Bell Virginia Morris Lavender

• Moved 1876-1879: from Lowndes Co., MS to Pickens Co., AL [per birth states of siblings, 1880 Pickens Co., AL census]
• Lived 1880: Carothers Beat, Pickens Co., AL with parents [1880 Pickens Co., AL census]
• Lived 1918: Route 1, Ethelsville, Pickens Co., AL [son Newman's WWI draft registration]
• Voters list 1924: Henry's Beat, Pickens Co. [Pickens County Herald & West Alabamian, April 24, 1924, p. 6]

J. W. Lavender married Bell V[irginia] Morris on Feb. 3, 1881 in Pickens County (Early Alabama Marriages, p. 49; in FHL Library, Salt Lake City). Solumnized by Wash Pridmore, Justice of the Peace. License co-signed on January 29th by John Wilson Lavender and Preston Pridmore.

Died July 5, 1924. Document lists mother as "Malisse Page."

"Belle Virginia told us her family were descendants of Noah Webster, brother of Daniel Webster. The way I remember it, it was three generations removed from her generation. Her mother was Mary Jane Paige of Columbus. She attended what is now Mississippi State College for women, said to be the oldest college for women in the U.S.... An English major, Belle Virginia also attended there." -- Alice Worley Lavender letter of 11-4-1974 to Debra Lavender

"I have been told that John and Virginia met at a party but she did not tell me this." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

"My mother went to college a while. She went home with some friends out in the country where Papa lived, and she and Papa fell in love and soon married. Grandma Lavender did not like this city girl and did not have anything to do with her till after first baby was born. Mama was real good to her and even had to take care of her in her last years." -- Irene Lavender Clements letter of 11-25-1973 to Debra Lavender

"Mother was always kind to [Mary Ann] and looked after her. Mary Ann sometimes offered short criticisms but Mother paid no attention to her just credited it to her old age." --Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

"My mother was the best mother anyone ever had. She had a hard time when she married Dad. All the country people thought Dad had gone crazy when he married a city girl. By the time I came along she was friends with every one black or white. My grandma Lavender lived with us when I was a child. She was one of those grandma's that children did not like. I can still hear her fussing, especially about how her son married a town girl that did nothing like she wanted done. I can't remember anything about my mother or Dad's young life." --Gesna Lavender Goree, letter of 12/14/1973 to Debra Lavender

"Bell's parents didn't want her to marry John Wilson, which is probably why they were married in Pickens County. It's the kind of thing you had to do because of such things. I never actually heard that either set of parents disapproved of their son- or daughter-in-law. But my mother later told me this." -- Virginia Hunter conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"I think Mother L. had a child stillborn between Claude and Louie." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

"John Wilson and Bell Virginia had twins that died between Claud and Louie." -- Bobbie Grace Goree conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"Mary Ann {Storey Lavender] never let Bell Virginia call her anything but Mrs. Lavender. She disapproved of her not only because she was a city girl and would not be able to keep house, but because Bell danced. Her parents called square dances up in Columbus where they lived. Good Presbyterians and Methodists did not do things like dance. -- Bobbie Grace Goree conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"Virginia was the opposite of John. While she was a wonderful helpmate, she did what came to hand that day. She was of a very happy disposition. She loved people, was an avid reader which she found time to do even at the expense of household tasks at times. She loved any kind of recreation and found time for it even if it was at the close of the day around the card table with some of the children. She loved helping them with their schoolwork so much so that she became their source of knowledge and correct spelling much of the time. She was reared in Columbus and attended Miss. State College for Women [now its name), then it was called Industrial Institute and College, the oldest state supported college for women in America. -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 10-23-1973 to Debra Lavender

"Big Mama would always take a stub of candle and, after John Wilson was asleep, would crouch down behind a trunk in their room and read books. She read whatever she could get. She probably would have been really smart if she could get an education." -- Virginia Hunter conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"She took some home economics courses at the "W." when it was I.I. & C. When the women asked for a college, the Mississippi Senate voted no because "we don't want to fry our daughters' brains." But black women could have one -- Rust College, on the way to Memphis. Finally the women deluged them." --Virginia Lavender Hunter, 1977

