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- [S106] The Mountain Press, 24 Jul 2010.
Historical account: Local woman’s story about mother published
by GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Elizabeth McMahan Adamitis holds a photo of her mother, Elizabeth Fox McMahan, whose life story she shared with Converse College in South Carolina and was published in a book, “Country Women Cope with Hard Times: A Collection of Oral Histories.”
“Country Women Cope with Hard Times: A Collection of Oral Histories" includes a chapter written by Elizabeth McMahan Adamitis about her mother, Elizabeth Fox McMahan.
The 1901 graduation picture of Elizabeth Fox McMahan is one of several included in the chapter dedicated to her.
SEVIERVILLE — Elizabeth McMahan Adamitis knows what hard times are all about. Not just now when “everybody I know’s lost their job,” she said, but back when she was a little girl, watching her mother sweat, scrimp and save for every penny.
Adamitis, 89, has shared the story of her mother’s life in a new book published by the University of South Carolina Press. “Country Women Cope with Hard Times: A Collection of Oral Histories,” was edited by Melissa Walker, a professor of history at Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., from which Adamitis’ mother, Elizabeth Fox McMahan, graduated in 1901.
Walker learned of Adamitis and her mother’s story when Adamitis donated about $1,000 to the college on the 100th anniversary of her mother’s graduation and included a four-page letter about her mom’s life in Sevier County. The letter led to a meeting between Walker and Adamitis and the inclusion of McMahan’s story in the book.
“She always said that was the happiest days of her life,” Adamitis said of the time her mother spent at the college. After college, times were tough for the then single woman, who had a tough time finding a job to help her newly-widowed mother take care of five other siblings.
She finally found work, teaching at Roberts School House on Jayell Road. “She got $20 a month for teaching there,” Adamitis said. But that wasn’t enough to help out as much as was needed.
Adamitis wrote her mother married Ernest McMahan in desperation as a way to help her family. The son of wealthy landowners, Adamitis goes on to describe her father, however, as spoiled who would rather be his time in town with friends and spend money they didn’t have than work the 420-acre farm where they lived.
“She had to just more or less take over the farm,” Adamitis said. “I thought she was a better farmer, as good as anybody in Sevier County. The hired hands would come to the back door in the morning to know what to do and she’d tell ’em, go out and plow in the 30 acres or whatever.”
When the centennial of her mother’s graduation from Converse came around in 2001, Adamitis wanted to do something to honor her mother. She did two things, the first being a donation because her mother often gave to the college when she could.
“My mother would scrap $5 together of her chicken money and send to Converse every year,” Adamitis said. “So I sent them about a thousand I think. And of course, that kind of got their attention,” she joked.
What also caught their attention was the second thing she did: the letter outlining her mother’s story.
When the letter arrived at Converse, Adamitis said other staff at the college shared it with Walker (an East Tennessee native), who has written several similar books about the area’s history, one that Adamitis unknowingly already had in her possession.
“I was pulling my books from underneath there and I found the book, one that (Walker) got an award for,” Adamitis said. “I don’t know how I happen to have it, but I collect books about Sevier County.”
History, by the way, is a subject Adamitis loves, a passion passed down to her from her mother. Adamitis currently lives on property that’s in the general area of where she said a Civil War battle was fought.
“I look out and I can just see that battle out there where 265 people died that afternoon,” she said of the Jan. 27, 1864 battle at Fair Garden.
Seeing her own mother’s story written down as history in her own words was exciting for Adamitis.
“I just thought my mother was so wonderful, and she had such a hard life, and now I know she’s looking down and she knows this has happened,” Adamitis said.
gcrutchfield@themountainpress.com
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 17 Jul 2016.
April 1, 1921 - July 17, 2016
Resided in Sevierville, TN
Elizabeth McMahan Adamitis, age 95 of Sevierville passed away Sunday July 17, 2016. She was born April 1, 1921 in her family home on the property that is now Belle Meadows. She attended Sevierville schools and graduated from the University of Tennessee on June 1, 1942 with a BS in Home Economics. After deciding not to teach school, she was advised of a great need for occupational therapists. She went to the University of Pennsylvania and became a registered occupational therapist and began a career she loved for 44 years. She worked for the federal government in Navy, Army, and Veterans hospitals in six states before retiring in 1988.
She was preceded in death by her parents, O.E. "Ernest" and Elizabeth Fox McMahan; brothers and sisters-in-law, Wilbur W. and Lucile Hatcher McMahan, Glenn F. and Florita Butler McMahan; sister, Dorothy M. McMahan; and brother-in-law, Byron Steele.
Elizabeth is survived by her sister, Ernestine M. Steele; nephew, Martin McMahan; great-niece and husband, Amanda and Sergio Ortiz; great-nephew and wife, Brent and Courtney McMahan; niece and husband, Susan and Ken Cheek; great-nephews, Bradley Cheek, Nathan and wife, Sarah Cheek; niece and husband, Sharon and Sam Hale; great-nephews, Andrew and wife, Bridget Hale, Daniel and David Hale; niece, Glenna M. Semmer; great-niece and husband, Blythe S. and Bob Leeman; several great-great-nephews and nieces; as well as several Fox and McMahan cousins; and special friends, Shannon and Jennifer Cook.
Family and friends will meet 11AM Thursday at Middle Creek Cemetery for graveside service and interment with Rev. Jeff Lambert officiating. Arrangements by Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. Online condolences may be made at www.atchleyfuneralhome.com
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