Sunday, November 13, 2005
My Family
I cannot nor will I attempt to give a complete family history, but rather an overview to the best of my recollection and from information that has been passed along to me. As I had mentioned earlier, my mother was raised by her extended family in Memphis. Her great-grandmother, Willie Jordan, whom everyone called Mama, My Great-grandmother Elizabeth Jordan, who was known as Nanny, Ora Lee Aikins whom everyone called Auntie, and her husband, Uncle Tim.
My great-grandmother Nanny, was born Elizabeth Anderson sometime around 1908. She met and married Albert Jordan and they had three children, Jimmy Lee, my grandmother Lou, and another daughter, Lucille.
Lucille suddenly died at the age of seventeen. Her brother Jimmy Lee, who had served in world war two, was driving home to attend his sister Lucille’s funeral. On the way home for the funeral, he fell asleep in the car and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. So Nanny has suddenly lost two of her three children within a matter of days. That left my Grandmother Lou. Lucille left behind a two-year-old daughter, my Aunt Dottie. My mother, Aunt Dottie, and uncle Daniel, were raised as brother and sisters.
Growing up, I had always thought that Nanny and Auntie were sisters. I later found out that Nanny’s husband, Albert and Auntie where brother and sister. Albert was a good-looking, smooth talking young man who had swept Nanny off her feet. After they married and had their children, Nanny, was forced to care for the children by herself. You see Albert in addition to being good-looking, continued to be a womanizer who liked to drink away any money he got his hands on.
Nanny would work two and three jobs to provide for her family. Still, it wasn’t enough. One day, my great-grandmother found herself and her children without a place to live. Knowing what her son was not doing, my great-grandmother Willie, took Nanny and her children into her home.
At that time, my family was sharecropping a farm for a family named Dunn. Which meant that they planted and cared for the crops on the part of the land that they had been given charge over. The common practice at the time was to rotate the crops that were planted each year. One year it could be cotton, the next, soybean, and so on and so on. Nanny, Auntie, Uncle Tim, Mama, and the kids would work the fields each day to earn their living. Everyone in the family, even the small children would arise early each morning to do their chores and work the fields. Once the children were old enough to attend school they would still be required to do their chores in the morning before going off to school and then finish them when they returned home in the evenings.
The Dunns’ would later reward my family for their years of sharecropping by giving them their own land to own. I don’t know what the amount of land was that was given, but I do know that all of my loved ones always had someplace to call home because of that gift.
Fast-forward a few years. My grandmother meets my grandfather Donald McGhee, marries him at a very young age and they have two children. My Uncle Daniel, who was nicknamed Red, because of his color and my mother, Barbara. I’m not sure what happened to their relationship, but I do know that my grandparents eventually separated with my grandmother choosing to move to Detroit, and my grandfather, relocating to Chicago where he would eventually re-marry. My grandmother had also remarried while in Detroit and had two more daughters, Aunt Regina and Donna.
I understand that my grandmother and her new husband had a rather turbulent marriage. My grandmother had a knife scar down her face to show just how tumultuous their relationship was.
Lonnie, my grandmother’s new husband had come home one day to find his bride in bed with another man. I don’t know what happened to the man she was caught with but Lonnie went after my grandmother with a knife. I was told that my grandmother was holding Donna, who is mentally challenged, in her arms when this happened. I don’t know if witnessing what she did had any affect on Donna’s mental condition, but I do know that no child should have to be subjected to witnessing what she did. What we as mothers and women of God must realize that everything that we do in front of our children, are things they will learn from. Be it good or bad.
Lamentations 1;16
"This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed."
My great-grandmother Nanny, was born Elizabeth Anderson sometime around 1908. She met and married Albert Jordan and they had three children, Jimmy Lee, my grandmother Lou, and another daughter, Lucille.
Lucille suddenly died at the age of seventeen. Her brother Jimmy Lee, who had served in world war two, was driving home to attend his sister Lucille’s funeral. On the way home for the funeral, he fell asleep in the car and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. So Nanny has suddenly lost two of her three children within a matter of days. That left my Grandmother Lou. Lucille left behind a two-year-old daughter, my Aunt Dottie. My mother, Aunt Dottie, and uncle Daniel, were raised as brother and sisters.
Growing up, I had always thought that Nanny and Auntie were sisters. I later found out that Nanny’s husband, Albert and Auntie where brother and sister. Albert was a good-looking, smooth talking young man who had swept Nanny off her feet. After they married and had their children, Nanny, was forced to care for the children by herself. You see Albert in addition to being good-looking, continued to be a womanizer who liked to drink away any money he got his hands on.
Nanny would work two and three jobs to provide for her family. Still, it wasn’t enough. One day, my great-grandmother found herself and her children without a place to live. Knowing what her son was not doing, my great-grandmother Willie, took Nanny and her children into her home.
At that time, my family was sharecropping a farm for a family named Dunn. Which meant that they planted and cared for the crops on the part of the land that they had been given charge over. The common practice at the time was to rotate the crops that were planted each year. One year it could be cotton, the next, soybean, and so on and so on. Nanny, Auntie, Uncle Tim, Mama, and the kids would work the fields each day to earn their living. Everyone in the family, even the small children would arise early each morning to do their chores and work the fields. Once the children were old enough to attend school they would still be required to do their chores in the morning before going off to school and then finish them when they returned home in the evenings.
The Dunns’ would later reward my family for their years of sharecropping by giving them their own land to own. I don’t know what the amount of land was that was given, but I do know that all of my loved ones always had someplace to call home because of that gift.
Fast-forward a few years. My grandmother meets my grandfather Donald McGhee, marries him at a very young age and they have two children. My Uncle Daniel, who was nicknamed Red, because of his color and my mother, Barbara. I’m not sure what happened to their relationship, but I do know that my grandparents eventually separated with my grandmother choosing to move to Detroit, and my grandfather, relocating to Chicago where he would eventually re-marry. My grandmother had also remarried while in Detroit and had two more daughters, Aunt Regina and Donna.
I understand that my grandmother and her new husband had a rather turbulent marriage. My grandmother had a knife scar down her face to show just how tumultuous their relationship was.
Lonnie, my grandmother’s new husband had come home one day to find his bride in bed with another man. I don’t know what happened to the man she was caught with but Lonnie went after my grandmother with a knife. I was told that my grandmother was holding Donna, who is mentally challenged, in her arms when this happened. I don’t know if witnessing what she did had any affect on Donna’s mental condition, but I do know that no child should have to be subjected to witnessing what she did. What we as mothers and women of God must realize that everything that we do in front of our children, are things they will learn from. Be it good or bad.
Lamentations 1;16
"This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed."
