| Looking Back: Black History Month | By: Col. Bob Smith and Pansy Nanney Baker, Special to The Press
| Posted: Friday, February 13, 2009 8:12 am
| | As a young man, I had a chance to work at many locations throughout the great townships and the communities of Weakley County. One town that I have wanted to write about with great admiration is Latham. This is where ex-slaves were brought from other states and sold to Weakley County settlers to work the farms and to serve as cooks, housekeepers and mammies (we called them “nannies” in these days). They took care of the children, black and white. In writing black history, I have been accused of being paid money for my effort to leave a bit of history for young black folk to know good as well as the bad. That’s why I thank God for Pansy Nanney Baker for allowing me to use her “forget-me-not” research of “Aunt Cann” Stovall. Let me express my thanks and my sincere gratitude to this fine lady. Weakley County Historian Pansy Nanney Baker highlights a story written in 1954 by Eleanor Jeter in Heritage Notes. ,In 1954, a serene silver-haired lady sat under mulberry trees at her home as she posed for reporter Eleanor Jeter for an article titled “Aunt Cann’ Stovall Recalls Memories of Near Century Life.” Aunt Cann was Candice Collier Stovall.” Wrote Baker. “Her home was located in what was referred to as the Hitch Rack, between Neal and Olive Streets in Martin. The Hitch Rack had been an area where shoppers of days past left their horses when they came into town for shopping. Homes were later built in the area.” Baker spotlighted the words of Jeter on Aunt Cann Stovall from an old newspaper story: “A day seldom passes when Martinites, whose business finds them uptown, don’t see the familiar form of an old colored woman as she strolls along Lindell Street. To some she is only one of the passers-by, and to others she is known as ‘Aunt Cann;’ but I wonder if to anyone besides her family, she is known by her own true story. Doubtless her 97 years are filled with so many memories that only the most vivid overflow to be retold. And some of these were related to me recently in an interview with Aunt Cann — an interview which took me to a small horseshoe drive behind the Westmar Manufacturing Company, where I found two massive mulberry trees shading the white-as-cotton head of Aunt Cann as she sat mending a dress. There she told me bits of her near-century span of life — a life that began in 1857 when she was born the child of slaves on a farm near Latham, her father belonging to Isham Collier and her mother to Joe Butcher. And in mention of her mother some key to the secret of her long life may be obtained from the knowledge that her mother had much Indian blood. And as the old Indian saying goes, ‘some Indians live forever.’ Her mother and her uncle, whose waist length hair was worn in long plats, were sold to Tennessee and Weakley County from North Carolina. Aunt Cann’s youth was spent in the toil of an individual who works in the fields. She states that she plowed corn and cut wheat in her master’s farm by day and helped her father work his ground by night. The work was hard and the hours long, she said, and to wear shoes short of Christmas was an unheard -of thing! Her mind recalled memories of cold winter days when mud fairly froze between her toes and the fire burning out of each field was a welcome sight indeed! Such strenuous work often resulted in hunger, and Aunt Cann related that this was often satisfied by either roasted peas or bread known as ‘ash cakes,’ which was made by mixing salt and meal and rolling them in fireplace ashes to cook. When done, these were taken from the fire, washed off and then eaten. Aunt Cann’s night work also included weaving and spinning the clothes which all the family wore. And speaking of family — Aunt Cann said there must have been ‘a dozen or more of us.’ And she has outlived them all. Aunt Cann’s tales correlate with history in post Civil War days as well as a few incidents during the war. She told of the time when Federal troops came to her master’s house and demanded food, horses and money. The first two were turned over to them, but the money had previously been hidden under the house in a riding boot. According to Aunt Cann, a small dog belonging to her master had found the boot and was playfully pulling it around and among the soldiers who never discovered the money in it! She also had vivid memories of the Ku Klux Klan disturbances which terrified the South after the war, and even remembers their actual visiting of her father’s home, and although her family was never harmed by them, she recalled the fright which once sent her scurrying to a near-by brush pile. Aunt Cann’s slavery day recollections date back to sights she saw as a child when prospective merchants viewed and bid on individuals appearing on the slave block before them. She married at 16, after the death of her mother and her father’s remarrying and moved to Martin from the Latham community some 40 years ago. Since that time she has cooked, washed and ironed for several Martin families. She is a Methodist and a member of Miles Chapel Church. She has one daughter, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. But what about Aunt Cann today? Does she live only with all these memories? Indeed not. Although cataracts affect her sight, she says she still sews whenever ‘someone will thread my needle.’ And to top all this, she doesn’t even wear glasses! Also she still has many of her own teeth. Her sole means of income is her monthly old-age pension which she receives from the government. Age can in some instances be a handicap or draw back, but I feel that in the case of Aunt Cann, her oldest years thus far have served to mellow memories which she has related to her family and other interested listeners such as me. Cann Stovall is truly an amazing person, for I wonder just how many of us will still be here 75 or so years from now to recall visions of space ships and A-bomb blasts, or tales of television to pass on to our succeeding generations.” Baker goes on to thank Jeter for this article, and cites “a more special sense of gratitude to Aunt Cann for allowing this glimpse into her memories, and history in the making. Although there are some discrepancies, research has proven much accuracy in the wise musings of Aunt Cann.” Candice Collier was the daughter of Josiah (sometimes listed as Joseph) Collier. She was born in Northampton, N.C. about 1830 and was a slave belonging to Isham Collier. Her mother was Mary Butcher, born about 1835 in Virginia and belonging to John Butcher who was born about 1811 in Virginia. Josiah and Mary were married June 10, 1866 in Weakley County. The 1870 Weakley County Census, District 18, lists Candice Collier as being one year old; the 1880 Census as 10 years old. In 1870 the Collier family, with eight children, is listed in the household of J.C. Butcher. By 1880 the number of Collier children had grown to 11, but they are listed in a separate household from the Butchers, two houses apart. It should be noted that the 1870 Census lists Josiah and Mary as domestic servants, rather than farm laborers, which implies that they were closely valued by the Butcher family. It is generally accepted that the years following the Civil War saw extreme hardship for persons in Tennessee, both black and white. Many welcomed the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 with great joy. It is also brought most confusion and hostility, as it did not include slaves in Tennessee. It actually only applied to slaves owned by persons in those states not under control of the Union; Tennessee was under the control of Federal troops. It was not until after the war in 1865, that all slaves in the United States were freed. Whether from economic necessity or loyalty, many freed slaves chose to remain with former owners. The institution of slavery had existed for centuries and some found the fundamentals of now being responsible for feeding, housing, clothing and attending to medical needs of large families overwhelming. By 1880, Josiah Collier is listed as a farmer; his wife Mary as keeping house. On May 9, 1886 Candice Collier married Cap Stovall. The marriage return shows they were married by a highly respected Black Minister, Dick (Richard) Dunlop. Richard Dunlop had been one of the founders of a Black church in the Gleason area, Price’s Chapel, Methodist Church South of America, in the late 1880s. Cap Stovall is shown in 1880 as age 14, a farm hand, born in Tennessee, with both parents having been born in Alabama. He is listed with the Josephus Latham family in District 4, the Pisgah Church area. The 1900 Census shows the Stovall family living in District 4 with two children, Husk and Chelley. It shows that four children had been born, with two having died. Cap is listed as a sawmill worker. Also listed is Persy Stovall, age 20, who is shown as a single boarder, also a sawmill worker. It is interesting to note that this census lists the birth date of Candice Stovall as November 1875. However, persons who are familiar with Census records have found that it is uncommon for many a young lady to actually become somewhat ‘younger’ as the years roll by. The actual amount of the old-age pension mentioned as being Aunt Cann’s ‘sole means of income’ has not been definitely determined. It is thought that it was possibly around $80. Research has failed to determine when Aunt Cann Stovall died but it is though to have been in the latter 1950s. Our sincere thanks and appreciation for the lady who sat beneath the mulberry trees and shared bits from the past. | | | | |
