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Among the items included in my Jamestown Scrapbook, mentioned in my last column, is information from the work diary kept by George L. Hodgin when he was the engineer at Oakdale Cotton Mills.

The battered book was among the mill records that my friend Patricia Koehler and I researched when we were working on the Oakdale Mill Project. As many of you know, Pat and I eventually produced a book, “Oakdale Cotton Mills,” published by Arcadia Publishing Co. in 2009, and a film, “Oakdale Cotton Mills: Close-Knit Neighbors,” by Mary M. Dalton, published as a DVD, by the Historic Jamestown Society.

William G. “Billy” Ragsdale III, last owner and operator of the mills, was very generous in giving us access to the records that traced the history of this mill that ran continuously for a century and a half.
One of the most interesting of those records was Hodgin’s diary.

The earliest entries in it are for 1895 and 1896, when Hodgin wrote “Organized new company March 3rd 1896 at Oakdale,” thus marking the beginning of what we might term “The Ragsdale Era.”

During this time the company experienced the same highs and lows common to all members of the Southern textile industry. It struggled, became profitable, dealt with labor troubles, then wartime shortages, grew profitable again, then faded as the entire textile industry faded.

After holding on longer than many of its larger competitors, it very reluctantly closed its doors.

Hodgin’s early entries are entirely work-related, such as 'Dam broke Monday July 6th 1896 Small hole,” and “Highwater July 9th 1896 within 27 inches top the rock wall end engine house.”

In 1934, he began to keep track of the deaths and some of the more noteworthy events involving Oakdale people. Until July 1945, the local news is interspersed throughout the record of work completed and machinery installed.

I believe the earliest death recorded was Mollie Scott, who died Nov. 13, 1934. Her death was closely followed by the death of Lizzie McGee Hayworth, Bob Hayworth’s, wife, who died Nov. 14, 1934. The last one is Mrs. Hubbard, who died in July 1945. That was probably Sarah Dawson Hubbard, whose death was recorded by the county Register of Deeds.

The diary also contains the Wood Account, 1896, which is a record of deliveries of wood used by employees for heating, supplied by Oakdale.

Skipping around gives a sampling of the other topics:

• “Put in new coils in the dye house dry room, Feb. 16th, 1935.”
• “Cyclone April 3rd 1936, tore up Greensboro went down W. Lee street & struck Gorrell store down Most every house on both sides of Gorrell St … 1½ to 2 million dollars.”
• “Raised insurance to 25¢ per week & will pay $6 per week sick benefits. June 7th 1937.”
• “Easter Sunday March 24th 1940 snowed most all day to about 6” deep.”
• “Lighting struck Oakdale Mill & set 4 Spinning frames on fire Aug. 14th 1940.”

I followed up on some of the stories. One that Hodgin noted was reported by the High Point Enterprise on the afternoon of the same day, July 21, 1937. It reminds us of a kind of accident that used to be far more common than it is now, fortunately, but still happens because electricity is dangerous stuff. Here is what the Enterprise wrote:

“Murray Kennedy, Negro, of East Stonewall Street, Charlotte, was killed instantly this morning about 7:30 o’clock when he leaned back against a live wire bearing a current of 2,300 volts while working on a transformer at a Duke Power company substation near the Oakdale cotton mills at Jamestown.The body was badly burned on the back and on the bottom of his feet. The body, now at Sechrest’s funeral home, will be taken to Charlotte for funeral services and burial. Kennedy had been employed by the Duke Power company for about three months.”

Copies of pages of the diary are in the Jamestown Scrapbook.
 

They’re a little hard to read.

Eventually, I hope to transcribe them all.

Changing the subject slightly, I would like to remind readers that I’m still hoping to receive recollections and stories of the Richard Mendenhall House to include in the Jamestown Scrapbook.

Mary Browning is a longtime resident of Jamestown. Contact her at maryab30@triad.rr.com.