I had the fortune to visit with my mother last night who brought me three extraordinary books about my family, the history of the church and the history of the town. One of the books struck me as particularly interesting, it is the biography of my Great-Grandmother, Lula Wood, written in her words.
I sat in my bed last night and read the short book cover to cover, captivated by the stories that she shared. I wish I had the opportunity to ask her questions about these stories. I convinced my mother to let me keep this book in particular so that I could scan its pages and keep this information electronically. Below I've captured some of the most amazing stories from the book, stories that I think could be incorporated into our novel:
"Before Andy Floyd Wood ever saw me, Lula Stanley, he went to a neighbor's house to stay all night.
The lady of the house told him, 'Its the first time you've ever stayed all night here. I've heard it said if you eat a thimble full of salt before you go to bed, you will dream of the girl you are going to marry'
So, he did, and counted the joists in the house to fall asleep. He dreamed a girl brought him a drink of water. He told me when he saw first sight of me that I was the girl. He never forgot that dream. It was love at first sight, I believe I was meant for him."
The two married at age 14 and 17 in 1912.
Around the age of 18 Andy Floyd began working on the mountain railroad line running from Clinchco to Haysi. He worked in a crew of three men drilling holes after the holes had been excavated with dynamite. In one hole, the dynamite never ignited. Andy Floyd's crew was not aware of this and when they placed the large drill into the hole the dynamite exploded, badly damaging both of his hands. All of this happened on the side of a cliff overlooking the river. Amazingly, he did not fall.
He made his way off the mountain to the local town bank, the only building with running water in 1912. Andy made his way to the local commissary and found a cot. It took the doctor three days for the railroad company doctor to arrive and tend to Andy's wounds. Lula describes it:
"The Railroad Company Doctor took tools and went into his hands. He got out rocks, wires and dirt without numbing it. He made me sit by and hold his pan of tools. You could hear the gravels hit the wall when he flipped them out."
Following this accident, it took months before Andy Floyd was able to feed himself. For many years following this accident, he was only able to work with one hand. Lula writes that for many years she chopped the wood for him.
Andy Floyd stayed with his parents while his hands healed. Lula went back to stay with her family as she missed them. She wirtes:
"So he decided to take me back and stay awhile with my people. So he walked me home....Andy Floyd said he would be back after me in three weeks. But he never came and I got mad I thought he wanted to shed of me....In nine months, he came after me to go back.
He says 'Are you ready?'
I says 'No, I ain't going back after you didn't come back in three weeks as you promised me.'
So he went next door to his sister's house and stayed there all night. And he got his brother-in-law to come with him and try to convince me to go back. He begged and begged. I knew his hands were so bad there was no way he could chop wood...I told him if he got a house and things to use around here I'd go back with him....so he got a log cabin."
One of the most heart wrenching moments in this story is Lula and Andy's difficulty having children. Her first three children died, and it wasn't until 8 years into their marriage that they bore a surviving child.
She describes the tragedy and Andy's anguish over the losses:
I was down at the creek washing diapers and I heard a noise. I jumped up and looked, I thought the house was falling down. I ran back to the house to see about my baby, he was asleep. My baby was fat and pretty.
I was up fixing breakfast for my husband, he heard the baby make a noise and went in to check on the baby and said "this baby is sick" Andy went for my mother and dad. The baby had the croup. My baby died that evening. The noise I heard the day before was a warning but I didn't know what it meant. We buried our first child in November.
Our second child, David Earl (Little Earl), was born in 1915, he had blond hair and blue eyes. He was so pretty...
It was so sad. Little Earl got choked on a shell bean. I was looking at them to cook and he was laughing and sucked one down his throat. I was shocked so I didn't know what to do so I grabbed him p in my arms and carried the baby under my arm down the path to Paw's house. Pay and maw were gone by Hadie was there. I started hollering for help and crying. I thought someone would hear me and meet me to help. But no one heard me. David Earl died in January 1919, he was four years old.
Draxie May (born 1917) was a good little child. She would say 'Mommie, what do you want me to do?' She always wanted to help me.....She took diptheria....When the doctor got there he said it was too late....She knew I had been crying over her being sick. So she came in to where I was and said 'look here mommie, I can run and run and run across the floor...' She died that evening.
