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Transcript on deposit at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Library
Citation of this interview should be as follows:
“Interview H-0110, in
the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007,
Southern Historical
Collection, The Wilson Library,
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill”
Oscar Dearmont Baker grew up in Conover, North Carolina. He left home at the age of eighteen and spent several years traveling as a railroad worker and as a groom on the horseshow circuit. By the mid-1930s, Baker returned to Conover, where he followed the family tradition of working in the furniture industry. From the mid-1930s into the 1940s, Baker worked for Conover Furniture. He describes how that company changed when ownership transferred from Walter Baker to Jim Broyhill. According to Baker, the change in ownership was largely beneficial for the workers, as evidenced by higher wages and better benefits. During those years, Baker also worked briefly for several hosiery mills. In the 1940s, Baker left factory work for a time to run a café with his wife. When her health declined, however, they sold their café, and Baker returned to work in the furniture industry, this time as a worker at the Trendline factory. Baker witnessed several failed efforts to unionize workers during his tenure there. He explains that he voted against unionization because he believed that Trendline had sufficient wages and substantial benefits, such as the pension system introduced during the early 1960s. Baker also offers his assessment on community changes in Conover. He argues that the community has undergone much growth and has seen conditions improve for African Americans.
Oscar Dearmont Baker spent his childhood and most of his adult life in Conover, North Carolina. In this interview, he describes his experiences working in the furniture and hosiery industries, paying particular attention to his time spent at Conover Furniture. He also describes broader changes within the city of Conover.
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
I really had a good visit with your brother.
Oh, boy. As old as he is, he can really tell you, remember a lot.
He was pretty good.
Oh, yes.
So you didn't know your grandparents.
No.
Did you know what they did or anything about them?
No, I don't know that.
So you all first lived here in Conover.
That's right.
And that's where you were born.
And my people lived here their whole entire life.
What was the first house you lived in?
Right across the railroad right over here. And then we lived up there… You know where this first bridge is, at Interstate 40? Well, we lived right there in that vale of it, in that field there, tore that house down.
And so your parents were from here.
Yes.
When you were a child, did you just have your brothers and sisters living with you in the house, or did you have other people?
No.
No cousins or aunts or anything?
No.
Did a lot of your relatives live nearby?
Oh, yes. They all lived right in this area. I did have an aunt live in Knoxville.
But most of the other ones lived right around here?
All of the brothers and everything lived… Had five brothers, and they all lived in this area.
These are your parents' brothers, or your brothers?
My brothers. And then my mother had one brother lived here.
Do you see your relatives a lot? Do you all have anything like family reunions?
Oh, yes. I have them here in the yard.
What-all kinds of things do you all do?
Everybody brings a basket, and we have dinner. And our minister and his wife, they come, too. We have one about every year.
That's neat. We have one of those, too.
And my brother's kids from Washington, they come.
This is Hill's children?
That's right.
He has quite a few up there.
Mmmm-hm!
Did any of your children ever move up there with them? Or you didn't have children.
No.
You never left the county or anything to work before.
Yes.
Where did you leave?
I was in Kentucky, and I was in Georgia, and I was in South Carolina.
You moved around quite a bit. When did you leave home to go to these places? Do you remember how old you were?
The first time, when I went to Asheville, I was around eighteen.
And so you left from Asheville to go to the other places?
No, I was on the railroad then. And then I got on the horseshow circuit. I was on the horseshow circuit for about ten or eleven years. Now that's when I went in Kentucky, Tennessee, and around.
What kind of work did you do with the horseshows?
Groom.
Groomed horses?
Yes.
So you first left home to work on the railroad.
Yes.
And what kind of job did you do on the railroad?
Repaired the bridges, trestles and things on railroads.
You're the youngest in the family. Was your brother Hill working on the railroads at the same time?
No. He used to work on the railroad. That was before I did. He used to be a fireman on the railroad.
Yes, that's what he had said. How did you get your job working at the railroad? Did you know somebody there?
