Interviewer
Right.
That's nice.
{NW}
Well have you ever in your lifetime have you ever
traveled around very much or have you stayed
Is that the state or the river?
So you were on a
{X}
for work or
Oh I see.
{X}
How many uh
have you ever
how many states would you say you've been in?
Or which states have you been in besides Alabama?
{X}
{X}
You've been in Florida?
Florida Mississippi and Alabama.
That's the only place.
I've never traveled
{X}
Have you ever been to any of the the bigger cities in
any of those states?
Uh-huh.
Oh really?
Oh I see.
Yes sir.
Beach
rice?
I've never heard of that what does that look like?
Uh-huh.
Huh.
Yes sir.
{NW}
Huh.
Really?
What kind of what kind of uh beans do you grow around here?
{D: Right.}
Did you ever just sit on the porch with a great big
uh pan of 'em and have to
those butter beans?
Yeah I like
front porches a lot of these newer houses don't have 'em.
{NW}
{NW}
You sure don't.
{NW}
{NW}
{NW}
What else do people around here grow in their gardens beside beans?
Had some pretty good ones did you?
Goodness gracious.
{NW}
When they get that big are they still good to eat?
{NW}
Is that what it'd take?
Oh.
So you grow beans and corn and pumpkins anything else?
That's not exactly the same as squash is it?
Do you ever grow squash?
Do you grow any other kind of melon besides mushmelon?
You don't have any watermelon?
A a water- watermelons and mushmelons yeah.
{NS}
Watermelons and mushmelons what we grow.
{NS}
Is the mushmelon the same thing as a cantaloupe?
{NS}
What about tomatoes you grow those?
{NS}
You ever seen any type of tomato growing around here the
{X}
Right.
I see.
I see.
{NS}
Oh.
I hadn't seen that one.
Do people grow these little red hard
hot tasting vegetables
uh
Peppers
You like to eat those?
{NW}
I see.
What about a radish?
Do they grow around here?
All those are different?
Is that right?
What about uh okra?
Of what?
Oh I see.
{X}
have any luck with uh leafy vegetables?
What are you able to grow?
What
about
Right.
Any cabbage?
Well you y'all just grow a lotta stuff don't you?
Oh.
What does that mean exactly?
You don't use fertilizer?
Yes sir.
Well if you u- you don't spray or anything like that?
Those ashes will keep 'em away?
Yes sir.
Yes sir.
Right.
I see.
Well where abouts uh was your father born? Was he
born up in that same area?
Quincy?
Is that a little community?
Is that close to Stockton?
Just a few miles away I guess?
Was uh were you born in Quincy or Stockton?
Beg your pardon?
I see.
What about your mother where was she from?
I see.
Was your mother a housewife?
She was a what?
{NS}
Oh is that right?
What does that mean?
Is a granny woman the same thing as a midwife?
I see.
Do you do you still find people like that now a days?
Do they still have midwives?
Uh-huh.
Right.
{NW}
Did people used to use different
kinds of roots or something for homemade medicine?
{X}
{NS}
Is sassafras good for anything?
Yes sir.
Is there something like that called mullein or
{X}
Yes sir.
Yeah.
They make poultices out of back then
Jesus did.
He made poultices
{X}
Oh I see.
You know that's interesting.
I don't guess that's done much anymore now
Did your parents get to go to school very much themselves?
Maybe about same as what you have
{X}
Did you know your grandparents?
Is that right?
Make you feel a little better?
{NW}
What kind of business was he in?
Used what?
And he put it in when did you say he put it in?
Alright.
I see.
Whereabouts was he born?
Baldwin County?
How about his wife did you know your grandmother?
Was she from Baldwin County too?
Quincy.
I guess well how many brothers and sisters did your father have?
Pretty big family.
I guess she was a housewife with all those children.
Well did you know your other grandparents?
{X}
God's way
What what did he go down there for?
{NW}
Had big families back then didn't they?
Do you know where he was born?
Conecuh
{X}
What did he do for his living?
He mostly worked uh uh on ditches.
Now the ditches I'm talking about
is ditches to uh broke logs down.
Oh.
Yes sir.
He was in the logging business?
Did you know his wife?
Your grandmother?
Was your grandmother on your mother's side from
Conecuh County too you suppose? Born there?
You said they had a big family too huh?
I guess she was a housewife too?
Did you ever hear your grandparents talk about
their schooling whether they were able to go very much?
