The Depression in Letters

A few weeks ago, I took my children for a hike on the Kephart Prong Trail.  Beginning at a pull-off on the right about a mile past the Collins Creek picnic area, the trail is gorgeous, especially in the fall and spring.  On this day, our destination was the shelter that lies two miles up the trail.  But one of my favorite sections of the trail lies only about 0.2 miles from the trailhead.  The Kephart Prong Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp,  Company #411, was established on 25 May 1933 and operated continuously through 1942, at which time it was abandoned by the CCC but was subsequently used as a work camp for conscientious objectors during World War II. Several vestiges of the camp remain, including the signboard, boxwoods, the chimney for the barracks, and a water fountain. 

Chimney at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The water fountain at Kephart Prong CCC Camp

The CCC, part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 'New Deal' program, offered hope for economic survival to the families of young men aged 18 - 25.  First begun in 1933 and operating until 1942, the CCC employed these young men in natural resources work throughout the country.  The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was but one of the many natural areas that benefitted from this program.  Workers were sheltered, clothed and fed and paid a wage of $30 a month, $25 of which was sent home to help support their families.  For families receiving these monetary fruits of their sons' labors, the $450 this equates to in 2013 currency meant the difference between having a home (however humble) versus living on the street, or eating beans and rice versus starvation.  

The Great Depression hit Swain County hard.  Though those of hardy stock in the mountains, who were used to 'making do or doing without' weathered the time better than those in the cities, it was still an era during which families barely scraped by.  With unemployment in 1933 hovering around 25%, the opportunities presented by the CCC must have seemed like a god-send to desperate families.  Many in Swain County applied for the precious few positions available to 'local men' for work in the Smokies, or for work elsewhere.

John T. Needham
GSMNP Superintendent
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

CCC Recruits in front of Park Offices in Bryson City, 1933
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

 The park archives at Sugarlands contain page after page of names of our county's men, young and old, who applied.  Some were interviewed, and many were not.  Most were turned down.  Eighty years later, a few of the letters of application to John Needham (acting park superintendent at the time) can still be found in the park archives, and that is what I have chosen to share with you today.  For ease of reading, I have transcribed these letters, however, in order to stay true to history, I have left their grammar and syntax as they were written. They provide a poignant glimpse of life in Depression-era Swain County.
 

Granville Isaiah Calhoun 1875-1978

May 22 1933
Mr. John T. Needham
Bryson City N.C.
Dear Mr. Needham
I wish to file my application for a forman place to handle the men on the road up Forney Creek.  I have had a lot of experience in building all kinds of roads here in this part of the country building trails in the Smokey Mountains wagon Roads and R-Road work.  I built the first 5 miles of Railroad up Hazel Creek for the W.M. Ritter Lumber Co. whos head office is in Columbus Ohio.  I worked for N. Carolina Mining Co. for most of 2 years and worked for the North Carolina Copper Mining Company and _____ there agent there for 33 years and am agent here for them now.  I dun open cut work and under ground work.  I had charge of 125 men for them while the was ________________ for copper and I had 125 men working under me when I was building R-Road for the W.M. Ritter Lumber co. on Hazel Creek in this county.  I have had considerabl experience in __________ powder and hand drilling with common labor.  I can do nice tunnell work under ground.  I am 58 years old, way (sic) 220# and am in good health.  I have had Typhoid Fever in 1908 and bin vaxinated since several times.  I have had Small Pox in 1910.  I never have had any venereal diseases in my Life.  I have had measls mumps.  Never have had Pneumonia..
If any further information is desired would be glad to furnish it.
Yours Truly, 
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun first CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Thomas Cole (1887 - 1965)

(Forney) Bushnell
June 14 1933
Mr. J.T. Needham
I understand you are going to have some carpenter work done at camp here at Forney.  I would like to help you out in that line if you are going to be in need of a carpenter are another Blacksmith.  If you don't need a carpenter I have had a quiet a lot of experence with a drilling crew in rock - and blasting if you would need a man like that.  I live here at church by side of Monteith.
Yours 
William T. Cole
P.S. When you was here getting names I was not thru my corns but am most done now.

William Thomas Cole CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

James Monroe Cole (1888 - 1961)

East La Port, NC
June 15 33
Mr. Needham;
Dear Sir,
I am sending in my application to get work with Smoky Mountains National Park as a road builder or any forest work.  I was borned and reared in Swain Co., Have wife one child, mother and invalid brother whom look to me for dependence.  If can't get in just now hope you will file my applications & remember me, if you are adding on more men. 
Very Truly,
J.M. Cole
East La Port
North Carolina

James Monroe Cole CCC Letter, pages 1 and 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Silas Henry Greene:  1896 - 1995

Judson NC July 25th 1933
Mr. Needham Park Mgr.
Dear Mr. Needham,
I would be glad if you can furnish me employment in the Park as I am a world war veteran.  Was over sea with the 30th Div, and have never had any help from the Gov.  I am in hard luck financially and I have a family of 7 to support.  If you can place me on any kind of job to help support my family will certainly apprecate the position.  Thinking you in advance for anything you will do for me in obtaining a position, of any kind of labor. 
I am yours truly
Silas Greene
Judson, NC

Silas Greene CCC Letter
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun, follow-up letter

Bryson City NC
Oct 25th 1933
Mr J.T. Needingham
Bryson City NC
Dear Mr. Needingham
I was told today that the new camp on deep creek had no Superintendant yet and that the place was going to be given to a local man.  one who nows (sic) the mountains and who has had experience in these mountains and who nows how to build roads and lay out trails in the mountains.  I think I could fill the place and handle the men all right.  I would apreciate a chance at the place and if I failed I would wilingly step down and let some other man take my place.  I looked for you this evening and did not find you to talk to about this job.  I can do the work ______________________as has been dun at Forney Creek just as good as any man, I think and would like chance at the job as superentendant same as Mr. Greer has at Forney.  Please let me know if you think I would stand any chance at getting the place. 
Yours Very Truly
G. I. Calhoun

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 2
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives

Granville Calhoun's second CCC letter, pg 1
Courtesy:  GSMNP Archives
















There can be little doubt that the simple prose contained in the letters these proud mountain men penned, imparts a much clearer depiction of the Depression in Swain County than mere statistics could ever hope to show.  Regrettably, I do not know whether these men were ever provided the opportunity to obtain the much-needed work they so desperately desired.  It is certain, though, that most every young man who had the opportunity to work for the CCC had a similar story to tell.

But with every trail these young men built, every road they constructed, and every seedling they planted, a ray of hope was borne into the lives of their families....who were impoverished not only of money but also of spirit during those bleak days of the 1930's.  These letters allow me to 'see' the Depression in Swain County and how it unwittingly helped to make the GSMNP the rare gem that it is today.  They make me appreciate our county and our park in a way that I never could have before.  I hope they will do the same for you.

CCC Camp 411 Enrollees in front of barracks
Courtesy:  www.nps.gov

________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Annette Hartigan, Former GSMNP Librarian
GSMNP Archives
www.ancestry.com
www.nps.gov

A Lesson in Equality



This picture captivated me from the first moment I saw it.




John A. Woody family and unknown black man
(Courtesy:  Christine Proctor)

The old man in the picture is John Quincy Adams Woody, a Civil War veteran who served as a private in the Thomas Legion from 1862 - 1863.  Presumably the others, excepting one, are some of his children and grandchildren.  But 'tis not them, nor the fine log home, nor the dog, nor the chickens in the photo that so captures my attention.  No - it is the black man in the middle. 

No one in the family is still living who remembers his name, where he was from, when he was born, how he came to live with the Woody's, or when and where he died.  But they do know one thing - John A. Woody considered him his friend.  In the post-Reconstruction era in the South, this relationship was quite an anomaly.  Blacks might have gained their freedom and the right to vote but had little else....certainly not the respect or friendship of most white folks during that time.  John was the exception, but his family - at least in the beginning - was the rule.


John Quincy Adams and Manerva Palestine (Bradshaw) Woody
(Courtesy:  Christine Proctor)

Shortly after the man came to live with the family, two of the older boys came by to stay a night or two with the family.  It was a time during which it was common for family members and passers-by to share a bed, and this night was no exception. The boys were horrified at the thought of having to share a bed with a colored man and fought viciously with one another over who would have to do so.  But John Woody, having none of it, decided to teach his sons a lesson.  He had the black man sleep in the middle of the bed, and the boys on either side of him.  The watchful John made certain that they stayed there all night.

The lesson was learned, and the man became a beloved member of the family, residing with them for many years.

There were precious few African-Americans on the North Shore of what is now Fontana Lake.  A few families described in the 1910 and 1920 Forney Creek Township census as either 'black', 'negro' or 'mulatto', moved into the area for the logging industry, residing on Hazel Creek and in the Forney area.  Another family lived in the Epps Springs community.  However, none may be found in census records pre-dating 1910, and none are found in any records with John A. Woody's family at any time.  Who was he? 

Sadly, his identity appears to be lost to history...but is his picture?



A cartoon showing the breadth of the
North Carolina 'Spanish Flu' epidemic
(www.learnnc.org)

In 1918 and 1919, the 'Spanish Flu' epidemic swept across Swain County, claiming many lives in its relentless march. Despite its isolation, Hazel Creek was not to be spared, and there are a number of graves on the creek that attest to the epidemic's ferocity.  One of these lies on Sugar Fork, in the Higdon cemetery.  The stone simply reads, 'A Black Man'.  No one living remembers his name.....but they do remember that he was an elderly man who cared for many of Hazel Creek's flu victims before finally succumbing himself.  After he passed, he was buried at the Higdon Cemetery, but outside the fence.  Despite giving his life for the white folk on the creek, he was segregated from them in death.

The writing on the back of the Woody picture states that it was taken at Medlin, a community that lies just a short distance away from the Higdon cemetery and which was discussed in last week's blog post.  John Woody, who died in 1903, appears to be very old in the photo.  If the image was taken in the late 1890's or thereabouts, then the black man in it would have been much older by the time of the flu epidemic.   Is it possible that the Woody family's picture may reveal to us the face of the man buried in the Higdon cemetery?


'A Black Man' stone, Higdon Cemetery
(Mike Gourley, findagrave.com)

We will never know....in all likelihood it was not.  And yet, it is interesting to speculate. If the two men were one and the same, was his selfless care for the white folk of the community, which led to his own death, a way of  paying back the kindness and inclusion that John Woody and his family had provided him, a black man, over the years? 

When the park began granting access to the North Shore cemeteries, an effort was made to permanently mark the graves of those individuals who had only fieldstones denoting their final resting place.  This effort is ongoing, and hundreds of graves of known individuals have received small stones, rescuing them from anonymity.  When the Higdon cemetery was surveyed, folks recalled the man who had helped care for their kin, and the decision was made to provide a proper stone for him, despite not knowing his name.  But most symbolically, the fence was moved in order to integrate the black man whose care and devotion to the white settlers of Hazel Creek was so well-remembered some 60 or more years later.  And who might one think was one of the primary people leading the effort?  Christine Cole Proctor, John Woody's great-granddaughter. 

While his civil war service and the family of 9 upstanding citizens that he raised are noted with pride by the family, it seems that a lesson in equality, imparted to his sons  over 125 years ago and enduring to this day, was John A. Woody's greatest legacy.

 

John A. Woody Tombstone, Tellico Cemetery
(Gail Anderson, findagrave.com)

Postscript: 
John Quincy Adams and Manerva (Bradshaw) Woody are buried at the Tellico Cemetery in Macon County, North Carolina. 
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GSln=Woody&GSiman=1&GScid=48916&GRid=81014125&CRid=48916&

For those wishing to visit the Higdon Cemetery, the annual decoration day is on the third Sunday in August.  The park service provides transportation from the Cable Cove boat ramp.  For more details, please visit the link below:
http://northshorecemeteries.com/html/body_schedule.html

________________________________________________________________________
Sources:
Family story:  Christine Cole Proctor
Photos:  Christine Cole Proctor; Gail Anderson and Mike Gourley on findagrave.com
Decoration Day in the Mountains, by Alan Jabbour and Karen Singer Jabbour.
http://www.learnnc.org
http://www.findagrave.com

A Hazel Creek Shopping Trip

Upon the death of my great-grandparents, John and Edna Alderdyce, in the late 1970's, my mother (the family genealogist) came into the possession of a very old ledger that had been passed down through the family. The ledger had been owned by a man named John Butterfield, who had owned and operated a mill in Brooklyn, Michigan and was a record of his transactions with many of the folk living in the area between 1841 and 1844. Deciding that the ledger should go back to its home state, Mom photographed it in its entirety and then donated it to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan in recent years. Both of us get a great deal of pleasure at the thought of Brooklyn-area researchers finding the names of relatives and their transactions in that book.

