Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 06/E.W. Faucette

Overview

E. W. Faucette was a white, male tobacco farmer in North Carolina. He grew up through the impacts of the Civil War and lived through the affects of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression.

Biography

Early Life

E.W. Faucette was born in the 1880’s into a white home in North Carolina about twenty years after the American Civil War. Faucette had five brothers and one sister. His father was a merchant but became a farmer to support the family. He learned from an early age that work is one of the most important aspects in life. Therefore, at age 21 each boy was to leave the home and search for his future and source of income. He learned the importance of family, frugality, and hard labor.

Adulthood

At 21, Faucette experienced poverty and the harsh reality of life. Farming was the way of life, leading him to work as a farm hand for necessities. Later, he began working on his own farm, cropping tobacco. From his crop he reaped $200. This was due to the rise of the economy in 1920, when cigarettes became popular. The following year, he only gained $1.40. This downfall taught him the importance of saving. He began to invest his money into different corporations. Much profit was gained, until he had a great loss of $7,500. Subsequently, Faucette chose to only invest in land and farming where he could personally watch his investments. At this time, the Great Depression had hit, where the economy and farming had a dramatic downfall because product was in high demand.

Later in adulthood, E.W. Faucette married late but had no children because he believed that many children lead to poverty. He continued to work on the farm to provide for his wife. His routine day started at 5:00 in the morning and ended around 9:30 in the evening. Some days were hectic, but with help from six mules, a cow, other livestock, and farm hands, he was able to manage. Other than farming, he listened to the radio and read. Faucette always wanted to be a lawyer and go into politics, but he always voted for the “best man.” Roosevelt was the president currently, and he began to help the farmers’ income during his presidency.

Faucette learned to work for what he needs, keep family and work first, and spend money wisely. He preferred to do things himself and believed farmland was more valuable than buildings. He made his decisions based on what is best for the future and lived his life with these principals.

Social Context

Civil War Impacts

During the civil war hundreds of thousands of lives and money were lost from preparation to aftermath. It is said by Kathy Lauer-Williams that this war “ripped apart the country and set brother against brother.” In this case, every man was for themselves. Growing up after the war, families worked for themselves instead of with others which taught many people the importance of independence and working for everything they wanted to achieve, without any help from others.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression was a time from 1929 to 1939 where poverty became popular. People lost their jobs, there was no income, and the stock markets crashed. According to Robert Burner, “not long after America’s economy sat heavily into the Great Depression, the stock market experienced the Great Crash.” It is believed that the cause of this is due to the previous era, the “Roaring Twenties,” where people had excess money to spend and products where in high demand. During this time, Roosevelt was president and called the 1920s a “period of loose thinking, descending morals, an era of selfishness.” Those who made investments loss tremendously because the stock markets fell, and workers were distraught because of job loss and no source of income.

Life of a Tobacco Farmer

Tobacco farming during the 1920s was a success. Cigarettes were popular, resulting in a high demand for flue-cured tobacco. In the eyes of Sarah Milov, “Flue-cured tobacco growers produced not only the finest cigarette leaf, but also new systems of marketing, regulating, and talking about their crop.” Once the Great Depression hit, it was hard for these farmers to make ends meet. Don Wharton states, “North Carolina […] has fallen into much greater distress through its dependence upon agriculture and particularly upon the single, money-crop system of agriculture.” Farmers made little to no money off their crops, and there was minor crop success. Later, Wharton expresses that “North Carolina farmers faced starvation due to crop failures and suffering and unemployment became widespread.” Some managed to persevere and others did not.