Starting With Me

Sandra Ann Williams , born 1953, in the crib my father hand-made.

Most books, articles, workshops, etc. on genealogy state that research starts with yourself but it never dawned on me to do my own biography until recently.

I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Willis B. and Evelyn O. Williams. Under their strong love, guidance and support, I was instilled with the importance of family, loyalty and community.

My earliest memories are of growing up at 218 Walnut Street in Buffalo and attending P.S. 47.  Months before my sixth grade graduation, my family moved to 523 Woodlawn Avenue in Buffalo's "Cold Spring" area. I remember my brothers and I thinking that we were rich because it was a beautifully tree-lined neighborhood with large well-kept homes. My brothers, Richard, Steven, Barry, and Raymond were transferred to the new neighborhood school, P.S. #53.  For the few months until my sixth grade graduation, I stayed in the old neighborhood living with my great-aunt, Elizabeth Mason aka Auntie Lizzie during the school week and going home for the weekends.

In September 1965 I attended the neighborhood school Woodlawn Jr. High (from 7th through 9th grades), and later East High School (1968-1971).  After a few false attempts at college -- Howard University {I attended Howard because it was my mother's dream to go there}, Villa Maria College, and Buffalo State College -- I finally earned an undergraduate degree from Medialle College in Human Services (1981). 

Not finding a job in my field, I worked a variety of jobs before taking a county clerical exam and being offered a job at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library where I worked at many of the city branches, including the mobile units, the RAM Van and Lookie Bookie. While at the library, I attended evening classes at the University of Buffalo School of Information Library Science and earned a Master of Library Science degree (1991).

My biggest joy has been my daughter, Elizabeth --  her birth, raising her, seeing the woman she has become and sharing travel experiences with her. (At her request I never mention her age or birth year and seldom full name on social media.)

I met my husband, Joseph Bush, in 1986 while we were working at the Central Library. We married and honeymooned in Niagara Falls NY on January 6, 1996.  I retired from the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in August 2015 after 30 years of service. My last position was Branch Manager of the Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Library.

Since 1995, I have performed as a solo artist and as a charter member of Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of Western New York.  In addition to storytelling, I am a djembe drummer with the group Daughters of Creative Sound (since 2004), an African American women's percussion ensemble. 

I am currently ENJOYING retirement!

Pieces of Me -- Saints Home C.O.G.I.C.

On October 1, 2014 the church I had known as Saints Home Church Of God in Christ was demolished.  Until news reports and the preservation efforts I did not know that it was the oldest synagogue in Buffalo NY, although I knew it had been a synagogue.

"Preservationists chain themselves inside oldest synagogue to prevent demolition
from The Buffalo News (Buffalo NY), October 12, 2014, page C3

Saints Home Church of God in Christ is where I was first touched by those soulful spirituals that still comfort me today.   Some of them include:

A Little Talk With Jesus

I Shall Not Be Moved

I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray

His Eye Is On the Sparrow

Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Pass Me Not

In addition to my parents and grandparents, this is the place that shaped my moral character.  I fondly remember what I now think of as "church before church" when the Mothers and/or Deacons of the church led Testimony  --  a tradition where you would stand before the congregation and publicly thank God for his blessings.  I also fondly remember Sunday School, chicken dinners, Easter programs, Christmas programs, and the first family of the church  --  Rev. and Mrs. Carl Roberson and their children, my church friends.

My father, Willis B. Williams, painted a larger-than-life picture of Jesus and it was dedicated in a ceremony in the Spring or Summer of 1961.   I am guessing at the season because my little brother Raymond was born in November 1960 and he is the baby in my mother's arms. The painting was right behind the pulpit and commanded your attention as soon as you entered the sanctuary.  

Adults:  Willis B. Williams, Evelyn O. Williams, Lucy  Brown; Children: Raymond L Williams (Baby), Steven A, Williams, Richard L. Williams, Willis Barry Williams, Sandra A. Williams

I remember my father on the floor of the living room painting this picture over a period of time.  Daddy painted the picture to donate to Saints Home in honor of my grandmother, Mrs. Lucy Brown  and my mother because that was their home church.  It was the first time I ever saw Jesus as a man of color.

This painting by Willis B. Williams was inspired by the scripture:

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.   Revelation 3:20 King James Version 

Although I did not attend Saints Home after puberty, I still feel saddened by the demolition. A piece of my growing up past no longer physically exist  --  for decades I passed the building that once housed Saints Home C.O.G.I.C.   Sometimes I even went out of my way to see it because it spoke to me in a way  --  connected me, transported me, and grounded me. The building may be gone, but . . .

