Headrick Documents, Photos, and Sources

This database contains a small collection of documents and photographs of the Headrick family of Blount County, Tennessee, and Murray County, Georgia. Most of the photographs are original family photos that came to us from Esther Headrick Pritchett, my granny. These include photos of William Mathew Headrick, William Abraham Lincoln Headrick, and his offspring. The database includes images of the following marriage licenses: Jacob Headrick married Polly Rice in Blount County, Tennessee; William Headrick married Mary C. Emmett (Emert) in Blount County, Tennessee; and WAL Headrick married ALB Dunn (Anna L.B. Dunn) in Murray County, Georgia. There are some death certificates, of which document the offspring of some of the above Headricks. Please excuse the slow downloads on some of the images.

Photos and Documents Concerning William and Mary (Emert) Headrick and Family

Photo of William Headrick, spouse of Mary Comings Emert. William is usually listed as William H. Headrick, but this photo identifies him as William Mathew Headrick. This is the photo that gave us Mary's middle name: Mary Comings Emit. It mentions Missouri Cty, but I've never determined when or if they were there. They have relatives in Missouri and are said to have travelled or lived there, though it must have been briefly, if so. There is a Missouri City, Texas, so the caption could refer to that town. I manually retouched this photo to bring out the details of the face. Here is the original photo, unretouched. Also, see caption, back of photo of William Headrick (or) Caption, hi-resolution (slow loading).

Alice and Drusilla. Drusilla Headrick Grigsby is on the right in this photo. She was the daughter of William and Mary (Emert) Headrick, of Murray County, Georgia. She married John Keith. After he died, she became the second wife of Samuel W. Grigsby. She is pictured here with her niece, Alice Headrick Burns (left). This photo has been manually digitally repaired using PaintShop Pro. The original picture also has some crude repair work. Alice's face had been badly scratched or damaged by flaking. Someone tried to repair it using colored pencil. See original photo, with damage. In the CAPTION on the back of the photo, Drusilla is called by her nickname, "Aunt Sis."

Photographs of the WAL and Anna Dunn Headrick
Of Murray County, Georgia, and Their Offspring

Photo of WAL Headrick (William Abraham Lincoln Headrick). This photo was scanned from the original photo, which is mounted on thin card stock. The image has been slightly enhanced for contrast, as it had faded to an overall brown tone. Esther Headrick Pritchett (my granny) gave the photo to her niece, Horace's daughter, Lois Headrick Cox. Lois gave it to me (D.K. Pritchett).

Anna Dunn Headrick. This photo was scanned from a reproduction. Esther gave the copy of this photo of her mother to her niece, Lois. Lois gave it to me. The repro was plain black and white, but I have added a slight brown tone to the scan.

Sons and Daughters of WAL and Anna Dunn Headrick. The Headricks were born in Murray County, Georgia, and lived near Cisco, Georgia. (Left to right): Alice, Horace, Ad, Esther, Amy, Ina, and Gladys. Alice moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, about 1923. Horace moved to Conasauga, Polk County, Tennessee, and lived there until he died. Ad lived most of his life in Ringgold, Georgia, as did Esther (though she moved around some ~ at various times living in Knoxville, Tennessee, Dexter, Georgia, and maybe other places. Amy lived in Ringgold. Ina was institutionalized at one time. In the 1960s, she went to live with Esther in Ringgold. In the mid 1970s, she and Esther moved to Dexter, Georgia. Later, Esther moved back, but Ina moved into the Dublinaire Nursing Home in Dublin, Georgia, remaining there until she died. Gladys moved to Florida and remained there until she died. Rossie, Wes, Ruth, and Belle do not appear in this Headrick family photo, as they died long before the photo was taken.

Ina, Alice, and Esther: Daughters of WAL and Anna Headrick

Photo of Alice Headrick Burns. Alice married William Baxter Burns, nicknamed "Ben" Burns.

Photo of Alice Headrick Burns in the Garden.

Alice and Drusilla. Alice Headrick Burns is on the left. This is the same photo listed above, under William Mathew Headrick.

Samuel Wesley Headrick, photo of him as a baby. One other known photo exists, of Wes as a toddler, alongside Rossie, in an old photo of Fairy school in Murray County. Wes lived to be 27 years old and he married before his death. Possibly, other photos were taken of him, but these are the only two I've seen.

Tombstone of Samuel Wesley Headrick. Wes's grave stone was bought by his sister, Drusilla Headrick Grigsby.

