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Katheryne Dollar, director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in association with the Natchitoches Area Action Association arranged interviews with senior citizens around the parish. The interviews were conducted between 1971 and 1974 by David Dollar. Recordings were originally aired on KNOC Radio.

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April 23, 2026

65. John Forshee

Transcript

Transcript

Hubert Laster: Good morning. This is Hubert Laster and this morning on the Memories Program we're going to be visiting with Mr. John Forshee. We'll be back in just a moment after a word from our sponsors. Again, good morning. Mr. Forshee lives outside of Vowells Mill and out behind his house, to the side of it, he's got a mill, his own mill, and we just missed him making his last batch of cane syrup. Mr. Forshee, how do you do that?

John Forshee: Oh, I just hold the cane up out there and put it in the mill and run it through the mill and then run it through the pan and cook molasses off.

Hubert Laster: You make it sound real easy, but how long does it take you to do that?

John Forshee: Oh, just knowing how much you got. If you ain't got but a little it don't take long to make and got to right mark it take the right mark.

Hubert Laster: I see. I was not expecting when I came out here to see such a, well, it's almost a modern apparatus you have, it's made out of steel and it has electrical motor and everything. I was really expecting a stone wheel almost. But when did you get that mill?

John Forshee: Oh, I got that mill from a fellow out here at Provençal. Bill West gave me that mill and my oldest son, he taken it off down the race line and he fixed it up for to put a motor to it and brought all of it back up here to me. He set it up and I've been around it now for about six or seven years.

Hubert Laster: How long? Who taught you how to make cane syrup?

John Forshee: Well, I've been around it all of my life. I've never run off a gallon of syrup in my life, but I've got a friend down here, Willie Honeycut, he makes it for me every year. Go down there and get him and bring him back up here and he stays with me until we get through. That's the way we worked that.

Hubert Laster: Now you catch all the juice after you squeezed it out of the sugarcane?

John Forshee: Yeah, we catch it out of a barrel up there and empty the mill. Catch the juice.

Hubert Laster: Now what is that second hut that has a, it's a stove and all that. Explain all that to me.

John Forshee: That's a furnace. That's where the evaporator is. That's what makes it syrupy. And whenever the syrup gets cooked over, we just pull out the pan and let it run in a vessel lot and then we can open the little faucet down on it and put the syrup in the bucket or jug or anything you've got you want to put it in, seal it up, then you've got your syrup.

Hubert Laster: And that's all there is to it.

John Forshee: That's all there is to it. Only but one thing to it, now it's a lot of work to it.

Hubert Laster: A lot of work to it.

John Forshee: It's a lot of work to it.

Hubert Laster: I noticed you said that this was going to be the last time you made.

John Forshee: Yeah, this the last time. My Momma, she said she was going to quit me if I didn't quit it.

Hubert Laster: That's your wife?

John Forshee: That's my wife. That won't work.

Hubert Laster: Okay. Your furnace, did you make that furnace yourself?

John Forshee: Yeah, I made all that furnace out of brick and mud.

Hubert Laster: Red clay.

John Forshee: Red clay. That's right.

Hubert Laster: I noticed it was cracked.

John Forshee: Yeah, it hit a bust whenever that fire hit, it did a dry out and one bust open.

Hubert Laster: So every time you make cane syrup you have to?

John Forshee: You've got to remodel the furnace on it, put the pan back on it so it won't get no air in it, no smoke come out from under it.

Hubert Laster: That's all there is to it?

John Forshee: That's all there is to it. Well you get to boiling good, you've got to let it boil back the skim all good and then take the skimming dough and put it in the barrel, and just keep on working that way. Then you get it, get it all skimmed off and then you got syrup up on the front end of your evaporator. Then you let them all, then you-

Hubert Laster: Now, evaporator, that’s-

John Forshee: That's the pan, that's what we call evaporator. That's what we cook it in.

Hubert Laster: Okay. Was there a reason why it had those ridges in it or?

John Forshee: I really can't tell you what them ridges in there. I reckon that's just-

Mrs. Forshee: That's to hold it back in.

John Forshee: That's to hold it back. I reckon whenever you get them syrup cooked and take them all and then it makes it goes around, it comes and goes up and then comes back and just makes it that way.

Mrs. Forshee: And then...

John Forshee: Go ahead.

Mrs. Forshee: That's where the juice goes over around and then at the last run, you know, the waters are coming behind it. You got to stop it up. Keep that. That's to keep the pan from burning.

Hubert Laster: Thank you, Mrs. Forshee. Well, Mr. Forshee. Let's go back a ways. You were born around this area?

John Forshee: Oh yeah. I was born in two and a half miles from here to where I live right now.

Hubert Laster: All right. How many children were in your family?

John Forshee: In mine?

Hubert Laster: Yes, sir.

John Forshee: I had five children. Five boys.

Hubert Laster: You had five boys?

John Forshee: Five boys.

Hubert Laster: And how many did your father have?

John Forshee: I think he had 6. 3, 4 girls. Four girls and three boys, I believe it was.

Hubert Laster: That makes seven.

John Forshee: That makes seven. That's right.

Hubert Laster: Okay. Well now, what do you remember about growing up? What are some of your clearest memories of growing up as a boy?

John Forshee: Oh, I remember I know I had my daddy made me work all the time. I know that. He never did let me quit. Plowing, he turned the plow over to me when I wasn't but about eight or nine years old and he went on back to the house and I finished the job, and that's the way we got by that. Way back, we all had to work. We didn't, wasn't no playing around. That's the way I come up. I was pretty mean back on them in young days, too. I'd get ram scoot around a little bit, just sort of rough, but it never did amount to nothing.

Hubert Laster: Just had a good time.

John Forshee: Just had a good time.

Hubert Laster: Clean fun.

John Forshee: Clean fun.

Hubert Laster: Drink that moonshine.

John Forshee: Yeah, I made a little bit, but I didn't make none to sell. I know I couldn't make enough to sell, I drunk it myself.

Hubert Laster: Oh. Well you wouldn't have made a businessman.

John Forshee: No, I wouldn't had made no, I never could make enough to sell.

Hubert Laster: Well, your father was a farmer.

John Forshee: Oh, yeah. That's all he ever done is farming. Never worked a day on public works in his life. I don't reckon. He did, I never did hear nothing about it.

Hubert Laster: Well y'all, with a large family, how many acres did y'all cultivate each year?

John Forshee: Oh, we worked about 25, 30 acres, something like that. We made our peas and our corn, cotton, sugarcane, made syrup. We got along pretty good. Made our own bread. Didn't have to buy nothing but a little flour and little sugar. Good coffee. That's about what we had to buy.

Hubert Laster: Now your father owned his own land?

John Forshee: Oh, yeah. He owned his own land.

Hubert Laster: How did he get it, or do you know?

John Forshee: Oh, he bought it way back yonder when land is cheap, give about a dollar an acre for it. Way back yonder, you know. That's what he paid for it, a dollar an acre, years ago.

Hubert Laster: Many years ago.

John Forshee: Many years ago. I think it sold back our land, sometimes some four bits an acre. But he paid a dollar an acre. He had 120 acres of it. That's what he had and he divided it up around us boys, three boys.

Hubert Laster: I see. How did you make your living besides farming? Your father and you and your family?

John Forshee: Oh yeah, he made the living of farming. He didn't public work or nothing. He didn't do nothing but farm. Only the little old little place he had, we had.

Hubert Laster: Well how did y'all get money?

John Forshee: Well, he raised that cotton, you know, and he'd sell the cotton and get the money that-a-way. Raised three or four bales of cotton a year, sell that, get the money. We lived on that. My daddy never did borrow nickel of money in his life, I don't reckon, while he lived to make a crop, we didn't have what we've got today.

Hubert Laster: I guess not.

John Forshee: Whenever I come up, you know, I could get a loan and make a crop when I raising my children, you know. I'd go to bank on, I'd get $60 or something like that. Make the $60 do us all the summer, all the year until we made another little crop. We never did.

Hubert Laster: Can't do that anymore.

John Forshee: You can't do that no more. $60 wouldn't go nowhere now.

Hubert Laster: We need to take a break right now for word from our sponsor and we'll be back just a moment.

If you've just joined us, we're visiting with Mr. John Forshee in Vowelles Mill. Well, Mr. Forshee, now, when did you move to where you live now?

John Forshee: I think it was about 1917.

Hubert Laster: You got married.

John Forshee: Got married.

Hubert Laster: And got your own place.

John Forshee: Got my own outfit.

Hubert Laster: You built this house we're in now?

John Forshee: Yep.

Hubert Laster: What did you build this house out of? You know, it's still standing. It looks beautiful.

John Forshee: I built it out of pure lumber.

Hubert Laster: What kind of lumber?

John Forshee: Just sawed one-by-twelves, plank, old-timey stuff. You know what we used to buy to put up a house with? Just plank. Ain't none of this fancy stuff. It's just plain lumber.

Hubert Laster: Is it hardwood?

John Forshee: No, it's pine. Pine lumber.

Hubert Laster: Still pine.

John Forshee: It's pine lumber.

Hubert Laster: I see.

John Forshee: Built some of it out of Sheetrock on the inside of that Sheetrock in there on the inside and all like that.

Hubert Laster: Did you use the hardwood of the pine?

John Forshee: No, it was some hard and some sap mixed. Just mixed the hard and sap together.

Hubert Laster: I noticed out there on your shed that those are wooden shingles.

John Forshee: Yeah, they're wooden shingles.

Hubert Laster: Did you make those?

John Forshee: I made them, too.

Hubert Laster: How do you make shingles?

John Forshee: Oh, you got to rive out the timber and take you a froe. This outfit you call a froe, and then you got a wooden hammer, put them down in an outfit and bump them, you know, and put the froe-ing iron and priers down on it and split out your boards.

Hubert Laster: Now do you adze them down?

John Forshee: No. You just put them on just like you rive them out, get a bunch, tack them on, nail them on the top.

Hubert Laster: Does it leak?

John Forshee: No. Not if you put it on all right, it won't.

Hubert Laster: What makes the best shingles? What kind of wood?

John Forshee: Cypress makes the best shingles when you can get them. Cypress timber, good hard Cypress, you know. That makes the best there is.

Hubert Laster: But you can't find that, though?

John Forshee: You can't find that no more. No other kind now, not around here. Not to make any boards.

Hubert Laster: What other kind of wood can you make shingles out of?

John Forshee: Well, you make it out of pine, good pine, good long leaf pine timber. You know, what we used to have, but we haven't got no more of that, though.

Hubert Laster: What about Hickory?

John Forshee: Oh, you couldn't do that out of Hickory, no oak, either. Oak timbers don't make boards.

Hubert Laster: Okay. How do you make a plank?

John Forshee: Oh, you got to haul the logs to the mill. Run them through the sawmill, you know, slab them off. That's they way you get the lumber.

Hubert Laster: Did you ever split out the log yourself?

John Forshee: No, I can't do that one. I take it to the sawmill, you know, and get it sawed up, make it lumber.

Hubert Laster: It's easier.

John Forshee: It's easier. Oh, yeah. You have to do that to make lumber. Got to take your plank or logs to the mill and saw them. Put them up in lumber. That's the way you can get that.

Hubert Laster: Mr. Forshee, we're running out of time, but I would like to know how you make an Axe handle.

John Forshee: Well, I get an Axe and go to wood and get my timber, bring it to the house, split it like I want it, then I took it out to my vice.

Hubert Laster: What kind of wood?

John Forshee: I use Hickory wood.

Hubert Laster: All right.

John Forshee: Then I took it to my vice and I get my drawing knife. I work her down just like I want it and get my sandpaper and I've fixed it up good like that.

Hubert Laster: Now drawing knife, that has two handles on it?

John Forshee: That's got two handles.

Hubert Laster: Okay.

John Forshee: All right, and then I let her dry a while and I put in my Axe, get me a wedge and put in the end of it and then I got a good handle. I made several ax handles, enjoy it.

Hubert Laster: I see.

John Forshee: I enjoy it when I feel like it.

Hubert Laster: Well, Mr. Forshee, it was very much of a pleasure to visit with you.

John Forshee: Well, I've enjoy your visit with me.

Hubert Laster: If you have any memories that you would like to share, would you please dial 352-8647. The Retired Seniors Volunteer Program will be happy to take your name and number and I'll be out there to visit with you, too. This is Hubert Laster. Wishing you all a very pleasant, good day.

Hubert Laster interviews John Forshee about making cane syrup, farming as a child, raising cotton, building his own house, and making axe handles.

Tags: podcast, memories, oral history interview, natchitoches parish, farming, house building, cane syrup

April 16, 2026

64. Jo Bryant Ducaneau pt. 2

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar: Good morning. This is David Dollar. We're going to have on our Memories program this morning, another visit from Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. We'll be right back to begin our program right after this word from Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Good morning again. David Dollar here on Memories today with Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. Mrs. Ducaneau, why don't you, since you've visited with us several times here, why don't you just pick up where we left off last time and talk a little bit about some things you've been involved in around here.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Well, I believe I was talking about the outdoor theater. And if my memory serves me right, Thelma Zelenka, who is now Mrs. John Kyser, put on that first outdoor theater. I'm not sure whether it was Midsummer Night's Dream or whether it was just an extravaganza, but I do remember dancing on the lawn there with Carol Flower from Alexandria who went on to Broadway and danced there. She left me in the shade to dance in 1960 exhibition dances for Arthur Murray in San Francisco.

So, I think that settles the outdoor theater business. Then I think of another thing is when my father was on the board of the college, then I think it was called a Normal board then, none of us ever rode at night in a car with a boy. That was just outrageous. You couldn't do that and the college girls couldn't ride in a car anytime at all. So one girl did and she was caught and she was yanked up before the board and they were going to expel her and she cried and she was terribly upset and Daddy said, she said, "I just took one ride in the middle of the day and the sun was shining."

David Dollar: They were going to expel her for just riding in a car?

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: That's right.

David Dollar: My goodness. I wonder how that would go over on campus today.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: I wonder too.

