Sam and Blanche Shelby's Wedding Picture

Taken in front of my grandparents' fireplace and mantle in the living room of their house at 851 Springhill Ave., Mobile, AL. This is where their reception was after being married in St. Joseph church, across the street, at 1pm on September 12, 1942.

Sam Shelby was my father. His name at birth was Sam Shelby but later, after conversion to the Catholic faith, added his Confirmational name of Edward as his middle name. Much of this site is dedicated to his immediate and extended family from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Kentucky.

To go back to Franelich.com

My father's railroad employment started on October 1, 1923, when he was fourteen years old, in St. Louis, MO. He was a delivery boy with a bicycle delivering telegrams, and later, in the freight department, became a clerk. In 1942, he transferred to Mobile where he worked as clerk and then as freight traffic representative in the Merchandise Department at 104 St. Francis St. In 1950, he was transferred to Birmingham as freight traffic agent, and held that position until 1952 when he was promoted to Commercial Agent. After 50 years he retired in 1973. His friends and the railroad gave him a retirement party on (some pictures) November 12, 1973. Here links to letters from a past President of the railroad Glen Brock and the then current president Alan Boyd. Picture from his retirement party.

 Leaving Mobile for Birmingham was hard because he loved Mobile and my mother's family was there. However, he always talked about returning to Mobile and later to the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. It became his retirement dream.

 During one period in my life when I was living in Mobile, I frequently drove to Birmingham for weekend visits. My father and I enjoyed just sitting and talking on the back patio that Greg and I built when we were kids; it overlooked the small backyard I grew up in. I, with my Pabst Blue Ribbon, and he, with his Budweiser, found it easy to reminisce, talk about the present and argue the future. One day, while he and I were doing all three, he told me when he retired he wanted to move back to the Mobile area and live on Mobile Bay. I told him, "Let me know when you are ready and I will build you and Mother a house." A short time later, I was living in Riviera Beach, Florida. On a lazy Saturday morning my phone rang. It was my father. He told me he wanted his house.

I moved back to Mobile to fulfill my promise. My first effort was to find them an unimproved lot on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. After they bought that lot, I began a one-year project. I started work by cutting the trees down and laying out the locations for the driveway, culvert, and house. Then I had fill dirt trucked in. When all of that was completed, I started building the house from the plans I drew. Looking back on my life, that year was the most rewarding and self-satisfying I ever had. My brother and sister came down with their families on the weekends to help when they could. Here are the Floor Plans and Pictures of the house under construction at various stages. I started the house in the summer of 1974 and finished in the summer of 1975.

History

After my father transferred from St. Louis to Mobile, (picture) he met my mother, who worked for the GM&O RR as a clerk in the same building, but in a different department. I guess my father became well known within the railroad community because this Envelope was delivered: the address is just C/O GM&O RR Co.

My father told me a story about how furious he was one night with my grandfather, Clovis Rufus Ellis—we called him Pop. He returned from a date with my mother to her house, walking I'm sure, and it started to pour down rain. The trolley service had discontinued and my father was stuck at his future father-in-law's house without transportation home. When he indicated to Pop he had to walk home and suggested he stay overnight—Pop said get walking! Walk he did, for three miles, from 851 Springhill Ave. to 700 Fulton Ave., now Dauphin Island Parkway, in pouring down rain. Certainly thoughts of love and hate were his cadence all the way home; love for my mother and hate for the old man. My grandfather, Clovis Ellis, was not an endearing man so I'm sure those feelings never changed much.

Sam was born at 2529 Bernays Ave.(now Union Blvd.), probably his home, in the Walnut Park area of St. Louis, Missouri, on November 10, 1908 (birth certificate). He died October 4, 1986.

When he met my mother, he converted to the Catholic faith and when "confirmed" he chose Edward as a confirmation name. Afterwards, he started using Edward as a middle name. Once he told me he disliked being called "Sam Edward" and preferred Sam or being addressed as S.E.