Yes.
Who did you know there?
That recommended me? Arthur Lawrence and Fred Small and Mac Sigmon.
So they were friends of yours?
Oh, yes.
When you started working for the horseshows, how did you get that job?
Through Mr. Schultz, W. [
Was he a friend also?
Yes. He's dead now, but his wife still is a friend. I'm supposed to go up to her home in Blowing Rock now most any weekend.
So she lives in Blowing Rock.
In the summertime.
You went to school here?
Yes.
How far did you finish?
I finished school here, but I didn't go to college.
Where was the school here? Was it a black school?
There was one right there.1 Then there was one right over there where the playground is on the other street going down that way.
And they burned down?
They tore this one down. That one over there burned down now, up over on the other side.
Why did they tear this one down? Did everybody start going to the big school?
Now wait. They didn't tear it down. This church that bought it tore it down and built that church over there. They bought that old school and that church, and then when they built that church over there they tore this one down.
Is this the church you go to, across the street?
No, I go to that one down there, the first one.
Is that AME Zion?
Yes. This is the Holiness Church here.
Do you still go to this church Sunday?
Oh, yes. I'm the preacher's steward down there.
Oh, are you? I know the organist that used to play there sometimes, Moses Singleton?
Yes.
He plays at our church a lot.
Yes, I know him well. I see him every summer.
Your family, when you all were growing up, you all all went to that church?
Yes.
And was your wife from the same church?
Yes, she went over there, too.
How did you meet her?
I met her at the… I first saw her at the camp meeting down at Sherrills [Ford], Terrell. Then they moved here. And she used to work for the Barkers. Miss Lula Brady [she] was first, and then she married this Barker.
Did she do housework?
Yes.
When you were a child and you all were growing up, did you have any particular responsibilities around the house?
Not much, only to get the wood in and stuff like that.
Who was the first one in your family to leave home, to move out of the house when you were growing up?
That I can remember of, you mean?
Yes.
I would have to say Hill, I guess, and then Bax, and then Frank.
How many brothers did you have?
Four.
And did you have any sisters?
No.
They're all dead now?
Yes.
And you and Hill are the only ones left.
Yes. And they all were settled right through here.
So you left home when you were eighteen.
Yes.
And your first job was at the railroad.
Yes.
How long did you work there at the railroad?
About a year and a half.
And then you started working for the horse circuit?
Yes. And then in the furniture business.
How long did you work in the horse circuit?
Nine years.
What was the first furniture plant you worked at?
The first one I give you, down there where Broyhill has now.
Conover Furniture.
Yes.
So you knew quite a few people that worked there?
Oh, yes.
Your brother worked there, I guess.
About all my brothers have worked there.
What kind of job did you do there?
I run a… You use them in a cotton mill; they call it a… I believe they called it a spool driver. It was about that long and had a little round head on the top, but they used them for mills, to put the thread on.
So you made those?
Yes. You make that, and then you make the head on another machine, and then you take that and glue that head on there. Some of them would be that long, some that long.
I'll probably talk to you more about that. Right now I'm just going to go over and do some real general stuff. How long did you work at Conover Furniture?
Off and on, I imagine eight or ten years. Ten years, I know of.
Did you go to other jobs and then come back?
I did one time. But the last time it was changed hands. Mr. Brady used to own it the first time. And then he sold it out, and then that's why, when I come back. At that time, that was just about the only place to work.
Yes. Early on. So you left Conover Furniture and came back when it was Broyhill.
Yes.
Did Mr. Brady lay off a lot of people when he started getting in financial trouble? Why did you leave?
You could make just a little more money than you could other places. Now they paid, but it wasn't as much as you could make somewhere else.
Where did you go?
I'm not sure about that, but I believe I went in the hosiery mill business at that time. I was a shipping clerk in the hosiery mill.
Which hosiery mill was it?
Down at Newton Knitting Mill, down there by Hickory, both of which… Fairview and Whisnant Hosiery.
