HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Old Days Panel Group 04HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance.
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Interviewe
ignature ff Interviewer
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(Please Print)
List of photos, documents. mans. etc. Y?o )y/- , / 9A
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Interviewee (Please print)
Signature of Interviewee
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Name
Address
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Telephone lik 09) 3 — 7-4 —
Date of Birth 6 1 /p 02, /
Place of Birthfi.it;tf co.,c --i; u�2
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed 7-20-96)
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, Losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
Date
Initial
In progress
6(0-u-P
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance. y i �
Interviewee (Please print)
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Intervie
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(Please Print)
S g atu0 of Interviews
Place of Interview
i• na ure of Interviewee
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Name
Addres
Telephone
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
List of photos. documents. mans. etc. ��.1'7" - e 7/�0 fr
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed 7/3 /2/7
Date
Initial
In progress
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
bruiA-P `t
Place of Interview
I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College
Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and
contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of
original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed.
Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all
claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense
thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of,
any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the
parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties
hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with
Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of
action in whole or in part are covered by insurance. 0 hz I C koU f J C1
Intervie (Plea print)
Signature of Interviewee
Interview r
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
City of College Station, Texas 77840
ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET
f7un r)e. u
(Please Print)
Signatu % e of Interviewek
List of photos. documents. mans. etc. ,--7-r.9--if OJ ,/qG;/ 9
Name
7 WI 50
dress
Telephone J q
Date of Birth U 6 U- t! y' 19 1 / b
Place of Birth
INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed 7 /90)94
94
Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and
employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability
of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property,
arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by
CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such
indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in
whole or in part from the negligence of city.
Date
Initial
In progress
Moderator: Kitty Worley
Camcorder: Ben Molina
Transcriptor: Mary Lancaster
Lincoln Center
July 30, 1996
Oral History Project
Odell Crouch, Celestine Williams, Clara More
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Today is Tuesday July 30, 1996. And I'm interviewing for the first time Mr. Odell Crouch,
Mrs. Celestine Williams, and Mrs. Clara Moore. This interview is taking place in Scott's
Office at the Lincoln Center and it's sponsored by the Historic Preservation Committee and
the Conference Center Advisory Committee of the city of College Station. It's part of the
memory lane oral history project. So I want each one of you to introduce yourselves but
before we do I want to say that our camcorder is Mr. Molina and Mary Lancaster is our
transcriber, she has the hardest job of all. She has to keep up with what we say, so we
can only talk one person at a time so that she can keep up with it. And now Mrs. Moore
will you begin, tell us each one this is just and introduction for the tape recorder. Where
you lived in Brazos County and how long you lived here. OK. Your first.
CM - I'm Clara Moore. I lives at 1100 Carolina Street College Station, Texas, and I've
been in Brazos County, I moved here in forty- eight.
KW - That's a long time isn't it? We've been here a long time too. Mr. Crouch would you
tell us your name this is to help Mrs. Lancaster recognize your voice. She's not going to
have any trouble with three people. We never had a class like that just three people. OK
Mr. Crouch.
OC - I moved to Bryan from Calvert. I grew up in Calvert and mother and daddy came
here. And I moved down here and we did a lot of carpenter work. Daddy was a carpenter.
And uh so we worked that way and between Bryan and College Station there was, I was
out of the city limits and I was not in any one of the places.
KW - OK.
OC - And they put a pipe line down the street on this side of the street the west side of the
street to College Station for water. College Stations water you know is softer. And they
get their water now out of the lake.
KW - You can tell us some more in a few minutes, but don't forget to tell us some more,
OK Mrs. Williams.
CW - My name is Celestine Williams.
KW - You might have to talk a little bit louder cause you are the farthest from the tape
recorder.
CW - I live at 1014 Fairview in College Station ever since the late part of the twenties.
Twenty -nine or some what back in there.
KW - I see this is going to be an interesting session. We have taken care of these papers
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so that's out of the way. Is there anything you want to remind us of note taker your ready
to go. Now here we go are you ready? We have lots of good questions and you think
about it. And if you want to add anything that's fine, but will go along with the questions for
a while. How old were you Mrs. Moore when you moved to Brazos County Area. How old
were you when you moved here? Into this area? You can just tell us, when that doesn't
matter. I have a hard time figuring out how old I was.
CM - I moved over to Brazos County in 1948.
KW - In 1948, and huh 1 remember that you moved into the Bryan / College Station area
from Calvert. and how old were you and how old were you Mr. Crouch.
OC - Well, I was about I guess I was about forty.
KW - About forty, did you say about forty, so you were grown. That would be probably
about 1936, I think I'm not sure but anyway we can check that out. And where did you
move from?
OC - I moved from Calvert.
KW - Calvert um -hum. And where did you move from Mrs. Moore.
CM - From Burleson County.
KW - Burleson County, um -hum. What about you. Mrs. Williams.
CW - I moved from Wellborn Texas down here.
KW - Down closer to the over from Fairview probably in that area.
CW - No back down there on the other side of where the store is at in Wellborn Texas.
KW - Where did your grandparents and your great grandparents live Mrs. Moore.
CM - In Burleson County.
KW - They were in Burleson too and what were your parent's names.
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CM - My father was named Will Richardson, my mother was named Beatrice Jackson
Richardson.
KW - I see, I think we got all those names very clearly. Where were they born where were
your parents born? Do you know?
CM - They were born in Burleson County.
KW - They were born in Burleson County, sure. Where did your grandparent come from?
Were your grandparents in Calvert or in West Texas.
OC - Yep, they were my grandparents were between, they were in Robertson County.
Some of them lived in one part of the county and some of them in the other.
KW - And what were your parents' names Mr. Crouch?
OC - My daddy was name Boy Crouch and my mother was name Mattie Bishop and they
lived closed to Franklin.
KW - Both of them?
OC - No one of them lived in Calvert and one of them lived in Franklin. Franklin is the
County seat of Robertson County.
KW - Sure, of Robertson County. Well was that your mother that lived in Franklin or your
daddy.
OC - Now my daddy lived in Calvert.
KW - And your mama lived in.
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OC - They lived out in the Country.
KW - What about you Mrs. Williams, What about your grandparents.
CW - ... Staying out of Wellborn, that's where they were staying.
KW - A lot of good Williams around here. And some of them are famous. Like your
nephew there and what were your parents' names.
CW - My daddy was named George Washington and my mother Cora before she married
she was a Peterson.
KW - I see a lot of Petersons still here and were they born in that area?
CW - I really don't know exactly where they were born out here, I really don't know exactly
where they were born I think in was down in the Hinsailing farm where they were born.
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KW - Down in one of those farms in the Brazos area. Do you know some of these
questions you've got to think about? What kind of transportation did you and your family
use to move to our area. Now one of you were all ready here. Now think back maybe say
when you were say ten, twelve, or 14 one of those early times. What kind of transportation
Mrs. Moore? What kind of transportation do you remember whether you had a wagon or a
car? One of the first cars around here. How did you move. How did you move from
Burleson, say your folks moved from Burleson to Brazos. How did they do it? They
certainly didn't come on a motorcycle or anything like that. So how did they move, do you
know?
CM - My parents they did not move into Brazos County. After I married, I moved.
KW - You were the one that did the moving. Well. how did you move.
CM - We moved by truck.
KW - You moved by truck and did you know anything about what your family was using
before that form of transportation. To go to market or anything like that, buggy or wagons
or anything like that.
CM - First of all we use to go to church in a wagon with a mule team. And then finally later
my father bought a T model Ford.
KW - Oh that was the car wasn't it. Didn't you feel special and I know what color it was it
was black they were all black. That was a good car. All right so what kind of
transportation did you and your family use Mr. Crouch.
OC - We had a Model T.
KW - You had a model T when they came out.
OC - Yes madam.
KW - Do you remember what you used before the Model T.
OC - Well we used a wagon to go to church a lot of times.
KW - When you were in Calvert you used it.
OC - Well no we lived out in country.
KW - Out in the country and did you and did you come in town for church.
OC - Well no we had a little church.
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KW - Out there.
OC - We went to a little church six miles out of Calvert, Mt. Vernon.
KW - Is it still there?
OC - No madam, it was a little one room church.
KW - One room church.
OC - And it didn't stand. It's a cemetery now.
KW - But the cemetery is still there, you know some of the people, Mrs. Williams what kind
of transportation did you and your family use early on?
CW - Well we stayed down in Wellborn and I married down in Wellborn me and my
husband moved on up here to College Station and my mother and then my father didn't
move up here and she moved up here after he passed.
KW - And did you remember any of your early days of transportation.
CW - Yea, in a wagon, in a buggy.
KW - In a wagon in a buggy, sure.
OC - (inaudible) I rode in all of them.
KW - Why did your family will your family stayed there and you came here when you
married right. Isn't that your family stayed in Burleson County Mrs. Moore. The question
they want to know is why did you move why did anybody move to this area. All of you
move closer here at some time. So why did anybody move here.
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CW - I forgot to tell you that my mother after my father passed away she moved with me
here.
KW - Here, sure. So that's why she moved here.
CW - Yes, she didn't want to live by herself, and we didn't want her to.
KW - And you would want her to either and you moved here because of your husband.
CW - His job was over here in College Station.
KW - Your father was a carpenter and he moved to Bryan and College Station to practice
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that, are there any other things you might want to say about why they moved to this area?
OC - They wanted to. They just thought that if they had moved ten years earlier, they'd of
been better off.
KW - Oh, I see.
OC - I went through high school in Calvert.
KW - You went through high school in Calvert and you moved here later. Did you answer?
OC - We built some FHA houses, government.
KW - Government houses.
OC - They called it, FHA.
KW - Oh yea sure, Federal Housing Administration, and you and your father worked on
that.
OC - And huh, we worked under a contractor too and he went through a Parker Lumber
Yard. The parker lumber yard is not in existence any more.
KW - Now part.
OC - Parker lumber yard.
KW - Yea but I was just thinking it was still here.
OC - It's a paint store I think now.
KW - Now and did we answer that question yet, about why you folks moved. Now your
mother moved up here like Mrs. Moor after your father passed away and huh you had
moved up here with your husband. Was there any special reason? Just to be closer to his
job or what?
CW - Yea cause we both got us a job here I worked at the laundry and he was working at
the railroad.
KW - This is going back further than that. How did you get to elementary school. Now
that's a fun one, your not quite as old as my mother would be she use to tell fun things
about how she got to elementary school. How did you get to elementary school Mrs.
Moore?
CM - I attended elementary school in Burleson county and I walked to school.
KW - You lived close enough to the school that you could walk?
CM - I walked to school.
KW - Might of been a long walk, but you walked?
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CM - Yea I walked. If it rained or something like that my father would come and get us in
the wagon, and bring us home but other than that we'd walk to school in the morning and
walked back in the afternoon.
KW - In the afternoon. Do you remember it as a kind of pleasant experience? Did you
like to go off to school.
CM - Oh yes I did and be with the other children we'd have a lot of fun.
KW - Sure. And you Mr. Crouch how did you get to elementary school?
OC - I walked.
KW - You walked but you were out in the country too.
OC - But we had what they called a Center School.
KW - Oh you did and you walked to that school and that was near Calvert.
OC - We had a dug well we drawed the water out of the well.
KW - At school?
OC - Yes madam you didn't have any air conditioning but I guess you had a pat bellied
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stove or something. Right now, we mostly think about cooling off, but you had it got cold in
the winter didn't it? Where did you go to school?
CW - I went to School down in Wellborn.
KW - And how did you get there.
CW - Walked, we didn't stay to far from it.
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KW - Did any of you ride horseback at any time to school.
CW - No but my mother did.
CM - My teacher did, she rode a horse to school.
KW - And your teacher did.
CM - A little bit too far to walk. The name of my school was Pleasant Grove Elementary
School.
KW - Pleasant Grove that's a nice name. Anybody else want to tell us the name of their
school. I think yours was named Wellborn wasn't it.
CW - Hum.
OC - Center School
KW - School what?
OC - Center between Calvert and Franklin.