Horace Jones Headrick. Uncle Horace as a young private in World War I. The back of this photo-postcard from Camp Green at Chickamauga, Georgia, is addressed to Miss Anner (Anna) Dunn, of Ringgold, Georgia. I'm not sure who "Anner" would be, but it might be his aunt, Georgia Ann Shields Dunn, who lived in Ringgold. On the front of this photo, it says, "HJH Ans son."

Horace Jones Headrick, as an old man at his house in Conasauga, Tennessee, around 1975-1977. I can't remember if I took this photo (we did have a Polaroid camera at that time), or if he gave it to me. I do remember the day. We sat out on the porch and he gave me an old photo of his son, Chester, with my father (Horace's nephew), when they were babies. Chester had died soon after the photo was taken.

Tombstone of Ruth Headrick. The little stone look's to be hand-carved by an amateur, not a stone mason. Perhaps it was engraved by a family member. No photo exists of the infant, Ruth Headrick, as far as I know.

Tombstone of Belle Headrick. Belle was crippled in a fall from the porch at age two. There did exist a photo of Belle, taken when she was a young girl of perhaps three or four. She had long hair and a severe curvature of the spine that caused her to lean toward one side. I believe she had a crutch. This was a somewhat large photo in a frame with curved glass, as I recall. It hung on Granny's bedroom wall, and she had it as late as 1986 or 87, when she lived in the apartment on Lamar Street in Ringgold. Later, she moved to Rocky Face to live with her granddaughter. No one recalls seeing the picture when they cleaned out the house (or, perhaps, no one attached any significance to the photo). It is missing and perhaps no longer exists. Belle lived until she was 29 years old, so it is possible that other photos of her existed. Belle is buried at Calvary Baptist Church Cemetery in northern Murray County, Georgia. "Belle" is carved in large letters on top of the stone, though the color of the stone makes it hard to see. The inscription says "Dau of Mr. & Mrs. W.L. Headrick (apparently "W.A.L. Headrick" would not fit in the small space).

Photo of Ad Headrick as a young man. The son of WAL and Ann LB Dunn Headrick, Ad's full name was Benjamin Addison Headrick.

Photo of Ad Headrick as an old man. Ad is pictured in front of his hardware store in Ringgold, Georgia.

Esther Headrick Pritchett, with Willie Lee Pritchett, her husband.

Esther Headrick Pritchett. Esther, sitting on the steps of a monument. Originally, I assumed that this photo was taken at Chickamauga National Battlefield Park or perhaps in Rossville or Ringgold, where there are several Civil War monuments. Mother, however, told me that the picture of Daddy's mother wasn't taken at Chickamauga, but was taken when Granny was "away off somewhere." I knew that after she separated from Lee and left Crandall, Georgia, Esther lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, for awhile. I took a stab at it and searched Google images for "granite monument knoxville tennessee." I was lucky enough to find this monument at The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website (LINK), and recognized the corner turrets immediately. This is the Soldiers Monument at Knoxville National Cemetery. According to the website, it was erected in 1896 and dedicated in 1901. "With its unique castellated features, the monument is one among a select group of more decorative memorials found in NCA cemeteries."

Esther Headrick Pritchett (right), with daughter and son, Nellie Sue and Lewis Carl Pritchett. World War II era photo, taken at Dixie Studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Letter on "the generations," written to me in 1986 by my Granny, Esther Headrick Pritchett. I had written from LaGrange, where I lived at the time, to tell her I was doing a family tree and to ask her about her parents and grandparents. Page one     Page two     Page three     Page four. Don't be fooled by the sweet tone ~ she was an old curmudgeon. Also, I'm told by more than one family member that she knew Glady's kids quite well ~ and I have no doubt of it. She only said she didn't know their names because she and Gladys were bickering and she didn't want to bother. The last part of the letter sounds more like her ~ "...tear up this mess." We loved Granny in spite of herself.

Photograph of Jethro Burns as a Boy. Kenneth "Jethro" Burns, was the son of William "Ben" and Alice (Headrick) Burns and the grandson of WAL and Ann (Dunn) Headrick. The musician, parodist, and famous mandolin player went by the stage name of Jethro Burns. In the photo, he holds his famous mandolin. His brother, H.J. Burns, called "Happy," is in the photo, too. Roger Miller, the comic musician, credited Happy Burns with helping him start his career in professional music. They were in service together; Happy was Roger Miller's sergeant, I believe, though I'm not very sure of his rank.

Marriage License for Jacob Headrick and Polly Rice of Blount County, Tennessee: (FRONT) (BACK)

Marriage License for William Headrick and Mary C. Emmett of Blount County, Tennessee (also called Mary C. Emert): (FRONT) (BACK)

More photos and documents will be added as time allows.