Notes
Note N13 Index
Beloved grandmother of Elizabeth.
Copy of application for SS # 267-22-6097, Jun 4, 1942 verifies information.
FL Delayed Cert. of Birth, 10/1/57 confirm parents and date of birth. Marriage license dated Dec. 3, 1909 shows Nannie Joyner was 18 years old.
The following is being written as I remember being told. Will add dates and names as I find them.
Nancy Joyner was so talented it is hard to put it down. Nancy was the oldest of 12 children, 8 lived and she helped deliver more than one of her brothers and sisters. Nancy married P. E. Tompkins at 19 and at age 20 she had my mother, Aurelia. She was abandoned by her husband in NYC and Woodson went and brought them both home to Bradenton, FL. As I was told, her husbands people wanted to take Aurelia away from her so Amanda and Woodson Joyner adopted Aurelia. Nancy at that point took various jobs open to women.
Nancy taught school, worked in a ice cream store (she was told, at the boss instructions, to each day eat as much ice cream as she wanted, but at one time each day only She said she had all the ice cream she ever wanted. Nancy was also a telegrapher in NYC during the "roaring twenties". This is when she married "Skipper". (Certified copies of License and Marriage confirm this)
Skipper was the Captain of a ship that went from NYC to Miami. At some point he also went to Japan and brought back a wonderful punch bowl and tea set which he gave Nancy. During this time, her sister, Evelyn was in Zig Field Follies (picture on Web Site). Nancy bought a cocktail dress from Saks Fifth Ave for her granddaughter in 1931 which I still have and can still wear in 1999 (this is the dress I have on the the picture on the Web Site with Sam at the Colony Restaurant in London in 1950). Web site address http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Lane/5455/index.html
This concerns the time Nancy was married to Skipper. Two telephone companies were told the first ship to lay cable from NYC to Miami would get all their business. Nancy and her girl friends were waiting in Miami when she got word that the other ship might get there first. The girls dressed to the "nines", got a rowboat and Champagne, rowed to the ship just outside the harbor. Once aboard they congratulated the crew on arriving first, as they celebrated, Skipper passed them in the dark and won the contract.
Next, Skipper and Nancy had a big house in Miami. When prohibition started Nancy decided to keep busy while Skipper was working. First they blocked the door from the back of the house to front. You had to go outside to get to the kitchen. Bath tub gin was quite popular and Nancy and a girl friend, Dency Emerson (husband Henry Emerson), had false bottom Model A cars so they could go to Canada and bring back good Canadian Whiskey. The front door admitted people like George Raft, motion picture stars, the Police Chief and Fire Marshall, various government people, some came just because they were having a ball. The back door was reserved for everyone else Nancy always laughed telling this, no one ever got a chance to blackmail anybody
Everything stopped though, when on one trip to Canada, Dency was in an accident. Dency lay in a ditch with big piece of glass in her head until morning (they traveled separately and met at different towns). This is true as I knew Dency too, her hair turned snow white overnight. Dency and Nancy remained best friends for life.
[Broderbund Family Archive #110, Vol. 1 A-K, Ed. 7, Social Security Death Index: U.S., Date of Import: Jun 7, 2001, Internal Ref. #1.111.7.140638.13]
Individual: Joyner, Nancy
Social Security #: 267-22-6097
Issued in: Florida
Birth date: Mar 7, 1891
Death date: Apr 1973
Residence code: Florida
ZIP Code of last known residence: 32771
Primary location associated with this ZIP Code:
Sanford, Florida
Notes
Note N15 Index
Amanda lived at 1132 9th St., Bradenton until 1954. She died in Gadsden County in 1955 and was buried in Manatee County, FL.
Amanda and Woodson had 12 children, 8 of them lived. After Woodson died in 1927, Amanda raised her children (youngest boy, John, age 5) with help from the oldest children and by becoming a Dress Maker. Women came from all over just to say, Amanda made their dresses
Until Amanda became ill in 1952, there was a big picture in an oval frame of Woodson in his Cavalry Uniform hanging in the living room. The night she had the stroke, Woodson's picture fell off the wall. The picture itself could not be saved, it crumbled into countless pieces.
During WWII, I remember 27 blue stars (representing family members in the Armed Services) in her front window. Gold stars represented a member killed in action. There were no gold stars in her window at the end of the war. (Elizabeth Braswell statement)
Notes
Note N16 Index
I remember visiting Samoset, Florida mid 1930's and on this farm I met Uncle Plenny. Also, this is the farm that G-Grandmother Amanda and I (before I was 6) used to walk to. Uncle Plenny sat on the back porch, covered with a quilt and played the banjo. He was a really neat person and I was told he lost his legs in the war (do not know which one). They told me he was a relative. Uncle Bill was probably named after his father, Woodson, and possibly the Plenny came from this Uncle Plenny. Do not know any other names from the farm. One time Uncle John and Aunt Eldis went with Mama and me. Eldis play "Red Wing" on the upright piano and Uncle Plenny played the banjo. Wonderful memories
Woodson may have been his name but everyone called him Bill. He was well known and liked. Bill signed up with the Civilian Draft Record 1917 - 1918 with father Woodson. They were all in the Cavalry. I have his sharp shooters medal and his dog Rastus' name tag (found together). Uncle Bill used to take me everywhere with him.
Bill died about 1936. Bill's bird dog, Rastus was stolen and someone told him where he was. Bill went to get him and his car was run off the road and he was killed. I remember being extremely upset and begging to go to his funeral. Finally, mother agreed and daddy (Jimmy White) carried me up to the casket so I could take one last look at my Uncle Bill. I was told later that is what I kept saying I needed "one last look".
Uncle Bill was the one in the family that planned family events. One reunion in Bradenton had more than 150 relatives, about 1935. One time, about 1936, we went to a wooded area and camped a few days. There was a long, long line of cars (mostly Model A's) and many people. We camped in a wooded area for a few days. I remember the women cutting the palmettoes to cook and the place where we bathed. Only problem I remember was the wild boar's chasing me. I backed up to a pine tree, they circled in front of me. Rastus came from nowhere, jumped over the boar's backs, turned to face them in front of me. He was bigger that day than ever before. All his hair was on end and the growls that came out of him were tremendous I believe he saved my life that day. Once before, when I was about two, we were at Bradenton Beach and Rastus, who hated water, dashed out in the surf, pulled a little girl in that was too far out, thought it was me. Her mother thanked us after she quit screaming