James "Jim" Tait Mother Hettie Tait (Jim Tait’s Mother)
Hettie Tait is the mother of James (Jim) Tait and the grandmother of Hettie Irene (Tait) Watson. Little is known about Hettie Tait except she is the daughter of John Tait and Racheal Sinkfield Tait and she had a son (James "Jim" Tait) by a white man they knew as John Dukes. Her parents John and Rachel married in 1850 they were 20 years.Oral history reports that "Old Man Dukes" had two boys and one of they is the father James "Jim" Tait.

Hettie Tait was born in 1864 in Burnt Corn, Alabama, her father John Tait was 34 and her mother Rachel was 28 years of age. Hettie had four daughters: Alberta, Shepard, Lude, Renitha and four sons: Frank, Osborne, Sandy, and Prince from a previous relationship. She then married Jack McCreary on October 5. 1883, in Conecuh County, Alabama. However, her first child, James "Jim" Tait was by a white man named John Dukes.

After James was born, Hettie married a black man by the name of Jack McCreary. It is reported that he was very mean to her and,she died an early death. They had several children together. Hettie had eight siblings: Prince (1861-), Hettie (1864), Richey N.(1865), James A. (1866) Sandy(1867-), Sarah (1870) Lafayette (1873) Frank (1876), Osborne, Frank, Renita (1879), Euretha (1879). Her father John died on April 8, 1903 when he was 73 years old.

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