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Brenden A. Eans
Professor Lynn Raymond
UWRT 1102
3 February 2015
A Not-So-Historic Look Back on My Family
The earliest remembered beginnings of my family lie with the oldest person I know in my family,
my Great Grandmother Mary Louise Manning (her maiden name is Taylor), but we call her G-Granny.
Since she is well over seventy years old, and was born in a part of North Carolina that even to this day is
considered the country, her memories are littered with sad stories of cruel racism and appalling bigotry.
So, for the sake of this paper, I will not go into such depressing details.
I have always enjoyed visiting my G-Granny on the rare occasions we were able to make the 2.5
hour journey to her home in Pine Level, NC. For a time, she had a dog named Bandit that would hide
under her bed every time my sister, cousins, and I were there. We still however loved Bandit with all our
little hearts, and were traumatized when we were told he was hit by a truck and never recovered from the
injury. G-Granny would tell us stories when we were young and I always enjoyed them and questioned
further into every one. But as I grew older, I went from stories about aliens (my G-Granny is a firm
believer in the paranormal), to asking questions about our family history.
Before my grandmother Gwendolyn Taylor-Sapp and her now ex-husband Bernard Sapp came
along, my family was plagued with fathers that would flee the scene and leave their children. So the
majority of the family that I actually know and care about are women, with very few men, very few. With
that said, my G-Granny didnt know who her father was until she was well into her womanhood, and her
mother abandoned her to the care of a woman known to me as Ma Mary (pronounced Maw Mary), who
served as her surrogate mother. My G-Grannys mother was in the equivalent of a brothel, and when my
Ma Mary would go by the building and see her outside eating candy, she suspected that she was of some
kin to her. So once she found that her husband and son were frequent fliers, she went by one day and just

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took her. So my Ma Mary was either the stepmother or the Grandmother of my G-Granny, assumed to be
her Grandmother years later, making her my Great Great Great Grandmother.
From what Ive heard, my Ma Mary was a no B.S type person who would as soon pull out a
shotgun at the sign of trouble as you would your cell phone. She wasnt an old hag either, thats just what
she had to do to protect her and her own in those times. She was also a wise woman who would only
interfere/provide input if there was no other way things were going to change. Ma Mary died about five
years before I was born, either in 1989 or 1991. She was in her early to mid-nineties, and was born in
1899 or 1898. I believe her mother was a full blooded Blackfoot Indian (although geographically, this
seems unlikely, but not an impossibility).
My Great Grandmother had four children who were all daughters. Going from youngest to oldest,
there is my Aunt Shell, Aunt Cynthia, Aunt Val (Valerie), and my Grandmother Gwendolyn. All are
currently living except my Aunt Shell who died when I was around eight years old. I dont believe any of
them completed college, although my Aunt Val attended NC State for several semesters. For the sake of
not writing this paper for the rest of my life, this is as far as I will delve into the lives of my Aunts.
My Grandmother Gwendolyn Taylor Sapp was born on 27 September 1951, and an interesting
thing is on her birth certificate, my G-Granny is listed as her father (which is fitting, since he wasnt
around very much). She lived in Johnston County for the majority of her life, and this is where she met
my Mothers father, Bernard Sapp. When she met him, she says, she was young and stupid, and he
seemed like a ball of excitement. But then he was shipped off to Vietnam to participate in the war, and my
Grandmother along with my newborn Mother were left to live on a military base for some time. We think
he may have been affected by the agent orange they were using to destroy Vietnamese crops during the
war, and maybe transmitted some of those problems to my Mother and her sister. Nowadays though, he is
one of those old guys that want you to do what he said, how he said it, and in the exact time frame
specified. But Im just glad he stuck around to be somewhat of a father to my mother and her sister. My
Grandmother is like most people and has made some mistakes in her life, but these days she spends her

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time as a preacher/missionary who, through her own church, is trying to help other people avoid/come
back from those mistakes.
My grandmother has two daughters, my Mother Chanel Monique Sapp-Eans, and my Aunt Devon
Simone Jones. My Aunt Devon (my sister and I have called her Deedee for as long as I can remember),
was born on 8 April 1978, seven years after my Mother who was born 14 December 1971. My Aunt is a
very...outgoing individual who has two sons, Dwight (4 April 1996) and Quinton (31 August 2002). For
the first couple of years, Dwights dad stuck around until he got a little too physical and his infidelity was
brought to the light. Although Dwights birthday is only 4 days before his mothers, it seems like his
brother Quinton is more like their mother. Quinton is the kid that doesnt let anyone get too old to play
with him.
My Mother Chanel (Momma) also has two children, my Sister Breyana Simone Eans (7
September 1997), and myself Brenden Asant Eans (23 December 1995). Our father also stuck around for
the first couple of years until my Mother grew tired of his physical and verbal abuse of herself, my sister,
and I (This is the reason I havent named the fathers, because they may have changed who they were, and
Im not the type of person to divulge information that might be best left buried in the past). Due to
financial issues, we all live together now, but Im okay with that. It has just made my life that much more
interesting every time I go home. And since everybody is short, height is a competition in my house. My
Momma and Deedee are 51 and 54 respectively, so me being 60 on a good day is a blessing (our
fathers were also short, 510ish). In my mind, they are polar opposites of one another. My Momma being
the more reserved individual wholl let things build up, while Deedee will say something almost
immediately when something has bothered her. Youd think theyd maybe not get along so well, but they
couldnt be closer. They just got matching tattoos a couple weeks ago. I guess they both do the things the
other may be afraid to do for each other, and it seems like thats how sisters are supposed to be. My sister
(now the shortest of us all since Quinton has now surpassed her) may be 411 and is a very loud person
in private, but very quiet in public the majority of the time like myself. She is currently a senior in high
school, and is choosing which University shell be attending next semester. Dwight will also be attending

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Livingstone College next semester after transferring. Also, speaking of Quinton, his father was rather on
the tall side. So we expect that by the time hes in high school, hell be taller than everyone. He has
already made threats to beat me up whenever this happens and I believe wholeheartedly that he will at
least try.
Well, that is my little excerpt on my family. I hope you enjoyed it and it enlightened you on to
what and who have made me into who I am.