Mystery Monday - Still Looking For Louie

In previous posts about Louie Love Padgett, I have written about Louie's passport, his years teaching in China, and his college days.  I really had planned on this being a "Military Monday" post about Louie Love Padgett, but instead, it ends up pointing to more mysteries.

Mystery #1 - Louie's military papers

Because Louie joined the Army rather than being drafted, his military records are taking longer to locate than I had expected.  We have written the National Archives to obtain copies, and perhaps once they finally arrive, I should be able to write that "Military Monday" post.  If Louie had filled out a Draft Registration Card, I would have already learned more details about his life.  He is among those listed in The History of Gordon County Georgia as being an officer in World War I.(1)  However, the listing doesn't include the unit, type of military service, or additional information about him.  At least his tombstone does provide his military rank for us.

Marker for Maj. Louie L. Padgett
Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Oakman, Georgia, photo by Mary Perkinson Nelson

Mystery #2 - Louie's life after China

Louie returned from his three years of teaching in China in 1924.  Family stories and a newspaper article written by a college friend of Louie's suggest that Louie taught French at Emory University.(2)  An dated letter to his father indicated that he was teaching at Emory's Chandler School of Theology.  Looking through copies of the 1924-1930 Emory yearbooks neither confirm nor disclaim these stories, especially if Louie were only teaching part-time or working as a graduate assistant.(3)  By 1930 Louie was listed in census records as living in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was employed as a commercial traveling salesman.(4)  This change in Louie's area of employment is definitely a mystery, one that may never be explained.

Mystery #3 - Louie's land

We had always heard that Louie owned a farm in Leon County, Florida, but so far we haven't been able to document this story.  Maybe a trip to Florida (preferably when it is winter and nasty up here in East Tennessee) might help us track down information about his possible land holdings.

Until them, we'll continue looking for more information about Louie, an uncle who has always been spoken of with love and respect.

(1) Pitts, Lulie.  History of Gordon County Georgia. Calhoun, Georgia: The Press of the Calhoun Times, 1933. Digital images. Ancestry.com,  http://www.search.ancestry.com : 2013.
(2) Harris Pierce. "The Rube From Ranger." Atlanta Journal (date unknown): page unknown.

(3)  The Campus  (Decatur, Georgia: Emory University, [various years]), digital images, Emory Libraries MARBL, http:marbl.library.emory.edu/yearbooks: 2013.

(4)  "U.S. Federal Census Population Schedule 1930." database and images. Ancestry.com. http://www.search.ancestry.com : 2013