Rufus Fisher

Partial Transcript: Rufus Fisher introduced himself and that he was born in Cramerton, NC. He was born on April 28, 1924, he is 92 years old. He comes from a large family. There were twelve children, seven boys and five girls. All seven boys were in WWII, he lost two of his brothers. They had all grown up and his parents were still alive.

Keywords: WWII; Cramerton NC

Subjects: Rufus Fisher

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about his dad and how he always wanted to have some land of his own. His dad bought a small plantation in Macon County when Rufus was thirteen. There was no electricity and no water. There was a spring on the property and Rufus carried water to the house.

He finished high school, 11 years, and went to work where his folks worked, Cramerton Mills. It was his scout master, a neighbor that got him the job there. Rufus worked with the ladies who prepared the cloth for the weaving room.

Keywords: Cramerton Mills; Macon County; plantation

Subjects: Rufus’ early career

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the war. When he was 18 he was drafted in March of 43. He was stationed in Germany. Returned home in 44 and started Wake Forest.

Keywords: Germany; Wake Forest; drafted; War

Subjects: The War

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks more about the Mill. Cramerton was a community built by Stuart Cramer who was from Massachusetts. He found a place to build a mill, 2 mills in fact. One mill was where the cotton was processed and the other was where it was sent to the weaving room. His dad worked in the dye room. All 12 children worked at the mill at one time or another. Mr. Cramer was very nice. He built houses for the workers. When Rufus went to work the minimum wage was 40₵ but he earned 41₵. His job was to clean the harnesses. He explains how it was done.

It was a big village. They had paved streets, water, and a bathroom out on the back porch. There was no store but there were some across from the train station. There was a drug store, two grocery stores, and a dime store.

There were 400 – 500 hundred people working at the mill. When they were working 12-hour days there were 2 shifts and 3 shifts when the 8-hour work days started. There was no work on Sunday.

During the war they made khaki material. Every Mill in the United States made khaki material. The mill was honored for making the Khaki material. The mill was shut done and there was a celebration. The Cramers were good people.

Keywords: 12 hour day; 8 hour days; Stuart Cramer; community; minimum wage; Cramerton

Subjects: Cramerton Mills

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks a little about Stuart Cramer. He was the inventor of the humidifier. There were fans in the mills and that was about it. The noise in the weaving room was terrific and never did stop.

Keywords: humidifier; Stuart Cramer

Subjects: Stuart Cramer

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the closing of the Mills. Right after the war Burlington bought Cramerton and they went out of business and were torn down. One was torn down deliberately and the other caught fire. One site was made into a park and there are condos.

Keywords: Burlington; Closing of the Mills

Subjects: The closing

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the conditions at Cramerton Mills. They never went on strike during the 30s. His wife lived in Gastonia and there was a big confrontation at Loray Mill, Firestone Mill, a huge 5-story mill. There was even a murder.

His wife worked at Parkdale Mills. They had nice houses and paved roads. The CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps was active there along with the PWA, Public Works Administration.
The strike was because they wanted to unionize the workers at the Gastonia Mills. There was a young woman killed during the strike. It was a police shooting.

Keywords: CCC; Firestone Mills; Loray Mills; PWA; Parkdale Mills; murder; strike; unionize; young woman killed.; Cramerton Mills

Subjects: The strike in a Gastonia Mill

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about his grandparents. His father’s grandfather came directly from Germany. They were told that the reason Fisher boys left Germany was because they killed a deer. He didn’t live very long and one of his earliest remembrances was when he was two years old and his grandfather’s mother died. She was a wonderful woman. She would take cloth and make dresses all the time. Poovey was her surname.

His mother‘s people lived in Cramerton. His Grandpa Lowe, Rufus was named after him, worked in the Mill. He had one of the first Model A cars. They lived in Lincoln County and they would go to the reunion at their old church grounds every year. Before the day was over Rufus would get homesick and he was ready to go home. There were always big celebrations at his grandparents’ house.

The grandparents moved into the little house where Rufus had lived. They had electricity but no water. His grandmother died while he was in the service and shortly after that, his grandfather died.

Keywords: Cramerton Mill; Germany; Model A car; electricity; Grandparents

Subjects: Great grandparents and grandparents

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about his parents working in the Mill. His mother was nine years old, working at Mary Posey, and had to stand on a stool to do her job. His daddy was sometimes the supervisor. They married when he was 27 and she was 18.

Keywords: married; supervisor

Subjects: parents

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about education and his family. Both of his parents had very little schooling. They were able to read but education didn’t mean much to them. Only four of the kids finished high school. He never had any idea he would go to college. Working in the mills was what was expected. There were three sets of people, the farmers, the town people, and the mill people. This tended to separate people. They didn’t even have a cafeteria in their school.

Keywords: mill people; town people; farm people

Subjects: Family and education

Partial Transcript: Rufus describes their farm. They had gardens where they raised corn for the mules and horses. They never did farm; his daddy was already in his 50s. He remembers moving to the country. They finally did move back to Cramerton.

Keywords: Farm

Subjects: The farm

Partial Transcript: Rufus goes back to talking about the mill houses. They were charged 50₵ a room. They would take it out of the payroll. If they made over $10.00 they were paid in silver dollars.
Rufus gives a brief history of Cramerton. He has pictures and flyers for the baseball team. On Saturday afternoons everyone went to the baseball games. He doesn’t remember the name.

