Interview with Marie Morton McCoy, May 19, 1992

Partial Transcript: This is David Rotenizer with the University of Kentucky Family Farm Oral History Project.

Segment Synopsis: McCoy gives an overview of her life thus far. Details include the names of her relatives, their occupations, when the interviewee was married, and her children.

Keywords: Aunts; Cane Creek (Ky.); Farms; Grandparents; Grocery stores; Parents; Uncles

Subjects: Children; Families.; Life; Marriage; Work

Partial Transcript: The second house you lived in as a child, the, uh, the one on Uncle Morton's farm, how, how, how are your memories with that farm? With that house?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the floor plan of the house she lived in as a child.

Keywords: Houses in Kentucky

Subjects: Architecture; Childhood; Farmhouses

Partial Transcript: Now where was the chicken house?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the chicken house. She also talks about how her family used the chickens, which was mostly for their eggs. They sold the eggs to get groceries for the household.

Keywords: Chicken coops; Chicken houses; Eggs

Subjects: Chicken--Housing; Farmhouses

Partial Transcript: Uh, were there any trees in the yard, that you remember?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the trees around the yard and outside the fence. She talks about the topography of the area. She also describes the garden, what they grew, and who worked in it. Her mother took care of the chickens.

Keywords: Ceder trees; Gardens; Kitchen gardens

Subjects: Kitchen gardens

Partial Transcript: And, uh, was there a smokehouse?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about the smokehouse and well. She describes the well, who dug it, and how they got water. She also talks about the cellar in the house.

Keywords: Cellars; Smokehouses; Wells

Subjects: Wells

Partial Transcript: Uh, where did your mother do the washing?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes where and how her mother did the laundry. She also talks about the hogs the family had.

Keywords: Lard; Making soaps; Washing clothes

Subjects: Laundry; Pigs

Partial Transcript: About how many milk cows did you have?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about how she was involved in milking the cows. Her younger sister never got to learn the skill. She also talks about the different kinds of fences used on the property, such as those around the chicken house and the barn.

Keywords: Children in farms; Cows; Farm skills; Fences; Milking

Subjects: Dairy cattle; Milking

Partial Transcript: And, uh, you mentioned with the, with the cattle up on the, on the mountainside there was fields up there?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the fields on the hill. They grew corn and tobacco there. This was her uncle's land, so her father was a sharecropper. She also talks about the location of the corn crib.

Keywords: Corn cribs; Corn fields; Tobacco fields

Subjects: Corncribs; Sharecropping

Partial Transcript: Probably my dad built all the buildings except the house.

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about the family that lived in the house before her family did. She also talks about different parts of the house and its construction. It was made of log with mud between the logs. The chairs in the house were made by her father. She talks about the firewood and who gathered it.

Keywords: Chores; Farmhouse architecture; Farmhouse construction; Firewood

Subjects: Architecture; Family farms; House construction

Partial Transcript: Um, you had mules?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about the mules they had and their names.

Keywords: Names

Subjects: Mules

Partial Transcript: Uh, was the yard swept?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy remembers sweeping the yard, cutting the grass in the yard with a push-mower, and having a picket fence to keep the chickens out of the yard. She also talks about having a pet dog that helped her father in hunting squirrels.

Keywords: House yards; Lawn mowing; Pets; Squirrel dogs

Subjects: Dogs; Farmhouses

Partial Transcript: Do you recall if the house had flowers around it?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes flowers around the house. There were daffodils along the fence and the front of the house. They also had dahlias. She also talks about what they did with waste that burned and did not burn.

Keywords: Flowers; Trash management; Waste management

Subjects: Flowers; Refuse and refuse disposal; Waste disposal; Waste products

Partial Transcript: You recall with, with the garden if, uh, if you'll holed?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about storing potatoes in holes in the ground. She also describes fruit trees around her house.

Keywords: "Holing"; Storing potatoes; Underground storage

Subjects: Farmhouses; Food--Preservation

Partial Transcript: Okay, uh, how about a clothesline?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the location of the clothesline. She talks about how her mother did the washing. Her mother also made clothes for the daughters in the house. She also remembers the kinds of herbs they used and how they were grown.

Keywords: Laundry; Medicinal herbs

Subjects: Clotheslines; Herbs

Partial Transcript: Uh, besides your uncle and your aunt, were their any other, uh, relatives that, that lived nearby when you lived in this house?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about the neighbors and their families. She also talks about the midwife who helped her mother and the doctor who came for deliveries.

Keywords: Childbirth; Delivery in farmhouses; Neighbors

Subjects: Farmhouses; Midwifery; Midwives

Partial Transcript: Um, any, any other things you can think of about this farm that kind of helps make it complete in terms of the main activity areas and, and structures and all?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about feeding hogs. Mostly the men in the house did that job. She also talks about rainwater and how her mother collected it in barrels.

