Rome and Polk County, Georgia
Arthur Wright and Maude Lacey, the mill families they came from, and the South Rome streets where they raised six children.
Scroll to follow both families from the Polk County farms into Rome. Solid pins are proven places; dashed pins are close but approximate.
1900 to about 1912
Who: Charles and Georgia Lacey; Maude born here in 1911 Proven by records
Charles Wesley Lacey married Georgia Brown in Floyd County in 1895, and by 1900 they were farming in the Lake Creek district of Polk County. Their household that year included Charles's widowed mother, Clara.
Maude was born here on May 17, 1911, the eighth of fourteen children. (Her own obituary says she was born in Floyd County, so the two sources disagree.)
February 15, 1906
Who: Arthur Wright born Proven by records
Arthur wrote on his own draft card that he was born at "Cave Springs, Georgia," on February 15, 1906, the first child of Rannie and Mary Louise Wright. His obituary and grave record say Polk County; Cave Spring sits right on the Floyd-Polk line.
His grandmother, Mary Hubbard Wright Pierce, was buried at Cave Spring in 1928.
1910 to 1920
Who: Rannie and Mary Louise Wright and their children Proven by records
In 1910 Rannie Wright was an iron miner in the Hampton militia district of Polk County, renting a house with Mary Louise, Arthur (4) and Elizabeth (2). By 1918 he was farming near Cedartown, and in January 1920 he was working a rented farm with seven children.
His 1918 draft card describes him as tall, of medium build, with gray eyes and black hair.
1920
Who: The Lacey family on the farm Proven by records
In January 1920 Charles Lacey was farming in the Antioch district of southern Polk County, with Georgia and nine children at home, among them "Tidy Maude," 8.
1930
Who: The Laceys move to town Proven by records
By April 1930 the Laceys had moved into Rome and rented 407 Calhoun Avenue for $12.50 a month. Charles was 54. Maude, 18 and single, was a twister at the rayon mill, and her sister Lillie Belle was a lacer there.
1930 to 1931
Who: Arthur, his first wife Willie Mae, and baby Jewel; his parents nearby Likely
In April 1930 "Arlie" Wright, 23, a boarder at a hosiery mill, rented a house on Moore Street with his wife Willie M., 19, and their baby daughter Jewel. His parents lived on Crane Street, the next street the census taker walked, and his father and two sisters also worked in the hosiery mill.
Willie Mae died at Harbin Hospital on November 3, 1931, aged 22, of complications of childbirth. Her home was still Moore Street. Jewel stayed with her father. (Status: likely. Willie Mae's death certificate doesn't name her husband, but the street, her age and her Tennessee-born mother all match.)
1935 to 1941
Who: Arthur and Maude, Jewel and Margaret Proven by records
Arthur married Maude Lacey on August 20, 1932. By 1935 they were renting No. 504 Britts Alley, in Rome's Ward 2 (inside the downtown river loop, by the 1940 census district map), for $5 a month, half of a two-family house shared with Jason Massey's family.
In 1940 Arthur worked 52 weeks as a "sox boarder" and earned $520. Maude worked 24 weeks as a trimmer and earned $192. His draft card names his employer as the Rome Hosiery Mill on Sixth Avenue. Britts Alley no longer exists under that name, so the pin marks the mill.
1935 to 1950
Who: Maude's parents, Charles and Georgia Lacey Proven by records
From at least 1935 Maude's parents rented 600 Pennington Avenue in South Rome. They were still there in April 1950, with Lillie Belle and a grandson, and Maude's sister Tempie's family lived at the same number.
about 1949 to 1950
Who: Arthur, Maude, Margaret, James, Fred and Bob Proven by records
On April 3, 1950, the census taker found the family at 22 Pennington Avenue, near Myrtle Hill: Arthur, 44, a heating engineer at the State Hospital; Maudie, 38; Margaret, 16, a sales clerk at a 5 and 10 cent store; James Albert; Fred Lamar, 3; and Bobby Joe, born the December before. They had lived in the same house a year earlier. Gloria was born soon after.
No deed shows Arthur owning it, so the family most likely rented. The county dates the house standing there today to about 1920.
1950 until he retired
Who: Arthur at work Proven by records
Battey opened in 1943 as an Army hospital for wounded soldiers. In 1946 the State of Georgia took it over and ran it as the state tuberculosis hospital, with up to 2,000 patients. Arthur kept its heating plant running: the 1950 census calls him a "heating engineer," and his obituary says he retired as a steam fitter there.
Gloria's childhood (years not known)
Who: The family, as Gloria remembers it Family story
Gloria remembers living at 98 Etowah Terrace, a small one-bath house on the bluff above the Etowah River, under half a mile from Pennington Avenue. The 1926 fire-insurance map already shows a one-story house numbered 98 on the lot.
