Robertson, Julia (1906-2004) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
Julia Robertson (1906-2004) |
| Interviewer: |
Terri Stripling |
| Date of interview: |
1982 April |
| Length of interview: |
29 Minutes |
| Transcribed by: |
Dale S. Rohl |
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Church
Pocomoke City (Md.)—Fire 1922
Pocomoke City (Md.)—History
School
Transportation
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Worcester County (Md.)—Women’s History
Location Terms:
Pocomoke City (Md.)
Interview Begin
INTERVIEWER: This interview is with Miss Julia Robertson. Can you tell me your full name?
JULIA: Yes, Julia Bacon Robertson.
INTERVIEWER: And your parent’s names?
JULIA: Robert Earl Robertson Gertrude Lee Kerns Robertson.
INTERVIEWER: And do you know your grandparent’s names?
JULIA: Paternal grandparents Robert Greensbury Robertson and Rebekah Bacon Robertson. Maternal grandparents Hyrum Oscar Kerns and Julia Florence Travillon Kerns.
INTERVIEWER: Um, when were you born?
JULIA: July 3rd, 1906.
INTERVIEWER: Mhmm. That makes you how old?
JULIA: Seventy-five.
INTERVIEWER: Um, do you remember anything about your childhood, like what kind of chores you had to do around the house?
JULIA: Yes. Um.
JULIA: I am the oldest of three children. And my sister is one and a half years younger than I, my brother is nine years younger than I and my sister and I ah would take turns doing the chores around the house. We usually had a cook who did the housework. Well, that was typical of the local families early in 1900. Not that we were affluent but ah that’s the way it was in those days. So the cook was really a maid of all work but my sister and I were given household chores to do. One week one would help in the kitchen set the table help with washing dishes and so forth and the other would do more of the cleaning chores. Dusting, making beds, sweeping and then we would alternate. So that’s how we divided our chores in the home. As I say we had a cook and we lived in town. So we probably didn’t have the things to do that a lot of children did in the country.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have any jobs beside chores you did around the house?
JULIA: No, uh uh. I never did have any job until I started teaching school at the age of nineteen.
INTERVIEWER: How much, you went to..did you go to school in Pocomoke?
JULIA: Yes, uh huh. I went to school all my education. Elementary and High School was here in Pocomoke. And the school as you know was located on Walnut Street between 4th and 5th where there were three buildings. The whole school system was there. Grades one through twelve. And ah that’s where I went to school. Started in 1912 and graduated in 1923. At that time we had 11 grades of school not 12 as you do now in high school.
INTERVIEWER: How many were in your graduating class if you can remember?
JULIA: I can’t remember but I think there were between 35 and 40. But I do remember I had a few items down about my first grading school in this elementary school on Walnut Street building where the first grade was located near 5th Street. There were three buildings. Even though it was 1912 the building had central heat and plumbing.
INTERVIEWER: Wow.
JULIA: And we wrote with pencil and paper. I have never written on slate but some people my age I hear of have gone to country schools with pot belly stoves with outdoor Johnnies and they wrote on slate but we never did. So in some respects even back then in 1912, I guess our school was fairly modern. And there was a teacher for each grade until high school and there were departmental teachers. Um, the high school at that time had academic and commercial courses and I was in the academic program. And the subjects I took were English, History, Science, General Science, Chemistry, Physics, Math, Calculus, Geometry, Latin and French in languages and what they then called Domestic Science and now called Home Economics. There were no art, music or phys ed teachers.
INTERVIEWER: You didn’t have any sports (not sure what she said) subjects at all?
JULIA: There were some games played and I think some the regular teachers took time out to coach the games. We had no physical ed programs.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of ..Did you have teams? Like
JULIA: Competitive sports.
INTERVIEWER: What were they?
JULIA: Um basketball for girls an uh boys played baseball.
INTERVIEWER: Just two?
JULIA: I can’t remember anything else. But we did once a year, has anyone told you about field day we had?
INTERVIEWER: No.
JULIA: One day was set aside usually in April. It was called field day and it was in one town. One of the larger towns of the county. At that time they had competitive games you know to see which town could have the most points. And they would have races. The boys would have relays and (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Which towns would compete in this?
JULIA: Well, it would be the larger towns. It would be either in Pocomoke or Snow Hill or Berlin. I don’t recall it ever being in Ocean City. But the smaller school would also send teams to play.
INTERVIEWER: Like a mini Olympics sort of thing?
JULIA: That’s right. It was competitive and they were really anxious to see which town would have the most points. And that was held once a year. And that was a very big day. (Laughter). That just came to me. Ok, anything else about school?
