Maude Todd: Interviewed by Jeffrey Kiser, 29 July 1980, Part 2

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• published: 21 May 2016
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In the early 1980’s, when I was a teenager, just finishing high school, I was asked by several people in the community to interview some of the older folks who lived in our particular corner of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Although I was quite young, I had a keen interest in local history, and had always been drawn to the older people when they told their stories of the past. The interviews were simply a more formalised approach, and with a tape recorder to record the encounters, of what I had been doing since I was a child. Visionary people, such as distant cousin and mentor Marie Elliott McClure, encouraged and guided me in making the actual interviews take place. I had been specifically tasked with asking primarily about two topics, the history of a local church, Pleasant Grove Methodist, which was also my church, and Oakdale School, the local school in the unincorporated village of Oakdale in northwest Mecklenburg County. By the time I interviewed these people, they were among those still alive whose parents had been active in the founding of the church, the school, or both, although their numbers were quickly dwindling. The idea was that I could perhaps capture some of these recollections before they, like those who held on to them, left us for good. That is not to say, however, that those are the only topics. There are two first-hand accounts of the great flood of 1916 that are truly remarkable. Also, as one would expect, the interview cannot help but be, like all narration in the rural South, dominated by family connections - who is related to whom. Armed with my cassette recorder, I visited a selection of aged great aunts and uncles, cousins, and long-time family friends, all of whom (with the exception of one) I knew quite well. During the interviews, I attempted to intervene as little as possible, hoping to interject only as much as would keep the monologue going, without directing or leading too much. Sometimes I was successful at this; others I was less so, as the recording bear witness to. The quality of the recording varies. Initially, I placed the recorder near the speaker and hoped for the best. As I progressed, my technique improved, eventually incorporating a rather cumbersome harness, which held the microphone, for the poor speaker to wear. As I became more and more engaged with university life, my interest in the local back home took a back seat to my developing life as a tentatively urbane student, one more interested in English literature, and European history and philosophy. I handed the tapes over to the history committee at Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they have remained. In March 2016, I retrieved them and had them digitised. Unfortunately, one tape, an interview with my grandfather William Sidney Nixon, my initial interview, has been lost. This, for me, is particularly painful, as I only have a fleeting memory of what all was revealed by my grandfather on that day. Otherwise, the collection is complete. I feel, in some ways, that I have come full circle, for although I live far away, my interest in the local history of my little corner of Mecklenburg is every bit as keen was it was those thirty-odd years ago. Jeffrey Kiser-Paradi The Interviews: Mayme Dunn (born 25 Aug 1899 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 11 Oct 1992 Mecklenburg Co, NC) Date of recording: 12 April 1980 Part 1 Part 2 Leonard Nixon (born 17 Nov 1898 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 12 Mar 1985 Mecklenburg Co, NC) and Dana Prim Nixon (born 31 Jul 1908 Gaston Co, NC - died 2 Oct 1986 Mecklenburg Co, NC) Date of recording: 2 Jun 1980 Part 1 Part 2 Rhea Rankin Elliott (born 1 Jun 1900 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 7 Dec 1987 Mecklenburg Co, NC) and Mabel Cline Elliott (born 10 Jun 1906 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 1 May 1987 Mecklenburg Co, NC) Date of recording: 9 Jul 1980 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Maude Todd (born 26 Oct 1894 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 1 Jun 1982 Mecklenburg Co, NC) Date of recording: 29 Jul 1980 Part 1 Part 2 Susan Abernethy (born 28 Feb 1897 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 1 Nov 1984 Mecklenburg Co, NC) and Elnora Abernethy (born 17 Dec 1900 Mecklenburg Co, NC - died 13 May 1992 Mecklenburg Co, NC), spinster sisters. Date of recording: 12 Mar 1981 Part 1 Part 2 Photo: the students, teachers, and Principal of the first Oakdale School House, circa 1908, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Originally in the possession of Laura Abernethy Howell.