David Dollar: You mentioned, Mrs. Ducaneau, I'm very interested in drama, you mentioned a play that was produced with some folks in town. I think you were in high school here. It was another maybe outdoor play.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: No, that was Ma'ame Pelagie.

David Dollar: That's right.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Kate Chopin's story that Mary Frances Davis, for whom the Davis Theatres are named, dramatized it. I think Leske asked her to dramatize it. And the relatives were in it and it was given in the old Caldwell building. We had no footlights, we had no curtains, we had no nothing.

David Dollar: So it was just early drama here at the school.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Just early drama.

David Dollar: What about when you were in high school?

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Oh, that, yeah, I forgot that. That was the play Haiwatha. And Sanford Roy, who was the president's son, Mr. Roy, was Haiwatha and he learned all the Haiwatha lines, but it took three mini ha-has to learn the lines. And we thought it was a great dramatic scoop to have it on one side of a pond that was where the Teacher's Educational Center is now, I believe, or around there anyway, and have the audience sit across the pond and view the thing by torchlight. Fine. We were getting along very well and daddy sent around word that the play was very pretty, but that they couldn't hear one word because of the frogs were out-chirping us.

David Dollar: My goodness. Mrs. Ducaneau, let me interrupt you right here for a short commercial break from the folks that are bringing you Memories this morning and every morning, Peoples Bank and Trust company. This is David Dollar visiting this morning on Memories again with Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. Mrs. Ducaneau. I would like to hear a little bit about your husband. We heard about your father last time and other folks you've had a lot of fun with around town. Why don't you speak about your husband?

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Well, he's a very unusual person and a very scholarly person and a very versatile person. My father planted the crepe-myrtle trees at the top of the Cane River bank and he planted the live oak trees on the edge of the river. And he put them there because he said, "Maybe nobody would look after them and they would be near the water and they could look after themselves." When we speak of the crepe-myrtle trees being on Front Street, remember that Front Street has several names. Every time it makes an elbow, it changes its name to Jefferson or something else. So other people have planted in other places. [inaudible 00:04:57]

David Dollar: For sure. You were mentioning, I think, something about the library here.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Oh, yes. My husband has had a very extensive library on all sorts of books. He was interested in art and theater and history and music and all sorts of things. He had many first editions and many rare and out of print editions. He talked this over with his very good friend, Colonel Gildersleeve, who was head of ROTC here for several years, and Colonel Gildersleeve urged him to go ahead with his plan to give his books to the library. So after some going back and forth, he talked to Arthur Watson about it and Arthur also urged him. So finally, he did. John Price went back and got the books, about 1500 of them in San Francisco, had them shipped here and given to the library here.

David Dollar: Well, I'm certain they will be made marvelous use of here by the students and many more folks in years to come. Let me ask you this, where did you meet your husband? How did you come about getting together with this man?

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Of course, we both grew up here, but we didn't seem to know one another. But after the war, he and Dr. Hargrove, who was from here and who was his best friend were walking along the street and I passed in a car and waved to them. And he told me this, he said, "Who is that girl?" And Dr. Hargrove said, "Would you like to have a date with her?" And he said, "Yes." He said, "I'll get you one." So he went in his home and telephoned and they came down to my house and that was how I met him.

David Dollar: My goodness. That’s sort of a wave at first sight, you might say. I don't know. Something else you mentioned about your husband had something to do with the football team, I believe

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: He's the oldest living captain of the football team here. That's not much known, but it's a fact.

David Dollar: Does he still enjoy the game and watches...

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Oh, he just loves it. He's just crazy about it. And he never was a TV fan, but when we came here and he couldn't go to the real games, he's become an addict to-

David Dollar: To the television.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: That's right.

David Dollar: Like I'm sure many homes can agree to there around our area. Let me interrupt you one more time, Mrs. Ducaneau. We'll be right back with our closing memory right after this word from Peoples Bank and Trust. As usual, we like to try to close our program with what we like to call our closing memory. Mrs. Ducaneau, why don't you share something with us about that?

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: Recently I had a clipping sent to me from a New Orleans paper. New Orleans used to have two papers, The Times-Picayune and The Democrat, and this was The Democrat, and the clipping said about my husband and his relationship to football. "Mason," that was the coach at that time, "has picked out what he terms a find. Little Ducaneau who weighs 133 pounds. Besides having nerve and speed in abundance, he was what only artists show, and that is brains."

David Dollar: Mrs. Ducaneau, we thank you for joining us this morning. Maybe we can get Mr. Ducaneau in pads and out with the Demons or something for this next year, I guess. Try to help us all get it back together.

Jo Bryant Ducaneau: That would be wonderful.

David Dollar: Thank you very much for joining us again on Memories. You folks at home, if you enjoy the show, talk to the people at Peoples Bank and thank them for bringing it and us to you. If you are interested in becoming involved in the community, if you're over 60, get in touch with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, your local action agency. Their phone number is 352-8647. We thank you for joining us today on Memories with Ms. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. Join us again. Have a nice week.

In a follow up discussion, David Dollar interviews Jo Bryant Ducaneau about outdoor theater, college standards in the past, her husband, crepe myrtle trees, donating 1,500 books to the library, love at first sight, and football.

Tags: podcast, oral history interview, memories, natchitoches parish, theater, college, crepe myrtle, library

April 9, 2026

63. Jo Bryant Ducaneau pt. 1

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar (00:04): This is David Dollar again. Good morning. We're glad you're with us this morning on KNOC and our program, Memories, brought to you by Peoples Bank. We're visiting once again this morning, in case you just joined us, with Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. Mrs. Ducaneau, why don't we maybe pick up kind of where we left off last time and talk a little bit more about early Natchitoches history?

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (00:25): Well, it's something that's very near to my heart is the red bricks on Front Street, is the project of the red bricks on Front Street. Some people want to tear them up and think they're old-fashioned and rough-going and all that. But I have a very soft spot in my heart for those red bricks. In about 1904, or '05, I think it must have been, they were laid down, and at that time they were the only pavement we had and my, we were glad to get them. And there was a celebration. The children in town all got light boxes. That is, you got a shoe box or some other kind of box and cut stars, or holes, or some moons, or holes of some kind, pasted a piece of colored tissue paper behind it and lit a candle.

(01:13): Then you drag this box down the street and it made a very pretty thing. But Auntie got a round hat box and she cut out a desert scene of camels and palm trees on mine. And it was a lovely thing and it won the prize. Auntie got a bone felon from cutting it with a pen knife, but anyway, it was worth it. She was very glad. So, those bricks out very close to my heart and I certainly would hate to see them come down. Besides that, I noticed when I drive to Alexandria and I get onto one of those brick streets down there, I have a feeling of, "Isn't this a lovely street?" And I think Natchitoches ought to preserve those red bricks, I hope we will.

(01:59): At one time, you know there was a controversy about digging them up, and the women from some organization joined hands and strung themselves across the street.

David Dollar (02:08): I remember that, yes, yes.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (02:10): I wasn't here then, but I heard about it.

David Dollar (02:11): We might have to do that again, then. I don't know. I know some of the folks are kind of griping about the bumpiness on there. What about something else about Front Street? You mentioned to me, there were trees along there.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (02:23): Yes. Daddy, was, he loved Natchitoches. He really loved it. And he thought all the time about how he could improve in beautifying Natchitoches. And he got the idea of planting crepe myrtle trees. And so he planted crepe myrtle trees all down Front Street, and he tried to have them all, what was called then, watermelon pink. But I noticed that some died and they've been replaced and so they're not all the same color now, but anyway, that was his dream. And he and Mr. Clarence Purlieux, who is the father of Hertzog Purlieux, now Chairman of the Board of the Peoples Bank, used to sit on a bench in front of the hotel there on Front Street and watch the girls go by. And every time a crepe myrtle tree would sprout a new little sprout, Daddy would jump up and get out his pen knife and cut it all so that it would grow tall and straight.

David Dollar (03:16): That's good. Nice to know about that. Bringing back some other memories that a lot of folks I'm sure can share both in Natchitoches and the, the surrounding area, tell us what you told me about the telephone that you remember.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (03:31): I remember when telephones were put in Natchitoches and we were then living in [inaudible 00:03:37] Tauzin's house. So it was way back yonder in 1903 or four, somewhere along there. And I had to climb on a little stool and tiptoe and crank the phone and shout up into the mouthpiece. And our phone number was 5-3 and I knew the operator, Miss Alma [Kyle 00:03:54], she lived next door to us. And instead of asking for a number, I would ask Miss Alma if I could get such-and-such a person.

David Dollar (04:00): Right, just to ask people on the phone.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (04:03): Very personal.

David Dollar (04:03): That's something, I'll tell you. Tell me about your horse, you mentioned him.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (04:08): Oh, my Nick, my Nick.

David Dollar (04:09): That was something else.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (04:10): I had a great big 16 hand horse, and a sorrel horse, [Niccolo Govanivich 00:04:17] was his name because Daddy bought him from the Govanivich people, who I think owned the oil mill before Daddy did. And that's how he got the name of Niccolo Govanivich. But every evening, Norma and Millie Hill, Mildred now is Mrs. Peyton Cunningham, I'm sure you all know her, would get on old Nick and the three of us would ride. And I wish I had a picture of that, but I don't.

David Dollar (04:43): I bet that was a sight. Let us take a short break right here at this point for a commercial message from our friends at Peoples Bank. [silence 00:04:54].

(04:56): This is David Dollar on Memories. We're visiting again with Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau. Mrs. Ducaneau, why don't you tell us some of the memories that you had about Northwestern when you were involved here. Or, I suppose it was, what, State Normal then, was that it?

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (05:15): Well, you know, in those days, people didn't have many automobiles. In fact, the first automobile I remember in town belonged to Mr. Phanor Breazeale. It was a Model T. And we used to go tearing up and down Front Street in it. And after [Bodhi 00:05:35] Hill, I don't know whether the Bodhi Hill still exists or not.

David Dollar (05:37): I don't know.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (05:37): It was the first hill out of Natchitoches going toward Grand Encore. And we'd get almost to the top of the hill and the engine would die. You had to crank it. That's the only way. So we would get out and try to crank, and we couldn't, and then we would all push to the top of the hill, and then it would slide down the other side. And of course, by releasing the brake we could start again. That was very exciting. So everybody walked to school and you walked home to lunch.

David Dollar (06:09): Right.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (06:09): Or you ran. If the boy that you was with was a good runner, you ran with him. So that kept us in good trim. At that time, Mr. Aswell was the President. And not too long ago, someone wrote a thesis on his son, James Aswell, who became a writer. I don't know who wrote the thesis, and I don't know who corrected and accepted the thesis, but I don't believe either one of them did their research or homework well, because the thesis stated that Mr. Aswell had one child. Well, he didn't, he had two. He had a girl, Corrine, who married the son of a Kentucky Senator and lived in Kentucky for many years, still lives there, and was postmistress in Georgetown, Kentucky. I think that that should be straightened out because many people in town who knew Corrine, who knew that Mr. Aswell had two children because the Aswells lived here after he had gone on to Congress. And I would like to get that straightened out. I'm sure I'm right on that. They were my cousins and she was my best friend.

David Dollar (07:27): So I guess there's no doubt about her being one of the children if she was your cousin. That's good. You mentioned something about your participation in some drama here. With the outbreak of the outdoor drama now Natchitoches LODA coming around. What? Give us a little background on that.

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (07:44): Yeah. Well, there was some discussion as to what was the first outdoor drama here, and it was generally thought that it was a story of Kate Chopin's, which was dramatized by Mary Frances Davis. Mary Francis Davis was then the dramatic director here at the Normal, it was then, and she made Ma’ame Pélagie into a play and she directed it and had as many of Kate Chopin's relatives in it as she could get. Catherine Breazeale was in it, I think. And Marie Breazeale was in it. And Doris Henry Pearson, Dr. Pearson's wife was in it. And let's see, who else? Mr. McGinty, who was later on a president here of the college and John Pettis, who was in the registrar's office, I believe. And I was in it, though I'm not a relative. But anyway, we functioned without footlights, without curtains, without anything. And we functioned indoors in the Carwell Building. And the reason I remembered so distinctly was that our footlights, all of our lights, were candles. And at the end, when I had to die in front of the footlights, Marie forgot to take off the candles and there I was.

David Dollar (09:12): My goodness, a struggling actress. We'd like to close our program with a closing memory each time, if we can. And we'll come back to Mrs. Ducournau's closing memory on this program right after our commercial message from Peoples Bank. [silence 00:09:27] This is David Dollar on Memories today, visiting again with Mrs. Jo Bryan Ducournau. Ms. Ducournau, why don't you give us your closing memory on the program today?

Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau (09:40): Well, in thinking of Kate Chopin, a relative of hers here is Arthur Watson and his father stands out in my memory as a very important person. My father was a widow and a lot of dancing and things like entertaining went on in my home. His crowd used to come down and dance quite a lot at night. And Mr. Arthur, who was a beautiful dancer, taught me how to do the Gaby Glide, the Hesitation Waltz, and the Boston Dip.

David Dollar (10:15): Not exactly the dances you'll see, I guess, on American Bandstand today, but very definitely some of our memories. Mrs. Ducaneau we thank you for joining us today.

David Dollar sits down with Mrs. Jo Bryant Ducaneau and talks about her memories of growing up in Natchitoches including the importance of the red bricks on Front Street and participating in outdoor theater.

Tags: podcast, memories, oral history interview, natchitoches parish, front street, outdoor theater

April 2, 2026

62. J.K. Foster

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar: Good morning. This is David Dollar, and we're glad you've joined us for Memories today. We're going to be visiting with Mr. J.K Foster, and we'll be back to start our program right after this message from our sponsor, Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Hello once again. In case you're just joining us, we're glad you're here. David Dollar this morning on Memories. We're going to visit in the home today of Mr. J.K Foster. Mr. Foster, we thank you for having us in your home today, and going to open up and share some memories with us, I think.

J. K. Foster: Thank you for being here. I'm proud that you are here.

David Dollar: Why don't we start things off by you telling us just a little bit about yourself, little background and such.

J. K. Foster: Well, I was born at the little village of Provencal in 1891, March the 5th, 4:20 AM in the morning.

David Dollar: My goodness, sounds like you remember that. You're pretty sure about it, I think.

