By Norris Dearmon
Special to the Salisbury Post
KANNAPOLIS ó Those of us who worked for Cannon Mills for many years remember “Mr. Ketchie” and his knowledge of the mill’s workings. He was truly a master at what he did and had an everlasting memory of all he had a part in.
Both J.W. and C.A. Cannon had high regard for his vast knowledge of Cannon Mills’ mechanical operations.
Everyone knew him just as “Mr. Ketchie” ó except Mrs. Ketchie, who called him “Papa.” His real name was Herman Edgar Ketchie.
He was born near China Grove on Dec. 22, 1875, the son of Milas Monroe and Sophia House Ketchie. His father’s farm kept him busy until he decided to go to work in the mill.
He began his work in the boiler room of Patterson Mill on Jan. 1, 1897. Patterson would eventually be absorbed into Cannon Mills.
His beginning pay at Patterson was $7.20 every two weeks for measuring cord wood to be used in the boiler.
Not long after beginning his work at the mill, he caught the eye of Amanda Lou Taylor. She was born Aug. 8, 1876, to Caswell and Elizabeth Bangor Taylor. The family had moved to China Grove so the girls could work. She started to work in the mill in 1892 and learned to weave.
Interviews with the Ketchies in October 1958 revealed a lot of information from those early days. I will quote some of what they said.
“It took five years before we decided to get married. We had a church wedding,” said Mrs. Ketchie, “but we hadn’t planned any ‘big to-do’ about it. After preaching was over, we just got up and walked up to the altar and the Rev. Mr. Wertz married us.”
Two couples, their close friends, stood up for them played a big part in their honeymoon trip the next day.
“Oh, yes,” said Mr. Ketchie, “we took a honeymoon!”
“And what a honeymoon,” laughed Mrs. Ketchie.
After the marriage ceremony, their friends congratulated them and the young girls made a big to-do over Mrs. Ketchie.
“Then we went on to his father’s home,” said Mrs. Ketchie “and spent the night. The next day we decided to take a ‘honeymoon ride.’ ”
The couples who had stood up with them decided to go on the honeymoon ride, too ó Dock Shinn and Alice Sloop and Rake Earnhardt and Emma Safriet. Each couple had a buggy and a horse, and they set out on a ride in the country.
“Yes,” laughed Mr. Ketchie, “we got as far as Saw, and the worse thunder cloud I think I ever saw came up and we got no further. We had to stay there.”
That was the end of the honeymoon ride.
“No,” said Mr. Ketchie “we didn’t spend the night in Saw. I had to get back to China Grove and to Patterson Mill and go to work at 6 o’clock!”
Mrs. Ketchie said, “But I took a week off.”
Saw is just north of Enochville, in case some of you have never heard of it.
Continuing to reminisce, she said, “Back at the turn of the century, boys and girls didn’t know anything about this business of ‘going steady.’ ”
Mr. Ketchie said: “There really wasn’t much to do back in those days. About every two months, I’d hire a horse and buggy, and we would go for a Sunday afternoon ride. The rides had to be spaced that far apart. A horse and buggy for a Sunday afternoon ride cost about $1.50, and dollars didn’t grow on trees in those days.”
“We had a lot of fun just talking to one another,” said Mrs. Ketchie.
One day he walked into the house with some news for Mrs. Ketchie: He was being transferred to Kannapolis ó though there wasn’t much that could be called Kannapolis back in December 1907. “Not even one loom turned in all the area that we know as Kannapolis,” Mr. Ketchie said.
“I told him that I wasn’t going one step to that mud hole!” his wife said.
That was early in December.
“On the 19th of December,” smiled Mr. Ketchie, “we moved to Kannapolis. There was no machinery in the mills here. There were a few buildings, and it took us until summer of 1908 to get the machinery working.
“Mr. J.W. Cannon,” continued Mr. Ketchie, “never had any idea that such a city as Kannapolis would one day stand here. He told me so. He said that if he had any idea that Kannapolis would grow as it has, he would have laid it out differently.”
Mrs. Ketchie chimed in. “Our house was located on Oak Street. There were no lights, no water, no nothing. Our front steps were the street. And there were only about 25 families living here.”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Ketchie, “we have seen a city come to life within our lifetime and I think that is something wonderful.”
Even at that early age, he was a man who knew what he wanted, and nothing was going to stand in his way. He went on to live out that philosophy in his daily work.
Norris Dearmon is a Kannapolis historian and a volunteer in the History Room of the Kannapolis Branch Library.