Interviewer
Nancy Biggs Thomas Wofford
Files
Abstract
This interview with Daniel Newton Pettus 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, and the Evolution of the Early Cotton Textile Mills in York County, SC.
Daniel Newton Pettus (1902-1998) left his father’s (Newton Thomas Pettus (1876-1954) farm in Belair, SC in Lancaster County and went to work for the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company in 1919. He filled batteries for 3 to 4 years, and “drawed ends” for 44 years, retiring in 1966 at the age of 62. He and his wife, Margaret Frances Lancaster Holcomb Pettus (1923-2017), lived in the mill village. Mr. Pettus discusses childhood and family who owned a three-room farm house in Belair, SC (which is an unincorporated community in Lancaster County near Indian Land today), cotton farm life, native Americans, 1916 flood, child labor, and much on the life working in the factory. Daniel Newton Pettus was a first cousin once removed of Louise Pettus (1926-2021) (namesake of the Winthrop Archives) and a first cousin of her father, Calvin Hall Pettus (1901-1949).
*Audio has an echo of the same interview in background of the recording.
Publication Date
10-1982
Unique Identifier
OH 259
Format
2 Cassettes; WAV; MP3
Length
01:21:47
Restrictions
This interview is open for use.
Disciplines
Oral History
Keywords
York County Cotton Mill Workers
Recommended Citation
Pettus, Daniel Newton; Fort Mill Manufacturing Company; Springs Industries; and Wofford, Nancy Biggs Thomas, "Interview with Daniel Newton Pettus" (1982). Winthrop University Oral History Program. OH 259.
https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/oralhistoryprogram/509
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
