Browse Items (963 total)

The house with the address of 322 Hill Avenue Guntersville Alabama in Marshall County was built in 1957 and is a 1 story single dwelling-non-farm residence that is in very good condition. The house is a brick veneer ranch style dwelling with a side…

During the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War, a freedmen’s community was established in this area called Averyville, named for the Pennsylvania minister and successful businessman Charles Avery, a longtime and faithful champion of Negro…

Vital Memphis-Charleston railroad, "backbone of Confederacy," spanned Tennessee River here. Bridge burned several times, 1862-63. General Mitchell (U.S. Flag), occupying Huntsville after Battle of Shiloh, seized Bridgeport in April 1862 and held it…

One of the Five Lower Towns established by the Chickamauga Cherokees in 1782 under the leadership of Dragging Canoe. Territorial Governor William Blount reported to the Secretary of War in 1792 that: "Crow Town lies on the north side of the Tennessee…

Created by an Act of the Legislature on December 7, 1821, Decatur County was comprised of portions of Madison and Jackson Counties. "Old Woodville," two miles north along County Highway 7, was designated as the County Seat. An 1823-'24 completed…

In 1946, Robert E. Jones, Jr. was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives to fill Alabama's 5th Congressional District seat vacated by John J. Sparkman's election to the U.S. Senate. Elected to 15 consecutive terms, 1946-1976,…

Planter, tavern operator, newspaper editor, legislator, and land developer, he sought in vain to have the Jackson County Seat moved from Bellefonte to the settlement that bore his name. After his death in 1863, his widow reached an agreement in 1868…

On long island near Bridgeport. One of the Five Lower Creek towns.

In a W.P.A. narrative, Thomas Cole recounted his time as a slave on the plantation of Dr. Robert Coles in western Jackson County. Thomas Cole was born in 1845 and ran away to join the Union army in 1861. After seeing combat at Chattanooga, Lookout…

The North Alabamian and Times, now the Standard and Times and the Colbert County Reporter, was published by Captain Arthur H. Keller (who may now be better known as Helen Keller's father). Local Jewish merchants routinely advertised with Captain…

The Special Collections and Archives at Collier Library at the University of North Alabama include many locally published manuscripts about the establishment of the cities of Florence, Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals.

The Rosenbaum Family…

Louis M. Faulk, who was born in 1839 in Prussia, who died in 1871, and who is buried in Cincinnati, Ohio, established a store and named the town for himself.

Falk's brother, Alexander, is the only Jewish individual buried in the Florence,…

A historic marker, located on North Montgomery Avenue ad 3rd Street in Sheffield, offers a brief overview of Sheffield's history. Alfred Huger Moses, who was from Charleston, South Carolina and who had served in the Confederate Army, is credited…

Samuel J. Israel immigrated from Lithuania moving to Sheffield, Alabama in 1909. His first venture was a wholesale grocery. He eventually founded Paper and Chemical Supply of Sheffield.

He was known throughout the community for his charitable…

A letter to the editor found in the files of the history of Temple B'Nai Israel at the Florence- Lauderdale Public Library suggests that Jewish immigrants to the area were encouraged and welcomed.

The Florence-Lauderdale Public Library's local history room has several large files devoted to the study of local places, organizations, and individuals. The Jewish History Collection offers a good cross-section of Jewish owned businesses, the…

Alfred Huger Moses was responsible for the establishment of Sheffield, Alabama. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he moved to Alabama after serving in the Confederate Army where he achieved the rank of Captain.

HIs wife, Katherine, five…

The Alfred Huger Moses Room, which is located in the annex of the Sheffield Public Library (on Montgomery Avenue ), was made possible, in part, by funding from the descendants of Alfred Huger Moses (founder and first mayor of Sheffield).

The room…

Samuel J. Israel, who moved to Sheffield, Alabama in 1909 from Lithuania, wrote his memoirs at his daughter's (Beatrice Muhlendorf) request. The manuscript -- which is over thirty pages long -- is titled "From Northern Lithuania to Northern Alabama."…

Jacob Spielberger, who was born in Hungary in January of 1856, came to Alabama around 1888. He opened a dry goods store and clothing store, Spielberger and Sons, at 217 and 219 Mongomery Avenue in Sheffield. His three sons, Jacob, Harry, and Ben…

Stanley Rosenbaum, who was a Florence, Alabama businessman, philanthropist, Civil Rights advocate, member of the University of North Alabama's English Department, and original owner of the Stanley Rosenbaum Frank Lloyd Wright House, was interested in…

Coleman, Erwin M., A History of Temple B'nai Israel, Florence, Alabama: Centennial Celebration, 1906 - 2006. Privately Printed.

The Reisman-Coffee-Looft House, located at 618 N. Wood Avenue, was the home to Mark Reisman and his family. Mr. Reisman was one of the first Jewish merchants in the Florence area. His business was located the corner of Tennessee and Court Streets. He…

The generator for WQLT Radio station, which is owned by Big River Broadcasting - founded by Sam Phillips and now under the management of his sons and grandchildren -- is, whimsically perhaps, painted gold and named Elvis for Elvis Presley, who Sam…

Jacob and Isaac Friedman, brothers who moved to Tuscumbia from Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1840s, established a dry goods store on the main street of Tuscumbia.