So you did the same thing, shipping clerk?
Yes, same thing. I did the same thing at all the mills.
So you came back to Broyhill. How long did you work for Broyhill there?
The last time? Not too long. A year or maybe two years.
You left to go somewhere else?
Yes.
Where did you go to?
At that time we run that cafe out here on the corner. And that's where I was the last time.
One of your brothers?
No, just my wife and myself.
So you left Broyhill because you could make more money up here at the cafe.
Right.
Why did you stop working there, running the cafe?
My wife got sick, and I just couldn't handle it by myself. And it wasn't enough work there through the day for me to stop working and try to pay for it, and so I worked and tried to make the monthly payments on it. And she got to the place where she just couldn't handle it, and I just had to do something about it, either close it up or sell it. So I wound up selling it.
And where were you working when you were trying to …
I was in the horse business.
What did you do?
Grooming.
I'm trying to get all the different things you did. What did you do after you finished doing the horses?
I come back down here to a hosiery mill there where Horace Isenhour used to run, right this side of Ridgeview, right there at the ice plant. I was a shipping clerk.
And what after that?
It seemed like he went under there. And we moved down here to Mr. Yount's mill. No, we worked there under receivership for a while, down at Newton Knitting Mill, until they finally sold it. And that's when we went down to Smith's Finishing Hosiery Mill, down there on the Startown Road. And we did finishing work there for him out of the mill at Hickory, and that's when I went back to Hickory to that mill then. After he built more over there, I went back to Hickory.
When did you start working for Trendline Furniture?
Right after that. It wasn't too long.
And what kind of things did you do for Trendline?
I run a shaper.
What's a shaper?
That's where you make round like this.2 Shape things, you know, to make it fancy.
Where is Trendline?
Right down over there.3
That's real close. You could about walk from around here.
I did sometimes. You could go right around this road before they put a fence around it, and you'd come right into the plant. But now it's a little complicated, since they put that fence up. You have to come around the road anyway.
Hard to climb up on.
Somebody put a ladder out there, and they took that ladder away.
They thought they were going to get it a little easier. How long did you work there at Trendline?
Twelve years.
Where did you go after that?
After Trendline I didn't especially go anywhere much, only just I stayed here with my wife when she was sick.
So you were kind of semi-retired then?
Yes. They fixed it so I could wait on her. That's about the leading place that I worked, really.
You work up at the Sheraton now. When did you start that job?
A year ago at April.
What do you do up there?
Bellhop.
So in between working at Trendline and taking care of your wife and then going to the Sheraton, did you do any other kind of jobs?
No.
I think that pretty well covers all that.
Did Trendline give you some kind of a pension?
Yes, I draw it; I do now.
You draw the pension.
You get a monthly check, but that comes from… They had insurance with Meade Corporation in Chicago, and mine was paid up, so they don't pay that. They had already had that paid up. So I get that from Meade's out at Chicago. In other words, it don't come through Trendline, because it's already in there.
Do you ever remember, in all the different places you worked (but I guess
particularly the furniture industry), any union people coming in or
Oh, yes, they tried about every year. But they'd get defeated.
What period was this in?
They tried it at Trendline, but they got defeated.
Every time they tried?
Every time they would try it, yes.
What did the people at the plant think about unions?
It would be more against it than there were for it, much more.
So did they have people that came in from the outside?
Oh, yes. Them's the ones that would do it.
The union organizers.
Yes, right.
Were they from up North, or were they from the South?
I imagine they were.
Was there any violence over there?
No. It just went over smoothly. If you didn't know it was going on, you
wouldn't even know it. You see, they had boxes up, and it had just a
little hole in there, and you could mark your ballot and put it in that
box. And it had a lock on it. And then that evening, they'd come down
from the office and open it and take them up there and count them. So
you didn't know how I voted, and I didn't know how you voted, unless
you'd tell.
Did you vote for the union?
No, I didn't.
Why did the people in the unions want to move the union in?
