HETTIE
CANADY
Henrietta, or Hettie, Canady, as she preferred to be called, was the youngest of the nine children born to William E. and Susan Bacon Canady. She was born August 23, 1886 in Bryan County, Pembroke, Georgia, on the family farm. With eight brothers and sisters, she received more than her share of pampering and teasing. Because of her joyful nature, Hettie developed a personality that endeared her to everyone.
Times were hard in the late 1800s. Large families worked together to complete their tasks and overcome daily difficulties. Growing up then, compared to the 20th Century, is often hard to visualize. Hettie's family was up at daybreak and in bed shortly after supper. There was no electricity, therefore no refrigerator, television, telephone or any of the modern conveniences which simplify our lives today. Then one day a contraption came along that made so much noise that the horses bucked and the cows quit giving milk. This was the gasoline engine horseless carriage: the automobile. Hettie was there to watch a Model T Ford drive past. At last society could become mobile.
Hettie attended public school in Bryan County during the brief school year. She had chores back on the farm just as her older siblings did. Sunday afternoons were fun times. After church, Sunday dinner, and a few necessary chores, the young girls would watch the men play ball. The rules of dating and courtship were rigid. Signs of affection were limited to a hand-held stroll through the park, or a canoe ride across a lazy lake. Hettie had some good times during her adolescent years. Then one day a special young man, Adolphus Neal Smith, a handsome gentleman of German descent, came into her life. A caring courtship began, and within a short time they were married.
Hettie and Adolphus Smith worked together to start their home. They were living in Savannah when their children were born, and when Hettie and her oldest daughter, Helen, were baptized at Calvary Baptist Temple in February 1916. Adolphus was baptized there three years later, April 13, 1919, with his sister-in-law, Otelia Higgins. They also experienced heartache in Savannah when their two young children, Christine and Cecil, died of meningitis just two weeks apart in 1919.
Hettie and Adolphus moved to Florida, at first to the Ortega area of Jacksonville, and later to the Springfield area, where they lived on Walnut Street. Finally they moved to the grand old house at 1412 Hubbard Street. Their home was always open to their family for whatever reason and for whatever period of time. The house had a large front porch in the days when people walked to work and to shop. As neighbors walked by the house, many would stay for a while and sit on the porch to talk. Hettie always offered them a glass of tea or lemonade. If they were there at mealtime, they were invited to stay and eat.
The children and grandchildren of Hettie and Adolphus remember many special things about that house on Hubbard Street. They remember fondly the staircase with the large banister, and how much fun they had sliding down it. Other memories are: the cook stove in the kitchen; the large fireplace; doors in the living room that disappeared into the walls; and no heat in the large bedroom upstairs. There was a yellow light bulb that burned in the hallway for over 20 years and an indoor toilet on the back porch that seemed almost like outdoors, especially during the winter. The dirt yard was kept neatly swept with a straw broom, and the large oak trees danced shadows on the walls in the upstairs bedrooms. The iceman delivered ice on a horse-drawn buggy with peculiar wheels. Their son, Kemsie (Bubba) bought his mother her first refrigerator, which she kept filled with "big juicy apples, green grapes and purple plums". She pinched pennies so that her grandchildren could raid her refrigerator for "goodies".
Hettie was a good cook, and children always remember the wonderful food prepared by their mothers and grandmothers. Hettie's children and grandchildren were no exception. They remember the delicious chicken and dumplings, golden crispy fried chicken, Irish stew, lemon meringue pies, turnip greens, hoecakes, and the "best cheese toast ever". When they heard that familiar whistle coming from the kitchen, they knew something good was cooking.
Hettie loved "Dolphus" and waited patiently for him to come home from work each day. Occasionally, more patience was required when he would stop on the way home for a "cool one" with the guys at George's Confectionery at First and Main Streets. Once in a while she would have to go down there and remind him of the time. She loved her children and saw the best in each one of them. She enjoyed her trips to Savannah to visit her brothers and sisters there, and she enjoyed it especially when they came to Jacksonville to visit her.
She was an energetic lady all of her life. At the age of 85, she cooked and took care of the Hancocks while Dottie was giving birth to her son, John. She was active in her church and exercised her faith in God. At one time or another in their lives, she told each of her children and grandchildren about a man named Jesus because she loved them so much.
Hettie outlived her husband and all but one of her children. She died November 28, 1972 at the age of 86. She is buried beside her husband and three children at Hillcrest Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, but she lives on in the many lives she has touched.
The descendants of Hettie and Adolphus Smith are:
Ellen Mae Smith b. 8/14/1905, d. 11/28/1972. m. 1) Herbert Sills William Cecil (Billy) Sills b 6/7/1924, d. 7/2/1976 m. Nora Powell Dianne Sills b. 11/21/1947 m. Ronald James Bilskie Alisha Diane Bilskie b. 3/27/1975 Christopher Sills Bilskie b. 5/24/1973 Gayle Elaine Sills b. 1/28/1952, m. Raymond Hugh Mosley Cheryl Raye Mosley b. 2/18/1975 m. Sean S. Thibodeaux Kimberly Ray Mosley b. 9/22/1982 m. 2) Maurice Schloss Robert Maurice Schloss m. Mary Margaret Webb Robert Maurice Schloss, Jr. m. Sandra Maria Pascual Robert Kyle Schloss Beverly Jill Schloss m. Michael Anthony Pizza Deborah Ann Schloss m. Frank Hansen Benjamin Jay Hansen Amy Elizabeth Hansen m. Jared Bradley Boos Mary Jane Schloss m. Ray Moore Stacie Renee' Moore m. Keith Barker Samuel Ray Moore Joshua Sanders Moore m. 3) Jack Adams, Sr. Jack Adams, Jr. m. Patricia Connigan 2/16/1954 Mark Allen Adams m. Tracy Taylor Taylor Adams Cheryl Ann Adams m.Timothy Maloof Mason Connigan Maloof b. 2/26/1990 Morgan Rachel Maloof Tommy Adams m. Sheila Howe Tony Adams m. Jenny Cooper Rick Tyler Adams Madeline Smith b. 1/25/1924 m. Harold West 1/4/17-3/22/77 Dottie Lee West m. Berle Hancock Gary Allen Hancock m. Whitney Taylor Savannah Hancock John Hancock Julie Marie Hancock m. Vernon J. Costolo Emily Costolo Judy West m. Freddie Weeks Chad Weeks Travis Weeks Thomas Kemsie Smith b. 4/7/1907, d. 4/12/1955 Henry Barnard (Cecil) Smith b. 1/1/1918, d. 4/21/1919 Christine Dorothy Smith b. 4/30/1914, d 4/5/1919. Thanks to Madeline West, Jack Adams, and Dottie Hancock for the information herein.