Just in case you missed the Chinese guy…
tobacco
Uncle Vernon’s Story (part 17)
First Bud went into the service, then later Felix, after the war ended I was drafted on April 19, 1946 and I was a military policeman in Tokyo, Japan at the war crimes trials at the International Military Tribunal Far East. I was discharged on October 4, 1947 from California. [Since] the war [was alread] over, my time in the Army was more like a vacation compared to my life on the farm. The day after I got home I was 21 years old.
In January of 1948 I went to St. Louis to work. While home that was the time that REA was building the electric lines in the area and the right of way had to be cleared. Uncle Henry Heymeyer was in charge for the REA and he couldn’t get anyone to take the contract to clear the right of way, so Oscar Goetz took it with the provision that each family that got electricity would help and that when we worked on one farm we ate lunch on that farm. I think we started clearing on the Ted Englebrecht farm and went past the Bob Bruley creek a way. Oscar Goetz did not keep any money. He was the time keeper. The pay was divided up according to how many hours one worked on the project.
Daddy and I helped Oscar Goetz build a tobacco barn one year. I happened to be home one year from St. Louis when the new silo was built. That was quite an experience. I stayed with Bud and Alma in St. Louis until April15, 1949 when Bud and Alma purchased the Ivan place that we lived at around 1930. I then went into a boarding house where I lived until I got married on February 2, 1952. We then lived on Tower Grove across the street from Shaw’s Garden in south St. Louis.
Tobacco Song
Julie sent in this song about growing Tobacco.
Aunt Naomi’s Story (part 13)
I didn’t mind being raised on a farm too much except for one thing. I hated working in the tobacco. For some years many of the farmers in our community raised tobacco, so daddy got into raising it. It was so very much hard work. We had to hand plant the small plants which we grew from a home made hotbed. After planting, these had to be watered, cultivated and kept free of worms until harvest time. Then, in addition to this, every plant had to be suckered and topped. This meant hours and hours in the tobacco patch….and you are not even half done — and it is HOT! AND STICKY AND BUGGY!
At a certain time (right around the time school started) it was harvesting time. We had to pick off the dried leaves from the bottom of the plants and the stalk would be cut down with a machete. These would be handed to a person who would put about 8 stalks on a tobacco stick. The end of the tobacco stick had a sharp pointed metal thing to accommodate the stalks entry onto the stick. These sticks, filled with tobacco stalks, would be picked up by tractor and wagon. The person loading had to load in a certain way. The next step was to haul them to the barn to be hung on drying racks. This was hard work, for a full tobacco stick was heavy.
After a period of time the tobacco was dried, the leaves turn a rich brown color and the leaves have to be picked from the stalks. This was the part I hated most because of the mess — The tobacco was brought into the kitchen and stripping began. Everyone helped and stripping went straight through until it was done. This usually took two weeks. During tobacco stripping time, Mother used to make Divinity candy for us. I think she felt sorry for us. We always had eggs and walnuts, so the only other ingredient was sugar. It was a wonderful treat for little expense. The kitchen had to be cleaned top to bottom after the tobacco was taken out to the barn to the press, for there was dust everywhere!After that, the tobacco had to be put in a press in the barn, and then taken to market.
In my freshman year of high school, It was my day to stay home from school and help with the tobacco harvest. This was the day the freshmen were to be initiated. We had to wear overalls, and carry a milk bucket. I was devastated that my parents expected me to miss this wonderful event at school. My sister, Lolly, feeling my distress came to the rescue and volunteered to stay home in my place and I did get to go to my freshman initiation. I will never forget this unselfish act.