From Hattie, January 27 1897

The back of the photograph is annotated "From Hattie, January 27, 1897."  We don't know anymore about Hattie than that but we do know the photo was taken in Union City Tennessee by H.E. Wallace. A quick search of period newspapers shows that H.E. Wallace purchased a gallery in South Carolina and was leaving Union City on August 15, 1908.  The newspaper snippet said "Parties desiring him to make photographs call at once." Source: The Hickman Courier, July 30 1908. Another source said he was the older brother of D.B. Wallace of Warsaw, Kentucky.  D.B. was born in 1857 in Ohio according to Census records.  

Lula Bransford Swiggart, Union City TN, 1900

Lula Bransford Swiggart was the first born of Judge William Harris Swiggart and his wife Mary Ware Fields.    Lula was born in Union City, Tennessee, on August 5, 1877.   I'm not sure if the Swiggarts are related to the Morans but I do know that Judge Swiggart and Charles Henry Cobb had a law practice together in Union City and that Charles Cobb married Marion Moran.  In addition to this picture of Lula we also have an advertising fob from the Bransford Lumber Co which you can see here.

Lula married James D. Porter April 25 1906 in Obion County TN. According to the 1920 Census for Davidson County Tennessee, James was a Jeweler. Lula and James had a son, William S. Porter. James died December 30 1921 in Union City but was interred in his family plot at Elmwood Cemetery in Springfield Tennessee.

Lula and her son William appear in the 1940 Census for Belle Meade, Davidson County Tennessee. William is a bookkeeper at a bag and burlap company and is 30 years old, single.  Lula is 60.  The 1959 Nashville City Directory lists Lula as the widow of J.D. Porter and she lived at 3810 Whitland Ave., Apt. 2.

Lula Bransford Swiggart Porter died on January 8, 1961 in Nashville Tennessee.  Her place of burial is unknown at this time.

One Night Only! Miss Clara Louise Kellogg

According to what I've been able to find in regards to Clara Louise Kellogg, she retired from singing in 1887 which means the playbill pre-dates 1887.  At the bottom it says Union City Times so I'm assuming this was the opening night performance for the new opera house in Union City Tennessee. :)

In addition to Clara Louis Kellog the other members of the company were Miss Carrie Morse, Mr. Henry Dickmann, Mr. William H. Lee and Mr. Charles E. Pratt.  Reserved seats $1.00, on sale at Polk's Drug Store Monday, November 3d.

Clara Louise Kellogg was an American Opera Singer born 1842 in South Carolina.  From an early age she enjoyed singing and playing the piano. The Kellog family moved to Connecticut when she was about five years old and moved again in 1857 to New York where she began studying voice at age 14.  She made her professional debut in Pittsburgh in 1860 as a "utility singer."    The following year she made her first appearance as Gilda in "Rigoletto."  She continued to have a successful career as a soprano travelling back and forth between Europe and the United States.  She married Carl Strakosh in 1886 and the following year retired as a professional singer.  She died May 3 1861 from Cancer in New Hartford, Connecticut.

Dresden Enterprise Apr 24 1896 - The Illustrated Edition Part 21 "The Hon. Seid Waddell"

This is the twenty-first in a multi-part series featuring the April 24 1896 edition of the Dresden Enterprise.  If you missed the previous posts you can find them here: part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight, part nine, part ten, part eleven, part twelve, part thirteen, part fourteen, part fifteen, part sixteen, part seventeen, part eighteen, part nineteen, part twenty.

