Dublin Core
Title
Zelma Shelton- Electricity from Eggs
Subject
Rural Electrification and the power of economic independence
Description
Electricity meant everything from refrigeration to electric stoves and artificial lighting, and rural electrification radically altered the lives of rural women.
Zelma was the wife of William Shelton. They appear together in the second photo. William never really wanted to farm, but to be a teacher. His father left him the family farm, but with a caveat… He was to provide for his mother and three maiden sisters shown at the fence: (left to right: Fannie, Evie, and Ruby) after his father’s death. Their agreement, written as a contract, was curiously filed in the county clerk’s office. He was to provide for their food and clothing and they could sell eggs and butter and keep the profits. There was a clear condition in the contract that if they were to earn enough money to purchase their own clothing they were to do so and relieve him of that obligation.
His wife, Zelma began working as a teacher. In 1935, as the Great Depression deepened, she had her husband build a large chicken house with brooder room, wood heater, and the capacity to produce dozens of eggs each day. The enterprise prospered and Zeldma saved her money very carefully. Her husband was also an idealist and visionary. When he built their home in 1930, he knew that electricity would someday come, even to rural Virginia and he wired their house for it. Seventeen years later, after WWII, Rappahannock Electric ran the first wires down their road. The problem arose when William was informed he would have to pay for the power coming to his house, which was so against his ideals of fairness (that electricity should be like air, free for the public good) that he refused to sign on.
For Zelma, struggling in her dark chicken house in January, his impractical decision was not the way things were going to stand. She promptly took her egg and chicken money to Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and signed up in her own name. Until she died in the early 1980's, hers was the only name ever on the account.
Included above is her family recipe for Buttermilk Pie written in her daughter's hand. It's prime ingredients are those she always had on hand...eggs and fresh milk.
Zelma was the wife of William Shelton. They appear together in the second photo. William never really wanted to farm, but to be a teacher. His father left him the family farm, but with a caveat… He was to provide for his mother and three maiden sisters shown at the fence: (left to right: Fannie, Evie, and Ruby) after his father’s death. Their agreement, written as a contract, was curiously filed in the county clerk’s office. He was to provide for their food and clothing and they could sell eggs and butter and keep the profits. There was a clear condition in the contract that if they were to earn enough money to purchase their own clothing they were to do so and relieve him of that obligation.
His wife, Zelma began working as a teacher. In 1935, as the Great Depression deepened, she had her husband build a large chicken house with brooder room, wood heater, and the capacity to produce dozens of eggs each day. The enterprise prospered and Zeldma saved her money very carefully. Her husband was also an idealist and visionary. When he built their home in 1930, he knew that electricity would someday come, even to rural Virginia and he wired their house for it. Seventeen years later, after WWII, Rappahannock Electric ran the first wires down their road. The problem arose when William was informed he would have to pay for the power coming to his house, which was so against his ideals of fairness (that electricity should be like air, free for the public good) that he refused to sign on.
For Zelma, struggling in her dark chicken house in January, his impractical decision was not the way things were going to stand. She promptly took her egg and chicken money to Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and signed up in her own name. Until she died in the early 1980's, hers was the only name ever on the account.
Included above is her family recipe for Buttermilk Pie written in her daughter's hand. It's prime ingredients are those she always had on hand...eggs and fresh milk.