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Interview with Patricia Wetherington Brockinton, September 4, 2003

 File — Bag: \folklife\prj1014\, Folder: 063_brockinton-patricia
Collection number: PRJ1014-063

Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with Patricia "Pat" Wetherington Brockinton, September 4, 2003. Fargo (Ga.), Dayton Turpentine Camp site. Fieldworker: Laurie Sommers. Audio file digitized from cassette tape. Part of the South Georgia Folklife Project at Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections. Topics include Turpentine and Turpentine industry and trade.

Dates

  • September 4, 2003

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Biographical Note

Born in 1935 in rural Clinch County, Pat Brockinton still lives on the site of Dayton Turpentine Camp outside Fargo which she and her first husband, Robert Wetherington, took over from her father-in-law in 1955. The property has its original commissary, woods rider's home, and turpentine quarters, disintegrating reminders of the business which the Wetherington's closed in 1975. Although this project did not emphasize the experiences of turpentine owners and operators, Brockinton's story provides an interesting perspective on the role of a wife in a family turpentine operation. In addition to the traditional woman's role of child rearing, cooking, and keeping house, Pat worked in a variety of ways in the Wetherington turpentine operation. Much of this revolved around the commissary, which she would open for the hands when they needed something, and in care of the workers. The latter included driving them to doctors' appointments, fixing plates of food dispensed at Christmas and New Year's, and providing medical care and advice. In the medical arena she was perhaps atypical: Pat had skill in both traditional medicine and through a nurse's aid certificate. She also assisted her husband in the yearly wintertime burn, and, for three years, in driving the truck to deliver barrels of gum to the Langdale still in Valdosta. Pat's first husband died in 1992. She married Ray Brockinton in 1996.

Extent

1.50 Gigabytes (1 electronic record(s) and derivatives. 1 audio file (wav, mp3) 557,380,808 bytes. 01:45:19. 4 PDF documents (19 scans, jp2). 1.50 GB (1,612,556,785 bytes).) : Made available in DSpace on 2022-05-09T14:44:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 dat-1002-010_brockinton.mp3: 151673850 bytes, checksum: 964207a0ea06a72611d6d73f02c78421 (MD5) transcript.pdf: 5145692 bytes, checksum: af6cdb701e9b0fd200fc00f862c12518 (MD5) ADS-1002-05_Redacted.pdf: 688407 bytes, checksum: 5226c8cc1f3021729868f7d94814a000 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2003-09-04

Language

From the Collection: English

Tape Log and Artist Data Sheet

id: DAT-1002.10

item_title: Interview with Patricia Brockinton

call_number: PRJ-1002

informant_name: Patricia Wetherington Brockinton

fieldworker: Laurie Kay Sommers

recording_engineer: Laurie Kay Sommers

date: 04-Sep-03

recording_location: Woodpecker Route, Fargo

content_summary: Interview with Brockinton about life in Dayton Turpentine Camp, running the commissary with her late husband Robert Wetherington, running the business, role of a woman.

notes: Interview to get more information on life of women in turpentine camps. Pat's late husband and his family, the Wetheringtons, employed Stick Nelson, also interviewed for Faces of Piney Woods Project. Father was R.G. Kaney, mother was Emma Godwin Kaney.;

technical_summary: Good.

genre: personal experience narrative, naval stores, turpentine, natural medicine, food, occupational folklife, calendar customs

places: Fargo, Valdosta, Dayton Camp

people: Patricia Wetherington Brockinton, Robert Wetherington

groups: African American, European American

keywords: quarters, commissary, tally board, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving

Occupation: housewife, mother, beekeeping, turpentine bus.

id_number: ADS-1002-05

last_name: Brockington

first_name: Patricia

middle_name: Wetherington

nickname:

group_org_name:

Call number: PRJ-1002

address:

artist_city: Fargo

state: GA

zip: 31631

artist_county: Echols

home_phone:

business_phone:

fax:

email:

birthdate: 08/18/35

birthplace: Rural Clinch Co. (born at home)

ethnicity_1: Irish

ethnicity_2:

religion: Fargo Evangelistic Church

genre: "Turpentine, personal experience narrative, occupational folklife, naval stories"

occupation: "housewife, mother, beekeeping, turpentine bus."

education: "grade 12, Clinch Co. HS"

date_of_contact: 09/04/03

contact_made_by: Laurie K. Sommers

notes: "Interview to get more information on life of women in turpentine camps. Pat's late husband and his family, the Wetheringtons, employed Stick Nelson, also interviewed for Faces of Piney Woods Project. Father was R.G. Kaney. Emma Godwin Kaney. 4 children, 1 died. Youngest 3 surviving. Robert C. Wetherington, born 1930, married 1952, died Dec. 17, 1992. 5 children: Kathy, Patricia, Suzie, Judy, Charles (Robert Charles Jr.)"

keywords: "Dayton Turpentine Camp, commissary"

Processing Information

PRJ1014-063, DAT-1002.10, ADS-1002-05

Repository Details

Part of the Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Valdosta State University Archives, Odum Library
1500 N. Patterson St.
Valdosta GA 30601 United States
7063728116
229-259-5055 (Fax)