Supporting the Family

“The Laundress”

Not all women found dealing in alcoholic spirits immoral or taboo. Individuals like the middle aged Jennie Shirkey, who ran a laundry washing service from her home, risked violating Prohibition to make extra money. Arrested by Sheriff Dillard, Jennie and her daughter Evelyn were found guilty and received a $50.00 fine each and one-month imprisonment for a first-time offense of “manufacturing and storing” ardent spirits. Her other three children were found not guilty by the jury and released without being charged. Moonshiners were not the only ones who violated prohibition laws out of economic necessity. Although Jennie’s situation is not fully known, the records suggests a hardscrabble existence. Her son Thomas posted bail for his mother, while Evelyn was taken into custody to serve out her sentence.  

These records reveal the effects of prohibition on the lower class.  

Take Aways

As the Great Depression deepened, poverty in rural Virginia worsened. Pressed by increasingly dire circumstances, many individuals turned to the perceived easy profits promised by bootlegging to see them through difficult times. As a result, federal agents and local enforcement officers found such economically vulnerable individuals easy targets for arrest. Resistance to Prohibition in Rockingham was less about temperance and political contest than about economic opportunism. With these records, the unique characteristics of prohibition in Rockingham can be better understood. Prohibition may have “failed,” but the attempt to ban alcohol and the enforcement of its laws had a profound effect–often adversely–for many people.