Lillie May Alexander(1881-1974) In company with her great-grandsons Terry and Derek White (standing and seated, respectively), 26 November, 1970. (Age Eighty-nine) I remember once about 1967 or so, when I was a small boy around four or five, my parents bought me a small record player —an old “45” turntable. My grandmotherMartha had given me a 45 RPM recording of an old church hymn entitled “Oh, How I Love Jesus” to go with the record player. Well, I would play that record (the only one I owned at the time) over and over again, and sing along with it, moving my hands through the air as though I were playing the piano which could be heard in the recording. When my parents discovered this, they took me into Atlanta to “perform” formy great- grandmother Lillie, who was instantly delighted. She immediately called out to her daughter Martha, who was in the kitchen —probably (like her Biblical namesake) busily preparing dinner: “ Oh Martha—come quick! See what the boy is doing !” (And Martha was every bit as thrilled as her mother Lillie, according to my Mom Ruth, who was there.)
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(standing and seated, respectively), 26 November, 1970.
(Age Eighty-nine)
I remember once about 1967 or so, when I was a small boy around four or five, my
parents bought me a small record player —an old “45” turntable. My grandmother Martha had given me a 45 RPM recording of an old church hymn entitled “Oh, How ILove Jesus” to go with the record player. Well, I would play that record (the only one I
owned at the time) over and over again, and sing along with it, moving my hands throughthe air as though I were playing the piano which could be heard in the recording. When
my parents discovered this, they took me into Atlanta to “perform” for my great-
grandmother Lillie, who was instantly delighted . She immediately called out to herdaughter Martha, who was in the kitchen — probably (like her Biblical namesake) busily
preparing dinner: “Oh Martha—come quick! See what the boy is doing!” (And Marthawas every bit as thrilled as her mother Lillie, according to my Mom Ruth, who was
there.)
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in praise during church services (more like anold-fashioned Southern Baptist than the more
staid Methodists among whom she
worshipped), and always delighted in praising
her „Lord‟.
(According to Barbara Newton, Lillie used to
say that she had been „saved‟ twice— once byimmersion, and a second time by sprinkling.)
It is likely that Lillie may have suffered from aform of what is now called “bi- polar disorder”(manic/depression), which is now known to
sometimes exhibit the symptoms of occasional
psychotic episodes and religious mania or
fervor.
On one occasion, according to BarbaraNewton, Lillie kept interrupting the preacher at
a staid Methodist church service with her loud,
spontaneous (and unpredictable) outbursts of
shouting “Amen!!!” again and again during hissermon. (In this Methodist service, Lillie was
the only person doing this. …) After the
service, the frazzled preacher privately
approached a family member (probably Lillie‟sdaughter Martha Bunn), with the request that
she please try to keep her mother under control
during his sermons!
Lillie MayAlexander, ca. 1905
Lillie‟s particular brand of religious “fervor” went so far as to induce her (almostuncontrollably) to continually inquire of even the most casual passers- by, “Have you
been „Saved‟?” to the point of greatly embarrassing her daughter Martha, who from that
time forward, tried as much as she could to keep her now-elderly mother penned-up at
home. (Lillie would do this both at home, to the postman or other callers, as well as onshopping trips to nearby Greenbriar Mall.)
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Lillie‟s friendships and family relationships seem also to have suffered greatly because of
her religious „mania‟ in her later years. This, at least, is from all the evidence I have seen(including her diaries, which speak of her loneliness, and which continually ask the
questions of why she couldn‟t go out to church, or to visit friends, and why her friendsnever came to visit her). It was a very sad situation. People then probably had never
even heard of manic/depression, and certainly the drugs to treat it did not yet exist.
Here follows the complete, unedited, unabridged text of the religious tract which she
wrote, probably in the 1940s. Her religious „mania‟ is very much apparent in it,especially toward the end. The events she details therein took place in December of
1896, when she would have been fifteen. Cousin Jack Alexander (sole surviving child of
Greer, and a nephew of Lillie) told me recently that the occasion for the party was his
mother Mary Horn‟s 16th birthday. Mary Horn and the Horn family were both neighbors
and friends of the Alexanders (long before she wed Greer). This story is also notable (and
valuable) for the rare personal glimpse it gives us of her father, Thomas Tucker
Alexander, and the quality of the man that he was:
Lillie May Alexander , ca. 1889 (age eight)
In Green Pastures
Back in the “gay nineties” when I was a mer e
slip of a girl and very much in love with life, I
had an experience that changed the whole
current of my life.
