I received a packet of photos from a distant cousin. All of these relate to my maternal grandfather, James Monroe Dobbs, Jr. He was an only child who lived a life straight out of a Southern Gothic novel.

There were several surprises. There are two photos of my great-great-grandfather, George C. Spiegel. He was a cigar maker who lived for a time in Savannah, GA in the 1860s and in the early 1870s the family migrated to Dallas, TX. My great-grandmother was born in Dallas in 1872. The back of the two photos are both stamped Savannah, GA