Griot Stroll

On Saturday, June 28, 2014 Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of Western New York presented a Griot Stroll with several members telling stories about Buffalo's Black History.  I told my mother's story, Evelyn O. Brown, relating to the historical area where we were telling.  Taking the liberty of a storyteller, this is the story I told:

Evelyn O. Brown

          On this stroll you will hear about the famous and the prominent features of the African American influence on this area. I am not famous and I am not prominent. My name is Evelyn Brown and I am one of the first generations of my family born in the north. I was born in Buffalo during the 1930s. Both my parents were born in Mississippi and several members of their families came to northern states during the Great Migration -- this was a period when African Americans moved from the South to the North for better opportunities for them and their children . The were following the great American dream just as European immigrants did went they made it to Ellis Island.

          This area had been home to African Americans since the early 1800s. I was a toddler when the Jessie Clipper Monument was established by the Common Council in 1935. It’s right over there on the corner William Street and Michigan Avenue. Private Clipper was the first Negro soldier from Buffalo to die in World War I. The monument stands in memory of the valiant service of Negroes in all wars . . . take a moment to visit it.

          The Buffalo I grew up in was a segregated city. I grew up in this area in the 1930s and 1940s and I remember when it was a thriving community. And more than that, it was a neighborhood. Children would walk to school together and then back home again at the end of the day. After we did our homework, had dinner, and did our chores, we got to play outside for a while. The boys would play games like stick-ball or marbles. The girls would play games like hopscotch or jump rope. We would play to sing-song rhymes like “Ring-Around the Rosie” and “Miss Mary Mack”.

          Right along this area and down William Street there were drug stores, restaurants, candy stores, cleaners, hotels, nightclubs, funeral parlors. We didn’t have to leave the community for anything. We certainly need to go downtown; of course most of the stores downtown didn’t want Negroes in them anyway unless we were the cleaning staff. That’s pretty much how I ended up working at the Michigan Avenue YMCA. I had a secretarial diploma from high school. My typing, shorthand and general clerical skills were very good -- I was at the top of my class; but Negroes weren’t hired to work the front offices of the white businesses and companies.

           Did you know that the Michigan Avenue YMCA was designed by a Black man? His name was John Brent. The Y had an important place in our community -- it was a gathering place, a communal place. It had a cafeteria, gym, swimming pool, barber shop, tailor shop, library; and classrooms, locker rooms, dormitory rooms, and billiard tables. I started going to the Y in high school. Several of my friends and I were members of a girls Hi-Y club. One of my fondest memories was a powerful little woman named Mary Chapelle, who taught us deportment classes -- that is, how to be a lady. There were also similar classes for boys and young men on how to be a responsible members of the community.

          The media did not report our news -- for that we relied on Ebony and Jet magazines. For local news and events we had the Buffalo Star and later the Merriweather family published The Criterion.

          So as I said in the beginning, I am not prominent in Buffalos’ Black history and I’m not famous. The Michigan corridor IS important to Buffalo’s Black history and it was important in my life.  I met my husband, Willis B. Williams, at the Michigan Avenue Y and we dated along the Michigan Avenue corridor.  We were married almost 60 years until he made his transition in 2011.

          My name is Sandra Williams Bush and this is the story of my mother, Evelyn O. Brown.

When I got home later I had two messages from a dna cousin on my mom's side; a branch that she doesn't really know about.  The Stamps family from Mississippi.  Ancestors calling my name . . .

Sandra Williams Bush

Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of WNY

Mary Lane Button -- I'm trying to do the math!

Looking at various documentation, my great grandmother, Mary LANE BUTTON , has a birth span from 1869 to 1875 (a six-year span).  The more I find, the more questions I have . . .

Below is a letter from 1935 that my paternal great-grandmother Mary BUTTON sent to the county clerk in Georgia requesting a copy of her marriage record to my great-grandfather Henry BUTTON.   In the letter she states that they were married December 24, 1883.  She needs proof of her age to get "old age assistance". Following that is the response from the clerk's office.

Mary LANE BUTTON inquiry for marriage license (24 Jan 1938)

Response to Mary LANE BUTTON from Deputy Clerk, Bibb County, Georgia (27 Jan 1938)

Marriage License of Henry Button (Burton) and Mary Lane
from

• Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978

The 1910 U.S, census lists the number of years married as 26 years which would be 1883  --  another verification of their marriage year.  My great-grandmother's age is listed as 41 which would make her birth year 1869 and she would have been 14 years old when she was married.  She is living with her husband, Henry BUTTON and five daughters  --  Florence, Ida B, Annie M, Bessie, and Verna E.  There is also an 18-year old niece, Fanny GROSS.  Residence: Macon Ward 1, Bibb County, Georgia.

