Boy in Formal Kilt Attire

As with most things in the Victorian Era the kilt for boys became fashionable after Queen Victoria began dressing her sons in kilts. However, the appeal of the kilt probably was special to American mothers who were not ready to see their darling sons don long pants or even long kneepants yet.  It was commonplace back then for young boys and girls to wear dresses.  The kilt filled the gap between dresses and long kneepants as did Lord Fauntleroy and sailor suits. 

 

According to Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide, Aschylus William Monfort  was a photographer in Burlington from 1865 to about 1881 but he and his partner George Hill photographed well into the 1890's which is when I think our Kilt Boy was taken.

 

It's very possible this young fellow is a distant Cowardin relative from Iowa. 

Courthouse At Dresden TN pre-1919

This picture of the Courthouse in Dresden Tennessee was taken prior to 1919 since there aren't any "wings".  Those were added in 1919 by L.E. Wingo. For more information about the courthouse and 1948 fire that destroyed it be sure to visit the earlier blog post from 2011.

Postcard Photographs

Unidentified Man
card embossed "Scherer New York"

These three postcard photographs were in the same box together.  I don't know who they are and I don't know if they were together because they are related to each other or if it's as simple as they are three postcards and they fit neatly together.  

The postcard of the single man is embossed in the upper left corner "Scherer New York".  The photographer or perhaps just the company that printed the card?  

The card with the couple has no identifying marks at all.  

The last card tells the most, "Don't throw this away because it was taken in Colorado."  The Moran's took a  trip out west that included Colorado and some relatives moved to Colorado.  Virginia Moran's cousins Hattie Mai Shumate and Martha Belle Shumate both moved to Denver post 1900.  Another family member connected through the Cowardin branch of the family moved to Denver as well, Carrie Fuller Cowardin and her children Almus Sheffield Cowardin and Robert Purcell Cowardin.

Turn of the Century Parade, Dresden Tennessee

I don't know what they were celebrating but this is a parade picture taken in the late 1890's or perhaps early 1900's in Dresden Tennessee.  The building in the background is the old courthouse.  The center section was built in 1858 by a contractor named Cowardin.  The Cowardin's are cousins of the Morans.  The later side sections were built by L.E. Wingo. The Wingo's are also cousins of the Moran family.  The courthouse burnt down in 1948.  

The only person we've been able to identify in the picture so far is James Henderson Moran III.  He's the handsome dandy riding the horse on the left side of the picture.  

Parade at the Courthouse Dresden, Tennessee

The man on the left is James H. Moran III.

Closeup of  horse with festive flowers and garlands.  Notice the bridle and harness

is even wrapped with ribbon.

It's possible some of these are Moran women or Moran relatives. 

Detail of woman driving carriage.  Notice the reins are decorated with ribbons too.

This is the group in the background on the left side of the picture.

We don't know who the man is but he looks authoritative!

Close up of the center grouping in the background.

Closeup of the background group on the right side.

Man on center horse.

Woman framed by doorframe.

Ribboned and flowered carriage.wheel detail.

Dear Sister, Willie is very sick and inconsolable, Aug 10, 1880

Sophia Riley Gunn Moran

I found a postcard dated Aug. 10, 1880 from Sophia Gunn Moran to her sister-in-law, Mrs. James T. Gunn (Margaret Brown Gunn).  The postcard is about Willie, the third child and a daughter, of James and Margaret Gunn.  Willie was six years old and had been sent to stay with her Aunt Sophia's family in Dresden Tennessee due to sickness at her home.  Willie was homesick and wanted to go back home.  There was no way for Sophia to know just how grave the situation was at her brother's house.  James T. Gunn died the day after the postcard was written and Willie's younger sister, Hattie, died seven days later.  They could've died from any number of illnesses but there were at least two known plagues that occurred during 1880 in Davidson County, Tennessee: Typhoid and Yellow Fever.

Maggie Brown Gunn and
Carrie Maggie Gunn
ca. 1870, side 1

My Earthly Treasures!
Meet me in Heaven?
Maggie B. Gunn
Carrie Maggie Gunn
Side 2

This is a picture of Margaret (Maggie) B. Gunn with her firstborn, Caroline (Carrie) Maggie Gunn.  This picture dates from 1870/71 as that's when Carrie was born.


