By the spring of 1930, the nation was beginning to feel the downward spiral of the economy following the 1929 stock market crash. Few could imagine how deep an effect the Great Depression would have and fewer still had no idea that it would drag on for many years. For the time being, however, residents of York County were living life as it came.
On May 1 hail fell on the Bethesda community, causing heavy damage to early crops. Hail stones the size of partridge eggs fell for about 30 minutes between 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon. Farmers estimated that half of the fruit crop had been knocked from the trees. Luckily, young corn was only slightly damaged, and there was a good chance that it would recover. Little of the main cash crop — cotton — encountered damaging effects since most was not yet out of the ground.
On the same afternoon of the hail, Colonel Arthur L. Gaston, a Chester attorney and veteran of the Civil War, spoke to the Ann White Chapter of the Untied Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) during a Memorial Day celebration. To the audience assembled at Ebenezer (former community now largely absorbed by Rock Hill), the colonel expressed his view on the cause of the war, believing that it was not over slavery, but over “tariff and tyranny.” He was of the opinion that the South would have eventually freed the slaves, had they been given time. The outcome of the war (the South losing), he believed, was God’s plan in order that the nation might stand “united for safety and right for all.”
In Rock Hill at 1718 Main Street, the Southern Stores Company was offering what they described as “dependable” furniture. Front room (living room) suites were “unusual values,” complementary to any income level. A three-piece Jacquard suite could be owned for $85. On the other end of the scale, $195 would buy you a mohair upholstered suite, marked down from $235. Customers could even trade in their old furniture and get $25 applied to their purchases. And pickup and delivery was only $5.
In York more than 200 people gathered in front of the county courthouse to witness the unveiling of a plaque honoring the late Judge Isaac Dommon Witherspoon (1833-1901). Mrs. R. M. Bratton, Regent of the Kings Mountain DAR, called the ceremony to order.
In her remarks she pointed out that the first meeting of the chapter met at Judge Witherspoon’s home, and through his work the chapter had become custodians of the Kings Mountain battleground. She went on to remind the crowd, “The occasion is not one of sadness, but rather it is a triumphant one to honor a man who still lives in our memory.” Mrs. Bratton then asked Rev. Dr. W. W. Harris of the First Presbyterian Church to read a passage from the Bible and ask for a blessing on the event. Various speakers were introduced, among them were Governor M. F. Ansel, Colonel W. G. Wardlaw, and attorney Thomas M. McDow — all personal friends and admirers of Judge Witherspoon.
Governor Ansel recalled that he first met Judge Witherspoon soon after he had been elected solicitor of the Eighth Circuit Court in 1889. “I loved him and admired him for his great kindness of heart and his abilities as a judge. I consider it an honor to have been numbered among his friends and the many kind words he spoke to me will ever linger in my mind.” The governor went on to say that Judge Witherspoon was “a great exponent of the law and a just judge. He was a great lawyer and an indefinable worker, always on time in the heading of his court and always courteous to members of the bar. He was a Christian gentleman, which is the noblest work of God. He stood four square to all the world and performed every duty laid on him with honor and fidelity.”
Earlier in the month, President Herbert Hoover was the happy receipitant of a large basket of fruits and vegetables from South Carolina. The assortment had been collected by the South Carolina Natural Resources Commission from all over the state and was presented by a contingent of teachers and students.
The descendants of Thomas Jones gathered at a church in Western York County for their annual reunion in August. The dinner table was piled high from one end to the other, and the ubiquitous Western York County hash appeared amid smiles and yums.
After dinner J. W. Jones shared some of the family history with his cousins, saying that Thomas Jones was born in England about 1805, and at the age of 10, his father bound him to a ship to become a sailor. He followed that profession for 10 years and disembarked for good in New Orleans. Thomas made his way to Chester County, where he married Jane Jonsey and produced four boys and four girls.
Across the nation and around the world, the media reported two days of bloody fighting in China between the forces of Chaing Kai-shek, president of the Nationalistic government, and Marshall Feng Yu-hsiang and Governor Yen His-shan — both who had seceded from the Nationalistic Party and swore that they would bring an end to the dictatorship of Chaing.
Texas governor Dan Moody was preparing to declare martial law in the town of Sherman, where rioting was occurring following an alleged attack on a white woman by a black man. The court house and three blocks of dwellings were burned. The General Conference of Southern Methodists were meeting in Dallas and took notice of the riots with a “sense of horror and deep regret” and adopted a resolution affirming “lasting opposition to all mob violence.”
In Washington the Senate was questioning the nomination of Owen J. Roberts of Pennsylvania to the US Supreme Court. Senator Sheppard (D-TX) was fuming over a report that Roberts had denounced the 18th Amendment in a speech in 1923. Roberts denied that he was against Prohibition and many in the Senate were optimistic about his confirmation.
On the lighter side, the US Bureau of Standards announced to the Acoustical Society that modern women’s clothing was far noisier than their grandmother’s. To make the issue a bit sillier, Colgate University reported that loud noises partially paralyzed the stomach for at least 10 minutes. Four researchers came to that conclusion after swallowing inflated balloons to measure the expansion and contraction of the stomach. The bureau reported that clothing from 20 years earlier, which was mostly wool and heavier material, absorbed 4.7 units of sound. The 1930s style of more silky creations absorbed only 2.2 units. This fact was noted while testing sound absorption for engineers who were seeking to build theaters and auditoriums with better acoustics and enhanced sound for audiences.
And that’s the way we were in 1930.
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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