They just try to fight you, but the trend over there was, they have just about as good a benefits as you would have got out of the union anyway. And so there wasn't no need to fool with it.
Do you think Trendline was better in benefits than some of the other furniture plants around, or were they about the same?
Some of them other plants didn't have all that like you've got it now. It's more modern now. And I would say they was the best one, yes. All these later years, why, the later it's got, the better these benefits are now. Now most of them has it now.
But Trendline was one of the first ones.
Oh, yes.
Did Conover Furniture? The Broyhill plant didn't have any?
They didn't have it then, no. Not then.
I was wondering, because your brother said he didn't get any kind of a pension or anything from the company.
No, they didn't have it then.
But probably by then they had it at Trendline.
That came in under President Kennedy's administration, I think. That's when it got a little stronger. But they were well equipped over here, as far as that benefits go.
Why do you think your brother kept working? He worked so long for Conover Furniture. Why do you think he kept working that long when he might have been able to make more other places?
He had a big family, and he was at home, the only thing I can figure it out. And he just didn't want to venture out anymore.
I guess so. It was a security job.
And he was good on it. He could go in there and fire that boiler, and it wouldn't half be as hard as… But you go in there, it would just work the stew out of you. But he just knew what to do. And I know he was underpaid. In a job like that now, why, he'd double the price that he was getting then.
You were in a much better position to shop around for a job than he was.
Oh, yes, I wasn't tied up like he was. He had a big family. He had to work somewhere.
It's hard for me, because I'm a young person today. And young people are getting a job and quitting in the next month, and it's hard to imagine people working that long.
Yes. And as of now, young people go to a place now, and if it's…We witnessed that over here. Say we'd hire you. Some of them… And have a break at nine o'clock. Nine and two, you'd have a ten-minute break. And I've noticed a lot of times a lot of them wouldn't even come back. Just keep going. That happens now. That happens every day.
When did that first start happening, that there was a big turnover?
When this fast pace got in here. And then they got this welfare business,
drawing and all that stuff. And some of them, they just never did. They
just wouldn't work if it wasn't something that
I was wondering if that's why that happened, if there were just a lot of different opportunities to make money and different ways to make money, and people weren't sticking to jobs.
Some of them are just a little harder than others. And then this giveaway thing started in. It just ruined people. They didn't have to work.
Where were you working when the big Depression came, back in the late twenties and the early thirties?
Down here at the Bradys'.
What happened to the plant during the Depression? Did the people keep working there?
Some, yes. And some would maneuver around this place trying to find something else.
So the plant wasn't in full production during that time.
It was running.
Did the wages go down any?
They never was up.
Were you working there at the plant?
Yes.
Some off and on.
Yes.
Do you remember any time when the plant there ever closed down?
Just altogether?
Yes.
No, it would run, but what they did, they wouldn't work on Saturdays a lot of times. A lot of times you had to work on Saturdays. In other words, they tried to fix it so they could lap it out so that they could work a week. But they cut out the Saturday work and all that.
So there was always some kind of work during the Depression that you all …
Yes.
You all never had to go on any kind of relief or anything.
No.
Did a lot of people around here have to?
Yes, there was.
During the Depression, what kind of places were the ones that went out of business?
I just can't remember the places, but there was a lot of it wasn't working. And in that ration business you couldn't get but just so much stuff out of the store at a time.
Were there a lot of the cotton mills closed down?
I don't recall whether they all closed down, but I think they cut down on their hours and tried to spread it out.
So people weren't able to work as much.
Yes.
Were you working at Conover Furniture when the Broyhills took over?
Yes.
So the plant kept on in production the whole time.
Broyhill is the one that's bought it out. In other words, to where I'd say it was safe. It's grown.
It sure is growing now, too. They're adding a big section to the place.
Yes, and you should go up to Lenoir and see them.
I have. I've driven by that.
Have you been by the Furniture Mart showroom?
Not in Lenoir.
Is that on the road going to Blowing Rock?
Oh, that big huge building? Yes.
Yes. Have you been in it?
I haven't been in it.
Well, you should go in it.
Have you been in it?
Yes. Oh.
I bet it's something.
Oh, yes. With this, they'd let you go through there. You'd enjoy that.
This is the first time I had done it. I drove by the plants, and you couldn't take it all in one look. You'd go like that.
Ohhhh, yes!
It was just huge.
The next time you go in here, you go in. It's open around the clock, the
Furniture Mart. You'd really enjoy that.
When Broyhill took over, did they bring in higher wages?
It gradually got …
It gradually got higher.
Yes. And they brought in new styles and new furniture. Started making different stuff than what it was making. That was a kind of a cheap line that they run, and they stepped it up.
What kind of benefits did Broyhill bring in besides the gradual rise in wages?
When I was there, that wasn't yet in existence. But it is now. But how they brought it in, I wasn't there then. I just don't know how they did it, but it's there now. Now you take the Fourth of July coming up here, Lord, the money they're going to give away: the bonus, and then the week of pay, you know, the week off of the Fourth. You get paid for that week, and then your bonus.
That's pretty good.
Yes.
Do you think people were happy when Broyhill took it over?
I would think so. Oh, yes.
What opinion do you have of Mr. Broyhill as compared to Mr. Brady as an employer? Which one would you rather work for?
Oh, Broyhill. He couldn't touch him.4
Why is that?
Well, the Broyhill was more known and they had better salesmen, and he had better spots to put his stuff in. Oh, yes, much; twice.
I want to go back to your parents now. Did both of your parents work outside the home, or just your father?
Just the father.
And he worked up here at Hickory Handle.
Yes. That was Brady's then, you know.
Yes. What did he do at Hickory Handle?
He run a cut-off saw. He'd trim pieces of wood about that long to make hammer handles and stuff like that. Then they made mattock handles. And that was his job, to trim them. He run the trim saw.
Did they make something called picker sticks there?
Yes.
What were those?
That's a big long, about that long. That went to a cotton mill, too.
What did they do with those?
They put them on their machines somehow or other. I don't know now just how that worked. But they was used on those machines in the cotton mill. All that were cotton mill work. And the stuff that I was telling you, that was cotton mill work. I mean stuff that go to cotton. At that time, that's about all they made.
When you worked on the dairy farm, was this this Mr. Hunsucker's farm?
No, this was Herman's, Hickory Grove Farms.
Did other of your brothers or relatives work for this man?
Yes, my brother Bax did a while.
So you never worked at Hunsucker's Farm.
No.
The one that owned Hickory Handle also. Did you ever hear about that? Your brother Hill told me that Mr. Hunsucker owned Hickory Handle before Brady owned it.
Yes, that was way back, Jonas Hunsucker.
You never worked out on that farm.
No. My daddy did. But all I know about that is just hearing him talk about it.
What did you do out on the dairy farms?
I worked on the farm and helped in the dairy barn every morning and evening.
So this was the first job you ever had?
Just about, that I learned how to work on.
How old were you?
Not over twelve. I was young enough that I was scared it would get dark,
scared to come home at night.
This is a silly question, but do you think you were closer to your father or your mother? Which one do you think you took after?
About everybody say I took after my father.
Why do they say that?
I just got ways like him, I guess. That's what everybody tells me.
What kind of man was your father?
He was a friendly Indian. Everybody liked to meet him. He was a big talker, and everybody enjoyed that.
Yes
Did anyone in your family ever fight in any of the big wars like World War I or World War II?
My oldest brother got killed in the Army, Les.
And was that World War I or II?
It must have been World War I. That was way back there.
Was he in the infantry?
I don't remember what he was in.
How about any of your nephews? Did they ever go into the Korean War?
Yes, one of Hill's boys. It seemed like two of his boys. I'm not sure about two, but I know one of them was.
I think he said two. I'm not sure.
I know the one in Washington was in the Army, and it seemed like his baby boy was in the Army, too.
