Womack |
Lequire |
|
| Lula | ||
| John D. | Minor | |
| Benjamin | Octavia | |
| Bessie | ||
| Martha | ||
| Julius | ||
| Phillip | ||
| Georgia |
"Facts" that have been passed down through the years:
At some point, Joseph abandoned Sara and the children. For a time, they lived alone---without a husband and father---somewhere in the North Carolina mountains, possibly Buncombe County. They were in such dire straits that Sara's father, Willis Womack, traveled to the mountains and brought them back to Rutherford County.
A son, Benjamin, always said he could not remember ever seeing his father until the old man showed up in 1935 or 1936 for his extended visit. (By then, Joeseph was married to, and apparently separated from, his third wife, Martha Kelly Thompson.
During Joseph's visit, he is said to have been suffering from skin cancer, and was treated with radium or some such remedy. He was told by his doctor to avoid applying heat to the affected area. The pain was so great that he disobeyed the doctor; he heated a brick and placed it on his face, making the pain much worse.
Eventually he left, a year or so before his death, possibly to visit or live with some of his children in the other family.
And this from Joyce Durand, a great-granddaughter from the Lequire branch of Joseph's multi-limbed tree:
She talks about how old Joe's grandchildren loved him. "He babysat them on occasion, told them stories, and amused them no end by going to bed with all his clothes on, including his big World War I overcoat. He always carried his gun, an antique musket, which my dad remembers well. My Aunt Reathel remembers him being quite a dancer. She said he walked 9-10 miles to a dance, then taught the young people how to do the blackbottom, then walked home when the dance was over. Everyone remembers that he walked everywhere he went. One cousin remembers that he would visit Ben or John or Phil, then attempt to walk home to Georgia when he was ready to leave. He would put his clothes in a sack or a large cloth, tie it to a stick, put the stick over his shoulder and take off."
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Copyright © 1999 Reno Bailey