Mama Shaw's Albums

 My “Mama Shaw,” Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson (Shaw,) loved her photo albums. She had three store-bought 7"x9" albums with black covers and gilt lettering on them that read: "The Shaw Family," "The Wilkerson Family," and "Our Family Album." The pictures were either attached with gold colored "photo corners" or pasted in. After I inherited them I transferred the crumbling pages to acid-free sheet protectors and looseleaf binders. Many of the pictures on the Milstead Memories Facebook page and on the previous website managed by my sister Beth, came from these albums.

In many of my visits to Mama Shaw’s house on Main Street in Milstead we would sit together at the dining room table and leaf through the albums. She’s tell me about which babies were which. She’s talk about her Childers and Brewer relatives in Fish Creek (Polk County) and the Shaw family who lived between Conyers and Lithonia. And of course about all the pictures from her family in Milstead. 

Since I have had the albums — 30 years now — I have scanned almost if not all of the photos. But they are scattered on different hard drives. In the nineties when I first began doing that I had the idea that digitizing them would safeguard the images; I’m not so sure now. At least it seems easier to find them in the old fashioned albums than on my computer sometimes! 

I have toted the albums along to many family reunions so I'm always surprised at the folks who claim never to have seen the photos when I am confident they have... but of course I should realize that they likely got a quick look at them at a reunion maybe two or three times over several decades. Soooo -- digital images on any particular website cannot be expected to last forever, they can get a lot more views on Facebook and e-mails and text streams than in physical albums that spend most of the time undisturbed on shelves. 

Here are the cover of one of the albums… 

Here are three pictures from those albums that I posted to Milstead Memories today -- and the enhanced versions that appeared thanks to Jerry Owens only a few hours later.

Grady Columbus Shaw, born May 15, 1898, was the son of Columbus Turner Shaw and Minnie Zipporah Wood. He grew up near Milstead and eventually went to work for Callaway Mills. He eventually opened a barber shop in a building on the little lane that lead from Main Street past the water tower. That shop burned. He later opened a shop in the community building on Main Street which he operated until his death on July 16, 1965. He has been one of my heroes since childhood. He was a loving father and grandfather and was not above pulling pranks that would irritate his wife and delight his sons and grandchildren.

This is a newborn photo of Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson who was born October 29, 1902 in Polk County, Georgia. She was the daughter of Charles Reuben Wilkerson and Eula Amanda Childers (Wilkerson). He worked at the cotton mill in Aragon, Georgia, later moving to the mill in Atco (Cartersville) Georgia, and finally (around 1916-17) to Callaway Mills in Milstead, Georgia. Lillian's mother died in 1910, and in 1912 her father married Mattie Kiser (Wilkerson).

Lillian met Grady Shaw in Milstead and they married in 1918. IMO this photo of Mama Shaw could be easily mistaken for a picture of one of her grandchildren or great grandchildren -- especially Deborah Shaw Lewis or one of Debi's children! 

Old Leaves: Extra Innings

I have been into extra innings in my life for eight years now. Sheila and I were in Jonesborough, Tennessee for the Natiinal Storytelling Festival when I passed my Daddy's record for Days on Earth. We will be back there this evening for our first In-Person NSF since the pandemic began. 

Here is what I wrote on October 5, 2014...

Extra Innings

The little boy in the creek is my daddy, Charles Columbus Shaw. He wasn't breathing when Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw delivered him on May 21, 1919. Lillian's step-mother Mattie Wilkerson took up the baby and breathed into his little mouth and started those lungs supplying oxygen to his heart as they continued to do for 24,668 days including 17 leap days and that partial day, December 3, 1986 when a blood clot stole him from us. Today is my own 24,668th day. Sometime in the next few hours -- or maybe already since I was born just after midnight on my birthday -- I will have surpassed him in one category, perhaps the only one. I will have lived longer. Who knew growing old happens so quickly?

My father's father, Grady Columbus Shaw, also died at 67. I passed his record several weeks ago.

I like to think that perhaps I got my longevity genes from my mother's side of the family. Ruth Baird Shaw is 91 and still driving, blogging, publishing books, challenging me and others on Facebook, and, if she gets a chance occasionally, preaching.

Grady and Charles Shaw certainly were deserving of more days, and we could have used their wisdom, humor, love, and support many times in the intervening years. Who knows why I get the extra innings? But I have them. However long they last, hours, days, months, or years, I swear by those two strong supporters of mine, that I will do my best to use my bonus revolutions around earth's axis, actively, purposefully, consciously, and with an acute awareness of my undeserved but much appreciated blessings. And just maybe I'll accomplish a little good along the way.

Fish Creek Family

After storytelling near Rockmart I decided to drop by the Bethlehem Baptist Church cemetery in the Fish Creek community between Rockmart and Cedartown. Many of my relatives are buried there. 

When my grandmother, Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw, was only four years old her little brother Charles died at only three months. This little stone is at the Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery at Fish Creek in Polk County.

 

When my grandmother, Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw, was only nine years old her mother Eula Amanda Childers Wilkerson died at only 29. This stone is at the Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery at Fish Creek in Polk County.

