Page 5 of 10

needed only to insert the ends of stalks of cane or sorghum into the space between

the rotating cylinders, once inserted ,the opposite planer rotating cylin ders (The Mill)

would pull the cane through the gap which is much sm aller than the diameter of the

stalk (or several stalks) of cane, thus squeezing the stalks and releasing the juice. The

feeder had to be very carefu l not to let his/her hands get caught o r into the m ill.

As the stalks w ere pulled through the mill, they were squeezed twice, once on

passing through the gap at the first small cylinder, and again when it passed through

the gap o f the second small cy linder. The gap at the second small cylinder was set

smaller than the gap at the first cylinder, as the cane stalks were pulled through the

mill, thus providing the second squeeze. When the stalks of cane exited the mill from

the second cy linder they were bas ically damp pu lp held together by the crushed

outer skin of the stalks.

Mule & Horse-Power

Rotation power to the large cylinder was supplied by a balanced wood po le lever

attached to the sp indle of the larger cylinde r. Power was supplied to the pole by a

mu le hitched to the end of the pole . The mule’s pu ll ang le was normal to the pole .

The reins of the mule were attached to a braced lever which was attached to the

balanced mill pole, so that as the mule made his normal pull the lever to which the

reins were attached , led him in a circular path. The radius of the circular path was

the length of the balanced pole from the mill spindle to the hitch, which was about

fifteen feet. The pole was abou t twenty feet in total length so that the weight of the

pole balanced itself on the spindle of the large cylind er. It was na tural that the pole

balance could be maintained w ithout being attached at the mid length of the pole,

because the pole was cut from a section of a tree. The trunk end of the tree is always

larger and thus heavier than the upper end. Therefore for equal weight distribution

over the point of connection, the distance from the spind le connector on the pole to

the hitch (small end of the pole) was greater than the distance to the large end. The

mule was hitched to the small en d to u tilizes the mechanical advantage principle;

the longer the lever the smaller the force required to turn the mill. The longer lever

also provided for a larger circular path that would be defined by the mule’s constant

circular trek around the mill. The mule would be allowed to rest periodically, and

would be relieved by another mule, in much the same principle as stage coach

horses were relieved at “relay” stations. The difference w as the trek o f the stage

coach horses w as linear, but fo r the syrup mill mu le, is was circu lar.

Page 6 of 10

The Syrup Cooker

A Syrup Cooker was a person skilled in the Syrup cooking process, who was hired

by an own er of a syrup mill to cook syrup for a com munity o f farmers. Th e mill

complex consisted of the cane crushing mill, juice catching barrels or drums, and a

copper lined cooking pan about five feet wide ten feet long and six inches deep. The

pan was set over a b ricks and m ud fire box and flue. The firebox is closed along the

long sides of the pan. One end of the fire box is open for stoking the cooking fire, and

the other end terminates into a bricks and mud flue extension of the firebox, that

extends about eight feet tall at the end of the pan.

The pan has two inch high vert ical fins spaced about six inches apart across the

short dimension of the pan in a maze-like fashion. The fins stop about six inches

short of the vertical wall of the pan on one side but are closed on the other in an

alternating rhythm . Cane juice is put into the pan at the stoking end of the firebox

(the coo l end). I t makes its way along the pan by flowing back and forth across the

channels in the pan created by the fins, un til it reaches the flue end of the firebox

(the hottes t end). The raw juice is released into the pan at a rate, that by the time the

juice reaches the hot end of the pan it has cooked to molasses and is drawn off and

put into one gallon tin can conta iners and allow ed to cool. The syrup cooker’s

expertise, and thus his value, is knowing the rate of cooking required for the

particular types of cane juices, the desired consistency and thickness of the syrup,

etc. The cooker is paid by receiving a portion of the syrup cooked (called the “tally”)

in lieu of money, in a similar arrangement as a land owner and a sharecropper. The

cooker’s first use of his “tally” was to meet his family’s need, and the excess could

be sold for profit. The net profit is significantly greater than the income from the sale

of excess tally because the syrup Cooker has gotten the syrup needs for his family

fulfilled, but has not had the expense and labor of planting, cultivating, and

harvesting a sorghum and/o r sugar cane c rop.

The Tally Lesson

I had done well in my academic subjects at school. Aunt Ida even decided that I

could do seco nd grad e work after I finished what we called the “Primer”, so the fall

when I would normally have been assigned to First grade, I was placed in second

grade ... That m ight have had something to do with why Dad allowed me to make the

“Tallys” at harvest tim e. To be sure he always checked on m y wo rk, and it was his

checking, unbeknownst to me, that I learned a profound lesson about the impo rtance

Page 7 of 10

of kids need to have the approval and support of their parents in what ever good

things they may be pursuing.

