Recently, I was at Silver Dollar City in Branson and dropped by the Old Homestead to listen to the free musical performance by the Homestead Pickers musical group which performs old time hill country music. One of the songs they played and have recorded on one of their discs is named “Bib Overalls.” I thought it was a funny song but very accurate in its description of this commonly used piece of clothing very popular among rural farmers and most everyone else in the country years ago, and even worn commonly today.
You can listen to the song, “Bib Overalls” by the Homestead Pickers here (running time 2mins 43secs):
The song brought back memories to me of earlier years when overalls were what I wore everyday to school and around home. Mom never let me wear overalls to church, though. Back in those years it seemed most of the men wore overalls. I remember Barney, Charles and Elmer Flaugher and Willard David Horton around Tuscumbia always wore them. Here is a photo of Willard David with his wife Imogene (photo 01):
01 Willard and Imogene Horton
The Flaugher family had many who were skilled with woodworking and other hand skill activities. The next photo of Barney Flaugher, son of Elmer, is part of a display we have in the museum featuring Barney’s skill at wood carving (photo 02).
02 Barney Flaugher Exhibit
Charles Flaugher, brother of Elmer, lived in town behind the courthouse. He had a hobby of whittling which is detailed in the story accompanying this photo (photo 03).
03 Charlie Flaugher Article Click image for larger view
Elmer, brother to Charles, was a blacksmith for many years in Tuscumbia but also had skills at Jon boat construction and fiddle making as described in the article accompanying the photo (photo 04).
04 Elmer Flaugher Click image to view entire article in PDF format
As I looked back through some of my photos I almost always was in overalls. Here is one of me standing behind my teacher Ms. Gardie in my first grade of school at Tuscumbia (photo 05):
05 Ms. Gardie's Class Click image for larger view
Here is another of me with my grandfather Madison Bear (photo 05a):
05 Joe with Grandfather Madison Bear
The origin of overalls is difficult to determine precisely. Several companies in the early part of the last century during the 1920’s began making them about the same time. However, from what I could learn the Williamson-Dickie Company was the first manufacturer of overalls. Here is a short history of the company taken from their website:
Through its dedication to innovation and continual customer contact, Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co. has transformed itself from a small bib overall company to the largest workwear manufacturer in the world. Sold in every state in the U.S., Dickies now offers a broad spectrum of work garments ranging from work pants and work shirts to denim jeans and women's workwear. Since its beginnings in 1922, every piece of Dickies workwear has stood for the quality, toughness, and pride that embodies the spirit of the American worker.
C.N. Williamson and E.E. "Colonel" Dickie began their business careers in the "vehicle and harness" business in Bryan, Texas. In 1918, they made what turned out to be a momentous decision when they and a few friends established the U.S. Overall Company. Then, in 1922, C. Don Williamson joined with his father and cousin to buy 100% of the overall company on a one-third-each basis and renamed it Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Company.
From its early years, Williamson-Dickie enjoyed steady growth, slowed only by the Great Depression, and during World War II, the company was sequestered to produce millions of uniforms for the nation's armed forces. In converting to civilian production after the war, C. Don Williamson began a strategy of geographical expansion and established new production facilities, warehouses, and sales territories throughout the United States. In the late 1950's, Williamson-Dickie became an international company by expanding into the European market and the Middle Eastern market - where Texas oilmen introduced the Dickies brand to Middle Eastern oil fields.
While Williamson-Dickie began as a bib overall company, today it has grown to be the number one manufacturer of work apparel worldwide. By continually expanding and updating its selection, Williamson-Dickie now offers garments ranging from its staple work pants and work shirts to items such as women's workwear, chore coats, and denim jeans. Dickies® workwear is currently sold in all 50 states and throughout the world in countries such as South Africa, Australia, Russia, Chile, Japan, Iceland, Canada, Europe and Mexico.
