Q: Your Name?

A: Emmett Rawson

Q: Age?

A: 70 years old

Q: Who were your parents grandparents?

A: Leslie and Kate Rawson and Velmer and Leann Rawson.

Q: Were they from this area?

A: West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia.

Q: What did your parents do for a living?

A: Farmers.

Q: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

A: I had two brothers and four sisters. Two died when they were real young, and then ah, five and we raised five of them.

Q: What was it like growing up in Pomeroy or the farm?

A: I was born and raised in West Virginian and I worked on the farm until I was 24 years old.

Q: Where did you go to school?

A: Mason County school

Q: How big was the school?

A: It was a one room school with all grades one through eight and I didn’t get to go to high school or anything because I was back in the country four miles from the main road and we was just raised up, educated in a little one room school with eight grades in it.

Q: What was it like?

A: Well it was, we had to carry water there was no facilities outside facilities we had to carry water. It was a half mile from school where we had to carry water from, and ah, it was ah everybody got along pretty good. The teacher had her hands full with that many children in one little room and everything so, but it was a lot of fun and everything while we were there.

Q: What do you remember most about those days?

A: Ah, well about everything because everyone was practically in the same standards, there was no one that was really rich no one that really had a whole lot and ah no means of transportation ah much back in them days just a few cars and most people were in the same category coming ups and it was pretty comical everybody coming up because we seemed like all brothers and sisters.

Q: As a child and teenager what did you do for fun?

A: Created our own activities, ah playing games and ridin’ over trees and swinging on grape vines and ah playing ball and one thing and another of this kind just softball most times we used, ah we had to make our own balls because we didn’t have money enough to go out and ah, and buy any so we took and made them out of cigarette strings some of them was wooden where we sawed them out you know widdle them out of wood and so forth we had to create our own activities back in those days.

Q: Did you have chores you had to do?

A: We had to take care of the cattle and horses. We done all of our work by horses, we didn’t have a tractor or anything of this kind. We had to milk by hand, and ah separate the milk or ah and sell the cream. We raised hogs and chickens and stuff of this kind and we all had our own chores to do.

Q: What did you do after school?

A: Oh, there was a bunch of chores that had to be done. Usually most playin' that we done was during the weekend and school breaks because rest of the time we was busy on the farm.

Q: How was life different for you than what it is now?

A: Well there was a lot more to be done than there was ah than there are today because most people works public work and they work eight ours and they think there is a limit on it. On a farm why your work’s hardly ever done you get up early of the morning and you do your chores and then you got hay to put up, you got crops to plant you got a lot of things to do it’s a 24 hour situation and you got to catch a little bit of sleep between times because sometimes you got a sick horse or a sick cow or something or other you got to doctor and take care of. You got a lot of things on a farm you don’t get out here working on public works.

Q: Were peoples’ values different?

A: Ah, Yes to a certain extent. People had a lot of things in mind but they weren’t as forcible then as they are today because people hoped for tomorrow to be a brighter day and today people try to make it happen and sometimes they get impatient and things don’t work out quite the way they think it ought to and this is one of the causes of a lot of our depression I think today and people because they think things don’t work out ah well as they expect them to and they have a forcible way of trying to make it happen and nature has to be allowed to take its course and a lot of situations and so I think if people could learn to take one day at a instead of trying to make tomorrow happen today, why it would be a lot better

Q: What did affects did the depression have on you?

A: It robbed us of a lot of things, such as clothing and ah such as ah having transportation one thing another course there wasn’t any jobs to amount to anything and ah during the depression. We were luckier than a lot of people because we had the farm. We had our own fruit trees, and ah we had an orchard with everything in it and my Grandmother’s, we lived on my Grandmother’s Farm because my Grandfather was sickly when I was young and that’s the reason I spent most of my time on the farm. And ah because he wasn’t able to take care of it neither was my Dad he was also sickly. But ah we took and raised our living raised our own corn and all our own vegetables and ah fruit and everything like that and ah we had an advantage on a lot of other people and I’d also say we gave to a lot of other people that didn’t have and shared with them so that was a joy in giving, because the Bible says its more blessed to give than it is to receive and so we grew up being able to share with others during the depression, and ah so we today know how to cope with life yet because we went through the hard times of the situation.

Q: What do you think was the worst part of the depression?

A: The worst part of it was it lasted much longer and a lot of people got depressed and because they didn’t have it was a terrible situation. It’s hard to recollect of the very hardest because I mean it was hard all the way through. For older people it was really harder for them than it was for me because I was really only a child when the depression was at its peek. But I still recollect what my father and mother told me of the hard times. And ah I might also say that when people was sick they didn’t have no doctor because they didn’t have no money to get a doctor so they made their own remedies for colds and ah different things you know. It’s like when people had measles they had home made remedies that they gave them that work better than some of the doctors remedies do today and of course they don’t want none of them used cause the doctors you know want that all outlawed cause they say that’s not safe. People live today and die and they lived then and died so you know whether it was right or wrong it was a thing I lived through so I thank the Lord I survived this long, so it must have worked for me.

Q: What was the best part for you personally?

