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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 272
Willie was born on the land that is now RSA, as those of her family had been for generations, and her children were born there. She gave the names and ages [as of Dec. 18, 2000] of the four children she had with her husband William Horton: Sophie Horton Vann (“She will be 63 in January-she lives in Gary Indiana.”); Mattie Horton Lane (62) and William Horton (59), both of whom live in Chicago.
Willie said neighbors helped each other, and people watched out for each other's children. Zera Jacobs was a neighbor who took care of one of Willie's children when she needed child-care help.
Willie said that she had known her first husband, William Horton, and his family all her life. She remembered that Yancy died in the late 1930s.
Picking Cotton
Willie commented about her children picking cotton:
I can remember when my kids would go out picking cotton in the morning before the bus would come. They would wake up before the sun would rise and would pick a sack of cotton. There were approximately 1200 pounds per bale of cotton, and two families would pick about three bales a week. They would pick on Saturday, in their spare time, and before and after school. Then the cotton would be taken downtown to the gin.
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