Interview with Elizabeth Moody Wilson

Interviewer

Nancy Biggs Thomas Wofford

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Abstract

This interview with Elizabeth Moody Wilson was conducted by Nancy Thomas Wofford for her 1984 Winthrop thesis titled, Fort Mill: Transition From A Farming To A Textile Community, 1880-1920. Subjects include Fort Mill Manufacturing Co., Springs Industries, Ivey’s Mill in Fort Mill, Catawba Power Company. The Evolution of the Early Cotton Textile Mills in York County, SC.

Elizabeth Allison Moody Wilson (1895-1986) was born in Hall County, Georgia where she worked in the cotton fields. She began working for Springs in 1926 in the spinning room and moved to the weaving room one year later. She discusses going to work picking cotton at a young age and picking 300 pounds of cotton a day at 12 years old. At 14 she got her first mill job at 14 years old in the spinning room at the Pacolet Manufacturing Company. By 1926 she was working in the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company. She discusses many aspects of Mill life including working while having children at home and children working in the mills at age 14 with permits, costs of everyday items, union organizers, child labor laws, and how the Mill operated on a daily basis. She discusses mill village life living in Fort Mill generally and the flood of 1916.

* The interview generally starts around the 5-minute mark. The audio has an echo of the same interview in the background.

Publication Date

10-22-1982

Unique Identifier

OH 371

Format

2 Cassettes; WAV; MP3;

Length

01:08:05

Restrictions

This interview is open for use.

Disciplines

Oral History

Keywords

Fort Mill Manufacturing Co., Ivey’s Mill in Fort Mill, Catawba Power Company

Notes

* The interview generally starts around the 5-minute mark. The audio has an echo of the same interview in the background.

Interview with Elizabeth Moody Wilson

LC Subject Headings

Springs Cotton Mills, Textile workers -- South Carolina -- York County, Textile workers -- South Carolina -- Fort Mill, Textile workers -- Social life and customs, Cotton manufacture -- South Carolina -- Fort Mill, Textile industry -- South Carolina -- Fort Mill

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