Seems like we had so much bad luck and trouble loosing our children. Andy Floyd went to the mountain where he thought I couldn't hear him to pray. He said he thought he was going to die from heartache. He went to a sink hole and said he could take one step further. He said he prayed so hard and said 'lord, I give up, it's all in your power if I live or die.' He said something happened, he said his face was on the ground and when he got so he could get up, the trees was rejoicing and there was a streak of gold from his feet to the sky. When he came back, he didn't want to tell me what had happened because I had been so weakened by the children passing on.
In her lifetime, my Great-Grandmother Wood would give birth to 15 children, 11 of them surviving into adulthood. My Grandmother, Magdaline, was child number 7.
Lula died at the age of 93, in 1991.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Plot Character Hash Out #1
Notes from Dustin/Angela brainstorm #1:
Characters
Characters
- Strong female character- a matriarch is important. An old wise woman, a grandmother or some other motherly figure.
- The drifter. We want the reader to feel ambivalent about this character. "Like feeling mad at the nail in the road that causes a flat tire." A blip in the story. Not a main character. He is the main catalyst for conflict within the story. The reader will not know much of the drifter's history. Backstory will be developed, history not. Pick up history secondarily through details of the story.
- Boyfriend. He represents "the escape" from this town. He needs to remain almost mythical. Perhaps the reader never meets him directly. An idea is Habitat for Humanity, that is his link to the town and the daughter.
- Mythical appalachian town. Draw a map of the town.
- Man is born and raised in town
- Man leaves town
- Gets married, has a baby
- wife dies
- broken, returns to town with daughter
- Man becomes a minister in the town, a pillar of the community
- Drifter comes into town
- Drifter knows minister from life in previous town
- Drifter knows something that the minister did
- Drifter attempts to blackmail the minister
- There is a heated confrontation, the daughter interrupts
- The daughter shoots the drifter
- The minister takes the blame for the daughter and attempts to buck the charges as self defense
- Through the investigation, we discover what the minister was guilty of
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Character Flesh Out
Here are the characters I see so far that we will need to flesh out:
The Father
I see him as the main character, and the story to be written through his eyes. We need a history and motivation of this character.
Need to flesh out secondary characters of the family, but not relevant to plot development such as wife, and any other children besides his daughter that he might have.
The Daughter
What happens to this girl drives the plot, but it is the decisions of her father that create the moral dilemma. While her character will be used to illustrate the conflict within the father, I feel strongly that as the only main female character in the story that she be a well rounded character.
We will need to flesh out secondary characters that she will interact with. This will include school mates and siblings.
The Drifter
I see two distinct paths this character can take. The reader can either know nothing about him or they can know everything about him. We will need to understand his motivation and have sympathy for this character. Depending upon which path this character takes (i.e. we know nothing, or we know everything) we will someone need to figure out how this monster can be portrayed in a human light.
We may need secondary characters developed here. If we decide to discuss the history of this character, then we will need to develop the characters in that story.
The boyfriend
This character is allegorical. He represents the "outside world" and he is ultimately the reader. The outsider looking in. This is a new world to him. All customs, exchanges and details are foriegn.
The Father
I see him as the main character, and the story to be written through his eyes. We need a history and motivation of this character.
Need to flesh out secondary characters of the family, but not relevant to plot development such as wife, and any other children besides his daughter that he might have.
The Daughter
What happens to this girl drives the plot, but it is the decisions of her father that create the moral dilemma. While her character will be used to illustrate the conflict within the father, I feel strongly that as the only main female character in the story that she be a well rounded character.
We will need to flesh out secondary characters that she will interact with. This will include school mates and siblings.
The Drifter
I see two distinct paths this character can take. The reader can either know nothing about him or they can know everything about him. We will need to understand his motivation and have sympathy for this character. Depending upon which path this character takes (i.e. we know nothing, or we know everything) we will someone need to figure out how this monster can be portrayed in a human light.
We may need secondary characters developed here. If we decide to discuss the history of this character, then we will need to develop the characters in that story.
