RALPH CALLOWAY AND SARAH ANN HOLBROOK
138
The following is an interview with my mother. Beulah Holbrook Castevens, who was raised by
 her grandparents, Ralph Calloway and Sarah Ann Holbrook. From age one until eleven. 
The interview is of her memories of living on the farm for ten years, 1905 to 1915, with 
Ralph and Sarah. She is now age 86 (1990).
"My mother (Frances Louise Johnson Holbrook) died May 16, 1905, when I was one year old,
 Papa (Joseph Preston Holbrook) was left with five young children: Coy age 10, Ralph age
 8, Ila 6, Nora 4 and me age 13 months. It was decided by Papa to send us to Grandpa's and
 Grandmas until some arrangement could be made for our raising, Shortly after we went to
 Grandpa's, Papa and Uncle Billy (William Ralph Holbrook) went to Idaho and did carpentry
 work until Papa returned in 1907. On July 12, 1907, he married Dee (Dee Etta Bauguess) 
and Coy, Ralph, Ila and Nora went to live with them in the house that he built after marrying
 Mama. Being only three years old and not wanting to leave the only parents I knew. Grandpa
 and Grandma. I wanted to stay with them if Papa would let me. Which he did. Papa and Dee 
lived about a quarter of a mile away near Grandpa's so I could see them almost everyday.
 Now I had two homes but was more satisfied living with Grandpa. Also living with Grandpa
 were Aunt Dosia and Aunt Sallie. (Theodosia Lou and Sallie Belle Holbrook, daughters of 
Ralph Calloway and Sarah Ann). Aunt Dosia was Grandpas oldest daughter and was age 30 when 
I came to live there. She never married. Aunt Sallie was 25 and not married at that time.
 As you can see I had four mothers during this time, three at Grandpas and one at Papa's.
        Grandpa was very industrious and we did not lack for anything. He was a farmer and
 in those days a farm produced almost everything needed for the family except for a few
 items: salt, sugar, coffee, tea and kerosene oil for the lamps. Grandma canned, pickled
 and dried fruit and vegetables in the summer to see us through the winter months. Cattle
 and sheep were raised for food, wool, and milk and also for sale. A homemade split rail 
fence around the pasture was used to keep in the horses, mules, cattle and sheep. Our meals
 consisted of fresh beef, dried beef, salt brine beef and pork, country ham, fresh corn,
 beans, peas, tomatoes and cabbage in season, pickled beans, pickled corn, smoked and dried
 apples, dried pumpkin, dried beans (leather britches), and dried peppers. Our bread was 
made from corn grown on the farm and made into corn meal at the Traphill mill, owned by 
Chy Pruitt. Jim Patterson was miller. (Chy Pruitt's mother was a sister of Ralph Carlo-way).
 Later this mill was owned by Lloyd Holbrook. (Lloyd's father was a brother of Ralph Calloway).
Grandpa raised wheat, rye, and sugar cane and always had a large garden. He grew pumpkins for
 sate and every year planted about two acres of sweet potatoes for home use and also for sale.
 They were plowed out in the fall with a single mule and stored in the potato house in the
 winter. Canning was done by buying metal cans and lids from Jim Kilby's store.
 (Jim Kilby's wife. Luta Elizabeth Holbrook Kilby, was a niece of Ralph Calloway). 
After the product to be canned was put into the can, the lid was soldered to the can by 
high heat using a soldering iron. Grandpa had a large fruit orchard of apples, peaches,
cherries and pears. There were several walnut trees and each year several bushels were stored
 for use in the winter for eating and baking.
  I still can remember the different kinds of apples; Grimes Golden, June, White Sweeting. 
Queen and Johnson. Grandpa was good at grafting and had many trees in the orchard that had 
several different varieties growing on the same tree at the same time. In the summer there 
would be many trays of sliced apples drying in the sun or on shelves in the apple house.
 Dried apples were eaten in the winter and sold at Jim Kilby's store. Apples were also used
 to make vinegar. They were ground into small pieces and put into hogsheads (barrels) to 
ferment. Later the vinegar was put into small barrels for storage. The early stage of vinegar
 is hard cider, which is high in alcohol content. A hollow reed was always close by the 
hogsheads in case a person wanted to sample the cider. There would be several hogsheads 
of apples fermenting at one time.
Sugar cane was grown to make molasses to be used as sugar and to be eaten as a dessert. 
