Just the Facts, Ma'am--Or, a Quick Review

Alawines, ca. 1902

I am a wuss. 

Hard thing for a longtime teacher to admit, but as I get older, I’m becoming a wuss. It’s really hard for me to go to reunions where so many people are no longer with us. I am just not strong that way.

One of my family-type memories is of a late-night, mournful trip up Highway 19 to the house of one of my aunts when my Aunt Bonnie Fay (Daddy’s younger sister) died unexpectedly. Mother of course was going to be with Daddy, and she took at least us younger sibs along. The car was very quiet as Daddy drove.

Years later, when I was at Ole Miss, he called to tell me his sister Turin (one of the twins) had died. I didn’t know what to say to him. My roommate, a lawyer-to-be, watched me for some time when the phone call was over and at last asked, very solemnly, “OK, what’s wrong? I know something’s wrong.”

…So, a lot of my memories are of people passing on. Four of my own five brothers are gone; my parents, all the aunts and uncles, most of their children—my first cousins...being the youngest of that group, I find it painful to remember the others. And I see time running out on me, too.

I have in my mind pictures of what the reunions were, and—sorry, cousins—they aren’t the same for me anymore. I don’t feel ashamed of this. Once, being really sentimental and nostalgic, I told Daddy I could “just see” all those family members—his, and our own—running around through the woods at Alawine Springs, playing near the spring itself, and he gave me a tolerant look and said, “I don’t. All these woods weren’t here. It was fields, all growing crops.”

Things change.

A few of you have got in touch with me these past two weeks to ask about who’s in some old pictures, so I’m going to summarize in this post all the relevant facts about the family again, and then if you want to delve into other stories beyond just those facts, I’ll steer you to the right place.  

Here’s a chart, prepared by Bill Alewine of Virginia, showing the lineage from the earliest Alewine/Genewein on record. Notice that for whatever reason, the earliest documents from 1752 do show “Genewein” or something like it, sometimes “Genewyn” or “Geneweyr.” By 1786 it was “Ellwine,” and in 1795 it had become “Ellawine” and finally “Alewine,” in 1800. 

https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2019/02/whats-in-name-part-two.html

If you’re interested in figuring out how YOU fit into this, look at these charts, and you’ll see the Wellses, Mercers, Richardses, and others. At the bottom are Samuel Thomas Alawine and Maggie Evalina Skinner, my grandparents.

The photograph at the top of this page, taken about 1902 or ’03, shows the Alawines back to Andrew Jackson Alawine (center, big beard), who’s holding his namesake Andrew Thaggard on his lap. Next to him is his wife Lucretia “Crecie” Wells Alawine. I’ve only identified the adults in this photo, because there would otherwise be too many names cluttering it. However, Ila Dean Alawine is the child with her arms over Andrew’s and Crecie’s knees; Maggie is holding Clara, and Samuel Thomas is holding Creacie; the other assorted children I haven’t ID’d are offspring of either Will and Mattie Alawine or Kate and Will Thaggard. You might call this photograph the "original" reunion picture. 

Here are some photos from the family reunions at Alawine Springs through the years. I’m including only the children of Samuel T. Alawine and his brother James T. Alawine.

By 1986 only six came. Front row: Creacie, Ola Mae, Beatrice. Back: Sammy, Bob, Omera

1977. Front: Sylvia, Pruitt, Creacie, Sammy. Back: Omera, Bob, Beatrice, Ola Mae

1950's. All the siblings (Beatrice is cut off at the left.) 
Front, l-r: Bob, Pruitt, Roosevelt, Sammy
Back, l-r: Bea, Creacie, Omera, Ola Mae, Bonnie, Ila, Turin, Sylvia, Clara, Bessie (Gwen in very back)

1940's, and below. Grandchildren: Don Smith with Billy Perkins; Bob's sons, including one Agnes is holding; Roosevelt's children

In-laws: Mildred (Pruitt); Ernest (Ola Mae); Cecile (Bob); Marcus (Bessie); Artie Mae (Roosevelt)

Sisters, l-r: Ola Mae, Bessie, Bonnie Fay, Beatrice, Omera, Ila Dean

Brothers, l-r: Roosevelt, Sammy, Pruitt, Bob

Here are some quick links:

If you’ve heard the Antioch ghost story and want to read a little more about it, here’s a link to a  post telling about it. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2018/08/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

If you’ve heard about the Skinners’ carpentry skills, go here. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-carpenters.html

If you want to know about how war has affected your own ancestors who fought, read this. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-elephant.html

Here’s a place to find out about the Wells line. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2018/01/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

My father told me what it was like to go from Kemper to Meridian back in 1918. Read his story here. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2018/07/world-changers.html

Some of you have possibly heard about the child who was shot. Same, about the tale of the man who killed his brother-in-law and apparently escaped. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2017/12/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none_28.html

Times were rough right after the Civil War. Here’s a take on that. https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-story-behind-faces.html

Skinners, anyone? https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-tree-and-revolution.html

Or maybe, the Mercers? https://allthingsalawine.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-mercer-connection.html

If you want to know MY theory about how we have absolutely no Native American DNA in us, and yet everybody grew up thinking we did, read this. http://theadsnotthreads.blogspot.com/2018/08/cant-deny-your-dna.html 

Ælfwine