Interview with Mary Huff Stidham, April 15, 1979

Interview Summary

Mary Stidham was born at Confluence in 1909. Because she was ill a great deal, she did not do the family chores that most children performed. Stidham tells of a local doctor with no formal medical education who cured her of "the fever." Her family had a store and brought in goods from Perry County by wagon and mule team. Stidham left high school to go to work for the FNS at the Bowlingtown [Bullskin Creek] Clinic, where she cooked, cleaned, milked the cow, and fed the horses. Her father, a member of the Confluence Committee, donated the land for the Center and helped to build it. Stidham later worked for another center and for the hospital at Hyden. She talks about community life and "workings" of various kinds. Stidham's family was not particularly affected by the Depression; her father's small pension from the Spanish-American War provided some ready cash, and the farm supplied the rest of their needs.

Interview Keyword

Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965 Confluence Committee Floods--Kentucky Maternal health services. Midwives--Appalachian Region Nurses Traditional medicine

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region--Economic conditions Appalachian Region--Social life and customs Childbirth Country life Depressions--1929--Kentucky Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Medical care--Appalachian Region Midwifery--Appalachian Region Rural churches Rural health services Rural schools--Kentucky

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Interview Usage

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