The boyfriend
This character is allegorical. He represents the "outside world" and he is ultimately the reader. The outsider looking in. This is a new world to him. All customs, exchanges and details are foriegn.
Plot Flesh Out
Dustin has been working on the plot for the book. His initial idea that a drifter is taken in and tries to rape the woman who took him in. To defend herself, she almost kills him and runs away. Her father the local minister finds him, finishes it. The body is found and then the father gets the blame. He won't tell anyone his daughter was raped, she's engaged to a college boy going to va tech, will "make it" if he doesn't. The family is shunned, he's kicked out of the church. The gritty nature of the appalacian life comes to bear.
From a story perspective, some additional questions to answer through the development of the plot would be:
From a story perspective, some additional questions to answer through the development of the plot would be:
- Why would a woman take in a drifter? Is she living with parents and they take the drifter in? Is this someone she knows and because of that feels safe? If so, whats the story there.
- Does the girl run away, or does the drifter run away?
- How does the father discover this?
- How does the father finish this?
- How will this dichotomy of "getting out" of the mountains be portrayed through the boyfriend?
- I'm wondering if a baby should be involved, i.e. does the girl become pregnant?
- How does it end?
Foxfire 2
My second Foxfire book was not completed with the speed and enthusiasm of the first. I need to battle through the lull that occurs after the initial excitement of an idea has ended. I still think the book is a great idea, its something I still wish to pursue, but I have to find the drive to get it done.
The second book was not filled with as much "good stuff" as the first. But there were definitely some great tidbits worth noting.
The book opens with a interview with a woman by the name of Maude Shoppe. Foxfire is a high school english project, so these are high school students in the 1970's interviewing past generations of Appalachian natives. At one point, the students asked Maude what she considered her most valuable possession to be and her answer? Water. Water is Maude Shoppe's most valuable possession. That answer really put things in perspective for me and made me think about the world they lived in. After water, the next most valuable possession to Maude was her cattle and livestock. Not because of the food they provided, but because they kept her company.
The book spent quite a bit of time discussing midwives and burial customs which could be of some use later.
There was also a very dissapointing chapter on ghost stories that actually had no stories at all. Everyone interviewed said they didn't believe in ghosts.
The second book was not filled with as much "good stuff" as the first. But there were definitely some great tidbits worth noting.
The book opens with a interview with a woman by the name of Maude Shoppe. Foxfire is a high school english project, so these are high school students in the 1970's interviewing past generations of Appalachian natives. At one point, the students asked Maude what she considered her most valuable possession to be and her answer? Water. Water is Maude Shoppe's most valuable possession. That answer really put things in perspective for me and made me think about the world they lived in. After water, the next most valuable possession to Maude was her cattle and livestock. Not because of the food they provided, but because they kept her company.
The book spent quite a bit of time discussing midwives and burial customs which could be of some use later.
There was also a very dissapointing chapter on ghost stories that actually had no stories at all. Everyone interviewed said they didn't believe in ghosts.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Reading List
For reference, this is my planned reading list before I begin family interviews:
Foxfire Book 1
Completed
Foxfire Book 2
Checked out
Appalachian Values
not in the library, may buy from Amazon
The United States of Appalachia
Reston Library, 975 B 2006
Appalachia: A History
available in Ebook from Fairfax County Library
Witches Ghosts and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians
Not in the library
Yesterday's People: Life in Contemporary Appalachia
Located in Fairfax City Library as a Reference Material VREF 975 W 1965
Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area
At Reston Library 974 C 2001
Uneven Ground: Appalachia since 1945
Not in the library
The Road to Poverty: The Making of Wealth and Hardship in Appalachia
Not in the library
Foxfire Book 1
Completed
Foxfire Book 2
Checked out
Appalachian Values
not in the library, may buy from Amazon
The United States of Appalachia
Reston Library, 975 B 2006
Appalachia: A History
available in Ebook from Fairfax County Library
Witches Ghosts and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians
Not in the library
Yesterday's People: Life in Contemporary Appalachia
Located in Fairfax City Library as a Reference Material VREF 975 W 1965
Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area
At Reston Library 974 C 2001
Uneven Ground: Appalachia since 1945
Not in the library
The Road to Poverty: The Making of Wealth and Hardship in Appalachia
Not in the library
The Foxfire Book 1
For reference, the entire Foxfire series is located in the Reston library, 630.1F
I resolved to read the first two volumes of the Foxfire books in two weeks and managed to finish the first one in two days. Lets hope the second book is an engaging as the first.
