William Warren Greenway

My great great grandfather, William Warren Greenway was born in Caswell Co., North Carolina to Thomas & Nancy Combs Greenway, and was the oldest of twelve children. He, like his father, was a carpenter, among other things. His entire family moved to Fayette Co. TN sometime before 1848. On May 2nd of that year he married his first wife, Miss Elizabeth M. Young. She died within a year. He married his second wife, Mary E. Rhodes, on September 5th, 1850. They had two daughters before Mary died February 12, 1855 at the age of 26. On November 20, 1856, in Marshall County MS, his third marriage was to Lucy Miriam Harris from Alabama, daughter of Sherrod Harris, Jr. and Winnie Wells White. He had with Lucy Miriam, four more daughters and one son. The youngest daughter was Lula May Greenway.

My Great Aunt said her grandfather, William W. Greenway, was a cabinet maker. On the 1850 census, he was listed as a carpenter, on the 1860 census he was listed as a bookkeeper, and on the 1870 census, owned his own business as an undertaker. In January 1872 he was elected Alderman of Somerville.

William Warren Greenway was the proprietor of the Somerville City Cemetery, and was the third major undertaker in Somerville by 1870, probably a few years earlier. In the March 23, 1871, Falcon newspaper, he was the only undertaker who advertised. On April 20th, 1871, he had some competition when J. M. Culbreath entered the undertaking business. But W.W. Greenway had a hearse and handled Crane Breed & Co. metallic caskets and he also furnished gravestones. Mr. Greenway's home, which he built himself, stood adjacent to the cemetery he operated, and where he ultimately remained. William Warren Greenway died in Somerville in October __, 1878 in the Yellow Fever Epidemic. This according to the Masonic Tribute of Respect, and in the Nov. 4th edition of the Memorium, Massilon Whitton, Past Deputy Grand High Priest, Grand Chapter, Tennessee. It was also reported in the Bolivar Bullitan on November 7, 1878. He no doubt was buried in the Somerville City Cemetery, but no stone stands for him. Lucy Miriam lived with her youngest daughter, Lula May Greenway McMahon, on the 1900 census in Haywood County, and died there between 1902 and 1908.. I suspect she's also buried in the same cemetery as her husband is, but I haven't yet found a headstone or her.

Thank you to Joy Rosser of Somerville, TN for supplying me with much of this information and the photo of the Greenway home.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 15 2018, 21:08:12 UTC