Oral History Interview with Ann Brandburg

JOIE CARROLL: How old was [were] you when you got married?

ANN BRANDBURG: Nineteen. We got married on Jan. 3, if I would of [have] waited till October first, I would of [have] been twenty.

JOIE CARROLL: How many children did you have?

ANN BRANDBURG: I had ten.

JOIE CARROLL: How old was [were] you when you had your first one?

ANN BRANDBURG: Nineteen.

JOIE CARROLL: Did all your babies live?

ANN BRANDBURG: Well, I just have seven living now. One of my little baby boys, he died at birth, he was born dead, and a 1ittle girl, she was born in November and died in January. They called it the balded (??) hives.

JOIE CARROLL: How many grandchildren do you have in all?

ANN BRANDBURG: Oh, honey, I’ve lost count. We had thirty-seven when Milerd (??) passed away. I know there is [are] about forty-two.

JOIE CARROLL: How old did you say you was [are]?

ANN BRANDBURG: I’ll be eighty-two.

JOIE CARROLL: Did you have a doctor with your kids?

ANN BRANDBURG: I had every one of them at home, but I had a doctor with them.

JOIE CARROLL: Did you have a lot of problems?

ANN BRANDBURG: I just got along fine. Doctor Croley delivered the two last ones.

JOIE CARROLL: What did they give you for [the] pain?

ANN BRANDBURG: They gave me something, but I can't remember, but they gave me something that felt like I had my period. Now, my first one was born before the doctor got there. My aunt, she was a midwife.

JOIE CARROLL: When you fed the babies, did you have them on the breast?

ANN BRANDBUR: I raised every one of them on the breast, all but the ones that died.

JOIE CARROLL: Was [Were] they hard to wean?

ANN BRANDBURG: No, I just went according to the signs.

JOIE CARROLL: When they got bad colds or got sick, did you doctor them at home?

ANN BRANDBURG: We used camphorated (??) oil on their chest. We hardly ever had [to take] them to the doctor when they were little.

JOIE CARROLL: Was [Were] there any herbs that you used that you mixed up yourself?

ANN BRANDBURG: Well, I would give them catnip tea and stuff like that to make them sleep and it would move their bowels and everything.

JOIE CARROLL: What kind of toys did they have back then?

ANN BRANDBURG: They didn’t have that much. I remember little bitty cars or something like that. Mine didn’t get much back then.

JOIE CARROLL: Did you depend on a garden?

ANN BRANDBURG: Yeah, we always had a big garden. When we got married that summer, we had a garden put out.

JOIE CARROLL: Can you remember back to the Depression?

ANN BRANDBURG: I really can’t remember. Seem[s] like before we got to drawing stuff, it got pretty hard on us.

JOIE CARROLL: Did you make their clothes when they were little?

ANN BRANDBURG: My mother did.

JOIE CARROLL: Diapers?

ANN BRANDBURG: She would make diapers out of flour sacks and sew them together and bleach them and they were so soft. I brought [bought] the Birdseye diapers too. Mommy made clothes for me for the babies before they were even born.