It was the twenty-fifth of December and very
cold. Mother Nature had spread a beautiful ice
carpet over the old red clay roads of Georgia,
and the great oaks back of my home were singing
as the wind swept in from the north.
The whole countryside was in a bustle of
excitement because of the “coming out” party of
my best girl friend on her birthday, December
25. [Mary Horn, later second wife of Greer.]
I wanted very much to go, but since it was to be a
dance I felt that my dear father would not give
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The shepherd I recognized as the Good Shepherd of the Bible, as He
stood by the entrance into the fold and put the bars up so high the poor
black sheep could not enter. He said not a word but with such a tender,
compassionate look He shook his head. I understood and was soon on my
knees begging to be made white like the other sheep, so that I too would be
worthy to enter the fold. The scene changed and with a look the black sheep was changed into a snowy white one and was allowed to enter the
fold with the rest.
M vision was gone and the heart that was so heavy was now light as a
feather: in fact, I fancied I was a feather and must get out into the open to
float around. By the light of the full-moon I went down the hall and out
onto the frozen ground where I danced under the stars to the glory of God
and shouted His praises under the big oaks for I do not know how long,
but until my sister came to me begging me to go in, as she feared I would
catch my death of cold on the frozen ground.
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Had I not proved it? St.
John 10: 27, 28. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me: and I give unto them eternal life: and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Praise the Lord! for He is my Shepherd! I shall not want. I am feeding in
green pastures and drinking from still waters! Would not you like to be in the fold?
Lillie A. Kelly McConnell
Lillie honored and respected her father, Thomas Tucker Alexander. His careful guidance
and nurturing influenced his daughter Lillie all of her long walk upon this earth. She paid
tribute to him in a 1922 poem, entitled simply “My Father” (see above, in section abouther parents).
Born in the era of horse-and-buggy, and although she lived to see men walking on themoon on her television set in 1969, Lillie May Alexander nonetheless never learned how
to drive an automobile! All things considered, Lillie May Alexander was still quite a
character — a remarkable person by any standard.
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Stella Martha Alexander (1883-1971) on the left, with her brother Greer and sister Lillie
May, circa 1897. Stella would have been about fourteen years old.
Stella married Thomas Alexander "Tom" Hinson, who was born in Cobb County in1870, a son of Jane Hinson, from an old Cobb County family, and lived thereafter in
Atlanta for the remainder of her life. According to the old Atlanta City Directories,
Stella‟s husband Tom Hinson was for many years a guard or watchman, first at the old
Fulton County Stockade, and later at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. He and his wife
Stella resided for many years at 671 Catherine Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia — the samehouse which Stella‟s daughter Martha McIntyre (and her husband) would later occupy.
Thomas Alexander Hinson last appears in the City Directory in the year 1950. Thereafter,
his wife Stella resided there alone as a “widow”. Thomas Alexander Hinson had to havedied, therefore, sometime about the year 1950. His widow Stella continued to live there
until at least 1968, before she was moved into a retirement home.
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Laura Pearl Miles. (ANNIE ADELINE LOVELESS 9 , JAMES ALBERT LOVELACE 8 , SAMUEL7 , BARTON 6 ,BENJAMIN 5 ,
JOHN 4 , THOMAS3 , WILLIAM 2 , UNKNOWN 1). She was born on 4 February, 1888, in Calhoun, GordonCounty, Georgia. She married Samuel Jones on 1 September, 1909, in Summerville,
Chattooga County, Georgia. Laura Pearl Miles Jones died on 30 June, 1969, in East
Ridge, Hamilton County, Tennessee.
Laura Pearl Miles at about the age
of twelve, around the year 1900.
