The Face of Genealogy

There are many faces which come to mind when I think of the Face of Genealogy. In fact I had another photo here and changed my mind. This photo was in a group of photos from my Aunt. They had been my grandmother's photos. The back of the photo says Mr.and Mrs. Davis and family and is addressed to L. A. Newby. My Great Great Grandmother was Lydia Newby but when I first saw the photo I didn't know who the Davis family was. After doing some research I found that Mrs. Davis in the photo was the grandaughter of Lydia.Her name was Ida Thurman Davis. Ida's mother was Bettie Newby Thurman the daughter of Lydia and King Newby.
To me This is the True Face of Genealogy, being able to take an old photo and learn who they were, how they were related and a little about them.

Ida Thurman Davis Update on Research

I received some photos from my Aunt's estate, she had old family photos which were of her Mother's family,the Newby family. Some had names which I knew and other photos were a mystery. Here you can read about my discoveries on one such group of photos. Ida Thurman Davis would have been the grand daughter of Lydia W. Newby. Looks like she sent photos of her family to her grandmother. I am working of finding some of Ida's descendants, hopefully they may be the holder of Newby family information.

I have recently obtained the obituary for Ida Thurman Davis which was printed in the Chattanooga Times on December 16,1947. She had one daughter Mrs. Earl White and four grandchildren.Harry Hill, Norfolk,Va. DeForest Hill, Detroit,Mich. and Dianne Rowland and Ronnie White of Chattanooga. I found where Clara Davis married Granville Hill on 10/3/1923, in Hamilton County, Tennessee.  In the 1930 Census there is a Clarolie Hill, 22 listed as daughter of Minor and Ida Davis living with them and also a grandson, 6, Edward D. Hill living with them. I'm not sure if Clara married again to Earl White or if this was Nettie. 

Have you ever discovered that your family paths may have crossed? When I read Ida's obituary the first thing  I noticed was that she lived on North Orchard Knob Ave.,which is the same road that my Great Grandmother Lettie Edgemon Wilson lived on. I Googled the addresses and found they were just a few houses apart. Then she was a member of the Avondale Baptist Church which was where Lettie Edgemon Wilson was a member. Then Ida was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, which was where Lettie was buried.

I just had to ask my Mom if she remembered any of her Grandmother's neighbors. She did remember a few but did not know the Davis family. Maybe they moved in after Lettie died in1944. Ida would have been from my Dad's side  and Lettie was from my Mom's side.

Wordless Wednesday - Ida's Baby

The back of this picture says Ida's Baby. My hope is that one of Ida's descendants will find these pictures and the little information I have will help them in their genealogy research! Or maybe they will have information on the Newby family to share with us.

Ida Thurman Davis

Working on Genealogy is some what like working a GIANT puzzle with missing pieces and maybe a few pieces that belong with another puzzle. Where do you start! You keep looking through the pieces over and over til something looks like it goes together. Lately my Genealogy research has been at the looking at pieces over and over stage. In June I received a True Treasure, Newby family pictures. I've been scanning them and studying them to figure out who they all are. Some have names and I know the names but other names I don't know, are they family or friends, still other pictures have no name at all.

I've been going back over old information my Aunt gave me years ago. She had a list of names with dates of death. I didn't know who they were and she told me (I'm glad I got to ask her this, she died in Jan. 07) they were her Grandfather Newby's brothers and sisters. Don't know where she got the information. There was no notation of where they lived when they died. I went back to Census records and websites I had looked at before.

Finally Monday morning with just a few minutes to work, things started to come together! One sister was Bettie Thurman and she died Sept. 25, 1906 since I didn't know anything about this sister I decided to start with the Obituary Database from the Chattanooga Library. Well there were quite a few Thurman names, I didn't find Bettie but just happened on a name that rang bells. Ida Thurman Davis, I've found pictures of a Davis family and another of two little girls named Nettie and Clara Davis and another of a baby which says Ida's baby on back. The Database also had her husband's name, Minor Davis.

My next step was to go to the Census records for 1910. BINGO! Minor and Ida and children Nettie and Clara Davis were living in Hamilton County, Tn. There was also a Stella Thurman, age 10, living with them. Stella would have only been 6 when her mother, Bettie Thurman, died.

The 1920 Census again shows the Davis family living in Hamilton County, Tn. children Nettie, Clara and Delores but no Stella. Taking a chance that Stella would still be single at 20 years old, I checked for Stella Thurman. Stella was living with Robert and Ethel Miller and Stella is a sister-in-law.

At this point I went backwards, to the 1900 Census and found a Bettie and John Thurman living in Polk County, Tn with children Ida, Ethel, Harry,Thomas and Stella.

I checked the Hamilton County Clerk Anytime Online Services for marriage records for Bettie and John Thurman and found that they married in Hamilton County Feb. 3, 1888. This information hopefully will help since this places the Newby family in Hamilton County or at least near in 1888. We are pretty sure that Bettie, Mattie, David and Tom's father died in 1889, we just don't know where.

I also found that Ida and Minor Davis married in Hamilton County, Tn Dec. 16, 1905 less that a year before her mother died. Ida would have been 15. Ida died in 1947. I plan to get the obituary for Ida Thurman Davis maybe there will be more information there.

Now I am wondering if the picture of Tom Newby with a lady and two girls could be Bettie Thurman and her two of her daughters. I've never found any record that Tom Newby ever married.
Still looking at the pieces!!

Davis Family??

The back of this picture says Nettie Davis and Clara Davis.

The two oldest girls in this picture could be the two little Davis girls in the above picture. Or at least I think they look similar and they have the same last name.

The back of the Davis family picture says Mr. and Mrs. Davis and family and in the address area it says Mrs. l.a. Newby. I know that my Great Great Grandmother was Lydia A. Newby. If only I knew who the Davis family was.

Now if only I can figure out if this family was related to the Newby family or just friends.