Minnie was the daughter of Florida Sweat and Silas Thompson; she was a devoted wife of Thomas Henry Davis, a loving mother of two daughters and a rare bred being a descendant of a protestant Non-Spanish "Florida Pioneer". As a Baptist, she would sang many of the old hymns remembering the lyrics by heart... even in her "old age" when she couldn't remember other things, she could sing these songs...all the verses word by word.
In 1916 while her family were temporarily across the St Marys River in Georgia, Minnie was taken, along with four of her sisters, by the State of GA from her family. At the time of this incident, her mother was on her deathbed after childbirth, but, to make a long story short, her mother didn't die and had to return to FL without these five little sisters. First, Minnie was placed in Georgia Baptist Asylum for Orphaned children near Atlanta for several months. After a unforgettable train ride and wearing a new red coat, she was placed eventually in the home of a childless couple Homer & Minnie Bowers in Tate, GA for at least 10 years. She was enumerated in the 1920 Federal Census in the Bowers household as their only child "Minnie Bowers age 8 born in GA". According to Minnie, she was the first of several children that the Bowers' would "take in". Since this census is the only documentation of her surname as Bowers, there is doubt that she was legally adopted. At the age of eleven, Minnie had the measles with a high fever, thus she became hearing impaired then leaving formal schooling in the 5th grade. When the Bowers were having serious domestic problems, Minnie, as a teenager, was placed Rosewood Village near Augusta, GA. "Minnie Thompson" was a ward of the state. Since she was a healthy, she worked long hours in the laundry or caring for the abandoned infants housed there. Minnie remembered a fire in one of the dormitories and helping to get the little children to safety. Years later, she would tell her children how she enjoyed skating along the sidewalks on the huge campus of this state home. Later, she lived in the Georgia Baptist Home for Girls. There were stories, from a child's viewpoint, told by Minnie about the years living with the Bowers and in the state homes. Many of the stories were very sad with what is considered today as abuse but may have been the norm years ago. Minnie was separated from her family, including her twin sister Mary, for all her childhood. In 1933, she was reunited with her mother and other siblings who were living in St. Augustine, FL. She was enumerated with her sister Beulah Blackstone in the Federal Census of 1940 in St Augustine, but moved back to Atlanta during WWII as she worked in a factory making military uniforms. See photo of her with co-workers walking down the streets of Atlanta. After the war, she meet a handsome soldier then married, had 2 daughters, 4 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren before her death.
This version of the events is based on listening to Mama tell it and years of research and interviews to support her story or not. Mama remembered Homer Bowers as "Herbert Bauer", but a Google search found her foster parents. The reason that she was put back in the state home was told that "Mrs. Bowers had died" yet she did not die but the couple separated for time, and Minnie was sent to a home at age 14. In time the facts were found. As of today, her records from the state homes remain closed in the Georgia Archives.
The tragedies of her childhood molded her life, thus played a major role in her adult life resulting in many incidents between her and her loved ones. While living most of her life in state institutions, she was never taught how to be loved, the social graces of life, or a had formal education. She did the best she could and needs to be remembered for that.
"Have you failed in your plans of your storm caused life, Place your hand in the nail scarred hand, Are you weary and worn from its toil and strife, Place your hand in the nail-scarred hand"...I can still hear Mama singing this one and when we sing it in church, I smile and say, "That's Mama's song".
At the time of her death, she had been nearly blind and deaf with dementia and needing 24-hour-per-day care for many years. She had a massive cerebral bleed and died within hours.
Thank you to Edda Meinikat for sponsoring my Mama's memorial. Thank you kenny for the grave photo.
