Amanda Wilson Lowers: A Raw-Boned Female (52 Ancestors #3)

Amanda Wilson Lowers was the second wife of my 3rd-great-grandfather Philip Mason. They were married just 12 days after her divorce from Weeden Lowers was granted. She intrigued me even before that discovery. My Grandma included a wonderful story about her in her memoirs. (Grandma had a LOT of stories. This one is among my favorites.) “Granny Mandy” came to help after my Grandma’s brother Harold was born in March 1909. I’ll let Grandma tell you what happened…

Granny Mandy

I know my aunt Laura came to stay with us for awhile, and she and Mother would sew a lot and then my mother’s grandfather’s wife came to stay with us until Mother was strong after the baby was born. The reason my mother didn’t call this old lady “grandmother” was because she was her grandfather’s second wife.

She was a big, husky, raw-boned female and she rubbed snuff. She was quite a yarn teller and I was half afraid of her. She teased me a lot and every time she would take my little baby brother to take care of him, she would make the awfullest face and say, “Kikee, Kikee, I’m goin’ to throw him in the swamp,” and many times I went to sleep with the frogs croaking: ker-ching, kerchunk, kerchunk.

Well, I thought for sure she meant just what she said. One day Granny Mandy (that’s what they called her), she went down the walk to the little house at the end and, while she was in there, I sneaked up real gently and turned the button on the door. Sometimes when I was in there, the button would get across the door, but I would reach my finger in the crack and turn the button. But poor old granny had rheumatism in her fingers and the joints were big and she couldn’t get her finger through the crack.

At first I thought of her crooked finger. I’ll go back and unlock the door. And then the little imp that sits on your shoulder said, “Let her work to get out.”

So I ran to the house. I was in the house quite awhile and Mother called me and asked where Granny was, and I said, “Oh, I shut her up in the privie.” Mother said, “What did you do that for? You go let her out right this minute.” I said, “I will if she will promise not to throw my baby brother in the swamp.”

So I went out and Granny was sure doing some hollering. I run up and turned the button real quick and away I run, back to the house to my mother. Granny comes in with a little switch, going to give me a little switching. So Mother told her why I shut her up. Poor old soul said, “Oh, you poor baby, didn’t you know Granny was only teasing you?” And she wanted to hug me and love me, but I didn’t want her to. I didn’t quite trust her.

Philip Mason and Amanda Wilson Lowers Mason

Philip Mason and Amanda Wilson Lowers Mason

Amanda Wilson, daughter of William L. and Anna Wilson, married Weeden Lowers in Ritchie County, West Virginia on 1 January 1878.1)Weeden Lowers and Mandy Wilson marriage record, Ritchie County, West Virginia marriage volume (unnumbered volume), page 37, digitized by West Virginia Archives and History. They divorced 21 June 1894.2)Pension file of Philip Mason, File # 467,962, National Archives, Washington, DC. Amanda died sometime after 1914, the date of her last statement in her Civil War pension file.

References   [ + ]

1. Weeden Lowers and Mandy Wilson marriage record, Ritchie County, West Virginia marriage volume (unnumbered volume), page 37, digitized by West Virginia Archives and History.
2. Pension file of Philip Mason, File # 467,962, National Archives, Washington, DC.

11 thoughts on “Amanda Wilson Lowers: A Raw-Boned Female (52 Ancestors #3)

    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      Hi Kalen! I appreciate you leaving your link. You might want to wait until Thursday when I post the Week 3 recap. More people will see your link then. (Also, you should include your ancestor’s name so your cousins out there will spot it easier.)

      Reply
      1. kakingsbury

        Thanks Amy –
        Can you tell I’m a bit too excited about finally completing a post in the week it is due!?! I will wait until Thursday for your recap to post my link with her name then.
        Kalen

        Reply
  1. Susan

    I LUV it, lol! What a great story — you are SO LUCKY to have stories FROM your gramma, and, what a g-r-e-a-t one. 😀 I could picture it in my mind — good storyteller! 😉

    Reply
  2. Dana

    What a neat story! With some people, it’s hard to know when they are ‘teasing.’ Anyway, how wonderful that you have those stories from your grandmother!

    Reply
  3. Wanda

    How nice to have such a detailed (and amusing) memoir. I especially liked the euphemism “little house at the end.” My folk were much plainer about it–I never heard it referred to anything other than the outhouse!

    Reply

Leave a Reply