow Hill High School
Location Terms:
Newark (Md.)
Snow Hill (Md.)
Interview Begin
(William laughs)
INTERVIEWER: Right, it really doesn’t look the same, the chimneys are inside now.
WILLIAM: I heard she told you, Mrs. Camel was our first telephone operator.
INTERVIEWER: No she didn’t, she said that there was- the first telephone operator lived there-
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: But she didn’t say- connect a name with that.
WILLIAM: Well, I, I may be mistaken, but it- it was my understandin’ at the time when she lived there that-
INTERVIEWER: Okay, at the telephone office.
WILLIAM: The telephone office, and they had a night bell, and she was the- Full-time operator.
INTERVIEWER: Twenty-four hours a day.
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: My.
WILLIAM: And if she worked through the night that she was livin’ there- Of course, we would assume that there were lots of hours- That she didn’t have any calls.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Well, I’ll be darned.
WILLIAM: Yeah, yeah, (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Now, let’s see what that means. That, we had- you know, I had pictures of the high school.
WILLIAM: Mhm.
INTERVIEWER: But I didn’t have any of the elementary school.
WILLIAM: Mhm.
INTERVIEWER: And that’s what she said that was.
WILLIAM: Mhm, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Now was that down around on, Federal Street, down near Collins Street?
WILLIAM: I believe so.
INTERVIEWER: I- I think-
WILLIAM: I recollect that that’s where it was.
INTERVIEWER: I think there’s just an empty lot there now.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: I don’t think anything’s built there.
WILLIAM: Yes. I think so.
INTERVIEWER: Well now, you were born in Newark. Queponco?
WILLIAM: Queponco.
INTERVIEWER: All right. So you went to school in Newark or Queponco?
WILLIAM: I went to school in Queponco in my primary years.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: There’s a country school there, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the neighborhood, but a cannin’ factory was built there- And then that is now, a home store.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, all right, I know where that is.
WILLIAM: That’s where I went to school.
INTERVIEWER: All right. okay.
WILLIAM: And then, uh later on, when it came time to join the upper grades- I went to Newark School. And that’s where the firehouse is now. And then, my whole point of maybe- Newark School was not an accredited high school. They taught all the high school grades there- But it was not that kind of a school accordin’ to form. So they wanted it to have a- be a high school graduate- Accredited, so, Charlie Adkins and myself- Were two of the, uh- In our grade, there were three in the tenth grade.
(Both laugh)
INTERVIEWER: Oh, that’s-
WILLIAM: Maggie Jackson. Maggie Trader, rather. And, Charlie Adkins and I were in the eleventh grade, so- Charles’ folk wanted him to have a high school diploma, so Charlie and I were enrolled here in Snow Hill High School. And boarded at Mrs. McAlice across the street from the Old School Baptist Church. Little house is still there.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Okay.
WILLIAM: And we roomed together, and, in the same class. And, let’s see, oh yeah, Professor Humphreys.
INTERVIEWER: All right, he’s-
WILLIAM: He was the principal then.
INTERVIEWER: Right, he’s- and, didn’t he go on to be superintendent?
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: All right.
WILLIAM: And, so we came down here. And, just a side note, he looked over our schooling that we had had- Was incidentally run by Ms. Melvin of western Maryland. She was Baltimore, she went to school in western Maryland- And- teaching at Newark was her first, year of teaching. So she had all of the high school grades every- every, class in high school. That was a, that was a, tremendous undertaking-
INTERVIEWER: You’re right.
WILLIAM: -for her first year.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
WILLIAM: So of course, she couldn’t do justice to it. But, we spent the, three years that we were in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grade there. We spent those three years takin’ the first year of Latin. ‘Course, we were supposed to have had Caesar and Cicero, I believe- In the meantime. And, but we didn’t get to them at all. Oh, we came down here and Professor Humphreys called us in. There were nine of us, in the- in the-
INTERVIEWER: Eleventh.
WILLIAM: Eleventh grade class here.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: And so, he called us in, and he said, “Boys, you can’t ever make it in the eleventh grade with your lack of, uh schoolin’ in the other grades.” And said, “I recommend that you drop back in the tenth grade, and, try to keep up with the, with the, with the-”
INTERVIEWER: Tenth?
WILLIAM: Tenth grade work, and then next year, you’ll be in good shape for the eleventh grade.”
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: So Charlie said, “My folks would never let me come to- to never pay my room and- Board down here for another year. But If I can’t come down here and graduate- In one year, I’ll have to drop out.” He said, “Well, I’d hate to see you do that, I want to see you graduate. “And so, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll, enroll you in the eleventh grade, and you, work in the eleventh grade for thirty days. And then we’ll review your progress- During those thirty days. And if it seems to be satisfactory and justifiable for you to continue, well, we’ll let you continue.” So we thanked him. And so, that was fair enough, actually, more than fair, it was.
(Both laugh)
WILLIAM: But we appreciated it. So we picked up our books in, in the library, that was the next step- You go into the library and get our books that we would need- In the eleventh grade.
INTERVIEWER: Did you buy your books?
WILLIAM: No, ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: They, okay, they were supplied, okay.
WILLIAM: Some of ‘em were pretty well-worn an’-
INTERVIEWER: (laughs)
WILLIAM: -beat up, but they sufficed. So then we went home and, as I recall, the first thing we did was to go up in our room and start studyin’. And that’s what we did for most of the month, for the next thirty days.
INTERVIEWER: I bet you did.
WILLIAM: In our effort to comply with his terms. So, and it was September, that September was particularly warm. And, we had no electricity in the house, we- Studied by a nickel lamp. You remember them, that put out so much heat?
INTERVIEWER: No.
WILLIAM: The, the-
INTERVIEWER: I don’t
WILLIAM: They have a, a, regular lamp chimney-
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: and a white globe around it.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And a nickel base.
WILLIAM: Yeah, that’s right.
INTERVIEWER: All right. And kerosene? Or lamp oil?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am, kerosene.
INTERVIEWER: Kerosene.
WILLIAM: That’s right. So, we studied until suppertime, of course. We had supper right there. Incidentally, it’d be interesting in these days of inflation- To know that our room and board, from Monday morning until Friday afternoon when we returned- To our homes, was 250.
INTERVIEWER: That was for room and board?
WILLIAM: Room and board-
INTERVIEWER: Oh, my.
WILLIAM: -was four days, and, um-
INTERVIEWER: Right. They really have changed.
WILLIAM: And, so, we were workin’, and when it became dark, we lit the old nickel lamp. And didn’t- didn’t have any cooling system.
INTERVIEWER: (Unintelligible speech)
WILLIAM: Other than nature’s cooling system.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
(Both laugh)
WILLIAM: And, we sweated it out.
(Both laugh)
WILLIAM: And round about ten o’clock, we still hadn’t studied- As much as we thought we should, but we got sleepy. And that’s, that’s another thing that I remember about Mrs. Whaley, who taught English in the high school-
INTERVIEWER: In the high school, okay.
