Category: Uncategorized
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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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Nancy Ross Joyner and Her Family’s Journey to West Tennessee
While updating the Joyner family page on my website, I discovered that my third-great-grandmother, Nancy Ross Joyner (1825-1906), had a much more interesting family history than I realized. Nancy was born April 22, 1825 (according to her headstone) and died June 25, 1906, in Madison County, Tennessee. Apparently, her family remained confused about her actual…
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The Cobb Family Cemetery
Photo: My daughter Liv with her third great-grandparents Mary Etta Cobb (1871-1935) and Henry Preston Brantley (1872-1956) in the Cobb Family Cemetery in Haywood County / The Cobb Family Cemetery in Haywood County, Tennessee, has always been one of my favorite burial grounds, partly because it sits in such an unexpected place. A visit to…
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A Visit to the Brantley Family Cemetery
While back in Tennessee a few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit several of my favorite places in Haywood County. One of my stops was the Brantley Family Cemetery that sits way out in a cotton field. The last time I was there a few years ago, I had my wife and daughters…
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More About Rev. George Williams of Madison and Haywood Counties
I received an email from my cousin Betsy, who had received an email from Deb Kueter, a genealogy researcher studying her Montgomery family line. Deb had located more records in FamilySearch.com concerning the daughter of my ancestor, the Rev. George Williams (c. 1797-1852). Mariah Williams Montgomery (unknown-before 1848) married Hugh A. Montgomery (1810-1868) on Dec.…
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Knights of the Forked Deer
I recently visited Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia, where, on April 9, 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885). Fresh in my mind during the visit was an old article that Judge Roland Reid of Brownsville, Tennessee, had…
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John A. Hash and Bible Pathway Ministries
Photo: Far right, Iva Griffith McElroy (1900-1973) and son Dr. John A. Hash (1921-2012) / A few days ago, I wrote about the paternal family of my wife, Michelle. The brother of her paternal grandmother, Rose Lethie Hash Williams (1923-1989), was John A. Hash. Hash was a minister who established a Bible-study ministry, Bible Pathway…
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The Life of Iva Griffith McElroy
I usually blog about the adventures I encounter while researching my own genealogy, but for a long time, I have wanted to explore the ancestry of my wife. My entire family migrated west and stopped in Tennesee. Hers kept going. A few years ago, Michelle’s father, Dave, gave her a box that included items that…
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Bernie W. Cobb’s History of Zion Baptist Church and Other Research
When ancestry research has me tied in knots, I often return to a few documents that include some of the basics for my Haywood County ancestry. Three of those are Bernie W. Bobb’s “History of Zion Baptist Church,” “Tribute to the Veterans of Zion Baptist Church” and “The History of Holly Grove Baptist Church.” I…
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Fowler Photos
Photo: Fowler siblings, back row from left, Daisy Fowler Lovelace (1893-1976), Mollie F. Fowler (1876-1931) and Ruby Fowler Lovelace (1887-1952), front row: Oliver Wilson Fowler (1875-1951). Photo credit: Jenny West / One of my favorite parts of genealogy research is the process of gathering, identifying and archiving family photos of my ancestors. I am fortunate…
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Sister C. A. Williams Is Gone
Photo: D. G. Beers Co. of Philadelphia 1877 map of Haywood County, Tennessee showing the location of Catherine A. Williams homeSource / “Sister C. A. Williams is Gone.” That was the first sentence of my third great-grandmother’s obituary, written by John Charles Warren Cobb (1830-1914) and W.T. Morris (1842-1924) as it appeared in the Zion…
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A Civil War Widow’s Long Road From Haywood County to Tomato, Arkansas
For a long time, I have been curious about Daniel E. Brantley (1833-1864), the brother of my third great-grandfather, Henry Day Brantley (1845-1918). Many members of their family fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, but I found Daniel listed as a Union soldier. That discovery raised an obvious question. Why would a…
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Red Wallet Photo Gallery
During the holidays, I was looking through boxes of old photos at my parents’ house when I came across an old red wallet crammed full of small Polaroids taken from the mid- to late 1960s. They feature me, the little boy in the photos, and my family as we lived and played more than 50…
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An Outlaw Family Bible
I was recently given the opportunity to examine a family Bible that once belonged to my fourth great-grandparents, George Washington Outlaw (1803-1861) and Luday Perry Outlaw (1800-1840). If you are researching Outlaw family genealogy and landed on this page from a Google search, I hope these names and dates help you fill in some blanks…
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Agness Booth Clardy and Early Methodism.