It was the end of a typ ical syrup cooking day and that m eant Tally time. I had gotten

home from schoo l and gone to the Mill where dad had been cooking all day. I had

counted the total production for that day by counting the number of cans filled. I took

that number and com puted the fractional part (percentage) in cans that was due dad

for his cooking services. When the farmer, for whom Dad was cooking, and I

compared our separately dete rmined Tallies, the farm er took ex ception to my Tally

and took the position that he was right and I was wrong. This presented me with a

real dilemma. I was absolutely sure of two things. First, that my arithmetic and thus

my Tally was correct. Second, that as a young High School kid, I also must show due

deference to my elders. That was especially true for this particular elder, because he

had loaned D ad the m oney to get my older siste r off to Co llege the first yea r.

What to do? We ll, the Farm er and I went back and fo rth. I had not convinced him

that he was wrong, so I gave some ground and said something like “I guess you

could be right”, not having the courage nor the desire to be forceful abou t what I

knew was correct. At that moment I heard a very familiar voice from behind me say

“If you think you’re right stand your ground”, whereupon I vigorously defended my

Tally and the Farmer capitulated. The voice was that of my father Mansfield, who

had been observing the whole episode.

As I have thought about that incident over the years, and as I have utilized the

insights I gained from it in the rearing of my own children, I wonder did dad and

Mr John Kennedy rig that whole thing as a learning experience for me? I’ll never

know the answ er to that question, but there are some questions to which I do know

the answer. Do children need the support and assurance of their Parents? Should

children show a proper respect for their Elders? Are we as a people better-off when

all are done??? Y es, yes , and yes...

Page 8 of 10

Humor

Once we were working in the fields as an airplane was passing ove rhead . We

siblings got distracted from our work by a debate over whether the airplane was a

US Mail plane, o r a milita ry plane. We decided to call Dad and ask him the question.

“Dad, Isn’t that the m ail plane? W hen Dad noticed that we had all been com plete ly

distracted from the work we were supposed to have been doing, he replied “I don ’t

care if it’s the M ail plane or the heifer plane, you ’d bette r get back to w ork...

On another occasion, one of my sisters and I were having a heated debate over some

subject matter, and we were vigorously defending our chosen side. Dad had been

listening but saying nothing. He broke his silence after a while and said to us, “the

one who doesn’t know what he is talking about should tell the other to shut up”.

At that moment my sister and I yelled at each other at exactly the same time “shut

up!!!”...., and then we realized what Dad had done to us. He smiled and walked

away. We a ll laughed, the debate had been se ttled....

Reverence

The Church, worship of God, and the giving of a portion of the monies he had to the

church, was as integra l to Mr Mansfield as his own vital organs. There was also a

discipline that went along with the reverence. One way his regular worship discipline

was instilled in his child ren, was his s tanding rule that if you were so sick on

Sunday morn ing that it was impossible for you to go to church, you could not get

well enough to play, or visit, or do anything else later that Sunday. The rule was not

negotiable.

I remember as if it were yesterday, that Dad sent some one to retrieve me from

outside the church, to run an errand for him one Sunday after worship service had

ended. I was proudly wearing my new straw hat, and I approached Dad at the Altar

rail in the Church. I came near to him and waited for his instructions. I waited, and

waited, and then I noticed he was looking straight at me (or more specifically

straight through me), as if I should have known w hat he wanted me to do . We ll

there was something he wanted me to do, but it had nothing to do with the errand

that I would run for him. I was standing there before him, in violation of a cardinal

rule of reverence which had to be dealt with before we got to the errand. After a few

Page 9 of 10

Last Letters to a young Military Police Corporal on station at the DMZ in Korea.

It was March 10th and March 19th of 1955, when the price of an Air Mail Stamp was six cents. and a surfacemail stamp was three cents. The March 19th letter was returned because when it arrived in Korea, I hadalready left on that “long journey” home to Mr Mansfield’s final services...

Page 10 of 10

moments, which seemed like an eternity to me at the time, Dad spoke these words

to me ...“whenever you come around this Altar, take off your hat”.... That admonition

has stuck with me through the years. Never mind that worship service had ended, the

benediction had been said, and the people had le ft the sanctuary, I had approached the

Holy Altar of God, and had not shown proper respect and reverence, which was mo st

unacceptab le.

