Running head: STORY NEVER ENDS

Brianna Mclaurin

The Story Never Ends

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

There is Purpose

Family is such a complex topic to discuss. When learning about where you come

from and why you live your life the way you do, it can lead to questions being asked and

answers being given. This can, however, be a new life journey by itself. Limiting yourself

when trying to figure these things out is only a limitation to your own experience.

Personally, learning about generations I had never been exposed to was not a topic of

interest. My parents always said I should “know my people,” but I never imagined myself

having the opportunity to actually get to know my people. Through genealogy research, I

was able to find out why my life has been such a journey and where certain traditions

originated.

Where I Come From

My name is Brianna Elizabeth Mclaurin. Elizabeth comes from my grandma,

Elizabeth. I am currently eighteen years old and in the process of creating myself. While

creating myself, I feel as though it is important to know where I come from. My mom is

Danna Oxendine and my dad is Anthony Mclaurin. My mom was born and raised in

Robeson County as well as my dad. My maternal grandmother, great-grandmother, and

great-great grandmother were all raised in different parts of Robeson County also. For

myself it was the same. I lived with my mom and dad for the first fifteen years of my life.
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We lived in a crème doublewide, which sat on four acres of land that belonged to my dad

and his family. We never moved and I’m quite sure they have no plan to move for the

remainder of their lives. In Lumberton, where we live, we do not really have neighbors.

Our doublewide sits far off of the road and is surrounded by two cornfields. I am

definitely considered a country girl and I am not the least bit ashamed of it.

My Mother

Danna, my mom, was born on April 2, 1963. She is now fifty-six years old and

has four children including myself. My mom is a very interesting person to get to know.

Growing up she was never considered fortunate and honestly never has been. In middle

school she met my dad; they were neighbors for a few years. When she was seventeen,

she moved to Dunn, NC and married my sibling’s dad when she was eighteen. She found

out that their dad was having an affair and divorced him. Once she moved back to

Lumberton, she rekindled the relationship she had with my dad and has been with him

ever since. Like many people, she suffers from alcoholism, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and

anxiety. Because of this she was not always the best parent but she did what she could. As

I got older I was able to understand what she went through. We often clashed and this

resulted in me being placed with my grandma by DSS. We still talk because she is still

my mom but I had to realize that not everyone is meant to be around at all times.

Grandma Elizabeth

Elizabeth is the mother of my mom. She passed away in 1991 before I was born.

Grandma Elizabeth conceived eighteen children and only gave birth to fifteen. As a

woman who fell victim to abuse, the death of two of her children came from an instance

of abuse. On a Saturday morning when she was 6 months pregnant, my grandpa Marvin,
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became angry at the fact that she was being a “smart mouth” (Deese 2019). Papa Marvin

caught her on the stairs later that day and forcefully pushed her down, causing her to lose

her twin boys. “They weren’t his youngins’ so he felt no need to feel bad for what he had

done to my mama” (Oxendine 2019). Sadly, this was not her first or last encounter with

abuse by this man and other.

Papa Marvin

Marvin was the type of man who loved to feel as if he had power. In his

household he treated his family like they were animals. Papa Marvin disciplined my

mom, my uncle, and their mother, who was his wife. My mom said he felt like the only

way to get his point across was to beat them. Marvin was also an alcoholic. When he

consumed alcohol, mostly beer and sometimes liquor, he became even more enraged than

he would on a normal day.

My mom could recollect on one specific time that he got intoxicated. My grandma

was in the kitchen cooking and Papa Marvin randomly walked behind her and knocked

her to the floor. He made her stay there while he set up several traps that prevented her

from going outside. On the screen door of the front of the house, he placed a string that

would drop a glass bottle if it were touched. On the step right below the door, he placed

sharp objects that would cut up anyone’s feet if they stepped out of the door. The trick

was that if you pulled the string, you automatically fell out onto the step. One Sunday

morning, my grandma decided that she was tired of being stuck inside and simply wanted

to go outside to water her plants. Her wanting to go outside caused her to lose six of her

toes and have severe cuts all over her body. No, she did not leave him or admit to this
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tragedy being his fault. A few days later, grandma left the hospital and continued taking

care of her family.

An article I read about domestic violence against women stated that it was a

man’s “legal right” to discipline his family (Johnson 2002). My mom said “for a man to

lay his hands on such an innocent woman who only tried to do right by her family, is

sickening” (Oxendine 2019). For many years, my mom did not communicate with Papa

Marvin. He is now in his early eighties and my mom communicates with him every once

in a while. Almost all of his family left him in the 1900’s, where he belongs.

Lil Boy Who Did Big Things

Abuse was something that seemed like a hobby, based on the stories I have been

told. My grandma Elizabeth was the main person I heard about during my research.

Before my Papa Marvin, she was in a relationship with a man named “Lil Boy.” The

main story that my Aunt Betty could remember was about the “other man” (Deese 2019).

All of the other stories I heard made it seem as if my grandma was this innocent woman

who had no flaws, but she did. Yes, she did do for her family as a woman was supposed

to back then, but in this case she was being quite mischievous. One day in the mid

1900’s, “Lil Boy” walked in on grandma being sexually involved with another man. In

the moment he ran the man away and beat her almost to death. He used a knife to cut her

stomach until her insides were visible. “Her face was as purple as an eggplant and her

body was covered in thick blood” (Deese 2019).” He then went and found the man she

was with and killed him. Those alive said that his head was hanging on by a small piece

of skin. Lil Boy went to my family and said, “If I would have known Liz was still alive, I
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would have finished her off too.” After that comment was made my uncles jumped on

him and no one has seen him again. Through all of this, Elizabeth survived.

They Struggle

My family always had stories about how they struggled to eat, sleep and even stay

clean. These are stories that most families have. With this family in particular, they did

not only struggle financially, but they struggles mentally as well. Papa Marvin, my mom,

and the majority of my aunts struggle from anxiety and bipolar depression. When this

was brought to me, I realized that their lifestyle might have been the result of the mental

illnesses. The abuse, drug abuse and all of the acts of violence made sense to me. Now

that I know all of this information, I understand why my life turned out the way it did.

This is one of the best examples of history repeating itself, on a personal level.