WILLIAM: And, round about middle of the afternoon, I, I was just, sleepy in school. And one day, I couldn’t stay awake, so I woke up to hear her say, “Wake up, William!”
(Both laugh)
INTERVIEWER: Oh no.
WILLIAM: Out of view of the, rest of the class.
INTERVIEWER: (laughs)
WILLIAM: It embarrassed me, oh man.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs). Oh, dear.
WILLIAM: So at the end of thirty days, he says that, “You boys are doin’ all right,”
INTERVIEWER: Good!
WILLIAM: “And you can continue.” And that was good news, and we felt repaid for our- Efforts. So when came mid-year, mid-year examinations. I believe it was in January. Believe it was in January. And they did the examination. And those mid-year examinations, in a class of nine, why, Charles Adkins- My friend- rated, ranked third, and I, ranked fourth.
INTERVIEWER: Well, that is good!
WILLIAM: So we were very much encouraged.
INTERVIEWER: I’d say so!
WILLIAM: Yeah,
INTERVIEWER: Aww. Now, Mrs. Whaley, who was your English teacher, was she a local girl?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Who was she, do you know?
WILLIAM: She was a Staton.
INTERVIEWER: Staton?
WILLIAM: Mr. John Staton’s
INTERVIEWER: Okay, okay.
WILLIAM: Sister.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, um-
WILLIAM: And her husband was Dr. Bentley, who died. I suspect, I suspect that’s when she started teaching school. Just from my head, now.
INTERVIEWER: Now-
WILLIAM: She had two sons: James, who married Emily Usher-
INTERVIEWER: Okay, good, that’s what I was trying to connect.
WILLIAM: Yeah. And Ella, who married Mr. Jim Mann, I think his name was Mann.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: Had a daughter named, let’s see, I mentioned the son, James, and Ella, and the youngest one was John Whaley.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, right.
WILLIAM: And he was the attorney here.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
WILLIAM: Staton, Whaley, and Price.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
WILLIAM: And the Staton of the law firm Staton, Whaley, and Price was John’s uncle.
INTERVIEWER: Oh!
WILLIAM: So it worked real nice.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay, it did. Now, the Staton that lived- lived at Chansford.
WILLIAM: Uh-
INTERVIEWER: The white house that we saw on the side, didn’t he? Was that a different one?
WILLIAM: They lived across the street where, uh- oh, I can’t recall who lives there. Now, I know too-
INTERVIEWER: Not where Judge Thomas lives.
WILLIAM: Oh, no, on the other way, it’s … Across, I think it’s Morris Street there, In front of, Bill, Boot.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, oh, Prancy.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Where Prancy is.
WILLIAM: Yeah. I apologize to your president for not remembering their name-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: But they’re important people.
INTERVIEWER: Right, but when you’ve always known it as something else, that makes a difference. Let’s talk a little bit about growing up in Queponco. Did you- do you mind me asking how old you are? That way, we can get some dates.
WILLIAM: I’m eighty. No- eighty-three.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, is that- that- my.
WILLIAM: Or actually, eighty-five, I remember I always forget the last two years, I’m eighty-five.
INTERVIEWER: Eighty-five, okay.
WILLIAM: I guess I had the three in mind because I was born in ‘93.
INTERVIEWER: In ‘93. Okay. Were your parents farmers in Queponco? What did you- what did they farm? Or was it just sort of everything?
WILLIAM: General farming. My father and his ancestors- Were farmers. They were farming people. So were my mother’s. And my father was, pardon my pride, I don’t mean to apologize for it because it’s something to be proud of, but he was one of the best farmers in the county. And I remember distinctly when the county agent was hiring here- 1915, that was our first county agent.
INTERVIEWER: First county agent, oh.
WILLIAM: John F. Monroe. And the people around town some of them, of course, took a skeptical view of hiring somebody from college come down here- And teach farmers how to farm. And I remember one man said he didn’t like it at all, that, if a man wants to learn to farm, young man wants to learn to farm, he should go out to Arch Holowitz and work for him a year.
INTERVIEWER: Holowtiz.
WILLIAM: That he learned more out there in a year than he learned from county agents.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
WILLIAM: You know, he was a gentle farmer. My father and mother moved there in 1884, they were married, my mother lived up in Whiteville, Delaware. And they were married, at, on the twenty-first of, uh December, 1884. And moved to the farm there. And, then that’s where we children grew up.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, is, is the farm where you grew up, is that still there, is there a house or anything still there?
WILLIAM: Yeah, it’s still there, and I think you know it’s where Marvin Tindle Sr. lives.
INTERVIEWER: Oh. Okay. Now, I’m not sure I’m picturin’ it right. Now, describe it to me in relation to Bill Ferny.
WILLIAM: It’s across the road.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, all right, then I know where it is. (Laughs). Okay, um, how many children were there?
WILLIAM: There were six. But, two of them, two of the girls, died in infancy. So that left two boys and two girls to grow up there.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now did your father hire farm labor, as well as use you all? ‘Cause I know he- you worked on the farm too, didn’t you?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Did he hire any labor?
WILLIAM: Yes. We did quite well, and at that time, it, there were about four or five year-round help. And then in the summertime- Busy season, he would hire extra help.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. So how many acres was he farming?
WILLIAM: Well, he owned 1,805.
INTERVIEWER: My.
WILLIAM: But, I would say about 800 of it was tillable.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And in the early years, this was horse and plow, right?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: My goodness, that was a lot.
WILLIAM: Well, he, he rented some of it out on shares.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: Yeah, some of these lands were- some of these acres were farmed when he bought them, already farmed, you know.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: And there was a house on it- A building. And, the people who rented the land tilled it for us. Lived there and tilled it- And, gave my father a share. For the summer.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now, were there any- was there a store in Queponco? A general store or anything? Did you go to Newark for anything?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Were there any- there wasn’t, a, a church there? Was your church Queponco?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: You went to Newark for that, too.
WILLIAM: The name Queponco, it might be miss, the name might be misleading to some, because to us, it was just a community, like- Community in town. But the word also was the name of the railroad station at- Newark.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. But it didn’t- it really was two different areas.
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Right, the Queponco area was out where you all were.
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, this, Charles Adkins you were speaking of, did he have- eventually have the flour mill?
WILLIAM: It was his unc-
INTERVIEWER: In Newark?
WILLIAM: It was his uncle had the flour mill.
INTERVIEWER: His uncle had the flour mill, okay.
WILLIAM: Charles spent his life teachin’. He died fairly young. But he was a teacher.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now, I’d like to know a little bit about what you remember about Newark. Either any of the buildings that were there, or the, the people. You mentioned his uncle. Did he have another, or was his father- There was a blacksmith named Adkins-
WILLIAM: His father was a blacksmith.
INTERVIEWER: His father was a blacksmith. Okay. And I have a picture of him, I don’t have it now, Ellison Morris had it. A picture of him.
