WEBVTT
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Odessa Murdock Diggs: You'll tell me. What is your name?
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Frazier Lee Parrish: Frazier Lee Parrish. Diggs: That's L-E-E? Parrish:
L-E-E.
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Diggs: Okay. And how old are you, Mr. Parrish? Parrish: 78. Diggs: And
when was your birthday? Parrish: September the 30th. You mean the day--the
year, you mean? Diggs: Yes. Parrish: 1898. Diggs: And where were you born?
Parrish: I was born in Chase City, Virginia. Diggs: Chase-- Parrish:
C-H-A-S-E C-I-T-Y, Virginia. Diggs: Okay. And what county you started
saying-- Parrish: Mecklenburg. Diggs: Mecklenburg. Parrish: County. Diggs:
Mecklenburg County.
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Diggs: Okay. What was the maiden name of your mother?
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Parrish: She. I think she'd be Coleman I think-- Diggs: Coleman? Parrish:
I think she'd be.
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Diggs: That's C-O-L-E-M-A-N? Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: Do you know anything
about your mother's family?
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Parrish: Well, I knew--I just barely can remember my mother's mother. My
grandmother. I just barely can remember. I was just a little small tike,
but I don't know her--her name, but I just merely-- Diggs: Just barely
remember her. Parrish: Yeah.
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Diggs: What about your mother's father? Diggs: Do you remember-- Parrish:
No, I didn't. Diggs:-- your grandfather?
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Parrish: No, I never saw him. Diggs: Aunts? Parrish: No. Diggs: Nothing of
that.
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Diggs: What do you like to be called? Black American? Colored? Or Negro?
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Parrish: Well. Negro is not bad because that's what I am. Diggs: Okay,
I'll say Negro then.
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Diggs: Were you aware of any other language used by your family or your
ancestors? Parrish: No. No. Diggs: Okay. What is your occupation?
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Parrish: Well, I'm a moulder by trade.
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Diggs: You're a what?
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Parrish: Moudler. Diggs: Moulder. Parrish: Steel moulder.
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Diggs: Moulder in a steel mill.
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Parrish: Steel mill.
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Diggs: What do moulders do?
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Parrish: Well, they--see they have a pattern and they make castings. Steel
castings. Just like big gear wheels or bearings. Steel bearings and things
like that.
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Diggs: I see. And that's what you did?
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Parrish: That's what I did. From--from 1914--no, 1916, until, see I went
back to the Brickyard. Steel would have gotten hard on my eyes. So I went
back, worked at the Brickyard until 1963, wasn't it. Anna Lucile Parrish:
64. Parrish: 64, where I worked in the--in the foundry for over 40 years.
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Diggs: All right. What mill was that?
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Parrish: Well, now I worked in different places. Diggs: I see. Parrish:
You want to name the places? Diggs: Yes. Parrish: I worked at the Keystone
Driller in-- Diggs: Keystone Driller in Beaver Falls. Parrish: Yes. And I
worked at the--Brighton. Anna Parrish: [??] Parrish: [??] Brighton,
uh--not--it had another name too. Brighton. Now--then I worked at Dewhurst
Foundry. Fred Dewhurst Foundry.
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Diggs: Okay. Is that in New Brighton?
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Parrish: That's in New Brighton. Diggs: Okay. Parrish: And I also worked
in Elwood City, in a foundry. That foundry was called--I can't recall. I
worked in the foundry--
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Diggs: In Elwood City, too. And then you said something about a
brickyard?
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Parrish: Well, I worked for Eastvale Clay.
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Diggs: I see. After you left the--
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Parrish: After I left the steel mill. Yeah. Diggs: Right. Okay. Parrish: I
was there 17 years.
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Diggs: At the Brickyard? Parrish: Brickyard. Diggs: And that was the name
of it, Eastville?
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Parrish: Eastville Clay Product Company.
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Diggs: What did you do there? Parrish: Huh? Diggs: What did you do?
Parrish: At the Brickyard?
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Parrish: I was a--what do you call it? Hacking brick. That is the brick
come from the machine out on a conveyor belt. And we had four men there.
They would take--the brick came out of the machine on a belt--conveyor
belt. Each man had to pick up two bricks and place them on cars until we
get the car full and put it in a dryer and stay in the dryer. Just like he
put in this morning. It'll come out tonight down the lower end of the
dryer. See, his tracks in the dryers. And these cars went in from the belt
on these tracks. Right straight down, just like a tunnel. We had a tunnel
here and a tunnel here. A tunnel there. You know, when one get full wide,
you open your door and start putting the brick on the car. Then another
dryer. Well, you make it to this morning. To this evening or tomorrow
morning, they'd be down to loading in the dryer. The dryer is about as far
from here. Oh, across Second Avenue.
