Talk: Autobiography

Co l le c t e d by Mary C e l e s t i a P a r l e r ; Tr an s c r ib ed by Ne i l Byer T. W. Dethero B a t e s v i l l e Apr i l 12, 1955 Reel 227, Item 15 Autobiography ( " . . .Y o u people may want to know where I was born. I was borned in two mi le s south o f Ma r sh f ie ld , Mi s so u r i . But we l i v e d the r e only a y e a r , and we moved down to La F i t t e County, r i g h t on the d iv id e between the Gasconne and the ( ? ) Creek, and r i g h t in the edge o f Camp Bennet wood. But I was r a i s e d the r e t i l l l a ck ed three months o f being th i r t e e n y e a r s o ld , and we a l l moved to Arkansas . Then we s tayed a ye a r and we went back. From then on I went backwards and forwards from Arkansas , then We s t , to Colorado and othe r p l a c e s fo r s e v e r a l y e a r s . And in 19 and o2 I come to Arkansas and got mar r ied to a Arkansas g i r l , and I 'v e been l i v i n g with her now fo r 52 ye a r s and I s t i l l got a l l the h a i r on my head y e t . . . . I ' v e r a i s e d fou r ch i ld r en , two boys and two g i r l s , and I served in the Arkansas L e g i s l a t u r e . . . i n 1933. . . .Lived r i g h t in one p l a c e where I am now fo r f i f t y y e a r s . I rented the f i r s t two y e a r s I was m a r r i e d . . . . ( " . . . . I always opened my door s fo r the young f o l k s . I ' ve been fond of the young f o l k s , more in t e r e s t e d in them than anyone e l s e , and I always open my doors fo r those o ld p l a y p a r t i e s , and every once in a while a square dance. ( " . . . .A n d so I kept th e s e a l i v e . T h a t ' s one rea son why I s t i l l remember 'em y e t , because I d id n ' t want 'em to go out o f d a t e . The Arkansas Gazet te one time th a t p o s t e r i t y would owe a d e bt to the one th a t p r e s e rv e d the s e old song s , and I 'v e been t r y in g to do t h a t . " )Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation