Category: American History
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Following the Footsteps of the Lovelace Family
I love photos of my ancestors. However, the farther back I trace each line, the less likely I am to find portraits, letters or newspaper accounts. Instead, much of their story survives in land records, leases, surveys, deeds, quit-rent accounts and wills. In researching the Lovelace line and their beginnings in colonial Maryland, those documents…
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Lewis Grave Yard with Some Mention of Early Settlers Along Fifth Creek, Iredell Co., N.C.
My interest in Lewis Graveyard is personal. Several of my direct ancestors are buried there, including my fourth great-grandparents Thomas Lovelace (1772-1829) and Amelia “Millie” Dyson Lovelace (1761-1828), whose names appear near the end of Mary Elinor Lazenby’s pamphlet. Thomas and Amelia’s son, Thomas A. Lovelace (1812-1876), eventually left Iredell County and settled in Haywood…
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George Williams of Bertie County and the Battle of Stono Ferry
Photo: A British map of Stono Ferry referencing the 1779 battle. Source: South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust / As I blogged a few days ago, I have been trying to learn more about a George Williams who served in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. If further research prooves the connection, he would…
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Townmania: Marcus Winchester and the Making of Memphis
After three years of work, countless early mornings and late nights in front of my laptop and many weekends at numerous libraries, my biography of Marcus Winchester will soon be available on Amazon and in bookstores. Memphis and Shelby County Room at the Mempis Public Library For a man who played such an important role…
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Johnny Lee Williams: From Omaha Beach to the Bakersfield Sound to France’s Legion of Honor
Photo: Johnny Lee Williams, right / My wife, Michelle, with her grandfather, Johnny Lee Williams Michelle’s paternal grandfather, Johnny Lee Williams (1925-2006), was only 15 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940. By the time he left the Army five years later, he had crossed much of Europe with the 83rd Infantry Division,…
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Tech. Sgt. Aaron S. Castellaw: ‘Spirit, Courage and Devotion to Duty’
Photo: Aaron Samuel “Sammy” Castellaw, far left / When I was a boy, my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Castellaw Williams (1915-1998), often took me to cemeteries around Haywood County, Tennessee. As we walked among the headstones, she shared stories about our ancestors and helped me understand who they were and how they connected to me. The…
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A Chickamauga Battlefield Map With a Haywood County Connection
Photo: Lynn Shaw / I recently purchased a collection of books and several other items from an online auction of the estate of Lynn Jackson Shaw (1940-2019). Shaw served for many years as the Haywood County historian and helped establish the Haywood County Museum in Brownsville. Years ago, he gave me a personal tour of…
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Sharing Old Family Photos Found in an Envelope
Photo: Bertha and Charles Miller, Contra Costa County, California / Michelle’s sister recently shared an envelope of photos she found among the belongings of their late mother, Barbara Trefren Mayer (1948-2018). Barbara probably received the photos from her own mother, Gladys Serilda Williams Trefren (1917-2002), a passionate family researcher and amateur genealogist. In case you…
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Cotton-Picking Robots
The last time I was in Haywood County, I stopped to say hello to my friends at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center and spent some time in its cotton exhibit. The exhibit uses historic photographs, antique equipment, an old roller gin, baskets, sacks and scales to explain how cotton was planted, cultivated, harvested and…
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William Smallwood: My Second Cousin, Seven Times Removed
Early this morning, I was researching the Lovelace branch of my family tree when I came across a limb I had not explored. It was even more fascinating to learn that the home of one of the family’s most interesting members, Revolutionary War Maj. Gen. William Smallwood (1732-1792), was less than an hour away from…
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The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878
I recently finished Jeanette Keith’s 2012 book, “Fever Season: The Story of a Terrifying Epidemic and the People Who Saved a City.” The timing was fitting: 2018 marked the 140th anniversary of the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1878. Anyone interested in Memphis, West Tennessee or Mississippi River Valley history will find Keith’s account especially…
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Mrs. Serilda Warn Tells of 94 Years of Exciting and Colorful Experiences
Serilda Warn in center in black dress with family. Her daughter Nettie Grace Warn Williams is to her right, and her son-in-law Hiram Watt Williams is to her left. I’m taking a break from blogging about my own family and the history of Haywood County to share a rare find my wife received from her…
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Will the Real John Dawson Please Stand up?
Researching the Castellaw family has always been entertaining, but one ancestor in that branch has remained elusive. And to tell you the truth, I am about to ready to let this one go. My fourth great-grandfather, John Dawson Castellaw (1780-1859), left Bertie County, North Carolina, for Haywood County, Tennessee, in the early 1830s. Family tradition…
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Where was the Home of Richard Nixon, the First Haywood County Settler?
I have driven along Poplar Corner Road east of Brownsville many more times than I can count. Until I began researching the earliest history of Haywood County, I never paid much attention to the narrow stream passing beneath the road near the house of my late grandparents Guy and Virginia Lovelace. View of Nixon Creek…
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From a Haywood County Stew Pot to Grocery Shelves Across America
Photo: Jars with stew from Kirk Baptist Church in Piperton, Tennessee / I have always wondered why someone in Haywood County, Tennessee, did not package and distribute the stew local cooks prepare in enormous black pots. As it turns out, someone did, sort of. My wife and I attended a stew at Holly Grove Baptist…
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Captain James Blount and Culpeper’s Rebellion
My 10th great-grandfather, Capt. James Blount (c. 1620-1686), appears in the early records of Virginia and the Albemarle region of Carolina as a planter, landowner, council member, legislator and justice. You can also add political rebel to his resume. He helped overthrow a colonial government, served in the government that replaced it and later returned…
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An Odd Book Launch
I just returned from Gallipolis, Ohio, where I had the privilege of launching “An Odd Book: How the First Modern Pop Culture Reporter Conquered New York” in the hometown of O. O. McIntyre. After spending several years researching Odd and Maybelle McIntyre, it was meaningful to finally share their story with the people who know…
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Living in the Home of a Comic Book Hero
I like to think about the people who occupied a place before I did. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that we aren’t the first ones here. The National Hotel I work at the Newseum, the museum of the news and the First Amendment, which stands at Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street NW in Washington…
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Launching “An Odd Book”: The Remarkable Story of O. O. McIntyre
I haven’t blogged much as usual this year because nearly all my spare time has gone into finishing up my biography of Oscar Odd McIntyre (1884-1938), a small-town newspaperman who became one of the most widely read and highly paid writers of his generation. “An Odd Book: How the First Modern Pop Culture Reporter Conquered…
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The Brownsville Train Depot: Gone, but not Forgotten
A photograph of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad depot in Brownsville, Tennessee, posted by David Duke in the Facebook group “You Grew Up in Brownsville, Tennessee, If …” generated dozens of comments of memories of the old station and piqued my curiosity about this piece of Haywood County history. Photo credit: David Duke The comments…
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1865: A Year in the Life of the South
I have long been fascinated by the years immediately following the Civil War and how they affected the lives of my West Tennessee ancestors. In just a few days, April 9, 2015 will mark 150 years since Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant…
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Author Ridley Wills and a Haywood County Hoax
Photo: Enhanced Ridley Wills 1923 Vanderbilt University senior photo / While researching my ancestors, I am often more curious about what their lives were actually like than I am about names and dates. I want to know what was happening around them, what they worried about, where they gathered and how the wider world affected…
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From Brownsville to Timbuktu: The Remarkable Life of Richard Halliburton
My new biography of Richard Hallibuton is now out. Back in 2012, I shared a blog post here about Richard Halliburton who was born in Brownsville, Tennessee. An editor from The History Press liked the post and asked me if I had ever considered writing a book about Halliburton. Until that moment, I had not.…
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Celebrating the Fourth of July & Our Family Connection to “The Star-Spangled Banner”
My niece and her fiance were visiting for the week, so we decided to celebrate Independence Day with a family road trip to find the grave of Dr. William Beanes (1749-1828). Beanes is not a direct ancestor, but he is connected to our family through the Marbury line. He also played a fascinating role in…
