Interview with Roe Davidson, July 20, 1978

Project: Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project

Interview Summary

Roe Davidson, a farmer and coal miner, recalls Hyden before the first car came to the area. He indicates that before the FNS arrived he was treated by an herb doctor. Besides recounting tales and riddles told to him by his parents, Davidson tells about making molasses from sugar cane, parching corn, making moonshine, sulfuring apples, smoking meat, making soap, and doing laundry by hand. Davidson asserts that crops grew better when he was young, not being troubled by modern-day pests, and that the only fertilizer used was natural fertilizer from the farm. He also comments upon local churches and discusses snake handling.

Interview Accession

1979oh016_fns017

Interviewee Name

Roe Davidson

Interviewer Name

Dale Deaton

Interview Date

1978-07-20

Interview Keyword

Coal miners Coal miners--Kentucky--Leslie County Education--Kentucky Farmers Folklore. Hyden (Ky.) Logging--Kentucky Midwives--Appalachian Region Molasses Moonshine Snake handling Storytelling. Sugar cane

Interview LC Subject

Country life Distillation Distilling, illicit Farm life--Appalachian Region Food habits Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Leslie County (Ky.) Rural churches Rural conditions Rural health services Traditional farming--Kentucky Traditional medicine

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

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MLA: APA: Chicago:

Davidson, Roe Interview by Dale Deaton. 20 Jul. 1978. Lexington, KY: Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Davidson, R. (1978, July 20). Interview by D. Deaton. Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project. Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington.

Davidson, Roe, interview by Dale Deaton. July 20, 1978, Frontier Nursing Service Oral History Project, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries.

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Persistent Link for this Record: https://kentuckyoralhistory.org/ark:/16417/xt715d8ng090