Thanks for your kind comments and thoughts. I know my e-mail was lengthy, but there's not a brief way to give an accurate family tree history dating back to the Revolutionary War.
As previously stated, there is probably a ton of information from MyMy's side of the family (Overall) and it will be important to include that data in the overall project to the extent that is possible. I'm just not well versed on the Overall family tree and I'm not aware of an Overall family history document that would help us in that effort, although there may be helpful materials that I'll run across while going through the many boxes of photographs and historical documents that I brought home from MyMy and PyPy's storage shed in recent months. The sheer volume of it is overwhelming, so it will just have to be "work in progress" for now.
There were some really old school records and personal photographs that belonged to Gangy that I brought home, and her maiden name was Parsons. Poppy and Gangy only had 3 children.....Martha Ann (MyMy)......June.....and Bobby, who was tragically killed just before his 11th birthday when a drunk man's car struck him as he crossed a stop sign intersection in Shelbyville. Poppy and Gangy were already in the process of moving from Shelbyville to Warner Robin, Georgia when they lost Bobby, and proceeded with those plans, which involved Poppy being the head man at a major construction project there for years. They later moved to Hollywood, Florida, where Poppy pursued further construction opportunities with the same boss and later retired from construction to operate A1A Bait and Tackle for many years on the intracoastal waterway in Hollywood, which was only 2 short blocks from the beach and straight across the canal from the Hollywood Yacht Basin and Marina. They lived there for many years, mostly in mobile home locations that were very nice.
When they decided to retire and return to Shelbyville, Poppy continued doing various "swap shop" types of repairs and "horse-trading" and they lived there for many years until he passed away due to a heart attack. Poppy had a very good sense of humor and was often the "life of the party" at gatherings. He had a very strong work ethic and was an expert carpenter in his own right, having achieved a strong reputation for building and repairing homes and businesses "right" throughout his lengthy construction career. Poppy also was highly skilled at training animals and was a local star for having trained performing trick dogs for parties, along with his success in training chickens, pigs, goats, and a variety of other animals before they moved away from Shelbyville.
Gangy was a very devoted and supportive wife to Poppy throughout their long marriage and worked tirelessly at a fast pace to handle her homemaker duties while also helping Poppy constantly in his endeavors as his "partner". She even helped with heavy labor type duties that many men would back up from, but she was a hard worker. She even helped him dig out a basement under one of their mobile homes and helped carry concrete blocks back and forth to line the basement. She was an extaordinary cook and mother, with tremendous talents in all sorts of wifely and motherly skills. She always had a positive attitude and an amazing work ethic that paved the way for her to succeed in all endeavors. Gangy was very active in visiting people in nursing homes during her later years. She was also very active in senior citizen activities in Shelbyville. She especially loved spending time with her grandchildren and would visit Birmingham and Montgomery whenever possible. When she and I went fishing during many of those visits, she would always catch the first, the biggest, and the most fish. She was a devoted Chrisitan and faithful member of the Church of Christ. She was a very special person whom we all loved dearly.
Gangy's parents also lived in Shelbyville and I can recall visiting her mother (we called her Mammy), but her last name was Parsons. She and her husband lived in a house next door to a small neighborhood grocery store that they operated for many years, but Mammy's husband had already passed away before I had the pleasure of knowing him. Poppy and Gangy eventually took over the running of the store and lived in the adjacent house and that's where they were living when Bobby was killed in the traffic accident. Poppy also made regular runs to rural areas with his "rolling store" that was a converted school bus, so he literally brought their store to people who otherwise would never shop at their store in Shelbyville. June could tell you a lot more about the Overalls and the Parsons for sure, so I would encourage you to write or call her at your earliest convenience.
When I corresponded with June in recent months, she said she was working on an Overall family history that she would share with us upon completion, so maybe that will be the answer for all of us.
I hope that all of this is helpful to you.
Love,
John Wheatley in Montgomery
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