No record yet puts the Wrights here. The 1950s phone books list someone else at No. 98, and the family seems to have had no phone. From 1962 to 1979 the house belonged to owners who lived elsewhere and most likely rented it out, so a Wright tenancy in those years is possible. City directories at the Rome library would settle it.
1983 to 1992
Who: Arthur and Maude's last home Proven by records
In September 1983 Arthur and Maude bought a small 1940 house at 112 E. 15th Street. Both obituaries give it as their home. It was sold from Maude's estate at the end of 1993.
1991, 1992 and 2010
Who: Arthur, Maude, Fred and Bob Proven by records
Fred was buried here in March 1991, Arthur in June 1992 and Maude that October, side by side in Section D, Lot 297. Bob was brought home from Watkinsville to be buried here in 2010. Maude's brothers Clarence and Grady are here too.
Everyone the records name, from Gloria back to her great-great-grandfather George Hubbard. Tap anyone to move the tree to them, or pick a name from the list. A solid outline means records prove it; dashed means likely. Living people show names and, where a record gives it, a birth date.
Proven by recordsLikelyFamily story or unproven leadLiving
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Gloria's parents, from the records they left.
No photograph of Arthur or Maude has turned up in any public source yet. Their obituaries ran without pictures. What the records give instead is a clear outline of two lives spent in Rome's mills and hospitals, often within a few streets of their parents.
A sock boarder pulled each finished stocking over a heated, foot-shaped metal form to steam it into shape. A trimmer clipped the loose threads. In 1940 Arthur worked every week of the year for $520; Maude worked 24 weeks for $192. The 1926 fire-insurance map of the Rome Hosiery Mills shows the "Boarding" room where Arthur would have worked.
After the war Arthur went to Battey State Hospital, the state's tuberculosis hospital in west Rome. He looked after its heating plant for the rest of his working life, first as a "heating engineer" and later as a steam fitter.
Before he married Maude, Arthur was married to Willie Mae, the daughter of Will Shaw and Emma Davis. In 1930 they lived on Moore Street with their baby daughter Jewel. Willie Mae died on November 3, 1931, aged 22, of complications of childbirth. Jewel grew up with Arthur and Maude: she is "Jewel, daughter, 10" in their 1940 household.
Jewell E. Wright died on September 23, 1973, aged 44, and is buried at Salmon Cemetery in Floyd County. Arthur's funeral notice in 1992 says he was "preceded in death by a daughter, Jewell Wright in 1973." That makes her Gloria's older half-sister. Status: likely. No single record yet names Willie Mae as Jewel's mother; Jewell's 1973 death certificate would.
Fred graduated from East Rome High, Berry College (1968) and the University of Alabama (1973), served in the Marine Corps, taught college, and became a software engineer for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Bob graduated from the University of Georgia law school in 1983 with the Order of the Coif and practiced law in Covington, Elberton and Athens. Margaret worked at Dobbins Air Force Base and later at South Rome Elementary School.
The same corner of South Rome in 1938, 1943, 1954 and today, with 98 Etowah Terrace and 22 Pennington Avenue pinned.
Drag the slider to move through the years. The two houses are under half a mile apart: Pennington Avenue runs north from Myrtle Hill, and Etowah Terrace sits on the bluff above the river, across from downtown.
The 1926 fire-insurance map already shows a one-story frame house numbered 98 on the west side of Etowah Terrace, and today's house numbers run in the same order, so the address has not changed. What isn't proven yet is when the Wrights lived there. The deed records from 1962 on show no Wright owner, and the 1950s phone books list another family at No. 98. From 1962 to 1979 the house belonged to investors who rented it out, so the family may have rented it then.
The census taker's map for 1950 shows exactly which blocks were walked on April 3, 1950. The Wrights' district, 57-25, is the corner of South Rome north of Myrtle Street, which takes in the short north end of Pennington Avenue where No. 22 stands.
Socks were Rome's trade. The Rome Hosiery Mills stood on South 6th Avenue by the Etowah, and the company also owned the Cherokee Hosiery Mills on East 17th Street. In 1913 the photographer Lewis Hine visited both and photographed children as young as nine working as turners and loopers. A generation later, Arthur, his father and two of his sisters all worked in the same trade.
Both of Gloria's lines, as far back as the records go, nearest generation first. Tap a card to open it, or use the family tree above to see everyone together.
Gloria's parents. Arthur went by Arthur or "Artie": his draft card has "ARTIE" printed over a struck-out middle name, and the 1930 census calls him "Arlie." Maude's first name appears as Tide, Tidie, Tidy and Lidy in different records; she went by Maude or Maudie.
Arthur was the eldest of ten children. Maude was one of fourteen.
