If you’re like me and enjoy genealogy research, you know how exciting it is to receive an envelope in the mail from a relative filled with photographs, obituaries and other family information.
I got to open just such an envelope this week. It came from Carolyn, a family friend who is also from Haywood County and someone with whom I share several common ancestors.
The items Carolyn found and sent to me had belonged to her mother, and much of the material relates to members of the Watridge family.
This is an especially interesting family line for me because both of my paternal grandmother and grandfather descend from William (1798-1864) and Mildred “Milly” Thompson Watridge (1799-1895).
William and Milly Watridge had a son named James. James was the father of Martha Jane Watridge Williams (1851-1888), who was the mother of Will Williams (1888-1962), who was the father of Lloyd “Bo” Williams (1910-2008), who was the father of Bob Williams (b. 1940), who was the father of me.
William and Milly Watridge also had another son named Daniel Watridge Williams (1835-1880). Daniel was the father of Zula Zera Watridge Castellaw (1875-1940), who was the mother of Elizabeth Castellaw Williams (1915-1998), who was the mother of Bob Williams (b. 1940), who was the father of me.
Carolyn’s envelope contained several fascinating items that will help me add detail to the Watridge line and other branches of my family tree. It also helped fill in some missing dates.
Here are a few of the items that were in the envelope:
William Conner Watridge (1903-1979)
This is William Conner Watridge. Stamped on the back of this photograph is the name of the photographer:
W.W. White
Drawer 1112
Birmingham, Ala.
Conner’s parents were Champ and Maggie Watridge. His siblings were Finis, Joe, C.C., Camilla and Aurelia. My parents purchased Champs’s home when my father was a young boy in the 1950s and live there the rest of their lives.
William Conner, pictured above, was likely present when his father lost his leg in a logging accident.
Champ had a peg leg. He lost one leg when he and his boys were cutting wood or logs, and a tree kicked back on him and pinned his leg to the ground. There was no one there but his boys. He instructed them how to free him and all the time cautioning them not to panic. They lay a crosscut saw across the tree trunk and proceeded to saw off a section of the tree trunk … Finally, the boys freed their dad and got him to a doctor. The leg had to be amputated because it was so badly mangled.1
Conner died June 4, 1979, at age 76. He is buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in the Hillville community of Haywood County.
Many of the visitations and funerals I have attended in Haywood County have taken place, like Conner’s, at Brownsville Funeral Home. The image above shows the style of commemorative sheet the funeral home distributed.
These sheets can be extremely helpful for genealogy research. They often help connect family lines, confirm dates and identify churches, cemeteries, ministers and pallbearers. They also provide small details that can make a family story feel more complete.
In addition to Conner’s commemorative sheet, Carolyn’s envelope also included sheets for:
Betty Brantley Sullivan
Sister of my grandmother, Virginia Brantley Lovelace
Buried at Zion Baptist Church Cemetery, Haywood County, Tennessee
John T. Carlton Sr.
Husband of my great-aunt Marie Lovelace Carlton
Buried at Lebanon Cemetery, Haywood County, Tennessee
Finis Rye Watridge
Son of Champ Watridge
Buried at Holly Grove Cemetery, Haywood County, Tennessee
Irby Watridge
Brother of Maggie Watridge, who was Champ Watridge’s wife
Buried in Harmony Cemetery, Haywood County, Tennessee
Mrs. Alva Bruce Watridge
Wife of Irby Watridge
Buried in Harmony Cemetery, Haywood County, Tennessee
- Joe H. Cobb, Nicholas Cobb: Descendants, Neighbors, and Relatives, 1613–1983 (Nashville, Tenn.: M.L.W. Pub. Co., 1984), [page number].cording to Joe H. Cobb’s Nicholas Cobb Descendants, Neighbors and Relatives 1613-1983. ↩︎
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