Price, William Hawkes (1897-1984) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
William Hawkes Price (1897-1984) with comments from wife Elizabeth Marshall (1906-1984) |
| Interviewer: |
Katherine Fisher |
| Date of interview: |
1981 February 20 |
| Length of interview: |
45 min |
| Transcribed by: |
|
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Domestic Life
School
Transportation
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Location Terms:
Snow Hill (Md.)
Interview Begin
INTERVIEWER: Alright, I’d like to start by saying this is an interview with William Hawkes Price, on February 20, 1981, in his home on Federal Street, and Mrs. Price is here and she will be adding her comments, or she may not be. As you can see this is very informal and I go through and cut out all the nonsense later. Mr. Price how old are you, so that we can establish a time relationship, at this time?
ELIZABETH: 83. Your 83, dear.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, your 83, then?
ELIZABETH: You’ll be 84 in June.
WILLIAM: Let me say this, I was born June 23, 1897.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, so that makes you 83, right now. That’s very good. Where were you born?
WILLIAM: In Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Where in Snow Hill?
WILLIAM: Can I go off the record?
INTERVIEWER: Yes, what we’ll do is erase this later, okay?
WILLIAM: Off the record, I’m, I’m not sure enough that I would be able to swear to it, but I think I was born in my father’s home here in Snow Hill.
ELIZABETH: Rather than in a hospital.
INTERVIEWER: Right. You know you were, not in the hospital.
WILLIAM: No.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Where did your father live?
WILLIAM: Right in Snow Hill.
ELIZABETH: But what house? Do you remember what street?
WILLIAM: I think it was a street, on Market Street, on Market Street in Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. What was your father’s name?
WILLIAM: James Samuel Price.
INTERVIEWER: James Samuel Price, a………..
WILLIAM: My mother’s maiden name was Carrie Seaver Long, and she was a native of Somerset County.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, I was gonna ask, there are a lot of Longs, you know in Somerset County area. Alright, what did your father do? What sort of work was he in?
WILLIAM: He was a merchant, here in Snow Hill. General Merchandise.
INTERVIEWER: Did a, where was his, did he have a store downtown?
WILLIAM: Yes, at the time of my birth and continuing, while my father was in business. He was in business, strike that, I’m wrong.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: I don’t know that. I don’t know just when, as we called it, ceased to be, if he was a clerk or whether he and Mr. Charles W. Shockley, his later partner were partners at the time of my birth.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
WILLIAM: I can give you the day of my birth, but I don’t know just when their partnership was formed.
INTERVIEWER: Right, right, so he was a clerk for Mr. Shockley prior to being a partner.
WILLIAM: No.
INTERVIEWER: Sometime?
WILLIAM: No, he was not. He was older than Mr. Shockley and a, I just don’t know when the partnership was formed. You don’t have anything on that?
ELIZABETH: No dear, I never heard it before.
INTERVIEWER: Well good, you are gonna learn something too. Ah, ah where downtown was his store?
WILLIAM: A………….
INTERVIEWER: You have to tell me somethin’ that’s there now, so that I can, maybe picture it.
WILLIAM: Well I expect that if you find an early picture available, it would be after the fire.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
WILLIAM: And a, then I think, the store would have been in the, the name of J.S. Price & Co., which was my father and Mr. Shockley.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, okay.
ELIZABETH: Do you remember what street it was on?
WILLIAM: It was on Green Street.
INTERVIEWER: On Green Street?
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. A………
WILLIAM: You, have you come across the name of their neighbor at that location which was P.D Cottingham and Co.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. Alright.
WILLIAM: Right.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, right next door to that.
WILLIAM: I believe so. There may have been a doctor’s office between the two.
INTERVIEWER: Yes. I’ve got, I’ve got several old post cards that show Green Street, so I’ll check on that. A, did you, a, did you have any brothers or sisters?
WILLIAM: Oh yes. I had, I have, had, a brother, full brother, whose name was Jay S. Price, named for my father, but there wasn’t J.S. Price, they didn’t want to confuse the issue so they, he was given the name Jay.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, that was interesting.
WILLIAM: My father’s name was James, and he was called Jay.
INTERVIEWER: Right so he…………..
WILLIAM: Now what, did your question get answered?
INTERVIEWER: Yes. You had one brother.
ELIZABETH: But he had half-brothers and sisters.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
ELIZABETH: ‘Cause his father was a widower when he married Bill’s mother.
INTERVIEWER: Alrilght.
WILLIAM: Papa was, papa was married twice.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, and a, so you had half-brothers and………….
WILLIAM: Half-sisters.
INTERVIEWER: And half-sisters.
WILLIAM: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: My you have a large, you were part of a large family, then.
WILLIAM: Well substantial.
INTERVIEWER: Ya, for now it is. Did your mother work or just take care of the home? Did she work outside of the home at all?
