Interview with Jolene Power, August 11, 1979

Partial Transcript: This is an interview with Jolene Powers for the Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project by Sadie W. Stidham...

Segment Synopsis: An introduction to the interview with Jolene Power. She discusses her birthplace and family, along with the history of her family.

Keywords: Ancestors; Burnings; Cherokee; Family; Frontier Nursing Service; Hoskinston (Ky.); Hyden Hospital (Hyden, Ky.); Morgan family; North Carolina; Parents; Saltwell (Ky.); Saltwell community; Stories; Tobacco barns

Subjects: Cherokee Indians.; Families.; Family histories.; Family history.; Genealogy--Appalachian Region; Hyden (Ky.); Kentucky; Leslie County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Where'd you go to school?

Segment Synopsis: Power describes what her school life included. She mentions where it was and how she got there. She also talks about the levels of the school, who her teachers were, and what they did in class. She mentions graduation, along with school events.

Keywords: Basement classrooms; Basketball; Classmates; Creeks; Dormitories; Games; Graduation; Hoskinston (Ky.); Library; Missionaries; Post offices; Primary grades; Primary schools; Record players; Records; Saltwell Community (Leslie Co., Ky.); Schoolhouses; Schools; Settlement schools; Stinnett Settlement School; Storytelling; Tag (game); Teachers

Subjects: Books.; Childhood; Country life; Education; Letcher County (Ky.); Rural children; Rural conditions; Rural schools--Kentucky; Teachers

Partial Transcript: Uh, do you know how the community got, uh, its name? How Saltwell got the name?

Segment Synopsis: Power talks about how the Saltwell community acquired its name and what stores and shops were nearby. She also mentions the mills that are located in the community. Power talks about what chores she did growing up, what she did to help her mom, and mentions some of the activities the school held and what the churches held as well. Power talks about the workings at the school, what the men and women’s roles were, and the songs she remembered hearing growing up.

Keywords: "Workings"; Ballads; Banjos; Berea (Ky.); Blacksmiths; Businesses; Canning; Caskets; Christmas; Cleaning; Coal; Coffins; Communities; Cooking; Creeks; Dances; Dishes; Fathers; Fences; Fiddles; Fundraisers; Gardening; Graduation; Grandfathers; Guitars; Harlan (Ky.); Hoskinston (Ky.); Hyden (Ky.); Instruments; Irish; Ironing; Lumber; Maypoles; Mothers; Mountains; Movies; Music; Pageants; Pineville (Ky.); Plays; Salt licks; Saltwell (Ky.); Sawmills; Schoolyards; Seamstresses; Songs; Stores; Suppers; Thanksgiving; Theaters; Undertakers; Wells; Wood; Yardwork

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Chores.; Country life; Rural children; Rural churches; Rural conditions; Sawmills.; Schools.; Songs.; Work.

Partial Transcript: Uh, is there any wedding that you remember that was outstanding?

Segment Synopsis: Power mentions how she doesn’t recall any weddings and how several people would run off and get married. She mentions what churches were close by, what events they sponsored, and names the ministers she knew of and if they were trained or not. She also talks about foot washing and baptism. She mentions what graveyard meetings were and where they were held.

Keywords: Appalachia; Appalachian region; Baptisms; Baptizing; Blood drawn; Church of Christ; Church of God; Church services; Decorate; Graveyards; Harden College (Arkansas); Marriage; Memorial Day; Ministers; Missionaries; Mother's Day; Mountains; Preachers; Religion; Ribbons; Rivers; Teachers; Theological; Training; Weiner roasts

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Churches--Kentucky; Country life; Memorial Day.; Rural children; Rural churches; Rural conditions; Wedding

Partial Transcript: Um, can you remember, uh, before the roads, the highways was built from Hyden to, uh, to Harlan through there?

Segment Synopsis: Power talks about what she remembers from before the roads were built. She talks about when her family first got electricity and where they were at that time. She also mentions how her father always had a radio and that most people had a car.