A few months ago Morgan Pope sent me this question referring to an old building in Tuscumbia:
Joe,
How about a story about the tavern which was on the low road below the old courthouse? As a kid I was told they had a parrot and I really wanted to see it and hear it talk, but was told the parrot was too salty for a young lad to hear. I've always wondered if that was true or if my uncle was telling be a big one. Do you know anything about such a phenomenal bird?
I thought I would expand on my answer to Morgan and place it on our website for this week:
The tavern is well known to me. It was a three story limestone block building owned by the Hauenstein family which was rented various times in its existence for various purposes. The Modern Woodman Fellow organization used the upper story of the structure for their meetings. I don't know for sure when it was built, sometime around the turn of the century or before.
By the 1950’s the only four buildings left on the river street were the Spearman building which housed the post office, Hauenstein’s Store, the barber shop, and the Modern Woodman Lodge Hall building. The Woodman building had several occupants over its life span. In the mid 1920’s my grandparents, Madison and Sadie Bear, rented the building from Ida Hauenstein and began a general store. It wasn’t a tavern in those days. I haven’t been able to learn who used the building other than the Modern Woodman group before my grandparents.
Wes Horton told me that once he was talking to Oscar Abbott who told him that he helped build the building. Oscar remembered that the stones for constructing the building were made out on the street in front from a limestone powder obtained from local rocks. Oscar said he was paid fifty cents a day (photo 08)!
08 Oscar Abbott
Oscar was a fairly old man when I was a boy growing up in Tuscumbia so that would indicate to me that the building probably was constructed near the turn of the century one side or the other. My mother says it was vacant much of the time.
My grandparents left it in the late 1930’s to move their store to the Spearman building. Jim Sweaney was the next person to rent the building and I believe the first to have a tavern there. I believe that Jim eventually bought the building from the Hauenstein family. Here are a couple of photos of the building when Jim Sweaney owned it (photos 09 and 10).
09 Sweaney's Cafe
10 Sweaney's Cafe
During the time Jim Sweaney owned the building I went there often to play pool with friends. Although it was a tavern it wasn’t a “beer joint.” Tandy and Eula Jenkins of Eugene continued the tavern there after Jim left sometime in the mid fifties. After the Jenkins’ Rudy and Leona Stienke of Kansas City bought it in the early 60’s and named it “The Lost Dutchman.”
Hilda Hager Stark of near Eugene bought the building from the Stienke’s and named the tavern “Big Mama’s.” The last owner was “Ms. Kitty” (Joyce Wilhite). She suffered a fire that destroyed the original building in 1989, but undaunted she rebuilt a smaller building (photo 11) but later it burned also.
11 Rebuilt Tavern at site of Woodman Building
Here is a photo of the foundation after the second fire (photo 12).
12 Old Woodman Hall Building Foundation
After that, Ms. Kitty moved her café and tavern to St. Elizabeth where she has an outstanding eating establishment today. She told me that she was told once it was bad luck to rebuild a burnt building but she didn’t pay any attention to that; but now guesses maybe she should have!
The fire which destroyed the original Woodman Fellow Hall building occurred on March 23, 1989 and was quite fierce. It could not be extinguished even after calling in fire trucks from several out of town communities. The Autogram published the story (photos 13 and 14):
13 Woodman Hall Fire
14 Woodman Hall Fire Caption Click image for larger view
So, like most of the rest of the Tuscumbia River Street stores and establishments, the big three story Modern Woodman Hall Fellowship Building was no more.
Before Beverly Pendleton began her revitalization of the area the only buildings left were the old Spearman/post office building and the barber shop.
I have some personal memories of the old Modern Woodman Fellowship Hall when I was a young boy at the time that Mr. and Mrs. Jim Sweaney were operating a tavern there.
