George W Hopper, 1834 to 3 Jul 1863 KIA Gettysburg, Pa Pvt., Co K (Cascade Rifles) 38th Va Infantry

Keith Hall(1955-present), Nannie Hopper Hall(1900-1972), William T Hopper(1859-1930)Danview Cemetery, Hwy 700, Draper, NC,George W Hopper(1834-1863)3 Jul 1863 KIA Gettysburg, Pa Pvt., Co K (Cascade Rifles) 38th Va Infantry. George W Hopper is my great-great grandfather. A few years ago I was working on my genealogy with Ancestry.com and discovered from the census that George W Hopper was there in the 1860 census, but in 1870 only his wife Martha F Goodman was the head of household. When I researched it further I found out he had died at Picket's Charge. I often wondered the emotions of the Civil War soldiers. They must have fought proudly and bravely. Some were concerned about fighting their own brothers. It is hard to imagine if we could do something like that today, for the reasons that they fought for, which is sometimes unclear to me. Their leaders just marched them out there in a straight line and allowed them to be shot down. This was pretty much the way that the British fought for so many years. They were stationed out of Pittsylvania County and Danville, Va. It is interesting to read many of the old letters on the internet written by Civil War soldiers to understand the emotion of all of this. Many wanted to be at home with their families. Many were sick, wounded and cold. Many were arrested as deserters. My other great-great grandfather was in the home guard which is fuel for another blog. Our ancestors led interesting lives. If they could only see us now. Red States and Blue states, republicans and democrats,liberals and conservatives, left wing and right wing, could it ever happen again?

Great Depression 2008-2009

Great Depression of 2008-2009
I'm not sure what this year and next year holds for us, but each day I pick up the newspaper and 1000's are laid off from their jobs. In reading the Book Of Genesis a few months ago I came across a thought, because of the famine that they were having in the land of Canaan, Jacob had to go to Egypt to his son Joseph to get food for his family. We can do without many things in times of hardship but we can't do without food. I live in a rural area here, near Elkin, NC and the land is dotted with old large two story houses built about a hundred years ago. I did my genealogy a few years ago on ancestry.com and I noticed all of the families in my lineage had eight to ten people in their family. I have often wondered, since all had large families and large houses and all of them were farmers, how in the world did they feed all of their children, with no public jobs or money? My grandfather George Robert Hall fished and cooked what he caught. He hunted rabbits and squirrels and made squirrel gravy. With the deer population as large as it is now we should have plenty to eat. I almost hit a deer every day of my life with my car here in Wilkes County, North Carolina. My grandfather set a rabbit gum and caught possum and rabbits and ate all he caught. He would make home brew which to me tasted like a type of beer. He raised a garden and I remember eating fried squash and green beans cooked in a pressure cooker almost every meal. We had cream gravy for breakfast every morning and fat back. On Sunday Nannie Hopper Hall my grandmother always had 2 or 3 meats,and fried chicken fried in Crisco shortening. Now I realize possibly how they did it. With everyone participating from puberty on up they would all pitch in. It may come to living like this one day. I believe looting and house break ins will increase over the next few years because of the great depression and people stealing money and jewelry. It would be good to read a book of survival techniques. I would keep a gallon of bleach to purify water should need arise. We could commune with church members and barter and share food to survive. Hopefully it won't come to this. You have heard the song A Country Boy Can Survive. There is a lot of truth in that just listen to the words. By the way chew each bite 32 times and you will not need to eat quite as much because you will feel full. I don't mean to be a pessimist but it looks bleak the painting the Media is painting for us. It don't seem like much of a depression in Atlantis these days.

Sneakers

Sneakers
Isn’t it surprising how tennis shoes have become a way to make a statement? I don’t think kids think about it, that it is a type of peer pressure. I can remember when I grew up in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s we only had three types of sneakers that I can remember. They were a Converse sneaker, PF Flyers, and Keds shoes. The PF Flyers were supposed to make you “run faster and jump higher”. I was discussing this with my son that tennis shoes were comfortable to wear but not a statement of style as it is in this day and time. In this day and time you have to worry about getting your shoes stolen because they are so pricey. Back in my teenage days no one would ever steal a pair of shoes. It is also amazing how people are buying the Converse basketball high tops, like we did back then. It seems what goes around comes around. The only difference is that we never coveted any ones sneakers. That makes a new law come to mind. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s sneakers.