WILLIAM: I think, Ellison married his daughter-
INTERVIEWER: Yes. Yeah. Because it was his grandchild. did- grandfather.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Was the blacksmith …
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Right. I have to keep all these things straight.
WILLIAM: Well, you do remarkably well.
INTERVIEWER: Now, in Newark, where would you go to- now, you didn’t buy, you traded a lot, didn’t you?
WILLIAM: Yes, ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: For supplies and food and things. Can you tell me anything about that? Some things you all brought to trade, and the things that you had to trade for.
WILLIAM: Well, we usually brought eggs more than anything else. Some people brought chickens. Some people brought- Butter. We traded at merchant Taylor Dennis’ Store.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, and where was that?
WILLIAM: That’s the building that’s about to fall down. There’s a bank there now.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Okay, now, I, I’m going up there tomorrow to take some pictures, so I want to get straight… Now… Okay, let’s put that one there. All right. Now, in Newark, right now… okay… if in Newark, this is where the bank is now.
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: All right, is that Taylor Dennis’s store, right here?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Was it all- did he rent rooms, too?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. I want to take a picture of that before it falls down, and I’d better be quick. (Laughs)
WILLIAM: Better hurry.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) Right. Okay, now what in this store- that he rented rooms, in the store, who do you rent rooms to?
WILLIAM: Drummers. You know what a drummer is?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. Only reason I know what a drummer is is because Cindy Cropper told me what a drummer was. (laughs) I didn’t- A salesman, right?
WILLIAM: And he had a delivery stable, over here where the bank is. No, wait a minute, not where the bank is. Just in back of where the store is … There was a stable. He kept two or three horses. And the train would come down at night, about nine o’clock,
INTERVIEWER: The train’s back here, right?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: About four trains a day, two each way, went past this road. And, the drummer would arrange to come down from Berlin, or wherever they had been, usually they came from Berlin. They worked in Berlin, came down to Newark on the night train, stay overnight at the, Bert Taylor’s boardinghouse- And keep moving out. They had veal too.
INTERVIEWER: They did? Did his wife cook them, or-
WILLIAM: His wife, and he had daughters who were grown.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: And next morning- he had two sons named Charlie and Wesley, and next morning, Wesley would hook up the team and take the drummer to the Whiton-Cedartown. Know where Whiton-Cedartown is? Towards there, then. And, wherever else they cared to go. I expect that from there they went to Ironshire. And, and then, they made it down to- But anyway, they would make the rounds- From Newark. That day, and then, usually, they would leave on the same night train that brought them in- Only a day later, and, come to Snow Hill and stay overnight here. Next day, they’d start over.
INTERVIEWER: Well, for goodness’ sake! Well, they really- they covered a lot of territory.
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: One day, they did. Yes ma’am?
Unknown 2: I- (unintelligible speech)
INTERVIEWER: Well, right, he doesn’t- He’s already seen the slide.
Unknown 2: I know. (unintelligible speech) No, you were talking.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, we are.
WILLIAM: We had a wonderful program.
Unknown 2: Yes, yes..
INTERVIEWER: And we really-
WILLIAM: We appreciate very much her coming and spending the day. It was wonderful.
Unknown 2: Yes. (Unintelligible speech)
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: (laughs) Now. his store was here. There was another- there were other stores in town too, weren’t there?
WILLIAM: Yes,
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now-
WILLIAM: Now let’s see. There was the bank here, and now, over here was another store ‘bout to fall down, you might peek at it- While you’re there,
INTERVIEWER: Okay, it’s the one on the corner?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: But, it’s in better repair because the person who bought it just, two or three years ago- Decided that they would set up an antique store out there. But they didn’t quite-
INTERVIEWER: Didn’t quite-
WILLIAM: Now, that’s where Bassett Townsend lives.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Bassett?
WILLIAM: And Ruth Townsend.
INTERVIEWER: And Ruth Townsend.
WILLIAM: Yes. By the way, their daughter, Claude Hall-
INTERVIEWER: Oh!
WILLIAM: I apologize for my slow thinking, but-
INTERVIEWER: You’re talking just as swift as I can do.
WILLIAM: Claude White is their daughter.
INTERVIEWER: Is their daughter.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: All right, good enough. Now, they had a general store?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: It’s just- okay.
WILLIAM: Yes. It was known as Bowen Brothers. There were a variety of people in. And Elijah Bourne. They were brothers. Elijah Bourne was real heavy. He sat in the chair most of the time, but Cherry Bourne was tall, slender, and very active. But anyway.
INTERVIEWER: (laughs)
WILLIAM: They were the two main dentistry’s in Newark.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, the blacksmith was up here.
WILLIAM: Two houses in here and then the blacksmith.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Okay, and that was Adkins. Okay. There. Now, what was where the bank is now?
WILLIAM: I believe it, uh… There was a store there, but I don’t remember, what it was uh... uh...
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: It was a store in my first days, it was, uh-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) Okay.
WILLIAM: Can’t remember.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Okay, now the railroad station, uh- Oh, the flour, wasn’t there a mill-
WILLIAM: Yeah, mill was back over here.
INTERVIEWER: Or was it near the railroad station? Was it-
WILLIAM: Along the railroad tracks, yeah. Train come along, with a steam engine, and-
INTERVIEWER: Right. Now-
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: This is coming from Queponco?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Queponco’s out here. And the railroad tracks come in this way, right? (Pause) There’s a curve in there.
WILLIAM: Yeah. Now, that’s right, that’s right, you were right.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Because there was a flour mill, and a, didn’t they do something with wood, too?
WILLIAM: Barrels.
INTERVIEWER: A barrel factory, both in the same- used the same power. Was it steam?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Steam, okay.
WILLIAM: And later, it was, they used diesel.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. They, uh- Well, now, did you all grow wheat, and have your- have flour ground?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: You did that? Okay.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Now, were there- someone told me there used to be an ice cream parlor. In Newark.
WILLIAM: Yeah, couldn’t forget the ice cream parlor.
INTERVIEWER: And they- that’s all they said there was.
WILLIAM: That was about halfway up from the intersection, connected to the railroad.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, that was- and who ran it, do you remember?
WILLIAM: Well, Miss, Miss Clara Dennis was the proprietor. But she’s the wife of Mr. Sylvester Dennis. Sylvester was the brother to Taylor Dennis. And Sylvester Dennis’ daughter, Beatrice, married Norman Tindle, who lived where we grew up.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, where you did. Wow.
WILLIAM: And also, her daughter is Helen Collins, who is Collins’ daughter.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, the ice cream store, that little ice cream parlor, the building is still in Newark.
WILLIAM: Well, no, it burned.
INTERVIEWER: It burned?
WILLIAM: Yeah. Had a big fire there.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Oh! Were you there at the fire, or were you at-
WILLIAM: The very night.
