UPSON COUNTY, GA - HISTORY "I Remember" 1999 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. February 1999 I remember Ed Cook, Jr. as a kid. One day he was playing with us other kids. He got so mad at his sister that he hit her. My daddy grabbed him and gave him a whipping as if he was his own. Can you imagine what his mother said to my dad. Terry Radclift, as a 12-year old child, could climb like a monkey. All the neighbors would call on him to climb up in their pecan trees and shake the limbs. I remember one night we were playing hide and seek. Everyone had been found except Terrell. We asked him to holler to help us find him. That didn't work. We still could not find him. We had to get him to tell us where he was. He was sitting on top of one of those tall telephone poles. I remember when North Bethel Street was called Five Points and had approximately thirty stores and three beer joints. Liquor was plentiful from the moonshiners and the weekend was a very dangerous time. Someone was always getting into trouble. One time my sister went down there to get a loaf of bread. Someone got into a shooting spree and a bullet hit the dirt right beside her feet. I remember when we kids would go to the woods behind the Peerless Mill and play in the trees. We'd tie ropes on the limbs and play Tarzan. One time Bobby Reeves was swinging and the rope broke. He fell breaking both of his arms and spraining an ankle. I remember when there was no indoor plumbing and people had to draw water from a well. When bath times came, a big tin tub would be filled with water and the entire family would use the same water. The first one would be the cleanest and the last would be the unlucky one. I remember when there was a cow pasture on Park Lane where the Finishing Division is now located. March 1999 I remember when Thomaston Mills had 55 gallon barrels behind every house for trash. These barrels had drain holes in the bottom, and the throw-away food would attract rats. One of the boys' pastimes was to kill rats. The Radcliffs had six boys and a dog named "Don." We would turn the barrels over and when a rat ran out, Don would catch him. Don hardly ever let one get by him. I remember when the Peerless Village had large chinaberry trees on all of the streets and back alleys. People raised chickens under the shade of these trees. My Daddy had a pen with no shade. He made the comment to Mr. Everett Radcliff that he wished he had a chinaberry tree in his chicken pen. The next morning when we woke up, there was Mr. Radcliff digging one up to plant it inside my dad's pen. It was a very large tree, too. Mr. Radcliff was a hard-working Christian man and would do anything to help anyone. I remember, years later, when Mr. Radcliff developed heart trouble. Dr. B. C. Adams was his doctor. Mr. Radcliff was supposed to have some kind of shot every few hours. Dr. Adams was not able to make house calls that often so he asked my sen daddy to give the shots to Mr. Radcliff. This was before Upson County had a is hospital. All we had was a seven-bed as clinic where Dr. B. C. Adams, Dr. R. L. to Carter, and Dr. T. A. Sappington had their est offices. This building is now owned by the the First Baptist Church. I remember when Thomaston Mills had a police, Mr. Artie Turner, for the Peerless Village. He would walk or ride the village. When he came upon an unruly male or female dog, he would shoot the female dog and throw her in his truck. It didn't matter who owned the dog or who was looking. It was a sad thing to witness. April 1999 I remember when the Peerless Mill had large hedges on the front. Smoking was not allowed inside the mill nor were people allowed to leave their jobs to go outside and smoke. I lived in the second house from the front door, and I would see men sneak and hide behind the hedges to smoke. They would post one man as a lookout at the door to watch for the boss. If the boss started coming, the smokers would scatter, running into the canteen. Then they would pretend to have been in the canteen the entire time. Now, there are designated smoking areas at the mill. I remember when Mr. C. L. (Doc) Morgan was working in the Thomaston Division in the- tie-end room. Every morning before 8 o'clock, he and a few men would go down in the basement and have prayer. The ones I recall taking part were Mr. Doc Morgan, Mrs. John Morris, Mr. Sid Chestnut, and Mr. Roy Holly. I remember when, many years ago, the Peerless Mill had a dwelling house at the front door which was used as an office. They kept a "First Aid" supply there for the workers. In those days, we kids would have "boils," cuts, and scratches. We would go to the office and get supplies to treat them. In order for a "boil" to heal, the core had to be removed. The mill always kept black salve for this purpose. It was good at drawing the core. Some people would tie a piece of salt fatback on the boil and leave it for a few days. That worked, too. I remember when there was a bus that operated in all of the East Thomaston villages and Silvertown. It would leave town and go on a regular route, then back to town. Mr. Oscar Hardage was the driver. This was about the only way a good many people had to get around and attend to their business. May 1999 I remember when there was no natural or propane gas and everyone had a fireplace or a metal heater in which they burned coal or wood. A fire would have to be started every morning. This was difficult using newspaper and wood, then coal was added. There was a type of lighter wood (we southerners called lightard) in the heart of a fallen pine. As the tree rotted it would be full of turpentine and it would burn very easily. This was very popular in the stores and with peddlers on the streets. I remember one black man who came to town with a mule and wagon selling it. He would not knock on doors, but would sit in his wagon and yell "Fat Lightard Kindling!" People would go to his wagon to make a purchase. He would have it tied in bundles of about 15-20 sticks and about 20 inches long and sell it for 