Simple Times: 75-80 Years Ago

BY SUZY McCRAY

Carrying eggs to sell in Birmingham by horse and wagon and refilling sodas in the ice-cold water of the drink machine at the service station are just two of the memories James Tolbert wants to make sure remain after he’s long gone.

James, who will celebrate his 89th birthday July 4, wants folks to remember the independence of hard-working simple country folks from way back when, so he’s been writing his memories for his daughter, grandkids and future generations of his family to read and remember!

James served 38 years with the Alabama National Guard in Oneonta, Alabama, retiring as a sergeant major, after initially being drafted during the Korean conflict.

“I was called to Montgomery and my mama just laughed and said they wouldn’t take me,” he remembered. “I didn’t weigh but 110 pounds. But I had to come home and tell Mama that I was going to have to leave that next Friday!”

But while he spent what most folks think of as a lifetime helping to mold the area’s young men, it was the rural upbringing that he’s been concentrating on in his writing.

One fond memory is of singing bass with the FFA Quartet for Blount County High School (now Oneonta High). The boys’ names are like a list of Blount and Oneonta’s pioneer families: “Jerry Cornelius sang tenor; Alton Bynum, high tenor; Dan Moore, lead; and accompanied by Juanita Worthy on piano. We were the Melody Boys. Every week we sang on WGAD, the radio station in Gadsden, and Moore Auto furnished us an automobile to travel in. We won several school competitions.

“Back then, every fifth Sunday there was a fa-so-la (Sacred Harp) singing at the Blount County courthouse. This had to be before the early 1950s because it was the old courthouse which wasn’t air-conditioned so the windows were raised and people could sit outside and enjoy the singing if the courtroom got too crowded.

“And there were Gospel music singings at area churches, rotating every Sunday. One at Lebanon Methodist, Taits Gap Baptist, Antioch and Ebenezer Methodist.

“I graduated high school in 1952, but before that we all had Saturday jobs downtown. I worked for Buddy Johnson’s Sinclair Service Station downtown from 7 a.m. till 5 p.m. and made a whopping $5 a day which was big money back then! I spent about $1.50 on gas and then had what was left to use for the rest of the week.

“I washed cars, pumped gas, cleaned windows and fixed flat tires. Back then there was a lot of flats because of bad roads. There were few roads paved whether in the city, county or state. We didn’t have tools to break down tires like today. All tires had tubes and were repaired with a small patch on the tube.

“First thing Saturday mornings I filled up the cold drink machine after Mr. Dumas brought a 60-pound block of ice.

“Later there was a different kind of ice box you used for storing drinks. It had a mechanical device on it. After placing 5 cents in a slot, you could pull which kind of drink out of a certain row as it kept cool sitting in the water.

“It sat outside the station.” One Saturday morning James came in and found someone had popped all the drink caps off and then used a straw to drink all the drinks in the machine! “Mr. Johnson was not happy!” he remembered.

“Back then because of dust and cars using a lot of oil because of poor filter systems, spark plugs would get a buildup or film on them that would cause misfiring. Another of my jobs was cleaning those plugs in Mr. Johnson’s spark plug cleaning machine.” But James’ daddy, Ernest Tolbert, sparks most of his memories.

“My dad had three routes that he would travel to every week. He would buy chickens, eggs, farm butter and cowhides from his customers and carried sacks of chicken feed on his truck to exchange for some of that. He also got orders and delivered feed.

“Dad’s long route was from Royal to Blountsville in Blount County and then in the hills and hollows close to Holly Pond.

“Eggs were brought home and processed, candled and sized for large, medium and small. Butter was carried to Clover Leaf Refinery in Birmingham for processing. Hides were carried to Birmingham Hide and Tallow for processing. Chickens were sold to Young, Mallory and Henry for processing. Eggs were sold to individual stores, bakeries and the Tennessee Coal and Truck Company which had five stores and Loyd Noland Hospital. Eggs were packed to go to Birmingham in 50-by-12 inch wood boxes with each side holding 15 dozen eggs. It was a long while before they began using cardboard boxes.

“Before this Dad and HIS father carried eggs to Birmingham by horse and wagon, a four day long trip.

“Dad always raised around 200 turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He raised them far from his brooder house and his chickens to stave off diseases. When they were larger, the turkeys had the run of a large penned grassy area.

“When it got close to Thanksgiving, Dad would take the turkeys to Fairfield for processing by Mr. Fred Trucks. Then Dad iced them down and put them in clean 30-gallon garbage cans and then hand-delivered them to cafes, restaurants, hospitals and individuals.

“Dad loved his roses. And Mama had a 10-by-14 feet flower house. They would dig a hole 10-by-14 feet and in winters flowers set on the ground would ‘carry over’ to spring.”

James’ written accounts include handdrawn blueprints of the rough-hewn lumber, tinroofed farm buildings, including one for coal and another for fire wood. Chicken houses included a brooder house, with a wood-burning heater and a growing out house for chickens as they grew larger.

James still resides in his comfortable Murphrees Valley house just “up the road a bit” from his daughter Shirley Cornelius’ family. His late wife Anne hosted a cooking show on local cable TV for a while, and their building, “The Gathering Place,” where she hosted weekend meals and get-togethers, still sits proudly filled with all sorts of memorabilia including wooden chicken coops, old signs and more.

But it’s James’ retelling of his life and adventures that brings a sparkle to his eyes and smiles to the lips of listeners. His writings of those simpler times are sure to be family treasures and we thank him for sharing!!!

As we look at agriculture’s future, many younger homesteaders are following Ernest Tolbert’s prescription for diversity: “Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another – or maybe both.” (Ecclesiastes 11:6)

(Suzy and Mack live on a small homestead in Blount County and can be reached on Facebook or at suzy.mccray@yahoo.com.)

James Tobert will celebrate he 89th birthday on July 4.