I lucked into a very fun project during this March of Pandemic 2020. I was looking for photos of my mom's uncles. My yDNA participant sent me a photo of his father. When I looked at the photo, I immediately thought to myself that he looks sooooooo much like my Mom's uncles on the Sammons/Wooten side. But when I actually look at photos of these men, I think that it may be another photo that I am thinking about.....no matter. It led me to contacting Mom, and her two first cousins: Helen Guthrie and Suzanne Teftt to see if we could find the photo that I wanted to see. Unfortunately, Suzanne died in January 2020. I will put her obit at the bottom of this post. But here are some of the photos that we are looking at together (Mom, Helen, and me)
Note: On the photos that have numbers on the people....I DID NOT write on the original photo. I do not even own the original photo....I made a copy of paper easily written on and took a photo of the copy.
The first came from Helen. She has identified this group as the children of Henry Clay Sammons and his wife, Sarah Jane Wooten. The family grew up in Louisa, Kentucky. Left to right: Milton Burns Sammons, Nancy Mae Sammons, Henry Clay (Harry) Sammons, Herbert Wooten Sammons, Forest Charles Sammons, Grace Hill Sammons Hendricks, Edward Raymond Sammons, Nora Bell Sammons Collinsworth, John Russell Sammons.
The second photo is taken in Louisa and includes the entire family:
I will put it on the blog in two sizes. You have to manipulate the second version to see the faces more closely.
The man in the wheel chair is Milton Burns Sammons,
The child in his lap is Frederick Henry Sammons (youngest son of Forrest)
The front girl beside the wheel chair is Helen (Aunt Norah's daughter)
The child just behind Helen is Nancy Ann (Aunt Grace's daughter)
The girl beside Nancy Ann is Sara Ann Sammons Hawkins (Forrest's daughter)
The young man kneeling beside the wheel chair is Harry Clay (aunt Burls' son)
The young man just behind Harry Clay is Burl Raymond (Harry's son)
The adults I am going to do from left to right without dividing into rows:
Woman on far left is Grace Hill Sammons Henrichs
The man just behind her is her Husband William Frederick Henrichs (Bill)
The woman just in front of Bill is Aunt Nora
The man close to her and just behind Nora is her brother, Harry (Harry Clay Sammons)
The man peeking through from the back row is Herbert Porter Sammons (Uncle Harry's son)
The woman in the very back row close to Herbert Porter is Lila Burl (mother of Herbert Porter and Harry's wife)
The woman just in front of Lila Burl is Aunt Mae: Nancy Mae Sammons
Forest Charles Sammons (my grandfather)
Clara Margaret Hornberger Sammons (my grandmother)
The woman in the back looking the wrong way is Aunt Minnie (Uncle Bill's wife)
The man next to her in the tie is Uncle Bill. This couple were the parents of Ruth Sammons Nassar
Uncle Bill was Henry Clay's brother and lived close by in Louisa on the railroad tracks.
The woman you can barely see in the back is Katie who was married to Uncle Ed for a short time
The older woman is Mother Sammons (Sarah Jane Wooten Sammons)
The man in a hat is Uncle Herbert (Herbert Wooten Sammons)
Last man on far right is John Anderson Collinsworth
Men: Harry, Ed, Bill, Forest, Collinsworth. Herbert
Women: Burl, Katie, Grace, Clara, Nora, Mae
1. Burl
2. Katie
3. Grace
4. Clara
5. Nora
6. Nancy Mae Sammons
7. Harry
8. Ed
9. Bill
10 Forest
11. John A. Collinsworth
12. Herbert
The next photo I have labelled Sisters:
Left to right is
Nancy Mae Sammons
Nora Bell Sammons Collinsworth
Lila Burl Porter Sammons (wife of Uncle Harry) Uncle Harry was an engineer on a train. Lila Burl was not really a sister but a sister-in-law
Grace Hill Sammons Henrichs
Mom told the story that Lila Burl and Harry lost two of their sons. Harry Clay was shot by accident by a friend and died. Herbert Porter died of Strep infection before there were antibiotics. The third son, Burl Raymond was in an auto accident but recovered . Mom said she didn't know how Lila Burl lived through such terrible things!
50th Wedding Anniversary
Here is what the back of the photo looks like (I am fairly sure that it is Aunt Mae's handwriting)
The next photo is of Sarah Jane Wooten Sammons at a much younger age than most of the photos that were among Mae's photos. I particularly like this photo. I am quite fond of this lady that everyone (except Helen) called Mother Sammons. Every story that I hear about Mother Sammons is fun and happy and the person telling it has a smile on their face. She was a favorite of everyone.