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Diggs: It's about a half a mile.
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Parrish: No, not a half a mile, but Second Avenue right here.
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Diggs: Oh, right here. I see. All right. That's--
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Parrish: Yeah, so that's what I did at the Brickyard. Diggs: This is Sixth
Avenue, you said. That's Second Avenue. Parrish: This is Sixth Avenue.
That's Second Avenue. [???] season. The other avenue is a short cut up
here, see.
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Diggs: What is your--what religion are you? Parrish: I'm a Protestant.
Baptist. Diggs: Baptist. What's the name of the church?
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Parrish: Second Baptist Church in Beaver Falls.
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Diggs: Second Baptist in Beaver Falls. Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: What about
politics?
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Parrish: I'm a Republican so far.
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Diggs: And is--is voting important to you?
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Parrish: Very much.
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Diggs: Could you tell me why? I mean--
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Parrish: Well, I think that's--that's a man's privilege to vote, you know?
I think it's a help to him because if you don't vote, a lot of things that
you would be able to get by not voting, you can get it by voting.
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Diggs: How long have you lived in the Beaver Falls area?
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Parrish: Well, my father my mother moved here in 1909. That's when first
brought us from down in Virginia here in 1909. I was just a small boy. I've
been in and out of here all the time, ever since.
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Diggs: But that's when they came here? Parrish: In 1909. Diggs: Are you a
member of any ethnic--that means Negro--fraternal organization?
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Parrish: Well, so, you mean, did I? Have I ever been? Diggs: Yes. Parrish:
Well, I used to belong to the Elks and Masonics. And to the Pittsburgh
Consistory.
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Diggs: Pittsburgh Consistory?
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Parrish: Yes, as a 32nd degree. Diggs: I see. Parrish: In the Masons.
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Diggs: You said used to.
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Parrish: Yeah. Not affiliated with it now.
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Diggs: Is there any reason?
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Parrish: No. No reason whatsoever. But just--see, the Blue Lodge, that is
Master Mason lodge here, that is not anymore here. Diggs: I see. Parrish:
But when I was active, see, I belonged to the Blue Lodge in Beaver Falls
and to the Consistory in Pittsburgh. That's the 32nd degree,see? So. Yes,
but I used to be [??] to the American Woodmen for a short time, but not
enough to mention, I don't think. Diggs: Oh, you were an American Woodmen,
also? Parrish: Yeah.
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Diggs: How many years were you a Mason?
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Parrish: I can tell you that, to be frank with you, if you're once a
Mason, you're always a Mason.
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Diggs: Oh, I see.
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Parrish: See? That's where that runs. Diggs: Okay. Parrish: So I joined
the Mason Lodge when I was 21 years old. Diggs: Which order? Parrish: I
belong to the Master Mason Lodge in Beaver Falls when I was 21. That's
where I initiated at. Diggs: I see. Parrish: In Beaver Falls.
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Diggs: Why did you become a Mason?
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Parrish: Well, it's a great--it's a great organization. If a man is a
Mason, a lot of things he can--he can get. And a lot of people you will
meet different places. That's much like if I went someplace--even today--if
I went to a strange place, I wouldn't be worried too much because some of
them come to my rescue. Understand?
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Diggs: It's like a brotherhood.
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Parrish: That's right. I'll give a sign if anyone that ever had any
connection with that same organization, they will come to me, see? So I can
go anyplace. I'm not worried.
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Diggs: That's good. That's a good feeling. [laughs] Now, you said on your
grandparents you don't remember much about your mother's-- Parrish: No, I
don't. I really don't. Diggs: mother or father. What about your father's?
Parrish: Well-- Diggs: Your grandparents on your father's side?
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Parrish: I don't know my father's people either. Only of his brothers,
that's all. I had two uncles I remember very well.
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Diggs: Would you like to tell me anything about them?
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Parrish: Well, my Uncle Dan, he worked in Farrell up near Sharon. He
worked in the steel mill there. Now, my Uncle Willis and Uncle Jim,they
both was--lived in Philadelphia, so I wasn't around them too much. But as a
rule, my father's brothers all was men that always had a job, regardless of
what conditions the country seemed to be in. They always had a job. So they
must have been pretty thrifty.
