General Notes

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Email Regina 3-26-2002 <Rejp2@@cs.com>
Email Bobbie Smith Leschingski 1/7/2003 <bjleski@@texoma.net>
My Dad remarked more than once on how sweet his mother was and how she c
ou ld work all day alongside someone and never say a word.  I like to ima
gi ne that Febbie was always a loving child and young woman.  Her mothe
r, Jul ia Ann Sexton died in 1873 and her father, called Joe, married a wi
dow, Vi olet Swaim, the same year.  Records indicate he died shortly after
ward s.  Febbie was an orphan at the age of 5 years.  Violet Swaim's husba
nd h ad been killed in the civil war.  She brought two children th
at I kn ow of to the marriage, Susan Emily Swaim and Charles Swaim.  Febb
ie was t he youngest child.  Her brother, John Wiley had married Susan Swa
im when F ebbie was only 7 yrs old.  Left at home without the father she s
aid she ad ored, she did have her sister, Ida, 2 yrs. older.  At what a
ge the abuse s tarted my grandmother never said, only that Violet Swaim Tu
tor did not li ke her and was "mean" to her all day long.  She never sa
id if Ida suffer ed abuse also.  There were no specific incidents that Feb
bie related, sayi ng only that she was beaten and talked mean to.
Finally, at around age 16 she met Ike Smith.  She said he was tall and h
an dsome and when he proposed marriage she jumped at the idea.  Many yea
rs la ter she would say only that "I jumped out of the frying pay into t
he fire ". Sometime before she left MS, perhaps after she married Ike, Jo
hn Wil ey was given a sizeable amount of land by Violet Swaim Tutor.  Febb
ie g ot nothing and to the best of my knowledge, none of her siblings d
id eithe r.  She received nothing that had belonged to her Mother or Fath
er a nd no land.  It would appear to me that John Wiley Tutor was fortuna
te th at he married a Swaim or he might not have received anything either.
This, on reading it, is more a tale of Febbie Etta Tutor than one of J
oe T utor, but I love tales of long ago and hope you do too.
I was 12 yrs. old when Grandma died, living by herself in Bonham, Fann
in C ty, TX in 1939.  Dad took her death very hard but so did I.  Childr
en in g rief were ignored back in those years. I can remember Grandma stil
l, fr om when I was quite small, holding my hand and the two of us walki
ng throu gh her vegetable garden on her son's peanut farm.  She and I lov
ed her flo wers and the butterflies that came to them.
I do have pictures and Febbie and Ike and 5 of their children a
nd a co py of a photo of John Wiley, his wife Susan and their family,copi
ed from B etty Rowland's book "The Tutors of Mississippi"I am hoping so
me PC savvy r elative or neighbor will teach me how to scan and send th
em via e-mail.  I 'll be glad to send them if you'd like them.
I've never ask and can't remember from the web site -what branch of t
he Tu tors are you from.
Regards, bobbie leschingksi