INTERVIEWER: You were-
WILLIAM: Burned down. After I took the milk to the milk station, there in Snow Hill- For the evening delivery, Well, we saw the light that, when we were unloading milk down where, Tom Sturgis- The fabric shop. And uh- Somebody said that the last Connor store, in Newark.
INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh. Now where was that?
WILLIAM: Number eleven- wondering where the Connor store is?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. All right, here’s the railroad, and here’s the railroad station.
WILLIAM: Right. well, the railroad avenue runs around there- And, the Connor store right here in this corner.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Lev Connor, Lev Connor.
WILLIAM: By the way, the store still did nothing to replace the one that burned down, Replacement is still there, and, by the barber there.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Okay, good. I know where that is. All right, so they said it was Lev Connor’s store that burned.
WILLIAM: It burned down, and there was a strong wind, and there was no fire company. My folks lived up the street there, my father and mother lived up there. They were, where- Oh, next door to Tom Mason. No, next door to Preston Jones. And I wondered how they were making out- So I got home with the empty milk can and I saw just (unintelligible speech) out-
INTERVIEWER: Oh really? Oh.
WILLIAM: Miss Elizabeth Tillman. So, she was to ride home with me on the milk truck that Sunday night. For the week of schooling. We had a school back there, the school that I went to.
INTERVIEWER: Oh right, right.
WILLIAM: Or the replacement of it was. The one I went to was the old… But anyway, this was the one that was there- Well, then I drove on out to Newark, to see how my folks were making out. And they were all right except deeply concerned for the people who lived down Bay Street. The wind was taking the cinders- From the fire down Bay Street.
INTERVIEWER: Well, did they have fire companies come from areas around?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Did they come from Berlin and …?
WILLIAM: Berlin and Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: And Snow Hill.
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Now, someone told me a story, told me that during that fire, there was one family that kept taking things out of the house, and the firemen kept telling them to put it back in the house, because it was more danger outside-
WILLIAM: Oh, yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Sparks and stuff catching off. But I would’ve done that.
WILLIAM: Yeah, I remember I was doing some of the police work after my father and mother were all right. I went back and did a little walking around the yard there, and, I put one fire out, and it was a, an overstuffed chair that, someone had taken out in the yard, and- You know, you do things real well.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) Oh, we have fun with it. After the fire, was, this school was built at the Connor store. It was built back then?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Were there any other places that were destroyed by the fire?
WILLIAM: Well, the outhouse building, which was across the street from the post office over there. I think, I think they were the three. There were three I remember that were destroyed by the-
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, what do you remember about the churches in the area? was there just one church? In Newark?
WILLIAM: Bowen.
INTERVIEWER: Bowen. Okay.
WILLIAM: The other church, the, we called it AMP- United now, but it was- They were out at- Where I went to, I went to Trinity.
INTERVIEWER: Out of Basketswitch?
WILLIAM: Out of Basketswitch.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Now, did you- what did you do for entertainment? Let’s say before, you know, when you were still at home and young.
WILLIAM: (Laughs) Well, they had parties. You don’t know what parties are, do you?
(Both laugh)
INTERVIEWER: Oh, I think I remember some parties. (laughs)
WILLIAM: Well, the Brown family, I believe that was the only organ in the neighborhood.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: I won’t say, better say nothing about- that would probably be unfair to somebody who might have one. But the Browns were, they lived there on Neal Herman. And they were lively and energetic young folks, three boys and three girls. They liked to have company, maybe more so than their parents were-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: More than they would like for them to, They were real sociable people. They had parties once in a while.
INTERVIEWER: Did you, did you, did you go any places? Did you go to Public Landing, or-
WILLIAM: Oh yeah,
INTERVIEWER: Do things like that?
WILLIAM: Once a year, we’d go to Public Landing. We called it Forester’s Day. Later, they called it Farmer’s Day.
INTERVIEWER: Why- Do you have any idea why the name changed?
WILLIAM: Yes, I know I don’t want to, speak out, of turn here, or offend anyone, because I got it from my father. The people in the more developed areas- Folk of the quarry, they, we call it Pocomoke Quarry. Spoke of that as a quarry. Of course, of course it was. And the people who lived there were called foresters. And they were considered to be the underprivileged people in the area. And many of them didn’t go any further than the early grades of school. And, just kind of, without any particular significance. The foresters, if anybody wanted to hire somebody, that’d be the foresters,
INTERVIEWER: Oh, for goodness sake.
WILLIAM: And, that was, the day that they would go to Public Landing- For a picnic. So of course, later on, the people with a more, sophisticated name called it Farmer’s Day. And it was a great day.
INTERVIEWER: You’d go down and spend the day at the beach, and take the food with you. And did you go swimming?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: And they didn’t have a bulkhead there then, ‘cause we’d just walk off of the highland into the ocean, you know. Just to the beach. And, some of the young men, almost grown, would ride their horses out in the bay.
INTERVIEWER: Really?
WILLIAM: And they- people enjoyed seeing that,
INTERVIEWER: I bet the horses liked it too.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: A chance to get washed off. Aww, that’s cute. Now, did you ever, you went to Public Landing. Was there much boat traffic there? Did anybody- did any people come by boat, the Bars, you said.
WILLIAM: Yeah, much more so than them.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Did you ever get over to Assateague? On the real beach?
WILLIAM: Not from our group.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Okay, I was wondering if you did. Now at that time, Public Landing, the rest of the time, were they still shipping out- was there a shipping industry there at Public Landing?
WILLIAM: No, sorry.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: Maybe a load of tomatoes or something of that sort. Shipped it down to Greenback.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, just local shipping. Was there, was there any other particular person there who didn’t- who had the business of shipping these things, that people would just go to and load up?
WILLIAM: I, I think the, latter was there.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. All right, now switching back to Newark and that area, I, I hear conflicting reports about Basketswitch. I read, and one person told me, that there was a brick kiln at Basketswitch at one time. That they made brick. Have you ever heard of that?
WILLIAM: No ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. We’re running two for two now. (Laughs) So now, um, did you ever, did you ever go to Basketswitch or anything around there? You rode by it, I guess.
WILLIAM: Go by it, and, sometimes, we would load the carts of potatoes to Basket.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay, that, I heard that.
WILLIAM: The wagon was loaded, we only had limited baggage. I remember maybe eighteen or twenty cars was the limit. Accommodating loading carts. Or unloading.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. I can’t imagine that many carts there now!
WILLIAM: No, No.
WILLIAM: But, at the time, mostly Officer Smack would, the railroad agent, said, “Bill, we don’t have any, carts here, but if you want to load at Basketswitch- We’ll have the cart put in there for you.” And there were some people who lived near- you know how near Basketswitch is- times they would give them a cartload of fertilizer maybe- We took fertilizer by cart too.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, you did? Okay.
WILLIAM: You’d- In Salisbury, William B. Tilghman Company- Was one of our suppliers.
INTERVIEWER: I didn’t know about that.