 His parents were Alexander Monroe Shelby (B July 19, 1860 and D May 24, 1913) from Mayfield (Graves county), KY, and mother Mattie (Gream) Shelby (B August 5, 1870 and D August 6, 1940) also from KY. His older brother and sister were twins, Hester (B August 12, 1903 and D August 20, 1946) and Esther Dina (B August, 12, 1903 and D March 12, 1986) and were living at 1531 Franklin, St. Louis.

Hester married Merle Brooks November 23, 1926, they had one daughter, Velma. They divorced and Hester spent the last 11 years of his life in an institution. My father told me he had syphilis. Hester and Mattie are burried in the same site at Alamo Cemetery, Alamo, KY, Calloway County.

A 1920 Census showed Mattie, widowed, living at 4939 Wilson Ave., St. Louis, with Hester, Esther, Sam and a 20 year old boarder. This same census showed Mattie, 40 years old, was unemployed; Hester, 16 years old, was a sales manager for a wholesale dry goods company; Esther, 16 years old, was a cashier at a grocery store; Sam, 11 years old, was a laborer in a shoe factory. In 1911 a girl under 16 working at the Brown Shoe Factory made $10.00/week. My father told me he would bring his money home and give it to his mother.

A 1908 St. Louis directory showed Alexander as a tailor at the rear of 1611 Franklin Ave. A 1910 Census showed Alexander was a tailor and presser, and owned his own home at 2716 Alcott Ave. in St. Louis. It also showed he was 45 years old, Mattie was 30 years old, Hester and Esther, were 6 years old, and Sammie was 2 years old.

In 1929, Sam, lived in the (r) of the building that his sister and her husband (married in St. Louis, September 11, 1920) Arthur Daniel Reppel, (my Uncle Art, born in Fayettville, Il., June 25, 1898—died February 18, 1978). Earlier, uncle Art lived there with his mother and father, Martha Griebel (1867–1944) and Johann George Reppel (1861–1911). A 1930 census shows Sam and his mother living at 2615 Rutger, and another 1930 census list Art, Esther and Dale living at the same address as Hester and his family: 4049 Schiller Place. In 1933 Sam lived at 2851 Montgomery, 1935–1940 at 4935 Arlington Ave., again with his sister and brother-in-law, with their son, Dale (Arthur Dale Reppel January 1,1922–November 11, 2004); Uncle Art owned the house. In 1940 my father, still a clerk for the railroad, was making $1,200.00 a year and living with Uncle Art, Aunt Esther, and Dale at 4935 Arlington Ave. Uncle Art was an Iron molder working for a stove foundry and Aunt Esther was a clerk in a department store. On visits to St. Louis I remember their house on Arlington Ave. being at (1640? this may be incorrect). Their house burned down after they move out.

A 1920 Census shows Art working as a molder in a stove foundry and living at 2712 Glasgow Avenue, St. Louis, with his widowed mother, Margareta, age 52 (born 1867?) and six siblings. Margareta's father was from Missouri and her mother was from Germany and spoke German. The siblings living in the house in 1920 were Phillip (1889–1945) age 30, Gustav August Johann (1908–1982) age 11, sisters Elsa Theresa (1901–1982) age 18, Hilda Catharina (1903–1956) age 16, Mathilda Maria (Lillie) (1905–1976) age 14, and Wilhelmina Christina (Minnie) (1906–1997) age 13. Not living there were George Franz (1892–1918), Carolina (Lena) (1891–1968), Emma Elizabeth (1894–1973), and Maria Katharina (Mary) (1896–?). A May 4, 1910, census shows Uncle Art's father, John G. Reppel, was born in Illinois in 1862, and living in St. Clair county, Illinois. He was a farmer, and both of his parents came from Germany. A 1900 census was more specific showing Fayetteville, IL. as the location of their home.

After my sister died, February 11, 2018, Greg and I had this tombstone installed at our parents grave site.