While I was growing up, my parents would take weekend afternoon drives and we would visit relatives. My parents had moved to Flint from Ohio and yet we seemed to have myriads of relatives there, and yet none of then were from Flint either. I was born in Ohio. We moved from Ohio to Michigan when I was three years old. My grandparents on both sides lived in Ohio and had for many years. My mother’s family line, Holsinger and Russell, had lived in Ohio for many generations. My Grandma and Grandpa Adams were born in Dunklin County located in the Missouri “boot heel.” My father was born in that same county. All of his ancestors were born within a hundred mile radius in Southeast Missouri. My Grandma and Grandpa Adams moved from Southeast Missouri to Ohio during WWII. So, with the everyone coming form Missouri and Ohio, I couldn’t figure out how we had so many relatives in Flint. Well, during the 1920s and 1940s, I had relatives leave Southeast Missouri and make their way to Flint. They weren't alone. There was a fairly large migration from there to Flint One source of the immigration movement to Flint stated: “the migration was mainly from the Missouri "Bootheel" and neighboring parts of Arkansas and Tennessee and the people were white. It began during the mid-1920s, declined during the Depression, then picked up during World War II. They worked primarily at Fisher Body and Chevrolet. The area called "Little Missouri," centered on Bristol and Fenton Roads.” Another source stated: “the white ghetto known as ‘Little Missouri’ was located on the southwest side of Flint, Michigan.” My extended family was part of that southern migration. My great-grandfather, Walter “Bert” Kinsey came from the town of Campbell in Southern Missouri to work in the factories of Flint. Bert was a bit a drifter. He moved from job-to-job in Campbell, Missouri. He could have worked clear-cutting the Cyprus forests of Southeast Missouri as his father had done, or he could have joined the legions of sharecroppers in the region. Bert’s eldest son, Oswald called 'Little Tobe," preceded him in his journey to Flint. Tobe secured work in Flint’s Fisher Body factory in the Fall 1925. His father Bert, and Tobe's younger brother, Marvin, came to Flint the following year and worked at Chevrolet plant. Bert ended up returning to Campbell after working two years in Flint. My grandmother, Mildred Kinsey Adams, shared with me the following about her father and his trip to work in Flint: “When I was about 13-14 years old, papa left Campbell [Missouri] and went to Flint [Michigan] to work for the auto factory. He had worked in Flint the previous summer, and then came home. He had a difficult time finding work in Campbell, so he did odd jobs. This time, he was leaving and did not have plans to come back. Mama was fretting that he would leave for good. He prepared his carpentry tools and packed some clothes. I was laying on the floor with a terrible headache. Papa said he had to run and catch the train and that he was going to stay with Tobe, my brother, in Flint, and that everything would be alright. Mama pleaded that he stay, and he said, ‘Hush now – I’m going,” and then he walked out the front screen door. That was the last time I saw him for a couple of years. Mama told me to run next door to use the neighbor’s telephone to call the farm where my sisters, Maudie and Ada, were picking cotton. She wanted them to run to the train tracks so they could wave goodbye to papa. Some years later they told me they got the message just as the train had passed. They didn’t see papa, but they did see groups of men sitting in, and on top of, the boxcars. Mildred continues, When Papa left for Michigan, Mama wondered if he would ever come back. Maudie said Mama suspected that papa had a mistress or many mistresses while he was in Michigan. I’m sure he did. Papa stayed in Flint for a little over two years. While there, he sent money home only twice. Once he sent $30, and another time he sent $20. In the meantime, Mama got jobs cleaning people’s houses and doing laundry. Mama was always full of worries.” Bert’s sisters, Ada Kinsey Beaver and Myrtle Kinsey Tompkins, with her their husbands, Santa Tompkins and Bill Beaver, all moved to Flint. Myrtle and Santa moved to Flint in 1930, and Ada and her husband, Bill Beaver moved there around 1936. Ada worked for the power company headquartered in Flint and retired in 1961. Both Myrtle and Ada lived and worked in Flint the rest of their lives. In 2007, I was perusing through the archives at the University of Michigan and I discovered that Santa was involved in the famous Fisher Body sit-down strike of 1936 and 1937, which gave birth to the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union. The Associated Press carried the following article published on January 9, 1937 on the Flint strike: “Santa Tompkins, who said he was an employee of the Fisher Body plant at Flint, but was not a striker, told police he was hit on the head when he jumped on an automobile from which, an amplifier carried appeals for union support.” Santa's own account of incident appeard in the Flint Journal on Jaunary 9, 1937: We visited Santa a few times during the 1970s. He was in his 90s and living in an older home in the hills just north of downtown Flint near Hurley Hospital. His home was encircled about by flower gardens. Santa’s daughter, Marie, and her husband, Samuel Smith, who went be the name "Fed," lived nearby. Fed worked many years at the Buick plant. He was instrumental in helping my dad get his firtst job in Flint delivering beverages. We would occasionally visit Fed and Marie, and Fed would greet us at the door and look at my brother and me and say, “How’s my little Democrats?” As a child, I had no idea what a Democrat was, or what it meant. In fact, for a long time I thought he would look at us and say “How’s dem rats?” It was some years later before I caught on that he was talking about a political party. All of our distant Missouri relatives were Democrats through and through. So, my Grandma Adams had two aunts and several cousins living in Flint. In earlier years, her father and two brothers had worked in Flint. My Grandpa Adams had two brothers, Harold and Winifred, and a sister, Maxine, who also moved from the Southeast Missouri town of Campbell to Flint, Interestingly, there was a small part of Flint’s south side known as “Little Missouri.” They didn;t settle there, but it does demonstrte the concentration of Missourians in the area. Harold moved to Flint in 1944 and secured a job in one of the General Motors plants. Harold