Keywords: baseball; history; silver dollars; Mill houses

Subjects: Life in Cramerton

Partial Transcript: Rufus shares some stories about the baseball team. There was a lot of competition. Buddy Lewis, from Gastonia, went to the Senators in Washington. American League baseball was very active. Rufus was never very athletic. When you came home from school you did chores. There was no car available to go anywhere. He never played any formal games.

Keywords: American League baseball; Senators; Buddy Lewis

Subjects: Baseball

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the chores he had growing up. They had a garden, chickens, and a cow. His mother did all the milking and making butter. Rufus had to carry a lot of water, for wash day and baths. Rufus talks about the chore it was to wash the clothes. His mother did not make their clothes.

They had an outside john, a dug hole, it was not very nice. They did get a well and they had a shower outside.

Keywords: outside john; Chores

Subjects: Chores

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about life in Alexis, Gaston County. He went to Lincoln High school.
His family was always active in church that was where their social activities happened. Mr. Cramer built a church for the Baptist and the Methodists. The Baptist church has a Tiffany picture in the back which is well known. Mr. Cramer supplemented the teachers’ salaries so they had good teachers and a nice school house, 3 stories. Mr. Cramer made life very livable.

Keywords: Baptist church; Methodist church; Tiffany Window; Lincoln High school

Subjects: Churches in Cramerton

Partial Transcript: Rufus explains the role of the church in the community. Not everyone went to church, but those that did that it was their social outlet. Men had their groups, women had their groups and kids had their groups. The teachers in the church were not well educated but they were interested in children. There was vacation bible school in the summer. His sister worked in the bible school. The church was very active in the community.

Keywords: community; vacation bible school; Church

Subjects: Church activities

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the available entertainment. They did have a theater in Cramerton it cost 10₵ and if you had 15₵ you got a three-center, a Coca-Cola, and 2₵ worth of peanuts. The schools had programs. There was a fair that came once a year.

His family was not musical. The school did have a band and glee club.

Keywords: Coca-Cola; band; glee club; peanuts; theater; three center; Entertainment

Subjects: Entertainment

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the sense of community. He thought Cramerton had a real sense of community. After the mills were sold the people were able to buy the houses. It is a bedroom community in Charlotte. He has kept in touch with some of his buddies. People looked after each other. They never felt poor; everyone was in the same shape. The schools were good. Everyone went to college on the GI Bill.

Keywords: Cramerton, Charlotte; GI bill; buddies; poor; Community

Subjects: Community

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the 1916 flood. Cramerton was built on the South Fork River of the Catawba River. When the floods happened Cramerton was flooded too. His parents’ home was flooded and they were not able to stay in the house. The flood did not get into the mill. He remembers the water getting up to the sidewalks. His older sister lost her doll. They did not dwell on it.

Keywords: Catawba River; Cramerton; South Fork River; 1916 flood

Subjects: 1916 flood

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about his children and education. His granddaughter is a freshman at Chapel Hill and she needed to interview someone who had lived through the depression. They talked and laughed. They have a close family, 3 children, 4 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. They used to have a family reunion once a year, but times have changed.

They encouraged the children to get an education. All their kids have received degrees and have done well.

Keywords: Depression; Chapel Hill

Subjects: The family and education

Partial Transcript: Rufus discusses the depression. He doesn’t ever remember going hungry. He does remember not having enough warm clothing. They resoled their shoes. They didn’t talk about being poor everyone was the same. In college, Chapel Hill, he had to write a paper on getting through the depression. He wrote that since so many people were in a similar situation he didn’t feel it.

The mill did stay open. There were some strikes in Gaston County. The Gaston County mill did close for a little while.

Keywords: Chapel Hill; going hungry; resoled shoes; warm clothing; Depression

Subjects: The Depression

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about the value of knowing family history. History has its own merits. He talks freely with his family about how he grew up and how they lived together. Likes to tell the kids to remember who you are and remember who you associate with because whatever you do will come back at some point.

Keywords: Family history

Subjects: family history

Partial Transcript: Rufus discusses how different the world is today. There are so many temptations for kids today. There was drinking in Cramerton but it was done on the weekend and when they were not working. There were no drugs. The biggest things were tobacco and soft drinks. He never did smoke.

Keywords: drinking; no drugs; tobacco; temptations

Subjects: different world

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about getting into social work. Rufus’ first job after the Baptist Seminary in Louisville was as a Chaplin at a school in South Carolina. It was for delinquents. He got to know them real well he even censored their mail. He got to know some of the families. He realized that he would be better in the field of social work. He talks about his career in social work.

Keywords: Chaplin; Louisville; censored; Baptist Seminary

Subjects: career in social work

Partial Transcript: Rufus talks about why it is important for kids today to know where they came from. He feels that kids need to know their background and have someone to back them up. Rufus talks about his marriage. He thinks children need discipline. He feels that child abuse was rampant in his time. Children were treated differently back then. There are rules in place now to protect children which Rufus feels is good.

Kids need to have someone they can go to confide in and communicate with.

Keywords: abuse; discipline

Subjects: Kids today and what they need

Partial Transcript: Rufus closes by talking about where his clothes came from in Cramerton. There was a little Jewish store, it was at the upper end of Cramerton. He wore a lot of hand-me-downs. He was never the best-dressed person around.

Keywords: Jewish store; hand me downs; Clothes

Subjects: clothes