The Search for Judy Garland's Aunt Mary

Of all the research work I did while working on Judy Garland's family history, perhaps the most fascinating was trying to find Judy's Aunt Mary. For some time, I had known of the existence of Garland's aunt - her father, Frank Gumm's, elder sister. In fact, I had heard whispers that she killed herself, but, none of the older generation had spoken much about her. Now, the real problem was how to fine her.

Curry Wolfe in Murfreesboro, standing
by the graves of some of her ancestors

Early in my research, Judy's distant cousin, Curry Wolfe, had joined me. Curry is the great grand-daughter of John Mason Marable Baugh, Clemmie Baugh Gumm's brother. For those in the know, Clemmie was Judy's paternal grandmother, Frank Gumm's mother. Clemmie died when Frank was eight years old, which probably why not much has been known about her.

In all the histories written on Judy Garland, you will read about her father, Frank Avent Gumm, but very little is found on his siblings. Frank's family consisted of his sister, Mary, older brother Robert Emmet, and two younger brothers, William Wade and Allie Richardson.

So, the search for Mary began. The census, legal records and property records showed that Mary was around during the early years of Frank's youth. Then, suddenly, she disappeared! Curry and I searched high and low for her, but to no avail. We could not find a death record, marriage record; nothing at all for that matter.

Finally, one day, it hit me. In the early days, when a parent died, their property was left to the children, the records of this included the daughter's spouse. Back to the property records I went. Now I knew why Oscar and Mary McPeak were there! Oscar was Mary's husband. But once again we were stuck. We could not find Mary! The only difference was that I knew I was looking for Oscar and Mary McPeak.

During the spring of 2006, Curry was in Salt Lake City taking a genealogy course. While she was there, she agreed to do some special searches for me. Late one afternoon she called. "I've found Mary!" she said excitedly. "There was a front page story in the Rome, Georgia newspaper." It was a tragic story. A story of a woman so ill, she drowned herself in the river. Now we knew what had happened to Mary, but the story was not over. Where had Mary been for the last 8 years?

In the meantime, I returned to Murfreesboro and connected Joy Nelson, a 2nd cousin of the Frank Gumm. Searching through her grandmother, Nannie Gum Rion's belongings - things her father had kept, she found a post card from Mary. Mary had children! Two little babies, who had been sick. At the same time, another family member shared photos with me of a family reunion that had taken place in Huntsville, Alabama, toward the end of Mary's life.

Rare Unedited photo of Mary and
husband Oscar McPeak around 1918
(c) Gibb Family

As the mystery deepened, Curry discovered another news article about Oscar McPeak. He also had died tragically a few years after Mary's passing. Now, I was on a mission. What had happened to Mary's children and what was she like as a person? She had been as much a mother to Frank and his brothers their mother Clemmie had been. Mary was only fourteen when her mother died, leaving behind children 10, 8, 5 and 2. Was she pretty? Did she sing? Did Frank see a bit of sister Mary in his little daughter, Frances? So many questions, but the biggest one was what happened to those children.

Over the next several years I was able to trace Mary and Oscar's travels - as detailed in my book, "From Tennessee to Oz - The Amazing Saga of Judy Garland's Family History." Mary had traveled from Tullahoma to Michigan and back to Tennessee, to Alabama and finally to Rome, Georgia. Then, in the last hours before finishing my book new papers arrived detailing Mary's husband, Oscar's time in prison. More shock and tragedy.

Still searching for the children, I checked baptismal records, birth records, death records and cemetery records, but I could not find any record of them. It almost seemed as if they had never existed, but that post card was real. Are they buried in Murfreesboro in an unmarked grave? What happened to them? Perhaps someday the truth will come out.

Judy never met her aunt Mary. Mary died in 1919 - although from suicide, all the symptoms found mentioned in the local paper point to cancer. The medical records probably no longer exist Judy's sisters, Mary Jane and Virginia, were taken by their parents to meet Aunt Mary. In fact, they stayed in Alabama at her house for a month.

One of the most painful days of my research was the day I arrived in Rome. Trembling, I did what I knew I must -- I walked in Mary's footsteps; walked her final path to the bridge crossing the river where she had thrown herself in - an act meant to end her terrible pain and to spare others that pain as well. How do you describe such a walk? Now she is buried on a hilltop, just across the way from Mrs.Woodrow Wilson. Another sad day was the day a photo arrived from another family member. The photo had been taken of Mary's grave the day she was buried. One can only imagine how heart sick her brothers were as they stood before her grave that day. Frank Gumm boarded a train and the funeral was held until he arrived.

And so, this is Mary's story. Her death was tragic, but not shameful. She grew up in a difficult home, took care of her brothers and her father who was deeply troubled. She laughed and sang and, finally, when some might consider her an old maid, she married and had two little boys. Her husband went to prison, she lost her children, and then her health. I do have a special place in my heart for Mary. I wonder if Judy ever learned the story of her aunt. If her father had lived longer, she certainly would have.

Old Jefferson, Tennessee and The Gum Family

A home in Old Jefferson back in the 1890s.

Early in my journey to discover the truth about the Gumm family, to my surprise I learned that they had not always lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Prior to 1876, the Gums lived in a town known as “Jefferson,” (and later "Old Jefferson). Originally, the town had been named for President Thomas Jefferson.

While this fact surprised me, the real shock was that Jefferson was gone. I would never be able to follow the trail of her history by walking down her streets or looking into her buildings. No, like Camelot, she was only a legend no. Her physical being had was covered by the waters of the Stones River and had been covered sing 1968 when the Tennessee Valley Authority created Percy Priest Lake in hopes of preventing the future flooding of Nashville.

