son. Walter married Morris Carter's daughter. He died in
early 1937 of pneumonia in West Virginia. So his widow went to help
take care of "Pap Anderson". Nancy Scales married Eler William Wells.
When told that the pioneer graveyard of the Scaleses which is a mile or
so west of his store was a thick tangle of growth and no stones to the
once wealthy tobacco manufacturer, William Scales, Unka Anderson
exclaimed May 19, 1937: "You don't mean to tell me my ole Marse ain't
got no tombstone to his grave".
A merchant's wife stated that about 1930, Anderson had more ready cash
in the bank of Madison than any white man in town, but Uncle Anderson
disclaimed this.
But the Depression of 1930-1934 did not injure this energetic black man
who started in a "quarters" cabin a mile or so west of his present home
and store, lived all his life in Madison and faces the "one clear call"
with comfortable snoozes on his own front porch. Respected by white and
colored, Anderson Scales, 82, has guided his life by the gospel
preached by his pastor, also an ex-slave, William Scales of Madison.
By Miss Nancy Watkins
Madison, North Carolina
Rockingham County
BIOGRAPHY OF EX-SLAVE CATHERINE SCALES
About ten years old at the "Srenduh", now quite feeble, but
aristocratic in her black dress, white apron and small sailor hat made
of black taffeta silk with a milliner's fold around the edge, Aunt
Catherine is small, intensely black with finely cut features and thin
lip. Her hand is finely molded, fingers long and slender. Her voice is
soft and poise marks her personality. Sallie Martin, a ginger cake
colored woman, sixty-five, has lived as a kind of caretaker with Aunt
Catherine since 1934 and thereby gets her own roof and refreshment. For
Aunt Catherine has gotten "relief" from the county welfare chief, Mrs.
John Lee Wilson, and Jeff Scales, seventy, brings Sallie to the
"relief" dispensary in his two horse wagon for the apples or onions or
grape fruits or prunes with dried bena, milk, canned beef or potatoes
as the stores yield. A white horse and a brown mule comprise the team,
and several dogs trot along side. Sally also small and frail looking
sits in a chair planted in the flat wagon bed behind the drivers' seat,
a plank resting on the sides. Jeff drives close to the door, alights
and helps Sallie step on to the back of the bed, thence to a chair he
has placed, then to the ground, just as polite whites did to their
women folks
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