In the fall the cane was cut and ground into a pulp juice in a cane mill pulled by a horse 
or mule. The juice was placed in a large vat (a flat-boiler) and boiled into thick molasses
 syrup which was put into containers and stored. Some was sold or swapped for other items
 that could be used on the farm. Molasses making time was looked forward to by all. Most of 
the time the making would be at night and neighbors would gather for the event. Grandpa was
 well educated for those times. He taught school off and on for several years and could read
 and write Latin. Grandma could read and write which was more than most women could do in
 those days. I can remember the big spinning wheel used to spin cotton and sheep wool into 
thread to make knit stockings, sweaters, wool material for men's suits and overcoats. There 
was a small flax wheel to spin flax to make linens, sheets, shirts, bedticks. Grandpa grew
 his own flax. A foot turned the wheel pedal and sometimes Grandma would let me pedal them
 which was a great thrill to me. The stockings for the women and socks for the men were
 knitted by her and Aunt Sallie. The bed ticks (mattresses) on all our beds were filled with
 wheat straw. The pillows were filled with feathers. For money to buy the few things we 
needed from the local stores, Grandpa sold dried apples, sweet potatoes, chickens, eggs,
 butter, herbs, and roots at Jim Kilby's store. Some of the roots, bark and herbs found on
 or around the farm and especially on the side of the mountain were Balm of Gileadbuds, 
ginseng, bleedwood leaves, blackberry roots, catnip leaves, hydrangea roots, lady slipper 
roots, mandrake or may apple roots, passion (may pop) herbs, peppermint leaves, poke roots, 
sassafras roots, wild cherry bark, yellow roots, and burdock (dock) roots.
Grandpa was a good shoe and boot maker and made shoes and boots for all of us from leather 
that he had tanned from the hides of cattle. Occasionally when a horse died in the community. 
He and the neighbor men would skin it for the hide. Horsehide is thinner than cowhide and is
 better to work with. Grandpa also made custom shoes and boots for anyone in the community
 that placed an order. Shoe and boot strings were made by cutting narrow strips from tanned 
horse or cow hides.
We did not have electricity but did have a telephone. Sherman Bryan of Traphill owned the
 Phone Company and almost every house in Traphill had one. Aunt Betty Pruitt (Elizabeth 
Jemima Holbrook Pruitt, sister of Ralph Calloway, married to Jacob Madison Pruitt) was the 
operator or central as she was called in those days. Her number was four longs made by turning 
a crank on the side of the large wood phone box on the living room wall four long times. 
Grandpa's number was one short and two longs. Papa was two shorts and one long, Uncle Gaither
 (Hardin Gaither Pruitt, married to Lenora Leota Holbrook, daughter of Ralph Calloway) was
 three shorts and Uncle John (John Claude Brinegar, married to Sallie Belle Holbrook, daughter
 of Ralph Callo-way) was four shorts. The phone bill was 50 cents a month and each party had
 to buy their batteries to power the telephone.
No road in Traphill was paved or graveled with rock and was almost unusable in wet weather 
especially in the wintertime. There were no cars or trucks; transportation was by horse or
mule pulling a buggy or wagon. Wagons were used for hauling. Grandpa used a buggy to go to 
church. Visit or go to Wilkesbom The buggy required one mule. A team of mules was required
 for plowing or if the wagon was taken to Wilkesboro, which was about once a year.
Grandpa was a religious man and a faithful Church-goer. He was a good singer and was a choir
 leader. There was preaching about every Saturday and Sunday at one of the three Baptist
 churches: Traphill Baptist, Old Roaring River Baptist or Round Hill Baptist. There was no
 Sunday Schools in those days, preaching was held on most Saturdays. Grandpa would hitch a 
mule to the buggy and go to one of the three churches almost every weekend if he was not 
sick or weather permitted it. He was a lay preacher and would fill in if a preacher were needed. He was a deacon for several years at Old Roaring River and later at Traphill when it was constituted. I can remember him telling me about the early years of the Old Roaring River Church. The church had two doors, one on each side. The women used one door and sat on one side of the church; the men used the other door and sat on the other side. Grandpa being a deacon and lay preacher would sit in "Amen Corner," the first bench in front of the choir on the right and in front of the pulpit. Grandma would sit with the ladies on the ladies side of the church. Even though I was a real young girl when I went to the church with them I can well remember the inscription on the wall above the pulpit. "If you spit on the floor at home, spit on the floor here. We want you to feel perfectly at home." Grandpa and Grandma were members of Old Roaring River Church until Traphill Baptist was constituted in 1887, where they moved their membership.