WILLIAM: And then we would- we’d got a cartload of fertilizer from them.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay, Now, was this chemical fertilizer? You know-
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. It wasn’t Guano, or anything like that.
WILLIAM: No, it was granular fertilizer.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Oh, okay. Hm. Did you do, did you do any traveling on the train?
WILLIAM: On the train?
INTERVIEWER: On the train.
WILLIAM: (laughs) Well, not much. Once a year, we’d go to Salisbury. Change cars at Berlin, of course.
INTERVIEWER: Right, so the tracks went in different directions, then. It’s a different railroad line too.
WILLIAM: Yes indeed, the- And the- My mother once, wanted an assortment of garments for the schoolchildren. So once a year, maybe before school- She would, take us to Salisbury to get fitted.
INTERVIEWER: Oh okay, for school clothes. My dear.
WILLIAM: That, that tailor now was Bill Goodman, who was the supplier here- And I think so much of Bill, and I don’t-
INTERVIEWER: (laughs) No.
WILLIAM: But this was something that in the course of events, it was usually winter. And, once in a while, we go to Newark, Delaware to visit folk. And a few times a year, maybe three or four times a year, my father would go to Baltimore. Or Newark, on the early train. Go to Berlin, then, take the train to Claybourne. And then take the boat- Across the bay to Baltimore. Get in Baltimore, maybe by early afternoon. To visit the sales table, to the man named King, operated the sales tables at, Parson Field. And there was a man named Fox. So he visited those two sales tables to see what they would have to offer the next day at auction. What they’d have at auction. And my father would buy four or five- Maybe, whatever he needed, wanted. So that what he wanted, he could get while it was in stock. And, bought all of them up there, and then, resell ‘em to people in the neighborhood.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, I didn’t know that.
WILLIAM: But, the next morning after breakfast, the sale would start, maybe, midmorning. He would be there to bid with all the animals he thought would suit the previous day. ‘Course, he had good working relations with the owners of the tables. And Mr. King, Mr. Fox was advisin’ what he thought it would fill a need that- And, then, by mid-afternoon, let’s say, he would have bought what he had- Needed at that time. And the, the animals he bought would be taken down to the dock. And the boat would leave about five o’clock from Snow Hill. He went out the bay- At night, and came up the river the next day. So, after the, animals were, safely boarded. On the, first trip, by then, he would leave and, on the train, because that was the way we traveled. And, we would get in to Berlin around eleven o’clock at night. Leave Baltimore in the early evenin’, and then Berlin at night, and then, we’d have a team waiting there for him that he’d drive down to Newark. And then the next day, about time for the boat to get to Snow Hill, we’d hook the team. Why, we would come to Snow Hill … And take them off of the boat here- Then, travel on foot like the animals did. We would haul ‘em. And, take, take them home, and, right to the stable.
INTERVIEWER: Right. My goodness. Did you-
WILLIAM: And that, that happened that that, boat line was, set up on a twice a week schedule. The boat would just, uh- The boat would leave here on Monday. The boat would leave here, Monday morning. Fairly early, about six o’clock, seven o’clock, after layin’ here overnight, you know. And then they’d make stops at the, at the, going out the river. Pocomoke and, uh- Other landings on the way. And, to get out to, the bay, and, anytime you get there before dark, you know where, and they’d go up to the, the bay- To Baltimore and be there the next morning. That night, they would leave Baltimore that night and get in here the next day, and then leave here Monday morning, get back here Wednesday night, leave Thursday morning, and get back Saturday night.
INTERVIEWER: My dear, that was really a handful. Now, did you get to go with your father some?
WILLIAM: I went occasionally. Not real, not real-
INTERVIEWER: That’s right, because you were needed to-
WILLIAM: - time he went home-
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: Yes, he didn’t want to be loaded down by family.
(Both laugh)
INTERVIEWER: Well, maybe he thought you were needed more at home too.
WILLIAM: Well…
INTERVIEWER: That could be.
WILLIAM: One time, he, thought he’d give me a treat, I guess, when I was young enough then to get tired. I’m old enough now to get tired.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: But he thought, “You’d better take William along to Baltimore.” I’d never been to Baltimore. So, we got up early, of course, to get started on the ride. We had a long ride over there. Got a thorough amount of walking around and got tired. And the next day, he said, “William,” he said. “I want you to see Druid Hill Park. And I think you’d like it out there. Something different.” So, I expect that my mother had talked to him about it. Anyway, we went out to the old park. That was before the sales started to hit at the sales table. So, we got out there and started walking around. Saw the sign said, “Mara to the Sea Lion.” “S-e-a L-i-o-n.” We wanted to see the sea lions. He said, “You know, you’d like these sea lions. Maybe we should go.” And then we walked for quite a distance to the sea lions. So we followed that direction ‘til we saw another sign to the sea lions. And the getting- getting- There was time enough to get back to the sale- So we didn’t get to see the sea lions.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, for heaven’s sake.
WILLIAM: And, I was awfully tired though. And I didn’t have much relish for going with him anymore, even when I was invited, and I don’t recall that he ever did. He was all business, he was all- a great man, great farmer. Big and strong, and he liked to chop wood. He, he- we had a house with a fireplace. He liked to husk corn. Not many people now- Remember when we left the corn in the truck out in the row of corn where it grew. That we did then, and he was very fond of it, very fond of doing that. I remember one time we hired a young man named Stanley, who did odd jobs. Said one time, “How about you help me shuck corn tomorrow?” He said “Oh, I will.” He said, “Now, you needn’t expect to keep up with me. We’ll just move down the row, and you just shuck along as you can, and, I’ll do the same.” And, he said, “If I can’t keep up with you, then I’m not gonna stop, That don’t work for anybody. ‘Cause I can’t do as much work as they can do.” He said, “If you need to come at all, you’re not going to be able to do as much work as I do.”
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: And that was quite true.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that something?
WILLIAM: His own land.
INTERVIEWER: Huh.
WILLIAM: When I was nineteen, he said one day he and his brother Dan were riding around- I guess it was Sunday, because that was the only time he took any time off. When he was home, he was busy, doing somethin’. And, Uncle Dan said, “Arch,” he said “Are you going to have enough money?” “We gotta live to see a time, I’ll have enough money so I don’t have to work. I don’t want to waste life away.” Bob didn’t give him much answer on that, “You’re smart, your ambition.” He said, “My ambition is to always be able to work and always have something to do.” Uncle Dan said, “Now, there ain’t nothing different than two brothers, one who wanted to get out of work, the other one wanted to work.”
INTERVIEWER: Wanted to work, mm. Isn’t that something?
WILLIAM: And he, he was a great man. My father was great.
INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh. Now, now, did, you mentioned that during the fire, that your folks were in town. Now, is this your father and mother who had moved in town, or is this a relative?
WILLIAM: Yeah, when I left for the army, they sold the farm.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! That’s World War I.
