History Detective: Cartersville, Georgia

In this blog I want to take a journey back to

Cartersville, Georgia, my mother's hometown.

I want to tell a little about her parents- my grandparents-

and share bits and pieces of what Mama told me about

her childhood years.

Mama, Elizabeth Anne Black, was born on May 6, 1920.

Her mother was Kate Florene Gaines Black, born August

14, 1888 (my and Judy's anniversary).

Her father was Homer Augustus Black, born in 1882. At 

age 41 he died of pneumonia, leaving his wife with five

children, ages 13, 10, 3, 2, and 1.  That's right.

Here is my grandfather that I never knew, and who

my mother, the 3 year-old, never remembered.

According to census records, he was a clerk in a

dry goods store in 1910 and 1920.  But for some

period in between, his 1917 draft registration says

he was a mining foreman at the Thompson-Wienman

mines.  It was bought by DuPont in 1918, which may

have resulted in his change of jobs. I know little of 

his personal life, but much of the Black family history.

My grandmother found a way to raise those

children for the next dozen years or so, including

the heart of the Great Depression. Then she married

George Winchester Gaddis, whose wife and child had

also died during some of the epidemics of those days.

He was the grandfather that I and my siblings Buddy

and Caryn would know and love. He was the sheriff of

Bartow County, a man loved and respected by the community

and his new family.

This picture was apparently taken before Caryn was born,

so around 1957, when I was four and Buddy (Ellis) was eight.

I'll share more about the setting later on.

Below are Mama with her mother and siblings,

probably in the late 1950's, because it was taken at

my grandparents' country house.

Back row, L to R: Mama, Elsie (Melton), Jeannette (Manning)

Front row, L to R: Homer (Jr.), Mama (Black) Gaddis,

Marjorie/Margie (Floyd)

This picture is even earlier and Elsie is missing.

This seems to be inside the country home.

My grandparents and step-grandfather are all buried

at beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery in Cartersville. Many 

other family members in the Black and Gaines lines

are buried here, as well.

Mama Gaddis was blessed to have two loving, caring men

 who helped her have the wonderful life and family she had.

In 2006, three years before Mama's death, our family

took her to Cartersville, where she gave us some history

that I will always cherish.  As a single parent, her mother

used her wisdom and skills to provide for her children,

renting houses so she could take in boarders, and working

from home as a master seamstress.

As Mama took us on a tour of the various houses that 

became her homes, I will take you on a similar tour.

I'm going to use some literary license to paraphrase what

Mama told me and put my notes in narrative form.

Let's go!

Mama: "This house is on the corner of West Avenue. It's

white now, but it used to be brown. I was about 7, I think.

It had a dirt yard then, and we played hopscotch.  Homer

(age 5) had a white rabbit. Aunt Bessie (Black) lived with us."

Mama: "This big two story house is on Fite Street. I'm not 

sure of my age then, but I was older than 7. We had boarders.

One was a student named Davis Upshaw. A girl named

Katherine Hall was from Kingston.  She used to dance at

the Fox Theater in Atlanta.  She was a real beauty! We used

to walk to Poindexter's on West Street.  The neighborhood

boys would put on shows for pennies or pins. We had a fig

tree beside the house."

Mama:  "This house is on Market Street, but now

they have renamed it Cherokee Avenue. We played croquet.

It was close to school, so we could walk.  I was older than

seven. A girl named Connie stayed there with us.  She was

 from Euharlie or Stilesboro and worked at the dry goods store.

Our house was downhill from Aunt Addie and Grandma Gaines."

This house and many others in the old downtown area

have been designated as historic homes.

Below is the beautiful house that Mama identified

as the home of her Aunt Addie and Grandma Gaines.

Mama: "Grandma Gaines played with us a lot. The day

she died she played Russian Bank (a popular card game)

at the jail. (This may have been when Mama Gaddis and

Sheriff Papa Gaddis were courting or just after marriage.)

She said, 'I'm tired of playing,' and went home to lie down.

She wore her hair in a knot with a 'rat' in it.

The next two pictures show this lovely house as it is today.

Mama: "This house is at 123 Leak Street. I was older

than six when we moved away from here. From when

I was 6 to 13 I lived in six houses. (These are not in

order, but this is the order we visited the locations).

We skated a lot and children would come on the porch

for games.  We lived here when Mama Gaddis worked

for Papa Gaddis before they married.

(We couldn't get any closer to this house with an

overgrown yard.)

Mama: "We lived here when I started school. I walked

with Margie. Once I didn't want to go to school and she

held my head under a water faucet.  Years later before

she died she told me she was so sorry she did that."

Mama: "Marjorie was born here (1913). But I don't 

think I lived there.  The house I was born in was torn down."

Through draft records on Ancestry.com I was able to learn

 that Homer and Kate Black lived at 230 Gilmer Street in 1918,

and probably when Mama was born.

Let's moved a couple of decades later.  Papa Gaddis

had retired to a country farm after some 35 years as 

Bartow County sheriff.  How I loved driving into the

farm on this winding lane (unpaved then) each time we

came to visit.

Here's the house I remember so well. Buddy remembers

far more about it than I do, when Papa Gaddis was still

actively farming.  There were fields of crops, bountiful

orchards, a spring house, and beautiful woodlands.

We would walk to a grave of a Confederate soldier

deep in those woods.  I'm glad the current residents have

taken good care of this dear old house.

The porch was screened in those days.  I remember

a hammock and comfortable chairs, where family

members would relax and converse.

Somewhere in these woods is that soldier's grave.

This view of the house is from the road below.

You can envision what a beautiful farm it was.

As Mama and Papa Gaddis grew older, one ice storm

too many forced them into town. They lived peacefully

and comfortably in a small brick house at 8 Alexander

Street until his death in 1964 and hers in 1975.

I'm so thankful for the memories I experienced myself

and for the stories I have learned from my mother and

other sources.  I'm eager to learn still more from my 

cousins, who may have fascinating stories of their own

that we haven't yet had time to share.