KW - How do you spell it? C- E- N- T -E -R. Center School. How did you get to church?
How did you get to church Mrs. Moore?
CM - Huh, the church that I was a member of the school and the church was in the same
yard and we would walk to church.
KW - Sure and it was in the same place that's a wonderful place for everybody.
CM - And when we would go to our mother's church which was a little further, we would go
in the wagon with the mules.
KW - How did you get to church Mr. Crouch.
OC - Well, I walked sometimes to church.
KW - Was your church close?
OC - It was less than a mile and we had to walk right pass my grandfather's house.
KW - That was good wasn't it?
OC - He lived close to, close to the church.
KW - And if it was raining you probably could stop in there. But maybe it didn't rain so
much around here Yall don't remember rain too much do you?
OC - Well, if it rain to bad we didn't go.
KW - You didn't go that's right I guess not. How about you getting to church.
CW - We went in the wagon.
KW - You went in the wagon. Is that church still there?
CW - No it's moved up to College Station now. Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.
KW - Oh, Pleasant Grove
CW - I joined when I was nine years old.
KW - When it moved up here then you had to come in the wagon.
CW - No, I had from... ...Matthas when it moved up here.
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KW - Oh, I see well I know where that church is. Now they want you to tell what happens
on Sunday. What did your involved. Maybe you ate an earlier breakfast or a late
breakfast or maybe you were like we were you didn't play cards, you didn't sew, we didn't
do anything. What has your Sunday like Mrs. Moore? Anything special you can
remember about Sunday.
CM - On Sunday morning we had to get up and get ready for Sunday School on Sunday
morning and then after Sunday School was the eleven o'clock service. And then after the
service we had to go home and come back to church like six o'clock was BTU, which is
training for the children and I like that too. The night service preaching service and then
after the service was over we all were dismissed and we'd all come back home.
KM - Sure, that was a big day. How about...?
OC - And the preacher came down to the church.
KW - Oh
OC - He'd have two or three of them.
KW - Did he come every Sunday.
OC - And my mother lived at one and my father lived at the other. My grandfather lived...
KW - And did you spend a lot of time at church on Sunday like Mrs. Moore did?
OC - Well, Often whenever that preacher came there after church the whole church went
to my grandfather's house for lunch. He lived close by and his father had given the land
for the cemetery.
13
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KW - Sure, but he didn't come every Sunday. On the Sundays when he didn't come what
did you all do. Go to church at and somebody spoke of something.
OC - We use to go to church every Sunday, whether the preacher was there or not.
KW - Sure I remember.
OC - And my aunt played the pipe organ well it was a pump then.
KW - Sure
OC - The church...
KW - And your aunt played that.
OC - And all the songs she used, they played them at church if she didn't know them they
didn't play them.
KW - They probably could sing without the music but they didn't do it did they? They sang
what she knew. How about you what was your Sunday like?
CW - Well, Sunday we'd get up every Sunday morning, get ready, get in the wagon, and
go to church and stay there. My mother would fix up our lunch or food and carried it with
us. Stay out there til night service and she would carry us something to eat and we'd stay
up there.
KW - Oh, I think that's beautiful too. Carry something to eat and spend the day that was a
good way to see people. Now they want to know how did you cross creeks and rivers. Did
you ever have an experience of trying to cross over the river or creeks or anything like
that, any one of you share that OK Mrs. Moore?
CM - On my way to school every morning it was what we call a bayou and we had to walk
what you call a foot log. And sometimes it would just slip, yes madam slip off in water and
had to go back to the house and change clothes.
KM - Oh my goodness do you think anybody ever slip off on purpose you maybe to skip
school.
CM - Not that I know of.
KM - No not that you know of. If everybody would have cross that log.
CM - Sometimes you'd slip you'd fall.
KW - And did you have any experiences like that.
KW - Went to church and school to you had that same experience. How about you, you
didn't remember too much about rivers and creeks huh?
CW - Yes I do remember about rivers and creeks.
KW - Yes, you do remember about rivers and creeks.
CW - We use to walk a cross the river we'd stay right close to the river. Daddy would tell
us don't leave the farm, but we use to walk across there.
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OC - We crossed a creek when I was Younger when we went to school. They built us a
kind of a walking bridge. They put some big log and then put some boards on it. We had
something to hold to, to keep from slipping off. When they plowed the street of dirt for us
to walk on through the pasture and we had a way to get through the fence and then we
went to church.
KW - But now that was the Brazos.
CW - Yea,
KW - Well now where would you go across.
CW - Just to the other side and we'd turn around and come back we didn't know nobody
over there. But we'd go over there and then come back.
KW - Come back, so I guess it was low and they told you not to go when it was high.
CW - He didn't want us to go at all. When he wasn't at home we'd go.
KW - How about that, oh my goodness.
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CW - And the rest of them would follow me because I was the oldest. They would follow
me over there. At one place it was a bridge across and we'd walk across that bridge to the
well where we would have to get our water.
KW - For home of for the school.
CW - Yes, for home.
KW - For home.
CM - For home and I remember when I was eight years old there was a big freeze and we
walk down to the bayou where we use to fish and we could see the little fish like under the
ice but the thickest part my daddy had me walk across on that ice just to say I walked
across on frozen ice and then I turned around and came back.
KW - And of course he didn't know you'd get to say it on a tape recorder, he had no idea.
That's a wonderful memory. Anybody else want to share a memory? Makes you think of a
lot of things, doesn't it.
OC - It does.
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KW - Now this is coming up we've talked about riding a ferry a train or wagon or horse and
buggy. Now we've said something's about that. Do you want to say anything more did
anybody ever ride a ferry around here.
OC - No.
KW - They had a thing called bats ferry road did that ever have a ferry, not in our time. Do
you know anything about that.
CM - No.
KW - Anybody go on the train.
CW - Iwasonthetrain.
KW - You think long time ago or maybe when you grew up.
CW - No, I wouldn't get to say grown, but we rode it from Wellborn.
KW - From Wellborn you got on the train at Wellborn and come up here to College Station.
Was it crowded?
CW - No it was crowded all the time.
