Aly Family Notes, Murray County, Georgia

One of the Aly family, of Crandall (the editor thinks Lizzie), writes a little community letter to the newspaper in Winder, , Georgia. I'm not sure if the editor of the Winder Weekly News is poking fun at Murray County's newspaper, Lizzie Aly, or both. He quotes her Crandall "news" (all involving the Aly family), and makes some lightly sarcastic comments. The news items are typical of the community letters published in old small-town papers, though they usually mention more than one family. Winder's editor seems to imply that letters such as these might be good enough for Murray County papers to print, but in Winder, they usually go into the trash. Ironically, Lizzie's letter didn't go into the trash. It was printed. The letter writer mentions Lizzie Aly, Leach Aly, Ben Aly, Ora Aly, Mrs. Jeff Wood, Alfred Johnson, Grandma Aly, and again, Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Wood—the latter's "father" is George Aly (keep in mind, "father" and "father-in-law" are often used interchangeably in this era). The editor of the piece then takes a wild guess as to how all these people are related.

Places mentioned in the Aly letter include Crandall (her neighborhood), Sumach, Chatsworth, Cisco, and Dalton. All except Dalton are neighborhoods in northern Murray County; Dalton is in Whitfield County.

Article

[Reference]: Aly family in "Me And My Folks," Winder Weekly News (Winder, Jackson, Georgia) 18??-1909, 10 September 1908, page 4 (digital image 4), Georgia Historic Newspapers, Georgia Public Library Service, University System of Georgia.
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053009/1908-09-10/ed-1/seq-4/print/image_570x817_from_2020,4934_to_3818,7509/
(accessed 26 January 2022).
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Most of the people in the letter are easy to identify. Alfred Johnson was a bit harder.

Alfred Johnson's mother-in-law, Nancy (Hooper) Ayers is the aunt of Lizzie Aly's grandmother, Harriet (Hooper) Aly.
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[ID: Manerva Ayers, daughter of Nancy (Hooper) Ayers, married Alfred Johnson or Johnston].
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US Census, 1910, Shuck Pen, Murray, Georgia: Afred Johnson, married male, head. Birth: 1861, Tennessee. Married 25 years (it is the first marriage, M1). Wife is Manervie Johnson.