I3857: John Allen ALEXANDER (ABT 1850

Notes

Dr. Samuel D. McGill in his "Reminiscences of Williamsburg County" tells a story of Janet McCants Brown or Old Mrs. Jinnie Brown as he calls her. "The other McCants sister married Mr. Abner Brown and raised one daughter and five sons, and besides a granddauthter and grandson of the Patterson name. Ole Mrs. Jinnie Brown was the most remarkable woman, a pattern of industry and economy, who fully filled the sphere of household and housewifery. Possessed of a fine memory and powers of observation, it was amusing and profitable, too, to be in her society and to hear her narrate the funny incidents as they were made in her girlhood days".

"She had her breakfast at candle light, and while awaiting the readiness of the family, the johnnycake board held the centre of the hearth of the hall fire, supported by smoothing irons, while much of the other portions of the breakfast meal were placed near the fire to keep them hot. Her dishes were clean and glossy, her tin pans bright and shining white, her piggins and hand tubs and water buckets, made of red cedar at home showed the waste of the wood between the wooden hoops caused by the frequent scrubbing. The floor of her house had not a greasy spot, as it was wiped over every dawn and at other times scrubbed with the scouring brush, made of shucks with a long pine handle, and so oft repeated, in the absence of any floor carpet or cover, that the heads of the nails driven into it were raised above the level. At her door steps a shuck mat was placed at the bottom and a rug was placed on the door step, and you were expected to scrape and wipe until there was a sign of nothing on your shoes before you entered the house."

"Old Mrs. Jinnie Brown is held in sacred remembrance, as Sam and Sarah had just fixed up their first habitation when this good old friend, in company with old Mrs. Esther McCottry, sisters-in-law, each in their own old chairs, came riding up to their house, bringing as a present to them, a new and most beautiful table brush made of the gaudy feathers of a peacock, and among other things, a hen with twelve little chickens, thus intending to give them a start in this life. They felt proud, as indicating that friendship which never received a blur in after life, and the rising fortune looming up before their delighted visions."

"Old Mrs. Jinnie Brown raised one daughter and five sons. To be with these boys was one of the treats of this life. Interesting in their descriptions of persons and things and jovial at all times, they were the funmakers in our society. They all left families, except the youngest, who moved away in the early part of his life."

Jannett rec'd from her father, Thomas in his will 17 Jun 1791, A negro girl named PEGG. ^[S446]

My Southern Family

John Allen ALEXANDER

ABT 1850 - ____

ID Number: I3857

Sources

Rebecca BOWE

ABT 1760 - ____

ID Number: I74992

Sources

Cind BROWNING

ABT 1808 - ____

ID Number: I87596

Sources

Catherine "Caty" FARISH

ABT 1740 - 24 Apr 1813

ID Number: I94509

Notes

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Charles James HITE C.S.A.

22 Dec 1822 - ____

ID Number: I56701

Notes

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Anne HOWELL

1764 - 1780

ID Number: I96879

Sources

Andy KNIGHT

ABT 1880 - ____

ID Number: I33926

Sources

Jannet MCCANTS

1787 - ABT 1881

ID Number: I281

Notes

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William MORAN

23 Nov 1738 - 3 Apr 1824

ID Number: I81905

Notes

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Martha PENN

ABT 1845 - ____

ID Number: I69305

Sources

WILLIAM TYRRELL

1465 - ____

ID Number: I41163

Sources