20-25 cents. These peddlers were prevalent during the. period before the Second World War. Back in those days it was my job to keep fire wood to start the fire every morning and coal in the box behind the heater. My daddy had a small axe he kept on top of the kitchen cabinet for me to use. One night I was sleepwalking looking for the axe and it woke my daddy. He asked me what I was doing. I said I was getting the axe to cut my sister's head off. After that, my daddy would hide the axe every night before going to bed. Where did we buy our coal in the winter and ice in the summer? I remember the ice and coal company operated by Mr. Hays Arnold, Sr. It was located on W. Walker Street where the Burger King Restaurant is now located. Getting warm or cool in those days involved a lot of work. June 1999 I remember when kids were always anxious for summer to come so we could go barefoot. The first few days, our feet were so tender we had to walk easy; but after a while they would get tough and we wouldn't have any trouble. Our feet would get so dirty that our mothers had a time cleaning them. One time my mother used "Old Dutch" cleanser on my heels. The people on the farm used soap with a corncob. I remember when, before cars were plentiful, Mr. H. 0. Eason owned a taxi company here. The fare was only 10 cents for a local ride. I remember when Thomaston Mills had a baseball park on Cedar Rowe where part of the Finishing Division is now. They had their own baseball team. Mr. "Hot" Holcomb was the manager. Thomaston Mills would provide a truck for their transportation for out-of-town games. A man by the name of Otis Forehand was a "super heckler." He attended all the games and would really annoy the opposing team. A lot of people would go just to hear him. I can remember, on one occasion, he had on nothing but a diaper and had his big toe bandaged. He was sitting in a little red wagon and being pulled around the park. I remember when a lot of cars did not have electric starters. You would have to start your car with a crank. If you were not strong enough to keep the crank in motion, the car might backfire and send the crank in a reverse motion with a quick jerk. This was very dangerous. I have known of people getting a broken arm from incidents such as this. I remember when Fussell Hardware was located where the TMI Employee Relations Center is today. July 1999 I remember when keeping your clothes washed was a very difficult task. A fire would be built under a large old- fashioned wash pot filled with soap and water. After it came to boil, the clothes were put in and stirred. Next, they were laid on a table and beaten with a stick to loosen the dirt. After rinsing, they were hung on a line to dry. This was all right in the summer, but winter posed other problems. Everyone had a fireplace or coal heater and smoke and soot from the chimney would float in the air and get on your clothes. In very cold weather, when clothing was washed and hung out to dry, it would freeze. I remember that there were some black ladies who would come to your house, pick'up your clothes, and wash them for you. For a family of five, the price to wash and iron sheets and clothing came to about $1.50. I also remember how fascinated I got with the way the dirty clothing was bundled up when carried to be washed. Clothes were tied in a sheet, balanced on the ladies' heads, and off they'd go. I also remember that we thought that any person who could afford a washing machine with a manual ringer was real lucky. I also remember that some people made their own soap using the grease left from cooking meat. This grease would be mixed with potash and water. It would be boiled until thick. After it cooled and hardened, it could be sliced into bars. I remember when water was drawn from a well using a bucket. Some would put a large barrel under the eaves of the house and catch rain water. Rain water was good for washing clothes because it would "soap up" real good. August 1999 I remember when the East Thomaston Baptist Church had a live radio broadcast every Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. We would dedicate songs to various people. As I was reading the dedications. Rev. Herbert Morgan whispered in my ear, "Don't forget your sister." At this particular time, she was in the Thomaston Health Clinic having her first baby. I then said, "I'd like to dedicate the next song to my sister." When we all saw what our next song was, we could hardly sing for laughing. The title was, "My Labor Will Be Over." We could hardly sing for laughing. I remember, how in church one Sunday morning. Deacon Sid Chestnut was sitting on the front row and went to sleep during" Brother Morgan's sermon. Suddenly, the preacher stopped and spoke to Brother Speight, telling him to wake Mr. Chestnut. Brother Speight shot back, "You put him to sleep, you wake him up." Later Mr. Chestnut claimed that he was not asleep, just meditating. On another occasion. Reverend Morgan was preaching in a revival at Elkins Creek Baptist Church. The sermon topic focused on "Hell." About half way into the sermon, a man in the congregation shouted, "Preacher, there is no hell." Morgan did not reply, but just kept on preaching. After the man had done this three times. Preacher Morgan, famous for his hot temper, came out of the pulpit, walked down the aisle, grabbed the man by his collar and was pulling him out of the pew. My dad, who was sitting next to the man said, "Leave him alone preacher, he drinking." Brother Morgan backed off, but asked the deacons to remove the man so that the sermon could be finished. They did and the man apologized. Sept 1999 I remember when there were only two ways to heat your house. One was the old-fashioned fire place with a chimney, but a lot of the heat went up the chimney. The other way was an iron, coal-burning stove that sat out in the room with a stove pipe going to the enclosed fireplace to carry the smoke out. Someone was always getting burned, usually the women or children. They would back up to the fireplace