UPSON COUNTY, GA - HISTORY "I Remember" 2000 columns ***************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm *********************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Hartford Pryor These "I Remember" columns appear each month in the Upson Historical Society Newsletter. Reprinted here with permission. Year 2000 JANUARY 2000 by Hartford Pryor Last month, I remembered how Mr. Albert Matthews bought the first radio in Thomaston and put loud speakers out among the pines around his home so that mill employees could come and listen to the broadcasts. I have two other favorite stories about Mr. Albert which I like to share. He was quite a man. He loved to wear a big camellia in the lapel of his coat and drive an old model convertible car with the top down. I remember when the City installed parking meters around the square. One day, as Mr. Matthews was pulling out of a parking place, Mr. Harold Morgan pulled up to wait for Mr. Matthews to leave so that he could take the parking space. Taking note of this, Mr. Matthews stopped his car, got out and went back to Harold's car and said with a chuckle, "I left five minutes on the meter, you owe me a nickel." Another story told on Mr. Matthews is from the days before the mill offices had air conditioning and the windows were left open for ventilation. Naturally, flies would come in. One day Mr. Matthews called the janitor, Charlie Spivey, a wonderful black man, handed him a fly swatter and said, "I want you to kill these flies. No matter where you see them, kill them." As Mr. Matthews turned his attention back to his work, a fly lit In his snow white hair. Obediently, Charlie swatted him. He looked up at Charlie and asked in his low Southern drawl, "Did you get him?" Everyone had a good laugh. Mr. Matthews gave the land for the City to build a football stadium for the R. E. Lee football them. That is why this local facility is named for him, Matthews Field. His 1951 gift was valued at $70,000. FEBRUARY 2000 I remember when rural homes in Upson County had no electricity. Most of the homes in town had only one light per-room that hung from the ceiling by a wire and socket. This brings to mind a story about Franklin D. Roosevelt: On August 11, 1938, President Roosevelt came to Gordon Military College in Bamesville for the dedication of the Lamar Electric Membership Corporation. As you know, President Roosevelt had to use a wheelchair. On this particular day he stood, however, gripped the podium firmly, and told the story of how he came to Georgia in search of a pool of warm water wherein he might swim his way to health. He. felt so good about Warm Springs that he bought a farm and built himself a house. One thing, however surprised him. When the first-of-the-month bill came for his electric service, he found the charge to be 18 cents per kilowatt hour, about four times as much as he paid for electricity at his home in Hyde Park, New York. That incident inspired his study of how to get electricity into all of the rural homes in America. So it can be said that a little cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, was the birthplace of the Rural Electrification Administration, better known today as the REA. President Roosevelt's last remarks were, "Electricity is a modem necessity of life and ought to be found in every village, every home, and every farm in every part of the United States. The dedication of this Rural Electrification Administration project in Georgia is a symbol of the progress we are making, and we are not going to stop." In his excitement, however, he forgot to pull the switch. MARCH 2000 ! by Hartford Pryor I remember when Upson County had a lot of covered bridges. I recall the one on Po Biddy Road, built in 1902. Another one, on County Road, was set on fire and destroyed. The old Hannah's Mill Road bridge was behind the present location of New Hope Baptist Church. The Road was relocated when a new bridge was built. Another one of these bridges spanned the Flint River on Highway 36. It lasted until the late 1950's when a new bridge was constructed. Another one of these bridges spanned Potato Creek on Highway 74 near the former home of Mr. Julian Hightower. The Delray Road Bridge came to an unhappy end in 1953 when a Griffin construction company tried to cross it with some heavy equipment. Now that people are talking about planting their gardens and complaining how the deer eat them, I remember when Upson County had virtually no deer population. In 1962, Mr. Tomrrue Holliman, president of the Sportsman Club, obtained some and released six about four or five miles south of town on U. S. Highway 19. Mr. Scott McDonald of the Game Management of Fort Valley said there were 600 released in 20 counties in Georgia. Today, my friends who have gardens use all kinds of things to keep the deer out. They put out human hair, install electric fences around their gardens, set out white buckets, and even let radios play 24 hours a day. Nowadays we can't seem to get