Interview with Mary Lewis Biggerstaff, February 12, 1979

Partial Transcript: This is an interview with Mrs. Mary Lewis Biggerstaff for the Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project by Dale Deaton at approximately 11AM on February 12th, 1979 at Berea, Kentucky.

Segment Synopsis: Mary Lewis Biggerstaff is introduced. She talks about her father's background, including his birth during the Civil War, his family's protection from the marauding armies, and his education at Union College and the University of Louisville. She talks about the genealogy of her family back to Robert Macintosh who came to North Carolina as a pioneer.

Keywords: "Mountains"; Baker family; Combs family; Confederates; Fathers; Judge Lou Lewis; Judges; Lawyers; Lumber industry; Parents; Pioneers; Robert Macintosh; Teaching; Union Army; Union College; University of Louisville Law School

Subjects: Education, Higher--Kentucky; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Hyden (Ky.); Leslie County (Ky.); Perry County (Ky.); Timber--Rafting; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

Partial Transcript: But, uh, he, he told father, he said, uh, "You are all Pres--you're all, uh, primitive Baptists now because that is the only church here."

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about her family's involvement in the establishment of the Presbyterian church in Hyden, which also contained a school, Hyden Academy. She talks about some of the teachers at the school and how the facility was built.

Keywords: Donald McDonald; Dormitories; Fundraising; Hyden Academy; Land; Lila Byers; Public schools; Teachers

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Religion; Education--Kentucky; Hyden (Ky.); Presbyterian Church--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Were you familiar with a, uh, a Dr. McKee who came there?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about some of the people who have come into Leslie County and how they have adjusted to rural life. She mentions a female doctor as well as Mary Breckinridge, and women who have married men native to Leslie County.

Keywords: Acceptance; Childbirth; Dr. Mildred McKee; Horses; Injuries; Mary Breckinridge; Outsiders; Personality; Rural life; Will Byers; Wives

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Country life; Leslie County (Ky.); Regionalism--Appalachian Region

Partial Transcript: Were, were you still living in Leslie County when, when Mrs. Breckinridge came there?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about Mary Breckinridge first coming to Leslie County to conduct a survey before beginning the Frontier Nursing Service. She talks about the first meeting Breckinridge organized, which Biggerstaff's father attended. She talks about how Mary Breckinridge's father, Clifton Rodes Breckinridge, assisted her; Mary Breckinridge's personality; and her acceptance by the local people. She describes her childhood home.

Keywords: Acceptance; Childbirth; Childhood home; Clifton Rodes Breckinridge; Decisive; Dr. Alexander; Fires; Houses; Hyden Academy; Introductions; Judge Lou Lewis; Mary Breckinridge Hospital; Meetings; Mothers; Outsiders; Personality; Sewing clubs; Stone; Surveys

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Health facilities.; Leslie County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well now, now y, your father's title as judge, what was his official title?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff's father was Circuit Judge Lou Lewis. She talks about some of the cases he worked, including many cases when the L & N Railroad came into the area. She talks about African Americans in the area, including slaves and former slaves, which families they once belonged to, and where they lived. She talks about Mary Breckinridge choosing the location for her hospital.

Keywords: African American population; African American schools; Appalachian Hospital; Asher's Branch (Ky.); Black schools; Circuit judges; Civil War; Coal; Combs family; Dr. Brett Combs; Former slaves; Hyden (Ky.); Judge Lou Lewis; L and N Railroad; Land; Lewis family; Mary Breckinridge Hospital; Mountains; Nicknames; Perry County (Ky.); Royalties; Salyers family; Sizemore family; Stable Rock; Teachers; Transportation; Walker family

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Education.; African Americans--Genealogy.; African Americans--Social conditions.; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Health facilities.; Judges--Kentucky; Leslie County (Ky.); Race relations--Kentucky; Railroads; Slavery--United States.

Partial Transcript: Well, growing up right there in Hyden could you describe Hyden for me? Tell me what it looked like when you were a little girl.

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff describes Hyden as it was during her childhood and discusses how it has changed over time. She talks more about the churches in the area, and more about the genealogy of local families.

Keywords: Baptisms; Baptist church; Changes; Friendliness; Lawyers; Mitch Begley; Preacher Petrey

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Hyden (Ky.); Religion

Partial Transcript: Well now Leslie County has always been predominantly Republican.

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff discusses her father's political views, as well as her other family members. She talks more about the genealogy of her family.

Keywords: Circuit judges; Democratic Party; James Lewis; Lawyers; Lewis family; Marriages; Nicknames; Political philosophy; Rebel Jim Lewis; Republicans

Subjects: Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Leslie County (Ky.); Leslie County (Ky.)--Politics and government

Partial Transcript: But you, you were going to, to talk about the hotel?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about the Lewis Hotel which was operated by a member of her family, Drucilla Lewis (also called "Aunt Cilla"). She describes the operation of the hotel, and talks about other hotels in the area. She talks about traveling salesmen, lawyers, and dentists coming to town.

Keywords: "Drummers"; Aunt Cilla; Blue Hotel; Court Days; Dentists; Dinner bells; Drucilla Lewis; Food; Lawyers; Lewis Hotel; Ritter Camp; Sample House; Traveling salesmen

Subjects: Boardinghouses; Hotels.; Hyden (Ky.); Medical care--Appalachian Region; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Speaking of doctors, the predecessors of the Frontier Nursing Service, uh, there was an old doctor, a native, there, Huff--

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about some of the "primitive doctors" that served the people of Leslie County prior to the advent of the Frontier Nursing Service. She talks about their training and remedies. She talks about her grandmother who also provided medical treatment to the local people.

