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: Red Suspenders

Nine years ago I posted this about one of the items in my political collection...

___________________ 

8-6-2014

It'll be fun to be a part of our state Democratic Convention this year. It's been a long time since my last turn as a delegate. I'm excited that in 2014, though we face tough races, we have two competitive candidates in Jason Carter (Governor) and Michelle Nunn (US Senate).

One of my prized political items (I collect them) is this ribbon and letter that were my "Daddy Shaw's" credentials for the Georgia Democratic Convention a few months before I was born. Of course, as the letter indicates, Talmadge evidently was pretty generous with credentials for the 1946 convention, and used them to drum up votes to defeat a measure he opposed. Talmadge would die in December and the next year would prove very entertaining as Georgia witnessed its famous Three Governors Controversy.

I suspect this document indicates that my beloved Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I've ever known, would have, unfortunately, sided with ol' Red Suspenders' faction. 

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.

Grady Columbus Shaw

 

My Daddy, Charles Columbus Shaw, took this picture in Grady's Barber Shop  in Milstead, Georgia shortly after my grandfather Grady Columbus Shaw died. I carried the Polaroid shot around in my billfold for several years as a reminder of this treasured site of my childhood.

Gleaning Facebook: Gray's Barber Shop

When in the 1990s CocaCola decided to produce a miniature stained glass barber shop, look what they named it.

 

The real Grady's Barber Shop, Milstead, Georgia, now part of Conyers in Rockdale County east of Atlanta. That's my grandfather, Grady Columbus Shaw, standing on the porch. 

And here a polaroid my Daddy took inside the barber shop -- I think it was the same day in July 1965 as the funeral of my grandfather Grady Columbus Shaw, Sr. I shined quite a few shoes there... and with each dime I earned I could buy a 6 oz. Coke AND a pack of Tom's peanuts

July 16

There have been some days seared in my memory by the sadness I felt. Today is the anniversary of one of those days. On July 16, 1965 I lost one of my heroes and most loved relatives, my grandfather (Daddy Shaw) Grady Columbus Shaw.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Favorite Old Family Pictures

Here are the five favorite old family photos that I intended to post on Facebook today:

Nathan Robert Wood, my great great grandfather, who lied about his age and signed up with the First Georgia Cavalry at sixteen. He died at age 85 in 1930. 

My mischeivous father, Charles Columbus Shaw, in the creek -- "Bo'Tush Creek In think. Annie Shaw Hicks, my great aunt showed us this picture at her home -- was it in Snellville? -- just a few years before her death. I was so glad when I discovered that a digital copy had been made of it and it was not lost when she died. If Daddy was five here this would have been the summer of 1924.

My great great grandmother, Mary Whaley Wood and her cow. I think their home was in Porterdale, Georgia. She died at age 69 in September of 1919.

Facebook Comments:

George Barton

Love this photo, "American Gothic" with a spin.

Michael J. Burton

Amen George Barton

Annie Shields
I think this is the nicest old family photo have ever seen.

My great grandparents, Minnie Wood Shaw and Columbus Turner Shaw with three of their children including L-R: Lewis Quillian Shaw, Sr., James Curtis Shaw, Sr., and  Grady Columbus Shaw, Sr. (my grandfather). James was born in January of 1903 so this picture would have been later that year.

My Great Great Grandfather Thomas Wesley Wilkerson with his dog. Nance's Creek, Alabama. Thomas died at age 63 in June of 1903. I estimate he was at least 60 in this picture. I love this picture and use it when I tell my "Grandpa Wilkerson Knew His Dogs" story, which is my version of Donald Davis's wonderful "Barking At a Fox-Fur Coat".

Gleaning Facebook: Shoeshine stand

This shoe-shine stand was used by my daddy in my grandfathers barber shop. This one may have predated the big stand in Grady's Barber Shop of the forties and fifties. I suspect he used this one in the shop that burned in the late twenties or early thirties.

My daddy carved his initials in the shoe-shine stand when he was a boy.

 

Gleaning Facebook: Grady's Barber Shop

The interior of my grandfather's barber shop in Milstead Georgia. Daddy Shaw stood behind the chair to the right. See the cabinetry behind him with towels and hair tonic bottles. In the two mirrors you can see the radiator, the hat rack (my mother still owns that) the shoe-shine stand (a spindle chair bolted to a two-step box with shoe rests and drawers for paste wax, brushes, cloths, and blacking for the soles.) There's a decal on the left mirror for Knapp Shoes (Daddy Shaw sold those in the shop and door-to-door). I usually sat in the chair to the left when I wasn't shining shoes, to better hear Daddy Shaw's stories.

