The Carpenters

Before I tell you all anything new, let me take care of something old:

In my last post I wrote that Lucretia Wells Alawine died on April 29, but I find in my notebooks that her tombstone says "April 19." Also, records from Antioch Baptist Church say that was her birthdate. I don't know why my oldest records show it as the 29th, but I'm making that correction. (I'm also changing it in the original post.)

I ended my last entry with a letter from Tommy Alewine, written in 1970, and his obituary. You notice that in the letter there are many references to Alewines and Alawines. Tommy commented that "our" branch (that is, the one descended from Elijah-William R.-Andrew J.) is the only one he ever found with the "Alawine" spelling. Elijah only signed papers with an "X", so if he was illiterate, maybe that's when the spelling change happened. Who knows.

I had originally been fascinated with just that branch of my family tree--that is, ancestors who bore my last name. It was, after all, the name I had from birth. In school I was usually given one of the first seats in the row because of my name! It made me feel special. It's an interesting name, unusual, even, and you may rest assured that any Alewine/Alawine you find is related somehow, even if very distantly.

But, as I got older, the other lines also eventually drew my attention. We inherit just as many genes from them as we do from the people who gave us our own last names, and some of their stories are just as riveting as the Alewines' history.

Take, for example, the Skinners.

To refresh your memory, Samuel Thomas (my grandfather) was married to Maggie Evalina Skinner, the daughter of Madora Ann Mayo and Roland Greenberry Skinner. Roland, who went by the nickname "Roe," was the son of William D. Skinner and Susan Kelly. 

William (or "Bill") Skinner was a carpenter. In the 1850 census the tabulator in Clarke County, Mississippi, indicated that Bill was 18 and living with his father Howard. He was described as a "farmer."

Copy of marriage bond, William Skinner and Susan Kelly

But by 1870 his occupation was given as "House carpenter," and he was living in Lauderdale County with his family: Susan Ann Kelly, 35 ("Keeping house"); Roland G., 14; Malinda J., 11; William A., 9; Calvin R., 7; and Susan A., 3.

Something fun to know is that those initials after the sons' first names ("G.," "A.," and "R.") stand, respectively, for Greenberry, Ashberry and Rasberry. People today sometimes give all their children names starting with the same letter--Kayla, Kim, Kamden, and so on. I guess back "in the day" they did a similar thing.

Like most of our male ancestors here in the South, Bill served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Records show that, after the siege and surrender of Vicksburg, he signed an oath, stating he would not "take up arms again against the United States, nor serve in any military, police or constabulary force...against the United States of America."

Loyalty oath signed by W.D. Skinner

This was a document required of Confederate soldiers at the time, and, having signed it, most immediately found another unit to join (or went back to the same one) and continued to fight. Perhaps Bill did, or perhaps not. His brother Calvin J. had apparently died or been killed earlier that year (or possibly in 1862); their father Howard litigated to collect the salary owed him and was paid $127. 

Transcription of document below

I'm including these photos of microfilm copies I made, mainly to show two things:

First, I believe the Vicksburg loyalty oath WAS signed by Bill Skinner himself. That's a kind of neat thing for a descendant to have.

Second, the document above, in which Howard Skinner appointed John P. McRee of Clarke County to act as attorney on his behalf in collecting the back salary Calvin had earned (but not been paid), may have at least been signed, if not completely written, by Howard Skinner. Again, seeing one's great-great-great-grandfather's handwriting is a real trip!

By 1880, Bill Skinner was in Kemper County, and Susan Kelly had died. He was married to Maggie Petty Mayo Sweeney, and they had one child, Jesse, together. Their household was possibly not unusual for the time: Bill's daughter Susan was there, and also Maggie's sons "Eddie" (Edward) and Elijah Mayo, and her daughter "Mike Swinney" (who was listed as a boy here, and whose name was actually Mica, after her father who'd died), and the youngest, Jesse. Jesse's shown as being 5 years old, so apparently Susan Kelly died between 1870 and 1874 or so.

Bill's occupation in 1880 is listed as "Mechanic in wood shop." I suspect that phrase may indicate he possessed more than the usual skill in carpentry. A story passed down to my father by his mother and his grandmother Madora says Bill was heavily involved with the construction of the First Baptist Church in Meridian, Mississippi. I've looked at what records I can find online and haven't yet seen anything listing the carpenters who built First Baptist, which isn't standing anymore. There are possibly church records I don't have access to, if anyone wants to find out. And, if you do, please let me know!

Over in Neshoba County in 1880 you see R. G. Skinner (that would be "Roe") and M. A., his wife (Madora Ann Mayo, "housekeep") with two children, both male. Roe is listed as "Carpenter." 

Roe and Madora Skinner

He was obviously talented and probably built a number of structures that aren't around anymore; but two that ARE still standing are the Zion Baptist Church and a private dwelling on Zion Road halfway up King Hill.

(Built about 1880 or 1885)

In 2002 I wrote the documentation to list Zion Baptist Church in the National Register of Historic Places, so I'm including a few paragraphs from the "Description" section to show what makes the church unique, from a historical point of view. 

Interior of Zion Baptist Church

My friend Richard Cawthon, historian at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, passed the nomination proposal to me without knowing at first that my great-grandfather had built the church. THAT was what made it unique to ME!

The church minutes indicate that it was built in 1910-11.

A final interesting thing--again, from a personal perspective--is something my mother told me a year or so after my father died.

I lived near Memphis at that time, and she was visiting. We started talking about family things, old stories, and, of course, with Daddy gone, we talked about him and his family a good deal. 

Mother reminisced about how Daddy's mother had been building a chicken coop at their farm one time when....

I had a "Wait, what?" moment (to put it the way we do today). She gave me an amused look: Didn't Daddy ever tell me that his mother, Maggie E. Skinner Alawine, always did the building projects?

Um, no...he'd never mentioned that. Mother went on: His father, Samuel Thomas Alawine, couldn't build anything much, she said. But his mother had SKILLS. She basically took charge of the construction of the outbuildings and so on. Sam let her do it, because--using Mother's own words that day--he "couldn't hammer a nail straight."

However, Maggie's father AND grandfather had both been master carpenters. She had to have picked that ability up from a longstanding family tradition of woodworking--even as a girl, in an age when women's occupations were listed as "housekeeper" on the censuses. (See above!)

I was more or less quietly astonished for a few minutes. Then I asked Mother, "Wonder why Daddy never mentioned that?"

What she answered was what women hear even now, sometimes: He wasn't sure how HE felt about his mother's, and not his father's, being the builder of the family. It went against all the societal norms of the time!

Warning: I am NOT implying that Daddy either had a problem with it or that he didn't respect his father--quite to the contrary. He was awed by Maggie's abilities, as who wouldn't be. But in a day when women didn't work in nontraditional gender roles, Maggie (and, who knows, maybe her sisters?) possibly was unusual. Gives me even more reason to admire her.

Ælfwine