E.L. McFee

Published on December 30, 2018

E.L. McFee's word cloud "These people were very likable, hard-working, and that’s hard work, dangerous living. They felt pretty close to each other. They helped each other, somebody in the community got in trouble, then food, whatever was needed, the whole community rallied in that direction."

Chapters

Edgewater Methodist Church South and Docena

E.L. McFee explains his affiliation with Edgewater Methodist Church South and his role preaching at Docena and Edgewater.

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Docena's Church

E.L. McFee describes the church at Docena and his role in it.

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Challenges in the Docena Congregation

E.L. McFee describes some of his difficulties during his time as pastor in Docena, including a small congregation, a pervasive fatalism, and the abundance of injuries from mine work.

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Memories of the Docena Congregation

E.L. McFee recalls memories from Docena.

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The Town of Docena and Closing Remarks

E.L. McFee describes some facets of life in Docena, including education and politics, and makes some final comments on his experiences.

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Transcript

JIM NOGALSKI: This is an oral history interview done with Dr. E. L. McFee
by Jim Nogalski in connection with the Samford University History Department.
It's done on March 9, 1979 at Trinity United Methodist Church. Dr. McFee, when
were you at Docena?

E.L. MCFEE: As I recall, I think it was the, I went in the winter, probably in
January, February, March, somewhere in that vicinity of 1939.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, and what was the name of your church and your position there?

E.L. MCFEE: It was the Edgewater Methodist Church at that time. We since have
united with the United Brethren, and call it United Methodist, but at that time
it was just the Edgewater Methodist Church. Well, wait a minute, it was the
Edgewater Methodist Church South, Methodist Episcopal Church South that was the
year of the unification, before it had happened, so that was really the
Methodist Episcopal Church South.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, and how often did you go out there?

E.L. MCFEE: I preached, well, I went every, well...no. At that time Docena and
Edgewater were on the same charge and Docena had two Sundays a month and
Edgewater, two Sundays, so I preached in Docena two Sundays a month.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, and Edgewater is a...

E.L. MCFEE: Edgewater is another coal mining town which is just about five, six,
seven miles away, and I preached at that on the other ones. Incidentally, when I
was talking about this other I was thinking about Edgewater is where that
dramatic event that I mentioned to you a few moments ago, so we just delete that
completely. That doesn't apply to Docena. It was a little different situation,
but I had both of them at that time. Then I came back. I served there for six
months. I came back and served the charge for a year, which made a total of
eighteen months, I suppose about. Then I went away a year and came back and
served just Docena by itself for a year.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, when you say the charge, what do you mean?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, charge in a Methodist church is made up of more than one,
well, any church, this is a charge (referring to his church), but we refer to
the church as a charge, and in many cases you've got circuits where you have
several churches under the same charge.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, what was the normal routine for the church at Docena on a
weekly basis? How often did it meet?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, you see, there was one building. It was owned by the company,
very nice, brick building. The back of it had Sunday school rooms on it, It was
a pretty large building, much larger than would be necessary for the churches,
and they used it in addition to the church as a community building so that they
had community affairs and that kind of thing, They had, at that time, a Miss
Dollar, D-O-double L-E-R [Mary Dolliver]. I'm trying to think what her first
name was. She was a lady from Iowa who was in charge of the community service
projects in there, hired by the company, and she held her meetings in there. I
preached every other Sunday, and the Baptist minister, who at that time was a
student at what was then Howard College, and he preached every other Sunday.
Each summer, one summer they had one revival meeting, both churches sponsored
it. One summer the Methodist would bring the preacher, and the Baptists would
bring the evangelistic singer, then the next year they would reverse it. Of
course, you did all the ministerial duties, the sick, visited the hospital,
normal pastoring. However, at that time, I was a student at Birmingham Southern
and was doing what we called a student supply work.

JIM NOGALSKI: And that's where you went out.

E.L. MCFEE: I lived at the home, which is right here, in this area [Birmingham],
but I went out there and served the church and stayed. There was one home, which
I lived part of the time. They had a bedroom, and they let me sleep there, and
that kind of thing. It saved going home a lot of the times after the meeting at night.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, so who mostly made up the congregation?

E.L. MCFEE: The congregation was made up of people who lived in the community.
Of course, Docena itself was a coal mining village. All the houses were owned by
the company, and I believe were furnished to the employees; I guess there was
some rent, but it was a very nominal sum. At that time, if I remember correctly,
there was no electrical charge except so much for each outlet, very, very
nominal fee, and fairly good housing, nothing extra, but for the time, and just
after the Depression, it was probably about standard, and maybe a little above
standard in some cases. But the community itself, as far as I can recall, and
it's been quite a while, I don't recall anybody being members of that church who
were not employed by the company and living in that area.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, how large was the church?

E.L. MCFEE: Oh, it was small, very small. The two churches together would
probably, in the two Sunday schools, were all, were just one Sunday school. They
didn't have a Methodist Sunday school and a Baptist Sunday school. They all just
had one Sunday school, Methodist and Baptist together, and I suppose we averaged
fifty, sixty, seventy, something like that, in church.

JIM NOGALSKI: What were some of the special events? You mentioned a revival.
Were there any other special events?

E.L. MCFEE: Not that I recall, Now, Miss Dollar was in charge of any kind of
social delight that was held there. Quite a woman, incidentally, and very well
trained, from a very fine family. I think it was her uncle that was Senator
Dollar [Senator John Prentiss Dolliver] from the state of Iowa, United States
Senate. She had a degree in social work and she worked individually with
families in trouble, but she'd have some community activity. I don't recall. It
seems to me they'd have a get-together and have a meal, something of that sort,
and a program. She was just a tremendous--a woman with a tremendous amount of
ability. She added a great deal to the community and was highly respected and
loved by everybody there.

JIM NOGALSKI: Were there other churches in Docena?

E.L. MCFEE: Not that I know of, now if there were, they were very small, and I
don't recall any as a matter of fact, within it because the company owned all
the property and anybody who was not a member of either the Methodist or Baptist
churches usually went outside to some church in another area, as I recall. I
don't believe there were, now if there were any, I can't recall that.

JIM NOGALSKI: Was your congregation integrated then or was...

E.L. MCFEE: No...well...integrated in the sense of Baptists and Methodists, but
not black and white.

JIM NOGALSKI: But you don't recall a black church?

E.L. MCFEE: I, you know, I don't know about that. I really have forgotten, it's
been 35-40 years ago, and there could've been a black church there. There was
some in the outlying areas, but I cannot recall there being a black church in
there. Now, I wouldn't be sure about that.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, what were the major problems that you faced with trying to
conduct a congregation at Docena?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, coal mining villages have a, it seems, it seemed to me at the
time, a little bit of distinct, of a rather distinct, that's tended when times
are good to live as high as their money would afford it, When the mines shut
down, in thirty days they were in need of food. They seldom, as a rule, saved
much. They lived at the top of their capacity while they were drawing. We also
had a good deal of trouble with illness and injuries. We nearly always had
somebody in the hospital, several people in the hospital. I'm not sure that I
can explain, exactly. It...it...There seemed to me to be a little difference
between those who worked, a kind of fatalism. You know, we better do what we can
do today, you know, who knows when tomorrow the mines may blow up and we'll all
lose. They kind of lived, if they could buy a big automobile, they bought it,
paid for it on time. One characteristic, that's pretty obvious there, when the
mines shut down in the thirties, during the terrible Depression I was told that
the church was just filled with people. They turned to the church, but the mines
were back working, and they were making money, and making it pretty well, pretty
well paid, pretty well paid, at that time, and the church simply did not command
any large percentage of the number of people in the community. As you can see,
fifty, sixty, seventy people in a community that must have had several thousand
people in it. They, when they got the money where they'd do, they went where
they wanted to and did sort of what they wanted. The minute tragedy struck
though, they were together like one. If somebody lost a person in the mines or
there was an accident, and somebody blown up they were, they were really close
knit. They all understood, and they went to each other, but there is a little
distinction, I think, in the type of way, that, there's just a good deal of
fatalism in the community.

JIM NOGALSKI: You mentioned the hospital, that you always had someone in the
hospital. Where did they go?

E.L. MCFEE: Yes, well you see TCI owned a hospital. Fairfield Hospital was
Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company hospital. It was owned and operated
by the company, of course, U.S. ...TCI, Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad was a
subsidiary of U.S. Steel. Now, they don't call this Tennessee, Coal, Iron, and
Railroad anymore, it's just U.S. Steel now. But, at that time this was one of
the subsidiaries, and the company furnished doctors, everybody was, there was a
doctor, a community doctor, and then a hospital, and they worked together. The
company employed the, all, as I recall, all the medical fees and everything were
paid by the company, through their doctors.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, with the problem of the fatalism in the mines, I mean in the
miners, how were you able to handle this, as far as the pastor?

E.L. MCFEE: (laughs) I'm afraid very poorly. It seemed to me terribly difficult
to break through that. The coal miners usually ran in a family. Daddy was a coal
miner, and the boy comes along, and he goes in and follows his daddy, and learns
his daddy's trade. So that coal mining people tended to hand it down. They were
sort of a distinct lot, and, therefore, what their daddies felt, they felt. And
they passed on to their children a kind of fatalistic "living while you can and
who knows what's going to come." Now, that was always until the mine shut down,
until some serious explosion or something that caused it. It seemed to me that
any time of tragedy, they generally turned to the church. But when things were
going good, it was very difficult to try to...I can remember preaching and
reminding them of the fact that when they were down, they were in the church and
they were praying, and asking God to help, but when they got money and cars and
clothes and food enough, they were going everywhere and church seemed to mean
little. You preach on it, you try to talk to people about it, but as for making
much of a dent in it, I'm almost certain I didn't do much of that.

JIM NOGALSKI: What were some of the things you enjoyed most about the congregation?

E.L. MCFEE: Oh, we had some of the finest people. They were just very loyal to
you, very friendly, open. I can recall the names of the families, some of the
families there and how nice they were to us; good about inviting you out to
their homes for meals and most appreciative of any attention you showed them.
The people who were loyal to the church had a real deep loyalty if they were
there. There were very, very little. They, in many ways, they were just like
most any other industrial people, when you get away from this fatalistic thing,
they were very tight people. Friendly, gregarious, like to get together and have
fun and that kind of thing. I thoroughly enjoyed Docena, I thoroughly enjoyed
it. I've always had a warm place in my heart and some of the families there are
friends to this day. It's something that I've maintained over the years.

JIM NOGALSKI: Did you feel like you were a part of the community, or an
outsider, how did this affect your working there?

E.L. MCFEE: Not never felt an outsider. No, I don't think they ever...they
weren't clannish to the degree that, you know, that anybody coming from the
outside is foreign. That didn't...I never noticed that at all. As I said they
were open. They'd open their home, "come on in, spend the night with us," and
that type thing, I never felt an outsider at all.

JIM NOGALSKI: Are there any particular instances that you can recall that might
shed some light on the religious life there?

E.L. MCFEE: (pause) Well, I think in some ways the cooperation between the Baptists and
the Methodists was exceptional. We worked together, and they taught the same
Sunday school classes. They had their board and we had ours, and the collections
on the Methodists' Sunday went to the Methodists and on the Baptists', and each
contributed to the other, to some degree, but mostly, when it was the Methodist
Sunday, I'm sure the Methodists gave, that always went to the Methodist church,
and the Baptist went to the Baptist church, on their Sunday, and theirs was the
major portion, but they helped each other without too much, without much
division. As far as...the only thing I can recall, of course you gotta remember
that I was a student, and the boy who was pastoring was also a student who was
studying hard and having a tough time at school, and going to school five days a
week, and trying to serve a church is not easy to do, to say the least so we did
not get involved in a whole lot of social activities there, In fact, we saw the
people who were sick, and prepared a sermon, and had the meetings that were
necessary, and promotional work that had to be done. We didn't have much time
for anything else, so I don't recall anything outstanding that we... The big
thing every year was the revival. They looked forward to that year after year. I
can recall two or three humorous things like a big, big dog came right in the
middle of Roscoe Griffin's sermon one night, and went up and jumped on top,
jumped up on him, put his feet up on him, and I thought I'd have to leave. He
finally picked him up like a suitcase and threw him out the door, and when the
dog hit the ground it went around front and came right back in, so we had a few
good incidents of that sort. Watching Mr. Thomas try to catch that dog in the
service, during the sermon it broke up the church rally, as far as... I can't
recall anything else. They had one Baptist preacher there told everybody they
was going to hell, and virtually said when they didn't come up after an altar
call, that he was sort of glad they were going. He gave that impression, I
think. That built up some resentment. We had a few incidents like this, but I
don't recall anything unusual or outstanding about it, I think it was pretty
much what you'd expect at most small churches.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, you say you don't recall anything about any of the other churches?