WILLIAM: No. Not after they were married. Mama was a schoolteacher.
INTERVIEWER: Oh she was?
WILLIAM: Yes. Lived in Somerset County.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, and taught school there. Okay.
WILLIAM: I really don’t know the answer to that question.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, okay. Let me see, where did you, alright, let me ask you this, around the house, did you have chores to do? Around the house. I’m thinking today young people don’t often have responsibilities. When you were growing up, did you have certain things you had to do around the house?
WILLIAM: Well yes and no. I, from my earliest recollection, Papa had a horse, he had a horse and buggy and this, a little stable, they had a little stable, still there? I don’t know.
ELIZABETH: I don’t know. ‘Cause you lived in several houses before you lived in the one on Market Street, which is the only one I can remember.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: And that’s the only one that I remember.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. But he had a horse. Did you have to help take care of it?
WILLIAM: I loved to do it.
INTERVIEWER: Oh did you really?
WILLIAM: Oh my.
INTERVIEWER: Ahhh dear.
ELIZABETH: His name was Billy, wasn’t it?
WILLIAM: Billy.
INTERVIEWER: Billy. Okay. Did you get to, were you able to drive, what do you do to a horse?
WILLIAM: Rode him.
INTERVIEWER: You rode him.
WILLIAM: Rode him. You could do anything.
INTERVIEWER: You could do anything.
WILLIAM: I rode him and drove him with a buggy.
INTERVIEWER: Oh did ya?
WILLIAM: Oh yes. One of my favorite occupations in in regard to Billy, was lie flat out along his back.
INTERVIEWER: Oh boy, that would have been good. Did you a………
WILLIAM: That’s as a child of course.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, yes. Alright, where did you go to school?
WILLIAM: Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Where was the elementary school when you attended it?
WILLIAM: Right here, as far as I can remember.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
ELIZABETH: Didn’t you tell me you didn’t start school until the fourth grade?
WILLIAM: My mother taught me at home for the first four years.
ELIZABETH: That was what you said.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: In other words I started school in the 4th grade.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, so when, she had taught you sufficiently so that you went in the 4th grade when you started to school.
WILLIAM: That’s the best of recollection.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Goodness, well she was quite capable, and so were you to do that.
WILLIAM: Well I don’t know about that, believe it or not. Take that out of the record will ya?
INTERVIEWER: Right, oh dear. Do you remember any of your early school teachers?
WILLIAM: Oh ya.
INTERVIEWER: Some of them were? Who were some of them?
WILLIAM: Now bear this in mind again, I started in the fourth grade.
INTERVIEWER: Right.
WILLIAM: My teacher in the 4th grade was Miss Elizabeth Richardson. Do you want any more than that?
INTERVIEWER: A ummmm.
WILLIAM: And they went from there on up.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, was it a one room school when you went?
WILLIAM: Oh no.
INTERVIEWER: You had separate grades?
WILLIAM: No, I’m sorry, this was a big frame building.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. And each class had its own teacher? The 4th grade did anyway.
WILLIAM: ……would say definitely on that, but and I think which I had to have each one in a separate room.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Do you remember anything about discipline in school?
WILLIAM: Yes, ummm, discipline, I considered, I would consider today, that discipline was good. Now, and it was maintained by I would say primarily by the respect of the children and their parents had for the teachers of the day. And those who did not have such respect carried to the proper degree, sometimes received corporal punishment.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. Now could the teacher spank a child or was it usually done by the principal? Do you remember any incidences?
WILLIAM: I can remember at least, I’ve got to go off the record for one of these now. I can remember one of the teacher’s that we had who was a maiden lady, as they were called in those days. But most of us loved her, and a, of course, she was…….and I can remember very well this big boy, George Murray, a student, Miss Julie Bratten was opposite, talkin’ to me, opposite this desk, one way or another and a, she must have been, or he must have been somewhat impudent, and I can see it as plain as day. Miss Julia just gave him a backhand like that, without any forward or near about knocked him out of his seat. But he was quite from then on.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
WILLIAM: And it didn’t diminish his respect for her and the rest of us, I think thought more of her.
INTERVIEWER: Thought more of her, yes.
ELIZABETH: As a matter of fact, I think you said you were very fond of Miss Julia.
WILLIAM: Didn’t I say so? Just now.
INTERVIEWER: Yes indeed, yes. He probably know he deserved what he got, that will happen sometimes.
WILLIAM: I hope so.
INTERVIEWER: What did you do for fun and entertainment as you were growing up as a child? Did you a, were there school parties or school, school events that were held at the school that you went to?
WILLIAM: If so, I don’t remember.
INTERVIEWER: Alright. In the winter would you go ice-skating?
