| Doris Virginia Warren b. 25 Jun 1924 Moffat, Bibb, Alabama, United States m. 15 Oct 1940 Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama, United States Wilburn Glenwood Vincent d. 23 Feb 2001 of emphysema caused from smoking cigarettes. (She always wished she could help prevent others from smoking) 3 Children: Rick, Larry, Ron 14 Grandchildren, 40+ great-grandchildren (as of 2013) Education: 9th grade Career: homemaker Doris was born into poverty. She was 6 years old when the Great Depression began. Her father, 4th of 5 children, was born to a sharecropper. He abandoned his family during the middle of the depression resulting in a divorce from his wife a few years later. Doris's mother Oney raised her two daughters as a single parent during times of much hardship. Oney, who was 6th of 10 children, was forced to move back into the home of her father, also a sharecropper. Several families, children of Doris's grandfather who had fallen on hard times, were also living in the small home owned by the landowner for whom Doris's grandfather sharecropped. All Doris received for Christmas one year was an apple, an orange, and a little doll carved from an apple crate by her grandfather. A photo of the little wooden doll can be seen by clicking HERE. Even still, Doris remembered a happy childhood and always had a pleasant disposition. She loved her children and she loved her relatives. She instilled a love of her relatives in her son Ron who spent some 40 years researching them to find out more of their origins. After Doris and Hap's marriage in 1940 they lived with Hap's sister Evelyn and her husband John Farris. Two of Hap's brothers also moved into the small rented home with them after they got jobs at U.S. Steel in Fairfield along with Hap. Doris remembered cooking meals for the men during these times. Near the birth of her first child, Doris and Hap moved to another rental. After more moves, Hap was called into military service even though he worked in an exempt job at the time, the result of initiating a wildcat strike for better working conditions. A second child soon followed. After Hap's military commitment was over, he bought 2 acres of land and two war surplus hospital tents. Hap and his brother-in-law John built a floor and erected the two tents atop it, later adding a roof. Doris had all 3 of her children by this time. The two families lived in this tent until Hap and John could build Doris her first and only home. A photo of the tent can be seen HERE. A 1951 photo of the home can be seen HERE. Doris was tired of living with others and moved her furnture into the new home while Hap was at work one day. Hap's brother, Sam who had built Hap's kitchen cabinets, took the 2 hospital tents for his own dwelling near his parents' home in Calera. John and Evelyn Vincent Farris built their home around the spot where the tent had been erected next door to Hap and Doris where they lived until they adopted their daughter, Cassie. -Ron.V Photos of Doris Warren Vincent: Warren-Doris_1937.JPG Warren-Doris_1940_home.jpg Warren-Doris_1942.jpg Vincent-Hap_Doris_&_Rick_1942-06-18.jpg Warren-Doris_1947.jpg 1953 Photo of Doris's 3 children and some of their cousins Warren-Doris_1970_with_1st_grandchild.JPG Warren-Doris_1984_&_Hap_Vincent.jpg Documents of Doris Warren Vincent: Warren_Doris_2001_death_cert Autobiography of Doris Warren Vincent (small PDF file, only .6MB). A copy is also available from FamilySearch.org's Family Tree (CLICK HERE). Other Links: Ron researched old family documents and discovered where his parents lived on various dates. Click Here for Ron's blog post of this research adventure. |