Cheraw, SC

This is one of my all time favorite photos. My dad Henry Westbrook Finlayson was named after his uncle Henry Wright Finlayson. This was his store. It is my understanding that my grandfather had a dry good store in Cheraw that was just down the street. My grandfather, Burruss Finlayson, is standing to the left of the front door.

In this photo, the men are standing in front of the store holding yard sticks. Years ago I had asked my aunt Jennie Llew Finlayson Guyton is she could identify any of them. She remembered every one of them and sent back a labeled copy. They are as follows, from left to right:

1) Dan Pate, 2) J.B. Elixon, 3) T.S. Wells, 4) Burruss Finlayson, 5) Edwin Wells, 6) E.S. Wells, 7) James C. Whitley, 8) *Mr. Ruffiace, 9) Rev. W.M. Duncan, 10) Elias Vance Finlayson
*I am not sure about #8 - the last two letters of his name, it might be Ruffiace, Ruffiall, or Ruffiae. The rest of the names are legible.

A while back while doing genealogy research online, I ran across descendants (von Rosen) of Elias Vance Finlayson. A very rewarding part of this kind of work is that you run across cousins. We've sent emails back every now and then. They never knew what happened to Vance, nor did they know what he even looked like. I was happy to scan and email photos of him to them.

I am told that Elias Vance was a traveling salesman. When he took ill, he stayed at the Burruss home in the care of my grandmother until his death. It is the Elias Vance Finlayson, who married a Suzanne (Suzie Gumm). It's from that branch of the tree that Judy Gumm (aka: Judy Garland, aka: Dorothy from Kansas) is distantly akin to our family.