enough rain. I remember the big rain in 1984 when it rained so much in a short time that automobiles on the Adams Motor Company lot on North Church Street (Moore Chevrolet now) actually floated away APRIL 2000 Hartford Pryor This being the Easter season, I remember Easters of 60 or 70 years ago. When was the last time you saw a lady wear a hat in church? In the 1940's, you could tell Easter was coming. All of the stores would display ladies' hats and the young girls would start planning what to wear. If they did not have a new outfit, they would not go to church. Even the boys were in competition. I always had to have a pair of white shoes and what a job it was to keep them clean while walking to church with no paved streets. Some of the ladies would wear one pair of shoes and carry their new ones in a bag. They would change when they arrived at church. The popular styles of hats seemed to get bigger and bigger. The choir, before choir robes came in style, would look like a fashion show. There was one young man at the East Thomaston Baptist Church who was so flamboyant, that people could hardly wait to see him walk into church. He did a lot of his own designing. This was Harold Morgan, the piano player. He sure did brighten up his instrument. I also remember that in the spring of the year, we kids were given a dose of calomel at night and a dose of castor oil the next morning. In those days people feared intestinal worms, and this double dose of medicine was believed to be an effective way to get cleaned out and put in good health. We kids felt like our parents would either cure us or kill us. Speaking of those old remedies, I remember when the cure for a cold was to melt Vick's salve, kerosene, and turpentine together. A cloth would then be soaked in this mixture and placed on the chest overnight. When the cloth was removed, you had to wash your chest good or you would catch another cold. MAY 200 Harttord pryor I remember the Yellow Front store on North Church Street which was owned by Mr. John Haynes. It was a clothing store and the exterior front was painted a very loud yellow. It would certainly get your attention when you came downtown. Mr. Haynes was a very generous man. He and Rev. Herbert Morgan became good friends. Rev. Morgan started the Empty Stocking Fund. Mr. Haynes would let him purchase all the clothes and shoes at cost and would stay open on Christmas Day as the people brought the children in to be fitted Mr. Haynes, is now 86 years old and lives in Room 110 of Providence Nursing Home. Mr. Haynes always had a beautiful handwriting. When you visit him how, he will give you a card in his handwriting which bears a Christian thought. I remember when we kids would catch fireflies (lightning bugs). This is a winged beetle with an abdomen that glows with a phosphorescent light. Sometimes we would pinch their heads off and rub the glowing part on our face, arms, and clothes and play under the street light to see it light up. I remember, as a child, living in the second house from the Peerless Mill, which had no fence around it at that time. People were always going through the trash boxes to see what they could find and my daddy was one of them. The slasher room was on the far end of the mill and this is where they would run yam through a size box (starch) to strengthen it before it was woven into cloth. There was always some waste that did not go though the starch and it was placed in the trash boxes. The yarn was 100% cotton and very adsorbent. My daddy made mops from the yam for the ladies in the neighborhood. JUNE 2000 Hartford Pryor I remember when in the late 1930's each Friday morning at R.E. Lee High School, after homeroom period, the bell would ring. Everyone went into the auditorium for chapel. We would rotate the services between the First Baptist Pastor, Rev. Bamum Hawkes; First Methodist Pastor, Rev. J. R. Yarbrough, and First Presbyterian Pastor, Rev. Richard F. Simpson. I remember when, as a young boy, I always enjoyed going to court. There was one particular day when Judge Byers was trying a case of two people fighting. One witness was asked by the judge, "John, was that rock large enough to produce death?" John re plied, "Sir?" Judge Byers then re phrased the question. "Was that rock large enough to kill anyone? John re plied, "Yes sir, Judge, it kilt him for a while," I remember when, in 1961, a group of children were playing on Goodrich Avenue behind the Martha Mills. One little boy, Ernie Sunday—age eleven— was going to hide from his playmates, He climbed over the fence where the electric power station is located and sat on top of one of the electric transform-ers. When the other kids found him, they begged him to come down. As he was climbing down, his hand hit one of the high voltage wires and burned him seriously. He was rushed to the hospi-tal where he died early the next morn-ing. I remember when, in 1929, the first McCarty's grocery store opened at Five Points (now North Bethel Street near the location