With the Tennessee State Archives near my office, I research there for the blog during my lunch break. It doesn’t allow much time but I can usually find some information and can always return the following day. This past week, I was searching for information on two communities near Happy Valley that I am planning to cover in future posts. While scanning a book about Blount County’s history, I discovered 2 photos of my grandparents when they were children. The last time I saw these photos in my grandmother’s photo album, I was a child. I couldn’t believe it and was so excited that I showed them to one of the archivists! They had to be taken before 1910 because my grandmother is still an infant and my grandfather is a young boy; the photos were cropped in the book because it didn’t show that they were sitting on a wooden log and their feet were bare, as in the originals. Still, an even bigger mystery is who took these photos because my grandmother or grandfather never could recall who did. They lived in remote mountain communities and were not wealthy, so it had to be someone that came from outside the valley, maybe from Maryville, the closest city. When I started this blog, my main goal was to emphasize the importance of historic preservation and to showcase old buildings but in the process, I have discovered something about my own history, the origins of my mother’s family. History isn’t remote or just in textbooks. It is a work in progress.
My grandmother is the baby on the woman’s lap
My grandfather is the second from the left.
Still... Vanishing Tennessee and Kentucky 
My name is William whitehead,I grew up in the Valley,and am very familiar with the families who lived in the Richwoods’I remember uncle Tom hearon who had the mill on Abrams creek
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As you can see, I grew up there but now reside just outside of Nashville. My mother is Lida Cooper. Could you share the info. of the families in the Richwoods with me? I really don’t know that much and am starting to do some geneology research for a DAR application. Did the families that settled in the Richwoods come from a particular area? I know that there were some that came from Carter County, in upper East TN. I’m not sure who Tom Hearon was but I believe I remember mom talking about the mill on Abrams Creek. Thank you for emailing me!
Sincerely,
Pamela LaRue
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Send me a mailing address I will send what I have.I knew your mother and Grandparents.My birth certificate is signed by your mothers mother.she was a midwife.Thanks William Whitehead
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Pamela, I saw your review on Keysburg Logan Co Ky. I put a comment in but don’t know if you see it. I grew up in Keysburg and related to every original family in Logan Co Ky between my Mother’s Prince family and my Father’s Lawrence family and every family in between, I have a lifetime of wonderful memories of places and time there. Becky Lawrence Kendall
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I’m sorry Becky for taking so long to reply. I’ve not been working on my blog much because I’ve so much to do outside. Wow, I would love to talk to you more about your family history. Did you see my posting about he Drane House which is located near Adairville? I’m also working on post about the Hite House…
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