Keywords: Driveways; Hog lots; Rainwater; Rainwater barrels

Subjects: Farmhouses

Partial Transcript: And how about bees? Did they have bees?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks about bee hives her father had, the hominy her mother made, and how the children in the house fished with their grandmother.

Keywords: Bee farming; Beehives; Bees; Fishing; Hominy; Making hominy

Subjects: Farmhouses

Partial Transcript: I'm just trying to get maybe, um--any idea what a--do you remember what a, what a typical breakfast may have been like? Did you all have breakfast?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the typical breakfast during her childhood: ham, eggs, biscuits, gravy, and oats. She talks about typical lunches which consisted of pinto beans, potatoes, meat, and vegetables from the garden during summer time. For dinner they ate left-overs from lunch. She also talks about how her mother did canning and tries to remember the cooking utensils they had.

Keywords: Breakfasts; Cooking utensils; Cookware; Lunches

Subjects: Canning and preserving; Farmhouses; Food habits

Partial Transcript: Oh, um, with the, with the outhouse what did, what did you use for toilet paper? Do you remember that?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the outhouse they had and how it was constructed.

Keywords: Lime; Outbuildings; Outhouse construction; Outhouses; Toilets

Subjects: Farmhouses; Refuse and refuse disposal; Waste disposal

Partial Transcript: And when you were living here, I guess well I, the whole time you were living here, uh, where, di, where did you go to school?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy assesses the importance of education in her family, and the levels of educational achievement of both her parents and grandparents. The interviewee's experiences with high school are recalled. McCoy's brief career as a teacher on Cane Creek before marrying is examined. Aspects such as the grades that she taught, her monthly salary, and the children are highlighted.

Keywords: Boarding; Cane Creek (Ky.); Games; Grandparents; Parents; Schools; Stanton High School; Stoves

Subjects: Children; Education; Marriage; Teaching

Partial Transcript: How about, um, uh, a church?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy talks of her religious beliefs that are rooted in Christianity. She gives a comparison of the church she has always attended when it was first established and the way it is currently. Additionally, how McCoy met her husband is discussed along with her married life in general. The homes that McCoy and her husband have lived in together are also mentioned. Next, McCoy describes her teaching career at a head start school, and a middle school, which are both within the Powell County School System.

Keywords: Apartments; Brothers; Cane Creek Church; Donations; Eastern Kentucky University; Head Start; Homes; Husbands; Middle school; Ohio

Subjects: Christianity; Comparisons; Education; Marriage; Religion; Work

Partial Transcript: Uh, if we can real quick, I don't think it'll be as much detail...

Segment Synopsis: McCoy details the floor plan of the home she lived in for three years and that currently belongs to her mother. All outbuildings are listed, as well as the livestock and plants present on the farm. Then, a brief interlude regarding the gas companies in the Cane Creek area and the source of the oil wells is discussed. Lastly, furniture making is considered.

Keywords: Burn piles; Chestnut trees; Coal stoves; Corn cribs; Fence; Fields; Gas wells; Owners; Railings; Smokehouses; Stairs

Subjects: Architecture; Chickens; Electricity; Fruit trees; Furniture; Gas companies; Heating; Kerosene; Mothers; Mules

Partial Transcript: Now you mentioned earlier that before with the store when you were living in this earlier house...

Segment Synopsis: McCoy recounts former grocery stores in the Cane Creek area, including one that her grandfather operated in nearby Bowen, Kentucky. Both the preceeding and succeeding owners of the store are mentioned. The popularity of the soft drink Ale-8-One in the vicinity is also speculated upon.

Keywords: Ale-8-One; Bowen (Ky.); Builders; Cane Creek (Ky.); Grandfathers; Stores; Winchester (Ky.)

Subjects: Business; Commerce; Groceries

Partial Transcript: Okay, then when you, you built the house up here--I've b, I've been up to the, uh--

Segment Synopsis: McCoy presents an overview of the home that she and her husband built. A detailed floor plan is given, as well as a listing of the various outbuildings on the property. An interlude concerning wells in the area and the problems associated with them is also articulated. Next, McCoy talks of the methods in which she heated the home and maintained the outhouse.

Keywords: Branches; Clotheslines; Coal heat; Neighbors; Outhouses; Privies; Problems; Smokehouses; Toilets; Wells

Subjects: Architecture; Lime; Refuse and refuse disposal; Rooms; Waste disposal; Water; Wood

Partial Transcript: Okay, you mentioned one house, the one that had, had, had, had, burned down?

Segment Synopsis: McCoy describes the home that she lived in before she moved into a custom built property in a different location on Cane Creek. A floor plan is given, as well as a description of the architectural details of the home. The current owners of the property are also mentioned.

Keywords: Cane Creek (Ky.); Fireplaces; Outhouses; Owners; Powell County (Ky.); Stoves

Subjects: Architecture; Fire; Rooms; Stone; Wood