Mami T-- Part 12

According to daddy, Tony was much too busy gadding about playing the dandy and high roller to be much help to his women folk at home. I know very little about my g grandmother Caroline, but it was said by those who did know her that she had a very sweet and precious nature.

It must have been her true nature; to have had a husband like Tony McDuffie, and still have a sweet precious nature. I think she should have been nominated for sainthood, and I would love to have known her!

After Caroline died in 1908 Tony married again, he married Mary Ellen Woodall or Woodell September 15, 1918, and they were married under the names of W. H. McDuffie and M. E. Faircloth.

When she died she was buried in the Mount Olive Cemetery under the name of M.E. Faircloth. After she died there was talk in the family that Tony was accused of murder. It is quite possible that he was accused, but as of this present date no official record has been found to verify this.

However there is a file in State Criminal Record’s where assault with intent to commit rape was filed in 1916 against him. Who filed those charges I do not know, and neither do I know the out come of the process. The notes were in the files shared with me.

This man was quite a rascal, the anguish and heartache that he caused to others; there is no excuse! First to his mother; the extra burden he put upon her, and next his wife and children.

Caroline knew of his escapades with other women, it was common knowledge and he was very vocal about it, how it must have hurt her! Her entire married life with this man was lived with this kind of behavior from him.

And lastly his children, it is sad but true they are always the ones that are hurt the most. They survived in spite of his shenanigans, and I believe they survived because Mami T was the matriarch of the family; she was the glue that held them together!

I believe the love Charity had for William was a deep love. She was 31 years old when he died or disappeared and she never remarried. I like to think it was the love of her husband and family that kept her going so strongly, day in and day out, never breaking under the heavy load of responsibility that she carried on her shoulders daily!

Love is the greatest force in the universe! Love is what will hold us to the grindstone of life, and love brings us through it! Even her name ~ Charity means love!