Document text
October 8, 1939
T. H. Phillips, Farmer
Jacobs Fork
Ethel Deal, writer
Lila J. Bruguiere, Reviser
Originql Names
T.H. Phillips
Emma Campbell
Kallie Reinhart
Sue Reinhart
Massouria Reinhart
Hagar Co.
Jacobs Forks
Hickory
Raleigh
Burke County
Catawba Mills
Oak Grove
Plateau
Potts Creek
Patterson Mills
Lenoir -Rhyne
Caldwell County
Changed Names
H. B. Moffat
Vary McGregor
Sallie Burkhart
Lou Burkhart
Magnolia Burkhart
Kruger M'f'g Co.
Perrys Forks
Briarwood
Merton
Banks County
Cherokee Mills
Plainfield
Ridocrest
Rodbranch
Watterson Mills
Leroy -Raines
Bedford County
Mk. Moffat, a big man with iron gray hair and
blue eyes, eased himself down by the arms of his chair.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm one of the
County Commissioners and this being the first Monday in
the month we've been having our regular meeting. I live
out at Perry' Yorke on a farm. /tve never lived in town.
Reckon that because I come from a long line of farmers.
I own my farm and farm it. I'd like to say here that I've
mode a success of it. Farming is a man's job. You can't
make nothing if you don't get down to brass tacks and do
it right. The way I run my land I don't have the same
crops on the same piece of ground every year. A man can't
expect to keep his land up and put nothing back in the
ground. Clover is a good builder and also a profit. I
raise cotton, corn, wheat and plenty of vegetables for
our own use and some for market. My father was a farmer
and a good one too. Be made a good living at it but there
were nine of us children. A college education was out of
the question for us."
Mk. Moffat sat back, crossed his legs and prepared to
enjoy the interview.
"I've worked my way up from a humble beginning to ay
present position as a leader in the County. At the age of
seventeen I left home and took a job on a farm. Farming
was all T knew at that time. I got paid eiEht dollore a
month end board. That was good wages them times. After
a year I quit the term and went to work for a textile cor-
poration in Briarwood. I stayed with this firm two years.
Like moat boys I was restless and vented to be always trying
sometbine new. Nothing could have been more difrerent from
mill work than my next job. I rrot a position es a ffuard at
the State Penitentiary at Merton. I wide $23.0 a month and
my board was furnished. liked it fine theru and was in-
vited by the ntlperintendent to stay on for a visit after I
quit. On my way back home from Merton I rode in the charter-
ed oar that was bringing the daldensians to Valdese. You
remember about them, of course. They were foreignera who
settled up there in Banks county some forty years ago.
"About this time I had another adventure. 1 was married
to Miss Uhry McGregor. That'll; one job I've never wanted to
ohange. The next thine I tried my hand at was tha pottery
business at Plainfield and 1 operated a cotton gin at the
9gme time. Then I switched back to manufacturing end was
made manaper of the Cherokee oolen UtIle. inps used to
be run a little different then. Only men were used in that
mill. Misses 7allie, Lou and Magnolia Burkhart were the
first ladies to be employed there. They received for their
services twenty five Gents a day when a day was from dawn
to dark.
"In 1900 I organized the Redbranch Woolen Mills near
Ridgecrest. The plant was old when I bought it and was
operated with the crudest machinery. You *bald hoar the
water wheel of the old mill miles away. But I changed all
that." mr. Moffat expanded his chest, put his thumbs in
his vest pockets and took a long breath. "I put in new
machinery to make silk and cotton hose according to the new
style. Before, they had made only woolen hose. They also
produced raw wool for retail sale in the homes. You know our
mothers used to spin and weave and make our clothes. I never
knew what it was to have a ready made suit before I WAS
married. A few years after I started the Redbranch Mill my
wife and I bought out the entire stock. Just before the
World War I bought the Watterson Woolen Mills in Bedford
County and moved the whole plant down to Rodbranch. Soon
the water power proved insufficient to operate the increased
machinery. Then came the World War and an embargo was placed
on raw wool. Not a pound could be bought. I sold the Mills
to the Kruger Manufacturing Company and settled down to
farming.
"I belong to the Wesley Chapel Methodist Church, I am
Chairman of the Board of Stewards in that organization and
I've been a delegate to the Annual Conference for ,the past
six years. I am also Choir Director and teach a class of
young folks. Itve served as County Game Warden. I am one
of the County Commissioners. At present I am Vice -Chair-
man of the Farmers Co-operative Exchange Stores and have also
served as Director. I am Secretary of the Soil Erosion
Project and a member of the Federal Land Bank Adjustment
Committee." Mt. Moffat smiled as he finished.
"It sounds like I'm bragging, don't it? I really don't
moan it that way. I am only trying to show you a man can
succeed without much education. What I have I got in the
public schools. I'm glad I can give my sons something
better, but I think if it's in a man to suceeed nothing
can keep him down. I've got four boys. Two of them have
finished at Leroy -Raines College and two are still at school.
My children have a better chance than I've had. What they
will make of it I don't know.
"My ambition is to serve my fellow man to the best of
my ability. My wife and I take a great interest in church
work and most of our leisure time is taken up in this way.
I'm never too tired to go to singing at our own Church or
any other denomination. I believe all churohes should be
sociable and visit each other. My wife and I like to visit
friends and take long drives. We both vote the Democratic
ticket without any squabbling. If a woman wantSto vote
it's her riFht to do so. We own our hone and a car too.
I could quit and not work any more if I wanted to but I
don't vent to. I don't think I could be happy if I wasn't
busy.
Mr. Moffat looked at his watch. "I didn't realize
I had been so long at telling all of this" he said. I
thanked him for giving me so much of his time.
"Oh, I've enjoyed talking to you. I have got lots of
faults and one of them is talking too much." He brushed
his felt hat off with his coat sleeve, straightened his tie
and adjusted his well fitting blue serge suit.
"By -the -way." BA hesitated a moment. "I don't hardly
know how to say it. You spoke of using fictitious ntmes
in your stories. Of course it makes no difference but I
just wanted you to know that -I have no objections to your
using my awn."