I have not been consistently posting on the blog per se as the pandemic took a bite out of my drive to continously “officially” document my genealogical findings.
Fortunately I have still been enjoying the hobby, just not posting as much or being as serious as with research as I was initially. I’ve mostly been writing, probably way too much on social media lol. Luckily it was a social media post that made me decide to come back tot he blog and create some content. I saw the “25 Days of Black History Family Challenge” where it lists items to encourage people to share aspects of their family history. Because I’m late, which is sometimes typical of me, I’m starting on day 6 of the month instead of 1 but will try to catch up as the days go by.
First item in this challenge is “Oldest Photo of Any Relative”
This was a conundrum of sorts of me as I had to decide if it would be a non-genetically related relative or if “oldest photo” was an actual physical photo or a digital copy. I setteled on genetic relative and actual copy so will focus this post on Robert T. Traynum Sr. I was given this photo by my Granny Willetta who was married to Robert’s grandson Talmadge Traynum. It is labeled with the year 1916 so is 107 years old. It is the oldest physical copy of a picture I have of a known biological relative.
Robert was born about 1863 in Anderson County, South Carolina. He is pictured here with his youngest sister Mary Traynum and his second wife Anna Stewart Traynum. Robert lived in Anderson County until around 1925 when he and his daughter, my great great grandmother Naomi Traynum moved to Toledo, Ohio as a part of the Great Migration. Prior to moving to Toledo, Robert was a sharecropper in Hopewell, Anderson County, SC. Based on directory information, he seems to have settled in Toledo around 1926
While in Toledo, Robert was consistently listed as a laborer and grocer in a local retail establishment. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to identify the store where he worked. He and Anna lived initially at 351 Tecumseh Street, near downtown Toledo. This neighborhood was eventually demolished for the I75 freeway. He and Anna lived a couple blocks off of Erie Street near Nebraska Ave and the Erie Street Market today. They later moved to 811 1/2 Curtis Street in the 43609 zip code, which is interestingly around the corner from where I grew up. This section due to African Americans in the few streets near Western Ave and the AW Trail was redlined in the 1930s. Robert’s children and grandchildren lived in close proximity to him and Anna after moving to Toledo.
Robert died in 1933 of a condition labeled “non-tuberculous orchitis and prostatitis with urinary retention.” I had never heard of this before and reviewing his information made me look into it a bit more. It was basically an infection that caused swelling and mimics a tumor which can prove fatal within a few weeks, even today as I came across medical cases where men in his age group 50s-60s died of this condition due to it being resistant to antibiotics. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery here in Toledo.
I know that many people in our extended Traynum clan have fond memories especially of Anna Traynum in this photo. I included a picture of my dad and aunt an Granny Annie in her elder years. There was also a family party that I remember seeing on microfilm copies of the old Toledo Bronze Raven (Toledo’s first newspaper that focused on African Americans) where the Traynums threw a party for her 80th birthday.
Granny Annie died in October of 1965.
Black In Toledo 