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Diggs: Yeah, it's what it sounds like.
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Parrish: See what I mean?
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Diggs: Now, your uncle, that was near Farrell. Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: Do
you know how long he was in Farrell?
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Parrish: Well, Uncle Dan lived in Farrell about, I'd say about 12 years.
And Uncle Jim, he went to Philadelphia when he was just a teenager around
about 18, and he stayed there until he died.
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Diggs: So your uncles were here perhaps before your father came?
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Parrish: My Uncle Jim and uncle--Uncle Dan was in Pennsylvania before my
father came. Diggs: I see. Parrish: Yeah. Then I had an Uncle John, too. He
was here before my father came.
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Diggs: Right. Do you remember where he lived?
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Parrish: He lived out at Enon Valley.
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Diggs: Right. Okay. Now this. The one lived in Enon Valley was your Uncle
John? It was John-- Parrish: John Perry.
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Diggs: Does your Uncle John--no,--he's not living now? Parrish: No, he's
been dead a long time. Diggs: Did he have sons?
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Parrish: He didn't have no sons. He had one girl.
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Diggs: Is she living?
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Parrish: She's dead.
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Diggs: Oh. So then that. Okay. And he was the only one that lived in Enon
Valley?
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Parrish: Uncle John.
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Diggs: Where were your--now your father's parents you don't remember?
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Parrish: Not them. Not my father's parents. Just his brothers. Diggs: His
brothers.
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Diggs: Was your father from the same part?
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Parrish: Same part of Virginia that I-- Diggs: That you-- Parrish: Chase
City, Virginia.
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Diggs: All right. Well, what about your mother? Was that her home?
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Parrish: She lived in a little town called Red Oak, Virginia.
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Diggs: Red Oak?
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Parrish: Red Oak. Now, I just can't recall what county that was in.
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Diggs: That's all right.
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Parrish: But it's the distance from where I was born at about 20 miles.
But it was the county line there between the kind of houses where my mother
was born and raised there. See?
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Diggs: And so your family moved to Beaver Falls from Chase City.
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Parrish: My family moved to Enon Valley at first.
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Diggs: I see. So your family moved--you lived in Enon Valley, too?
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Parrish: For a short time. Then we moved to Beaver Falls.
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Diggs: Okay. Parrish: See? Diggs: All right. So they moved to Enon
Valley.
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Parrish: Yeah, my father and my uncle worked for some people on a farm out
there. Right out in Enon.
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Diggs: Yeah. What were their names?
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Parrish: Bradfords.
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Diggs: The Bradfords. That was Reverend Bradford.
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Parrish: No, not a Reverend. Diggs: Okay. Parrish: These here people, they
didn't go to church. No [??]
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Diggs: [laughs] Okay. So--
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Parrish: The White people.
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Diggs: Yes. Okay. Right. Because most people out there are White. But they
were they worked for the Bradfords out--
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Parrish: My people worked for the Bradfords. The Bradfords were White
people. Diggs: Right. Parrish: But they had a big farm. And my father and
my Uncle John worked for these people--Bradfords--when we first came and
these, these Bradfords had a little outhouse, small house that we came from
Virginia, Chase City, Virginia. That's where my mother and dad and children
stayed until my father left the Bradford farm.
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Diggs: I see. Is that now what's owned now by Mrs. Douthitt?
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Parrish: Well the Douthitts, see, he married in the Bradford family.
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Diggs: I see.
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Parrish: So that's how he got to be in with the-- Diggs: Contact. Parrish:
With the contact with the Bradfords. Diggs: I see. Parrish: But he's
a--he's a--he's a Douthitt. Diggs: He's a Douthitt. Parrish: Henry
Douthitt, Clifford Douthitt. Maybe you ever heard those names before.
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Diggs: Yes, I met Mrs.-- Marge Douthitt. Parrish: That's right. Diggs:
Now, you told me--did you tell me what year your family moved to
Pittsburgh? I mean, to this area? Enon Valley. It was 1902?
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Parrish: No, 1909. Diggs: 1909. Parrish: 1909. Diggs: 1909.
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Diggs: Okay. And they moved to Enon Valley? Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: Okay.
Now, how many places did you live before Beaver Falls? Beside Enon Valley?
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Parrish: Myself? Just me?
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Diggs: Your family.
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Parrish: Well, we, uh. We lived in Knoxville--I'll tell ya, I lived in New
Galilee for a while. After I married, I lived in New Galilee for a while.
