Interview with Roy Sizemore, September 1, 1979

Interview Summary

Roy Sizemore was born at Dryhill in Leslie County, Kentucky. He gives some information about his grandfather, who was a Union soldier in the Civil War, and also discusses political parties in Leslie County from his boyhood to the present. Sizemore recalls Hyden when he was young and describes particular buildings, characteristics of the town, and segments of the population. Traveling salesmen displayed their wares at the hotel, and freight boats were poled up the river to a railroad connection about 1914. Sizemore's parents ran a hotel for a time, and his father became a deputy sheriff and then a U.S. marshal. Sizemore worked in the coal mines and then in the local office of the government relief program that dispensed commodities. He asserts that in the drought years of the early 1930s people were considerably helped by the distributed food. He also recalls the WPA and the CCC in the area and comments upon the benefits to the county from local construction. Sizemore was postmaster in Hyden until he retired at the age of seventy. He subsequently became chairman of his local Red Cross chapter and was appointed to the Hyden Committee of the FNS. Eventually a trustee, he was also appointed to the Board of Governors. Sizemore comments upon various FNS employees he has known, and upon Mary Breckinridge's efforts to raise money for the organization.

Interview Keyword

African Americans--Social conditions. Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965 Coal miners--Kentucky Dryhill (Ky.) Food relief. Hyden (Ky.)--Buildings, structures, etc. Medical care--Appalachian Region Race relations--Kentucky Rural health services United States Postal Service United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. World War, 1914-1918

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region--Economic conditions Appalachian Region--Social conditions Coal mines and mining--Kentucky Country life Depressions--1929--Kentucky Economic assistance, Domestic Education--Kentucky Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Hyden (Ky.) Leslie County (Ky.)--Politics and government Public welfare Rural schools--Kentucky Social service, Rural Traditional farming--Kentucky

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