Interview with Roe Davidson, July 20, 1978

Partial Transcript: This is an interview with Mr. Roe Davidson for the oral history project Frontier Nursing Service by Dale Deaton at Davidson Fork, Kentucky at approximately 2:30pm on July 20th, 1978.

Segment Synopsis: Roe Davidson tells several folktales passed on to him by his father, many of which give insight into race relations of the time.

Keywords: "Mares eggs"; Cheese; Children; Death; Fighting; Ghost stories; Horses; Irishmen; Jokes; Shooting; Spanish American War; Stories; Wars

Subjects: Cherokee Indians.; Ethnic folklore.; Folklore.; Irish Americans--Folklore.; Race relations--Kentucky; Storytelling.

Partial Transcript: Did your father tell most of those stories when people were around to visit, or?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about the distance between neighbors, and traveling via the creek. He talks about traveling on horseback and walking, and the first car in the area. He talks briefly about his ancestors.

Keywords: Ancestors; Cars; Creeks; Dirt roads; Fathers; Horseback; Hyden (Ky.); Log houses; Neighbors; Storytelling; Traveling; Visitors; Walking

Subjects: Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Horses--Transportation; Roads--Kentucky; Rural conditions; Transportation--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: But I remember back then at that time it was hard labor.

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about raising hogs for food, and how each family would brand their hogs and let them roam around the woods. He describes the process of making molasses from sugar cane. He talks about the mill where they would take their corn, which once exploded.

Keywords: "Tough Jack"; Accidents; Branding; Candy; Corn; Creeks; Gasoline; Hogs; Meat; Mills; Molasses; Raising animals; Selling; Sleds; Stealing; Steam engines; Sugar cane; Timber

Subjects: Farm life--Appalachian Region; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: What else did you use those oxen for?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about logging, and transporting logs using oxen and rafts on the creek. He talks about the prices that were paid for the timber.

Keywords: Costs; Creeks; Hauling; Logs; Lumber; Middle Fork (Ky.); Oxen; Rafts; Timber; Trees

Subjects: Logging--Kentucky; Lumber trade.; Occupations.; Timber--Rafting

Partial Transcript: Well do you recall the things that you had to buy from the store in that period?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about the supplies his family would buy from the store, and begins to describe a typical day. He talks about attending school, his teachers, and some of the books and poems he remembers. He talks about returning to school as an adult through the Happy Pappy Program.

Keywords: Bob Sizemore; Books; Buying; Dinner; Flour; Food; Grease; Grover Sizemore; Happy Pappy Program; Jobs; Poetry; Reading; Schoolhouses; Sherman Begley; Stores; Typical day; Working; Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Subjects: Country life; Education--Kentucky; Food habits; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Well you made your living most of your life as a farmer?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about the various jobs he worked at the local coal mines, including loading coal cars. He talks about how much he was paid and why the workers in Leslie County did not ever join a union.

Keywords: Farmers; Job positions; Liberty Coal Company; Loading coal; Logging

Subjects: Coal miners--Kentucky--Leslie County; Coal miners--Labor unions--Kentucky; Coal mines and mining--Kentucky--Leslie County; Occupations.; Wages--Coal miners

Partial Transcript: Well when did most of the people that live there now--this ho--this Davidson Fork now is about full of houses.

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about how long his family has lived on Davidson Fork. He talks about the Frontier Nursing Service nurses traveling through the area on horseback, and talks about the midwives who assisted with childbirth prior to the creation of the FNS. He talks about herbal remedies used before the inception of the FNS and the types of medical treatment the FNS has provided.



[An interruption in taping occurs during this segment. A brief portion of the segment is repeated.]

Keywords: "Granny women"; Betty Lester; Changes; Clinic days; Clinics; Davidson Fork (Ky.); Doctors; Generations; Hailey Sizemore; Herbs; Horseback; Hospitals; Nurses; Rural medicine; Shootings; Traditional medicine; Treatment; Worms

Subjects: Childbirth; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Maternal health services.; Medical care--Kentucky; Medicine, Rural; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Rural children; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Well were there churches in here when you were a young boy?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about churches in the area and talks about the beliefs of various religions, focusing mainly on the Holiness Church and snake handling.



[An interruption in taping occurs during this segment.]

Keywords: Baptist Church; Church services; Preachers; Presbyterian Church; Religious beliefs; Schoolhouses; Snake bites; Snake handlers; Snake handling; Thousandsticks Schoolhouse

Subjects: Churches--Kentucky; Rural churches; Snake cults (Holiness churches)

Partial Transcript: Do you ever remember meeting Mary Breckinridge?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about how the FNS has changed since its creation, and talks more about the herbal remedies used before the FNS. He talks about what people did for fun, including square dances and attending church to socialize.

Keywords: "Herb doctors"; Betty Lester; Changes; Church; Doctors; Electricity; Entertainment; Hospitals; Improvements; Mary Breckinridge; Nurses; Socializing; Square dances; Technology; Telephone; Television.; Wendover (Ky.)

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Kentucky; Medicine, Rural; Rural conditions; Rural health services; Rural health--Kentucky; Traditional medicine

Partial Transcript: Well do you have one more good story that your father used to tell you?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson tells a story and a riddle passed on to him by his father.



[An interruption in taping occurs during this segment.]

Keywords: "Love"; Dogs; Fathers; Fights; Hornets; Irishmen; Riddles; Stories

Subjects: Ethnic folklore.; Folklore.; Irish Americans--Folklore.; Race relations--Kentucky; Storytelling.

Partial Transcript: Well the Court Days that they had in Hyden, did you go to those?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about law enforcement in the area and how they handled crimes like illegal distilling. He describes the process of making moonshine and talks about the prices it would be sold for.

Keywords: Barrels; Bootlegging; Corn whiskey; Cost; Court Days; Crimes; Federal court; Hyden (Ky.); Income; Judges; Law enforcement; Malt corn; Money; Moonshine; Punishment; Selling; Sheriffs; Stills

Subjects: Alcohol--Law and legislation--Kentucky; Distillation; Distilling, illicit

Partial Transcript: Well the businesses that were in Hyden when you were a young man, say 1930 up to 1940, do you remember what they were?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about how Leslie County was affected by the Great Depression, stating that there were not many jobs even prior to the Depression and that food was rationed. He talks about making lye soap and washing clothes.

Keywords: Barbershops; Bootleggers; Businesses; Grocery stores; Jobs; Lye soap; Money; Ration books; Rationing; Sugar; Washing; Work

Subjects: Country life; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Hyden (Ky.); Leslie County (Ky.); Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Well in the winter time, did you know of any--very many people in here raising beefs and killing them or did most people have hogs for meat?

Segment Synopsis: Davidson talks about methods of preserving meat, apples, and beans. He talks about growing food and how farming has changed. The interview concludes abruptly.

Keywords: Beans; Fertilizer; Growing food; Hogs; Meat; Smokehouses; Sulfur apples; Winters

Subjects: Country life; Farm life--Appalachian Region; Food habits; Food--Preservation--Appalachian Region; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming--Kentucky