J. K. Foster: I got my mother's word on that.

David Dollar: Okay. She ought to know, I guess.

J. K. Foster: I suppose so.

David Dollar: Okay.

J. K. Foster: And when I was six weeks old, my father moved out in the country about a mile and a quarter from the little village of Provencal on a homestead. And there he raised his family, and there was 13 of us children, eight boys and five girls, and I'm the oldest boy that was living. And we was poor folks, and we had to work. So I began to drive mules when I was 12 years old.

David Dollar: You were 12 when you started driving mules. What was your dad doing at this time to try to make a living?

J. K. Foster: My dad, he'd worked some at the public works and he farmed some.

David Dollar: Mm-hmm.

J. K. Foster: Just betwixt and between.

David Dollar: Kind of whatever he could to make a little money, huh?

J. K. Foster: That's right. That's right. That's right. And when I was small, I had two brothers right under me. There were just 21 months' difference in each and every one of us, but I was the oldest. And we had certain things that we had to do-

David Dollar: Chores around the house and things to help out?

J. K. Foster: That's it. Mother and Daddy did teach us to work, and we had those chores to make each and every day. But after that was done, why, we was free to do like we wanted to, and me and my two brothers next to me, we were mad about rabbit hunting.

David Dollar: Rabbit hunting?

J. K. Foster: Yeah.

David Dollar: I imagine that's a pretty good neck of the woods to be in for rabbit hunting.

J. K. Foster: It was. And my father had a little cur dog, we called him Doc.

David Dollar: Doc.

J. K. Foster: And he had quite a lot of sense. Us kids would take him, go out in the woods, and he would run the rabbits. My daddy could go out in the woods with him and just hiss him out and he'd hunt squirrels.

David Dollar: My goodness.

J. K. Foster: And he could go out in the woods and say, "Sooey," and he wouldn't hunt nothing but hogs. He was a smart dog, he was a little dog, but he was a smart dog.

David Dollar: Sounds like it.

J. K. Foster: And he lived to be about 18 years old.

David Dollar: Sounds smarter than most folks, I guess.

J. K. Foster: Yeah.

David Dollar: Goodness gracious.

J. K. Foster: He was a smart dog, no question about that. When we got big enough to handle a hoe, we had the chores to do in the field and in the garden and keep the grass down. Father done the plowing until I was, oh, I reckon I was about eight years old. I'd plow something then. And we scuffled along there and made a living. Of course, we made the most of our food. Well, we raised it,

David Dollar: Raised most all of it.

J. K. Foster: We had hogs and we had cows, and we had plenty of milk and water and we had plenty of meat and we could raise greens and peas.

David Dollar: For a family of 13 kids and a mom and daddy, I bet you all had to raise a bunch of greens and peas and such to keep food on the table for everybody.

J. K. Foster: It took quite a lot of it, because we was all big eaters.

David Dollar: Growing kids,

J. K. Foster: Growing kids, and it did take lots of food to keep us going.

David Dollar: Of course there was none of this not liking some of the food that's on the table like you see a lot of today too, in a lot of families, I bet. Whatever was there, I bet you were glad to eat.

J. K. Foster: That's right. We had appetite for whatever was put on the table.

David Dollar: Whatever was put there.

J. K. Foster: That's right. That's no question about that.

David Dollar: Yeah. Well, what about going to school? Did you have the opportunity back in the 1890s or so to do that, or the turn of the century?

J. K. Foster: Well, it was very, very little.

David Dollar: Mm-hmm.

J. K. Foster: When I was six years old, I went to school eight weeks, the man by the name of Rusko.

David Dollar: Rusko, down in Provencal?

J. K. Foster: Yes, in Provencal. And Rusko was just starting out in life. He was a young man, but he educated himself and he used to be a permanent lawyer right here in town.

David Dollar: Well, I'll be. And was teaching school there at first?

J. K. Foster: He was teaching on the beginning, he taught school to supply his needs to college.

David Dollar: Well, I'll be.

J. K. Foster: And he made a remarkable lawyer right here in Natchitoches. He passed away a few years ago, not many years ago, but a few years ago. But our schooling was very limited. Sometimes we didn't have but six weeks schooling the whole 12 months.

David Dollar: Goodness. Were most of the kids needed back on the farm, or was it just that you couldn't get teachers, or what was the situation? Why was there so little-

J. K. Foster: Financial affairs.

David Dollar: Financial, okay, I hear you.

J. K. Foster: They just didn't have the money to-

David Dollar: Couldn't pay the teacher any longer than that.

J. K. Foster: They couldn't pay the teacher any longer. It was all in financial affairs.

David Dollar: Yeah.

J. K. Foster: Because the mothers and fathers couldn't spare the children, if they would have had the school we went to.

David Dollar: Mm-hmm.

J. K. Foster: But we didn't have the school to go to. Well, I come up with a very little education. Well, when I was 12 years old, I commenced to work. But I didn't get any chance for any more school because somebody had to make a living. There's too many others.

David Dollar: You're right, you're right.

J. K. Foster: I worked.

David Dollar: Let me interrupt you right here. We need to take a short commercial. We'll come back and pick up where we left off. I'm interested to continue this conversation. We'll be right back with Mr. J.K. Foster right after this message from our sponsor, Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

In case you've just joined us, this is David Dollar on Memories, this morning visiting with Mr. J.K Foster. With Mr. Foster we've been talking about growing up down in Provencal and working at a very early age and not being able to attend much school for various reasons, and his family in the shape that most of the families were around there, poor but working and having enough food on the table for the family. Why don't we pick up there, Mr. Foster, and you fill us in on a little more about working in the family and such.

J. K. Foster: Well, there's one thing I would like to mention that you very seldom ever know of happening in one family. I had two deaf and dumb brothers and two deaf and dumb sisters.

David Dollar: Well, I'll be. No, you're right, you don't hear much about that.

J. K. Foster: No, sir, I said that don't occur very often. And they got their education in Baton Rouge. And one of the girls is deceased and one of the boys is deceased, and the other two is yet living.

David Dollar: Still living. You say they received their education in Baton Rouge?

J. K. Foster: Yes, sir.

David Dollar: How did your family go about that?

J. K. Foster: Well, that was a government affair. The state took care of that.

David Dollar: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

J. K. Foster: It was free. All that cost Mother and Father was the transportation getting them down there and their clothing. The rest of it is paid by the state, which was a state school.

David Dollar: Uh-huh. About when was this, and how old were they and how old were you when all this was going on?

J. K. Foster: Well, that'll take the right smart figuring, because they started when I believe one of them was seven and the other one was nine. And that made me about, just offhand speaking, must have made me about 18 years old, 18, 19, somewhere along there.

David Dollar: Were all four of the kids born when they entered the school? Or were several in the program and then another child came along, or was the family able to send all four children down at the same time? Or was it at different times?

J. K. Foster: It was at different times, because the two girls, there was only a couple of years' difference in the two girls, and they started together. Well, then right smart later on, the two boys was born, and they was born far enough apart though that one of them started the school ahead of the other, but they both finally went to the school in Baton Rouge.

David Dollar: And received the training and education for the dumb and the deaf?

J. K. Foster: That's correct, that's correct.

David Dollar: That's really something. In all the talking with the other folks on Memories, we'd never heard about educational opportunities for the disabled or the disadvantaged as early as that, near the turn of the century or so. I guess I was thinking more that that was a very new type thing existing somewhere around World War II, I guess.

J. K. Foster: Well, I don't know how old that institution is, but they did take care of my sisters and brothers.

David Dollar: Well, I'm glad you brought that up. I sure learned something today. Mr. Foster, we're just about out of time, and we'd like to try to close our show with some very special memory or something you'd like to share with us. Why don't you share your closing memory with us right now and we'll bring it to a close?

J. K. Foster: Well, there's one great mistake that I made in life and I've always regretted it. I just waited too long to surrender my life to the Lord. I was 33 years old when I surrendered my life to the Lord.

David Dollar: Where did this occur?

J. K. Foster: In Provencal, in a Baptist church in Provencal.

David Dollar: And I guess a pretty big change in your life came about, huh?

J. K. Foster: Why, I guess so, because I was married and had two or three children, and my wife told me three or four months after I was converted that it was just like living with a new man.

David Dollar: A different person, huh?

J. K. Foster: Altogether.

David Dollar: I think that's kind of what the Bible talks about, isn't it? Becoming new folks.

J. K. Foster: That's correct.

David Dollar: Different people altogether.

J. K. Foster: That's correct.

David Dollar: Well, we sure thank you for sharing that with us and all these memories you've given us today, Mr. Foster. It was quite an opportunity for us to come into your home, and we thank you for it.

J. K. Foster: Well, I appreciate you all coming and I appreciate being able to make this statement.

David Dollar: Thank you, sir. If any of you folks at home have got some memories you'd like to share, those along the likes of Mr. Foster or some that have never been mentioned before, we'd sure like to hear from you. We'd like to come into your home and talk to you about it, and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program office is helping us arrange our taping schedule. Their phone number is 352-8647, and we'd sure like to hear from you. We thank you for joining us today, David Dollar visiting in the home of Mr. J.K Foster. We thank you for joining us on Memories, and you all have a nice day.

David Dollar interviews J.K. Foster about driving mules, rabbit hunting, limited schooling, living with disabled siblings, and his Christian faith.

Tags: podcast, memories, oral history interview, natchitoches parish, mules, school, faith, disabilities

March 26, 2026

61. J.E. Stewart

Transcript

Transcript

Jim Colley: Good morning. This is Jim Colley, and we're visiting this morning on the Memories Program with Mr. J.E. Stewart. We'll be back with him in just a few moments after this word from Peoples Bank & Trust, our sponsors.

Mr. Stewart, we're glad to welcome you to the Memories Program. We visited with you once before in your home and we're glad to be back.

J.E. Stewart: Well, thank you Jim. I'm glad to be with you today, even though it's raining down cats outside.

Jim Colley: It sure is. I remember some tales about rain around here, but I'm not sure we want to go into those. We were visiting right before the program began about high finance. Now, you've seen a lot of high finance around here in your years with the welfare department, I'm sure.

J.E. Stewart: Well, I've seen a lot of low finance and I think I'm one of the members of the low finance group. Anyway, I often think of three things, maybe more, but these stand out today that happened during the period of time I used to work with the state welfare program. I call it high finance. I recall an incident that happened years ago when I was working with the department. On about the middle of the morning, a man came into the office, excited, demanded to see me immediately. As soon as he was admitted to the office, he threw across my desk a soiled, sweaty, long leather belt that was rather fat. And as soon as it hit the desk, I noticed a few old crusty, salty, soiled, musty greenbacks rolled out off this belt. I looked at him in awe of myself. I said, "Where'd you get that?" He says, "I beat them to it." I says, "That's a money belt, isn't it?" He says, "Sure is." Well, I says, "What about it? Why are you give it to me?" "Well, it belongs to y'all. Y'all gave it to him. Now, he done dead and I beat the others to it." Well, I says, "Why did you bring it in?"

"Well, I didn't want them to get it. I knew they'd drink it up in wine."

Jim Colley: So he had saved that money for you?

J.E. Stewart: Yes. I thought a minute, collected my wits, still astonished. And I asked him a few questions and I found out that sure enough, the money did come from a certain person who had died and that apparently he had obtained the belt and had honestly brought it to the office completely intact. He didn't even know how much was in it, and I refused to count it. I asked him if he knew how much. He said, "I think it's well over 1,000."

Jim Colley: Didn't know how much it was?

J.E. Stewart: No. Anyway, I suggested that I couldn't touch it. The welfare didn't want it. It didn't belong to us, and since this man had a wife, he should return with it and give it to the wife and he and the wife should make plans for her to receive the benefit of it. He had told me that they'd take it away from her. I told him, "You help her out since you are sort of a leader in the community." And he did return and he kept an accurate record of it. Over 12 months later, he returned to the office and says, "I gave it to her at a rate of $100 a month. She got full benefit of every dime. Here's the record."

Jim Colley: That's a good story and it's amazing how responsible some of those folks can be when given a chance to. The second story you have goes by a good title.

J.E. Stewart: I call it the Haystack Bank. It so happened that during the period of work, I learned of this from an actual contact in the office after an old man had lost his year life savings. Seemingly, he didn't trust banks, he didn't trust people, but he did trust his own selection for depositing his money. And every time he would get his government checks, he would take them to the back of the parish where there was a big haystack and he diligently would hide the money there in some place that he had designed himself. He was always very careful to watch no one was falling or anything like that. And he regularly made this trip several times during the month to this haystack both to check on his money and to put a little more there or especially that that he didn't need. And I guess a considerable amount got there and everything was going along fine with him until his son-in-law moved back on the part of the farm that he lived on. The son-in-law noticed his father-in-law making regular trips to the back of the pasture, finally noticed that he was going into the haystack and was digging around there a little bit. So the story goes that he got his curiosity aroused about what in the world was happening at this haystack. So he selected a time when his father-in-law would not be around and he did his investigation. Well, of course, I'm sure you know what happened. Because when the old man went back to his haystack bank, someone done got all the money that he had saved all his life and he didn't know who in the world it was.

Jim Colley: It was like having somebody else who can sign on your account. They don't have the deposit slips.

J.E. Stewart: I talked to him about it, why he didn't use the banks, and of course his story was he didn't trust the bank and didn't trust anybody with his money. He'd been beating out too much money over his lifetime. I said, "Well, you lost it all, haven't you?" He shook his head, "I guess so."

Jim Colley: It was gone too. It's interesting that he had a suspicion about who it was. He knew it was his son-in-law. Couldn't do much about it.

J.E. Stewart: Well, the money was gone no matter what [inaudible 00:06:34] done. I've forgotten what happened.

Jim Colley: That third story about a depository is the-

J.E. Stewart: The Hen Nest Depository.

Jim Colley: Hen Nest. Okay.