Looking up the hill over the graves of Eula and Charles Wilkerson toward the crest of the hill and the resting place of Sarah Brewer Childers (my great-great grandmother) and her father Joel Brewer (My great-great-great grandfather. Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery, Fish Creek, Polk County, Georgia.

Sarah Chlders died just a few weeks before her grandchild Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw was born. She was buried beside her father Joel Brewer. It is said that Joel’s three wives — He was married to only one at a time, I hasten to add! — are buried next to him, but there are no markers. His first wife, Nancy Peek Brewer, was Sarah’s mother. Joel was the first Ordinary (now called Probate Judge) of Polk County. He donated land to Bethlehem Baptist Church for this cemetery.

The elevated view from Joel and Sarah’s graves must be nice looking east at sunrise, and it’s soothing to hear the whinnying of horses in the neighboring pasture.

Gleaning Facebook: My Grandmothers

 I miss my grandmothers on this Mother's Day. This is Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw, my Daddy's Mama. She was one tough cookie. Shge lost her own mother when she was only nine. She married at 16 and raised five rambuncious sons to be fine men. I loved the week I spent with her every summer as a kid. She worked me hard, but I still had a great time.

I know I have a picture on this computer,of Ieula Ann Dick Baird my mother;s mother. She had eleven children. Two died young, one as a baby and one as a three-year-old. The others all grew up to be my aunts or uncles, except the youngest who is now my mother! Ieula Baird was a big influence on me. She was kind, sincere, deeply religious, very loving. I wish I could find that picture!

Comments

Nora Matthews Is this Lillian Shaw's name sake?

Joan Shaw Turrentine Thank you for sharing this, Terrell! I strongly embrace what you wrote about each of our loving grandmothers!

Brenda Ron Carroll I loved when Dad would load us up and visit her!! Christmas time with her and my Grandma are precious memories

Ray Langley Terrell I have Wilkersons in my tree.

Terrell Shaw How 'bout that, Cuz!

Ray Langley Terrell Shaw John Wilkerson b abt 1765 married Peggy (Deer Clan) Coo-Tah-Ya

At Grantville with Mama Shaw

L-R: James Edward Shaw, Carol Shaw Johnston, Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw, Sheila Ann Matthews Shaw

 

Gleaning Facebook: Mama Shaw's 90th Birthday

 My grandmother, Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson Shaw - "Mama Shaw" - in the polka-dotted dress and red corsage, at her ninetieth birthday celebration surrounded by thirty of her direct descendants. 1992.

Lillian & Lillian

 This picture is labeled:

Lillian Matthews Shaw (5 most.)

Lillian Wilkerson Shaw (87)

Christmas 1988

My grandmother and her namesake on about this date. This is taken at the Shaw house on Main Street in Milstead, Georgia. I now (2024) have one or two of those doves for our Christmas Tree though they are a little worse for many years wear and tear.

Time Machine: Grandpa Shaw's 77th Birthday - April 13, 1952

On (or near) my great-grandfather's 77th birthday on April 13, 1952, the Shaw family got together to celebrate.

Columbus Turner Shaw

Left to right:

Grady Columbus Shaw, Jr. (almost hidden behind...)

Jack Kenneth Shaw

Hoyt Reeves

Miriam Estelle Shaw (Reeves)

Annie Cloe Shaw (Hicks) (almost hidden behind...)

Lillian Ohelia Wilkerson (Shaw)

Miriam Lorrain Campbell (the little girl)

Horace Reeves (in the bowtie)

Columbus Turner "Lum" Shaw (the birthday boy)

Minnie Ziporah Wood (Shaw)

Grady Columbus Shaw, Sr.

Mary Ann Graham (looking over Grady's shoulder)

Teresa Graham (the baby)

Joe Graham (almost hidden behind...)

Leon Hicks

Billy Joseph Shaw

Left to right:
 ,Annie Shaw (Hicks), Minnie Ziporah Wood (Shaw), Columbus Turner Shaw, Grady Columbus Shaw Sr., Miriam Shaw (Reeves)

Minnie Ziporah Wood (Shaw) (1879-1973) Columbus Turner Shaw (1875-1954)

Minnie and "Lum" Shaw were the parents of ten children:

Grady Columbus Shaw Sr. (1898-1965)

Lewis Quillian Shaw Sr. (1900-1972)

James Curtis Shaw Sr. (1903-1968)

Lillian Maud (Lillie Maud) Shaw (1905-1980)
Addie Belle Shaw (1907-1908)

Vivian Odelle Shaw (1909-1910)

Annie Cloe Shaw (1911-2001)

Miriam Estelle Shaw (1913-2009

Alvin Alonzo Shaw (1916-1979)

Alton Lamar Shaw (1919-1987)

Here's my connection:

I am Charles Terrell Shaw (1947 -)

My father was Charles Columbus Shaw (1919-1986)

His father was Grady Columbus Shaw (1898-1965)

His father was Columbus Turner Shaw (1875-1954)

Grady Shaw and Lillian Wilkerson Marry 1918

Grady Columbus Shaw and Lillian Ophelia Wilkerson were married on July 21, 1918. 

 

This is the earliest photo I have found of Grady and Lillian Shaw. It was likely taken shortly after their marriage, or perhaps at their marriage.