Joan's Journeys: Birthday weekend more than 90 years ago unforgettable and tragic By Joan Christian
It was a beautiful spring day and Elaine Ruth Cherry had had a wonderful celebration of her fourth birthday.
It was the weekend of May 7, 1915 and the best birthday present Elaine could imagine was having a weekend stay at the home of her grandparents just outside Williamston, N.C. Elaine was the youngest of nine children born to Mary and Will Cherry.
A weekend with her grandparents meant being free of her eight siblings, if only for a short time, and becoming the center of attention in the Bassinet household.
Elaine's grandma, Bertie Bassinet, was a freed slave of African lineage and her husband, Benjamin Bassinet, was of the Cherokee nation.
Both worked hard and sacrificed their own desires to have all of their children complete college courses of study.
Each developed skills in the area most needed by the freedmen of the South, education. Hester, the oldest of their children, earned recognition as an outstanding educator and eventually became dean of women at the Hampton Normal school in Virginia. Elaine's mother, Mary Elizabeth, was a school teacher, church organist and a superb tailor. Other siblings became builders, horse breeders and church musicians.
The birthday evening became special for Elaine when, after dinner, Grandma Bertie presented her with a cake topped by five candles, one for each year plus one for good luck. The little one was known for her boundless energy and curiosity and often found herself in one sticky situation after another.
Soon after, Bertie decided that it was bedtime for her granddaughter, and prepared her to close out the long day. Elaine loved her grandma's bed because it was so high and soft. She had to use a stepping stool to reach the top and after the climb, settled down into her place just as Bertie had eased her head onto the down pillow and pulled the covers up under her chin.
This would be the last night of the weekend because her mother would be coming the next day to take her back home for Sunday morning church service. Elaine enjoyed a big yawn as she stretched her tiny hands across the bed. Surprisingly her fingers found something under Bertie's pillow that seemed out of place.
That something felt hard and cold in the youngster's hand.
"Grandma, what's this thing?"
Bertie had felt the movement under her head, moving as swiftly as the wind and without uttering a sound, gently motioned Elaine to place the pistol in her hands.
She explained that the pistol was there to protect them from the night raiders who posed a threat to freedmen and Cherokee alike.
Elaine began to understand how close she had come to hurting her beloved grandmother, the youngster began to sob and through her tears begged Bertie's forgiveness. Her grandmother held her close, and while singing a familiar spiritual, gently rocked Elaine to sleep.
Many years later, my mom would recount to us just how close she had come to injuring her grandmother, the fear she had felt in holding that pistol, and the gentle courage displayed by her indomitable grandmother as she soothed away her grandchild's anxieties.
The next morning, Elaine, dressed in her Sunday finest, waited for the arrival of her mother. Mary Elizabeth Bassinet Cherry was a skillful tailor who had created clothing for her entire family. (Word was that she could just look at a man and tailor a suit to his exact dimensions.)
Mary Elizabeth doted upon her youngest, and took special pride in creating beautiful outfits for her. They left the Bassinet home and followed the path back into Williamston and to the family church where Mary served as organist and her husband, William Cherry, was chief warden.
As my mom and grandmother approached the church they could see a large group of people standing there.
Mary could sense that something was wrong but it was not until she and Elaine had left the wagon, and drawing closer to the crowd, that she realized the scope of the tragedy. Elaine remembered her eyes being covered by her mother's gloved hand who with the other hand on her shoulder, moved her away from the crowd.
She didn't understand why her mother was crying.
Later, Elaine would learn that hanging from the tree in the front of the church was a lynch victim. A note had been affixed to the body which directed the church members to take down the body and bury it.
Will Cherry instructed the church members to leave that task to those who had so brutally murdered the victim. It was then that the congregation entered the church and to the accompaniment of organ music, prayed for the soul of the departed.
The next day it was reported that several Klan members had come back to remove the body. Will and Mary Cherry's courage that Sunday could have placed their family in jeopardy, but they stood their ground.
To this day, that bit of family history never ceases to amaze us.
