I have often shared here how much I love old photos. They seem like time capsules to me. I scanned in the old photo below, that was made probably sometime around 1940, and it evokes a lot of feelings and memories, for me, so I wanted to share it. My father didn't see this photo until later in his life but I know he cherished it.
The little boy is my dad. He would have been probably around 10 years old. I have only a couple of photos of him as a child. He was born in 1930, when the Great Depression was in full swing and times were hard. At some point during his childhood his mother got a camera, a Brownie. He said she never called it a camera, she called it simply The Brownie. However, film cost money, and getting it developed cost money and there was probably nowhere to take it in Hepzibah, Georgia, so Augusta would have been where it had to go, and that was a bit of a drive (30-45 minutes) in the 1930's and 1940's.
I believe this photo was made at a family reunion of some sort, and was obviously better than the little snaps made with a Brownie.
I emailed this photo to my Thompson cousins yesterday and one of them remarked how much the little boy looks like my brother, Bruce. So true. I hadn't noticed it before. We've always said Bruce looks more Hasty than Thompson, but there's no doubt he's Tony Thompson's son, from this photo.
My grandmother Cordelia is seated on the far left, and she looks amused. I imagine Daddy was cutting up (as he did all his life, especially when happy) and somebody told him to go sit down in the chair and be quiet. That was always hard for him.
The older lady seated next to Cordelia I believed was my great grandmother Martha Adelaide Beall Henderson. However, when I Googled her and found a photo of her headstone I realize I was wrong. Martha Beall Henderson died in 1926, many years before this photo was made. So the lady in the photo must be Emma Foss/Dinkins, the oldest child. She married twice and had no children, and would have been about 67 in the photo.
My grandmother Cordelia was one of the youngest of the 13 children. Amusingly, Ancestry lists Cordelia's mother Martha Beall Henderson as having only 3 children, and Find A Grave lists only 7 children. She and Grandaddy had at least 13 children. (There may have been a child or two that didn't survive infancy, which was common back then.) The last child recorded only lived a year. Martha was born in 1853 and had her first child in 1873 -- kind of old to be having a first child in those days. Her last child was born when she was 43, so she spent 23 years having children, bless her.
Most of the ladies in the photo above are well known to me. My aunt Ceph is standing right behind my grandmother. She had an enormous bosom and was a tall lady, and I was scared of her as a child because she made it clear she adored my dad and didn't have much use for me or my brother... Her husband Grady was one of the sweetest men in the world, though, and I loved him dearly. He was a postal carrier for more than 35 years. When my father was in graduate school and ran out of money, only a few credits shy of graduation, Uncle Grady loaned him the money to finish. Dad was always so grateful for that -- and paid him back, every penny.
Two of the ladies pictured, Virginia and Parmee, were daughters of Joe, the second oldest Henderson sibling, and they were very close to my grandmother Cordelia, and subsequently our entire family. I remember them as older ladies, always smiling and delightful. They loved my dad very much, and showed it. He loved them, too.
Virginia's granddaughter Lesleigh is my first cousin twice removed or 2nd cousin or something like that. I've never gotten it straight. I just call her Cousin. She is also a dear friend of mine -- more like a sister than a cousin. At left, the two of us around 2001.
I love that there are enduring friendships among the Henderson descendants. Since Dad died we haven't had but a couple of reunions, but many of us stay in touch anyway.
I have always been interested in genealogy and I've learned many interesting things about Martha Beall and James Lewis Henderson.
Martha was descended from a French Huguenot named Pleasant Thurmond.Yes, we are distantly related to Senator Thurmond.
James Lewis Henderson is descended from Augustine Warner, one of the first Englishmen in Virginia, whose descendants number in the thousands and include folks like Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, and George Washington.
Ironically, I live off Henderson Mill Road, and I think we are related to the Hendersons who owned the mill many years ago.
Among us Henderson descendants are writers, teachers, engineers, marketing professionals, medical professionals, businessmen and women, artists, professors, and more.
At left, me and some of my Henderson cousins attending the Highland Games here in Atlanta, about 2004. We are part Scottish and connect to the Clan Henderson.
I love re-connecting with cousins and do it as often as I can.
I find the links to our ancestors interesting, but not as interesting as the ties to folks I've known all my life. I am proud to be a Henderson, and proud of my family and its many accomplishments.
