Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

Wise-Parham yearbook needs a home

Judy Fowler Kilgore is the religion editor and genealogy columnist for The Citizen. She regrets that time does not permit her to do personal family research for others. She may be reached at jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

Those who have been doing genealogy for a while know that it often opens up new realms of interest. Curiosity leads you into history and history can lead in many other directions.

For me, this has developed into an interest in antiques and old furniture, mostly furniture from the late 1800s into the early 1900s. This interest led me to the acquaintance of Sue and Randy Mayhew, and Sue’s daughter, Jessica, who own Tiger Lily’s Antiques and Florist in Sharpsburg. Sue’s shop features many of the items of that period and it still amazes me how Jessica can take a piece of junk and turn it into a thing of beauty.

How Sue and I met is one for the storybooks, but it started with a cat bite and has turned into a close, personal friendship. My sister still accuses me of getting the “cat discount” on anything I buy from Sue.

My friendship with Sue led me into the realm of auctions and estate sales, and, thus, I became acquainted with Van and Jackie Byars of Van Byars and Son Auctions in Hogansville. Sue and I seldom miss their twice-monthly auctions and I have replaced much of my 1960s and 1970s style furniture with gorgeous pieces from the early 1900s — stuff my mother insists on calling “junk” because it’s what her mother and grandmother had in their homes.

When I first started attending these auctions, I was struck with the sadness of realizing this was all someone’s stuff — things which people had collected and lived with throughout their lifetime. In addition to old furniture, there were old photograph albums, books, knickknacks, gardening implements, receipt books from businesses, newspapers, linens including beautiful quilts and bedspreads, pots and pans, dishes and china, jewelry, toys, Christmas decorations — everything one would keep in one’s home. Someone had lovingly polished that table; someone had tucked in a grandchild underneath that quilt; someone had cooked hundreds of Sunday dinners in those pots and served them to their families on that china.

For me — a newbie at all this — it was almost emotionally overwhelming at first. To overcome this guilty feeling, I made up my mind that it was now my duty, with anything I purchased, to love it and take care of it in memory of whatever family it had belonged to. Sometimes I just sit and look at my “new” things, wondering what stories they could tell me if they could talk. And the genealogist in me sometimes comes out, wondering what all the family history contained.

Last Saturday, I attended my first estate sale actually held at the home of the family. It was a sale of the household items of Mrs. Elizabeth Parham of Lone Oak in Troup County. Lone Oak is just across the Meriwether County line, between Luthersville and Hogansville.

The emotions all came back as I wandered through the yard, looking at all the items Mrs. Parham had collected over her lifetime.

Probably one of the most popular tables of items was her collection of books. Among the books was a 1939 yearbook, “The Chieftain,” from West Georgia College. This was one of the items I purchased — not to keep, but to try and return it to a family member. I couldn’t help but think about all my own mother’s yearbooks from Russell High School, and how distraught I would be if they were sold to someone outside the family.

Genealogists do this a lot — find family heirlooms and attempt to return them to the family. You remember how I found the Kirby family Bible in an antique shop in Newnan last summer, and attempted to find a surviving family member who might be interested in having it? Cecil Shipley, formerly of Peachtree City, now of Dayton, Tenn., bought it since his wife was a distant cousin.

Another purpose of purchasing the West Georgia yearbook was that I hoped to find some of my family members from Carroll County, since all my mother’s folks were from that area and a high percentage of the people in the book were from Carrollton.

Saturday night when I got home, I sat down on the sofa to go through my new treasure.

I smiled when I found just one familiar name and photo, that of A.O. “Bo” Ingram, a former justice of the peace for many years in Fayette County.

Since there are only sophomores and freshmen shown in the book, I’m assuming that West Georgia was only a junior college at that time. It gives photos of all the classes, including their names and places of residence. It also gives photos of members of the faculty, along with their various degrees and the subjects they taught.

Mrs. Parham was formerly Elizabeth Wise and, according to all the people who signed her yearbook, she was called “Lizzie Pearl.” Her residence at that time was Grantville in Coweta County. She was on the tennis team and in the glee club, and a member of many other organizations.

The purpose of telling you all this is to try and find a member of Mrs. Parham’s family who might like to have this yearbook. As a genealogist, I feel that’s the least I can do.

If you are related to this Wise-Parham family and would be interested in the yearbook, please let me know. Tell me how you are related to the family and why you want the book. If I receive many responses, I will just have to make a judgment call on who gets it.

You may write to me at the paper or drop me an e-mail. The addresses appear below. The book is in excellent condition.

I welcome all letters and e-mails about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!