Grandpa was not a well man, his health was not good most of his life. Which caused him not 
to be able to do heavy or strenuous labor. He had to be very careful not to get too hot due
 to heat stroke he suffered as a young man and could not work in the hot sun or high 
temperatures in the summer. His health was not good almost all his life even though he
lived to age 92. I can remember very well in the summer of about 1912, when he had 
appendicitis and his appendix burst. Doctor Higgins of Traphill and Doctor Gambill of
 Doughton were called but before they could get to our house. His appendix burst and he 
developed peritonitis. Doctor Higgins and Doctor Gainbill called Doctor Ring and Doctor Reece 
in Elkin and they came by automobile, which was the first one that I had ever seen. It was 
parked in the pasture about one hundred yards from the house which was as close as they
 could get it. It caused quite a bit of excitement for all including the adults but especially 
among us children. Grandpa was in such bad shape they immediately operated using the dining
 room table as an operating table. He was given such a little chance of living that Papa
sent to Wilkesboro the next day for coffin handles and hinges. Papa being a carpenter made
 coffins as needed in the community and usually kept handles, hinges and walnut boards for
 this purpose. If Grandpa had died he was ready to make his coffin. Papa also kept linen,
 silk and cotton for padding for lining coffins and he and Dee would have lined Grandpa's
 coffin. The lining materials were bought at Jim Kilby's store.
While Grandpa was recovering he was on an iron bed in the front room. One Sunday afternoon 
during a thunderstorm, lightning hit the house and he received a jolt that almost knocked
 him out of the bed. Aunt Docia in the back bedroom received burns. Several chickens were 
killed in the yard. Grandpa had to stay in bed so long recovering from the operation and 
lightning jolt that he developed phlebitis in one leg that caused him not to be able to
 walk or stand for any length of time for the rest of his life. I think it was remarkable 
that he lived to 92 with all the health problems that he had. He also knew a little bit 
about medical doctoring and took good care of himself and family in sickness. I can remember
 the time when Aunt Maggie (Margaret Mae Lyon, wife of William Ralph "Billy" Holbrook, son 
of Ralph Calloway) was bitten by a copperhead snake while picking up cherries from the ground 
in an orchard at her father's, Dick Lyon. I believe the doctoring she received was lancing 
the bite and putting a large chew of tobacco on it. I believe Grandpa did the doctoring.
 In any case, she lived.
        During the Civil War Grandpa was a member of the Home Guard and received a government
 pension starting in the 1930s after Congress passed a bill for the Civil War veterans. 
I believe it was eight dollars a month at the beginning reaching 30 dollars with the raises
 over the years. He drew the pension until his death in 1938.
I lived with Grandpa and Grandma until Uncle Billy returned from Idaho and married Aunt
Maggie in 1915. When I was eleven years old. They moved in with us at Grandpa's. Shortly
 after that, they thought it would be better for me to go live with Aunt Lenora or Aunt 
Sallie, which I did. I was living at Aunt Sallie's when I went to Winston-Salem in March
 of 1920. At age 15. I was sixteen in April. My first job was at a Woolworth Five and Dime
 Store. Later I got a job at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and worked there until I was
 married in December 1921.
I have fond memories of Grandpa and Grandma. They were my parents raising me from age one 
to age eleven. Both were very good to me, not letting me go without food, clothing, love 
and the other things I needed in my early years. I can still remember my first doll, a
 homemade one, and a rag doll that Grandma made using cotton and straw for stuffing. 
The hair on its head was from a piece of tanned sheepskin. It was the only doll l ever
 had as a young girl. I kept it until I left for Winston-Salem in 1920. I am still very
 thankful that l had such a good place to go at the death of my mother. I will never forget
them and what they did for me.
Sarah Ann Holbrook died October t5.1921, and is buried at the Traphill Baptist Church, 
Traphill. Wilkes County, North Carolina. Ralph Colloway Holbrook lived fourteen years 
after her death and died November 19, 1938. He is buried beside her at the Traphill Baptist
 Church. They left 148 descendants as of January 1,1990, most living in or around Wilkes County.
Sources: Personal knowledge interview, William Clinton Castevens
The Heritage of Wilkes Co., North Carolina, Greensboro Public Library, 
Greensboro, North Carolina.  NC 975.682, H54.