In 1916 while her family were temporarily across the St Marys River in Georgia, Minnie was taken, along with four of her sisters, by the State of GA from her family. At the time of this incident, her mother was on her deathbed after childbirth, but, to make a long story short, her mother didn't die and had to return to FL without these five little sisters. First, Minnie was placed in Georgia Baptist Asylum for Orphaned children near Atlanta for several months. After a unforgettable train ride and wearing a new red coat, she was placed eventually in the home of a childless couple Homer & Minnie Bowers in Tate, GA for at least 10 years. She was enumerated in the 1920 Federal Census in the Bowers household as their only child "Minnie Bowers age 8 born in GA". According to Minnie, she was the first of several children that the Bowers' would "take in". Since this census is the only documentation of her surname as Bowers, there is doubt that she was legally adopted. At the age of eleven, Minnie had the measles with a high fever, thus she became hearing impaired then leaving formal schooling in the 5th grade. When the Bowers were having serious domestic problems, Minnie, as a teenager, was placed Rosewood Village near Augusta, GA. "Minnie Thompson" was a ward of the state. Since she was a healthy, she worked long hours in the laundry or caring for the abandoned infants housed there. Minnie remembered a fire in one of the dormitories and helping to get the little children to safety. Years later, she would tell her children how she enjoyed skating along the sidewalks on the huge campus of this state home. Later, she lived in the Georgia Baptist Home for Girls. There were stories, from a child's viewpoint, told by Minnie about the years living with the Bowers and in the state homes. Many of the stories were very sad with what is considered today as abuse but may have been the norm years ago. Minnie was separated from her family, including her twin sister Mary, for all her childhood. In 1933, she was reunited with her mother and other siblings who were living in St. Augustine, FL. She was enumerated with her sister Beulah Blackstone in the Federal Census of 1940 in St Augustine, but moved back to Atlanta during WWII as she worked in a factory making military uniforms. See photo of her with co-workers walking down the streets of Atlanta. After the war, she meet a handsome soldier then married, had 2 daughters, 4 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren before her death.
This version of the events is based on listening to Mama tell it and years of research and interviews to support her story or not. Mama remembered Homer Bowers as "Herbert Bauer", but a Google search found her foster parents. The reason that she was put back in the state home was told that "Mrs. Bowers had died" yet she did not die but the couple separated for time, and Minnie was sent to a home at age 14. In time the facts were found. As of today, her records from the state homes remain closed in the Georgia Archives.
The tragedies of her childhood molded her life, thus played a major role in her adult life resulting in many incidents between her and her loved ones. While living most of her life in state institutions, she was never taught how to be loved, the social graces of life, or a had formal education. She did the best she could and needs to be remembered for that.
"Have you failed in your plans of your storm caused life, Place your hand in the nail scarred hand, Are you weary and worn from its toil and strife, Place your hand in the nail-scarred hand"...I can still hear Mama singing this one and when we sing it in church, I smile and say, "That's Mama's song".
At the time of her death, she had been nearly blind and deaf with dementia and needing 24-hour-per-day care for many years. She had a massive cerebral bleed and died within hours.
Thank you to Edda Meinikat for sponsoring my Mama's memorial. Thank you kenny for the grave photo.
Minnie was the daughter of Florida Sweat and Silas Thompson; she was a devoted wife of Thomas Henry Davis, a loving mother of two daughters and a rare bred being a descendant of a protestant Non-Spanish "Florida Pioneer". As a Baptist, she would sang many of the old hymns remembering the lyrics by heart... even in her "old age" when she couldn't remember other things, she could sing these songs...all the verses word by word.
In 1916 while her family were temporarily across the St Marys River in Georgia, Minnie was taken, along with four of her sisters, by the State of GA from her family. At the time of this incident, her mother was on her deathbed after childbirth, but, to make a long story short, her mother didn't die and had to return to FL without these five little sisters. First, Minnie was placed in Georgia Baptist Asylum for Orphaned children near Atlanta for several months. After a unforgettable train ride and wearing a new red coat, she was placed eventually in the home of a childless couple Homer & Minnie Bowers in Tate, GA for at least 10 years. She was enumerated in the 1920 Federal Census in the Bowers household as their only child "Minnie Bowers age 8 born in GA". According to Minnie, she was the first of several children that the Bowers' would "take in". Since this census is the only documentation of her surname as Bowers, there is doubt that she was legally adopted. At the age of eleven, Minnie had the measles with a high fever, thus she became hearing impaired then leaving formal schooling in the 5th grade. When the Bowers were having serious domestic problems, Minnie, as a teenager, was placed Rosewood Village near Augusta, GA. "Minnie Thompson" was a ward of the state. Since she was a healthy, she worked long hours in the laundry or caring for the abandoned infants housed there. Minnie remembered a fire in one of the dormitories and helping to get the little children to safety. Years later, she would tell her children how she enjoyed skating along the sidewalks on the huge campus of this state home. Later, she lived in the Georgia Baptist Home for Girls. There were stories, from a child's viewpoint, told by Minnie about the years living with the Bowers and in the state homes. Many of the stories were very sad with what is considered today as abuse but may have been the norm years ago. Minnie was separated from her family, including her twin sister Mary, for all her childhood. In 1933, she was reunited with her mother and other siblings who were living in St. Augustine, FL. She was enumerated with her sister Beulah Blackstone in the Federal Census of 1940 in St Augustine, but moved back to Atlanta during WWII as she worked in a factory making military uniforms. See photo of her with co-workers walking down the streets of Atlanta. After the war, she meet a handsome soldier then married, had 2 daughters, 4 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren before her death.