Me and my family. Diggs: I see. Parrish: But my father and mother still is
on the farm out there between New Galilee and Enon Valley. See, my father
bought a small farm out there between Enon Valley and New Galilee. So when
they bought a little farm, I stayed there with them for a short time. When
I got married, I lived in New Galilee for a short time. See, this is my
second wife. Diggs: Okay. Parrish: But my first wife and I lived in New
Galilee for a while. That's where my--my oldest child was born in New
Galilee.
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Diggs: New Galilee. And that's in Pennsylvania? Parrish: Oh, yes.
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Parrish: That's in Lawrence. It's in Beaver County. But Enon Valley is in
Lawrence County.
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Diggs: Okay. And when did you move to Beaver Falls?
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Parrish: Well, I came to Beaver Falls in 19--must have been around about
1915, 16.
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Diggs: When you moved to Beaver Falls, where did you move?
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Parrish: When I moved to Beaver Falls, my first place was on 13th Street
and it was between Fourth and Fifth Avenue.
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Diggs: What was that area like?
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Parrish: It was very good.
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Diggs: Was it mostly people there from the South?
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Parrish: No, no, I only--I was the only Colored in that section. 13th
Street in those days. My family was the only Colored down there.
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Diggs: And then what was it like when you moved here? Did you move here--
Parrish: No, I. Diggs: --after 13th?
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Parrish: After I. After my leaving over there, we moved. I moved my family
on Ninth Avenue and 15th Street. It was up near the baseball park. Diggs: I
see. Parrish: We stayed there for quite some time. And after that, I moved
up to 19th Street and Eighth Avenue.
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Diggs: You really lived around Beaver Falls? Parrish: Yeah. Yeah. Diggs:
What was Beaver Falls like then?
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Parrish: Very good.
Diggs: There's many Colored people?
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Parrish: Quite a few Colored people. Yeah.
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Diggs: Is there much difference in it now?
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Parrish: Well, yes, it is. In the early days when Colored was--is around
White people, anything that White people could do for you, it seemed like
the more willing to do for you then they are today. Because I remember very
well when we first came here, we were small and the man we--the
Bradfords--the people that we were working for--my father was working
for--thye just had lots of cattle, you know. And they gave my father two
cows. So that--make sure we get all the milk we wanted. This gave us--made
us [unintelligible]. And also harvesting time, we never had to buy no
potatoes or cabbage or green beans, tomatoes, nothing like that. We had our
own garden. They made it--gave us a garden plot of ground. We raised our
own vegetables, see. And we lived good, but it wasn't very much money in
it. Money was scarce. But first, food like that. We had oodles of food.
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Diggs: You didn't have any problem?
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Parrish: No problem.
Diggs: Well, do you think that Enon Valley is the same? Perhaps now?
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Parrish: Well, somewhat. But it's much practically the same.
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Diggs: Right. It's just Beaver Falls--
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Parrish: The people that live out there, they're doing good. But. You
didn't have no problem with food. Of course. Of course, the wages was cheap
then, you know, because money was scarce but for living good in a healthy
neighborhood. And the conditions were-- you couldn't beat it.
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Diggs: Right. Well, your father, was he a farmer?
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Parrish: Well, my father used to run a sawmill in Virginia. Before he left
Virginia. He had a sawmill. And after he came here, he started turning out
to be a farmer.
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Diggs: He ran a sawmill? Parrish: Oh, yeah.
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Parrish: Yes, he had a sawmill. I remember it very well because we had--he
had a sawmill down in North Carolina when he was in the sawmill biz.
Sometimes we children wouldn't see our father for 3 or 4 weeks because it
was kind of unconvenient to leave the mill down there and then come clear
back into Virginia. So sometimes he, after he had a big shipment of logs
and timber, but then after he got his money, he'd come home for, you know,
for a short time. Diggs: He was smart. Parrish: But sometimes he'd be three
weeks for return to see--yeah, see our father.
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Diggs: What about your mother? Did she do any outside work?
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Parrish: No. My mother was a was a very delicate woman, sickly. And she
didn't do anything. She did what she could because sometimes she did too
much. That's why I think she didn't stay well, because she had a big garden
in Virginia. And after you got up here, she wanted a big garden and she'd
be out there in the morning hoeing the potatoes and cabbage and tomatoes
and stuff, when she really wasn't able to do it. Diggs: It was too much?
Parrish: Yeah.
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Diggs: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
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Parrish: I didn't. I had one sister, but she died when she was an infant.