WILLIAM: Sold one farm, the rest of them they kept. And rented out. That was in 1917. that was- Joining the army was a- is a story in itself. I have conflicting thoughts and memories about it because- I was the only one at home then. The girls and- we had, oh, one, two, three. And my father had learned to depend on me quite a bit. Not only for the work I had to do, but for directin’ some of the other activities. Particularly when he wasn’t there. And it took a lot of soul searchin’ in whether or not I could enlist in the army. That’s the way my mind led me. So I, announced to my father, thought I’d explain. He said, “Well, if you do, I’ll sell the land, I can’t do it by myself, I’m going to sell the farm, and make that where we live. So he carried on by himself. He had an awful lot of livestock. One time, out of curiosity, I counted up our livestock and we had cows, and combs, and spears, three cows. And, there were ninety-nine heads on the farm where we lived. Total.
INTERVIEWER: Well, no wonder he depended on you.
WILLIAM: They took some supervision, but- He had hired help, but he wanted his closest trust to- So then, they bought this farm- really, it’s not a farm, about fourteen acres I think, uh- Where I met you a while ago. And, he thought he could handle that very well. So he moved out there. That’s where they lived, fire was, and I lived where Hilton Bradford lives. I’d married- When I got out of the army, drifted around a couple years. You get to where you can’t take the farm out of the boy. Met this wonderful woman, girl who-
INTERVIEWER: Aww, that’s cute.
WILLIAM: Fought me over what I did.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. And so then you farmed as well.
WILLIAM: I lived on the farm where I grew up twenty-five years- A while ago, when I wasn’t sure about the years, I had been there twenty-five years I was there. And then we started farming there in 1920- 21, we got married in 1920. Down on this farm where Hilton Bradford lived. And, that’s where our children grew up. Two daughters, Ellen and Mauve was the youngest. And Archer was the only boy we had, and- And he did the same thing that I did. When World War II came along, He left the farming there with me then at home, he enlisted in the Air Force. And then when it was still- ‘42- oh, whenever it was, But anyway, we sold our farm. And moved in town. I helped start the poultry plant down there along the river-
INTERVIEWER: Oh!
WILLIAM: They were looking for somebody to- a general volunteer- On the payroll Started with them. After that, I went into, the next job is, something for veterans. And from that, I was just a temporary holdover till they could get somebody, and then I went to farm Freddie’s. In Salisbury. They didn’t have many acres.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Well, you had a great career! But you still liked farming.
WILLIAM: A bit, till I got home and I haven’t done it much for the country and community as I should’ve done. The opportunities I had. I should’ve accomplished more than I did, I’m very apologetic.
INTERVIEWER: Well, you- see, you’re still doing it. Right now you’re doing it. (Laughs) Now, let me see, there are a couple more things that- let’s see… Aside from that same flour mill, you know, that was in Newark, were there any other mill pumps around the Newark area?
WILLIAM: The mill pump? Yeah, Mentil Mill.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, where is that- where is that in relation to where your parents lived when they came in town? Is it- was it near that?
WILLIAM: It’s east.
INTERVIEWER: It’s east. All right.
WILLIAM: My folks lived, uh-
INTERVIEWER: I can picture about where they lived.
WILLIAM: At the Mentil Mill Pond. You go on Bay Street. And Hickman- Hickman Hill, at the first highway to the left. Where you turn left and about a mile down there.
INTERVIEWER: Oh okay, so that, is that out near where Fred Parker lives.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: So right where Fred lives. Fred lives about halfway from the bank to the mill pump.
INTERVIEWER: All right, good. I didn’t know- Now, did they run, corn, or is it flour, or any-
WILLIAM: No flour that I know of. Meal and corn-
INTERVIEWER: Wheat.
WILLIAM: -meal for, household use, and, uh- And for seed.
INTERVIEWER: For seed. Okay, that’s that. did you ever- did you ever go ice skating or anything there in the winter?
WILLIAM: The Newark people did. ‘Course, we lived about three miles-
INTERVIEWER: That’s true, that’s too far. Did you- were there any ponds near Queponco?
WILLIAM: No, nothing but a duck pond.
INTERVIEWER: (laughs)
WILLIAM: That’s about as big as the library. Lot of fun, though.
INTERVIEWER: Did you- did you do any, shooting ducks? Did you do any hunting?
WILLIAM: No.
INTERVIEWER: You didn’t have time, did you?
WILLIAM: No ma’am. My father thought hunting was a waste of time.
INTERVIEWER: Well, he had a point.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did you, did you do any skating on this little duck pond, or did you enjoy it?
WILLIAM: Well, it was a lot of fun. The neighbors, you know- Late there at night, and cleared the pond. Skate by the light of the-
INTERVIEWER: Fire, what a good time. Well, I think, I could probably sit here and talk to you all afternoon, but I don’t want to tire you out, and you’ve come up with so many things, you know, that I really didn’t know, so it really is going to be a help.
WILLIAM: Well, I hope so, I, I feel very inadequate, but-
INTERVIEWER: No!
WILLIAM: Maybe, Sid Cropper or Rodney Mill can-
INTERVIEWER: No, they didn’t. They, um, they talked about loading potatoes, and they talked about growing field tomatoes. All right, now who grew field tomatoes? I think it was Mr. Bounds said that either he did, or people in the area grew field tomatoes. And I said for canning, and he said the canning factory. Now, I’m going to say at, at Wesley Station. Am I right?
WILLIAM: That’s right.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. But that’s all he said.
WILLIAM: That was a branch of the Onley, W. T. Onley Canning Company. They owned the, place out near where-
INTERVIEWER: Out where Ralph lives? Where Chapman is now, right?
WILLIAM: Yeah, that’s right. And then the factory at Girdletree. That was a branch. And a factory at Westman, that was another branch.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Well, did you all grow anything that was canned there?
WILLIAM: We grew tomatoes.
INTERVIEWER: Grew tomatoes.
WILLIAM: I- As far as I know, that was all that the-
INTERVIEWER: That was all-
WILLIAM: Cannery handled at that time. And, my father, grew tomatoes, and I hauled them on a cart. All the way up to where Flag Road is.
INTERVIEWER: All the way-
WILLIAM: You know where Flag Road is?
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) I know what that is. Very bumpy road.
WILLIAM: (Laughs) And when we got to the canning factory at Newark, they were usually running out of the tomatoes down into the cart and-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: And then out of the cart.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: And we got sold it from the, manager of the plant. Was John Archer, from Baltimore, owned the factory, but- Dave Collingsworth was the manager. And he would, uh take a fair few bringing in tomatoes with his boys, you know, and right that he would, because the people who peeled (they peeled them by hand, of course)- So when he got to one that was hard to peel, squashed up, you know, and not much work off- Well, they’d just squash it again until it was peeling. And of course, that was kind of bad because- They were supposed to be paid for it each morning- Yeah. And then, then the- I think the, garden mill, whole garden factory- There were two factories, wheat and tomatoes. John Archer was the first one, and- The biggest. They had it all lined up, you know, year after year. Other factory picked up his- Granted, some people, of course, would be dissatisfied- With the treatment they had got. So after a while, I, Mr. Archer got discouraged for the business, but the other people got discouraged first, and quit, and the farm he kept on for a little while, and then Ralph Mason grew up- And, uh- He wanted a business of his own. Well, he bought the factory. And he revitalized it, of course- And Ralph Jr. was president of the route team. And then they briefly wanted Sam Bowen up there, who was- They grew their own and harvested with a machine now. Bart Tribe from the- when I used to haul tomatoes out there on horse cart,
INTERVIEWER: Well, now, you all- you picked them by hand, right?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Did you hire workers to pick?