J.E. Stewart: Well, this is a rather short story. It's not very long. Again, it was told to me by one of the members of the family, seemingly an old man who lived pretty far back out in the country, couldn't get to town very often and he didn't trust leaving his money in the house or keeping it on him. So he found a place that he thought was safe and he hid his money there. Well, this went on for a year or two and his kids were very faithful to him. They didn't question anything, but they knew that their daddy had a little money that he'd saved because he knew the type of man was. I think he had told them that when he passed on that he had burial money, but he never would tell them where and seemingly that he passed on ahead of time.

That is he couldn't tell them to... He didn't know just what time he was going to pass on. So he passed on and they came in. Finally, all of them got there. They talked about money for his burial and they wanted their daddy to have a pretty good burial, and they went to searching the house for it. Well, they liked to tore the house down, so the story goes, one of them said, trying to find that money. They never found it. And even went out around the house, under the house, in the cistern and all around the woodpile and even out to the barn. They never found that money. And they went ahead and buried him, paid up the money among themselves. But one of them was never satisfied. They knew that money was still there. And sure enough, one day one of them went to the hen house and under an old hen nest, there they found the money that their father had saved for his burial still intact. And as I understand it from them, they were all reimbursed for what little each had stood for the burial.

Jim Colley: That's quite a hen story.

J.E. Stewart: That's a hen story.

Jim Colley: And putting the hen money aside, nobody, I guess, would be very surprised to watch somebody go out and check the hens. So he had a good cover story.

J.E. Stewart: He certainly selected the right place. I don't think I'd have ever looked under a hen nest to find anything other than an egg.

Jim Colley: That's for sure. Mr. Stewart, we're going to take a break right now for Peoples Bank & Trust, but we'll be back in just a moment. This is Jim Colley on the Memories Program, and we're visiting with Mr. J.E. Stewart in his home on East Fifth Street. Mr. Stewart, we've been talking about the Haystack Bank and the Hen Nest Depository. It seems to me one of the reasons why folks didn't trust banks was the bad experience of the depression years. Where were you during the depression?

J.E. Stewart: I had just finished college and gone home hoping to get a job. That was in 1932. I was in the LaSalle Parish.

Jim Colley: What do you remember? Do you remember the Depression?

J.E. Stewart: Vividly. I like to starve to death myself. In fact, for business, I got a job teaching school at Paul in a two-room rural school, 15 miles from Jena. I had about 25 kids and Christmas come along. They didn't have anything in the world. They barely had food. I recall noticing their lunch consisted of cornbread, potatoes, and when hog-killing time came on, they had meat. Otherwise, none.

Jim Colley: That was a rough time to live. If you didn't grow your own, you might not have any food.

J.E. Stewart: Probably wouldn't have had any at that period of time. I believe the Red Cross did send in a carload of food there that some of those kids got flour for the first time. They thought it was key.

Jim Colley: We don't know much about those kind of hard times now.

J.E. Stewart: No. Those times led to the certain social legislation that has been passed and improved upon to where that the government can keep such conditions from coming into this country hopefully ever again.

Jim Colley: Those were such bad experiences that the government has worked very hard to stay away from those kinds of things again.

J.E. Stewart: Yes. I recall about 25 big strong men meeting at that schoolhouse one night protesting the fact that they couldn't get one day's work on one of the work programs that was being inaugurated. When those programs first started, they had a hard time with them. First, getting to those who needed it because they all needed it. Just wasn't enough to go around. Second, the organization and the trial and error that took place until they did get a fairly substantial program in about 1935 and '36.

Jim Colley: So people had to make due from 1932 to about 1935.

J.E. Stewart: With what little help they could get from the government and what they could scratch out themselves. And I understand in the cities, they were in bread lines. But we didn't have that in the country where I worked, but they worked for each other and helped support each other.

Jim Colley: You pretty much had to.

J.E. Stewart: Had to. It was the only way they could exist.

Jim Colley: Mr. Stewart, we've got just enough time for one more memory. We were talking during the break about the CCC camps. Was there one out close to Jena?

J.E. Stewart: Yeah, they had one about 35 miles between Jena and Rosefield. It was a rather large camp with a good bunch of boys. I recall there were some boys from this area over there. They have made good. They are leaders today.

Jim Colley: We appreciate visiting with you, Mr. Stewart. We always enjoy it and we'll be back to see you sometime. Thanks for visiting with us on Memories. We'd like to say a word to those who are listening to the show this morning that if you have some memories you would like to share with us, we sure would like to have you call us at Peoples Bank & Trust and give us your name and telephone number and we'll be in touch with you. On behalf of myself, Mr. Stewart, and Peoples Bank, we're glad to visit with you and we wish you well today.

Jim Colley interviews J.E. Stewart about working for the state welfare program, “High Finance”, “Haystack Bank”, “Hen Nest Depository”, and life during the Great Depression.

Tags: podcast, memories, oral history interview, state welfare program, great depression, natchitoches parish

March 19, 2026

60. J.C. Perot

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar: Good morning, this is David Dollar. We're glad you've joined us for Memories today. We're going to visit in the home of Mrs. J.C. Perot, and we'll be right back to begin our visit right after this message from Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Hello once again. In case you're just joining us, this is David Dollar, visiting in the home of Miss J.C. Perot. Miss Perot, we thank you for having us in your home today. And why don't we start things off by you just telling us a little bit about yourself?

J.C. Perot: Well, I was born in the year of 1902, August 10th.

David Dollar: Okay.

J.C. Perot: I have a twin sister. And I have two other sisters is twins.

David Dollar: So, two sets of twins in your family, huh?

J.C. Perot: That's right.

David Dollar: Goodness, goodness gracious.

J.C. Perot: And there is six of us girls and four boys.

David Dollar: You were born here in Natchitoches?

J.C. Perot: In Ward nine.

David Dollar: What were your folks doing at that time?

J.C. Perot: Well, my daddy had a farm and had about 8 or 10 families that they'd work sharecrop.

David Dollar: Right, right. So just kind of general farming and-

J.C. Perot: And they’d till the land by mules.

David Dollar: Oh, I guess so, back then, huh? And if you had a lot of land that meant a whole lot of work for men and mules alike, I guess?

J.C. Perot: Very much so.

David Dollar: 10 kids in the family, that seems large to me now, but I guess for that time it was pretty much an average family.

J.C. Perot: Well, they lost one little boy at birth, but they raised the rest up. Course, my mama had to have help so my daddy had a woman off the place that cared for her. And to me, when I think about it right now, they just paid her $12.00 a month, and now it would take $12.00 a day, or better.

David Dollar: I bet it would, to get the work around the house done. What did you do around the house when you were growing up? Did you get to learn how to cook and sew, and things like that?

J.C. Perot: Oh, I tell you, when we got large enough, my mama got rid of the help after the babies was some size. And every fellow had his own job. Two of the girls would take care of the washing. And I helped with the milking and cooking. And-

David Dollar: It was a-

J.C. Perot: ... every day, everybody had they share to do the dishes.

David Dollar: Right.

J.C. Perot: Well, we got to where each girl would have a whole week. And we'd get the calendar down and-

David Dollar: Mark it off.

J.C. Perot: Each fellow knew when his time came.

David Dollar: Right. Was there any bargaining going on? If you really didn't want to wash dishes one night, would you pay one of your sisters or something? Or did they try to bribe you?

J.C. Perot: No, we just swapped time.

David Dollar: Yeah, I guess so. You mentioned something that was mighty interesting earlier, about not only the two sets of twins in your own family, but what was it you said about your grandpa? Share with us that story, if you don't mind.

J.C. Perot: Well, one Saturday morning the phone rang and they had called my daddy to tell him that his father and his step-mother was the parents of triplets.

David Dollar: So, getting that straight again, that just really blows my mind. While your father and mother had two sets of twins in the family, your grandfather remarried and was the father of a set of triplet boys. That is amazing, it really is. That's a story we ought to probably put in Ripley's Believe It or Not-

J.C. Perot: My daddy-

David Dollar: ... or something, I don't know-

J.C. Perot: ... had a sister that had twins and they were twin boys.

David Dollar: My goodness, y'all just had it in the blood somewhere-

J.C. Perot: But these was-

David Dollar: ... I guess-

J.C. Perot: ... twins on both sides of my mother and daddy's family.

David Dollar: I see. Well, I guess that's how it all came about, then. Let's talk about things you did a little bit later. Where did you go to school?

J.C. Perot: Well, we went to school at a one-room school at Starlight.

David Dollar: Where is Starlight?

J.C. Perot: That was just about a mile below where we lived.

David Dollar: And in relation to the parish and city as it is now, where is that? I've-

J.C. Perot: It's in-

David Dollar: .... never heard-

J.C. Perot: ... Ward nine.

David Dollar: Where is ward nine, again? I'm bad on-

J.C. Perot: Down-

David Dollar: ... these things-

J.C. Perot: ... Cane River.

David Dollar: Near Cloutierville and Derry?

J.C. Perot: Oh, no, no, no.

David Dollar: Not that far?

J.C. Perot: Do you know a [inaudible 00:04:45]?

David Dollar: Mm-hmm.

J.C. Perot: Well that's where I used to live.

David Dollar: Okay. Right-

J.C. Perot: About one mile from there.

David Dollar: I see, right around there. So y'all had a schoolhouse sort of near the house, then?

J.C. Perot: Pretty much.

David Dollar: Did you keep going there all the time or did you ever-

J.C. Perot: Well, we-

David Dollar: ... come into-

J.C. Perot: ... went-

David Dollar: ... town-

J.C. Perot: ... there for a few years. And then after that the school closed and they sent us by Natchez, to school. And from there, they got this transfer, that we had to cross the river and get on the transfer. And some time after that, there was so many that couldn't go on that. And the roads were bad so they gave us this boat that went up and down Cane River.

David Dollar: Wait, to go to school on? You had a school boat instead of a school bus, huh?

J.C. Perot: That's right.

David Dollar: How far did you ride the boat?

J.C. Perot: Well, it was about nine miles around the river-

David Dollar: Around the-

J.C. Perot: ... front-

David Dollar: ... bend-

J.C. Perot: ... and road. But I don't know how many miles-

David Dollar: Probably about-

J.C. Perot: ... it was by river-

David Dollar: ... two or three. I'll be.

J.C. Perot: It was pretty rough when the wind was high, sometimes.

David Dollar: I'll bet so. And so you rode the boat in, I guess, closer into Natchitoches, coming to school.

J.C. Perot: Right where the second bridge is, that's where we'd get off, right there. There wasn’t any bridge there, then. And then we'd walk to the elementary school at the college.

David Dollar: Well I'll be, that is something. Let me interrupt you right here, we need to take a short commercial break. David Dollar visiting with Ms. J.C. Perot, today. We'll be right back after this message from our sponsor, Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Hello once again, in case you've just joined us, this is David Dollar. We're visiting on Memories this morning, in the home of Miss J.C. Perot. We've heard about Natchitoches' school boat that I sure didn't know about. I don't know if any other towns around here can boast of a school boat instead of a school bus or not. I don't know, but that sure was news to me.

Miss Perot, why don't we talk a little bit more about you growing up around Cane River. I know we talked a little bit before we turned this tape machine on. Why don't we talk a little bit more about the things that went on down the river and all?

J.C. Perot: Well, I remember the boats used to go up and down Cane River. When we'd hear them blowing, we'd run to see. And the other thing is that I remember was, my grandfather would go out to measure the high water, see how much it would come up.

David Dollar: So, this is hard, again, for me to understand because this is when Cane River was still a full-fledged river. It had the river boats going up and down it, and rising and falling water and all. So y'all lived, I guess, pretty close to the river, huh?

J.C. Perot: Right on it. Well, kind of far back. We had a big lawn out in front of our house.

David Dollar: But had the land right on the river and all.

J.C. Perot: Oh, yeah.

David Dollar: On that. So high water could be a pretty big problem to a farmer back then, I guess.

J.C. Perot: It took all the back land of my daddy's crops.

David Dollar: If it would flood, y'all just literally up a creek, huh, I guess?

J.C. Perot: It was kind of rough.

David Dollar: Bad news, I shouldn't be making jokes about it, I guess. That's true, my goodness. Tell me a little about the transportation you were talking about. That school boat really intrigues me, still. What about the roads and things. Did y'all have very many cars?

J.C. Perot: No, the-

David Dollar: Or wagons?

J.C. Perot: The cars are very scarce. And the way we'd go places, we'd have to go by buggy. And my daddy had two sets of horses. He'd drive one one day and he'd drive the other one the next day. Always, he'd let them rest.

David Dollar: He had them, huh? Do you remember the first car you got? All right, let me ask you this, before we get that, when was the river stuff that you remember? About what time was that?

J.C. Perot: That was in 1908.

David Dollar: 1908. I'm trying to remember my history about when cars came about. When was the first car that you remember?

J.C. Perot: Well my daddy had the first car in 1916.

David Dollar: 1916.

J.C. Perot: July the 4th, he was in a big parade in Natchitoches.

David Dollar: Oh, yeah?

J.C. Perot: July the 4th.

David Dollar: Did he take y'all riding in that parade, all the kids-

J.C. Perot: Oh-

David Dollar: ... got in-

J.C. Perot: ... yeah.

David Dollar: And y'all were in the 4th of July parade, huh?

J.C. Perot: Mr. Pullen was the man that taught my daddy how to drive. And we always enjoyed going into town and going to the Candy Kitchen and places.

David Dollar: I bet so. What was the Candy Kitchen?

J.C. Perot: Well, Mr. Lay had a Candy Kitchen. It just had all kinds of candy in there.

David Dollar: Where was it?

J.C. Perot: Well he had moved about a time or two. It was on Front Street.

David Dollar: Front Street. Well that's the first time I've heard about that. That's mighty interesting. I bet that was a favorite place to go.

J.C. Perot: My daddy made it pretty often because he liked that. He'd go to the picture show and he'd always have him some candy.

David Dollar: I bet so. We're just about out of time, Miss Perot. And we like to try to close our programs with what we call our closing memory. And I think you've got a pretty funny story to share with us today. Why don't you bring our program to a close by doing that for us.

J.C. Perot: Well, one day my daddy was going across the bridge. And he was driving pretty fast. And so the man-

David Dollar: Was this in his car, now?

