A Visit with Ms. Minnie

By Alice W. Martin

The story surrounds the life and times of Minnie Johnson Burruss, who was born and raised in rural America around the turn of the 20th Century. Growing up poor but proud Ms. Minnie had to work hard from childhood through adulthood. As a teenager, she met and married a true gentleman named Jacob Burruss. With a houseful of children, a lot of wisdom and a strong faith in God, they lived through the Great Depression and many other trials and tribulations, including the fire that consumed their son, Matthew.

Meet Emma and Annie Lou, Jacobs two sisters, loving but as different as night and day. Contrast Emmas quiet spirit with the insatiable Annie Lou who slips away frequently into the dark of the night.

This story (italicized words) is narrated by Ms. Minnie a few years before her death and is based on true events. Only the storyline has been embellished by the author. The characters names and the geographical locations have been changed to protect the innocent.

Sit back and take a trip back through time as you spend an evening with Ms. Minnie.

First Copyrighted June 2007 by Alice W. Martin

Library of Congress, United States Copyright Office Registration No. TXu1-361-060

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Printed in the United States of America.

This book is based on actual occurrences. The storyline itself has been created based on the personality of and knowledge about the characters lives. The names and locations have been changed to protect the innocent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462893928

Alice W. Martin

The seventh of eleven children, Alice Wyatt Martin was born and raised in Montpelier, a small town in rural Virginia. She currently resides in Martinsville, Virginia with her husband, Erizzell. Alice is the mother of one son, Neil, who lives in Virginia with his wife and their four children. Alice received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Virginia Union University in Richmond and her Masters of Business Administration from Averett University in Danville, Virginia. Her real love, however, has always been in writing, every since she began writing short romance stories for her friends back in high school. Alice currently teaches Accounting and related subjects at American National University and Math for the City of Martinsville Adult Education Progeam.

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Copyright © 2011 by Alice W. Martin.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2011910467

ISBN: Hardcover    978-1-4628-9391-1

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4628-9390-4

ISBN: Ebook          978-1-4628-9392-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the memory of Ma and Pa and to all their descendants—past, present and future.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5—Other Relatives

Chapter 6

Epilogue

Prologue

ON JANUARY 4, 1890, Minifred Mae Johnson was the last child borne to Moses and Susie Johnson. Raised in a 6-room white-washed house located off of Route 26 in Beaver County down in the south, she later became known simply as Ms. Minnie.

As was the norm in her times, public schools in the neighborhood ran from 1st grade through 6th grade. Ms. Minnie, a student at Mt. Calvary Cross School located next door to her church, completed them all. She was an excellent student. As a child, Ms. Minnie enjoyed sewing doll clothes and making handkerchiefs. Her childhood chores consisted of chopping corn, weeding tobacco, binding wheat, planting crops, working in the garden, cleaning the house, ironing, cooking, sewing—you name it and Ms. Minnie did it. In her own words, my momma was a lousy housekeeper and very lazy.

Outside of doing her household chores and other duties, Ms. Minnie served as Sunday school secretary during her youthful years, and as an adult, she worked hard cleaning house for the white folks in exchange for food. On the side, she sold blackberries, strawberries and sumac to earn money—anything to make a living.

Her first long distance trip was to Stonehenge, North Carolina by horse and wagon. It took from sun up to sun down to get there. Her Brother Clinton’s wife was in the hospital and they needed her to baby sit.

When asked what she considered her missed opportunity in life, she would say that it was when her uncle Theodore wanted to take her to Macon, Georgia to further her education. She had always regretted her decision not to go.

When asked about something unique in her life, she would say that she had three sons serving in World War II at the same time—a sergeant, a corporal and a military policeman. A fourth son was a soldier during the Korean Conflict.

Ms. Minnie had 6 main philosophies in life that she lived by and spread to those who knew and loved her.

Her philosophy on God: God always knows what to do, when and how.

Her philosophy on revenge: Tit for tat, tit for tat. You kill my dog; I’ll kill your cat.

Her philosophy on sin: "You always get a portion of your punishment here on earth where man can see it. The rest you’ll get after you die."

Her philosophy on achievements: If it ain’t hard to get, it ain’t worth having.

Her philosophy on dependence: I don’t ever want to be a burden on nobody.

And the one philosophy on relationships and dating that she passed down to all her female grandchildren: It’s always good to keep two on the hill so if one don’t come, the other one will.

This is a visit with Ms. Minnie.

Chapter 1

WHEN I WAS a little girl growing up in the rural south, I was introduced to an elderly lady whom I came to greatly admire. Everybody called her Ms. Minnie. Now Ms. Minnie was nobody’s fool. No one dared mess with her because she took no mess off anyone . Now I loved this lady very much and wished that someday I’d grow up to be just like her.

Ms. Minnie was very wise and as I got older, I would visit her just to sit and hear her talk. I had hoped that her wisdom would somehow rub off on me. Over the years I watched her age and before I realized it, Ms. Minnie was almost a hundred years old. This great lady, I often thought, has a story to tell, and she must not leave this earth without telling it.

