When I visited my parents this past September I went through a box of Womble family memorabilia. Amongst the odds and ends of various items was a collection of items that I believe belonged to my great grandfather Albert Womble.
I had gone through some of these things before and even made photocopies of them too. However, on this visit I wanted to take some of Albert’s paper home with me. I sent aside the items and then asked my parents if I could take them with me. They agreed to let me take them.
Last month I finally had the time to go through them and try to document my findings as I went. I didn’t get through all of them because I found it to be a tedious process going through the papers, photographing it, and then writing about it. It is a start though, and my advice to anyone who attempts this is to have patience and to realize that it’s a slow process. 
Some of the items I took were small pocket-sized memorandum notebooks. One of these was simply titled Receipt and has written on a page B. I. Complex. There is a list of tablets and the cost. My assumption is that Albert was taking B1 complex pills and was trying to calculate the cost of different sized tablets and perhaps which sized tablet would cost the least over a period of time. Today, I think of B1 complex vitamins as being pretty normal. I don’t know that much about what certain vitamins are supposed to do, but I’m sure that in the past it was a new fangled thing. I’ve heard stories that Albert didn’t have much money and so he didn’t eat very nutritious food. 
A single page was found and it looked as though it was torn from a notebook. Strange phrases are written on this. I assume that these are song titles.
They’re as follows:
My little Becck a roo
Wagin Westward [not sure if this should be Wagon Westward]
I can’t give you anything but love
% for 2
Manhatin Seranade [sic]
My blue heaven
Molly and the baby
A letter to Albert Womble from his brother Thomas. Inside the letter folded up was a listing of radio programs for Thurs. Dec. 30. I’m not sure of the year, but it must be during WWII because there are some war programs. It may be from the Knoxville News-Sentinel because it makes reference to the News-Sentinel magazine and there’s a station that has the call letters WNOX. I think WNOX is a Knoxville radio station. The backside of the clipping makes reference to that city in various ads. The year might be 1942 because of the used car ad next to a bunch of Help Wanted ads. My reasoning is that the ad is pushing ’39, ’40, and ’41 cars. If these cars are used than the year probably isn’t 1938 or ’43 because it would have ’42 cars listed. The letter isn’t dated and is very short. Apparently Thomas Womble suffered from blood poisoning in the past and was very sick. This might explain previous addresses I’ve seen for him addressed to a hospital in California. In the letter Tom tells his brother that he’s feeling better and he seems to offer Albert help of he ever is sick or needs money.
There was a folded up article about the death of his oldest son, Joseph who died during an indoor baseball game at the Centralia YMCA. I had the impression that Albert may have carried that article with him everywhere.
In a partial envelope is a receipt dated 2 June 1941. It says, received from A. Womble Eight and no dollars June 2 to July 2 $8.00 Mrs. J.P. Welsh. On the back of this receipt is written:
6-2. to 7-2-41.
7-2 to 8-2. - 41. –
Mrs. Welsh $8.00.
8-2 to 9-2 $6.00
Mrs. Welsh
9-2 to 10-2. 6.00
Mrs. Welsh
To me this looks like Albert Womble is paying rent to someone named Mrs. Welsh. Maybe it's for 303 Madison in Paducah, Kentucky.
I did some research on Mrs. Welsh and found a listing in the 1941 Paducah City Directory for a Jas. P Welch. He's living at 323 Madison and his wife's name is Luna. He is a harness-maker at Ferguson Co. There is also a listing for a Louisa Welch living a 303 Madison who furnishes rooms. I think this means that they rent out rooms. These are listed on page 629 of the 1941 Paducah, KY city directory.
In the 1937 Paducah City Directory, Albert Womble is living at 303 Madison and working for the Ferguson Co. The name J.P. Welsh is written in the address section of one of Albert Womble's memorandum books. I think these Welch/Welsh people are the same that are mentioned in Albert Womble’s papers.
Torn corner of paper, written in what appears to be my grandmother's handwriting about John Womble and his Rev. War service and some things about his life. I think this was written after Albert died because it looks like it's written with a ballpoint pen. In the brief biographical sketch about John Womble it says that her was born in 1756 in NC and died in Edgecombe County, NC in Oct. 1820. He was married twice and he married and he married his 2nd wife Catherine in 1798. One of their 11 children according to this was named John Winfield who was Albert's dad. John Womble had another son named John with his first wife in 1788. He received a pension from the war and two land grants.Handmade leather wallet or case that is held together with masking tape. On the masking tape is written in what looks like my grandmother's handwriting it says Notes and Records of Albert Womble son of John Winfield Womble of Nashville and Hardin Co. John Winfield Womble was the 12th child of John Womble-Rev. War soldier in N. Carolina who fought [?] at the siege of Savannah & Charleston, captured at Charleston & sent to prison of British after war. Enlisted in Spring of about 1778-1779.
Inside wallet is a notebook made of leather that looks handmade. Notebook seems to contain some sort of Union joining ceremony and bylaws. Also information about harness making and the construction of other similar leather made devices.
I think that the wallet case and torn corner of paper are the source for Winfield being the mistaken middle name for my great-great grandfather. Since the handwriting appears to be that of my grandmother, Virginia, I believe that she may be the source of this misinformation. I’ve seen this mistake in other papers that I’ve gotten from some relatives and my only guess is that they got this wrong information from her. I’ve never seen anything directly from my great grandfather, Albert, which gives his father’s middle name as Winfield. It’s always Washington, which is correct.
My grandmother seemed to know a lot about her dad’s family, but I’m not sure if this is because she was interested in it or had just heard about it from her dad. Her father, Albert seems somewhat interested in his heritage because I saw something written in one of his notepads about having an ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. Maybe he had only heard about it from his sister, Maude, but otherwise wasn’t too interested in it much. Perhaps he actually had more pressing things to think about other than genealogy? Such as basic survival in the world, I got the impression that Albert Womble didn’t have much money and at times, or quite possibly his lack of funds was a frequent occurrence. Based on one letter I read when I was visiting my parents, his son Ben mentions sending his dad a money order so that he can pay a pharmacy bill. From the tone, it sounds as if Albert’s children often send money to their dad to help him make ends meet.
My experience has shown me that children sometimes tend to internalize aspects of their parents’ personality or their home environment growing up. I’ve heard that my grandmother tended to be preoccupied about money. If this really was a personality trait of hers, it’s possible that it comes from her father’s own preoccupation with money that I’ve seen evidenced in his papers. Other stories I’ve heard have mentioned that Albert’s family didn’t have much money. Sometimes people who don’t have money growing up become fixated on this or any other item that they believe was lacking in their childhood. My grandmother’s alleged monetary quirk may have been also because she witnessed her own parent’s money troubles and so became concerned that she may face the same issues down the road.
I think that’s enough psychoanalysis for one blog posting, but it is interesting to hear these family stories and then try to piece together what motivated certain a ancestor's actions or personality traits.
