Document text
AtagIthd /4. '4A" 14.C7411('
Form -3
UNIT
Date re7ived
0 0
Consignment no.
Shipped ronl
a-Gb'
Label
Amount
a,21
Collection (or Type)
‘vz2e-119
Place of origin
Project worker
Project editor
Remarks
6"264,11100tDate..2/6
Clh-a- /3 ‘21-111.4etizzi!"-
31
i22
Form A
Circumstances of Interview
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn
Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
Address 505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon
Subject Courting and Dancing.
=CV=
Date February 6, 1939
Name and address of informant Mrs. John H. James
2105 46 Avenue. Portland, Oregon.
Date and time of interview February 2, 1939 1:30 to 3:00 P.M.
Place of interview Above address, home of informants
Name and address of person, if any, who put you in touch with informant
Mrs. Truchot, Oswego, Oregon
Name and address of person, if any, accompanying y9u
M1,00
Description of room, house, surroundings, etc.
A pleasantly furnished living room, bright and cheerful, though
something in the manner of the early Nineties. A two-story house of about
eight large rooms, with high ceilings, and a verandah running along the front;
the house facing east. The regulation 50 x 100 city lot, upon which the house
rests, has the typical small front lawn, with shrubbery and flowers at the sides
and back.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the proper heading
and the number to which the material refers).
Form B
Personal History of Informant
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Federal Writers Project
Works Progress Administration
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn Date February 6, 1939
Address
Subject
505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon.
Courting and Dancing.
Name and address of informant Mrs. John H. James,
2105 -46th Ave. N. 3., Portland. Oregon
Information obtained should supply
1. Ancestry 6.
2. Place and date of birth 7.
3. Family 8.
4. Places lived in, with dates 9.
5. Education, with dates 10.
the following facts:
Occupations and accomplishments with dates
Special skills and interests
Community and religious activities
Description of informant
Other points gained in interview
1. English.
2. Portland, Oregon, February 25, 1859.
3. Father, Josiah S. Dickinson; Mother, Martha Ann King.
Husband, John H.; Daughters, Mona, Jane and Mrs. Marian Forsythe.
4. Portland, Oregon, from birth to present date.
5. Taught at home by father.
6. Housewife most of life* Public stenographer and teacher. In 1889, '91,
'93 and '95, clerk of State Senate.
7. No special skill in anything. Interested in most things.
8. Churoh work. Member of Methodist ohurch sinoe 1876.
9. Handsome, white-haired and jolly. Looks nearer 65 than approaching 80.
Well -dressed and well-groomed. A person who looks as if she had enjoyed
life, and still does.
10. Keenly interested in this folklore work.
(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
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn Date February 6, 1939
Address 505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon.
Subject Courtinr and Dancing.
Name and address of informant Mrs. John H. James,
2105 -46th Avenue N. E., Portlandp Oregon.
Text:
So that scalawag of a brother of mine has been talking too much again.
No, he didn't send you to me? It was Mrs. Truchot of ftwego? Well, he is re-
sponsible. He told her that I might have something to tell, but I think he
told you everything I know of pioneer days. He's full of stories and likes to
tell them.
Well, living is certainly a lot easier than it was when I was young.
There were ten in our family, nine girls and one boy, and we had, besides, a
half brother, John. For one thing, in the summer, when our spring -well went
dry, we had to drag water for a quarter of a mile on a wooden sled, bringing
two or three kegs at a time. I tell you, the first time I simply turned a tap
and all the water I wanted, hot or cold, ran out, it seemed like the very acme
of luxury. No moderately well-to-do homes had nice, comfortable over -stuffed
furniture when I was a girl. Haw well I recall that when we girls had young
man callers it was a gamble as to who would come first to occupy the two spare
chairs, and all the light we had was a little kerosene lamp one of those
funny looking little things, with a handle on one side of the bowl, that are
treasured as antiques nowadays. Well, I suppose light wasn't any more essen-
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).
Mrs. John H. James Form C 2.
tie', or any more popular, in courting them than it is now.
Did brother Charlie tell you about how our half-brother John's girl,
up from California, got him to spruce up and take dancing lessons? He did,
well I bet he didn't tell you what a rag -a -muffin the old dancing teacher,
Cardinell, was. That was in 1868 or 1870, and old Charlie Cardinell would
go around over the country in a little old wagon, drawn by one horse, picking
up every cast-off thing he could find. My1 myS but he looked like an old
beggarl But he could certainly dance, and what with teaching everybody in
town to dance, and gathering up every old rag and bottle and stuff like that,
and selling it for a few cents, he died pretty well off, owning ail of
Cardinell Hill, up on the Canyon Road.
Of course we went to all the revival meetings in those early days,
but I don't remember much in particular about them. I remember when the old
tabernacle VAG built in the early '80s, at 12th and Taylor streets. It was
built for a series of meetings conducted by the revivalist, Mrs. Hanson, and
she was a vender. I guess she drew the biggest crowds Portland had up to that
time. The tabernacle was packed every night, and nearly everybody in town got
religion. Later on the tabernacle was moved to 12th and Morrison streets.
B. Fay Mills, Chapman, Billy Sunday, and all the big evangelists held meetings
there.
I wish I had something more to tell, but that is jmst about all I can
think of, and it doesn't seem very important.,
Form D
Extra Comment
Federal Writers' Project
Works Progress Administration
OREGON FOLKLORE STUDIES
Name of worker Sara B. Wrenn ,Date February..6, 1939
Address 505 Elks Building, Portland, Oregon.
Subject Courting and Dancing.
Name and address of informant Mrs. John H. James
2105 -46th Ave., N. E., Portland, Oregpnv
Comment:
Mrs. James VAS rather disappointing as an informant,her brother,
Mr. Dickinson (see Dickinson interview), having given about all the data
that was of much consequence in their history.
(Use as many additional sheets as necessary, each bearing the heading given
above).