And I had two other brothers. That was just the three of us, three boys and
one girl, and she died when she was an infant.
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Diggs: Uh, in your family--in your immediate family now, before you're
married, did you have other relatives live with you or boarders or
anything? Do you remember growing up with that kind of--
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Parrish: No. My father had a cousin came here and worked on the farm with
us one summer and I forget his name. I knew his first name, but he wasn't a
Parrish.
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Diggs: I see. But he was a cousin.
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Parrish: He was a cousin. He worked for a short time.
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Diggs: But she never had boarders? Parrish: No. Diggs: Okay. How many
children do you have?
00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.000
Parrish: I have a boy and a girl.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:17.000
Diggs: And how old are they?
00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.000
Parrish: Let's see. Clarence, he's born in 1921. That would make him.
00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:23.000
Diggs: Okay. That's close enough. And your daughter?
00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000
Parrish: My daughter is 48, ain't it Anna?
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.000
Anna Parrish: 50 something maybe
00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.000
Parrish: Is she 50 now?
00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000
Anna Parrish: 48 you say? I wouldn't know.
00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:36.000
Parrish: I say she's 48.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.000
Diggs: Oh. What year was she born? Do you remember what year.
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:45.000
Parrish: Clarence was born in '21. And I just don't know exactly [laughs]
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:47.000
Diggs: Was she born before him or after him?
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:59.000
Parrish: After. Oh yeah.
Diggs: Okay. Did you ever have any, you know, special training or work?
Special education or special training?
00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:03.000
Parrish: Well, I went to high school. Diggs: Okay. Parrish: I went to
Darlington High School.
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:13.000
Diggs: You went to Darlington High School. Because you were out there in
Enon Valley. Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: Okay. But you didn't have any special
training? Like you worked in a foundry, you didn't have to have special
training for that?
00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Parrish: Oh yes, you had to learn your trade in the foundry.
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.000
Diggs: Okay? And for in the Brickyard was it a special thing?
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:26.000
Parrish: Wasn't there--didn't have to run no trade but foundry, you had to
run. You had to serve so many years of apprenticeship before you could
get.
00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.000
Diggs: So you did that? Parrish: I did that. Diggs: At which place?
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.000
Parrish: I did that in the three different foundries that I told you I
worked at. I started at Keystone Driller.
00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.000
Diggs: At Keystone Driller.
00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:38.000
Parrish: Yeah [unintelligible].
00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:51.000
Diggs: And you worked as an apprentice? Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: And this
was--you were trained. Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: So which was your first job?
How old were you when you got your first job and what was your first job?
00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.000
Parrish: Well, my first job was on the farm.
00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.000
Diggs: Okay. [laughs] About how old were you then when you started
working?
00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:12.000
Parrish: Oh, you had your duck? [laughter] Well, let's see. I've been
working ever since I was, I'll say, doing the work. I mean, ever since I
was ten years old.
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:13.000
Diggs: Ten years old?
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:24.000
Parrish: That's right. I went to school, but we had work to do before we
went to school and we got back from school, it still working. Diggs: You
still worked? Parrish: Yeah.
00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:32.000
Diggs: When was the first income when you started to support somebody with
it? First [??????] you got an income.
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:48.000
Parrish: Well. Let's see. What little bit we did do on the outside working
for different farmers, we brought that money home, I did, and gave it to my
mother and she thought maybe I need a quarter or something, she gave me and
she kept the rest. Diggs: Right. Parrish: But that wasn't very much.
00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.000
Diggs: Yeah, but this was when you were ten? Parrish: Yeah. Diggs: Started
from ten?
00:23:51.000 --> 00:24:25.000
Parrish: Started from ten. You worked--worked from. Picked potatoes and
pull weeds and cut corn. At that time, if you got $0.50 a day, you had big
money. That's right. Because I knew I worked for $0.50 a day on many, many
a day from time you can see in the morning until you couldn't see at night,
you got $0.50. But the people would give you your dinner and your supper.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:31.000
Diggs: What are some of the jobs you remember best? Both good and bad.
00:24:31.000 --> 00:25:59.000
Parrish: Well, the best job that I really loved and I hated--I couldn't
stand in that particular place [??], but on account of my eye that was in
the foundry. See and I went to the foundry, I went to the foundry as a
laborer, and I said, see those fellows making castings? And they pour this
hot metal in these molds. And when they got cold enough, they would lift
the top off these molds. And there's your casting that they made, you know,
you make it in the sand and then you pour hot metal in there. They form in
that--that pattern you had in that sand when you pour that hot metal,
that's the kind of casting would come out. And that was interesting to me.