Hon. Seid Waddell

It is about a foregone conclusion that the above named gentleman will succeed Col. W.P. Caldwell as our next state senator, the latter gentleman having expressed himself as not wanting to be returned. Besides this, it has been customary to let the counties alternate in joint representatives and Obion county is therefore entitled this year to the nomination, which, with so good a man as Mr. Waddell, means a big Democratic majority in November.  Mr. Waddell, who is one of the leading members of the Union City bar, was the representative last year from Obion county, and as such took front rank among the working members.  He is a Democrat, true and tried, and has never been found sulking when needed by his party, and THE ENTERPRISE knows of no one whom it would prefer to see represent us in the state senate than Mr. Waddell.  Mr. Waddell is a man of exceptionally pure private character, and can be relied on always to take a positive stand in favor of moral or political reforms.  While this is true, he is conservative in his views, without being weak, and ever has proper regard for the opinions of people who may not agree with him.  He is very popular in his home county, and will bring out a fine vote there should he be the nominee.  We commend him to the Democrats of Weakley county as a man of sterling worth, both in private and public capacity, and bespeak for him their careful consideration.

The following information comes from the The History of Obion County Tennessee published by Goodspeed in 1887:

Seid Waddell, attorney at law, was born in Somerville, Tenn.,, May 2 1849, son of John C. and Elizabeth D. (Bugg) Waddell, and is of Scotch-Irish descent.  John C. Waddell was born in Carroll County, Tenn., about 1819, and died in Union city in 1884. The mother was also a Tennessean, and died in Arkansas.  Seid Waddell began the study of law in 1873, and in January, 1874 entered the senior class of Lebanon University and graduated the same year.  he came almost immediately to Union City, and here has since continued to reside and practice law, being a co-partner of Hon. Rice A. Pierce.  Mr. Waddell was one of the organizers of the Bank of Union City in 1879, and was made president of the same in 1884, and as such now continues.  He is a Democrat, and in 1885 was elected mayor of Union city by the city council, and re-elected in 1886 by the people.  In 1877 his marriage with Miss Eva P. Waddell was celebrated.  She was born in Hardeman County, Tenn., in 1856, and is the mother of three children:  Lizzie D., and Belle M. and Birdie M., (Twins).  Mr. Waddell owns a fine farm of 200 acres, on which he raises Holstein and Jersey cattle.  He is a K.of P., and he and Mrs Waddell are members of the Swedenborgian or New Church.

He served as Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee from 1899-1901.  He served as Speaker of the House, again from 1899-1901.   He was also one of the attorneys representing the West Tennessee Land Company during the Reelfoot Night Riders Trial.

The death certificate lists the following information:  His parents were John Calvin Waddell and Elizabeth Dickens.  The informant was E.P. Waddell.  His occupation was Banker and Lawyer at the Old National Bank.  Cause of death was Organiz Heart Lesion and mitral stenosis.  He, his wife and several of his children are buried at East View Cemetery in Union City.

His father, Dr. John Calvin Waddell, was the inventor of Waddell's Broadcast Seed Sower.

The complete list of links in this multi-part series:

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight, part nine, part ten, part eleven, part twelve, part thirteen, part fourteen, part fifteen, part sixteen, part seventeen, part eighteen, part nineteen, part twenty, part twenty-one, part twenty-two, part twenty-three.

Bransford Lumber Co, Union City TN ca 1900

Compliments of Bransford Lumber co.
Union city Tenn.
Tel 285

I found this piece of advertising ephemera among the MORAN paperwork.  It's an old advertising fob, circa 1900, with a pretty woman wearing a saucy hat for the Bransford Lumber Co. in Union City Tennessee.  I can't tell you much about the Bransford Lumber Co. but I did find a couple of  articles that I've included here in regards to John BRANSFORD and William Albert DODDS:

The Paducah Evening Sun 

Monday, February 22, 1909

AT MEMPHIS

Western Kentucky and Tennessee lumber Dealers Will Meet.

E.A. Enochs, of Jackson and C.H. Sherrill of Paducah, Elected President and Vice President.

At the conclusion of the convention of the Western Kentucky and Tennessee Retail Lumber Dealers' association Saturday evening Memphis was chosen as the place for the 1910 convention and following officers were elected:  President, E.A. Enochs, of Jackson Tenn; vice-president, C.H. Sherrill, of Paducah; secretary and treasurer, John Bransford, of Union City, Tenn.