KW - But you could ride it. That's a pretty nice way to come. Did you do that ever when
you were working for the Campus.
CW - No, I didn't start working for the campus till I moved up here then I started working.
KW - Sure, do you remember about what year that was that you moved up?
CW - Let's see, during the time, I don't think of it exactly, the time that it was cause he got
a job working on the train and I was working for, you know...
KW - At the laundry?
CW - No, I started at the pressing shop before I started working at the laundry.
KW - Oh, at the pressing shop oh there was a lot to press wasn't it with all those boys
wearing uniforms.
CW - Right.
KW - Well we'll think about that year and we'll come back to it. Now they want to know
what were the roads like between Bryan and College Station. Think back because all of
you went to Bryan and you were talking about between Bryan and College Station. What
can you say about the roads, Mrs. Moore, about the road between Bryan and College
Station? Do you remember much about them?
CM - No, I really don't.
KW - They were just roads weren't they, I remember.
CM - Do you mean after I moved here.
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KW - Yeah.
CM - After I moved over here the roads were fairly good. When I was over in Burleson
County some portion would get kind of rough, muddy and it would baugged down
somebody come have to come pull your car or whatever it was out, it would baugged.
KW - By the time you moved here they were getting pretty good.
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CM - Yes
KW - How about you Mr. Crouch you were between Bryan and College Station, how did
you feel about the roads in those days.
OC - The roads were pretty good.
KW- Pretty good. And you don't remember too much about the roads just...
CW - Well we use to ride a wagon to Bryan it was pretty good.
KW - Pretty good. Now they want to know about the first paved streets.
CM - OK, My father he lived on a farm. And he lived on a farm. and he farmed, he planted
KW - Kinds of transportation and you were talking getting cotton to gin and also I asked
you if you picked cotton so would you tell us about your picking experience over, please
Mrs. Moore.
CM - My father planted cotton and corn and we as children we helped to plant the cotton
with a planter with a mule hooked to it. After the cotton came up we had to weed it, we had
to go to the fields and chop the weeds out of the cotton and thin it out if it was too thick and
then he would use a cultivator while the cotton was small and he would cultivate then it
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would come a time that we had to pull middles and my sister and I we would use what they
called a middle buster, it was a plow with a mule hooked to it and we would help my father
pull these middles sometimes when I'd get to the end to turn around I would have a little
difficulty getting my mule to turn around I would kind of tear down a few stalks of cotton,
but I would get it turned around and get in the next middle. Come down and as the cotton
grew and it was cotton picking time, we picked alot of cotton. My friend and myself, her
name was Clara Mae, we would take three rows and so we had to pick fast in order to get
cotton off of the snatching row in order to keep from getting all of the cotton from me. But
was able to pick over 4 hundred pounds of cotton a day.
KW - And did you get paid or your family get paid according to how much cotton you
picked?
CM - I got paid. My father was the weigh man and they would figure how much cotton we
picked in a weeks time and then the white man would pay us for how many pounds we had
picked. And I helped chop cotton for like 50 cents a day.
KW - Well that's not...I don't understand much about chopping.
CM - 50 cents an hour.
KW - 50 cents an hour.
CM - Yes ma'am
KW - I don't suppose you picked much cotton, Mr. Crouch.
OC - I never was a good cotton picker. It was...for me to pick cotton.
21
KW - Why, because you have to end over, don't you? It hurts my back right now.
OC - Come over here boy you ain't got no back.
KW - How about you Ms. Williams do you remember that?
CW - Yeah. I picked cotton all day for I think it was 35 cents an hour.
KW - Sure. You suppose times have improved a little bit?
CW - Yeah.
KW - Just a little bit.
CM - Of course they have gotten cotton pickers now and see they don't have to hire people
to pick that cotton.
CW - And the same way about chopping.
KW - Same way about what?
OW - About chopping cotton.
KW - Nobody chops anymore. Well we did talk a little bit about the gardening and the
farming and you were talking about the chickens that you had to sell when you got ready to
come to town. OK well did anyone have anything to add about gardening or picking
vegetables you were talking
CM - We used to pick peas.
KW - Your regular garden for your house. You had one too. Did you have one in Bryan
when you moved in?
22
OC - A little one. We had some garden, yes.
KW - That was moving to the city but you still had it. How about you as a young bride did
you do anything with gardening or was it always in your father's house?
CW - Well after I...when we stayed in Wellborn I had a little garden but after I moved to the
campus, I had...I was working everyday, I didn't have no garden.
KW - Sure, what were you able to do with children? What kind of care?
CW - I don't have any children.
KW - You didn't have any children?
CW - No, I never did have any children.
KW - Children and huh and your husband's brother is the one that married Eunice and
they just had the two. So what about you Mrs. Moore what were you able to do with your
children when you had to work?
CM - When I started working, I worked at A &M laundry over here for about 17 years.
KW - How many?
CM -17.
KW - 17 years.
CM - And 7 months.
KW - And 7 months
23
CM - I worked at A &M laundry over here on the campus. And I would take my children to a
lady and she would keep them for me until I would get off of work and then my father died
and I moved my mother with me she would be at home with my children
KW - Oh that's right when your mama came in to town. Now we talked about going to
school and we talked about where you went to elementary school didn't we? Another
question they want to know is what subjects did you study? What did you remember about
elementary school. Now think about it. And what did you study, what was your favorite
subject and I remember your teacher came on horseback and so what was your
elementary school experience. I'II start with you Ms. Moore.
CM - My elementary school experience, I had t start to school before I was school age
because I would have to go to school with my older sister. So my teacher discovered I was
trying to take the children's books, trying to read, trying to write so she went and talked to
my parents and we are going to move her age up so she can start to school. So the
elementary school we studied Reading and we called it Arithmetic and Spelling and huh
English.
KW - Sure, do you remember your favorite?
CM - My favorite was Math, yes.
KW - How wonderful. How about you, what do you remember about elementary school?
OC - We had what you call play mate primer.
KW - Say that again, what kin of primer did you have?
24
OC - Play mate.
KW - That's what they called it the play mate primer. Do you remember any of those
stories?