J.C. Perot: No, uh-uh, he was driving in his buggy.

David Dollar: Before the car.

J.C. Perot: That was in buggy days.

David Dollar: All right.

J.C. Perot: And the man told him he was fined $10.00. He gave him a $20.00 bill, he said, "Well, you just better keep the other $10.00 because I'm going to come back just like I went."

David Dollar: I guess that might have been Natchitoches's first speeding ticket for driving a horse and buggy too fast on the bridge.

J.C. Perot: My daddy didn't tell us this, but I heard it, that's how I got it.

David Dollar: He couldn't tell your mama, huh? He didn't want to know where that money went.

J.C. Perot: Well, I didn’t remember just exactly. Well, he didn't worry about that.

David Dollar: I guess not. Well Miss Perot, we sure thank you for having us in your home and for sharing these memories. I learned all about school boats and candy stores, and everything else that I sure never heard about before around Natchitoches. We thank you for having us in your home and sharing that with us.

J.C. Perot: And thank you.

David Dollar: Thank you, ma'am. If any of you folks at home have some memories you'd like to share with us, or you know somebody who does, we'd like for you to get in touch with us. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program Office is helping keep our schedule straight and arranging taping schedules and all. They're number is 352-8647, and we wish you'd give them a call.

In closing, too, since the month of May has been designated as Older American Month by President Ford, we would like to salute and congratulate all the senior citizens of Natchitoches and Natchitoches Parish on the fine job you're doing just by being here. And we sure do appreciate you, we'd like to hear some memories from you. Thank you for joining us today, David Dollar and Miss J.C. Perot, we're glad you've joined us, and have a nice day.

David Dollar interviews J.C. Perot about growing up in a farming family, studying in a one-room schoolhouse, taking a boat to school, memories of the river boats, driving in the Fourth of July parade, and her father getting a speeding ticket in a horse and buggy.

Tags: podcast, memories, oral history interview, natchitoches, river boat, farming, speeding ticket, horse and buggy

March 12, 2026

59. Isiah Jones pt. 2

Transcript

Transcript

Dan Benuska: Today on Memories we are traveling back in time with Mr. Isaiah Jones after this message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor.

Mr. Jones, in the last Memories program, we talked about your experience with mules and with blacksmithing, and we would like to talk a little more about that on Memories.

Mr. Jones, for our Memories listener, was born on August 15th, 1900 on Upper Cane River.

On the last Memories program, Mr. Jones, you told us that you really apprenticed on E.O. Payne's place under Philip “Jack” Hart. But there was a story that you told me about a blacksmith shop in Natchitoches. Can you tell us about that?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah. That was a blacksmith shop here, Natchitoches right across from Natchitoches Motor Company. And the old Parson Sam Williams, there may be some people around you knew him and he was a blacksmith dad. Just a little old corner, I call it. Right where the Natchitoches Motor Company has that used car lot. And we occasionally would come to town, we boys.

Dan Benuska: And how old were you then?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: I'd say about possibly 12. Possibly 10 or 12 years old.

Dan Benuska: This is back in 1910 or 1912?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Long about that time, about 1910 or '12. And I used to come by there and catch his old bellows and blow it for him. They were what we called a bellows then. That's what they made the fire burning by pumping that old bellows. Now we have what we call the forges, which is some of them now operate by electric.

Dan Benuska: Well, that first blacksmith that you met in town here, you told me that he used to spend several hours working on plow points and didn't make a lot of money.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah. He have told me that he spend as much as a couple of hours on a plow point that he was only getting 15 cents to fix that plow point. But if it taking him a couple hours to fix it, why he stayed with it until he fixed it. And were only getting 15 cents for that point. Now, those same point that we wouldn't have there's much to do to it, now we get a dollar and a half for that job, which then he got 15 cents.

Dan Benuska: For two hours work?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Yeah.

Dan Benuska: Times have changed.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Yeah. That's the change in times.

Dan Benuska: So that memory, when you were 11 or 12 years old of watching a blacksmith work sort of stuck with you. Then you went back and you worked on the farm for a period of time, and you told me that you used to know how to talk to mules. Tell me about talking to mules.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah. You know, we all on the farm, we had a team. If you cared anything about your team naturally you wanted your team to be something better than the other fellows. And some of those mules you could get to plowing and you wouldn't need your line or nothing to guide him with. All you'd have to do is talk to him. If he were walking too close to your cotton or corn or whatever you were cultivating, all you'd had to say, "Haw." And he'd get down from there and get over to the left. And if he wasn't close enough, all you had to say, "Gee" over there. And then he would get up a little close and keep on going. Well, when you got one trained like that, that was something extra. You could always brag on what your mule could do. So that was quite a treat when a man could learn his mule how to retreat to his-

Dan Benuska: Well, how many different words did you use to move that mule? Gee and haw you said.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Gee and haw.

Dan Benuska: Those two words.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: You see, he was going along and if he were walking two far to the right, you'd just say "Haw" and he would get over to the left. And if he were two far to the left all you had to holler at him "Gee." And he'd come back over there to his right. You see that was just only two ways for him to go. He's going straight and all you had to do is tell him “Haw” if you want him to go left, and if you want him to go right, just tell him “Gee.” And he would go to the right.

Dan Benuska: So after you plowed and after you learned to talk to the mules, you worked for Mr. E.O. Payne, and Jack Hart. How did you get into the blacksmithing business itself? Because there was a period of time from when you were 17 ‘til what, about 25 years old when you really got into blacksmithing?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: That's right. See, I worked around in those plantation shops as I formerly said until I became grown and got married and went to work, you know, for myself and so forth. And in the hour during little where I did, I'd work in the farm until July when we laid by our crops we called it. And then I'd come on over to town riding a pony over to town and get a job over in town, you know, making some cash. So I was working for Mr. Bob Henry in 1925 in the month of July. And Mr. Boyd heard of me being and knowing something about blacksmithing. So he came over on the job and asked about going over to the shop, helping him.

Dan Benuska: Where was the shop then?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: The shop then was just in front of the new courthouse, then what we call the Keegan Building. That's where he had a blacksmith shop in that time.

Dan Benuska: Well, how long did you work at that place?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Well now, we worked at that particular place until 1927. And in 1927, right where the TV cable company is located, that's where Mr. Boyd built the shop there, on Fourth Street.

Dan Benuska: And now your place is on what street?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: And now my place is on Sabine Alley. Now I'll tell you this, to come back to work with Mr. Boyd. So I stayed with Mr. Boyd until his death and one of his son's death and so forth. And then his son-in-law become in possession of that Boyd shop. Mr. Smith, Cardia Smith used to be a deputy sheriff here. Well, after length of time he decided that he was going to get out of that so he did. And then I bought the Boyd shop out. I bought that shop out and moved it over on Sabine Alley where it's located now.

Dan Benuska: Well, let me interrupt you at that point and let's have a message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor. Again, this is Dan Benuska, and we are talking with Mr. Isaiah Jones on Memories about blacksmithing and about mules. Mr. Jones, I want you to talk to me about a mule named Dixie.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah. That's a little mule I imagine there's someone around Natchitoches, possibly know as little Dixie that Mr. Aarons up here, Julius Aarons and son, they used to work that little mule to a little single wagon delivering here in Natchitoches.

Dan Benuska: What year was this?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: That ought to been about around '30, I would say around '30. I don't have any record of those memory, but however, a rough guess I would was set out around 1930, longer than that. And that mule I used to shoe that mule for Mr. Aarons and them. And they'd jig around on the streets all day after they paved these streets here. They paved these streets here in 1927. Well, that mule would wear those shoes out pretty fast. And I always, we bought the shoes up there on Mr. Aarons place. He carried assortment of shoes and I would go up there, you know, and buy them by the 100lb kegs. So one day I went up there get me some shoes. So Mr. Aaron, that is the old man, he's gone, passed away. Well, he would ask me, he says, "What about my mule?" Says, every time I look around my mule got to go get him some shoes. And I told him, I said, "Well, I've been thinking about that. I couldn't understand that myself," I said. "Because I'd come up here and buy the shoes from you, take them to the shop and put them on your mule. And still that mule would wear them out."

Dan Benuska: You said that mule was a pretty smart mule.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh, he was very smart. That mule could bring the wagon onto to the shop without a driver. And whenever that mule, they were making delivery and that mule had a piece of shoe, he needed a shoe fit, that mule you couldn't hardly whoop him by the shop. He'd just be bending the shaft trying to come on into the shop.

Dan Benuska: He knew you enough that he wanted you to take care of his shoes?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah. He knew where to go to get his feet fixed up.

Dan Benuska: Another story you told me about is a pony that you used to shoe that belonged to one of the people over here at KNOC. Can you tell me about that story?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah, that's Mr. Fletcher. I knew his daddy when he was a little old boy, I don't guess had started school yet. So anyway, he had a little pony that he would sometime get on the pony and ride it down to the shop and I'd put a couple of shoes on it for him. They hardly ever shod it more than on the front feets of that little pony of his. However, I shod this little pony a different time. And now I happen to meet him, not too long ago, and he knew me and he recognized me. And he asked me, was I Mr. Jones? I told him, yeah. He said, "Well, you remember you used to shod my little pony I used to ride?" I told him, "Sure I do. Yeah, I remember that well."

Dan Benuska: We have time for one more memory. Could you tell us any advice that your father used to give you? You mentioned something about licking the calf over.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Oh yeah, yeah. Those elderly people back there when I were a youngster, you know, when they tell you to do a job a way, they would tell you and say, "Now you better do it right, because if you don't do it right, you're going to have lick your calf over." Well, that's what they meant, that if it wasn't did like they wanted it did, they was going to send you back to do it over again. And naturally, I didn't like going back over it. And I tried to do it right first time. And I was very fortunate.

Dan Benuska: Your father told you about if you got paid or not got paid?

Mr. Isaiah Jones: That's right. And he'd always tell us. He say, "Now, if someone asks you to do something and you could do it, say whether you're getting paid or not pay", he say, "You do it your best." He said, "Do it right."

Dan Benuska: That's a good note to end on.

Mr. Isaiah Jones: Yeah.

Dan Benuska: Mr. Jones, I've enjoyed having you again on Memories. And I have a personal favor to ask of all you that are listening to Memories. If you like Memories, call the people at Peoples Bank. Or better yet, stop by and talk to them personally.

If you're over 60 and you have some memories you'd like to share with your friends in Natchitoches, call Peoples Bank at 352-6404 or 352-8343. You can also call direct to KNOC, 352-9596 or the Retired Senior Volunteer Office, RSVP, 352-8647.

In a follow-up interview conducted by Dan Benuska, Isiah Jones continues his discussion on blacksmithing and working with mules, buying his own shop, and life advice from his father.

Tags: natchitoches parish, memories, podcast, oral history interview, blacksmithing, mules

March 5, 2026

58. Isiah Jones pt. 1

Transcript

Transcript

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Today we travel back in time with Mr. Isiah Jones, a well-known blacksmith in Natchitoches, after this message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor. Mr. Jones?

Isiah Jones: Yeah.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and about your family.

Isiah Jones: Well, I'm about, I would say about three miles from my birthplace up Cane River.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): What year were you born?

Isiah Jones: I was born in the year of 1900, August 15.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): How many people were in your family and what'd your daddy do?

Isiah Jones: My daddy was a farmer. He reared me up on the farm. There was a family of us, and to begin with, there was about 13 of us in the family. Because some of them passed away in their youth before I even knew them, but I'd just hear them talking about them. But anyway, there were 13 of us, and now there's only three. One brother and two sisters living. That's myself and two sisters in Shreveport.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Before I ask you some of your early experiences with blacksmith and how you got into blacksmithing, I've got a question to ask you about your name. Now, I noticed that your name is spelled I-S-I-A-H. It's not spelled the same way as Isaiah the prophet. Can you tell me about that?

Isiah Jones: Well, now, when I began going to school, then we only had three months of school. And Reverend G.G. Goldston, Methodist minister here, I was going to school to him and I was spelling my name I-S-A-I-A-H J-O-N-E-S. And he taught me, he said, "Now listen, you are not the prophet Isaiah," and he said, "You leave one of those A's out in your name." So, right there I started leaving one of those A's out, and it was quite a while before I could get used to leaving that A out, because I knew there were two A's in Isaiah in the Bible.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): So, that reminded you that you were just a little bit less than Isaiah the prophet.

Isiah Jones: [inaudible 00:02:22] Isaiah the prophet.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): That's a good story.

Isiah Jones: So, that's the way... He was the one who taught me to leave that A out of my name.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Well, tell me this. How did you get interested in blacksmithing, and about your early move towards blacksmithing?

Isiah Jones: Well, now, I'd say it was about 1916... Well, somewhere along 1916 down on [inaudible 00:02:49] Payne's place where I were living. Well, there was a man there by the name of, we called him Jack Hart, but his name was Philip, but everybody called him Jack Hart. Well, he was a blacksmith, and he would come there and do the farm work, and I started to go in in the shop where he was and voluntarily helping him. Until eventually I got after him by letting me beat some of those plows, and which he did.

And from that on, I started beating those plows, and he had a job going from one farm to another. Every farm practically had his own blacksmith shop, but very few had their blacksmith. So, if you were a blacksmith, you could go from plantation to plantation, doing it that way.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): How were you traveling from plantation to plantation?

Isiah Jones: Horseback. Sometimes in the buggy.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): You didn't have to carry your tools as you went?

Isiah Jones: No, no. You see, every shop had its tools, you see? Had its furnish and its tools. All you had to do... Now, mostly when you got used to using a hammer to hammer with, naturally you carried your hammer. Because when you got used to one hammer, the next hammer you pick up, maybe it didn't suit you. It was either too light or either too heavy. And then, you know, that hammer would wear on the side to where it'd be tilt over a certain way from hammering with it. And so, naturally we would carry our own hammers when we'd go to these different places.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): What kind of work were you mostly doing then in 1916, '17? What was the main work that a blacksmith would do?

Isiah Jones: Well, now, the main work was... See, we were beating out hoes. We was beating out plow points and beating out what we call sweeps.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): What are sweeps?

