Grandmothers' Interview

Summary of the August 16, 1985 Recording

Date: August 16, 1985
Length: Approximately 58 minutes
Participants: Two grandmothers (MawMaw Winn and the other grandmother) with younger family members

Overview

This is a warm family oral-history interview recorded on August 16, 1985. The two elderly grandmothers (both in their early 90s) talk about their childhoods, how they met their husbands, marriage, children, life on the farm, the Great Depression, World War II, and the large number of descendants the family had by 1985.

MawMaw (Winn Side)

Born: May 19, 1894, near Covington, Tennessee
Parents: James Peter McBride and Mary Ann Fulce
Siblings: One of ten children (she was a twin and the seventh child). By 1985 only she and her youngest brother (in Memphis) were still living.
Moved: To the Mac / Green’s Chapel area in January 1909 at age 14–15
Met Granddaddy Winn: She passed his store every day on the way to school. A memorable early moment involved her buying a corset; he wrote her a polite note about the size.
Engaged: April 27 (on the way home from a quarter meeting at the Mac church on a moonlit night)
Married: January 1914
Children: Four — two sons, a daughter (Mary Frances), and later Austin Hunter after a period living in Memphis
Husband’s death: Granddaddy Winn died of a heart attack in February 1943 at age 67 while Austin was in basic training in Florida
Later life: Lived with Austin and his wife for many years. At 91 she was still crocheting lace for pillowcases and gifts.

Grandmother Simpson

Born: July 11, 1892
Married: December 13, 1910 (at age 18)
How she met her husband: At a log camp in the Mississippi bottom land while visiting with her father and Aunt Love
Family connections: Simpson, Waits, and Melbourne families of the Fulton area
Education: Attended school through the ninth grade; for a time stayed with relatives in Fulton to continue her schooling
The two grandmothers had known each other since about 1909–1910 (76 years by the time of this interview)

Farm Life & the Depression

The family farm once had about 14 houses, mostly occupied by Black tenant families. They farmed with 12–13 mules and one small tractor. During the Depression and later New Deal acreage cuts, many tenants left for the North and the number of houses dropped to three or four. MawMaw preferred modern conveniences (electric lights, running water, and machinery) over the harder old days.

World War II

Austin Winn served in the Army Air Corps. He was about 20–21 when his father died. After basic training in Miami he went overseas. The family sold the contents of the store while Austin was briefly home after his father’s death. Mary Frances’s husband helped run the farm while Austin was away.

Descendants (1985)

By the time of the interview the family had a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren (they counted roughly 26 great-grandchildren at one point). William (married to Robyn Barrett from Massachusetts) and their baby son Willie were visiting that summer and are mentioned with special affection.

Tone

The conversation is affectionate, rambling, and full of mutual prompting as the two grandmothers help each other remember names, dates, and places. They look through old photographs, talk about crocheting, and clearly enjoy the presence of the younger generations.

Watch the Full Interview