Remember when I posted that bit of history of the life of Mrs. W.C. McBride back on April 18? Well, it seems that I may have doomed her house.
The Newnan Times-Herald reported today that the home at 14 Robinson Street was destroyed in a house fire following a thunderstorm on Tuesday night. The house at 14 Robinson Street was the house listed as Mrs. McBride's home address on her 1924 death certificate.
This news led to the revelation that many of the old-timers living nearby call it the McBride House, although the house was built in the 1840s
by John Evans Robinson (hence the road name) before passing to William Cardwell McBride. It turns out that my mother calls it the Hatchett House, as it has been owned by the Hatchett family for the better part of the last century. Whatever they called it, it seems that most of Newnan was aware of the 2-story, white plantation-style home.
(To illustrate what kind of town Newnan, Georgia, is, John Robinson Cates, son of John Evans Robinson, was the Newnan Rexall Drugstore pharmacist featured on the October 7, 1953, broadcast of This is Your Life. John Robinson Cates was also married to Eva Arnold, the sister of my maternal great-grandmother. Everyone is related to everyone else: that's how we roll in Newnan.)
Could it be a coincidence that two weeks after I posted about Virginia "Jennie" Hardaway McBride, her home is burned to the ground? Clearly the answer is no. Beware, readers of Wriphe.com: The Blog! My blog posts are so powerful, I cannot be responsible for the havoc they wreak!
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mcbride newnan news Randy
That explains the Dolphins.
BAZINGA
Mom
TUT TUT: I call it Mrs. HATCHETT's house. She was my high school speech and drama teacher. I don't know of any Hammond family who lived there. And since your relation to "Aunt Eva" was on my side she is your "maternal" relative, not paternal. If you are so powerful as to jinx a house, how come you don't have your facts straight?
Wriphe
I'm so powerful, the facts were changed to protect the innocent! Really, I guess that's what I get for writing it so late last night. The Hammond mistake was due to the fact that I was looking up the current owner of the house, and when I came to typing that I confused the names. Calling Eva the sister of my paternal grandmother was because I was thinking about her relation to my namesake James Walter Owens when I typed that. Both mistakes are now corrected. Sorry.
Wriphe
UPDATE PROBABLY OF INTEREST ONLY TO MYSELF: According to a comment left in today's paper (in my mother's never-ending stream of corrections), "Bionk McBride" notes that the McBrides were living in the house at least as recently as 1945 while Henry McBride was fighting World War II.
Read it here.
Peter Sinclair
Thanks for the blog! I've been tracking down the McBrides recently and William Cardwell McBride is related to the Sinclairs in Newry. His father (also William Cardwell) was a brother of my great great grandmother who emigrated to the US in 1857. If there's any McBrides still around, I'd be pleased to hear from them through the website.
Thomas M. Lee
2 cents huh? Well, here's my 1 cent.
"Dr." ( as he was locally referred to) John R. Cates was the son of Capt. A. B. Cates former Confederate officer, one of Morgan's raiders in the TN cavalry who was assigned to the Newnan Depot during the Late Unpleasantness" After the War he returned and married Laura Robinson. He was the editor for a time of the Newnan Herald.
On Wednesday the 1953 "This is Your Life Show" that featured Cates will be shown in the Carnegie Library. Items Cates was given at the show will be on hand as well as a couple of local people who remember seeing the show. John Cates grandson, who as a 6 year old boy, was one of the surprises for his grandfather, John Cates will be present. Gov. Arnall appears in the show because he was a soda jerk for Cates about 1910 will not be present. But your Great Great Aunt ( I deduce), Eva Arnold is one of the surprises 80 year old John received. John Cates was completely in the dark about the pending surprise on the "This is Your Life" show. His wife, two daughters, one son ,3 grandhildren and a former soda jerk were flown to California unbeknowst to John Cates
The transition of the house from "plantation" house to the form it was in before the burning is curious. I recently found a photo of the house that appears to be in the late 1890s and then the house was significantly modified from the 1840s house, although not yet 2 stories. A family stands in front, who I take to be the McBrides. Further investigation is warranted. The location of the house before it was burned was quaint, however, when it was built and up to about 1900, it stood overlooking the town. Robinson St. is a height of land, and there were no homes around it since John E. Robinson owned the whole 202 1/2 acre landlot from his home down to the railway tracks. The cleared fields of the time, placed him above and to the east of the city.
Note the story in the Coweta magazine today about Calder Baynard Perryclear, Cates lodger, whose letters and papers from 1873-1915 were recently discovered in John R. Cates House on West Washington St aftger sitting there lost for 100 years.
Wriphe
Thanks, Thomas. I saw the Perryclear article. As it happens, Susan Green, who found the letters, is married to John Green, my second cousin once removed.
