A Tribute To Mama Janie
Mrs. Janie Harvey Grant
Daughter of William Daniel Harvey Sr. & Mider Manley Jacobs Harvey
Granddaughter of William Henry Harvey & Rebecca Scott Harvey
Family
Mrs. Janie Harvey Grant known to many of us as “Ma-ma or Mama Janie” is the daughter of the late Daniel and Mider Harvey.
When talking to her about family, she said, “It was 12 of us in all that they raised. Eight of Papa’s and Mama’s that was living, two died at birth, and they raised two as their own”.
She is the only surviving sibling from this lovely union that serves as our family backbone.
She has two daughters, Johnnie Edwards and Rosa Thomas. She has helped raise just about all of us that are here today to witness this blessed occasion.I always love to talk to Mamma Janie and learn about our family history. She has told me many, many, many stories, all of which I will never forget. Some of them will make you laugh and some will cause you to cry. Though it all, look around, we are the fruit brought forth from that Family tree.
She told me, that when all the children became grown they left home and Papa Daniel and Ma Mider moved from Ashetown to Bryantown Road.
In 1946, she married Roosevelt Grant on the 7th of January at the age of 21. He had gone to the Army and was sent off to World War II. When he returned, they married. At the time of Roosevelt’s passing, they had been married for 60 years.
Church
When Mama Janie and I talk about Church, it’s so amazing and brings about an unexplainable feeling.
She says, Revival was always in August and would last all day. They would take a lunch break and go right back to revival. It was one Friday at 9 years old, during Revival, when Mama Janie said that she first experienced the Holy GhostShe explained that Rev. Pierce (Rev. Gregory Edmond’s grandfather) and Mrs. Lettie Boyce was sitting in the pulpit.The people that were sitting with Mama Janie at the time, were also children. They included: her twin sister Janet, Baby Ray, Connie Boyce, Willie Boyce, Pep Baugham, and John Baugham.
She went on to say that she started shouting and ran up to the preacher, she added that he was a praying man too. She said that she was the first one to get up and then others started to get up.Mama Janie said that she doesn’t know what they were feeling but she surly knew what she was feeling.
She loved singing in the Gospel Chorus when she was able to and her favorite song, that she loves to hear Mrs. Lucy sing, was “When I Rose This Morning, I didn’t have no doubt, I Knew that the Lord would bring me out”.
Our Backbone
Mama Janie played a major role in many of our lives from our childhood up until this very moment. In all of literature, one of the greatest tributes to women is found in the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs.
This chapter describes Mama Janie: a Godly woman, a virtuous woman, her worth is far above rubies, the heart of her husband safely trusts her, she willingly works with her hands, the is like the merchant ships, she brings her food from afar, she also rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household as well as others, she girds herself with strength, she extends her hand to the poor, she reaches out her hands to the needy, strength and honor are her clothing, she speaks with a mouth full of wisdom and kindness, she is diligent and compassionate, she’s a praying woman, she is blessed beyond measures and we all rise up and acknowledge this fact, but of all these things, she will say that her best attribute is that she’s a woman who fears and loves the Lord.
We Love You Mama Janie!
Rev. Jean LaToya Jacobs
Daughter of Matthew Hamilton Jacobs & Phyllis Diane Ward
Granddaughter of Earl Vinson Ward & Mittie Jean Wilkins Ward
Great Granddaughter of Rix (Boot) Ward & Ethel Virginia (Sadie) Harvey Ward
Great Great Granddaughter of William Daniel Harvey Sr. & Mider Manley Jacobs Harvey
Great Great Great Granddaughter of William Henry Harvey & Rebecca Scott Harvey
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