James Satterfield and Sandra Garber

00:04 Hello, hun James Delbert, Satterfield and as of July 13th this year.

00:14 I was 86 RM 86 years old. Today's date is Saturday, November 23rd 2019. We are at storycorps, Atlanta.

00:27 The name of my interview part and it is Sandra Eileen Garber and she is my wonderful wife.

00:37 My name is Sandra Garber. I'm 68 years old. Today's day is Saturday November 23rd 2019 here at storycorps Atlanta. The name of my interview of partner is Jim Satterfield and my relationship to him is he's my wonderful husband. I'm here today to share with you. Some of my experience has been going up and Cotton Mill Village is in Georgia. This is a culture that is largely I suppose died out now, but I was born in a cotton mill Village in Canton, Georgia, July 13th 1933. I was born on East Street, which is one of the streets in the number to our new Mill Village and Ken and

01:37 I was born in the third house on the Eastside of East Street. Now the streets in the Middle Village were just named after letters are all the letter designation to Abe Street B Street and so forth and these names were later change when the Mill Village was incorporated into the City and we're given names of trees E Street became

02:05 Elmwood I think it was a street. I don't recall what a street became but when a street crossover C Street continue it is a street but we who live in the millage knew that a shortage because it was only three houses on that street, I think so it was useful to be this way. I don't know much about my birth mother didn't tell me nothing other than the house where I was born a house where later on at least my uncle Cecil Allen and his wife married who was Mother's sister they live there.

02:48 And I don't know if it was a midwife birth or what but doctor Brooks and my certificate of birth in the Middle Village. You had some houses that were of different size. Is there were

03:07 Four-room house is 6 room houses. And then they North Canton Village. There were three boarding houses ever called larger houses where single room occupancy occurred in adults and in that house in 1933, we lived or where in the village at least and Dad worked in the cotton mill at that time and it was probably a loom picture at least moving into that mother. I don't think worked at that time in the village but eventually did work in the in the cotton Mills and that's so where I was born. My father's name was Joseph Gordon Satterfield and his parents was James Grady Satterfield who I called big dad my grandfather and his mother was done.

04:07 Mcdugald and I called her a mama so big Daddy and Mama were my father's parents that mother was Lera Morgan and she was one of 11 children born to the family of James Henry Morgan and Matilda Fowler Morgan and my father had two brothers of Roy who were the middle brother and courtesy was a younger brother and I have a lot of first cousins and Anna like that, but let me get onto telling you about growing up in the middle of Village.

04:56 I'm in the Mills is coming to move from one Village to the other where the grass looks Greener. So to speak and all those born in 1933 soon. We left them and move to Gainesville. I'm dead. I presume worked in New Holland meals where an uncle mother's brother worked could have worked in Gainesville Mill. There were two meals there, but I think was New Holland probably but we were living in Gainesville in 1936. When in April of 1936 the tornado came into town and absolutely just dissed levels and destroy the town kill 219 people at least and although none of my

05:47 Relatives of four killed we were living at that time not in the middle of it, but all those little house on Oak in a little house Oak Street down that house was a shotgun house which consists of three rooms in land the front room while there's generally a living room recorded the middle room as a bedroom and the real room was a kitchen and if there was inside Plumbing, which it was in this case, I think it's usually all from the kitchen any ham living there. I don't remember that house being destroyed or affected much by the tornado, but we were at that time with my big daddy and mama and their parents.

06:47 My great-grandfather we call Granddad and my great-grandmother who called granny Granddad was kimsey Satterfield and my grandmother was Helen Satterfield. Anyhow, we were together in a house that was a hit by the tornado and it was 3 years old of that time. I really don't have any memories of what occurred other than images of that were told me at that time and I seem to remember my grandfather having been hit by a brick from the cab. Co collapsing chimney in the middle of his back and bloody in the hall and but that's all of the image of have anything of memories there seems as if I do remember being carried from that house down to a neighbor's house and the dark Russian.

07:47 Water in the gullies nearby. Don't remember that for sure but we live there then for a year or so, but the first memories I have of going up in a particular town was really a Social Circle. We moved to Social Circle in 1937 and moved into a house not in the Middle Village put a house of some distance away lady named Miss. Emma was lyrics and I remember a good bit about that house. I can't remember much about what Miss Emma look like though. She was very old, but the house had a nice front white white sand front yard with his around and we had one or perhaps two rooms of the house and I remember the living room very very well.

