John Ennis had moved to Alabama as a child with his
parents from Cross Keys, South Carolina. He married a young lady from the same
area of South Carolina in Marshall County, Alabama just a few years before the
war.
2 Her name was Jane Wicks, and she was no stranger to
heartache and sorrow. She had lost her father when she was just a girl, and her
mother had remarried within a few months of his death. Thus, although she was a
beautiful girl, she had always felt like an outsider and was eager to have a
family of her own.
3 By 1874, eight children had been born to the couple.
The two youngest, Ann and Tempy, still required constant attention and care.
“It seems like I’m always chasin after them two,” Jane thought to herself. Even
so, she both wanted and expected that there would be more children to follow.
4 However, although Patsy was born about two years
after Tempy, she would prove to be the last child the couple would ever have.
John took ill and died shortly after her birth.
5 “What are me and my poor children gonna do without
him?” she demanded of one of her neighbors. “God will give you the strength to
carry on,” came the reply.
6 “James will help you, won’t you, son?” her
father-in-law asked of his eldest grandson. “I’ll do my best, Granddaddy,” the
boy answered. Jane reached up and patted his cheek as the tears rolled down her
own.
7 The years that followed required all hands on deck
just to survive. True to his word, James helped his mother with the work and
brought home money by hiring himself out to work on neighboring farms during
his teen years. He also taught his younger brothers and sisters how to shoot
their father’s rifle. And, when he was old enough, he got a job operating the
Guntersville Ferry on the Tennessee River.
8 When Ann was nine-years-old, she witnessed a little
girl named Susan severely burn her hand in a brush pile fire that her mother
had started in the yard. A neighbor lady heard the scream and came running.
9 “Octavia, my baby has burned her hand!” the
frightened mother exclaimed. The woman stepped forward and gently took the
child’s hand in hers.
10 “Don’t be afraid child,” she told the little girl.
Then she bent down, closed her eyes and whispered something over the injured
hand. “Mama, it don’t hurt no more!” Susan proclaimed.
11 “I sure wish that I could do that,” Ann told the
woman. “Thank you, Miss Kelly,” Susan’s mother added. Octavia Kelly smiled and
nodded, and then motioned for Ann to come closer.
12 “So you would like to be able to talk the fire out
of a burn?” she asked. Ann slowly shook her head to indicate that she would
indeed like to be able to do that.
13 “Ann, I want to give you a special gift,” she told
the child. “It is special, because I can only give it to one other person,” the
woman explained with a seriousness that almost frightened the child. “And you
must not share it with anyone until you are ready to pass the gift on to
someone else,” Octavia continued.
14 “Do you still want to know?” the woman demanded. “I
still want to know,” Ann responded with a solemnity that convinced her of the
child’s sincerity and worthiness.
15 Then Octavia bent down and whispered something into
Ann’s ear. “Remember, it is your gift alone until you decide to pass it on to
someone else,” she told her when she was finished. “I’ll remember,” Ann
promised.
16 In the spring of 1884, the entire Ennis household
was sick. Everyone was coughing, feverish, lethargic and complaining of
numerous aches and pains. Patsy was the first to succumb to the illness. She
died near the end of April. Slowly, most of the children recovered. James and
Tempy, however, had relapses and also eventually succumbed to the mysterious
illness.
17 “Death haunts us!” Jane declared. “Jesus, have
mercy on us!” she pleaded. Ann and Fannie did their best to comfort her, but
neither one of them ever forgot what she had said about death.
18 Now the children of John and Jane Ennis were these:
James, Trissy, Millie, Benjamin, John, Ann, Fannie, Tempy and Patsy.
19 Ann Ennis married Virgil Hendrix, and they had
children together.
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