It's possible that the Bransford Lumber Co. was founded by Benjamin H. BRANSFORD.  Benjamin BRANSFORD was born in Smith County Tennessee April 14, 1840.  His family moved to Obion County in  1844 when he was but 4 years old.  He was part of the Beck, Bransford & Ekdahl furniture and lumber company. During the Civil War he joined the First Mississippi Cavalry in 1861 and was also a special scout for General Nathan Bedford FORREST.  After the war he began a manufacturing company which burned in 1886 and was rebuilt.  One of his sons was named John, perhaps it is the very same John Bransford that is mentioned in the Hickman Courier Journal mentioned above.  For more information you can read the complete Goodspeed article here.

The Hickman Courier 

January 4 1912

BUYS ANOTHER YARD

W.A. DODDS Now Owns Union City Lumber Yard.

W.A. Dodds closed the deal yesterday for the purchase of the business of the Bransford Lumber Co. at Union City, including their stock of lumber, buildings and grounds.  This is said to be the leading lumber concern of the city in which it is located.  The deal involves upwards of $20,000.

Mr. Dodds will continue to look after his lumber interests in Hickman, and for the present John BRANSFORD, who has been connected with the Bransford Lumber Co., will look after the Union city yards for Mr. Dodds.  The home office of both yards, of course, will be Hickman.

I did locate W.A. Dodds, the man who purchased the Bransford Lumber Co., in the 1920 Census.  William and his wife Fannie and two daughters Anita R. and Martha E were living on Alleghany Street in Hickman Kentucky.  He was 57 years old making him born about 1863 and his profession is lumber dealer. According to Kentucky Death Records William Albert Dodds died in 1928 in Hickman Kentucky.  His parents were J.H. Dodds and Martha Freeman.

Originally posted on Victorian Hoarders Sept 21 2012.

Thomas Southworth, Memphis Photographer

Thomas Southworth Logo

Thomas Southworth was born in England in 1877.  He came to the United States and made his home in Tennessee where he was a photographer/artist. In 1901 he married Gertrude Dyer in Smith, Tennessee.  The 1910 - 1930 Census records show him living in Union City and Memphis with his wife Gertrude and their children Elizabeth, Luther, Thomas, John, Margaret and William.  The 1940 Census lists his wife as Edna.  He died on April 1, 1960.

This undated article was among the papers of Virginia Shumate Moran.  There are two connections that come to mind. The first is that the Southworth's lived in Union City and the second is the photography connection..  Marion Moran and her husband C.H. Cobb lived in Union City as well and their son-in-law Joseph Linton Godown was a photographer. In the small world of photography I'm betting that Joseph and Thomas new each other and they both ended up owning their own photography studio's in Memphis.

At the end of the article I've included a photograph of a young girl taken by Mr. Southworth.  We don't know if she's a relative or friend of the family.

Strolling with Eldon Roark Down an English Lane of Memory

Don't let anyone tell you time can't be turned backward in its flight.  It can be, all right.  And when it is done artfully--done as Thomas Southworth did it--what mellow, nostalgic happiness one finds in the process.

For several years Mr. Southworth, Memphis photographer had been promising himself that if he ever made another trip to his native England, he would go to the town where he lived as a boy and visit the school of his earliest remembrance.  And recently he started out to keep that promise.

The long-anticipated day came; and as he approached the little school he once more became a lad of 10, tense and a bit panicky, sitting in a class that was being quizzed by a Mr. Bostick, assistant inspector of public schools.  The official had dropped in unexpectedly, and had decided to find out how good they were at mental arithmetic.

One problem he presented, expressed in terms of American money, was :"divid $12 between two boys so that one boy will get $3 more than the other boy.  How much will each get?"

Five or six hands went up.  One boy said $3 and $9, another said $6 and $9, and still another said $3 and $6.  They were just guessing wildly--and embarrassing their teacher.

Young Tommy sat in his seat, his head a-whirl.  Then, all of a sudden, an idea hit him.  He followed it up in his mind:

"Pull off $3, lay it aside, split the $9 and back up the $3 laid aside to either of the halves and that must be it."