Isiah Jones: A sweep, now, that's a plow point that you use after you get your crop planted and get your crop growing. See, that was a cultivating tool. Well, then they had a double shovel, this two-pronged outfit that carried two of those sweeps, one on each side, and that's what you went around your plants with. They call that cultivating. Now, those plow points, well, naturally you broke your land up. You know, your land's been laying out all winter and packed down hard. Well, that plow point, it'd get down there and throw that bed up there for you.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): How frequently did a plow point have to be sharpened?

Isiah Jones: Well, now, that depends somewhat on what the soil you were in. Now, if you were in the sand and dirts, well, that plow point would possibly cut good for about three or four days. And if you were in what we call the "mix lane", it would maybe stay sharp there cutting for a week or 10 days.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): So, that was a very busy bit of work, blacksmithing.

Isiah Jones: Very busy. You know, because every plantation no doubt I'll say had a dozen or more tenant farmers. Well, each one had his tools, you see? Well, when you keep up tools for as much as 10 or 12 different families, that gives you quite a bit of work.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Let's break for a moment for a message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor, and then we'll come back and talk a little more about mules. Again, this is Dan Bonuska on Memories, and we are talking with Mr. Isiah Jones about his experiences in blacksmithing. I want you to talk to me about mules. I understand that you shoed a lot of mules in your days.

Isiah Jones: Well, I have. I've shod quite a few, and I'll say mules of all type. I used to keep up the team for the farm over at the Normal college, which it was a Normal college then. It wasn't Northwestern as today. It was the Normal college, and they had a farm over there, and they had some big heavy mules over there. I'd tell them fellas that those mules was overfed and underweight, and I'd wrestle with those mules out there, and oh, I'd have a time.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Can you remember, you told me a story about how you shoot an outlaw mule by the name of Jim?

Isiah Jones: Jim.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Tell me about that.

Isiah Jones: Well, that was... Mr. C.S. Royston was the city's street foreman at that time. Well, then they were sweeping these streets by brooms, and they had a two-wheeled cart, which I and Mr. Boyd built that cart for the city. And they got a mule they called Jim. He was a gray mule. And he told me, he says, "Now, Isiah, see now, old Jim, we bought him for an outlaw," and says, "We're going to have to have him shod on these streets." And he said, "When I do have him shod," he says, "I'm going to send a couple of men to the shop to help you with him." And I said, "Oh, okay." But when he did send the mule, I guess it was a few weeks after that, well, he didn't think about sending no one, because that driver, he just brought the mule and tied him. And he went on downtown as usual, waited until I get him shod. So, when I tried to get up to old Jim, old Jim would raise his head and snort, back up off of me. And I had a chain hanging up in the joists up there that I tied him to, and I had old Jim tied down. I kept fooling with him until I got to put my hand on his head, and I went to patting him and rubbing him, patting him and rubbing him.

And when I run my hand down his leg to pick up his feet, he'd drop down on his knee, and I'd keep my hand on his shoulder petting him, and keep on... And I got that feet up. When I got it up, I'd taken my hammer out my box and I began to beat on his feet as though I were nailing on him. And I'd put it down for a few seconds, then I'd pick it up again, do the same thing, knock on it. And then after he began to take that, I went on to my forge and I went on to setting my shoes. So, I set those two shoes and got them nailed on those front feet. And then I began to say, "Now, when I get back there on them two back there, there ain't going to be [inaudible 00:09:35] that it's here." I said, "I don't know how he's going to come out." However, I went on and patted him all over his back until I got him to where I could get back on his hip, and I braced myself against his hip and I run my hand down and catch his foot. And when I did, he just tried to tear my arm off. He kicked with all power, and he had a good blinder bridle on him. He could only see in front of him. And I reached down and got my old 18-inch rash, and I'd taken the rough side of it with both hands and come up under his belly with all I could give him. And when I did, he reared up between the joists up there, and fortunately enough, when he did come down, I grabbed him in his bit. And when I snatched him, he sat down and I kicked him in the side and scowled at him, and he jumped up straight and stuck his tail between his legs and he began to quiver. And when he went to quiver, I went on back there and grabbed that leg like I was going to tear it off. And I got it up across my hip, and I held it there, and then I said, "Uh-huh, I've got you."

So, then I went on and set my two shoes up to them two hind feet. And I went on back there and went through the same process, and every time I'd go to him and raise my voice, he'd start to trembling, the mule. And so, I got those two shoes back there on him.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): He learned who was boss.

Isiah Jones: Yeah. And every after, when that mule would come to the shop, all I had to do was raise my voice and old Jim would, he'd get in attention, get the feets together, and I never did have any more trouble out of him. He was just about one of the best animals I had to shoe.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): Well, Mr. Jones, I feel that we've only touched the surface of the blacksmithing business, and we're going to have to come back again on Memories. And I want to thank you now for this time that we've spent, and I want you to promise to be back on Memories again.

Isiah Jones: I would be glad to.

Dan Bonuska (Interviewer): We would like to close each Memories program with information that might be of value, particularly to the senior citizens. Do you know that you have an opportunity if you're 60 years of age or older? RSVP, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, tries to match the abilities and interests of older persons with community needs. If you can spare a morning or an afternoon a week, why not consider volunteering your services? Call Catherine Dollar at 352-8647. When you spread a little happiness, it rubs off on you. If you have any further questions about this matter, talk to the folks at Peoples Bank. They'll be glad to help you out. I have a personal favor to ask of you. If you like Memories, call the people at Peoples Bank, or better yet, stop by and talk to them personally. If you're over 60 and you have some memories you'd like to share with your friends in Natchitoches, call Peoples Bank, 352-6404, or 352-8343, or call direct to KNOC, 352-9596, or the Retired Senior Volunteer office, 352-8647.

Dan Benuska interviews Isiah Jones about growing up in a farming family, why his name is spelled differently, becoming a blacksmith, sharpening plow points, and shoeing an outlaw mule.

Tags: natchitoches parish, memories, podcast, oral history interview, farming, blacksmithing

February 26, 2026

57. Idella Piere

Transcript

Transcript

Jim Colley: Good morning. This is Jim Colley and this is The Memories Program. We're going to visit with a lady who's a hundred years old this morning on The Memories Show. We'll be back and talking with Idella Piere up here in just a few minutes after this word from Peoples Bank and Trust.

In case you've just joined us in our bicentennial year, 1976, we're going to talk with a lady who was born in 1876. Idella Piere, we're glad you're here. Welcome to the show. Say hello.

Idella Piere: Huh?

Speaker 3: Say hello.

Idella Piere: Hello.

Jim Colley: Okay. You've lived in Natchitoches and Natchitoches Parish for a long time. Have you lived here all your life?

Idella Piere: All of my life, yes, in Natchitoches Parish.

Jim Colley: Where did you grow up?

Idella Piere: I grew up on the Crossgo Place.

Jim Colley: Where is that?

Idella Piere: That's way down Cane River.

Jim Colley: All the way down towards Rapides Parish?

Idella Piere: No, I never went that far.

Jim Colley: Never went that far?

Idella Piere: Uh-uh.

Jim Colley: Where have you traveled outside of the parish? Did you ever leave Natchitoches?

Idella Piere: Well, I went to Houston, awhile, visiting. That's all. I never did live there.

Jim Colley: What did you think of Houston?

Idella Piere: What I think of it? I just don't like it.

Jim Colley: You don't like it. Too big?

Idella Piere: Uh-uh. Too lively.

Jim Colley: You like it quieter?

Idella Piere: Yeah. I likes a good nice quiet place.

Jim Colley: When you were growing up and still a small child, what do you remember about those times?

Idella Piere: When I was small child? Let me see, can I remember? Yes, I remember when I was small, playing in the dirt, ashes, roast potatoes.

Jim Colley: Is that what you did for fun? When you were playing, what did you do for fun?

Idella Piere: Oh, when I was playing? Build dirt houses in the river bank. You know, just dig all along the bank and make dirt houses, thick stick and let the smoke come out to the top.

Jim Colley: That was pretty good fun.

Idella Piere: Yeah, that was nice.

Jim Colley: I bet that was something else. What did your mother do?

Idella Piere: Mama, she always farmed. She didn't have no husband.

Jim Colley: And so she was the one who supported the family.

Idella Piere: That's right.

Jim Colley: What did she do?

Idella Piere: She farmed for one bale of cotton.

Jim Colley: One bale of cotton a year?

Idella Piere: Yeah.

Jim Colley: And that was it?

Idella Piere: And that's all we got.

Jim Colley: Boy, that was pretty hard.

Idella Piere: It was tight.

Jim Colley: After you grew up, where did you go?

Idella Piere: After I grew up, I married.

Jim Colley: And then what did you do together? You and your husband?

Idella Piere: We farmed.

Jim Colley: Was that down south of here?

Idella Piere: Yeah, that down south.

Jim Colley: At the same place.

Idella Piere: Same place, on an old Chapman place.

Jim Colley: What was it like picking cotton down there? Did you pick cotton?

Idella Piere: Yeah, I picked cotton. I made crop.

Jim Colley: What kind of crop did you raise up?

Idella Piere: Well, we raised cotton and corn, sweet potatoes, different thing.

Jim Colley: Where did you sell it? Did you bring it to town to sell?

Idella Piere: Oh no. The boss man had it. I don't know what he done with it.

Jim Colley: He came by and picked it up.

Idella Piere: Uh-huh. We don't know what he done with it.

Jim Colley: Did you keep part of it to live on?

Idella Piere: No. My husband worked on hay. The boss man took one half and gave him the other half.

Jim Colley: It was kind of sharecropping?

Idella Piere: Uh-huh. That's right.

Jim Colley: I see, I see. As you and your husband were living down there on the farm, what did you do? Did you go to church frequently? Was that the kind of place where you went to see people?

Idella Piere: Go to church? Uh-huh. Yes, sir.

Jim Colley: What kind of church was it?

Idella Piere: A Baptist church.

Jim Colley: Was it a big one?

Idella Piere: Pretty good size.

Jim Colley: Pretty good size. You met on Sundays?

Idella Piere: Yeah.

Jim Colley: Wednesdays?

Idella Piere: Wednesday night for council.

Jim Colley: How long were you there on Sunday?

Idella Piere: Huh?

Jim Colley: What time did you go to worship on Sunday?

Idella Piere: Well, about nine o'clock.

Jim Colley: What time did you get home?

Idella Piere: About four.

Jim Colley: All day?

Idella Piere: Yeah. They used to keep a church all day.

Jim Colley: You did?

Idella Piere: Uh-huh.

Jim Colley: What did you do all day?

Idella Piere: Well, we were just preaching.

Jim Colley: And singing?

Idella Piere: Having school.

Jim Colley: What kind of school was it?

Idella Piere: Sunday school.

Jim Colley: Then you had picnic out on the lawn?

Idella Piere: My house in the yard and the grass.

Jim Colley: Then you go back to church afterwards?

Idella Piere: Mm-hmm.

Jim Colley: So that was all day on Sunday?

Idella Piere: Yeah, we did stay church all day.

Jim Colley: You worked six days a week and went to church on the seventh day?

Idella Piere: Sure did.

Jim Colley: Boy, that kept you honest, didn't it?

Idella Piere: Yeah, we done it. I had to do it.

Jim Colley: When you're living out in the country like that, you don't have much chance for doctors. You all had to-

Idella Piere: Didn't have no doctor.

Jim Colley: Had to take care of yourselves.

Idella Piere: Yeah, we grass tea, tea.

Jim Colley: What kind of tea did you make?

Idella Piere: Mint tea, bam tea, and horse mint tea.

Jim Colley: What were they good for?

Idella Piere: Good for fever. Good for chill. Mm-hmm.

Jim Colley: So you learned to make the medicines that you needed right there?

Idella Piere: That's right. We just had to go out on the riverbank, put up that horse grain, horse mint, wash it and boil it and drink it. That cut the fever.

Jim Colley: What did it taste like?

Idella Piere: Bitter.

Jim Colley: Bitter. But you took it anyway.

Idella Piere: You had to take it. That's helped the fever and chill. We didn't know nothing about no doctor.

Jim Colley: You never saw one.

Idella Piere: Uh-uh.

Jim Colley: When was the first time you saw a doctor, do you remember?

Idella Piere: I called him Dr. Gagnon.

Jim Colley: Where was he from?

Idella Piere: He was in Natchitoches.

Jim Colley: And so if somebody was bad sick?

Idella Piere: Uh-huh. He come to the old folks. He didn't visit the children. We all talk to Dr. Gagnon, but we didn't know it.

Jim Colley: I see. Raising up children was quite an experience when everybody had to work, you had to have children around to help you out. What was it like during childbirth? Was there a midwife who came and helped you?

Idella Piere: Midwife, that's all. No doctor. Midwife.

Jim Colley: And she had come stay with you for a day or so?

Idella Piere: Nine days.

Jim Colley: Nine days.

Idella Piere: She stayed there.

Jim Colley: How would you pay her?

Idella Piere: Sometime we pay her with corn, meal.

Jim Colley: But that was just the kind of work she did?

Idella Piere: That's what we just was able to give her. We didn't have no money.

Jim Colley: Okay. We are enjoying visiting with you. We're going to take a commercial break right now for Peoples Bank and Trust, and we'll come back and talk with you in just a minute.

If you've just joined The Memories Program. We're visiting with Idella Piere. She's a hundred years old and we're having a good time visiting with her.

We were talking about when you and your husband were farming. How many children did you all have?

Idella Piere: When we was farming, I had eight, eight here, I believe.

Jim Colley: That's quite a few. Did you put them to work?

Idella Piere: Well, not when they were small. I put one to stay home to nurse and I went in the field.

Jim Colley: What kind of chores did you have them do?

Idella Piere: Chores what I had them to do? Well, when they was small. Oh, we talking about working? They went in the field with me when ... learn them how to work, send corn, chop out cotton, and pick cotton, get them some clothes. I wasn't able to get none.

Jim Colley: I see you sent them into the field. We were talking just a few minutes ago, you would send them into the field on Friday?

Idella Piere: That's right.

Jim Colley: And they'd picked cotton.