OC - Some of those stories I think in there was about Robert Lewis Stevenson.
KW - Sure.
OC - How do you like to go up in a swing?
KW - Up in the air so blue, oh I do think it's the pleasant thing ever a child could do.
OC - That's right.
KW - Wonderful and you like that you like reading.
OC - I liked to play at recess, that's what I liked.
KW - got all your work done before you got out to...
OC - If I could get out of it, I would
KW - Oh that maybe like the cotton picking you were doing. What subjects do you
remember Mrs. Williams?
CW - Oh I remember, Geography, I started to school down here in Wellborn. They started
to school and I started school there. And later I never did go to school down here to the
College at all.
KW - You didn't go up here.
CW - No.
25
KW - I remember a wonderful teacher up here, Mrs. Jones. I use to work with her we use
to make things on our scout troops. I was teaching the second grade. Think about it
you're gone to elementary school now, where did you go to middle school? You know you
got a little older maybe you've already answered that question, but they want to know
where did you go to school? Let's say after the 5th grade or 4 grade. Do you remember?
Did you have to change Mrs. Moore and how long did you stay in that school?
CM - The elementary through the 7 grade.
KW - Through the 7 grade?
CM - And we marched and went to Tills Prairie, marched you know.
KW - You marched like that was your graduation.
CM - Graduation?
KW - Graduation and then what was the name of that school that you went to after the 7
CM - They called it high school and it was Center Point High School.
KW - Center Point?
CM - Center Point High School. The principal was named Nellie Nixon, Mrs. Nellie Nixon.
KW - Nellie Nixon and that was in Burleson county.
CM - In Burleson County a different direction and I walked there, too.
KW - I see and you still liked math.
CM - Yes, I did. And they would argue with any teacher because I wasn't a real tall girl
and they thought I wasn't old enough to speak a piece like that. And I spoke pros which
was very hard to speak because it didn't rhyme.
KW - That's right like a declamation.
CM - Sure.
KW - Sure and I bet you remember some of those things.
CM - Cooperation with the man lower down.
KW - Say it again.
CM - Cooperation with the man lower down.
KW - Oh my goodness that was a subject. Cooperation with the man lower down. That
means work to bring that person up. Helping that person. Wonderful idea. How about
you what do you remember about after the elementary, because you stayed on in Calvert
there. Was it a different school, was it like Mrs. Moore... 1 through 7th
OC - I went to grammar school, but then I came on up and they built a new high school you
know I went through high school.
KW - What grade did your high school start with? Do you remember? Was it the 7 or
Stn?
OC - I don't remember it might have been the 9
26
KW - Probably the 9 then. So you stayed in that one school till the 8 grade and they
built a new high school in Calvert. And what do you remember about school after the
grammar school?
CW - No, I didn't. The rest of my sisters did, but it was 2 of us didn't. There was me and
the sister next to me. When I moved here, moved from Wellborn you know, I was married.
KW - You were married so you started like a grown up right a way. Sure.
CM - May I just say one more thing about the high school In those days when I was going
to high school, you considered finishing high school through the 10 grade.
KW - Oh, sure. That's right it was in Texas, too. My husband only went to the 1 1 th . So, I
keep saying the 12 I think I said 9 -12 but, of course, you were finished with school then
in the 10
CM - 10 grade and after I moved over at this county and started working at A &M. I went
up there to a class and got my GED and I got that diploma, too. It is the same as a high
school diploma.
KW - Sure, it is the same as a high school diploma. Did you ever try for your GED, Mrs.
Williams.
CW - No, I didn't.
KW - I've worked with some people on that and you were just too busy. And you finished
high school there in Calvert and went to the 10th or 11th. Do you remember?
27
28
OC - I think it went to the 11th. And that's when I rode the train to Jacksonville. I went to
college there.
KW - You went to college in Jacksonville?
OC - Yes madam.
KW - Do you remember the name of it?
OC - Lon Morris.
KW - Oh, Lon Morris, well it is still there.
OC - I studied to be a minister.
KW - To be a minister?
OC - Yes madam .
KW - And were you a minister for a while?
OC - Yes, madam. Course I'm retired now, I've been retired for 7 years. I got too old for it.
KW - Not really.
OC - But they retire you anyhow after a certain...
KW - Sure, but where did you have churches?
OC - I had churches around Calvert and the churches, I grew up in.
KW - And also you had some carpentry skills, did you work with carpentry?
KW - Yes, madam, but see I didn't have a regular church, but I had a church occasionally.
And when I had a chance I had a church. I had to have a living from something.
KW - You had to have a living from something. Well, you had 2 livings there, carpentry
and the other. Now they want to know what kind of recreation or any kind of dances or
anything like that. Did you all go to many dances?
OC - During our time they didn't favor dancing.
KW - And especially at Lon Morris'. I don't think they did. No that's right. What did you
do for fun after school or anytime? This would be maybe before you got married. I guess
you had fun after you were married.
CW - He always had work for us to do.
KW - All your remembering is work isn't it? How about you, did you have any fun and
games? Now did you like recess? Do you remember?
OC - Yeah, I like to play games with the kids. They had WoIf Over the River.
KW - Wolf Over the River that's like Rover, Rover...
OC - They had what we call Scrub.
KW - Scrub?
OC - They had a boy on one end and a boy on the other would catch the ball and a batter
between them and when they caught the ball whoever out there in the field would catch
that ball, they would get a chance to the bat.
KW - That was like work you up, you'd work up, yeah, were still playing that.
29
OC - And spin the top, you know them little tops you wind up with a string.
KW - Tops, we use to do that. Oh, I hope you've got one. You still do. How about
marbles? Did you use to play marbles?
OC - Nope, we didn't till later. Not till I got to Calvert. They use to play marbles. But I
wasn't good at that.
30
KW - But in recess when you played the games like scrub and um,
OC - Spinning tops.
KW - Wolf Over the River. How about kick the can? Did you ever play kick the can?
OC - No.
KW - I thought everybody played that. What did you play in the recess? Did the girls play
separately from the boys?
CM - Yes, we had what you called the girls side and the boys side.
OC - Yeah.