[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]
I wanted to ask you some questions about Conover in general.
Do you live here in Conover?
Yes. I live over behind Mackie's Motel.
Who are you close to?
There's some Hurleys that live out there.
Do you know the Spencers that live right there on the corner as you turn in there by the motel office?
Yes. I don't know them personally, but I know of them, like when I was a little kid running around.
We rabbit hunt together; we used to.
It's hard to see changes in a community.
How do you think Conover's changed over the years?
Oh, wonderful.
You think it's great?
Yes. I do.
It's gotten a lot bigger?
I think so.
What kind of good things have happened to this area?
They've improved the roads and things down here, and it looks like they
try to do everything they can afford to do.5 And as far as the town as a whole, I think they's doing
wonderful. That's the way I feel about it. Of course, everybody don't
have the same idea about it. But still you don't know it all. Maybe
there's some sides of the town that they've omitted doing work. I don't
know about that. But it's usually that way in all towns; you don't get
How do you think this community around here has changed over the last twenty years or so, like the good roads? Do you see a change in any of the people?
Some I do, and then, like we was talking a while ago, and some of them I don't. And it's the younger group that try to get something for nothing. You see more of that now everywhere.
Why do you think people think that way now?
They've just got everything handed to them mostly on a silver platter, and they just don't care is the only way I can work it out. And they don't want to work. That's just the way I feel about it.
Has this community gotten bigger over the years?
Oh, yes.
Are there a lot of people that move out, or do most of them just stay around?
It would be more coming in here if they had a place for them to come. We've got a new settlement right over there, and it's full. You can go right that road there and turn and go on down that way and go out, and they just completed here a couple of weeks ago hard-surfacing the road out there.
Are those brick houses single dwellings?
Some of them has panel stuff on, and then they are bricked up. And there are some nice homes out there.
I was out there with a friend of mine that worked on construction one year, and we went out there rock-hunting one time.
The Hedrick boy?
Yes.
His daddy's the one that built them.
I bet so. I went with Don or Ken, one of those. They found a place where they could find these real shiny rocks, so we were out there looking around. And I knew it was out here, but it was about four or five years ago, and I hadn't been out here since then. How about the schools around here? How do you think the schools have changed?
I guess the way it is, it's for the better. Like I said a while ago, some will like it and some won't. You mean the integration business?
Yes.
I think as a whole it's all right. But you know, with everything you go at, everybody isn't going to be pleased.
Around here, were they for the integration, or were they against it?
I'd say there was more for it than there was against it.
What year do you think all the kids around here started going to the Conover Elementary up here, the big brick building?
I don't remember. I'm not sure whether they all went the first year or not.
Was there any reaction from the white community up there? Did they oppose integration, or was it peaceful?
Not as I can recall. But it was probably some against it, but if they did you wouldn't know it. I'd say that on both sides.
In some communities it seems like they had a lot of violence and fighting about it.
That started up at Hickory one time, like they couldn't get nothing over. But it looks like they've kind of got it stopped now, especially at Hickory High.
I'm not so sure. It's a big school, and they've got a lot of nice things that we didn't have at Newton-Conover, but I don't think …
And they've got a lot of dope up there, too.
I don't think I'd like to have gone up there. I don't like a school so big.
No.
What kind of things did you do when you got off work, if you went to work early and got off in the afternoon?
Sometimes we'd pitch horseshoes or play ball or go fishing. I like to fish and stuff like that.
Did any of the places you ever worked at, like at the furniture plant at Trendline, did they have a company softball team or baseball team?
Yes. Softball. And a golf team. They still have it.
Did you ever play on any of them?
No. I was down in the machine room, and that was up in the upholstering division.
Oh, the upholstering division had them.
Right. But of course, if you'd wanted to go out, you could have gone. But
they usually had all they could get on it anyway, after
When you worked at Conover Furniture, did they have their…
No. That didn't exist then.
I guess your wife did a lot of the household chores and things.