Idella Piere: Until Saturday 12 o'clock.

Jim Colley: And that was so they could do what? Get the church dues?

Idella Piere: Yeah. Get the church dues. That's right.

Jim Colley: Have to get them some clothes and send them to church.

Idella Piere: That's correct.

Jim Colley: They earned their own money to do that?

Idella Piere: No, they had their own money then. And I stayed on in the field, let my children went out to work, because I wasn't even getting it.

Jim Colley: Your husband used to go into town. How did he get to town?

Idella Piere: In a wagon.

Jim Colley: On a wagon.

Idella Piere: Uh-huh.

Jim Colley: So you had a horse and a wagon that you used?

Idella Piere: Well, I used the boss man wagon and his mule.

Jim Colley: Who was the boss man then. Do you remember his name?

Idella Piere: Yeah.

Jim Colley: Who was that?

Idella Piere: Boyle Cloutier.

Jim Colley: And so you used to go, or your husband used to go into town on the wagon?

Idella Piere: Yes, sir.

Jim Colley: When would he come back?

Idella Piere: Oh, he come back the same day.

Jim Colley: Same day. But it was quite a ... He had to go into which town?

Idella Piere: Natchitoches.

Jim Colley: Natchitoches.

Idella Piere: Sure, Natchitoches, yeah.

Jim Colley: Okay. Well you've lived a long life around here. What's your favorite memory about growing up in Natchitoches Parish?

Idella Piere: My favorite memory in growing up? What I remember in Natchitoches Parish? I remember growing up a girl. I remember I married without a father. I didn't have no mother. I remember this show was Christmas Day, my mother took her stuff for Christmas and saved it for my wedding. She wouldn't pass, she wouldn't give nobody nothing out of it. She just saved it for my wedding because she didn't have no husband. And if I had ate up my Christmas stuff, I wouldn't have had nothing for the wedding.

Jim Colley: So you saved the Christmas food for the wedding then?

Idella Piere: For the wedding, that's right.

Jim Colley: That's quite something.

Idella Piere: I done it. My mother didn't have no husband.

Jim Colley: And she was looking forward to having a son-in-law.

Idella Piere: That's right.

Jim Colley: So she got one.

Idella Piere: Yeah, she got one.

Jim Colley: And that wedding was a pretty special event, wasn't it?

Idella Piere: It was.

Jim Colley: Tell me about the wedding.

Idella Piere: The wedding?

Jim Colley: Uh-huh.

Idella Piere: Well, my husband had a waiter to wait on him and I had one to wait on me when I married.

Jim Colley: Where'd you get married?

Idella Piere: I got married on the Boyle Cloutier place.

Jim Colley: Was there a little Baptist church there?

Idella Piere: Yeah, but they're down the lane.

Jim Colley: So you got married. Who did the wedding?

Idella Piere: Old man Robert Holmes.

Jim Colley: Now who was he?

Idella Piere: Well, he was an old pastor for the church, Baptist Church. He was an old pastor. He married me off.

Jim Colley: Did you have quite a party afterwards?

Idella Piere: A partner?

Jim Colley: Party.

Idella Piere: No, I was scared. My mama didn't have no husband. I was scared they’d raise a fuss round the house. We just had a nice wedding.

Jim Colley: It's better not to?

Idella Piere: That's right.

Jim Colley: Okay. It was good talking with you. And we've enjoyed visiting with you on The Memories Program.

Idella Piere: Yes, sir.

Jim Colley: And we're glad you're around in 1976.

Idella Piere: Yes, sir.

Jim Colley: Thank you, ma'am.

Idella Piere: You [inaudible 00:11:16].

Jim Colley interviews Idella Piere, 100, about growing up in the area, playing outside, sharecropping, attending church all day, homemade remedies, and wedding memories.

Tags: natchitoches parish, podcast, oral history interview, memories, sharecropping, wedding, baptist church

February 19, 2026

56. Howard Bell

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar: Good morning. This is David Dollar, and we're glad you've joined us today on Memories. We're down in Campti, visiting with Mr. Howard Bell, and we'll be back to start our program right after this message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor. Hello once again. In case you've just joined us, David Dollar on Memories this morning down in Campti, visiting with Mr. Howard Bell. Mr. Bell, we thank you for having us in the home today and visiting with us. Why don't we start things off by you giving us a little family background, like where you were born, when you were born, and something about your family, maybe? How about that?

Howard Bell: I was born, let's see, 1893.

David Dollar: 1893? Okay. Where was this? Here in Campti.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:00:38].

David Dollar: Where is that?

Howard Bell: Wasn't here in Campti, it wasn't in this part of Campti.

David Dollar: Okay, all right. Were you the oldest child in your family?

Howard Bell: Yes sir, I was the oldest one.

David Dollar: Okay.

Howard Bell: I told you about, I think, my memories [inaudible 00:00:59]. I think I told you about I fell out of a tree, didn't I?

David Dollar: What's that? Let's here about that. When did you fall out of the tree?

Howard Bell: Well, I shot a squirrel, and he [inaudible 00:01:15] in the tree.

David Dollar: Yeah? Didn't come down.

Howard Bell: No, he didn't come down.

David Dollar: I've had that trouble before.

Howard Bell: And I went up there to get him, and I got on a rotten limb.

David Dollar: Uh-oh.

Howard Bell: Down I come. My little brother, he'd run to the house and told my dad about it, and I was still out. And he got-

David Dollar: It knocked you out, huh?

Howard Bell: Yeah, I was still out.

David Dollar: Gee.

Howard Bell: He throwed me on his shoulder and take me... Wasn't far from there to the doctor.

David Dollar: Yeah?

Howard Bell: Throwed me on his shoulder, carried me on to the doctor.

David Dollar: Well, I'll be.

Howard Bell: I got over it.

David Dollar: Got over it. Did you get the squirrel?

Howard Bell: I don't remember now whether I got the squirrel or not. After that, I don't know what happened. [inaudible 00:01:45].

David Dollar: You weren't too worried about that at all. Well, what was your dad doing at this time when you were born?

Howard Bell: Oh, he-

David Dollar: He was from around here, he and your mother?

Howard Bell: No, they were [inaudible 00:01:55]-

David Dollar: Or they found work here, or what?

Howard Bell: No they was up here in the country, we'd make ties, cut logs at sawmills.

David Dollar: Okay. Kind of worked at sawmill like.

Howard Bell: We cut logs, me and him both, once I got old enough to cut logs together. And then I worked in the sawmill.

David Dollar: Oh, you went into work with him. Huh.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:02:11].

David Dollar: Worked around there, too.

Howard Bell: Then I went to work and I don't know where that river is [inaudible 00:02:18] used to be in line down there, W. F. Johnson.

David Dollar: W. F. Johnson.

Howard Bell: Do you remember? Ever heard of that?

David Dollar: No, I'm not sure. I don't know. He's from around here, too?

Howard Bell: Yes sir, he used to have a big sawmill.

David Dollar: Had a big sawmill.

Howard Bell: Yeah. [inaudible 00:02:35].

David Dollar: How old were you when you first started logging?

Howard Bell: I was in my teenage years, I don't know [inaudible 00:02:40].

David Dollar: Uh-huh. Somewhere around it.

Howard Bell: Started, yeah.

David Dollar: Did you attend school or-

Howard Bell: No.

David Dollar: ... work when you were younger.

Howard Bell: Very little schooling [inaudible 00:02:48]. I didn't have a chance to go to school. I had to work all the time.

David Dollar: Work? Well, what about-

Howard Bell: I might could have went when I was... Nobody rushed me in it, and I didn't know the benefit it was in the school.

David Dollar: Yeah, I guess not.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:03:01].

David Dollar: There was no way for you to know.

Howard Bell: No. It's the rarity of it. So nobody [inaudible 00:03:05] liked going to school.

David Dollar: You think it's important for today's young folks to go on to school, though?

Howard Bell: For sure, I advise you to go to school.

David Dollar: Okay.

Howard Bell: And all my sisters got a pretty good run, but...

David Dollar: You being the first, you were the first one to have to go to work, I guess.

Howard Bell: That's it, that's it.

David Dollar: And made a little money so that some of them could go to school, maybe.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:03:28] for my sisters, two sisters. We had three sisters [inaudible 00:03:31].

David Dollar: That's good. What about your mother? What do you remember about your mom around the house, speaking of all these sisters? Did she have to take time to teach the girls how to cook or teach you how to cook for yourself or something?

Howard Bell: No, all the girls learned how to cook. And one brother. I just know how to do the work getting there [inaudible 00:03:55].

David Dollar: You did the working and the eating, and they did the cooking, huh?

Howard Bell: That's right, then when they got to cooking something I liked, I'd go back in there and ask... Momma had a young baby. And I'd go in there and make that baby cry, and they'd go back in there to see about the baby, and I'd grab a big handful of something, and I'd run.

David Dollar: And run. A little diversion there.

Howard Bell: Yeah. [inaudible 00:04:15].

David Dollar: Yeah. Goodness gracious. Always after that food. You gotta watch him.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:04:19] dinner pot, that would eat me up. I'd go and look at Momma, say, "What's the matter? I wasn't here. Did you see anything?" Say, "You thought... I sees you. I sees you. I sees you when you got it." [inaudible 00:04:30].

David Dollar: And you got a hot piece of meat or something in there, getting you a leg.

Howard Bell: Yeah, and got out some [inaudible 00:04:31] meat. Yes sir. I don't know what best story I can tell you, but [inaudible 00:04:31].

David Dollar: Oh, my goodness.

Howard Bell: And I was just dancing a jig and dancing [inaudible 00:04:44]-

David Dollar: Dancing around.

Howard Bell: ... trying to get that meat out.

David Dollar: Tell you what, let me interrupt you right here. We need to take a brief commercial here. We'll be back and talk a little more in just a minute. David Dollar on Memories today with Mr. Howard Bell, we'll be right back after this message from our sponsor, Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Well, once again, in case you've just joined, this is David Dollar on Memories today down in Campti with Mr. Howard Bell. We've been talking about growing up working and having to trick sisters to get some food around the house and all. Speaking of food and house and things, we were talking a little bit earlier about your momma cooking, how did she cook and what were some of the things she had in the kitchen? Or was it like a kitchen like you've got around here today, something like that?

Howard Bell: No, not exactly, because the most we was eating at them days was cornbread.

David Dollar: Cornbread. Okay, tell me about her recipe for cornbread and how she fixed it. Did you ever get to watch?

Howard Bell: No, I didn't do that. My brother what's dead, he's the one done all... He done that watching, and he learnt to cook like she did.

David Dollar: I see.

Howard Bell: I never seen anybody cooking.

David Dollar: Well, did she have a range or stove or something like that?

Howard Bell: No, a wood stove.

David Dollar: Wood-burning stove?

Howard Bell: Wood-burning stove.

David Dollar: Uh-huh?

Howard Bell: And the times she'd go back in there, I'd go in there and make the baby cry. And you know, she'd go out and see about the baby, and there I'd go [inaudible 00:06:07].

David Dollar: You'd go snatch a piece of meat or cornbread or something, huh?

Howard Bell: Really, hey, whatever I could get to eat.

David Dollar: Whatever you could get. I see.

Howard Bell: And out the door. And she caught me one day. I was just a-shaking the [inaudible 00:06:17] and going on dancing around the floor and shaking the [inaudible 00:06:19], trying to get that meat [inaudible 00:06:20].

David Dollar: Yeah, hot grease on your leg or something.

Howard Bell: And she knowed it. She knowed what I done.

David Dollar: Oh, yeah. Mommas always know when you done something you shouldn't have.

Howard Bell: She said, "Mm-hmm." She said, I'll break that. That's [inaudible 00:06:28]? I'll break that one."

David Dollar: Yeah. What did y'all do as a family on weekends? Did you have to work all the way through or like on Sunday or Saturday?

Howard Bell: Oh, no. We didn't work on a Saturday and Sunday, [inaudible 00:06:40] I had to work.

David Dollar: What did you do?

Howard Bell: I used to cut logs for sawmills.

David Dollar: What did you do on Saturday and Sunday, though? When you had a little time off, how did you spend your free time?

Howard Bell: Well, just go down amongst the other boys and young fellas like me.

David Dollar: [inaudible 00:06:55].

Howard Bell: Shoot marbles and play ball, like that.

David Dollar: Shooting marbles and playing ball. Were you a good marble player?

Howard Bell: Pretty good.

David Dollar: Pretty good.

Howard Bell: Yes sir.

David Dollar: What about fishing and things like that? Did y'all get much time for that?

Howard Bell: I never did like to fish, so I used to go with my mother. She fished every day if she could get anything she'd cook for us.

David Dollar: I guess around here, around Black Lake and all that, that should have been pretty good fishing, at least pretty close by.

Howard Bell: Yeah. It was good fishing. But I never did care nothing about fishing, but while she's fishing, I'd be hunting squirrels.

David Dollar: Yeah, you were a hunter, huh?

Howard Bell: Yes sir, I'm a hunter.

David Dollar: Did you get to bring much meat in and y'all cook it?

Howard Bell: Sometime I'd kill four or five, and sometimes, maybe one, two, like that.

David Dollar: Sometimes not get any, I guess, huh?

Howard Bell: Sometime not get any.

David Dollar: Yeah?

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:07:33].

David Dollar: Well, let's talk about-

Howard Bell: And the next thing, at that time, there was a lot of wild hogs in the woods, wasn't owned by nobody.

David Dollar: Oh, yeah? You know, I've heard about that a lot, even a few left today, but I've never seen one. Tell me about them.

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:07:50]. They was big-size hogs, but they're dangerous, too.

David Dollar: They'd get after you, huh?

Howard Bell: Especially if they had a sow and she had some young. You better not get around them then.

David Dollar: Did you ever run up on one?

Howard Bell: Oh, yes. I run up on them. I've killed them, the males.

David Dollar: And pretty good eating?

Howard Bell: Oh, yes sir, they... I didn't know the difference in that and those other-

David Dollar: Between regular ham or wild hog, huh?

Howard Bell: No, I didn't know the difference. [inaudible 00:08:14].

David Dollar: I guess not. Well, you say they were dangerous, how so?

