Oral history with Dorothea Allsup

              Oral history with Dorothea Allsup
F341.5 . M57 vol. 743, pt. 1
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Biography
Dorothea Allsup was born on February 4, 1916 to Joseph Arthur Shaul and Anna Christina Nelson. She is the oldest of three Shaul children. Her family resided in Banner County, Nebraska, but they moved to Epes, Alabama, when she was four, and Macon, Mississippi, when she was seventeen. The move is attributed to the fact that Allsup's mother needed to move to a lower altitude and warmer climate than Nebraska offered. The move is also attributed to the fact that her father's horse trading with the assistance of his associate rancher, Ballmy Johnson, did well in the South. While in Alabama, her father and Mr. Johnson were, according to her, " probably the only two people in Mississippi or Alabama that had on a cowboy hat and boots." Her father was known for his kindness and he helped people in both states move from riding mules to horses, and taught them how start cattle grazing on their lands.
Mrs. Allsup attended elementary school in Epes, and high school in Macon. At that time, all of Macon's schools had a tuition requirement, but that did not damper Mrs. Allsup's spirits. She rode to school with Anna Lee Cotton since her school did not have a bus, and seemed to enjoy school. She became very popular in school and during a two- week house party with out of town guests, she met her future husband, Brice Allsup. After she met Brice she never dated anyone else. While Brice worked for the Borden Plant and the Grade A Dairies, she cooked and cared for his parents in their home. She and Brice had four children: Victor Brice, Dwayne Arthur, Donald Edward, and Sybil Ann Byrd. The couple and their children later moved into their own home in November of 1934. Their home consisted of over 210 acres of land, which they rented out to tenants. During this time, Mrs. Allsup did bookkeeping pertaining to their rental property. She even delivered a baby of one the tenant farmer's wives as a substitute for an absent midwife. The baby was named after her.
In later years, Mrs. Allsup received her broker's license and worked for her father at J. A. Shaul Real Estate. She assisted both her husband and father in selling the Zeliger Packing Company land. This land consisted of 21,529 acres in four counties; two counties in Alabama and two counties in Mississippi. This major real estate transaction places her as a pioneer in selling real estate as a woman realtor during the time she practiced in the South. Mrs. Allsup continues to reside in Macon
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