INTERVIEWER: Um, no I don’t think so. Can you think of anything else?
JULIA: (cough) (Unintelligible)…Church
INTERVIEWER: What church did you grow up in?
JULIA: Well, I’ve always been associated with Pitts Creek Presbyterian Church. All my life and in early childhood I regularly attended Sunday school. We had catechisms and every Sunday we were expected to know the answer to at least one of the questions as well as come with our Sunday school lesson prepared. And I think it was good. Some of those answers to those catechism questions I remember now and I’m glad I had them. We had a Sunday school library. We had no town library at that time, but we did have a very good Sunday school library and every Sunday I would take out one or more books and return them the next Sunday. And I recall reading the Elsie Dinsmore series which had about twenty books and this was in my early childhood I only went to Sunday school. And when I became older I remember attending four services every Sunday. Sunday school and church in the morning, Christian endeavor for the youth at 7p.m. and evening worship at 8.
INTERVIEWER: Maybe that’s a lot of church.
JULIA: That’s the way I went as a teenager. But in early days. That’s when I only went to Sunday school. And at that time when we learned all the answers to all the questions in the catechism we would have a little quiz before our Sunday school teacher of course not in church but done at home. If we knew them correctly, we would be given a bible. (Laughter) I thought that might be of interest. Ok. Do you have any more questions about church?
INTERVIEWER: No I guess not so mm. So that’s all.
JULIA: That was about all I had unless there is something you wanted to go into a little more detailed.
INTERVIEWER: No.
JULIA: Okay.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, what kind of games or things did you play?
JULIA: You know I was thinking about that. I was thinking our games were very similar to the games children play today. Um we had parties for special occasions, our favorite holidays and um we played indoor games in the winter and outdoors in the summer. Did a lot of roller skating, rode bikes. There wasn’t as much swimming as there is today. As there weren’t any pools and the Pocomoke river was too treacherous. It wasn’t always easy to get to Public Landing which was our nearest safest swimming area. Of course the teenagers didn’t have cars like they do today so we walked more.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go to Public Landing?
JULIA: Oh yes as a child.
INTERVIEWER: What did you do there?
JULIA: Well, we would go swimming like people do now and I think they had a few more things around the water’s edge you know like a little restaurant and I don’t recall that they had any rides but I think that about fifty years ago it was a much more popular resort than it is today. Okay? We were just doing more walking when I was growing up and there’s something here about dating and I remembered when I went to my junior prom. My date and I walked from here to the prom. Which was held in the high school. You know (unintelligible) which isn’t too far away. But we didn’t think of riding in a car at the time. (Unintelligible) and I remember the junior getting up our prom orchestra that would cost us a 100 dollars and just seemed like oh so much money. How could we ever earn enough money to get the orchestra for one hundred dollars? Course there were other expenses but that was the main one. But the 100 dollars an awful lot. (Laugh) But we made it. We decorated with mountain laurel, last of May. Some of them went out in the woods and cut the mountain laurel and helped with that and we didn’t have too much expense other than the orchestra. I don’t remember what we sold served as a way of food. But (unintelligible).
INTERVIEWER: Did you do much dating Miss Robertson?
JULIA: Not too much. I think when I was coming up I think people did more in little groups you know. Rather than um single dating and as I say if we had a date we walked down to the movies. We walked down here to Parks where the Pocomoke Pharmacy is for a coke date and a coke was five cents. (Laughing) So uhmm cars for the teenagers were not popular then. They just didn’t have them. Okay?
INTERVIEWER: Um. Do you remember when you got your first car?
JULIA: YES!
INTERVIEWER: or your father got his first car?
JULIA: When I got my first car or when my father got his first car?
INTERVIEWER: Either one just…
JULIA: Well um, my father got his first car in 1917 and that was a Model T Ford and up until that time he hadn’t had any car at all and hadn’t had any way of transportation other than a bicycle. And he being a plumbing and heating contractor would take the bicycle on the train down to the small towns in Virginia because the train stopped at every little town you know, get off with his bicycle and ride through the countryside to his customers then get back on the train. So he used the bicycle until 1917 when he got this Model T Ford. And I got my first car in 1929 which was a Model A Ford and that car cost five hundred dollars. I was teaching and my salary at the time was a one thousand dollars a year. So half of it went for the car five hundred. If I hadn’t lived at home with free maintenance I don’t know how I would have made it. (Laugh) But that’s how much cars were in 1923.
INTERVIEWER: Five hundred dollars?
JULIA: Five hundred dollars for a very nice car. Mhmm. But I thought it was interesting the fact he would use his bicycle for his business (chiming clock), put it on the train coming back to the station getting on the train with the bike. Remember like it was yesterday-special.