Yes, just about all of it.
What kind of things did you do around the house? Did you ever help her?
I did all the painting on the inside and the outside. And if there was anything to be moved or something like that, I'd do that.
Did you all ever have a garden?
Oh, yes.
Was it big enough to can things from and keep things for the winter?
Yes.
At any of the places you ever worked at, did you ever live in any kind of company housing?
No. Never did.
I understand that up here at Conover Furniture they had some kind of company housing for maybe some of the white workers? Do you remember that?
Where is that at?
I'm not sure where it's at, but your brother mentioned it. But he didn't know where it was either. He said at one time Mr. Brady owned …
Oh, yes, they did. A lot of those houses right there behind what they call the graded school, might all of them down that line there, he …
Let me get out a map. I want to see if you can show me where it is, because I wasn't exactly sure. I think they've torn down a whole lot of that.
You know where you go out to Brown's Oil?
Yes, Brown Oil Company.
All down that line there.
Here's Conover Furniture right here. And then you say where the school would be. The school would be right here. So all down this line here?
All down that line here. Well, just about where a house sits down thataway now is where they had one. And some of them houses, I think, is the same ones, only just remodelled them a little bit. You know where Mrs. Drum lives over there, next to Floyd Brown?
No.
You know, the Drum's Funeral Home's widow. She lives next to Brown there.
All down that street there were those houses.6 And then you go on down further, come on down thisaway, and
on down below Brown's Oil Company on the right there, there's a bunch in
there that
It's hard to tell now, because either they're so redone that they look completely different on the outside …
Oh, they remodelled them.
There's about three of them that really look like they might have been.
Yes. Now them other ones, if I'm not mistaken, where the brick homes are there, they were tore completely down now, I think. Ralph Simmons used to live in one there. And Frank Gilbert used to live in one there.
Now those two people worked at Conover Furniture.
That's right. Rob Herman.
I'm trying to get names, too, of people. Do you remember some names of some other people that worked there at Conover Furniture?
Marion Heffner. He used to live in one of them homes down through there. And Rob Setzer. And I used to work there with G.W. Moelman; called him "Goosh." He's in California now. That's Beck Moelman's brother. And I worked there with the Simmons's, Cliff Simmons. And Cliff Brady; that was Mr. Brady's boy. And Walter Brady, his boy that worked in the office.
So Cliff Brady worked out there with you all? And then Walter Brady worked in the office?
Oh, yes, them was Mr. Brady's boys.
What kind of job did Cliff Brady have there?
He was supposed to be working out in the plant, but he
Like a supervisor?
No. He was supposed to be working, but now you know …
If you'd want to find him, you couldn't find him. He'd be out "on the hill" in the barroom, standing talking.
Oh, yes.
If anybody else tried that, could they get away with it?
No, there wouldn't be no way.
What job did Cliff Simmons have there?
He could run most any kind of machine. You know that picker stick you was talking about a while ago? When they were green they'd cut them there, and he was the hacking man. He'd hack them outside or in the warehouse down there.
How about G.W. Moelman? What kind of job did he have?
He run the head machine what made that little round to put on those screws I was telling you about a while ago. And then Rob Setzer, he was the one who kept the bits and things sharp.
How about Marion Heffner?
He run a rip saw. He's the one that cut those picker sticks.
So these were mainly the ones that worked in Hickory
Right.
Did they keep on working there?
Some of them did.
How about Rob Herman?
No, he didn't. I don't remember now what he did do after he left there. But his brother was a foreman there, Cal Herman. He was the superintendent. You know, Mr. Brady married their sister.
I didn't know that.
You know where Southern Furniture is? Right on down below, it's a machine shop right down there below Southern Furniture. Mr. Brady and them used to run it down there. Of course, I wasn't with them then, but that's where it really originated.
They ran the Hickory Handle down there below Southern Furniture?
That was started by the Hermans.
Do you know when they moved the plant up?
No, I can't recall that.
Was there a building there before they moved there?