08:45 It had a I think a cool heater probably for heat and a lamp or overhead light and on the floor was a wonderful linoleum rug that was common in those days to put in your house. You bought at a little William rug from the stores around headache came rolled up Nana 12 ft with a common side came all rolled up with beautiful patterns of but it was rolled up with a pattern on the outer side so that when you put it down if it didn't curl up on the engine flat that I graduate if you bought one of those you needed to get one during

09:32 The time of summer when it was warm, or you had to heat up your room to get it to roll out smoothly but those were beautiful patterns beautiful colors that had a really shiny surface. It was fun to sit on a new linoleum rug to put down and Scoot around on his or her run and slide around in your stocking feet and that the head good memories of living with Miss. Emma is right down next to the railroad track. And in those days the steam engines came by for a very close by you can hear the whistle blowing and you can hear and puffing and chugging along and then the house the rooms Miss Emma would come in and be with her son and I had a profound experience with her while I was in there in the room. They aren't she was in sitting with us one evening and I wish.

10:32 I'm in the floor coloring in a coloring book will not crayons and all and night. The light was on overhead and Miss Emma said

10:42 Delford if you turn and move the other way, you won't have the Shadow from the light on your coloring book that you can see a lot better, and I realized I think perhaps if the time that I can do things to make things better for me. I don't have to just take things as play. There's a heart that was just something I've always remembered the things that one is that behind her house. There were pecan trees and a lot of pecans they are and I remember dad taking me back around to the back and setting me up into the Liam of of Time Country all over linoleum, and it frightened me because I was afraid I would fall I guess impressed. I didn't trust dad to hold me or something, but he took me back there.

11:35 Another time and showed me something absolutely wonderful and that is in that house which had box in Eaves. There was a large colony of bats that live there in the evening. You could done come out and I did the evening and you could watch them fly off at all. And that was a nice experience there. There were field cotton on either side of the house and farming was done and the

12:09 Other things that were attractive to babe was I had a duck there, but I guess Dad mother got it for me and kept it around for a while, but then it disappeared and I don't know what really happened to it, but they told me that it got on the railroad track run over with a train but I took it out and blew it into the cotton field next to us. And so it has had on had a good funeral the dad worked at the Cotton Mill and that was south of where we were living. Maybe I don't know half of three-quarters of a mile and dad would walk along the railroad track to get down as a meal and a lot of times when he got off at 9, he work the second shift. We should get him up about 11 to get off at night. He'd come walk.

13:09 Compact along the railroad tracks and often there were hobos at that time. That would be underneath the bridge have a fire going making him coffee or whatever at all and be able to speak to this week to each other and made him a little bit of the area but they never bothered him or anything like that now where he walked back by it from the mill, if you pass along the way for the hobos work, they were underneath the bridge and right next to the bridge was the coal Chute. What happened was the steam engine head have coal for a run.

13:49 Firing the boulders and in front of the house where we were living there was a railroad and on the other side of the railroad. There was a siding that went from a lower level up the hill to an elevated section. We're cold could be gotten up there by backing it up the Vintage dump them to the cold area where it was shoveled into large wheelbarrow, like containers and a train could come along and pull next to this and it would jump into the I could dump it is cold and has eight Tinder and also the water was there to put on into the engine builder compartment and that was the way they are friends receive the fuel that in order that they needed later on.

14:43 That shoot was replaced by a concrete structure where a train could drive through it and receive Cole directly from colon up above you or down if it were through a funnel. Well, we live there for a number of years for a number of years. It must have been two years I suppose but then we got into the house. Should I move to in Social Circle? And this was on true street now if you went up the hill from Miss Emma's house you turned you went into town you turn left in town and proceeded which would have been South on Highway 11, which ran between

15:27 Old Monroe to the door Social Circle and then Covington would have been on down the way if you walk to town

15:35 You would find on either side some different types of stores. You'd find hardware stores for clothing store. It was Freedmen's Malcolm's drugstore. It was a garage doctor's office a funeral parlor and own down. If you continue walking going down on the right side of the road was a cotton gin where the cotton gin is located presently. There is an Ace Hardware store now and at the cotton gin and the summer when cotton is being picked you would find wagon loads of cotton lined up waiting to to get into the gym.

