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Charles Steele, Roy Jr. Simpson, Blondell Taylor, Maurice Earl Steele
Gene Smith, Mary Grace Kerr Edwwards, Betty Castellaw Ross
Marian Booth Warren, Maxine Lovelace Stewart, Evelyn Castellaw,
Mable Duffy (possibly), Jesse Thomas White and Bobby or
Billy Waddell (they were twins).

When I was back home in Tennessee for the Lovelace Family Reunion, Fay Booth McAbee brought along a couple of photos to see if anyone could identify anyone pictured. We figured out a few at the reunion but for the rest, I turned to Facebook. Several of my Facebook friends (and real world cousins) either knew some of the people in the photo or printed it and shared the photo with parents.

I’ve added the names of those who have been identified. If you know any of the others, please email me.

Maxine Lovelace and Evelyn Castellaw, who are in the photo on the right, were both my first cousin, one times removed. Maxine was born in 1926 and Evelyn in 1929. If they were 18 or so in this photo, it must have been taken around 1945.

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Allen School, 1890s

This photo came from the genealogy room at the Elma Ross Public Library in Brownsville, Tennessee. It was taken in the 1890s at the school in the Allen Community of Haywood County. Notes on the back of the photo indicate the school was located close to where Russell Kirby’s house is today.

The photo was given to the library by Lawrence Cobb who ran a grocery store located near my maternal grandparent’s house. A recent blog post included a photo of the gas pump from Mr. Lawrence’s store and a post from February 25, 2011 included a photo of Mr. Lawrence and others cleaning up the Cobb family cemetery.

I quickly recognized Mr. Lawrence’s father, Sim Cobb, in the photo in the upper left.

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Simeon Amherst Cobb

Sim was a small man who weighed only 150 pounds but his small stature didn’t keep him from fighting in company L of the Seventh Tennessee Calvary in the Civil War. He married his third wife when he was 63 and she was 32 and it caused quite a stir at the time since she was younger than two of his children. They were married 24 years and had four children together. 

Sim was a brother of my second great-grandfather, William Thomas Cobb.

Part of Sim’s diary is included in Joe Cobb’s book. From his diary, I know Sim spent a great deal of time with many of my ancestors including William Cobb, Tommie Rawls, J.C.W. Cobb, Sam Marbury, Sarah Elizabeth Steele, Daniel Watridge, Tinie White, Martha Watridge and others.
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This last photo also came from the Brownsville Library. Although he isn’t related to me, I liked the photo so I thought I would try to figure out who he was.

On the back is written, “Our boy when he was a cadet of the Memphis Military Institute.” It was in an envelope with a faded photo of a man named W.J. Rutland and on his photo was written, “60 years, Aug 31st 1916.”

After a little looking around online, there’s a good chance that the man in the faded photo is William J. Rutland who was living at 196 Exchange Avenue in Memphis in 1920. He was married to Ada C. Rutland and had a son named George W. Rutland who was born in 1882. It’s possible “our boy” is their son, George W. Rutland. Of course, that’s just a guess but I’m posting the photo in case it’s helpful for someone researching that family line.

I have some more old Haywood County photos I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to my Haywood County Line Genealogy Website.

More old photos from Haywood County