to get warm, and the draft from the chimney would pull their dress or robe into the fire. Children were usually falling into the fireplace or on the heater. In those days, some people claimed to have special abilities to heal bums by "talking the fire out" when someone got burned. I remember when Mr. Harvey Greene opened his propane gas company, and the people in East Thomaston were so glad because now we could get rid of the wood and coal burning stoves. I also remember when Atlanta Gas Light Company began natural gas service. This meant that a lot of people had gas tanks they did not need any more. Some were 250 gallons, some 500 gallons. Some were above ground, some were buried. Mr. Green agreed to buy them. Everyone was concerned about the problem of digging up those tanks that were buried. When the time came there was an easy solution. They would dig a small hole next to the tank, insert a water hose, and run the water four to five hours. When they came back later, the tank would be floating on top of the ground. I remember when, after World War II was over, a loaf of bread was 9 cents, a quart of milk was 16 cents, a gallon of gas was 21 cents. The minimum wage was 40 cents per hour. Oct 1999 I remember when in the 20's and 30's no one living in the mill villages knew much about hardwood or tile floors. Most of the floors were made of rough lumber about 3 or 4 inches wide— no tongue and grove—so there were a lot of cracks in the floors. The way we kept them clean was by scrubbing them using white sand, a large brush made of corn shucks, and plenty of water. No need to worry about removing the sand and water, the cracks in the floor took care of that. I remember out in the country everyone raised chickens that would run lose in the yard, under the house, and in the woods. Some country houses had those floors with cracks in them. One of the pastimes-far us boys was to take a grain of corn, tie a sewing thread around it, then drop it through the crack and tease the chickens. When they went for the corn, we jerked it away from them. Finally, the chicken would give up. I remember when telephones were on the wall and had a crank you had to turn to get in touch with an operator. When you told her your number, she would ring it for you. If you were on a party line with others and knew what their number of rings were, you could ring them direct, but there was a problem. Every phone on the party-line would ring too. Each house was a assigned a specific number of rings.. I remember when, years ago, Upson County had a prison camp here and the inmates operated a farm raising vegetables, cows, and hogs. There was a sugarcane patch located on Yatesville Highway and a cornfield in the Northside area. The inmates did their own cooking They even had a cane mill and made their own syrup November 1999 [In this column, Hartford Pryor remembers some disabled people who were able to continue to work because of the care and concern of local industry and their friends.} I remember, as a kid in the early 30's, I became acquainted with a man that had a tragic experience. His name was Mr. Johnny Lovett. Everyone called him "Uncle Johnny." He became a diabetic and after a period of time had both legs amputated above the knee. He did not let this keep him down. He had someone to build him a low 4-wheel cart that he sat on and he pushed himself around with his hands. After a while, he had someone to make him two padded cushions to fit in his hands. He would come to East Thomaston Baptist Church in a taxi and down to the front row. Sometimes Rev. Morgan would call on • him to pray. He could really pray, and everyone liked to hear him. Martha Mills (B. F. Goodrich) and Thomaston Mills had baseball teams. Almost every weekend Thomaston would have a game with out-of-town teams and Uncle Johnny was always there on his little cart selling peanuts and candy bars. The most wonderful part of this story is that Martha Mills would let him work, painting bobbins as he sat on his little cart. In 1948 Mr. Dewey Kent was the overseer of the Cloth Room at the Thomaston Division. After suffering a stroke, he could not walk but needed to work. Mr. Hugh Stewart, the Cloth Room mechanic, would go to Mr. Kent's house with a wheel chair and bring him to work, stay with him, and push him wherever he needed to go, even taking him home to lunch each day. This way Mr. Kent could continue to work. December 1999 When the houses were built in hast Thomaston, there were several large two- story ones. One was on Barnesville Highway on the hill where Mr. & Mrs. Lamar McCrary now reside. There were two on Barnesville Street. One was just below the Thomaston Mills Engineering Department and the other was the Florence Hotel, which had approximately 12-15 rooms, directly across from the Thomaston Division. At the Peerless Mill, there was a two-story boarding house on Pine Street run by the Pirts family. There was one at the corner of Peerless Road and Hightower Street operated by the Greer family. There was also a large apartment house at the corner of Hightower and 3rd Street. The only one that still remains is on South Main, and it was operated by the Frost family. There were two fabulous two-story residences, one across from the front gate of the Finishing Division and one in the pines on Cedar Row. These were for the executives of the mill. Mr. Albert Matthews lived in the one in the pines. This was before radios were plentiful. Mr. Matthews had speakers installed in the trees for the public to enjoy. People would go and lie on the ground and listen to ball games, boxing matches, and music. Mr. Robert Adams, another executive, lived in the two-story house at the Finishing Division. When Thomaston Mills built Martha Mills, Mr. Matthews went there to manage it and bought the approximately 145 acres at Crystal Hill. He build a home there. Mr. Adams moved to the Pines on Cedar Row and Mr. Harry W. Ormand, Finishing Division Manager moved into the big house where Mr. Adams did live. This grove of trees still remains.