Howard Smith
My dad was a barber until I went off to college. He owned his two chair shop but he worked alone. For awhile, he also sold insurance and kept his office in the back. He worked 6 days a week but like in many small Southern towns he did close Wednesday afternoons. After working till 5 pm or so he would make calls to sell insurance. On the Wednesday afternoons he'd work on our farm. He also helped found the local bank and the only times I ever knew him to close his barber shop was to attend bank board meetings just a few blocks up the street. Eventually he took a job with the Department of Revenue with the State of South Carolina and rented his barber shop to someone. Thanks for reminding me of a time long gone.
Terrell Shaw
Sounds a lot like Daddy Shaw, one of the finest men I have ever known. I lived for that week in the summer that I got to spend at Mama Shaw's house and Dddy Shaw's Barber Shop. He sold Kirby Vacuums, Knapp Shoes, and Singer Sewing Machines. He had a second barber in the shop briefly, they say, but not in my memory. So that second chair was usually mine. For a little kid it was great entertainment just figuring out all the different ways to adjust that chair - a Koken, I think.
Galen Dale Foster
Terry I like you sat in that chair many times waiting for MR. Grady to cut my hair. When he finished my hair it was time for him to shave my neck. I could hardly stand for my neck to be shave it gave me chill bumps and he knew it. He would say Galen ready to have your neck shaved and I would hesitantly yes sir. I remember the shoes and I remember the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner that mother had which was bought from MR. Grady. He was a really fine man. Great memories.
Terry I always looked forward to the week you spent with your grandparents because you and I always got to spend time together.
Laurie Craw
Wonder how many kids will grow up to tell stories about how their Daddies and Grandaddies sold stuff on Ebay?
Virginia M. McChesney
Lovely to see how you became who you are!
Terrell Shaw
I only lived in Milstead my first three years (and a week every summer for several years of my childhood) but the people there certainly have had a big influence on me. Part of my heart will always reside there.
Austin Matthews
Awesome!
Terrell Shaw
I'm not sure how well this beat up old picture (taken with a Polaroid camera after Daddy Shaw's funeral in 1965) shows how neatly the shop was kept. The hair tonic and talc jars and bottles were neatly arranged, the various towels were folded and stacked neatly. The mirrors were clean. The hair was kept swept up. I can see him in my mind's eye with a broom and that long-handled dust pan quickly tidying the floor. It felt almost like a doctor's office.
Oh, and I suppose all that is left of that place is the small "portable" shoe-shine stand that I think dates to the first shop up near the school and a small closed sign. The hat-rack was lost in one of Mother's moves since Daddy's death.
I am told that the barber chairs were Berninghaus Co. Hercules chairs. I would love to find out what happened to the chairs, the big shoeshine stand, and the Grady's Barber Shop sign! Mother saved the small shoeshine stand (with my Daddy's initials carved in the seat) from the trash pile.

Gleaning Facebook: A "Clip Joint" to Remember

A "CLIP JOINT" TO REMEMBER

By Frank Robinson efrjr96@mail.com

June, 2013

The beloved old Milstead Community Center building was the most famous, and one of the favorite places in the village. Exploring it through a child's eyes, it was a truly magical place. Solidly built in the 1920's by craftsmen, I have never seen a building as complete in scope, and purpose, as the old gym.
It was a huge, building replete with massive wooden beams supporting a virtual catacomb of a floor plan, with literally something for everyone. Those of us who grew up in Milstead during that era are truly fortunate and I, personally, would not trade that experience for anything.
"Grady's Barbershop", occupied the main floor suite at the south end, and it was the only commercial business in the building. The proprietor, and sole barber, was Mr. Grady Shaw. From information gleaned from other sources, I have discovered that Mr. Grady had worked at Callaway Mills in his younger days, but at some point became a barber and opened his shop at the Community Center. I don't really know if he went to school to learn barbering, or just learned it on his own, but I remember business licenses on the wall, so I guess that's all he needed.
Mr. Grady had two, old, "Berninghaus Hercules" model barber chairs in his shop, however, I never remember there being a barber other than Mr. Grady. As a kid, I always thought the name "Hercules", molded into the foot stands, said "Her curls"...I couldn't figure that out, I mean, it was a barbershop for men...but I finally figured it out.
Mounted on the wall behind each of the two chairs were large mirrors, and beneath them were shelves lined with bottles of hair tonics, talc, and colognes of the day in various shapes, sizes, colors, and scents. The combinations of these scented chemicals, and talcum powder in the air always kept the barbershop smelling great.
There were also compartment for towels, washcloths, and other accoutrements of the barbering trade of the day. Two white, pedestal, sinks - made of solid porcelain - with the oddest crook-necked faucets I had ever seen, were mounted below the shelves for the water needs of barbering.
Hanging off the two chairs was the standard leather "strop", used by Mr. Grady to keep a keen edge on his straight razor. When you got haircut from Mr. Grady, you always got your neck shaved, whether you wanted it, or not. Warm lather from his cup and brush would be applied to the back of your neck, and then shaved clean of any straggler hairs that his clippers had missed. Afterwards, he would wipe off any leftover lather and apply a few dabs of "Witch Hazel" to your neck with a cotton ball.
The finale to your haircut was for Mr. Grady to sprinkle some talcum powder onto his soft barber's brush, and dust onto your neck. You had to hold your breath until the talcum cloud settled away, or you'd be sneezing for an hour. These were the kind of haircuts you could still feel two hours after you left the shop, but it was a pretty cool feeling.
Sitting high-up on the old shoeshine stand, an old wooden chair mounted it on top of a boxlike structure with two, metal, “foot stands”, was a favorite place to wait on your turn. The other, less adventurous customers would wait their turn on the folding metal chairs around the wall and enjoy the breeze of the old ceiling fan.
You could learn about everything going on in the village, and hear all manner of tall tales listening to the grown-ups talking in the waiting area.
Lots of folks probably don't even remember who gave them their first haircut, but if you grew up in Milstead, there was a good chance that it was Mr. Grady Shaw.