16:21 But proceeding on the Prairie move to from the seller's house walk on down that road.

16:28 Hugo path doctor spearman's office on the ride and next is the Methodist Church for the town. I was always attracted to that church because if you looked up before the top into the bell tower, it was always a have a bezoar swan the colony of bees zip establish up there. But that was at the church went to the church went to was a Baptist Church. That was a little farther down the road, but could see you in just a little bit farther down on the left was Chapman Shore does that was The Company Store for the mill where you can go in and get stuff and put it on credit. We could pay someone at the next payday. You say butt in front of the church of Chapman's to work if you turn to the right that was true Streep, so when you walk down to the Church Street,

17:28 On the way, he found rolls of the cotton mill houses, usually four-room houses and with baby a room up at the attic also come down turn the corner to the left a little bit you continue on down there was a large oil this weatherboard house on the right and that's where we moved from the settlers moving in there. He was a large house a lot of rooms we live there. I think granny and Granddad a great grandmother and grandfather lived in there. And probably I think Uncle Roy dad's younger brother also live there and that's how she has a lot of special memory is a first of all it was announced with just a Big Sandy or around it. And I think some pecan trees oak trees are also but this a 2-yard gave a wonderful place for me to play and grow.

18:28 As a youngster getting outside and I would go out get sit down and Lisa trees and with a piece of wood I could have in my hand a road grader. I can scrape around and make the roads all through the sand and then I could also make total foghouse is the way I made toad frog houses putting my face down on the sand pack down sand around on the top and pulled it out. And that made a little Igloo where front fog could come in. I never saw one, but they could come in if they wanted to it all and

19:10 At that place. That was the welfare. We do water wash out sometime or some yards. I get a couple of yours out underneath the tree is on the north side of the house and then to the back there was a trail that went out maybe 20 yards or so to the Outhouse that was already shot there. So we had a water drawing in the well go Plumbing inside the house and for the refrigerator we had electricity. Would you have a refrigerator? We had a nice box and so frequently that he asked Madrid comeback shop at front and bringing a chunk of ice to put in the in the icebox and a lot of things went on there.

20:03 Last time I can recall recall. Fondly. One thing is that Granddad had a little Gordon their bounds on the south side of the house and would grow some vegetables corn and Rose sweet corn hole wonderful delicious stuffed people passing by couldn't resist taking an arrow to it seems the grandma didn't like that. So what he did look at some flour and dust all over the ears of corn and then you put up a sign with a skull and crossbones on his head poison and that cleared up that problem at all.

20:50 Now mother must have started working about that time in the male's dad was working regularly. So we needed somebody to look after us for a while, especially during shift changes and all but just look after us and mother in that engaged a lovely young black girl. They marry Francis rakestraw and she would look after us and take us out and let us walk around play and put every would-be. I see us. That was me and my cousin Ray who was Uncle Roy's son.

21:31 And she will be taking care of us. And one day we were out in the yard and very quickly. She gathered us up and herded us into the house end of the front room of of of a house inside because your seat down the sidewalk with mr. Crowley was coming that mr. Crowley lived in a little house down out in the field below where we live were living and the scroll

22:06 Worked at the railroad station I suppose because she had a three-wheel bicycle that he rose road back and forth often and he had in his bicycle was named the Nancy Hanks see because at that time the express train that was running between Canton and Savannah Wilson NC Hank Hill. His bicycle was in the NCAA was the town drunk. So here came this. You're truly staggering down the sidewalk and Mary Frances rakestraw got us up and herded us inside and then picked out the window until mr. Crowley. I got him back. He wouldn't have bothered. Please just just into a cup so to speak at all.

23:00 Later on at some point 110 mother took me down to where Mary Frances rakestraw live down probably quarter of a mile for lay down and into the right. We walk down there and went into Mary's to the house where she lives and I think mother would win a tiger or something for 4, she has done but the people there and I think I was astonished at the lack of stuff. They had it for as adequate furniture and Mary Frances slept up in an elevated place up in the rafters where there was trouble there for Luke put her bed on at all. And that was an opening thing for me for the difference in the way.