KW - You did, too. Didn't you, Mr. Crouch?
CM - Sometimes we played a little ball. At school, softball. You just meant at school , or
where did we have fun at home?
KW - Sure, anywhere.
CM - Played ball at home and whenever children came to visit us we played Hop Scotch,
Ring Around the Roses and we played Drop this Handkerchief Behind Your Back.
31
KW - Yeah, sure all those good things when they came to see ya. Did other families live
close to when you lived on this big farm?
CM - Yes, madam.
KW - And so a nice group to play with.
CM - Sure and then we'd go play with them.
KW - Did you ever play with the owner's family? Did they have little children?
CM - That owned the farm?
KW - Did they come and play around your area?
CM - No, madam.
KW - We used to do that. We use to play with the children in the workers you know they
had houses.
CM - Sure.
KW - The children were fun to play with. I wondered if you ever did that. What about you?
Did you have anything else to say about recreation and fun?
OC - Well, of course, we spin tops and they'd make a ring and if you top didn't come out of
that ring... well, they'd try to knock a hole in your top.
KW- Oh.
OC - They would spin their top against yours to knock it out.
KW - To knock it out? Did you play ever with Mobly peg? You know with pin knives.
OC - I've seen some of that done.
KW - Some of the boys played that when I was growing up. My children grew up they
wouldn't have a knife. You know they couldn't have a knife at school. I was wondering
about your Hop Scotch. The ground was hard enough, you just made it with a stick in the
ground.
32
CM - Yes, Madam.
KW - Because there wasn't any cement there?
CM - Right.
KW - And what do you remember that was fun? I know you worked hard, but what did you
have that was fun.
CW - Played ball, marbles. I'd shoot marbles with them, with my brother.
KW - Shoot marbles with your brother, sure, O.K. Now I don't think that many people in
those days went out to eat. If you went anywhere. What can we say about one Christmas
holiday? Think about that for a moment. Do you have anything to remember about a
Christmas holiday? Do you want to start, Mrs. Moore?
CM - At Christmas time, like coming up to Christmas, my parents, they would go buy things
for us, you know, some toys and some clothes and they would hide them. And they would
tell us that Santa Claus was coming, you know, Christmas Eve. We'd be so afraid
because we thought there really was a Santa coming. We'd get in the bed early, you
know, and they would take, see I was raised up like...and they would scratch to make that
scoot like Santa came down the fireplace, you know.
KW - Yeah, he came down that fireplace.
CM - See while we were sleeping he would get those things, toys and clothes and then like
Santa brought them. Then we'd get when morning cameand Lord we'd be so happy that
Santa had come.
KW - Did you have Christmas trees? A tree or any kind of decorations ?
CM - They would get an old tree out the woods you know and have it up and as best
decorations as they could have. Not like today's pretty decorations. They put some
popcorn and some beads, stuff like that.
33
KW - They sure were pretty weren't they?
CM - Yes madam. but we were so happy, that Santa had brought us these things.
KW - And you never, and they were talking to you about being good so Santa would bring
you things.
CM - They sure would. And getting close to Christmas we'd try to be the very best that we
could.
KW - So you remember that too Mr. Crouch? You were a good boy for a while.
OC - I didn't have much choice.
KW - What do you remember Mrs. Williams?
they wanted to stay up so they could see what was going on.
KW - And then huh when you were a little girl you can remember that store and your
father would get groceries there at Neely store. What do you remember about grocery
business, or...
CM - When I was a little girl.
KW - Little girl particularly.
34
CW - I remember as a little kid I would always want...I had to make the others go to sleep ,
KW - Sure you had to help Santa Clause I guess pretty early. Now it talks about
businesses and they want to know any about a business. Any kind of business in Bryan
College Station that you remember. Now most of your folks were farmers, your business
was the carpentry your daddy did. What other business do you remember? Where did you
go for your grocery shopping. When you were married can you remember some of those ,
where was the store you went to.
CW - The one that I would , My father use to go buy groceries in Wellborn.
KW - At Wellborn, is that that same store?
CW - They had one when we were small they had two down there, the Neely store and the
Royals.
KW - The Neely store has been there a long time. I guess Mr. Neely's father had that, did
he?
CW - He had two girls and two boys as far as I know.
CM - Well the farm we lived on the man had what you call a commissary.
KM- -Oh I see.
CM - And my daddy would go in the wagon and would always get the groceries the
groceries at the commissary.
KW - On that farm?
CM - Yes madam.
KW - And that was when you were little, what do you remember you two young ladies
when you were first married, where did you get your groceries then?
CW - Well I bought mine in Wellborn when was staying there and then when I moved to
college then I was going to some of the rest of the stores around here . The Hardliquor
store.
35
KW - That's right and then there was Mays up here, and what about you do you remember
where you went.
CM - We use to get our groceries at Mays groceries.
KW - At Mays store?
CM - Get some things at Hardliqours store and there was a store up here on the corner of
George bush drive now. I remember that store and we would go up there and get groceries
too.
KW - I didn't remember a store like that in 1947.
CM - Oh I don't know about 47 I wasn't over here then, but after I married and all I came
over here.
KW - It was there, oh I think I know where South side is.
CM - Yes south side groceries.
KW - A Mr. Rizzo, I don't remember when Luke Rizzo ,that's where you would get in 55
that was there and had been there for a while.
CM - South side.
KW - South side would be good place.
CM - Right.
KW - And then I don't know when Holiks did theirs do you remember anything about that?
OC - It was a grocery store, Holik's had a grocery at Hillcrest.
KW - At Hillcrest?
OC - They've got another store there now but it wasn't Holiks.
KW - Oh when was this , about after you graduated high school?
OC - before they came into the city limits, before he came into Bryan.
KW - Oh I see, I don't remember what was there, do you remember anything about who
owned the property in these places or what?
CW - Well the Hardliquor's owned this one.
36
KW - The Hardliquors , oh I remember hearing about that oh and then there was miss
Mays and of course he still been around and Mr. Rizzo and of course he's gone, Mrs.
Rizzo is still hear though. Do you remember her at south side and Teresa and Luke? And
Luke is now delivering coca cola or something like that so I see him alot, now that was in
55 when they had a store in south side, but Mays they had that in 47.
