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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 68
POLLY WHITE ISAACS
Telephone interview 2005
Polly White Isaacs was interviewed by telephone.
The Family
Polly White Isaacs was born December 28, 1913, the daughter of Forest White and Fannie Morris White. Her grandparents and relatives who were mentioned:
Father's father: Adolphus White Father's mother: Polly Lacy White Father's sister: Mary Ellen Jordan
Mother's father: Henry Morris
Mother's mother: Louise Lynn Morris Mother's sisters: Beulah May Patton
Lucy Elliott
Polly Isaacs said her grandparents, Adolphus and Polly White, raised cattle and picked cotton. She said Adolphus owned his own house. His name was not shown on the Army Real Estate Map as it was drawn in 1942. The property was probably in the name of heirs. Polly commented, “Leila [Crutcher?], Daddy's sister, never did get her money.” Polly stated that the family never did settle a price with the government for the property, so they never got any money, and the property was “just taken” by the Government.
Polly said her Grandma Louise Morris lived in a three-room shack. It had a front porch. There were two rooms in the front. Each one had a door from the porch. Behind the room on the right, a third room had been added at some point in time, and it was the kitchen. Going out the kitchen door, there was a porch. The house was set up a couple feet off of the ground. Polly Isaacs added, “and it had Mule Tar paper, that was our veneer.” The smoke house was not far off the porch. The outhouse was further back.
Daily Life
Polly's Grandma Morris raised cotton, hogs, chickens, guineas, and a cow. She had a barn, beehives, and an outhouse. The Hoskins lived right across from her.
Polly said when she was young, the girls played hide and seek and jumped rope. The boys shot marbles. She said, “We had tin tubs and washboards, and an iron kettle. Father rolled his cigarettes with Bull Durham tobacco. My grandparents didn't smoke anything. Some people dipped snuff.”
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