"Big Mama named a lot of her children after her pen pals. She loved to read. They named Gesna after a pen pal, but pronounced her name with a "j" sound. When she was older, Gesna met a girl with that name who pronounced it with a hard "g." Gesna liked that better and changed the pronunciation. Kids who had known her teased her about having changed her name and still called her 'Jesna.'" -- Virginia Hunter conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"Big Mama was still lonesome even with eight children. She had pen pals. They had an old nanny called Melissy, and Irene's middle name was named after her. According to Bobby Grace, Irene hated this name because it was named after this servant woman. Irene asked me in the 1940s why I named my own daughter Melissy, and I told her I named her Melissa (stressing the last syllable's sound] after you. Irene said "oh, is that how you pronounce it?' and then thought it was a pretty name." -- Virginia Hunter conversation of 2-7- 1994 with Debra Lavender

"She made all the children's clothes and was an expert at it. I can almost smell the homemade loaves of bread she made. She made her own yeast and it was a feast with freshly churned real butter. She was most even tempered and interested in reading as well as mothering her children and homemaking. She lived in a run. "Big Papa" -- as J.W. was called -- would come in from the field and say "Belle, I'm going to town in ten minutes, you can come with me." Town was Columbus, twelve miles away -- a trip in those days as the roads were ruts and the Ford touring car stayed in them all the way. She was always ready to go, two of her daughters lived there, and she loved going to see them while he attended to his business. Besides the ten in their family, there were at least two older women in the neighborhood who visited around, and they stayed months each visit -- in those days people really cared for their elderly." -- Alice Worley Lavender letter of 11-4-1973 to Debra Lavender

"One other thing about (Louie's horse) Bessie. Her tail hung to one side. Every time mother made a dress for me and it was not hanging right she would say it hung like Bessie's tail. That expression is still used. Every time I make a dress or curtains that do not hang right I say it hangs like Bessie's tail." --Gesna Lavender Goree letter of 10-25-1973 to Debra Lavender

"Louie and I lived about about a half mile from John Wilson and Virginia. I called them Mother and Father Lavender. They were very fond of me and I of them. Mother L. and I canned together and served together as long as we lived out there. ... The home was as nice as any in the community. It was a wooden structure made of weather boarding with a shingle roof, most of the lumber coming from trees cut, sawed, and dressed on the farm. It had four bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a dining room, a long porch across the front and a wide hall down the center of the house that had a plate glass door at the front." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

"We lived on a big farm in Ala, 12 mi. from Columbus, Miss. ... We raised hogs, chickens and cows. Sometimes had three cows to milk. Always had plenty milk and butter for table. Mama at one end and Papa at other and 4 children on each side. We had big wood stove in kitchen. Can you imagine coming home from school hungry and running to stove to get a warm sweet potato. We had to take our lunch to school which wasn't too much. We lived in big house and cooked and ate in same room. Two big bedrooms on one side of hall. Bedroom and parlor on other side of hall. We had 2 big beds in each room." -- Irene Lavender Clement's letter of 11-13-1973 to Debra Lavender

"We lived in a big house -- 3 big rooms on one side of Hall and parlor and big room on other side of Hall. The kitchen and the dining room in the back. Mama cooked on big wood stove. The dining room was big enough for your long table. Had bench on each side for 4 children and mom and Daddy at end of table. There were three big bedrooms on one side of Hall and living room and big bedroom on other side of hall. The big girls, Jennie, Irene (that's me), Sallie, Helen and Gesna lived in one big room. Mama and Papa in one big room. The boys lived across hall next to living room (called parlor). There was 2 big beds in Mama's and Pap's room. If any of children were sick they took them in their room. We did not have any fine furniture, just comfortable." -- Irene Lavender Clements letter of 11-25-1973 to Debra Lavender

