Echoes of My Nola Past

Mom and Me June 1980. Happy Mother’s Day!!

I don’t remember my maternal Grandmother Odessa Amos(Big Momma to some but I like calling her NaNa). She passed away when I was 2 years old.

My Mom and Dad worked the evening shift and NaNa Odessa babysat for my brother and I a lot, especially since her and my Mom lived across the hall from each other in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, IL.

I’m quite sure we spent many evenings in the kitchen talking, sharing recipes, and eating together.

I’m thinking thats where my like for cooking and baking came from. Mom said NaNa always made her cakes from scratch and would have a strong dislike for the instant cake mixes that they sell today.

See NaNa Odessa left Cotton Valley, LA with only a third grade education and knew that she wanted something better for her children. She made sure all of her children took advantage of any and all opportunities that were provided to them. Each one recieved a Degree and two recieving a Master Degree(my mom being one of them).

She never wanted my Mom to marry my Dad, but of course my Mom did, but by the time my Mom recieved her Degree NaNa Odessa was already gone. I know she was proud of my Mom nevertheless.

One of the hardest things NaNa Odessa had to do was bury a child.

My Uncle Augustus Banks Jr. passed away sometime around 1968. What strength she must have shown while inside dying from a broken heart. She knew she had to go on for the rest of her children and be strong for them.

I still have all the cards and well wishes that was sent to my NaNa. I can tell she was well liked and really cared about the Community. I have her Voters Registration Card from 1964 and I am quite sure she voted every chance she was given as soon as African Americans were given the opportunity to vote. Since I found her card, I decided to vote every chance I get and Volunteer more in my own Community.

One thing that I have learned from her is her STRENGTH. Coming from a Community in LA with no electricity and runnung water, to a Community where she worked as a maid and raised her children to recieve College Degrees.

I watched my Mom bury 2 of her 3 brothers and keep it together like no other. She never lost it in front of us and I can see NaNa Odessa doing the same.

After everything that my Family and I have been through within the last six months, one thing that we remained is Strong. A trait that was passed on from generation to generation. I can hear my NaNa Odessa Spirit saying to me “Its ok Lisa, everything is going to be alright”.

See thats what she named me. Never being able to pronounce Felicia correctly she told my Mom “I’m calling this baby Lisa”, and that is what my Family and close Friends call me to this day. She also noticed that the spelling on my Birth Record was incorrect. I have a slash through my middle name on my Birth Certificate and the real spelling is above that.

I can hear her now teasing my Mom “Beverly why you name this girl after the Whale on Moby Dick. My middle name is Rachelle, but on my birth record it was spelled as Rachel and thanks to my NaNa, Rachel was crossed out and my true name was added.

No matter if I can remember her or not, her Spirit is with me everyday. Everytime someone says my name or I have to show a copy of my Birth Certificate.

Some of the stories about her I found out after starting my Research, but I knew about my name change at such an early age and that is the story about my NaNa Odessa that I carry with me everyday and deep in my heart. I know she  is so proud that I was choosen to tell the Nola Story, wouldn’t be surprised at all if NaNa had a hand in it all like all Grandmothers do!!

The date on this card was September 1964. My brother was born in March. I will assume NaNa Odessa decided she wanted to make the city a little bit better for her grandson.
Felicia

Although my mom had three brothers, Uncle Bobby was my favorite. I learned so much from him. He had such a good spirit. He was smart, funny, and humble. He was well educated(masters degree in math) and such a good athlete. He almost went pro, but like so many he had those demons that he could not shake.

Athough Uncle Bobby had so much going for him, in college he developed a liking for alchohol and became addicted. He was able to overcome this addiction and settledown and marry. He had one child(a daughter) and never took another drink. I remember one year when he came to live with us, mom poured beer on her ham to take some of the salt away. He would not touch that ham. He said he was recovering and wanted nothing to do with that ham. Although he overcame alchohol, he was also addicted to drugs and never overcame that.

Uncle bobby passed away tragically and it broke my moms heart. She just could not help him and she always wished she could have done more. We all did. He had so much potential and I know for sure that he would have loved to help me in my pursuit of our family history. I miss him so much, he even taught me how to play chess. We spent so much time talking and laughing. Wow!! I just wonder what would he be doing now? What would he have become if not for drugs and alchohol? No matter what he did he was my Uncle Bobby who was crazy about his niece Bird. See thats the name he gave me growing up since I was so skinny and had bird legs. I tattooed that name on my arm and whenever someone ask me about it, I just say “MY UNCLE GAVE ME THAT NAME!!
Felicia

Now I know madness mondays are for those ancestors that drive you mad. Although Aunt Carol did not drive me mad, but she did a number on my mom and the family.

Although my NaNa Odessa only had one girl(which is my mom), her and NaNa Dora were real good friends so mom and Aunt Carol grew up together. Once my NaNa Odessa passed away NaNa Dora stepped in a mother figure for my mom and our families grew from there. Aunt Carol was like a sister to my mom and thats the way she treated her just like a sister.

All sisters and brothers argue but Aunt Carol was a totally different breed. She gave mom and Aunt Che Che(Angela) HELL!! She would cuss you out with a smile on her face. I used to laugh so hard because mom and Aunt Che Che would talk about her in a whisper, but Aunt Carol would say whatever she had to say about them in front of their faces. She would always tell me don’t let them take advantage of you. See while at family gatherings everyone would be full so I would be left to put things away. Although Aunt Carol would be full too, she would always say make them help, but didn’t offer any help herself. It was ok though i alwasy knew what she was trying to say. See once we moved to MD, she would call my mom everyday and leave these hour long messages on the anwsering machine and when you called her back, she would just say “where is your mama that piece of sh..”. God I miss her.

