Strange Family Folklore
Strange Family Folklore
Healing Gifts & Middle Names
In this episode, I interview my mother, Velma Mae Roberson, one of Jesse Strange’s grandchildren, about some remaining questions I have from reading a book about our family history called, “Reflections of a Proud Strange Family.” We start off by discussing her Uncle Jessie Strange who has the same sounding name as her grandfather, but it’s spelled slightly different.
Healing Gifts & Middle Names Transcript
Teresa Roberson
My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed in his 20s. His 12 children were born free, and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jesse Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore.
In this episode, I interview my mother, Velma Mae Roberson, one of Jesse Strange’s grandchildren, about some remaining questions I have from reading a book about our family history called, “Reflections of a Proud Strange Family.” We start off by discussing her Uncle Jessie Strange who has the same sounding name as her grandfather, but it’s spelled slightlydifferent.
Teresa Roberson
Now it said in our book that Jessie Strange had the gift of healing, called "talking out fire."
Velma Roberson
You know, I didn't call Jean to ask her where did he get that.
Teresa Roberson
Barbara Jean is one of Uncle Jessie’s daughters, which makes her Mom’s first cousin since their fathers were brothers.
Velma Roberson
And if he'd passed it on to anybody. I'm not sure if his son, Theil, knows how to do that. It seemed like I heard him say he did, but I'm not sure.
Teresa Roberson
You know, it's really interesting because I had never even heard of this. You'd heard of it before. Right?
Velma Roberson
Right.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, so the little bit of research that I did about this, it says that Jessie can only pass it to women.
Velma Roberson
Ohhhh.
Teresa Roberson
But I don't know if that's true or not. I'm just going by what I see on the internet.
Velma Roberson
I'm not sure either. I can ask Jean. But I do know Uncle Jessie used to do that.
Teresa Roberson
Who did he heal that you knew of?
Velma Roberson
I don't know of anyone. But I just heard he could do that. But I do know, Pleas… you know, Pleas, Cat's son? His father could heal you by... he would talk to you.
Teresa Roberson
“Cat,” which was short for “Catherine,” was another one of Uncle Jessie’s daughters. Cat’s husband was named Pleas and her son was named after his father. In this case, Mom’s talking about how Pleas Sr. could heal people by talking to them.
Velma Roberson
Like I went down to his house. I had the toothache and he looked at my mouth. He say, “Which tooth is it?” You know? I think he touched my tooth. And then he went outside. And when he came back, I didn't have the toothache anymore and I never did have it anymore.
Teresa Roberson
How old were you when that happened?
Velma Roberson
How old was I? I was a teenager.
Teresa Roberson
Mom, have you ever been hypnotized?
Velma Roberson
No.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, because a lot of people will listen to a story like that and just say that he gave you a hypnotic suggestion and that's why your tooth didn't hurt anymore.
Velma Roberson
No, he went outside. I don't know what he did when he went outside. And then he came back and my tooth was healed. So, I don't know what he did. I was just so happy that my tooth was healed.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, I can understand that.
At this point, Dad, who’s a man of few words, jumped into the conversation to make a Dad comment.
Velma Roberson
Your dad's is a mess.
Teresa Roberson
What he'd say?
Velma Roberson
He touched the ground and peed on it!
Teresa Roberson
Touched the ground and did what?
Velma Roberson
Peed where he touched.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, I thought he said "beat on it," but he said, "peed on it."
Velma Roberson
Peed on it. Your dad's a mess.
Teresa Roberson
Alright, so mom...
Velma Roberson
Yes.
Teresa Roberson
In the family book it said that Aunt Gracie lived and worked in DC and fought for racial equality. It said that the last name of her husband was Tinsley.
Aunt Gracie was Uncle Jessie’s and my grandfather’s sister.
Velma Roberson
You know I never knew anything about her husband. But you know, Uncle Jessie, his wife, Mary, she was related to the Tinsleys. And I was wondering if Aunt Gracie's husband was related to Mary. You know, Uncle Jesse's wife, Mary. 'Cause y'know, we got duplicate names all over.