Knowing the Jefferson was only a legend now led me on another journey -- to discover the story of Jefferson. There was little written about the town founded in 1805 by Thomas Bedford with the hope of creating a great inland port. It would be a port that connected with the mighty Mississippi River.

My journey to learn more about Jefferson was interesting, but barely informative until one day while  visiting the home of a woman whose family came from Old Jefferson, While studying the photos on her wall and asking about them, she told me,
“Call Toby Francis, he knows all about it.”

Old Jefferson is a passion for Mr. Frances. His family owned a farm there, and having to leave that land broke their hearts. When I explained to Toby why I wanted to go Jefferson – that the Gum family had lived from 1804 to 1876-- he asked me a question that struck me like lightening.

The path to Old Jefferson

“Would you like to go there?”

“What? I thought it was under water.”

“We all thought that, but mound of the hill where the town was is not under water.  It’s still there. If you go at

a certain time of year, right about now, actually, you can walk across the river to where the town was.”

So we agreed to meet. Toby advised me to wear heavy shoes and casual clothes as it was going to be a hike. We drove up the Murfreesboro Pike, and turn off just past the cemetery. Then we drove along a winding road, back to a public park area. From here, it was a hike. We walked through woods, and past the high piles of dirt the Park Service had built to prevent drivers from going down the old town road.

Because of the lake, the water is now still, but
at this spot a prosperous mill once ran.

Along the way, we passed hunters, the spot where the old mill was, and then walked down to the river where indeed the river had gone down, leaving a muddy path to walk across. Slowly ascending up the muddy narrow road, I thought the place must have looked something like this when the settlers came, or when the Indians roamed these hills. I was out of shape, and the hike took my breath away.

Finally, Toby said, “This is it. This is the crest of hill where the main square of the town sat in 1804.”

I had to stop and sit on the ground for a moment to absorb it. This was where Norton Gum walked… but not just him, there were men like Andrew Jackson and other important persons of the time. This had once been a bustling town. Now, it's goning back to nature.

Toby and I climbed through the woods, and along the way, he pointed out, here and there, a cistern and other things that proved another civilization had once stood here. The Park Service had removed the homes before the waters of Percy Priest Lake were let loose to flood the land. Yet as the Park Service removed buildings they made a few discoveries. While removing the boards off one of the old houses they learned that beneath those boards (the siding) was a much older building, a building thought to be the original courthouse.

Here I stand, on the edge of the Stones River fork,
Holding the stop of a carriage.

While we were there on my first visit, Toby and I went down to the water, to the very point where the East and West branches of the Stones River divide. The river is much calmer now. Walking along the waterfront I discovered a piece of metal which Toby said it was a step for an old carriage. Frequently, Toby told me, there are historic items washed up along the shore here.

This point of the Stones River once had wharves with river boats coming and going, delivering and taking goods off to distant ports. It was once thought that this town, Jefferson, would become a great port in the middle of the United States. Oh, but to walk on this last of history.


The Crosthwaits, Ridleys and The Civil War

For those who have read my book, you'll know that
in the early years of Jefferson's existence, a man named
Shelton Crosthwait moved to Jefferson from Virginia. A very cultured, well-educated young man, some say that Shelton is the son of William Crosthwait, the man who helped Benjamin Franklin set up the first library in Philadelphia. In any case, Shelton Crosthwait was extremely ambitious and soon had built a grand plantation on both sides of the Stones River and a lovely mansion called "Fairmont" on the hill overlooking Jefferson and surrounding area.

You may wonder what this Mr. Crosthwait has to do with the Gum family. As it turns out, besides the fact that they both lived in this historic area, quite a bit. During my research - research that took me over a year - I learned that after the death of Sheldon Crosthwait's brother, he raised his brother's son, William. This same William would one day marry Alexander Gum's mother, Melinda (her second marriage). Alexander Gum was Judy Garland's great grandfather and the grandson of one of Jefferson's earliest residents, Norton Gum.

In my search to find more about Jefferson, I also learned that Shelton Crosthwait's granddaughter, Bettie Ridley Blackmore, who lived at Fairmont during the Civil War, kept a diary which was published in part by the Tennessee Historical Society in the late 1950s. One year after discovering this fact, I finally obtained a copy of this historical work.

Meanwhile, I became fascinated by Fairmont and the Crosthwaits. Despite the fact that the home was burnt by the "Yankees" during the war, I thought something of the place must be left. Some people told me they had ideas about it and one day Ernie Johns and I climbed through brush and rought terrain. It's a wonder we didn't meet a rattle snake!

On the road to Fairmont.

Finally, Toby Frances took me back to Jefferson, and led me up a hill which he believed was the old road to "Fairmont." Once again, Toby and I set off to find it. The photo to the left reveals the road we traveled on, and in my book there is a photo of Toby standing against an ancient tree. 

The day we traveled to Fairmont was sunny and quite warm. I was in better shape than on my first trip to Old Jefferson and walking up the slope toward the crest of the hill I thought saw evidence of ancient paving and side stones along the edge of the road. As we traveled along, I could almost hear the sound of the horse’s hooves pulling a carriage of guests along and the clip of the reins as they sped on to the mansion.. Strange how time can change things…

So that is my story for now.  Maybe one day more will be learned.

For more information on Old Jefferson, the Crosthwaits and Ridleys may be found in my book, From Tennessee to Oz, Part 1.