In the photograph of the Corner Stone Laying on the previous page, notice that even

though this was an outdoor event, it was none the less a reverent occasion, and thus

Mr Mansfield’s ha t is removed and he ld in his hand during the cerem ony... I don’t

wear a hat much anymo re, but when ever I’m in a Communion service, or have any

other occasion to approach an Altar or other sacred places, I find myself straightening

my tie, making sure my jacket is buttoned, and remembering a m an named Mansfie ld

Anderson .....

-----His spirit Lives-----

TRIENNIAL RE-UNIONS SINCE 1981TRIENNIAL RE-UNIONS SINCE 1981

A CLASSICAL AMERICAN FAMILY OF AFRICAN DESCENTA CLASSICAL AMERICAN FAMILY OF AFRICAN DESCENT

GOD FAMILY COUNTRY SELF MIND SPIRIT BODY TOIL EDUCATION SERVICE SACRIFICE

ACHIEV

EMENT

GOD FAMILY COUNTRY SELF MIND SPIRIT BODY TOIL EDUCATION SERVICE SACRIFICE

ACHIEV

EMENT

DESCEN

DANTS of G

EOR

GE ANDERSON & REBECCA COBNER of TOOMSUBA, MISSISSIPPI 1840-1896DESCEN

DANTS of G

EORGE ANDERSON & REBECCA COBNER of TOOMSUBA, MISSISSIPPI 1840-1896

They drew a circle to shut me out, slavery, racism, evils to flout.But love and I had the grit to win. We drew a circle that took them in.

...In response to a suggestion that a religious person should refrain from

providing their needed Christian services in an environment

where profane language i s somet imes over-heard.....

...If ones’ religion (is so fragile that it) can’t handle a few damns , its probably

not worth (a damn) one....

Special TributesIn Honor Of

Ms Ida Viney Anderson-Thornton1875- 1954

A Tribute To My GrandmotherBy

Professor James E. Kennedy

In Traditional African societies or villages there is the belief that there are three types

of spirits living there . The spirits o f deceased ancestors, the spirits of the living, and

the spirits of the yet to be born. This tribute is to one o f our ancestor spirits, Mrs Ida

Viney Anderson-Thornton.

In cases where the contributions of an ancestor are particularly noteworthy and

important, that person reaches the level of revered figure or Family Leader. The fore-

parents in this category usually provide many of the values, mores, purposes, and

ideals upon which the family or community builds its legacy, with all of the attendant

virtues of pride and nobility. Ida Anderson-Thornton was such an ancestor. Although

her contribution were many, it is in the area of formal education tha t her legacy is

profound.

Ida was born in 1875 and began teaching in Toomsuba, Mississippi in the era of the

one room schoolhouse, and continued there for over thirty years. Over this time span

many of the descendants of George and Rebecca Anderson received their initial contact

with formal education . At her feet, their long journey into the realm of formal

education and life in general began. Over the years her name became synonymous

with Toomsuba and early Black education, not just for the Anderson Family but for

most Black Toomsu bians of that era . To m ost peop le in the com munity, both B lack

and W hite, she was know n affect ionate ly and respec tfully as s imply “Miss Ida”.

As one of the spirits of her living descendants (grandson), who also received his first

educational blessings at her feet, I feel it is incumbent upon us the living Anderson

seniors to make known to our youth the contributions of their predecessors . It only

follows that the spirits of the Andersons yet to be born, will in turn, be made aware

of this heritage and the outstand ing contributions o f all their fore-parents. The

contributions of this stalw art daughter of George and Rebecca An derson are just one

exam ple of th is legacy...

Miss Ida At Work

This is one of Miss Ida’s earlier School Groups. She is seated at the right wearing the longerskirt. The circled student in the middle center is Miss Ida’s third daughter, Esther D. Thornton,who is the mother of Professor James E. Kennedy and Mr Johnny D. Shelwood Jr.

The grade levels are not known. The year is approximately 1920.

A Tribute To My Mentor

By

Ms B ernice Anderson-Ott

During the perilous times of the mid 1870's, fresh from Reconstruction and the bonds

of slavery in the rebellious confederate states, where it had been a violation of civil law

to teach black children to read and write, Ida Viney Thornton was born to teach. How

she heard the ca ll and prepared herse lf educationally to resp ond to tha t call is not fully

known, but it is certain that she struggled against enormous odds. That she, the

daughter of an ex-slave, was successful in the struggle, and that she never winced or

faltered in her pursuit o f excellence in the lives o f children , their fam ilies, and their

commun ity is a m atter of h istorical record.