This version of the events is based on listening to Mama tell it and years of research and interviews to support her story or not. Mama remembered Homer Bowers as "Herbert Bauer", but a Google search found her foster parents. The reason that she was put back in the state home was told that "Mrs. Bowers had died" yet she did not die but the couple separated for time, and Minnie was sent to a home at age 14. In time the facts were found. As of today, her records from the state homes remain closed in the Georgia Archives.
The tragedies of her childhood molded her life, thus played a major role in her adult life resulting in many incidents between her and her loved ones. While living most of her life in state institutions, she was never taught how to be loved, the social graces of life, or a had formal education. She did the best she could and needs to be remembered for that.
"Have you failed in your plans of your storm caused life, Place your hand in the nail scarred hand, Are you weary and worn from its toil and strife, Place your hand in the nail-scarred hand"...I can still hear Mama singing this one and when we sing it in church, I smile and say, "That's Mama's song".
At the time of her death, she had been nearly blind and deaf with dementia and needing 24-hour-per-day care for many years. She had a massive cerebral bleed and died within hours.
Thank you to Edda Meinikat for sponsoring my Mama's memorial. Thank you kenny for the grave photo.
In 1916 while her family were temporarily across the St Marys River in Georgia, Minnie was taken, along with four of her sisters, by the State of GA from her family. At the time of this incident, her mother was on her deathbed after childbirth, but, to make a long story short, her mother didn't die and had to return to FL without these five little sisters. First, Minnie was placed in Georgia Baptist Asylum for Orphaned children near Atlanta for several months. After a unforgettable train ride and wearing a new red coat, she was placed eventually in the home of a childless couple Homer & Minnie Bowers in Tate, GA for at least 10 years. She was enumerated in the 1920 Federal Census in the Bowers household as their only child "Minnie Bowers age 8 born in GA". According to Minnie, she was the first of several children that the Bowers' would "take in". Since this census is the only documentation of her surname as Bowers, there is doubt that she was legally adopted. At the age of eleven, Minnie had the measles with a high fever, thus she became hearing impaired then leaving formal schooling in the 5th grade. When the Bowers were having serious domestic problems, Minnie, as a teenager, was placed Rosewood Village near Augusta, GA. "Minnie Thompson" was a ward of the state. Since she was a healthy, she worked long hours in the laundry or caring for the abandoned infants housed there. Minnie remembered a fire in one of the dormitories and helping to get the little children to safety. Years later, she would tell her children how she enjoyed skating along the sidewalks on the huge campus of this state home. Later, she lived in the Georgia Baptist Home for Girls. There were stories, from a child's viewpoint, told by Minnie about the years living with the Bowers and in the state homes. Many of the stories were very sad with what is considered today as abuse but may have been the norm years ago. Minnie was separated from her family, including her twin sister Mary, for all her childhood. In 1933, she was reunited with her mother and other siblings who were living in St. Augustine, FL. She was enumerated with her sister Beulah Blackstone in the Federal Census of 1940 in St Augustine, but moved back to Atlanta during WWII as she worked in a factory making military uniforms. See photo of her with co-workers walking down the streets of Atlanta. After the war, she meet a handsome soldier then married, had 2 daughters, 4 grandchildren, and several great grandchildren before her death.
This version of the events is based on listening to Mama tell it and years of research and interviews to support her story or not. Mama remembered Homer Bowers as "Herbert Bauer", but a Google search found her foster parents. The reason that she was put back in the state home was told that "Mrs. Bowers had died" yet she did not die but the couple separated for time, and Minnie was sent to a home at age 14. In time the facts were found. As of today, her records from the state homes remain closed in the Georgia Archives.
The tragedies of her childhood molded her life, thus played a major role in her adult life resulting in many incidents between her and her loved ones. While living most of her life in state institutions, she was never taught how to be loved, the social graces of life, or a had formal education. She did the best she could and needs to be remembered for that.
"Have you failed in your plans of your storm caused life, Place your hand in the nail scarred hand, Are you weary and worn from its toil and strife, Place your hand in the nail-scarred hand"...I can still hear Mama singing this one and when we sing it in church, I smile and say, "That's Mama's song".
At the time of her death, she had been nearly blind and deaf with dementia and needing 24-hour-per-day care for many years. She had a massive cerebral bleed and died within hours.
Thank you to Edda Meinikat for sponsoring my Mama's memorial. Thank you kenny for the grave photo.