So I said to the boss one day I was just a laborer then. I said--his name
is Hayes--I said, Mr. Hayes. I said, I like this kind of work. And I said,
and I wish I'm at the age now. I say I could--can do most any kind of labor
work, you know, heavy or anything. He looked at me, he said, Frazier, he
said, you've got a good idea. He said, but I want to tell you something. He
says there's no Colored moulders now.
00:25:59.000 --> 00:27:10.000
Parrish: I said, well, first everything that come, you know, I said, all I
want you to do is give me a chance. Well, he said, I'll study it over. So
one day he come past me, I was working, helping these White fellows make
these molds. Doing you know, mostly the hard work for these White people
because they, they had the knowledge and I had the labor. I had to do the
labor. So he come to me, he said, when you get through, come up to the
office. So one evening I came up to the office. He said, You know what you
approached me with here about six months ago? I said, yeah. He said, You
think you'd like to be one of those like them other guys? I said, I don't
see why not. I said, all I want is the chance. He said, But I'll tell you
something. If I give you the chance, I'm going to tell you this. He said,
two strikes on you before you start, because I was Black, see. He said now
you think you can make good of that one strike that's against you and still
make the grades, he said, I'll give you a chance. I said, Well, I'll take a
chance on it. I said, I don't think I'll strike out either.
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.000
Diggs: That was fair enough. [laughs]
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:24.000
Parrish: So he gave me the chance and I made good. Now, some of the
fellows disliked it, you know, because I was Colored.
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000
Diggs: About what year was that now?
00:27:26.000 --> 00:28:12.000
Parrish: Oh, that was 1900--1915. So I had one fella, White fella. He was
a big help to me. He said he liked me because I was his helper before this
man gave me this chance, you see. He said, I'm going to stick with you.
Well, I said, I appreciate that. He did. When I had served my full years of
apprenticeship and this boss that gave me this opportunity, he said, Well,
now Frazier, I'm going to turn you loose.
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:13.000
Diggs: All right so.
00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:51.000
Parrish: I'll be all right now. Diggs: That's okay. Parrish: But as I
said, I had it rough. A lot of them was against me and a lot of them would
do things that they thought the boss would get asked me about. You know,
just like I had--the boss would give me a pattern and they would tell me
the wrong way a lot of times I knew it was wrong because I had learned the
trade just like they did. And I said, No, I won't do it that or I'll do it
my way. And my casting come out. Sometime my casting is better than the one
that that said that they'd been working their trade so long.
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:52.000
Diggs: Right. That's what they were afraid of.
00:28:52.000 --> 00:29:02.000
Parrish: That's what this trader said, that I would be better than what
they were. In fact, I've become to be one of the best moulders they had in
that foundry.
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:18.000
Diggs: See, that's what happened. See, what you did was trailblaze the way
for people today. That's what happened. So now the reasons then that you
came to Beaver Falls [doorbell rings] is because your parents were here.
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:19.000
Parrish: My parents was here.
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:21.000
Diggs: Yeah. Right. Okay. Do you have any idea why they came out here?
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:49.000
Parrish: Well, my Uncle John was here before my father came, and he kept
writing down to Virginia, where my father was--Chase City, Virginia and
said that the--the environment up here would be better and you could get
jobs and you could be your own boss after you got up here, you know, down
there--and my father would worked for these other people until he got his
own, you know?
00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:51.000
Diggs: Start here.
00:29:51.000 --> 00:30:12.000
Parrish: Yes. Absolutely. Sawmill. So he's worked with White people at
sawmill, but he got it knowing the sawmill business that he got himself a
sawmill, a small sawmill of his own. And White people didn't like that. And
a lot of times when my father could have sold a lot of his timber, these
White people, you know, would cut in.
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:13.000
Diggs: I see. I see.
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:23.000
Parrish: So he said, Well, it's a lot of timber up here. He said, I have
to get up here awhile and get a start--you start up one yourself. My--my
father, he got up here and liked the farming, so he just went farming.
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:25.000
Diggs: They switched careers. That's marvelous.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:28.000
Parrish: Excuse me, because I just got filled up because--
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:32.000
Diggs: Yeah, I can understand. That's honest emotion.
00:30:32.000 --> 00:31:32.000
Diggs: Um, so now in the area there around Enon Valley that you grew up--
