Sue Ellen and Her Great Aunt Mattie
Let me introduce you to my friend Sue Ellen Demonbreun Watts.
Sue Ellen and I became fast friends after we met in 2017. We share faith in Jesus, a love of history, and a common ancestor, Timothy Demonbreun. We are even descendants of the same son of Timothy. His name was Jean Baptiste Demonbreun. Those of you who are long time readers have read before about Timothy, who was a French longhunter, often recognized as the first person of European descent to live in what is now Nashville, Tennessee.
I live out my love of history through writing. Sue Ellen lives out hers through leadership roles in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Timothy Demonbreun Heritage Society (TDHS). I met Sue Ellen on a TDHS trip to Quebec in 2017. That’s when Ray took the photo of us above. We were in Quebec to participate in the 350th anniversary of the founding of Boucherville, Quebec, by Timothy’s great-grandfather, Pierre Boucher. When I met Sue Ellen in Canada, I had recently joined the TDHS and had not even been to my first meeting.
Sue Ellen recently stepped down as president of the society. She did an excellent job because she is a kind person and a gifted leader who is passionate about preserving Timothy’s history. Though she believed it was time to pass the role of president on to someone new, she plans to continue serving in essential ways.
On the evening when Sue Ellen became our past president, she reminisced about her great aunt Mattie DeMontbreun, the woman who first inspired her to love history. Yes, I know that I have now spelled Demonbreun two different ways. It is spelled so many ways that some of us have thought about making T-shirts with all the different spellings.
Sue Ellen’s father’s mother died during the flu epidemic of 1918. Sue Ellen’s father was only one month old. After his mother’s death, his aunts, Mattie and Linna, took in her daddy and his brother and sister and (as we say in the South) raised them. After Sue Ellen’s father and mother married, the young couple lived with Aunt Mattie and Aunt Linna. Sue Ellen was born while they were still living there, and they continued to share a home until she was four years old. Both of her great aunts showered her with love.
Aunt Linna holds Sue Ellen.
Aunt Mattie and Aunt Linna helped their great-niece develop a love of reading. After the family moved away from their home, Sue Ellen continued to visit them most weekends. During those visits, she would help them do a little housecleaning on Saturday morning. Then Aunt Mattie would take her on an outing. They would stop to buy a barbecue sandwich and an Orange Crush and then eat their lunch at the Spring Hill Cemetery. They sat on the tombstones while Aunt Mattie told Sue Ellen stories.
Mattie DeMontbruen
Aunt Mattie was a well-respected historian in Nashville. She was a Regent of the French Lick Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Sue Ellen described her as a leader, a joiner, and a contributor to many historical organizations. The U.S. Congress added the phrase, “One nation under God,” to the Pledge of Allegiance while Dwight D. Eisenhower was serving as president. Soon afterwards, Aunt Mattie invited Sue Ellen to say the new version of the pledge at a DAR meeting.
When Sue Ellen was a young child, her family enjoyed listening to the radio. Aunt Mattie was one of the first people in Nashville to purchase a television. Here she watches it with Sue Ellen, Sue Ellen’s sister Lynn, and their cousin Bob. Notice the large radio and globe at the left of the photo. Notice too that Sue Ellen’s hair is what we used to call “rolled up” to make it curly the next day. My mother used to do that to my hair every Saturday night. It must have been either a birthday time or Christmas time because of the cards taped to the door facing.
Ray and I were in Pigeon Forge the morning of the coronation of King Charles III a few weeks ago. He and I rose early in our hotel to watch the celebration on the Internet. The coronation of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, took place on June 2, 1953. Only a small percentage of American families owned televisions in 1953. Businesses selling TVs in the United States encouraged Americans to purchase one so that they could watch the coronation.
After the coronation, a film of the ceremony was flown from London to ABC, NBC, and CBS in New York so that Americans could watch it that evening. Sue Ellen watched the coronation on Aunt Mattie’s new television. She bought her niece a Bible like the one that Queen Elizabeth carried to her coronation. It continues to be a treasured keepsake.
Family closeness—that’s an even greater treasure.
Aunt Mattie passed away suddenly of a heart attack one month before Sue Ellen turned 12. She was only 59 years old. Her faith, her love for her great niece, and her love of history continue to be part of Sue Ellen 64 years after she passed away.
Enjoy every minute of the loving and passing on that you get to do today.
So we Your people and the sheep of Your pasture
Will give thanks to You forever;
To all generations we will tell of Your praise.
Psalm 79:13