Albert Womble Papers

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.

Albert Womble's Collateral Kith and Kin

Any genealogy book worth its salt will advise you to research an ancestors siblings and other collateral relatives as well as the ancestor themselves.  I've read this many, many times and I wish I had a dime for every time that I've read it.

I'll confess that this is a lot easier to say than to put to practice.  Only recently have I begun to fill in the holes in my family group sheet in regards to some one of my ancestors' siblings and half-siblings.

Awhile back I heard how FamilySearch is digitizing many their records.  I checked out what was available, but wasn't too impressed because much of what was available weren't items that I didn't already have. 

I'm really not too fond of doing genealogical research online and I don't recommend it as a rule.  My belief is that you should always, always try to find the documents you need from an archive, Family History Center, or courthouse.  Lately when I've been exploring what's available I've found that there are a lot of digital records out there.

The collateral relatives for Albert Womble are his siblings, Maude B. Cudworth, Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Allen, and Charles.  Albert also has half-siblings that are from his father, John Washington Womble's first marriage to Mary Jane Stephens.  I believe that John's first wife died around the Civil War and he married Rhoda Caroline Richardson after the war.  The children that John W. had with Mary Jane are: Joab, Ellen, Adolphes Winfield, Martha L., Tranquilla Blanche, Franklin, Ruffin, and Jesse.

The shocking thing I found is that Ancestry has a selection of digital images of documents on their site.  Recently I searched for Tranquilla Blanche Womble or Wamble as it's sometimes spelled, she's one of Albert Womble's half-siblings.  My search came up a digitized image of her death certificate.  I was floored because I really thought that I wouldn't find anything! 

I tried to find death information for her brother, Adolphes Winfield Womble, they seemed to live together for their entire lives, but was unsuccessful.  I did a search on Ancestry of the census records for that household which consisted of Adolphes, Martha L., and Tranquilla Blanche in 1880 living in Hardeman County, Tennessee.  A search of the 1900 Federal Census showed Adolphes and Blanche living in McNairy County, Tennessee without Martha.  My belief was that she may have died after the 1880 census and before 1900, but after searching for a death record, I came up empty.  My research into the recording of death information in Tennessee is that if a person died in a non-metropolitan area before 1914 then there probably isn't a record of it.  Even though recording was put into practice in 1914, it wasn't pervasive and I believe that if the death occurred before 1918 or 1920 there's the possibility that it wasn't recorded even though official registration had started in 1914.

My thoughts turned to how could I at least get an idea of when Adolphes and Martha died.  The solution:  probate records.  I wasn't sure if Adolphes had left anything to his sister, Blanche but a search wouldn't hurt.

I did a search of the USGenWeb's archive for the state of Tennessee and came up with a transcription of a probate index for McNairy County, Tennessee.  This was searched for Blanche and Adolphes and I found a listing for them with the page number. 

I took this information with me to FamilySearch's website and searched through their digitized probate records.  In case you decide to try this at home, please keep in mind that the page numbers on their digital image viewer don't tally with the printed pages on the pages of the probate books.  Simple common sense helps to find the page.  I was able to print the images, which was great.  There wasn't any date on Blanche's will, but Adolphes' said he was deceased and had the date of 7 July 1919 on it.  While it would be great to find an exact death date, something is better than nothing. 

A search was done for deaths and probate records in Hardeman County, Tennessee for Martha L. Womble, but nothing was found.  My belief was that she probably died there because it's the last place of residence that I know of.

I did a search of cemetery records for McNairy County at www.mcnairytnhistory.com/cemeteries.html and found a listing for both Blanche and Adolphes at the Mars Hill Cemetery that's mentioned on Blanche's death certificate.  The cemetery is located in Adamsville, Tennessee and that's another place to search for records too.  There's a death date for Adolphes on the page that says he died 6 August 1922.  I don't know if that's true.  It still seems weird to me that if he died in 1922 then why haven't I been able to locate a death certificate for the man.

While I was searching away on Ancestry, I did a search for Ellen Womble, who is another one of Albert Womble's half-siblings.  I already knew that there is a public tree with her in it on the site and so I looked at that information to try to see if I could actually verify some of the data.  I was able to locate a digitized image of her marriage record to Isham Burgess Bowling on 4 August 1869 in Hardeman County, Tennessee.  So that's why she wasn't listed as living with her father in 1870, because she was married by then and living with her husband.  The rest of the information on her is unconfirmed, but it states that she moved to Texas with her husband, had many children with him and he died around 1882 and I don't think that she ever remarried.  Ellen or Nellie as I see her referred to, died in Texas in 1924.  

Today, I did a Google search for Ellen's older brother Joab, and was surprised by what I found.  Someone, who I should try to make contact with has a collection of photos on a website that seems devoted to picture sharing.  This person appeared to be connected to the Bowling family and Ellen was their grandmother or great-grandmother.  They had posted digital images of letters from both Joab and Blanche that were written to their sister, Ellen.  Another picture showed a digital image of information that someone had written about Ellen, her husband Isham Bowling, and her siblings.  This information mentioned a letter from Martha L. who was referred to as Mattie.  Mattie apparently wrote her sister in 1918 from Vernon, Missouri. 

Unfortunately, I saw no way for me to copy or print the information at least for my own use without joining the site.  But at least I knew I was wrong to assume that Martha had died because she had written to her sister in 1918!

Since I already know that there were digital images of Tennessee marriage records on Ancestry, I went there and searched for a marriage record for Martha Womble to someone.  I found a marriage record for a Mattie Womble to C. A. Long in McNairy County, Tennessee on 24 August 1898.  I'm not sure if this is the Mattie Womble I'm looking for, but it seems plausible because her siblings were living in McNairy County in 1900 and while I don't know when they moved there it just seems that it is my Mattie.

I did find a census record for a couple named Charlie A. and Mattie Long living in Vernon, Missouri in 1920, so it seems as if this is the missing Womble relative.  I still haven't come across a death record for either Charles or Mattie, but I'll try to remain vigilant in my search.

I still have not been able to find any additional information on Joab and he still remains my mystery man.  What's with him going off and fighting for the Confederacy, disappearing and then reappearing in the 1910 Federal Census in Taney County, Missouri anyway?!

Nor have I verified that Mary Jane Stephens and her three young children, Franklin, Ruffin, and Jesse died.  The person with the photo online did mention them and said that they didn't have any letters from them that were sent to their sister.  This makes me think that those kids really did die, I don't know about their mother, and I may never have an answer.