of Little Jo's) A few years later they opened another store where Silvertown Cleaners is now located. In S973, they moved to their present loca-tion in Lincoln Park, but all good things must come to an end. On the 20th day of August in 1998, the McCarty family sold their business. I remember when in 1984, it rained so hard that cars floated off of the lot at Adams Motor Company on N. Church. Pray for rain today. JULY 2000 Hartford Pryor I remember a man by the name of Mr. Votel Barron. From the 1930's until the 1950's, everyone knew Mr. Barron, a local service station operator. In the 1930's his station was located on the comer of South Center and East Lee Streets, where Cook's Market is located today. At that time gas was around 15 or 20 cents a gallon (compared to $1.69 now). The rest of this story comes from former Mayor Charles Kersey. Charles stated that when he was 15 years old he lived at 207 North Center Street, where the Thomaston Federal parking lot is now. He would walk to school every morning. He had to go by Mr. Barron's service station. Mr. Barron was known for his advertising gimmicks. Charles stated that one time Mr. Barron dug a very large hole and inserted a wooden box in it with a 6 inch air pipe extended out of the top of the box. A man then got inside and was completely covered with dirt. Charles further stated that as he went to school he would walk by every morning and he could see the man through the air pipe. He cannot remember how long the man stayed there, but it was several days. A tent was placed over the box to keep out the rain. I remember when the Rev. Ed Akins was pastor at the Baptist Tabernacle. One Sunday, while he was preaching a revival, his wife Faye was sitting on the front row with her eyes closed. He stopped preaching and said, "Faye, wake up!" She replied, "Hush, Ed, I was praying for you.." I remember my grandbaby watching her dad plant his garden. She asked, "Daddy are you going to plant me some creamed potatoes? AUGUST 2000 by Hartford Pryor Everyone in Thomaston knows that the East Thomaston Baptist Church and the Hightower Memorial Methodist Church face each other on the hill at Park Lane, approximately 500 feet apart. During the 1950's Mr. Albert Matthews donated some chimes to the Methodist Church. These chimes, installed in the steeple of the church were played early on Sunday mornings and late on Sunday evenings before church time. Everyone enjoyed diem very much except two people on the Bleachery Village. These folk stated that they loved to sleep late on Sunday morning and so the Methodist Church quit playing the chimes. All of this happened nearly fifty years ago. The older generation passed away and the younger generation thought the chimes would no longer play. More recently, a young man by the name of David Boyd moved into the community and joined the Hightower Memorial Methodist Church. He became interested in the chimes and discovered that they were in good condition, needing the replacement of only one wire. In March of this year, the chimes began to be played again. Once more, everyone enjoys them. These days we hear so much about discipline in the schools. In grammar school, during the 1930's, several types of discipline were used by teachers: siting or standing in a comer, standing on one foot, "drawing a circle on the blackboard and placing your nose in it, staying after school, washing the windows or blackboards, dusting the erasers, and sometime a whipping with a switch or paddle. If your parents found out about it, you'd get another whipping when you got home. SEPTEMBER 2000 Hartford Pryor I remember starting to the East Thomaston Baptist Church when I was 5 years old and it was located on Avenue F. Mr. Earl Hartaman was our Sunday School Superintendent and there was a bell in the steeple that he would ring for Sunday School to start. The bell could be heard all over East Thomaston. As a kid in the 1930's, Mr. Hartaman would let me ring the bell which thrilled me very much. When the church relocated to Park Lane in 1942, the bell was not installed in the steeple for it was so heavy that it might damage the rafters. Thus, it was stored in the furnace room where it stayed for many years until Mr. Curtis (chief) Wilson, who was chief of police at East Thomaston, wanted to buy it; and so the church sold it to him. That was approximately 50 years ago and the Wilson family has passed on and the children moved away. I had often wondered where the bell was. Who would believe that I had walked within 10 feet of it for many years and did not know it. My brother-in-law, Lincoln Reeves, had bought it from Mr. Wilson years ago and placed it behind some shrubbery at his home. Not long ago we were reminiscing about old times and the subject came up on how churches used to have bells in their steeples, and I made a remark about , how our church had one many years ago Lincoln then responded, "Yes, and I have it now!" [So we pulled it out and made this picture with all of its memories. ] ' OCTOBER 