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Madgenetta “Madge” Miles. (A NNIE A DELINE LOVELESS9 , J AMES A LBERT LOVELACE
8 , S AMUEL
7 ,
B ARTON 6 ,B ENJAMIN
5 , J OHN
4 , T HOMAS
3 , W ILLIAM
2 , U NKNOWN
1). She was born on 14 July, 1891 (one
source says 1892), in Gordon County, Georgia, and died at the age of seventy-three on 30
November, 1964, in Walker County, Georgia (one source says she died on 28
November). Madge appears to have been at least partially named after her Aunt
“Genetta” Lovelace Keheley, of Atlanta.
Madge married first to A.C. Estes; second to John P. Hawkins; and third to Monroe
Gordon McNew, ca. 1910. He was born 2 August, 1884, Cherokee County, Alabama,and died on 13 November, 1918, in DeKalb County, Alabama, a son of Aaron McNew
and Lucinda E. Berry.
Madge Miles and John P. Hawkins were the parents of one child, a son (see later), and
Madge Miles and Monroe Gordon McNew were the parents of one child, a daughter (see
later).
Little Miss Madgenetta Miles, at about
the age of eight, around the year 1900.
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The children of Lillie Barton Lovelace and her second husband Paul Henry Bradbury:
Ruth M. Bradbury. (L ILLIE LOVELACE 9 , J AMES A LBERT
8 , S AMUEL
7 , B ARTON
6 ,B ENJAMIN
5 , J OHN
4 ,
T HOMAS3 , W ILLIAM
2 , U NKNOWN
1). The Atlanta City Directory, for the year 1937, lists her as a
stenographer for the Rufus W. Cox Company, Atlanta, Georgia, and as residing at 400
Ridgecrest Road NE, Atlanta. She failed to be listed in the same reference in thesucceeding years of 1938 and 1940. I have no further record of her.
Ralph Victor Bradbury. ( L ILLIE LOVELACE 9 ,J AMES A LBERT
8 , S AMUEL
7 , B ARTON 6 , B ENJAMIN
5 , J OHN 4 ,
T HOMAS3 , W ILLIAM
2 , U NKNOWN 1). He was born on 7 December, 1895, in Atlanta, Fulton
County, Georgia, and died on 29 May, 1969, also in Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia. He must
have lived away from Atlanta during most of the ensuing years, as he fails to be listed in
a single issue of the old Atlanta City Directories which I have seen. The Social Security
Death Index says that he obtained his social security number while in Wisconsin.
He married Carol Louise Guinn, 23 November, 1919, in Eufaula, Oklahoma. She was
born 8 January, 1899 in Centerville, Iowa, and died in September, 1981 in Louisville,Jefferson County, Kentucky. Her social security number was issued in Alabama.
They were the parents of two children (see later).
Marie Bradbury. (L ILLIE LOVELACE 9 , J AMES A LBERT
8 , S AMUEL
7 , B ARTON
6 ,B ENJAMIN
5 , J OHN
4 , T HOMAS
3 ,
W ILLIAM 2 , U NKNOWN
1). She was born on 1 August, 1899, probably in Atlanta, Fulton,
Georgia, and died in July 1972, in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia.
She married Laban Sidney Magbee on 26 July, 1921 in Greenwood, Leflore County,Mississippi. He was born 15 January, 1894, Smyrna, Cobb County, Georgia, and died 6
April, 1958 in Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia.
Marie Bradbury and her husband Laban Sidney Magbee were the parents of two children
(see later).
The same Atlanta City Directories present us with much more detail concerning their
lives: in 1937, Laban S. Magbee was living with his wife Marie, was employed as a
“repeater attendant”, and resided with his mother -in-law Lillie at 1155 Eggleston Avenue
SW, Atlanta. In 1938, he was employed as a “wood”[worker?] at 241 Walker Street SW,Atlanta, and was residing still at 1155 Eggleston Avenue. For the years 1940 through
1943, his statistics remained exactly the same. In 1944, Laban‟s occupation was given asa “repeater”, and his residence as the same place as before. In the years 1945 through
1949, Laban‟s occupation was listed as an “employee” of the A.T.& T. Company, and his
residence as the same place as above. In 1950, his occupation was given as a “teletypeoperator” with A.T.& T., with his residence the same. In the years 1951, 1952, 1953, and
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