The educational and right-living seeds that she planted are still reaping a great harvest

in every generation. And as we move into the tw enty first century. M iss Ida’s stud ents

and their descendan ts are dispersed throughout this land and beyond our national

borders, serving in every capacity of society and making outstanding contributions for

the cause of humanity through education.

The now generations are constan tly laboring in this great task force o f endeavor,

carefu lly passing the torch, ignited by her wisd om , to others that they might be led

in the right directions on their pathways to freedom. And so, as an Anderson family

trailblazer in education during some of the darker days of our history , it is our current

task, the Andersons w ho fo llow in Miss Ida’s train, to insure that her toils and labor

will cont inue to he lp inspire in us, the determination to preserve all that is good from

the past for continued future achievements.

Ida Viney Anderson-Thornton1875-195?

TEACHER EXTRAORDINARE

We give thanks to, and we thank God for Miss Ida Anderson, and w e pay homage to

her by remembering as in Jacob ’s dream at Bethel, tha t “her offsprings, the children

in which she instilled the value and virtue of learning, will spread abroad to the west

and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the fam ilies of the ea rth shall

be blessed” ...

Page 1 of 3

Tribute To An Infantry Sergeant

A proud Sergeant leading a charge one day

Came at the evening cold and gray

To a field of mines and booby traps

And few crossed safely through that crap

He ha lted his t roops in the light so d im

This m ine field held no dread for him

With nerves of steel and a p robing knife

He led h is troops and saved all life

And when all were safe on the other side

He detonated all of those mines

Sergeant! Sergeant! yelled a Colonel near

What in the hell are you doing here

You’ve crossed the mine field safe and sound

Why tell the enemy that we are around?

The Sarge came to “Attention”, arrow straight

“Sir”, this little explosion don’t make a damn

About me you don’t know enough

I’m a soldier m ade o f the “right kind of stuff” ...

My siblings scouted for Patton’s conquest

Supplied “Hell on Wheels” via the Red Ball Express

On New Caledonia or policing the DMZ

Where duty called there they would be.

I trained recruits fo r Ike in WW II

I dug-in on Pork-Chop Hill and saw that through

Would have kicked Uncle Ho’s butt any day

But the political cowards got in the way

Page 2 of 3

The combat Infantryman’s badge

Not once but twice,

Was pinned on m y chest to the music of fifes

And the purple heart, I brought hom e to my wife

Sir, there followed after me today

some new recruits who must pass this way

Old Junior, and B rian to nam e just two

But all the rest are coming too

This mine field don’t mean spit to me

but to those young soldiers may fatally be.

They too m ust cross when the light is d im

Sir, I am clearing this field for them.

The Colonel commanded him to “stand at ease”

You’re one Hell of a soldier and you will be pleased

You have been summ oned by The Com mander In Chief

And I and m y regim ent are your relief...

Two requests Colonel, before I leave this scene

Assure m e that Old J r, Von and Raymond fa res well

For them, bare footed, I’d walk through Hell

And my C hristine, m y Chris tine, my Chris tine...

Then a llow m e to return and visit this site

I could take a pos ition up the re on the heights

And make damn sure they are safe at night

I can camouflage myself right out of sight

The Colonel turned to his able aide

That’s not SO P for se rgeants’s rank he said

The a ide resp onded, Sir you know...

Yes, but for this fine soldier He’ll make it so.

Sarge came to attention and gave his final salute

turned “about” and marched off to h is new pursu it

The Colonel fell-in two paces behind

to indicate the Honor Sign

“PRESENNNNNT, A RM S !”, barked the Genera l

as the Sergeant drew nigh

The consummate Icon for his troops to eye

As the Sold ier’s So ldier passed o n by.....

Page 3 of 3

Epilogue

He took ro ll-call next m orn a t Reveille

But in different form, he was you and me

He assigned our details for the day

And we w ere off and on our way

We followed his counsel

We gained strength and communion

And then we named it

THE ANDERSON FAMILY REUNION

Most are here, from near and far.

From north and south and eas t and w est,

But the noble Sergeant will not rest

Till “ALL” are p resent and accounted for ...

by Otis AndersonFor a tribute to his brother SFC Claude Anderson Sr, on July 4, 1999 at theSeventh Triennial Anderson Family Reunion in Mt Laurel New Jersey...

. . .we fought, and were prepared to die for our country, a country which at the

time, had not been willing to fight for us on the issues of full citizen participation

in the life of Am erica...