Truitt, Lola (1897-1987) |
Worcester County Library: Local History and Genealogy Collection, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, MD
|
Interviewee: |
Lola Truitt (1897-1987) |
| Interviewer: |
Karen Shockley |
| Date of interview: |
1982 April |
| Length of interview: |
10 min |
| Transcribed by: |
Sylvia Hamilton |
| Preferred Citation: |
“Name, Oral History Collection, Date of Interview, Worcester County Library, Snow Hill Branch, Snow Hill, Maryland.” |
Topical Terms:
Worcester County (Md.)—History
Worcester County (Md.)—Social life and customs
Worcester County (Md.)—Women’s History
Location Terms:
Snow Hill (Md.)
Interview Begins
INTERVIEWER: When were you born? When is your birthday?
LOLA: Let’s see July 3. Let me see, what month and the year. I think so.
INTERVIEWER: How old are you now?
LOLA: Eighty-one.
INTERVIEWER: You were born in 1901.
LOLA: Alright then.
INTERVIEWER: Were you born at home?
LOLA: I was born in the country I think.
INTERVIEWER: What were the names of your parents?
LOLA: Thomas and Ida before she got married, she was a Butler.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have to help around the house, special chores?
LOLA: No.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of things did you have to do?
LOLA: *Unintelligible conversation* we had to do the same thing.
INTERVIEWER: Did you grow your own food?
LOLA: Everything.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of food did you grow?
LOLA: We had hogs and potatoes and everything you had in a garden we had.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have any brothers and sisters?
LOLA: Yes I had five sisters, five sisters.
INTERVIEWER: Did you have to help raise any of them?
LOLA: I don’t think so, no.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you go to school?
LOLA: Where did I go to school? Snow Hill.
INTERVIEWER: What was the name of the school?
LOLA: I don’t even know now.
INTERVIEWER: How big were your classes? Did you have a lot of people in your classes?
LOLA: Not in my school for nothing honey. (Laughs) I quit in the seventh grade to go to work.
INTERVIEWER: What was your first job?
LOLA: *unintelligible* for a paper, $3.00 a week.
INTERVIEWER: What paper?
LOLA: It was *unintelligible conversation* it was called *unintelligible conversation*,
INTERVIEWER: In Snow Hill?
LOLA: $3.00 a week *unintelligible*
INTERVIEWER: How many people worked on the paper?
LOLA: There was only four or five then.
INTERVIEWER: Four or Five? Was it a weekly or daily paper?
LOLA: Weekly.
INTERVIEWER: How many pages was it?
LOLA: I forgot already eight or nine.
INTERVIEWER: What did you do for recreation?
LOLA: Nothing hardly, work, work, work.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go to Public Landing?
LOLA: Yes, not swimming *unintelligible*
INTERVIEWER: Did you crab?
LOLA: Yeah I crabbed.
INTERVIEWER: What was Public Landing like?
LOLA: It was nice then.
INTERVIEWER: It had a lot of stores and stuff?
LOLA: It had some, it had some stores.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go to dances or to the movies?
LOLA: I went to the movies but I didn’t go to no dances.
INTERVIEWER: What was the movie called?
LOLA: I couldn’t tell you it’s been so long.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of churches did they have around here?
LOLA: You mean when? A long time ago?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah like when you were young.
LOLA: *unintelligible* Methodist Church. They are a long way from here.
INTERVIEWER: Who was your minister then? Do you remember him?
LOLA: *unintelligible* I don’t remember him personal.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of transportation did you have? Do you remember horses and buggies?
LOLA: Yeah I remember them. I never had them but I remember them.
INTERVIEWER: What were the roads like?
LOLA: What like?
INTERVIEWER: The roads? Were they dirt?
LOLA: Yeah.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember when they first paved the roads?
LOLA: No, I don’t remember that.
INTERVIEWER: What was your first car like?
LOLA: My first car? It was an Oldsmobile *unintelligible*
INTERVIEWER: You mean it didn’t run?
LOLA: No.
INTERVIEWER: What was the town like? What kind of businesses did they have there?
LOLA: Snow Hill you mean?
INTERVIEWER: Yes, how is it different than it is now?
LOLA: We go to the stores in Berlin now.
INTERVIEWER: That’s right. How about then? What kind of stores? Do you remember?
LOLA: Not at the moment, no.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any elections they had around here? Or what they’ve had to date?
LOLA: No I don’t think I remember any of that .
INTERVIEWER: What kinds of crafts and customs did they have? Did you have any *unintelligible* or weaving or anything like that?
LOLA: No.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever make molasses?
LOLA: No.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever have to do a lot canning and *unintelligible*?
LOLA: Canning? When I was young.
INTERVIEWER: When you were young, did you help your mother with canning?
LOLA: Yeah I did.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any executions or lynchings?
LOLA: Do you mean people who didn’t do the right thing?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
LOLA: Yes, l remember one I was walking home *unintelligible conversation* in plain sight.
INTERVIEWER: What was he? Who was the man?
LOLA: I don’t remember his name? *unintelligible* Do you remember that?
INTERVIEWER: No.
LOLA: *unintelligible conversation*
INTERVIEWER: Where was it?
LOLA: *unintelligible conversation* I forgot his name.
INTERVIEWER: How long was this?
LOLA: A long time.
INTERVIEWER: When you were young?
LOLA: Yes, 50 years ago.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember prohibition?
INTERVIEWER: Prohibition, when they said alcoholic beverages were illegal.
LOLA: I never knew it.
INTERVIEWER: What about the Great Depression?
LOLA: I remember that.
INTERVIEWER: What was that like?
LOLA: There wasn’t hardly enough to eat at that time, but I had a job $3.00 a week so I ate pretty good.
INTERVIEWER: So when you got paid $3:00 a week wages, how much was a loaf of bread?
LOLA: *unintelligible conversation*
INTERVIEWER: If you paid for anything, eggs, meats.
LOLA: No, I don’t remember all that .
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any folktales, legends, or superstitions?
(Someone walks into the interview.)
LOLA: Hi sweetheart.
INTERVIEWER: We were just doing an interview for early Snow Hill. From the library sponsoring Snow Hill history, the history of Snow Hill. We are interviewing some of the elderly residents in Snow Hill that lived that period of time. *unintelligible* a Mr. Hudson.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any folktales or legends about this area?
LOLA: What did you say ?
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember any legends or folktales about this area? Any legends that happened any old things that happened folktales that happened?
LOLA: I don’t think I know any of those.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the fire they had in Snow Hill? When it burned down? The court house?
LOLA: I don’t remember that.
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember the steamboats?
LOLA: I remember them.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go on one?
LOLA: No, I don’t like water. I don’t like it.
INTERVIEWER: How about Farmer’s Day? Do you remember that?
LOLA: A little bit.
INTERVIEWER: What was that like?
LOLA: Well, you had everything to eat, homemade chicken, deviled eggs. Did you ever go ?
INTERVIEWER: No, did everyone take something?
LOLA: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: And put it together?
LOLA: No, I had my favorite meal with me.
INTERVIEWER: Did they play games?
LOLA: No, we didn’t do that.
INTERVIEWER: It was more or less for eating?
LOLA: Eating *unintelligible* and bathing.
INTERVIEWER: How about the Pocomoke Fairgrounds?
LOLA: I never did go.
INTERVIEWER: What was Ocean City like a long time ago? Did you ever go there?
LOLA: Yes, It was quite nice. I like Ocean City.
INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go swimming in the ocean?
LOLA: No, I never liked swimming.
INTERVIEWER: How about doctors? What were the doctors like? Did they make house calls?
LOLA: Yes, not much, yeah, especially my doctor.
INTERVIEWER: How about dentists? Do you remember any dentists?
LOLA: No.
INTERVIEWER: What were the funerals like around here? Were they like they are now?
LOLA: As far as I know.
INTERVIEWER: That’s all the questions I have to ask you. Is there anything you would like to add?
LOLA: No, I think you asked a fair enough.
End of Interview