Family Story
A Glimpse of Our History
“Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time…”
McKinley (1897-1987) and Rosa Wardlaw (1899-1992), enjoyed a sixty-eight year marriage. They celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, February 11, 1984, at Morrison Cafeteria in Columbus, Georgia. Their marriage survived joyful as well as turbulent times because of life principle of commitment. We, the McKinley and Rosa Wardlaw family, thank God that He uses our ancestors to shape the world in a special way.
In tracing our roots, we discovered that Rosa’s parents were Coleman and Fannie Sidney Robinson. Coleman’s father was the slave master’s son. Coleman’s mother; however, was a slave. Until Coleman was thirteen years old, he too was a slave whose job was to feed the slave master’s mules. Fannie Sidney was a slave until the age of twelve. Her job was to report the other slaves’ activities. Fannie was a very independent-minded person. When she did not fulfill her duties, she would be pulled by the ears and hair. Another one of her chores was to fetch wood every morning for the fire. One morning her father was waiting outside on a mule, an as she left to perform the task, he liberated her from servitude.
Coleman and Fannie married, and to their union eight girls and six boys were born. Rosa, the youngest daughter, became the last survivor of this union. Coleman was a very smart and handsome young man. He was fair-skinned with long, straight black hair and a beard. As he grew in wisdom and age, his hair and beard became white. His grandson, Solomon, referred to him as “Santa Claus,” and although his grandson Sonny was very afraid of him, his granddaughter Charlie Mae loved him dearly.
Fannie Sidney was a very thin, dark-skinned woman with short hair. She was a very talented woman. She sewed all of her children’s clothes and undergarments. She made sure they wore the latest fashions. She made homespun dresses to wear Monday through Thursday, gingham dresses for Fridays and Saturdays, and Calio for Sundays. They had two pairs of shoes, one pair for Sunday and one pair for the rest of the week. Rosa was born July 24, 1898.
McKinley’s parents were John and Annie Lee McBride-Wardlaw. John’s mother, Elminor, was married twice. Her first husband was Jake McBride and they had seven children. Her second husband was Charles Wardlaw, and they had two sons. One was John, McKinley’s father.
Eliminor, McKinley’s grandmother, was a dynamic person. As a child slave, she killed two mules by plowing them to death and became the talk of the town. When the old master approached her, it was said that she put her hands on her hips and said, “I don’t take no whipping!” The master laughed and told her, “You’re too smart a nigger to be in the field; you belong in the house!” When freedom came, she was about 18 to 20 years old.
Annie Lee, McKinley’s mother, was a mulatto and her mother was a mulatto. Very little is known about their family tree except that they were not slaves.
John and Annie Lee McBride had five boys and four girls; McKinley was the second oldest. At the time of his death, he had three sisters and one brother surviving. McKinley was born August 9, 1897. His mother was very good looking and a capable seamstress. McKinley’s handsome dark-skinned father was very much in love with Annie.
McKinley and Rosa met at a wedding, and they courted for two years. Their wedding occurred on a beautiful sun shiny second Sunday in February. The temperature was said to be about seventy-five degrees and seemed more like spring than winter.
During the early years of McKinley’s and Rosa’s marriage, it wasn’t easy because he did not want Rosa to work. This conflicted was with Rosa’s desire to work outside the home. Eventually, however, McKinley came to understand Rosa’s need to fulfill what she considered one of her missions in life.
McKinley worked as a truck driver, operator of a blue printing machine, and as a construction worker. Although he was very skillful with his hands, he once built a fish pond and a swimming pool without doing any manual labor. He accomplished this feat by hiring a crew of men to do the work. If any of us are excellent supervisors, it’s because we “inherited” this talent from our ancestor. McKinley was also an Army veteran of World War I. He was a member of Peter’s Chapel AME Church where he participated on the Steward Board and served as a former treasurer of the church. He was a very active man and walked about a mile every day, even in his later eighties. His hobbies were coin collecting singing, and watching baseball. He also liked telling jokes and watching cartoons especially in later years of life.
Rosa, a very independent woman for her day, served as a domestic worker. The most lucrative job she maintained was with two attorneys, John an Elena Amos. John Amos the founder of AFLAC, became a very wealthy man. Rosa accompanied him and his wife to Florida, California and Cuba. Like her husband, McKinley, Rosa loved her church, Mt. Pilgrim Baptist and actively participated in its functions. The church and its members honored her on several occasions. Rosa was known in the community as being a very good, spiritual guide and sound financial planner. Those of you who know how to manage money can thank Rosa for your talent. Rosa and McKinley had nine children, five boys and four girls. The second oldest boy died at birth.
One of Rosa’s burning desires was that all of her children would have an education. She stated: “If I had but one piece of bread a day, one dress and wash it every night, I’d help my children get an education.” The results were:
● Annie Pearl (1920-2003), her oldest daughter, retired as a registered nurse
● Charlie Mae (1923-2001) a retired teacher and nursery school supervisor
● Solomon (1925-1984) a retired auto mechanic, also served in the United States
Marine Corp., during the World War II era. He retired from the Federal
Government as a civil service worker with 35 years of service
● Sonny is a retired Air Force Major who served for 20 years. He
also earned a Doctorate of Education degree
● Jessie is a retired secretary and healthcare worker
● Louis is a retired Sergeant Major. He served 30 years as an Army
paratrooper and now has his own auto transmission business.
● Bob, MA/ASGT, retired with twenty years in the Air Force and is
now an importer and makes his home in Japan
● Joan is a registered nurse and has two businesses.
The Wardlaw-Robinson family has been blessed with several grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Almost all professions are present, except preacher of the gospel.
God blessed our parents with His presence. It was through them that we can experience the secret of life principles and commitments we have discovered through them.