Updated August 8, 2010.
August 8, 2010. Herman and Preston Jones interviewed by Melinda Lukei.
I interviewed Herman and Preston Jones about the stores of Knotts Island. The first Jones’ store was across the road from where burnt remains of the old store is today. It was on the land that Mrs. Matthews house was on. It was bought from Jackson Spratt by the two sons of Cornelius Jones, Joachium B. Jones and John Malachi Jones. It was moved across the street where it was located during recent years. The Jones brothers added an addition to it.
I have been told that Jackson Spratt operated the store during the civil war. He used to tell stories of the northern soldiers coming into the store. When Joachium Jones had to retire because of illness, Paul, son of John Malachi became a partner. The name was changed to J. M. Jones and Son. In 1925, John Malachi died and his share of the business was given to his son Herman. At that time it became known as P. C. Jones and Brother. In 1937 Paul became disabled and Herman’s son Preston started helping his father. The property was still owned by Paul Jones’ heirs. Herman and Preston wanted to.tear down the store and build another one. Alvah Jones’ widow would not agree to that, so Preston and Herman bought a piece of land at the corner. That’s where the store is now. Herman began his retirement and Preston operated the store until he sold it.
Preston grew up in the store. He would come home after school, change clothes work in the store or make barrels. The barrels were use to pack rabbits, fish, ducks, muskrats and produce for the market. Arthur Litchfield and David Waterfield had a shed on the side of the store where they made barrels and Preston would sometimes help. Herman and Paul would buy the goods they thought they could make a dollar on. They would carry the merchandise to Norfolk by wagon or by boat. It would be shipped to Baltimore and New York. The items would be at United Fish and Oyster Company in Baltimore by the next morning. The boat that went to Norfolk would leave Munden’s Point on Wednesday night. You rode the boat all night and got to Norfok at the Roanoke Docks near Commercial Place the next morning. A couple of men on the island had berths on the boat every Wednesday night. Cassey Munden’s father had a berth that he remembers sleeping in. You shopped all day Thursday and got back on the boat that evening and rode all night to get back to Munden’s Point Friday morning. There was a wharf and storage at the north end where Casey would put the supplies for his store.
Before you were required to have a license to hunt, they bought ducks from people on the island. They paid $.60 a pair. At that time people would kill as many as they wanted. What they didn’t use for themselves they brought to the store to sell. The boys would make their morning rounds of the marsh to see how many rabbits, coons, muskrats, and possums they could sell to them for spending money.
They couldn’t sell ice cream because they didn’t have any way to could keep it. Electricty didn’t get to the island until 1945 or 1946. They lit the store with a Delco 32 amp battery until that time.
Preston and his brother, Herman Guy Jones, had an ice route. Sometimes Bill Stephens would help with the delivery. They delivered ice to practically all the houses on the island twice a week. You would put the ice in a ice box, a piece of furniture lined with a medal box. It would keep the food cool for a day or two.
They didn’t sell many groceries when they first started in business, Preston recalls. Most everyone had a cow, so they had their own milk, cream, butter and cheese. They raised their own chickens to eat and for eggs. They also raised their own pork and beef. All the neighbors would help with the slaughter and everyone would get a share of the meat. There was a great sense of community in those days here on the island.
Hunting, fishing, and farming were about all people could do in those days. They had all the fish and wild meat they wanted. They raised fruits such as grapes, figs, peaches, apples, and vegatables. They ate them fresh in the summertime and canned them for the winter. They made their own jams and jellies.
They sold flour by the barrel, 196 pounds for $3.75. Uncle Herman remembered some boys at the store making a bet with Orion Waterfield, if he could carry a 1/2 barrel of flour to his house on his shoulder he could kept the flour. He threw that barrel of flour up on his shoulder, crossed over two fences and walked a few miles and placed it on his father’s steps. Orion told his father if he didn’t want it he could carry it back.Coffee was 8 cents a pound. They stocked ground coffee and coffee beans. Most people had their own coffee mills in the kitchen. They didn’t sell much tea, most people around here drank youpon tea. Sammy Joe Waterfield and Sambo Cooper would cut the youpon, cure it and sell it to the people here on the island.
Coke came in 72 bottle crates. Preston said he could buy a crate for $.75. He remembered a deal one time if he bought 10 crates he could get them for $.50 a crate. They use to come in metal crates. Five crates of coke would last at the store all summer long.
Herman carried as many as 15 crates of chickens and 30 crates of eggs to market to be sold each week. People would buy their groceries with the money they received from these eggs and chickens. Preston and Herman helped the natives of Knotts Island and the folks helped them make a living. Eddie Munden would even take hogs to Norfolk for a small fee. Chickens would bring $.50 a pound before the 4th of July and turkeys would sell for almost what they sell for today.
