In With the Old

When you get lemons, you make lemonade! After I had to cancel my research trip due to the pandemic, I decided to undertake a project that’s been on the backburner for quite sometime– a website that contains my research findings for one side of the family.

I originally created Franklin Memories back in 2013 as a digital archive to host the photos I had found in my great-great grandmother, Carrie Stewart, and my great Aunt’s photo albums. But it wasn’t until this year that I finally had the time to revitalize the project and truly flesh it out.

So, what’s the main difference between the old site and the new site? Well, for starters, this site aims to be more narrative-based. Each ancestor in my family tree has his/her own page with biographical information, trees, and any family stories associated with him/her.

This website’ll be an ever-evolving base of my findings, with content getting added as I verify my research. And I hope that this site will encourage my relatives to contribute and encourage possible cousins to reach out!

Let’s take a quick tour, shall we?

Families

Not a bad place to start! On these pages, you’ll find the family names of those who either lived in, worked in, passed through, or simply lived close to Franklin, NC. Clicking on a family name brings you to that family’s page, where there’ll be some information about the earliest found couple and a listing of those family members. Click on a family member’s page to learn more about him/her!

Hint: You can find the women in the families they were born into.

Collections

Be careful, you can get lost exploring here. In “Collections,” you’ll find any photos that I’ve digitized over the course of my research. I aimed to include only photos that appear to be from 1940 (census rules!) and earlier to protect the privacy of any possibly living individuals.

These photos, particularly from the “Carrie Stewart’s Photo Album” collection, were my initial inspiration for the first version of Franklin Memories. During my first visit to Franklin, I was able to connect with cousins and see a number of artifacts my great-grandmother owned, including her photo albums.

For several of the older photos, I would not have known who the individuals in the photos were were it not for my ancestors writing these individuals’ names down.

You’ll notice that many of the photos in a few of the albums have “unknown” subjects. If you recognize any individuals in these photos, please let me know so we can properly memorialize them!

Note: These photos are copyrighted and may not be used or reproduced without permission.

Places

This section highlights places that were of importance to my family and to the wider Black community associated with Franklin, North Carolina. These Places can include businesses, churches, schools, and more.

Stories

“Stories” will be where you’ll find any number of stories about my ancestors. The content here will be brief re-tellings of stories that have been passed down and kept alive by their descendants. Individuals who are in these stories will be tagged so you can easily find a story by the person who was in it.

I am always looking for contributions! If you have a story you’d like to submit about any of the ancestors or families on this site, please send me a message.

A huge thank you to my family for helping me capture this information.

Until next time,

Olivia