2000 Hartford Pryor I remember when we kids could hardly wait until the first day of May. This was when we were allowed to go barefoot. When we did, our feet were so tender that we could hardly walk. Before summer was over, our feet were so tough we could walk on all the rocks and hot pavement. There was another May event that gave everyone trouble—young and old. After the first rain, the red bugs would come out and eat you up. I remember when it was a common things for men to walk around the Square and go to all the Thomaston Mills gates at shift changing time to give out free samples of Standback and B. C. Headache powders. Camel, Lucky Strike, and Chesterfield cigarettes, little packets of Bruton snuff, and small boxes of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. In 1928, I was 5 years old. My family moved from Lamar County to North Main Street in the Peerless Village. I had a dog that I loved very much, but when we moved we left him with my uncle. You have heard what an instinct a dog has. After two weeks, we were sitting on our front porch and to our surprise up walked the dog, he had found us. I also remember that in 1965 our neighbor, Mr. Joe In/in had a cat to take up at his house. He called it Fluff. One night Mr. Joe called me to come to his house. When I got there, he had that cat in a bag and wanted me to go with him to carry it off. We went to a lonely road several miles away, put the cat out, and drove away. A few days later the cat was back at Mr. Joe's house. He decided that if the cat loved him that much, he would keep him. How do "dumb" animals do this sort of thing. They must be smart. NOVEMBER 2000 Hartford Pryor I remember that in the 20's and 30's, before the modern medicine we enjoy today, it was common for people to have nausea and upset stomach. A household remedy that almost everyone used was called GRUEL. My mother gave it to our family. The ladies made it from a very simple recipe; take plain corn meal, a dap of butter, water, and salt; then cook it making it very thin. Most of the time this would do the job. I have also been reminded that during this same time period many people contracted two very serious illnesses called diphtheria and scarlet fever. Both of these maladies often claimed a number of lives. If anyone in the house had one of these infections, they were not allowed to leave nor could anyone come in. The health department would hang a red flag on the front porch to warn others away. The neighborhood people were very good at helping from a distance by sitting bags of groceries on the porch. When the disease had run its course, the house would be fumigated in order to kill the remaining germs. I also remember that in the 30's and 40's a Mr. Walter Kersey had a grocery store on Bamesville Street and Mr. Doug Shumate was in charge of the meat department. There was a lady that lived on Avenue F named Mrs. Addie Sanders, who had a daughter named Martha, who was 5 years old. When she and her mother went to Mr. Kersey's store, Mr. Kersey would stand Martha on the counter and give her a nickel to sing for the customers as they came in. This lady is now Mrs. Martha' Bell and is still singing today in the choir at the East Thomaston Baptist Church. She also goes to the nursing homes and entertains. DECEMBER 2000 by Hartford Pryor Mrs, Madie Brook's mother, Mrs. Eva Wade, has been a resident of the Thomaston Health and Rehab for the past three years. In the early 40's, she had a saying that went like this, "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." I remember in the late 20's and 30's when it became hog killing time behind the Peerless Mill, we kids could hardly wait. We stood around and watched the adults do all the work. There was one main phase of the job that we were all waiting for; when they split the hog open and laid its insides out on the table. We would scramble to see who could get the bladder first. Then we would clean it real good and take an automobile tire pump and blow it up real tight, tie a string around it to keep the air in, and then let it dry for several hours. It became so tough that you could hardly burst it and then we would all play ball with it. I remember in the 40's, during world War II, everyone was preparing a defense program and the cities of Thomaston and East Thomaston were no exception. They had an air raid program that when the siren went off at night everyone was to turn off all the lights. In 1944, I was home on furlough and about 9 o'clock the air raid siren went off. I lived on the Peerless Village where the houses were close together. Out went all the lights and the Peerless Mill machines were all stopped and this was such a weird feeling. All the people came out of their houses onto the streets. You could hear their whispers. After a few minutes you could hear a car coming in the distance with its lights off. It was the police checking to make sure everyone had turned off their lights. After the all-clear everyone went back to normal.