So one summer day in the year 1986, I paid Ms. Minnie a visit in Stonehenge for just that purpose. With pen and paper in hand and tape recorder nearby, I began to record her story as she sat beside her bed. Ms. Minnie’s oldest daughter, Nellie, and my 14-year old son sat nearby listening attentively as she spoke. Every now and then, Nellie would jump in with her account of the past events. Being one of the eldest children, she remembered a great deal about the family’s history.

Mother Susie

Reaching down and pushing the record button on the tape player that was in my lap, I began the conversation by asking Ms. Minnie about her mother. Before she could speak, her daughter Nellie excitedly gave this account of her grandmother Susie, "Way back yonder when grandma used to come in the church . . . we never had but 2 ushers . . . and here come somebody with grandma, and grandma would start to moaning when she come in at the door and moan all the way down the aisle. Carried grandma down and set her in the corner, called it the amen corner. Grandma would sit up in there and moan the whole time she’s in the church. Everybody would say, ‘Lord, here comes Aunt Susie!’ She’d get halfway the aisle. She’d start back moaning and things. I’d say, ‘Lord, Lord.’ Yeah, it was meeting back in them days, child. What you talking ’bout ! And people would say, ‘If Aunt Susie don’t die and go to heaven . . .’"

At that point, I could tell that I would get a lot of information today because Nellie would be able to fill me in with anything Ms. Minnie may have forgotten. I interrupted Nellie to ask Ms. Minnie if she had any recollection of her mother’s family members. Ms. Minnie thought for a moment, and then she said to me:

I don’t remember nothing about my momma’s mother. No, I don’t remember her. She might have told me something about her, but it ain’t much that I can remember. She was an Edwards. I think her first name was Hildred. I can’t tell you what her father’s name was. Seems like he must have died . . . I don’t remember much, didn’t ask much about my momma’s parents for some reason. I don’t know why I didn’t do it. I didn’t know all of my mother’s and father’s brothers and sisters. I knew who some of them were. But I reckon all them’s dead now.

Mom had a brother named Wilmo. He was very much like momma. And momma used to tell me about my brother Wilmo. I’d never seen him. My brother Wilmo, my brother Wilmo. Where in the world is my brother Wilmo? I wish I knew where he was. I got a brother named Theodore. I wish I could find them and see where they is!

My Uncle Wilmo had one child and that child died about 12 months old. They used to call that child gold child. Thought so much of it, used to call it gold child.

The Neighborhood

The recorder that I had now placed on the bed beside Ms. Minnie kept on rolling. I looked at the outline I had scribbled on my notepad before leaving home that day. I already had my list of questions I wanted to ask. I asked her what the neighborhood was like when she was growing up.

She spoke about it like it was only yesterday:

One of the post offices was Blossom Creek. That was up there where Mack’s store is. Lord, child, I look at that old store when I go along there now! The times I’ve walked to that store! The times I walked to that store a child! Lord, have mercy! Mamie Hatcher kept it then. The nearest one was . . . it’ll tickle you to death, tickle you to death. The nearest one, when momma sent us to quick, if she needed something right quick, was Sally Vine’s. And I’ll tell you, you know where that one is, you know where Elroy Dempsey’s is? Well, you wouldn’t think that place was nothing to what it was when they used to go there. She had one little bit old house instead of that great big place you see out there now. One little bit old house. And I think she had a little old hen house out there and she kept store. And when momma want something right quick, Run through the bushes up there and run to Sally Vine’s. And we’d run through the bushes and come out down there . . . you know where the woods are down there? That was Sally Vine’s. She used to go to the other store when she had lots of time, you know. When momma wanted something right quick, something for supper, need some sugar, some salt or something, so and so, Run up Ms. Sally Vine’s right quick!

The School System

Over the years, I had listened to Ms. Minnie talk about her childhood and of how she had to walk to school in rain, sleet, snow or hail. I glanced down at my paper and my eyes came to rest on the question regarding her schooling. I asked her to tell me about her school days, her teachers and her friends.

Ms. Minnie smiled at me and said:

I attended a one-room school. Mount Calvary Cross School located at the church. The school was made from weatherboard plank and had 2 little windows. Mrs. Chloe Dermitt, white, was the teacher. She taught through the 6th grade. That’s as far as she went—from primer to 6th grade. I had the same teacher all the way through school. Schools started in October and ended in March. Teacher lived near the school. She had a chair that could lie back into a bed. She lay back most of the time. (Ms. Minnie laughed a little as she reminisced about the teacher). Wore a bonnet and kept it pulled over her face. Talked to herself, laughed to herself. She would say, Study your lesson, when caught. The children sneaked outside because the teacher kept bonnet over her eyes. There were 25 to 30 kids in the whole school. Mrs. Dermitt taught all six grades. Old maid, never married. ‘Good teacher’, though. Humph, wasn’t interested in the students. Didn’t pay attention to kids, especially to their reading. You could hear the kids laughing from as far away as my house. I could walk to school in 5 minutes. Everybody walked to school back then. I had perfect attendance. All black kids were in our class. The white kids went to school further up the road. They walked to school, too. School started at 9:00 and ended at 3:00. We went to school, rain or shine, sleet or snow.

We used cloth ABC books. The primer reader book had Tom, Kate, Will and Nell, the little red wagon and Spot, the dog. We learned reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. All the