WILLIAM: Yes and no. The principle place available for those people who were able to skate, would have been Mullets Bay. Now that’s up, that’s north of here. What, the waters and some were, (I don’t know the words I want to use), and some boys were so adventurous as to skate on the river. Now there were two things about the river that mothers and fathers were fearful of; one was that the river had quite a strong current.
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
WILLIAM: You’ve heard that, I guess.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, yes.
WILLIAM: And the other was that the current went up the river and down the river and a, not every, all the boys could swim in those days, and a, anyhow the, most of the skating, which was the only winter sport that I can recall, were in connection with the river and, and this is to be noted, and there’s a, Mullets Bay, and that was the arm of the Pocomoke River which ran in behind the town, and was north of the Snow Hill, now Snow Hill to Salisbury Roads, north of the bridge, river bridge was still there, and a, a, I can remember, this is off the record. Elizabeth will remember these people. I can remember what beautiful skaters Mr. Franklin Upshur, later to become an attorney in Snow Hill and Berlin, I’m just trying to think who the other ones…….
ELIZABETH: You said he could do figure skating.
WILLIAM: He could.
INTERVIEWER: Oh my.
WILLIAM: Oh ya Franklin, Franklin was a, I don’t know of course, he was a bit older than I was, I never knew where he learned to skate, but he was, he was a Princeton graduate from the law school. His father, George M. Upshur, who lived for good many years, diagonal across the street from him.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. In Chanceford? No, the one next to Chanceford.
WILLIAM: One next to the old street over here.
INTERVIEWER: Right, right. Well now let me see, in the, in the summertime would you, did you go to a Public Landing or down to any of the bays for………………
WILLIAM: Bear in mind that a, if there were any automobiles or that sort of thing, why they were very scarce, and a, I told you that my father had horses, but, and that was, the horse and other vehicle and a wagon or buggy, was the general means of access to Public Landing, where we called the bay. Of course the bay, as you probably known runs all the way up the Eastern Shore.
INTERVIEWER: Right, but that was the bay.
WILLIAM: In Snow Hill to the bay.
INTERVIEWER: That was the bay, right. Do you remember something called Farmer’s Day or Forester’s Day?
WILLIAM: Yes, that’s right. I remember very well, I can, this will have to go off the record.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: I can remember quite well that there was a family of people who were among those who caused that holiday to be called Forester’s Day. F O R E S T E R ‘S, Forester’s Day, because it was patronized to a large degree by people living in the country or in the north-west side of, Worcester County, and other farming areas, and it was highly patronized every year and a, some of the people came from farms or life in the country. And a, their costumes, if I may use that, when they elected to go bathing in the bay. I have seen them go in with just a shirt and a pair of overalls.
INTERVIEWER: Oh for goodness sake.
WILLIAM: I have in mind one family in particular. The name I shall not mention……..
INTERVIEWER: Fine.
WILLIAM: But it was a family day and people took enough mild, I won’t call ‘em refreshments, a lot of fried chicken and ham and a substantial food and we all had, shall I say lighter refreshments.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, okay.
WILLIAM: That was a big day.
INTERVIEWER: It must have been.
WILLIAM: To which, nobody havin’ the days I’m talkin’ about now, nobody had any automobiles. But transportation was by horse and buggy or by horse and wagon. And most of the people, that I can recall going to this holiday were people from, shall I say north and northeast and northwest and southwest area in regards to Snow Hill. You’ll bear in mind that the bay……was to be southeast.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Do you remember, speaking of horses and things, do you remember when you or your father, whichever, got your first car? Do you remember anything about it?
WILLIAM: Yes I remember it. I think it was a Buick, but I’m not sure, I’m not sure about that, I think it was a Buick, I believe it was a used car, first, as I said I’m not too sure about that.
INTERVIEWER: Right, okay. Now let me see, do you remember the steamboat coming up into Snow Hill?
WILLIAM: You asked me about that before. I don’t think I answered you much. Going back to my boyhood day, I remember quite well the boat, there were two that I can recall. But the one I recall the most clearly was the steamer Maryland, which boat made weekly, semi-weekly trips between Snow Hill and Baltimore. And that necessitated traveling on the Pocomoke River from Snow Hill to Baltimore and return. And I, I don’t know….There was a period in my boyhood life when I knew practically all of the officers and the people operated, operated the ship. The captain was Mr. Richard Heward, who lived right diagonally across, on the corner there. What is the street name?
INTERVIEWER: Moriss and Federal.
WILLIAM: Federal. She knew it, see. And of course right here is where the school was. And a Captain Heward lived over there. And a, I’m just trying to think, the purser, I believe I have the right one, was Mr. John White, who lived down on Market Street. And a, this is off the record now, I remember once when I went to Baltimore and was by myself……….That…where was I at?
INTERVIEWER: You went to Baltimore by yourself on the steamboat.
WILLIAM: On the steamboat.
ELIZABETH: I don’t think that needs to be off the record. I think that’s very entertaining.
WILLIAM: Well maybe I won’t, you can take it or leave it.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
WILLIAM: But and, but I was in the custody of Mr. John White.
INTERVIEWER: Right and was the purser.
WILLIAM: What?
INTERVIEWER: You said he was the purser. Right?
WILLIAM: Yep; nope he was not the purser, he was a, that was the name of, off the record, what’s the name of the man who he was in charge of the food.
INTERVIEWER: I don’t know what that name is, but he, anyway he wasn’t the cook.
WILLIAM: No, no.
INTERVIEWER: No.
ELIZABETH: Steward.
INTERVIEWER: Steward, that sounds right. Oh good.
WILLIAM: Anywhos and a, on this occasion I went to Baltimore to visit my aunt and uncle who had children my age and a, they all tried to tease me, I was in Mr. White’s custody, purser’s custody. And a, they always tried to tease me, they said I slept on Mr. White’s knee. I wasn’t many much bigger than a child to do that. And a, long as I lived in Baltimore I was met, when we were unloaded I was met by a member of my Uncle Will and Aunt Minnie Coulbourn. They lived in Baltimore and I went to visit there and then when time came, they or their eldest son, I can’t think of his first name, took me to the boat, put me on the boat and I was brought back to Snow Hill under the same auspices. Nobody from here thought I was in any danger on the boat. I went once a year.
On my trip to Baltimore, I remember not only was I put in Mr. White’s custody, but I slept in one of, I didn’t have any money to buy a stateroom, ya know. I slept in one of the cabins, which were used for those who paid their fare, and I was still under the guardianship of the officers of the boat, but primarily under the guardianship of Priscilla Waters, as you can tell by her name that she was my negro, negress. My wife is just…
INTERVIEWER: Well you’re doing it just to suit me.
WILLIAM: I was, going to Baltimore, I was put in the custody of Prissie Waters. I don’t think Prissie was overburdened with my guardianship, but when we got to Baltimore, anyhow, you can understand I was theoretically in the custody of Mr. White. Also I think Mr. Ernest Northam, who was the purser, you know what purser is? Do you know what the purser is?
INTERVIEWER: I’m not sure.
WILLIAM: Well he’s the man that takes charge of finances.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, that’s what I was thinking, but I wasn’t sure.
WILLIAM: People who sell tickets and a, he’s responsible for the necessary fares. Now where are we? Have we ever gotten to Baltimore?
INTERVIEWER: Ya, you’ve gotten to Baltimore and you got home safely. And that was quite a trip. Well we mentioned steamboats. Now did you ride on trains? Do you remember going on the trains? They went to Philadelphia, right?
WILLIAM: No, no. Trains from….went north.
INTERVIEWER: But the train wasn’t something that you, you didn’t ride on that. You didn’t have any need to.
WILLIAM: I don’t remember that I had a trip as a child.
INTERVIEWER: Right as a child, right, and we’ll stick to that.
WILLIAM: Later, I’m going to school, I used to play baseball, in competition with Berlin, and it’s something, I believe, I believe that, there was a time when we traveled, as a team, traveled from Snow Hill to Berlin by rail.
INTERVIEWER: Okay, that would be good. So in school, like when you were in high school, you had baseball competitions among the high schools.
WILLIAM: Yes. I played, I played on the teams.
INTERVIEWER: Oh you did, okay.
WILLIAM: Oh yes. Second base or short stop.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, okay. Did, alright, I’ll ask you if you want to tell me, if you remember anything. In high school how did boys and girls meet each other, and they call it dating now, you call it courting then, did you do it in groups or, was there much individual dating?
WILLIAM: Ummm, not known to me.
INTERVIEWER: Alright, that’s what I figured.
WILLIAM: Oh I suppose if we were going to a dance or something like that, right here in town, but well I was, I graduated when I was 15.
INTERVIEWER: My dear. Well you were a little young.
WILLIAM: That’s why I say, there wasn’t much dating.
INTERVIEWER: Right, right.
WILLIAM: Wasn’t I 15 when I graduated? You don’t know?
ELIZABETH: I wasn’t here then.
WILLIAM: I know you weren’t even born, I don’t think.
INTERVIEWER: Isn’t that………okay let me see, if there’s anything else.
WILLIAM: I don’t really remember anything like that.
INTERVIEWER: Alright.
WILLIAM: Oh I can remember girls, who were here at that time, but we went to school and just how our days went I don’t know. Several of them are dead. I can think now of Laura….from my class. There was Laura…, she’s dead, Emily……………………………
ELIZABETH: You had a reunion not too long ago. Not too many years ago, high school, but I don’t think there were very many there.
WILLIAM: Emily Dryden……………She was Will Dryden’s sister.
ELIZABETH: Yes, she’s Emily (Boland). Now.
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Now.