Document text
Accession
W9668
Date received
10/10/40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped from
Wash. Office
Label
Amount
(incl. forms
A -D)
6,(.4./y3.114
WPA L. C. PROJECT Writers UMT
Form -4
Folklore
Collection (or Type)
Title SMala. town cuttome.
Ogisinlx wai
Portland, Oregon
Place of origin
William C. HaightDate- 3/27139
Project worker
Project editor
Remarks
Form A Federal Writers' Project
Circumstances of Interview Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker William C. Haight
Address
Subject
Washington Hotel, Portland. Oregon.
Small town customs.
Date March 27, 1939
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ernest P. Truesdell, Canyon City, Oregon.
Date and time of interview
March 13. 1939.
.Place of interview Blue Mountain Eagle Office— Canyon City. Oregon.
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant
Interviewer's former home town.
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying you
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
An ordinary business office of a small town newspaper. Stacks of
papers and books piled all around the floor. There was little roam for sitting
down, but the informant and interviewer finally cleared off a place.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to -which the material refers).
W9668
Form B Federal Writers' Project
Personal History of Informant Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLIURE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
William C. Haight Date March 27, 1939
Washington Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Subject Small Town Customs
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ernest P. Truesdell, Canyon City, Oregon.
Information obtained should supply the following facts:
1. Ancestry 6. Occupations and accomplishments with dates
2. Place and date of birth 7. Special skills and interests
3. Family 8. Community and religious activities
4. Places lived in, with dates 9. Description of informant
5. Education, with dates 10. Other points gained in interview
1. Scotch -Irish, English.
2. May 23, 1881, Griusville, Pile County, Illinois.
3. One husband, two children, Tyler, Virginia.
4, Missouri, Hannibal,
Griggsyille, Illinois,
Canyon City, Oregon,
Reno, Nevada.
Dates are not remembered.
5. High School, Griggsville, Illinois,
Normal School, State of Illinois,
Oregon Normal School,
Summer Sessions, University of Oregon.
6. School teacher, stenographer.
7. Reading, school teaching, recreational guidance, WPA sewing unit.
8. St. Thomas Guild; Chairman, Canyon City Health Association, Grant County;
Episcopalian.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Mrs. Ernest P. Truesdell Form B 2
9. Mrs. Truesdell is tall, of dark complexion, with iron -gray hair, softly
waved about her face. Her face has few wrinkles. She has a pleasing
personality, although there is nothing distinctive about her.
10. Interviewing this person was especially pleasant, due to the fact the
informant was a grammar school teacher for the interviewer. Mrs. Truesdell's
life has been a saga of tragedy and sacrifice, but each year she has gained
in affection in the hearts of those who know her.
Form C Federal Writers' Project
Text of Interview (Unedited) Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker
Address
William C. Haight
Washington Hotel, Portland, Oregon
Date March 27, 1939
Subject
Small Tom Customs
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ernest P. Truesdell, Canyon City, Oregon.
Text: A wild, and woolly, rollicking mining canp is the best way I can describe
Canyon City, when I first came here. The men could throw a ball in the air, draw,
shoot, and take a drink of whiskey before the ball would hit the ground. The
women, packed a Bible in one hand and, figuratively speakIng, a teamster's whip
in the other.
Canyon City has produced a strong fishting group of men and women. A
few of them have been great ---perhaps, Joaquin Miller, the poet, is the most
noted. Why should a little village scarcely a mile wide and mile long give to the
world so many leaders?
M-m-h---perhaps--because our second name is Disaster. We have been burned
out, flooded out, snowed under, and had hail storms that pounded the shingles off
the roofs and broke every window in town. We have fought in every mar and had a
few of our own. Disaster comes fast and often but with each one we arise and go
forward.