We in Swain County are fortunate in that a descendant of a Hazel Creek settler in the early 1900's had a similar thought. 


Louis Hampton with Children
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and
WCU Special Collections)

Louis Ashville Hampton was married to Laura M. Proctor, a great-grandchild of Moses and Patience Proctor, around 1905. It was a second marriage for both, to which they each brought children. They settled in the area of Hazel Creek near its horseshoe bend and counted among their neighbors and friends many of Laura's extended family and the yet to be published author, Horace Kephart.


 A few weeks ago, I had lunch with sisters Alatha (Russell) Cantrell and Dolores (Russell) Price, who are great-grandchildren of Louis and Laura. Alatha, who is her family's genealogist, brought materials pertaining to her great-grandparents, a portion of which relate to the subject of this week's blog post. A few years ago, one of the Hamptons' descendants decided that some family materials in his possession should be retained in an archival facility in the mountains. These materials were donated to Western Carolina University's Hunter Library, and are housed in the special collections area. Among the items in the collection are a 1909 letter from Kephart to Louis, some envelopes, postcards, and some receipts. But the true prize of the collection is a ledger covering the period of time from 1903 until 1949.

Laura (Proctor) Hampton (1877 - 1918)
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell)

Louis Hampton's records from 1903 - 1913 are of particular interest to Swain Countians, for they provide a one-of-a-kind glance into shopping on Hazel Creek close to the turn of the 20th century. During this time period, the majority of the food consumed by the family was grown at home and/or hunted. However, certain commodities had to be purchased that could not be obtained in any other manner. Louis Hampton went literally all over the upper Hazel Creek area in order to purchase what he needed.

My good friend, Don Casada, has put in thousands of hours on the ground and sifting through old deeds in a quest to map and assign ownership and/or tenancy to as many of the old homesites as possible, on Swain County lands which are now park-owned. Knowing that he'd done a great deal of work on Hazel Creek already, I asked him to create a map of some of the sites and individuals mentioned in the ledger in order to visualize their locations relative to one another. This excellent aid is shown below.  In a day and age in which we can complete the majority of our shopping within a one-mile radius of town (at least in Bryson City), the distances which Louis had to travel to work and to obtain some of the necessities of life (by foot and horse, no less) are quite enlightening.  For a relative idea of distance, Don has noted that it was 4.5 miles by road from Louis Hampton's home to George A. Brooks' home. 


A map of the Hazel Creek area, showing key locations noted in Louis Hampton's ledger
(Courtesy Don Casada)

Louis Hampton appears to have worked in some capacity for the much-contested Everett / Adams / Westfeldt mine on Sugar Fork.  The mine operated for a number of years in the late 1800's but was closed in 1901 due to litigation between past and current owners.   As it did not re-open until the 1920's, by which time Louis Hampton had left Hazel Creek, what he was doing for work is unknown.  As one of his records states that he essentially house-sat for W.S. Adams, it is probable that he served as a caretaker.  The North Carolina Mining Company, noted as being the payor in the picture below, bought the mine from Adams, who was, interestingly enough, its president.  The $25 per month that he received from the North Carolina Mining Company appears to have been his primary source of income, though he notes payment for odd jobs in other areas of the ledger.  In looking through his records, this amount, though seemingly small to us today (it would have been equivalent to about $450 a month), appears to have provided for the basic needs of the family.

Given that Horace Kephart lived in one of the abandoned workers' cabins at the mine when he arrived on Hazel Creek, the friendship between the two men was likely begun here.

