"Miss Adah" was the daughter of America Houston Wallace "Miss Mec" Coxe and Thaddeus Monroe Coxe. Her maternal grandparents were Nicholas Buchanan Wallace & Adah Louise Pettey, and her paternal grandparents were Christopher Columbus Coxe & Anna Elizabeth Swift. She married Henry Erwin "Pap" Neal, Jr on March 23, 1921 in Nashville, TN at the age of about 22. They set up house keeping at her childhood home area about 14 miles west of Athens Alabama. On December 12, 1923 she gave birth to her first and only child Thaddeus Montrose "Thad" Neal. She would spend most of her married life in the home that they constructed starting from an old school building but converting into a lovely house with a full basement. "She and Miss Mec spent much of most days sewing. They made their own clothes and scores of quilts. They knitted, tatted, crochet, embroidery, needlepoint and made lace. One of her favorite things was making doll clothes, very fancy, very realistic men's suits for male dolls and women's gowns. During the depression she was able to put and add in a magazine that was evidently read by doll collectors in New York (folks that still had money) and she turned it into a business for a number of years."
I lived close by them growing up in the 1950's and 60's. I remember visiting them very well. The house had the smell of antiques and old lace. The basement was always stocked with can goods and all sorts of foods. "Pap" was always prepared for the cold war to go hot at any time. The basement also had a huge freezer. Pap made it out of layers of tar-paper, tarred together. The top had a pulley and counterweight so that Miss Adah could open it. There was also a smaller 2 or 3 room house toward the woods behind the main house where "Miss Mec", who when I knew her was semi invalid, lived.
In those times Pap was a gentleman farmer and Miss Adah tended the home along with her little black Chihuahua that she called "Tar Baby". Pap had an indoor/outdoor Boxer dog that he called "Devil". I was always scared of that dog. They were visited in the summer by their grand children from Texas - Cindy and Bob and Julie Beth and Mark -
girl, boy, girl, boy - who were very congenial and pleasant to be around. Pap and Miss Adah were stanch democrates and very political. I rememeber travelling with them in 1959 to Delano Park in Decatur, AL to see and hear Harry Truman who was campaigning for John Kennedy in his run for the White House. At that time Kennedy was not popular with many people in the deep south because he was Catholic and seen as liberal. However, that made no difference to the Neals because he was the democratic candidate and I'm sure that would be the case for them if they were here today. I think life for them at that time was good but change is always certain. In the 70's Mis Adah developed cancer and the diagnosis was serious. They sold their vast farm lands along the Tennessee River and moved to St Petersburg, Fla to deal with her illness. She lost the fight and was brought back to her childhood home area to be buried among the Coxe family in the Athens City Cemetery.
I lived close by them growing up in the 1950's and 60's. I remember visiting them very well. The house had the smell of antiques and old lace. The basement was always stocked with can goods and all sorts of foods. "Pap" was always prepared for the cold war to go hot at any time. The basement also had a huge freezer. Pap made it out of layers of tar-paper, tarred together. The top had a pulley and counterweight so that Miss Adah could open it. There was also a smaller 2 or 3 room house toward the woods behind the main house where "Miss Mec", who when I knew her was semi invalid, lived.
In those times Pap was a gentleman farmer and Miss Adah tended the home along with her little black Chihuahua that she called "Tar Baby". Pap had an indoor/outdoor Boxer dog that he called "Devil". I was always scared of that dog. They were visited in the summer by their grand children from Texas - Cindy and Bob and Julie Beth and Mark -
girl, boy, girl, boy - who were very congenial and pleasant to be around. Pap and Miss Adah were stanch democrates and very political. I rememeber travelling with them in 1959 to Delano Park in Decatur, AL to see and hear Harry Truman who was campaigning for John Kennedy in his run for the White House. At that time Kennedy was not popular with many people in the deep south because he was Catholic and seen as liberal. However, that made no difference to the Neals because he was the democratic candidate and I'm sure that would be the case for them if they were here today. I think life for them at that time was good but change is always certain. In the 70's Mis Adah developed cancer and the diagnosis was serious. They sold their vast farm lands along the Tennessee River and moved to St Petersburg, Fla to deal with her illness. She lost the fight and was brought back to her childhood home area to be buried among the Coxe family in the Athens City Cemetery.