Up went Tommy's hand.

Mr. Bostick, the assistant inspector, gave him the nod.

"One boy got $7.50 and the other boy got $4.50," Tommy said.

"That is correct," Mr. Bostick said.  "Come forward, Tommy."  And he presented Tommy with half a crown, a coin slightly larger than half a dollar.

Ah, that was a day of great triumph!

He Makes History Repeat Itself

Small boys were playing in the school yard where Mr. Southworth had played 60 years ago.

"A charming young lady advanced on me, and I told her my story," he says.  "Then I asked permission to talk to the boys.  She immediately rang the bell, and all formed in lines.

"Next thing I knew I was in the same old classroom of my youth, facing those boys at their desks.  I sprang my problem on them, and the incident of the long ago was repeated.  Several boys made wrong guesses, and finally one boy gave the right answer and won the half crown I had promised them."

In presenting it to him, Mr. Southworth suggested that when he is 70 he should come back to the old school and pop the same problem to the 10 year olds.  The young man thought it was a good idea.

Spelling of Time and the River

As Mr. Southworth thanked them for the happy privilege he had enjoyed and turned to leave, the teacher said please stay and talk to them a little longer.  He was glad to entertain them further.

"Well boys," he said, "as you probably know, I now am an American.  In America we have one more division of land than you have.  While you jump from counties to all of England, we have counties, then states, and then the entire country.  My state is Tennessee, and it's on the banks of the Mississippi.  If there is a boy here who can spell Mississippi, raise your hand."

Several hands went up.  The teacher designated one to spell.

"And he didn't hem or haw or ah," Mr. Southworth says. "He just started spelling without the suggestion of a surplus sound.  But he took his time.  He must have been a full minute in spelling the word, but he didn't make an error."

Mr. Southworth gave him a "tanner" (12 cents in silver) as a prize.  That made the boy proud and happy.

As Mr. Southworth left the school, he stood and gazed at the old church adjoining it.  It looked just the same as it did when he was a lad.  Not so much as a single brick had changed as far as he could see.

The teacher and some of the boys waved to him as he turned and walked on down Brook Street.  He felt both sad and happy.  Memories surged thru him--and then came quiet, mellow satisfaction.

"Tommy," he said to himself, "you kept your promise.  Now you can add this event to others, drag 'em out in your lonely hours, and have a good time."

Unknown girl
Thomas Southworth Photographer

July 4th, 1890 Union City TN First Annual Field Day

FIRST ANNUAL FIELD DAY

of the

Union City Athletic Association,

FAIR GROUND, UNION CITY, TENN.,

July 4th, 1890

OFFICERS:

W.S. Moore, President

F.O. Watts, Vice President.

A. F. Thomasson, Sec'y & Treas.

DIRECTORS

H.G. Lefils,   J.W. Woosley,   J.W. Levy,   Geo. Dahnke

D. Lowenheim   J.P. Verhine,   J.R. Scates

9 A.M. to 6 P.M.

BETTING AND SALE OF INTOXICANTS POSITIVELY PROHIBITED

page 2

PROGRAM

BICYCLE (One-fourth Mile Dash, Boys under 15 years)

First Prize, Ideal Bicycle Lamp. -Watts & Thomasson

Second Prize, Bicycle Cup, - Watts & Thomasson.

Winner of First.....................Time.................

Winner of Second.................Time.................

THREE-LEGGED RACE

Premium $5 in Gold, Athletic Association.

Winners..................................Time................

STANDING BROAD JUMP

Premium, $5 in Gold, Athletic Association

Winner....................................Time................

RUNNING BROAD JUMP

Premium, $5 in Gold, Athletic Association

Winner....................................Time................

SAFETY BICYCLE. (One-half Mile, Club Championship)

First Prize, Gold Medal, Athletic Association.

Second Prize, Bicycle Lamp, A.F. Thomasson, Agent St. Louis Wheel Co.

