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THE PEANUT SHELLER
Your great great grandfather was also known as Pap Bob (Robert Lafayette). Your mom & dad (Susan and Roy Duke) have a picture of a bunch of men (above) sitting on a Benthal stationary peanut picker machine. Evidently those guys had a hand in building it. Pap Bob is on the top left in this photo. Big Big Papa is on the right, standing I think. My supposition is that Big Papa primarily got his engineering, machinery fabrication, peanut harvesting and handling education there. – Garth S. Hancock, Jr. | May 18, 2023
HANCOCKS ON THE MOVE
If I have timing correct, I believe RLH JR moved his family to Courtland in 1937. (Maybe Mary Lou “Kitty” Corbett could verify or correct). The motivation was to build a factory/presence for Birdsong Storage/Birdsong Peanuts in the center of the largest peanut producing county in the country. (by acreage allotment under the USDA’s peanut program for sure, and by production on average [I think]). Of course that set of statistics is no longer likely true. Except for quality parameters, there is no peanut program.
I imagine the boys, Robert Larry H, III, Harry Lee, and Garth Stuart accompanied RLH,JR on the initial move. It could well have predated 1937, I seem to remember that date etched in the front porch’s concrete while building a factory and storage facilities, they lived in the tin garage located on what would later become Iris Hill (name Big Momma {Mary MI? Hancock} as they completed the house. None of this (I believe) was built with architectural drawings, evidenced by the expansions of facilities, when I worked there in the 1970’s, that were accomplished without any such formal plans. (Exception was the conical burner for hull disposal mandated by Uncle Sugar around 1973). The Birdsong factory was destroyed by fire. The company wanted RLH JR to return to Suffolk. Evidently the family roots or interests were too deep and he decided then to strike out on his own.
Notes on Birdsong.
Big Papa was certainly a key employee. Otherwise he would not have been tapped to establish a new shelling plant for them in Courtland. I believe Garth S.Hancock, Harry Lee Hancock & Robert L. Hancock, III all worked in their tender youth for Birdsong. On a trip to Atlanta or Dallas for a peanut Administrative Committee meeting I sat with Jimmy Spain, President of Birdsong. He told me about an innovation that BP developed in their flagship plant in Suffolk. It a so simple yet brilliant because it improve the quality of in-shell peanuts delivered.
Garth S. Hancock was friends with Harvard Birdsong, Dad and I often visited with him on occasions we had business or meetings in Suffolk.
At that time while he worked with Birdsong, farmers delivered peanuts to market in fat +/-100 lb bags. Before the final harvest they were stacked (on shocks to dry). Before stacking the vines were dug and were exposed in the field, similar to the first step in harvesting today. If rain ensued prior to stacking, the peanut shells were subject to mold, often resulting in permanent discoloration. Although this did not affect the quality or taste of the kernels inside, it had a profound effect on the eye appeal or appearance of the in-shell product for the consumer’s point of view. In-shell peanuts, free of the mildew speckles or of brightly almost white color would demand a premium price in the market to those who roasted them. Birdsong Peanuts recognizing that such characteristics could be easily separated upon delivery (in bags) to the factory, devised a change to the factory which would deliver the ugly hulled nuts to a “sheller side” keeping the attractive in-shell nuts separate. All that needed to happen with the in-shell side of the mill was to slice the stems from the shells, gravity separate by weight, screen them by size, run them by a visual inspection, then on to packaging in +/- 100 lb bags. Without this initial pre-color separation, the in-shell nuts were mixed and were, at best, separated after completed processing. – Garth S. Hancock, Jr | May 21, 2023
THE PEANUT COMPANY
Took me a month to make a detailed flow chart while working there. There were likely no more than two people other than Dad & Jr who understood it all. Many had a grasp on their part monitored and serviced. Will put together something as simple as I can. We could start by explaining how the seed sheller worked. There is one in the Courtland museum. Someone may have figured out how to keep one of them going. You might find one in Whitley Pnt Co, Sedley if it has not been dismantled. It would be much easier to explain if you could find an operational seed sheller in someone’s farm service business. It ain’t rocket surgery. The one in Sedley was a Carter (not Jimmy) machine. – Garth S. Hancock, Jr | May 22, 2023
THE HANCOCK DRAMA
I (Garth S. Hancock, Jr.) was not working that day in August. I do not know whether this particular day was Thursday. But I usually only worked through Thursday to make it convenient to go early to the NC Outer Banks for the weekend to blow my paycheck. Regardless of that little aside, Mom and Dad (Garth S. Hancock and Josephine E. Hancock) were in Georgia arranging purchase and delivery of farmers’ stock to test the mill as the GA harvest preceded ours. Dad had left me instructions to use my car and leave his ’63 Ford wagon at home. Evidently Uncle Bob was aware of this mandate. As luck would have it, my “60 Comet broke down the night before and was towed to a shop for repairs. I felt justified in using my father’s company car while mine was being repaired. As was often the case, I visited Hancock Peanut Company to say ‘hi’ to those working in the office and elsewhere on the property. Uncle Bob must have made note of my unauthorized use of the wagon.