Teresa Roberson
Oh boy do I! I was getting the Lucindas confused.
I’ve got a Great-Grandmother, a Great Aunt, and an older cousin all named “Lucinda.” Just to name a few!
Velma Roberson
Yeah, Daddy got a sister Mary. Mother got a sister Mary. And then Aunt Al got a daughter Mary, which married into our family.
Teresa Roberson
Aunt Al’s first name was Almeda, who was famous for, at least in my book, having around 22 children. Every time I mention that fact, Mom usually states that she had three sets of twins. But she’s from different branch of the family. Back to Aunt Gracie.
Who can you ask about Aunt Gracie's husband?
Velma Roberson
I can ask Jean because since he was a Tinsley she may know. But see, long as I knew Aunt Gracie, she was single and she took her maiden name back.
Teresa Roberson
What was Mama Bea's middle name?
Mama Bea was Mom’s mother, my grandmother.
Velma Roberson
Matilda.
Teresa Roberson
Ah. I love that name! Renee told me that Mama Bea hated her middle name.
Renee is one of my older sisters.
Velma Roberson
Right. So, she didn't want us to know it.
Teresa Roberson
I assumed it was "Mae" because it was an "M."
Mom’s middle name is Mae, which is also the middle of my other older sister, Carla.
Velma Roberson
No.
Karl Roberson
M-A-T-I-L-D-A.
Velma Roberson
You know, me and two of my cousins, like Thelma, Velma, Zelma, all of us got an “M” for the middle name. Zelma is "Mae." Thelma is "Marie." I guess all the cousins got together and you know, Mother, sister and her cousin, but Thelma was born before Zelma and I. Thelma was born first, then me, then Zelma. I had called Annabelle about the history of the Cascade Church because she's a member of there and I thought maybe she knew some history on it, but she said, no, she didn't. She didn't know all that. On that day I called her honey, she talked with me about 30 to 45 minutes.
Teresa Roberson
The last question that I had from the book was about Percy B. Martin's art.
Velma Roberson
You know, I don't think I've seen his art, but I've heard that he's very good.
Teresa Roberson
He's still living?
Velma Roberson
Yes, that's Jean's nephew. That's Percy, Jean's brother Percy's, son.
Teresa Roberson
By this point, a minor irritation with my older sister, Renee, had been brewing. She’d known an answer to a question, but had made me ask Mom instead. I reverted to a bratty kid sister and told on her.
You know, Renee acted like she didn't want to tell me because she also knew Mama Bea's middle name. And she's like, "Oh, Mama Bea hated her middle name. You gotta ask Mom. I'm not gonna tell you. And I said, "Renee, Mama Bea's dead."
Velma Roberson
That's true.
Teresa Roberson
What difference does it make now? I'm trying to preserve history. She's like, “No, no, no, you gotta ask Mom.”
Velma Roberson
Oh, she could have told you.
Teresa Roberson
I think so too. She may be getting funny in her old age. I guess everybody does.
Velma Roberson
Bernice is the one that told me. 'Cause, see Aunt Nanny…everything that you don't won't told, Aunt Nanny gonna tell it.
Bernice is a cousin from another branch of the family and Aunt Nanny was her mother and also Mama Bea’s youngest sister, but since they all grew up in the same area, I’ve never kept family trees straight until now.
Teresa Roberson
Mama Bea didn't even tell you what her middle name was?
Velma Roberson
No.
Teresa Roberson
Wow, how old were you? It seems like I've always been knowing that about you and dad and like everybody's full name.
Velma Roberson
I think Bernice told me after we moved here.
Teresa Roberson
So, you are already in your 40s when you learned what your mother's middle name was.
Velma Roberson
Right.
Teresa Roberson
Wow, I would have to presumed that you would have had access to her birth certificate or something, you know, just toget power of attorney or something like legal documents.
Velma Roberson
No. Never did. Well I could have gone in the…you know, they kept all that stuff in a what we call a trunk. But I never did go in there and look at stuff.
Teresa Roberson
Had other things on your mind, right?
Velma Roberson
You got that right.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai