Interview with Charlie I. Griffith, Lena Cox, and John B. & Lula M. Ray, 1960-07-23

File — Box: MS 017-04, Folder: MS 017-04-07

Identifier: MS 017- file MS 017-RT 398 F666m 1960 no. 03

Staff Only

RT 398 F666m 1960 no. 03 - CD-ROM and 1 Audio Cassette Tape

7 index cards - Cox, Lena; Folklore of the Middle West, 1960, no. 3; Frontier and pioneer life--Kansas; Griffith, Charlie I; Kansas--History; Ray, John B.; Ray, Lula M.;

Typed and handwritten notes.

An interview with Charlie I. Griffith, Lena Cox, and John B. & Lula M. Ray all of Norton, KS regarding their experiences growing up as homesteaders on the Kansas plains.

Digital Collections - FHSU Scholars Repository – Digitized Copy of Recording

00:00:32 - John B. Ray, coming to Edmond, KS by railroad in 1885.

00:01:51 - Father's purchase of the Edmond general store and amusing anecdotes

00:05:19 - Sod houses in Norton County

00:06:07 - Prairie fires

00:07:06 - Trading in the country store

00:07:40 - Lula Ray introduction and family's homesteading in Jewell County

00:09:15 - Grasshopper plague in 1872

00:10:57 - Charlie Griffith, mosquitoes in a buffalo wallow

00:13:02 - Planting potatoes in a buffalo wallow

00:13:39 - Father's civil war service

00:16:15 - Family history

00:18:06 - Lena Cox, father's civil war service

00:19:55 - C.H. Griffith on medical remedies

00:21:23 - Availability of foods and dietary habits

00:22:58 - Cure for hiccups

00:23:22 - Breaking sod

00:24:06 - More on food availability and dietary habits

00:27:00 - Wedding customs

00:31:55 - Midwives

00:34:32 - Housing, building customs, dances, and music

00:36:32 - School experiences

00:38:14 - Box suppers

00:39:48 - Poem: My little sod shanty on the plains

00:41:35 - Rug weaving, bedding, and clothing

00:44:55 - Horse riding

00:48:25 - School experience

00:50:14 - Winters and blizzards

00:52:18 - Walker family in Edmond, KS in 1886

00:54:01 - Auntie Winnie Lanear, former African American slave

00:56:12 - Murder of John Landis

00:57:41 - Dust Bowl Era (1931-1939)