Arms, Blanche

Description

Zachary Cooper and Emilie Tari interview Blanche Arms on September 15, 1981, in Madison, Wisconsin. Arms discusses her ancestors, the Bass family, who came to Wisconsin from Ohio, and details of the log house that they lived in, including the furniture and the kitchen. She also describes life on the farm, including cradling grain around stumps, the process of harvesting and storing corn, wild plants used in cooking, removing stumps, raising and butchering livestock, mechanized agricultural equipment, making butter, and harvesting ginseng. She remembers home life, including doing laundry, the way the house was lit (first with kerosene, then gas, then electricity), and cooking. In addition, she mentions Tom Shivers, who bought land from Samuel Bass.This interview is part of the Black Settlers from Rural Wisconsin Oral History Project.

Record Contributed By

Wisconsin Historical Society

Record Harvested From

Recollection Wisconsin