How we know: Bob Wright's 2010 obituary ("son of the late Arthur and Maude Lacey Wright," with Gloria among the survivors); Arthur's 1992 obituary (Gloria listed as his daughter); the 1940 and 1950 censuses; Arthur's draft card.
Arthur's parents. Rannie was an iron miner, a tenant farmer near Cedartown, a hosiery-mill hand in Rome, and a preacher: his death certificate says "Minister," and his gravestone says "Rev." He died of tuberculosis at 127 McGee Street in Rome after a year's illness and is buried at Sanders Cemetery near Cedartown.
Mary Louise was born in Alabama about 1885. In 1900, at 14, she was in school in the Hampton district of Polk County, living with her mother and stepfather, William Sargent. She died in 1967 and is buried beside Rannie.
Names differ: Find a Grave calls him "Rev. Rayford Mitchell Wright," his gravestone gives 1884, and his death certificate says "Rannie Mitchell Wright," born 1885.
How we know: The 1910 and 1920 censuses list Arthur as their son; Rannie's 1938 death certificate and WWI draft card; Arthur's obituary ("son of the late Rainey and Mary Morgan Wright"). Her maiden name Morgan: two of her children's Social Security records and Arthur's obituary.
Maude's parents. Charles farmed at Lake Creek and Antioch in Polk County, then brought the family to Rome by 1930, where he worked as a laborer at a stove foundry. They raised fourteen children. In their last years they lived at 600 Pennington Avenue in South Rome. Both are buried at Pleasant Hope Cemetery in Rome.
Georgia's middle name is "Clifton" on Find a Grave and her husband's draft card, and "Tifton" in one county register.
How we know: Their 1895 marriage record; the 1920 and 1930 censuses list Maude as their daughter; Maude's obituary ("daughter of the late Charles Wesley Lacey and Georgia Brown Lacey"); several of their children's death certificates and Social Security records.
Rannie's parents, named on his death certificate. Mary Hubbard was born in Charleston, Tennessee, about 1859, the daughter of George Hubbard. Her first three children, Mattie, Thomas and Rannie, were Wrights. By 1892 she had married Samuel Pierce in Cherokee County, Alabama, and had two more children. She died in Rome on Christmas Day 1928 and was buried at Cave Spring.
Will Wright is a mystery. He may be the "Wm. H. Wright" who married "M. A. Hubberd" in Bradley County, Tennessee, in 1879, but no record of him after that has been found.
How we know: Rannie's death certificate names "Will Wright" and "Mary Hubbard." The 1900 census lists Rannie as Samuel Pierce's stepson. Mrs. Sam Pierce's death certificate names her father George Hubbard. No single record calls Mrs. Pierce Rannie's mother, so this stays likely.
Mary Louise Morgan's mother. In 1900 she was married to William A. Sargent, an iron-ore miner, in the Hampton district of Polk County, with Mary Louise, 14, and John J. Morgan, 17, in the household. A volunteer family tree names Mary Louise's father as George Washington Morgan (1860-1885); no record has confirmed that yet.
How we know: The 1900 census, read on the page.
Charles Wesley Lacey's parents. Joshua was born in Polk County. Their daughter Ledorha (later Mrs. Joseph Camp) was born in Floyd County in 1879 and was buried in 1941 at Pleasant Hope, the Lacey family cemetery.
In 1900 Charles's household included "Clara M.," mother, a widow, born 1846. A volunteer family tree says Joshua married a second wife, Clara, which would make her Charles's stepmother. That isn't proven.
How we know: Their 1871 marriage record; Charles's Social Security record names "Joshua P Lacy" and "Diademy Smith"; his sister Ledorha's death certificate names "Joshua Lacey" and "Diademmie Smith." Charles's own death certificate would make it proven.
Georgia Brown Lacey's parents. In June 1880 Soloman, a laborer born in Tennessee, and Nancy, born in Georgia, lived in the Chulio district of Floyd County with Marion, 11, Margaret, 4, and baby "Georgia C.," 4 months old. By 1900 they were at Lindale, and by 1920 Nancy was a widow.
How we know: The 1880 census (the baby's age matches Georgia's birth in February 1880, and her father's Tennessee birthplace matches later censuses). Georgia's 1960 death certificate would make it proven.
Mary Hubbard's father, named on her 1928 death certificate: Gloria's great-great-grandfather and the furthest back the records reach so far. A G. W. Hubbard, 24, farming near Sweetwater, Tennessee, in 1860 with a baby daughter Mary may be him.
How we know: His daughter's death certificate.
Arthur was the eldest of ten. All of them appear with him in the 1910, 1920 or 1930 census households.
Maude was one of fourteen children of Charles and Georgia Lacey.
Every original record and photo behind this story. Tap any one to see it large.