Mary Aspinall, a farmer, has lived in the Stonewall Jackson Lake area for forty years. Originally from the Roanoke area, she and her husband moved to their current farm after the dam was proposed on the West Fork River. Prior to their current farming endeavors, the Aspinalls owned a farm in the Roanoke area. Their decision to relocate was influenced by the proposed construction of a dam on the West Fork River, which promised new opportunities and challenges for the local agricultural community.

On July 20, 1989, Beverly McBride interviewed Mary Litman for the Tucker County, West Virginia Flood Audio Recordings project. Mary Litman is a former resident of Parsons, West Virginia. At the time of the flood, Mary was living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

At 100 years old Mrs. Morgan, with the help of her son, legislator Harvey Morgan, recalled her honeymoon voyage aboard a side-wheeler in the 1920s. The Morgan family has operated a pharmacy in Gloucester Court House for generations. 

Mary Ridgeway is a lifelong resident of Tompkinsville, a location situated between Newburg and Rock Point. She is the daughter of Emma M. Jackson and Sankston Walter Jackson, and she grew up in a family of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. Her father was a farmer and a skilled carpenter who also worked the river, while her mother was a homemaker. Ridgeway graduated from high school at the age of sixteen and soon after began working at an oyster house at Rock Point, which was established by Mr. Coulby.

Matthew Snyder, Francine Snyder, and Ron Simmons 2-6-85 interviewed by M. KlinE

Michael O’Brien was born on October 2, 1944, and currently resides in Doddridge County, West Virginia. Raised by a government meat inspector, O’Brien moved frequently between southern Florida and Virginia, finishing high school in the latter. After high school, he moved to Baltimore to live with his grandmother, hoping to find better opportunities. He spent ten years in Baltimore but ultimately sought a simpler life. O’Brien met his wife, Nancy, during his time in Baltimore.

Interview with Mick Luber, an organic farmer on Bluebird Farm in Cadiz Ohio and co-founder of the Organic Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA)

Mike Ross was born on November 8, 1937. His father, originally from Italy, migrated to the United States with his brothers, recruited by a coal company to work in West Virginia. Settling in the Weaver/Colton area, his father met and married his mother, whose family also hailed from Italy. Ross grew up in a large family with 14 children, nine boys and five girls, learning the values of competition and hard work from an early age. His father worked as a coal miner, and the family lived in a company house, managing a garden to supplement their food supply.

Mike Smith, 2-14-1986

Ola Mae Carter was born in Waynesburg, Mississippi, on a small farm with a house that had no roof and hardly a bottom. She was one of six or seven children and started working at a young age, helping a local woman with her garden and cleaning up the yard. When she was still a young girl, she traveled with the woman's daughter who was on her way to California for business. They stopped in St. Inigoes, Maryland, where Ola Mae eventually settled. During their journey, they faced racial discrimination when they were denied accommodation at a hotel because Ola Mae was Black.