E.L. MCFEE: I, back somewhere in my mind I recall there was a Holiness church
nearby. I recall that, but I can't recall where it was located. But since the
company owned so much of the property there, either one of two things it had to
be: either they had sold a small plot somewhere to the church, or the church had
gotten it outside of the village where private property was, but adjacent to it,
Now, I just, I can remember that, but if there were other preachers there I
never saw them. The only two of us that I saw were the Baptist and Methodist.
But I'm not, I just don't recall exactly what was going on otherwise as far as
religion was concerned, and I was so young anyway, I would never have any
experience to know what was going on, but my opinion is there were no other
churches in the village itself but this one. I think the company saw to that.
They wanted as little division as they could get, and the Baptists and
Methodists were by far the predominant number of people. The community was
probably three-fourths or more Baptists or Methodist so they just furnished
that, and that was the only, and of course the building itself was a nice brick
building, incidentally, but good, much larger than was needed, But it was a
focal point, it was out in the middle of the village, and a big field around it,
and as I recall, another community house just beyond it there, so that they
could have their dinners, and that kind of thing in there, It was a kind of a
center, it was in the center of the community. And this was the religious life
for the most part.

JIM NOGALSKI: Do you recall anything about the way the village was divided
between blacks and whites?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, it was... I don't recall too much about that, I just don't
recall much about it, but of course they were segregated. The whites had an
area, and the blacks had an area, but I've even forgotten where the black area
was. It's been so long, since I haven't even been out there for thirty years, I
guess. I can remember how the white community was, and I remember where the mine
was, but I can't right this minute recall where the blacks were, but they were
definitely segregated, and a very strong line of division in between them, and
that kind of thing. I don't know, I just don't know anything about the black
community at that time.

JIM NOGALSKI: Do you remember anything about the education there?

E.L. MCFEE: You mean what they had in the way of facilities.

JIM NOGALSKI: Right.

E.L. MCFEE: Educational facilities? I think what they had was an elementary
school, Docena Elementary School. And after then, I believe they went to other
areas, but I couldn't be positive. But I know they didn't have a high school,
and I don't much believe they had a middle high, either. They went as I recall,
to Minor and Ensley to high school, I just...it's a little vague in my mind now
about that, but I'm pretty sure they had an elementary school, I'm almost
certain they did. I don't believe they had anything else, somebody else will
have to check that for you.

JIM NOGALSKI: What about the political structure, how was the village run?

E.L. MCFEE: I know nothing about that. As I recall, I don't recall any kind of
political structure in there. Now, if they had an organization, it's sort of
hazy. Of course, now the strike came, the red ore strike came in '33, in the Red
Mountain where the iron ore was, of course the coal miners united too, so they
had a union, I remember that, but beyond that I don't much recall, The
management was not involved in the union, for instance the mine superintendent,
the assistant superintendent, and the foreman, it was only the workers, I
recall. But I really don't know that there was any organization, political
organization in that community. I don't think they had a mayor or anybody head
of the community, I think the company owned that.

