Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Borders of Willis & Moffett


Borders of Willis & Moffett

In all probably, Joel Ninde’s parents took in boarders for extra income. Mobile had been a very wealthy city, but with so many people poverty-stricken after the Civil War, the city itself had filed for bankruptcy in 1878. The 1880 census transcription lists Willis and Moffitt’s family, Kate, Lillie and Joel, residing at 61 Lewis Street in a six-bedroom house. Listed in the household were five boarders, one of which was Willis’s unmarried sister-in-law Fannie Peacock. Also listed on the census are Kate’s husband Henry Woodhull and a domestic servant. The census information also shows that Joel Roberts’ name was handwritten on the census correctly but was somehow transcribed incorrectly as Luella on the published census document. During the latter part of their lives together, Mr. and Mrs. Willis Roberts lived in the luxurious St. Andrew Hotel where Willis also worked from 1911 to 1916. Perhaps the couple chose hotel life for convenience as hotel staff provided the role of servants in the post slavery era.

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