Howard Bell: They fight so bad, them wild hogs.

David Dollar: That's really strange to me, because the only pigs and hogs I've ever seen are just kind of big and fat and don't ever do much.

Howard Bell: No, they had hogs in the woods, nobody owned them. And you better not get out... You better know what you're doing, get out there amongst them.

David Dollar: Or could they chase you or something like that?

Howard Bell: Yes sir, they'd get in behind you, especially if they had some young ones lying there.

David Dollar: Or did they have those old tusk things like I've heard about, some-

Howard Bell: Yeah, they're just like a bear [inaudible 00:08:48], the big tusks that come out.

David Dollar: Come out of their mouth, huh?

Howard Bell: Yes sir.

David Dollar: Well, I guess they could do a little damage on your leg if they got a hold of you.

Howard Bell: Oh, yes sir. They'd do damage [inaudible 00:08:57].

David Dollar: Did you ever get chased?

Howard Bell: Oh, yes, I got chased and run up trees.

David Dollar: Run up trees?

Howard Bell: Yeah.

David Dollar: And hope you wouldn't fall out again like you did hunting squirrel, huh?

Howard Bell: That's right.

David Dollar: Well, what would they do, after you were treed by a hog? You just wait for it to go away, or-

Howard Bell: That's what I did, wait 'til they-

David Dollar: Or carry your gun up there with you?

Howard Bell: Oh, no. I stayed up there and wait 'til they go away.

David Dollar: My goodness.

Howard Bell: They'd [inaudible 00:09:20] that time, only do that, you know a sow who had some young. Them males, they didn't want you to go nowhere around them.

David Dollar: Get after you.

Howard Bell: Mm-hmm.

David Dollar: Well, I'm kind of glad I've never run up on one of those guys.

Howard Bell: Yes sir [inaudible 00:09:36].

David Dollar: Sounds bad.

Howard Bell: But a lot of people kill them now and then [inaudible 00:09:42].

David Dollar: Yeah, I've heard, especially one of the doctors in town I think still hunts some wild hog and some of his friends. I've heard some tales about it. I never knew whether he was pulling my leg, though. Sounds like y'all's stories collaborates pretty good. They're bad guys.

Howard Bell: I know one time I was out in the woods hunting, and I seen a bear coming towards us.

David Dollar: A bear?

Howard Bell: Yeah, and up that tree I went. And I had to stay up that tree. And I'd stay up there and I'd shoot my gun, and I'd shoot my gun.

David Dollar: At the bear?

Howard Bell: No, I'd shoot-

David Dollar: Or just up in the air?

Howard Bell: Yeah, I was shooting up in-

David Dollar: Trying to scare him.

Howard Bell: No, I was trying to make some people come [inaudible 00:10:18] if I could. I'd holler and then shoot my gun, you know, so [inaudible 00:10:22] white people, they'd decide something was wrong, and something had happened.

David Dollar: Uh-huh.

Howard Bell: And they started coming through the woods hollering. When they got in distance, we were pretty close there, I done told them it was a bear after me. I said, "A bear," and then they hollered through [inaudible 00:10:42] went back to the house and get somebody to bring some guns down there. And they killed the bear.

David Dollar: They killed the bear?

Howard Bell: Uh-huh.

David Dollar: My [inaudible 00:10:49] and I imagine-

Howard Bell: Killed him and we eat him up.

David Dollar: I'll tell ya. How-

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:10:56].

David Dollar: That is really amazing, now that sounds like a tale from the pioneer days or something, and here, you lived right through it there.

Howard Bell: Yes sir.

David Dollar: Got treed by a bear. Were you afraid he was going to come up that tree after you?

Howard Bell: No, I wasn't afraid he was going to come up that tree after me, but I was afraid he wasn't going to leave so I can.

David Dollar: He wasn't going to leave like those hogs did.

Howard Bell: No. But I learned after that, that that time, a bear wouldn't hurt you if he didn't have no young ones nowhere around.

David Dollar: If he didn't have young.

Howard Bell: So I know then he must have had young around there, because he stayed there until-

David Dollar: He was watching you.

Howard Bell: He was watching me, you know. I didn't know [inaudible 00:11:30].

David Dollar: My goodness. Well, from what I can tell, you've spent a heck of a lot of time up in trees.

Howard Bell: Oh, yeah.

David Dollar: Between squirrels and pigs and bears [inaudible 00:11:38].

Howard Bell: That's right. Bears and all like that. There used to be a lot of them at that time.

David Dollar: I guess so.

Howard Bell: Lot of people [inaudible 00:11:49] bears just like that and then there wasn't too many people would travel at night.

David Dollar: They'd be coming out, huh?

Howard Bell: Them that would travel, they had weapons, they'd have their guns.

David Dollar: Yeah?

Howard Bell: Putting them little lights, lantern lights [inaudible 00:12:00]. People wouldn't think, as settled as it is now. You might find a house, and it would be a mile near abouts before you see another house. [inaudible 00:12:08].

David Dollar: So it was at Campti, and this area was pretty much just like the pioneer days.

Howard Bell: Yes sir [inaudible 00:12:16].

David Dollar: This was still a wilderness of sorts. And all kind of wild animals and-

Howard Bell: All kinds.

David Dollar: ... things that could happen to you.

Howard Bell: Mm-hmm.

David Dollar: Well, Mr. Bell, we're just about out of time. I tell you, this has been real enjoyable for me, finding out...

Howard Bell: [inaudible 00:12:27].

David Dollar: I'm an old Daniel Boone fan, and it was exciting for me to hear about the times that... Hear a person I'm talking to has lived through those same things, with bears and wild hogs and things.

Howard Bell: Let's see, that Daniel Boone, [inaudible 00:12:40]?

David Dollar: You know, one of the pioneers coming back in old Kentucky-

Howard Bell: That's right, that's right.

David Dollar: ... with his long rifle and all.

Howard Bell: That's right. That's right. I remember, I remember [inaudible 00:12:48].

David Dollar: Sounds like you were the same sort of fella, always out in the woods and hunting and things.

Howard Bell: Yeah, I remember. I remember now.

David Dollar: Yeah. Well, I tell you, we better bring our program to a close, we're about out of time again.

Howard Bell: Well, I enjoyed [inaudible 00:13:00].

David Dollar: We thank you for having us in and sharing your memories with us.

Howard Bell: I enjoyed talking with you.

David Dollar: Why, thank you.

Howard Bell: I find that gives me something else to think about besides [inaudible 00:13:08].

David Dollar: That's right. I guess so. If any of you folks at home have some memories you'd like to share, we'd sure like to hear from you. The Retired Senior Volunteer Program Office is helping us keep our schedule up, and their phone number is 352-8647. This has been David Dollar down in Campti today with Mr. Howard Bell, talking about bears and such, and we've had a good time. We're glad you've joined us and have a nice day.

David Dollar interviews Howard Bell about growing up in Campti, falling out of a tree, working in a sawmill, fishing, hog hunting, and getting chased up a tree.

Tags: memories, oral history interview, podcast, campti, natchitoches parish, hunting

February 12, 2026

55. Heardie Rivers pt. 2

Transcript

Transcript

David Dollar: Good morning. This is David Dollar. We're glad you joined us on Memories today. We're going to visit this morning with Ms. Heardie Rivers of Natchitoches, and we'll be right back to start our show right after this message from our sponsor, Peoples Bank and Trust Company.

Hello again. In case you're just joining us, we're visiting this morning with Ms. Heardie Rivers on Memories. Ms. Rivers, why don't we start things off by you just telling us a little bit about yourself? And then we'll talk some more. When were you born?

Heardie Rivers: I know what day, but what year? I'm 72 years old. It must be 1904.

David Dollar: 1904, huh?

Heardie Rivers: 1904, 12th July. My birth home is Clarence, Louisiana. We moved from Clarence to Campti. Go through that?

David Dollar: Yeah. Let's talk. Where all did you live?

Heardie Rivers: Campti, from Clarence to Campti. And from Campti to Alexandria. Two weeks from Alexandria here to Natchitoches.

David Dollar: What was your folks doing when you were little?

Heardie Rivers: My papa, he was working at the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company at the time, and so we moved here. My mother come first. She didn't want to go back in the country. So he wanted to go back to Moe. So she didn't. She come to Natchitoches and got her job at Ms. Royster. She worked there and bought the place out here in Breda Town.

David Dollar: You've been telling us your mother worked there while y'all were all young. You said that you've had quite a productive working career too. Why don't we talk a little bit about some of the work you've done while you've been growing up? Tell us about that job you had up at the school, I think is where it started.

Heardie Rivers: 1918, early part, I worked there... It must have been, it was in September. I worked there two weeks. I had the flu. And so when I got up from the flu, I didn't go back. It was no normal state college thing.

David Dollar: Normal, right.

Heardie Rivers: And so I didn't go back. Ms. Pearson's sister, Ms. Gannon, asked me to go and asked me would I work for her sister-in-law. And I told her, "Yeah." It's good to keep your word. It really is. When you don't have a word, ain't nothing left.

And so I told her I would, so I went, but I didn't go to state. But when I saw the little curly-haired boy, what I had dreamed of, I asked God, "That must be the place he want me to work." If he'd be with me, a doctor friend and on, which he have. I just had $18 worth of doctor bills since I've been grown.

David Dollar: My goodness. Somebody has been taking care of you then.

Heardie Rivers: The whole 55 years, not quite 55. 54 and some months.

David Dollar: You said you had dreamed about a little blond-haired boy. Tell me about that.

Heardie Rivers: Yes. You want that?

David Dollar: Yeah. What is that?

Heardie Rivers: Henry. I dream... In 1914, we moved here in 1913 and 1914, I had the beautiful dream, about all of them come true but one. And I don't think no change for it. A little curly-haired boy about the age of four years old. He didn't tell me four because he know I couldn't keep it, just the height.

David Dollar: About that size, huh?

Heardie Rivers: Height will fool you. High, which he was. And so I didn't go to state.

David Dollar: So that then in 1918, when you went to work-

Heardie Rivers: For her.

David Dollar: For Ms. Pearson?

Heardie Rivers: Ms. Pearson.

David Dollar: You saw this little boy that you had seen in your dream.

Heardie Rivers: I saw her. I didn't know it-

David Dollar: It was her son.

Heardie Rivers: Yes. I didn't know nothing about this inner part of town. That was 1914, from 1914 to 1918.

David Dollar: Four whole years.

Heardie Rivers: How many years?

David Dollar: What's that, four years?

Heardie Rivers: From 1914 to 1918.

David Dollar: Right.

Heardie Rivers: How many?

David Dollar: Four years. That's a pretty good while to remember a dream, isn't it? But you saw the same little boy that you had seen in your dream?

Heardie Rivers: The same in my dream when I went there. So I asked him, I made myself satisfied and I forgot about the price.

David Dollar: Figured that the Lord was leading you there to work.

Heardie Rivers: That's right, and I stayed put. I could have been in New York, but I didn't go. Why? See, God put me there. God don't follow us. He leads us but he don't follow us. If we go, we leaving him behind. He's sitting, standing right there with his arm open, waiting for us to welcome us back.

David Dollar: I believe that for sure. Let me interrupt you right here. We need to take a little short commercial. We'll come back and talk some more in just a minute. All right? David Dollar visiting with Ms. Heardie Rivers on Memories this morning. We'll be right back after this message from Peoples Bank, our sponsor.

Hello once again. In case you've just joined us, David Dollar visiting this morning with Ms. Heardie Rivers on Memories. Ms. Rivers. We're talking about you working for the Pearsons back in about 1918 when you first started because of a dream that led you there, it seems.

Heardie Rivers: Right, right.

David Dollar: Why don't we pick up there and talk a little more?

Heardie Rivers: She had four boys, Henry, Ed and David and Millie, and the B... The [inaudible 00:05:46]. That's the youngest boy, B. And so as they all got grown, I used to play with them. When they all got grown and married, and now when I can, I go from one to the other. They help keep me alive. And what's the other you want to last? And with my mother. That'd be end of it. It lined up all right, eh?

David Dollar: Oh, yes.

Heardie Rivers: Oh, my mother told me, she said, "Daughter, whatever you do, do it well, because mother ain't going to be with you always."

David Dollar: That's right.

Heardie Rivers: I wonder how many mothers tell their girls that?

David Dollar: I don't know. What do you think?

Heardie Rivers: None.

David Dollar: Did you find that was real true words of wisdom though?

Heardie Rivers: Yes, sir. But I didn't leave. I thought she was going to stay with us always. I didn't think she ever... I went off and shake my little self. I said, "You ain't going to never leave us." You see?

And when it happened, He just made my mind blank. I had a time getting back. Not a friend. See, I looked into it. See, God got all kind of way to bring us, make a real Christian. He wanted me for some purpose. And He done test me every way. I haven't fear. See, He blesses me and then He turn around and tests me.

He tests not only me, any of his children, see how strong their faith is. Everything happened to me. It's not no bad deed we have done. He's just testing, like when going to school, don't you get a test?

David Dollar: Oh, yeah. I get plenty of tests going to school.

Heardie Rivers: Well, that's the same way with Him. But we got to take time and look, whatever come, it got to come from inside, the inward, it got to come from... Whatever it is, it got to come from inside. You can't get nothing on the outside.

David Dollar: Not something you can just look around and find.

Heardie Rivers: Oh, that's right. He got to come from inward, and inward man and the inward woman. If it's evil, He coming from the inside. But good, you want to come from the inside.

David Dollar: Well, Ms. Rivers, we certainly thank you for having us over to your house today. You shared some really good memories with us, and we thank you for having us over.

If any of you folks at home would like to share some of your memories or you know somebody who would like to share, why don't you give us a call? The Retired Senior Volunteer Program is helping us keep our schedule straight, and their number is 352-8647.

This has been David Dollar visiting with Ms. Heardie Rivers today on Memories. We thank you for joining us. Have a nice day.

David Dollar interviews Heardie Rivers about growing up in the area, being led by a dream, advice from her mother, and tests of faith.

Tags: memories, podcast, oral history interview, dreams, natchitoches parish, campti, clarence

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