[dropcap]M[/dropcap]inerva Ann Moore is what I think of the moment I hear the word longevity. Daughter of Hughey Crawford Moore, Sr. and Tabitha Eaton. Old Manervy Jackson (pronounced Ol’ Ma-Nerve-E). This woman had stories, many we still have with us today. She was one of seventeen children born to Hughey “Huey” Crawford Moore and Tabitha (Eaton) Moore. Minerva had ten sisters, three brothers, two half sisters, and one half-brother. Think of what life was like for Manerva, more precisely what life was like for her brothers who were so outnumbered!
Her husband, John Leonard Garrison Jackson, came from a comparatively small family of only seven siblings. John Leonard and Minerva had only 5 children. Lucinda Catherine Jackson aged 86, Victoria Jackson aged 45, William Ira Jackson aged 70, Ida Elizabeth Jackson aged 77 and Garnett Elsworth Jackson aged 72. All of her children, but one, were long-lived. Think of how many first and second-hand stories the children had to tell their descendants.
I know that the longevity of her children led to the longevity of the oral history and the continuance of traditions.
My connection to Minerva is:
- Hughey Crawford Moore, Sr. and Tabitha Eaton
- John Leonard Garrison Jackson m Minerva Ann Moore
- Lucinda Catherine Jackson m William Riley Sapp, Jr.
- Frank Topleff Sapp m Florence Lavina Myers
- Oliver Woodrow Sapp m Helen Maxine Shuman
- Ronald Stuart Sapp m Virginia Lee Bier
- Me – Minerva’s 3rd great granddaughter
My second connection is:
- Hughey Crawford Moore, Sr. m Tabitha Eaton
- Anthony Crawford Moore, Sr. m Nancy A. Payne
- Wilfodia Catherine Moore m Absalom Vespusa Shuman
- Carl Bryan Shuman w Katherine Jane Yoho
- Helen Maxine Sapp m Oliver Woodrow Sapp
- Ronald Stuart Sapp m Virginia Lee Bier
- Me – Minerva’s 3 great niece
Minerva died at 101 years, 7 months and 25 days of life. She left behind thirty-six grandchildren, seventy-five great-grandchildren, thirty-three great-great-grandchildren, many niblings separated by up to three generations, cousins of varying degrees and multi-generational stories. To think Minerva knew first and second and events from the lives of her parents and grandparents.
She passed those down to her descendants, like her great-grandson Oliver Woodrow Sapp, my paternal grandfather, who himself lived past ninety. He then told me those stories and his own accounts of her. How many people do stories normally go through, yet these were preserved. I try to tell them over using the same words my grandpa and my dad used when telling tales of her or repeating her tales. Now I tell them to my children and my first grandchild.
That is how I see Longevity.