[Granville-Hough] 27 May 2009 - Smith County Customs

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Smith County Customs I Observed:

Smith County had been in existence almost ninety years when I was born 
in 1922. Many of the pioneer customs of log rollings, corn shuckings, 
etc, were long since history; but there were still some things which I 
can talk about.

Christmas. We regarded Christmas very much as a family reunion time, and 
it was not overly religious. Our Christmas trees were either cedar or 
holly, there not being any natural fir trees. We always went to our 
Richardson grandparents’ home for Christmas. We did have presents under 
the tree, or sometimes at home before we went over to Granpa’s house.
At these family gatherings we learned about another old custom. Grandma 
and the women and children did not eat until the menfolks and elderly 
people had been fed. Then we would get to eat at the second or third 
serving. By then we were starving and ate huge amounts. Of course, we 
had fried chicken; and usually someone brought fresh pork. We always had 
corn bread, and for the sissy folks, there were even biscuits.
Easter. We enjoyed Easter, as everybody had eggs, and coloring was cheap 
and easy. We had Easter egg hunts at church and at home, which we 
thoroughly enjoyed. We feasted on boiled eggs and egg salad all day. 
Even today, when I have a boiled egg or get egg salad, I think of those 
Easters.

Fourth of July. It was lay-by time for row cropping, and the first 
watermelons of the season would be ready. If they were a little late, we 
had home-made ice cream made in our own freezer with ice from the iceman 
from Magee or Mize. On 4 July 1936 when we made ice cream and sampled 
it, we found a hole had developed in the rotating container, and the 
cream was very very salty. (We put salt in the ice to improve and 
expedite the freezing of the mixture of milk, sugar, and vanilla in the 
rotating container.) Reluctantly we emptied out the container, repaired 
the hole, and had restarted the process. When I took the bucket of salty 
ice cream out to our pigs, my pet steer, "Jim," got a whiff of it, his 
mother's own milk, salted to perfection, and he got his head in the 
bucket and forced me to set it on the ground. In a short time, he had 
emptied the whole bucket.

Quilting parties. I got to attend a few of those as Grandma Richardson’s 
carding boy. Her living room had the quilting frame attached to the 
ceiling and it could be lowered for a quilting party. The backing of the 
quilt was not usually decorated, and it was the part which you had 
closest to you. It was made of soft but strong material which would 
stand wear and washing. On this base you placed the cotton which held 
the body heat. You did not place the cotton willy-nilly, but you 
carefully carded it until the fibers went in the same direction. So it 
was my job as the carding boy to keep a supply of carded cotton 
carefully stacked in a basket for the quilters to use. Over the carded 
cotton, you placed the decorated pattern of the top part of the quilt, 
which was a work of art. Then the quilters sat around with their needles 
securing the pattern top, the cotton middle, and the backing. When you 
finished one row, you rolled the quilt frame inward and took on another 
row. I never turned down a carding opportunity. I could overhear all the 
gossip I was not supposed to understand.

Sunbonnets and cancer. People who had lived in the South for generations 
knew the danger of skin cancer and wore sunbonnets or big straw hats 
which shaded the face and neck. They also wore shirts or long sleeved 
dresses which covered the skin. However, in the 1930 era, it became 
popular to get sun tans, which set the stage for many of us to develop 
skin cancer later in life. Here, established custom was far ahead of 
medical knowledge.

Barn-raising. I only got to attend one of these, and it was the result 
of a tragedy. It was a known fact that a barn full of newly cut hay 
could get so hot that it would explode in flames. This did not happen 
often, but it was something to watch far. The hay could be moved around 
so it would cool off. Mr. Lawrence McAlpin’s barn caught fire this way 
and it burned Drummond McAlpin’s breeding jack and some other livestock. 
Then Mr. McAlpin and his sons got together the lumber for building a new 
barn. My older brother, Dueward Hough, went to help, and I went just to 
observe. Otho Ware took charge, and directed the others in what to do. 
He was the best amateur carpenter of the community. By the end of the 
day, the main work of laying out the barn had been done. I did not go 
back again with Dueward and the others, but in a few days there was a 
new barn.

Shivaree. I do not know the origin of the mock serenade of young married 
people when they were able to move into their first home. Usually it was 
just a lot of noise with firecrackers, with a goodly amount of moonshine 
for the partakers.. However, I did hear tell of one where a house was 
knocked off its blocks. That must have been revenge of a disgruntled 
suiter who had fancied that particular bride for himself. Grampa.

P. S. Last Sunday, we baptized our newest church member, a young lady 
about seven months old, Elizabeth Joy Gaggiano. When the cold water ran 
down her face into her eyes, she gave forth a screeching objection. 
Later, my son David Hough told me that he had been told that one who 
objected so vehemently would surely become a minister, just developing 
her vocal chords. That's an interesting viewpoint which would not be 
noted in a Baptist community as we did not have infant baptism.