A. Artie Belle Miller, " b-e -double l -e."

Q. How old are you? 

A. 91.

Q. When were you born?

A. 1907 -  September 14, 1907.

Q. Were you born in a hospital or in a house?

A. I am sure that I was born in a house, because back then nobody was born in a hospital. Everybody was born in a house; the doctor came to the house.

Q. At what location did you grow up? 

A. Linden, West Virginia

Q. Was that on a farm?

A. uh-huh

Q.  Did you have any pets, dogs or cats?

A. Well, we had dogs and cats. We had one dog and two or three cats. I can't say they was mine, they was all of us.

Q. Since you lived on a farm, did you have any other animals?

A. Yes, I had pigs and cattle.

Q. Who were your parents?

A. James Suttle and Macie Suttle

Q. Did they work, I mean, did they have any jobs?

A. Just on the farm.

Q. How are the prices different from then and now?

A. They was all together different. There wasn't no pay, hardly. Back then you just worked and sold your calves or whatever for almost nothing.

Q. Suckers, I mean, are now a quarter or fifty cents. How much were they then?

A. Oh, I would have to guess at that. Oh, I'd say a penny.

Q. Who were your grandparents?

A. Elic and Lavilda Suttle

Q. Where were you ancestors from?

A. My dad said in the beginning they were from England.

Q.  Do you have any kids or grandkids?

A. I have both. I have two boys. I call them boys, but they are 60 years old or more.

Q. What were their names?

A. Burton Miller and James Miller. He's Mildred.

Q. Do you have any grandkids or great-grandkids?

A. Yeah, I have both.

Q. What were their names?

A. John and David Miller, they were Sandy and Burton's kids. Jim and Marie, Marie's dead, were Mike and Jeff's dad and mother. And my grandchildren are John and David, which are Sandy and Burton's kids. David has a son and he's my great-grandson and his name is Isaac. He's a couple of months old. Mike and Jeff are Jim's children. They are my grandsons. And of course Marie's dead, Jim's wife. Matthew, you know him, he's Mike's son. Tyler and Brittany are John's kids. Brittany's our only girl. Those are my grandkids and great-grandkids.

Q. When you were a kid what did you eat? Were you self-sufficient or did you have to go to the store a lot?

A. Well, we raised most of what we ate. Of course. we bought our flour, sugar, and a few other things. Then we went to Spencer after that and it was 15-16 miles away.

Q. What was your transportation? Did you have a car or a horse and buggy?

A. There wasn't no cars. Then my dad bought a hack. It's a buggy with two seats, and we had horses. I used to go on the hill and get my horse, put the saddle on him, get on him, and I rode to Spencer by myself after I got a horse and that was 15-16 miles away, but there wasn't no cars.

Q. When did you have a car, or when did you get your first car?

A. My dad had a hack and didn't get a car until after I was grown.

Q. On the farm in your house, did you have electricity or running water?

A. We had a pump or a hand pump in the kitchen in the sink. It was a water well and there wasn't any electricity or anything.

Q. When did you get electricity?

A. I don't know. I was pretty well grown, I think.

Q. Were you ever punished? And what did you do to get punished?

A. I forget. My dad turned my across his lap and warmed my hind end with his hand. It made me so mad. I didn't cry but I went through the living room going, "Mmmm." He spanked me on the front porch. He had a notion to do it to me again. That's the only time I remember being spanked, but that was enough.

Q. Did you live during the depression?

A. Yeah, I suppose I did.

Q. Was your family affected by it?

A. I'm sure they were some. We lived on a farm and done the work ourselves. We had horses and quite a bunch of brothers. They plowed, and even I hoed corn. Us girls all hoed corn except one, which stayed in the house and got dinner.

Q. Who were your siblings, I mean brothers and sisters?

A. Who? Do you want me to name them all?  My Dad was James Suttle (Jim) and my mother's name was Macie. My brothers and sisters were: Elic, Bill, Cliney, Ruby, Ann, Vick, Harry, John, Clyde, and Quentin.

Q. Where did you go to school at?

A. Linden, West Virginia.

Q. Was it a one-room school?

A. Yes, one-room school. And we had to walk to school both ways and it was about a half mile. Sometimes when it was snowing, my dad would take us to school in the sled and the horses. That was fun. There wasn't any cars then.

Q. Since you lived during the Depression did World War II or Vietnam affect you any?

A. Yes, my brothers had to go to war. My mother had five stars in the window; one for each son. One of my brothers was wounded and laid on the battlefield. They notified me and my husband so we went over right away to where my Dad and Mother lived to tell them. He got home. He was wounded but he got in pretty good shape.

Q. Who was your husband?

A. Bert Miller.

Q.  Did you have any jobs?

A. Yeah, I worked at the Visco after I was grown and he worked at the Visco, but he didn't like it. He worked on the power plants in Kyger Creek. He worked in Canada in the beginning of his work. He didn't work too long because he was too far from home. He worked in Detroit before we were married and after we were married, I worked at the Visco and I got him on, but he didn't like the Visco. He didn't work very long, but we made out.

Q.  Do you remember anything about the coal mines?

A. No. There wasn't any coal mines around us.

Q. Do you have any other memories or stories that you would like to share?

A. I worked at the Visco.

Q. When did you move to this house?

A. 1949.

Q. When did you start your farm here?

A. Well, we moved to Stewart to the Beebe Farm and we lived there a few years maybe six or eight. We looked at this before we bought that down there because we liked this. It was for sale, but someone had made a down payment from Charleston. It went on and they didn't buy it, but we went on and bought that down below Stewart already. This got for sale again while I had gall stones and was in the hospital, but the man came over and told me it got for sale again while I was in the hospital and I said, "You'd better latch on to it." And he said, "No, I'm going to wait until you come home." And so after I came home, we bought this.

Q. How many acres do you own?

A. Over 500.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

A. I've got two boys and each boy had two sons. No girls. And John got us a girl and a boy. And David has a son. And Matthew -- and that's about it.