A: Well, when it was all over with and jobs began to come back, you know, I think the best news that anyone had I talked to some of the older people today is when Roosevelt, and President Roosevelt was elected when he said all the banks are going to close until they can afford to open and operate properly, and because they was a bunch of thieves in the country that had, ah this is why the depression was to start with. There was only a few men in the United States that had the money and had it all tied up and when president Roosevelt got in there and was elected he said we’re going to close the banks because many people had money in banks was robbed and had nothing left when it was all over and when he closed the banks down and we’re not going to open them back until we have money enough and sufficient enough to open properly and ah I think that was the most happiest time for the majority of people when these things come to a halt and they began to open up and they got the justice part of the situation regulated to the point they could do it honestly and not in a crooked and not a robbery stage of life and so I think this was more joy for people when that was done more than anything else when that thing come to a close and people had a hope tomorrow was going to be a brighter day, because the President said we’re going to open these things up with sufficient to operate and so there was a lot of people that was blessed during that time you know that they wouldn’t be robbed of everything, and so I can remember those days pretty good when that happened.

Q: Were you a soldier in World War Two?

A: No, I didn’t get to go to the service. I ah was turned down I was in an accident, I didn’t pass the physical when they ah I went for examination but I didn’t pass it, ah but a lot of my buddies had to go.

Q: What was school like during World War II?

A: Well there was more girls in school than there was boys because a lot of the boys had to go the service and everything but after awhile there was a lot of kids that came out of school with good grades. In fact it seems to me like, ah, they ah made better grades just going through high school than they do going through college now. They got a degree, they got a piece of paper but ah I mean that doesn’t make them any smarter really because they hold that piece of paper, because if they’ve got different functions they go through today, but you ah people was more concerned, ah, but you didn’t have the activities that was going around, you didn’t have the dope the alcohol you didn’t have the things that cause young people to go astray and ah go into different things than what they do today and the children when they went they took more interest and they came out with ah, well I’d say a better person really because, especially health wise cause they didn’t have the desire you know that thing where it wasn’t available because it wasn’t available, because there is to many things today that distracts their attention from learning.

Q: What affects did the flood of 37 have on you?

A: I was ten years old when the, ah , 37 flood was. I was born in the nineteen and twenty-seven, and ah, the flood was in 1937 the flood was something that had the whole country, in this part of the country paralyzed. Because there was no flood walls at that time and it had all the towns and ah people had to flee and go the hillsides and one place or another. And I ah lived back in the country on top of a hill, I was 4 miles back away from the river where I was raised up. And we took and went over, walked over on top of a ridge and looked at the water and we was right across the river on top of a hill from Leon West Virginia, about twelve miles above Point Pleasant on Kanawha River. And the water was from hill to hill, all the hollers and stuff you couldn’t go no place all other than to just walk around on the hills cause all the hollers was backed up with water from the river. And ah so after the 37 flood they started to put flood walls in Huntington, Charleston, Point Pleasant, and a lot of the places so today why whenever the floods come up they shut the flood wall gates and they’re protected you know from the flood, ah, the situation has come long ways and, ah, since the 37 flood because a lot of people are still flooded but a lot of the towns are protected from the flood walls so I mean we’ve come a long way in the economy situation since that time.

Q: What event has had the biggest impact on your life?

A: Pardon.

Q: What impact has had the biggest impact on your life?

A: The biggest impact on my life was, ah, when I gave my heart to the Lord, I became a Christian in 1961, July, And ah, the next was when I was able to get myself a good job and get married and raise myself a family and provide for them. But the biggest thing in my life was when I became a Christian when I gave my heart to the Lord and things has been greatly different since then so I just give all, whatever success I have that I’ve had I give all of the credit to the Lord.

Q: What kind of things have changed since you’ve become a Christian?

A: I was a drunkard. I quit drinking. I was bad in using foul language. I quit using that. My whole life has completely changed and turned around since I’ve become a Christian. I’ve been a minister, and ah, for ah, about, been a Christian for 37 years, and been a minister and preaching for 35 years. I been pastoring for 28 years in the same Church. This is the joy of my life this is my life. I recommend it highly to everyone, especially to our young people today because young people is looking for attention because there is nothing that can satisfy as being a Christian and I recommend that this would be popular for all people especially for young people today because there is so much out there that needs to be corrected and that has to be better instead of worse and it’s about as bad today as it can get. So we need people to give there hearts to God to witness that there is a better way than spending your life on dope or abusing your life some way. I think a lot of the dope, alcohol and cigarettes that people are doing on they are some of the things that are causing a lot of peoples’ health. So I would recommend very highly that people would consider getting back into to church, giving their hearts to God and serving the Lord. And this would be one my happiest days of my life to see this world begin to change and turn back to a Christian atmosphere in this world today.

Q: Are there any stories you want to tell.

A: Well, there’s a lot of stories I could tell. I’m glad today that all my family are Christians and ah belong to God, all my children and grandchildren gave their hearts to God when they were young I can say today that ah we’ve all made mistakes down over our life time we’ve been pretty close family down through the years and it’s not all been on top of the mountain, because there’s been few valleys, but God’s been with us in the valley and on the mountain. It’s been a joy to me to see my children grow up and see my grandchildren grow up and now I’ve got a great grand daughter that I’m seeing grow up. She’s the joy of our life. WE just appreciate God giving us a long life and the health that he has given us, so I just appreciate life today as it really is. And ah, but not trying to make something out of it that isn’t. I’m just talking natural everyday life and I appreciate what the Lord and my family means to me. I live for the Lord and for my family because they come second God comes first in my life and my family comes next. And so we recommend to everyone that they would give their life to God and make the best of life instead of taking chances in life, because the Lord said I go away to prepare a place for you and ah, that his children, he’s coming back after them one of these days and we’re looking forward to that time when we can be changed and go to be where the Lord is.