I went to Sweaney's a lot in those days. It was the place where the men folk went to socialize. Because Jim Sweaney served beer, the ladies didn't enter the establishment. However, we boys frequented it without reservation; I loved to play pool there with the other guys for ten cents a game. Hamburgers cost a quarter. Pop was five cents a bottle at first. NeHi Orange was my favorite. Mrs Sweaney hated flies. She had a fly swatter in her hand all the time. She was so concentrated on killing flies that more than once the swatter struck the bar close to my plate with a hamburger on it which was somewhat inimical to good digestion to say the least, not only from surprise but from what she might have swatted onto my hamburger. The Sweaney's had a parrot named Billy which was given them by Billy Bear, son of Andrew Bear and a cousin of my grandfather. The parrot could talk. It talked a lot. It also could whistle really loud. Most of the time it kept asking for food, usually a cracker. "Billy wants a cracker" was repeated so much that the fly swatter was also used to strike Billy’s cage several times after which Billy would be silent for awhile. Here is a photo of George “Billy” Bear, his wife, Jennie, mother Cynthia, son Roy and cousin Arthur Bear with his daughter, Sandra (photo 15):
15 Jennie Bear, George Billy Bear, Cynthia Bear, Arthur Bear, Roy Bear and Sandra Bear
Wayne Vanatta in those days lived on a farm directly across the river from the old Sweaney Tavern. J.C. Brockman forwarded me an email of Wayne’s several years ago in which Wayne recounted some things he remembered about Sweaney’s Tavern:
“I will always remember the song "Pistol Packing Mama." I think every soldier in the entire US Army played that song on the Juke Box at the old Sweaney's Tavern. Since we lived just across the river from town, every day, especially in the evening hours, we could hear every note of the song come rolling across the water and echoing in every Holler on the whole south side of the river. I knew the whole song by heart for years after. I especially remember Old "Billy" the Parrot. Actually that bird used to belong to Billy Bear, and it always said "Hello Billy" repetitively whenever anyone walked into the tavern, supposedly in reference to its original owner’s name.”
Back during the time before the Woodman building was used as a store or tavern, the Woodman organization would rent it for various community events. One of those events, a fiddling contest, was advertised in the Autogram in 1916. I was interested in the article for one reason because it listed who were some of the better fiddlers at the time:
Miller County Autogram
February 1916
FIDDLER’S CONTEST AN ASSURED SUCCESS
A Vaudville Stunt Will Be Given In Connection
“Those who have signified their intention by letter or personal intention of entering the Fiddler’s Contest on February 19, are Rodden and Buster of Brumley; Edward Clark, Ulman; Jacob Smith, Tuscumbia; Sterl Jenkins, Capps; Ranie and Charley Jenkins, Mary’s Home; Charley Worden, St. Elizabeth; H.S. Tellman, Mary’s Home; Dave June and Dan Thompson, Tuscumbia; George Clark and Ben Weaver, Tuscumbia. A most splendid fiddler from Henley and three from Olean have told other parties that they were going to enter the contest, but as we have not been notified we are not in a position to publish their names.
The cash prizes offered are very liberal and those who have signaled their intention of competing are all good musicians and the contest will be waged to the hilt, promising a very interesting entertainment to the music loving public. Each purchaser of a ticket will be entitled to 100 votes for each ticket to be used in a contest settling the question of the most popular little girl under eight years old living within the Tuscumbia Consolidated school district. So the mothers can prepare their sweet little daughters to enter the contest as there will be no expense unless there is a tie vote which is not likely to happen.
At some time during the evening, possibly at the close of the contest, a free vaudeville will be given that will jar smiles loose from the most statuary looking face in the audience, and the ordinary man or woman will almost split his or her sides with laughter. A cash prize will be given to the most popular little girl under eight years old and two cash prizes will be given in the vaudeville contest. The vaudeville contest will be made up of boys under 12 years old.
Let everyone who wants to spend an evening of real enjoyment be in attendance on the evening of the 19th at the Woodman Hall.
Refreshments of some kind will be served so those coming from a distance need not go home hungry.”
In writing about the tavern I couldn’t remember how the Sweaneys’ spelled their last name, whether it was Sweaney or Sweeney. However, if I enlarge the photo of the building placed above and look closely at the letters on the window I believe the name is spelled Sweaney.
You can read more about the old part of Tuscumbia along the Osage River at this previous Progress Notes.
