Scrapbook about my turn-of-the-century great-grandfather

[Orgetorix]

For my birthday this year, my mother and my aunt gave me one of the best presents I've ever received: a scrapbook with photos and information about my great-grandfather, who died in the 1950s. Mom and Aunt Terry didn't know much about him themselves, and did a great deal of research to identify some pictures and find out information about him. I've reproduced some of the scrapbook here, in case anyone is interested.

James Henry Terry
According to a World War I draft registration card, he was born in 1879.
I believe he died in 1956.

Jim as a young man.

Jim Terry owned a cotton gin in Okolona, Mississippi.
He was a Mississippi state legislator in the '30s.

When Jim needed to be in Jackson for legislative business, the family lived at the King Edward Hotel.
It has been said that more political and legislative work was done in the lobby of the King Edward than ever took place within the walls of the state capitol building.

Ida Bell "Polly" Lawless Terry, Jim's wife

Above is Jim and Polly's home in Okolona, Mississippi
Below are Jim and Polly as a young couple, probably around the turn of the century.

J.B., Polly, and Jim
[J.B. was a career Army Air Corps officer.]

Jim and Polly had two children: James Bell (J.B.) and Marianna [my grandmother].
Marianna was born July 30, 1918
Marianna married Carl Gargano [my grandfather] August 18, 1943.
She died March 3, 1979.
Carl was born Frbruary 19, 1918
He died July 28, 1996.

Marianna Terry Gargano
[This is her college sorority picture.]

Jim Terry and Josephine Terry (J.B.'s wife)

Jim and Polly, known as Nanny and Pappa to their grandchildren.

Also included in the scrapbook, but not pictured here, are a 1945 certificate of appreciation from the War Department to Jim for partcipating in "work essential to the production of the Atomic Bomb, thereby contributing to the successful conclusion of World war II.", and a postcard sent by my grandfather to Jim when Jim and Polly were living in Clinton Tennessee, not far from the Oak Ridge laboratories where work on the Manhattan Project was done.

Also not pictured is a gift that came with the scrapbook: Jim Terry's pocketwatch, a lovely gold railroad-style watch with a locomotive etched on the back. Jim never worked for the railroad, but we believe it was given to him by the railroad in appreciation for the business he did with them shipping the production of his cotton gin. He probably used the watch to time the shipments.


This kind of work is one of the best, most meaningful things anyone could ever give me. I knew virtually nothing about my great-grandfather before this, and now I feel as though I have a connection to him despite his dying 30 years before I was born.

 

[KilroyCD]

Very nice! That is a gift that I'm sure you'll treasure for the rest of your life, and I thank you for sharing it with us. I have a few odds and ends that were my great grandfather's, but I was very, very young when he passed away and sadly I only have one or two memories of him.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Some wonderful photographs there, Orgetorix. You're right, a wonderful gift from your mother and aunt. Thank you for sharing them with us. Any pictures of the watch? I have a couple railroad watches, too.


Lee

 

[dhermann1]

Somehow I imagine a deep mellow bass voice, with an elegant drawl, rumbling out from that dignified face.
My mother worked on the Manhattan Project during the war. She was a secretary in New York around 1943. She said every few months she would open an envelope and a check for a million dollars would tumble out. She of course had no idea what the project was.