Elnora's Children

Capus settled into life in Miami, FL without ‘Nora; he had the company and support of a friend from Sylvania, John Kelly. I imagine for Capus, losing his ‘Nora was hard and confusing. He fought hard for her but could not win back her love and affection. He had no defense back then for what we now know to be treatable erectile dysfunction; or it may have been a subject for them too sensitive to talk about. What Capus did not know before moving his family from Sylvania, GA to Daytona Beach, FL is that ‘Nora was already gone. By moving her to Daytona Beach he had simply delivered her to where she wanted to be. You see, on her return trip from Newark, NJ back to Sylvania (Part 2 of 4; 6th paragraph) Elnora met Earl Stokes (Jack) on the train, he was from Daytona Beach. Over the course of the train ride Elnora and Jack established a relationship. And, the Ponder Family’s journey continued….

Meanwhile, back in Daytona Beach, as quick as Capus ass could darkened the doorway Elnora was arranging for their eight children, Jeff (16), Betty & Bobby (14), Wilbert (12), Grady (11), Jimmie (9), Mary (6) and DL (3) still living at home to be taken back to Sylvania, GA and left with her parents, the sharecropping farmers, to help them on the farm. My siblings railed against the idea of returning to Sylvania, complaining that their father would have never allowed that to happen. Jeff flat out refused to go back; he was working for S&S Cafeteria as a cook and decided that he would make it from there on his own. Elnora kept D.L. with her as he was too young to be of any use on the farm; everybody else was returned to Sylvania.

Working the farm with Eddie Knight,  Grandpa was no joke; by this time he was 88 years old and still running the farm. He was not laid back and easy going like their father, he was demanding with strict requirements for the work. Two of our cousins, George Barnes, “Some Boy” and Jonathan Barnes “Shot” already lived with Pa and had set a crazy standard for picking cotton at a rate of 200 pounds per day. Grandpa enforced that standard with my sisters and brothers, with Grady and Wilbert being the only two to eventually handle it. For the 200 pounds of cotton per day they received $6 that was to be given in its entirety to Grandpa. Once, on the way from the fields, on a Friday after having been paid the $6; the truck stopped by the store on the way back to Grandpa. Wilbert made a decision to spend 25 cents of the $6. When the truck made it back to the farm and grandpa discovered what Wilbert had done he beat him severely with a plough line.

The Ponder siblings found themselves in a hostile environment, where they were not welcomed; with no mom or dad. The older Ponder siblings Catherine, Capus, Jr., Ben and Jeff were young adults and teenagers working to find their own way; they were not yet able to provide their younger siblings a rescue. Then there was Betty, Elnora and Capus 5th child, she assumed the role of the protector of her younger siblings. She would frequently defend them against cousins, aunts and even Grandma and Grandpa, to the extent that she could. A slip of a girl, Capus called her, “little bit” which says nothing about the size of the fight within her. The farm was not safe for any of the females that resided there. Shamefully, the unspeakable stories of sexual abuse were all too true and common knowledge.

Elnora and Capus’ 10th child, their youngest daughter Mary, when she was only eight was the victim of such sexual violence. It was on a Saturday; all of the cousin workers had left for town or so she thought. She was alone in her Grandparents bedroom, because it was the room that had the fireplace and everyone generally gathered there. Suddenly, her older cousin came into the room forcibly grabbed her, threw her onto her Grandparents bed and raped her. Leaving her on the bed bleeding with nothing to say but, “Grandma was going to whip her for bleeding in her bed.” Mary told Betty as soon as she could get to her. Together they went immediately to Grandma and told her what had happened. Grandma took no action; didn’t even believe her, wouldn’t believe her. She said that “Mary probably asked for it, the brazen hussy!” Eight years old and she was asking for it from someone twice her age?! If the rape of Elnora caused a divide between Ponder and Knight; then the rape of Elnora’s daughter served only to solidify that divide. And, so it went for the Ponder siblings for the next 3 years.

In 1961 most of the Ponder siblings were old enough to make their own decision about being in Sylvania. Bobby & Betty (17) left and went back to Daytona Beach with Elnora. Bobby was old enough to join the military, so he did; enlisting in the Army. Wilbert (15) left my grandparents’ home to spend the rest of his time in Sylvania with our Aunt Viola (Ann Sister) and Uncle Ben Joe. Aleem (13), was tired of waiting to be old enough to leave. He ran away from Sylvania, and the Grandparents, headed for Miami, FL in search of his hero, Cassius Clay. Over the next few months the remaining Ponder siblings, Jimmie (12) and Mary (9) was delivered to Elnora; now residing in Daytona Beach with a somewhat different family.

Stay tuned to the saga of Elnora’s Children as they return to Daytona and Elnora. And, the Ponder Family’s journey continues…

2019 © Dave Ponder