They sold gas for $.15 a gallon. They had to pump it out of the tank by a hand pump.
They sold penny candy, and the children would love coming into the store to get a free piece. Herman said he didn’t make any money off the candy. He gave more away than he sold. Connie Etheridge said that she remembered when her Daddy would go to the store. She would ask him to get her a dimes worth of candy. If Uncle Paul waited on Daddy she’d get a dimes worth but if Uncle Herman waited on him she’d get fifteen cents worth for the dime.
Someone once told me that John Malachi Jones was so tight that he would break a peanut in two pieces if it was over the weight you asked for. He brought his children up on the motto, "it wasn’t what you made that was important, it was what you saved". He is remembered for sitting by the stove in the store smoking his corn cob pipe.
Preston also recalled selling plows, horse collars, garden tools, shovels, feed, fertilizer, straw hats, overalls, and suspenders. In the fall they would get gun shells and hunting boots. They also sold yellow cotton, batt ticking, and yard goods. Yard goods were about ninteen cents a yard. A woman could make herself a dress for about fifty cents. Later in the thirties, feed companies came out with feed in printed bags. That cut out some of the yard good business. Folks wore dresses and shirts made out of feed sacks. The ladies would come and reserve the sacks they wanted for a dress. It usually took 3 sacks for a dress.
They even sold water. They bought water by the truck load and sold it to the hunting clubs. They would buy corn by the truck load also, for feeding the ducks at the clubs. They usually bought a truck load from Princess Anne which is now Virginia Beach. Mr Knapp was one of the primary customers.
The folks were more sociable in those days. Every night after supper the men would gather at the store for a game or two of dominoes. Every Saturday night the men would bring the women to the store to talk with their neighbors. The men bought all the groceries and usually picked up the mail. The postmasters were Joachium B. Jones, David Jones, Paul C. Jones, Ottman Bonney, Ellie Bowden, Mr. Cooper, and Mattie Bealsey. There may have been others.
Herman Jones’ brother, Voight, was always the first on the Island to dig his potatoes. Voight’s daughter Connie said they always had new potatoes by the third Sunday in May. Voight knew if he got his out first he would get a good price for them. The Jones’ hauled the potatoes, beans and whatever people had to sell to Norfolk. The Jones also sold coal. Every fall a coal railway car would come to Creeds. Preston and Raymond Grimstead would go and unload it and bring the coal to Knotts Island. They sold it by the bucket or by the bag.
Herman said that when they were working on the road in 1935 they had to get the groceries and supplies by boat. Mr Knapp, Mr. Reid, Mr Johnson, and Marion Waterfield all had big boats and they helped get the necessities to Knotts Island. By the time they got it here it was usually wet and falling out of the paper containers.
Herman remembered that the school children had to be boarded in Princess Anne so they could go to school when the road was being built. This was when the high school children started going to Creeds High School. They went to Creeds until 1955. The old school was located near Charity Church at the time. It was a couple of years before you could get through the road without getting stuck even on the dry days.
Ira Jones told me of salted pork coming in barrels. The boys had to be watched because they would take the salt out and throw it on the roof. It would cause the tin roof to rust. Everyone had to be waited on when they came to the store. Pepper, lard, dried beans, and sugar all came in barrels. If you wanted a gallon of molasses you brought your jug to be filled. If you didn’t remember to bring your jug you went home after it.
During the war everything was rationed. Herman and Preston would have to take ration coupons to Norfolk in order to buy what the people needed. Sometimes they could buy on the black market. The stores on the Island sold to all the hunting clubs around the Island. Most of these groceries were delivered by Preston.
There were six stores on the Island. The one at the north end was run by Casey Munden. The one at the south end was run by Ferdinand Bonney. Eddie Munden, Voight Jones and Ottman Bonney owned the stores that were all together in the middle of the Island. Munden’s store is at it’s orginal location on Woodleigh Road. Voight Jones’ store was on the corner, facing Brumley Road. Across Woodleigh Road was Ottman’s store. Voight and Ottman went out of business and the stores were later torn down.
Eddie Munden sold his store to Preston and his cousin Ira Jones and went to Norfolk with the understanding that they would sell it back to him if he didn’t make a go of it in Norfolk. After a short time, Preston and Ira sold the store back to him. Ira went to Creeds and bought a store there from Guy Capps. Preston went back to working at his father's store. Voight bought the store between Munden’s Point and Creeds and operated it until he became disabled.