Abstract:
In 1936, Addie Clawson of Watauga County was hired to carry the mail, typically a man's job. There were complaints from both men and women. The men complained because they didn't get the job, and the women complained because she was wearing pants and doing a man's job. This did not deter Clawson. She didn't own a car; she didn't even know how to drive. In the three days before she was to report to work, she and her husband bought a car, and she learned to drive it. The car would take her only so far on the rough roads. Her husband would meet her halfway on her route with a horse, and she would ride on. They would switch in the evening on her way back to the post office. During her thirty-year career, Clawson carried the mail on rough roads and through blizzards and floods. She retired in 1966.