Welcome. You’ve made it to my blog.
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Here you’ll find my musings on things I enjoy including history and genealogy. Some of these posts are fresh. Others have been dusted off, sharpened up, fact checked, copy edited and given a second life. Of course, if you have more information about any of those mentioned in these posts, or especially photos, email me at [email protected].
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Holly Grove Stew
This weekend, Michelle and I attended a “stew” at Holly Grove Baptist Church in Haywood County, Tennessee. When I was a kid, both sets of my grandparents seemed to keep an endless supply of stew in jars. They brought it out anytime the family gathered to eat. This particular kind of stew tastes unlike anything…
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Centerville School Photo
Photo: Children at Centerville School in Haywood County, Tennessee, around 1918 In a recent post, I mentioned that I hoped to find a better copy of a photo showing students at Centerville School. A distant cousin I had never met saw the post and called with good news. Joan Cobb—pronounced Jo Ann—who lives in Bells,…
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William Conner Watridge
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…
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Alfred Bunn Joyner and Family
Photo: Alfred Bunn Joyner and Family, Haywood County, Tennessee, mid-1890s I love finding a photo of a whole group of my ancestors in front of their house. My aunt, Joline Joyner Williams, originally shared this one with me. Of course, I enjoy seeing what they looked like, but a photo like this one also provides…
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America Firsthand
I just returned from a family camping trip on the Spring River in Hardy, Arkansas. I declared the outing a “no-electronics trip” with no phones, Kindles or iPads. Of course, books were encouraged. Being outdoors on the bank of a river turned out to be the perfect place to read “America Firsthand, Volume One: Readings…
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Home Sweet Home
Photograph that appeared in the Brownsville States Graphic newspaper in an article about my grandmother’s updated kitchen. Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ house in Haywood County, Tennessee. Lloyd “Bo” Williams and Elizabeth Castellaw Williams, whom we called Daddy Bo and Granny, both grew up near the house on Poplar…
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1934 Scrapbook
The casts of the Nickelodeon TV shows “iCarly” and “Victorious” visited my workplace, Graceland, today, and I found it fascinating to watch the kids reactions to celebrities. No doubt many of the photos they took will end up being posted in the current online version of a scrapbook. Cast members from Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” and “Victorious,”…
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Happy Mothers Day
Since it’s Mother’s Day, I thought I would share three stories my mother, Shirley Lovelace Williams, has told me over the years. One of my mom’s earliest memories comes from when she was about eight years old. She had been looking forward to traveling with her family from Brownsville, Tennessee, to Memphis to visit their…
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John Yelverton and Elizabeth Blount Yelverton
Photo: My second great-grandparents Charlie B. Lovelace and Nancy Jane Yelverton Lovelace My Yelverton family line offers a fascinating look at colonial North Carolina. That branch, as I currently understand it, runs from John Yelverton Sr. (ca. 1685-1750) the father of John Yelverton Jr. (by 1716-1795); the father of Hardy Yelverton (ca. 1755-1828); the father…
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The Marbury Line to Prince William
Photo: Back row: my maternal grandfather, Guy Lovelace and my grandmother’s cousin, Hardy B. Marbury, Middle row: my maternal grandmother, Virginia Brantley Lovelace holding my Uncle Bobby Lovelace; My grandmother’s sister, Cordelia Brantley; My grandmother’s maternal grandmother, Lena Booth Marbury; my grandmother’s mother, Allie Marbury Brantley; and her father, Willie BrantleyFront row: my grandmother’s sister,…
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