Interview with Malvery Begley, July 17, 2001

Partial Transcript: --2001. I'm talking with Malvery Begley as part of the University of Kentucky's oral history project.

Segment Synopsis: Begley begins by describing her family's connections to Chandler's Branch in Leslie County, Kentucky and her family background.

Keywords: Ancestry; Barefoot; Bear Creek; Big Creek; Chandler's Branch, Leslie County (Ky.); Civil War; Democrats; Family connections; Family divisions; Hiding the horses; Jefferson Davis; Log cabins; Ploughing; Raiders during the war; Red Bird River; Redbird, Clay County (Ky.); Republicans; Revolutionary War

Subjects: Clay County (Ky.); Families.; Family histories.; Genealogy; Leslie County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Now the, uh, the place that you lived, what was the frontage road?

Segment Synopsis: Begley talks about the first farm where she was born and the place as it was when she was growing up. She describes the roads, creek, farming, and agriculture. Begley describes growing corn and hoeing it by hand and says the community would help each other with the corn hoeing.

Keywords: Beekeeping; Black gum trees; Bull Creek; Butchering hogs; Cattle; Cattle drives; Community place to shoe oxen; Danger of digging own coal; Geese; Hoeing corn without tractor; Hogs; Keeping meat cold by suspending meat above well; Log houses; Lower Farm; Mad dogs; Meat preservation; Mules; Neighbors helping with hoeing; No roads; Road construction; Root cellars; Sheep; Shoeing oxen; Summer kitchens; Upper Farm; Wells

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Families.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Food--Preservation; Land use, Rural.; Livestock.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: But our school when we lived on Chandler's Branch was about three miles away.

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes her time at school and walking three miles to school. Her father would sometimes come to get the children with his mules.

Keywords: Children had to swim; Flood; Schools; Swimming; Walked to school; Walking

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Education--Kentucky; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Do you remember about the, uh--I mean you were pretty small person when you were living in Chandler's Branch, but do you happen to remember the vegetable garden and what went into that root cellar?

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains what they grew in their vegetable garden and the things they kept in their root cellar. They also harvested greens from the mountains.

Keywords: Flour; Food preservation; Gathering greens from mountains; Potatoes; Sharing what you had with neighbors; Sugar; Turnips

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Families.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Food--Preservation; Land use, Rural.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: And, uh, I also remember, uh, when we had, uh--then you didn't have the--what they call the herd law.

Segment Synopsis: Begley tells a story of her Grandpap Napier's hogs bothering other people's crops, so Begley's father wired one of his hog's mouths shut to teach Grandpap a lesson. The hog nearly starved to death before he found it.

Keywords: Animals running loose; Capturing hogs; Difference in taste of wild hogs; Farmland fenced; Marking hogs; Wild hogs

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Families.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Another thing when we lived on this Chandler's Branch, um, you know the mountain people have a lot of feuds, but I can't--I don't think the Roberts' ever took part really in feuds.

Segment Synopsis: Begley discusses the community surrounding Chandler's Branch and a murder that occurred in her family one hundred years before this interview.

Keywords: Burying Jimmy Roberts; Cattle; Cows; Feuds; Hensley Cemetery; Jimmy Roberts; Murders; Shooting of Jimmy Roberts; Shootings

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Families.; Family histories.; Genealogy

Partial Transcript: Let me ask you one thing about your early remembrances of those forests.

Segment Synopsis: Begley tells a story about the woods before the big logging took place around the time of World War II.

Keywords: Cutting oak staves in the woods; Forest; Oak; Staves; Trees; WWII; Wood; World War II

Subjects: Country life; Land use, Rural.; Logging; Rural conditions; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: As I said, we--I don't think we ever took any part in feuds, but, uh, you know when they would have elections in the community sometimes they would have fights.

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains that her dad's first cousin, Willy Sizemore, was killed at an election and Willy's brother came to her dad and wanted to take revenge on Willy's killer by burning him with kerosene. However, it turned out that the other man died on the way to the hospital because Willy and this man had actually shot each other.

