Aunt Jo Akes- Family Histories - Coleman County, Texas

      The granddame of Santa Anna was a "lady of color," Josephine Camillia Ann Frances Rebecca Akes, affectionately called "Aunt Jo"' by adults, but, by her orders, called by all the children, "Mammy." She had come from Marlin to Santa Anna with the Tyson family, whose daughter, Amboline, was the object of her adoration. However, by the 1910 Census, she was a servant in the domicile of the Fred W. Turner, Sr., family, whose twins, Faye and Gaye, lay claim to Mammy's heart. "Mammy' would work only for those whom she considered "quality folks" and she saw to it that they lived up to her expectations and high standards. Eventually "Mammy" owned a neat little cottage on the southeast edge of town across from a Mrs. Bowers. She maintained a "'white folks room'" in which she gave slumber parties for "her girls," (the daughters of her "chosen" people. She expected to be invited to every social affair given by her "white folks," and would pull up her chair to a door and sit just outside the entertainment room, and from this enthronement, take a lively part in the conversations.

     The 1910 census, shows Josie C. Akes as white, 49 years old. and born in Alabama, as was her lather, but her mother was born in Africa. She was the only black person living permanently in Santa Anna.

     One cold winter's evening as Aunt Jo was climbing her ice-covered back steps, she slipped and fell, injuring herself so severely, she could not get into the house (she was quite heavy). There she lay exposed to the elements until sometime next day, a neighbor happened by. By then she was in a critical condition. The white ladies of the town whom she had served so faithfully all those years took turns nursing her, dav and night. in her little home. (There was no hospital, then). Finally her attending physician, W. M. Strozier, seeing that her life was running out, said, Aunt Jo, you are going to your Maker. Who do you want to have your property?" She gasped, "The Turner Twins (Faye and Gaye) and Amboline Tyson" … Thus passed from this earth one of the Lord's Great Souls.

(Images to be added)

"Aunt Jo" with the Turner Twins, Gaye and Faye