Are you a Meme, Gigi, Ganne, or Just Plain Grandma?

Spring Break is this week, and we were fortunate enough to have a short visit with five of our eleven grandchildren. Making up the group of five are one girl and four boys, ranging in age from four to eleven years old. Two of our four daughters are their mothers. To all of them, we are "Meme" and "Pop." Although we always enjoy time spent with our grandchildren, I have to admit that we usually need a nap after they leave!

By age two, most grandchildren have already started referring to their grandparents by nicknames. Although a majority of nicknames are actually selected by the parents, occasionally a grandchild develops a unique name based on the grandparent's actual name. The grandchildren of one of my friends refer to her as "Gigi," a name that she decided on when her first grandchild began calling her by her given name that starts with the letter "G."

One of the sweetest and most unique names for a grandmother that I have ever heard is the name "Ganne," a name given to Mississippi author, Anne Hughes Porter, by her grandchildren. Click here to read a poetic tribute written by Anne's granddaughters on the occasion of her 75th birthday last year. The poem was re-printed, with permission from her granddaughters, on my old blog Attala County Memories in 2008.

While growing up, my siblings and I referred to our mother's mother as "Grandma," and to our father's mother as "Nanny." True to their mother's Southern upbringing, my own children refer to their grandparents on both sides of the family as "Mamaw" and "Papaw," followed by the appropriate surname to distinguish the correct grandparents.

I have found that grandparents' names, at least in the South, have changed little throughout the years, and now I am hearing our grandchildren use names that are identical to ones I recall growing up, Grandma, Grandpa, Mamaw, Papaw, Nana, and Granny. When I became a grandmother, I decided early on that I did not want to be called "Grandma" or "Granny," and that I preferred "Nana" or "Meme," instead. And my children and I made a mutual decision that I would be called "Meme." Whatever name our grandchildren end up calling us, however, becomes music to our ears, and the reason for the name itself soon is irrelevant.

But where did these names for grandparents originate, and what do they mean? When I sought answers to my own questions, I found that grandparents' nicknames have long been steeped in tradition and may even offer insights into families' ethnic origins, a boon for family history researchers like me. A great reference for seeing the variety of grandparents names that exist and for some information about their ethnic origins can be found on an internet version of The New Parents Guide. Maybe you will find your nickname there, too.

Horse Gins of Attala County in the 1800s

Left: A cotton press operated by horsepower, from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, p. 61,
Published October 7, 1871

While reading through reference materials that document the early development of Attala County, I have often seen the mention of a "horse gin." As a Mississippi native, I certainly know about the "cotton gin," but I found the term "horse gin" intriguing, mainly because I did not know what it really meant. I assumed it was a type of machine that was operated by one horse, or more, but I didn't know how it was used or why it was needed. As I searched for information about the horse gin's operation, and its purpose, I found some interesting facts.

In early Britain, horse gins were used for extracting coal from below the ground's surface, and the devices were referred to as "whims." In Attala County, Mississippi, they were used to "gin" cotton. The horse gin itself was a device that "harnessed" the energy created from the "horsepower" generated by mules or horses that walked in a circle. With the aid of a horse, a man could harvest fifty times more cotton than before.

According to a "Brief History for Towns and Communities of Attala County," prepared by the Attala Historical Society, a number of horse gins were operating in the county before and after the Civil War. Used for cleaning the cotton fibers from the seeds and seedpods, the early gin was a potentially dangerous device, and its accidents involved more than an occasional one with a mule or a horse. Although the gin operation itself greatly impacted the South's cotton production, it was the leading cause of accidents involving the operation of machinery in the 1800s. Ginning in those days was a manual operation, a process that involved hand-feeding of the cotton onto a spiked machine roller. Often, the operation resulted in mangled fingers, a hand, or even an arm.

According to a manuscript entitled "The Manufacture of Cotton Gins, A Southern Industry, 1793-1860," by Dr. M.C. McMillan (deceased) Auburn University Auburn, Alabama, a factory owned by T. G. Atwood in Bluff Springs, Attala County, Mississippi, produced an average of 350 gins a day in 1860. Since the blades on the saws in the gin were made of "heart pine," the South had a monopoly on gin-manufacturing operations simply because of the abundance of pine trees. In addition to the factory in Attala County, Mississippi had another factory, Beckett and Tindell, located near Aberdeen, which produced an average of 250 gins a year. The only other factory in Mississippi made only 52 gins in 1860. In Attala County, the operation of horse gins was eventually discontinued in the two decades after the Civil War, when many of them changed over to steam engines as a source of power.

As family researchers, most of us want to know details about our ancestors, where they lived, how they lived, and how they made their living. This is all part of developing the persona of a now-deceased relative, someone we can never really know. In Attala County, Mississippi in the 1800's, farming was the primary occupation of many residents; the crops that resulted, timber, cotton, and corn, required harvesting that involved machinery. And the occupation of some of these early Attala County residents was "gin operator."

Although the list below is not comprehensive, it does show the names of some of those who owned and operated horse gins in Attala County during the early to mid 1800's. The community or town where the operation was located is also shown.

