James Thomas Nazworth was my paternal grandfather. What I know of him is what my father, William Chiever Nazworth told me before he died. As he told it, James Thomas lived in Thomasville, Georgia and was married to Mary Nazworth and they had about 12 children - 6 of whom died. At one point the couple had an argument and James Thomas shot at Mary, but didn't injure her. But the sheriff ran him out of town anyway. He headed towards Tallahassee, Fl. One day he came across a buggy and a young woman had stepped on a nail and him being a veterinarian, offered to get the nail out of her foot. He courted her and they got married. Her name was Ann Mary Blackburn Nazworth and they had 7 children, including my father.

The children were named: George Washington Nazworth, Theodore Roosevelt Nazworth, Walter Taft Nazworth, Albert Warren (Tiny) Nazworth, Janie Nazworth, Pearlie (Shug) Branch), Carlton Nazworth. George was from a previous relationship, but was considered brother.

My dad said when he was about 5 or 6 he woke up to find his mother gone and James Thomas told him "your mama left us" and then he went about his business on the farm, but my dad remembers crying and crying all day. A half brother was born after Mary left James Thomas and his name was Marcus (Red) Nazworth. James Thomas died when my father was 10. The eldest son from the first family came and got my father and his brother Carlton to live with them and sent the two girls, Janie and Pearlie to live with families in town. All others were told they were old enough to make it on their own.

When I was a young girl, my father took us to visit relatives in Florida and I asked him where my grandfather was buried. He said he had been buried on the land where they last lived and it would be overgrown with vegetation and I would never be able to visit it. To my surprise one day I googled James Thomas' name and I found this memorial with a picture of his gravestone! It is interesting to note that my grandfather's date of death (not year) is the same as my birth.

As posted by the original creator:
Was living in Havana, FL as of 1907; he had bad eyesight and several bad ribs at that time, having broken three of his ribs while diving into a ditch during the war.

Civil War: First enlisted in Company G, 5th Georgia Infantry in May 1863 and was transferred in 1864 to Villepigue's Light Artillery Battery at Suwanee Station, FL. Fought in the Battle of Natural Bridge. Was discharged at the end of the war.