Alfred Huger Moses and his brother, Mordecai, were largely responsible for the founding of Sheffield, Alabama. They named the city after Sheffield, England hoping for similar success in industrialization.

The sales of 500 lots for the…

Most of the earliest merchants in Sheffield, Alabama were of Jewish descent and came to the area in the mid 1880's. The earliest Jewish families were the Spielbergers who owned a dry goods and clothing store, Speilbergers and Sons at 217-219…

Alfred Huger Moses, founder and first mayor of Sheffield, Alabama (along with his brother, Mordecai) was the owner of the Sheffield Land, Iron and Coal Company, located on Montgomery Avenue.

Alfred Huger Moses, the designer and first mayor of Sheffield, built his family home at what is now 1315 North Montgomery Avenue, Sheffield, Alabama. The house burned to the ground circa 1890.

Alfred Huger Moses was responsible for the layout of the residential, business, and industrial areas of Sheffield, Alabama, which was incorporated in 1895. He named Montgomery Avenue after Montgomery, Alabama where he and his family had lived (and…

Alfred Huger Moses and Morris Nathan were the first two alderman of Sheffield, Alabama. Nathan was buried in the Jewish section of Oakwood Cemetery in Sheffield, Alabama before the Jewish community incorporated or built a temple.

Sauta was a small Cherokee village established about 1784 on the north side of the Tennessee River near its confluence with North Sauty Creek. The August 13, 1828, issue of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper includes a letter from an acquaintance of…

The structure known locally as "Little Brick" was built about 1855 during the railroad construction boom in Stevenson, Alabama. The property was purchased prior to the Civil War by Michigan native Walter Rosser who was in Stevenson working as a…

Constance Ortmayer was born in New York City in 1902 and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna, Austria. She returned to the United States in 1932 and was teaching art at Rollins College in Florida when she was commissioned to…

Nat "King" Cole (March 17. 1919 - February 15, 1965)

Born Nathaniel Adams Coles, on March 17, 1919, in Montgomery, Alabama, crooner Nat Cole was known for his smooth, soft baritone and easygoing nature. When Nat was four years old, his father,…

Sam Phillips (1923-2003)

Samuel Cornelius Phillips was born January 5, 1923 in Florence, Alabama. He was the youngest of eight children born to Charles Tucker Phillips and Madge Ella Phillips. He was born into a middle-class farming family, but…

William L. Dawson (September 26, 1899-May 4, 1990)

William Levi Dawson was an African American composer, performer, and music educator from Anniston, Alabama.

Dawson graduated from the Tuskegee Institute with highest honors in 1921. He earned a…

Alabama

Members:
Randy Owen (Dec. 13, 1949- ) (lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter),
Teddy Gentry (Jan. 22, 1952- ) (bass player, songwriter, and harmony vocalist)
Jeff Cook (Aug. 27, 1949- ) (multi-instrumentalist, singer, and…

Curly Putman (Nov. 20, 1930-Oct. 30, 2016)

Claude “Curly” Putman Jr., born in Princeton, Alabama, is best known as a songwriter.

He was born on Putman Mountain, northeast of Huntsville, Alabama. His father was a sawmill worker and his…

Percy Sledge (November 25, 1940-April 14, 2015)

Percy Tyrone Sledge was born November 25, 1940 in the poor farming town of Leighton, Alabama. Sledge worked on many local farms then was hired as an orderly at the hospital in Sheffield where he…

Ernie Ashworth (December 15, 1928 - March 2, 2009)

Even though he had written songs for some of country music’s biggest stars, and that he himself had scored two top 10 hits, it wasn’t until after he had scored his one and only number-one…

Tammy Wynette (May 5, 1942-April 6, 1998)

Virginia Wynette Pugh was born May 5, 1942 in Tremont, Mississippi, but she spent much or her childhood just across the state line in Red Bay, Alabama. After her father died when she was nine months old,…

David Briggs (March 16, 1943 - )

David Briggs has had a career that can best be described as impressive, topped off by working with Elvis Presley as his studio keyboardist, and later going out on tour with the King. But lest one think that he…

Buddy Buie (January 23, 1941 - July 18, 2015)

Buddy Buie may not be a name that most folks recognize, but his impact on the music scene of the 1960s to the 1990s is one that transcends name recognition. As a songwriter, producer, and concert…

William Lee Golden

Golden was raised in a farming family in Brewton, Alabama. At age seven he began singing and performing regularly on his grandfather’s weekly radio show, along with his sister. From this experience, Golden grew to love…

Clarence Carter (January 14, 1936 - )

The best way to describe Clarence Carter’s style is that he is a soul and blues preacher of love, most specifically, the cheating kind. Carter’s vocals, at times soaring and at times down in the gutter,…

Cleveland "Cleve" Eaton (August 31, 1939 - )

In his long career in music, it is difficult to find a genre or an entertainer or act that Cleve Eaton has either not recorded or toured with. The man dubbed “the Count’s Bassist” because of his…

Eddie Floyd (June 27, 1937 - )

The “Memphis sound” that mixed Southern soul with R&B, jazz, with a little country and gospel thrown in, was an important and influential sound in the 1960s. Led by such singers as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and…

Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay (August 22, 1947 - )

If anyone can lay claim to having lived a life that was marked by being in the right place at the right, Donna Jean Godchaux (pronounced “God-show) can. From growing up in the Florence/Muscle…