CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT In addition to farming,
Mose’s father was a business man who served as a
bank director and ran a beer distribution company. He
his interest in science. Hog killings were annual events
that brought out the entire community including the
local County Agent, who took this picture with Mose
and his brother Dan. Mose’s Aunt Ina lived with his
family for a long time and played a big role in his life.
Mose’s mother Alice McCorkle Coleman. Mose and
Hometown Living At Its Best 103
We didn’t have water. We had an
outhouse and lamps, that’s the way
we could see at night. At one time,
we had a Coleman lantern – it was a
fancy one like you would have in a
living room, and it was miraculous
that you would have that white light
instead of that little, dim yellow
light of a lamp. We had an old radio
– a Freshman Radio – a 5-tube,
battery-operated radio with a big
horn speaker, and they were pretty
expensive back in those days. Daddy
used to listen to KDKA in Pittsburgh;
that was one of the best stations to
pick up.
Daddy was in the chicken, cattle,
egg and sweet potato business at the
time and was President of the Toombs
County Sweet Potato Association.
When his daddy died (I would have
been about 2), according to Mother,
Daddy got sort of depressed, and
he decided to get a job with Swift &
Co. selling fertilizer. They furnished
Daddy with a Model A coupe which
was his business car, and he travelled
around South Georgia selling fertilizer.
This was also about the time that he
got into onions, which were originally
Bermuda Onions. Daddy recognized
the sweet onion’s taste and began to
realize that they were a viable way
for farmers to make a good living.
Daddy was always trying to lift up the
farmers of the area, to do better and
to work harder.
Around 1933, I’d already started
school, and Dan and I were in the
same grade. Also, 1933 was the end
of Prohibition, and Daddy decided
that that was a way of making some
money. The Depression had already
hit, and Daddy got wiped out. He was
a bank director when the banks failed
and the banks lost all their money.
Back then, as a director, they made
Daddy cough up some money so they
had him owing more than what he
had. Daddy never figured the bank
was gonna fail – but it did. Daddy