Winner of First..........................Time..............

Winner of Second......................Time..............

SHOE RACE (50 yards and return. Boys under 17 years)

Premium, Pair of Shoes. Hardy & Moore.

ORDINARY BICYCLE (One-half mile, Club Championship)

First Prize, Gold Medal, Athletic Association.

Second Prize, Bicycle Lamp, F.O. Watts, Agent Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Co.

Winner of First..........................Time..............

Winner of Second......................Time..............

100 YARDS DASH

Premium, Running Suit, Athletic Association

Winner........................................Time................

BICYCLE.  (Free for All, One-half Mile Dash)

First Prize, Gold Medal - Athletic Association

Second Prize, Cyclometer - Athletic Association

Winner of First..........................Time..............

Winner of Second......................Time..............

page 3

440 YARDS DASH.

Premium Silk Hat, Athletic Association

Winner.........................................Time..................

BICYCLE (One mile handicap)

First Prize Gold Medal - Athletic Association

Second Prize, L.A.W. Badge - Athletic Association

Winner of First..........................Time..............

Winner of Second......................Time..............

BASE BALL THROW

Premium, Walking Cane, Sterling Silver, J.W. Levy

Winner..............................Distance............................

50 YARDS DASH

First Prize, Pair Fine Flannel Shirts, D. Lowenheim & Co.

Second Prize, Box of Cigars, J.W. Woosley

BICYCLE. (One-half Mile, consolation for non-winners a this meeting

First Prize, Gold Watch Chain, Athletic Association

Second Prize, Week's Board at Brackin House, H.G. Lefils

Winner of First..........................Time..............

Winner of Second......................Time..............

BASE BALL

First Prize, $35 - Athletic Association

Second Prize, $15 - Athletic Association.

UNION CITY, TENN., VS MAYFIELD, KY

page 4

THE CAPITAL STOCK

of the

South-West Kentucky and West Tennessee

AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION

has been 

INCREASED TO $10,000.

and Will Hold Their

REGULAR ANNUAL FAIR,

AT UNION CITY, TENN., IN OCTOBER.

Enlarged Grounds.....

.....................New Buildings..............

.......................................New Track

Largest Premiums Ever Offered

For further information address

W.F. Barry, Secretary

1917 - The Cobb Home, Union City Tennessee

This picture postcard features the home of Marion Moran and her husband Charles Henry Cobb.  The home is located in Union City Tennessee at the corner of N. Home and E. Main Street. The little girl in the front yard is their daughter, Caroline Elizabeth Cobb.  The post card was sent to Marion's brother, Charles Harrell Moran.

"Teatot isn't coming until next Friday, however, would be glad to ha eyou spend this Sunday and next with us too.  Devotedly, Marion."  Dated Aug 20, 1917.  Teatot is the nickname they had for their sister Ida Morehead Moran.  Ida was married to William Gilmer Timberlake and they lived in Jackson Tennessee.

And this is how the house appears today.

 This is a front and side view.

Here we have a front view.

And this is a side and back view.

Trenton Outing Club, 1922

Trenton Outing Club, Reelfoot Lake Tennessee
1922, photograph by Verne Sabin

James H. Moran III was about as outdoorsy as they come.  He enjoyed hunting, trap shooting, boating, and sports.  He won and/or placed in several shooting competitions bringing home several silver cups.

In addition, he and many others were members of the Dresden Gun Club

"How do you like the looks of this"  With Love, Nancy"
To Mr James H. Moran, Dresden Tenn

The Trenton Outing Club was one of several sportsmen's lodges in the Reelfoot Lake Area.  I would imagine that Nancy sent this to Jim as a possibility for them to all visit the lodge.  The postcard is from 1922 and the photograph was taken by Verne Sabin.  Verne and Nonie Sabin operated a photography studio in Union City Tennessee from 1910 to 1924 when they moved to Texas.  The Tennessee State Library and Archives is home to a large collection of photographs by the Sabins including the Trenton Outing Lodge.