According to my grandmother, her father spent time in Birmingham working as a streetcar driver. I can place him in Georgia during each census year, so this would have been during an “in-between” time.
Newt and my great-grandmother were married in 1909. They were courting at the time this picture was taken; they are the young couple on the far left. They were living together, along with their first child, in Fannin County, Georgia in 1910. I think it is likely that he was in Alabama prior to their marriage, perhaps between 1905 and 1909, but it could have been after 1910. Pepaw Ward was a farmer (and moonshiner) when he was young and I imagine he went to the city in hopes of earning a steady wage.
If you have any information regarding Newt Ward, particularly his time in Birmingham, or any insight on searching early-twentieth-century Birmingham records, please leave a comment below. Any help would be appreciated!