Keywords: Childbirth; Deaths; Delivery; Doctors; Dr. Collins; Dr. Edward Ray; Dr. George Lawrence; Dr. Jingles; Dr. Joe Lawrence; Dr. John C. Huff; Dr. John Lewis; Drugstores; Dysentery; Home remedies; Horseback; Hyden (Ky.); Mabel Jingles; Medical training; Medicine; Midwifery; Peggy Lewis; Robert Ray; Tuberculosis (TB)

Subjects: Leslie County (Ky.); Maternal health services.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical education; Medicine, Rural; Physicians--Kentucky; Rural health services; Rural health--Kentucky; Traditional medicine

Partial Transcript: Uh, another thing, besi--as I say the Rays were upstanding aggressive people and, and Bob Ray's wife was an elegant lady.

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks more about outsiders coming to Leslie County, including missionaries and the Frontier Nursing Service nurses. She talks about why many of the missionaries may have married local men while most of the nurses did not.

Keywords: Attitudes; Condescension; Elam's Store; Eversole Store; Local people; Marriages; Mary Breckinridge; Oakland Hotel; Outsiders; Presbyterian Church; Provincialism; Wives; Women

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Country life; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Missionaries; Regionalism--Appalachian Region

Partial Transcript: I've, I've heard that she, she said on, on several occasions that she thought your father was the most--one of the most widely read people that she'd ever known.

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about the relationship between her parents and Mary Breckinridge, as well as the other FNS nurses. She talks about the relationship between the FNS and the missionaries in the area. She talks about some of the FNS doctors.

Keywords: "Wide Neighborhoods"; Ann McKinnon; Cooperation; Dr. Kooser; Dr. Stoddard; Ed O'Rear; Friendship; Guests; Houses; Judge Lou Lewis; Mary Breckinridge; Missionaries; Relationships; Visitors; Wooton (Ky.)

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Physicians--Kentucky; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Are you aware of the periods that, that Leslie County has, uh, w--has been wet and, and, and, uh, alcoholic beverages were sold in the county...

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about her father's stance on alcohol, and says that her mother often persuaded him to be lenient on people in his court who had been charged for illegal distilling. She talks briefly about the lumber industry in the area.

Keywords: Bootleggers; Circuit judges; Dry counties; Judge Lou Lewis; Leniency; Lewis Hotel; Lumber industry; Moonshine; Mothers; Prohibitionists; Rafts; Teachers; Wet counties; Wooton's Creek (Ky.)

Subjects: Alcohol--Law and legislation--Kentucky; Distillation; Distilling, illicit; Judges--Kentucky; Leslie County (Ky.); Liquor laws--United States; Lumber trade.; Timber--Rafting

Partial Transcript: Well what about the social life that people had in Leslie County?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about the social life, which she says mainly consisted of dances, quilting, and activities like corn-shuckings. She talks about when her family got electricity. She talks about the types of newspapers her family received, and talks about getting books via mail order.

Keywords: Bean-stringings; Berea (Ky.); Books; Corn-shuckings; Courier Journal newspaper; Dances; Electricity; Fires; Folk dancing; Hyden (Ky.); Hyden Academy; Lexington Leader newspaper; Mail order; Mountain ballads; Presbyterian Church; Quilting; Schools; Stir-offs; Thousandsticks News

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Church buildings--Kentucky.; Newspapers--Kentucky.; Rural conditions; Rural electrification

Partial Transcript: The banking system y--we haven't touched on.

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about the people who began the local bank in Hyden, and talks about the family's prosperity today.

Keywords: Banking systems; Business people; Local people; Maggard family; Property ownership; Sherman Eversole; Thomas L. Gabbard; Working

Subjects: Banks and banking--Kentucky; Business enterprises--Kentucky; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history

Partial Transcript: Well, now the descriptions of--that have been given of Leslie c, County area in, in "Wide Neighborhoods" and in the quarterly bulletin and so forth, are those accurate?

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks about the negative images that are often given of Leslie County. She talks about the Breckinridge family's attitudes regarding the local people. She talks about how Mary Breckinridge was affected by the loss of her children.

Keywords: "Hillbillies"; Attitudes; Breckinridge family; Clifton Rodes Breckinridge; Deaths; Descriptions; Exploitation; Hair; Influence; Judge Lou Lewis; Mary Breckinridge; Motivation; Mystics; Personality; Relationships; Sensationalism; Sister Adeline; Smoking; Society; Spirituality; Tragedies

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Children; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Leslie County (Ky.); Regionalism--Appalachian Region

Partial Transcript: I told her that I had this young historian here. She said, "What do you know about history?"

Segment Synopsis: Biggerstaff talks more about the genealogy of the local families. She talks about some of the feuds that have occurred in the area, including the Deaton-Callahan feud. She tells a story about meeting Beech Hargis, who was arrested for the murder of his father. She met Hargis on a train when he was out of jail on parole, and despite her reluctance, he became her escort to a dance. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Beech Hargis; Breathitt County (Ky.); Clifford Davidson; Deaton-Callahan Feud; Escorts; Feuds; Harlan County (Ky.); Jackson (Ky.); Lily Callahan; Murderers; Ned Callahan; Parole; Perry County (Ky.); Trains

Subjects: Criminals--Kentucky; Families.; Family histories.; Family--history; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Rural crimes--Kentucky