Rabbit Gum

Rabbit Gum

My grandfather kept a rabbit gum set all of his life. I guess when he was young it was a way of life to survive. In these uncertain times of great depression and food shortages we need to take note of what our ancestors did to survive. It would be best to make one of these out of aged wood instead of new plywood. You can catch and eat many small animals for survival with one of these contraptions. You can bait it with apples or lettuce on the inside to entice the rabbit to go into the hole. A simple invention that works.

George Robert Hall

MY GRANDFATHER
George Robert Hall
Bob Hall
Most People were farmers back then
(1896-1971) My grandfather, (Bob) was born in Patrick County, Va. He was a farmer, and so was his dad. He was the oldest of a very large family. He had a slight accent from the Virginia area. I have heard some people talk like him from the South Boston Virginia area.
WAY OF LIFE
He grew up hunting rabbits and squirrels. He raised chickens, cows, and also a garden every year. He hunted and fished all of his life. He ate what he grew and ate what he killed or caught. As long as I can remember he always had a rabbit gum set to catch rabbits and possums. He would cage the possum s that he would catch and grain feed them and then kill them to eat.
When he became a young man his dad made an agreement with him to cut the timber and split the profit from it. When the timber was sold his dad only gave him 50 cents. This wasn’t hardly enough from the hard work of manually cutting timber back in those days so he left home.
MILL TOWN
My grandfather left Patrick County and moved to Rockingham County in North Carolina and worked in the Leaksville Mills as a loom fixer as many people did in those days. He was so good at what he did that he later relocated to Beacon Manufacturing Company in Swannanoa, NC, and finally to Chatham Mfg. Company in Elkin, NC. At Chatham’s he was in charge of the Weave Room and was the chief loom fixer. Chatham’s owned a lot of the land in Elkin and Jonesville, NC and there were many mill houses where many of the employees lived. His hobbies were raising beagle dogs and watching them run rabbits. His beagle dogs won many trophies and became field champions. They were all AKC registered.
PRIMITIVE BAPTIST
He was of the Primitive Baptist faith where he sometimes took us to church when I was a young boy. His favorite song was Amazing Grace. In the primitive Baptist church they didn’t use any music but sung all of their songs acapella. He said the Bible is a book about Hope. This one word describes his whole faith. The church meetings would last all day with four or five preachers and last all day long with dinner on the grounds. They just have church two days per month because the people travel a long way.

Chatham Mfg. Co.Fred Norman of Elkin told me that my grandfather was one of the smartest men at Chatham Mfg. Co. Fred said there were many men that worked there with engineering degrees but that my grandfather could take the top part of a loom together with the bottom part and make them run like a singer sewing machine. He was an inventor, and very mechanically minded with tools, and the use of his hands. A man that went to my church said that my grandfather was his supervisor and that he was the best boss man that he had ever had and was fair in the judgments that he made. One of his sayings was that the word CAN’T was not in his vocabulary. He said that “CAN’T NEVER COULD.”
This is the reason why I ended up in Elkin, NC because of the blanket mills.

Pocket Knives

Changing Times
Times have changed since I was a young lad. All of the young boys carried a pocket knife when I was growing up. Parents would teach their kids knife and gun safety. Today if a kid carries a pocket knife to school it is a felony charge. My how we live in different times. I can't go a single day without using my swiss army knife. I open envelopes, boxes, packs of crackers, and use the screwdriver on the swiss army knife everyday. I never go anywhere without it. I usually end up breaking the tip off of one of the blades trying to use it as a screwdriver. A pocket knife is a useful tool to carry but not to school. I guess if a young lad carries a pocket knife he has to be out of school and over eighteen years of age. A barlow knife was part of a boys heritage in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer." Do you ever catch yourself in need of something during your daily walk? Maybe it is a pocket knife.

