Kentucky Roots: Genealogy From My Maternal Grandfather

My great grandpa (1893-1952)) was named Melvin Cotton. A tobacco farmer, he was Scots Irish and raised in rural Kentucky. He married the lady on the right, my great grandma Gertie Parent (1904-1948). They went on to have four rambunctious boys, the first being my grandpa, Robert Hale Cotton. Melvin was known for a hot temper and generosity, sometimes buying rounds for all his buddies at the local bar until there was no more money for the family. Gertie was strong and spunky.













Grandpa was born June 4, 1928 in Lyon County, Kentucky and spent his youngest years romping around in overalls during the depths of the Depression.



















Here's grandpa's elementary school portrait. The little boy on the right is Fuzzy, No. 2 in the birth order (b. 1929). Grandpa pasted these two photos in a black-paged scrapbook of his favorite things: photos of him and his family, clippings of happy families from newspaper and magazine ads, and pictures of old girlfriends. Or at least I think they were old girlfriends -- all that's left are big square-shaped holes where he snipped them out of the book.




This is a photo of my grandpa's classmates at their one-room schoolhouse. Grandpa never liked school and dropped out of high school, though he later developed a love for history and earned his GED.











The family grew to include not only grandpa ("Haley"), but Fuzzy (d. 2008), Dickie (1932-2001) and Chick (1933-2007).