Note:  this is an update to this post:  No boys named Sue, but a girl named Willie.

Well, there was a girl named Willie, just not the son or daughter of James and Sallie Nettles.  The obituaries I picked up during the trip to Texas showed me my error:  Willie Nettles – Crews is the daughter of Shadrack “Shade” Green Nettles and his wife, Mary Young – Nettles.

Shade and Mary Nettles were prominent citizens of Henderson County.  Shade has served as a county Commissioner and they were well-respected within the community.  Mary’s obituary, published on the front page of the Athens Review on November 1, 1928, states that she was born in Polk County, Georgia.  She and Shade were married on 25 January, 1874 and they lived in Georgia for a year before moving to Texas in 1875.   The obituary goes on to list their children, including Willie Crews.  It also states that Mary and Shade joined the Methodist church “40 years ago” circa 1888.
Shade’s obituary, published in the Athens Review on March 16, 1939, states that he was born in Rockmart, (Polk County) Georgia.

Disappointingly, there is no mention of other Nettles relatives, most particularly John and Sallie Nettles who are in the direct line I’m hunting for.

A Polk County, Georgia history, however, states that Shade and John are brothers who moved to Texas together.  I know that these two men are connected, but I haven’t found any trail of it in Texas (yet).

The obituary for Shade also lists boyhood friends from Georgia who also moved to Texas: Edgar Deupree and E. M. Haynes.  A search for their families back in Polk County, GA may help to reveal new connections.

(The Athens Weekly Review archive is located at Trinity Valley Community College library.)