Woody Wood Interview

 GEORGE STONEY: [inaudible]

WOODY WOOD: To ten? I couldn't understand what he was saying. Tell him I can't hear good. Count to ten and back? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, nine, eight (laughs), seven, six. All right do you want me to start off with this picture? (Silence) -- father, who was the first 00:01:00superintendent of East Newnan School -- let's start over.

STONEY: Okay.

WOOD: You got me messed up because I didn't -- this is a picture of my father, who was D.M. Wood, the first superintendent of East Newnan Cotton Mills, which was founded in 1900 and opened and throwed the switch to run the mill in 1904.

STONEY: Tell us about what he did, then.

WOOD: They built the mill. Took four years to build the mill and get it ready to operate. The first three streets in the village was Freeman Street and, ah, Reynolds Street and Kimble Street. And then, as they progressed, they built 00:03:00Haynes Street, Cole ah, Jones Street and Cole Street. And then a little later they went across the lake and built three more streets of houses, Hill Street, Field Street, and Murphy Street.

STONEY: Why did they build the villages? Why did they build the villages?

WOOD: They had to have the places for people to live close to their occupation because you didn't have cars and all to communicate. And, ah, so they built these houses and they furnished the houses to the people free. They didn't pay any rent and at the time that they were built, there was no electricity in the houses and they furnished coal. And for years they lived there free and then finally 00:04:00electricity came along and was put into the houses and a few years later running water. Each street had a well before they had running water.

STONEY: Tell us about the school.

WOOD: All right. They built a school on top of the hill over there, a two-story, beautiful building. And, ah, they used it for school and for churches and even the grown folks went to school at night.

STONEY: Now I want you to go back and say that again and tell me why the old people, the grown people had to go to school. Start again with that "They built a school."

WOOD: All right. The school was built on a hill, a beautiful building, two-story, and, ah, it was built close to the mill and people there. And at 00:05:00night the grown folks went to the school because a lot of them didn't have any education. And then it was used as a church for the Baptists and Methodists. And then in the '20s they built the church which is on Freeman Street and the Baptists used it two weeks on Sunday. And then the Methodists used it two weeks.

STONEY: Tell about your father and the church.

WOOD: And my father was superintendent of the Sunday school class, D.M. Wood Class, and it had between 3 and 400 members.

STONEY: Did you have to go to church in order to work in the mill?

WOOD: No. It wasn't compulsory, but he more or less asked the people to.

STONEY: Could you talk about what it was like in the mill, in the mill village?

WOOD: You mean the life there? Well, of course, it was rough. When this mill was built, then the boll weevil came through and, ah --

STONEY: Just a moment. We're going to have you put the picture down now. Okay.

WOOD: In the 18 and 19 and 20, on into the 20th, the boll weevil just came through the country from, ah, Mexico. And it was people just starving more or less on the farms. The boll weevil had just ate -- ruined the crops. And so they came to the mills and, ah--

STONEY: Let's start again on that. We just had something here. The boll weevil.

WOOD: In the late 1819's and on through the '20s, the boll weevil came through from Mexico destroying cotton. And the people in the fields and had the farms, ah, lost everything and so they had to come somewhere and go to work. And quite a few people, 50 or 60 families, came to East Newnan and, ah, they had big families back then. And, ah, my father hired them and they worked from 6:00 in the morning till six in the afternoon and, ah, they had a place to live and, ah, it was just a better life than they was having on the farm, and wonderful people. It was just one big family in the mill village. If one had something, they all had it.

STONEY: Could you tell us about what they made?

WOOD: They made, ah, in the mill, the yarn and way back in those days when it was starting, it was yarn that came from cotton and yarn. And then most of it was sold to Stevenson for thread and, ah, was -- they had outlets in New York, in the Carolinas, and, ah -- and even during the Depression they run, but sometimes it was just one day a week. Sometimes it'd get down to one day two weeks. And, ah, I remember going to the warehouse up in town and the Federal government had flour and all kind of food that they furnished the people. And that's why they lived through the compress-- ah, the Depression.

STONEY: What did they get paid?

WOOD: I would just have to roughly guess anywhere from $4 to $7 a week. Now, I mean, I've been told. I can't say for sure.

STONEY: Now you were how old when Roosevelt got elected in 1932?

