Inventory of the Ruth Rogers Williams Collection

Overview of Collection

Repository: Chestatee Regional Library System, Lumpkin County Library, 342 Courthouse Hill Dahlonega, GA 30533

Creator: Williams, Ruth Rogers, 1919-1995

Collection Number: dahl001

Title: Ruth Rogers Williams collection

Date: 1600-1995

Quantity: 5.5 cubic ft.

Abstract: The Ruth Rogers Williams collection contains research notes on the genealogy of the Loughridge, Rogers, and allied families from the 1600s through 1990 gathered by Ruth Rogers Williams and includes genealogy charts, biographies, correspondence, research notes and procedures, family reunion and class reunion lists and photographs, newspaper clippings about the Murray County area, three small collections of historical and genealogical publications, and a small collection of photographs.

Historical Sketch

Ruth Mae Rogers was born March 1, 1919 in Murray County, Georgia to Ethel Loughridge Rogers and Samuel Clayton Rogers. Shortly before Ruth was born, her sister, Mary Magdalene Rogers, died. Samuel DeWitt Rogers was her younger brother. In 1923 Ruth's father died in an accident leaving her mother a young widow with two small children.

In 1936 Ruth graduated from high school and went to work in a bedspread factory for about a year before entering Nurses Training at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Atlanta. She graduated in 1940. In December 1941 she married Harold W. Williams (Hal), and soon after their marriage, he went overseas in the service of his country. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1945, lie worked for A & P until his retirement in 1976.

The Williams lived in Atlanta, and their son Harold W. Williams, Jr. was born there in 1946. When he was a senior in high school, Ruth returned to work in Occupational Nursing at Rich's Department Store Clinic. She retired in 1979. Her husband died in 1983.

Apparently in the early 1980's Ruth began her family research. She made extensive notes on how to do genealogy research, and many of these are included in this collection. A major part of her quest was through correspondence, and she made many interesting contacts. She always sought proof for the information she gathered, and that has made her collection especially credible. She seemed to have a deep spiritual base and a positive outlook, and clippings reflecting these qualities may be found in this collection also.

Ruth died on September 19, 1995 at the age of 76.

Scope and Content Note

In 1997 Harold W. Williams, Jr. donated the papers of his late mother to Lumpkin County Library and requested that they be arranged and made available to the public. The collection contains research notes on the genealogy of the Loughridge, Rogers and allied families. The material was gathered over a period of about 15 years by Ruth Rogers Williams, and it covers a wide date range from the 1600's to the 1990's.

Included in the collection are genealogy charts, biographies, correspondence, research notes and procedures, family reunion and class reunion lists and photographs, newspaper clippings about the Murray County area, three small collections of historical and genealogical publications, and a small collection of photographs.

The collection is arranged in seven boxes. Box 1 contains primarily Loughridge family information. Box 2 is basically Rogers and Williams family data. Box 3 contains information on eleven different families and most of the first year of the publication, Genealogy Today. Box 4 is composed of correspondence relating to many different families who aare allied with the Loughridge, Rogers and Williams families. Box 5 is composed of information on Franklin and Murray Counties, Rich's store and some general tips on genealogical research. Box 6 contains copies of the Whitfield-Murray Historical Journal and The Lock-on, a Loughridge family publication. Photographs are found in Box 7.

Arranged by subject.

Topics Covered

Administrative Information

Harold W. Williams, son, donated the Ruth Rogers Williams collection to the Chestatee Regional Library System in 1997.