Everett / Adams / Westfeldt Mine
(Kephart Collection,
WCU Special Collections)



One of the records detailing Hampton's monthly pay
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and WCU Special Collections)














Due to his employment at the mine on Sugar Fork, it seems only natural that Louis Hampton would have made many of his purchases at Granville Calhoun's store in Medlin.  This small settlement was located at the confluence of Sugar Fork and Hazel Creek and consisted primarily of this one store (in which the post office also resided) and a few nearby homes.  There are several accounts in the ledger providing transactions with the Calhoun store, but this one caught my eye for his purchase of 'jelley' for 35 cents.

 

Account with the Calhoun Store at Medlin
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and
WCU Special Collections)

The Calhoun Store at Medlin
(Kephart Collection, WCU Special Collections)

  The W.A. Franklin store, which was far down Hazel Creek toward Possum Hollow and near the Proctor School, also carried many of the necessities of life, from cloth to soap to coffee.  According to Duane Oliver's excellent book, 'Hazel Creek from Then till Now',  Franklin instituted a 'scrip' system for the convenience of his customers, allowing them to essentially charge their purchases.  Despite this added convenience, I think it's interesting to note here that the storekeepers on Hazel Creek seemed to keep their prices essentially the same with one another.   In this remote mountain wilderness, keeping the goodwill of all the folk living in the area would have been worth far more than the risks of engaging in a price war.



Account with the W.A. Franklin Store
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell  and WCU Special Collections)
 

He also visited the Bradshaw store prior to its acquisition by the Ritter Lumber Company in 1907.  Duane Oliver relates that Bradshaw's stocked cinnamon bark which was chewed by young folks on the creek.

Allen Welch, a cousin of Laura Hampton, provided not only meat, eggs and lard, but also some hauling that Louis Hampton required.



Allen Welch
(Courtesy of the book,
'Remembered Lives' by Duane Oliver)

Account with Allen Welch
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and
WCU Special Collections)

George Addison Brooks was a male midwife (he claims to have delivered over 300 babies in the area) and the ad-hoc dentist to whom one would go to have a tooth pulled with the pliers which hung on his wall.  He also appears to have able to provide an interesting assortment of goods, ranging from corn to suspenders and shoes.




Account with G.A. Brooks
(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and
WCU Special Collections )

George Addison Brooks
(Courtesy Swain County Heritage Book)

In 1904, Louis visited the Calhoun store on the day before Christmas.  He purchased candy, an orange and other goods.  One wonders who the treats were found by the next morning?  Was it one or more of his young children with ex-wife Charlotte Melvina Hall?  Or were they the young daughters of his soon-to-be new wife, Laura?



(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and WCU Special Collections)

The most poignant entry in the ledger, and my personal favorite, is recorded on 21 July 1913. 



(Courtesy Alatha Cantrell and WCU Special Collections)

Who was this baby for whom he bought flowers?  Was Laura delivered of a stillborn child or a child who lived only a few days?  Or were these for the deceased infant of a friend or family member? 

We will likely never know the answers to those questions, but what is certain is that the knowledge imparted by this ledger is priceless.  Simple though it may be, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the everyday commerce of a now-vanished community in Swain County at the turn of the 20th century.  

I hope you've enjoyed this shopping trip back in time.

Postscript:

A short time after the 1913 ledger entries, Louis, Laura and family moved east to work in the cotton mills of Gaston County....far from the hills of home.  Laura did not live long after the move, dying of renal and cardiac disease at the age of 40 in 1918.  Her death was likely precipitated by the birth of a son, James, the month before her death.  Sadly, little James did not make it and passed away one month after his mother.  Daughter Sarah Effie (the grandmother of Alatha and Dolores) lived to marry and have children but also predeceased her father, dying at 41 of cervical cancer.  His other children with both spouses outlived him.
 
At the age of 85, Louis Hampton departed this life to join his family.  He is buried in the Marlow Cemetery in Anderson County, Tennessee.

____________________________________________________________________________

Sources:
 - Alatha Cantrell and Dolores Price
 - Ancestry.com
 - Don Casada
 - Duane Oliver books "Hazel Creek from Then Till Now", and "Remembered Lives"
 - Hunter Library Special Collections, Western Carolina University:  Kephart Collection, and Louis Hampton Papers
 - Linda Banwarth
 - Margy Trehern
 - The Swain County Heritage Book