WOOD: I was 19-- I was seven years old.

STONEY: And when Roosevelt got elected, then they cut the -- the hours from 11 or 12 to eight.

WOOD: Well, a little later. That was in about 1936-37. I remember a lot of plants said they couldn't do that and pay wage and hours and reduce the force down to eight hours a day. And a lot of them closed the plants because they said they couldn't do that. But Newnan Cotton Mills was one of the richest little companies in the South. And they paid good dividends and they paid the people and then Christmastime they had a truck that'd go around to every house and 00:10:00deliver fruit and candy. And it was just a good life under the conditions that exist at that time.

STONEY: Do you remember the big time when there was a strike and they called out the National Guard?

WOOD: Yes, sir.

STONEY: Tell us about that.

WOOD: That was in the early '30s. I think I was in the third grade and I looked out -- well, I'll start back and say we were in Athens on the weekend to see my grandparents and somebody called my daddy and said that they had a strike at East Newnan and they had closed the gates and put locks on them. So my father got in the car and we came home and he went down and, ah, sure enough, they had 00:11:00the locks -- the gates locked. They had tents up around the fence, wouldn't let nobody in. And so in a couple of days the militia, they called it back then, came down and we were in school and I was in about the third grade and I looked out the window and I saw all these buses. Looked like a bunch of just gypsies leaving. They headed out of East Newnan and went to Hogansville. So that's all I remember about that, but it was a sight to see them leaving down here when the militia came in.

STONEY: You didn't see the troops, though?

WOOD: No. No. Uh uh.

STONEY: Now what was the rumor after that? What did people say about all that?

WOOD: Well, they had mixed emotions about it. Even my father -- some of them that was -- that was in the strike were from the mill now and my daddy let them come back to work. And, ah, of course, you're going to have two sides, or 00:12:00sometimes three sides, to anything -- your side, my side, and what's right. So -- but we had no more trouble after that.

STONEY: What happened to the people who -- who -- did anybody get fired because of that?

WOOD: Not to my knowledge. One of the main one that I remember was a supervisor. And he continued to be a supervi--visor after it was all over.

STONEY: Is he still around?

WOOD: No. He's deceased now, but the main man that was head of what they tried to form, the union, he was a -- a big man in this county, but he never was able to have any more business in this county. He had to go to Atlanta to do business. But the average person that was in it, they held no grudge against those.

STONEY: What -- you grew up as the son of a supervisor. That's a bit like growing up as the son of a preacher or --

WOOD: Captain, so true. I have gone to school on Monday morning and I'd have to have a fight with two or three and I said, "Well, why have I had to have this fight?" But my father being a superintendent, he'd get on some man and tell him, say, "You've got to shape up or you going to have to move." Well, he'd go home and tell his family. Well, his boy'd want to fight me and so I've had a many a fight and I didn't know what I was fighting about, but I had to fight. But one occasion it was a fella there the name of Mr. Walt Bowie, one of the characters of East Newnan. Everybody knew him and everybody loved him. My daddy was strictly rough on whiskey. He did have no use for whiskey and if he caught you 00:14:00drinking, you had to move. That was the rule. They knew it before they started. Well, Mr. Walt got drunk one weekend and, of course, somebody told my father, said, "Walt Bowie's got drunk and raised Cain over there in a certain street." So Daddy called him up to the office and says, "Walt, you get drunk?" "Yes, sir." He says, "Well, you know the rules. You going to have to move." And says, "Soon as you move," says, "you can come on back to work." So Walt went home and he moved and he come back the next day and said, "Mr. Wood," says, "I moved." He says, "All right, Walt," says, "go to work." But he turned around and says, "Walt, where'd you move to?" He says, "Across the street." So we all just had a big time. We'd fight some. We'd love some and everything run smooth. And, ah, it was no money, but we didn't know what money was no way. We'd never had any, so 00:15:00we wasn't used to it. But we were all happy.

STONEY: Weren't you kind of rich compared with most people?

WOOD: I didn't know, because a nickel -- if I got a nickel, I went to the store and spent it and that was it. I trapped rabbits and, ah, ah, made brush brooms and sold them. And that was my money. And it was a big family of us and my father -- I had a brother in Tech in 1931-2 and -3 and -4. And I had a sister -- two sisters in nursing. So if we had any more, we didn't see it.