The book is filled with anecdotes from Appalachian life, from hog dressing to faith healing. All with first hand accounts and interviews. As we prepare to write the novel, this will be a handy book to refer to as it contains many stories that could be used for inspiration. Below I've listed some of the highlights.
Daniel Manous
Daniel Manous lives in an abandoned bread truck in the back of which he has placed a wood stove and a bed. He is a loner. His job is to watch over the local fish hatchery, sitting high in the woods looking down over the creek. He has two books in his truck, two volumes of poetry. One is Burns and the other is Tennyson. He also keeps a banjo with him.
Daniel tells the story of a Preacher who can charm snakes. The preacher keeps a box in his pulpit with a rattlesnake, and when he feels the lord is blessing him, he will pull the snake out of the box and show the congregation how the lord's love is protecting him. On one occasion, the congregation kept pushing the preacher to pull the snake out of the box, and when the preacher did, the snake bit him. The moral of the story is to let the lord guide your heart, not people.
Preserving Vegetables and Fruit
A chapter in the book is dedicated to the art of preserving vegetables and fruit, and the means by which this is accomplished. The section that discusses Pickling states:
"Be sure that th'signs are not in th'bowels" says Daisy Justice. "When th'moon is new is th'best time to make kraut, pickle beans, corn, or green tomatoes. If th'signs are in th'bowels, they will be slimy or soft and not fit to eat."
This paradox between strict faith and the zodiac interest me. I am interested to know where this following and knowledge of the zodiac comes from and how this reconciles itself with their faith.
The chapter that discusses preserving fruit. One woman noted that with a peeler, she could core, peel and slice a bushel of apples in 54 minutes.
Churning Butter
Interesting rhyme the ladies would sing to help the churning time move faster.
Come butter come
Come butter come
Peter standing at the gate
Waiting for a butter cake
Come butter come
Much like military marching, these chants would give the women a rhythm and help pass the time.
Slaughtering Hogs
Most families paid strict attention to the phase the moon was in, and they killed on the first cold day they could get when the moon was "right." As one said, "If you kill a hog on th'new of th'moon, slice it and put it in a pan, it'll just blow you 'til you can't fry th'grease out of it hardly. You got t'kill it on th'right time of th'moon. You don't ever want to kill it on th'new moon." Another said, "We'd kill hogs on th'full moon or just about th'full moon. While th'moon was shrinkin' th'meat'd shrink. There'd be a lot'a lard an'grease if it'uz on th'shrinkin' of th'moon."
Weather Signs and Planting by the Signs
This chapter discusses the myriad of signs that predict an upcoming harsh winter. Some signs include if animals fur is thicker than usual, root vegetables growing deeper in the ground than usual, and the old moon in relation to the first snow.
The chapter also goes on to discuss the best signs of the zodiac under which to plant crops. It states that planting is best done during the signs of Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus and Cancer. Plowing and tilling and cultivating should be done in Aries. Never plant anything during the "barren" signs. They are good only for trimming, deadening and destroying.
When the students asked if this type of cultivating should be preserved, one woman answered, "I can't help but think that it ought. There are too many things to think about today. A good home and plenty of land should make anyone perfectly happy. Too many things now that call for money. We had a good time when I was growin' up, and we got along as well as you all now."
Home Remedies
This was a particularly interesting chapter, and I'd like to do more research into whether or not some of these things actually worked, because, for the most part, they sound ridiculous to me. The chapter lists ailments and then proposes Appalachian remedies that were commonly used. They also sound a little of the voodoo or black magic elk. Some of the most outlandish include:
Friday, I begin book two.
I resolved to read the first two volumes of the Foxfire books in two weeks and managed to finish the first one in two days. Lets hope the second book is an engaging as the first.
The book is filled with anecdotes from Appalachian life, from hog dressing to faith healing. All with first hand accounts and interviews. As we prepare to write the novel, this will be a handy book to refer to as it contains many stories that could be used for inspiration. Below I've listed some of the highlights.