FENDER PRECISION FRETLESS BASS

Fender Precision Fretless Bass
The third bass that I owned was a Fender Precision Fretless Bass which I bought in Morganton, NC at Tommy Parker's Music Store. The Fender Fretless basses first came out in 1970 and the one I have is a 1972 model. I purchased it in 1973 used for $250.00. I guess the guy before me didn't know how to play it. With a fretless bass you can get a different sound and play a lot jazzier style than a regular electric bass. I played it for about 10 years before I bought my fourth bass guitar. I use Fender flatwound strings on it and it came with Fender Black Nylon Tape Wound Strings on it. It is a real joy to have this instrument as a part of bass guitar history.

THE BITTER END NYC

The Bitter End, New York City, Greenwich Village

The Bitter End NYC
In 1973 when I graduated from Starmount High School my good friend David Tenery and I took a trip to perform at the famous Rock Club The Bitter End. This was a real adventure for a 17 year old country boy to see The Big Apple and to get to perform on the same stage as Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan and many others. We drove all the way to NYC in David's Ford Econoline van and stayed at a Hotel right off off fifth avenue called The Arlington Hotel. New York is not like the country where I came from. There was no service stations as we know it in the city. We had to park a long way in a parking deck and walk to our hotel. The Bitter End is in Greenwich Village and is one of the oldest rock clubs in America. It was Rob Conrad on electric guitar, Paula Dagenhart on drums, David Tenery on acoustic guitar and myself on the bass guitar. Our original band which was suppose to go, backed out the week before we were suppose to leave so we threw this band together in one week and didn't want to miss this opportunity to play.
The Trapp Brothers
Our original band had congas, fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar. I never look forward to driving in NYC again. The taxis and buses will run you off the road so be prepared to get out of their way.

THE BRIEF ENCOUNTER, THE MIXED EMOTIONS, THE NOMADS, THE CABOOSE

LOCAL BANDS

GARAGE BANDS

ELKIN
Back in the late 60's and early 70's a lot of garage bands came out of our local area. We did music like Midnite Hour, Knock On Wood, My Girl, and much more from that era. Today they call it beach music or oldies. We called it Soul Music because much of it came from black vocal groups of that time. We had a local Battle of the Bands in ELKIN. My brother's band won the year they entered, The 13th Floor, and my brother played in my band also, and we came in second the year we played. Some of the bands at that time were The Nomads from My Airy, The Turks from Elkin, Our Band The Caboose Show & Dance Band, The Soul Society, The Mixed Emotions who also had reunited lately with some of its original members, Brief Encounter from Wilkesboro, NC, and many others. We have been classfied now as Garage Bands. We would set up our band in our neighbors garage, which his sons were in our band, and do all of our practicing there. We also practiced in a tobacco packhouse, and an insurance office when it was closed. We would practice anywhere that people would let us that was undisturbing to the parents and neighbors. One night we were practicing at our friends parents weekend house and the police came over and said we could do one more song but had to quit because the neighbors called in and it was 4 in the morning. Must I say again a lot of good musicians came out of this area of about 3 or 4 counties.

Speedy Chef,Chevrolet Vega 1972

ELKIN, NC

ELKIN, NC

CRUISING
This was our favorite pastime when I was sixteen. My dad and my grandfather both had Ford Falcon station wagons, and this is what I have to drive. I installed an 8 track tape player in ours and hooked up a set of 12" PA speakers from a Lafayette pa system we had used in our band. Young people today had nothing on me with their big stereos. For FM I used an Audiovox FM Convertor which converted your AM radio to FM. Cars back then only had AM radios by the way. We would cruise around the circle of town in one direction, and then turn around and cruise the other direction to see who we didn't see the first time. We met a lot of girls cruising, and for a young lad that was the whole purpose of being there. For some however it was to show off their muscle car. My dad later bought me a 1973 Chevrolet Vega. My friends had Volkswagon Vans, Volkswagon beetles, Karman Ghias, Ford Econoline Vans since we were musicians. We would cruise sometimes until 4 am until we were the only ones left before we went home. There is a place we would go to use the bathroom which is called the Speedy Chef. It is still there now. Cruising is now illegal in Elkin, NC now. It became real popular even after I was a little bit older, however the Elkin Rescue squad was right in the middle of town and the rescue trucks couldn't get out while people were cruising so they passed a law that you would receive a ticket if yor were believed to be cruising. There is no cruising here anymore. There is no place to hang out for the young people. Those good old days are all gone.