INTERVIEWER: Did you learn how to drive on our own or did your father teach you how to drive the car?
JULIA: Um young friends taught me.
INTERVIEWER: You just learned?
JULIA: Just learned, uh huh.
INTERVIEWER: You didn’t have to get a license or anything?
JULIA: Oh yes, we had to get a license then. Yes you did. Mm huh. Very similar to the same procedure you have now except we didn’t have Driver Ed. But we had to take the test. And is it a written test or oral? I’ve forgotten. But we took the test answering the questions as well as driving with the cop. So that hasn’t changed too much except now you have to have a picture on it. (Laugh)
INTERVIEWER: (Coughing). Excuse me.
JULIA: (unintelligible) Okay. I was thinking over this. I thought of the Pocomoke Fair? Did Mrs. Edgerton say much to you about that?
INTERVIEWER: She said a little bit about it.
JULIA: Well that was always held in August and that was a big event. And there was horse racing which was harness racing, as well as exhibits of farm animals, produce, needle work, canned goods and home baked products. This really was old home week for many families as our relatives and friends would plan to be here for this event. People came from nearby towns and drew people from quite a wide area. And the fair was discontinued in the 1930’s. I don’t recall when it was started but it was discontinued.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever participate in that or did you just go?
JULIA: I went and have taken some little bits of handiwork for exhibit. And I remember once when I was 7 years old I took a little doily that I had crocheted in it and won a prize of 75 cents which was real special to me as a 7 year old child. And I was talking with a friend and she said had I put anything in about Chautauqua and I hadn’t but that was also a very important event every year. The Chautauqua came to town for 1 week in summer. Um it was a well-organized thing and before they came they had to be guaranteed so many tickets you know. They had to be guaranteed a certain amount so tickets were sold ahead of time. So when Chautauqua came they knew they had their money all on hand. And for one week there were programs in the afternoon and at night. And it was held under a tent. There was also a youth director for children who met in the morning with them. And they had their own fun and this was for children probably I’d say younger than 12. They didn’t have a program for older children. Um they had very, very fine speakers and very fine musical program. Well at that time there was no radio and TV and it was very fine to have some real good talent to come to town. I remember the most outstanding speaker appeared named William Jennings Bryant and he was perhaps the most famous speaker who ever came here. But he was internationally known and we felt very, very happy to anyone as famous as William Jennings Bryant to come to Pocomoke and I think some of the older people have never forgotten him. But I don’t remember him. But he did come to Chautauqua.
There was a small theater downtown called the Empire Theater on Market Street where movies were shown. The schools had no auditoriums so the high school graduations were held in this little theater.
INTERVIEWER: In the movie theater?
JULIA: In the movie theater on Market Street. They were held there until 1931 when the school with the auditorium was built. When I finished high school in ’23 um we had our graduation at the theater. Then thinking about the town and community life…When I was a child there were two hotels. The Parker House right where the Parker house is today. Then there was another one. The Ford House which was located very near the old bridge where Duncan’s garage is today. And right there in the middle of the street was a fountain. And we used to think it was a beautiful fountain. Sort of in front of the Ford house. So in the early days we had more hotels than (unintelligent)…..Oh kay…anything else about the …Oh…here I think they had something here about the businesses.
Well, as a child there were 2 hat stores in Pocomoke that sold ladies hats and that was a very big business at that time. Um ladies liked to have their hats very different. you know didn’t want two alike. The owners of the hat store would often make hats just for the people to go with a certain suit or whatever. You know custom made hats.
So that’s something we don’t have today are hat stores. We had 2. I remember 2 shoe stores when I was growing up. And there were clothing stores and of course grocery stores. And I thought it would might be interesting to know how we got our groceries. Not to many people had phones, so a boy would come from the grocery store to the home in the morning and knock on your door. He came to the kitchen door and knocked on your door. “What do you want today from the grocery store?” He would take the order and later in the day the order would be filled and delivered. So that’s kind of a different way from the way people today go to the super market and get their groceries. And there have been 2 banks here since my childhood. The same location but different names. Eastern Shore used to be Citizen Bank and I think the bank across the street was the Pocomoke City Bank now Maryland National.
Umm so..It says something here about transportation. Should I go into that? I told you about my father’s traveling with his bicycle. Well I think the railroad in Pocomoke was used more than any other form of transportation. Although there was a steamboat that came down from Baltimore at one time and carried passengers. But the NYP&N Railroad ran through Pocomoke. And that ran from New York to Philadelphia. The letters stood for New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk. And the train stopped at every tiny town which was very convenient. We had relatives in Bloxom, Virginia 20 miles away. We would get on the train and ride to Bloxom. Big deal for us children to ride on the train and stay a few days and return.