The last one that hit us was in '37. We're getting a little ola to be
a re -building the town; still our youngsters are slowly but surely building a
finer, nicer, safer town, out of the ashes of the old one. They'll do a good
job ---its in their blood.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
Ernest P. Truesdell Form C 2
The early Methodist revival meetings were noted for their boisterous-
ness. The preachers that came to town always stirred up plenty of Hell -fear
and Hell -raising. Saloons and their attendant evils gave cause for real work
for the revivalists. They would curse and revile the saloon element at every
meeting.
At a series of meetings, we had a tall, stately, dynamic, southern
revivalist leading the congregation into less sinful paths. His silver tongue
could tell the saloon element they were heading for Hell in more ways than you
would think possible. The women would hear the tales of Hell -fire and pack them
home and unload on their 3e ss active religious husbands. It WAS a standing joke
that everybody stayed up an hour later during the nights the revivalist was in
town, so the wives could rail at their husbands.
The "Stench of Hell" sermon, as it was later called, started off with
its usual dynamic criticism of the saloon. As the preacher reviled the saloons
he noticed a slackening of interest, as if there was something diverting the
congregation's attentions. He talked louder and more vociferously against
whiskey ---but still they wiggled and squirmed. Never stopping his flow of vi-
tuperation he slowly stalked up the aisle towards the stove to see what was the
matter. Vihen he got about half -way there he suddenly stopped talking and his
face became contorted with rage and revulsion. Someone of the saloon element
had rubbed limburger cheese on the stove and the benches near the stove. The
heat from the stove, melting the cheese, made an unbearable stench. In fact it
was a smell that surely "smelled to heaven", and we had to go home. Later the
townspeople in speaking of that sermon called it the "Stench of Hell".
At another meeting this preacher caused a split in the congregation.
This fiery revivalist in his plain, blunt, manner criticised rather severely
part of the congregation for not agreeing with him on some principles of the
church.
Ernest P. Truesdell Form C 3
-Old Mr. Dean, a wealthy leader of the town and pillar of the church,
arose from his seat and walked down to the pulpit. He told the preacher he
resented the criticism and felt that the evangelist had personally insulted him.
The evangelist made some critical remark of Yr. Dean to the congregation. Mr.
Dean was shaking with rage when he raised his hand and slapped the face of the
preacher. Immediately the preacher dramatically turned the other cheek. Mr.
Dean turned and walked out of the church, his followers close behind him.
This fight resulted in a split of the church which led to the building
of a Nazarene church in John Day. The I;azarenes could go the revivalists one
better when it came to putting on an emotional religious show. They would roll,
rant, tear their hair and scream during their meetings.
The funerals in those days were long, drawn-out, hideous spectacles.
The preachers seemed to work on the idea of "anything to draw out the agony."
At the death of someone all the neighbors would go to the home, bringing
food and offering their services to help the bereaved family. Usually close
friends would lay out the body, and build the pine box to lay the body away in.
If the funeral was held during the winter months there were no flowers. In the
summertime people would make bouquets out of the flowers in their yards. The
services were held either at the deceased's church or in the town hall.
There was one family that always put on a big show. At the grave-
yard they would go around to each grave that held a member of their family and
weep, howl, and wail, until at times they would faint from sheer emotional
exhaustion.
I had a hideous experience when I was seven years old. A cousin Pearl,
a girl about my age, passed away. One of my aunts got the horrible idea of having
me stand by the body during the service. She said she thought it would be nice
for little Maudie to be with little Pearlie until the very end. As long as I
Ernest P. Truesdell Form C 4
live I will, never forcet the horror that filled me while I was standing there
by that corpse.
The songs they sung more similar to the ones sung now. "We Will Soon
Be At Home Over There," "My Mother's Hands," and "Tell Mother I'll Be There,"
are the names of a few popular funeral hymns. The singing of these songs was
quite a job. Presumably, they were to sound as woeful as possible, which they
succeeded in doing. If someone would break down in the choir it made the funeral
much more of a success.