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am. Usually the peelers would. They made three sets of baskets and-
INTERVIEWER: Oh, a tomato basket.
WILLIAM: By the big basket now.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Um, now, were you contracted with the tomato cannery, or, um, were you guaranteed so much? I’m thinking that growing chickens, you’re guaranteed so much of it. Was it that way with the tomato factory?
WILLIAM: Well, ours was a kind of flat, firm contract with- I remember it varied some, I believe in the beginning we were paid six dollars a stub, later nine dollars a stub. And it kept on going up. The stub was, um, sixty baskets.
INTERVIEWER: Sixty baskets. That’s not much money for sixty baskets at all.
WILLIAM: Seventeen. Seventeen twenty. Well, anyway. No, it wasn’t much money.
INTERVIEWER: No. No, it really wasn’t. Um… Oh, I know what I wanted to ask. Did you- you said you raised beef cattle.
WILLIAM: No, I did say we raised beef cattle, but we bought feeder cattle, that was another enterprise my father had. He would go to Langley- And buy a cartload, or two. Sometimes, if the feed situation was favorable, He would feed out two cartloads. Bring them in about, um, early fall- Feed ‘em through the winter and March and then-
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, where did you market them? Was- was it a livestock buyer, or just out to individuals?
WILLIAM: It was, well, he would sell them out to the local butcher shop here. At first, he shipped them back to Langley. Sold them on the fat cattle market. He bought them on the feeder cattle market, and he sold them on the, fat, feed cattle market. And, then he figured out that if he could sell them locally, he would save the crate and- And have more wheat, too. So he had a contract running two or three a week. And that was, the longest the head cattle were at the butcher’s. And the butcher knew he could depend on that.
INTERVIEWER: Right! Well now, was there a butcher in Newark?
WILLIAM: No ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Up in Snow Hill?
WILLIAM: It was all here in Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: In Snow Hill.
WILLIAM: Mr. Taylor Dennis did operate a butcher shop for a while. But, that wasn’t our outlet. We- Sold to Snow Hill and Berlin.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, I didn’t know that. Huh. Now, you all butchered your own, though. For the farm?
WILLIAM: Well, the butcher would contract a hire, a local man in town to go out to the farm- To do the butchering and then bring the carts back to town.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! All right. I didn’t know how that worked. Okay.
WILLIAM: They were very nice, uh- Usually down under a tree. It had a limb- Hang the, toboggan fall on, you know. And they’d kill the animal there. And, hang it up and- And then, after recall, they’d do the hide first and then cut it up and then load it up and-
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, did you have a use for the hide?
WILLIAM: Well, the butcher got the hide.
INTERVIEWER: Butcher got that too.
WILLIAM: And there was an outlet form, of course. And that would tide us up for a while, Particularly muskrat hide. ‘Coon hide.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my goodness.
WILLIAM: There was quite a bit, and it was profitable, too. And we hung it so the hide dried, you know, properly. And it tended- to go well.
INTERVIEWER: I bet. Well, did you ever get into any of that?
WILLIAM: No, ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Good. Um. Um. Now, I’m trying to think if there was anything else I was going to ask. If there’s anything else you remember as well, you know, do. (Pause) We touched on that… When did you get your first car?
WILLIAM: Car?
INTERVIEWER: Car. Do you remember your first car at all?
WILLIAM: Very well.
INTERVIEWER: Do you?
WILLIAM: Got stuck in the mud and tried-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs)
WILLIAM: Right before we got home.
INTERVIEWER: Did you really? Aww. Where did you buy it?
WILLIAM: Bought it in Berlin. And I went down driving through Newark. In those days, car owners were a, well, they were, not exactly popular with the general people. Of the countryside. And I thought I could, get to Berlin, to Queponco, and would reap criticism and people were quite disheartened. So I came through Libertytown.
INTERVIEWER: All right. Okay, I can follow that.
WILLIAM: And, out to the farm. So, I didn’t, I didn’t travel that road, didn’t travel any roads very much. I didn’t travel that much to remember. That was a bad spot there, about a mile out of Berlin, where water had sat on the road and- Still standing low, it, about, similar to what we’ve been through recently- Except that that was continuous. There was no, difference about it. We got in there, and the wheels would be unsteady. And the-
INTERVIEWER: Right, in the side.
WILLIAM: In the side. And I just don’t remember the details of it-
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs).
WILLIAM: But a colored man came by, with his help, I got out. But I know when I got home, my brother first looked around and burst out laughing. He said, “Bill, look up there! On the back of the car is a print of your hand!” I had-
INTERVIEWER: Oh no, were you-
WILLIAM: I had picked up mud, you know. And then it was on the back of the car, and I had a print of my hand on the back of the car.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, isn’t that something.
WILLIAM: That was 1913.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Do you have a model?
WILLIAM: Ford.
INTERVIEWER: Ford?
WILLIAM: Ford car.
INTERVIEWER: Car, okay.
WILLIAM: Five hundred and sixty-five dollars.
INTERVIEWER: My dear. That wouldn’t even put air conditioning in it today. (Laughs) Now, the local people, farmers didn’t really like cars. Did they- were the horses really frightened of the cars when they would go by?
WILLIAM: Well- One of the first things I was told about courtesy of the road was that the laws of the road, was that, that was before we got our car. And, now, if you meet an automobile on the road, you’d hold up a hand by the automobile driver’s side- Had to stop, and let the others by and- And all the way safe. So it was quite a bit of hardship when, it frightened them.
INTERVIEWER: Well, I’m sure they did! Goodness. Now did you- How was it going to Public Landing? Did you ever go- you went to Berlin every now and then. Did you ever go up to Ocean City? Now, this would be before 1930 or so.
WILLIAM: Yeah, we’d go over there maybe once or twice a year. The, the Hedge Road DMV, or this branch of it, From Franklin City, or Greenback. We’d put on an excursion once a year for the folk down at-
INTERVIEWER: Okay, yeah.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: I’ve seen one of the posters for the excursions.
WILLIAM: They would leave by the city with the, dozen by the posting. By the time they’d get to Berlin, that was the last stop. It wasn’t much of a trip though, by the time you made the triangle back to Ocean City. Maybe they, uh-
INTERVIEWER: Maybe they picked some up going from Salisbury and Berlin, then others-
WILLIAM: Yeah, that’s right.
