Appalachian History

Please welcome guest blogger Kevin Bannister. Kevin was born in Pike County, Kentucky in 1958 and raised in Mingo County, West Virginia till he was 18. These days he runs Liberty Graphix, a graphic design studio in Atlanta. His favorite quote? "I started with nothing and have most of it left."


Granny---that's what we called my great grandmother---and what a wonderful and complex woman she was; so full of life, love, lore, stories and song. For several years in the late 1950's Granny had the honor of participating in the American Folk Song Festival in Ashland, KY hosted by Jean Thomas, the "Traipsin' Woman."

Here's a photo of my Granny (on the far right), with Jean Thomas the "Traipsin' Woman" (rear middle) at the 1959 American Folk Song Festival. Her oldest daughter, my Great Aunt Polly, is slightly behind her on her right. The seated woman is Dora Harmon; her daughter Elizabeth Robinson stands behind her.

Lula Maynard Curry was born October 15, 1890. She had already lived sixty-eight years before I came along. I only knew her for 17 years before she died, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to get to know her. She could be hard at times, as were the times she had lived through. But for a mountain woman of that time and place, she was well educated; she helped start Burch High School in Delbarton, WV, which my father and sisters and I all graduated from years later. And fittingly, all three of her daughters became teachers. She was well traveled too, having gone cross-country to California several times by car and train in the 1930s. Quite the socialite you might say.

One of the songs I remember her singing the most was Barbara Allen, of which there are over 90 versions. But since so many people might be familiar with that song here are the lyrics to The Squire's Daughter (aka The Two Sisters), which may be less well known, and like Barbara Allen, there are probably other versions.

So you think the big city has drama! The poor younger sister in this song was done in by her own kin so she could take her lover. Granny sang this song at the festival, though I'm unsure of the year.

The Squire's Daughter
There was an old squire in a country,
Bowers bend to me,
There was an old squire in a country,
He had daughters, one two and three,
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

There was a young Lord came a-courting there
Bowers bend to me,
There was a young Lord came a-courting there
Courting all the youngest fair,
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

He bought the youngest a beaver's hat
Bowers bend to me,
He bought the youngest a beaver hat
'Course the older she didn't like that.
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

Sister, sister yes walk out,
Bowers bend to me,
Sister, sister yes walk out,
See those ships, sailing about
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

As they walked out, around the bend
Bowers bend to me,
As they walked out, around the bend,
The older shoved the younger in.
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

Sister, sister, lend me a hand
Bowers bend to me,
Sister, sister, lend me a hand,
I'll deed to you my houses and land.
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

I'll neither lend you my hand nor glove,
Bowers bend to me,
I'll neither lend you my hand nor glove,
But I'll take from you your old true-love.
True to my love, my love's been true to me.

****************************************

Mountain people know passion about their loves, lives, land and kin, but I think those old ballads and folk songs were meant as a warning to us younger generations to not stray down the broad path to our own destruction. That's the thing that so many young people don't understand. When you do unto others you are really doing unto yourself, but it may take years to catch up with you. You really do reap what you sow. Ask me how I know!

Well, I hope all of you had a wonderful Granny or Gramps in your life to tell you about the awesome times and the tragic times which they lived through and the wonders their eyes have seen. Wonders like you coming into the world and growing up as they pass on their well earned wisdom to you. You can learn a lot from your elders if you just listen and sing along.


American+Folk+Song+Festival appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountains+history appalachian+music Delbarton+WV Jean+Thomas Lula+Curry

She had hosted Susan Steele Sampson, wife of Kentucky’s governor, the previous year at her first American Folk Song Festival, held at the Traipsin' Woman Cabin. Now, in August 1931, Jean Thomas found herself invited to the Governor's mansion in Frankfort to discuss the creation of an American Folk Song Society and an annual festival open to the public. How did Thomas get to this point, and why did she call herself the “Traipsin’ Woman?”

Photo: Jean Thomas and Susan Steele Sampson at Governor's mansion, Frankfort, Kentucky, August 1931. Thomas presents Mrs. Sampson a copy of her newly published book, “Devil’s Ditties.”

Jean Thomas was born Jeanette Mary Francis de Assisi Aloysius Marcissum Garfield Bell in Ashland, Kentucky in 1881. She earned the nickname "Traipsin' Woman" when, as a teenager in the 1890s, she defied convention to attend business school, learn stenography, and become a court reporter, traveling by jolt wagon to courts in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.

Using money saved from her court reporter wages, Thomas moved to New York, where she attended Hunter College and the Pulitzer School of Journalism. She married accountant Albert Thomas in 1913, a marriage which lasted only one year. She then held a variety of jobs, including work as a script girl for Cecil B. de Mille's The Ten Commandments, as secretary to the owner of the Columbus Senators of the National League and as press agent for Ruby "Texas" Guinan, the notorious entertainer and owner of prohibition-era speakeasies.

In 1926 Jean Thomas met William Day, a blind fiddler from Rowan County. Using the skills she had acquired as press agent and manager, she changed his name to Jilson Settles, secured recording contracts and booked him (as the "Singin Fiddler from Lost Hope Hollow") in theaters. Day eventually played in London's Royal Albert Hall. He was the subject of Thomas' first book, Devil's Ditties (1931). Thomas went on to author another seven books including the semi-autobiographical The Traipsin' Woman (1933), The Singing Fiddler of Lost Hollow (1938), and The Sun Shines Bright (1940).

The first American Folk Song Festival was held in 1932 in Jean Thomas’ home town of Ashland, and featured 18 acts. During the early years of the American Folk Song Festival, Jean Thomas carried a camera wherever she went as she sought out musicians who would perform at the annual event.

At the 8th festival, TIME magazine (June 30, 1938) noted with amusement that the musicians were presenting not only “ballads and hymns that can be traced to Elizabethan England,” but also “ballads from yesterday's newspaper headlines.” One such example, titled “Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Brave Engineer (to the tune of Casey Jones)” [musician not cited in article]:

Now some folks kick, say he didn't cut his pay
Remember, he's not fishing, he's working every day
He gave the Republicans a mighty slam
He didn't take twelve years to start the Coal Creek Dam

He sent word to foreign countries, both near and far
Just what to expect if they started to war
He put the mills to working under the N. R. A.
Which means shorter hours, and much more pay

He's made his stand, and you know he's tried
He's made many friends on the Republican side
He's balanced the budget with revenue
He's brought back whiskey and the three point two

With the exception of the years 1943-1948, the American Folk Song Festival was held annually until failing health forced Thomas to retire in 1972.


Sources: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788725,00.html
http://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/jthom/

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