Uncle Porgy
I love to tell people about this fun fact…
Have you ever heard of Porgy and Bess? Well Samuel “Porgy” Smalls was my uncle; son to Hector and Elvira Smalls and brother to my great-grandmother Eliza Smalls.
Was the story written about him completely true? Of course not, but by through his caricature, he became a legend. And though his true identity is not know by many, it’s enough that my family knows who he was and his name is mentioned quite often when we want to feel connected to someone famous.
This past Wednesday, we stopped by my Uncle Mickey’s house to pick up some sweet potatoes he left for my aunt Teresa in his garage. We didn’t think he would be home but he was and that meant we got to sit with him for a good hour or so to hear more family stories. This time he was on fire. We got ole relationship scandals this round; who was married to whom and who was fooling around with who. Most of these people where long gone but I love talking about them anyway because just saying their names is ritual. My daughter Nyla was with us so it’s also good for her to hear names as well. She’s learning and I am so happy that she can hear her elders tell vivid stories. They love spilling the beans now. They’ve become the family griots. And since I’m building a tree on Ancestry.com, I’ve been able to help them remember some things as well.
During our visit, Uncle Mickey broke out yet another family reunion book. I don’t know about y’all but I had no idea people where working on tracing back in these books but this is the second one he’s gifted to me and it traces yet another branch for me; this one leading to Uncle Porgy and his mother, my Great Great Grandmother Elvira Gibbs. I never knew her name and now I have yet another piece to add to the tree.
This brings me so much joy. And now I know where he is buried and I also have a picture of both of them! Yay! There’s so much more to tell but for now, you get this one cuz I’m just in an amazing mood.
That’s my thanks for the giving.