STONEY: Now could you pick up that picture again? Hold it on your lap the way you did. And start over just as though we hadn't done that because you're all loose now, you've got light in your face, you're doing great. So start off and tell us, "This is a picture of," et cetera.

WOOD: This is a picture of D.M. Wood, my father. It was made in 1915. He was the first superintendent of East Newnan Cotton Mills, which was started in 1900 and completed in 1904 and started -- he throwed the switch to start the mill in 1904.

STONEY: Beautiful. That's great. [Inaudible]

JUDITH HELFAND: Woody, the first time you told me that story you showed me how he pulled that switch. So this time when you tell me that story, pull that switch.

WOOD: All right, you're through with this face -- I mean picture?

HELFAND: Huh uh.

WOOD: You want me to start all over again?

HELFAND: Yeah. But you know like, and listen, when you talk about your daddy, you say "My daddy," don't you?

WOOD: I think so.

HELFAND: Well you say it again. "My daddy."

WOOD: You want me to sound like a --

HELFAND: Well you'll sound like you did this morning. (Laughs) I'm joking. All right.

WOOD: You ready?

HELFAND: Yeah.

WOOD: Give me a cue; what did I say?

HELFAND: You were talking about when your father came here and opened up the mill and threw the switch.

WOOD: All right. This is a picture of my daddy, made in 1915. He was the first superintendent of East Newnan Cotton Mills, which started building in 1900 and completed in 1904. And he threw a switch to start the mill. Is that what you want?

STONEY: Yeah. Okay.

HELFAND: You know, you didn't tell me what your daddy's name was. So I'm going to ask you to tell that story again. All right? And you know, don't worry about being so formal, just spit it.

WOOD: This is a picture of my daddy, D.M. Wood, who was the first superintendent of East Newnan Cotton Mills, which was started in 1900 and completed in 1904. And he threw the first switch to start this mill.

STONEY: Okay, now tell us what your father did, tell us what your daddy did in the mill.

WOOD: He was a superintendent, which was -- am I right now?

HELFAND: "My daddy was"

WOOD: My daddy was the first superintendent of the mill, which -- what they call today, was a manager, who was in charge of the whole operation.

STONEY: You go ahead. Tell us what kind of a day he had.

WOOD: In those days you went to work at six in the morning till 6 in the afternoon. And that was six -- five days a week, and then you worked till 12 o'clock on Saturday.

STONEY: Now explain that your father, your daddy and your -- (break in audio)

WOOD: My daddy came to Newnan from Athens, Georgia, and he moved up on Murphy -- Murray Street in the old mill village and lived there until 1904, when they had this mill ready at East Newnan. Then he moved to East Newnan on Freeman Street and he lived there until he built him a house here on the hill.

STONEY: Now what 00:20:00was it like growing up in the, as the son of the supervisor?

WOOD: All right. Hum. My father being the superintendent and me being the boy and playing, I'd often have fights with the boys and I'd wonder why. And then I'd find out that my daddy had had words with them and told them they'd have to straighten up or get things straight and then they'd go home and tell their family and then I'd have to fight the boys. And -- but as a whole, it was -- it was a nice place and the people was lovely. I mean they were just as nice as they could be. It was good people, just country folks that had lost their farms and, ah, the boll weevil had eaten up the cotton. And it was just a pleasure. I 00:21:00don't know of any other mill village like it. But they were wonderful. And, ah --

STONEY: Okay.

HELFAND: Did you have the run of the village? I mean as the kid of the boss, did you get to go inside the mill and did everybody know you in all the houses?

WOOD: For years anybody would walk in the mill, but then the insurance in the '20s -- late '20s, they put a fence around the mill and, ah, put locks on it. And, ah, that kept people out. Oh, I'm pretty sure it was on account of insurance. But I know when it first -- you could go in the mill and see your folks. It was just a family affair. I mean the mill village and the mill, Everybody was just like one big family.

STONEY: Now, we've heard some people in Newnan talking about lintheads. Could you talk about that?

