Crabtree remembers earning $5 a week
Times have changed in the last 200 years in Warren County. Those growing up today would have a hard time adjusting to how things were just a few decades ago.
Not too long ago, everyone washed clothes by hand; food was cooked on a wood-burning stove; most children worked to help support the family; a hard week of work earned a few dollars; and segregation was just how things were.
Some Warren County residents remember when times were a lot different. One of those is Jessie Lee Crabtree. She was born on June 22, 1912. On her last birthday, she turned 95. She was born and raised in the rural areas of Warren County.
‘I was born in the sticks,’ said Crabtree. ‘That is what we always called it, the sticks. Have you ever heard of Martin’s Chapel’?
Martin’s Chapel was a mostly black community. Crabtree recalls big differences between her childhood and the children of today.
‘We were expected to stay outside while parents entertained company,’ said Crabtree. ‘Nowadays, the kids do the entertaining. I can remember eating hot water cornbread while waiting. That was good.’
Unlike today, when everything was one quick trip to the store, most families grew their own food. The Crabtree family, 14 in all, was no exception. What couldn’t be grown, was bought.
‘I remember my mom working many a days for a dozen eggs,’ said Crabtree. ‘With 10 cents you could buy enough pinto beans and sugar to last a week. Earning the 10 cents was the hard part.’
Unlike children of today, Crabtree began to work at a young age to help out. She began working at age 12. Although the business is now long gone, she recalled earning $5 a week washing dishes and cooking at McGregor’s Boarding House on Spring Street.
When she was old enough, Crabtree began to teach at all-black schools. She taught in Putnam a couple of years, Smartt Finger’s Chapel in Smartt Station from 1933 to 1936, Hiawassee in Manchester from 1936 to 1951 and the Bernard School from 1951 to 1965.
Also gone from the area is a little business called Crabtree’s. In the early 1960s, her husband, Charles, began to sell snow cones behind their home located at 517 E. Main. The little business caught on and became a restaurant/gathering place for teens on Sunday afternoons.
‘They just called it Crabtree’s,’ she said. ‘I remember the kids asking him to open up so they could get a snow cone. Some might still remember Crabtree’s.’
All-black communities were common back then, Crabtree recalled, but not anymore. One was across the bridge in Depot Bottom, one by Rocket Ball Park, and one in the Pleasant Hill area.
‘Unlike today, everyone knew everyone,’ said Crabtree. ‘When Urban Renewal came, it separated everyone and caused them to go in different directions. The communities were close.’
The Pleasant Hill area, in the Starlight Road area, was so close they held their own fair until the mid-1980s. Annually, they would get together and hold games and exhibits at the Pleasant Hill School. The school was later closed and became a community center. The building still stands today.
Over the years, decades and centuries things have changed for the residents in Warren County. Most people have washing machines, stoves, and microwaves. There are child labor laws, a minimum wage and the community isn’t divided by race. Change can be good.