Instead of a regular post today, I thought you might be interested in the following. Martha Wright Lee contacted me earlier this week and noted that she had some information on a lady that I had mentioned in a Monroe County post some time back, Zula Gumm. Martha is from Akersville and used to live in Glasgow. She said the following (with her permission to post here). Martha said: I'm the great niece of Zula Gumm whom you wrote about as having the switchboard in her home. She was also a family photographer as was her Uncle Robert Cosby. Her dark room for developing pictures was in her bedroom. She was also the Akersville Post Mistress as females were called at that time. The post office was in her hall & I remember as a little girl big bags of mail being delivered & she & my Mother sorting the mail. I understand why talking on the phone can be a hassle. She went to the first school of photography in the south. McMinnville Tn, Southern School of Photography. William S Lively was the photographer/teacher. She was sent there by her Uncle Robt Cosby who was a photographer & I am assuming also his student. She as the other students lived at the school, a 2 or 3 story beautiful Victorian brick as did other students. Unfortunately the school burned with a lot of his equipment in the 1920s. She as well as her uncle & other students modeled for him. She had silky black hair & dark brown eyes, a beautiful young woman. His school was internationally famous & he was a friend of Mr Eastman of Kodak fame. His pictures have been in the Smithsonian & students from around the world went there including Ky's " prophet" Edgar Cayce. She also attended a school for switchboard operators in Springfield Tn when she was young. All this was before the 1920s. When my grandmother [her sister died at age 36 in 1927 my Aunt Zula took in my mother, Esther Jones who was 18 yrs old & my Mother's sisters, Ada Jones 17 yrs old & Mable Jones who was only 8 at the time. I spent a lot of time with her & loved her like a grandmother. Isn't that a great story? This is what brings our ancestors "alive" and not just names on the page of a book. Martha has other information and if you're like me, you'd like to hear more. Thank you Martha Sandi