WOOD: Oh, yes, sir. Uh huh. Ah, I experienced some of that, very so. Ah, people that worked in a mill, to my sorrow, was called lintheads. And, ah, one time I remember my father telling me that the stockholders and the main stockholders told my father that he was going to have to cut wages at East Newnan, that the kids in East Newnan was dressed better than the kids in town. And my daddy told them, says, "Naw," says, "I'm making you 100 percent on the dollar now and," 00:23:00says, "I'm not going to cut them." He was offered a job at West Point, in West Point, Georgia, to open the biggest mill in the South, and he often said if he had ever made a mistake, that was it. But that's true. We were called lintheads by people, and not only East Newnan, but all cotton mills. The one at the old mill, Arnco and Sargent, they all -- but --

STONEY: How did you feel about that?

WOOD: Well, when I moved from East Newnan to town school, I made a mistake. I went up there the first day with overalls on, which all boys in the mill village wore. And, ah, like you say, it wasn't any money. You just had to scrap and, ah, 00:24:00and so I had a fight there the first day. And so my daddy told me if I'd done any more fighting, I was going to have to go to military school. And they called me a linthead and so the next day I got whipped up there and got scarred up a little bit and scraped up. And my daddy says, "What happened to you today, Woody?" I said, "Well, you told me not to fight no more and I got whipped." So he carried me to school the next day and he said, "Woody, don't you start no fight, but," said, "don't you get whipped." So from that day on, I was pretty well in with the boys up there.

STONEY: And after you -- you graduated from high school, did you?

WOOD: Yes.

STONEY: What happened after that?

WOOD: Well, before I finished school my daddy became ill. He had -- he was a 00:25:00diabetic, and this was 1936, '37, and he had to retire from the mill and he trained a man to take his place and then about a year later they called him, asked him to come back and help them out for a couple of years, which he did. Then my father lost his right leg and two fingers on a diabetic and so he lived till 1946.

STONEY: Did you ever think about going back into the mills?

WOOD: Well, I worked there and it just wasn't my cup of tea because I went to work at a grocery store when I was 12 years old after school and weekends, and, 00:26:00ah -- but I tried it. I left the grocery business and, ah, went to work at the mill, but it just it wasn't my cup of tea and I went back to the grocery business and I've been in the grocery business ever since.

STONEY: Okay, Judy? Is there anything else?

HELFAND: Why wasn't the mill your cup of tea? Could you describe what your experience was there?

WOOD: Well, it was changing. The war was coming on and we went in service and when we came back, things just wasn't like it was. And I just was inside, I guess, so much that it just wasn't my cup of tea.

HELFAND: Could you tell us how your father was able to maintain all of those houses and all those [inaudible]?

WOOD: Well, my father was -- he demanded respect and the only way you could 00:27:00control -- and back then, young lady, there was one man that was sheriff and whoever owned the property more or less had to protect their own property. And Newnan Cotton Mills owning all these houses -- see, there's 165 houses at that time -- of course, a lot of them burned and a lot of them fell, but whoever was in charge had to be in charge. But all the people here, like I say, the people were so good, we didn't have a lot of trouble. Now I remember my daddy talking about who was the sheriff then, and my daddy would call him. He'd help the sheriff if he had to come down here and had trouble. So they just worked those things out.

HELFAND: What things?

WOOD: Any disorders or anything that was violating the rules of the company or 00:28:00violating the law. Then he would call, ah, the, ah, sheriff and, ah, they'd walk and talk to the folks and get it straight. And if it had to be a warrant taken, then they'd have to take the warrant and prosecute.

HELFAND: Do you think people were afraid of your father?

WOOD: I don't think they were afraid of him. I think -- I think the people that you talk to now that remember my father loved my father and he loved them. I can just stand here and count the people -- now the McCulloughs, that was a big family when they came in from the country down around Senoia and [started a mill?]. It was seven or eight in the family that could work. Well, man, that was -- that was a cream of a crop to get eight people in one family to work. So they thought so much of the McCullough Family, they even built another room onto 00:29:00their house. And there was the Campbells. There was the Brookses, the Rainwaters and all of these people -- Mathingales -- that came from the country during the -- the Depression and they found work and they survived. And they respected my father. And, of course, any time anybody's in charge of anything you going to have criticism. And I've heard my daddy say a many a time, "A man that does something is going to get criticized. And if you never do anything, so you're not going to have any trouble."

HELFAND: Okay.

WOOD: That's that.