Surviving "The Great Depression Years"

"The Great Depression" was a time of great economic disaster for our
country. It  began in 1929 and was still going on when I was born
in the 1930s. Our country was producing more goods than were being sold.
For instance, the average wage for hard labor was about $10-$15 a week and
a lady's coat sold for about $28. Wages were low and the cost of living
was high.

 Jobs were hard to find and Daddy was always looking for work, in the
mines, on the railroads, building highways or wherever he could make a few
dollars. People took care of their own and every family member was expected
to do their share of the work. Their survival depended upon working
together. Lou and I helped Mama with household chores, cleaning, washing,
ironing, cooking and bringing in water from the well. My brothers, Ben and
Russell's responsibility was to bring in wood and coal for the fireplaces and
the cook stove. Lou and I helped them too. We were always able to find
plenty of driftwood by the river or from nearby woods. One of the neighbors
who lived up the road above us owned a coal mine near a creek. When he
washed the coal some always came down the creek near our house and we were
able to get some coal from the creek. Sometimes the creek would freeze over
and we had to use our hands to dig the coal out of the icy water. Our hands
would be numb with cold when we got home. But we never complained, just
done what needed to be done to survive. When Daddy was able to get work in
the mines, he would buy a load of coal {usually a ton) from his boss and
that helped a lot.

  Sometimes we didn't have enough to eat during the winter. That's the way
it was when we had a bad crop year and Daddy couldn't find a job. I
remember one time in particular when all we had to eat for three days was
"parched corn." Mama shelled corn off the cobs, put it in an iron skillet
with some lard. She held it over the fire in the fireplace and shook the
skillet back and forth until the kernels were browned. She called it
"parched corn." It didn't taste too good but it was better than going
hungry.  
  We gathered the corn from the fields in the fall. Some of the corn was
taken to the nearby mill to be ground into meal for cornbread. The rest was
saved to feed the farm animals through the winter. Sometimes our supper
consisted of a pan of cornbread and a gallon of milk but we were very
grateful to have that.

 Most of the time we had enough supplies to do us through the winter
months. We made jelly, jam, canned fruit, pork, beef, and chickens. We
"holed up" our potatoes and apples. Just dug a hole about three feet in the
ground, layered it with leaves or hay and put the potatoes or apples
inside, covered them with a layer of more leaves or hay, put a wooden lid
over them and covered that with dirt. They would keep nice and fresh all
winter or until they were all eaten.

 My brothers, Ben and Russell hunted and trapped for wild animals along the
Clinch River. They brought in deer, wild turkeys, rabbits and squirrels to
eat. I couldn't eat any kind of meat, because I made pets out of all of the
farm animals. I always ran away to a neighbor's house when "hog killing
time" came. This usually happened during the Thanksgiving week.

  Thanksgiving was a pretty special day around our house. We
usually had chicken, canned vegetables and fruit. Mama always made
pumpkin pies that would melt in your mouth. We always had fresh pumpkins
from the garden in the fall. If the boys had good luck hunting we would
have wild turkey instead of chicken for Thanksgiving. We were all grateful
for the food that we had. Anyone who came to our house was welcome to share
our meals with us no matter how much or how little that we had. Mama would
say "We ain't got much, but you're welcome to "such as tis" (such as it is)
Mama made sure that we thanked God for our meals.

  Our clothes were mostly homemade or hand-me-downs. Mama made Lou and I
dresses out of flour sacks until we got too big for the sacks. Flour was
sold in beautiful cotton print sacks. Lou complained a lot because she had
to wear my "hand-me-downs" (things that I had outgrown) Mama bought some
second hand clothes from neighbors who had girls who were our age. Daddy
and our brothers wore overalls that had patches on patches. It seemed like
Mama was always patching clothes for some of us.

  We went barefoot to school until it got too cold. We only got shoes in
the winter time. Shoes were expensive and were only worn to school or to
church. When the bottoms wore out daddy would put new soles and heels on
them until the tops wore out. Shoe soles and heels could be bought at the
general store.

  Times were hard, and the outside world considered us as people living in
poverty. If we were we didn't know it because all of our neighbors
lived the same way that we did. We had some good times too that I will
share with you in another story.
 After all, happiness comes from people not material things.
  I respect my parents for their endurance and their struggle for our
survival. They did the best that they could and I am proud of them.

        -Detta Davis