Family ties to Nashville

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I just discovered something interesting as I was looking for an old letter of my great grand-father’s.  It seems that one of his brothers (a half-brother actually) lived in Nashville in the early 1900′s.  He wrote the following letter to my great grandfather, William Massey:

420 South Front St. Nashville Tenn

Aug 20, 1901

Mr. Bill Massey

Dear Brother

Your letter received and as usual was glad to hear from you.  I am well as common.  Bill, I will send them saddles to Marshall this week.  I will ship them Friday and if you are at Marshall Saturday go to the freight depot and see if they are come.  They all three will be in one box with your name on it and the box will be marked saddles.  I will pay the freight on them here so it will not cost you any thing to get them.  The price will be on each saddle.  I send one for $[illegible due to smudging]-one for $5.50 and one for $[illegible due to smudging].  You said not send any for more than $6.00 but I could not make the $6.50 for any less.  Watch the depot everyday till they come and let me know when you get them.  If you sell them all right, and want more let me know and I will send them.

Will close for this time.

Write soon,

Your Brother,

Dave Redman

Unfortunately there is no longer a South Front St. in Nashville.  I’ll have to see if I can find any old maps at the library.  If anybody has any info, I’d appreciate it.

  • Bill H.

    South Front St. ran along the Cumberland River, now called Gay St.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/JodyH Jody+

      Bill,

      Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it. I figured it must have run along the river, since it seems like most front streets do, but the only old maps I could find online only named the major arteries out to Gallatin, Goodlettsville, Franklin, Memphis etc…

      Thanks again

  • Hotspur

    That part of Gay street was nortorius for flophouses and bordellos back in those days. The latter were the favourite haunts of State Senators and State Representatives. All that got torn down in the late 60's during a cleanup of downtown Nashville in preparation for the new Interstate highways coming through (and renaming of downtown streets). It wasn't all bad: the original Conservative movement synagogue was also on Gay street! Probably a quick walk to the taverns on Lower Broadway after Saturday sunset ;-)

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/JodyH Jody+

      Hotspur,

      That's interesting. I'd heard about the various rounds of "clean-up" that helped rid Nashville of it's more visible seedy side. I may be wrong, but looking back at it, it seemed like the last remnants of a time Nashville was actually considered "the west" (and therefore the frontier) rather than the South.

      At any rate, at some point I hope to make it to the Nashville library to do some research to see if I can tell what stood at that return address. Maybe it was a cheap room. I also thought, given some of the wording in the letter, that Redman may have actually made the saddles. I'm not sure if the phrase "I could not make the $6.50 for any less" was a turn of phrase meaning that he couldn't get the saddle for any less, or that he litterally couldn't make it for any less. With the name of Front St., and their tendency to be along the river, I thought he might have been a tanner or something.