VOICES In The Woods

“ Katie, Katie, we need you to go get Granny Lannie again”, yelled Mammy Mags.

“Shoot, not again”, Katie mumbled under her breath.

Mammy Mags explained to Katie that she was the only one who could go fetch Granny Lannie. She didn’t know what it was about her, but she was the only one in the family that could coax her to come back home.

Reluctantly, Katie put on her shoes and coat. She also had to put away her dolls that she was playing with. Although she loved Granny Lannie very much, she never liked going after her because she would wonder off in the woods and Katie did not know where. As Katie started off into the woods behind Mammy Mag’s and Pappy Frank’s home, she came to a clearing by Sandy Creek in Trigg County, KY. There Katie would see Granny Lannie standing silently murmuring to herself. Katie would quietly tiptoe up to her and gently touch her arm. Granny Lannie would flinch and stare blankly back at Katie.

“Granny”, Katie would say in a soft, small voice, “I came to bring you back home. We gotta get back because it will be getting dark soon and you didn’t bring a lantern with you.”

As if Katie was interrupting a conversation, Granny Lannie turned back to the river and silently said a farewell prayer.  Then she turned back to Katie, took her hand, and Katie led her back home to the family. Who was Granny Lannie out in the woods talking to? Why would she go out there?

Granny Lannie was my fourth great grandmother and I wanted to know more about her. Katie Cheatham Shemwell was Lannie’s great granddaughter. Katie Shemwell was 95 years old when I contacted her granddaughter to ask her if Katie remembered Lannie. Katie did remember and said that Granny Lannie’s parents were from the West Indies. She also said that Granny Lannie was blind and became mentally ill later in life. As I would talk to Katie’s granddaughter, Lannie’s  story of struggle and pain began to unravel and become clearer to me. I found out through looking at the census records that Granny Lannie could not read or write. With all of these clues about Lannie I began to piece together my fourth  great grandmother’s life.  

According to her death certificate, Lannie was born on August 1, 1828 in Stewart County, Tennessee and died from senility on August 6, 1928 in Bumpus Mills, Tennessee. Yes, she was 100 years old!!! Born in slavery, Lannie’s life was wrought with various difficulties and struggles. I do not know her parent’s names, but I did find two different last names for Lannie on two of her son’s death certificates-John A. Pinner and Thomas Cheatham. The last name on John’s death certificate was  Gupton and on Thomas’ it was Shelton. My theory is that Gupton was the slave owner’s name in Tennessee.  Gupton sold Lannie away to a Shelton in Kentucky. After slavery, on the 1870 census Lannie is living in Roaring Springs, KY with a Henry Pinner and his six children.

My  cousin, Janet Cheatham Bell, wrote a memoir and included information giving me more clues about Lannie. In her book it says that Kit Cheatham (my 4th great grandfather) married a Lannie Pinner, who was a widower of African descent who had two sons ( Bell, Janet Cheathm, The Time and Place That Gave Me Life p. 28). After Henry Pinner died, Lannie would have been left with six children to take care of, without any means to provide for them.  On December 4, 1875, Lannie Pinner married  Kit Cheatham in Trigg County, Kentucky. Looking at Lannie’s previous situation, this marriage may have been one of convenience for both parties instead of love which hopefully came later. Kit also had two sons that he also bought into the marriage. Lannie bore Kit seven more children ( Dac, John, Stepen, Lizzie, Thomas, James Solomon, and Frances). So in her household she was caring for a husband plus her two steps sons, her seven children, and Kit’s two sons by a previous marriage. She was taking care of twelve people including herself. No wonder she was out in the wood talking to herself!!!!!! In 1910 she was widowed and lived on a small farm in Trigg County with her step son, Aaron Pinner and her grandchildren. As Lannie became older and more feeble minded she went to live with her son Thomas in 1920 and then with James Solomon and his family until her death.

It seems like Lannie’s life was always in transition. From slavery to freedom, from one marriage to another, and taking care of a bunch of kids. By the end of her life, I can imagine that she was tired. Like a marathon runner, a woman’s work is NEVER done. Was Lannie listening to the hopelessness of her past, the plight of her future, or the voices of days long gone and shattered dreams.

Picture of Katie Cheatham Shemwell- 95 years old