Keywords: Feuds; Fights; Killed at the election; Murders; Plan for revenge; Shootings; Willy Sizemore

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Country life; Elections; Kentucky--Politics and government; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: But then, um, my--when we were living on Chandler's Branch my grandparents lived in, uh, Clay County at Beech Creek...

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes going to visit her grandparents in Clay County with her father. They each rode a horse and they had to cross the Red Bird River when it was flooded. Her father told her to put her feet up and the horse would swim across. She was scared, but they made it across.

Keywords: Beech Creek; Floods; Red Bird River; Riding horse across flooded Red Bird River; Riding horses; Traveling

Subjects: Clay County (Ky.); Country life; Farm life.; Horses; Horses--Transportation; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: --is going to continue and I believe move to--uh, on to the next place that she lived and, and how the--and why the move was made.

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes moving onto her grandparents' farm in Clay County, Kentucky after her grandfather was killed in an automobile accident in 1935. She talks about playing in the woods. Begley got pneumonia and her father had to get a doctor from Manchester, Kentucky, but her family rarely used a doctor because they treated themselves with medicinal plants, moonshine, and honey.

Keywords: 1935; Ash trees; Automobile accidents; Beech Creek; Ginseng; Grandparents; Honey; Manchester (Ky.); May apples; Medicinal plants; Medicine from the forest; Moonshine; Moving; Playing in the woods; Pneumonia; Wood-burning stoves; Yellow root tea

Subjects: Childhood; Clay County (Ky.); Country life; Environmental protection--Kentucky; Environmentalism; Families.; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Rural health--Kentucky; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming; Traditional medicine

Partial Transcript: Do you remember there being big game in the forest at this time or was it mostly small game?

Segment Synopsis: Begley states that there was not any big game during that time in the forest, only small animals such as groundhogs, squirrels, and quail. The big game had been destroyed by then.

Keywords: Animals; Animals grazing; Big game; Controlled burns; Forest; Game; Groundhogs; Pea vine; Quail; Small game; Squirrels

Subjects: Country life; Environmental protection; Hunting; Land use, Rural.; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: What, um--do you remember comparing Leslie County to Clay County?

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes the same agriculture in Leslie County as in Clay County, but tobacco was grown on the farm in Clay County and not in Leslie County because there was more arable land in Clay County that was not so steep.

Keywords: Agriculture; Crops; Tobacco

Subjects: Clay County (Ky.); Country life; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Leslie County (Ky.); Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: What, what did you think at the time--you know, you were, you were living through the Depression then.

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes not knowing that the Great Depression was happening, but she did finally realize it when some of the miners were laid off and came back to live with their families. Her family grew their own food, so they did not have a shortage. Her father would trade their surplus goods in town for things they needed.

Keywords: Butter; Chickens; Economy; Eggs; Great Depression; Manchester (Ky.); Shoes; Trading; Yard goods

Subjects: Country life; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Economic conditions; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: And, uh, the school wasn't as far--we didn't have to walk as far.

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes her experiences at the school and how she excelled in spelling and would win a silver dollar. Her brother excelled in math.

Keywords: Laurel Creek High School; Rallies; Schools; Spelling bees

Subjects: Childhood; Clay County (Ky.); Country life; Education--Kentucky; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Um, today if you were to go back to that farm, how would you--what roads would you take to get into Manchester?

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes how to get to the farm today. She also says the old school is not there anymore, but she gives credit for her success at college to her teacher, Ms. Florence, who was a cousin to Bert Combs.

Keywords: Beech Creek; Bert Combs; College success; Daniel Boone Parkway; Littleton Road; Manchester (Ky.); Ms. Florence; Oneida (Ky.); Teachers; Teaching

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Education--Kentucky; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Do you have anything else you want to say about this time in your life or do you want to move on to your next place?

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes swimming with the horses, especially a Western horse who loved to swim. She also talks about sitting on the porch with Doc Morgan who told them ghost stories while her brother Robert was being born.

Keywords: Brothers; Doc Morgan; Foxfire; Getting hung by her dress tail on the wagon brake; Homebirth of brother; Homebirths; Sitting on the porch telling ghost stories; Swimming in the river; Western horses

Subjects: Childbirth; Country life; Family farms.; Farm life.; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: But, uh, my mother wasn't satisfied at Beech Creek.

