The oldest interview subject of the Oral History Project, Martha Harmon Harman (her maiden and married names were both pronounced the same, but spelled differently) was 99 years old at the time of this recording. She recalls her family history and memories of growing up in Watauga County.
Part 1
00:00 Birth and parents
1:40 Early life on farm
3:00 Brothers and Sisters
3:15 Brother killed by falling tree
6:00 Funeral for brother
8:50 Family’s home on Beech Mountain
9:50 Father and uncle’s Civil War service
11:50 History of Harmons in America
14:35 Great uncle Mast poisoned by slaves
17:35 Childhood chores
20:15 Christmas traditions
24:00 Easter traditions
25:00 Sources for Dye
Part 2
00:00 Flax
1:40 Sheep shearing
4:50 School at Beech Creek
16:20 Discipline from Parents
18:20 Drying apples
19:17 Death of Mother
24:00 Making alcohol
Part 3
00:00 Making Lye Soap
4:00 World War I / Nephews killed
7:30 Changes over life
8:46 Trading fox hides for shoes
10:23 Making dresses
12:11 Molasses making
13:19 Getting flour
14:54 Keeping Bees
20:00 Baptizings and church services
25:45 Cable Battle (shootout with whiskey gang)
Part 4
0:00 Mother knitting
1:20 Courting practices
5:50 Childbirth
7:50 Making diapers and clothes
10:48 Canning for first time
15:58 Differences from mother’s life
16:50 Clothes washing
20:45 Home Remedies
29:55 Soap Making procedure
Part 5
1:35 Staying active in 90s / diet
5:00 Home Remedies (Jerusalem Oak / Wormseed)
9:22 Knitting Machine
14:13 Travel to nearest store
15:28 Making shingles for Watauga high school
20:05 Flour, cornmeal and buckwheat
23.20 Homemade pine torches
24:09 Making pine tar
26:01 Grafting apple trees
30:00 Hair care
Part 6
0:00 Hair care continued
0:55 Makeup
2:05 Hairstyles
3:12 Brothers and sisters names
5:10 Wild Cherry and Burdock tea / Mullien syrup
6:40 Floods
12:00 Children’s name
13:25 Curing meat
18:00 Uses for Hickory
20:14 Making splits for chair bottoms
21:50 Elections
22:30 Getting to vote as woman for first time
25:05 Improvements from modernity