Daniel Manous
Daniel Manous lives in an abandoned bread truck in the back of which he has placed a wood stove and a bed. He is a loner. His job is to watch over the local fish hatchery, sitting high in the woods looking down over the creek. He has two books in his truck, two volumes of poetry. One is Burns and the other is Tennyson. He also keeps a banjo with him.
Daniel tells the story of a Preacher who can charm snakes. The preacher keeps a box in his pulpit with a rattlesnake, and when he feels the lord is blessing him, he will pull the snake out of the box and show the congregation how the lord's love is protecting him. On one occasion, the congregation kept pushing the preacher to pull the snake out of the box, and when the preacher did, the snake bit him. The moral of the story is to let the lord guide your heart, not people.
Preserving Vegetables and Fruit
A chapter in the book is dedicated to the art of preserving vegetables and fruit, and the means by which this is accomplished. The section that discusses Pickling states:
"Be sure that th'signs are not in th'bowels" says Daisy Justice. "When th'moon is new is th'best time to make kraut, pickle beans, corn, or green tomatoes. If th'signs are in th'bowels, they will be slimy or soft and not fit to eat."
This paradox between strict faith and the zodiac interest me. I am interested to know where this following and knowledge of the zodiac comes from and how this reconciles itself with their faith.
The chapter that discusses preserving fruit. One woman noted that with a peeler, she could core, peel and slice a bushel of apples in 54 minutes.
Churning Butter
Interesting rhyme the ladies would sing to help the churning time move faster.
Come butter come
Come butter come
Peter standing at the gate
Waiting for a butter cake
Come butter come
Much like military marching, these chants would give the women a rhythm and help pass the time.
Slaughtering Hogs
Most families paid strict attention to the phase the moon was in, and they killed on the first cold day they could get when the moon was "right." As one said, "If you kill a hog on th'new of th'moon, slice it and put it in a pan, it'll just blow you 'til you can't fry th'grease out of it hardly. You got t'kill it on th'right time of th'moon. You don't ever want to kill it on th'new moon." Another said, "We'd kill hogs on th'full moon or just about th'full moon. While th'moon was shrinkin' th'meat'd shrink. There'd be a lot'a lard an'grease if it'uz on th'shrinkin' of th'moon."
Weather Signs and Planting by the Signs
This chapter discusses the myriad of signs that predict an upcoming harsh winter. Some signs include if animals fur is thicker than usual, root vegetables growing deeper in the ground than usual, and the old moon in relation to the first snow.
The chapter also goes on to discuss the best signs of the zodiac under which to plant crops. It states that planting is best done during the signs of Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus and Cancer. Plowing and tilling and cultivating should be done in Aries. Never plant anything during the "barren" signs. They are good only for trimming, deadening and destroying.
When the students asked if this type of cultivating should be preserved, one woman answered, "I can't help but think that it ought. There are too many things to think about today. A good home and plenty of land should make anyone perfectly happy. Too many things now that call for money. We had a good time when I was growin' up, and we got along as well as you all now."
Home Remedies
This was a particularly interesting chapter, and I'd like to do more research into whether or not some of these things actually worked, because, for the most part, they sound ridiculous to me. The chapter lists ailments and then proposes Appalachian remedies that were commonly used. They also sound a little of the voodoo or black magic elk. Some of the most outlandish include:
- Asthma -- Swallow a handful of spider webs rolled into a ball.
- Asthma -- Drill a hole in a black oak or sourwood tree just above the head of the patient and put a lock of their hair in the hole. When the patient passes that spot in height, they will be cured.
- Chest Congestion -- Render the fat of a polecat. Eat two or three spoonfuls. This brings up the phlegm.
- Colic -- tie an asafetida bag around a baby's neck for six months to keep away six months of colic.
- Nosebleed -- Take a small piece of lead and bore a hole in it. Put a string through the hole, tie it, and wear it around your neck. Your nose won't bleed again.
- Warts -- Stick the hand which has warts on it into a bag and tie it up. The first person who opens it will get your warts.
Friday, I begin book two.
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