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Guy Alford
1890-1952
And His Work

By: Gil Alford

Doing his work primarily in 1950 and before, Guy Alford was the first case of any organized Alford genealogy research and any effort to document same in decades - if not the first.

Although our lives overlapped about 25 years I never knew Guy Alford personally and did not meet him during his lifetime. Were it not for something of an accident, surely a coincidence, I might not ever have heard of him. Having worked with his material for several years I have great admiration and respect for Guy Alford and his work. Our world of Alford family history and genealogy would certainly have been a better experience had Guy Alford lived to finish his work.

It all began in mid 1985 before we formed the Association. We knew that Georgia had been a hotbed for Alfords since the early 1790s and we wanted to get some knowledge of them for the Alford association we were planning. Homemade special post cards were sent to every Georgia Alford whose address we were able to find. Imagine our surprise when one was returned with this note:

Sept 16 1985

Dear Alford Friends,

I am Evelyn B. Alford wife of Winston Holliman Alford who died Nov 28 1975.  Winston was the only child of Guy and Olive H. Alford who have been gone for over 30 years.  Mr. Guy Alford had worked for years collecting information on the Alford family.  The day he died it was complete & he had typed pages laying around ready to put in book form.  Now those pages & all the information he had collected are up on shelves in my garage in two big boxes.  I have given them to our son, Robert Winston Alford who lives in Houston but he has not taken them home yet.  I would be happy for you to copy any of this but it would be terribly expensive.  We had 4 children.  Brenda Faye Alford Hardy, Wichita Falls, TX, Sandra Louise Alford Maddox who died in 1969 leaving one daughter Sandra Lynn Maddox. Rebecca Lynn Alford Ingram who lives in Tucker, GA.  Robert Winston Alford, Houston, Texas.

I have been a widow for 10 years & am 58 years old living here in the same place.

It is interesting to receive your letter today & if I can be of any help please let me know.  My phone number is 404-292-0401.

Sincerely,

Evelyn B. Alford

Needless to say we responded immediately and we continued to correspond for about six years. During this time AAFA had been formed and Delores Thrash, AAFA #0069 who was acting as our Georgia State Representative picked up the collection August 1989. They were later picked up from her by Milton and Roberta Alford Folds who had hosted the first AAFA meeting in 1988 in Atlanta. After an extensive review the boxes were sent on to what was acting as the AAFA data repository. Evelyn in the meantime had remarried and moved. Here is the last letter we received from her. She died Nov 15 2005.

3-15-91

Dear Mr. Alford,

Words can never express my feelings of relief knowing that Mr. Guy Alfords papers are in your hands.  I would love to just meet you some time because you are so much like him in your letters.  Keep the material as long as you like.  Some day my son Robert may show some interest & my daughter Brenda Alford Hardy who lives in Wichita Falls, Texas may.

Did the book of Alford history ever get published?  I would like to buy 3 for my children.

Income tax time is on us & I have been so busy.  Forgive me for not writing sooner.

Sincerely,

Evelyn Alford Smyly

Folks can thank not only Mr. Guy Alford for the information on these pages, but also for his daughter-in-law Evelyn for were it not for her we would never have had this collection.


Getting to Know Guy Alford Via AAFA ACTION

Guy Alford

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Part Eight

Part Nine

Part Ten

From the AAFA Genealogy File

Family Group Record

Expanded Ahnentafel

Segment of Genealogy of Guy's branch of the family

His Book that he never got published

Forward

Guy's Index

AAFA Index linked to over 200 pages

Numbered Pages

Official Documents 1913-1964

Listing is in process.

Etc.

Letters

Research Notes

Other Interesting Papers




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