We know very little about the man other than he lived in Hickman County as well as Obion County during his life, and he was married twice. When we showed Jean our two photos of William and his wife at different time periods, she immediately replied the earlier photo was William and Mary, his first wife, and the later photo was William and Betty, the second wife. Hooray! That was a question we asked ourselves at the very beginning of our search. Jean did note the second wife was reportedly mean. Betty who is shown in the second photograph, with her hands on her hips, gives the appearance of being a little cantankerous.
We discovered Jim's great grandfather's middle name was Depree which was a nice surprise. All the records we found referred to him as William D. Another discovery was William's first wife's name may have been Mary Carolyn instead of Mary Carlin, and she may have been called Carolyn instead of Mary.
When we talked about the Anderson side of the family, she told us the house that Jim's gggg-grandfather, Robert Anderson, built was still standing. In the old edition of History of Hickman County, Tennessee Robert Anderson's house was reportedly the oldest in Hickman County. We were surprised to learn it is still standing. She gave us directions to the house, but we opted for sliced bologna and crackers at the country store saving the house for a future visit.
Before leaving, Jean gave Jim an old photograph of her and her sister, Clara, standing with William Depree around 1928. We now have four photos of William. In all of them he is sporting his signature mustache.Thanks Jean for your boost up the family tree! We are a long way from the top, but we are enjoying the climb!
