Did you have any songs you sang?

When I was in school we had what was called "Chapel" about 9:00. School started about 8:00, but around 9:00 we all gathered in the big room. There was a lot of singing. We had songbooks. I have a copy of my mother's song book. Its called "The Everybody Sing Book". It cost 25 cents. It was copyrighted in 1930, but the books we used at school were similar. I probably had a more original form of this book. The forward of Mother's book says, "Nevertheless, although EVERYBODY SING, even in its original form, would logically be expected to reach increasingly greater heights of public acceptance, its publishers are not content to see it remain a static, inflexible collection of songs. They wish it to be entirely elastic in the adjustment of its contents to the shifting trends in public taste."

The songs in the songbook are divided into what are called "Classified Groupings." Mixed Voice Songs, Interchangeable Songs, Hymns and Carols, Unison Songs, and Song Texts.

The book starts with the patriotic songs and I liked those the most probably because everyone sang the loudest on those songs. My favorite song was Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Here are some of the songs (there are 128 pages) to give you a flavor of what we grew up singing.

The usual patriotic songs

The Christmas carols

Yankee Doodle

Dixie

Old Folks at Home

Old Black Joe

My Old Kentucky Home

Oh! Susanna

Home Sweet Home

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow

When You and I were Young, Maggie

Good -Bye My Lover Good -Bye

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Some Folks Do

Billy Boy

Little Brown Church in the Vale

Scotland's Burning (round)

Nobody Knows the Trouble I See

Three Blind Mice

O My Darling Clementine

Man's Life's a Vapor

Go Down, Moses

Santa Lucia

Row Your Boat

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

I've Been Working on the Railroad

Bring the Wagon Home, John

Oh, Eveline

There's Music in the Air

You Tell me Your Dream, I'll Tell You Mine

Aura Lee

On a Chinese Honeymoon

Dinah, Won't you Blow

De Camptown Races

The Old Gray Mare

Home on the Range

Down in the Valley

Red River Valley

My Bonnie

The Quilting Party

Goodnight Ladies

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

Holy, Holy, Holy

Now the Day is Over

Faith of our Fathers

Cielito Lindo

Beautiful Dreamer

Didn't my Lord Deliver Daniel?

Ezekiel Saw De Wheel

All God's Chillun Got Wings

Are You Sleeping"

Little Annie Rooney

Daisy Bell

Oh, Dem Golden Slippers

Loch Lomond

La Cucaracha

She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

Funiculli, Funicula

Blow The Man Down

I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen

The More We Get Together

When the Bees are in the Hive

The Rose of Tralee

The Merry Widow Waltz

Vilia

Of course there are more, but you get the idea.

Did your mother work outside the home?

Bessie Able Neergaard, Mother - 1930 - Age 65

No. She helped on the farm and had a large vegetable garden. She raised chickens to sell in town to the residences there. She also had laying hens and sold eggs by the crate to the stores in town. One year she raised turkeys to sell at Thanksgiving. In the summer we helped. We picked berries, peaches etc for canning that we would use all winter. My mother quilted for warmth on cold winter nights. She sewed and made my clothes.

What did your father do for a living?

Farmer.

What is the date and circumstances of your Father's birth?

John Theodore Neergaard - 07 Feb 1880

Dad was born on a farm on the Tennessee River, about 3 miles out of Kingston, Roane, TN. The Doctor was probably Dr. John Patton, a grandfather who was a family doctor and came on horseback.

What is the date and circumstances of your Mother's birth?

Bessie Ophelia Able - 09 Feb 1885

Mother was born at home a couple miles out of Rockwood, Roane, TN. Several other Abel families lived on this road. She was the 9th child in a family of 10 children. There were 2 boys, the rest were girls.

Name your brothers and sisters, the years of their birth

1927 - Jim - Area where we played catch and other sports

Ruth 02 Apr 1905, died 15 Jun 1905 - My dad said she had the bluest eyes.

John Robbs, 29 Apr 1906 died 17 Feb 1987

William Forest 15 Jan 1908, died 11 Jun 2003

George Lester 04 Nov 1909, died 26 Mar 1996

James Theodore 18 Mar 1912, died 24 Sept 1998

Pauline 24 Sept 1913

How to kill a chicken

I have watched my mother kill a chicken many times. Here are two ways to do it. There might be more. One is to grab the chicken by the head and with a good snap start to twirl it round and round. Soon the chicken is off in the yard and the head is in your hand. You go pick the chicken up and pull out the feathers. The second way is the pick up the chicken and tuck the chicken under your arm with its head tucked in also. Then your rock the chicken a minute or so and it will be dizzy and you can lay its neck out neatly on the stump and chop its head off with the ax.