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Mama and Papa by Ruth Williams Matchett, daughter of Ida Hawes Williams, 2001 My Mother, Ida Hawes Williams I think my mom married my dad for a home. She had been living with Aunt Sweet and was fed up with Aunt Sweet’s domineering. She was about ready to escape and go live with Aunt Mary Ellen in Texas when my dad came along and married her. I remember one time when Carmen visited us she told Mama that she just loved Uncle Jake. Mama said, “I’m glad somebody does, cause I don’t!” That really hurt me. But like my nephew Jimmy Williams said, she stayed with him and raised six respectable children. I was never as close to my mother as I was to my dad. Perhaps the Hawes were not an affectionate bunch. But I guess she loved me anyway; she kept me clean and in school. Mama cooked most any meat she could get. I don’t remember her ever cooking a mud turtle, but she did cook a lot of soft-shell turtles from nearby lakes. And when the boys would capture a possum, she would keep it in a pen and fatten it before she cooked it. We all liked it and considered possum a treat! I remember one time a neighbor in Hampton killed a possum and invited me to eat some with them. He had heard that I liked possum. Mama always skinned hers, but Mr. Brown left the skin on, which turned me off. Although it looked pretty surrounded by peeled sweet potatoes, I just couldn’t eat it! I remember in the springtime Mama used to gather and cook young poke leaves and the new leaves of blackberry bushes. Mama was good at plain country cooking. She never made fancy pies, but made delicious fruit cobblers. She also made egg custard and a cake that had several thin layers with apple butter between the layers. She made her own apple butter, of course. After Jessie and I got older, we became the dessert cooks and learned to bake all kinds of pies and cakes. Mama was generous. I remember one time she gave some canned pears to Claude [Houser] and Maggie when they visited us before they married. Jessie and I were a little upset that she gave away our canned pears because they were particularly difficult to prepare and can. I remember Mama once mentioned a boyfriend, Mac Davis. She also dated Uncle Arthur [Wheeler] before Dad appeared. Being so nice looking, I doubt she was ever a “wall flower.” Grandfather George Hawes I just barely remember my Mama’s father, George. He was old and had a long, white beard. My Father, Jacob (Jake) Williams My dad was a good, kind father. I loved him dearly and was heart-broken when he died. If a father ever had a pet, I guess I filled the bill. He was a hard worker in the field and as a carpenter. It has been said that Papa’s family objected to him marrying Mama; they thought she wasn’t good enough for him. I think the problem was the Williams were “uppity,” braggarts, big boasters. I believe it was mainly Papa’s sister Essie who objected to the marriage and had a snobbish attitude. Once when Aunt Essie visited us on Sand Mountain, as I’ve heard, her kids called me and my brothers and sister “pickaninnies.” Papa and his family were well educated, at least for those times. I don’t know if they had formal high schools back then, but Papa probably went as far in public school as you could go. He taught school before he married. He must’ve learned algebra because he helped me with my algebra homework when I was in high school. I remember he still had the little hand bell that he used in the classroom when he taught school. Someone borrowed it to use in a school play in Hampton, and they never returned it. Papa worked hard, we always had food, and we were clean. Grandmother Elizabeth Whitmore Williams I just barely remember Papa’s mother Elizabeth. She was tall and had a cancerous growth on her nose. She kept a white ointment on it. |