IT TAKES TWO

The Mossell family

I love classical music. I like all music and have played and participated in practically every form. One of the popular songs of ‘50s or ‘60s is “It Takes Two.” The song says “It takes two, baby.” Earlier I wrote of visiting my mother’s cousins in Maryland. I was only 4 or 5 years at that time, and I said the visit made me realize that a family has two sides. Mother’s side and dad’s side.

At age five, when we were living in Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati, I heard my parents talking about my mother’s cousin who had just received her PH.D at the University of Pennsylvania. I understood that it was good news and it had to do with school.

Actually, this was the beginning of cousin Sadie’s illustrious career. Thanks to the 21st century, go to “Google”, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander – Philadelphia lawyer. Sadie’s father was Aaron Mossell, Jr., my mother’s uncle.

There were many interesting people on both sides of my family as well as Jeanne’s.

As the song says, “It takes two” to make a family and most importantly, we must focus on the present to make today’s family work. I will refer to “Google” references for my family.

Alexander, Sadie Tanner Mossell – lawyer
Alexander, Raymond Pace – lawyer
Lee, Bishop Benjamin Franklin. – Wilberforce
Lee, Dr. Benjamin Franklin – Wilberforce
Lee, Benjamin Franklin, Jr.– social worker
Lee, Effie Lee Newsom – writer
Lee, Sara O. – teacher, Wilberforce
Lee, Adilia – teacher, Wilberforce
Mossell, Aaron – father
Mossell, Aaron – lawyer, son, left country to Wales
Mossell, Dr. Charles W. – minister, writer, Haiti
Mossell, Mary E. Forrester– wife of C. W., mother’s mother
Minter, Rae Pace Alexander – college professor
Tanner, Henry O. – famous artist, France
Tanner, Bishop of A.M.E. church – father
Robinson, Dr. James H. - PhD, sociologist, Yale graduate, dean
Robinson, James H. Jr. – Detroit, Michigan
Thomas, Chaplin – U.S. army, husband of Adilia Lee
Ransome, Bishop of A.M.E. church
Robeson, Paul – famous singer, actor, activist
Steward, Theophilus Gould – A.M.E. minister, activist, Gouldtown, New Jersey
Lee, Dr. Forrester Ashe, Jr. – cardiologist, dean, Yale University
Lewis, Marian Mossell Lee – writer