Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

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Plum Thickets and Field Daisies

Aunt Elsie

MISS HANNA’S MOTHER was called Aunt Elsie by practically all of the folks in Brooklyn. Calling her Aunt didn’t mean that she was related to them. It was just a friendly way of addressing some older people that lots of people practiced. Aunt Elsie was a most unusual and interesting person. She was quite the opposite in many ways from Miss Hannah. Miss Hannah was thrifty like her grandmother, but Aunt Elsie was not and gave little thought to saving for tomorrow. Even as a child, she was said to have had no desire to bother herself with books.

Bill Houser - One of Brooklyn's Earliest Settlers

MY AIM IN WRITING A SHORT SKETCH of Mr. Houser is to try to present a word picture of him as a worthy citizen, and at the same time, call attention to the length of time that colored people had been landowners in the Brooklyn section of Charlotte.
 
The deed to our old homestead lot on East Boundary Street which was bought for our grandmother is dated 1884. The yellowed old document shows that this plot of land was bought over eighty years ago from William Houser and his wife. The lot was a portion of a large tract of land that this couple owned in Brooklyn.
 

Mrs. Amay James

MISS AMAY, as she was affectionately called by her children and friends, lived on Boundary Street about two blocks from our home in Brooklyn. She was a short, stout woman with a very friendly serene face and a rare ability to make friends. For years, she and my mother had been friends and neighbors. I felt a closeness to her also. She had known me as a child and when I was a teacher at Fairview School where I first began my teaching career in Charlotte.
 

A Jewish Friend

AFTER OUR FATHER’S DEATH, our older brother began working when he was ten years old to supplement the family income. His salary was only one dollar and a half per week, but it was a great financial help to my mother, especially during the summer.