Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105i/Section 24/Pa Carnes

Overview
Pa Carnes was a white male born in late 1863, exact date unknown, in Madison County, North Carolina. He worked as a farmer and lumber estimator in Eastern Tennessee. Carnes was interviewed by The Federal Writers Project sometime in the late 1930s.

Early Life
Pa Carnes was born in Madison County, North Carolina, three months after his father died in the battle of Gettysburg fighting for the Confederacy. He was raised by his mother and stepfather, who was his dad’s army friend who promised to take care of his family should he not come home. Carnes started hoeing corn when he was eight years old and was plowing by the time he was thirteen. When Carnes was 16, he got a job at the local sawmill for a wage of 75 cents a day. Carnes says in the interview that his superintendent took a liking to him and by the time Carnes was twenty-one, he was an estimator for the timber company making $2.50 a day.

Adult Life
When Carnes was twenty-three, he married a woman named Ella and bought a 200-acre farm for $1000. They had fourteen children together, ten of which are still living the time of the interview. His eldest daughter died at eighteen of typhoid fever, one son died at twenty-three of consumption, and one set of twins died five days after their birth because a doctor could not reach them in time. After his 9th child was born, he bought a 500-acre farm in Emherts Cove, Tennessee. After a short stint in Ehmerts Cove, Carnes sold this farm and bought one in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee so that his kids could attend school. For many years, Carnes made a living farming in the summer and estimating timber in the winter. His children grew up and got married and his winter work fell off due to consolidation by big lumber companies. In the early 1930s, Ella got diagnosed with breast cancer, and to fund her operation, Carnes took out a $200 mortgage on his farm. Carnes and his wife struggled to make ends meet and were denied pensions because they were deemed ineligible. Carnes says in the interview that “when all is said, our troubles is just because we lived too long”. Carnes's date of death is unknown.

Child Mortality during the Great Depression
In the years before the Great Depression, Child and infant mortality rates in the United States were high, especially in rural areas where doctors were not always readily available. In the 1910s and 20s, the Infant mortality rate (IMR) went down as a product of more urbanization and advancements in healthcare as well as a decline in the non-infant death rate (NDR), which is classified as the number of deaths of people over one year old per 1,000 people in the population. When the Great Depression hit, the IMR went back up due to a lack of resources for families, and the IMR continued to stay higher than pre-depression predictions.

Healthcare in the Rural United States during the Great Depression
Healthcare in the rural United States was a commodity as few people had adequate access and resources for quality medical care. This became associated with a high adult mortality rate. In order to fight this rural health problem, the United States Government started expanding funding for full-time county health centers in rural areas across the country, leading to a decline in the adult mortality rate.