Interview with Mr. Wesley Wrenn
March 1, 2003
Interviewed by Sandra M. Lowe
Mr. Wrenn grew up around Emanuel Baptist Church and attended Trinity School on the same property. It had three classrooms and classes went up to grade seven.
Today we are talking with Mr. Wesley Wrenn of Isle of Wight County, and we are going to try and cover some of the instances and experiences the he had in going to school in Isle of Wight. This is March 1, 2003.
Q: Mr. Wrenn, could you tell us what area of Isle of Wight you grew up in?
A: Well, I grew up in Isle of Wight around Trinity School, and was seven miles from Smithfield.
Q: Could you give me an idea of where Trinity School is located? What is it near?
A: Well, it’s torn down now, but it was located next to Emanuel Church; it is now Emanuel Road.
Q: Okay, and how many brothers and sisters did you have, Mr. Wrenn?
A: I had three brothers and one sister.
Q: Did they go to the same school?
A: Yeah, we all went to the same school.
Q: And tell us about Trinity. How many rooms were there?
A: First room carried First and Second grade, and the other room carried Third and Fourth, and third room carried the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh.
Q: And did you always have three teachers there?
A: Always had three teachers there.
Q: Do you remember your teachers?
A: Thelma Tynes, I remember her.
Q: What grade did she teach you?
A: In the First and Second
Q: Okay, and you don’t remember the other teachers that you had?
A: Well, Third and Fourth grade, I don’t remember who taught me Third and Fourth grade. The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh grade, Ann Quarles.
Q: How did you get to school, back and forth?
A: Well, I walked back and forth to school.
Q: About how far was that?
A: Well, it was about three, three and one-half miles.
Q: One way?
A: One way.
Q: So you were going seven miles a day going to and from school, both ways; round trip would have been about seven miles.
A: Six or seven miles.
Q: Did you have company? How many children approximately would walk with you? Or did you add to as you went down the road?
A: Sometime we added one. Lets see now…I say about four or five.
Q: Do you recall some of the students that walked to school with you?
A: Nora Bailey, David Mayfield, Paula Mayfield, John Walter Green, and Brad Green, and Jimmy Higgins sometimes. Some children would come to Isle of Wight – they could go either way. Somebody said the Bruce children – Sherry and Mavis Bruce. See, we had two ways you could to school. Back way and front way. Sometime you go one way, sometime another.
Q: Was one way shorter than the other, or…?
A: It wasn’t much difference. We go through the woods one way, and other way we go down the road.
Q: What was some of the things that you all got into while you were going to school? Did you play, or were you…?
A: When we went through the woods we had to go through part where man’s cows was, and we had to watch out for those cows. Some weren’t always still; they would run you. That’s when we went through the woods. When we go down the road, we didn’t have any trouble. One thing we had to do when go down the road, and was railroad tracks, and we had to go down the railroad tracks. And when we get to a field, we had a hole called a cattle guard. You had to walk the rails to get across that cattle guard.
Q: Was that…? I don’t understand that word. Is that a ditch or some kind of a path you had trouble getting across?
A: No, it was a railroad track where trains run.
Q: Okay.
A: You see when you get to a field they had to have a hole there to keep the cows and things in the field from going across there, so they called it cattle guard. We had to get across this big hole there; we had to walk along side the rail.
Q: So I guess you relate to those big tracks, iron with nails sometime.
A: Spikes you call them.
Q: Do you remember anything else about going to school? Any experiences other than that?
A: No. When we went through the woods we had to cross a swamp, and they had little boards you had to walk across to get across the swamp.
Q: That was when you went through the woods?
A: When you went through the woods.
Q: That seems to be kind of difficult. I can’t imagine why you would pick… How often you would go that way, as opposed to the other way, or was it more fun?
A: Well, where I was living it might have been a little nearer through the woods. But where I was living I could go over to the road and go on to school; and either I go out the back way and go through the woods.
Q: Did you have any jobs that you had to do before you went to school?
A: No, nothing much. I had jobs when we come from school.
Q: What were they? What did you do after school?
A: After school, get wood in for the night, cut the wood and get it in for the night and next day.
Q: Did you have any other…? Oh, you were on a farm weren’t you?
A: Yeah.
Q: Did you have any other jobs: feeding the chickens, or anything?
A: Naw; well feeding the chickens. Yeah that was in there – did feed them in the morning, yeah.
Q: What can you tell me…?
A: …And the hogs.
Q: Okay. The first hour or so when you got to school did you and the boys have any jobs you had to do?
A: Yeah, we had…get to school, we had to make fire.
Q: Was the wood already there, or did you have to go…?
A: The wood was there, but we had to go in the woods and find lightwood to start the fire.
Q: What kind of tree or wood was good for starting a fire?
A: Well, to start the fire we used lightwood come from pine tree – old stump – come from a pine tree, lightwood. You had to get that to start the fire.
Q: All right. Was there anything else used for lighting the fire, or would that start up pretty good just by itself?
A: You start it pretty good with paper and that.
Q: Do you recall what time you went to school? What time did school start?
A: Well, was 9 o’clock?
Q: About what?
A: 9 o’clock
Q: And how did your day begin? Did you have devotions, or how did…?
A: Yeah, we had devotion in the morning.
Q: You recall what would be included in your devotions?
A: Well, they sang a song; had prayer, read a scripture.
Q: And that was done in each classroom, or were you all together at first?
A: Well, we was all together like being in three rooms. The second two rooms they could open the door and put it into one. We had devotion then, and after devotion, closed the door and separate the room.
Q: Was that sliding doors that went across, or a different type of door?
A: I think they were sliding doors; I think that’s what it was. I don’t know whether it was sliding or folding doors. I think it was folding doors.