"Our address was Ethelsville. Ethelsville had a post office, G.M.& O. R.R. Station and one store. We lived 5 miles from there but it was still a thrill to go. We lived 12 miles from Columbus, Miss. My dad had a country store. Farmers from miles around would come. The store was only open about 2 days a week, but they had a bell in front, and if someone wanted to shop mother would open up when they rang that bell. When everyone was in school I was left at home. I used to ring the bell and mother would stop what she was doing to come help a friend that needed her to find me there with a rock to buy candy with. Why she ever put up with me I don't know." --Gesna Lavender Goree letter of 10-25-1973 to Debra Lavender

"Newman's mother ran a store and was postmistress in the late eighties and early 1900. The mail was delivered by horse rider from Ethelsville." -- Alice Worley Lavender letter of 11-4-1973 to Debra Lavender

"John and Virginia not only ran the farm with quite a few attendants but had the rural post office and general mdse store known as Sharp Post Office. The store was on the lot with the home so Virginia looked after it while John looked after the farming which consisted mostly of cotton, hay, and corn crops." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 10-23-1973 to Debra Lavender "I had the desk that Bell Virginia used while she was a postmistress." -- Virginia Lavender Hunter 2-7-1994 conversation with Debra Lavender

"They had a phone and were the first in the community to own a Model T Ford." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

 		 "During some years, my parents lived with Big Papa and Big Mama.  Big Mama said to my mother that she had raised her children, and if you want advice, I'll give it to you but I'm not going to raise another baby.  I guess she thought my mother was so young and didn't know what she was doing."  -- Virginia Hunter conversation of 2-7-1994 with Debra Lavender

"They all got along with their mother even in her later years. They often asked her advice. She was always young at heart. She and Father Lavender wanted most of all for their children to be honest, upright citizens, taking part in church and community activities. They did not try to order their lives. The children all belonged to 4-H Clubs and things like that. She was never a teacher of any public school but she really taught her children. I think she was glad she had gone to college. She encouraged the children to go. She sent Jenny to M.S.C.W. [Mississippi State College for Women], then I.I.and C, but Jenny was a home girl, got sick and came home. Irene went to Florence State University, then Florence State Normal School and taught for many years. Sally went to Livingston but preferred selling to teaching. Gesna and Hellen worked in a bank and a department store after finishing high school. They didn't want to teach." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

Bell Virginia crocheted a centerpiece doily that Gesna had (photo 3-1967).

"Mother Lavender was not very old when she died of a circulatory disease in her legs." -- Lucille Sibley Lavender letter of 11-10-1973 to Debra Lavender

"When my father's mother was ill, he brought her to a Birmingham hospital, where she died." --William Lavender conversation of 10-31-2000 with Mark Westlye

"I was four when Big Mama died. Mother and Daddy drove to Birmingham and picked up Big Papa on the way. He was sitting out front waiting for them, reading the Christian Advocate. They went up to her room, and Uncle Claud was sitting by her bed. He motioned to Daddy to come over. I just followed right on up. Claud pulled the cover back from her right leg, and I can remember as plain as yesterday that her leg was black all the way up to her hip. She had diabetes, and they didn't have insulin then. Daddy never had it, but Uncle Louie did. Helen said she did too, but I don't think so; she just liked to take other people's medicine."--Virginia Lavender Hunter conversation of 2-7-94 with Debra Lavender --

Obit from source found during our research: "Mrs. Belle Lavender died 7-5-1924 at Baptist Hospital in Birmingham and was buried at Friendship Cemetery [Columbus, MS]."

John Wilson was living with Irene in Reform when he died. Gesna thought John Wilson wasn't good to Belle. He was cranky. They had tennis courts out back that were dirt. People came from all around, to Sharp, between Ethelsville and Columbus. Belle was postmistress. Bob Henry lived there too. He hated animals and was mean to pets. ... Mary Ann lived with Belle after William died. .... During WWI John Wilson was a farmer. He sold products in a little store, where you rang the bell. The train went from Columbus through Ethelsville to Tuscaloosa. --Bobbie Grace Goree conversation with Debra Lavender, 1990s