I remember one sermon a minister preached that had the whole town in an
uproar. The corpse was the remains of a young man about 15. His life had been
a "Peck's Bad Boy," sort of existence. If there was any trouble in town you
could always figure this youngster to be at the head of it. Still and all he
was far from being a lost soul. Evidently the minister thought differently,
because he preached a funeral oration about haw bad the boy was and where he
belonged,and that he always would be in Hell.
Graciousl The town did buzz over this. I tell you, by grab, it was a
most.unpopular place for that minister. Land sakes, he ought to have been drawn
and quartered.
I don't seem to be able to remember many of the medical cures used in
our day. A few are so common that I believe they are used around here even
today.
1. Sulphur and molasses WAS used for a tonic.
2. In times of contagion we all mom an asafetida bag around our necks.
3. Skunk oil was rubbed on children for rheumatism, chest colds, and
other such ailments. That skunk oil smelt to heaven and back again.
4. Sassafras tea was always drunk in the spring to clear the blood.
5. Sarsaparilla roots were used, but I don't remember what for.
6. Mullen plant tea was used for asthma. This cure came from the
Indians.
Ernest P. Truesdell Form C 5
7. Bacon WAS wrapped around a person's neck that had the sore throat.
8. A piece of yarn was tied around your neck for a sore throat.
Presumably this would also combat the evil spirit.
9. A rattlesnake's rattle would keep a person from having a headache.
10. One family always tied a copper wire around their children's neck
to ward off contagious diseases.
11. A rabbit's foot WAS tops in warding off any kind of disease or
disaster.
12. Rhubarb was considered mighty good for dysentery.
The few superstitions I remember are probably as equally as uninterest-
ing as the medical ones.
1. If you dropped a dish cloth company would always cone.
2. If you left your house and had to return it was bad luck.
To offset this bad luck you had to go and sit on your bed for a few minutes.
3. If you came in one door and went out another it was sure to bring
you and the family that occupied the house bad luck.
4. That same superstition I just gave you also meant that the action
would bring you company.
5. If you kept a Buckeye in your pocket you would ward off all evil
spirits.
6. If you put.on anything wrong side out, you had to wear it that way
7. If the last rehearsal of a show was punk, the performance would be
Every Wednesday a group of neighbors would meet at one of their houses
for a Spiritualistic seance. These seances were a major part of my entertainment.
I suppose that was true because there was little else to amuse yourself with
in town.
all day.
good*
Ernest P. Truesdell Form C 6
The meetings were conducted much like.any other meetings of Spiritualists.
The lights would be dimmed, or completely turned out. Then our medium, who most
always was Mrs. Hicks, would start to work. One rap on the table meant 'yes', two
raps, meant 'no'. All questions asked the spirit had to be yes or no questions.
Our questions were concerned with marriage, sweethearts, dates, trips,
jobs, and, during election time, election of county officials. The meetings
died out because Yrs. Hicks got frightened with her mediumistic powers. From
her standpoint she became too conscious of the spirit world. I think it is better
to let such things alone anyway.
One incident that I recall is of some interest. For awhile we had an
outsider for a medium. One of the members was distressed greatly by the fact
that her father had been committed to the State Insane Hospital.
The medium told the lady that she could see her father playing tennis
and if the lady would go to the hospital the following Sunday she would find her
father well enough to come home.
Skeptical, but having to call on her father anyway, the member visited
the asylum. She found her father out playing tennis and able to be released
from the institution. Oddly enough, this member withdraw from the group and has
never touched Spiritualism Since. Presumably she was afraid of it.
Form D
Federal Writers' Project
Extra Comment Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE.- STUDIES
Name of worker William C. Haight
Address Washington Hotel Portland, Oregon
Subject Small Town Customs
,Date March 2Q,. 1939
Name and address of informant Mrs. Ernest P. Truesdell, Canyon City. Oregon.
Comment:
This interview fits in with a series of interviews built around one of
the most picturesque pioneer towns in Oregon. The town itself lies at the foot
of two mountains. It is a standing joke among the natives that you have to lie
down on your back to see the sun.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).