Ralph Myers photo courtesy of Jessica Ritz Poltrock
Ralph Myers was born in Akron, Ohio in 1925 and was raised on his family’s farm in Brasstown, North Carolina. They moved from Ohio to Brasstown when he was five years old, although his dad continued to work up in Ohio. Much of their food came from their family garden. He graduated from Ogden in Hayesville where he completed the twelfth grade. Ralph farmed for the majority of his life except for a period of his adult life when he was called into service to do a tour in Italy during World War II. He married and continues to live in the home they created in 1948.
—Taylor Cook
Taylor interviewed Ralph Myers for her thesis work on Granny Bell. He talks about his life and shares memories of Granny Bell.
One Granny Bell story Ralph mentioned about a mad dog spread throughout the community and into later generations of people who call Brasstown home. I recall hearing the warning story when I was a girl and Taylor says she was told of it too.
If you’ve seen someone cutting hay around the Folk School over the years, there’s a good chance it was Ralph.
Last night’s video: My Birthday Party Was Perfect!
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Sorry I’ve haven’t been keeping up my comments. I am extremely interested in this week’s topic and the interviews. So interested that I get sidetracked trying to find the people mentioned in them in my family tree. It’s possible that I am related to both Theodore Cook and Annie Belle Davis.
I wish Ms. Cook the very best in her endeavor and would offer my knowledge building a family tree if she ever needed me.
What a wonderful interview !!! I thoroughly enjoyed it !!!
This was a fantastic interview with Ralph Myers! Interviews with the older generations need to be recorded either by writing or videos or tape recorders, etc. If one waits too long to gather history, then it can be lost in a heartbeat, never to be passed down from generation to generation. I believe that if we say “one of these days I’ll go interview so & so”, then we need to set it high on our priority list and do it as soon as possible.
Thank you, Tipper! Interviews like this are so precious.
Enjoying listening to Ralph Myers stories and mad dogs were definitely in stories my Mother told me about her growing up years in NE MS. My grandparents among all other country folks in the early and mid 1900’s were very aware of rabies and watched out for strange acting wild animals or their dogs.
Also, your birthday party was great and I so enjoyed the girls singing and Paul accompanying them on the guitar. Oh forgot I wanted to mention Paul’s singing and the music played at Caleb and Stacy’s Wedding was fantastic. The scenery of the mountains behind them was spectacular. God Bless and I keep Papaw Tony and Norman in my prayers.
I remember growing up that we had a mad dog in our neighborhood. The police were called and I think they shot and killed it. I cant remember if there was a dog catcher at that time. All the kids in the neighborhood were of course kept inside until the dog was taken care of.
I am very much enjoying your posts this week. Of course…I always do.
Hi Tipper and Acorns. I enjoy the oral histories project. TY.
God bless the old folks, in the name of Jesus
I have heard stories told by the older folks about mad dogs in my neighborhood in years passed before there were vacations. In recent years it seems to be every summer there will be skunks, raccoons, and a bat this year found with rabies. I think many years ago my wife’s grandfather lost two redbone hounds because of having rabies. I have been around wild animals all of my life and am careful and know when I see an animal not acting normal something is not right and do not go up to it and start trying to pet it.