Do you know if they could read and write okay or
Yes sir.
But you're not sure about the other one?
Yes sir.
Sure.
{NW}
Where you ever married Mr Richards?
Where was your wife born?
{NW}
{NS}
Did y'all go to the same church?
{NS}
{NS}
Was that uh uh
Mormon?
Oh. She was a Baptist?
I see.
How old was she when she passed away?
Oh. I'm sorry.
Do you have any idea how old she is?
Oh I see does that make her about
Yeah.
She's about sixty-seven now?
{X}
How much schooling did she have do you know?
Really?
What about the house that you grew up in Mr
{B}
can you tell me a little bit like about what it was like?
Oh really?
The kitchen was away from the house?
{X}
What were the what were the other rooms that you had?
With those corn shucks?
Grandma dust.
{NW}
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And she raked her floors and take her corn in a sack.
Put under her foot
and drag on that floor and dry it.
{X}
{NS}
After she did that
{NS}
{X}
it would smell good.
Old powder s-
{X}
and nice
{X}
it'd be nice and clean.
plus the
kitchen and dining rooms?
How long have you been in your house over there?
Has that always been there or did you build it?
Do- does that have uh is it
how many rooms does it have?
Got plenty of shade over there anyway.
{NW}
That's a mighty big tree.
I don't believe I've ever seen one
bent as much as that one right there.
It's really bent over.
I see.
In that house that you grew up in did y'all use a fireplace?
It was a what?
What is that?
So your father built that himself?
Yes sir.
Mm-hmm I see.
Right. That would be bad.
{NW}
{NW}
mm-hmm.
{NS}
Mm-hmm.
Could you tell me how you build a fire in the
in a fireplace?
Did you have a
a big piece of wood that burned a long time
that you put in the back of the fireplace?
Back log.
Was there something inside the fireplace that you put those backlogs on
Did you ever heard a people call those things firedogs or dog irons or
Back then did you have a place right over the
fireplace where you could put a
Yes sir.
{NW}
{NW}
Ah
{NW}
Got everything over
there except the plow stuff
It must have been pretty cluttered.
{NW}
{NW}
That's funny.
Was there an open place right in front of the fireplace maybe
uh bricked over or something?
Yes sir.
Was there an open area right in front of there called uh
what was that called? Uh
where you could sit in front of the fireplace I guess or
{NW}
{X}
Yeah.
{NS}
I see.
Was there a place
called the hearth or hearth or
Now after you burned a lot of wood in the fireplace
didn't you get a lot of this old
black stuff stick on the sides of the
Yes sir.
Is that right?
{NS}
Right at
Yeah.
Yeah.
Wow.
You just go right up the
Yes sir.
Is that uh talking about the
stovepipe is that the same thing as a flue?
Well does that make a flue the same thing as a chimney?
Yes sir.
I see.
Well years ago
if people had a
room in the house where they might have
company uh maybe they
keep it the best room in the house
what would they call that?
Is that comfort the same thing as a quilt?
I see.
Right.
That's pretty handy.
Right.
Did women used to get together and patch those quilts?
Is that right?
Still in demand?
Back then did people have this long
piece of furniture that several people could sit on at the same time?
Did they ever have you know like what they have
nowadays this long padded one
in the living room usually?
That several people could sit on?
{NW}
Right
Did back then did they have a
couch or sofa or something like that?
What's that?
Something you said that you had a
a place in your house where you kept all your junk?
Uh that's that's a
bench I got a
shelf built back there that I put my quilts and
what you have it on you know?
Got a little shelf a little shelf back there now
that I put all the quilts and things
{C: tapping sound}
What I can stack on it.
It's like everything else it just gets too much junk 'til you can't have
you have to move out
{NW}
Did you ever hear of people who has had a
whole room in their house where they put all their junk?
Just set aside a room
Ya reckon what they call that.
{NW}
Yes sir.
True you never can tell you might as well keep it I guess.
{NW}
Right.
Do you ever
do you ever know people who claim they saw these
things around graveyards you know they're afraid of 'em?
What do they call those things you know
Yes sir.
You ever hear people say that those things can get into a house you know and
the house'll be
Yes sir.
You don't believe in that do you?
{NW}
{NW}
{X}
Is uh Satan and the Devil the same thing?
No difference.
What do people usually call him either s- Satan or the Devil?
Yes sir.
{NW}
{C: silence}