Document text
Accession ho.
W9661
Date received
10/10/40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped from
Wash. Off ice
Label
Amount
(incl. tOrms
(A —D)
eet.i."4,544:40-4.4 6.-Cir.44A
WPA L. C. PROJECT Writers' UNIT
Form -4
Zalk.1.Q.re Collection (or Type)
Title...S.Quthern Ortato.1.01kway_a
Place of origin
Oregon Date 3113/39
Project worker.....kary....14.--..Bar44-e-tialft
Project editor
Remarks
Form A Federal Writers' Project
Circumstances of Interview Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
Manly M. Bantster
2071 S. TI. Park Avenue
Date march 13, 1939
Subject
Southern Oregoh Folkways
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ella Burt
603 S. E. 12th Avenue
Date and time of interview
March 13,, A.M.
.Place of interview 603 S. E. 12th Ave
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant
Miss Nettie Spencer --2069 S. W. Park
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you None
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
The house is situated across the street from Washington High School,
two blocks north of Morrison Street. It is a plain dwelling house with a
single story. The district is a respectable one, of moderate class.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
W9661
Form B Federal Writers' Project
Personal History of Informant Works A. -ogress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Manly M. Banister Date Mar 13 1939
Address
Subject
Z071_6ff Park
Southern Oregon Folkways
Name and address of informant
Mrs. Ella _Burt
603 &E 12th Ave
Information obtained should supply the follo41nT,
1. Anestry 6. Ocupa7lur,6 ond accomplishments with dates
2. Place and date of birth 7. Soec1L1 jr.toreEts
3. Pcnily 8 0orinuri47 and relicjou9 activities
4. Places lived in, with dates 9. Dosiction of in'onrnla7t
5. Education, with dates 10. Other points gained in interview
"I was born in Oregon eighty years ago, near Yoncalla.
My first husband was the son of Charles Applegate.
My father was W. H. Wilson. He came to Oregon with Jesse Applegate."
She refused to give any further vital facts.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Form C
Federal Writers' Project
Text of Interview (Unedited) Works Progress Administration
Name of worker
Address
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Manly M. Banister Date Mar 13, 1939
2071 SW Park Ave
Subject
Southern Oregon Folkways
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ella Burt
603 SE 12th Avenue
Text:
Well now, I don't know what I can say. Folks lived then same as they do
now. I don't see any difference, anyway. Oh, we had dances and things
just like today. I don't know much about the music; just fiddles
violins, and some folks had organs. They had very sociable people all
around --not like they are today. Everybody lived scattered like. There
wasn't any thick settlement like now. We all had to go horseback -where-
ever we went.
The dress was about the same as it is now. Of course the women
dressed different, but there hasn't been much change in men's clothes.
Not that I can see, anyway. They wore an awful lot of boots. All the
men wore them. .hrld when they were worn out, they tore them to pieces and
made shoes for us children. About one pair a year was all we had.
'e had lots of venison and wild game. There were a lot of deer
and wild animals then. My father was an awfully good shot and kept his
gun handy.
-e had good schoolteachers. I remember my first schoolteacher
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
Ella Burt --Form C Page 2
whose name was Binger Herman. He was postmaster, too, for a while, and
afterward he was a Congressman many times. (Coos County Stages) brought
in all our mail.
We didn't -want for anything. We had plenty to eat and plenty to
wear, for what places we went, anyway. Everybody was happy and contented,
well and strong.
milarper's Weekly'l/as the principal paper, and during the War we
got all the pictures.
Ule lived in log cabins, but that wasn't any hardship. They were
comfortable and well-dmade.
We had lots of old-fashioned spelling schools. We'd go horse-
back --that was the only way to get around in those days.
For supplies, they drove ox -teams into Eugene or Oregon City,
where we'd load up with supplies and bring them home. There were flour,
bacon and things like that. Didn't need to buy fresh meat because we had
plenty of beeves; and it was awfully good beef, I can remember that.
I can't remember when my mother didn't cook food just like any-
body else. Ihey did things then same as they do now.
There were a lot of Indians around, but they never bothered us.
There were friendly Indians lived close, but the mean ones were farther
away. lie watched them pretty close, but mostly they were afraid of the
white men. ky father had an awful lot of trouble with them when he first
came. He always kept his gun ready for them.
Cattle -raising is mostly what wont on down there (Southern
Oregon). Soon they went into farming and raising grain. They got sheep
and sold the wool at Soottsburg which was the nearest port where the wool
could be shipped.
Ella Burt -Form C Page 3
We didn't have anything very nice for Christmas. My mother
would make things for us children out of rags. I never had anything but
a rag doll when I was a child. Then too on Christmas there would be dances
and parties of all kinds, and Camp Meetings -where the Methodists and others
would hold church.
There wasn't any school house, so school was kept first at one
house and then at another. The scholars paid so much apiece to the owner
of the household for the privilege of coming there, and they had a teacher.
But he wasn't paid much --usually about eight or ten dollars a month. But
those conditions didn't last; they got better and better all the time. There
weren't any churches either, and the preacher did his preaching at somebody's
home; first at one place then at another, and everybody would come horseback.
Uncle Jesse was the first person to have a little store at his
home about a mile this side of Yoncalla. He sold things to people there.
Uncle Charlie Applegate raised lots of sheep. He had a great mess of boys,
seven or eight of them, and they worked hard at raising sheep and got wealthy
at it. lhey would haul their wool, six or eight wagonloads at a time, in
shearing season to Scottsburg for shipment. They was a very industrious lot
of people, my goodnesst
Wheat was flailed out with a flail (Illustrative motions), or
tramped out by horses. We always came down to Portland to get flour.
Whenever they traded in their wool, they always brought enough supplies at
once to last a whole year. They laid in supplies of sugar, syrup, coffee,
and things like that.
Fora D Federal Writers' Project
Extra Comment Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker.
Address
Subject
Manly M. Banister
2071 Sirf Park
Southern Oregon Folkways
,Date March 13. 1?Z9
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ella Burt
603 SE 12th Avenue
Comment:
Mrs. Burt is a very difficult person to interview. She is so deaf she
couldn't hear the shot that was heard around the world if it were fired in
the same roam with her. Her mind is definitely rusty and requires constant
oiling with persuasive and suggestive phrases, boomed forth with the full
power of one's lungs. T.hen it is too,:too disappointing to have her say,
"henh? Vihat say?" Very trying and discouraging. A little can be done with
writing, but in general she is a very poor informant. Before I was finished
with the interview, an old lady friend came in, and I was politely but de-
finitely ushered out the door. Therefore the incompleteness of Form B. I
do not recommend Mrs. Burt for further interviewing.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).