met his wife, Katy, on a bus in 1945. They were on the same bus as she would come home from working at the A.C. Spark Plug Factory. They married in 1946. They had six kids and lived in Flint the rest of their lives. After they were married he secured a job in 1947 with Boutel Trucking, an automobile transport company that had contracts with all GM factories in Flint. He remained with them for 32 years. B.T. Tompkins mentioned in the photo above also worked for Boutel. B.T. began working for them in 1936. He later moved south to Pontiac to work for Ponatiac Motors, anothe GM subsidiary. Winifred moved to Flint in 1945. He served a stint in the army, where he was stationed in Trinidad during World War II. His wife, Gemma, was from Trinidad. Winifred landed a job with Buick in 1950 as machine repairman where he worked for the next 30 years. Harold and Winifred had a sister, Maxine and her husband who also worked in Flint, but they didn't stay. A 1945 Flint City Directory shows Maxine working as a guard at the Flint Fisher Body Plant which manufactured tanks during the war. Flint was attractive during WW II because of the abundant work. Both the Buick and Fisher Body factories operated around the clock to support the war effort. City Directories from 1950 and 55 show them residing in the Kearsley Park are of Flint. My Great-Grandpa Adams’ sister, Mattie, also moved to Flint. She and her husband, John Arthur James, moved to Flint in 1941 to work at one of Flint's factories. My Grandpa also had an uncle, Omer Adams and his wife Corrine, who also lived in Flint in the 1920s and 30s. They later moved south of Flint to Pontiac. Omer worked for years at Pontiac Motors. So, my Grandpa Adams had three siblings and an aunt living in Flint, and an uncle just south in Pontiac. He also had some cousins and numerous nieces and nephews. He also had another aunt, Agnes, and her husband Dewey Skidmore living and working in Detroit. Although, they didn’t live in Flint, they were at every family gathering. As a child, I remember attending extended family gatherings at Uncle Harold’s house. Often, we would go shoot a game of pool in their basement or play baseball in their backyard. The men gathered in the living room, smoking pipes and cigarettes as they talked about Missouri, the union, the factories, their foremen, and about politics. The conversation often condemned Republicans while extolling the virtues of all Democrats. When my grandparents came to visit they would often stay with Harold. It was amusing to watch my grandparents get together with his brothers and their wives. There was a lot of banter, debates, political opinions, and arguments that were often punctuated by laughter. L to R: Winifred, Maxine, Talmadge, Harold, Vernon and Harlin Adams. Winifred and Harold moved to Flint and remained there the rest of their lives. Maxine worked in Flint during WW II. It is possible Talmadge made it to Flint to work, but I just don't know. Talmadge was a drifter much of his life making his way around to stay with relatives for short periods of time. Vernon farmed in Dunklin County his entire life. My grandfather, Harlin farmed most of his years near Springfield, Ohio. For years, I had a hard connecting all of these people to each other, and how they were related to us. Or, for that matter why they were all in Flint when none of them were from the area. It just seemed like we had concourses of distant relatives in the area. It was years later, while doing family history that I could finally connected how I was related to all of them.
4 Comments
jeremiah wilson
3/3/2015 03:33:44 am
Many many poor people from the bootheel of missouri migrated to flint during the 1920's 30's and later 40's. My grandparents were from Hornersville. One of my best friends family is.from Paragould. And in elementary school i had several classmates who were not blood related say thier families all came from the Kennet Missouri area. I still to this day run into people in flint an once i get to talking to them find out that our grandparents and kin folk all came from somewhere in the bootheel. I know the area fairly well. I used to go down there as a child at least twice a year usually on holidays with my mom, aunts, and cousins. I used to get so excited on the trip down there. Iam all grown up now. My grandparents are gone but i still have aunts and uncles down there that never left. I miss it. My grandparents had the biggest house in town. Such good times.
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Kim
7/11/2016 01:33:01 pm
Thank you so much for this article. My great grandpa's siblings moved to Flint from Stoddard & Dunklin counties too. I was googling today trying to find information on exactly why they all moved there, even though I assumed it was probably to find work. I had never heard about the Little Missouri area, but it makes sense. My great aunt married in Stoddard county, moved to Flint and when her first husband died, she married a man whose wife had died too...they were also from the bootheel. I thought it was odd, but totally relate to what you said about everyone having relatives from Southeast Missouri. Thanks!
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Heather Baker
8/16/2017 11:44:54 am
My Great Grandfather is Omer Adams, married to Corrinne Haislip. Their daughter, Vada, is my Grandmother. Her daughter, Patricia, is my mom. I had no idea we were privy to so much Adams ancestry. I came across the Adams Ancestry book recently, and today I Google the author'a name, Mildred Kinsey Adams. What a small world. Do the Adams family have reunions? I would like to have an opportunity to meet this lesser known side of the family. I do know, my Great Grandma and Great Grampa were hard working loving people. They made the world a better place. I imagine that holds true for the rest of the family tree. Thank you for devotion your time and energy to our Adams ancestry.
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Fiona Fitzgerald
12/13/2018 04:55:31 pm
Both my grandparents were originally from Dunklin County, Mo(Cardwell), which is the next town over from Paragould, Arkansas. My grandmother’s family moved to Flint in the earlier 1930’s, they lived on Parkwood. My great grandfather and many of his kin folk worked in the auto industry as well as owning a tavern in Flint. I have never been to Flint, but I am very sad to think what has become of Flint and Michigan as a whole. Greed destroyed American manufacturing,and took many people’s livelihoods with it.
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