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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 110
with the Rev. McKinley Jones. Bernice did not remember the Jones family. However, Hosea Chaney, who sells insurance and knows many people, said he knew and had talked with McKinley Jones. The Jones family had lived in the same area. The researcher recalled something McKinley Jones had told her a few years before. When the researcher had asked about birthdays, holidays and gifts, McKinley Jones had answered that nobody had much, but he remembered when he was a boy, and it was his birthday. The Jones family's pumpkins hadn't done very well. A little White boy who lived nearby knew McKinley liked pumpkins. He saw McKinley going by, and gave him a pumpkin for his birthday. That was a nice gift. The researcher reminded Rev. Jones of that story and asked him the name of the little white boy. He thought a few seconds, and replied, “It was Lawrence Chaney.” Lawrence Chaney was one of W.F. Chaney's sons. McKinley Jones said M.G. Chaney owned the land (Parcel B-61) where his family had lived. The Jones family owned their own stock and equipment, but they lived on M.G.'s land and gave him a share of the crop. McKinley Jones stated there were three houses on the property. He stated the property always belonged to M.G. Chaney. When the researcher explained the Army Real Estate Property map showed that, at the time of Government purchase, the property belonged to W.F. Chaney, Jones put together the pieces and came up with the whole picture. The reason his family had moved from the M.G. Chaney land (Parcel B-61) was that M.G. sold it to his brother Walter. Jones had always thought the W.F. Chaney family was living on M.G.'s land. Prior to moving from the Chaney land, the Jones family had been living in the four-room house. There were two smaller ones. The Jones family moved to land north and east of Union Hill C.P. Presbyterian Church. Walter F. Chaney and his family moved into the house vacated by the Jones family. Frank and Bernice had one of the smaller two houses. In thinking this over, McKinley Jones realized now that Walter had acquired the property with plans for his family, including Frank and young wife Bernice to move there with him. Bernice did not remember a third house. When asked about the third house (in 2005) Jones said the houses “weren't much,” and the third one may have fallen to ruin. Jones said his family had lived in each of the three houses at one time or another, which is consistent with the information given by him in 1997. The purpose of this research is to document the people and the communities. Making the connection between two families who lived on the same piece of land and were then neighbors through the story of a Black boy and a White boy and the birthday gift of a pumpkin is recreating the rural community. 110 - (4143)