Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Ernest Herman Heatherly Family
Cannon County Tennessee

The photograph and the following text was contributed by
Heather Horner Vandagriff

The people in the photo, from left to right are Ernest Herman Heatherly (b. 1890), Laura Belle Rodgers Heatherly, and Cynthia Bryant Bevins Heatherly (b. 1839).

Ernest and Laura were my maternal grandmother’s aunt and uncle, and Cynthia was her paternal grandmother. George and Cynthia Heatherly had nine children, and raised them all in this cabin.

The home stood up the road, just east of Cherry Cemetery in Cannon County, Tennessee about a quarter mile from Laura's parents’ place. I am sorry, but I do not know the official name of the road, and it is back a ways off the main highway from Manchester to Woodbury, just about halfway between the two towns. The cabin was built by George Washington Heatherly, who served in Co. A, 10th Tennessee Inf., USA. There is a photograph of him and Cynthia, where he is wearing his service medal, but I haven't had the honor of being allowed to copy it yet. George died in 1906, and Cynthia died in 1909, so this photo was sometime in those three years.

To me, having been raised a ‘city girl,’ this photo just screams Tennessee. When I found it, I was absolutely hooked on genealogy.