"Miss Adah" was the daughter of America Houston Wallace "Miss Mec" Coxe and Thaddeus Monroe Coxe. Her maternal grandparents were Nicholas Buchanan Wallace & Adah Louise Pettey, and her paternal grandparents were Christopher Columbus Coxe & Anna Elizabeth Swift. She married Henry Erwin "Pap" Neal, Jr on March 23, 1921 in Nashville, TN at the age of about 22. They set up house keeping at her childhood home area about 14 miles west of Athens Alabama. On December 12, 1923 she gave birth to her first and only child Thaddeus Montrose "Thad" Neal. She would spend most of her married life in the home that they constructed starting from an old school building but converting into a lovely house with a full basement. "She and Miss Mec spent much of most days sewing. They made their own clothes and scores of quilts. They knitted, tatted, crochet, embroidery, needlepoint and made lace. One of her favorite things was making doll clothes, very fancy, very realistic men's suits for male dolls and women's gowns. During the depression she was able to put and add in a magazine that was evidently read by doll collectors in New York (folks that still had money) and she turned it into a business for a number of years."
I lived close by them growing up in the 1950's and 60's. I remember visiting them very well. The house had the smell of antiques and old lace. The basement was always stocked with can goods and all sorts of foods. "Pap" was always prepared for the cold war to go hot at any time. The basement also had a huge freezer. Pap made it out of layers of tar-paper, tarred together. The top had a pulley and counterweight so that Miss Adah could open it. There was also a smaller 2 or 3 room house toward the woods behind the main house where "Miss Mec", who when I knew her was semi invalid, lived.
In those times Pap was a gentleman farmer and Miss Adah tended the home along with her little black Chihuahua that she called "Tar Baby". Pap had an indoor/outdoor Boxer dog that he called "Devil". I was always scared of that dog. They were visited in the summer by their grand children from Texas - Cindy and Bob and Julie Beth and Mark -
girl, boy, girl, boy - who were very congenial and pleasant to be around. Pap and Miss Adah were stanch democrates and very political. I rememeber travelling with them in 1959 to Delano Park in Decatur, AL to see and hear Harry Truman who was campaigning for John Kennedy in his run for the White House. At that time Kennedy was not popular with many people in the deep south because he was Catholic and seen as liberal. However, that made no difference to the Neals because he was the democratic candidate and I'm sure that would be the case for them if they were here today. I think life for them at that time was good but change is always certain. In the 70's Mis Adah developed cancer and the diagnosis was serious. They sold their vast farm lands along the Tennessee River and moved to St Petersburg, Fla to deal with her illness. She lost the fight and was brought back to her childhood home area to be buried among the Coxe family in the Athens City Cemetery.
I lived close by them growing up in the 1950's and 60's. I remember visiting them very well. The house had the smell of antiques and old lace. The basement was always stocked with can goods and all sorts of foods. "Pap" was always prepared for the cold war to go hot at any time. The basement also had a huge freezer. Pap made it out of layers of tar-paper, tarred together. The top had a pulley and counterweight so that Miss Adah could open it. There was also a smaller 2 or 3 room house toward the woods behind the main house where "Miss Mec", who when I knew her was semi invalid, lived.
In those times Pap was a gentleman farmer and Miss Adah tended the home along with her little black Chihuahua that she called "Tar Baby". Pap had an indoor/outdoor Boxer dog that he called "Devil". I was always scared of that dog. They were visited in the summer by their grand children from Texas - Cindy and Bob and Julie Beth and Mark -
girl, boy, girl, boy - who were very congenial and pleasant to be around. Pap and Miss Adah were stanch democrates and very political. I rememeber travelling with them in 1959 to Delano Park in Decatur, AL to see and hear Harry Truman who was campaigning for John Kennedy in his run for the White House. At that time Kennedy was not popular with many people in the deep south because he was Catholic and seen as liberal. However, that made no difference to the Neals because he was the democratic candidate and I'm sure that would be the case for them if they were here today. I think life for them at that time was good but change is always certain. In the 70's Mis Adah developed cancer and the diagnosis was serious. They sold their vast farm lands along the Tennessee River and moved to St Petersburg, Fla to deal with her illness. She lost the fight and was brought back to her childhood home area to be buried among the Coxe family in the Athens City Cemetery.
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