Comments from 2018

Terrell Shaw
Thanks so much for this remembrance, Frank. Grady Columbus Shaw was a wonderful grandfather. I anticipated my week in Milstead each year like Christmas. I would love to have better pictures of the shop. If you ever hear of any I’d love to have copies.
May I share your story... with atribution of course?

Terrell Shaw
Grady Shaw’s first barber shop was on the lane that followed the little ridge from the school to Main St. Is tgere a water tower there? My dad, as a boy, had the chore of opening the shop and starting a fire on cool mornings. One morning having fired up the stove he sat out front waiting for his Dad. When Grady Shaw got there he was running right past Charles to try to extinquish the fire that had escaped the stove and was consuming the building right behind my oblivious future father. The shop was a total loss. Somehow he managed to survive financially to rebuild his business at the community center. He did have another barber with him, I think in the forties, but not for long. I feel like I should know how he got his training, but I don’t remember now. He sold Knapp shoes and Singer sewing machines to supplement the barbering.

Frank Robinson
I do have this one...

Terrell Shaw
Frank Robinson That's MY picture! My dad and I took three or four pictures in the shop with a polaroid camera after my grandfather's funeral in 1965. I carried this one around for years and finally scanned and posted it several years ago. 

Frank Robinson
OK, I got it somewhere off the web, and it was in a folder where I keep Milstead related photos. Sorry about that...good pic, though.

Terrell Shaw
Frank Robinson No problrm at all... glad it's out there. There's an old picture of a cousin sitting in the chair after a haircut. And a picture of my Dad and another of his brother James taken in the shop the same day as the picture above, but they are close-ups without much background.

Frank Robinson
Terrell Shaw I have another one with Marion Rooks (?) sitting in the extra chair, at least, that's what the caption says.

Terrell Shaw
Frank Robinson I’d love to see it.

Loretta Shaw
Mr Grady gave my son Terry his first haircut . He was very thoughtful he put the hair he cut off, in an envelope & told my husband he knew how mothers were & I would want it . it is still in his baby book 67 years later.

Danny Shaw
Frank Robinson My dad was Grady Jr and became a barber as well. I loved that place and remember being hoisted up on the booster made for the barber chair. I also remember getting a Coca-Cola with peanuts after my first haircut in that place that so many stories, shoe shines, and Kirby vacuums were displayed.

Galen Dale Foster
MR. Grady Shaw's Barber Shop was a gathering place for fishermen. Some of the largest fish in Yellow River were caught in that one room as he cut hair. There were some great tales told there some true some not so true.

I was a young boy waiting for a hair cut and I enjoyed the tales.

Deborah Shaw Lewis
My Daddy Shaw. How I loved him!

Yvonne Barmore
I remember he was every one's barbara!!! And folks sure did respect him!

Chester Walls
Got many haircuts there

Terrell Shaw
That's my Daddy Shaw. I shined a good many shoes in that shop. And with the dime I earned could pull a six ounce Coke out of the box and buy a pack of Tom's Peanuts to float in it while I drank the Coke and listened to my grandfather's stories.
If anyone out there has a "first haircut" picture from this shop, I'd love to see it!

Jerry Mills
Could you put a date to this photo Terrell Shaw

Terrell Shaw
Daddy Shaw died July 16, 1965. This looks to me like it was not too long before that.

Jerry Mills
Terrell Shaw I was searching "vintage photos Rockdale county" and found this one. Ruth Baird Shaw

Terrell Shaw
Yes, that’s my mother. I or my sister Beth likely posted that picture. My dad, Charles Columbus Shaw was son to Grady Columbus Shaw (Daddy Shaw).

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.