24:00 People lived in and there in all

24:03 Well, there were a lot of things that went on there in that house that I could share with you would let me go to the

24:14 People living around us there in the mill houses across the street mom and Big Data Leon and and The Upper Room attic room. We was finished it all their younger son Curtis and his new wife Lela Purim live there for a while but in the house of the street, the peppers family lived Louis peppers, and I don't remember his wife's name, but the family was all boys know. It was us not true. There was a boy is the oldest was bronzi. And then there was Bobby and them Charlie and Gerald and the youngest later on was Philip. Will Bobby and Jarrell wear my Asian my classmates in school you see and then on the way was Dan and Joyce party put Joyce was my age who she was as others.

25:14 Lights for me, you know later on but we grew up there and those were our friend we entertained had fun playing cops and robbers or vegetable was the Indians and all sorts of the things that I remember from that time we really have was going out with mother and Mom has had a failed to pick cotton at the end of the three down the way. Mr. Lazenby had cotton fields and go down there and pick at the end. Also. We went out toward Monroe and pictures of pills out there. I could do much picking but it was commonly for people with those days to pick a hundred pounds of Cod today and you were paid by the weight of the continent that you picked and the last thing I remember mostly of those days as far as picking cotton with not the cotton itself, but it was taking cold biscuits filled with jam and

26:14 Maybe some milk from water Chef out and that's what we had for lunch and good good good members from that we moved from that house across the tracks over on the other side to the mill houses that were over there lot of Neil houses were

26:37 4 room houses just one in line after another and we lived on one on Front Street. So it was called and then you had another freeze set with it right angle cross which of the back to what was the problem called Backstreet mama and big dad lived on back street. We live on Front Street and Uncle Ryan and his wife and his son rape live down below us there. So that's where we we lived when I first started school in 1939 first grade.

27:13 And the school to get to it. You would go from four-wheeler woke up to the street that went South out of fun out of town. You would go over what we call the overhead bridge to cross over the Georgia railroad which came through there and you woken up u-pass fetish by the Gin and then go up to the four end of the building turn left and walk down the road that went to Jersey and Alcovy out that way and the the one building that was a school at that time including Elementary High School was on the right side and it was a large wooden building 2 story. I think it was and there are started the first grade.

28:13 1939 first grade teacher mrs. Cook

28:18 There we were in class Charlie Peppers me.

28:24 Joyce party and a lot of other new friends. We will be meeting Nana stay up several others. We were in there with business cook.

28:35 Wonderful wonderful teacher she open my eyes. I think to learning I remember going up to taking collar and matching the color orange with the word orange on the Blackboard UC and I remember perhaps as much as anything her cooking breakfast for us when I'm in the room on a hot plate. She cooked up oatmeal and had juice and she told us this is a do Trish breakfast for you. So she put nutritious in my language about that time that room had

29:20 One big round

29:23 Iron Coal heater to heat the room in the winter time and keep it going. Someone had to put Kool it and take out clean version and that was done by a custodian at all Slender black man. Whose name was strip.

29:45 That's all I'm I remember from the

29:49 From the name of the person we'd ever use the last names of the custodians and you find that trip one would come in and do his job and then just leave and going to do other stuff. And what we had is that 10 was just the heat just doing the day when we were there. So strep covered get up early in the morning get the fires going all to get a swarm.

30:16 Doing that would rulers very cold when we were home for Christmas and that building was a heated and our white paste to froze and separated and I remember measures cook clearing out the pastry get around getting it liquefied again who was one nice thing that happened during the winter and that is behind the school. That was a water tank and water overflowed from the tank and Frozen sheet of ice out on the ground and the boys had the greatest fun sliding and skipping around on leg.

30:57 On the actual phone

31:00 But then came the new school around 1944 Ford SVT 40 for a new concrete who was Bill down below there and it was our job to help move the books and stuff down to the new building and we did I would have been in the 5th graders at 10 Miss Elizabeth Wiley and that was a wonderful wonderful year for me. Some of the other schools other years were good also, but first grade and 5th grade, I remember specific at the coast of the wonderful teacher, but in that school there was one teacher that you really did look forward to get into her class. That was Miss Butler. She had a little black eyes at the share a hole through you would head hair all done up in a little tight grey bun and a pencil stuck into it and she tells herself as a great. So anyone they are going good and just have the grade are you going into Miss?