OC - I remember that sure.
KW - You remember Mays?
OC - Yeah.
KW - We did all our shopping at Mays. None of your families had a business, was your
family, was that a business that your family had?
OC - No.
KW - He did his carpentry for something else.
OC - Yes, FHA.
KW - Excuse me ,what did you say?
OC - FHA, federal housing.
KW - Yea for the federal housing but someone else was in charge of pulling the crew
together. And huh this is talking now were going to get finished because its talking all
about while your mother and father worked in the store what did you do? While you all
37
were out in the cotton did you go to school like late in the fall or something like that when
you were working? did you go when they did the harvest? when were they taking it in the
wagon did you have to miss some school then?
CM - No they would always let us go to school.
KW - Go to school.
CM - Yes madam.
38
KW - That's good my daddy had to miss a lot at school and of course you didn't that much
farming while you were going to school, did you in highschool? When your folks had that
farm did they let you go to school a full year?
OC - That's right.
KW - Well that's wonderful, Do you know anything about the depression. do you know
anything about how the depression affected your families?
OC - That's the reason I was in carpentry work.
KW - That's why you were what?
OC - That's the reason my daddy was a carpenter, He had to take me that's was during the
depression.
KW - During the depression , he had another job besides the farm.
OC - Sure, He wasn't farming he just did his carpentry work.
KW - Carpenter work during the depression. Can you remember anything else about the
depression?
CW - Out in west Texas we'd pick cotton and stuff.
KW - Your father would have to leave the area to work and come back, but he left you at
home because some people took their whole families, do you remember how it affected
you?
OC - Skip the WWI because he was a farmer they didn't take him. My uncle was fixing a
shotgun and it went off and blooded these two fingers out of my uncles hand and he got
exempt on that and he didn't have to go either.
KW - didn't have to go to WWI?
OC - That's right.
KW - And Mrs. Williams what were you saying about your uncle?
CW - My fathers brother.
KW - And do you remember anything about him? Coming home or anything special about
it. you must have been very little.
CW - I wasn't' staying close to him, but I remember him coming home but I wasn't around
him much.
KW - Not in that bunch . Do you remember anything about the war because maybe your
whole area was a farm and your daddy was needed to day there.
CM - He didn't go in the service. What year was WWI?
39
KW - 1917.
CM - Well I don't remember I wasn't even born.
40
KW - You weren't even born, my goodness I get all confused, but I saw that you were born
by then so you, yea that's right. Now how bout WW2. That's what you were talking about
rationing. so you remembered you to share that with us because you had a young Family
then didn't you Mrs. Moore.
CM - Yes madam, my husband went in the service.
KW - Your husband went in the service?
CM - Yes madam, and I had to move back home with my parents because I was pregnant
and I couldn't stay by myself so they wanted me back home.
KW - Write a lot of letters I guess.
CM - We did, and sometimes he'd write and ask me to send him a chocolate cake.
KW - Chocolate cake. How far did you have to send that cake?
CM - He was stationed in Italy.
KW - In Italy? Did you ever send him a chocolate cake?
CM- I did.
KW - You did , did he get that cake?
CM - He got it.
KW - He got that cake. Oh my goodness what does any one else want to share?
CW - My husband went in the service, he stayed in there quite a while. He was in the
Navy.
KW - He was in the Navy. Do you have any special memory to share?
CW - I can't think of any.
KW - He got to see the world.
CW - Yea. I didn't. I had to stay at home. I was staying up here at college and I was
working everyday and he was in the service. Both of my brothers.
41
KW - And both of your brothers. Oh, did any of your family go Mrs. Moore? Your brothers
or any of those in World War II, of course, some women went Did you ever know any
women that went?
CM - No, I can't remember.
KW - That's was pretty not -late in the war but not right at the beginning when they had the
waves and the wax. It was not right at the beginning. Well, do you have anything else you
can share with us on that. Now the next two questions you can answer and be thinking of
if there's anything else you want to say. And something else you may want to add to this
even one of our workers here. What do you have in the way of things like photos or old
drawings or maps from 1920 to 1949. Do you have like that at home, anything you'd like to
share, huh, with them. Anything they would be very careful with it and there's a paper here
that say' how careful they would be. I gave them alot of school picture, but I couldn't recall
all the children's names. Some of them had names. As I said if you did give these, they
would make copies, they wouldn't keep them. You know. You might look and see you
might have a ration book or something you know or something.
CW - I know I have my mother's and father's pictures at the house.
CM - I have picture of my older brother. He was older than my sister and myself too and I
was the baby. But I have a picture of him when he was a little boy.
42
KW - That might be a nice picture to share. It might look especially like that time. So, huh,
would you talk to Mrs. Silvia Martinez, you know, Silvia, the one that brought us over here.
Well, why don't you take. I'II give you my phone number and you can call me maybe can
pick it up or something like that. Keep thinking now because our final time of, huh. Any of
you have anything that you want to bring and share. Clean out all of your drawers and
things. Gotten rid of those things?
KW - That might be very special because if he was older, he'd be a little boy, I'm just going
to put my phone number but the thing is where you want to take it not really I don't have
anything to do with it except just that I want to remind you and you can talk to Silvia about
it and they'll be very careful with it. They put it in things and they'll make a copy. And it
would be nice. And when they make this book. Try to see if you can have on it the
person's name and you know that we didn't talk about it, somewhere in here it says if they
mention their brothers or their sisters we're supposed to get all those names. You want to
think for a minute what brothers or sisters we mentioned and add those names to the
recording. We told about our fathers and mothers names at the beginning but do you want
to tell about what your bother's name was you said you had his picture when he was a little
boy. OK, why don't you do that.
43
CM - My brother's name was Charlie Hadley.
KW - Charlie?
CM - Hadley, HADLEY.
KW - And, huh, he grew up on the farm where you did and then he was older and probably
did he leave earlier?
CM - I don't know just when he did, but he moved to College Station. And he worked at the
Chemistry Building.
KW - I see, before you left the farm.