In the 1920 census  my great grandmother's age is listed as 44 --  three years older in ten years  --  making her birth year 1876.  At this time she is a widow living with her so-in-law and oldest daughter, William and Florence BURKETT and their infant son, Joesph.   Also in the household are Mary BUTTON's two young daughters, Bessie and Lizzie (Verna). Residence:  Macon Ward 1, Bibb, Georgia

On to the 1930 census, her age is listed as 59 making her birth year 1871.  She is living in Detroit Michigan with her son-in-law and daughter, Charles and Ida B. RUSSELL and their adopted daughter, Cauurn (?) Johnson.

Of course the last available census is from 1940.  Her age is listed as 72 making birth year 1868. She is living in Detroit with her son-in-law, Charles and two lodgers.  (Her daughter, Ida B. BUTTON RUSSELL, is deceased.)

Below is the New York State Death Certificate  for Mary BUTTON.  The year of her birth is given as 1875  --  which would have made my great grandmother 8 years old when she got married!  Informant was her daughter, my great-aunt Anna Mae DAVENPORT.  At this time she was living with her son-in-law and daughter, Richard and Anna Mae DAVENPORT in Buffalo New York.

In each of the census years, I know of every one who is listed as members of my great grandmother's family  --  initially husband & children.  Later as a widow, she lived with her adult children.

I have documentation through census records and city directories that my great grandmother, Mary LANE BUTTON lived with each of her daughters at various times and for some reason I find that very comforting.  I just wish I could find out her birth year!

In the "Flick" of an eye, my brother made transition

My Facebook post from January 26, 2014:
                   It is with great sadness, confusion and a trust in God that I report the transition of my twin and my partner through life, Richard "Flick" Williams. There are no details at this time. My heart is beyond broken.

To our knowledge, he wasn't sick.  He told a cousin and a neighbor days before that he was fighting a cold.  He hadn't seen a doctor in about ten years  --  that "manly thing".  Of all the images I have of Flick through the years, the last one I chose is him going to sleep and not waking up  -- making his transition in the "Flick" of an eye.   So my answer to what happened is that his heart stopped.  Why?  Emotionally, it doesn't matter because my life is forever changed.

Sandra Ann & Richard Lamonte Williams, 1954

For the longest times it seemed that our names were one:  Sandra&Ritchie.  And while we weren't biological twins we were extremely close throughout our lives.

With that one mindset we had, we began telling our classmates that we were twins around our junior high/high school years. It was funny how it was so readily accepted, even though I was a grade ahead of Ritchie  --  probably because I was a model "A" student and he wasn't.  What he was, was musically gifted.

From his biography:

Richard Lamonte Williams

"Flick"

      The amazing seed of music was planted in his spirit when as a child he watched his great uncle, Richard Davenport play his guitar. When in his youth his father made him a set of bongos from coffee cans. and his mother encouraged him to explore his gifts. From that point on he was hooked on that thing called music. Flick was born and raised in Buffalo, New York at a time when the music seen was vibrant. The sounds of bands playing and musicians practicing could be heard in every corner of the city, and he knew that he had to be a part of that sound. In grade school he took violin, and clarinet lessons. In Jr. High he moved on to the saxophone, flute, and was a member of the Choir. Flick went on to Buffalo's East High School, which at that time was a musician's candy store. People like Grover Washington, Rick James, Kenny Hawkins, the Shaw brothers, Jerry Livingston, and most of the hottest musicians on the local scene passed through those doors. He was in the school band, the choir,participated in talent shows, and though he was under age, Flick was playing in clubs with some of the hottest bands in town. It was at this time that he began to write and arrange music in various styles.

      Throughout his career as a writer,arranger, and performer he has never confined himself to one style of music. The one thing that remains constant in his musical journey is writing, exploring, and painting musical pictures in various styles. From Jazz to Classical, R & B to Reggae, the music is what is important not the label. 

      And a message from Richard Lamonte Williams (Flick). I have been blessed to express the feelings of the soul through music, and what I've received through these blessings far exceed what I could ever give. Through the love of my family and friends, and those close to my heart. Through the strength of my ancestors, and through the grace of God, I leave you with this:

Plant a seed of Love,

In the soil of Hope.

Nurture it with the Nectar of Wisdom

Smile and watch it Grow

                  

                         Flick"