Segment Synopsis: Begley talks about her parents selling the farm in Clay County because her mother wanted to move back to Leslie County where she had family. They did not move back to their previous farm, but leased a farm.

Keywords: Logging; Moving; Selling; Sold the farm; War years; World War II

Subjects: Clay County (Ky.); Country life; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Leslie County (Ky.); Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Did you go back to the same farm you had had before?

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains that they did not move back to their old farm in Leslie County, but why they had to lease land instead. She talks about how a company had come through Leslie County and bought people's land and mineral rights for as little as 42 cents an acre.

Keywords: Fordson Coal Company; Land; Mineral rights; Mountain top removal

Subjects: Coal mines and mining; Country life; Environmentalism; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: And then about that time the war began.

Segment Synopsis: Begley describes how their house was used a listening center during the war. People would gather at their house to listen to the radio about the war news. She talks about her father working in the stave woods during the war and keeping horses to help with work in the forest. Begley said that rations did not really affect her family. The men going off to war would ride on the Black brothers' bus and a guard was posted at the front and back to stop fights breaking out. She adds that her father helped a family whose house burned down by collecting goods in his wagon to give this family and explains that this is how people helped each other before the days of government welfare.

Keywords: Buses; Horses working in the woods; Lard; Listening centers; Radios; Rationing; Rations; Stave woods; Two pairs of shoes a year; Welfare

Subjects: Communities.; Country life; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Logging; Rural children; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: As far as guns, we always had guns.

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains that there still was not the herd law when they moved back to Leslie County, so the cattle and sheep grazed in the hills. They picked huckleberries in the mountains. People logged and cut wood into staves, but it was done sustainably at that time. Horses were used and not bulldozers.

Keywords: Bulldozers; Herd law; Huckleberries; Logging; Mountain devastation

Subjects: Country life; Environmental protection--Kentucky; Environmentalism; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Livestock; Rural conditions; Subsistence farming; Traditional farming

Partial Transcript: Do you remember, uh--you mentioned the ash that was used for, uh, for posts...

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains that the chestnut trees were used for fencing rails and that the fences did not have any nails. The black gum trees were used for bee gum hives, and the dogwood trees were used for sled runners. She emphasizes that each tree had its uses and they practiced sustainable cutting of trees.

Keywords: Bee gum hives; Bee gum trees; Black gum trees; Chestnut trees; Dogwood trees; Fence rails; Sled runners; Tree uses

Subjects: Country life; Environmental protection--Kentucky; Environmentalism; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Logging; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Now your, your mom used some of the roots and, and some of the wildflowers that were in the forest...

Segment Synopsis: Begley says that the forest was their playground and their friend during their childhood.

Keywords: Forest memories; Playgrounds; Playing in the forest; Rattlesnakes

Subjects: Childhood; Country life; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Recreation; Rural children; Rural conditions

Partial Transcript: Okay, well I asked you that question because I know that today your love of the forest continues to show through.

Segment Synopsis: Begley explains that she has about 50 acres and that she does not cut trees unless she has to. She says that the hardwoods are vanishing because once the hardwoods are cut down they are replaced with pines, which gives a home to the Southern Pine Beetles. The hardwoods are slow growing and the pines are quicker, but the pines are being destroyed by the Southern Pine Beetles. The trees that produce nuts are not plentiful, so the animals do not have enough food. Clear-cutting has taken place to remove the trees so that mountain top removal can take place for mining. Begley says that the water runs off and the environment is wrecked by foreign companies that leave the forest devastated. Begley explains that the deer have increased, but butterfly numbers have decreased along with bird species such as pheasants and quail.

Keywords: Forestry laws; Hardwood trees; Mountain top removal; Pheasants; Pine trees; Quail; Southern Pine Beetle; Wildlife scarcity; Woodpeckers

Subjects: Country life; Environmental law.; Environmental protection; Environmental protection--Kentucky; Environmentalism; Family farms.; Farm life.; Land use, Rural.; Logging; Rural conditions