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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 168
grandmother was Eddie Irwin (sp?) who was born in 1862 and died in 1964 at age 102. His maternal grandfather was Charlie McCrary. Where Felix Lanier Lived. Felix's family lived in Mullins Flat. His father rented from Milton Lanier (C-146). Milton Lanier owned land in various places, as Felix said, “150 acres here, 250 acres there,” but the location of where Felix parents lived was ascertained by locating the Lanier property that had the neighbors Felix mentioned. The neighbors were Burrell Jacobs (C-145), and Walter Jacobs and his wife, Kitty (C-147A). Felix said Walter was to the northeast and the others were to the west, about a half mile: “The main road wasn't in front of our house, but a little side road came off the main road to our houses. The main road went north-south.” [Do you know how far it was north to the Elko switch of the railroad?] Walter said, “About four miles.” He didn't know a name for the north-south road, but he said it went down to the river. He said Elko Road was dirt. He remembered when his Grandmother Eddie lived about a mile northwest of his parents. He said she wore a long dress. Felix said, “Her dress came down to where your pants is. She'd say: Wipe your feet, boy, wipe your feet! She was as clean as a pin.” Felix said his grandmother's house had two bedrooms in the front, separated by a hallway. Each bedroom had a fireplace on the outside wall, and each was entered through the door from the hall. The bedroom doors were on either side of the hall just after one entered through the front door. A room ran across the back of the house. It was entered through a door at the end of the hall. This room, used as a kitchen, was probably added to the original structure. Felix said: To enter you got up onto the front porch. When you went in the front door, the hallway went to the kitchen. The kitchen was all the way across the back. In Grandmother Eddie's kitchen, the kitchen table was across from the stove, over by the window, on the left side. The stove was on the right hand side. The kitchen had a window on each side. Grandmother Eddie had a hen house and chickens in back of the house. The outhouse was in the back on the left side, across from the chicken house. [Her husband had passed on by then. Felix didn't remember what year he'd died.] His barn was a pretty good piece from the house. From the way the house was sitting, it was east of the house. Felix said his grandmother remembered the Civil War. Georgia Lanier added that Felix's Grandma Eddie told her about when the soldiers came and put tents up on Cavalry Hill. Other People and Their Homes. The researcher used the Army Real Estate Map and read names on parcels near where Felix lived, describing where the parcels were in relation to others. Felix and Georgia knew these people. Felix appeared to be able to picture the neighborhood in his mind. The researcher asked him to describe the houses 168 - (4201)