Robyn’s Family History
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SMITH
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SPRINGER
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Springer
The little two-room wood frame house was surrounded by cotton fields and cornfields for as far as the eye could see. “Bye Mama!” little Mattie would wave, dreading the long, hot walk to the bus stop along with her sisters and brothers. She wanted to stay behind with her mother and help cook, help out in the garden. But she didn’t pick cotton; Mattie would leave that to her older sister Grady Lee who could pick more than anybody.
My grandmother, Mattie Mae Springer, was the fifth born child to Walter Springer and Effie Fendricks. The family’s early years were spent in the Hooker’s Bend community of Hardin County, TN, but they moved around quite a bit. Like other families in this rural, Southern area, Walter had to work hard to provide for his wife and seven children. Mattie recalled: “[My father] was a farmer and he farmed until I was about 10 years old. He was a sharecropper. He had horses and cows and pigs and chickens. In the wintertime, my father was on a steamboat.”
Later, the Springer family moved to Henderson, TN, a short distance away in Chester County. The children all attended Chester County Training School, the high school designated for blacks. Church played the biggest part in their lives; in Henderson the family attended Cool Springs Baptist Church. “We would go to Sunday school every Sunday,” Mattie recalls. “They would have what you call Big Meetings and it would go on for a week at a time, or two weeks, and the whole family would go, get out and walk. Maybe if somebody came by in a wagon they would ask us to ride.”
Mattie attended one year of college at Tennessee State University in Nashville, before marrying her high school love, Luther Holt. After he served a brief stint in the military during World War II, they moved to Dayton, Ohio where they would live the next 40- some odd years. They raised three daughters (one of which is my mother) and proudly provided a college education for all three.
Mattie passed away in April 2001, in Virginia, surrounded by her family and leaving a rich legacy of love.
Mattie had six siblings: Grady Lee, Granville, George, James, Arnell and Maxine. Her mother Effie actually birthed nine children, but two died in infancy, an extremely common occurrence in that time period. George and James both served in World War II. Mattie remembers: “ They were in the army and they were on the island of nd of Okinawa. They were gone so long, two years and we didn’t hear from them. When they wrote letters it would take a long time to get through. After 6 motnhs we got letters anfd either of them knew the other one was there. They were sleeping in foxholes. They had been light-skinned and when they came back they were very black and we almost didn’t recognize them. They never did get their color back.” George and James both eventually would live out their lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Four of the other children, including my grandmother eventually relocated to Dayton, Ohio after the War. One sister, Grady Lee, was the only one who remained in Tennessee. All of the siblings maintained close relationships with one another. Pictures are shown below of Granville, Maxine, Arnell and George Springer.
Their father Walter Springer was born in Lawrence County, TN, according to his death certificate. My grandmother remembered meeting at only one sibling of Walter’s named Mary Neal, but I haven’t found any record of Mary so far. Walter’s father was George Washington Springer and his mother’s name was “Ludi.” I did find a census entry with showing Ludi (widowed) in Lawrence County with a son Walter who is the correct age. I have not been able to locate any definitive information on the Springers before this record. They were from Alabama, according to their subsequent census entries, and my best guess is neighboring Lauderdale County, Alabama, where I found several African American Springer families.
In addition to working as a farmer and on steamships, Walter got what was considered a very good job later in life as a government employee at the plant in Oak Ridge, TN building materials for the atomic bomb as part of the infamous Manhattan Project.
Walter’s wife Effie Fendricks is shown also at right. Oral history says she married at the age of 14, even though their official marriage license says otherwise
What Am I Currently Researching On The Springers?
1) Trying to locate any record with George Washington Springer.
2) Trying to locate the elusive Mary Neal. This may be a married name.
3) Trying to connect these Springers with any of the Springers in Alabama.
Please email me with comments, questions or tips!