Biggs, Johnnie - East Union

Brister, Cal and his brother Si - East Union

Cade, Jim - Rocky Point

Daniel, A. F. - Sand Hill

Fancher, Henry - Bear Creek

Hanna, George - Knox

Hughes, Ed - Pleasant Ridge

Jennings, F.H.D. - Conehoma

Ray, B. F. - East Macedonia

Ross, John - Conehoma

Short, John T. - Annis

Weeks, Jabez - White's

Wheeless, Amos - Tabernacle

She is......Ganne.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon a family blog wonderfully developed and written by Laura McQueen, aptly entitled The McQueen Family. Laura's blog contains beautiful pictures documenting the activities of her husband and children, other family members, and her friends. As I read through Laura's well-written and entertaining blog, I found a post about her grandmother, "Ganne," as she is known to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The post contained birthday wishes to Ganne on the occasion of her 75th birthday that had occurred earlier this year. Included in the post was a poignant poem written by Laura and her sister, Emily Stringer, as a loving tribute to Ganne. Reading that poem immediately brought tears to my eyes. I felt as if I already knew and liked Laura's "Ganne" simply by reading the poem. A link to Laura's post that contains the poem and a picture of Ganne can be found at http://themcqueenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/09/gannes-birthday-wishes.html.

A mention in Laura's poem that Ganne was a member of the Attala County Historical Society also caught my attention. I knew now that she lived in Attala County and was a member of the historical society there. And I still did not know Ganne's "real" name. But reading the poem had made me want to know more about Ganne and to share Laura's thoughts and feelings contained in the poem with those of you who read Attala County Memories and The Graveyard Rabbit of Attala County.

So, I didn't waste a minute in contacting Laura at the email address shown on her blog, told her how very much I had enjoyed reading her blog, including the poem, and asked if she would grant me permission to re-print the poetic and pictorial tribute to her grandmother on the Attala County Memories blog here. Laura promptly emailed me and graciously granted permission to do so. She even supplied me with another very nice picture of her lovely grandmother.

It was only in Laura's email this morning that I found out that "Ganne," is actually Anne Hughes Porter, pictured below, the author of a well-known publication about a place in Attala County, Mississippi, a book entitled "A Place called Sallis."


Anne Hughes Porter
Kosciusko, MS

Anne is also known well in Attala County, Mississippi, and elsewhere, as the individual who compiled a listing of those who are buried in Attala County's many cemeteries. I first heard about Anne's books about ten years ago, when I initially began my genealogy journey at our local LDS Family History Center. I feel fortunate that I have "chanced upon" Anne once again, this time through her granddaughter, Laura, who certainly shares "Ganne's" genes!

Below you will find a re-print of Laura McQueen's poem honoring her grandmother, Anne Hughes Porter, on the occasion of her 75th birthday:

She Is…

She is a collector.
Of Hummels and postcards and books.
Of toothpick holders and L.V.’s folk art.
She is a teacher, and although retired, you are sure to learn something when in her presence.
She is a saver. She is a pack rat, an eater-of-leftovers, a coupon-clipper, and one who freely accepts (and often requests) the senior discount.
She knows how to create her own parking space.
She says things like, “Woo Ooh!” and, “I love you a bushel and a peck,” and, “Wonder who lives here.”
Her yard is colorful with its day lilies and yard art.
She cheers for the Whippets, the Bulldogs, and sometimes, to our dismay, even the Rebels.
She is proud to be an American and flies her flag with honor.
She is true Mississippian with her magnolia tree and syrupy sweet tea.
She has a sweet tooth. You won’t find her without chocolates or mints in her purse. Her candy dish is full of M&Ms or gumdrops and there’s Neapolitan ice cream in her freezer.
She is a member, and often a leader, of groups like DAR, Cameo Society, Attala County Historical Society, Twenty-first Century Club, Little Garden Club, and Colonial Dames.
She likes things from south of the border – from chalupas and chimichangas to her favorite game, Mexican Train.
She is a “cook who cares.” She makes special treats like cocoons and "goop". She leaves the cherries out of Emily’s fruit salad; Laura’s chicken spaghetti is topped with extra cheese; and Andrew knows he can have fresh blueberries or sweet potato casserole on request.
She is up-to-date with the latest technology (if you don’t include the cell phone). Our email in-boxes are always full of interesting forwards and “personal notes”.
Her hometown is "A place called Sallis."
She is at home in Kosciusko and has great memories from Monticello and Indianola.
She is a preserver of history who has researched and written historical accounts of her hometown, her church, and her favorite organization.
She has a new room full of memories.
She has nimble fingers that quickly type, beautifully play piano, and sweetly tell “face stories.”
She is full of energy and her house is always fun. With wind-up tub toys, phone calls to the library for story time (“Hang up the phone now please.”), a yellow bicycle-built-for-two, a tree to climb, and a closet full of toys and books from decades passed.
Her sleepovers bring back sweet memories of the fold-out couch with feather pillows, stories about Duke told in a voice unsurpassed by the most famous storytellers, her silky pajamas, and cold cream good-night kisses.
She decorates for every holiday on the calendar.
She has two Christmas trees: one dedicated to family and one to the state she loves.
She wears brooches and pins, and her necklaces are works of art.
She wears socks with a ball, clip-on earrings, and a ring shaped like a butter tray. (Actually, she hasn’t worn it in quite some time…it’s just sitting in her jewelry box…maybe she should let someone wear it…someone like her second-born granddaughter who has admired it since she was very small.)
She likes a good game. She is a Wheel of Fortune fan, follows high school and college sports on the radio and TV, and has a weakness for entering contests.
She is a traveler who prefers taking the scenic route (i.e., the Natchez Trace).
She has many opinions. Sometimes she doesn’t even have to state them aloud. You can tell what she’s thinking with one look at her face – the higher the eyebrows, the stronger the opinion.
She is a celebrity. She makes regular appearances in the Star Herald.
She believes in the power of prayer and prays for her friends and family by name each day.
Three generations share her name.
She is a friend, a mother, a grandmother and a great-grandmother.
She is our Ganne.