Newby Family Photo and Another Home of Our Ancestors

This old photo isn't in the best condition as you can see from the scan. There are no names on the photo. One of my cousins said he remembered seeing this many years ago and he thought the baby in the photo was our grandmother, Fay Newby Kelley. It seems sometimes with these old photos it was as much about getting a picture of the house they lived in as it was the people. The people are such a small part of the photo.

I did some editing and zoomed in some so we can see the people better. The man and woman to the left could be D. H. Newby and Jennie Long Newby. I've seen several photos of D. H. Newby and this does look like him. I've only seen one of Jennie so I'm not sure about her. The baby could be anyone except for my cousin thought he remembered this being our Grandmother. The man holding the baby and the child on the right of the photo are a mystery. If I were to guess the man maybe Jennie's father, Moses Long. D. H. Newby's father was already dead when my grandmother was born, or at least we think he was.

Sam and Sarah Edgemon's House

This beautiful old house was built by Sam and Sarah Edgemon. From what my Mom has told me after Sam died their daughter Martha and her husband Woodrow Benton lived with Sarah. They bought the house from her and they lived there until sometime in the 70's or 80's when they sold and moved out west. This picture was made in the 50's.

Homes of Our Ancestors

Left to Right: Eska, Jesse, Edgar (my Grandfather), Nancy and Hiram Kelley (my Great Grandparents)

I'm not sure of the date of the photo. The house was built in 1892. Edgar married Faye Newby April 27,1913 and lived in a small house on the property then moved into this house and cared for Hiram and Nancy in their later years. Hiram died in May 30,1928 and Nancy died March 31, 1931. Edgar died in Feb.22.1929. Faye remained in the house and raised her 6 children. She lived in the house until she could no longer live alone when she went to live with her daughter, Bonnie. Fay Newby Kelley lived to be almost 92. This is the house my Grandfather and Father were raised in. It is amazing the house is still standing today. Hiram was a carpenter and according to what I’ve heard built this house. He must have been a good carpenter! Below is a picture of the house as it was in July 2008. Many changes have been made over the years most after my Grandmother died and the house was sold in the mid- 1980's.

My How Things Change

Believe it or not these pictures are all taken from just about the same spot. The first one is the house I grew up in. My Mom lived here for over 50 years! Her parents bought this place when she was a kid. What wonderful memories of living there for all of us.

The second picture is during the development of the area. The last picture I made last week. The fire hydrant is the only way I can tell for sure, to the right of the hydrant was my front yard and to the left was my driveway. My How Things Have Changed!! It will be 20 years since they sold the place and moved. I'm so thankful they moved closer to us.

Homes of Our Ancestors

I've enjoyed doing the series. Going from my great great grandparents Jacob and Annabelle Ziegler, great grandparents Will and Sallie Ziegler and grandparents John and Hattie Ziegler (my mom's mother and father) and finally to the home I grew up in has been fun. Pictures and stories about my ancestors to go along with the pictures of the homes. Now I must get busy and find more pictures of other branches. I'm not as lucky in the other branches, I only have a few pictures of their homes.

Homes of Our Ancestors

This is the house that my grandparents, John and Hattie Ziegler lived in at the time of their death.

Granny died March 18,1981 and PaPa died Nov. 14, 1981. They were married April 2, 1916 and would have had their 65 anniversary a couple of weeks after Granny died. We were planning to have a little get together for them. My cousin and I had planned to do some painting in the house for her, instead we were at her funeral. It was a very sad time. Granny was the BEST grandmother EVER! I grew up just across the driveway and was attached to her. She was like a best friend.

They lived several places in their almost 65 years together. I couldn't find an early picture of this house. They moved to this property sometime in the 1930's. There were two houses on the property and they lived in one and rented the other out. From the stories I've heard they lived in one then moved to the other because they could get more rent for the other house since it was larger. They moved from house to house several times. The yellow house is the house I grew up in. My grandparents moved into the green house when my mom and dad married and moved into the other house.

These pictures were made in Oct. 1989 just a few days before they were torn down. Now this area is hotels, restaurants and parking lots. All of the houses on my old street are gone. It was sad to see them torn down but I was happy to see my parents move into a newer house. Plus they moved closer to my brother and me. Progress is difficult when it touches your family.

Homes of Our Ancestors

Will and Sallie Ziegler moved from the store building to this house, which is one street over from the store building.
It is my understanding that Harry and his wife Lillie Mae bought the house and then sold it to Will and Sallie when Harry moved to New Mexico. Harry was Will and Sallie's son.
Aunt Christian kept this house even after she could no longer climb the steps.





The house was sold. The North Chattanooga area has had a lot of growth over the last few years. Many people have bought these old homes and fixed them up. North Chattanooga is once again a nice neighborhood to live in.

This picture was made in Oct. 2007.

I remember as a child thinking that there were so many steps! Now it doesn't look like that many.
I think who ever bought it has done a wonderful job.

Homes of Our Ancestors

I'll do more on the letters from Jacob and Annabelle another day. I hope to make this a regular on the blog, at least as long as I have pictures of homes. Today's picture is still with the Ziegler family. My Great Grandparents Will and Sallie Ziegler moved to Chattanooga from Athens, Tn.

Will ran a store in North Chattanooga (Hill City). Hill City was a fitting name there are very few level yards in North Chattanooga.

The store building is still standing and has been made into apartments. These pictures were made in Oct. 2007. I remember seeing a picture of my Great Grandma in front of the store but have been unable to find it in my mom's pictures. As you can tell the building is very large. The store was in one part and they lived in the other. My mom said she remembered them living in the store building. I don't remember ever going inside the building even though it stayed in the family until the early 1990's.

Homes of Our Ancestors

I'm going to try to post some of the pictures I have of the homes my ancestors lived in.

The first is a really neat place. My Great Great Grandparents, Jacob and Annabelle Ziegler lived in the house. I'm not sure if the house is still there or but people were still living in it in the early 1990's. The house is somewhere near Athens, Tn. I went there once in the 1970's. But don't remember how to get there. My mother doesn't remember how to get there either. Jacob and Annabelle died in 1917 and 1918. As far as I know they lived in this house when they died. Jacob had a mill and operated a store and post office.

One story I remember was that my Great Grandparents Will and Sally Ziegler lived in the store building when their daughter Christian was born in 1906. Sometime after that they moved to Chattanooga and Will ran a store in North Chattanooga (Hill City as it was called then).

Jacob was in the Union Army during the Civil War. His father Joram Ziegler was very mad at him when he joined the Union Army. Jacob would not let his first born son be named after Joram. In the 1970's some people who lived in the house discovered letters that Jacob and Annabelle wrote to each other during the Civil War. I plan to write more about these letters in another post.

My husband ran into some men from the area at work last fall. He told them about the Ziegler Mill and they told him how to get there. We went and found where they were talking about but it was not this house. My mother said that Jacob had a brother who also had a mill in the area. I showed her a picture of the house which she remembered going to but it was Jacob's bother's place. He told the men there were two Ziegler Mill's and they gave him directions to another place that might be our Ziegler Mill. We haven't had a chance to go back to look for it.

The mill has been gone for a long time. I would love to find the house again.