Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Locals share memories

Looking around Prescott, Rosston, Boughton and all of Nevada County today, its almost impossible for most of the younger generation to realize the extent of the changes. Families did all their shopping locally. Many seldom ventured as far as the city of Hope. Not only was traveling slow and difficult, there was simply no need.

Heres a brief look at the area through the eyes of some ladies who recall that time.

Flossie Childers is 91 and moved to Prescott some 60 years ago with her husband. He worked at a box mill.

Then, that was a big thing, she said, referring to the fact that many people worked at the mills.

Childers remembers Prescott as a bustling hub of the community.

We had stores, she recalled. Dry goods, ready-to-wear clothing, grocery stores and several shoe stores. We did all our shopping in Prescott because you didnt have any way to go anywhere else.

Childers recalled the names of several of those stores, such as the M System grocery, Forester Shoes and City Furniture.

Today, Childers calls Hillcrest Nursing Center home.

Willie Mae Woods is 80 year old and a relative newcomer to Prescott - shes been here only about 40 years.

She said she moved her children to Prescott to be near family.

It was a pretty busy little town, she said. We had quite a few stores.

Woods said her family did all their shopping in Prescott and that there was no need to go elsewhere.

You could buy anything in Prescott then, she said.

Woods said she raised three daughters and a son in Prescott and that going to town meant visiting with neighbors.

Used to, you could go to Prescott and see everybody, she said.

Woods said the city today has changed dramatically.

It isnt like Prescott at all.

Woods is among the residents of Prescott Manor Nursing Center.

Hattie Sandifer, 98, was born in Boughton.

Sandifer recalled that she and several cousins would gather up for a walk into Prescott.

When we would come into town, we had to walk on a gravel road, Sandifer said. Sometimes, wed catch a ride. Somebodyd come along in a wagon or something.

Sandifer said those trips to town with other cousins near her own age were a big deal and didnt happen every day.

Later, Sandifer moved into Prescott.

We said that Dr. Rice owned half of Prescott and Half of Boughton, she said.

Sandifer recalled that she rented a place to live from Dr. Rice, and that she paid the grand sum of twenty-five cents per week for the rental.

Today, Sandifer is one of Hillcrests oldest residents and seems always willing to share a few minutes and some memories of her childhood of almost a century ago.

Lucille McDuffy said shes lived in and around Prescott about all of her 81 years.

She said her family lived near town and that she depended on other girls in the neighborhood for friendship and fun.

Though she admits that they found things to do, she said, It wasnt nothing bad. In fact, entertainment, according to McDuffy, was simple.

When they had a jumping rope, they though they had something, she said.

McDuffy said washing dishes was the chore she most dreaded and recalled that she drew water from a well, heated water on the wood heater and then threw the used water outside. Though it was a chore, she said she simply did what was expected.

I did things at home to help my mom, she said. We had to in those days.

She went on to raise a large family of her own - 14 children and more than 30 grandchildren.

Hazel Hendricks, 83, recalled sharecropping in the area with her family.

For a renters family, it was hard work for everybody, she said.

Hendricks was next to the youngest of seven children. Even with five older siblings, Hendricks did her share of field work.

Daddy cut the hoe handles off for the ones that were little, she said. I was right there in that cotton patch.

Hendricks remembered trips to Prescott on Saturdays. She said her brothers had cars, but her father was leery of the automobile and preferred the wagon. Often, Hendricks would make the trek into town on foot.

Wed walk to town to watch a 10-cent movie, she said. That was our entertainment.

Hendricks said shes discouraged by the current situation in Prescott.

Prescott has gone down, she said. The little town is just getting squished.

Hendricks is among the residents of Hillcrest Nursing Center.

Geneva Gulley, 83, grew up in Rosston and attended Nevada County Training School.

Her father was a farmer, meaning that the entire family worked the fields.

I chopped cotton, she said. I hoed cotton. I picked cotton.

Gulley also helped her mom and recalled wash days as a tremendous chore. The tools of the day were a black wash pot, a rub board and P and G soap.

Gulley said she and her family usually did all their shopping in Rosston.

They had some grocery stores there, she said. There was just most anything that you could have in a grocery store. It sure has changed a lot.

Weekends, the family went to church together. Gulley said her father loved music.

Hed take these song books and hed say, Im going to ask my children to come around and were going to give a number or two, Gulley recalled.

She said she still loves attending church services and she sings as often as possible - even when the audience is only a member of the nursing staff at Prescott Manor Nursing Center.