32:00 Butler I was in the

32:04 Class Miss Wallace class and studying and I looked up at the door.

32:10 Miss Potter standing there and she called Miss Ally Bishop Wiley over spoke to her briefly. And then this why are they came over to be assessed Delbert says to win their baseball. If you would please not follow my goodness what the world's going to happen here? What if I don't have known anything, but Miss Butler took me up to her room and then she said it under the table and it had a microscope on it and she said that look through there and turn the knob on this and you can get things in soccer shirts. This is a drop of pond water and what you can see will be a whole new world and I'll look through there.

32:55 And I still remember this thing moving through the water turning over slowly. It was I would learn maybe 30 40 50 years later 40 years later. It was a paramecium. I think that experience as much as anything we had to my moving into the area of biology that plus being out with my family in the woods enjoying all of all of that and that Christmas I suppose it was I got a Gilbert microscope for Christmas and I and Dad and mother all enjoyed looking at the hairs on flies wings and other things that was wonderful wonderful time there and then it would be the end of that year. We moved from Social Circle.

33:51 Up to can but there are tremendous numbers of Adventures that went on down and Social Circles of growing up fishing in the creek down front trapping rats and skidding the end and begin and the pastor was granddad's of with my mama and big dad's satterfield's Cal Poly and washing big dad milk poly and Mom has had a field turning the butter end and then Granddad and Granny lived in the little room in the back of the house that house and I grew up with them. All of my granny would cook from Graham flour on their little heater in the back making up a gram pancake. That was about the most

34:51 Type of bread I've ever had to Eat. Busto World War II started at that time and other end and I monitored a lot of what was going on with world war with my great-grandfather. Granddad's Satterfield. What colors he would listen to the evening. You see that's where the golden the Golden Age of radio now and he would listen the evening to call Dan born with a news forecast and he had in his

35:24 The cabinet a map of the Europe and the various types of fronts we're taking place. He keep track of that and that short around around that short for the uniforms of of a German soldiers in the American soldiers and all of this and other things from that little room. Granddad was a carpenter to be able to but he was a carpenter also and had a wonderful tool box and I remember the

36:03 Smell of all and we'll pick up tools when he opened the box. In fact, I saw him by Anu Shah and when you brought it back the first thing he did was sharpen it. I thought of that a shawl would be a shortage could ever bit when we bought it and all but I grew up close to them and a lot of good memories for for those days. But then when you move to a new cotton mill, you leave behind old friends and places that you have and you have new friends to make it that time. And so we moved up to Canton and

36:51 In 1945, it would have been and I started sixth grade and the cotton mill school at North can we lived in a house on C Street? And I said 10 and 44 it would have been my brother was born there a Gary who is 11 years younger than I am and then

37:17 The adventures that occurred with me at Canton and all of those occurred at the Social Circle far for more than I could ever have found time to to relate to you, but I still have a lot of fun going back and visiting those places in the mind and the church and and Social Circle for example West End Baptist Church. That's where we attended and I can't tell you how good uncle Grady's BBQ Brunswick stew would be during the summer when we had our homecoming at the at the church at all and other things.

38:02 In

38:04 Social Circle getting back through was Malcolm's drugstore. I think it was that had a hot dog stand out in front of the short on Saturday night. You can go up there and we often will just drive up sit in the car and see people come back we get us a hot dog.

38:30 One evening a show old black man, come up to get a hot dog. And he said that when you fix up the dog, would you please put the onions down in the bottom and the mustard ketchup the bottom put the hot dog on top. He said I needed that way coach. I only have one hand and he held up his other hand and show where the where they handed been cut off at the Risperdal and Destin it showed me some of the things that people go through in life, I guess and I are you you can have a lesson in love from just about any experience for anything that you say and going up a lot of the things affect you that that stay with you a lot know and

39:18 I guess I don't have time in this one to tell you about the Indian cigars that we would get off the Catawba trees and there are other things, but maybe they could come at a later time and all but done moving on up to a 10 out and and I guess I could much will wrap that up now and will same bye for now and maybe we'll meet again with another story. Thank you for sharing your memories with us.