Photo: Agness Booth Clardy / While working on my Haywood County Booth family line, I ran across an interesting obituary that deserved a closer look. The subject was Agness Booth Clardy (1755-1847), my fifth great-aunt. Clardy is interesting because she was born when Virginia was still a British colony. She joined the Methodist church the…
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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…
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More Old Photos
Front row: Jess Williams (my father’s brother), Bobby Williams (my father), Whit Smith, Billy CastellawSecond row: Frank Reid, Bobby Castellaw, Joe Christmas, J. C. CastellawBack row: Lyle Reid / I received some great photos this week from one of my Haywood County cousins, Roland Reid. I love it when I get photos like this. It…
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Womanless Wedding
My cousin Sandra sent me this photo from The Brownsville States-Graphic. It shows my grandfather, Jesse Lloyd “Bo” Williams (1910-2008), dressed as a minister and looking a bit like Charlie Chaplin. Her grandfather, Bear Mann (1902-1966), was the bride in the wedding. The caption under the photo is: Nuptial Headliners – Playing top roles in…
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Abner and Irene Mann’s Stew Recipe
Photo: Abner “Bear” and Irene Mann / The blog post on Haywood County stew a few weeks ago generated a lot of messages and emails. One of my favorites came from my cousin Sandra, whose grandmother, Velma Irene Castellaw Mann (1904-1991), was a sister of my grandmother, Elizabeth Castellaw Williams (1915-1998). You assume the grandchildren…
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42 Annual Lovelace Family Reunion
Every third Sunday in September, the descendants of James Luther “Jim” Lovelace (1885-1968) and Ruby Fowler Lovelace (1887-1952) gather for the Lovelace Family Reunion that has been going on for more than 40 years. The reunion now takes place at the home of my great-aunt Carolyn Lovelace. She and my great-aunt Marie Lovelace, who is…
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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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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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Castellaw Family Reunion
Gathering at Holly Grove Baptist Church A Castellaw Family Reunion was held this past weekend at Holly Grove Baptist Church in Haywood County, Tennessee. It was a fun time as descendants of Thomas Jefferson Castellaw Jr. (1841–1879), and Nancy Marianna Johnson Castellaw (1844-1921) gathered with descendants of their son and daughter-in-law, Robert Edward “Bob” Castellaw…
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Looking for George Williams
I have been trying to learn more about George Williams, my fourth great-grandfather, and recently I got a little more help from Lynn, who knows a lot about the old churches of Bertie County, North Carolina. She gave me some additional clues about where George may have come from before he turned up in West…
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From Alex and Liv to Alfred the Great
The journey from Scotland to Haywood County, Tennessee The Marbury family is loaded with interesting characters and, if you are willing to hop back and forth between husbands and wives for a few generations, it appears possible to get from my daughters, Alex and Liv, all the way back to Alfred the Great. Along the…
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The Ark and The Dove
The Marbury family has kept me busy the last few weeks. There are a lot of men named Francis and Leonard, and once you get back into Maryland, they begin to multiply in a hurry. Add in old naming patterns, Revolutionary War service and genealogy sites that copy from one another, and it can be…
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Thomas A. and Quincy A. Shirley Lovelace
Photo: Thomas A. Lovelace (1812-1876) and Quincy A. Shirley Lovelace I recently met my distant cousin Joan in Bells, Tennessee, and she connected me with another family member, Diane, who also had some ancestor photos I have not seen. Among the Lovelace photographs I hope to share later, Diane had something I never expected to…