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| Anna Mae (Button) Davenport |
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| Willis B. Williams with Richard Lee Davenport |
Biologically Anna Mae (Button) Davenport and Richard Lee Davenport are my great aunt and great uncle. Emotionally they are my grandparents, and I have fond memories of them.
Back Story
Anna Mae Button Davenport, born about 1897 is one of the younger sisters of my biological grandmother, Florence Clay Button, born about 1889. All the sisters were born in Georgia to the parents of Henry Clay Button and Mary Lane. The other Button sisters include Ida Belle, born 1896; Bessie, born 1904, and Verna Elizabeth, born 1909.
My grandmother, Florence had seven children that included my father, Willis B. Williams. She passed away on August 28, 1941, in Detroit Michigan just two days before my father's 12th birthday. My father was born in Detroit and had lived there up until that point. Unfortunately, I never asked and he never mentioned exactly when he came to Buffalo, New York but he did speak of going to elementary school in Buffalo.
Of his four maternal aunts, Ida Belle had passed away in 1940, Bessie had passed away in 1937, Verna Elizabeth had two children, and Anna Mae had no children. That Anaa Mae was childless, probably led to the decision that my father and his sister, Joan live with her and her husband even though it meant moving them to another city and state.
He lived with his Aunt Mae (as she was called) and Uncle Richard until shortly after he married. As a young struggling couple, my parents lived with them for a while when I was a baby.
Moving Forward
From my earliest memories, my great aunt Anna Mae and great uncle Richard Lee were my grandparents. That is how I introduced them. That is how they introduced me and my four brothers. They filled us with their grandparent love on a regular basis -- and then there were holidays and our birthdays that they always made extra special.
We called them Deety and Pop-poo. Their home was always had food stuff that we didn't regularly have at home, like fresh fruit and a candy bowl always filled with candy. We always thought of them as rich because of where they lived -- the Cold Springs/Hamlin Park area of Buffalo, New York. Although we didn't realize it at the time, it was a section of the city with a significant number of Black professionals.
I remember Sunday rides in Pop-poo's station wagon that had the "wood" on the side. We would go to the waterfront and sometimes to Canada. It was so much easier to cross the border at that time. Eastertime, Deety took us to Sears and Robuck for Easter outfits. Before the holiday, she would make chocolate eggs with a coconut filling -- and she would let me help. As the oldest and only girl, I often spent the night at house on the weekend or school vacations. I remember watching the Ed Sullivan Shoow and the Lawrence Welk Show. Much more that stuff, their home was safety, acceptance, and above all, love.
And then there were parts of my summers when I stayed with them in Idlewild, Michigan that I wrote about in another blog post.
Deety's obituary lists five grandchildren -- myself and my four brothers. Deety and Pop-poo are forever my grandparents and always in my heart.
So, my genealogy disconnect is looking at my pedigree chart and looking at family unit charts that list Deety and Pop-poo as anything other as my grandparents.