Dresden, Aug 10, 1880
Dear Sister:

Postcard From Sophia Gunn Moran
to her sister-in-law
Mrs James T. Gunn (Maggie)
side 1

Willie is very homesick and inconsolable.  Says she wants to go home day after tomorrow but I told her she would not go until I wrote to you to have some one to meet her in Nashville.  Robert Cowardin will stop off the road after this week.  I am very sorry indeed she is homesick and have done all I can to keep her.  Write me word immediately what day to send her up and have some one meet her at the Chatanooga (sic) depot. Bobbie will see her safe to Nashville.  How are the sick? Don't fail to write immediately for Willie will grieve herslef sick.  She has been very good indeed and no trouble only she wants to see her papa and mama so much.  Love to all.
Yours aff. (affectionately)
S.G. Moran

The Cowardins were cousins of the Gunns. Robert Cowardin was married to Carrie Cowardin and had children of their own.

I believe Willie's mother, Margaret, died four years later leaving her four children orphans:
Caroline M. Gunn age 15
Charles Augustus Hugh Gunn age 14
Willie M. Gunn age11
John Moran Gunn age 9
I don't know who the children stayed with after the death of their mother but it's possible they were with Sophia and John Moran in Dresden or possibly with their uncle Lyman Cephas Gunn and his wife Sallie Boyd or even their Cowardin cousins.

Side 2
Postcard from Sophia Gunn Moran to her sister-in-law
Mrs James T. Gunn

Weakley County Courthouse Burns, CA 1948

Four Units Unable to Save Courthouse--Fire fighters of Dresden, Martin, Greenfield and Gleason, Tenn., battled all Thursday morning without avail, as the Weakley County Courthouse burned. The fire started in or near the cupola atop the roof, burned downward.  Most of the county records were saved.  Photo by Nick Givens, Greenfield

Flames Devour Nine Decades as Weakley Courthouse Burns by Paul flowers, Staff Correspondent

DRESDEN, Tenn., Feb. 19--Fire of undetermined origin early Thursday destroyed the 90 year old courthouse here.

Breaking out soon after dawn, the flames raced downward from cupola to ground floor of the West Tennessee landmark leaving only four crumbling walls on the square where Weakley County official business has been transacted since 1858.

Most of the records were saved, County Judge Cayce Pentecost said.  Some were stored in fireproof vaults and others were carried out by volunteer residents.

By a twist of irony, electric wires leading to the town's fire siren, perched in the cupola atop the neo-classic structure, were believed to have been responsible for the fire, but there was nothing certain Thursday night as the last smoldering embers, having resisted streams of water all day, finally yielded to the misty rain which began falling in late afternoon.

Ancient Hall of History

This was the ancient hall of justice and place of records where Caruthers Ewing,
West Tennessean who achieved international renown as a lawyer, first started practice.  The building which went up in flames Thursday housed the court in 1891 in which Mr. Ewing, then 19, brought his first action in court, a suit against his own father.

Likewise, this was the courthouse about which the legend of the Yankee cavalryman came into being...how, in the late months of the Civil War, a Northern soldier rode his horse into the courthouse, up several flights of stairs to the cupola, and perched there as high as he could go, to sound taunts and defiance against Dresden and Weakley county and the whole Confederacy.

That was the story as passed on by L. P. Moore, former county trustee, as he stood with fellow townsmen in the shadow of the Confederate monument at one corner of the square.  On the stone steps, hewn from stone brought by yoked oxen from quarries along the Tennessee River almost a century ago, still were marks left by the horse's shoes, Mr. Moore said.  

In the second floor courtroom, Caruthers Ewing launched his campaign for attorney general, the time he was defeated by Bill Lewis of Paris.

Martin Man Built It

The Weakley County Courthouse had its beginning in 1858, although the county, first settled by white men in 1819, was organized in 1825.  A contractor from Martin, named Cowardin, erected the central section.  In 1919 the wings were added by L.E. Wingo.

Fire companies from Greenfield, Gleason and Martin were called in, but the fire had gone  beyond control before they could get into action, and the best they could do was prevent its spread.  Flying embers did ignite the roof of the negro Methodist Church, a block away, but damage was only slight there.

County Judge Pentecost said the building loss was partically (sic) covered by insurance, amounting to about $75,000.  Thanks to fireproof vaults, installed in 1913, most of the land records were saved, but at noon county officials were still thumbing through boxes of charred papers on the high sidewalks.

Emergency offices will be set up in buildings around the square as soon as possible.  C.P. Taylor, tax collector, said he would be ready to do business again by Monday morning.

Landmark--This is how the Weakley County Courthouse appeared since 1919, when the two wings were added.  the center section has stood since 1858.  Photo by R.L. Ervin, Dresden, Tenn.