On one visit home Aunt Che Che entertained us with a story about how my Aunt Carol lost NaNa Dora’s medication and blamed it on everyone she could. She had Aunt Che Che so frustrated, she put Aunt Carol out of her house and Aunt CeChe was her ride home. Che Che said “she had me thinking that I lost the medicine”.

See those are the things Aunt Carol did. She passed away suddenly from complications of COPD. She would not stop drinking or smoking. You would think that someone with the diease would change their bad
habits, but not Aunt Carol. She was her own person and everyone knew that. I miss her so much that I have not returned to Chicago since her funeral which was 3 years ago. See whenever we flew home, that was where we stayed. One year she picked us up in a car that had flowers for an antienna. I laughed about it until she pulled over and told me to find my way. Although I have other family and freinds back home, that was always our first stop and where I stayed. She always made room for me and my boys and even when my mom traveled with the boys(without me) she would make my mom leave them with her so they didn.t have to get caught up in my mom’s madness of trying to visit everyone.

I miss you Aunt Carol. I think she would be so proud of what I have done with the family genealolgy and her memory probably would have been much better than moms. I know it. RIP Aunt Carol
Felicia

As I went through the family photos last night with mom, I saw so many happy times and so many pictures of my mom and Uncle Bobby. See my NaNa Odessa(found out thats what me and my brother used to call her), had mom and Uncle Bobby late in life. Mom and her brother AJ, were at least 20yrs apart, but the oldest two loved the youngest two as if they were a year apart.

I ran across mom and Uncle Bobby’s first communion photo then came across me and my brothers. A coinsidence, I think not. Don’t we instill in our children the same values that our mom instilled in us. We always say we are going to be a different parent, but I know I found my mom all in me when raising my boys.

Me and mom laughed so hard last night because as we were discussing our first communion, we both decided that it was a mother’s vision. See I don’t even remember anything about that time. I had to be about 4 years old. I remember going to a lot of classes and studying for a speech that I had to give that day. I only went to Catholic school for about 1 year. See once mom and dad split, there were a lot of changes for my brother and I. My issue is that I did not even take Catholic as my religion. I was baptizied as a Baptist.

See I did it for her. Just like she did it for her mom and so on. These are our mother’s vision not ours, but we do these things because we think that is what our moms want. I am really proud that my mom allowed my brother and I to decide our own religion but at that time at that very moment, she and NaNa Odessa wanted us to have a first communion and we had one!!
Felicia

ODESSA AMOS
1907-1969

Today as I was shared with a co-worker about what I have learned about my family history so far. I shared with her that my Robertson/Robinson line of women were Mulattos. As I explained to her that Mulatto was a negative word that was used for mixed race. I joking said that someone in my family slept with and Indian or the slave master. We laughed but how true this is. The problem is that whom ever started this color line in my family, was not happy to do so.

I shared with my co-worker that my mom shared with me. She always told me that my grandmother Odessa was so light that she could pass for white. She said that growing up, their neighbors looked down on them because her and my uncle Bobby were light also. My mom said she used to hear them say “here comes Ms Odessa with them light kids of hers.” My mom said that one of the things neighbors said they think they are better because of their skin color.

How not true this is. My Grandmother had my mom and uncle at such a late age in life that after she had my uncle, she started having health problems. They were raised in the Robert Taylor projects in Chicago down on State Street. My grandmother worked cleaning homes and did whatever she had to do to help raise her family. See, my grandfather Robert was so messed up by the war that my grandmother was on her own with two kids and health problems. So how is that thinking that you are better? She went threw the same thing that every women went threw no matter what their skin color is.

My co-worker shared with me that she has the same issue in her family but in reverse. See Carolina is from the Dominic Republic and she shared that most women mixed with men from Haiti. She stated that her grandmother used to tell her” get you one of those men with the blue eyes and light skin.” That might not be the exact quote but you all know what I’m talking about. I told her just like in my family, all the light women went for that dark skinned man!! Even her(she has one of the cutiest little baby), my mom, my grandmother, my great great grandmother and so on.

See I am a true believer that it is not about the color of your skin, but about what you have in your heart and your character, but if you think about it no matter what color your skin is Mulatto, Light skinned, or dark skinned we are all African Americans and Children of God. I just wish things could have been different then and now!!

Most of my research has been guided towards my Louisiana roots, I have so been neglecting my other ancestors. So I decided to do a little research on my Mathis side. Not sure but I think I found my great grandmother Alice’s family and my great grandfather’s Virgil family.

When I first started this research I found all different kinds of spelling for my last name:
Matthis/Mathews/Matthews. I always thought my last name to be Mathis. I decided to change everyone’s last name in my tree to Mathis and go from there. Well there are not that many African American Mathis in Arkansas, but I did not let that stop me. Put in my great grandfather’s Virgil first name and date of birth and only three people came up. A Massett born abt 1874, McCoy born abt 1871, and Michell born abt 1870. See my great grandfather Virgil was born about 1872.

The Massett family had a wife named Harriet, which Virgil’s mom name was Harriet found living with him and Alice in 1900. Although the age was off for Harriett, that can always be figured out later. Now the key to this being my Virgil is that there was a Casey family thirteen households away from the Massett family. Although the Casey family does not show my Alice(since she was born after the 1880 census was taken), whose to say that her mom did not give birth three years after.

For some reason I have a feeling that this is my Alice. I know I will have to order a birth certificate and all, but I just can’t shake this feeling. The familys lived to close to each other and although Alice was married to Virgil in 1900, Alice’s mother and father was still in the area and so was Virgil’s. What are your thoughts? Have I found my ancestors?
Felicia