Q: Do you remember about the subjects you had? What were the different subjects that were taught?
A: Well, taught history, arithmetic, geography; history, geography, arithmetic and language taught.
Q: Do you recall anything specifically about the classes, or the class you liked best, or what subjects you didn’t like?
A: Well, I liked arithmetic best. And we had spelling too.
Q: What do you remember about your arithmetic or your spelling?
A: I wasn’t in love with spelling, because I had two words I couldn’t, not…always the teacher…I couldn’t spell – that was “Philadelphia” and “envelopes”. Them two words I couldn’t get.
Q: So you were all right so long she didn’t call those two words. Very good. You remember anything about the books that you had; the names of any of them, or where they came from? Were they new or old?
A: Some new books, and some old books.
Q: Do you know where your supplies came from? Did your parents buy your books, or did the…?
A: Well, we had to buy our books.
Q: Tell me about the lunchtime. How long was lunch and what kind of activities went on?
A: Well, the lunch we had to bring our own lunch from home. Activities… take exercise every day – 10 or 15 minute exercise.
Q: Was that part of the lunch period?
A: No, I think we had that in the morning before lunch.
Q: Anything else you remember about the lunch period?
A: No, not too much. Been so long ago.
Q: How would you describe your classroom? What was in the room itself?
A: Well, we didn’t have nothing in the room but desks; the teacher had desk, had blackboard to write on; crayons and blackboard to write on. That’s all they had.
Q: Okay. And what did you do for heat?
A: Heat?
Q: How was it heated?
A: We had a wood stove; cast iron; no, these little King heaters.
Q: And whose job was it to make sure the heat was adequate?
A: Well, the students would go there and make fire in the morning. When we got there, we make fire in the morning.
Q: And did you keep the area clean? The students – most of the time – did they do the sweeping, and take care of the heat and everything else?
A: Yeah. After this, later sometime a man would come in evening and clean up. __________.
Q: Did you have indoor or outdoor restrooms?
A: Outdoor.
Q: And I assume that was a problem. Well…?
A: Yeah.
Q: And your water…did you have fresh water at Trinity?
A: Yeah, we had a pump.
Q: That was near the back of the building, or you recall where it was located?
A: The pump was built in kinda over on the side. And see, was a ditch run between the school and the church; and the pump was on the side close to the ditch.
Q: Okay. Going back to the lunches for a minute. You brought your own lunch, but were there times when the teacher…did she ever fix anything special all of you like, you know, soup, or…?
A: Naw.
Q: Do you recall getting fruit or anything from the school system?
A: Naw, nothing like that.
Q: Some schools did. I was just wondered if you had that happen to you when you were going to school? Did your building have a coatroom where you would put your coats and hats?
A: Yeah.
Q: Three rooms, and where was the coatroom?
A: Huh?
Q: You said you had three rooms, and where was the coatroom?
A: Each room had something like a little closet. What you want to call it -- we called it a closet. Each room had a separate one.
Q: What about discipline in your classes? Did your teacher have any problems with students? How did she handle punishment when that was needed?
A: The class would need it. At that time, they take your lunch period from you; either make you stay back after school. Either one, did one way or the other. Take your lunch back or make you stay back after school certain length of time; that was your punishment.
Q: That was usually the only two punishments that they used when you were…?
A: Well, sometime they give children beating; give them licks in the hand, something like that.
Q: Was it necessary to punish children often, or very seldom?
A: Well, unless they did something, you know, something they shouldn’t have, did get punishment; or say something they shouldn’t say.
Q: Do you think that was rare?
A: Naw.
Q: Always somebody doing something?
A: That’s right.
Q: Do you remember any other school experiences that you want to tell us about?
A: No, I don’t remember any other school… After Trinity I go Isle of Wight Training School couple a years.
Q: What grades were you in when you went up there?
A: I went up there in the Eighth, Ninth grade. Trinity didn’t carry no farther than the Seventh grade.
Q: How did you get to the Training School? By that time did they have buses?
A: No, I walked. I walked and rode bicycle.
Q: So about what time did you have to get up in the morning to get to school?
A: I don’t know; around 6:30, something like that.
Q: And they opened at 9 too?
A: Yeah.
Q: Okay. After attending Trinity and Isle of Wight Training, did you go to any other school?
A: Naw.
Q: What jobs did you take after that in your lifetime; something that you want to tell us about?
A: I worked on the farm for a year or two. And first public job I worked at Smithfield Packing Company 1936. That was first job I ever had.
Q: And how long did you stay there?
A: Well, I stayed there about…well at that time they only worked in the wintertime; and they didn’t have no refrigeration problems all like that. Just a few worked in the summer. So I stayed there ‘til ’42, I think, because I was just working part time in the winter. Then I worked for the Lone Star Cement Company. So I worked there about two years the first time; then I came back out of service. You didn’t ask me that.
Q: No, but I was going to ask were you in the service? What year? And where did you go?
A: ’44 and ’45 I was in the service, ’44 and ’45.
Q: Did you go out of the country?
A: No, see I was married and had three children when I went in the service.
Q: Okay, and are there any experiences or anything that you recall that you want us to know about? Doesn’t have to be school; or just changes in the county, or things that have improved or have not improved?
A: Well, lot of improvement they made in the county and schools. You got buses to ride; you didn’t have no buses when I came along. You didn’t have buses. You got free lunch and all that. So much, I can’t tell it.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about concerning the county; anything at all, or growing up in the county?
A: No, not as I know of.
Q: It has been a pleasure talking with you, Mr. Wrenn; and that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for coming out this morning. We appreciate it.
A: You welcome.