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View Tree for Mary Goodwin DavisMary Goodwin Davis (b. May 22, 1879, d. Sep 22, 1941)

Mary Goodwin Davis (daughter of William Lea Davis and Mary Ann Blackwell) was born May 22, 1879 in Prospect, Walker County, AL [Gamble Mines]133, and died Sep 22, 1941 in Jasper, AL [Peoples Hospital]. She married William Walter Robins on Nov 15, 1894, son of George Walter Robins and Amanda Callander King.

 Includes NotesNotes for Mary Goodwin Davis:
"I remember my grandmother very well. She ran her home as a room and board place for some of my Uncle Owen's (her son) truck drivers. She would get up at four in the morning, start a coal fire in the dining room when the weather was colder, get the fire going in the kitchen stove and make breakfast. Breakfast always consisted of two kinds of meat, mostly country fried steak, bacon or ham but always fried chicken. Eggs, huge baking powder biscuits, butter, sorghum, milk and coffee went along with the meat. Lunch and dinner were not nearly so large.

Baby June (Clarence Owen also known as Spud), an orphan son of Callie Gaye (Robins) and Clarence Allen Owen (both of whom died of TB), lived with my grandmother. He was just a couple of months older than I so we had a lot of fun doing things together, especially since my uncle Owen bought him a model T ford when he was about 10 year's old. We had more fun running that thing all over Jasper. You didn't have to have a driver's license at that time. We used to visit Uncle Owen's garage, crank up the engine of a big truck and practice backing up and going forward.

Baby June (so named because our uncle June Robins was called big June to differentiate them) had an English bull dog that wouldn't let anyone near that car unless Baby June said it was OK. One day two little black kids started to get in the car in the back yard. Bull, the dog's name, went right through the back screen door after them. Baby June called him off just as the boys got out of reach scrambling to the top of the car's rag top.

It was a sad day when Bull, as he was want to do, was chasing a motor cycle and was run over. I remember yet Baby June carrying that 60 pound bull dog draped over his arms with streams of tears running down his face. Fortunately, Bull came to and lived a long life.

Later on, Uncle Owen bought Baby June a small, 4 cylinder Austin. I didn't ride in that very much before moving to Pittsburgh, but I do recall Uncle Owen mounting two big bell shaped, vacuum truck horns on the hood. They were longer than the hood. The only problem was that when Baby June blew them, the engine would stop. There just wasn't enough power to run the engine and the horns. But they looked formidable on that little car.

The thought of riding in that Austin got me into a bit of a problem with my folks. We were visiting friends in Birmingham on a trip South. During a fine chicken dinner I kept whining about wanting to visit Grandmother Robins in Jasper. I really wanted to drive Baby June's car. Even though my folks tried to quiet me and even suspected my true motive, I didn't let up. Finally, I was asked how I liked the fried chicken. My answer was, 'Grandmother Robins makes a lot better fried chicken than that.' I think my mother turned every color of the rainbow, but we lived through it.

Grandmother Robins, in spite of her heavy duties running her home, always had time to spend with Baby June and me. Many was the time that we would pack a lunch, climb into the Ford and go fishing. We never caught much, but it was a lot of fun.

On many of our visits to Jasper, we would go up in the country to Liberty Grove Cemetery for a big family picnic and reunion with the country relatives. This as an all day affair with good food, lots of singing, swimming in the creek and just plain fun. This is where Baby June's parents were buried and many of my relatives. I still have the picture of Baby June, taken on one of those outings, standing at the head of his folks graves with his arms outstretched to each.

Walter and Mae Robins are buried in Liberty Grove. Later on, my Aunt Zoe got so disturbed by the lack of upkeep of the graveyard that she gave money for constant upkeep of the Robins' grave. The solution, the two graves were covered with 12" of concrete and plastic flowers put on top. I saw this in 1985 and it looked just fine--stood out over all the other graves. It should also be noted that plastic flowers were used for most of the graves."

Contributed by Ed Denné, Jr. March 27, 1997

Died 9/22/1941 at 9:45 PM, body in charge of A. B. Legg & Sons.


More About Mary Goodwin Davis and William Walter Robins:
Marriage: Nov 15, 1894

Children of Mary Goodwin Davis and William Walter Robins are:
  1. +Carrie Lamanda Robins, b. May 18, 1896, Prospect, Walker County, AL, d. Jan 12, 1959, Pittsburgh, PA.
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