| Summary: | (6:22) Mrs. Faulkner describes working on a farm and her experiences as a Jehovah's Witness during the early to mid 1900s. This interview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Della Faulkner
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Juliann Losey and Rhonda Haygood
(Also present: Joy Weekly)
Clip 8 of 8
Julian Losey: Did you ever vote?
Della Faulkner: I voted one time.
JL: When was that?
DF: It was up there at Collinwood. They wanted us to vote for somebody there, and I voted one time, the only time I ever did.
JL: Do you remember who you voted for?
DF: No. Don’t even remember that. Wasn’t long after that we learned we didn’t do that, and so I didn’t.
Rhonda Haygood: Do you remember getting your first telephone?
DF: Yeah.
RH: When did you get the first telephone?
DF: Well, now, Mrs. Holt had a phone, but after, then we got our own after we left that big house up there and we’ve had a phone most all the time.
Joy Weekly: Wasn’t that A-T-2?
DF: Yeah.
JW: 3-4-8-8?
DF: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
JW: A-T-2.
DF: Yeah, A-T-2-3-4-8-8, um hum. That used to be that way, instead of—we had to tell that number to call. You didn’t do like we do today.
JL: How, how would you call?
DF: We’d pick up the phone and, and say “A—” and tell who we were and who we was calling and they’d, they’d dial that number.
JL: You talked to an operator?
DF: Yeah, we had to talk to a operator.
JW: Didn’t your sister, Minnie, want to start Women’s Lib back then when y’all were all growing together? You know how she didn’t like plowing all day and coming in, and then the boys sitting down and—
DF: Yeah, she never did—she, we had to work hard out, and Minnie plowed, I never would do that, with a turning plow. And I run the corn tiller one time and I used to plant corn and cotton and things like that. And we had mules that pulled our stuff, we didn’t have motors. And Minnie got—when she plowed, she didn’t like it. She worked so hard. And then we’d go home and my mother did the most of the cooking and when we’d get to the house us girls would have to get in there and help and the boys would sit down and rest. And she didn’t like that and she wanted the women’s liberation.
RH: Did she get it while she was still at home?
DF: No and she’s still mad about it. She didn’t get it when she’s home and she’s still mad about that.
RH: Is she?
DF: Yeah, she still talks a lot about that.
RH: Does she? That was, a little bit not fair, wasn’t it?
DF: Yeah, she couldn’t understand why we worked so hard out in the field and come on and had to help fix dinner and everything and wash dishes and the boys just sat around and looked at us. She didn’t like it.
JL: Did she do anything about it?
DF: She told them about it, but it didn’t help.
JL: So, what kind of things did you do on the farm?
DF: Well, I hoed cotton; Papa wanted us to hoe cotton. And I mean, we couldn’t leave nothing in between. We had to take it—he’d always plant cotton and we’d take a hoe and it had—we’d chop it and leave the length of the hoe, we’d leave some, we’d chop another. And we had to hoe that and keep all the weeds out of it, and work hard like that till we got to the end of the row. And he would, he, he’d see that we did our work right which is good for us today, doing work right. Not be sloppy with your work, but we didn’t like it at that time.
JL: Ah, when you moved to Florence and you start—when you became a Jehovah’s Witness, you sold the magazines, right?
DF: Yeah, we took a contribution for them, yeah.
JL: Did you ever have a contribution that wasn’t money?
DF: Yes, yes.
JL: What, what, what was the stuff you got?
DF: Well, we took everything. We’d take chickens, we’d take bottles. You know, used to, you had, got a contribution for your bottle or could take them back and get a refund, and so we’d take anything they had to offer if they wanted to read the, the publications.
JL: What’s the weirdest thing you ever got?
DF: Stamps, food, I mean, what was that? Them stamps they used to give away—
RH: S & H Green stamps?
DF: —and we’d collect them. Yeah, and they, we’d get—it wasn’t food stamps. But we bought things and get stamps and we’d save that. And you could take them and trade them for gifts.
JW: Yeah, that’s S & H Green stamps.
DF: —and we got a lot of them. We got a lot of them, yeah. And then you had to get them all together and go trade them for something.
JW: Didn’t you get polk salad or greens one time?
DF: Yeah, we’ve, ah, we’ve got green beans and turnip greens, turnips, anything nearly to eat, out in the—when we was in the country, we got a lot of food, which we appreciated. And one time, Brother Ward and I’s out service, they was special pioneers, somebody give them a chicken, a live chicken, and we, he put it in the back of his car.
RH: What did he do with it?
DF: He took it home with him.
JL: Is there anything else you—any other stories you want to share with us before we go?
DF: Well, we all had a good time, whatever we got like that and I’m thankful that I was out in the service and helping people learn to know who God was, and why he sacrificed Jesus for us and bought us with his life. And we owe everything we have to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus for that and to help other people learn about that. I enjoyed that a lot.
JL: Alright, well we’re gonna stop the interview for now and we thank you very, very much for doing this for us.
DF: Well, you’re welcome.
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