INTERVIEWER: That other a line coming through.
WILLIAM: We’d go over there for the day, Go to the boardwalk and it was considerably elevated and- And, People used to walk under it And sit under it some for the shade.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Oh, there’s a fly! It’s the first day of spring and there’s a fly buzzing around here.
WILLIAM: Well, he’s a bit confident.
INTERVIEWER: (Laughs) Okay, um, we talked about transportation, we talked about businesses … All right, I’ll ask a practical question. When- before you went into- Before World War I, where was- where was the funeral director? I have to ask all, all sides. In Berlin or Snow Hill, or both?
WILLIAM: Both.
INTERVIEWER: Both. Okay. ‘Cause I figured Newark didn’t have-
WILLIAM: No.
INTERVIEWER: One. All right. Newark had doctors though, right?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: Doctor Engle was a friend of mine, and a good one. I hated to see him die so early in age.
INTERVIEWER: Right. But you went to the doctor mostly for emergency things though? You handled most ordinary things at home?
WILLIAM: Yeah, Yeah, Even in our house, my mother was a pretty good doctor. Yeah. They needed another doctor once- And he was from Snow Hill. Dr. Hayley..
INTERVIEWER: Oh, okay. Now, he lived up three houses down from Bates, right? Okay, now, you went to school into high school. Um, were your sisters and-
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Were your sisters encouraged to- did they go to high school as well?
WILLIAM: Well, my younger sister came here, and my older- and my brother.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. They’re-
WILLIAM: Now, my, my older sister graduated in Newark the year that we had a graduating class.
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Okay.
WILLIAM: So I tried to make it up to high school and of course, that didn’t work out. She, finished eleventh grade there, but she- But the bar may have been-
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now, I was just wondering whether boys were encouraged to continue to finish school more than girls were. But both evidently were. Good.
WILLIAM: Well, I think my brother graduated the year 1906. And he was the only boy in the class. There were seven girls-
INTERVIEWER: Well, maybe it-
WILLIAM: Six or seven girls. And he was the only boy. And by 1911, when I graduated, there were nine in the class. Six of them were girls, and three of them were boys.
INTERVIEWER: Oh wow. Well, then it was opposite of what I was thinking. I guess the boys were needed on the farm, and for work maybe.
WILLIAM: I think they were encouraged to. Well, Lee Bailey, and, um, Sean Chancy and myself.
INTERVIEWER: Oh yeah, look at those others there. I don’t know what kind of celebration that is, but it, um, evidently, it was taken in front of the courthouse, looking across where the old library building used to be. And there...
WILLIAM: Yeah, we had a big day once in a while in the yard.
INTERVIEWER: Now that’s Dayton’s farm. That took me by surprise, I had no idea there was any land out past the chicken plant here. Now, I figured when Dayton’s would turn off into the chicken plant, that ended.
WILLIAM: Mhm.
INTERVIEWER: Evidently, there’s a big farm back there, or there used to be. Because this was taken from the farm-
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Looking back toward Virgil Pruitt’s house.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Not quite sure what that-
WILLIAM: And that was called Dyke’s-
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, okay.
WILLIAM: That was a-
INTERVIEWER: Hm. Now-
WILLIAM: Talking about the- I’m thinking of your time, now.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, don’t be-
WILLIAM: But you got me started on some of these that are close to my heart, Now, I remember the first day we had rural free delivery in Queponco.
INTERVIEWER: Do you really?
WILLIAM: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Oh. Okay. Who- tell me about that.
WILLIAM: George Gershwin was our carrier. And he would wait in Newark, that was his instruction, to get back to the train, now- Train would come along about six o’clock. And there the train would come along. Six-thirty in the morning. That’s what we would use when we were going to Baltimore. And then the one coming south- From Harrington. This train that we were talking about coming by there in the morning, the terminal was enhanced. And then, in due time, they would leave. Same crew, as I understand it. Would leave Harrington to come back to Ocean City. And it would get to Newark, Queponco, we were down by the station. Of Ocean City. Then, about twelve thirty, twelve thirty to one- And then, just about the same time, the afternoon train going north would get quite frequent and it would- One of them would take the side lane and wait till the other-
INTERVIEWER: Would go by.
WILLIAM: Yes ma’am.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, wow.
WILLIAM: Then, at about eight thirty to nine in the evening when the train had left, afternoon it’d come back and- That gave us two trains a day.
INTERVIEWER: That’s nice.
WILLIAM: And the mail carrier usually, as I understand it, was told to wait in Newark as late as three o’clock before starting with his route. And, he would gather through that afternoon delivery, he would take all the mail, and he’d come in before, before- Before he went on the route, and deliver around, and we were only three miles from the terminal, the carrier. When he’d leave Berlin, go into the Georgia Bay, and, come out here at the, by Mall Branch- Then go in the, by Mall Branch Road to Queponco, where we lived. Stayed within three miles of being back home. So, if he waited till three o’clock and sorted the mail, came in at three o’clock, and then started off, he would get pretty well off in the afternoon. And the- and, so, he had on the, mail carrier like Bob Marlin used, I’d say that- They had a light up on the front of it, and of course, the road was rough, so they’d go to the road then. And, we could look across the field and course, from quite a distance we could see the light bobbing up and down, you know. We knew he was on his way. So then we- Made the rule for one of us to usually take the- go down to the end of the lane and be there to- Give him the mail that we wanted to go out and to get the mail that he brought in. I remember the first day, we were pretty well excited about having the mail brought to us. Before that, it was a job of us going to the post office- In Newark. (clears throat) Sometimes inconvenient, but society then would stop and- I remember the first day he came around, and in each box, he left a slip of paper for us to fill out the names of everybody who was to get mail in that box. Whether it was a member of the family, or the hired help, And boarders. And that went on until, I just don’t remember. When we shifted to afternoon delivery- I mean, to-
INTERVIEWER: To morning delivery.
WILLIAM: To morning delivery.
INTERVIEWER: My. Well, you had a job.
WILLIAM: We (clears throat) did indeed when it was late and when the weather was bad.
INTERVIEWER: Right. That would be a hard-
WILLIAM: I remember once the, when he got around to our house, it, it was, one of the sleeting days, you know, when the rain was freezing- And he said, you know, the horse can’t see very well, and he’d walk around the head of the horse- And, the eyes had closed, closed shut. The ice had caught up there on the eyelashes and-
INTERVIEWER: Aw, poor little thing. Hm.
WILLIAM: And the roads were so bad, that was, this is- Bandages couldn’t- To make any time either was frozen.
INTERVIEWER: (laughs) Aw, dear. Aww, that’s neat.
WILLIAM: And the, when people used to say something about the good ole days, ‘cause of course they refer to them as the good ole days- My wife would say, “What was good about them?” So that’s what comes to mind when anybody starts talking about the good ole days.
INTERVIEWER: Right. My dear.