In that previous Progress Notes you can read about the revitalization of the area by Beverly Pendleton as well as more about the Modern Woodman Fellow Association of America.
In our Miller County Museum section devoted to the medical profession, we have a small display featuring the nurse’s cap worn by Janet Steen who originally was from Iberia (photos 16 and 17).
16 Janet Steen
17 Nursing Cap Properly Folded
The cap had not been folded properly as was pointed out to us by Janet’s sister, Alice Steen Tyler, who said that each nursing school had its unique manner of cap design (photo 18).
18 Alice Steen Tyler
So Alice took the cap home and spent some time with it folding it to match the proper design unique for Janet’s Nursing School.
Alice also was a nurse and had gone to The Missouri Baptist School of Nursing School with her sister, Janet.
I hadn’t explored the history of the traditional nursing cap so I am presenting it here this week. First, copied below is the caption on the sign accompanying the cap display:
“A nurse’s cap was part of the female nurse’s uniform and was originally used by Florence Nightingale in the 1900’s.
Each school had its own design that identified where a nurse received her training. It was a universally recognized symbol of nursing and allowed patients to quickly identify nurses in the hospitals. Nursing caps in medical facilities all but disappeared in the late 1980’s, replaced by scrubs.”
I will copy here from that website more interesting history of the nurse’s cap:
“The nurse’s cap was designed after a nurse’s habit, as a way to pay homage to the work of nuns as the earliest nurses. The original use of the nurse’s cap was to keep a female nurse’s hair neatly in place and present a professional appearance. Over the course of time, the nurse’s cap evolved into two styles. One is a long nurse’s cap which covers most of the nurse’s head and the other is a short nurse’s cap which sits on top of the head.
The nurse’s cap has also had a ceremonial purpose. For many years the nurse’s cap was used in a ceremony for new nurses. The capping ceremony was instituted as a way to present a nurse’s cap to students who had completed school work prior to beginning hospital training.
The nurse’s cap has under gone several changes throughout the years. The origin of the cap was the habit that nuns wore. Over the years, the nurse’s cap has evolved from a large cap, which virtually covered the entire head of a nurse to the current version which is just a small cap which sits on top of the nurse’s head.
However, over the course of time, the nurse’s cap has been used less and less. In some hospitals, the cap is still used by nurses. However, due to concerns of the cap being a carrier of bacteria, the cap’s use has been discouraged. In addition, with the increasing numbers of men in the nursing profession, the nurse’s cap has gone away being replaced by nursing scrubs.
While the nurse’s cap is not widely used in the modern era, the cap still has an important place in the history of nursing. From the days of Florence Nightingale to the present day capping ceremonies, a nurse’s cap is a symbol of one of the noblest professions….nursing.”
Janet Steen (photo 20) had an avid interest in the genealogies of our ancestors not only in Miller but surrounding counties. We were honored that she directed that upon her death all her research was to be donated to our Miller County Museum library. Copied below is the article which Nancy Thompson wrote for our September 2009 newsletter describing this gift by Janet who passed away in January of 2009:
Newsletter September 2009
20 Janet Steen
Janet Charlotte Steen was born in Iberia on December 4, 1937, the daughter of Waldo Amos and Eula Popplewell Steen. She was raised and educated in Iberia and attended Missouri Baptist School of Nursing where she received her RN Diploma.
She was commissioned in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War and served as a flight nurse. Later she became an Air Force Recruiter. Janet was a self-taught genealogist.
While the primary focus of her genealogy research was the Steen and Popplewell families, she also gathered extensive information on many allied families in Miller County. Her information was thoroughly researched and meticulously organized.
Janet lived throughout the United States and died on January 1, 2009, in Enid, OK where she had been a resident for the previous two years. Her family has generously donated her valuable research to our museum library. Staff has been busy accessioning this material and hope to have it available in the library by the first of October
The Steen family has generously donated Janet’s lifetime of genealogy research so others can benefit from her excellent work.
Joe Pryor
