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.

The "Williams" Kids

Macy Alice Williams is pictured above with her second husband George Henry Hall and four of her children: Clara Belle Hall , Ruth Agnes Hall, Obie Palmer Hall and James Wesley Wicker, my grandfather. Macy had a hard life bearing two children after the deaths of her husbands (John B. Wicker and George H. Hall), and yet she is remembered as a good Christian woman. Her granddaughter Kay said, "Dad (Macy's step-son and son-in-law) said he never knew a woman as good as she was." I think her children are evidence to character.
Here are the children here, too. As you can see, Clara and Obie were more serious even as children and Ruth is almost always smiling just as she was an adult. Grandpa. . . .looks like he's not really fond of having his photo made. These photos were probably made in and around Hornersville, Missouri.
I love this photo of them---Grandpa is maybe 10 years old but driving a car. He later became a car mechanic and drove earth-movers during the Depression, so it is fitting that he's driving a car.
This next grouping of photos were made around 1948 in Memphis, based on the little girl Michelle. L-R: Clara Hall Stephens, Wesley Wicker, Ruth Hall Ezell and Ray Ezell with his daughter Michelle. Ray was actually Clara, Wes and Ruth's half brother. Macy's third marriage was to James Ezell who had a son Everette by another marriage. Ruth Hall married Everette Ezell. . . I will try to connect the dots---Ray's half-brother and half-sister were married.
Here are: Dot (Ruth and Everette's daughter), Clara, Ruth; in the front row is Georgia Hall Endicott (another sister) and my grandmother Vennie Watson Wicker, Wes's wife.
This is the only photo I have with all six siblings: Wes Wicker, Ray Ezell, Obie Hall, (they all had different fathers); Ruth Hall Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Clara Hall Stephens
After my grandfather died some of them still managed to get together with my mother who was one year younger than uncle Ray, and 3 years younger than her aunt Georgia. Here are Georgia, Ray and Ruth in the Smoky Mountains near where Ray lived.
This was probably in the late 1970's. L-R Nelda Hayes Wicker Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Ruth Hall Ezell, Louise Wicker Long (my mom) with my dad and Ray in the background.
They also met at my Mother and Dad's house in 1983: Ruth, Ray, Nelda and Georgia
Beginning in the left corner and going clockwise: Rachel Morgan Twenter, Ray Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Ruth Hall Ezell, Nelda Hays Wicker Ezell, me, Louise Wicker Long with Leah Morgan Warren and then Rebecca Morgan Lewis. The little girls are my daughters.

Nelda, Ray's wife, was first married to my grandfather's cousin Peck Wicker, of barbecue fame. Click here for more about Peck and his barbecue stand. So, Nelda was related to my mother and grandfather twice through marriage!

Although it's hard to tell, Georgia, Wes and Ray were the giants in the family---5'4" ,and at 5'1.5" I am a true Williams!