CM - Oh, yes ma'am
KW - Did we mention; did you mention any of your family that we should be sure to have
their names.
OC - They weren't in this county, you know.
KW - That's right.
OC - In Robertson County.
KW - In Robertson County.
OC - Yes.
KW - Well, did they have any special experiences, you did mention you know your father's
brother that had the shotgun accident. Would you like to tell us his name.
44
OC - His name was John L.
KW - John .
OC -L.
KW - How do you spell it?
OC - He just got an initial.
KW - John L.
OC - Yea. L comes from his uncle that was named Louis and they just gave him the initial.
KW - That's an interesting comment, I don't know if they still do it . That's what my father
had was just an initial but the Army made him make a name.
OC - Yea, they did that to my brother.
KW - That was for my father that was WW1 and your brother served in the...?
OC - No, he didn't serve.
KW - Was that your father's brother?
OC - My father and my brother, my father's brother both...they got exempt. He was
exempt from the county and my father was exempt because he was on the farm.
KW - That's right, they needed the people to stay on the farm. Was there anybody we
mentioned...without telling their name, Mrs. Williams?
CW - Hum.
KW - Was there anybody we mentioned that we needed to tell their name. We said
already your mother and father's name sand if you have a nice picture.
CW - INAUDIBLE
KW - Anything else Mrs. Lancaster that you wanted to add?
Lancaster - I think they have been such good story tellers.
KW - Isn't it interesting.
Lancaster - They've been so good.
45
KW - 20 share all this with you yet some of these things you haven't thought about for a
while. I'm curious about one thing. What you would like to add one thing or ask a
question. I'm interested about mass media with the Olympics going on and the bombing
and all that stuff. Did they have a daily newspaper or a radio. How did they find out about
what was going on. All right, well, how did you find out about what was going on.
CM - Television.
CW - Radio.
KW - Well, television cam much later. We had radio.
OC - We had a telephone before the radio.
CW - Telephone, radio.
OC - We had a wind up telephone. So many short and too many long was somebody's
phone number.
KW - When was that before you got out of high school?
OC - 1914.
KW - 1914 was about when you got a telephone.
OC - And we had to build the line ourselves.
KW - Built the line yourselves?
OC - It's a wire you had to use an iron wire and they'd give us a line. They'd give it to the
Bell Telephone Company to keep it up.
KW - Was this when, excuse me, was this when you were in Bryan /College Station.
OC - No, no, no.
KW - 1914. No of course not this was when you were in the Calvert area.
OC - That's right.
KW - Go ahead, excuse me.
OC - Came a storm and hit the tree. We had the wire to knock it in the garden. Broke it
plum down and the lighting came in the line, messed up the telephone and a bolt of fire
came in just like that and it broke open like a pistol shot. Right in the house.
KW - Right in the house.
OC - And the telephone was torn up so bad they wouldn't even try to fix it.
KW - But you got another one.
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OC - It was different from that one of course. We moved to town after that.
KW - And so you had a different one. Do you remember your first telephone or your first
radio?
CM - Yes. We was over in Burleson County and finally my daddy bought a radio because
they would want to listen to the fights over the radio. And we just felt so happy because
we really felt that we had something because we had a radio.
KW - Do you remember getting your first radio?
CW - Hum, we had a radio. We had a radio and we had this here victrola.
KW - Phonograph, but you didn't do much dancing. You just did that listening.
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Lancaster - Mr. Crouch, my daddy told us about the time when he was a young man that
he helped build the telegraph wire and they put...had big barrels of water for the men to
drink and they put oatmeal in the water to strengthen the men because it was so hot and it
gave the men strength. Do you remember even hearing of them putting oatmeal in the
water?
OC - No, ma'am
Lancaster - This was back...I'm sure in the early, early pat of the century.
KW - When you had your own wire, when you got your new telephone was Bell Telephone
then putting in the wire?
OC - Yea. Bell Telephone had that area, Southwestern Bell.
KW - By then you didn't have to put in your own, probably they put it in.
OC - No, we had telephone in town.
KW - Oh, that's right but still probably be part of rural electric wouldn't it? Because it was
they celebrated November the 11. Do you remember anything like that. We'll close on
that special note because you don't remember the early Olympics say. Now think of that
young man from Baylor, did you see him last night in that interview didn't that make you
proud. He was wonderful, Jesse owens widow had written him a letter and then Carl
Lewis. Proud isn't it. But you didn't see any of that when it was going on before can't
remember on the radio it was there but it wasn't like it is now. What about the
newspapers? Do you remember much about the newspapers? Did you throw a
newspaper?
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between the towns.
OC - No, we were in the town.
KW - In Calvert, when you went to high school.
OC - Yea and...
KW - Did you all have a radio?
OC - Uh, later.
KW - So the important things you know when World War I, was over and then all the times
KW - Well, I certainly thank you all if you have one more word for prosperity I think they
are going to have fun listening to this.
CM - They sure will.
KW - Do you have to transcribe it from this tape who does that?
CM - One thing you know you were asking about fun we use to have when I was a child,
we use to play church we would just sing sometime one of us would be the preacher and I
would be the preacher sometimes and we would get the catalog and that was our bible.
And whatever we'd see coming up that was our subject I remember the turkey and the
turkey pan.
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KW - Well did you ever bury animals, when you found dead birds we spent alot of time on
that. We'd go walk the streets I grew up on the city. But we would bury birds and goldfish.
We had a special cemetery. You didn't do that.
CW - We didn't know what a gold fist was then.
KW - That's right.
CM - Just a regular fish.
KW - And you wouldn't bury that?
CW - My daddy thats the biggest thing he did when he wasn't working in the fields. On the
river fishing, he loved that thing called fishing.
KW - And you like to eat it to didn't you?
CW - I don't care that much about fishing, I ate so much when I was a kid that I don't care
that much about fish. I like to fish. But I don't care that much about eating.
KW - About eating it. If you have any to spare I'm right around the corner.
CW - Ok.
KW - Will anything else, thinking about , did you play school.
CM - We played school and we played teachers.
KW - Will this has been most interesting. I'm very happy and excited about you people
and I will turn in these papers, I'm just excited.
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