School Story
Lagrange William Goodwin was born in 1882 Robert Goodwin and Peggy Washington, in Southern Georgia. It is estimated that Robert Goodwin was born around 1840, records for verification have been unavailable after many years of searching. Earlier records indicate that in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, that Goodrum was the surname. William Goodwin Goodrum) dob 1884 and Sallie Freeman Goodwin, (Goodrum) dob 1883. In the 1910 Federal Census taken in Atlanta, Sallie and both of her children Lagrange William and Marjeska Helena Goodwin lived in the household with Sallie's parents Charles Freeman dob 1842 and Sallie Williams Freeman, dob 1856. Lagrange William Goodwin had moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and married Emma Brown during this period. Around 1912 Charles Freeman moved his entire family to Birmingham, Alabama where work was booming because Birmingham was rich in minerals, Iron Ore, Coal, Bauxite, and other valuable minerals were in abundance, there was lots of work in the mines for people of color and lots of hard work that other ethnic groups would not do in the steel industry, and this opened the door for people of color. As time passed, Lagrange William would continue to live in Tuscaloosa, and migrated to Birmingham, Alabama, around the time the entire Brown family moved to Birmingham. Willie (William) settled with his mother and grand parents in the neighborhood of Acipico, at around five (5) years old, sometimes known as North Birmingham. The first tragedy in the life of Willie and Marjeska was that their father Lagrange William did not move from Atlanta to Birmingham when they moved. Sallie Freeman Goodwin married a man named William Coates, and they began having children at a predictable frequency. When Willie was eleven (11) years old, his mother Sallie had a complicated pregnancy and died during child Birth, the second major tragedy at a very young age. By this time Sallie and William Coates had three (3) children of their own, and Sallie was deceased. This left Mr. Coates with the responsibility of caring for Five (5) children and having to work in the steel industry, a challenge for a single parent. In Mr. Coate's minds eye, he would only accept responsibility for his own children and this left Willie and Marjeska without a caring parent and a financial liability. The grand parents, Charlie Freeman and Henrietta took Willie and Marjeska into their household, but after a period of time tragedy struck again, both Charlie and Henrietta died, they were both born in the mid 1800's. In 1911, Lagrange William Goodwin (1884) married Emma Brown and they lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Willie was around Six (6) years old at this time. Lagrange and Emma had five (5) Children and this marriage did not work either. Lagrange (1884) and Emma moved to Birmingham but had separate lives and divorced. Willie and Marjeska lived with Emma Brown for a short while, one of Emma's sisters Ethel Brown, and eventually, Viola Brown. Willie and Marjeska became unwanted children and they could both feel the pain at a very young age. Willie was able to find employment at a very young age, one of his first jobs was delivering prescriptions for a drugstore on a bicycle, and delivering shoes for a repair shop. Willie completed the eighth (8th) grade and he had to plunge into the work force to survive. Fortunately, Willie was able to get a permanent job at the Acipico pipe shop that lasted from the time he was eighteen (18) years old until he retired at 62 years old. The details of how Lagrange William actually grew up are very vague because he would not talk about his childhood and how he grew up. Lagrange was well grounded and he had a very good foundation but his childhood experiences left him introverted. As an adult, he could not articulate love and express it in the most conventional ways, because he never had it as a personal experience growing up. He did not hug and kiss in the conventional mannerisms but everyone who listens to the music can't dance, if you just read a book about skating, you can't skate. When he disciplined children he was firm and fair, never over the top or harsh in any manner, and very sensitive to the feelings of others. His reasoning and reading was above average, especially for person with an Eighth (8th) grade education, and his handwriting skill was above average. Lagrange spent a lot of time reading but he never was introduced to quality which may have limited his selections and choices as to what to read. Lagrange never went to Church but he always insisted that the children attend every Sunday, and he had a long laundry list of things that you could not do on Sunday and they were strictly enforced. Charley Freeman and his wife Henrietta were very involved in the Church and he served as a Deacon. William Coate's, his stepfather was very involved with the Church and a Deacon in the Church. But one has to ask the question, how much hypocrisy do you learn to tolerate as a child if you pray for a higher level of understanding, and you and your sister are ejected from the household as minors because you are a financial burden to the family. No child has ever asked in advance to come here on this earth. When you are raised under the conditions aforementioned, the scars heal but they do not necessarily disappear from your life forever, regardless of you financial or social status and station in life. With the right attitude, you can become a better person than you might have been if you had grown up in a passive situation. Often men will not abandon their families if they grew up in difficult circumstances, but sometimes it has the opposite effect. In our household, no one ever picked up and read the text "Thou shall not steal", they just would not allow it, you could not bring anything home that they did not buy. You were taught to respect everyone abide by the principles and disciplines taught at home.
In the 1930 Census, Willie was married to Willie Mae Goodwin, in Birmingham and he was 25 years old. The proof in the pudding is his sister Marjeska was living in the same household. Willie and Cora never revealed that this was a second marriage, one of many family secrets.