Keywords: "Juice"; "Juicing"; Airplanes; Blacktop; Cars; Electricity; Girls; Harlan (Ky.); Highways; Honor students; Hyden (Ky.); Living conditions; Radios; Roads; Schools; Tar

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Country life; Electricity.; Roads.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Rural electrification; Schools.; Technological innovations

Partial Transcript: Uh, what about, uh, the old customs of your community?

Segment Synopsis: Power talks about how they made soap and gives a detailed process. She also talks about picking chickens and cow hunting and when they did it. Power talks about what food they had during the winter and mentions that she and her family killed their own hogs. She also explains how the hog killing process works and what they do with the meat afterwards.

Keywords: Barns; Beans; Canning; Chickens; Corn; Cow hunting; Creeks; Customs; Evenings; Family; Fireplaces; Gardening; Hog killings; Hog slaughter; Hogs; Mountains; Onions; Potatoes; Preservation; Rocks; Soap making; Washtubs; Winters

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Canning and preserving; Childhood; Country life; Families.; Food habits--Appalachian Region, Southern; Food--Preservation--Appalachian Region; Food.; Hunting.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Soap.

Partial Transcript: What about the politics? What do you--do you remember any s--about--anything about the speakings, or?

Segment Synopsis: Power provides a general synopsis of political debates and discussions in the Saltwell area. One example she gives is the "speakings" would include "mud slinging" where candidates talked badly about the other in order to try to win points. Women were generally not involved in politics. She also gives a list of previously elected officials in the community.

Keywords: Banjos; Candidates; Communities; County clerks; Elected; Elected officials; Jailers; Manchester (Ky.); Men; Mud slingin’; Mudslinging; Running for office; Sheriffs; Speakings; Speeches; Wagons

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Country life; Elections.; Hyden (Ky.); Kentucky--Politics and government; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Alright, now, um past events that took place in Leslie County. What about, uh, floods, logging, and rafting?

Segment Synopsis: Power talks about what she heard about log rafting from other stories from family members. She also explains what logging is and what part her family participated in. She mentions when her house got flooded due to a horrid rainstorm. She barely remembers food rations from World War II, but does remember her mother using sugar stamps when they went to the store.

Keywords: 1947; Businesses; Crawling; Creeks; Destroyed; Families; Family; Floods; Grandfathers; Home; Houses; Logs; Lumber yards; Markets; Men; Mountains; Mudslides; Raft trips; Rafting; Rain; Rainstorms; Rivers; Sawmills; Stinnett School; Sugar stamps; Uncles; WWII; Wood; World War II

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Country life; Employment--Kentucky; Families.; Floods.; Food; Logging; Logging.; Lumber trade.; Occupations.; Rural conditions; Timber--Rafting; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: Um, what, what medical service, uh, did you have before Frontier Nursing Service in that community?

Segment Synopsis: Power talks about the medical standard people lived by and mentions the place she had to take her sister when she had a sore throat. She also mentions what she knew about the Frontier Nursing Service and how the closest location was not close to her. She also mentions the name of her mother's doctor.

Keywords: Appalachia; Beech Fork Center; Clinics; Diseases; Doctors; Drug stores; Education; Female doctors; Hospitals; Hyden Hospital; Immunizations; Kentucky; Mary Breckinridge; Medical attention; Medical services; Medicine; Middle Fork River; Mothers; Outpost centers; Rivers; Schools; Scotland; Shots; Sisters; Thrush

Subjects: Country life; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Health facilities; Hyden (Ky.); Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medicine, Rural; Nurses.; Physicians--Kentucky; Rural conditions; Rural health services; Rural health--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Um, why did your family leave Leslie County?

Segment Synopsis: Power discusses why her family left Leslie County and explains her wishes and thoughts on the county as a whole now that she is an outsider of the community. She talks about the lack of industry in the region.

Keywords: 1950s; Better education; Businesses; Coal mines; Crafts; Economies; Future; High schools; Industries; Industry; Kentucky; Mountain crafts; Moving out; Ohio; Potential; Railroads; Relocating; Resources; Roads

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Economic conditions; Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Country life; Economy & environment; Education; Employment--Kentucky; Leslie County (Ky.); Occupations.; Rural conditions; Work.