So um things were quite different then. Our family didn’t have a horse and carriage but I had ridden in a carriage. At my grandfather’s in Virginia we would go to church in a horse drawn carriage. He lived in a hilly area and I recall getting out of the carriage to lighten the load as the horse climbed up hill then getting in again to go down.
(Laughing)
JULIA: Not having one in our family, I probably didn’t ride that one very much as I say we went by train. We had to go out we did an awful lot of walking though.
And when I went to college I went to Towson which is just outside of Baltimore. But um after for our Easter vacation we about this time in April, we would return to Baltimore by boat. We could go to Crisfield and get on the boat at 7 o’clock at night and in the next morning we would be in Baltimore. I guess we took this trip in the spring because the weather was warm. It was really very, very fine occasion. We had a lot of fun and there were a lot of college students and it was a social evening. That was our favorite way of going so I guess we couldn’t go in the cold winter so we went in the spring.
We had Sunday school picnics at Red Hills (unintelligible) then later they were held at Ocean City or Public Landing. And Assateauge Island wasn’t accessible by land as it is now but I have been over by boat from Public Landing. And I have been to Assateague by boat from Chincoteague. And as a small child my sister and I climbed to the top of the light house on Assateague. And that was an interesting experience for us. And I think there was something in one of letters about holding onto the rope at Ocean City and then swimming.
Well, I did that. I used to go in bathing at the time when they had the rope to Ocean City and we would hold onto it in the churning water. And feeling a bit of insecurity they had that rope to hold onto when the waves came.
And Astra Industries from Pocomoke..Is it 2?
INTERVIEWER: No.
JULIA: Shipyards at one time. That was our main industry and there were two here. And the men working the shipyards from 7 to 12 had an hour off for lunch then back at 1 and work until 6 which gave them a 10 hour day, six days a week. A very loud whistle blew at 7 am, 12, 1pm and 6pm. That was calling them to work which I knew was time to leave then. That could be heard all over town. And this served as a sort of clock for the residents. You knew the time when you heard the whistle. I lived only a short distance from the ship yard but I was never there when it operated. Too bad. Field trips were unheard of when I was young. Here I lived in town, shipyard the main industry. (Laughter). So it goes. Let’s see. Maybe you could think of something else important.
INTERVIEWER: Did you do anything else at Ocean City like when you went ah?
JULIA: Ride on the merry-go-round. That was the leading attraction for small children. You know and it was located just about where it is now. At the end of the boardwalk. The south end.
INTERVIEWER: mhmm. Did you ever um like spend a week there.
JULIA: Yes!
INTERVIEWER: or spend time there? And you said you went to Red Hills on Sunday school picnics?
JULIA: mhmm. (unintelligible)
INTERVIEWER: Was there anything to do there besides..
JULIA: I think there was a merry-go-round.
INTERVIEWER: at Red Hills they did?
JULIA: But that was about it. It was never a resort with hotels or any facility with food or anything like that.
INTERVIEWER: mhmm. Um, can you tell me anything about the fire in Pocomoke?
JULIA: Yes, I can tell you something about that cause I was in high school at the time. And we were very much afraid that the fire would come down this section of town. My mother was out of town at the time and my sister and I wrapped up the silver. We had some Hollow Ware that I didn’t want anything to happen too and put it in blankets and took it. Next door was a vacant lot and we got it as far away as we could from the house and put it in that vacant lot. That was the one thing we were hoping to save. But fortunately the fire didn’t come down this far.
INTERVIEWER: mhmm. What did it, uhm how much of the town did it burn?
JULIA: It burned a lot on Market Street and the street that is Front Street. It seemed to be confined to that area and then part of Second Street from about Market down to Maple Alley. That’s the area. It did an awful lot of damage. Many, many people were without homes and it destroyed a lot of the town. Especially that the side that has Scher’s. And uh then the block where Newberry’s. From Newberry’s down to that side were especially hard hit. Very great calamity in Pocomoke because of the loss of main businesses and some homes. But that was mostly the (unintelligible). But we were frightened and we did think it would come this way but fortunately it didn’t come this way. But I say that was the one thing we thought we’d save was my mother’s silver service because she was out of town. We thought we would have that and I don’t know why were interested in saving that but we were. But it was contained and fortunately we hadn’t (unintelligible)….That’s how the story goes. Okay, I’m glad you mentioned the fire.
INTERVIEWER: Mhmm. Can you think of anything else?
(Talking drowned out by loud bells and chimes.)
JULIA: No, unless you want to ask me anything. I had one of those. She sent me one in the mail.