( The " Rose " of Hickman County
Etta Mae
born : November 17, 1901
Bon Aqua, Hickman, Tennessee
died : March 2, 1984
Clovis, Fresno, California
burial : Clovis Cemetery
Clovis, Fresno. California
married :
July 7, 1915
Bon Aqua, Hickman, Tennessee
My grandmother, mentor, and guiding light
............Mother Mc.............
..... May I do her proud.....
" The Rose of Hickman County " was a description of Etta, by an old gentleman that admitted his young man's admiration of her and unrequited love that he still carried for her.
She must have been something..., Popa fell in love with her the first time he laid eyes on the young daughter of his uncle's new wife. The picture he always recalled for me was of her in the yard, playing and romping with the other children, the sun throwing glints from her flying, tousled hair, ' like the shine on a new copper penny'. The recollection of that memory, always made his eyes and face shine with his love.
Of all her attributes, I hope I have inherited her tenacity. It helped her through a difficult childhood seperation and divorce of her parents, at a time when divorce was not the normal way of life. This divorce seperated her from her father with no close ties to him, but I believe his family and their mother, kept his 2 daughters close to the family fold
She always considered Clarence Ledbetter, her stepfather, as her parent, giving to him the love of a daughter.
Being a daughter of disfunctional father and the heartbreaks that come with such a relationship, gave Mother Mc and I a bond that I could only share with her.
Tenacity also turned her into a woman and wife at the tender age of 13 years, 7 months and 7 days, a title she carried for 51 years 7 months and 21 days, with all the pride and dignity in her. The death of my grandfather is the only time I ever saw her lose her courage.
She had her first child in March of 1919, a daughter, and on this child's first birthday, her courage was called upon in a way that every mother fears. Her child's life was endagered and it fell upon her to save it, the best way she knew how.
A fall against the wood stove devasted her baby daughter's face and jeapordized her life. With all the courage, faith and help a young mother needed to save her child, her tenacity toward life saw her and the child safely through the years of care the injuries required.
If anyone would like to know more on these lines or has something they would like to share, please write