I like the next one particularly well also. It is a photo of Aunt Mae standing beside Mother Sammons
And another of Aunt Mae who was a teacher
Back of above photo
Mother Sammons is in the middle. Burl Raymond is on one side and Grace is on the other side and the small girl is Nancy.
Helen told a very nice story. We were looking at the following photo:
I have labelled the photo Clara with adult children: Front row: Sara Ann Sammons Hawkins, Clara Margaret Hornberger Sammons, Dorothy (Dottie) Lenora Sammons Duncan Back Row: Lucien Randolph Sammons, Forest Charles (Tony) Sammons, Frederick Henry (Freddie) Sammons.
Here is what Helen Said:
I like this one. When Tony died I was sharing in a church small group that I had lost Tony Sammons my first cousin. A young woman in the group said. " Oh my goodness, he was my favorite teacher."
Tony was the middle child in a family of five children in the home of Forest and Clara Sammons. His full name was Forest Charles Sammons ...but everyone knew him as Tony. Tony and his wife, Ruth Mae Jordan, never had children of their own. However, they were always special in our lives as we lived with Clara and when they visited, we spent a lot of time with them. And often they brought very thoughtful gifts. Tony taught at Upper Arlington Highschool in Columbus. Helen and I agree that he was the drama teacher. Tony also worked part time as a starter at the OSU golf course which gave him gold privileges and he and Ruth were avid golfers.
The below photo is taken of the home of Henry Clay Sammons and his wife, Sarah Jane Wooten. Mom and Helen both agree that it is Milt in the chair. The house was at 305 Pike Street in Louisa Kentucky.
The next photo is a darling photo of Aunt Mae. Both Mom and Helen agree it is Aunt Mae
Helen says that the below in the below photo the largest boy is Uncle Ed (Edward Raymond Sammons ....son of Henry Clay and Sarah Jane Wooten Sammons. And then Helen says:
The tall one is Ed Raymond, and since he was only 9 years older that Herb Porter I am guessing (only a guess) that is Herb Porter and Harry Clay.
I remember the grape arbor pictured below at the house in Louisa. I remember my mother and grandmother making grape jelly or jam from grapes that came from there at least once.
And Helen told the story:
I have lots of memories of standing out there with Mama Sammons eating grapes and spitting seeds. Once when she wanted some of the vines trimmed she stood me on a kitchen chair with the hand clippers while she showed me where to trim with a broom handle. She gave me my love of gardening. They made jelly every year. I spread lot pj sandwiches with grapes from that arbor. And Helen added that she was the only one of the grandchildren who called Mother Sammons Grandma. And Helen said that Grandma was so kind. You could sit in her lap with jelly all over your face.
And the next photo below is Henry Clay Sammons. I have made the photo extra large. You may have to manipulate to get Henry Clay in the center of the screen. I'll do a smaller one that does not have to be manipulated. So the next three photos are Henry Clay Sammons
The next photo is Uncle Harry Sammons (son of Henry Clay and Sarah Jane Wooten Sammons) Almost certainly he has been fishing in the Big Sandy River.
One really fun surprise is that when I sent the photo of the Seth Thomas Clock to Helen this evening, her reply was that she had that clock....and sure enough I could see the clock sitting on a shelf behind
her head
The next photo is of Suzanne Sammons Teftt with her aunt Nora (Helen's mother)
Helen and I talked about time spent with Aunt Grace. Here is a photo of the house in which Aunt Grace lived:
Next is a very cute photo of grandchildren of Henry Clay and Sarah Jane Wooten Sammons
Helen and Mom identified the group as:
Back row left to right:
Mom thought it was Arthur while Helen says she thinks he is Clay (Harry Clay)who was the middle
son of Harry and Lila Burl Sammons. This is the child who was accidentally shot by a friend.
Aunt Grace's daughter, Catherine
Dottie (daughter of Forest)
Herbert Porter (oldest son of Harry and Lila Burl who died of Strep before antibiotics were available
Then front row from left to right:
Burl Raymond (son of Harry Sammons and his wife Lila Burl)
Freddie (son of Forest)
Sara Ann (daughter of Forest)
Helen (daughter of Nora)
Nancy Jane (daughter of Grace)