JIM NOGALSKI: Is there anything that you can recall that, or that you would like
to say that would sort of summarize your role?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, like any community, there was a vast difference between one
coal mining area and another since I served two of them. I could see so many
differences in them. Docena largely was...the people within the church were
good-spirited, likable, as far as I recall, no divisions. They got along well in
the community and very enjoyable, socially and some very fine people, really
fine people, with character...I don't know what to say, some of them had
leadership ability. They were not peasants or something lesser of this sort.
These people were very likable, hard-working, and that's hard work, dangerous
living. They felt pretty close to each other, They helped each other, somebody
in the community got in trouble, then food, whatever was needed, the whole
community rallied in that direction. Just very nice, and I had good times there,
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. The attitude was good, the whole community seemed
to be good, I had the feeling that there was a pretty good feeling between the
company and the people. I didn't feel any strong resentment or that sort of
thing. I do think that Miss Dollar played a very vital role in the community
life. They had pretty good medical facilities. Had to have with the kind of
things that went on in the mines, explosions, rock falls, injuries with the
cars, and that kind of thing, hands cut off. You know they had a lot of them
where you had to have good medical care, and the hospital was only about a
twelve, thirteen, fourteen-minute drive from the community maybe fifteen
minutes, I'm not really sure but it wasn't far, and they had good connections
with the doctors there. Overall, it was a nice community, nice people. The
Cranes, the Shoemakers, the Bonds, fine families, they would just be a credit to anybody.

JIM NOGALSKI: How isolated was the village?

E.L. MCFEE: Well, it's about out of Ensley, I guess it's five miles or something
like that. It really isn't, wasn't so isolated. Anybody could drive into the
city and downtown in fifteen minutes, so you were not an isolated village. It
was just shortly out of town, paved roads, and it was not, they were not hovels.
And for the times, the houses were pretty good, and you know, you get all your,
like maybe they charge you forty cents for a light in a room, and you end up
having a five-room house and paying two dollars a month for electricity. They
had a lot of breaks from that point, they had a commissary and you could buy
food a little cheaper in the commissary there--good food--they usually handled
good brands. During the Depression, these commissaries helped carry a lot of
people though, and the company gave them food a lot of times. So generally
speaking, it was a pretty good situation, still tough from the standpoint of
hard work, dirty work. See now, I'd go down to the mines some days when the
fellows came out you know, and you couldn't recognize your best friend, so much
coal all over him, and have dust on him, and sweating down there at times, and
it was the kind of thing, every time they went underground, they knew the
possibility they might not come back, and that accounts a lot for this sort of
fatalistic philosophy they developed. I'm not sure all of them realized this,
but to me, being not raised in that, going in there and seeing it, it seemed
quite obvious, but they sort of lived it day to day and let her go, let her rip.

JIM NOGALSKI: Do you remember any of the names of some of the other pastors that
were there, either the other pastor who was there with you or before you?

E.L MCFEE: The Baptist pastor, one of them I remember was named Roscoe Griffin,
and he's still, somebody told me, used to be at Sheffield. I don't know where he
is now, but I believe he's still living and still pastoring somewhere. He's the
main one that I can recall. It seems to me there was another boy in there but
his name I completely forget. I forget him. See, I only stayed there eighteen
months altogether so as I recall, Roscoe was there most of the time, seems that
they had one, that Roscoe went there about the time I did believe. He was a very
nice fellow. We didn't see much of each other but we were speaking acquaintances
and that kind of thing. He went his way and I went mine, But that's the only one
I can recall, I know that I've got the image of another boy who was involved out
there some way, a young Baptist preacher, I believe his name was Monroe,
M-O-N-R-O-E. If I recall correctly, seems like it was James Monroe, but I can't
remember what connection or much about him. I forgot whether they had him out
there in revival or whether he served there, but I hadn't thought of him in a
long time, he just came back to my mind. Those are the only two that I can recall.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay is there anything else that you'd like to say?

E.L. MCFEE: No, not that I know of, pretty well covered it, I think.

JIM NOGALSKI: Okay, well, I thank you for your cooperation.

E.L. MCFEE: Okay, okay, Jim, glad to do it, hope that it can be of some help.

Audio Information
Attribute	Value
Interviewer	Jim Nogalski
Interviewee	E.L. McFee
Repository	Samford University Oral History Collection
Accession	SUHist/TCI/004