What followed defied belief. I was in our Courtland home when Bob showed up in our driveway and allowed himself entry. (in those days doors were never locked and keys were in auto ignitions) He found me and to the best of my recollection, without explanation for the punishment he grabbed my shirt collar and pushed my body across the top edge of the television and proceeded to twist my collar choking me. There were bruises around my neck that Frank Daughtry saw evidencing my story. My sisters June and Martha intervened on my behalf and distracted Bob enough that he let me go. I do not recall what he may have done to them, but as I recall they had some (legal) cause of action against him resulting from his behavior. There was sufficient commotion from the confrontation that Mama Annie, Woody, Daddy Buck and whom else I do not know arrived for our assistance. As the numbers swelled Bob decided it was time to go. Reportedly he ran to Jackie and Joy Whitley (and others) to try to paper over his behavior.
To this day, I can only guess he was after me for the unauthorized use of the Wagon.
Someone reached Dad, so he and Momma drove home. Dad proceeded to have lawsuit{s} created to redress our family’s grievances. He packed our family away to rental property on the NC Outer Banks to shield us from Bob’s retaliation.
In response to the threat of legal action Bob offered to sell Dad his 65% interest in Hancock Peanut Company. In 1963 that was more money than God above had in Southampton County. Dad made me his chauffeur as he ran from banker to banker to arrange financing for takeover the company. (Dad’s interest was then 35%, because Bob had made Harry Lee Hancock so miserable that he sold a couple of years, prior to all of this intrigue. In the end, First and Merchants National Bank provided the cash. Garth S. Hancock, Pope and F. Bertram Pulley became partners and they pledged all of their personal assets in addition to Hancock Peanut Company assets to F&M National Bank in Richmond. As an aside, the lead banker was Randy McElRoy. Thereafter F&M had the line of credit for HPC to finance purchase of the farmer’s goods. The law firm that stitched it all together was McGuire, Woods, Battle etc. I cannot recall the percentages, but I believe Pulley 19, Pope 20 Hancock the balance. – Garth S. Hancock, Jr | May 22, 2023
NO. 1 VIRGINIA GRADE
Some marketing genius, when labeling the different peanut grades, designated No. 2 those containing primarily split but edible nuts. Extra Large Virginias (they had to ride on a 20/64″ X 1” screen and count no more than ??? per pound) were basically what you are now shipping. What you are actually shipping are really a little larger than the minimum standard for Extra Large. The next smaller whole shelled nut was/is Medium (riding 18/64″ X 1” etc.), Usually found in little bags of Planters. Finally the Number 1 Virginia rides a 15/64” X 1” screen. It was considered fit for peanut butter or hidden in Girl Scout Cookies.. But No. 1 sounds good, doesn’t it? – Garth S. Hancock, Jr | July 17, 2023
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