Two Grandmothers: Macy and Matty

Macy Alice Williams

I re-arranged some furniture yesterday to get to a file drawer.  Inside the drawer, I found a notebook in which I had made various notes including one entitled "Two Grandmothers".  It was actually about my mother's grandmothers Macy Alice Williams and Martha Sollis.  These were notes I'd taken after talking to my mother.

I think Mother was pondering on how similar their lives were but with such a difference in outcome.  Both women were reportedly twins, but we think their twins died at birth. They grew up in what we would call dysfunctional families.  Macy's father left the children to be raised by the oldest child, Sam (20), when their mother died.  I'm not sure what happened to Matty's father, but her mother is in 1880 census as a widow with 2 young children (9 and 5) while Matty was working as a servant in someone's home at 13 years old in another town.

Martha (Matty) Sollis
and Vennie Watson

They were both widows with young children.  Macy's husband died before my grandfather was born and Matty's husband died when my grandmother was a toddler.  Both husbands died from horse accidents----knowing the family history, I believe both were racing horses.  Both women re-married shortly afterwards to possibly abusive husbands.

At this point their stories begin to diverge.  When Grandpa didn't "get along" with his step father, he was sent to live with relatives.  Macy had the advantage of having a lot of family nearby so Grandpa had a variety of family to live with.

Matty, on the other hand, became mentally ill and was sent to Farmington Mental Hospital.  Grandma was put in foster care.

Back to Mom's notes----both women received support and strength from their Methodist churches in southeast Missouri's bootheel.  Macy became stronger with the support of the church and had 2 sons who became preachers (Grandpa's half brothers)

Matty was broken, but received support from her church in that they took my grandmother in and helped raise her.  One of the families was Macy's brother's family:  Maggie and Martin Luther Williams.

Mother concluded that these two women "molded her outlook".  Mother frequently donated to the Methodist church which had supported both women and to a Women's Shelter in Warren County, Mo. which provided a place for women to go in abusive situations.  Mother believed that she needed to help others who might have been like Macy and Matty.  By donating to these organizations, she hoped that her money would make a difference in someone's life, and they would become stronger like Macy.

DNA Ethnicities

Mary(Polly) Sollis Reasons

Mary Ann Sollis Dickerson

As some of you know Jim and I have had our DNA sliced and diced several different ways. We have achieved our goals for the most part---we know where our Long family is from in Virginia (Culpeper), we located Grandma Vennie Wicker's mother's family (Sollis not Silas), we matched with the Wicker family I always felt we were related to  (There was a political writer Tom Wicker that I thought looked like Grandpa Wes).

My latest quest was to find out if we were part Indian which is what my grandmother and mother always said.  At first we didn't find anything (but we did find 1% African---definitely slave from 1700's---so I thought, "someone was dark, didn't want to admit African so called it Indian"?) 

I had received a photo of the SISTER of one of our ancestors (see photo) Mary Ann Sollis (b. 1834). Her descendants have no African but when examined on GEDmatch, they did show American Indian.   

I also saw a note someone left on Ancestry.com

 "I have been looking into the link that my father maintains is fact, that we have Cherokee blood in our family line. I found that Mary (Polly) Sollis,wife of John Rhodes Reasons (see photo ablove) was half Cherokee, her father, Abraham Sollis married into the Cherokee tribe and renamed his Indian wife Martha. This backs up my father's claim and puts the Indian question to rest. 

So, I put Jim's DNA and mine on GEDmatch to see if we could find that American Indian DNA.  On the Eurogenes K-13 test, we found it.  Jim has 1.1% and I have .51%.  Yes that is a very small amount.  Click here if you want to find out more about American Indian DNA and why Jim and I have differing amounts.

So, yes, we probably do have American Indian in addition to the African, but both are probably back in the 1700's.  We are primarily  North Atlantic (English, Scottish, French, Irish,  German) with around 50%.  Then, another 25% is Viking (they settled in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Germany).  That leaves about 25% Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, African, American Indian.  If you want to know more about the Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Red Seas, Click here to learn about our very unusual J2 on the Williams line. To get a refresher course on my DNA journey, click here.

Louise's memories: her parents' early years

Dollie Cates and Vennie (Louvenia) Watson @1916

My mother started her memoirs any number of times. This version was begun in 1999---paragraphs would have been nice, but I'm so happy she decided to put her life into words. (Double click on the page to make it larger and use the back arrow to come back) This first page tells a little about her father (James Wesley "Wes" Wicker), his personality and his drinking.
The second page is mostly about her mother Vennie Marie Watson Wicker and the Cates Family. I've included some photos of the Cates Family and their farm. From what I understand, Vennie's mother (Martha Silas) was the housekeeper. When she was committed to a mental institution, my grandmother (around 12 or 13 years old) was taken in by the Cates family who lived in the Coldwater area near Hornersville, MO. The Cates family remained close to my grandparents even after they moved away.
Here are photos of my mother and Dollie's son J.H.Cates when they were toddlers and later when they were in their 20's. I even corresponded with J.H. several times trying to learn more about Vennie's family.

Here are photos of me visiting J.H. Cates---around 1947. I can see my grandfather on the right.For many years, my only memory was of the chickens. As you can see by my body language, I was a little afraid of them and remember them pecking my hands trying to get to the seed that I was "feeding" them with.

Happy Birthday Vennie Watson Wicker!

Today is my grandmother's birthday. Since I lived next door to her for my first 8 years (and she was only 43 years old when I was born), she was always like a second mother. I first started my genealogical hobby 32 years ago on her birthday because I wanted to know who she was. She is pictured above with her mother Martha Silas (Sollis) Watson Tuttleton in 1928.

She had a very difficult childhood---her brother died before she was born, her father died when she was a baby, her step-father was abusive, her mother was committed to an insane asylum and she lived with at least two families. First, she lived with the Cates family (photo above is Dollie Cates and my grandmother who I estimate to be 13 years old) whose farm she'd lived on when her mother was committed. Then, she lived with Luther Williams family where she met her husband James Wesley Wicker (Luther was his uncle). Vennie and Wes are pictured below with Jersey their cow---probably in 1930's.
I regret to say that 32 years later, I still don't know who my grandmother was. I've learned that her name was probably Louvenia (Vennie being more of a nickname). My aunt Billie said her name was Minerva Lou, though.  Since her parents were migrant workers, they had no family around that I know of. Mother recalled seeing photos of Vennie as a young child and photos of her brother when her grandmother Martha was still living, but they were buried with Martha when she died. My grandmother tried to find her father's family from "the Alton area," but never located them.
I even got a court order to see Vennie's mother's mental health records, but that didn't help much at all.  So, 32 years later, I still don't know who she was, but I'll never forget what she was---a beautiful, resilient woman whom I loved very much.