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The Bridge Company, CSA
I saw a plaque on the wall during my visit to the Haywood County History Museum, and it made me want to dive in and see if there was more about The Bridge Company. C.S.A. to discover. There is little research on the company as it was an independent group of older, established Haywood County…
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The Visiting Card Craze
Young man in a Carte de Vista photograph taken by William Bell of Jedburgh, Scotland / Some might think selfies, photos people take of themselves and share online, were one of the first ways people used photography for self-branding. But I think photography had been used for that purpose much earlier. I recently purchased a…
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My great-aunt Jo Williams, Walter Mondale, James K. Polk and Dancyville, Tennessee
Photo: My father and me in the Genealogy Room at the Brownsville library / The last time I was in Haywood County, Tennessee, my father and I stopped by the Genealogy Room at the Elma Ross Public Library. I was glad he was with me because he noticed something I likely would have missed. My…
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Penelope Johnston Dawson’s letters from Eden House
During last month’s research trip to North Carolina, I hoped a search through letters written by Penelope Johnston Dawson (c. 1740-1797) of Eden House would result in proof of a connection between her and my fifth great-grandmother, Margaret Dawson Castellaw (c. 1755-after 1813). I have seen claims that John Castellaw (c. 1723-1813), my 5th great-grandfather…
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50th Birthday Genealogy Road Trip
My 50th birthday last week was a great excuse to visit a few places I’ve read about for years but had never seen in person. I gathered content I’ll be posting on my blog for months, but for now I wanted to share a quick overview and some photos. Wilson Library at the University of…
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Finding Castellaws and Cobbs at the National Archives
Since moving to Washington, D.C., a research trip to the National Archives has been near the top of my list. A recent Saturday morning with nothing planned gave me the chance to check it out. I had time that day for only a few quick searches in the Civil War database, but in a matter…
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Checking Out Robert E. Lee’s View of Washington, D.C.
Earlier this year, I picked up a copy of “Robert E. Lee: A Life” by humorist Roy Blount Jr. (1941-present). It looks like a great book, but so far I have only had time for a quick scan. Reading it has moved to the top of my to-do list, especially now. Yesterday, my family and…
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Visiting Old Salem Cemetery and Battlefield in Jackson
A few months ago, I ran across a website about Old Salem Cemetery and Battlefield in Jackson, Tennessee. So, when my family and I were headed east on Interstate 40, we stopped to check it out. According to the historical signage at the site, the land was originally associated with the Woolfork family and was…
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Louisiana’s Civil War Museum and the Robert E. Lee Monument
We were just in New Orleans and had a few hours before our train left for Memphis, so my wife and I checked out Louisiana’s Civil War Museum and the Robert E. Lee Monument. Having just visited Shiloh a week earlier, we are now one step away from throwing on period clothes and reenacting. Robert…
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Shiloh National Military Park
Last Sunday, my family and I took a slight detour on our way home to Memphis from Middle Tennessee and visited Shiloh National Military Park. I already knew the park had several special events planned because the 150th anniversary of the battle fell later that week. I did not, however, plan well enough to get…
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Early Settlers Richard and Temperance Cocke
For me, genealogy research feels a little like walking through an enormous old house with endless hallways and rooms. Some doors open into empty rooms. Others contain a few scattered clues, just enough to make you keep looking. Then, every once in a while, you stumble into a room previous generations of researchers have already…
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James Shield
As I am researching my family line, sometimes I spiral back and find myself looking for information about a family with a very distant connection. The branch of James Shield (about 1670-July 1727) sits way up and far to the side on my family tree, but it runs through a Revolutionary War story, a president…