Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

 
The Dunlap Company and Christmas
 
I do not feel qualified to write about the Dunlap Company. All I really know is from personal experience. I believe they owned a lot of Pickaway County’s farmland. I also know that they were good to my Dad and he was happy working for them. I also believe that his experience was not just a working one but a personal one.
 
When John Dunlap Sr. was alive, my Dad thought highly of him. When “Senior” traveled, he sent post cards to my Dad, as did his son “Junior”.
 
My Dad and John “Junior” were about the same size so Junior gave my Dad suits that he had grown out of….they both “battled the bulge”.
 
I have several Christmases mixed up in my mind so I can’t write about one in particular but I can write about one constant. Every year the Dunlap Company had a Christmas dinner for their employees in the cafeteria of the school. It was usually a few days before Christmas. We always looked forward to it. My Dad helped carve the turkeys every year.
 
When the dinner was over, everyone retired to the auditorium for a short program and the presentation of a box of gifts and a bonus for each family. One year I got a large doll with golden hair. It was probably the nicest gift that I received that year. My mother would take the bonus and go to Circleville to buy the rest of our Christmas gifts.
 
I have been away from Williamsport for a long time and don’t know anything about how the Dunlap Company conducts its business today. In the grand scheme of things, they would be considered a small farm now and small farms have a difficult time surviving in today’s business climate. What I do know is that they were a blessing to us.
 
Merry Christmas everyone!

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2020
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck